Región y nación: el Río Grande insurgente, entre el Imperio de Brasil y las repúblicas del Río de la Plata (1838-1842)

El siglo diecinueve fue marcado por el proceso de descolonización y el consecuente proceso de formación de los Estados nacionales en Latinoamérica. Durante muchos años las guerras civiles entre diferentes grupos políticos fueron la característica más visible de aquellos tiempos. El artículo presente busca una explicación para la secesión de la provincia brasileña del Rio Grande do Sul ubicada en el extremo surdel país, en la frontera con el Estado Oriental del Uruguay y la Confederación Argentina. Los insurgentes proclamaron su independencia del Imperio de Brasil bajo el nombre de República Rio-Grandense, tratando desde luego de firmar compromisos políticos y económicoscon las repúblicas vecinas como una manera de asegurarse contra los esfuerzos del gobierno brasileño en reintegrar su provincia desgarrada. La República Rio-Grandense se mantuvo desde 1836 hasta 1845, pero el texto muestra los actos diplomáticos más importantes de los rebelados, que ocurrieron entre 1838 y 1842

Automated data pre-processing via meta-learning

The final publication is available at link.springer.comA data mining algorithm may perform differently on datasets with different characteristics, e.g., it might perform better on a dataset with continuous attributes rather than with categorical attributes, or the other way around. As a matter of fact, a dataset usually needs to be pre-processed. Taking into account all the possible pre-processing operators, there exists a staggeringly large number of alternatives and nonexperienced users become overwhelmed. We show that this problem can be addressed by an automated approach, leveraging ideas from metalearning. Specifically, we consider a wide range of data pre-processing techniques and a set of data mining algorithms. For each data mining algorithm and selected dataset, we are able to predict the transformations that improve the result of the algorithm on the respective dataset. Our approach will help non-expert users to more effectively identify the transformations appropriate to their applications, and hence to achieve improved results.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Transition to turbulence in particulate pipe flow

We investigate experimentally the influence of suspended particles on the transition to turbulence. The particles are monodisperse and neutrally-buoyant with the liquid. The role of the particles on the transition depends both upon the pipe to particle diameter ratios and the concentration. For large pipe-to-particle diameter ratios the transition is delayed while it is lowered for small ratios. A scaling is proposed to collapse the departure from the critical Reynolds number for pure fluid as a function of concentration into a single master curve.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Anti-CTLA-4 therapy for malignant mesothelioma

Immunotherapy is an emerging therapeutic strategy with a promising clinical outcome in some solid tumors, particularly metastatic melanoma. One approach to immunotherapy is immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as blockage of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1. This special report aims to describe the state of clinical trials of tremelimumab in patients with unresectable malignant mesothelioma (MM) in particular with regard to the clinical efficacy, safety and tolerability. Criticism and perspective of this treatment are also discussed. Biological and clinical considerations rule out the use of tremelimumab as single agent for MM and, more generally, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors for MM is still largely questionable and not supported by evidences

Spatiotemporal dynamics of single-letter reading: a combined ERP-FMRI study

This work investigates the neural correlates of single-letter reading by combining event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), thus exploiting their complementary spatiotemporal resolutions. Three externally-paced reading tasks were administered with an event-related design: passive observation of letters and symbols and active reading aloud of letters. ERP and fMRI data were separately recorded from 8 healthy adults during the same experimental conditions. Due to the presence of artifacts in the EEG signals, two subjects were discarded from further analysis. Independent Component Analysis was applied to ERPs, after dimensionality reduction by Principal Component Analysis: some independent components were clearly related to specific reading functions and the associated current density distributions in the brain were estimated with Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography Analysis method (LORETA). The impulse hemodynamic response function was modeled as a linear combination of linear B-spline functions and fMRI statistical analysis was performed by multiple linear regression. fMRI and LORETA maps were superimposed in order to identify the overlapping activations and the activated regions specifically revealed by each modality. The results showed the existence of neuronal networks functionally specific for letter processing and for explicit verbal-motor articulation, including the temporo-parietal and frontal regions. Overlap between fMRI and LORETA results was observed in the inferior temporal-middle occipital gyrus, suggesting that this area has a crucial and multifunctional role for linguistic and reading processes, likely because its spatial location and strong interconnection with the main visual and auditory sensory systems may have favored its specialization in grapheme-phoneme matching

Active and driven hydrodynamic crystals

Motivated by the experimental ability to produce monodisperse particles in microfluidic devices, we study theoretically the hydrodynamic stability of driven and active crystals. We first recall the theoretical tools allowing to quantify the dynamics of elongated particles in a confined fluid. In this regime hydrodynamic interactions between particles arise from a superposition of potential dipolar singularities. We exploit this feature to derive the equations of motion for the particle positions and orientations. After showing that all five planar Bravais lattices are stationary solutions of the equations of motion, we consider separately the case where the particles are passively driven by an external force, and the situation where they are self-propelling. We first demonstrate that phonon modes propagate in driven crystals, which are always marginally stable. The spatial structure of the eigenmodes depend solely on the symmetries of the lattices, and on the orientation of the driving force. For active crystals, the stability of the particle positions and orientations depends not only on the symmetry of the crystals but also on the perturbation wavelengths and on the crystal density. Unlike unconfined fluids, the stability of active crystals is independent of the nature of the propulsion mechanism at the single particle level. The square and rectangular lattices are found to be linearly unstable at short wavelengths provided the volume fraction of the crystals is high enough. Differently, hexagonal, oblique, and face-centered crystals are always unstable. Our work provides a theoretical basis for future experimental work on flowing microfluidic crystals.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Significance of REM Sleep in Depression: Effects on Neurogenesis

No abstract availabl

An integrated in silico–in vitro approach for bioprinting core–shell bioarchitectures

Biological tissues possess a high degree of structural complexity characterized by curvature and stratification of different tissue layers. Despite recent advances in in vitro technology, current engineering solutions do not comprise both of these features. In this paper, we present an integrated in silico-in vitro strategy for the design and fabrication of biological barriers with controlled curvature and architecture. Analytical and computational tools combined with advanced bioprinting methods are employed to optimize living inks for bioprinting-structured core-shell constructs based on alginate. A finite element model is used to compute the hindered diffusion and crosslinking phenomena involved in the formation of core-shell structures and to predict the width of the shell as a function of material parameters. Constructs with a solid alginate-based shell and a solid, liquid, or air core can be reproducibly printed using the workflow. As a proof of concept, epithelial cells and fibroblasts were bioprinted respectively in a liquid core (10 mg/mL Pluronic) and in a solid shell (20 mg/mL alginate plus 20 mg/mL gelatin, used for providing the cells with adhesive moieties). These constructs had a roundness of 97.6% and an average diameter of 1500 & PLUSMN;136 & mu;m. Moreover, their viability was close to monolayer controls (74.12% & PLUSMN; 22.07%) after a week in culture, and the paracellular transport was twice that of cell -free constructs, indicating cell polarization

The emerging roles of BAP1 and cancer stem cells in Malignant Mesothelioma

Malignant Mesothelioma (MMe) is an aggressive asbestos-related cancer with a poor prognosis and the standard treatments are not effective. The lack of successful therapies is due to several factors, including the poor knowledge of mesothelioma biology. In this thesis, several biological aspects have been investigated. Recent studies have found that a percentage of MMe patients is carrying germline or somatic mutations in (BRCA1-associated protein 1) BAP1 gene. BAP1 is a deubiquitinase and a tumour suppressor, involved in cell cycle, apoptosis, epigenetic modifications and DNA damage response. Herein, it has been demonstrated that BAP1 mutated and silenced MMe cells are more resistant to a DNA damage drug, gemcitabine, causing the reduction of the DNA damage effect of gemcitabine. These finding suggested that BAP1 modulates chemosensitivity though DNA damage response and provided a potential route for more efficient MMe therapy. A recent study demonstrated that BAP1 regulates the inositol 1,4,5-trisphospate receptor subtype 3 (IP3R3)-mediated calcium flux. Cancer Stem-like Cells (CSCs) are a small population within the tumour mass, which are responsible for tumour initiation, cancer progression and treatment failure. Increased evidence suggests that CSCs rely on mitochondria function as the main source of energy. Therefore, this thesis assessed the role of BAP1 in the modulation of stem cell-like features through IP3R3-mediated calcium flux from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into mitochondria in BAP1 wild type, mutated and silenced MMe cells. BAP1 and IP3R3 silencing caused reduction in the number of CSCs as measured by mesospheres formation, however markers of stemness such as Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH) did not confirm stemness features and further investigations are required. In conclusion, in this thesis novel molecular circuits in mesothelioma were identified, providing further insight into understanding complex biology of this cancer and suggesting potential approach for improving clinical outcomes

Complex Fluids and Hydraulic Fracturing

Nearly 70 years old, hydraulic fracturing is a core technique for stimulating hydrocarbon production in a majority of oil and gas reservoirs. Complex fluids are implemented in nearly every step of the fracturing process, most significantly to generate and sustain fractures and transport and distribute proppant particles during and following fluid injection. An extremely wide range of complex fluids are used: naturally occurring polysaccharide and synthetic polymer solutions, aqueous physical and chemical gels, organic gels, micellar surfactant solutions, emulsions, and foams. These fluids are loaded over a wide range of concentrations with particles of varying sizes and aspect ratios and are subjected to extreme mechanical and environmental conditions. We describe the settings of hydraulic fracturing (framed by geology), fracturing mechanics and physics, and the critical role that non-Newtonian fluid dynamics and complex fluids play in the hydraulic fracturing process