Solargraphy

La fotografia estenopeica és fotografia sense lents. Un petit forat substitueix la lent i la llum hi passa a través i produeix una imatge a la càmera. La solarigrafia és una forma especialitzada de fotografia estenopeica que consisteix en l?aplicació de temps d?exposició llargs, a partir d?un o més dies fins a mesos o fins i tot anys, i enregistra les traces del sol i altres objectes. Així, la llum incideix sobre el material fotosensible col·locat dins de la càmera de manera directa pel sol o per la reflexió d?altres elements.Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens and the light passes through it forming an image in the camera. Solargraphy is a specialised form of pinhole photography. It consists of applying long exposure times, from one or more days up to months or even years, thereby recording sun trails and other objects. Hence, the light strikes the photosensitive material placed inside the camera, both directly from the sun or by reflection from other elements

Combining aldolases and transaminases for the synthesis of 2‑amino-4-hydroxybutanoic acid

Amino acids are of paramount importance as chiral building blocks of life, for drug development in modern medicinal chemistry, and for the manufacture of industrial products. In this work, the stereoselective synthesis of (S)- and (R)-2-amino-4-hydroxybutanoic acid was accomplished using a systems biocatalysis approach comprising a biocatalytic one-pot cyclic cascade by coupling of an aldol reaction with an ensuing stereoselective transamination. A class II pyruvate aldolase from E. coli, expressed as a soluble fusion protein, in tandem with either an S- or R-selective, pyridoxal phosphate dependent transaminase was used as a catalyst to realize the conversion, with formaldehyde and alanine being the sole starting materials. Interestingly, the class II pyruvate aldolase was found to tolerate formaldehyde concentrations of up to 1.4 M. The cascade system was found to reach product concentrations for (S)- or (R)-2-amino-4-hydroxybutanoic acid of at least 0.4 M, rendering yields between 86% and >95%, respectively, productivities of >80 g L–1 d–1, and ee values of >99%.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 635595 (CarbaZymes), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (grant no. CTQ2015-63563-R to P.C.), and COST action CM1303 Systems Biocatalysis.We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

Una propuesta que facilita el uso eficaz de los libros de texto a los futuros profesores de matemáticas

En este trabajo se presentan los primeros resultados de una experiencia piloto desarrollada en el marco del Máster de Formación de Profesores de Matemáticas de Secundaria, Bachillerato e Idiomas (MFP) de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid (URJC), en la que se trata de obtener información, a través de cuestionarios diseñados a tal efecto por el equipo de investigadores que presenta esta propuesta, sobre qué conocimientos matemáticos específicos necesita un profesor de matemáticas para usar de manera eficaz en el aula el libro de texto. Como punto de partida, y a través del trabajo colaborativo de los autores de la propuesta aquí presentada, se ha diseñado un conjunto de ítems para analizar minuciosamente los contenidos de una Unidad Didáctica de un libro de texto

Untargeted metabolomics in doping control : detection of new markers of testosterone misuse by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry

The use of untargeted metabolomics for the discovery of markers is a promising and virtually unexplored tool in the doping control field. Hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) and hybrid quadrupole Orbitrap (Q Exactive) mass spectrometers, coupled to ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography, are excellent tools for this purpose. In the present work, QTOF and Q Exactive have been used to look for markers for testosterone cypionate misuse by means of untargeted metabolomics. Two different groups of mine samples were analyzed, collected before and after the intramuscular administration of testosterone cypionate. In order to avoid analyte losses in the sample treatment, samples were just 2-fold diluted with water and directly injected into the chromatographic system. Samples were analyzed in both positive and negative ionization modes. Data from both systems were treated under untargeted metabolomic strategies using XCMS application and multivariate analysis. Results from the two mass spectrometers differed in the number of detected features, but both led to the same potential marker for the particular testosterone ester misuse. The in-depth study of the MS and MS/MS behavior of this marker allowed for the establishment of 1-cydopentenoylglycine as a feasible structure. The putative structure was confirmed by comparison with synthesized material. This potential marker seems to come from the metabolism of the cypionic acid release after hydrolysis of the administered ester. Its suitability for doping control has been evaluated

Biocatalytic Aldol Addition of Simple Aliphatic Nucleophiles to Hydroxyaldehydes

This ACS article is provided to You under the terms of this Standard ACS AuthorChoice/Editors' Choice usage agreement between You and the American Chemical Society ("ACS")(https://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_termsofuse.html)Asymmetric aldol addition of simple aldehydes and ketones to electrophiles is a cornerstone reaction for the synthesis of unusual sugars and chiral building blocks. We investigated -fructose-6-phosphate aldolase from E. coli (FSA) D6X variants as catalysts for the aldol additions of ethanal and nonfunctionalized linear and cyclic aliphatic ketones as nucleophiles to nonphosphorylated hydroxyaldehydes. Thus, addition of propanone, cyclobutanone, cyclopentanone, or ethanal to 3-hydroxypropanal or (S)- or (R)-3-hydroxybutanal catalyzed by FSA D6H and D6Q variants furnished rare deoxysugars in 8-77% isolated yields with high stereoselectivity (97:3 dr and >95% ee)

