Pattern formation and optimization in army ant raids

Army ant colonies display complex foraging raid patterns involving thousands of individuals communicating through chemical trails. In this paper we explore, by means of a simple search algorithm, the properties of these trails in order to test the hypothesis that their structure reflects an optimized mechanism for exploring and exploiting food resources. The raid patterns of three army ant species, {em Eciton hamatum}, {em Eciton burchelli} and {em Eciton rapax}, are analysed. The respective diets of these species involve large but rare, small but common, and a combination of large but rare and small but common, food sources. Using a model proposed by Deneubourg and collaborators, we simulate the formation of raid patterns in response to different food distributions. Our results indicate that the empirically observed raid patterns maximise return on investment, that is, the amount of food brought back to the nest per unit of energy expended, for each of the diets. Moreover, the values of the parameters that characterise the three optimal pattern-generating mechanisms are strikingly similar. Therefore the same behavioural rules at the individual level can produce optimal colony-level patterns. The evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.Postprint (published version

Nuevas estrategias terapéuticas en la infección por Helicobacter pylori

Los artículos presentados como cuerpos de esta tesis doctoral son una parte del trabajo realizado por el doctorando Jordi Sánchez Delgado en relación a la infección por Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Con el título "Nuevas estrategias terapéuticas en la infección por H. pylori" se muestra la aportación en el campo del tratamiento proponiendo nuevas alternativas terapéuticas a las comúnmente utilizadas. En la introducción de esta tesis se ha realizado una extensa revisión sobre la epidemiología, el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de la infección por H. pylori; está documentada sobre la evidencia científica reportada en los últimos estudios publicados sobre el tema. En un tema como la infección por H. pylori, los conocimientos crecen exponencialmente con el paso de los años. En el campo del tratamiento, se ha ampliado el arsenal terapéutico con la utilización de nuevos antibióticos, se ha demostrado la necesidad de extender la duración de la terapia así como el beneficio de aumentar la potencia de la inhibición ácida entre otros cambios. El objetivo de mi tesis fue aportar nuevas alternativas terapéuticas que pretenden mejorar las bajas tasas de erradicación con la pauta triple tradicional, manteniendo una aceptable posología y con los mínimos efectos secundarios. En el primer artículo "Ten-day sequential treatment for Helicobacter pylori eradication in clinical practice" se valora la eficacia de un nuevo esquema terapéutico. El tratamiento "secuencial" consiste en una fase de "inducción" de 5 días con una terapia doble (un IBP dos veces al día y amoxicilina 1 gr./12 horas), seguido inmediatamente por una terapia triple durante 5 días con IBP /12 horas; metronidazol 500 mg /12 horas y claritromicina 500 mg/12 horas. Las tasas de curación fueron del 88,2% por protocolo y del 82.4 % por intención de tratar, superiores a las descritas actualmente con tratamiento triple clásico. En el segundo artículo "High-dose, ten day esomeprazole, amoxicillin and metronidazole triple therapy achieves high H. pylori eradication rates" se apuesta por la utilización de antibióticos utilizados de forma habitual en el tratamiento de H. pylori pero con unas dosis y posología totalmente diferentes a las recomendadas y utilizando inhibición ácida potente. Se administran los antibióticos amoxicilina y metronidazol cada 8 horas en vez de cada 12 horas apoyándonos en la evidencia científica que nos ofrecen las vidas medias de los antibióticos y la correcta tolerancia demostrada en otros procesos infecciosos. Se demuestra también una mayor tasa de erradicación que con el tratamiento clásico. La importancia y la aplicabilidad de estos conocimientos son notables ya que ambos estudios evalúan pautas terapéuticas con una excelente capacidad de erradicar la infección; una infección que ha demostrado claramente su responsabilidad en múltiples enfermedades como la úlcera péptica, la dispepsia, el linfoma gástrico tipo MALT y el carcinoma gástrico entre otras.The articles included in this thesis are a part of the research of the applicant Jordi Sánchez Delgado in relation to the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Under the title "New therapeutic strategies for the H. pylori infection" the author show his contribution in the sphere of treatment by proposing new alternatives to the commonly used triple scheme. In the introduction of this thesis there is an extensive and, most of all, updated review of the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of the H. pylori infection. It is documented in the scientific evidence reported in recent studies published on this topic. The knowledge of the infection grows exponentially over the years. In the sphere of treatment, the therapeutic arsenal has expanded with the use of new antibiotics; it has been demonstrated the utility of extending the duration of therapy as well as the benefit of a strong acid inhibition among other changes. The aim of my thesis was to provide new therapies to improve the low eradication rates obtained with traditional triple scheme, with acceptable dosage and with minimal side effects. In the first article "Ten-day sequential treatment for Helicobacter pylori eradication in clinical practice " we assess the efficacy of a new therapeutic regimen. Sequential regime consisted of a 10-day treatment including a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) b.d. plus amoxicillin 1 g b.d. for the first 5 days, followed by a PPI b.d. clarithromycin 500 mg b.d. and metronidazole 500 mg b.d for the next 5 days. Cure rates were 88.2% per protocol and 82.4% by intention to treat. Higher eradication rates than with the triple classical scheme. In the second article "High-dose, ten day esomeprazole, amoxicillin and metronidazole triple therapy achieves high H. pylori eradication rates" we used antibiotics commonly used in H. pylori treatment but using a physiologically-correct schedule three times a day and strong acid inhibition. Ten-day treatment was prescribed comprising esomeprazole 40 mg twice a day plus amoxicillin 1 g and metronidazole 500 mg both three times a day with the scientific evidence that we administrate the antibiotics taking into account their half-lives and the correct tolerance demonstrated in other infectious diseases. This scheme also showed higher eradication rate than standard treatment. The importance and applicability of these new therapeutic approaches are remarkable since both studies evaluate therapeutic schemes with an excellent ability to eradicate H. pylori, an infection that has clearly demonstrate its responsibility in many diseases such as peptic ulcer, dyspepsia, gastric lymphoma (MALT), gastric carcinoma and other illnesses

