A Cholinergic Synaptically Triggered Event Participates in the Generation of Persistent Activity Necessary for Eye Fixation

An exciting topic regarding integrative properties of the nervous system is how transient motor commands or brief sensory stimuli are able to evoke persistent neuronal changes, mainly as a sustained, tonic action potential firing. A persisting firing seems to be necessary for postural maintenance after a previous movement. We have studied in vitro and in vivo the generation of the persistent neuronal activity responsible for eye fixation after spontaneous eye movements. Rat sagittal brainstem slices were used for the intracellular recording of prepositus hypoglossi (PH) neurons and their synaptic activation from nearby paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) neurons. Single electrical pulses applied to the PPRF showed a monosynaptic glutamatergic projection on PH neurons, acting on AMPA-kainate receptors. Train stimulation of the PPRF area evoked a sustained depolarization of PH neurons exceeding (by hundreds of milliseconds) stimulus duration. Both duration and amplitude of this sustained depolarization were linearly related to train frequency. The train-evoked sustained depolarization was the result of interaction between glutamatergic excitatory burst neurons and cholinergic mesopontine reticular fibers projecting onto PH neurons, because it was prevented by slice superfusion with cholinergic antagonists and mimicked by cholinergic agonists. As expected, microinjections of cholinergic antagonists in the PH nucleus of alert behaving cats evoked a gaze-holding deficit consisting of a re-centering drift of the eye after each saccade. These findings suggest that a slow, cholinergic, synaptically triggered event participates in the generation of persistent activity characteristic of PH neurons carrying eye position signals.Unión Europea Grants BI04-CT98-0546España, Ministerio de Ciencia PB98-0011, BFI2000-00936, BFI2000-1190, y BFI2002-0137

Aplicación de la técnica NAH a la docencia en ingeniería acústica

La técnica Holografía Acústica de Campo Cercano (NAH), es una técnica conocida en el ámbito de la ingeniería acústica que permite reconstruir el campo sonoro y la velocidad de vibración de una fuente sonora a partir de medidas con micrófonos, en un plano paralelo y cercano a la fuente. La técnica se presenta como una alternativa a las medidas de intensidad estándar. En la presente comunicación se explica la metodología seguida para visualizar el efecto sobre la respuesta en frecuencia de un altavoz coaxial de un cambio en el filtro de cruce y comprobar el efecto de un cambio en las condiciones de contorno del panel que forma un altavoz de modos distribuidos (DML). Esta práctica o lección magistral puede llevarse a cabo en una carrera técnica después de haber recibido un curso de acústica y tener nociones básicas sobre transductores acústicos y procesado de señal. Los resultados facilitan el aprendizaje del alumnado y la asimilación de conceptos que se han impartido en etapas anteriores

Demonstration of latency-aware 5G network slicing on optical metro networks

The H2020 METRO-HAUL European project has architected a latency-aware, cost-effective, agile, and programmable optical metro network. This includes the design of semi-disaggregated metro nodes with compute and storage capabilities, which interface effectively with both 5G access and multi-Tbit/s elastic optical networks in the core. In this paper, we report the automated deployment of 5G services, in particular, a public safety video surveillance use case employing low-latency object detection and tracking using on-camera and on-the-edge analytics. The demonstration features flexible deployment of network slice instances, implemented in terms of ETSI NFV Network Services. We summarize the key findings in a detailed analysis of end-to-end quality of service, service setup time, and soft-failure detection time. The results show that the round-trip-time over an 80 km link is under 800 µs and the service deployment time under 180 seconds.Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (761727); Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (16KIS0979K).Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 25 autors/es: B. Shariati, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany / L. Velasco, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain / J.-J. Pedreno-Manresa, ADVA, Munich, Germany / A. Dochhan, ADVA, Munich, Germany / R. Casellas, Centre Tecnològic Telecomunicacions Catalunya, Castelldefels, Spain / A. Muqaddas, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / O. Gonzalez de Dios, Telefónica, Madrid, Spain / L. Luque Canto, Telefónica, Madrid, Spain / B. Lent, Qognify GmbH, Bruchsal, Germany / J. E. Lopez de Vergara, Naudit HPCN, Madrid, Spain / S. Lopez-Buedo, Naudit HPCN, Madrid, Spain / F. Moreno, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain / P. Pavon, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain / M. Ruiz, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain / S. K. Patri, ADVA, Munich, Germany / A. Giorgetti, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / F. Cugini, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / A. Sgambelluri, CNIT, Pisa, Italy / R. Nejabati, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / D. Simeonidou, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK / R.-P. Braun, Deutsche Telekom, Germany / A. Autenrieth, ADVA, Munich, Germany / J.-P. Elbers, ADVA, Munich, Germany / J. K. Fischer, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany / R. Freund, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, GermanyPostprint (author's final draft

