Alpine tectonic wedging and crustal delamination in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain)

The Cantabrian Mountains have been interpreted as a Paleozoic basement block uplifted during an Alpine deformation event that led to the partial closure of the Bay of Biscay and the building of the Pyrenean range in the Cenozoic. A detailed interpretation of deep seismic reflection profile ESCIN-2 and the two-dimensional seismic modelling of the data allowed us to construct a N-S geological cross section along the southern border of the Cantabrian Mountains and the transition to the Duero Cenozoic foreland basin, highlighting the Alpine structure. The proposed geological cross section has been constrained by all geophysical data available, including a 2-D gravity model constructed for this study as well as refraction and magnetotelluric models from previous studies. A set of south-vergent thrusts dipping 30 to 36° to the north, cut the upper crust with a ramp geometry and sole in the boundary with the middle crust. These thrusts are responsible for the uplift and the main Alpine deformation in the Cantabrian Mountains. A conspicuous reflective Moho shows that the crust thickens northwards from the Duero basin, where subhorizontal Moho is 32 km deep, to 47 km in the northernmost end of ESCIN-2, where Moho dips to the north beneath the Cantabrian Mountains. Further north, out of the profile, Moho reaches a maximum depth of 55 km, according to wide-angle/refraction data. ESCIN-2 indicates the presence of a tectonic wedge of the crust of the Cantabrian margin beneath the Cantabrian Mountains, which is indented from north to south into the delaminated Iberian crust, forcing its northward subduction. © 2016 Author(s).This study was part of the PhD thesis of J. Gallastegui and was supported by a FPU grant and research projects GEO 90-0660-1086 and PB92-1013 funded by CICYT (Committee of Science and Technology of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science) and FICYT (Foundation for the Science and Technologic Research, Government of Asturias, Spain). Part of the study has also been financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science through the “TOPOIBERIA” Consolider Project (ref:MEC-06-CSD2006-0041) and the MISTERIOS Project (ref:MINECO-13-CGL2013-48601-C2).Peer reviewe

Paroxysmal fascicular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia due to mechanical stimulation by a mitral valve prosthesis

Electrophysiologic studies were performed in a woman who had two varieties of paroxysmal wide QRS tachycardia after mitral valve replacement with a Starr-Edwards prosthesis. One tachycardia originated in the left anterior fascicle; QRS complexes were 100 ms wide and resembled right bundle branch block with left posterior fascicular block, and a His bundle potential preceded each QRS by an interval of 20 ms (compared with 50 ms during sinus rhythm). The other tachycardia originated in the left ventricle. Clinical and echocardiographic observations suggested that the tachycardias were caused by mechanical stimulation of the interventricular septum by the mitral prosthesis

Stratigraphy and structure of the Punta Negra Anticline. Implications on the structural evolution of the Argentine Precordillera

The Punta Negra Anticline is a thrust-related fold, several kilometres wide, located at the front of the Argentine Central Precordillera. A stratigraphic succession including Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian rocks is exposed in its core, instead of a Devonian and Carboniferous succession as previously had been considered. The Punta Negra Anticline also involves a Tertiary sequence displaying syntectonic uncon­formities in the transition between the Albarracín and Mogna formations, recording the timing of thrusting and folding at the front of the Central Precordillera. This anticline folds thrust systems detached at the Silurian and Devonian shales, which we interpret as pre-Andean (Gondwanan) thrusts in this part of the Precordillera. The pre-Andean age of these thrusts is also consistent with their truncation by Tertiary subvolcanic intrusive bodies that predate the onset of the Andean deformation in the Punta Negra area. Moreover, the size and structural style of the Punta Negra Anticline, Andean in age, is in contrast with the other folds of the Central Precordillera, whose sizes do not exceed the hectometric scale and can be related to Gondwanan thrusting. This implies an Andean deeper thrust, probably detached at the bottom of the Cambrian succession.El Anticlinal de Punta Negra es un pliegue de varios kilómetros de anchura, relacionado con el cabalgamiento frontal de la Precordillera Central Argentina. Previamente se había considerado que las rocas más antiguas expuestas en dicho anticlinal eran devónicas, pero la sucesión estratigráfica que aflora en su charnela incluye también rocas ordovícicas y silúricas. El Anticlinal de Punta Negra también invo­lucra una sucesión de edad terciaria, la cual muestra discordancias sintectónicas en el tránsito entre las formaciones Albarracín y Mogna, proporcionando información sobre la edad y evolución de dicha estructura. El anticlinal pliega cabalgamientos despegados en las pizarras silúricas y devónicas, que interpretamos como de edad pre-Andina (Gondwánicos). Estos cabalgamientos están cortados por cuerpos intru­sivos subvolcánicos que son anteriores a la edad propuesta para el comienzo de la deformación Andina en el área de Punta Negra. Además, el tamaño y estilo del Anticlinal de Punta Negra, de edad Andina, contrastan con el resto de los pliegues de la Precordillera Central, cuyos tamaños no exceden de centenares de metros y pueden ser atribuidos a la deformación Gondwánica. Ello implica un cabalgamiento mas profundo en el Anticlinal de Punta Negra, probablemente enraizado en la base de la sucesión cámbrica

