3D Spectroscopic Observations of Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies

We give an introduction into the observational technique of integral field or 3D spectroscopy. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of this type of observations and highlight a few science projects enabled by this method. In the second part we describe our 3D spectroscopic survey of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies. We show preliminary results from data taken with the VIMOS integral field unit and give an outlook on how automated spectral analysis and forthcoming instruments can provide a new view on star formation and associated processes in dwarf galaxies.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the JENAM 2010 Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution" (Lisbon, 9-10 September 2010), P. Papaderos, S. Recchi, G. Hensler (eds.), Springer Verlag (2011), in pres

Construcción de ontologías a partir de tesauros

Tradicionalmente, los tesauros han sido una de las formas más extendidas para la organización y formalización del conocimiento. Estos, a través de su vocabulario controlado y relaciones, resultan destacados instrumentos para la organización y gestión del conocimiento de un área específica. La importancia de estas formas de organización originó tres estándares para llevar a cabo un proceso de construcción normalizado. El surgimiento de la Web Semántica permite que los datos sean compartidos y reutilizados a través de diferentes aplicaciones y comunidades. Este hecho conlleva un replanteamiento de las formas de organización del conocimiento y, por tanto, un cambio de estrategia. Estos cambios están vinculados a la necesidad de especificar de manera formal y explícita la semántica asociada a la información de una manera más eficiente que la realizada hasta el momento por los tesauros. Ante esta situación, el uso y desarrollo de ontologías se manifiesta como la mejor forma de especificar la semántica según lo requiere la Web Semántica. Esto está motivando que el proceso de reingeniería y/o la migración de los tesauros tradicionales a ontologías se esté convirtiendo en una tendencia actual

Research on nonlinear and quantum optics at the photonics and quantum information group of the University of Valladolid

We outline the main research lines in Nonlinear and Quantum Optics of the Group of Photonics and Quantum Information at the University of Valladolid. These works focus on Optical Solitons, Quantum Information using Photonic Technologies and the development of new materials for Nonlinar Optics. The investigations on optical solitons cover both temporal solitons in dispersion managed fiber links and nonparaxial spatial solitons as described by the Nonlinear Helmholtz Equation. Within the Quantum Information research lines of the group, the studies address new photonic schemes for quantum computation and the multiplexing of quantum data. The investigations of the group are, to a large extent, based on intensive and parallel computations. Some associated numerical techniques for the development of the activities described are briefly sketched

Dual effects of noradrenaline on astroglial production of chemokines and pro-inflammatory mediators

BACKGROUND: Noradrenaline (NA) is known to limit neuroinflammation. However, the previously described induction by NA of a chemokine involved in the progression of immune/inflammatory processes, such as chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2)/monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), apparently contradicts NA anti-inflammatory actions. In the current study we analyzed NA regulation of astroglial chemokine (C-X3-C motif) ligand 1 (CX3CL1), also known as fractalkine, another chemokine to which both neuroprotective and neurodegenerative actions have been attributed. In addition, NA effects on other chemokines and pro-inflammatory mediators were also analyzed. METHODS: Primary astrocyte-enriched cultures were obtained from neonatal Wistar rats. These cells were incubated for different time durations with combinations of NA and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The expression and synthesis of different proteins was measured by RT-PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or enzyme immunoassays. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Newman-Keuls multiple comparison tests. RESULTS: The data presented here show that in control conditions, NA induces the production of CX3CL1 in rat cultured astrocytes, but in the presence of an inflammatory stimulus, such as LPS, NA has the opposite effect inhibiting CX3CL1 production. This inversion of NA effect was also observed for MCP-1. Based on the observation of this dual action, NA regulation of different chemokines and pro-inflammatory cytokines was also analyzed, observing that in most cases NA exerts an inhibitory effect in the presence of LPS. One characteristic exception was the induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), where a summative effect was detected for both LPS and NA. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that NA effects on astrocytes can adapt to the presence of an inflammatory agent reducing the production of certain cytokines, while in basal conditions NA may have the opposite effect and help to maintain moderate levels of these cytokines

