Hydrolysis study of bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane silane by NMR

The hydrolysis process of bis-1,2-(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTSE) was studied in aqueous and methanol solutions at pH 4. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) evaluation of different solutions was carried out for 7 days. Unlike other researches, methanol-rich solutions are proven inadequate to reach a complete hydrolysis process. In water-rich solutions, hydrolysis takes place for 3 days, 85% of the silane molecules being transformed into silanols; this amount continues increasing up to the seventh day of hydrolysis.Authors wish to acknowledge the Ministry of the Environment (through project 136/PC08/3-11.2) for their financial support in this research

Compatible matchings in geometric graphs

Two non-crossing geometric graphs on the same set of points are compatible if their union is also non-crossing. In this paper, we prove that every graph G that has an outerplanar embedding admits a non-crossing perfect matching compatible with G. Moreover, for non-crossing geometric trees and simple polygons, we study bounds on the minimum number of edges that a compatible non-crossing perfect matching must share with the tree or the polygon. We also give bounds on the maximal size of a compatible matching (not necessarily perfect) that is disjoint from the tree or the polygon.Postprint (published version

Magnetic transitions in alpha-Fe_2O_3 nanowires

Magnetic transitions in single-crystal alpha-F_2O_3 (hematite) nanowires, grown by thermal oxidation of iron powder, have been studied in the range of 5-1023 K with a superconducting quantum interference device below room temperature and with a vibrating sample magnetometer at higher temperatures. The broad temperature range covered enables us to compare magnetic transitions in the nanowires with the transitions reported for bulk hematite. Morin temperatures (T-M) of the nanowires and of hematite bulk reference powder were found to be 123 and 263 K, respectively. Also the Neel temperature (T-N) of the nanowires, 852 K, was lower than the bulk T-N value. Measurements of the magnetization as a function of temperature show an enhanced signal in the nanowires, which suggests a decrease in the anti ferromagnetic coupling. A coercive field observed below T-M in the hysteresis loops of the nanowires is tentatively explained by the presence of a magnetic phase

Glycosylated Cell Penetrating Peptides, GCPPs

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gallego, I. , Rioboo, A. , Reina, J. ., Díaz, B. , Canales, Á., Cañada, F. ., Guerra-Varela, J. , Sánchez, L. and Montenegro, J. (2019), Glycosylated Cell Penetrating Peptides, GCPPs. ChemBioChem. doi:10.1002/cbic.201800720, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201800720. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsThe cell membrane regulates the exchange of molecules and information with the external environment. However, this control barrier hinders the delivery of exogenous bioactive molecules that can be applied to correct cellular malfunctions. Therefore, the traffic of macromolecules across the cell membrane represents a great challenge for the development of the next generation of therapies and diagnostic methods. Cell penetrating peptides are short peptide sequences capable of delivering a broad range of biomacromolecules across the cellular membrane. However, penetrating peptides still suffer from limitations mainly related with their lack of specificity and potential toxicity. Glycosylation has emerged as a potential promising strategy for the biological improvement of synthetic materials. In this work we have developed a new convergent strategy for the synthesis of penetrating peptides functionalized with glycan residues by an oxime bond connection. We have systematically characterized the uptake efficiency and the intracellular distribution of these glycopeptides by flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and in zebrafish animal models. The incorporation of these glycan residues into the peptide structure influenced the internalization efficiency and the cellular toxicity of the resulting glycopeptide hybrids in the different cell lines tested. The results reported here highlight the potential of the glycosylation of penetrating peptides to modulate their activityWe acknowledge funding from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) [CTQ2014-59646-R, SAF2017-89890-R, CTQ2016-76263-P, CTQ2015-64597-C2-2P], the Xuntade Galicia (ED431G/09, ED431C 2017/25 and 2016-AD031) and the ERDF. I. G. received a predoctoral fellowship from the Xunta de Galicia (ED481A-2018/116). A. R. received a predoctoral fellowship from the Fundación Segundo Gil Dávila. J.G.-V. and L.S. acknowledge the financial support received from the Xunta de Galicia (Galicia, Spain) under the Grupos de Referencia Competitiva Programme: Project GRC2014/010. J. M. received a Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2013-13784), an ERC Starting Investigator Grant (DYNAP-677786) and a Young Investigator Grant from the HFSP (RGY0066/2017)S

Limitations of high pressure sputtering for amorphous silicon deposition

Amorphous silicon thin films were deposited using the high pressure sputtering (HPS) technique to study the influence of deposition parameters on film composition, presence of impurities, atomic bonding characteristics and optical properties. An optical emission spectroscopy (OES) system has been used to identify the different species present in the plasma in order to obtain appropriate conditions to deposit high purity films. Composition measurements in agreement with the OES information showed impurities which critically depend on the deposition rate and on the gas pressure. We prove that films deposited at the highest RF power and 3.4 × 10^−2 mbar, exhibit properties as good as the ones of the films deposited by other more standard techniques

Dopaminergic control of ADAMTS2 expression through cAMP/CREB and ERK: molecular effects of antipsychotics

