Magnetic properties of iron oxide nanoflowers

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2021, Tutor: Amílcar Labarta RodríguezMaghemite multi-core nanoparticles have been modelled to better understand their magnetic properties and the collective interactions from where they arise. Micromagnetic simulations with different values of the relevant parameters have been performed to reproduce the experimental results. The role of the exchange interaction between cores is studied. An analysis of the resulting magnetisation hysteresis loops is done, as well as the vorticity and topological properties of the magnetisation configuration

El proceso constructivo de los teatros del canal del arquitecto Juán Navarro Baldeweg

El artículo que se presenta estudia y valora el sistema constructivo, y su desarrollo, de las obras de los Teatros del Canal, obra del Catedrático de Proyectos de la Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid, Prof. Navarro Baldeweg, que se están llevando a cabo en Madrid, siendo la Promotora y Propietaria el Canal de Isabel II de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Se trata de un conjunto de tres edifi cios, dos teatros y un centro coreográfi co, cada uno con soluciones constructivas diferenciadas. Este artículo es el resultado del trabajo llevado a cabo durante el Curso 2006- 07 en el Seminario de “Industrialización de la Construcción”, que bajo la dirección del Catedrático Prof. del Águila se desarrolla dentro del Programa de Doctorado del Departamento de “Construcción y Tecnología Arquitectónicas” de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. El trabajo comprende dos partes bien diferenciadas: La primera de introducción, prólogo (redactado por el Prof. Navarro) y una descripción general de los edifi cios; la segunda, desarrollando las diferentes partes constructivas del mismo, desde los distintos tipos de estructuras utilizados, pasando por las fachadas “colgadas” a modo de telones, a los aspectos múltiples de interior, desde la acústica, al mobiliario especial y a los acabados y todo ello no puramente descriptivo, sino también de una manera crítica para que sirva como una consecuencia con valor didáctica para los alumnos-autores. - This present article studies and chriticizes the building system and the developement of the theater and dance complex of Canal (Teatros del Canal, Madrid), designed by Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Principal Professor of Architectural Design at Madrid School of Architecture Polytechnic University. These theaters are being built in the center of Madrid city. The owner and developer of this complex is Canal de Isabel II (the water supply company of Madrid regional Government). The project consist in a three building complex, two theatres and a choreographic centre, put together by a back service block, each of them with it’s own different building solutions. This article is the result of the work done during the term 2006-07 of the Seminar of “Industrialization of Building Process” that, under the direction of the Principal Professor Alfonso del Águila, takes place within the Ph. D. Program of the Department of Construction and Architectural Technology set in Madrid School of Architecture Polytechnic University. The work includes two different parts: the fi rst one, which introduces is a prologue written by Prof. Navarro and a general description of the building. The second part describes its different construction areas, ranging from the different structural solutions, the hung façades pretending to be theatre curtains, some aspects of the interior design, as acoustics, special furniture and fi nishes, not in a mere descriptive way, but also from a critical manner with the intention to be a consequence with didactical value for the students/ authors

Mechanomyographic Measures of Muscle Contractile Properties are Infuenced by Electrode Size and Stimulation Pulse Duration

The aim was to determine the efects of changing pulse duration and electrode size on muscle contractile properties. Thirty-six healthy young male participated in the study (age 24.8±5.8 years; height 178.2±0.6cm; body mass 71.8±7.3kg; self-reported weekly moderate intensity activity 3.5±1.2h·week−1). Tensiomyography was used to assess rectus femoris (RF) and vastus medialis (VM) muscles neuromuscular properties of the dominant leg according to the electrode size (3.2–5cm) and the stimulus length (0.2, 0.5, and 1ms). Maximal radial displacement (Dm); Contraction time (Tc); Delay time (Td); Sustained time (Ts) and Half relaxation time (Tr) were measured. Relative and absolute reliability was quantifed. To analyze the efects of the electrode and the stimulus length, a repeated-measures analysis of variance was used. Dm and Tc parameters showed for both muscles an excellent relative (0.95–0.99) and absolute reliability (1.6–4.2%). However, Ts and Tr showed low values of absolute reliability (4.4–40.9%). The duration of the stimulus length applied to the RF and VM and electrode size signifcantly infuences muscle’s contractile properties (p<0.05; η2 p=0.09–0.60). The Dm increases substantially as the duration of the stimulus increases and with the use of the larger electrode in both muscles. However, Tc and Td are less afected by both conditions and not entirely clear. Practically, our study suggests that a stimulus pulse duration of 1ms together with a 5 × 5cm electrode is necessary to reach a reliable and reproducible assessment of both RF and VM muscles contractile properties.Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deport

