Análisis del fortalecimiento de la Alianza de Estados Unidos y Corea del Sur en materia de seguridad sobre las acciones militares de Corea del Norte; 2005-2010

La proliferación de armas de destrucción masiva se ha convertido en un asunto inquietante en la era de la posguerra fría. En el caso particular de Corea del Norte, el desarrollo de un programa nuclear y la amenaza potencial que este representa para la comunidad internacional, ha llevado a que Estados Unidos y Corea del Sur pongan de manifiesto su interés y preocupación en torno al mismo. Desde el 2005 el régimen comunista norcoreano ha intensificado las amenazas y ha desafiado la seguridad en la península coreana, al realizar acciones militares provocativas, más específicamente en contra de Corea del Sur y Estados Unidos, razón por la cual una cohesión de la relación entre estos dos Estados se ha hecho cada vez más necesaria para hacer frente a las acciones impredecibles de Corea del Norte.The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has become a troubling issue in the post-Cold War era. The case of North Korea developing a nuclear program and threatening the international community, has led to the United States and South Korea to reveal their interest and concern around it. Since 2005 the North Korean communist regime has intensified and has defied the threats to the security on the Korean peninsula, and also the provocative military actions, more specifically against South Korea and the United States, has influenced in why cohesion of the relationship between these two states has become increasingly necessary to deal with the unpredictable actions of North Korea

Spitzer IRS Pipelines for General Users

An effort is underway to make the Spitzer InfraRed Spectrograph (IRS) data-processing pipelines available for use by astronomers worldwide. This will allow users to reprocess raw data downloaded from the Spitzer archive with customized calibration files, updated operational parameters, and/or a modified list of processing steps. The pipelines will create all standard BCD (basic calibrated data) and post-BCD products, plus additional intermediate products. The pipelines will be made up of newly developed Perl and C-shell ``executive'' scripts, plus the binary-executable modules currently used in operations (the modules' source code will not be distributed, however). The scripts are being designed for ease of use and will facilitate user-customization. The operating systems targeted for support are Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, and possibly Windows

A role for antizyme inhibitor 2 in the biosynthesis and content of serotonin and histamine in mouse mast cells

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine; PAs) are essential for the majority of living cells. Antizymes and antizyme inhibitors are key regulatory proteins of PA levels by affecting ornithine decarboxylase and PA uptake. In addition to PAs, mast cells (MC) synthesize and store in their granules histamine (Hia) and serotonin (5-HT), which are critical for their function. Our previous studies have indicated a metabolic interplay among PAs, Hia and 5-HT in this cell type. For instance, we showed that PAs affect Hia synthesis during early stages of IL-3-induced bone marrow cell differentiation into bone marrow derived MCs (BMMCs) and demonstrated that PAs are present in MC secretory granules and are important for granule homeostasis, including Hia storage and 5-HT levels. A few years ago, a novel antizyme inhibitor (AZIN2) was described whose expression is restricted to a few tissues and cell types including brain, testis and MCs. In MCs, it was recently proposed that AZIN2 could act as a local regulator of PA biosynthesis in association with 5-HT-containing granules and with 5-HT release following MC activation. To gain insight into the role of AZIN2 in the biosynthesis and storage of 5-HT and also Hia, we have generated BMMCs from both wild-type and transgenic mice with severe Azin2 hypomorphism, and have analyzed the content of PAs, 5-HT and Hia, and some elements of their metabolisms. Spermine and 5-HT levels were reduced in Azin2 hypomorphic BMMCs compared with wild-type controls, whereas the amount of Hia was increased. Accordingly, the level of tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (the key enzyme for 5-HT biosynthesis) was reduced and the amount of enzymatic activity of histidine decarboxylase (the enzyme responsible for Hia biosynthesis) was increased in Azin2 hypomorphic BMMCs. Taken together, our results show evidence that AZIN2 has an important role in the regulation of 5-HT and Hia biosynthesis and storage in MCsUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This work was supported by SAF2011-26518 (MINECO, Spain) and P10-CVI-6585 and Bio-267 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain). CIBERER is an iniciative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain)

A role for antizyme inhibitor 2 in the biosynthesis and content of histamine and serotonin in mouse mast cells

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine; PAs) are required for the survival of the majority of living cells. Antizymes and antizyme inhibitors are key regulatory proteins of PA levels by affecting ornithine decarboxylase, the rate-limiting biosynthetic enzyme, and PA uptake. In addition to PA, mast cells (MC) synthesize and store in their granules the biogenically active amines histamine (Hia) and serotonin (5-HT), which are of critical importance for their function. Previously, we have performed several studies in this cell type regarding the interplay between the metabolisms of PAs and Hia and 5-HT. Our results showed that PAs affect Hia synthesis during early stages of IL-3-induced bone marrow cell differentiation into bone marrow derived MCs (BMMCs) and demonstrated that PAs are present in MC secretory granules and are important for granule homeostasis, including Hia storage and 5-HT levels. A few years ago, a novel antizyme inhibitor (AZIN2) was described. In contrast to AZIN1, AZIN2 expression is restricted to a few tissues and cell types including brain, testis and MCs. In MCs, it was recently described that AZIN2 could act as a local regulator of PA biosynthesis in association with the 5-HT granule content and release. At present, our aim is to gain further insight into the role of AZIN2 in the biosynthesis, storage and release of both Hia and 5-HT. In this study, we have generated BMMCs from both wild-type and transgenic mice with severe Azin2 hypomorphism, and have analyzed the content of PAs, Hia and 5-HT, and some elements of their metabolisms. Both PAs and 5-HT levels were reduced in Azin2 hypomorphic BMMCs compared with wild-type controls, whereas the amount of Hia was increased. Accordingly, the level of tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (the key enzyme for 5-HT biosynthesis) was reduced and the amount of enzymatic activity of histidine decarboxylase (the enzyme responsible for histamine biosynthesis) was increased in Azin2 hypomorphic BMMCs. Taken together, our results show evidence that AZIN2 has an important role in the regulation of Hia and 5-HT biosynthesis and storage in MCs. Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and CIBER de Enfermedades Raras (CIBER-ER), Faculty of Sciences, University of Málaga, Málaga 29071, Spain. Corresponding author: I. Fajardo ([email protected]) This work was supported by SAF2011-26518 (MINECO, Spain) and P10-CVI-6585 and Bio-267 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain). CIBERER is an iniciative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía-Tech. SAF2011-26518 (MINECO, Spain) and P10-CVI-6585 and Bio-267 (Junta de Andalucia, Spain. CIBERER is an iniciative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain)

The Spitzer Atlas of Stellar Spectra

We present the Spitzer Atlas of Stellar Spectra (SASS), which includes 159 stellar spectra (5 to 32 mic; R~100) taken with the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. This Atlas gathers representative spectra of a broad section of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, intended to serve as a general stellar spectral reference in the mid-infrared. It includes stars from all luminosity classes, as well as Wolf-Rayet (WR) objects. Furthermore, it includes some objects of intrinsic interest, like blue stragglers and certain pulsating variables. All the spectra have been uniformly reduced, and all are available online. For dwarfs and giants, the spectra of early-type objects are relatively featureless, dominated by Hydrogen lines around A spectral types. Besides these, the most noticeable photospheric features correspond to water vapor and silicon monoxide in late-type objects and methane and ammonia features at the latest spectral types. Most supergiant spectra in the Atlas present evidence of circumstellar gas. The sample includes five M supergiant spectra, which show strong dust excesses and in some cases PAH features. Sequences of WR stars present the well-known pattern of lines of HeI and HeII, as well as forbidden lines of ionized metals. The characteristic flat-top shape of the [Ne III] line is evident even at these low spectral resolutions. Several Luminous Blue Variables and other transition stars are present in the Atlas and show very diverse spectra, dominated by circumstellar gas and dust features. We show that the [8]-[24] Spitzer colors (IRAC and MIPS) are poor predictors of spectral type for most luminosity classes.Comment: Accepted by ApJS; Atlas contents available from: http://web.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/ardila/Atlas/index.html; http://irsa.ipac.caltech.edu/data/SPITZER/SASS/; 70 PDF pages, including figure

Structural and functional interaction between polyamine related molecules and biological membranes

La comunicación describe el conocimiento actual sobre las interacciones de biomoléculas relacionadas con el metabolismo de poliaminas con las estructuras y funciones de las membranas biológicasChanges induced by PA on nucleic acid (NA) conformation and synthesis is proven to be a major reason for PA essentiality (1-3). However, PA interactions with other polyanions, for instance polyanionic membrane lipid bilayers and glyosaminoglycans have received less attention (3-4). The functional importance of these interactions still is an obscure but interesting area of cell and molecular biology, especially in mammalian cells for which specific PA transport systems are not fully characterized (5). In mammals, activity and turnover of the polyamine (PA) synthesis key enzyme is controlled by a set of proteins: Antizymes (OAZ1-3) and antizyme inhibitors (AZIN1 and 2). It is demonstrated that AOZ modulate polyamine uptake (6), and that PA transport to mitochondria is linked to the respiratory chain state and modulates mitochondrial permeability transition (7). Antizyme expression variants have been located in mitochondria, being proposed as a proapoptotic factor (7-8). AZIN 2 is only expressed in a reduced set of tissues that includes mast cells, where it is associated to mast cell granules membrane (9). This fact, together to the abnormalities observed in bone marrow derived mast cell granules when they are differentiated under restricted PA synthesis conditions (10 and unpublished results), point out to important roles of PA and their related proteins in structure and function of mast cell granules. We will also present novel biophysical results on tripartite interactions of PA that remark the interest of the characterization of PA interactions with lipid bilayers for biomedicine and biotechnology. Thus, the information reported in this paper integrates previously reported information with our still unpublished results, all indicating that PA and their related proteins also are important factors for structure and dynamics of biological membranes and their associated functions essential in human physiology; for instance, solute interchange with the environment (uptake and secretion), oxidative metabolism and apoptosis. The importance of these involved processes for human homeostasis claim for further research efforts. 1. Ruiz-Chica J, Medina MA, Sánchez-Jiménez F and Ramírez FJ (2001) Fourier Transform Raman study of the structural specificities on the interaction between DNA and biogenic polyamines. Biophysical J. 80:443-454. 2. Lightfoot HL, Hall J (2014) Endogenous polyamine function--the RNA perspective. Nucleic Acids Res. 42:11275-11290. 3. Igarashi K, Kashiwagi K (2010) Modulation of cellular function by polyamines. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 42:39-51. 4. Finger S, Schwieger C, Arouri A, Kerth A, Blume A (2014) Interaction of linear polyamines with negatively charged phospholipids: the effect of polyamine charge distance. Biol Chem. 395:769-778. 5. Poulin R, Casero RA, Soulet D. (2012) Recent advances in the molecular biology of metazoan polyamine transport. Amino Acids. 42:711-723. 6. Kahana C (2009) Regulation of cellular polyamine levels and cellular proliferation by antizyme and antizyme inhibitor. Essays Biochem. 4:47-61. 7. Agostinelli E, Marques MP, Calheiros R, Gil FP, Tempera G, Viceconte N, Battaglia V, Grancara S, Toninello A (2010) Polyamines: fundamental characters in chemistry and biology. Amino Acids 38:393-403. 8. Liu GY, Liao YF, Hsu PC, Chang WH, Hsieh MC, Lin CY, Hour TC, Kao MC, Tsay GJ, Hung HC (2006) Antizyme, a natural ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor, induces apoptosis of haematopoietic cells through mitochondrial membrane depolarization and caspases' cascade. Apoptosis 11:1773-1788. 9. Kanerva K, Lappalainen J, Mäkitie LT, Virolainen S, Kovanen PT, Andersson LC (2009). Expression of antizyme inhibitor 2 in mast cells and role of polyamines as selective regulators of serotonin secretion. PLoS One 31:e6858. 10. García-Faroldi G, Rodríguez CE, Urdiales JL, Pérez-Pomares JM, Dávila JC, Pejler G, Sánchez-Jiménez F, Fajardo I (2010) Polyamines are present in mast cell secretory granules and are important for granule homeostasis. PLoS One 30:e15071.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Herschel Observations of Debris Disks from WISE

The \Vide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has just completed a sensitive all-sky survey in photometric bands at 3.4, 4.6,12 and 22 microns. We report on a study of main sequence Hipparcos and Tycho catalog stars within 120 pc with WISE 22 micron emission in excess of photospheric levels. This warm excess emission traces material in the circumstellar region likely to host terrestrial planets and is preferentially found in young systems with ages < 1 Gyr. Nearly a hundred of the WISE new warm debris disk candidates detected among FGK stars are being observed by Herschel/PACS to characterize circumstellar dust. Preliminary results indicate 70 micron detection rates in excess of 80% for these targets, suggesting that most of these systems have both warm and cool dust in analogy to our asteroid and Kuiper belts. In this contribution, we will discuss the WISE debris disk survey and latest results from Herschel observations of these sources

A SURVEY OF NEARBY MAIN-SEQUENCE STARS FOR SUBMILLIMETER EMISSION

We searched for submillimeter emission around 10 Vega-type stars and one Herbig Ae star with the four-color bolometer at 1300 μm and the 19 channel bolometer array at 870 μm using the Heinrich Hertz Telescope at the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory. All of our sources were undetected at 870 μm. In the case of HD 131156, we have a 3 σ detection at 1300 μm. We report a flux of 6.25 ± 1.88 mJy for the HD 131156 disk and a corresponding dust mass of 2.4 ± 0.7 lunar masses. However, we did not detect HD 131156 at 870 μm, so we are cautious about the 1300 μm detection. We performed follow-up infrared observations of HD 131156 using MIRLIN at the Palomar 200 inch telescope, which resolved both components of the binary. The data are photospheric, implying that the system does not have a hot, inner dust component. We report submillimeter upper limits on fluxes for the remaining systems

Observations of 51 Ophiuchi with MIDI at the VLTI

We present interferometric observations of the Be star 51 Ophiuchi. These observations were obtained during the science demonstration phase of the MIDI instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Using MIDI, a Michelson 2 beam combiner that operates at the N band (8 to 13 microns), we obtained for the first time observations of 51 Oph in the mid-infrared at high-angular resolution. It is currently known that this object presents a circumstellar dust and gas disk that shows a very different composition from other Herbig Ae disks. The nature of the 51 Oph system is still a mystery to be solved. Does it have a companion? Is it a protoplanetary system? We still don't know. Observations with MIDI at the VLTI allowed us to reach high-angular resolution (20 mas).We have several uv points that allowed us to constrain the disk model. We have modeled 51 Oph visibilities and were able to constrain the size and geometry of the 51 Oph circumstellar disk.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, to be published in the proceedings of "The Power of Optical / IR Interferometry: Recent Scientific Results and 2nd Generation VLTI Instrumentation", Garching, April 4-8, 200