Primeros datos sobre los micromamíferos (Roedores, Insectívoros, Quirópteros y Lagomorfos) del Solutrense (Pleistoceno Superior final) de la Cueva de Las Caldas (Oviedo, Asturias)

Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Study of graphene dispersions in sodium dodecylsulfate by steady-state fluorescence of pyrene

Hypothesis: Aqueous solutions of ionic surfactants allow the exfoliation of graphene, that can be explained considering the adsorption model of ionic surfactants to hydrophobic surfaces. For many years, pyrene has been used as a fluorescent probe because its sensitivity to the micro-environment. The study of pyrene fluorescence in the presence of different graphene dispersions in an ionic surfactant, would improve the knowledge of the graphene-surfactant interactions.Experiments: Different dispersions of graphene in sodium dodecylsulfate were prepared at different weight ratios 0.5, 1 and 2%. The dispersions have been studied by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The influence of the dispersions on the pyrene fluorescence has been investigated.Findings: The graphene sheets modified by the surfactant quench the fluorescence of pyrene, which depends on the amount of graphene, the concentration of surfactant and the weight ratio. For surfactant concentrations below the critical micelle concentration, the quenching effect is higher as the weight ratio increases. Once this concentration is reached, the fluorescence increases slightly and then levels off. This behavior has been explained by the adsorption model. For a constant surfactant concentration, twostraight lines can be observed in the Stern-Volmer plots whose cut-off point is approximately 20 mg L-1 of graphene.Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadUniversidad de Alcal

Intracerebroventricular administration of the thyroid hormone analog TRIAC increases its brain content in the absence of MCT8

Patients lacking the thyroid hormone (TH) transporter MCT8 present abnormal serum levels of TH: low thyroxine and high triiodothyronine. They also have severe neurodevelopmental defects resulting from cerebral hypothyroidism, most likely due to impaired TH transport across the brain barriers. The use of TH analogs, such as triiodothyroacetic acid (TRIAC), that can potentially access the brain in the absence of MCT8 and restore at least a subset of cerebral TH actions could improve the neurological defects in these patients. We hypothesized that direct administration of TRIAC into the brain by intracerebroventricular delivery to mice lacking MCT8 could bypass the restriction at the brain barriers and mediate TH action without causing hypermetabolism. We found that intracerebroventricular administration of therapeutic doses of TRIAC does not increase further plasma triiodothyronine or further decrease plasma thyroxine levels and does not alter TH content in the cerebral cortex. Although TRIAC content increased in the brain, it did not induce TH-mediated actions on selected target genes. Our data suggest that intracerebroventricular delivery of TRIAC has the ability to target the brain in the absence of MCT8 and should be further investigated to address its potential therapeutic use in MCT8 deficiency.This work was funded by the Spanish Plan Nacional de I+D+i (grant number SAF2017-86342-R to AG-F), the Sherman Foundation (OTR02211 to AG-F and SB-L), the Center for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (Ciberer to AG-F and CG-M), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. X-HL and SR were supported in part by grant DK 15070 from the National Institutes of Health, USA

Causality analysis of large-scale structures in the flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder

The aim of this work is to analyse the formation mechanisms of large-scale coherent structures in the flow around a wall-mounted square cylinder, due to their impact on pollutant transport within cities. To this end, we assess causal relations between the modes of a reduced-order model obtained by applying proper-orthogonal decomposition to high-fidelity-simulation data of the flow case under study. The causal relations are identified using conditional transfer entropy, which is an information-theoretical quantity that estimates the amount of information contained in the past of one variable about another. This allows for an understanding of the origins and evolution of different phenomena in the flow, with the aim of identifying the modes responsible for the formation of the main vortical structures. Our approach unveils that vortex-breaker modes are the most causal modes, in particular, over higher-order modes, and no significant causal relationships were found for vortex-generator modes. We validate this technique by determining the causal relations present in the nine-equation model of near-wall turbulence developed by Moehlis et al. (New J. Phys, vol. 6, 2004, p. 56), which are in good agreement with literature results for turbulent channel flows.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

