Desarrollo de métodos de electroforesis capilar para el análisis de formas de glicoproteínas de interés farmacéutico y clínico

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Analítica y Análisis Instrumental, Fecha de lectura: 19-12-200

Quality assessment of Spanish scientific journals: analysis of their review processes

One of the basic duties of scientific journals is the evaluation of the papers that they publish. The most common practice is peer review, in which several experts determine the reliability of the ideas and results as well as the potential impact on science. Studying the documentation provided by the editors of Quality Assessment of Spanish Scientific Journals, 1st Edition, in 2008, we have analyzed some of the editorial practices in the evaluation process, such as external evaluation, instructions to referees, the existence of protocols to evaluate the articles and anonymity of those involved in the review. The  significance of our work is that the evaluation process has been checked independently of what is stated in the journal. We have verified that there is a lack of standardization in the evaluation process, which is symptomatic of the need for deeper professionalization

La conservación y reutilización de los datos científicos en España. Informe del grupo de trabajo de buenas prácticas

González Copeiro, C.; Serrano-Muñoz, J.; García-García, A.; Ferrer Sapena, A.; Peset Mancebo, MF.; Bernal, I.; Lacunza, I.... (2012). La conservación y reutilización de los datos científicos en España. Informe del grupo de trabajo de buenas prácticas. Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología FECYT. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/58896

Descripción y análisis del proceso de evaluación de la calidad de las revistas científicas españolas llevado a cabo por FECYT en el año 2008

The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), within the project to support the professionalization and internationalization of Spanish scholarly journals (ARCE), carried out the first edition of assessing the quality of Spanish scientific journals in 2008. There are two main objectives to this work. Firstly, to describe and analyze the process itself: its different features and assessment phases; secondly, to make proposals for improving future editions. In addition, we offer a quantitative study of the results. Despite the sample being relatively small, the trends observed are interesting because they reflect the national landscape and are expected to be confirmed by a greater number of statistics in future editions.<br><br>La Fundación Española para la Ciencia y Tecnología (FECYT), dentro del proyecto de apoyo a la profesionalización e internacionalización de las revistas científicas españolas (ARCE), realizó en el año 2008 la primera edición de la evaluación de la calidad de las revistas científicas españolas. El objetivo principal de este estudio es doble. Por un lado, describir y analizar el proceso detallando sus características y las distintas fases de la evaluación. Por otro, establecer unas propuestas de mejora a tener en cuenta en próximas ediciones. Además, se estudian de forma cuantitativa los resultados obtenidos. A pesar de que la muestra analizada en el trabajo es relativamente pequeña, las tendencias que se observan en los resultados son de interés, puesto que reflejan de forma significativa la situación nacional, a la espera de ser confirmados al aumentar la estadística en sucesivas ediciones

CIEF with hydrodynamic and chemical mobilization for the separation of forms of Æ-1-acid glycoprotein

a-1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a protein that exists in different forms, which is due to var- iations in the amino acid sequence and/or in the glycosidic part of the protein. These dif- ferences confer to these forms, among other characteristics, diverse pIs. Changes in these forms of AGP have been correlated to modifications of the pathophysiological conditions of the individuals. One of the analytical techniques employed for their study has been IEF performed in slab gels. CIEF method with hydrodynamic and chemical mobilization, in- volving an isotachophoretic process, is developed in this work to separate up to 12 bands of forms of standard AGP, which is proposed as a more reproducible, quantitative, less sam- ple-consuming, and more automated one than conventional IEF. The challenge of this work has been the development of a CIEF method for the separation of bands of a very acidic protein (pI range: 1.8–3.8) in a capillary. Intraday RSD values 1.7% have been achieved for the relative migration time of the AGP bands to that of an internal standard. For intraday area precision, RSD (%) in the range of 2.70–22.71% for AGP zones account- ing for more than 10% of total area of AGP sample has been obtained. As a proof of the potential of the methodology proposed, an AGP sample purified from a pool of sera of patients suffering from ovary cancer is analyzed by CIEF.The authors greatly acknowledge Prof. Kremmer for the kind gift of the AGP sample. This work has been supported by the Spanish CICYT, Plan I1D1I (project TIC2003-01906), by the Foundation Ramon Areces, and by the Ministry of Education and Science (Joint Action with Hungary HH04- 33). Izaskun Lacunza acknowledges the CSIC for a pre- doctoral fellowship.Peer reviewe