An author keyword analysis for mapping Sport Sciences

[EN] Scientific production has increased exponentially in recent years. It is necessary to find methodological strategies for understanding holistic or macro views of the major research trends developed in specific fields. Data mining is a useful technique to address this task. In particular, our study presents a global analysis of the information generated during last decades in the Sport Sciences Category (SSC) included in the Web of Science database. An analysis of the frequency of appearance and the dynamics of the Author Keywords (AKs) has been made for the last thirty years. Likewise, the network of co-occurrences established between words and the survival time of new words that have appeared since 2001 has also been analysed. One of the main findings of our research is the identification of six large thematic clusters in the SSC. There are also two major terms that coexist ('REHABILITATION' and 'EXERCISE') and show a high frequency of appearance, as well as a key behaviour in the calculated co-occurrence networks. Another significant finding is that AKs are mostly accepted in the SSC since there has been high percentage of new terms during 2001-2006, although they have a low survival period. These results support a multidisciplinary perspective within the Sport Sciences field of study and a colonization of the field by rehabilitation according to our AK analysis.González-Moreno, L.; García-Massó, X.; Pardo-Ibáñez, A.; Peset Mancebo, MF.; Devis Devis, J. (2018). An author keyword analysis for mapping Sport Sciences. PLoS ONE. 13(8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201435S13

Identifying physical activity type in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury by means of accelerometers

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to develop and test classification algorithms based on machine learning using accelerometers to identify the activity type performed by manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: The study was conducted in the Physical Therapy department and the Physical Education and Sports department of the University of Valencia. Methods: A total of 20 volunteers were asked to perform 10 physical activities, lying down, body transfers, moving items, mopping, working on a computer, watching TV, arm-ergometer exercises, passive propulsion, slow propulsion and fast propulsion, while fitted with four accelerometers placed on both wrists, chest and waist. The activities were grouped into five categories: sedentary, locomotion, housework, body transfers and moderate physical activity. Different machine learning algorithms were used to develop individual and group activity classifiers from the acceleration data for different combinations of number and position of the accelerometers. Results: We found that although the accuracy of the classifiers for individual activities was moderate (55-72%), with higher values for a greater number of accelerometers, grouped activities were correctly classified in a high percentage of cases (83.2-93.6%). Conclusions: With only two accelerometers and the quadratic discriminant analysis algorithm we achieved a reasonably accurate group activity recognition system (490%). Such a system with the minimum of intervention would be a valuable tool for studying physical activity in individuals with SCI.X Garcia-Masso gratefully acknowledges the support of the University of Valencia under project UV-INV-PRECOMP13-115364.García-Massó, X.; Serra-Añó P.; Gonzalez, L.; Ye Lin, Y.; Prats-Boluda, G.; Garcia Casado, FJ. (2015). Identifying physical activity type in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury by means of accelerometers. Spinal Cord. 53(10):772-777. https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2015.81S7727775310Buchholz AC, Martin Ginis KA, Bray SR, Craven BC, Hicks AL, Hayes KC et al. Greater daily leisure time physical activity is associated with lower chronic disease risk in adults with spinal cord injury. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2009; 34: 640–647.Hetz SP, Latimer AE, Buchholz AC, Martin Ginis KA . Increased participation in activities of daily living is associated with lower cholesterol levels in people with spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2009; 90: 1755–1759.Manns PJ, Chad KE . Determining the relation between quality of life, handicap, fitness, and physical activity for persons with spinal cord injury. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1999; 80: 1566–1571.Serra-Añó P, Pellicer-Chenoll M, García-Massó X, Morales J, Giner-Pascual M, González L-M . Effects of resistance training on strength, pain and shoulder functionality in paraplegics. Spinal Cord 2012; 50: 827–831.Slater D, Meade MA . Participation in recreation and sports for persons with spinal cord injury: review and recommendations. NeuroRehabilitation 2004; 19: 121–129.Lee M, Zhu W, Hedrick B, Fernhall B . Determining metabolic equivalent values of physical activities for persons with paraplegia. Disabil Rehabil 2010; 32: 336–343.Lee M, Zhu W, Hedrick B, Fernhall B . Estimating MET values using the ratio of HR for persons with paraplegia. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2010; 42: 985–990.Hayes AM, Myers JN, Ho M, Lee MY, Perkash I, Kiratli BJ . Heart rate as a predictor of energy expenditure in people with spinal cord injury. J Rehabil Res Dev 2005; 42: 617–624.Washburn RA, Zhu W, McAuley E, Frogley M, Figoni SF . The physical activity scale for individuals with physical disabilities: development and evaluation. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002; 83: 193–200.Ginis KAM, Latimer AE, Hicks AL, Craven BC . Development and evaluation of an activity measure for people with spinal cord injury. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2005; 37: 1099–1111.Khan AM, Lee Y-K, Lee S, Kim T-S . Accelerometer’s position independent physical activity recognition system for long-term activity monitoring in the elderly. Med Biol Eng Comput 2010; 48: 1271–1279.Khan AM, Lee Y-K, Lee SY, Kim T-S . A triaxial accelerometer-based physical-activity recognition via augmented-signal features and a hierarchical recognizer. IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed Publ 2010; 14: 1166–1172.Liu S, Gao RX, John D, Staudenmayer J, Freedson PS . SVM-based multi-sensor fusion for free-living physical activity assessment. Conf Proc Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2011; 2011: 3188–3191.Liu S, Gao RX, John D, Staudenmayer JW, Freedson PS . Multisensor data fusion for physical activity assessment. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2012; 59: 687–696.Staudenmayer J, Pober D, Crouter S, Bassett D, Freedson P . An artificial neural network to estimate physical activity energy expenditure and identify physical activity type from an accelerometer. J Appl Physiol 2009; 107: 1300–1307.Trost SG, Wong W-K, Pfeiffer KA, Zheng Y . Artificial neural networks to predict activity type and energy expenditure in youth. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2012; 44: 1801–1809.David Apple MD . Pain above the injury level. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil 2001; 7: 18–29.Subbarao JV, Klopfstein J, Turpin R . Prevalence and impact of wrist and shoulder pain in patients with spinal cord injury. J Spinal Cord Med 1995; 18: 9–13.Postma K, van den Berg-Emons HJG, Bussmann JBJ, Sluis TAR, Bergen MP, Stam HJ . Validity of the detection of wheelchair propulsion as measured with an Activity Monitor in patients with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 2005; 43: 550–557.Hiremath SV, Ding D, Farringdon J, Vyas N, Cooper RA . Physical activity classification utilizing SenseWear activity monitor in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 2013; 51: 705–709.Itzkovich M, Gelernter I, Biering-Sorensen F, Weeks C, Laramee MT, Craven BC et al. The Spinal Cord Independence Measure (SCIM) version III: reliability and validity in a multi-center international study. Disabil Rehabil 2007; 29: 1926–1933.García-Massó X, Serra-Añó P, García-Raffi LM, Sánchez-Pérez EA, López-Pascual J, Gonzalez LM . Validation of the use of Actigraph GT3X accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure in full time manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 2013; 51: 898–903.Preece SJ, Goulermas JY, Kenney LPJ, Howard D . A comparison of feature extraction methods for the classification of dynamic activities from accelerometer data. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2009; 56: 871–879.Hurd WJ, Morrow MM, Kaufman KR . Tri-axial accelerometer analysis techniques for evaluating functional use of the extremities. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 2013; 23: 924–929.Teixeira FG, Jesus IRT, Mello RGT, Nadal J . Cross-correlation between head acceleration and stabilograms in humans in orthostatic posture. Conf Proc Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2012; 2012: 3496–3499.Hastie T, Tibshirani R, Friedman J . The Elements of Statistical Learning. Data Mining, Inference, and Prediction. Springer: New York, NY. 2009

