McCLEC, a robust and stable enzymatic based microreactor platform

A microfluidic chip for cross-linked enzyme crystals (McCLEC) is presented and demonstrated to be a stable, reusable and robust biocatalyst-based device with very promising biotechnological applications. The cost-effective microfluidic platform allows in situ crystallization, cross-linking and enzymatic reaction assays on a single device. A large number of enzymatic reuses of the McCLEC platform were achieved and a comparative analysis is shown illustrating the efficiency of the process and its storage stability for more than one year.This work has been partly funded by the MICINN (Spain) projects BIO2010-16800 (JAG) and BIO2012-34937 (SMR), the European Commission (Contract No. 317916) under the LiPhos project (AL and IRR), “Factoría Española de Cristalización” Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (JAG and MCM) and EDRF Funds (JAG and AL). MCM thanks the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC, Spain) for a JAE predoc fellowship

Kinematic description of soft tissue artifacts: quantifying rigid versus deformation components and their relation with bone motion

[EN] This paper proposes a kinematic approach for describing soft tissue artifacts (STA) in human movement analysis. Artifacts are represented as the field of relative displacements of markers with respect to the bone. This field has two components: deformation component (symmetric field) and rigid motion (skew-symmetric field). Only the skew-symmetric component propagates as an error to the joint variables, whereas the deformation component is filtered in the kinematic analysis process. Finally, a simple technique is proposed for analyzing the sources of variability to determine which part of the artifact may be modeled as an effect of the motion, and which part is due to other sources. This method has been applied to the analysis of the shank movement induced by vertical vibration in 10 subjects. The results show that the cluster deformation is very small with respect to the rigid component. Moreover, both components show a strong relationship with the movement of the tibia. These results suggest that artifacts can be modeled effectively as a systematic relative rigid movement of the marker cluster with respect to the underlying bone. This may be useful for assessing the potential effectiveness of the usual strategies for compensating for STA. © 2012 International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.This work has been funded by the Spanish Government and co-financed by EU FEDER funds (Grants DPI2009-13830-C02-01, DPI2009-13830-C02-02 and IMPIVA IMDEEA/2012/79 and IMDEEA/2012/80).De Rosario Martínez, H.; Page Del Pozo, AF.; Besa Gonzálvez, AJ.; Mata Amela, V.; Conejero Navarro, E. (2012). Kinematic description of soft tissue artifacts: quantifying rigid versus deformation components and their relation with bone motion. Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing. 50(11):1173-1181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-012-0978-5S117311815011Akbarshahi M, Schache AG, Fernandez JW, Baker R, Banks S, Pandy MG (2010) Non-invasive assessment of soft-tissue artifact and its effect on knee joint kinematics during functional activity. J Biomech 43:1292–1301Alexander EJ, Andriacchi TP (2001) Correcting for deformation in skin-based marker systems. J Biomech 34:355–361Andersen MS, Benoit DL, Damsgaard M, Ramsey DK, Rasmussen J (2010) Do kinematic models reduce the effects of soft tissue artefacts in skin marker-based motion analysis? An in vivo study of knee kinematics. J Biomech 43:268–273Andriacchi TP, Alexander EJ, Toney MK, Dyrby C, Sum J (1998) A point cluster method for in vivo motion analysis: applied to a study of knee kinematics. J Biomech Eng 120:743–749Benoit DL, Ramsey DK, Lamontagne M, Xu L, Wretenberg P, Renström P (2006) Effect of skin movement artifact on knee kinematics during gait and cutting motions measured in vivo. Gait Posture 24:152–164Camomilla V, Donati M, Stagni R, Cappozzo A (2009) Non-invasive assessment of superficial soft tissue local displacement during movement: a feasibility study. J Biomech 42:931–937Cappello A, Cappozzo A, La Palombara PF, Lucchetti L, Leardini A (1997) Multiple anatomical landmark calibration for optimal bone pose estimation. Hum Mov Sci 16:259–274Cappello A, Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Leardini A (2005) Soft tissue artifact compensation in knee kinematics by double anatomical landmark calibration: performance of a novel method during select motor tasks. