Evaluación en teoría de la mente y funciones ejecutivas en personas con consumo de sustancias

Research into neuropsychological alterations and alterations in social cognition caused by substance abuse has received special interest in recent decades due to the implications involved the design of therapeutic plans and the social consequences that this problem entails. The following project shows an experimental study in order to find significant differences in what refers to the functioning of the Theory of Mind (ToM) and the Executive Functions (EFs) in a population with a diagnosis for substance abuse disorder. ToM is the ability to assign thoughts and different intentions to the behavior and attitude of people. On the other hand, the EFs are the cognitive capacities to carry out the accomplishment of a task thanks to the planning. To verify the proposed objective, two groups were used in the clinical sample: 10 participants with alcohol use disorder and 10 patients with cocaine use disorder, compared to a control group of 20 people of normal population. Besides this, it is sought to establish differences in the alterations between both groups of drug-dependent subjects. The results show the participants with cocaine use disorder, in comparasion with the control group, have deficit in several elements that make up the EFs and ToM, while the group with alcohol use disorder does not show significant differences, although it does have lower scores than the control group.El estudio de las alteraciones neuropsicológicas y alteraciones de la cognición social provocada por el abuso de sustancias ha cobrado especial interés en las últimas décadas debido a las implicaciones que conlleva en aspectos como el diseño de planes terapéuticos y las consecuencias sociales. El presente trabajo muestra un estudio cuasi-experimental con el objetivo de analizar la posible existencia de diferencias significativas en el funcionamiento de la Teoría de la Mente (TdM) y las Funciones Ejecutivas (FE) en población con un diagnóstico por trastorno por consumo de sustancias (TCS). La TdM es la capacidad de asignar pensamientos y distintas intenciones a la conducta y actitud de las personas. Las FE son las capacidades cognitivas para llevar a cabo la consecución de una tarea gracias a la planificación. Para comprobar el objetivo propuesto, se han utilizados dos grupos en la muestra clínica: 10 participantes con trastorno por consumo de alcohol (TCA) y 10 pacientes con trastorno por consumo de cocaína (TCC), frente a un grupo control de 20 personas de población normal. Por otro lado, se busca establecer diferencias en las alteraciones entre ambos grupos de pacientes drogodependientes. Los resultados hallados muestran que los participantes con TCC presentan déficit en varios elementos que componen las FE y la TdM en relación al grupo control, mientras que el grupo con TCA no muestra diferencias significativas, aunque sí puntuaciones más bajas respecto al control

Effects of different swimming race constraints on turning movements

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different swimming race constraints on the evolution of turn parameters. One hundred and fifty-eight national and regional level 200-m (meters) male swimming performances were video-analyzed using the individualized-distance model in the Open Comunidad de Madrid tournament. Turn (p .05). Higher expertise swimmers obtained faster average velocities and longer distances in all the turn phases (p < .001, ES = 0.59), except the approach distance. In addition, national level swimmers showed the ability to maintain most of the turn parameters throughout the race, which assisted them in improving average velocity at the end of races. Therefore, the variations in the turning movements of a swimming race were expertise-related and focused on optimizing average velocity. Turning skills should be included in the swimming race action plan

Low cost time division multiplexing of identical optical fibre ring intensity sensors

A time division multiplexing (TDM) array for passive multiplexing of identical fibre, optic intensity sensors has been demonstrated. Microbending loss sensors are introduced in fibre optic rings and pressure information is directly detected, demultiplexed and demodulated from the relative amplitude of the first two pulses produced on each ring. Several dynamic ranges from 6 dB to 14 dB are shown. A comparison between both fibre optic ring and Mach-Zehnder structure impulse responses is carried out and the consequences derived from second- and higher-order recirculating ring pulses are also evaluated. This technique can be applied to those TDM intensity sensing schemes which require low cost, high number of identical sensors, and suffer high element loss and undersirable intensity fluctuations at low frequencies

Estudio Biomecanico de la Zancada. 7.52 Record de España de 60 MV de Jackson Quiñonez.

Los resultados que a continuación se presentan hacen referencia al Record de España de 60 metros vallas (en adelante, mv) conseguido por el atleta Jackson Quiñonez (JQ) en la final del 44º Campeonato de España de pista cubierta - Valencia 08. Estos datos forman parte de un estudio global de todas las series de 60 mv y 60 metros lisos (ml) durante el 44º Campeonato de España y el 12th IAAF World Indoor Championship Valencia 2008, en las cuales se aplica una nueva metodología para la obtención de variables espaciales y temporales de todas las zancadas durante la competición

A new procedure for race analysis in swimming based on individual distance measurements

biomecanica de la natació

Injury incidence in a Spanish sub-elite professional football team: A prospective study during four consecutive seasons

The aim of this study was to investigate the injury incidence and injury characteristics of a Spanish sub-elite professional football team during four consecutive seasons. A team was followed prospectively from the season 2003-2004 to 2006-2007 and individual player exposure and time loss injuries were recorded during all club training sessions and matches. A total of 313 time-loss injuries were recorded. The mean injury incidence was 10.9 injuries/1000 hours (5.2 injuries/1000 training hours and 44.1 injuries/1000 match hours). The injury incidence during competitive matches was higher (p 28 days absence) was 0.4 injuries/1000 hours. The thigh was the most commonly (35%) injured region and caused 29% of all competitive match absence. Muscle injuries in the four main groups of the lower limbs (hamstrings, adductors, quadriceps and calf muscles) caused 43% of competitive match unavailability. The results of this study show that the risk to sustain a major injury in the course of the season was low for sub-elite footballers in comparison to elite players. Thigh strains were the first cause of absence in competition due to injury