Context Management in Mobile Environments: a Semantic Approach

This paper presents a first draft of a context management model and architecture in the scope of mobile end-user services, paying special attention to mobile scenarios and specific mobility environments. The paper describes our notion of context and presents the process followed for developing the ontologies for representing context, providing an overview of the first version of these ontologies. Besides, we propose an architecture for managing context in mobile environments, including high-level descriptions of the components that compose it, as well as some low level details regarding the contextual interfaces involved. To show the way all these components interoperate and the advantages of the defined architecture and semantic model, we describe a use case with specific implementation detail

Variability in the Beneficial Effects of Phenolic Compounds: A Review

When analysing the beneficial effects of phenolic compounds, several factors that exert a clear influence should be taken into account. The content of phenolic compounds in foods is highly variable, directly affecting individual dietary intake. Once ingested, these compounds have a greater or lesser bioaccessibility, defined as the amount available for absorption in the intestine after digestion, and a certain bioavailability, defined as the proportion of the molecule that is available after digestion, absorption and metabolism. Among the external factors that modify the content of phenolic compounds in food are the variety, the cultivation technique and the climate. Regarding functional foods, it is important to take into account the role of the selected food matrix, such as dairy matrices, liquid or solid matrices. It is also essential to consider the interactions between phenolic compounds as well as the interplay that occurs between these and several other components of the diet (macro- and micronutrients) at absorption, metabolism and mechanism of action levels. Furthermore, there is a great inter-individual variability in terms of phase II metabolism of these compounds, composition of the microbiota, and metabolic state or metabotype to which the subject belongs. All these factors introduce variability in the responses observed after ingestion of foods or nutraceuticals containing phenolic compounds.This study was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CIBERobn) under Grant CB12/03/30007

Localization of Muscle Edema and Changes on Muscle Contractility After Dry Needling of Latent Trigger Points in the Gastrocnemius Muscle

Background. Myofascial trigger points (TrPs) are hyperirritable spots within taut bands of skeletal muscles that elicit local and referred pain when stimulated. Among the variety of techniques used for treating TrPs, dry needling (DN) is the most commonly applied intervention. The physiological mechanisms underlying the effects of DN remain to be elucidated. Objective. To examine changes in skeletal muscle after DN in the area where the TrP is located. Methods. We measured in vivo changes that occur in human skeletal muscle one hour after DN over a TrP with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tensiomyography. The study included 18 asymptomatic subjects with a latent TrP in one medial gastrocnemius muscle, and the contralateral leg was used as control. Results. The results showed that MRI signal intensity significantly increased one hour after the DN intervention, suggesting the presence of intramuscular edema. Tensiomyographic parameters showed higher muscle stiffness with an improvement in contraction time after DN. Conclusions. This is the first study showing intramuscular edema after TrP DN in human skeletal muscle. Future research should focus on using DN therapy in patients with active TrPs and on monitoring changes occurring at longer follow-up with imaging techniques.Fisioterapi

Is There Such a Thing as a Genuine Cancer Stem Cell Marker? Perspectives from the Gut, the Brain and the Dental Pulp