Generación de recursos docentes interactivos y laboratorios virtuales para la docencia en Acústica en el Grado de Telecomunicación

En este trabajo se presentan los primeros resultados derivados del desarrollo de un laboratorio virtual para el estudio de las ondas mecánicas en barras con diferentes condiciones de contorno. La aplicación permite visualizar tanto las ondas dentro del sólido como las ondas sonoras producidas por la barra sometida a un impacto. Esta aplicación pretende ser la base de un laboratorio virtual completo que cubra diferentes situaciones didácticas dentro del campo de la Acústica. La interfaz gráfica se ha realizado en MATLAB para que el alumno pueda configurar la experiencia sin tener conocimientos avanzados de programación. La herramienta permite variar de forma sencilla los parámetros físicos de las barras a simular, así como el tipo de fijación en la barra y el punto de excitación. La aplicación representa en tiempo real la distribución de velocidades en el interior de la barra y en aire que la rodea, permitiendo al estudiante identificar de forma visual los diferentes fenómenos que se producen en estos sistemas: ondas longitudinales, ondas transversales y ondas superficiales Love y/o Rayleigh. Se pretende distribuir la herramienta de forma libre a los estudiantes en el siguiente curso académico para evaluar el impacto que este tipo de estrategias tienen en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) Microbiome is Not Affected by Colon Microbiota in Healthy Goats

BACKGROUND: The knowledge about blood circulating microbiome and its functional relevance in healthy individuals remains limited. An assessment of changes in the circulating microbiome was performed by sequencing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) bacterial DNA from goats supplemented or not in early life with rumen liquid transplantation. RESULTS: Most of the bacterial DNA associated to PBMC was identified predominantly as Proteobacteria (55%) followed by Firmicutes (24%), Bacteroidetes (11%) and Actinobacteria (8%). The predominant genera found in PBMC samples were Pseudomonas, Prevotella, Sphingomonas, Acinetobacter, Corynebacterium and Ruminococcus. Other genera such as Butyrivibrivio, Bifidobacterium, Dorea and Coprococcus were also present in lower proportions. Several species known as blood pathogens or others involved in gut homeostasis such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were also identified. However, the PBMC microbiome phylum composition differed from that in the colon of goats (P≤0.001), where Firmicutes was the predominant phylum (83%). Although, rumen liquid administration in early-life altered bacterial community structure and increased Tlr5 expression (P=0.020) in colon pointing to higher bacterial translocation, less than 8% of OTUs in colon were also observed in PBMCs. CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest that in physiological conditions, PBMC microbiome differs from and is not affected by colon gut microbiota in small ruminants. Although, further studies with larger number of animals and covering other animal tissues are required, results point to a common circulating bacterial profile on mammals being phylum Proteobacteria, and genera Pseudomonas and Prevotella the most abundants. All suggest that PBMC microbiome in healthy ruminants could be implicated in homeostatic condition. This study expands our knowledge about PBMC microbiome contribution to health in farm animals.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCI) co-financed with FEDER funds [AGL2017-86757- to LA, AGL2017-86938-R to DRY]. Other contributions were SAF2015-65327-R to JA and SAF2015-73549-JIN to HR. LA is a Ramón y Cajal fellow [RYC-2013-13666] from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. APC is a recipient of a fellowship from the University of the Basque Country. We thank the MCI for the Severo Ochoa Excellence accreditation (SEV-2016-0644) and the Basque Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade (Etortek and Elkartek programs