Identification of a novel virulence determinant within the E2 structural glycoprotein of classical swine fever virus

AbstractClassical swine fever virus (CSFV) E2 glycoprotein contains a discrete epitope (TAVSPTTLR, residues 829–837 of CSFV polyprotein) recognized by monoclonal antibody (mAb) WH303, used to differentiate CSFV from related ruminant pestiviruses, Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) and Border Disease Virus (BDV), that infect swine without causing disease. Progressive mutations were introduced into mAb WH303 epitope in CSFV virulent strain Brescia (BICv) to obtain the homologous amino acid sequence of BVDV strain NADL E2 (TSFNMDTLA). In vitro growth of mutants T1v (TSFSPTTLR), T2v (TSFNPTTLR), T3v (TSFNMTTLR) was similar to parental BICv, while mutants T4v (TSFNMDTLR) and T5v (TSFNMDTLA) exhibited a 10-fold decrease in virus yield and reduced plaque size. In vivo, T1v, T2v or T3v induced lethal disease, T4v induced mild and transient disease and T5v induced mild clinical signs. Protection against BICv challenge was observed at 3 and 21 days post-T5v infection. These results indicate that E2 residues TAVSPTTLR play a significant role in CSFV virulence

Effects of temperature and nutrient supply on resource allocation, photosynthetic strategy, and metabolic rates of Synechococcus sp.

Temperature and nutrient supply are key factors that control phytoplankton ecophysiology, but their role is commonly investigated in isolation. Their combined effect on resource allocation, photosynthetic strategy, and metabolism remains poorly understood. To characterize the photosynthetic strategy and resource allocation under different conditions, we analyzed the responses of a marine cyanobacterium ( Synechococcus PCC 7002) to multiple combinations of temperature and nutrient supply. We measured the abundance of proteins involved in the dark (RuBis CO , rbc L) and light (Photosystem II , psbA) photosynthetic reactions, the content of chlorophyll a , carbon and nitrogen, and the rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and growth. We found that rbc L and psbA abundance increased with nutrient supply, whereas a temperature‐induced increase in psbA occurred only in nutrient‐replete treatments. Low temperature and abundant nutrients caused increased RuBis CO abundance, a pattern we observed also in natural phytoplankton assemblages across a wide latitudinal range. Photosynthesis and respiration increased with temperature only under nutrient‐sufficient conditions. These results suggest that nutrient supply exerts a stronger effect than temperature upon both photosynthetic protein abundance and metabolic rates in Synechococcus sp. and that the temperature effect on photosynthetic physiology and metabolism is nutrient dependent. The preferential resource allocation into the light instead of the dark reactions of photosynthesis as temperature rises is likely related to the different temperature dependence of dark‐reaction enzymatic rates versus photochemistry. These findings contribute to our understanding of the strategies for photosynthetic energy allocation in phytoplankton inhabiting contrasting environments.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PGC2018‐094553‐B‐I00National Science Foundation (USA) | Ref. ANT‐0944254National Environmental Research Council (UK) | Ref. NE/F019254/1National Environmental Research Council (UK) | Ref. NE/G009155/1Xunta de Galici

Binding of the anticancer drug BI-2536 to human serum albumin. A spectroscopic and theoretical study

BI-2536 is a potent Polo-like kinase inhibitor which induces apoptosis in diverse human cancer cell lines. The binding affinity of BI-2536 for human serum albumin (HSA) protein may define its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile. We have studied the binding of BI-2536 to HSA by means of different spectroscopic techniques and docking calculations. We have experimentally observed that the affinity of BI-2536 for HSA is higher than that of other common HSA binding drugs. Therefore, it can be postulated that the drug dose should be increased to achieve a certain concentration of free drug in plasma, although BI-2536 could also reach tumour tissues by uptaking HSA/BI-2536 complex. Only a single binding site on HSA has been observed for BI-2536 which seems to correspond to the subdomain IIA pocket. The formation of the HSA/BI-2536 complex is a spontaneous and entropy-driven process that does not cause a significant change of the secondary structure of the protein. Its endothermic character could be related to proton release. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the main protein-drug interactions are of the van der Waals type although the presence of amide and ether groups in BI-2536 could also allow H-bonding with some residues in the subdomain IIA pocket

Shedding light on the binding mechanism of kinase inhibitors BI-2536, Volasetib and Ro-3280 with their pharmacological target PLK1

In the present work, the interactions of the novel kinase inhibitors BI-2536, Volasetib (BI-6727) and Ro-3280 with the pharmacological target PLK1 have been studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular dynamics calculations. High Stern-Volmer constants were found in fluorescence experiments suggesting the formation of stable protein-ligand complexes. In addition, it was observed that the binding constant between BI-2536 and PLK1 increases about 100-fold in presence of the phosphopeptide Cdc25C-p that docks to the polo box domain of the protein and releases the kinase domain. All the determined binding constants are higher for the kinase inhibitors than for their competitor for the active center (ATP) being BI-2536 and Volasertib the inhibitors that showed more affinity for PLK1. Calculated binding free energies confirmed the higher affinity of PLK1 for BI-2536 and Volasertib than for ATP. The higher affinity of the inhibitors to PLK1 compared to ATP was mainly attributed to stronger van der Waals interactions. Results may help with the challenge of designing and developing new kinase inhibitors more effective in clinical cancer therapy