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 52:992–998Cappozzo A, Della Croce U, Leardini A, Chiari L (2005) Human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry: part 1: theoretical background. Gait Posture 21:186–196Chèze L, Fregly BJ, Dimnet J (1995) A solidification procedure to facilitate kinematic analyses based on video system data. J Biomech 28:879–884Dumas R, Cheze L (2009) Soft tissue artifact compensation by linear 3D interpolation and approximation methods. J Biomech 42:2214–2217Ehrig RM, Taylor WR, Duda GN, Heller MO (2006) A survey of formal methods for determining the centre of rotation of ball joints. J Biomech 39:2798–2809Ehrig RM, Taylor WR, Duda GN, Heller MO (2007) A survey of formal methods for determining functional joint axes. J Biomech 40:2150–2157Fuller J, Liu LJ, Murphy MC, Mann RW (1997) A comparison of lower-extremity skeletal kinematics measured using skin- and pin-mounted markers. Hum Mov Sci 16:219–242Gao B, Zheng N (2008) Investigation of soft tissue movement during level walking: translations and rotations of skin markers. J Biomech 41:3189–3195Holden JP, Orsini JA, Siegel KL, Kepple TM, Gerber LH, Stanhope SJ (1997) Surface movement errors in shank kinematics and knee kinetics during gait. Gait Posture 5:217–227Leardini A, Chiari L, Della Croce U, Cappozzo A (2005) Human movement analysis using stereo photogrammetry: part 3. Soft tissue artifact assessment and compensation. Gait Posture 21:212–225Lucchetti L, Cappozzo A, Cappello A, Della Croce U (1998) Skin movement artefact assessment and compensation in the estimation of knee-joint kinematics. J Biomech 31:977–984Nester C, Jones RK, Liu A, Howard D, Lundberg A, Arndt A, Lundgren P, Stacoff A, Wolf P (2007) Foot kinematics during walking measured using bone and surface mounted markers. J Biomech 40:3412–3423Page A, de Rosario H, Mata V, Hoyos JV, Porcar R (2006) Effect of marker cluster design on the accuracy of human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry. Med Biol Eng Comput 4:1113–1119Page A, de Rosario H, Mata V, Atienza C (2009) Experimental Analysis of Rigid Body Motion. A Vector Method to Determine Finite and Infinitesimal Displacements From Point Coordinates. J Mech Des 131: 031005Page A, Galvez JA, de Rosario H, Mata V, Prat J (2010) Optimal average path of the instantaneous helical axis in planar motions with one functional degree of freedom. J Biomech 43:375–378Peters A, Galna B, Sangeux M, Morris M, Baker R (2010) Quantification of soft tissue artifact in lower limb human motion analysis: a systematic review. Gait Posture 31:1–8Reinschmidt C, van den Bogert AJ, Lundberg A, Nigg BM, Murphy N, Stacoff A, Stano A (1997) Tibiofemoral and tibiocalcaneal motion during walking: external vs. skeletal markers. Gait Posture 6:98–109Ryu T, Choi HS, Chung MK (2009) Soft tissue artifact compensation using displacement dependency between anatomical landmarks and skin markers- a preliminary study. Int J Ind Ergon 39:152–158Sangeux M, Marin F, Charleux F, Dürselen L, Ho Ba Tho MC (2006) Quantification of the 3D relative movement of external marker sets vs. bones based on magnetic resonance imaging. Clin Biomech 21:984–991Sati M, de Guise JA, Larouche S, Drouin G (1996) Quantitative assessment of skin-bone movement at the knee. Knee 3(3):121–138Stagni R, Fantozzi S (2009) Can cluster deformation be an indicator of soft tissue artefact? Gait Posture 30(Suppl 1):S55Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Cappello A, Leardini A (2005) Quantification of soft tissue artefact in motion analysis by combining 3D fluoroscopy and stereophotogrammetry: a study on two subjects. Clin Biomech 20(3):320–329Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Cappello A (2009) Double calibration vs global optimization: performance and effectiveness for clinical application. Gait Posture 29:119–122Taylor WR, Ehrig RM, Duda GN, Schell H, Seebeck P, Heller MO (2005) On the influence of soft tissue coverage in the determination of bone kinematics using skin markers. J Orthop Res 23(4):726–734Tranberg R, Karlsson D (1998) The relative skin movement of the foot: a 2-D roentgen photogrammetry study. Clin Biomech 13(1):71–76Tsai T-Y, Lu Tung-Wu, Kuo M-Y, Lin C–C (2011) Effects of soft tissue artifacts on the calculated kinematics and kinetics of the knee during stair-ascent. J Biomech 44(6):1182–1188Woltring HJ, Long K, Osterbauer PJ, Fuhr AW (1994) Instantaneous helical axis estimation from 3-D video data in neck kinematics for whiplash diagnostics. J Biomech 27(12):1415–143

