Modelling actin polymerization: the effect on confined cell migration

The aim of this work is to model cell motility under conditions of mechanical confinement. This cell migration mode may occur in extravasation of tumour and neutrophil-like cells. Cell migration is the result of the complex action of different forces exerted by the interplay between myosin contractility forces and actin processes. Here, we propose and implement a finite element model of the confined migration of a single cell. In this model, we consider the effects of actin and myosin in cell motility. Both filament and globular actin are modelled. We model the cell considering cytoplasm and nucleus with different mechanical properties. The migration speed in the simulation is around 0.1 µm/min, which is in agreement with existing literature. From our simulation, we observe that the nucleus size has an important role in cell migration inside the channel. In the simulation the cell moves further when the nucleus is smaller. However, this speed is less sensitive to nucleus stiffness. The results show that the cell displacement is lower when the nucleus is stiffer. The degree of adhesion between the channel walls and the cell is also very important in confined migration. We observe an increment of cell velocity when the friction coefficient is higher

Diseño y validación de un cuestionario socio-emocional para jóvenes futbolistas de élite. Desing and validation of a socio-emotional questionnaire for yourh footbal players

Validación de un cuestionario socio-emocional en fútbo

Metabolic risk score indexes validation in overweight healthy people

The constellation of adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic risk factors, including elevated abdominal obesity, blood pressure (BP), glucose, and triglycerides (TG) and lowered high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), has been termed the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) [1]. A number of different definitions have been developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) [2], the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) [3], the European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance (EGIR) [4] and, most recently, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) [5]. Since there is no universal definition of the Metabolic Syndrome, several authors have derived different risk scores to represent the clustering of its components [6-11]

A hybrid physics-based and data-driven framework for cellular biological systems: Application to the morphogenesis of organoids

How cells orchestrate their cellular functions remains a crucial question to unravel how they organize in different patterns. We present a framework based on artificial intelligence to advance the understanding of how cell functions are coordinated spatially and temporally in biological systems. It consists of a hybrid physics-based model that integrates both mechanical interactions and cell functions with a data-driven model that regulates the cellular decision-making process through a deep learning algorithm trained on image data metrics. To illustrate our approach, we used data from 3D cultures of murine pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PDAC) grown in Matrigel as tumor organoids. Our approach allowed us to find the underlying principles through which cells activate different cell processes to self-organize in different patterns according to the specific microenvironmental conditions. The framework proposed here expands the tools for simulating biological systems at the cellular level, providing a novel perspective to unravel morphogenetic patterns

Haptic and Mixed Reality Enabled Immersive Cockpits for Tele-operated Driving

[EN] In the last few years, the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) has experienced a sustainable increase in different verticals such as factories and logistics. However, they still have some technical limitations that hamper their autonomous operation in unpre- dictable or dynamic environments, requiring them to be supervised and/or controlled by human operators. In such situations, current tele-operated driving (ToD) systems lack the required stimulation and spatial perception to precisely manipulate the AGVs/AMRs, besides suffering from real-time challenges that limit the accuracy of movement. This chapter describes a proposal to solve these problems, by combining low-latency 5G-IoT networks and immersive cockpits equipped with haptic and mixed-reality devices. It also explains how such devices provide intuitive feedback for ToD and facilitate context-aware decision-making. The results are validated in the context of two innovative demonstrations deployed in the environment of a seaport, where ToD of multiple AGVs/AMRs is supported by a 5G mm Wave network infrastructure.Lozano, R.; Cantero, M.; Fuentes, M.; Ruiz, J.; Benito, I.; Gomez-Barquero, D. (2023). Haptic and Mixed Reality Enabled Immersive Cockpits for Tele-operated Driving. En Shaping the Future of IoT with Edge Intelligence: How Edge Computing Enables the Next Generation of IoT Applications. River Publishers. 301-318. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/21050930131

Affect presentation in infancy and toddlerhood as a predictor of later internalizing behaviors in early childhood

Affect representations during infancy have been associated with internalizing behaviors among children. However, few studies have examined the role of parenting practices in early childhood as shaping such associations. The current study used a large, population-stratified, randomly-selected sample of children living in rural areas under conditions of poverty to examine how positive and negative affect at 15 months was associated with internalizing behaviors at 58 months of age. Patterns of interaction between infant affects and positive and negative parenting behaviors at 24 were also examined and probed to determine whether these effects supported a diathesis stress model of early developmental processes related to later internalizing behaviors. Infant affect and parenting behaviors were measured using observational assessments and primary caregivers reported on children’s internalizing behaviors. Results indicated that positive parenting predicted lower levels of internalizing behaviors for all children. For European American children, lower levels of negative affect were associated with greater internalizing behaviors in the presence of low positive parenting. For African American children, more negative parenting was associated with higher levels of internalizing behaviors. These findings raise important questions regarding different levels of vulnerability to environmental influences among European American and African American young children and have the potential to inform interventions aimed at preventing and/or reducing internalizing behaviors

A culturally sensitive conceptualization of parental intrusiveness and its effects on child adjustment within Latino families.

