Inference of contractility evolution on planar worm locomotion

Postprint (published version

The Multi-Chamber Electronic Nose—An Improved Olfaction Sensor for Mobile Robotics

One of the major disadvantages of the use of Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) technology as a transducer for electronic gas sensing devices (e-noses) is the long recovery period needed after each gas exposure. This severely restricts its usage in applications where the gas concentrations may change rapidly, as in mobile robotic olfaction, where allowing for sensor recovery forces the robot to move at a very low speed, almost incompatible with any practical robot operation. This paper describes the design of a new e-nose which overcomes, to a great extent, such a limitation. The proposed e-nose, called Multi-Chamber Electronic Nose (MCE-nose), comprises several identical sets of MOS sensors accommodated in separate chambers (four in our current prototype), which alternate between sensing and recovery states, providing, as a whole, a device capable of sensing changes in chemical concentrations faster. The utility and performance of the MCE-nose in mobile robotic olfaction is shown through several experiments involving rapid sensing of gas concentration and mobile robot gas mapping

CD69 expression on regulatory T cells protects from immune damage after myocardial infarction.

Increasing evidences advocate for an important function of T cells in controlling immune homeostasis and pathogenesis after myocardial infarction (MI), although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, a broad analysis of immune markers in 283 patients revealed a significant CD69 overexpression on Treg cells after MI. Our results in mice showed that CD69 expression on Treg cells increased survival after left-anterior-descending coronary artery (LAD)-ligation. Cd69-/- mice developed strong IL-17+ γδT cell responses after ischemia that increased myocardial inflammation and, consequently, worsened cardiac function. CD69+ Treg cells, by induction of AhR-dependent CD39 ectonucleotidase activity, induced apoptosis and decreased IL-17A production in γδT cells. Adoptive transfer of CD69+ Treg cells to Cd69-/- mice after LAD-ligation reduced IL-17+ γδT cell recruitment, thus increasing survival. Consistently, clinical data from two independent cohorts of patients indicated that increased CD69 expression in peripheral blood cells after acute MI was associated with a lower risk of re-hospitalization for heart failure (HF) after 2.5 years of follow-up. This result remained significant after adjustment for age, sex and traditional cardiac damage biomarkers. Our data highlight CD69 expression on Treg cells as a potential prognostic factor and a therapeutic option to prevent HF after MI.This study was supported by competitive grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN), through the Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII)-Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (PI22/01759) to P.M.; RTI2018-094727-B-100 to J. M-G; Comunidad de Madrid grants S2017/BMD-3671-INFLAMUNE-CM to P.M. and FSM.; Fundació La Marató TV3 (20152330 31) to J.M-G and F.S-M.; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN) RTI2018-099357-B-I00, and CIBERFES (CB16/10/00282), Human Frontier Science Program (grant RGP0016/2018), and Leducq Transatlantic Networks (17CVD04) to JAE. AC is supported by Marie Skłodowska- Curie grant (agreement No. 713673). R.B-D. is supported by Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU16/02780) program from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. The CNIC is supported by the ISCIII, the MCIN and the Pro CNIC Foundation, and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (SEV-2015-0505).S

Genomic Analysis of QTLs and Genes Altering Natural Variation in Stochastic Noise

Quantitative genetic analysis has long been used to study how natural variation of genotype can influence an organism's phenotype. While most studies have focused on genetic determinants of phenotypic average, it is rapidly becoming understood that stochastic noise is genetically determined. However, it is not known how many traits display genetic control of stochastic noise nor how broadly these stochastic loci are distributed within the genome. Understanding these questions is critical to our understanding of quantitative traits and how they relate to the underlying causal loci, especially since stochastic noise may be directly influenced by underlying changes in the wiring of regulatory networks. We identified QTLs controlling natural variation in stochastic noise of glucosinolates, plant defense metabolites, as well as QTLs for stochastic noise of related transcripts. These loci included stochastic noise QTLs unique for either transcript or metabolite variation. Validation of these loci showed that genetic polymorphism within the regulatory network alters stochastic noise independent of effects on corresponding average levels. We examined this phenomenon more globally, using transcriptomic datasets, and found that the Arabidopsis transcriptome exhibits significant, heritable differences in stochastic noise. Further analysis allowed us to identify QTLs that control genomic stochastic noise. Some genomic QTL were in common with those altering average transcript abundance, while others were unique to stochastic noise. Using a single isogenic population, we confirmed that natural variation at ELF3 alters stochastic noise in the circadian clock and metabolism. Since polymorphisms controlling stochastic noise in genomic phenotypes exist within wild germplasm for naturally selected phenotypes, this suggests that analysis of Arabidopsis evolution should account for genetic control of stochastic variance and average phenotypes. It remains to be determined if natural genetic variation controlling stochasticity is equally distributed across the genomes of other multi-cellular eukaryotes

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector (vol 75, 299, 2015)

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √s=8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT>120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between EmissT>150 GeV and EmissT>700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presented

Measurement of the W±Z boson pair-production cross section in pp collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

published_or_final_versio

Search for anomalous couplings in the W tb vertex from the measurement of double differential angular decay rates of single top quarks produced in the t-channel with the ATLAS detector

The electroweak production and subsequent decay of single top quarks is determined by the properties of the Wtb vertex. This vertex can be described by the complex parameters of an effective Lagrangian. An analysis of angular distributions of the decay products of single top quarks produced in the t -channel constrains these parameters simultaneously. The analysis described in this paper uses 4.6 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s =7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Two parameters are measured simultaneously in this analysis. The fraction f 1 of decays containing transversely polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.37 ± 0.07 (stat.⊕syst.). The phase δ − between amplitudes for transversely and longitudinally polarised W bosons recoiling against left-handed b-quarks is measured to be −0.014π ± 0.036π (stat.⊕syst.). The correlation in the measurement of these parameters is 0.15. These values result in two-dimensional limits at the 95% confidence level on the ratio of the complex coupling parameters g R and V L, yielding Re[g R /V L] ∈ [−0.36, 0.10] and Im[g R /V L] ∈ [−0.17, 0.23] with a correlation of 0.11. The results are in good agreement with the predictions of the Standard Model