Heredero del absurdo: el humor en la obra literaria de José Luis Cuerda

Heir to the absurdity: the humour in the literary work of José Luis Cuerda The odd vision of the world proposed by film-maker José Luis Cuerda, extended mainly through the so-called trilogy of the absurdity, compiling works such as Total [In the End], Amanece que no es poco [At Least It’s Dawning], Así en el cielo como en la tierra [On Heaven as It Is in Earth], has been enriched in the last years thanks to the publication of Tiempo después [Some Time Later], a short narration in which a bitter social criticism emerges through the humorous description of a dystopian world

Piezo1: Proteins for mechanotransduction and integration of endothelial shear stress & intravascular pressure

Piezo proteins are transmembrane ion channels, specialized in detecting mechanosensitive stimuli and transduce mechanical forces into biochemical signals. Piezo proteins research has helped understand physiological mechanisms, but the integrative role that Piezo1 plays in the regulation of the microvasculature has remained unstudied. Our main objective was to characterize ex vivo microvascular responses to the blockade of Piezo1 mechanotransduction in male (n=29) and female (n=24) Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Gracilis arterioles (GA) and middle cerebral arterioles (MCA) were harvested for ex-vivo vessel preparations. After vessel viability confirmation, every vessel was submitted to myogenic and flow challenges under control conditions and after Grammostola Mechanotoxin 4 (GsMTx4) incubation to blocking Piezo1 channels, to quantify the homeostatic response of arterioles before and after Piezo1 antagonism. We are able to report Piezo1 as indispensable component in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and Endothelial cells (EC) to sense and change vessel diameter based on intravascular pressure and shear stress, correspondingly. Also, we report for the first time a heterogeneous response in males and females after Piezo1 antagonism in representative resistance arterioles from the skeletal muscle and cerebral circulation

Optimization of the fermentation conditions of musts from Pedro Ximenez grapes grown in Southern Spain. Production of higher alcohols and esters

Musts from Vitis vinifera Pedro Ximenez grapes with sugar contents of 191, 241, 300 and 342 g/l were fermented at controlled temperatures of 15, 20, 25 and 30°C. The fraction of higher alcohols and esters was determined by GLC in a capillary column. By variance analysis significant differences (p~0,01) were obtained in the production of isoamyl alcohols and 2-phenylethanol at the different fermentation temperatures, while the hexanol-1 content was found to depend on the degree of ripeness of the grapes. Only the contents in 2-phenylethyl acetate and ethyl octanoate among the esters assayed were found to depend significantly on the fermentation temperature, and only that of hexyl acetate was found to depend on the degree of ripeness (p~0,01). Taking into account the production of ethanol, higher alcohols and esters, the best results were obtained at fermentation temperatures between 20° and 25°C, for both white table wines (12% v/v ethanol) and sherry type fine wines (15% v/v ethanol)

Modeling of Electrokinetic Remediation Combining Local Chemical Equilibrium and Chemical Reaction Kinetics

A mathematical model for reactive-transport processes in porous media is presented. The modeled system includes diffusion, electromigration and electroosmosis as the most relevant transport mechanism and water electrolysis at the electrodes, aqueous species complexation, precipitation and dissolution as the chemical reactions taken place during the treatment time. The model is based on the local chemical equilibrium for most of the reversible chemical reactions occurring in the process. As a novel enhancement of previous models, the local chemical equilibrium reactive-transport model is combined with the solution of the transient equations for the kinetics of those chemical reactions that have representative rates in the same order than the transport mechanisms. The model is validated by comparison of simulation and experimental results for an acid- enhanced electrokinetic treatment of a real Pb-contaminated calcareous soil. The kinetics of the main pH buffering process, the calcite dissolution, was defined by a simplified empirical kinetic law. Results show that the evaluation of kinetic rate entails a significant improvement of the model prediction capability.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 778045. Part of this work was supported financially by the European Commission within the project LIFE12 ENV/IT/442 SEKRET “Sediment electrokinetic remediation technology for heavy metal pollution removal”. Paz-Garcia acknowledges the financial support from the “Proyecto Puente - Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia de la Universidad de Málaga”, code: PPIT.UMA.B5.2018/17. Villen-Guzman acknowledges the financial support from the University of Malaga through a postdoctoral contract

Microtubule depolymerization by the kinesin-8 motor Kip3p: a mathematical model

Proteins from the kinesin-8 family promote microtubule (MT) depolymerization, a process thought to be important for the control of microtubule length in living cells. In addition to this MT shortening activity, kinesin 8s are motors that show plus-end directed motility on MTs. Here we describe a simple model that incorporates directional motion and destabilization of the MT plus end by kinesin 8. Our model quantitatively reproduces the key features of length-vs-time traces for stabilized MTs in the presence of purified kinesin 8, including length-dependent depolymerization. Comparison of model predictions with experiments suggests that kinesin 8 depolymerizes processively, i.e., one motor can remove multiple tubulin dimers from a stabilized MT. Fluctuations in MT length as a function of time are related to depolymerization processivity. We have also determined the parameter regime in which the rate of MT depolymerization is length dependent: length-dependent depolymerization occurs only when MTs are sufficiently short; this crossover is sensitive to the bulk motor concentration.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figure

Characteristics and Neonatal Outcomes of Teenage Pregnant Women Diagnosed with Syphilis at Siriraj Hospital

Objective: To demonstrate the characteristics of teenage pregnant women diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective study. Medical records of teenage pregnant women who were diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy and delivered at Siriraj Hospital and their newborn babies from 2011 to 2016 were reviewed. Demographic data and clinical factors were retrieved. Neonatal outcomes including gestational age at birth, birth weight, and diagnosis of congenital syphilis were recorded. STATA version 12.0 was used to analyze the data and p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: During 2011-2016, there were 28 eligible women. The mean age was 17.6±1.2 years. Seventy-five percent of them were unemployed and one-fourth had been educated less than or up to primary school level. The median number of partners was 4 and their sexual debut started from the age of 15.3±0.9. A quarter also had other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Congenital syphilis was diagnosed in 12 newborns (12/28, 42.8%). The mothers of the newborns with congenital syphilis were more likely to be unemployed, had first antenatal care (ANC) after 20 weeks of gestation, had <4 ANC visits, had high initial non-treponemal titer and poor treatment of syphilis before deliveries (p<0.05 for all). Preterm birth and very low birth weight were significantly more common in newborns with congenital syphilis. Conclusion: Some socio-economic factors are associated with the risk of syphilis infection. Almost half of the teenage pregnant women diagnosed with syphilis delivered babies with congenital syphilis. Inadequate antenatal care and poor treatment of maternal syphilis are the predictive factors of congenital syphilis

Acute Lower Extremity Posterior Compartment Syndrome: A Rare Complication of Apixaban Use

Apixaban is an oral anticoagulant that directly inhibits Factor Xa and is indicated for the prophylaxis and treatment of deep venous thrombosis and stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Acute lower extremity Posterior Compartment Syndrome is a rare complication of Apixaban use. We present a 78-year-old male with significant medical morbidities taking Apixaban for Atrial Fibrillation presenting with post-traumatic extensive hemorrhagic bullae on the left proximal pretibial region secondary to anticoagulation. We recommend that clinicians develop awareness of the potential for serious bleeding complications of anticoagulants and devise strategies to identify the need for early recognition and prompt management