The goals of this study were (a) to examine measurement invariance of a traditional observational measure of parenting across European American and Latina mothers, (b) to compare the factor structures of traditional versus culturally informed observational measures among Latina mothers, (c) to examine traditional versus culturally informed observational assessments of Latinx parenting to determine whether early indicators of parental intrusiveness and parental guidance were associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors during early childhood among Latinx children, (d) to examine whether maternal warmth moderated associations between traditionally versus culturally informed observational measures of parental intrusiveness and guidance, and Latinx children’s adjustment. Parenting behaviors were measured using an observational semi-structured parent-child interaction task during home visits when children were on average 14 and 24 months and children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors were based on mothers reports. Parental intrusiveness and parental guidance were coded using a traditional and a culturally informed coding system. Results indicated partial measurement invariance in parenting behaviors across groups when applying a measure initially developed for European American and middle-class samples to families from Latinx backgrounds. Additionally, findings indicated that during early childhood and within the Latinx cultural context, parental intrusiveness was an indicator of negative parenting, whereas parental guidance was a good indicator of positive parenting. Parental guidance was negatively associated with internalizing behaviors only for children whose mothers showed high levels of warmth. In contrast, parental guidance was negatively associated with externalizing behaviors for children whose mothers showed average and below average levels of warmth. Finally, parental intrusiveness was positively associated with externalizing behaviors for children whose mothers displayed low levels of warmth during a free play task. These findings provide new knowledge that can guide preventive and intervention efforts and have important theoretical and measurement implications that emphasize the use of culturally informed frameworks to better understand the implications of early caregiving experiences for child development within Latinx families

Osteosarcoma primario del corazón

Se informa un caso de osteosarcoma primario del corazón localizado en el ventrículo derecho con metástasis al sistema nervioso central, pulmón derecho y a la serosa del fleon. Este es el único tumor maligno primario del corazón en nuestro archivo de 12.230 autopsias realizadas en el Hospital San Juan de Dios en Bogotá entre 1954 y 1986. Se subraya el hecho de que las manifestaciones clínicas puedan obedecer, como ocurrió en este caso, a las metástasis y no a la alteración funcional del órgano afectado par la neoplasia primitiva. Se hace una electiva revisión del tema

Unravelling cell migration: defining movement from the cell surface

Cell motility is essential for life and development. Unfortunately, cell migration is also linked to several pathological processes, such as cancer metastasis. Cells’ ability to migrate relies on many actors. Cells change their migratory strategy based on their phenotype and the properties of the surrounding microenvironment. Cell migration is, therefore, an extremely complex phenomenon. Researchers have investigated cell motility for more than a century. Recent discoveries have uncovered some of the mysteries associated with the mechanisms involved in cell migration, such as intracellular signaling and cell mechanics. These findings involve different players, including transmembrane receptors, adhesive complexes, cytoskeletal components , the nucleus, and the extracellular matrix. This review aims to give a global overview of our current understanding of cell migration

Cyclodextrin-grafted barium titanate nanoparticles for improved dispersion and stabilization in water-based systems

Ceramic nanoparticles with piezoelectric properties, such as BaTiO3 (BT), constitute a promising approach in the fields of nanocomposite materials and biomaterials. In the latter case, to be successful in their preparation, the drawback of their fast aggregation and practically null stability in water has to be overcome. The objective of this investigation has been the surface functionalization of BaTiO3 nanoparticles with cyclodextrins (CDs) as a way to break the aggregation and improve the stability of the nanoparticles in water solution, preventing and minimizing their fast precipitation. As a secondary goal, we have achieved extra-functionality of the nanoparticles, bestowed from the hydrophobic cavity of the macrocycle, which is able to lodge guest molecules that can form inclusion complexes with the oligosaccharide. The nanoparticle functionalization has been fully tracked and characterized, and the cytotoxicity of the modified nanoparticles with fibroblasts and pre-osteoblasts cell lines has been assessed with excellent results in a wide range of concentrations. The modified nanoparticles were found to be suitable for the easy preparation of nanocomposite hydrogels, via dispersion in hydrophilic polymers of typical use in biomedical applications (PEG, Pluronics, and PEO), and further processed in the form of films via water casting, showing very good results in terms of homogeneity in the dispersion of the filler. Likewise, as examples of application and with the aim of exploring a different range of nanocomposites, rhodamine B was included in the macrocycles as a model molecule, and films prepared from a thermoplastic matrix (EVA) via high-energy ball milling have been tested by impedance spectroscopy to discuss their dielectric properties, which indicated that even small modifications in the surface of the nanoparticles generate a different kind of interaction with the polymeric matrix. The CD-modified nanoparticles are thus suitable for easy preparation of the water-based nanocomposites either as hydrogels or as nanocomposites based on thermoplastic matrices.Financial supports from Asociación de Amigos of the University of Navarra for the PhD scholarship of R. Serra-Gómez as well as the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad in the form of funding under projects. MAT2010-16815 and MAT2014-59116, are greatfully acknowledged