Cyclic constitutive model for concrete

A constitutive model for concrete subjected to cyclic loadings in both compression and tension is presented. The proposed model is intended to provide improvements on modelling the cyclic behaviour of concrete structures in the context of computational programs based on a smeared crack approach. Particular emphasis has been paid to the description of the strength and stiffness degradation produced by the load cycling in both tension and compression, the shape of unloading and reloading curves and the transition between opening and closing of cracks. Two independent damage parameters in compression and in tension have been introduced to model the concrete degradation due to increasing loads. In the case of cyclic compressive loading, the model has been derived from experimental results obtained by other authors by considering the dependency of the cyclic variables with the damage level attained by the concrete. In the case of cyclic tension a simple model is adopted based on experimental observations. The main novelty of the proposed constitutive model lays in the fact that all the required input data can be obtained through the conventional monotonic compression and tension tests.Peer Reviewe

Cálculo numérico con Octave

Breve libro de 65 páginasEn este documento se realiza una introducción a Octave, un lenguaje de ordenador y un intérprete orientado al cálculo numérico matricial. Octave tiene licencia libre y un álto grado de compatibilidad con el programa Matlab

Flint ‘figurines’ from the Early Neolithic site of Kharaysin, Jordan

During the Early Neolithic in the Near East, particularly from the mid ninth millennium cal BC onwards, human iconography became more widespread. Explanations for this development, however, remain elusive. This article presents a unique assemblage of flint artefacts from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (eighth millennium BC) site of Kharaysin in Jordan. Contextual, morphological, statistical and use-wear analyses of these artefacts suggest that they are not tools but rather human figurines. Their close association with burial contexts suggests that they were manufactured and discarded during mortuary rituals and remembrance ceremonies that included the extraction, manipulation and redeposition of human remains.This research is funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación, the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Project numbers: HAR2016-74999-P, PGC2018-096634-B-I00, RYC-2016-21108. The fieldwork is funded by the Palarq Foundation. J.S. was funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (European Commission GA 750460; H2020-MSCA-IF-2016). We also acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

The association of energy poverty with health, health care utilisation and medication use in southern Europe

Energy poverty (EP) is defined as the inability of a household to secure a socially and materially required level of energy services in the home. The main objective of this study was to analyse the association between EP and distinct indicators of health status, health services utilisation and medication use in southern Europe, using the city of Barcelona as a case study. We conducted a cross-sectional study using the data of the Barcelona Health Survey for 2016 (n = 3519, 53.3% women). We calculated EP percentages according to age, country of birth and social class. We analysed the association between EP and 26 health-related indicators through prevalence ratios (PR), and quantified the impact of EP on health at the population level by calculating the percentage of population attributable risk (PAR%). In Barcelona, 13.3% of women and 11.3% of men experienced EP. The most frequently affected groups were people born in low- and middle-income countries, those from more disadvantaged social classes, and women aged 65 years and older. We found a strong association between EP and worse health status, as well as higher use of health services and medication. For example, compared with women without EP, those with EP reported poor mental health 1.9 (95% CI: 1.6-2.4) times more frequently. Compared with men without EP, those with EP reported poor mental health 2.1 (95% CI: 1.6-2.8) times more frequently. The combination of high EP prevalence and the strong association between EP and negative health outcomes resulted in high PAR%, indicating the striking impact of EP on health and health services at the population level. EP is an important public health problem in southern European urban contexts that should be included in policy priorities in order to address its structural causes and minimise its unfair and avoidable health effects

Prescripció farmacèutica segura (PREFASEG)

L'Organització Mundial de la Salut, mitjançant el seu programa especial "Aliança Mundial per a la Seguretat del Pacient", ha posat a l'agenda de les diferents organitzacions sanitàries de tot el món la seguretat clínica dels pacients en un lloc molt destacat. ..

