The Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus: Optimising Rainwater Harvesting in Mexico City

This study compares greenhouse gases emissions and energy consumption of buildings supplied by the municipal water grid in Mexico City against different configurations of rainwater harvesting systems. A comparative simulation model was built for this purpose. Life-cycle assessment methodology was used to embrace impacts not only from operation (e.g. pumping energy) but also from building the system (e.g. materials, their transportation, etc.). This analysis is essential to improve Mexico City’s water management. The city’s aquifer is overexploited, which has caused land subsidence; the city is prone to flooding for being located in an endorheic basin and highly urbanised; it consumes 1.23 kWh/m3 to supply water to the municipal grid (65 % of it to import 18 % of its water demand from neighbouring basins); and between 30 % and 50 % of this water is lost through grid leakages. The model was used to analyse eleven different types of buildings. Results proved that rainwater harvesting can reduce greenhouse gases emissions in Mexico City and three of the four harvesting scenarios also aid at mitigating flooding risk

Value of urinary metabolic study in patients with recurrent renal stones. Study in or a Health Area

Objetivos: El objetivo de este estudio es analizar las principales alteraciones metabólicas presentes en los pacientes de nuestra área de salud en un periodo de tiempo determinado para demostrar la utilidad de dicha prueba en el diagnóstico y tratamiento. Métodos: Estudio transversal con 17 pacientes diagnosticados de litiasis recidivante y/o múltiple que se solicita estudio metabólico entre los meses de octubre-diciembre de 2014. Se realiza estudio en sangre, orina fresca y orina de 24 h, evaluándose diferentes factores y parámetros de riesgo litogénico entre los que destacan calciuria, oxaluria, uricosuria, citraturia y magnesuria. Análisis estadístico con programa SPSS 20.0 y significación estadística p≤0.05. Resultados: La edad media de los pacientes incluidos en el estudio fue de 47.6 ± 15.8 años, siendo el 64.7% hombres y el 35.3% mujeres. La principal alteración metabólica encontrada fue hipercalciuria (38.9%), hipomagnesuria (33.3%), hiperoxaluria (27.8%), hipocitraturia (22.2%) e hiperuricosuria (22.2%). Existió correlación lineal positiva y estadísticamente significativa entre la excreción de úrico y calcio en orina y entre la excreción de calcio en orina y el calcio/creatinina en orina de ayunas. Conclusión: El diagnóstico metabólico que nos ofrece este estudio completo en sangre y orina nos permite conocer las causas de la formación de litiasis y establecer un tratamiento dietético y médico dirigido con el objetivo de disminuir las recidivas.Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the main metabolic alterations in patients ,in our health area and in a period of time, to demonstrate the usefulness of this test in the diagnosis and treatment. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 17 patients diagnosed with recurrent and/or multiple lithiasis, where a metabolic study is requested between the months of October to December 2014. The study was performed on blood, fresh urine and urine of 24 h, evaluating different lithogenic risk factors and parameters among which calciuria, oxaluria, uricosuria, citraturia and magnesuria. Statistical Analysis with SPSS 20.0 software and statistical significance p≤0.05. Results: The mean age of the patients included in the study was 47.6 ± 15.8 years, with 64.7% men and 35.3% women. The main metabolic abnormality found was hypercalciuria (38.9%), hypomagnesuria (33.3%), hyperoxaluria (27.8%), Hypocitraturia (22.2%) and hyperuricosuria (22.2%). Existed positive and statistically significant correlation between urinary uric and urinary calcium excretion and between urinary calcium and fasting calcium / creatinine ratio. Conclusion: The metabolic diagnosis offered by this comprehensive study in blood and urine allows us to know the causes of stone formation and establish a dietary and medical treatment directed in order to decrease recurrences

Cathodoluminescence Characterization of Dilute Nitride GaNSbAs Alloys

The effects of ex situ annealing in N ambient and in situ annealing in As ambient on GaNSbAs/GaAs structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy were investigated by low temperature cross-sectional cathodoluminescence (CL). The amount and distribution of Sb was measured by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The cross-sectional CL analysis of all samples reveals a shift of the near band edge (NBE) emission along the growth axis, presumably associated with a non-uniform incorporation of Sb during the growth process, in agreement with the Sb distribution measured by EDS in the as-grown sample. The NBE emission in the annealed samples presents a redshift with respect to the as-grown sample. This effect might be explained by a redistribution/activation of N in the GaNSbAs lattice since the Sb distribution measured by EDS does not reveal significant changes, within the error margin, with respect to the as-grown sample. The in situ annealed in the As overpressure sample shows the best properties for solar cells applications, i.e., a NBE peak position close to 1.0 eV and the lowest full width at half maximum of this emission.Spanish Government (MINECO Project ENE2014- 56069-C4-4-R) and Junta de Castilla y Leo´n (VA293U13 and VA081U16 Projects). The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO supports this work through Projects TEC2014-54260- C3-1-P, TEC2014-54260-C3-2-P, TEC2014-54260- C3-3-P, PCIN-2015-181-C02-01 and PCIN-2015- 181-C02-02