The conversion of healthy stem cells into cancer stem cells (CSCs) is believed to underlie tumor relapse after surgical removal and fuel tumor growth and invasiveness. CSCs often arise from the malignant transformation of resident multipotent stem cells, which are present in most human tissues. Some organs, such as the gut and the brain, can give rise to very aggressive types of cancers, contrary to the dental pulp, which is a tissue with a very remarkable resistance to oncogenesis. In this review, we focus on the similarities and differences between gut, brain and dental pulp stem cells and their related CSCs, placing a particular emphasis on both their shared and distinctive cell markers, including the expression of pluripotency core factors. We discuss some of their similarities and differences with regard to oncogenic signaling, telomerase activity and their intrinsic propensity to degenerate to CSCs. We also explore the characteristics of the events and mutations leading to malignant transformation in each case. Importantly, healthy dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) share a great deal of features with many of the so far reported CSC phenotypes found in malignant neoplasms. However, there exist literally no reports about the contribution of DPSCs to malignant tumors. This raises the question about the particularities of the dental pulp and what specific barriers to malignancy might be present in the case of this tissue. These notable differences warrant further research to decipher the singular properties of DPSCs that make them resistant to transformation, and to unravel new therapeutic targets to treat deadly tumors.This work has been financed by The University of The Basque Country (UPV/EHU): Grant number GIU16/66, UFI 11/44, COLAB19/03 and IKERTU-2020.0155 (to F.U), the Basque Government/Eusko Jaurkaritza: ELKARTEK KK-2019/00093 (to U.F.), and MINECO “Ramón y Cajal” program RYC-2013-13450 and MINECO PID2019-104766RB-C21 (to P.J.R.). L.J. was funded by a UPV/EHU postdoctoral fellowship DOKBERRI 2019 (DOCREC19/49) program

Role of Furin in Colon Cancer Stem Cells Malignant Phenotype and Expression of LGR5 and NANOG in KRAS and BRAF-Mutated Colon Tumors

Proprotein convertases or PCs are known to regulate the malignant phenotype of colon cancer cells by different mechanisms, but their effects on cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been less widely investigated. Here, we report that PCs expression is altered in colon CSCs, and the inhibition of their activity reduced colon CSCs growth, survival, and invasion in three-dimensional spheroid cultures. In vivo, repression of PCs activity by the general PC inhibitors α1-PDX, Spn4A, or decanoyl-RVKR-chloromethylketone (CMK) significantly reduced tumor expression levels of the stem cell markers LGR5 and NANOG that are associated with reduced tumor xenografts. Further analysis revealed that reduced tumor growth mediated by specific silencing of the convertase Furin in KRAS or BRAF mutated-induced colon tumors was associated with reduced expression of LGR5 and NANOG compared to wild-type KRAS and BRAF tumors. Analysis of various calcium regulator molecules revealed that while the calcium-transporting ATPase 4 (ATP2B4) is downregulated in all the Furin-silenced colon cancer cells, the Ca2+-mobilizing P2Y receptors, was specifically repressed in BRAF mutated cells and ORAI1 and CACNA1H in KRAS mutated cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that PCs play an important role in the malignant phenotype of colon CSCs and stem cell markers’ expression and highlight PCs repression, particularly of Furin, to target colon tumors with KRAS or BRAF mutation.This research was funded by La Region Nouvelle Aquitaine, Siric Brio, Ligue Contre le Cancer, Planete Vegetal and INSERM. M.J.A.-B. was supported by a grant PID2020-119715GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, and by the European Union H2020-FETOPEN Project 899417 Circular Vision

Force production and electromyographic activity during different flywheel deadlift exercises

This study aimed to characterize and compare force production and muscle activity during four flywheel deadlift exercises (bilateral [Bi] vs. unilateral [Uni]) with different loading conditions (vertical [Ver] vs. horizontal [Hor]). Twenty-three team-sport athletes underwent assessments for exercise kinetics (hand-grip force), along with surface electromyography (sEMG) of the proximal (BFProx) and medial biceps femoris (BFMed), semitendinosus (ST), and gluteus medius (GM). Mean and peak force were highest (p < 0.001) in Bi + Ver compared with Bi + Hor, Uni + Ver, and Uni + Hor. Although no significant differences were observed between Bi + Hor and Uni + Ver, both variants showed higher (p < 0.001) average force and peak eccentric force when compared with Uni + Hor. The presence of eccentric overload was only observed in the vertically loaded variants. Bi + Ver and Uni + Ver showed higher (p < 0.05) sEMG levels in BFProx and BFMed compared with the Uni + Hor variant. In addition, Uni + Ver registered the largest GM and ST sEMG values. In conclusion, the vertical variants of the flywheel deadlift exercise led to higher muscle force production and sEMG compared with their horizontal counterparts. Both Bi + Ver and Uni + Ver may be effective in promoting an increase in hamstring muscles activity and muscle force at long muscle length, while the Uni + Ver variant may be more effective in promoting GM and ST involvement