Single-pixel polarimetric imaging

We present an optical system that performs Stokes polarimetric imaging with a single-pixel detector. This fact is possible by applying the theory of compressive sampling to the data acquired by a commercial polarimeter without spatial resolution. The measurement process is governed by a spatial light modulator, which sequentially generates a set of preprogrammed light intensity patterns. Experimental results are presented and discussed for an object that provides an inhomogeneous polarization distribution.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) grants and FIS2010- 15746

Increased expression levels of the pvcrt-o and pvmdr1 genes in a patient with severe Plasmodium vivax malaria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There are increasing reports of severe clinical cases exclusively associated with <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>infections. Notably, this severity has been recently suggested to be associated with chloroquine resistance.</p> <p>Patients</p> <p>Two different patients presented at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona with <it>P. vivax </it>malaria episodes. One patient had severe symptoms and the other mild symptoms. Both patients traveled through the Brazilian Amazon (Manaus) in 2007. For both patients the current diagnosis of malaria was the first. Two other patients with mild symptoms presented to the "Centro de Pesquisa em Medicina Tropical", also in the Brazilian Amazon (Rondônia) in 2000.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To exclude the possibility that the patient's severe symptoms were due to <it>Plasmodium falciparum</it>, a nested PCR was performed. A magnetic method was used to purify <it>P. vivax </it>free of human leukocytes. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to compare the transcript levels of two main transporters likely to be involved in chloroquine resistance in <it>P. vivax</it>, namely the <it>P. vivax </it>chloroquine resistance transporter, <it>pvcrt-o</it>, and the <it>P. vivax </it>multidrug resistance transporter, <it>pvmdr 1</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results demonstrated that the severe clinical symptoms were exclusively due to <it>P. vivax</it>. The patient presented acute respiratory conditions requiring admission to the intensive care unit. The magnetic method showed highly purified infected-reticulocytes with mature stages. In addition, it was found that parasites obtained from the severe patient had up to 2.9-fold increase in <it>pvmdr1 </it>levels and up to 21.9-fold increase in <it>pvcrt-o </it>levels compared to expression levels of parasites from the other patients with mild symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first clinical case of severe disease exclusively associated with vivax malaria in Spain. Moreover, these findings suggest that clinical severity could be associated with increased expression levels of parasite genes likely involved in chloroquine resistance. It is necessary to further explore the potential of <it>pvmdr1 </it>and particularly <it>pvcrt-o </it>expression levels as molecular markers of severe disease in <it>P. vivax</it>.</p

Spatial-chirp compensation in dynamical holograms reconstructed with ultrafast lasers

A computer generated hologram (CGH) reconstructed with a sub-100-fs laser pulse at the focal plane of a conventional refractive lens experiences a large amount of spatial chirp. We report the shaping of a 12 fs laser pulsed beam by means of a Fourier CGH implemented onto a spatial light modulator, using a hybrid diffractive-refractive lens triplet that provides spatial-chirp compensation. Experimental results demonstrate that parallel, arbitrary, and high-resolution patterning is possible with the proposed devic

Análisis preliminar de un nuevo yacimiento de vertebrados fósiles (Arenal del Ángel-3), eoceno medio, formación areniscas de Cabrerizos (Salamanca, España): estratigrafía y contenido paleontológico

Cabrerizos Sandstone Formation, middle Eocene, is one of the richest paleontological (reptiles and mammals) lithostratigraphic units of the Duero basin. It represents a fluvial system that evolve thought time and space that constituted, by the own dynamics of the system, traps for vertebrate remains accumulations. These deposits were originated by the infilling of ponds or abandoned channels due to the overflow of the principal, active channel or, due to the development of megabodies inside these channels during the active stage. Is in this latter context where the macrovertebrate fossil bed AA-3 is formed. In this study, the fallen blocks have been identified and correlate with their original levels and the fossil remains have been study. The study and the analysis of the fossil remain will improve the knowledge of the fossil content and also, can help for a future, more detailed, datation of the Formation that could be obtained from them.La Formación Areniscas de Cabrerizos, Eoceno medio, es una de las unidades litoestratigráficas más rica en restos paleontológicos (reptiles y mamíferos) de la cuenca del Duero. Esta unidad litoestratigráfica representa un sistema fluvial que evoluciona en el tiempo y en el espacio que originó, por la propia dinámica del sistema, trampas naturales donde se acumularon los restos orgánicos. Dichas trampas tienen su origen en las charcas elaboradas a partir de canales abandonados y rellenadas durante los desbordamientos de los canales principales en el período de aguas altas, grandes avenidas o acumulados en el fondo de canales activos por donde se mueven megarripples. En este último contexto se formó el yacimiento de macrovertebrados del Arenal del Ángel-3. Dicho yacimiento está integrado por diversos bloques desprendidos o removilizados. En el presente estudio, se localizan los niveles de procedencia de los mismos y se estudian y analizan los restos encontrados. Esto supondrá la puesta en valor de los restos fósiles presentes en el yacimiento y la aceptación de las futuras dataciones que de ellos puedan obtenerse./