© The Author(s) 2019.A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that participate in the development and clinical manifestations of schizophrenia can lead to improve our ability to diagnose and treat this disease. Previous data strongly associated the levels of deregulated ADAMTS2 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients at first episode of psychosis (up) as well as in clinical responders to treatment with antipsychotic drugs (down). In this current work, we performed an independent validation of such data and studied the mechanisms implicated in the control of ADAMTS2 gene expression. Using a new cohort of drug-naïve schizophrenia patients with clinical follow-up, we confirmed that the expression of ADAMTS2 was highly upregulated in PBMCs at the onset (drug-naïve patients) and downregulated, in clinical responders, after treatment with antipsychotics. Mechanistically, ADAMTS2 expression was activated by dopaminergic signalling (D1-class receptors) and downstream by cAMP/CREB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/ERK signalling. Incubation with antipsychotic drugs and selective PKA and MEK inhibitors abrogated D1-mediated activation of ADAMTS2 in neuronal-like cells. Thus, D1 receptors signalling towards CREB activation might participate in the onset and clinical responses to therapy in schizophrenia patients, by controlling ADAMTS2 expression and activity. The unbiased investigation of molecular mechanisms triggered by antipsychotic drugs may provide a new landscape of novel targets potentially associated with clinical efficacy.This work was supported by: SAF2016-76046-R and SAF2013-46292-R (MINECO and FEDER) to B.C.F., PI16/00156 (isciii and FEDER) to J.P.V., LUCHAMOS POR LA VIDA project to F.R.J. and J.P.V., SAF2017-83702-R (MINECO and FEDER), Red TERCEL RD12/0019/0024 (ISCIII) and GVA-PROMETEO 2018/041 (Generalitat Valenciana) to S.M. J.P.V. is supported by the RyC research programme (RYC-2013-14097) and F.R.J. by the predoctoral research programme (BES-2014-070615), from MINECO and FEDER

Manuel Vázquez Montalbán. Guías didácticas y de lectura para ESO y Bachillerato

Podeu consultar la versió en català a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/11088

Transcriptomic profile induced in bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells after interaction with multiple myeloma cells: implications in myeloma progression and myeloma bone disease

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Despite evidence about the implication of the bone marrow (BM) stromal microenvironment in multiple myeloma (MM) cell growth and survival, little is known about the effects of myelomatous cells on BM stromal cells. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) from healthy donors (dMSCs) or myeloma patients (pMSCs) were co-cultured with the myeloma cell line MM.1S, and the transcriptomic profile of MSCs induced by this interaction was analyzed. Deregulated genes after co-culture common to both d/pMSCs revealed functional involvement in tumor microenvironment cross-talk, myeloma growth induction and drug resistance, angiogenesis and signals for osteoclast activation and osteoblast inhibition. Additional genes induced by co-culture were exclusively deregulated in pMSCs and predominantly associated to RNA processing, the ubiquitine-proteasome pathway, cell cycle regulation, cellular stress and non-canonical Wnt signaling. The upregulated expression of five genes after co-culture (CXCL1, CXCL5 and CXCL6 in d/pMSCs, and Neuregulin 3 and Norrie disease protein exclusively in pMSCs) was confirmed, and functional in vitro assays revealed putative roles in MM pathophysiology. The transcriptomic profile of pMSCs co-cultured with myeloma cells may better reflect that of MSCs in the BM of myeloma patients, and provides new molecular insights to the contribution of these cells to MM pathophysiology and to myeloma bone disease.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish MINECO-ISCIII (PI12/02591, PI12/00624) and FEDER (European Funds for Regional Development); the Centro en Red for Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy from Castilla y León; the Spanish Health Thematic Network of Cooperative Research in Cancer (RTICC RD12/0056/0058 and RD12/0036/0003), and Spanish FIS (PS09/01897 and PS09/00843). AG-G received support from the Centro en Red for Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy from Castilla y León and from the Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy (SEHH), and EDR from the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (AECC).Peer Reviewe

The Cretaceous of the Sistema Central (Spain): Stratigraphic record, depositional framework and evolutionary scheme

