Correlaciones existente entre tipos de fibras musculares, color y porcentaje de grasa intramuscular en cerdos de raza "chato murciano"

Mediante análisis de correlación se valora la influencia que los tipos de fibras I, IIA y IIX pueden tener sobre el color y el porcentaje de grasa intramuscular en el músculo longísimo lumbar del cerdo “Chato Murciano”. Los resultados demuestran que las fibras tipo IIX influyen sobre el color de la carne y que no existen correlaciones entre el porcentaje de grasa intramuscular y ninguno de los tipos de fibras analizados

Evaluación de los tipos de fibras musculares en cerdos de raza chato murciano criados en sistema intensivo

Mediante técnicas histoquímicas y de análisis de imagen se estudian las características de los distintos tipos de fibras que integran el músculo longísimo lumbar del cerdo “Chato Murciano” criado mediante sistema intensivo. Asimismo, se estima y valora la presencia de fibras anómalas. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran la presencia de al menos tres tipos principales de fibras, catalogadas como tipos I, IIA y IIX. Los datos morfométricos revelan la existencia de alto porcentaje (79%) y gran tamaño de las fibras IIX (glucolíticas). Un 50 % de los animales analizados presentó fibras gigantes aunque en porcentajes muy escasos (<1%)

Two-dimensional simulation of the electron transport in a photomultiplier tube

Photomultiplier tubes are widely used in experimental physics because they convert small light signals into a measurable electric current. Although their working principle is well known, it is very difficult to find simulations of the electron transport in these devices. For this reason, the electron transport in the Hamamatsu R13408-100 photomultiplier tube has been simulated in 2D. The software SUPERFISH is used for calculating the electrostatic fields and the Boris method for the effective electron dynamics. The secondary electron emission in the dynodes is implemented using an effective electron model and the modified Vaughan’s model. Some figures of merit for photomultiplier tubes (e.g. the gain, the electron transit time or the transit time spread) in function of the supply voltage and an external magnetic field have been studied obtaining a good qualitative accordance with the Hamamatsu datasheet. In further studies, we are going to compare our simulations with experimental measurements

What have we learnt from EUPORIAS climate service prototypes?

The international effort toward climate services, epitomised by the development of the Global Framework for Climate Services and, more recently the launch of Copernicus Climate Change Service has renewed interest in the users and the role they can play in shaping the services they will eventually use. Here we critically analyse the results of the five climate service prototypes that were developed as part of the EU funded project EUPORIAS. Starting from the experience acquired in each of the projects we attempt to distil a few key lessons which, we believe, will be relevant to the wider community of climate service developers

Investigation of PTC124-mediated translational readthrough in a retinal organoid model of AIPL1-associated Leber congenital amaurosis

Leber congenital amaurosis type 4 (LCA4), caused by AIPL1 mutations, is characterized by severe sight impairment in infancy and rapidly progressing degeneration of photoreceptor cells. We generated retinal organoids using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from renal epithelial cells obtained from four children with AIPL1 nonsense mutations. iPSC-derived photoreceptors exhibited the molecular hallmarks of LCA4, including undetectable AIPL1 and rod cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) phosphodiesterase (PDE6) compared with control or CRISPR-corrected organoids. Increased levels of cGMP were detected. The translational readthrough-inducing drug (TRID) PTC124 was investigated as a potential therapeutic agent. LCA4 retinal organoids exhibited low levels of rescue of full-length AIPL1. However, this was insufficient to fully restore PDE6 in photoreceptors and reduce cGMP. LCA4 retinal organoids are a valuable platform for in vitro investigation of novel therapeutic agents

Incidence of Diabetes in the Working Population in Spain: Results from the ICARIA Cohort