Geographical inequalities in energy poverty in a Mediterranean city : Using small-area Bayesian spatial models

Altres ajuts: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; European Union, European Regional Development Fund (FEDER); CIBER Epidemiología Salud Pública (CIBERESP), sub-program "Energy Poverty and Health"; Fondo Social Europeo.Energy poverty (EP) is becoming an increasingly important problem in the urban contexts of southern Europe. In Barcelona, EP indicators are higher than those of the European Union and are strongly associated with poor health status and high use of health services and medication, becoming a major public health problem. EP is unevenly distributed in the population of Barcelona, according to axes of social stratification. However, its geographic distribution at the small-area level remains unknown because it cannot be directly estimated with the available information sources and commonly used methods. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze geographical inequalities in EP in Barcelona by estimating reliable small-area EP indicators and a composite indicator (index). We used a novel method that allowed us to obtain 6 EP indicators for the 73 Barcelona neighborhoods and an EP index from a principal component analysis of these indicators. We found major geographical inequalities in the distribution of EP in Barcelona. Many neighborhoods had significantly higher EP than the city average, and these areas made up 3 well-defined spatial clusters. Therefore, the estimated small-area indicators and index allowed identification of the most affected neighborhoods. These results indicate the need to prioritize these areas for local interventions to alleviate EP, and could also be used for policy making

Molecular basis of the selective binding of MDMA enantiomers to the Alpha4Beta2 nicotinic receptor subtype: synthesis, pharmacological evaluation and mechanistic studies

The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a molecular target of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a synthetic drug also known as ecstasy, and it modulates the MDMA-mediated reinforcing properties. However, the enantioselective preference of the α4β2 nAChR subtype still remains unknown. Since the two enantiomers exhibit different pharmacological profiles and stereoselective metabolism, the aim of this study is to assess a possible difference in the interaction of the MDMA enantiomers with this nAChR subtype. To this end, we report a novel simple, yet highly efficient enantioselective synthesis of the MDMA enantiomers, in which the key step is the diastereoselective reduction of imides derived from optically pure tert-butylsulfinamide. The enantioselective binding to the receptor is examined using [3H]epibatidine in a radioligand assay. Even though the two enantiomers induced a concentration-dependent binding displacement, (S)-MDMA has an inhibition constant 13-fold higher than (R)-MDMA, which shows a Hill's coefficient not significantly different from unity, implying a competitive interaction. Furthermore, when NGF-differentiated PC12 cells were pretreated with the compounds, a significant increase in binding of [3H]epibatidine was found for (R)-MDMA, indicating up-regulation of heteromeric nAChR in the cell surface. Finally, docking and molecular dynamics studies have been used to identify the binding mode of the two enantiomers, which provides a structural basis to justify the differences in affinity from the differential interactions played by the substituents at the stereogenic center of MDMA. The results provide a basis to explore the distinct psychostimulant profiles of the MDMA enantiomers mediated by the α4β2 nAChR subtype

Detecció de sibilacions en l'exploració física en Atenció Primària de Salut

A partir de la documentació clínica realitzem un estudi retrospectiu sobre una població infantil d'edats compreses entre 8 i 13 anys observada per un espai de temps superior a un any, a fi de valorar la prevalença d'asma i la hiperreactivitat bronquial. En el grup d'estudi foren practicades sistemàticament maniobres d'espiració forçada; en resultà una prevalença del 42% enfront del 20% en el grup de comparació (p < 0,001). Atesa la transcendència clínica i terapèutica de la detecció de roncors i sibilacions en l'exploració física creiem convenient la pràctica sistemàtica de maniobres d'espiració forçada en tots els pacients que presenten tos o altres signes d'infecció respiratòria

BioBlitz Serra Llarga-Secans de la Noguera 2021: desenvolupament i espècies presents