Lanthanide(III) Ions and 5-Methylisophthalate Ligand Based Coordination Polymers: An Insight into Their Photoluminescence Emission and Chemosensing for Nitroaromatic Molecules

The work presented herein reports on the synthesis, structural and physico-chemical characterization, luminescence properties and luminescent sensing activity of a family of isostructural coordination polymers (CPs) with the general formula [Ln2(μ4-5Meip)3(DMF)]n (where Ln(III) = Sm (1Sm), Eu (2Eu), Gd (3Gd), Tb (4Tb) and Yb (5Yb) and 5Meip = 5-methylisophthalate, DMF = N,N-dimethylmethanamide). Crystal structures consist of 3D frameworks tailored by the linkage between infinite lanthanide(III)-carboxylate rods by means of the tetradentate 5Meip ligands. Photoluminescence measurements in solid state at variable temperatures reveal the best-in-class properties based on the capacity of the 5Meip ligand to provide efficient energy transfers to the lanthanide(III) ions, which brings intense emissions in both the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions. On the one hand, compound 5Yb displays characteristic lanthanide-centered bands in the NIR with sizeable intensity even at room temperature. Among the compounds emitting in the visible region, 4Tb presents a high QY of 63%, which may be explained according to computational calculations. At last, taking advantage of the good performance as well as high chemical and optical stability of 4Tb in water and methanol, its sensing capacity to detect 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) among other nitroaromatic-like explosives has been explored, obtaining high detection capacity (with Ksv around 105 M−1), low limit of detection (in the 10−6–10−7 M) and selectivity among other molecules (especially in methanol).This work has been funded by University of the Basque Country (GIU20/028), Gobierno Vasco/Eusko Jaurlaritza (IT1755-22 and IT1500-22), Junta de Andalucía (FQM-394 and B-FQM-734-UGR20, B-FQM-478-UGR20 and ProyExcel_00386) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE) (PGC2018-102052-A-C22, PGC2018-102052-B-C21 and PID2020-117344RB-I00)

Frequency of breast cancer with hereditary risk features in Spain: Analysis from GEICAM “El Álamo III” retrospective study

Purpose: To determine the frequency of breast cancer (BC) patients with hereditary risk features in a wide retrospective cohort of patients in Spain. Methods: a retrospective analysis was conducted from 10, 638 BC patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2001 in the GEICAM registry “El Álamo III”, dividing them into four groups according to modified ESMO and SEOM hereditary cancer risk criteria: Sporadic breast cancer group (R0); Individual risk group (IR); Familial risk group (FR); Individual and familial risk group (IFR) with both individual and familial risk criteria. Results: 7, 641 patients were evaluable. Of them, 2, 252 patients (29.5%) had at least one hereditary risk criteria, being subclassified in: FR 1.105 (14.5%), IR 970 (12.7%), IFR 177 (2.3%). There was a higher frequency of newly diagnosed metastatic patients in the IR group (5.1% vs 3.2%, p = 0.02). In contrast, in RO were lower proportion of big tumors (> T2) (43.8% vs 47.4%, p = 0.023), nodal involvement (43.4% vs 48.1%, p = 0.004) and lower histological grades (20.9% G3 for the R0 vs 29.8%) when compared to patients with any risk criteria. Conclusions: Almost three out of ten BC patients have at least one hereditary risk cancer feature that would warrant further genetic counseling. Patients with hereditary cancer risk seems to be diagnosed with worse prognosis factors

Trained immunity induction by the inactivated mucosal vaccine MV130 protects against experimental viral respiratory infections.