El Cretácico del Sistema Central representa las sucesiones sedimentarias de margen costero de las plataformas carbonatadas, que desarrolladas a partir de la cuenca Ibérica (cordillera Ibérica después de la orogénesis alpina), se extendieron sobre el margen oriental del macizo Ibérico a favor del gran ascenso eustático y de la subsidencia térmica regional. Tras la estructuración alpina del macizo Ibérico, la mayor parte de estos apilamientos sedimentarios han quedado ocultos bajo el relleno cenozoico de las cuencas del Duero y del Tajo; otra buena parte de ellos han desaparecido por la erosión subsecuente al levantamiento de la cordillera Cantábrica, el Sistema Central y los Montes de Toledo. Así, hoy en día afloran esporádicamente en el borde meridional de la Cantábrica occidental, borde septentrional de los Montes de Toledo y en depresiones internas del Sistema Central, y de manera más profusa, en los márgenes N y S del Sistema Central a lo largo de sendas bandas casi continuas. Estos afloramientos constituyen una de las escasas oportunidades que existen para conocer en detalle cómo son estas sucesiones de margen costero, reconstruyendo su arquitectura estratigráfica y su patrón de apilamiento deposicional. Ello ha permitido: (i) reconocer las relaciones laterales entre las facies carbonatadas de plataforma de áreas más internas de la cuenca y las facies siliciclásticas de margen costero, dentro del marco conceptual que impone la estratigrafía secuencial; (ii) demostrar y determinar el diacronismo de las unidades litoestratigráficas formales, cuyos límites superan, en muchos casos, los de las secuencias deposicionales; (iii) relacionar secuencialmente materiales afines de otros márgenes de la cuenca del Duero; (iv) identificar eventos de discontinuidad mayor a partir del reconocimiento de discordancias erosivas costeras, que puedan correlacionarse con sucesiones de áreas más centrales de la cuenca, y con ello, reconocer las paraconformidades presentes en el registro sedimentario de aquellas áreas; y (v) identificar cuatro unidades genéticas o mesosecuencias, asimilables a ciclos de 2º orden por su amplitud temporal y origen tecto-eustático, que permiten reconocer el marco evolutivo de este margen costero durante el Cretácico Superior.Cretaceous rocks at the Sistema Central (central Spain) represent the coastal margin sediments of the carbonate platforms developed in the Iberian basin during the large Upper Cretaceous eustatic sea-level rise. They consist of a lower succession of mainly terrigenous sediments (sands, sandstones, clays, marls and minor dolostones), an intermediate carbonate succession (dolostones, limestones and marls) and an upper terrigenous and evaporitic succession (sands, clays and gypsums), which have been traditionally considered uppermost Cretaceous - Paleocene in age but, as suggested by recent data, they should be considered older (Campanian-Maastrichtian). Most of Cretaceous sediments at the western coastal margin of the Iberian basin were eroded after the tectonic inversion of the Iberian massif (Iberian microplate) along the Alpine orogeny, or are presently covered by cainozoic deposits of the cainozoic Duero and Tajo basins. Exceptionally, these sediments crop out on the southwest edge of the cordillera Cantábrica, on northern margin of Montes de Toledo and more widely, on both sides of the Sistema Central. Then, the Cretaceous outcrops of the Sistema Central are one of the scarce areas we have to know in detail these sediments, reconstructing both their depositional stacking pattern, composed of different-order superimposed depositional sequences (Figure 5) and their wedge-shaped stratigraphic architecture as well; which, in general, shows that the subsequent sequences were progressively more extensive, onlapping onto the coastal margin, until the Santonian-Campanian, and from then they were continuously recessive prograding towards the Cantabrian margin (NW) until the end of the Cretaceous. More specifically, the stacking pattern and the stratigraphic architecture allow to: (i) recognize the lateral relationships between platform carbonate facies deposited in central areas of the basin and siliciclastic facies at the coastal margin within the conceptual framework of sequence stratigraphy; (ii) demonstrate the diachronism of formal lithostratigraphic units, whose boundaries exceed sequence boundaries in many cases; (iii) correlate with these sequences, units from other margins of the Duero basin; (iv) identify major regional discontinuities from recognition of coastal erosive unconformities, which can be traced to their correlative sediments in more internal areas of the basin, recognizing thus paraconformable strata in the record of these areas; and (v) identify four mesosequences, tecto-eustatic origin, which subsequently allow to reconstruct the evolutionary framework of this coastal margin along the Upper Cretaceous. Mesosequence I (Cenomanian Middle Turonian) is bounded by two major eustatic discontinuities, being represented on both sides of the Sistema Central by siliciclastic facies to the SW, mixed facies in the central part and carbonate facies at the NE. It is composed of three 3rd-order sequences with an overall transgressive-regressive trend (Figure 6), which is clearly recognizable by geometrical relationships of the internal sequences and by facies belt displacements. Mesosequences II and III (Upper Turonian – Lower Santonian and Middle Santonian – Lower Campanian, respectively), consist of two and three 3rd-order sequences respectively. Both constitute the vast carbonate masses of the entire Cretaceous (intermediate carbonate succession) in this area. Southwestwards the thinning of this huge carbonate succession and the lateral transition to terrigenous facies of the coastal margin can be observed; some of these terrigenous deposits could be recognized on the west margin of the Duero basin (provinces of Zamora and Salamanca). The boundary between both mesosequences is a major tectonic discontinuity at microplate scale, and it might represent the onset of the first tectonic events of the alpine cycle in the studied area. Mesosequence IV (Middle Campanian-Maastrichtian) is represented by the upper terrigenous-evaporitic succession. Its lower boundary is a major, eustatic discontinuity; although, it has been locally mapped as a cartographic unconformity (Valdeprados, Segovia), representing a major break in the general sedimentary trend, with the end of open marine sedimentation characteristic of the underlying mesosequences. In fact, until the recent finds of cretaceous vertebrate faunas at the north of the Sistema Central, the sediments of this mesosequence had been assigned mostly to the Paleocene, being correlated with other tertiary deposits of the Duero and Tajo basins. The depositional stacking pattern of their internal 3rd-order sequences has not been determined yet.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEEspaña. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Dirección General de Investigaciónpu