La noción de amistad en el " De adulatore et amico " de Plutarco

Sin resume

Targeting Galectins With Glycomimetics

Among glycan-binding proteins, galectins, beta-galactoside-binding lectins, exhibit relevant biological roles and are implicated in many diseases, such as cancer and inflammation. Their involvement in crucial pathologies makes them interesting targets for drug discovery. In this review, we gather the last approaches toward the specific design of glycomimetics as potential drugs against galectins. Different approaches, either using specific glycomimetic molecules decorated with key functional groups or employing multivalent presentations of lactose and N-acetyl lactosamine analogs, have provided promising results for binding and modulating different galectins. The review highlights the results obtained with these approximations, from the employment of S-glycosyl compounds to peptidomimetics and multivalent glycopolymers, mostly employed to recognize and/or detecthGal-1 andhGal-3.We thank the European Research Council (RECGLYCANMR, Advanced Grant no. 788143), ISCIII (Grant PRB3 IPT17/0019 to AG), and the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (Spain) for Grants RTI2018-094751-B-C21, Ramon y Cajal contract to AA and the Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation (SEV-2016-0644)

Heterochirality Restricts the Self-Assembly of Phenylalanine Dipeptides Capped with Highly Aromatic Groups

The influence of stereochemistry on the self-assembly of phenylalanine (Phe) dipeptides bearing aromatic fluorenyl groups at both the N- and C-termini (Fmoc, OFm) has been investigated. For this purpose, Fmoc–d-Phe–l-Phe–OFm and Fmoc–l-Phe–l-Phe–OFm have been examined considering a wide variety of solvents, which differ in dielectric constant and volatility. Results reveal that replacement of l-Phe by d-Phe has a major impact on the self-assembly propensities, restricting drastically the structural diversity and polymorphism shown by the homochiral dipeptide. Thus, the analogous heterochiral dipeptide shows a great propensity to form micro/nanofibers, independently of the environmental conditions. Theoretical calculations revealed that the stability of antiparallel disposition is much higher (a factor of ca. 15) for Fmoc–d-Phe–l-Phe–OFm than that for Fmoc–l-Phe–l-Phe–OFm, which has been attributed to the hydrophobic core formed in the former. Overall, results suggest that control of the backbone chirality is a potent and versatile strategy to drive and finely tune the self-assembly propensities of highly aromatic peptides.This work was supported by MINECO (RTI2018-098951-B-I00, RTI2018-101827-B-I00, and CTQ2013-40855-R), AGAUR (2017SGR359 and 2017SGR373), and Gobierno de Aragon (research group Aminoacidos y Peptidos E19_20R). Support for the research of C.A. was received through the prize “ICREA Academia” for excellence in research funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya

Igualdad de género percibida en el reparto de cuidados y salud mental: impacto de la crisis sanitaria por COVID-19 en una muestra de mujeres andaluzas

The restrictions during COVID-19 seem to have had an unequal impact on the mental health and habits of the population in terms of gender. The literature states that crises such as this have a more negative impact on women. We explored perceived overload due to household chores and informal caregiving in a sample of Andalusian women, their perception of an increase in this overload after the pandemic, and its possible effect on mental health. To do this, we administered an online retrospective questionnaire to explore the perception of 166 women on care economy variables by estimating hours, effort, overload, and sharing of chores at three different times: before the onset of the pandemic, during lockdown, and at the time of data collection (one year after lockdown). We also measured depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction at the time of data collection through validated scales. Results showed that women estimated significantly more time and effort on household chores and caregiving for the lockdown period. The retrospective estimation of the sharing of tasks was similar over the three moments but women perceived that they did more than their heterosexual partners. One in four women perceived an increase in caregiving overload after the pandemic. Women who felt mental overload due to caregiving scored higher in depression than those who felt physical overload. Considering these findings, and despite the limitations of this study, the pandemic may have led to an increase in informal caregiving overload for many women. Furthermore, the relation between depression and overload one year after lockdown was demonstrated. Measures are required to reduce the impact of gender in crises by designing prevention policies and programs that promote co-responsibility.Las restricciones vividas durante la COVID-19 parecen haber causado un impacto diferencial de género en la salud mental y en los hábitos de gran parte de la población. Asimismo, la literatura indica que las situaciones de crisis como la vivida tienen peor impacto en las mujeres. El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar la sobrecarga percibida por las tareas del hogar y cuidados informales en una muestra de mujeres andaluzas, su percepción de un incremento en la misma tras la pandemia, y su posible relación con variables de salud mental. Para ello se administró un cuestionario online para explorar la percepción de 166 mujeres en variables de economía de cuidados estimando retrospectivamente las horas, esfuerzo, sobrecarga y reparto de tareas del hogar para el momento de recogida de datos (un año tras el confinamiento), para el momento previo al inicio de la pandemia y durante el confinamiento. También se administraron instrumentos validados para medir depresión, ansiedad, estrés y satisfacción vital en el momento de recogida de datos. Los resultados mostraron una percepción de mayor dedicación y esfuerzo debido a los cuidados y tareas del hogar estimado para el momento de confinamiento. El reparto de tareas se estimó similar para los tres momentos sobre los que se preguntó, y percibieron que ellas hacían más estas tareas que sus parejas heterosexuales. Una de cada cuatro mujeres percibió un aumento de la sobrecarga debida a cuidados tras la pandemia y los niveles de depresión fueron mayores en mujeres que sentían una sobrecarga mental debida a los cuidados, por encima de quien identificó sobrecarga física. Aun considerando las limitaciones de este trabajo, la pandemia ha podido suponer un incremento en la sobrecarga por los cuidados informales para muchas mujeres y, evidenciada la relación entre depresión y sobrecarga, podría entenderse que esta relación también se diera durante el confinamiento. Se requieren medidas que reduzcan el impacto de género en situaciones de crisis y políticas y programas de prevención que fomenten la corresponsabilidad.This work has been funded by Fundación María Fulmen (Sevilla) within their Third Call for Grants for Projects Aimed at Women Promotion (2021) [III Convocatoria de ayudas 2021 a proyectos dirigidos a la promoción de mujeres]

Exploring multivalent carbohydrate–protein interactions by NMR

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has been widely employed to assess diverse features of glycan–protein molecular recognition events. Different types of qualitative and quantitative information at different degrees of resolution and complexity can be extracted from the proper application of the available NMR-techniques. In fact, affinity, structural, kinetic, conformational, and dynamic characteristics of the binding process are available. Nevertheless, except in particular cases, the affinity of lectin-sugar interactions is weak, mostly at the low mM range. This feature is overcome in biological processes by using multivalency, thus augmenting the strength of the binding. However, the application of NMR methods to monitor multivalent lectin–glycan interactions is intrinsically challenging. It is well known that when large macromolecular complexes are formed, the NMR signals disappear from the NMR spectrum, due to the existence of fast transverse relaxation, related to the large size and exchange features. Indeed, at the heart of the molecular recognition event, the associated free-bound chemical exchange process for both partners takes place in a particular timescale. Thus, these factors have to be considered and overcome. In this review article, we have distinguished, in a subjective manner, the existence of multivalent presentations in the glycan or in the lectin. From the glycan perspective, we have also considered whether multiple epitopes of a given ligand are presented in the same linear chain of a saccharide (i.e., poly-LacNAc oligosaccharides) or decorating different arms of a multiantennae scaffold, either natural (as in multiantennae N-glycans) or synthetic (of dendrimer or polymer nature). From the lectin perspective, the presence of an individual binding site at every monomer of a multimeric lectin may also have key consequences for the binding event at different levels of complexity.We thank generous funding by the European Research Council (RECGLYCANMR, Advanced Grant No. 788143), the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spain) for grant PDI2021-1237810B-C21, and CIBERES, an initiative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain. We also thank Marie-Skłodowska-Curie actions (TN BactiVax, under grant agreement No. 860325)

Treatment of minor health problems by primary care nurses: a cross-sectional study

Aims: To assess the results of a nursing-led program to treatment of minor health issues from Catalan health institute primary care teams during 2019 and 2020. Background: In 2009, the Catalan health institute implemented a nursing program to deal with minor health problems. This nursing-led program includes an algorithm for each of the minor health problems and arose as a strategy to reorganise the flow of demand for care in primary care. Design: A cross-sectional design. Methods: Multicentric cross-sectional study. 392 primary care teams from the Catalan health institute participated in the study. STROBE guideline was followed in reporting this study. Patients attending any of the participating centres requesting a same-day consultation for minor health issues were registered. Results: A total of 21,215,278 consultations were recorded: 18,284,105 for adult and 2,931,173 for paediatric patients. Minor health issue resolved by the nurse was achieved in 50.9% of adult patients and 55.4% of paediatric patients. The highest rates of resolution in adults (>85%) were as follows: burns, emergency contraception and injuries. The highest resolution rates (>84%) were as follows: burns, breastfeeding difficulties and infant colic. 87.7% of prescriptions issued by nurses were accepted by the family physician. Conclusions: The nursing-led program to treat minor health issues has been shown to present acceptable resolution for nurses in a large primary care setting. Nurses have been carrying out prescription activities with very favourable results. Relevance to clinical practice: This study demonstrates that care provided to patients by nurses for minor health issues requiring preferential resolution is effective. Our results are useful in that they confirm both the effectiveness of the nursing-led program for minor health issues and the pharmacological prescriptions produced during patient appointments. Patient or public contribution: Patient's data were obtained through a program records system after the minor health issues appointments