MCT8 deficiency: The road to therapies for a rare disease

Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome is a rare disease caused by inactivating mutations in the SLC16A2 gene, which encodes the monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8), a transmembrane transporter specific for thyroid hormones (T3 and T4). Lack of MCT8 function produces serious neurological disturbances, most likely due to impaired transport of thyroid hormones across brain barriers during development resulting in severe brain hypothyroidism. Patients also suffer from thyrotoxicity in other organs due to the presence of a high concentration of T3 in the serum. An effective therapeutic strategy should restore thyroid hormone serum levels (both T3 and T4) and should address MCT8 transporter deficiency in brain barriers and neural cells, to enable the access of thyroid hormones to target neural cells. Unfortunately, targeted therapeutic options are currently scarce and their effect is limited to an improvement in the thyrotoxic state, with no sign of any neurological improvement. The use of thyroid hormone analogs such as TRIAC, DITPA, or sobetirome, that do not require MCT8 to cross cell membranes and whose controlled thyromimetic activity could potentially restore the normal function of the affected organs, are being explored to improve the cerebral availability of these analogs. Other strategies aiming to restore the transport of THs through MCT8 at the brain barriers and the cellular membranes include gene replacement therapy and the use of pharmacological chaperones. The design of an appropriate therapeutic strategy in combination with an early diagnosis (at prenatal stages), will be key aspects to improve the devastating alterations present in these patients.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant number SAF2017-86342-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE) to AG-F, the Sherman Foundation (Grant Number OTR02211) to AG-F and SB-L, and the BBSRC (Grant Number BB/R016879/1) to SB-L. CG-M is a recipient of a contract from the Center for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid. The cost of this publication has been paid in part by FEDER funds

Tailored syngas production from the gasification of biogenic waste in the presence of a CO2 sorbent

5 figures, 1 tableSyngas production via steam gasification is one of the thermochemical processes with the greatest potential for obtaining synthetic fuels from a solid fuel, especially indirect gasification in a dual fluidised bed system where the energy needed for gasification is provided by the circulating material from a high temperature secondary reactor. When the circulating material is a CO2 sorbent, a sorption enhanced gasification (SEG) system results where the circulating solid, in addition to the energy provided by sensible heat, supplies additional heat by means of the exothermic carbonation reaction with the CO2 generated from biomass gasification. In the presented work, the SEG process was studied for a biogenic waste material (consisting of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste) in a 30 kWth bubbling fluidised bed reactor using lime as CO2 sorbent. The effect of the main operating variables (temperature, steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio and sorbent-to-biomass ratio (Ca/C)) on gas quality was assessed. M-modules (M=(H2-CO2)/(CO+CO2)) between 1.2 to almost 4 have been obtained acting on the variables that mostly affect the permanent gas composition, i.e. gasification temperature and/or sorbent-to-biomass ratio.This work has been carried out as part of the European Commission Horizon 2020 Framework Programme project FLEDGED (Grant agreement No. 727600) and the project WASYNG (No. RTI2018-095575-B-100) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Authors thank also the Regional Aragon Government (DGA) for the economic support under the research group’s programme.Peer reviewe

Synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxicity studies of N-(4-methoxybenzyl) thiosemicarbazone derivatives and their ruthenium(II)-p-cymene complexes

The reaction of [Ru2Cl2(μ-Cl)2(η6-p-cymene)2] with two thiosemicarbazones obtained by the condensation of N-(4-methoxybenzyl) thiosemicarbazide and 1,4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)ethan-1-one (HL1) or 2-fluoro-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (HL2) was studied. The cationic complexes of formula [RuCl(η6-p-cymene)(HL)]+ were isolated as solid chloride and trifluoromethylsulfate (TfO) salts. A study of the solid state and NMR spectra suggests the presence in the material of two isomers that differ in the configuration in the iminic bond, C2=N3, of the coordinated thiosemicarbazone in the triflate salts and only the E isomer in the chloride. An X-ray study of single crystals of the complexes supports this hypothesis. The thiosemicarbazone ligand coordinates with the ruthenium center through the iminic and sulfur atoms to form a five-membered chelate ring. Furthermore, the isolation of single crystals containing the thiosemicarbazonate complex [Ru2(μ-L2)2(η6-p-cymene)2]2+ suggests the easy labilization of the coordinated chloride in the complex. The redox behavior of the ligands and complexes was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. It seems to be more difficult to oxidize the complex derived from HL1 than HL2. The ability of the complexes to inhibit cell growth against the NCI-H460, A549 and MDA-MB-231 lines was evaluated. The complexes did not show greater potency than cisplatin, although they did have greater efficacy, especially for the complex derived from HL1.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. PID2019-110218RB-I0