Programa SALUD 5-10: Programa para el tratamiento del sobrepeso y la obesidad en niños de 5 a 10 años: Antecedentes, Diseño y Metodología

Obesity is a particularly expensive and costly in economic and social terms disease for both people who suffer as public health institutions. Therefore, in recent decades, various international and national organizations have shown great concern for its implications, going to be treated as a real social problem. According to the World Health Organization, Spain is one of the EU countries with the highest prevalence of overweight children as recorded by 33% in the population between 5 and 17 years, whereas in Europe one in four children has overweight or obese. Furthermore, Spain is one of the countries where this disease has grown (in the eighties the prevalence was 15%). Several systematic reviews assessing the effectiveness of intervention programs based on increasing physical activity and dietary control of overweight and / or obesity in children and adolescents highlight the need to design specific programs for schoolchildren, and to assess objectively the effectiveness of such long-term programs in children and adolescents are overweight or obese. The aim of this paper is to describe the design and methodology used in 5-10 Health Program, a program that has been designed with the objective of addressing overweight and obesity in schoolchildren in the age group between 5-10 years.La obesidad es una enfermedad especialmente cara y costosa en términos económicos y sociales tanto para las personas que la padecen como para las instituciones públicas sanitarias. Por ello, en las últimas décadas distintas organizaciones internacionales y nacionales han mostrado una enorme preocupación por sus implicaciones, pasando a ser tratado como un verdadero problema social. Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud, España es uno de los países de la Unión Europea con mayor prevalencia de sobrepeso infantil, ya que registra un 33% en la población entre 5 y 17 años, mientras que en Europa uno de cada cuatro niños tiene sobrepeso o es obeso. Además, España es uno de los países donde más ha crecido esta enfermedad (en la década de los ochenta la prevalencia era de un 15%). Diversas revisiones sistemáticas que evalúan la efectividad de los programas de intervención basados en el aumento de la actividad física y el control dietético sobre el sobrepeso y/u obesidad en población infantil y adolescente resaltan la necesidad de diseñar programas específicos para los escolares, así como valorar objetivamente la eficacia de dichos programas a largo plazo en niños y adolescentes con sobrepeso u obesidad. El objetivo del presente trabajo es describir el diseño y metodología utilizada en el Programa SALUD 5-10, un programa que ha sido diseñado con el objetivo de abordar el sobrepeso y la obesidad en escolares de una franja de edad entre 5 a 10 años

Aspergillus fumigatus Fumagillin Contributes to Host Cell Damage

The activity of fumagillin, a mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus fumigatus, has not been studied in depth. In this study, we used a commercial fumagillin on cultures of two cell types (A549 pneumocytes and RAW 264.7 macrophages). This toxin joins its target, MetAP2 protein, inside cells and, as a result, significantly reduces the electron chain activity, the migration, and the proliferation ability on the A549 cells, or affects the viability and proliferation ability of the RAW 264.7 macrophages. However, the toxin stimulates the germination and double branch hypha production of fungal cultures, pointing out an intrinsic resistant mechanism to fumagillin of fungal strains. In this study, we also used a fumagillin non-producer A. fumigatus strain (∆fmaA) as well as its complemented strain (∆fmaA::fmaA) and we tested the fumagillin secretion of the fungal strains using an Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) method. Furthermore, fumagillin seems to protect the fungus against phagocytosis in vitro, and during in vivo studies using infection of immunosuppressed mice, a lower fungal burden in the lungs of mice infected with the ∆fmaA mutant was demonstrated.This research was funded by the Basque Government: grant number IT1362-19. X.G. and S.C.-S. received a Ph.D. fellowship from the Basque Government; and U.P.-C. from the University of the Basque Country