Impact of prophylactic TNF blockade in the dual PD-1 and CTLA-4 immunotherapy efficacy and toxicity

The TNF blockade therapy is currently a well-established treatment option for a variety of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis or Crohn's disease, given the proinflammatory role of TNF in the course of these diseases. Importantly, TNF neutralization is also used for the treatment of corticosteroid-refractory immune-related adverse events (irAEs) induced by the combined anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 immunotherapy. The manifestation of these toxicities is an important limiting factor for the successful implementation of the inhibitory checkpoint blockade therapy (ICB), restraining its anti-tumor efficacy. In our recent study (Perez-Ruiz et al., Nature 569(7756): 428-432.), we analyzed the potential impact of prophylactic TNF neutralization therapy in the anti-PD1/CTLA-4 efficacy. Through several mouse models, we demonstrated that TNF neutralization ameliorated ICB-exacerbated colitis in addition to improving ICB-dependent anti-tumor efficacy. Similar results were obtained after prophylactic TNF blockade in graft vs host xenografted mouse models with human immune cells, which showed a reduction in colitis and hepatitis. Importantly, there was a preservation of the immunotherapeutic control of xenografted tumors after ICB treatment. Moreover, TNF and TNF-dependent gene expression is upregulated in the colon mucosa from patients affected by colitis as a side effect of ipilimumab and nivolumab. Our results, thus, provide evidence of the successful combination of prophylactic TNF neutralization with ICB therapy strategy to ameliorate toxicities, while keeping or even ameliorating anti-tumor efficacy. The prophylactic TNF blockade strategy is clinically feasible since excellent TNF inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of autoimmunity and are used for the immune-related serious adverse events in immunotherapy

Influencia del polimorfismo -866 G/A del gen de la UCP2 en población infantil obesa

Objetivo: En el presente estudio se pretende evaluar la prevalencia de la mutación -866 G/A del gen de la UCP2 y conocer su influencia sobre el fenotipo de los niños (11- 12 años) navarros obesos. Antecedentes y ámbito del estudio: La obesidad es una enfermedad de origen multifactorial, que puede estar relacionada con la presencia de mutaciones y polimorfismos en diversos genes candidatos. El gen de la proteína desacoplante UCP2 es uno de los más estudiados en relación con la obesidad porque parece participar en el control de la composición corporal y de diversos procesos metabólicos. Se han descrito tres polimorfismos en este gen: una inserción/deleción de 45 nucleótidos, un cambio del nucleótido guanina por adenina en la posición -866 y otro que origina un reemplazo de alanina por valina en el aminoácido 55. Según diferentes estudios, el alelo - 866G está relacionado con un mayor riesgo de desarrollar obesidad, aunque en la literatura aparecen resultados contradictorios en cuanto a esta asociación. Sujetos: El estudio se llevó a cabo en 125 niños (52% varones) obesos de 11-12 años de edad, seleccionados a través de los Servicios de Endocrinología Pediátrica de la Clínica Universitaria y del Hospital Virgen del Camino (Pamplona), obteniendo el consentimiento informado de acuerdo con la declaración de Helsinki. Intervenciones: Tras verificar el cumplimiento de los criterios de inclusión se tomaron medidas antropométricas (peso, talla, IMC, pliegue tricipital y subescapular) y se determinó el porcentaje de masa grasa por medio de impedancia bioeléctrica. Además se midieron los niveles plasmáticos de colesterol total, glucosa, insulina y leptina. Se procedió también a la extracción del ADN de las células sanguíneas de la serie blanca para determinar el genotipo mediante la técnica de PCR seguida de una digestión con BstUI y posterior visualización en un gel de agarosa con un 2% de bromuro de etidio. Resultados: El análisis genético reveló una frecuencia del alelo A de 0,404, con un porcentaje de individuos G/G, G/A, y A/A del 40,0%, 39,2% y 20,8%, respectivamente. Los portadores del alelo A presentaron un valor significativamente mayor de la suma de los pliegues tricipital y subescapular (p=0,034). No se observaron diferencias significativas entre los sujetos mutados y los no mutados en cuanto a las variables bioquímicas estudiadas. Conclusiones: Los sujetos portadores del polimorfismo presentan valores más altos para los pliegues tricipital y subescapular frente a los no mutados lo que podría indicar una relación entre la presencia del alelo A en niños obesos y niveles mayores de grasa subcutánea

