Environmental risk assessment of dredging processes-application to Marin harbour (NW Spain)

ABSTRACT. A methodological procedure to estimate the environmental risk of dredging operations in aquatic systems has been developed. Environmental risk estimations are based on numerical models results, which provide an appropriated spatio-temporal framework analysis to guarantee an effective decision-making process. The methodological procedure has been applied on a real dredging operation in the port of Marin (NW Spain). Results from Marin harbour confirmed the suitability of the developed methodology and the conceptual approaches as a comprehensive and practical management tool.The authors would like to thank the Marin Port Authority for the provided data. Part of this study has been sponsored by the INNPACTO programme (2008–2011) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (IPT-310000-2100-17)

A 3-D model to analyze environmental effects of dredging operations - Application to the Port of Marin, Spain

ABSTRACT. Historically, the study of dredging processes has depended on physical laboratory tests. The IH-Dredge model has been developed to simulate these processes numerically. It simulates the evolution of the seabed, sediment and toxic substances involved in dredging operations. The model has been calibrated and validated with experimental data, and it has been applied in a dredging operation in the Port of Marin, Spain

Activation of the orphan receptor GPR55 by lysophosphatidylinositol promotes metastasis in triple-negative breast cancer

The orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR55 has been directly or indirectly related to basic alterations that drive malignant growth: uncontrolled cancer cell proliferation, sustained angiogenesis, and cancer cell adhesion and migration. However, little is known about the involvement of this receptor in metastasis. Here, we show that elevated GPR55 expression in human tumors is associated with the aggressive basal/triple-negative breast cancer population, higher probability to develop metastases, and therefore poor patient prognosis. Activation of GPR55 by its proposed endogenous ligand lysophosphatidylinositol confers pro-invasive features on breast cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, this effect is elicited by coupling to Gq/11 heterotrimeric proteins and the subsequent activation, through ERK, of the transcription factor ETV4/PEA3. Together, these data show that GPR55 promotes breast cancer metastasis, and supports the notion that this orphan receptor may constitute a new therapeutic target and potential biomarker in the highly aggressive triple-negative subtypeThis work was supported by grants from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [PI11/00295 to CS, PI14/01101 to CS and EP-G, SAF2013-46183-R to MQ, and SAF2014-54705-R to MV-M, supported with European Regional Development (FEDER) funds] and Madrid Regional Government (S2010/BMD-2308 to MG, and 2010/BMD-2359 to MQ). EPG was a recipient of a Postdoctoral Research Contract from Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer and a Federation of the Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (FEBS) Short-term Fellowship. SB-B and SC-L are recipients of a Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU) fellowship and a Ramón y Cajal research contract, respectively, from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivenes

A regulatory motif in nom-muscle myosin II-B regulates its assembly and determines its role in plasma membrane protrusion, adhesion dynamics and migratory polarization

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Bioquímica. Fecha de lectura: 19-04-2017Esta tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 19-10-201

A regulatory motif in non-muscle myosin II-B regulates its assembly and determines it role in plasma membrane protrusion, adhesion dynamics and migratory polarization

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Bioquímica. Fecha de lectura: 19-04-2017.Peer Reviewe

Environmental Risk Assessment of dredging processes – application to Marin harbour (NW Spain)

A methodological procedure to estimate the environmental risk of dredging operations in aquatic systems has been developed. Environmental risk estimations are based on numerical models results, which provide an appropriated spatio-temporal framework analysis to guarantee an effective decision-making process. The methodological procedure has been applied on a real dredging operation in the port of Marin (NW Spain). Results from Marin harbour confirmed the suitability of the developed methodology and the conceptual approaches as a comprehensive and practical management tool

Wavelet Imaging on Multiple Scales (WIMS) reveals focal adhesion distributions, dynamics and coupling between actomyosin bundle stability.

We introduce and use Wavelet Imaging on Multiple Scales (WIMS) as an improvement to fluorescence correlation spectroscopy to measure physical processes and features that occur across multiple length scales. In this study, wavelet transforms of cell images are used to characterize molecular dynamics at the cellular and subcellular levels (i.e. focal adhesions). We show the usefulness of the technique by applying WIMS to an image time series of a migrating osteosarcoma cell expressing fluorescently labelled adhesion proteins, which allows us to characterize different components of the cell ranging from optical resolution scale through to focal adhesion and whole cell size scales. Using WIMS we measured focal adhesion numbers, orientation and cell boundary velocities for retraction and protrusion. We also determine the internal dynamics of individual focal adhesions undergoing assembly, disassembly or elongation. Thus confirming as previously shown, WIMS reveals that the number of adhesions and the area of the protruding region of the cell are strongly correlated, establishing a correlation between protrusion size and adhesion dynamics. We also apply this technique to characterize the behavior of adhesions, actin and myosin in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing a mutant form of myosin IIB (1935D) that displays decreased filament stability and impairs front-back cell polarity. We find separate populations of actin and myosin at each adhesion pole for both the mutant and wild type form. However, we find these populations move rapidly inwards toward one another in the mutant case in contrast to the cells that express wild type myosin IIB where those populations remain stationary. Results obtained with these two systems demonstrate how WIMS has the potential to reveal novel correlations between chosen parameters that belong to different scales