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements using an X-ray phase retarder on the BM25 A-SpLine beamline at the ESRF

6 páginas, 8 figuras.Circularly polarized X-rays produced by a diamond X-ray phase retarder of thickness 0.5 mm in the Laue transmission configuration have been used for recording X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) on the bending-magnet beamline BM25A (SpLine) at the ESRF. Field reversal and helicity reversal techniques have been used to carry out the measurements. The performance of the experimental set-up has been demonstrated by recording XMCD in the energy range from 7 to 11 keV.This work was partially supported by a Spanish CICYTMAT2008- 06542-C04 grant. MALM and RB acknowledge the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain for their Postdoctoral and PhD grants, respectively. We also acknowledge the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas for financial support.Peer reviewe

Metavolcanic rocks from schistose domain of Galicia-Tras-os-Montes: petrography, geochemistry and tectonic environment (Galice, NW. Spain)

[Resumen] Se estudia el vulcanismo intercalado en los grupos litoestratigráficos inferiores que integran el Dominio Esquistoso de Galicia Tras-os-Montes (DEGTM) denominados de muro a techo Santabaía, Nogueira y Paraño. El grupo de LalínForcarei que completa la secuencia no será tratado en este trabajo. La edad de estos grupos debe comprender desde el Precámbrico hasta el Devónico Inf. Los tres grupos tiene un cierto carácter vulcanosedimentario, más marcado en el grupo de Santabaía que en los dos grupos superiores. Se encuentran en ellos diferentes niveles volcánicos y vulcanosedimentarios de espesor y continuidad lateral variables, correspondientes a neises microporfídicos de dos micas y ortoneises biotíticos, además de algún nivel de riolitas y tranquitas presentes hacia la parte alta del grupo de Paraño. Geoquímicamente se caracteriza por ser un vulcanismo ácido de naturaleza calcoalcalina en el que predominan los términos riolíticos y iodacíticos de alto contenido en K, posiblemente originado en la zona externa de un margen continental pasivo existente durante el Ordovícico-Silúrico en el NO. de la Península, en el que tendrían lugar diferentes episodios o etapas de aportes volcánicos alternando con etapas más largas de sedimentación detrítica.[Abstract] The Vulcanism interbedded in the lower litostratigraphic groups of the DEGTM is studied. Those gruoups are known as Santabaia, Nogueira and Paraño from bo~tom to top; The sequence is completed with the Lalín-Forcarei group that is not studied in this paper. The age of the whole sequence is probably, from Precambrian to lower Devonian. The three groups show volcano-sedimentary features which are dominant in the Santabaia group. Several volcanic and volcano-sedimentary levels with different thickness and extension are found; these correspond to two mica microporfidic gneisses and biotitic ortogneisses and seldom ryolites and trachites in the uppermost pan of the Paraño group. Geochemically correspond to acid calcoalcaline vulcanites with ryolites and K rich ryodacites as main types. These rocks are possibily related to an external area of a continental margin which existed during Ordovician-Silurian time in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula. Several volcanic stages would alternate with sedimentation in this geotectonic environment

Bimodal effect of water on V2O5/TiO2 catalysts with different vanadium species in the simultaneous NO reduction and 1,2-dichlorobenzene oxidation

VOX/TiO2 catalysts with different vanadium loading were prepared in order to study the influence of vanadium species on the effect of water in the simultaneous NO reduction through NH3-SCR and o-DCB oxidation reactions. The presence of isolated, polymeric and crystalline species and their redox and acid properties were evaluated by N2-Adsorption, XRD, Raman, H2-TPR, XPS and NH3-TPD. Water has a bimodal and reversible effect in both NO reduction and o-DCB oxidation depending on vanadium species and temperature. In SCR, water has a detrimental effect at low temperature due to competitive adsorption with NO and NH3, while at high temperature it promotes an increase of NO conversion associated to the suppression of side-reactions, which increase the selectivity towards N2. In o-DCB oxidation, the effect of water is the sum of two contributions: one positive, related to the removal of surface adsorbed detrimental species; and one negative, associated to the competitive adsorption with o-DCB. Thus, at high temperature water acts as inhibitor, while at low temperature water has a promotional effect in the highly dispersed vanadium catalysts due to their tendency to suffer deactivation, mainly by carbonaceous materials. The presence of water also favors total oxidation and decreases the formation of chlorinated by products.MINECO/FEDER (CTQ2015-64616-P), MINECO/FEDER (BES-2016-077849), IT657-13, IT1297- 19, INF12/37, UFI 11/39, PID2019-107503RB-I00, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103

GeromiRs Are Downregulated in the Tumor Microenvironment during Colon Cancer Colonization of the Liver in a Murine Metastasis Model