En aquest article es fa la descripció de la tasca duta a terme durant el BioBlitz Serra Llarga-Secans de la Noguera dels dies 21 i 22 de maig de 2021 i es presenta el llistat despècies observades amb lobjectiu de facilitar que aquestes observacions es puguin integrar en les bases de dades públiques de biodiversitat.This paper lists the work carried out during the BioBlitz Serra Llarga-Secans de la Noguera on 21-22 May 2021. We present the list of observed species with the aim of facilitating that these observation could be integrated into public biodiversity databases

Hierarchical Quatsome-RGD Nanoarchitectonic Surfaces for Enhanced Integrin-Mediated Cell Adhesion

The synthesis and study of the tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD), the binding site of different extracellular matrix proteins, e.g., fibronectin and vitronectin, has allowed the production of a wide range of cell adhesive surfaces. Although the surface density and spacing of the RGD peptide at the nanoscale have already shown a significant influence on cell adhesion, the impact of its hierarchical nanostructure is still rather unexplored. Accordingly, a versatile colloidal system named quatsomes, based on fluid nanovesicles formed by the self-assembling of cholesterol and surfactant molecules, has been devised as a novel template to achieve hierarchical nanostructures of the RGD peptide. To this end, RGD was anchored on the vesicle's fluid membrane of quatsomes, and the RGD-functionalized nanovesicles were covalently anchored to planar gold surfaces, forming a state of quasi-suspension, through a long poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain with a thiol termination. An underlying self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of a shorter PEG was introduced for vesicle stabilization and to avoid unspecific cell adhesion. In comparison with substrates featuring a homogeneous distribution of RGD peptides, the resulting hierarchical nanoarchitectonic dramatically enhanced cell adhesion, despite lower overall RGD molecules on the surface. The new versatile platform was thoroughly characterized using a multitechnique approach, proving its enhanced performance. These findings open new methods for the hierarchical immobilization of biomolecules on surfaces using quatsomes as a robust and novel tissue engineering strategy.This work was supported by MICINN (PID2019-105622RBI00, MAT2016-80826-R, PID2019-111682RB-I00, PID2020-115296RA-I00, CTQ2015-66194-R; SAF2014-60138-R, RTI2018-093831-B-I00, and PDC2021-121481-I00); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through the Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN (FlexQS-skin, FlexCAB, BBN18PI01, BBN20PIV02, and CB/06/0074); Generalitat de Catalunya (grants 2017-SGR-918, 2017-SGR-229, 2017-SGR-1442, 2017-SGR-1439); the Fundació Marató de TV3 (Nr. 201812); the COST Action CA15126 Between Atom and Cell, and “ERDF A way of making Europe”. J.G. acknowledges financial support from the Ramón y Cajal Program (RYC-2017-22614) from MICINN and the Max Planck Society through the Max Planck Partner Group “Dynamic Biomimetics for Cancer Immunotherapy” in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Heidelberg, Germany). This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through grant agreements 953110 (PHOENIX), 720942 (Smart4Fabry), 101007804 (MICRO4NANO), and 801342 (granted to the Agency for Business Competitiveness ACCIÓ through a Tecniospring Industry fellowship (TECSPR19-1-0065)). ICMAB acknowledges support from MICINN through the “‘Severo Ochoa”’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S). J.M. acknowledges a “Juan de la Cierva” fellowship from MICINN. J.T-M. acknowledges an FI-AGAUR grant (2020FI_B2 00137) from Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Social Fund. We also acknowledge the ICTS “NANBIOSIS for the support of the Synthesis of Peptides Unit (U3) at IQAC–CSIC (https://www.nanbiosis.es/portfolio/u3-synthesis-of-peptides-unit/) and the Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit (U6) at ICMAB-CSIC (https://www.nanbiosis.es/portfolio/u6-biomaterial-processing-and-nanostructuring-unit/). We are grateful to the SMP unit of the Scientific and Technological Centers of University of Barcelona (CCiTUB). This work has been developed under the “Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine” and “Materials Science” Ph.D. programs of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).Peer reviewe