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to evaluate the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a working population in Spain and to assess associations between its development and several risk factors. METHODS: The ICARIA (Ibermutuamur CArdiovascular RIsk Assessment) cohort (n = 627,523) includes ~3% of Spanish workers. This analysis was undertaken in individuals whose glycaemic status during the index period (May 2004-December 2007) was determined to be normal or indicative of prediabetes [fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 100-125 mg/dl] and who had at least one FPG measurement taken 9 months after a first measurement during follow-up (May 2004-June 2014) (n = 380,366). T2DM patients were defined as those with an FPG ? 126 mg/day and those who had already been diagnosed with T2DM or were taking antihyperglycaemic medications. RESULTS: The incidence rate of T2DM was 5.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.9-5.1] cases per 1000 person-years. Under multivariate logistic regression analysis, the factor showing the strongest association with the occurrence of T2DM was the baseline FPG level, with the likelihood of T2DM almost doubling for every 5 mg/dl increase in baseline FPG between 100 and < 126 mg/dl. The presence of other cardiometabolic risk factors and being a blue-collar worker were also significantly associated with the occurrence of T2DM. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of T2DM in the working population was within the range encountered in the general population and prediabetes was found to be the strongest risk factor for the development of diabetes. The workplace is an appropriate and feasible setting for the assessment of easily measurable risk factors, such as the presence of prediabetes and other cardiometabolic factors, to facilitate the early detection of individuals at higher risk of diabetes and the implementation of diabetes prevention programmes

Co-production pathway of an end-to-end climate service for improved decision-making in the wine sector

Climate services are one of the tools that can support the agriculture sector to address the impacts of climate change on agricultural production systems, not only considering climatic aspects but also social needs. This work describes the knowledge co-production journey of the EU-funded project MED-GOLD to create an end-to-end climate service for wine sector users. In this work, co-production is understood as an iterative, interactive and collaborative process among an interdisciplinary group of scientists and users that were engaged, involved, and empowered. The co-production process included activities to raise awareness on the vulnerability of grape and wine production to climate change, exchange knowledge between climate service providers and users, and co-develop customised climate services, such as the MED-GOLD Dashboard. Lessons learned are that repeated interaction between scientists and users allow to better frame research questions, jointly decide how to address these questions, and test the outcomes with feedback from real-world decision-makers. Furthermore, having a user who co-developed the service and helped assess its added value was key to ensure that it could truly inform decision-making needs and to promote its broader uptake by the wine sector community. Although the MED-GOLD Dashboard constitutes the most tangible result of this collaboration, the outcomes of co-production also encompass the joint learning process, the shared sense of ownership, and the co-creation of new knowledge between scientists and stakeholders. Nevertheless, further research will be needed to understand how the knowledge coproduced with a single user can be scaled up to users with other profiles and requirements

Monitoring climate related risk and opportunities for the wine sector: The MED-GOLD pilot service

MED-GOLD was a 54-months research and innovation project, whose main aim was to co-develop climate services for three staples of the Mediterranean food system, namely grapes, olives and durum wheat. This paper describes the methodology adopted for the co-development of the pilot climate service for the wine sector, focusing on the Douro Wine Region in northern Portugal. In the first step, the MED-GOLD industrial partner SOGRAPE identified key decisions and users’ needs for the wine sector in the Douro region by involving managers from their own vineyards in that region. From this information, the relevant bioclimatic indicators (and associated essential climate variables) were selected. Afterwards, two compound risk indices, the Sanitary and Heat Risk indices, were introduced as a combination of some of the aforementioned bioclimatic indicators. This methodological work was validated against the empirical climate characterization for the region of interest, of several ‘bad’ and ‘good’ years chosen by users according to their recollections of grape and wine production outcomes, namely quality and yields. In this paper, the overall strategy for selection of these years is presented. The components of the service based on historical climate, seasonal predictions and longer-term climate projections are described along with the visual interface developed: the MED-GOLD Dashboard, an interactive tool that displays detailed historical climate data, seasonal predictions and climate projections. The Dashboard consists of an ICT platform with a map-based user-focused front end to aid easy access to and manipulation of the data. The Dashboard was iteratively co-designed with the users to ensure their needs were met