Cancer is a phenomenon broadly related to ageing in various ways such as cell cycle deregulation, metabolic defects or telomerases dysfunction as principal processes. Although the tumor cell is the main actor in cancer progression, it is not the only element of the disease. Cells and the matrix surrounding the tumor, called the tumor microenvironment (TME), play key roles in cancer progression. Phenotypic changes of the TME are indispensable for disease progression and a few of these transformations are produced by epigenetic changes including miRNA dysregulation. In this study, we found that a specific group of miRNAs in the liver TME produced by colon cancer called geromiRs, which are miRNAs related to the ageing process, are significantly downregulated. The three principal cell types involved in the liver TME, namely, liver sinusoidal endothelial cells, hepatic stellate (Ito) cells and Kupffer cells, were isolated from a murine hepatic metastasis model, and the miRNA and gene expression profiles were studied. From the 115 geromiRs and their associated hallmarks of aging, which we compiled from the literature, 75 were represented in the used microarrays, 26 out of them were downregulated in the TME cells during colon cancer colonization of the liver, and none of them were upregulated. The histone modification hallmark of the downregulated geromiRs is significantly enriched with the geromiRs miR-15a, miR-16, miR-26a, miR-29a, miR-29b and miR-29c. We built a network of all of the geromiRs downregulated in the TME cells and their gene targets from the MirTarBase database, and we analyzed the expression of these geromiR gene targets in the TME. We found that Cercam and Spsb4, identified as prognostic markers in a few cancer types, are associated with downregulated geromiRs and are upregulated in the TME cells.This work was supported by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (AC17/00012), cofounded by the European Union projects (European Regional Development Fund/European Science Foundation, Investing in your future), (ERA-Net program EracoSysMed, JTC-2 2017) and (H2020-FETOPEN, Circular Vision, Project 899417); Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa and the Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government (DFG109/20) and the Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government (DFG109/Grants Health Department of the Basque Government (Spain), RIS3 call, Exp. No. 2020333039 and 2020333001. 20)

Osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells in decellularised adipose tissue solid foams

3D cell culture systems based on biological scaffold materials obtainable from both animal and human tissues constitute very interesting tools for cell therapy and personalised medicine applications. The white adipose tissue (AT) extracellular matrix (ECM) is a very promising biomaterial for tissue engineering due to its easy accessibility, malleability and proven biological activity. In the present study, human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) were combined in vitro with ECM scaffolds from porcine and human decellularised adipose tissues (pDAT, hDAT) processed as 3D solid foams, to investigate their effects on the osteogenic differentiation capacity and bone matrix production of hDPSCs, compared to single-protein-based 3D solid foams of collagen type I and conventional 2D tissue-culture-treated polystyrene plates. pDAT solid foams supported the osteogenic differentiation of hDPSCs to similar levels to collagen type I, as assessed by alkaline phosphatase and alizarin red stainings, reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and osteocalcin/bone gamma-carboxyglutamate protein (BGLAP) immunostaining. Interestingly, hDAT solid foams showed a markedly lower capacity to sustain hDPSC osteogenic differentiation and matrix calcification and a higher capacity to support adipogenesis, as assessed by RT-qPCR and oil red O staining. White ATs from both human and porcine origins are relatively abundant and available sources of raw material to obtain high quality ECM-derived biomedical products. These biomaterials could have promising applications in tissue engineering and personalised clinical therapy for the healing and regeneration of lesions involving not only a loss of calcified bone but also its associated soft non-calcified tissues.This research was supported by the Basque Government (ELKARTEK program PLAKA KK2019-00093; to NB), MICINN retos I+D+i (PID2019- 104766RB-C21, to JRP) and UPV/EHU (PPGA20/22; to FU, GI). The authors would like to thank the staff members of the SGIKER services of the UPV/EHU: Lipidomic service (Beatriz Abad) and Analytical Microscopy (Ricardo Andrade, Alejandro Díez-Torre and Irene Fernández) for their technical assistance

Topo-Iberia Project: CGPS crustal velocity field in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco

A new continuous GPS network was installed under the umbrella of a research project called 'Geociencias en Iberia: Estudios integrados de topografı´a y evolución 4D (Topo-Iberia)', to improve understanding of kinematic behavior of the Iberian Peninsula region. Here we present a velocity field based on the analysis of the 4 years of data from 25 stations constituting the network, which were analyzed by three different analysis groups contributing to the project. Different geodetic software packages (GIPSY-OASIS, Bernese and GAMIT) as well as different approaches were used to estimate rates of present day crustal deformation in the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. In order to ensure the consistency of the velocity fields determined by the three groups, the velocities obtained by each analysis center were transformed into a common Eurasia Reference Frame. After that, the strain rate field was calculated. The results put in evidence more prominent residual motions in Morocco and southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the dilatation and shear strain rates reach their maximum values in the Central Betics and northern Alboran Sea. A small region of high shear strain rate is observed in the east-central part of the peninsula and another deformation focus is located around the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz

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