Cytokines in clinical cancer immunotherapy

Cytokines are soluble proteins that mediate cell-to-cell communication. Based on the discovery of the potent anti-tumour activities of several pro-inflammatory cytokines in animal models, clinical research led to the approval of recombinant interferon-alpha and interleukin-2 for the treatment of several malignancies, even if efficacy was only modest. These early milestones in immunotherapy have been followed by the recent addition to clinical practice of antibodies that inhibit immune checkpoints, as well as chimeric antigen receptor T cells. A renewed interest in the anti-tumour properties of cytokines has led to an exponential increase in the number of clinical trials that explore the safety and efficacy of cytokine-based drugs, not only as single agents, but also in combination with other immunomodulatory drugs. These second-generation drugs under clinical development include known molecules with novel mechanisms of action, new targets, and fusion proteins that increase half-life and target cytokine activity to the tumour microenvironment or to the desired effector immune cells. In addition, the detrimental activity of immunosuppressive cytokines can be blocked by antagonistic antibodies, small molecules, cytokine traps or siRNAs. In this review, we provide an overview of the novel trends in the cytokine immunotherapy field that are yielding therapeutic agents for clinical trials

TV watching modifies obesity risk linked to the 27Glu polymorphism of the ADRB2 gene in girls

OBJECTIVE: A matched case-control study was conducted in a population of Spanish children and adolescents (5-18 years old), to assess the interaction between the Gln27Glu polymorphism of the ADRB2 and television (TV) watching on obesity risk. PATIENTS: Obese (n=165) and control subjects (n=165) matched by sex and age were recruited and classified according to Spanish reference data. Results. Using conditional logistic regression, we calculated the obesity risk linked to the polymorphism. A statistically significant association was found for 27Glu carrier allele girls (OR = 1.95; 95% CI = 1.02-3.70), but no association was apparent among boys. In the fully adjusted model, the odds ratio for obesity linked to the genotype Glu27Glu in the female population rose to 4.84 (95% CI = 1.37-17.10). Moreover, we found a significant negative interaction between hours of TV watching and the Gln27Glu polymorphism for obesity risk in girls. Surprisingly, among 27Glu carrier subjects, even girls with a low level of TV watching ( < 12.5 h/week) had a high obesity risk (OR = 4.60; 95% CI = 1.01-20.02), which was not very different to the odds ratio values for sedentary girls carrying the 27 Glu allele watching TV more than 12.5 h/week (OR = 6.05; 95% CI = 1.31-27.71). Conclusion. A higher risk of obesity was found for girls carrying the 27Glu allele of the ADRB2 gene even when they spent less than 12.5 h/week watchi

A phase I trial of oncolytic adenovirus ICOVIR-5 administered intravenously to cutaneous and uveal melanoma patients

Oncolytic viruses represent a unique type of agents that combine self-amplification, lytic, and immunostimulatory properties against tumors. A local and locoregional clinical benefit has been demonstrated upon intratumoral injections of an oncolytic herpes virus in melanoma patients, leading to its approval in the United States and Europe for patients without visceral disease (up to stage IVM1a). However, in order to debulk and change the local immunosuppressive environment of tumors that cannot be injected directly, oncolyitc viruses need to be administered systemically. Among different viruses, adenovirus has been extensively used in clinical trials but with few evidences of activity upon systemic administration. Preclinical efficacy of a single intravenous administration of our oncolytic adenovirus ICOVIR5, an adenovirus type 5 responsive to the retinoblastoma pathway commonly deregulated in tumors, led us to use this virus in a dose-escalation phase 1 trial in metastatic melanoma patients. The results in 12 patients treated with a single infusion of a dose up to 1 × 1013 viral particles show that ICOVIR5 can reach melanoma metastases upon a single intravenous administration but fails to induce tumor regressions. These results support the systemic administration of armed oncolytic viruses to treat disseminated cancer

EFL Como Requisito Para Estudios De Posgrado En Mexico: El Caso De Los Egresados Del Área De Ciencias Biológico Agropecuarias y Pesqueras de la Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit

The aim of this study is to get a general overview of the relevance of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) requirement for postgraduate studies in Mexico, since such requirement has been established as one of the main elements of National Quality Postgraduate Programs (PNPC) registered in the National Bureau of Science and Technology (CONACYT) catalog. There are 2,155 programs to be found in such catalog, where 130 of them are cataloged as programs of International Competency; are public university graduates ready to cope with the EFL requirement established in PNPC programs? This research project took a closer look into a group of Mexican university graduates´ EFL proficiency levels fulfilled as both: as a fulfillment bachelor’s degree requirement, and as an entry requirement to be accepted in a biological and agropecuary sciences masters’ degree program from the PCPN