Innovation in urban design education

How can we incorporate into our educational system the emerging technologies, new processes and new habits of society to improve public motivation, implication, and satisfaction in urban decision-making processes? New technology implementations in the teaching field largely extend to all types of levels and educational frameworks. However, these innovations require approval validation and evaluation by the final users. The premise is that the technology used in Virtual Reality (VR), is familiar to the Architecture students, which preview to work on specific parameters and outcome, and on the contrary, citizens with a profile not related to the field get more excited and perceive the technology as a more efficient tool. To prove this, we use a quantitative method to evaluate the satisfaction of citizens related and not related to the Architecture field. Using an interactive visualization process in a real environment, we obtained adequate feedback that allowed the optimization of this type of experiment in future iterations. The results show that the degree of satisfaction when using an advanced visualization technology was satisfactory with a differentiation between user’s profilesPeer ReviewedPreprin

Micronutrient Deficiencies in Patients with Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis

Patients with cirrhosis often develop malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, leading to a worse prognosis and increased mortality. Our main goal was to assess the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. This was a prospective single-center study including 125 consecutive patients hospitalized for acute decompensation of cirrhosis (mostly of alcoholic etiology). A blood test including trace elements and vitamins was performed on admission. The main micronutrient deficiencies observed were vitamin D (in 94.5%), vitamin A (93.5%), vitamin B6 (60.8%) and zinc (85.6%). Patients in Child-Pugh class C had lower levels of vitamin A (p < 0.0001), vitamin E (p = 0.01) and zinc (p < 0.001), and higher levels of ferritin (p = 0.002) and vitamin B12 (p < 0.001) than those in Child-Pugh class A and B. Patients with a higher model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) score had lower levels of vitamin A (p < 0.0001), vitamin E (p < 0.001), magnesium (p = 0.01) and zinc (p = 0.001), and higher levels of ferritin (p = 0.002) and vitamin B12 (p < 0.0001). Severe hepatic insufficiency correlated with lower levels of zinc, vitamin E and vitamin A, and higher levels of vitamin B12 and ferritin

Antibody Response Induced by BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 Vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 in a Cohort of Healthcare Workers