Diversity and hierarchy in supramolecular assemblies of triphenylalanine: from laminated helical ribbons to toroids

Microstructures from small phenylalanine-based peptides have attracted great attention lately because these compounds are considered to be a new class of tunable materials. In spite of the extensive studies on uncapped diphenylalanine and tetraphenylalanine peptides, studies on the self-assembly of uncapped triphenylananine (FFF) are very scarce and nonsystematic. In this work, we demonstrate that FFF assemblies can organize in a wide number of well-defined supramolecular structures, which include laminated helical-ribbons, leaflike dendrimers, doughnut-, needle-, and flower-shapes. These organizations are produced by the attractive or repulsive interactions between already formed assemblies and therefore can be controlled through the choice of solvents used as the incubation medium. Thus, the formation of the desired supramolecular structures is regulated through the protonation/deprotonation of the terminal groups, the polarity of the incubation medium, which affects both peptide···solvent interactions and the cavity solvation energy (i.e., solvent···solvent interactions), and the steric interactions between own assemblies that act as building blocks. Finally, the ß-sheet disposition in the latter structural motifs has been examined using both theoretical calculations and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results indicate that FFF molecules can adopt both parallel and antiparallel ß-sheets. However, the former one is the most energetically favored because of the formation of p–p stacking interactions between the aromatic rings of hydrogen-bonded strands.Preprin

Influence of available resources on medical practitioners’ decision-making process and practice: study of a reference hospital emergency department

Objetivo: Evaluar la variación del indicador “periodo de tiempo de observación” dedicado a cada paciente, en respuesta a una reducción del número de camas disponibles. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio «quasiexperimental preprueba postprueba» sin grupo control en una unidad de urgencias durante 2 períodos de un mes. En este tiempo el único cambio fue el número de camas disponibles, que disminuyeron de 20 (período A) a 16 (período B). Resultados: El servicio de urgencias atendió a 7.725 pacientes: 3.706 pacientes en el período A, 335 de los cuales fueron admitidos en la unidad de observación con una estancia media de 1.105,4 minutos por paciente; y 4.019 pacientes en el período B, 570 de los cuales fueron admitidos en la unidad de observación con una estancia media de 686,1 minutos por paciente (p < 0,001). No hubo variaciones en la mortalidad, readmisiones o quejas. Conclusiones: Una disminución en el número de camas disponibles para observación comporta una reducción en el tiempo de estancia de los pacientes

Resource Allocation for Cooperative Transmission in Optical Wireless Cellular Networks With Illumination Requirements

This work has been partially funded by the Spanish MECD FPU fellowship program granted to the author Borja Genovés Guzmán, the Catalan Government under Grant 2017-SGR-1479, and the Spanish Government under the national project ’TERESA-ADA’ with ID no. TEC2017-90093-C3-2-R and TEC2017-90093-C3-1-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE)

Robust Cooperative Multicarrier Transmission Scheme for Optical Wireless Cellular Networks

Visible light communication (VLC) is a promising technology to achieve high data rates in heterogeneous scenarios. However, VLC strongly depends on the existence of a line-of-sight (LoS) link between transmitter and receiver to guarantee a good data rate performance, which is often a condition that is difficult to satisfy in practice. In this letter, a novel cooperative multicarrier transmission scheme is proposed, where neighboring attocells smartly cooperate to decrease the probability of blockage in the LoS link. This approach is compared to single-cell transmission schemes, obtaining notable gains in both received signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and cell data rate when blockage of the LoS link occurs toward the nearest base station.This work was supported in part by the Catalan Government under Grant 2014SGR1567 and in part by the Spanish Government under the National Project "ELISA" with ID TEC2014-59255-C3-3/1-R. The work of B. Genovés Guzmán was supported in part by the Spanish MECD FPU Fellowship Program