Participación del carbón activado en procesos de eliminación de fármacos presentes en las aguas

págs.: 273-324Capítulo incluido en el libro: Desarrollo y aplicaciones de materiales avanzados de carbón. Miguel Ángel Álvarez Merino, Francisco Carrasco Marín, Francisco José Maldonado Hódar (Editores). Sevilla: Univeridad Internacional de Andalucía, 2014. ISBN: 978-84-7993-247-3. Enlace: http://hdl.handle.net/10334

Methodology of the Virtual Reconstruction of Arquitectonic Heritage: Ambassador Vich's Palace in Valencia

The 19th century was disastrous as far as the conservation of architectonic heritage is concerned. The awareness of the importance of preserving monuments that has prevailed since the end of the last century was dazzlingly absent in the previous, leading both to the disappearance of representative heritage works and the plundering of many others. The present study establishes the methodological basis to proceed with the virtual reconstruction of many disappeared architectures, representative of emblematic architectonic typologies. A method based on the combination of deduction and induction allows benchmarks to be created that signify a starting point to which the key and specific elements of each building are later incorporated, from the data extracted from the conserved parts and the graphic, literary and archive documents. The result is the virtual recovery of the general outlines of the architecture: morphology of the plot, volumetry, exterior and interior facades, and the functional layout. The good results obtained in the study of the disappeared Ambassador Vich's Palace, allow the methodology to be extended to the analysis of other similar examples, serving investigators as a tool to carry out an arduous task of deciphering a trail that is increasingly fading with the passing of time.Galiana Agullo, M.; Mas Tomas, MDLA.; Lerma Elvira, C.; Peñalver Martínez, MJ.; Conesa Tejada, S. (2014). Methodology of the Virtual Reconstruction of Arquitectonic Heritage: Ambassador Vich's Palace in Valencia. International Journal of Architectural Heritage. 8(1):94-123. doi:10.1080/15583058.2012.672623S9412381Boix, V. 1979.Historical and topographic Valencia[in Spanish]. Vol. I261 S. A. Printing J. Rius.Estaban Chapapría, J. (2001). Impostación del patio del Embajador Vich en el ex-convento del Carmen (Valencia). Loggia, Arquitectura & Restauración, (12), 26. doi:10.4995/loggia.2001.3605Morrish, S. W., & Laefer, D. F. (2010). Web-Enabling of Architectural Heritage Inventories. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 4(1), 16-37. doi:10.1080/15583050902731056Lotz, W. 1995.Architecture in Italy 1500–1600 [in Italian]35–37. ed. RizzoliYale University Press.Lourenço, P. B., Peña, F., & Amado, M. (2010). A Document Management System for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Buildings. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 5(1), 101-121. doi:10.1080/15583050903318382Vila Ferrer, S. (2001). La recuperación del patio del palacio del Embajador Vich (Valencia). Loggia, Arquitectura & Restauración, (12), 44. doi:10.4995/loggia.2001.3606Zonta, D., Pozzi, M., & Zanon, P. (2008). Managing the Historical Heritage Using Distributed Technologies. International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 2(3), 200-225. doi:10.1080/1558305080206369

La hoja de ruta de la ingeniería de computadores al final de la ley de Moore y el escalado de Dennard

En el presente trabajo se hace una revisión sobre la situación de la ingeniería de computadores al inicio de la década de los 2020 con objeto de perfilar algunos de los cambios que deberían establecerse en la enseñanza superior de esta disciplina. Se considera la gran relevancia del control del consumo energético y de las aplicaciones relacionadas con clasificación y optimización que requieren cantidades ingentes de datos (big data) y tiempos de respuesta difícilmente alcanzables utilizando las técnicas tradicionales de la ingeniería de computadores, y dada la reducción del ritmo que marca la ley de Moore y el final del escalado de Dennard. El artículo proporciona referencias bibliográficas recientes sobre la situación de la ingeniería de computadores, e identifica los nuevos requisitos de las interfaces presentes en la jerarquía de capas propia de los sistemas de cómputo, fundamentalmente los relacionados con la seguridad, el consumo energético, y el aprovechamiento del paralelismo heterogéneo. También se reflexiona sobre los límites teóricos que se pueden establecer para la computación y las expectativas que ofrece la computación cuántica.This paper reviews the state of Computer Engineering at the beginning of the 2020s in order to outline some of the changes that should be established in higher education in this discipline. It is considered the great relevance of controlling energy consumption and applications related to classification and optimization that require huge amounts of data (big data) and response times difficult to achieve using traditional techniques of computer engineering, and given the reduction of the improvement rate set by Moore's law and the end of Dennard scaling. The article also provides recent bibliographical references on the situation of Computer Engineering, and identifies the new requirements of the interfaces present in the hierarchy of layers of computer systems, mainly those related to security, energy consumption, and the use of heterogeneous parallelism. It also reflects on the theoretical limits that can be established for computation and the expectations that quantum computation offers.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadore

ESR1 gene promoter region methylation in free circulating DNA and its correlation with estrogen receptor protein expression in tumor tissue in breast cancer patients

