A virtual laboratory to support chemical reaction engineering courses using real-life problems and industrial software

A virtual laboratory has been developed to support chemical reaction engineering courses. Real-life engineering challenges that are difficult to address in a university laboratory give the opportunity to illustrate basic concepts of chemical reaction engineering such as the relationship between temperature and reaction rate, space time and conversion, and inert concentration and selectivity. Six virtual experiments covering topics from petroleum refining, diesel combustion, nanoparticle growth, and hydrogen combustion form the basis of the virtual laboratory. The characteristics embedded in the experiments include the use of economic analysis to give closure to open-ended problems, the solution of engineering problems with high environmental relevance and finally, the ability to solve complex engineering problems related to state-of-the-art technologies, for example the synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles. Trial tests with senior students, with continual feedback and freedom in terms of the delivery date were used to evaluate and improve the experiments. Subsequently, a classroom test with 45 undergraduate students with a fixed deadline was performed. The challenges and opportunities to use virtual experiments supported by industrial software to teach real-life problems to undergraduate students have been critically assessed

RasGRP1 is a causal factor in the development of l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease.

The therapeutic effects of l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) severely diminishes with the onset of abnormal involuntary movement, l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID). However, the molecular mechanisms that promote LID remain unclear. Here, we demonstrated that RasGRP1 [(guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF)] controls the development of LID. l-DOPA treatment rapidly up-regulated RasGRP1 in the striatum of mouse and macaque model of PD. The lack of RasGRP1 in mice (RasGRP1-/- ) dramatically diminished LID without interfering with the therapeutic effects of l-DOPA. Besides acting as a GEF for Ras homolog enriched in the brain (Rheb), the activator of the mammalian target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR), RasGRP1 promotes l-DOPA-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and the mTOR signaling in the striatum. High-resolution tandem mass spectrometry analysis revealed multiple RasGRP1 downstream targets linked to LID vulnerability. Collectively, the study demonstrated that RasGRP1 is a critical striatal regulator of LID

Sudden cardiac death and pump failure death prediction in chronic heart failure by combining ECG and clinical markers in an integrated risk model

BACKGROUND: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) and pump failure death (PFD) are common endpoints in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, but prevention strategies are different. Currently used tools to specifically predict these endpoints are limited. We developed risk models to specifically assess SCD and PFD risk in CHF by combining ECG markers and clinical variables. METHODS: The relation of clinical and ECG markers with SCD and PFD risk was assessed in 597 patients enrolled in the MUSIC (MUerte Súbita en Insuficiencia Cardiaca) study. ECG indices included: turbulence slope (TS), reflecting autonomic dysfunction; T-wave alternans (TWA), reflecting ventricular repolarization instability; and T-peak-to-end restitution (ΔαTpe) and T-wave morphology restitution (TMR), both reflecting changes in dispersion of repolarization due to heart rate changes. Standard clinical indices were also included. RESULTS: The indices with the greatest SCD prognostic impact were gender, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, left ventricular ejection fraction, TWA, ΔαTpe and TMR. For PFD, the indices were diabetes, NYHA class, ΔαTpe and TS. Using a model with only clinical variables, the hazard ratios (HRs) for SCD and PFD for patients in the high-risk group (fifth quintile of risk score) with respect to patients in the low-risk group (first and second quintiles of risk score) were both greater than 4. HRs for SCD and PFD increased to 9 and 11 when using a model including only ECG markers, and to 14 and 13, when combining clinical and ECG markers. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of ECG markers capturing complementary pro-arrhythmic and pump failure mechanisms into risk models based only on standard clinical variables substantially improves prediction of SCD and PFD in CHF patients

A preliminary study of genetic factors that influence susceptibility to bovine tuberculosis in the British cattle herd

Associations between specific host genes and susceptibility to Mycobacterial infections such as tuberculosis have been reported in several species. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) impacts greatly the UK cattle industry, yet genetic predispositions have yet to be identified. We therefore used a candidate gene approach to study 384 cattle of which 160 had reacted positively to an antigenic skin test (‘reactors’). Our approach was unusual in that it used microsatellite markers, embraced high breed diversity and focused particularly on detecting genes showing heterozygote advantage, a mode of action often overlooked in SNP-based studies. A panel of neutral markers was used to control for population substructure and using a general linear model-based approach we were also able to control for age. We found that substructure was surprisingly weak and identified two genomic regions that were strongly associated with reactor status, identified by markers INRA111 and BMS2753. In general the strength of association detected tended to vary depending on whether age was included in the model. At INRA111 a single genotype appears strongly protective with an overall odds ratio of 2.2, the effect being consistent across nine diverse breeds. Our results suggest that breeding strategies could be devised that would appreciably increase genetic resistance of cattle to bTB (strictly, reduce the frequency of incidence of reactors) with implications for the current debate concerning badger-culling

Identification of plasma lipid biomarkers for prostate cancer by lipidomics and bioinformatics

Background: Lipids have critical functions in cellular energy storage, structure and signaling. Many individual lipid molecules have been associated with the evolution of prostate cancer; however, none of them has been approved to be used as a biomarker. The aim of this study is to identify lipid molecules from hundreds plasma apparent lipid species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using lipidomics, lipid profiling of 390 individual apparent lipid species was performed on 141 plasma samples from 105 patients with prostate cancer and 36 male controls. High throughput data generated from lipidomics were analyzed using bioinformatic and statistical methods. From 390 apparent lipid species, 35 species were demonstrated to have potential in differentiation of prostate cancer. Within the 35 species, 12 were identified as individual plasma lipid biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity above 80%, specificity above 50% and accuracy above 80%. Using top 15 of 35 potential biomarkers together increased predictive power dramatically in diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity of 93.6%, specificity of 90.1% and accuracy of 97.3%. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) demonstrated that patient and control populations were visually separated by identified lipid biomarkers. RandomForest and 10-fold cross validation analyses demonstrated that the identified lipid biomarkers were able to predict unknown populations accurately, and this was not influenced by patient's age and race. Three out of 13 lipid classes, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine (ePE) and ether-linked phosphatidylcholine (ePC) could be considered as biomarkers in diagnosis of prostate cancer. Conclusions/Significance: Using lipidomics and bioinformatic and statistical methods, we have identified a few out of hundreds plasma apparent lipid molecular species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy

Exercise and postprandial lipemia: effects on vascular health in inactive adults

Background: There is evidence to suggest that postprandial lipemia are is linked to the impairment of endothelial function, which is characterized by an imbalance between the actions of vasodilators and vasoconstrictors. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a 12-week high-intensity training (HIT) and moderate continuous training (MCT) protocol on postprandial lipemia, vascular function and arterial stiffness in inactive adults after high-fat meal (HFM) ingestion. Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted in 20 healthy, inactive adults (31.6 ± 7.1 years). Participants followed the two exercise protocols for 12 weeks. To induce a state of postprandial lipemia (PPL), all subjects received a HFM. Endothelial function was measured using flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), normalized brachial artery FMD (nFMD), aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx). Plasma total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), triglycerides and glucose were also measured. Results: The effects of a HFM were evaluated in a fasted state and 60, 120, 180, and 240 min postprandially. A significant decrease in serum glucose between 0 min (fasted state) and 120 min postprandially was found in the HIT group (P= 0. 035). Likewise, FMD (%) was significantly different between the fasted state and 60 min after a HFM in the HIT group (P = 0.042). The total cholesterol response expressed as area under curve (AUC)(0–240) was lower following HIT than following MCT, but no significant differences were observed (8%, P > 0.05). Similarly, triglycerides AUC(0–240) was also lower after HIT compared with MCT, which trended towards significance (24%, P= 0.076). The AUC(0–240) for the glucose response was significantly lower following HIT than MCT (10%, P = 0.008). FMD and nFMD AUC(0–240) were significantly higher following HIT than following MCT (46.9%, P = 0.021 and 67.3%, P = 0.009, respectively). PWV AUC(0–240) did not differ following between the two exercise groups (2.3%, P > 0.05). Conclusions: Supervised exercise training mitigates endothelial dysfunction and glucose response induced by PPL. Exercise intensity plays an important role in these protective effects, and medium-term HIT may be more effective than MCT in reducing postprandial glucose levels and attenuating vascular impairment.This study as funded in part by the Center for Studies on Measurement of Physical Activity, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad del Rosario (Code N° FIUR DN-BG001). We declare that the results of the study are presented clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or appropriate data manipulatio

Fragmentation of Contaminant and Endogenous DNA in Ancient Samples Determined by Shotgun Sequencing; Prospects for Human Palaeogenomics

Despite the successful retrieval of genomes from past remains, the prospects for human palaeogenomics remain unclear because of the difficulty of distinguishing contaminant from endogenous DNA sequences. Previous sequence data generated on high-throughput sequencing platforms indicate that fragmentation of ancient DNA sequences is a characteristic trait primarily arising due to depurination processes that create abasic sites leading to DNA breaks

Universidad y sociedad. Extensión del conocimiento

Este libro hace un análisis de la educación y propone migrar de una institución educativa a una organización de extensión del conocimiento (Mejía, 2011) toma más fuerza cada día, ya que obtiene una participación más activa en su actuar, y no solo se circunscribe a mejorar la gestión de las áreas funcionales de mercadeo, docencia, investigación, extensión, financiera, tecnología y administración (Gutiérrez, 2011), también cuenta con una visión más sistémica para conseguir la felicidad social y de las personas que conforman la organización educativa