A progesterone derivative linked to a stable phospholipid activates breast cancer cell response without leaving the cell membrane

In hormone-responsive breast cancer cells, progesterone (P4) has been shown to act via its nuclear receptor (nPR), a ligand-activated transcription factor. A small fraction of progesterone receptor is palmitoylated and anchored to the cell membrane (mbPR) forming a complex with estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). Upon hormone exposure, either directly or via interaction with ERα, mbPR activates the SRC/RAS/ERK kinase pathway leading to phosphorylation of nPR by ERK. Kinase activation is essential for P4 gene regulation, as the ERK and MSK1 kinases are recruited by the nPR to its genomic binding sites and trigger chromatin remodeling. An interesting open question is whether activation of mbPR can result in gene regulation in the absence of ligand binding to intracellular progesterone receptor (iPR). This matter has been investigated in the past using P4 attached to serum albumin, but the attachment is leaky and albumin can be endocytosed and degraded, liberating P4. Here, we propose a more stringent approach to address this issue by ensuring attachment of P4 to the cell membrane via covalent binding to a stable phospholipid. This strategy identifies the actions of P4 independent from hormone binding to iPR. We found that a membrane-attached progestin can activate mbPR, the ERK signaling pathway leading to iPR phosphorylation, initial gene regulation and entry into the cell cycle, in the absence of detectable intracellular progestin.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCI), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (grant No. PGC2018-099857-B-I00), by the Basque Government (grants No. IT1625-22 and IT1270-19), by Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP20A6619), by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia, and by the Basque Excellence Research Centre (BERC) program of the Basque Government. This research was also supported by European Research Council (Project "4D Genome" 609989), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project G62426937) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Project AGAUR SGR 575 and AGAUR 2019PROD00115/IU68-016733), European Research Council -Proof Of Concept (Project “Impacct” 825176). This work has benefited from the equipment and framework of the COMP-HUB and COMP-R Initiatives, funded by the 'Departments of Excellence' Program of the Italian Ministry for University and Research (MIUR, 2018–2022 and MUR, 2022–2027).Peer reviewe

Pauta de observación de la enseñanza de las matemáticas en Educación Secundaria en España (POEMat.ES)

POEMat.ES es una pauta de observación de las prácticas de enseñanza de profesores de matemáticas de Educación Secundaria grabadas en vídeo. Este instrumento permite recoger información sobre las acciones de los profesores de matemáticas en el aula desde 3 dimensiones diferentes, organizadas a su vez en 17 subdimensiones. Cada subdimensión se puede valorar en cuatro niveles de desempeño que describen características concretas de las acciones realizadas por el profesor observadas en un fragmento de vídeo. POEMat.ES ha sido desarrollada con el objetivo inicial de ofrecer una visión equilibrada y multidimensional de la enseñanza de las matemáticas en Educación Secundaria en el contexto español

Solargraphy

La fotografia estenopeica és fotografia sense lents. Un petit forat substitueix la lent i la llum hi passa a través i produeix una imatge a la càmera. La solarigrafia és una forma especialitzada de fotografia estenopeica que consisteix en l’aplicació de temps d’exposició llargs, a partir d’un o més dies fins a mesos o fins i tot anys, i enregistra les traces del sol i altres objectes. Així, la llum incideix sobre el material fotosensible col·locat dins de la càmera de manera directa pel sol o per la reflexió d’altres elements.Paraules clau: Fotografia, estenop, fotografia estenopeica, solarigrafia. Pinhole photography is lensless photography. A tiny hole replaces the lens and the light passes through it forming an image in the camera. Solargraphy is a specialised form of pinhole photography. It consists of applying long exposure times, from one or more days up to months or even years, thereby recording sun trails and other objects. Hence, the light strikes the photosensitive material placed inside the camera, both directly from the sun or by reflection from other elements.Keywords: Photography, pinhole, pinhole photography, solargraphy.&nbsp

Structure-guided redesign of D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase from E. coli: remarkable activity and selectivity towards acceptor substrates by two-point mutation

Structure-guided re-design of the acceptor binding site of D-fructose-6-phosphate aldolase from E. coli leads to the construction of FSA A129S/A165G double mutant with an activity between 5- to >900-fold higher than that of wild-type towards N-Cbz-aminoaldehyde derivatives.Peer reviewe