[Background] Tumor expression of estrogen receptor (ER) is an important marker of prognosis, and is predictive of response to endocrine therapy in breast cancer. Several studies have observed that epigenetic events, such methylation of cytosines and deacetylation of histones, are involved in the complex mechanisms that regulate promoter transcription. However, the exact interplay of these factors in transcription activity is not well understood. In this study, we explored the relationship between ER expression status in tumor tissue samples and the methylation of the 5′ CpG promoter region of the estrogen receptor gene (ESR1) isolated from free circulating DNA (fcDNA) in plasma samples from breast cancer patients. [Methods] Patients (n = 110) with non-metastatic breast cancer had analyses performed of ER expression (luminal phenotype in tumor tissue, by immunohistochemistry method), and the ESR1-DNA methylation status (fcDNA in plasma, by quantitative methylation specific PCR technique). [Results] Our results showed a significant association between presence of methylated ESR1 in patients with breast cancer and ER negative status in the tumor tissue (p = 0.0179). There was a trend towards a higher probability of ESR1-methylation in those phenotypes with poor prognosis i.e. 80% of triple negative patients, 60% of HER2 patients, compared to 28% and 5.9% of patients with better prognosis such as luminal A and luminal B, respectively. [Conclusion] Silencing, by methylation, of the promoter region of the ESR1 affects the expression of the estrogen receptor protein in tumors of breast cancer patients; high methylation of ESR1-DNA is associated with estrogen receptor negative status which, in turn, may be implicated in the patient’s resistance to hormonal treatment in breast cancer. As such, epigenetic markers in plasma may be of interest as new targets for anticancer therapy, especially with respect to endocrine treatment.The study was funded, in part, by a grant from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (CICYT: SAF 2004–00889)

Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells enhance radiotherapy-induced cell death in tumor and metastatic tumor foci

We have recently shown that radiotherapy may not only be a successful local and regional treatment but, when combined with MSCs, may also be a novel systemic cancer therapy. This study aimed to investigate the role of exosomes derived from irradiated MSCs in the delay of tumor growth and metastasis after treatment with MSC + radiotherapy (RT). The tumor cell loss rates found after treatment with the combination of MSC and RT and for exclusive RT, were: 44.4% % and 12,1%, respectively. Concomitant and adjuvant use of RT and MSC, increased the mice surviving time 22,5% in this group, with regard to the group of mice treated with exclusive RT and in a 45,3% respect control group. Moreover, the number of metastatic foci found in the internal organs of the mice treated with MSC + RT was 60% less than the mice group treated with RT alone. We reasoned that the exosome secreted by the MSC, could be implicated in tumor growth delay and metastasis control after treatment. Our results show that exosomes derived form MSCs, combined with radiotherapy, are determinant in the enhancement of radiation effects observed in the control of metastatic spread of melanoma cells and suggest that exosome-derived factors could be involved in the bystander, and abscopal effects found after treatment of the tumors with RT plus MSC. Radiotherapy itself may not be systemic, although it might contribute to a systemic effect when used in combination with mesenchymal stem cells owing the ability of irradiated MSCs-derived exosomes to increase the control of tumor growth and metastasis.This work was supported by CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil, Junta de Andalucía, project of Excellence from Junta de Andalucía P12-CTS-383 to FJO, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness SAF2015-70520-R to FJO and JMRdA, RTICC RD12/0036/0026 and CIBER Cáncer ISCIII CB16/12/00421 to FJO

Modulation of UCSSC osteogenesis in a carbon-based scaffold

Conference poster presented on the I International Symposium on Cell and Gene-Based Therapies at Granada (Spain) on June of 2014

Activated-carbon cloth supports umbilical-cord stromal stem cells growth and differentiation

Activated-carbon cloth supports umbilical-cord stromal stem cells growth and differentiation. Oral communication presented on the World conference on Carbon in Rio de Janeiro on July 17th of 2013

Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the follow up of melanocytic tumors treated with hMSC and radiotherapy

Conference poster presented at I Congreso Ibérico de Ciencias del Animal de Laboratorio from the Spanish Society for the Laboratory Animal Sciences (SECAL)

Human mesenchymal stem cells enhance the systemic effects of radiotherapy.

Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't;The outcome of radiotherapy treatment might be further improved by a better understanding of individual variations in tumor radiosensitivity and normal tissue reactions, including the bystander effect. For many tumors, however, a definitive cure cannot be achieved, despite the availablity of more and more effective cancer treatments. Therefore, any improvement in the efficacy of radiotherapy will undoubtedly benefit a significant number of patients. Many experimental studies measure a bystander component of tumor cell death after radiotherapy, which highlights the importance of confirming these observations in a preclinical situation. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been investigated for use in the treatment of cancers as they are able to both preferentially home onto tumors and become incorporated into their stroma. This process increases after radiation therapy. In our study we show that in vitro MSCs, when activated with a low dose of radiation, are a source of anti-tumor cytokines that decrease the proliferative activity of tumor cells, producing a potent cytotoxic synergistic effect on tumor cells. In vivo administration of unirradiated mesenchymal cells together with radiation leads to an increased efficacy of radiotherapy, thus leading to an enhancement of short and long range bystander effects on primary-irradiated tumors and distant-non-irradiated tumors. Our experiments indicate an increased cell loss rate and the decrease in the tumor cell proliferation activity as the major mechanisms underlying the delayed tumor growth and are a strong indicator of the synergistic effect between RT and MSC when they are applied together for tumor treatment in this model.This work was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competividad, MINECO: SAF2012-40011-C02-02 to JMRdA, and MINECO SAF2012-40011-CO2-01 to F.J.O and CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - Brasil.Ye