Práctica 10. Regresión Lineal Simple y Correlación en R

Regresión Lineal Simple y Correlación en R. Simple Linear Regression and Correlation in R.Todo el material para el conjunto de actividades de este curso ha sido elaborado y es propiedad intelectual del grupo BioestadisticaR formado por: Juan de Dios Luna del Castillo, Pedro Femia Marzo, Miguel Ángel Montero Alonso, Christian José Acal González, Pedro María Carmona Sáez, Juan Manuel Melchor Rodríguez, José Luis Romero Béjar, Manuela Expósito Ruíz, Juan Antonio Villatoro García, Juan Manuel Praena Fernández, Miguel Ángel Luque Fernández, Francisco Javier Arnedo Fernández. Todos los integrantes del grupo han participado en todas las actividades, en su elección, construcción, correcciones o en su edición final, no obstante, en cada una de ellas, aparecerán uno o más nombres correspondientes a las personas que han tenido la máxima responsabilidad de su elaboración junto al grupo de BioestadisticaR. Todos los materiales están protegidos por la Licencia Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND que permite "descargar las obras y compartirlas con otras personas, siempre que se reconozca su autoría, pero no se pueden cambiar de ninguna manera ni se pueden utilizar comercialmente"

Generación y adecuación de materiales docentes para la asignatura de nueva impartición DAR

En este trabajo se muestran las conclusiones y resultados derivados del trabajo realizado en la red de docencia universitaria 2882. El trabajo de esta red se ha centrado en la generación de materiales para la asignatura optativa de Diseño Acústico de Recintos en la titulación de Grado en Ingeniería en Sonido e Imagen en Telecomunicación. Además de la producción y diseño de materiales se ha tratado de coordinar y adecuar el temario de la asignatura a través de las impresiones de los estudiantes y de los profesores del área de acústica, cuya experiencia en las diferentes asignaturas del área en la titulación es considerable. El objetivo que se ha propuesto en esta red es la de adecuar el temario y los materiales generados para evitar solapamientos con las asignaturas obligatorias de la titulación, las cuales presentan unos temarios extensos y competitivos para asegurar las competencias mínimas a los titulados que no cursen la asignatura optativa de DAR.Los autores desean agradecer la financiación de la Universidad de Alicante vía los proyectos GITE-09006-UA, GITE-09014-UA, y al ICE de la Universidad de Alicante a través de la convocatoria de Proyectos de Redes 2012-2013 y su soporte a la red 2882

Cardiac magnetic resonance outperforms echocardiography to predict subsequent implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapies in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients

Altres ajuts: Conselleria de Educación-Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2021/008); Sociedad Española de Cardiología (Grant SEC/FEC-INVCLI 21/024)Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) are effective as a primary prevention measure of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and depressed left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The implications of using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) instead of echocardiography (Echo) to assess LVEF prior to the indication of ICD in this setting are unknown. We evaluated 52 STEMI patients (56.6 ± 11 years, 88.5% male) treated with ICD in primary prevention who underwent echocardiography and CMR prior to ICD implantation. ICD implantation was indicated based on the presence of heart failure and depressed LVEF (≤ 35%) by echocardiography, CMR, or both. Prediction of ICD therapies (ICD-T) during follow-up by echocardiography and CMR before ICD implantation was assessed. Compared to echocardiography, LVEF was lower by cardiac CMR (30.2 ± 9% vs. 37.4 ± 7.6%, p < 0.001). LVEF ≤ 35% was detected in 24 patients (46.2%) by Echo and in 42 (80.7%) by CMR. During a mean follow-up of 6.1 ± 4.2 years, 10 patients received appropriate ICD-T (3.16 ICD-T per 100 person-years): 5 direct shocks to treat very fast ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, 3 effective antitachycardia pacing (ATP) for treatment of ventricular tachycardia, and 2 ineffective ATP followed by shock to treat ventricular tachycardia. Echo-LVEF ≤ 35% correctly predicted ICD-T in 4/10 (40%) patients and CMR-LVEF ≤ 35% in 10/10 (100%) patients. CMR-LVEF improved on Echo-LVEF for predicting ICD-T (area under the curve: 0.76 vs. 0.48, p = 0.04). In STEMI patients treated with ICD, assessment of LVEF by CMR outperforms Echo-LVEF to predict the subsequent use of appropriate ICD therapies