CIEF with hydrodynamic and chemical mobilization for the separation of forms of α-1-acid glycoprotein

α-1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a protein that exists in different forms, which is due to variations in the amino acid sequence and/or in the glycosidic part of the protein. These differences confer to these forms, among other characteristics, diverse pIs. Changes in these forms of AGP have been correlated to modifications of the pathophysiological conditions of the individuals, One of the analytical techniques employed for their study has been IEF performed in slab gels. CIEF method with hydrodynamic and chemical mobilization, involving an isotachophoretic process, is developed in this work to separate up to 12 bands of forms of standard AGP, which is proposed as a more reproducible, quantitative, less sample-consuming, and more automated one than conventional IEF. The challenge of this work has been the development of a CIEF method for the separation of bands of a very acidic protein (pI range: 1.8-3.8) in a capillary. Intraday RSD values ≤ 1.7% have been achieved for the relative migration time of the AGP bands to that of an internal standard. For intraday area precision, RSD (%) in the range of 2.70-22.71% for AGP zones accounting for more than 10% of total area of AGP sample has been obtained. As a proof of the potential of the methodology proposed, an AGP sample purified from a pool of sera of patients suffering from ovary cancer is analyzed by CIEF. © 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Peer Reviewe

CZE of human alpha-1-acid glycoprotein for qualitative and quantitative comparison of samples from different pathological conditions

Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) presents different forms, which may arise from diffferences in the amino acid sequence and/or in the glycosidic part of the protein. Changes in forms of AGP have been described in literature as a possible tumor marker. While most previous works have approached the study of glycopeptides and/or glycans obtained after fragmentation of the protein, in this work, a CZE method is developed to separate up to eleven peaks of intact forms of AGP. A computer program developed in our laboratory is used to select the migration parameters that make possible an accurate assignment of AGP peaks. Electropherograms of AGP samples purified from sera of cancer patients and healthy donors are qualitatively and quantitatively compared. Percentages of correct assignment of AGP peaks close to 100% are achieved by using either the migration time of each peak relative to that of the EOF marker or the effective electrophoretic mobility of the peaks. The computer program permits to select, among different hypotheses for peak allotment, that one providing the highest accuracy of assignment. In this way, some peaks with different charge-to-mass ratio and a different distribution of area percentage of AGP forms are observed when comparing samples from sick and healthy individuals. Thus, a method that permits to compare AGP forms existing in sera of individuals with different pathophysiological situations has been developed. A potential for using AGP forms analyzed by CZE as a disease marker and for using this technique for screening purposes is envisaged. © 2006 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Peer Reviewe

CZE of human alpha-1-acid glycoprotein for qualitative and quantitative comparison of samples from different pathological conditions

Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) presents different forms, which may arise from dif- ferences in the amino acid sequence and/or in the glycosidic part of the protein. Changes in forms of AGP have been described in literature as a possible tumor marker. While most previous works have approached the study of glycopeptides and/or gly- cans obtained after fragmentation of the protein, in this work, a CZE method is devel- oped to separate up to eleven peaks of intact forms of AGP. A computer program developed in our laboratory is used to select the migration parameters that make possible an accurate assignment of AGP peaks. Electropherograms of AGP samples purified from sera of cancer patients and healthy donors are qualitatively and quanti- tatively compared. Percentages of correct assignment of AGP peaks close to 100% are achieved by using either the migration time of each peak relative to that of the EOF marker or the effective electrophoretic mobility of the peaks. The computer program permits to select, among different hypotheses for peak allotment, that one providing the highest accuracy of assignment. In this way, some peaks with different charge-to-mass ratio and a different distribution of area percentage of AGP forms are observed when comparing samples from sick and healthy individuals. Thus, a method that permits to compare AGP forms existing in sera of individuals with different pathophysiological situations has been developed. A potential for using AGP forms analyzed by CZE as a disease marker and for using this technique for screening purposes is envisaged.The Authors greatly acknowledge Prof. Kremmer for the kind gift of AGP samples. This work has been supported by Spanish CICYT, Plan I1D1I (Project TIC2003-01906), by Foundation Ramon Areces, and by Ministry of Education and Science (Joint Action with Hungary HH04-33). Izaskun Lacunza acknowledges CSIC for a predoctoral fellowship.Peer reviewe