Actividad física y ajuste psicológico en estudiantes universitarios

Marco teórico: La práctica de actividad física genera grandes beneficios tanto físicos como psico-lógicos. Asimismo, las personas que realizan más actividad física llevan a cabo hábitos de vida más saludables y presentan mejoras en los niveles de diferentes variables psicológicas. Pero ¿este beneficio depende del nivel de actividad física que se practique? El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar el bien-estar psicológico de una muestra de universitarios en función del grado de actividad física realizada. Método: La muestra está compuesta por 232 participantes de 18 a 46 años (M = 21.42; DT = 3.645). De ellos, 177 eran mujeres (76.3%) y 55 varones (23.7%). En relación con la intensidad de actividad física realizada, 116 participantes presentaron un nivel de actividad física baja, 48 moderada y 37 vigoro-sa. El IMC (Índice de Masa Corporal) de la muestra es menor de 25 (M = 21.8; DT = 1.8). Las variables evaluadas han sido Actividad Física, Alexitimia, Ansiedad y Depresión, Autoestima y Dificultades en la regulación emocional. Resultados: Al analizar las diferencias en las distintas variables de interés a partir de la clasificación de intensidad de actividad física no se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente signi-ficativas, a excepción de las escalas de Alexitimia y Autoestima. Conclusiones: Estos resultados difieren de los encontrados previamente en la literatura científica, pudiendo deberse a la homogeneidad de las características sociodemográficas de la muestraTheoretical framework: The practice of physical activity generates great physical and psychological benefits. Likewise, people who are more physically active lead healthier life habits and show impro-vements in the levels of different psychological variables. However, does this benefit depend on the level of physical activity practiced? The aim of this study was to analyze the psychological well-being of a sample of university students as a function of the degree of physical activity performed. Methods: The sample consisted of 232 participants aged 18 to 46 years (M = 21.42; SD = 3.645). Of these, 177 were female (76.3%) and 55 male (23.7%). In relation to the intensity of physical activity performed, 116 participants presented a low level of physical activity, 48 moderate and 37 vigorous. The BMI (Body Mass Index) of the sample was less than 25 (M = 21.8; SD = 1.8). The variables evaluated were Physi-cal Activity, Alexithymia, Anxiety and Depression, Self-esteem and Difficulties in emotional regulation. Results: When analyzing the differences between variables of interest based on the levels of intensity of physical activity, no statistically significant differences were found, except for the Alexithymia and Self-esteem scales. Conclusions: These results differ from those previously found in the scientific lite-rature, which may be due to the homogeneity of the sociodemographic characteristics of the sampl

Optimised production of tailored syngas from municipal solid waste (MSW) by sorption-enhanced gasification

8 figures, 5 tablesSorption-enhanced gasification (SEG) is a promising indirect gasification route for the production of synthetic fuels since it allows the H2, CO and CO2 content of the resulting syngas to be adjusted. This SEG process has been successfully demonstrated at pilot scale for lignocellulosic biomass and other agricultural and forest waste products, mainly focusing on H2-rich gas production. Within this work, the potential application of the SEG process to a material derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) as feedstock is experimentally demonstrated in a 30 kWth bubbling fluidised-bed (BFB) gasifier. The influence of the sorbent-to-biomass ratio, steam excess and gasification temperature has been carefully analysed in order to understand their effect on SEG performance. Moreover, main conditions able to affect the resulting syngas composition, specifically in terms of H2, CO and CO2 content, have been indicated. Gasification temperature turned out to be the variable that most influenced syngas composition due to the limiting mechanisms associated with the carbonation of the CaO used as bed material. This operating variable also determined biomass conversion, together with solids residence time in the gasifier, resulting in a wide variation of fixed carbon conversion under the studied conditions. Finally, tar yield and composition were evaluated as a function of temperature and the sorbent-to-biomass ratio used, resulting in tar contents as low as 7 g/Nm3 (dry gas), consisting mainly of 1-ring aromatic compounds.This work has been supported by the European Commission (FLEDGED project, grant agreement No. 727600); the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the State Research Agency and the European Founds for Regional Development (No. RTI2018-095575-B-I00, MCI/AEI/FEDER, UE); and the Regional Aragon Government (DGA).Peer reviewe

Differences in seed dormancy associated with the domestication of <i>Cucurbita maxima</i> : Elucidation of some mechanisms behind this response

This work presents the results of physiological studies developed to understand modifications linked to the reduction of seed dormancy provoked by domestication processes. The experiments performed compared wild and domesticated Cucurbita subspecies and their hybrids developed by reciprocal crossings. Seeds of two accessions of the wild subspecies presented dormancy, but it was largely reduced in seeds from the domesticated genotype, and partially reverted in hybrids, especially in those obtained when the domesticated genotype was used as the mother plant. In addition, naked embryos of all subspecies did not display dormancy when incubation was performed at 28°C, but embryo germination was progressively reduced only in the wild genotype under decreasing incubation temperatures (22 and 16°C). In the embryos, abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations were similar in both domesticated and wild subspecies, whereas in the seed coat, it was threefold higher in the wild subspecies. The naked embryos from the wild subspecies were far more responsive to ABA than those from the domesticated subspecies. These results indicate that dormancy in the wild subspecies is imposed by the seed coat tissues and that this effect is mediated by their high ABA content and the sensitivity of the embryos to ABA. These physiological aspects were apparently removed by domestication along with the temperature-dependent response for germination.Instituto de Fisiología VegetalLaboratorio de Etnobotánica y Botánica AplicadaFacultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse