Metabolic Effects of Insulin and IGFs on Gilthead Sea Bream (Sparus aurata) Muscle Cells

Primary cultures of gilthead sea bream myocytes were performed in order to examine the relative metabolic function of insulin compared with IGF-I and IGF-II (insulin-like growth factors, IGFs) at different stages in the cell culture. In these cells, the in vitro effects of insulin and IGFs on 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) and l-alanine uptake were studied in both myocytes (day 4) and small myotubes (day 9). 2-DG uptake in gilthead sea bream muscle cells was increased in the presence of insulin and IGFs in a time dependent manner and along with muscle cell differentiation. On the contrary, l-alanine uptake was also stimulated by insulin and IGFs but showed an inverse pattern, being the uptake higher in small myocytes than in large myotubes. The results of preincubation with inhibitors (PD-98059, wortmannin, and cytochalasin B) on 2-DG uptake indicated that insulin and IGFs stimulate glucose uptake through the same mechanisms, and evidenced that mitogenesis activator protein kinase (MAPK) and PI3K–Akt transduction pathways mediate the metabolic function of these peptides. In the same way, we observed that GLUT4 protein synthesis was stimulated in the presence of insulin and IGFs in gilthead sea bream muscle cells in a different manner at days 4 or 9 of the culture. In summary we describe here, for the first time, the effects of insulin and IGFs on 2-DG and l-alanine uptake in primary culture of gilthead sea bream muscle cells. We show that both MAPK and PI3K–Akt transduction pathways are needed in order to control insulin and IGFs actions in these cells. Moreover, changes in glucose uptake can be explained by the action of the GLUT4 transporter, which is stimulated in the presence of insulin and IGFs throughout the cell culture

Present i futur de la motocicleta a Barcelona

La motocicleta a Barcelona ha augmentat la seva participació implicant canvis en la circulació i la mobilitat, i protagonitzant una disminució de la seguretat viària urbana. La tesina farà una anàlisi de la situació actual, modelitzarà els aspectes diferencials clau, compararà el què fan altres ciutats europees, i proposarà millores adients per afrontar els nous reptes que es plantegen

Software-based dialogue systems: Survey, taxonomy and challenges

The use of natural language interfaces in the field of human-computer interaction is undergoing intense study through dedicated scientific and industrial research. The latest contributions in the field, including deep learning approaches like recurrent neural networks, the potential of context-aware strategies and user-centred design approaches, have brought back the attention of the community to software-based dialogue systems, generally known as conversational agents or chatbots. Nonetheless, and given the novelty of the field, a generic, context-independent overview on the current state of research of conversational agents covering all research perspectives involved is missing. Motivated by this context, this paper reports a survey of the current state of research of conversational agents through a systematic literature review of secondary studies. The conducted research is designed to develop an exhaustive perspective through a clear presentation of the aggregated knowledge published by recent literature within a variety of domains, research focuses and contexts. As a result, this research proposes a holistic taxonomy of the different dimensions involved in the conversational agents’ field, which is expected to help researchers and to lay the groundwork for future research in the field of natural language interfaces.With the support from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund. The corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and Banco Santander for the inancial support of his predoctoral grant FPI-UPC. This paper has been funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under project / funding scheme PID2020-117191RB-I00 / AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Chatbots4Mobile: Feature-oriented knowledge base generation using natural language

Chatbots4Mobile is a research project from the GESSI research group (UPC-BarcelonaTech) which aims at designing and developing a task oriented, knowledge based conversational agent to support mobile users in the process of managing and integrating the functionalities exposed by their own application portfolio. To support the design of the required knowledge base, the project focuses on the application of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to infer extended knowledge about the features exposed by a subset of mobile applications, including feature extraction from app-related documents, syntactic and semantic similarity analysis between features, and intent/entity classification focused on functionality identification from user requests. As next steps, we are focusing on the evaluation of embedded linguistic knowledge in large language models, as well as the application of granular sentiment analysis techniques to discern biased documents and process sentiment-based user feedback.With the support from the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the European Social Fund. This paper has been funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under project / funding scheme PID2020-117191RB-I00 / AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The use of pedicled buccal fat pad combined with sequestrectomy in bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the maxilla

The use of pedicled buccal fat pad flap (BFP) has proved of value for the closure of oroantral and oronasal communications and is a well-established tool in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Otherwise, the perceived limitations of surgical therapy for bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws (BRONJ) have been widely discussed, and recommendations have largely been made to offer aggressive surgery only to stage 3 patients refractary to conservative management. Oroantral communication may be a common complication after sequestrectomy and bone debridement in upper maxillary BRONJ. We report a case series of stage 3 recalcitrant maxillary BRONJ surgically treated with extensive sequestrectomy and first reconstruction using pedicled BFP. All the cases presented an uneventful postoperative healing was uneventful without dehiscence, infection, necrosis or oroantral communication. We postulate that managing initially the site with BFP and primary closure may ensure a sufficient blood supply and adequate protection for an effective bone-healing response to occur. This technique may represent a mechanic protection and an abundant source of adipose-derived adult stem cells after debridement in upper maxillary BRONJ. We evaluate in this work results, advantages and indications of this technique. © Medicina Oral S. L

Sistema accesible, interoperable y ubicuo para el acceso a las nuevas tecnologías por parte de las personas con necesidades especiales