MV130 is an inactivated polybacterial mucosal vaccine that confers protection to patients against recurrent respiratory infections, including those of viral etiology. However, its mechanism of action remains poorly understood. Here, we find that intranasal prophylaxis with MV130 modulates the lung immune landscape and provides long-term heterologous protection against viral respiratory infections in mice. Intranasal administration of MV130 provides protection against systemic candidiasis in wild-type and Rag1-deficient mice lacking functional lymphocytes, indicative of innate immune-mediated protection. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of trained immunity with metformin abrogates the protection conferred by MV130 against influenza A virus respiratory infection. MV130 induces reprogramming of both mouse bone marrow progenitor cells and in vitro human monocytes, promoting an enhanced cytokine production that relies on a metabolic shift. Our results unveil that the mucosal administration of a fully inactivated bacterial vaccine provides protection against viral infections by a mechanism associated with the induction of trained immunity.We are grateful to members of the D.S. laboratory for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. We thank the CNIC facilities and personnel for assistance. P.B. is funded by grant BES-2014-069933 (‘‘Ayudas para Contratos Predoctorales para la Formacio´ n de Doctores 2014’’) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO). L.C. was a recipient of a European Respiratory Society Fellowship (RESPIRE2-2013- 3708). G.D. is supported by a European Molecular Biology Organization Long-term Fellowship (ALTF 379-2019). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk1odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 892965. Work in the D.S. laboratory is funded by the CNIC; by the European Research Council (ERC-2016-consolidator grant 725091); by the European Commission (635122-PROCROP H2020); by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´ n (MICINN), Agencia Estatal de Investigacio´ n (AEI), and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (SAF2016-79040-R); by AEI (PID2019-108157RB); by Comunidad de Madrid (B2017/BMD-3733 Immunothercan-CM); by FIS-Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MICINN and FEDER (RD16/0015/0018-REEM); by a collaboration agreement with Inmunotek; by Atresmedia (Constantes y Vitales prize); by Fundacio´ La Marato´ de TV3 (201723); and by Fondo Solidario Juntos (Banco Santander). The CNIC is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the MICINN, and the Pro CNIC Foundation.S

Human Endometrial Side Population Cells Exhibit Genotypic, Phenotypic and Functional Features of Somatic Stem Cells

During reproductive life, the human endometrium undergoes around 480 cycles of growth, breakdown and regeneration should pregnancy not be achieved. This outstanding regenerative capacity is the basis for women's cycling and its dysfunction may be involved in the etiology of pathological disorders. Therefore, the human endometrial tissue must rely on a remarkable endometrial somatic stem cells (SSC) population. Here we explore the hypothesis that human endometrial side population (SP) cells correspond to somatic stem cells. We isolated, identified and characterized the SP corresponding to the stromal and epithelial compartments using endometrial SP genes signature, immunophenotyping and characteristic telomerase pattern. We analyzed the clonogenic activity of SP cells under hypoxic conditions and the differentiation capacity in vitro to adipogenic and osteogenic lineages. Finally, we demonstrated the functional capability of endometrial SP to develop human endometrium after subcutaneous injection in NOD-SCID mice. Briefly, SP cells of human endometrium from epithelial and stromal compartments display genotypic, phenotypic and functional features of SSC

Zoonotic "Enterocytozoon bieneusi" genotypes in free-ranging and farmed wild ungulates in Spain

