The impact of DM on MHC class II–restricted antigen presentation can be altered by manipulation of MHC–peptide kinetic stability

DM edits the peptide repertoire presented by major histocompatibility complex class II molecules by professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs), favoring presentation of some peptides over others. Despite considerable research by many laboratories, there is still significant uncertainty regarding the biochemical attributes of class II–peptide complexes that govern their susceptibility to DM editing. Here, using APCs that either do or do not express DM and a set of unrelated antigens, we found that the intrinsic kinetic stability of class II–peptide complexes is tightly correlated with the effects of DM editing within APCs. Furthermore, through the use of kinetic stability variants of three independent peptides, we demonstrate that increasing or decreasing the kinetic stability of class II–peptide complexes causes a corresponding alteration in DM editing. Finally, we show that the spontaneous kinetic stability of class II complexes correlates directly with the efficiency of presentation by DM+ APCs and the immunodominance of that class II–peptide complex during an immune response. Collectively, these results suggest that the pattern of DM editing in APCs can be intentionally changed by modifying class II–peptide interactions, leading to the desired hierarchy of presentation on APCs, thereby promoting recruitment of CD4 T cells specific for the preferred peptides during an immune response

Deficit irrigation in Mediterranean vineyards - a tool to increase water use efficiency and to control grapevine and berry growth

IHC - IS Viti&Climate: Effect of Climate Change on Production and Quality of Grapevines and their Products, 28 th, 2012Water is increasingly scarce in Mediterranean Europe and irrigated agriculture is one of the largest and most inefficient users of this natural resource. Ecological topics such as the “water foot print” have become more relevant for the academy, consumers, governments and food industry. The wine sector needs solutions to improve its economical and environmental sustainability. Agronomical solutions, such as deficit irrigation (water supply below full crop evapotranspiration) have emerged as a tool for more efficient water use in irrigated viticulture and with likely positive effects on berry quality. Improving our understanding on the physiological and molecular basis of grapevine responses to water stress is an important task for research on irrigated viticulture. Better knowledge of the different genotypic responses (e.g., leaf gas exchange) to water stress can help to optimize crop/soil management and improve yield as well as berry quality traits under unfavourable climate conditions. Mild water deficits have direct and/or indirect (via the light environment in the cluster zone) effects on berry growth and composition. Another important challenge is to determine how soil water deficit regulate genes and proteins of the various metabolic pathways influencing berry composition and consequently wine quality

Compact modeling technology for the simulation of integrated circuits based on graphene field-effect transistors

transformatiu CRUE-CSICUTP en procés de revisióAltres ajuts: GraphCAT project reference 001-P-001702The progress made toward the definition of a modular compact modeling technology for graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) that enables the electrical analysis of arbitrary GFET-based integrated circuits is reported. A set of primary models embracing the main physical principles defines the ideal GFET response under DC, transient (time domain), AC (frequency domain), and noise (frequency domain) analysis. Another set of secondary models accounts for the GFET non-idealities, such as extrinsic-, short-channel-, trapping/detrapping-, self-heating-, and non-quasi static-effects, which can have a significant impact under static and/or dynamic operation. At both device and circuit levels, significant consistency is demonstrated between the simulation output and experimental data for relevant operating conditions. Additionally, a perspective of the challenges during the scale up of the GFET modeling technology toward higher technology readiness levels while drawing a collaborative scenario among fabrication technology groups, modeling groups, and circuit designers, is provided

Development of a work climate scale in emergency health services

An adequate work climate fosters productivity in organizations and increases employee satisfaction. Workers in emergency health services (EHS) have an extremely high degree of responsibility and consequent stress. Therefore, it is essential to foster a good work climate in this context. Despite this, scales with a full study of their psychometric properties (i.e., validity evidence based on test content, internal structure and relations to other variables, and reliability) are not available to measure work climate in EHS specifically. For this reason, our objective was to develop a scale tomeasure the quality of work climates in EHS.We carried out three studies. In Study 1, we used a mixed-method approach to identify the latent conceptual structure of the construct work climate. Thus, we integrated the results found in (a) a previous study, where a content analysis of seven in-depth interviews obtained from EHS professionals in two hospitals in Gibraltar Countryside County was carried out; and (b) the factor analysis of the responses given by 113 EHS professionals from these same centers to 18 items that measured the work climate in health organizations. As a result, we obtained 56 items grouped into four factors (work satisfaction, productivity/achievement of aims, interpersonal relationships, and performance at work). In Study 2, we presented validity evidence based on test content through experts’ judgment. Fourteen experts from the methodology and health fields evaluated the representativeness, utility, and feasibility of each of the 56 items with respect to their factor (theoretical dimension). Forty items met the inclusion criterion, which was to obtain an Osterlind index value greater than or equal to 0.5 in the three aspects assessed. In Study 3, 201 EHS professionals from the same centers completed the resulting 40-item scale. This new instrument produced validity evidence based on the internal structure in a second-order factormodel with four components (RMSEA=0.079, GFI = 0.97, AGFI = 0.97, CFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.95, and NNFI = 0.97); absence of differential Item Functioning (DIF) in 80% of the items; reliability (a = 0.96); and validity evidence based on relations to other variables, specifically the test-criterion relationship (r = 0.680). Finally, we discuss further developments of the instrument and its possible implications for EHS workers.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PSI2011-29587Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PSI2015-71947-RED

Recombinant nodavirus vaccine produced in bacteria and administered without purification elicits humoral immunity and protects European sea bass against infection

Viral necrosis virus (NNV) or nodavirus causes fish viral encephalopathy and retinopathy worldwide. In some cases, mortalities in aquaculture industry can reach up to 100%, some species being especially sensitive as is the case of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax), one of the main cultured species in the Mediterranean, with the consequent economical loses. Development of new vaccines against NNV is in the spotlight though few re- searches have focused in European sea bass. In this study we have generated a recombinant NNV (rNNV) vaccine produced in Escherichia coli expressing the capsid protein and administered it to European sea bass juveniles by two different routes (intraperitoneal and oral). The last being considered non-stressful and desired for fish farming of small fish, which in fact are the most affected by NNV. Oral vaccine was composed of feed pellets containing the recombinant whole bacteria, and injected vaccine was composed of recombinant bacteria pre- viously lysed. Our results revealed production of specific anti-NNV IgM following the two vaccination proce- dures, levels that were further increased in orally-vaccinated group after challenge with NNV. Genes related to interferon (IFN), T-cell and immunoglobulin markers were scarcely regulated in head-kidney (HK), gut or brain. Vaccination by either route elicited a relative survival response of 100% after NNV challenge. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a recombinant vaccine followed by no purification steps which resulted in a complete protection in European sea bass when challenged with NNV.Versión del edito

Diseño y construcción de un osciloscopio digital implementado en matlab

La experimentación, diseño, construcción y pruebas de laboratorio de sistemas electrónicos, requiere de la utilización mancomunada de diferentes equipos que aseguren la calidad de las actividades realizadas. Uno de tales equipos es el Osciloscopio, instrumento indispensable en el desarrollo de sistemas analógicos o digitales; cuyo uso permite el monitoreo constante de señales en cualquier etapa de las diferentes secciones que conforman dichos sistemas. El Osciloscopio es fundamental para la determinación de parámetros y características propios de señales periódicas como: frecuencia, amplitud máxima, nivel DC y forma de onda. Así mismo su uso se hace recurrente en la medición de variables eléctricas; hecho por el cual se requiere el acceso permanente a equipos como el Osciloscopio que permiten monitorear diferentes tipos de señales en tiempo real. A raíz de lo anterior se plantea el diseño y construcción de un Osciloscopio Digital, implementado por software a través de una aplicación en Matlab cuyas entradas están asociadas a la tarjeta de Sonido de un PC

Del análisis de fourier a las wavelets análisis de fourier

Durante los últimos 200 años se han desarrollado distintos métodos y técnicas de procesamiento digital, para la detección y evaluación de funciones que posteriormente se aplicaron al tratamiento de señales. El análisis espectral de una señal pretende analizar en detalle el comportamiento y aporte de sus componentes armónicas en el dominio de la frecuencia. Para determinar el espectro más simple de una función se puede recurrir a la Transformada de Fourier (FT), con sus limitaciones para ofrecer información en el tiempo; es decir no indica los instantes en los que ocurren ciertos eventos importantes para la señal. Para tener una localización temporal de las componentes espectrales se requiere la utilización de otras transformadas, que proporcionen una representación tiempo-frecuencia de la señal no estacionaria. La Transformada Corta de Fourier STFT y la Transformada Wavelet WT permiten dicho análisis en tiempo frecuencia. La Transformada Wavelet permite observar el comportamiento de diferentes eventos de la señal (tales como ruido y spikes) al descomponerla en funciones elementales derivadas de la misma señal, que pueden ser seleccionadas hasta el nivel deseado de detalle. La WT también proporciona de manera simultánea información sobre el tiempo y la frecuencia. A diferencia de la STFT, la Transformada Wavelet analiza la señal con distintas resoluciones para las diferentes frecuencias. Este documento presenta de manera sencilla las características básicas de cada procedimiento de análisis de señales, al igual que ilustra, a través de Matlab 7.0, algunos ejemplos básicos de sus implementaciones