The possibility to access communication and information is indispensable to achieve equality of opportunities and full citizenship participation. However, people with some sort of handicap find themselves with environments, services and products inaccessible for them and making their daily life more difficult. Communication barriers are those obstacles that prevent these people to access information. Advance in information technologies and communications, diminishing in hardware costs and information transmission rates allows us today to develop tools that give people with special needs access to new technologies. CIM Fundation has been collaborating in the development of an accessible and ubiquitous platform for people with special needs as part of his participation in the INREDIS project within the CENIT Program. The objective of this project is the development of a system that offers a multiplatform, adaptive and natural interface that responds with intelligence to the user’s needs. The platform has been developed with a Software Oriented Architecture (SOA) and within Software as a Service model (SaaS).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Numerical study of Taylor bubbles rising in a stagnant liquid using a level-set/moving-mesh method

An Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian formulation has been posed to solve the challenging problem of the three-dimensional Taylor bubble, within a Conservative Level Set (CLS) framework. By employing a domain optimization method (i.e. the moving mesh method), smaller domains can be used to simulate rising bubbles, thus saving computational resources. As the method requires the use of open boundaries, a careful treatment of both inflow and outflow boundary conditions has been carried out. The coupled CLS - moving mesh method has been verified by means of extensive numerical tests. The challenging problem of the full three-dimensional Taylor bubble has then been thoroughly addressed, providing a detailed description of its features. The study also includes a sensitivity analyses with respect to the initial shape of the bubble, the initial volume of the bubble, the flow regime and the inclination of the channel.Postprint (author's final draft

Numerical approach to study bubbles and drops evolving through complex geometries by using a level set – Moving mesh – Immersed boundary method

The present work proposes a method to study problems of drops and bubbles evolving in complex geometries. First, a conservative level set (CLS) method is enforced to handle the multiphase domain while keeping the mass conservation under control. An Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation is proposed to optimize the simulation domain. Thus, a moving mesh (MM) will follow the motion of the bubble, allowing the reduction of the computational domain size and the improvement of the mesh quality. This has a direct impact on the computational resources consumption which is notably reduced. Finally, the use of an Immersed Boundary (IB) method allows to deal with intricate geometries and to reproduce internal boundaries within an ALE framework. The resulting method is capable of dealing with full unstructured meshes. Different problems have been studied to assert the proposed formulation, both involving constricting and non-constricting geometries. In particular, the following problems have been addressed: a 2D gravity-driven bubble interacting with a highly-inclined plane, a 2D gravity-driven Taylor bubble turning into a curved channel, the 3D passage of a drop through a periodically constricted channel, and the impingement of a 3D drop on a flat plate. Good agreement was found for all these cases study, which proves the suitability of the proposed CLS¿+¿MM¿+¿IB method to study this type of problems.Postprint (author's final draft

Introducing automation to the molecular diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection: A comparative study of sample treatments, DNA extraction methods and real-time PCR assays

Background Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become a useful tool for the diagnosis of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. The development of automated DNA extraction methodologies and PCR systems is an important step toward the standardization of protocols in routine diagnosis. To date, there are only two commercially available Real-Time PCR assays for the routine laboratory detection of T. cruzi DNA in clinical samples: TCRUZIDNA.CE (Diagnostic Bioprobes Srl) and RealCycler CHAG (Progenie Molecular). Our aim was to evaluate the RealCycler CHAG assay taking into account the whole process. Methodology/Principal findings We assessed the usefulness of an automated DNA extraction system based on magnetic particles (EZ1 Virus Mini Kit v2.0, Qiagen) combined with a commercially available Real-Time PCR assay targeting satellite DNA (SatDNA) of T. cruzi (RealCycler CHAG), a methodology used for routine diagnosis in our hospital. It was compared with a well-known strategy combining a commercial DNA isolation kit based on silica columns (High Pure PCR Template Preparation Kit, Roche Diagnostics) with an in-house Real-Time PCR targeting SatDNA. The results of the two methodologies were in almost perfect agreement, indicating they can be used interchangeably. However, when variations in protocol factors were applied (sample treatment, extraction method and Real-Time PCR), the results were less convincing. A comprehensive fine-tuning of the whole procedure is the key to successful results. Guanidine EDTA-blood (GEB) samples are not suitable for DNA extraction based on magnetic particles due to inhibition, at least when samples are not processed immediately. Conclusions/Significance This is the first study to evaluate the RealCycler CHAG assay taking into account the overall process, including three variables (sample treatment, extraction method and Real-Time PCR). Our findings may contribute to the harmonization of protocols between laboratories and to a wider application of Real-Time PCR in molecular diagnostic laboratories associated with health centers.Fil: Abras, Alba. Universidad de Barcelona; España. Universidad de Girona; España. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Ballart, Cristina. Universidad de Barcelona; España. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Llovet, Teresa. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España. Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau; EspañaFil: Roig, Carme. Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau; EspañaFil: Gutiérrez, Cristina. Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau; EspañaFil: Tebar, Silvia. Universidad de Barcelona; España. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Berenguer, Pere. Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau; EspañaFil: Pinazo, María-Jesús. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Posada, Elizabeth. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Gascón, Joaquim. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Schijman, Alejandro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Gállego, Montserrat. Instituto de Salud Global de Barcelona; España. Universidad de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Muñoz, Carmen. Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau; España. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Españ