Microsporidia comprises a diverse group of obligate, intracellular, and spore-forming parasites that infect a wide range of animals. Among them, Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most frequently reported species in humans and other mammals and birds. Data on the epidemiology of E. bieneusi in wildlife are limited. Hence, E. bieneusi was investigated in eight wild ungulate species present in Spain (genera Ammotragus, Capra, Capreolus, Cervus, Dama, Ovis, Rupicapra, and Sus) by molecular methods. Faecal samples were collected from free-ranging (n = 1058) and farmed (n = 324) wild ungulates from five Spanish bioregions. The parasite was detected only in red deer (10.4%, 68/653) and wild boar (0.8%, 3/359). Enterocytozoon bieneusi infections were more common in farmed (19.4%, 63/324) than in wild (1.5%, 5/329) red deer. A total of 11 genotypes were identified in red deer, eight known (BEB6, BEB17, EbCar2, HLJD-V, MWC_d1, S5, Type IV, and Wildboar3) and three novel (DeerSpEb1, DeerSpEb2, and DeerSpEb3) genotypes. Mixed genotype infections were detected in 15.9% of farmed red deer. Two genotypes were identified in wild boar, a known (Wildboar3) and a novel (WildboarSpEb1) genotypes. All genotypes identified belonged to E. bieneusi zoonotic Groups 1 and 2. This study provides the most comprehensive epidemiological study of E. bieneusi in Spanish ungulates to date, representing the first evidence of the parasite in wild red deer populations worldwide. Spanish wild boars and red deer are reservoir of zoonotic genotypes of E. bieneusi and might play an underestimated role in the transmission of this microsporidian species to humans and other animal

The EU Center of Excellence for Exascale in Solid Earth (ChEESE): Implementation, results, and roadmap for the second phase

The EU Center of Excellence for Exascale in Solid Earth (ChEESE) develops exascale transition capabilities in the domain of Solid Earth, an area of geophysics rich in computational challenges embracing different approaches to exascale (capability, capacity, and urgent computing). The first implementation phase of the project (ChEESE-1P; 2018¿2022) addressed scientific and technical computational challenges in seismology, tsunami science, volcanology, and magnetohydrodynamics, in order to understand the phenomena, anticipate the impact of natural disasters, and contribute to risk management. The project initiated the optimisation of 10 community flagship codes for the upcoming exascale systems and implemented 12 Pilot Demonstrators that combine the flagship codes with dedicated workflows in order to address the underlying capability and capacity computational challenges. Pilot Demonstrators reaching more mature Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) were further enabled in operational service environments on critical aspects of geohazards such as long-term and short-term probabilistic hazard assessment, urgent computing, and early warning and probabilistic forecasting. Partnership and service co-design with members of the project Industry and User Board (IUB) leveraged the uptake of results across multiple research institutions, academia, industry, and public governance bodies (e.g. civil protection agencies). This article summarises the implementation strategy and the results from ChEESE-1P, outlining also the underpinning concepts and the roadmap for the on-going second project implementation phase (ChEESE-2P; 2023¿2026).This work has been funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the ChEESE project, Grant Agreemen

The EU Center of Excellence for Exascale in Solid Earth (ChEESE): Implementation, results, and roadmap for the second phase

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Llibre Blanc de la mediació a Catalunya

Projectes científics associats: IDT SGR2009-688; ONTOMEDIA CSO-2008-05536-SOCI, TSI-20501-2008-131; GCC SGR2009-221; GREL SGR2009-357; SGR2009-1328; AT CSD2007-0022; AT COST IC0801Altres ajuts: TSI-20501-2008-131Altres ajuts: COST-IC0801L'estudi que es presenta ara és fruit de gairebé dos anys de treball. Una cartografia completa de les experiències en mediació en tots els àmbits socials, de les escoles als hospitals, de les empreses als nuclis familiars, de la mediació comunitària als conflictes de consum o laborals, de la mediació penal a la mediambiental. També s'hi ha incorporat una anàlisi dels costos de la mediació i de la seva configuració jurídica. La conjunció de les fotografies en relleu i dels estudis més teòrics han fet possible la reflexió ulterior, les interpretacions crítiques i, en darrer terme, les conclusions i les recomanacions, que ens ajudaran a progressar. La mediació permet detenir l'escalada dels conflictes i sostreure'ls de la resolució judicial, per implicar les parts i fer-les protagonistes actives de les solucions a què arribin. Des del Departament de Justícia, ens interessa superar l'excessiva judicialització dels conflictes -insatisfactòria per a tothom- i promoure instruments que facilitin, de manera àgil però amb totes les garanties, la intel·ligència dels problemes i, a partir d'aquí, la fixació de les millors solucions per a les parts implicades, que elles mateixes hauran construït