Clarín: Retrospectiva freudiana.

Mediante el acercamiento psicoanalítico a La Regenta de Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" encontramos toda una serie de coincidencias entre las teorías de Freud y el texto de Clarín a pesar del desconocimiento de éste sobre las teorías de aquél. En particular Clarín crea el personaje de Ana Ozores con una complicada cuestión sexual, factor que años después Freud tomó como el núcleo determinante de las neurosis

Origin and consequences of brain Toll-like receptor 4 pathway stimulation in an experimental model of depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a pressing need to identify novel pathophysiological pathways relevant to depression that can help to reveal targets for the development of new medications. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) has a regulatory role in the brain's response to stress. Psychological stress may compromise the intestinal barrier, and increased gastrointestinal permeability with translocation of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria may play a role in the pathophysiology of major depression.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to chronic mild stress (CMS) or CMS+intestinal antibiotic decontamination (CMS+ATB) protocols. Levels of components of the TLR-4 signaling pathway, of LPS and of different inflammatory, oxidative/nitrosative and anti-inflammatory mediators were measured by RT-PCR, western blot and/or ELISA in brain prefrontal cortex. Behavioral despair was studied using Porsolt's test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CMS increased levels of TLR-4 and its co-receptor MD-2 in brain as well as LPS and LPS-binding protein in plasma. In addition, CMS also increased interleukin (IL)-1β, COX-2, PGE₂and lipid peroxidation levels and reduced levels of the anti-inflammatory prostaglandin 15d-PGJ₂in brain tissue. Intestinal decontamination reduced brain levels of the pro-inflammatory parameters and increased 15d-PGJ₂, however this did not affect depressive-like behavior induced by CMS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that LPS from bacterial translocation is responsible, at least in part, for the TLR-4 activation found in brain after CMS, which leads to release of inflammatory mediators in the CNS. The use of Gram-negative antibiotics offers a potential therapeutic approach for the adjuvant treatment of depression.</p