Water-Gas Shift Reaction on K/Cu(111) and Cu/K/TiO2(110) Surfaces: Alkali Promotion of Water Dissociation and Production of H2

The addition of potassium atoms to Cu(111) and Cu/TiO2(110) surfaces substantially enhances the rate for water dissociation and the production of hydrogen through the water-gas shift reaction (WGS, CO + H2O → H2 + CO2). In the range of temperatures investigated, 550-625 K, Cu/K/TiO2(110) exhibits a WGS activity substantially higher than those of K/Cu(111), Cu(111), and Cu/ZnO(0001̄) systems used to model an industrial Cu/ZnO catalyst. The apparent activation energy for the WGS drops from 18 Kcal/mol on Cu(111) to 12 Kcal/mol on K/Cu(111) and 6 Kcal/mol on Cu/K/TiO2(110). The results of density functional calculations show that K adatoms favor the thermochemistry for water dissociation on Cu(111) and Cu/TiO2(110) with the cleavage of an O-H bond occurring at room temperature. Furthermore, at the Cu/K/TiO2 interface, there is a synergy, and this system has a unique ability to dissociate the water molecule and catalyze hydrogen production through the WGS process. Therefore, when optimizing a regular catalyst, it is essential to consider mainly the effects of an alkali promoter on the metal-oxide interface.US Department of Energy DE-SC0012704Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CTQ2015-64669-

A Bacterial Shortcut to Amyloidosis

21 p.-10 fig.The synthetic bacterial prionoid RepA-WH1 causes a vertically transmissible amyloid proteinopathy in Escherichia coli that inhibits growth and eventually kills the cells. Recent in vitro studies show that RepA-WH1 builds pores through model lipid membranes, suggesting a possible mechanism for bacterial cell death. By comparing acutely (A31V) and mildly (ΔN37) cytotoxic mutant variants of the protein, we report here that RepA-WH1(A31V) expression decreases the intracellular osmotic pressure and compromise bacterial viability under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Both are effects expected from threatening membrane integrity and are in agreement with findings on the impairment by RepA-WH1(A31V) of the proton motive force (PMF)-dependent transport of ions (Fe3+) and ATP1 synthesis. Systems approaches reveal that, in aerobiosis, the PMF-independent respiratory dehydrogenase NdhII is induced in response to the reduction in intracellular levels of iron. While NdhII is known to generate H2O2 as a by-product of the autoxidation of its FAD cofactor, key proteins in the defense against oxidative stress (OxyR, KatE), together with other stress-resistance factors, are sequestered by co-aggregation with the RepA-WH1(A31V) amyloid. Our findings suggest a route for RepA-WH1 toxicity in bacteria: a primary hit of damage to the membrane, compromising bionergetics, triggers a stroke of oxidative stress, which is exacerbated due to the aggregation-dependent inactivation of enzymes and transcription factors that enable the cellular response to such injury. The proteinopathy caused by the prion-like protein RepA-WH1 in bacteria recapitulates some of the core hallmarks of human amyloid diseases.This work has been supported by grants from Spanish AEI / EU-FEDER (BIO2012-30852, BIO2015- 68730-R and CSD2009-00088) and CSIC (i-LINK0889) to R.G. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

Magnetovolume and magnetocaloric effects in Er2Fe17

Combining different experimental techniques, investigations in hexagonal P63/mmc Er2Fe17 show remarkable magnetovolume anomalies below the Curie temperature, TC. The spontaneous magnetostriction reaches 1.6×10−2 at 5 K and falls to zero well above TC, owing to short-range magnetic correlations. Moreover, Er2Fe17 exhibits direct and inverse magnetocaloric effects (MCE) with moderate isothermal magnetic entropy ΔSM, and diabatic temperature ΔTad changes [ΔSM∼−4.7 J(kgK)−1 and ΔTad∼2.5 K near the TC, and ΔSM∼1.3 J(kgK)−1 and ΔTad∼−0.6 K at 40 K for ΔH=80 kOe, respectively, determined from magnetization measurements]. The existence of an inverse MCE seems to be related to a crystalline electric field-level crossover in the Er sublattice and the ferrimagnetic arrangement between the magnetic moments of the Er and Fe sublattice. The main trends found experimentally for the temperature dependence of ΔSM and ΔTad as well as for the atomic magnetic moments are qualitatively well described considering a mean-field Hamiltonian that incorporates both crystalline electric field and exchange interactions. ΔSM(T) and ΔTad(T) curves are essentially zero at ∼150 K, the temperature where the transition from direct to inverse MCE occurs. A possible interplay between the MCE and the magnetovolume anomalies is also discussed.Financial support from Spanish MICINN (MAT2011-27573-C04-02) and from the Basque Government (IT-347- 07) is acknowledged. J.L.S.Ll. acknowledges the support received from CONACYT, Mexico, under the project CB2010-01-156932, and Laboratorio Nacional de Investigaciones en Nanociencias y Nanotecnología (LINAN, IPICyT). J.A.R.V. acknowledges the support from the research project MAT2007-61621. We thank ILL and CRG-D1B for allocating neutron beamtime, and ESRF for synchrotron beamtime. The SCTs at the University of Oviedo and the technical support received from M.Sc. G. J. Labrada-Delgado and B. A. Rivera-Escoto (DMA, IPICyT) are also acknowledged