The aim of this study was to characterize the antibody response induced by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in a cohort of healthcare workers. A total of 2247 serum samples were analyzed using the Elecsys(®) Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S-test (Roche Diagnostics International Ltd., Rotkreuz, Switzerland). Sex, age, body mass index (BMI), arterial hypertension, smoking and time between infection and/or vaccination and serology were considered the confounding factors. Regarding the medians, subjects previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 who preserved their response to the nucleocapsid (N) protein showed higher humoral immunogenicity (BNT162b2: 6456.0 U/mL median; mRNA-1273: 2505.0 U/mL) compared with non-infected (BNT162b2: 867.0 U/mL; mRNA-1273: 2300.5 U/mL) and infected subjects with a lost response to N protein (BNT162b2: 2992.0 U/mL). After controlling for the confounders, a higher response was still observed for mRNA-1273 compared with BNT162b2 in uninfected individuals (FC = 2.35, p < 0.0001) but not in previously infected subjects (1.11 FC, p = 0.1862). The lowest levels of antibodies were detected in previously infected non-vaccinated individuals (39.4 U/mL). Clinical variables previously linked to poor prognoses regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as age, BMI and arterial hypertension, were positively associated with increasing levels of anti-S protein antibody exclusively in infected subjects. The mRNA-1273 vaccine generated a higher antibody response to the S protein than BNT162b2 in non-infected subjects only

A genome-wide perspective about the diversity and demographic history of seven Spanish goat breeds

Altres ajuts: Félix Goyache is supported by Grant FICYT GRUPIN14-113. Valentin Balteanu is the recipient of a grant awarded under the frame of the European Social Fund, Human Resources Development Operational Program 2007-2013, Project No. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132765.Background: The main goal of the current work was to infer the demographic history of seven Spanish goat breeds (Malagueña, Murciano-Granadina, Florida, Palmera, Mallorquina, Bermeya and Blanca de Rasquera) based on genomewide diversity data generated with the Illumina Goat SNP50 BeadChip (population size, N = 176). Five additional populations from Europe (Saanen and Carpathian) and Africa (Tunisian, Djallonké and Sahel) were also included in this analysis (N = 80) for comparative purposes. Results: Our results show that the genetic background of Spanish goats traces back mainly to European breeds although signs of North African admixture were detected in two Andalusian breeds (Malagueña and MurcianoGranadina). In general, observed and expected heterozygosities were quite similar across the seven Spanish goat breeds under analysis irrespective of their population size and conservation status. For the Mallorquina and Blanca de Rasquera breeds, which have suffered strong population declines during the past decades, we observed increased frequencies of large-sized (ROH), a finding that is consistent with recent inbreeding. In contrast, a substantial part of the genome of the Palmera goat breed comprised short ROH, which suggests a strong and ancient founder effect. Conclusions: Admixture with African goats, genetic drift and inbreeding have had different effects across the seven Spanish goat breeds analysed in the current work. This has generated distinct patterns of genome-wide diversity that provide new clues about the demographic history of these populations

Amitriptyline induces mitophagy that precedes apoptosis in human HepG2 cells

Systemic treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been largely unsuccessful. This study investigated the antitumoral activity of Amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, in hepatoma cells. Amitriptyline-induced toxicity involved early mitophagy activation that subsequently switched to apoptosis. Amitriptyline induced mitochondria dysfunction and oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. Amitriptyline specifically inhibited mitochondrial complex III activity that is associated with decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies revealed structurally abnormal mitochondria that were engulfed by double-membrane structures resembling autophagosomes. Consistent with mitophagy activation, fluorescence microscopy analysis showed mitochondrial Parkin recruitment and colocalization of mitochondria with autophagosome protein markers. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of autophagy exacerbated the deleterious effects of Amitriptyline on hepatoma cells and led to increased apoptosis. These results suggest that mitophagy acts as an initial adaptive mechanism of cell survival. However persistent mitochondrial damage induced extensive and lethal mitophagy, autophagy stress and autophagolysome permeabilization leading eventually to cell death by apoptosis. Amitriptyline also induced cell death in hepatoma cells lines with mutated p53 and non-sense p53 mutation. Our results support the hypothesis that Amitriptyline-induced mitochondrial dysfunction can be a useful therapeutic strategy for HCC treatment, especially in tumors showing p53 mutations and/or resistant to genotoxic treatments.This work was supported by FIS PI13/00129 grant, Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER-Unión Europea), Proyecto de Investigación de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía CTS-5725, AEPMI (Asociación de Enfermos de Patología Mitocondrial) and ENACH (Asociación de Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas por Acumulación Cerebral de Hierro).Peer Reviewe

CHAPTER 5: FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF GALAXIES AND LARGE STRUCTURES

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