Educació en suport vital i ressuscitació 2021

L'impacte final de les guies per al suport vital depèn de la qualitat però també de l'ensenyament i l'aprenentatge que se'n faci, i del grau d'implantació. Pel que fa a la implantació, aquesta depèn dels recursos per portarles a la pràctica i de la seva difusió, però també de la factibilitat de l'aplicació de les recomanacions proposades. La interacció entre aquests tres aspectes, guies, formació i implementació, és el que es coneix com a fórmula de la supervivència d'Utstein. Aquest concepte ha rebut molta atenció els últims anys i ha motivat capítols específics en les guies 2021 del Consell Europeu de Ressuscitació (ERC)

San Adrian: un nuevo yacimiento de la Edad del Bronce en el Norte de la Peninsula Iberica

Bronze Age studies carried out in the Cantabrian Region have traditionally focused on prestige goods and funerary contexts. As a result of this, the lack of information about daily activities, subsistence strategies, and human settlement on a regional scale is evident in the state of art. However, current research has achieved new discoveries in recent years, allowing a reconstruction of some aspects of the economic structure, settlements, material culture and the palaeoenvironment during the Bronze Age. Indeed, besides the funerary practices discovered in 1983 in San Adrian (Parztuergo Nagusia, Gipuzkoa), research has now revealed the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Early Bronze Age occupations. This paper presents a first characterization of the retrieved evidence and a preliminary evaluation of the archaeological site and its environment. San Adrian is a tunnel-shaped cave located at 1,000 meters a.s.l. in the Aizkorri mountain range, opening a passage beneath the Atlantic-Mediterranean watershed in northern Iberia. The strategic character of this mountain site is demonstrated by the presence of Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations, and by the construction of a road passing through it and the fortification of both its entrances in the Middle Ages. The aim of the archaeological survey started in 2008 was to identify, describe and evaluate the heritage potential of the cave, because previous fieldwork had only managed to make surface finds in the side galleries, including a medieval hoard and Bronze Age human remains. The work carried out by our research group at San Adrian includes a series of test pits and the excavation of an area nine square metres in size following stratigraphic criteria. In the current state, we identified at least two contexts corresponding to Late Upper Palaeolithic and Bronze Age occupations in the cave. Fieldwork included the sieving and flotation of sediment and the collection of samples for different types of analysis: palynology, carpology, sedimentology, and radiocarbon dating. The evidence is being studied by a multidisciplinary team according to expertise requirements for each topic: palaeobotany and environment, archaeozoology, sedimentology, geology, physical anthropology, prehistoric industries (lithics, pottery and bone) and archaeological and historical documentation. Because of its recent discovery, Upper Palaeolithic evidence remains still under study, but first results on Bronze Age layers can be presented. The ongoing archaeobotanical and archaeozoological studies reveal the exploitation of domestic plants and fauna complemented by hunting and foraging of wild species. At the same time, the archaeological artefacts and their production sequences show the exploitation of nearby resources on both sides of the mountain range, while prestige goods are absent. This evidence is also used to estimate the regularity of cave occupations and to propose a model of seasonal exploitation of the mountain environment. The results obtained reveal the exploitation of resources from both the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins, and contribute towards an understanding of the daily activities of Bronze Age societies. In addition, the evidence shows the exchange and circulation of quotidian products between the Cantabrian region and inland Iberia in other networks than those of prestige goods

Primers auxilis 2021

Els primers auxilis (PA) són l'atenció inicial prestada en cas de malaltia aguda o lesió que es presenta de manera sobtada, i que pot ser iniciada per qualsevol persona (proveïdor) en qualsevol situació incloent-hi l'autocura. Els objectius dels primers auxilis són preservar la vida, alleujar el patiment, prevenir noves malalties o lesions i promoure la recuperació. Les primeres guies del Consell Europeu de Ressuscitació (ERC) sobre PA van aparèixer l'any 2015, i el Comitè d'RCP de la Societat Catalana de Pediatria (CRCPSCP) les va difondre a través de Pediatria Catalana. En aquell article es donava també a conèixer la història del desenvolupament dels PA. El canvi que ha significat la introducció del concepte de suport vital ha comportat que els últims anys els PA siguin considerats un tema important també per als professionals sanitaris. En aquest sentit, les guies pediàtriques ERC 2021 ressalten la importància que té la identificació i el maneig precoç de l'infant críticament malalt o lesionat i el coneixement que en tinguin els proveïdors de PA. En aquest informe es presenten les recomanacions 2021 de l'ERC referents als PA, sobre la base de la revisió de l'ILCOR, amb vint temes relacionats amb emergències, mèdiques i traumàtique