The influence of recycled aggregates from precast elements on the mechanical properties of structural self-compacting concrete

Recycled Aggregates (RA) from structural precast elements and the performance of Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) containing RA in percentage substitutions of 20%, 50% and 100% are described in this paper. Three Control Concretes (CC-30, CC-37.5, CC-45) manufactured with Natural Aggregates (NA), and their corresponding Recycled Aggregate Concretes (RAC-20, RAC-50, RAC-100) are evaluated in terms of physical and mechanical properties. The in-fresh properties results (flowability, viscosity and passing ability) of the RAC were suitable for their use as SSC. Furthermore, the tests of compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strength, as well as density, porosity, water absorption, ultrasonic pulse velocity, stiffness, and both dynamic and static modulus provided results close to those of the SCC with NA, and in compliance with the requirements of current regulations. The recycling process that takes place in the precast factory supposes an economical improvement and an important contribution to global sustainability, in accordance with the concept of the circular economy.The authors wish to express their gratitude for having contributed to the financing of this research to: Junta de Castilla y León (Regional Government) for funding UIC-231 through project BU119P17; MINECO for funding through project BIA2014-55576-C2-1-R; and FEDER (European Regional Development Funds). Moreover, we are grateful to the precast concrete company Artepref for having collaborated with the present research work

Behaviour during Malolactic Fermentation of Three Strains of Oenococcus oeni Used as Direct Inoculation and Acclimatisation Cultures

The behaviour in malolactic fermentation (MLF) of an autochthonous strain of Oenococcus oeni, C22L9,isolated from a winery in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), and of two other commercial strains of O. oeni, PN4and Alpha (Lallemand Inc.), inoculated by direct inoculation (MBR®) and after a short acclimatisationphase (1-STEP®), was studied. Strain C22L9 carried out MLF slightly faster than the two other commercialstrains, leading to a lower increase in volatile acidity and in 2,3-butanedione and 3-hydroxy-2-butanoneconcentrations, a higher lactic acid content, lower degradation of citric acid and increased degradation ofethanol. No great differences were observed in the duration of MLF, although the acclimatisation cultureswere slightly faster, or in the composition of the wines when using the O. oeni strains in the form of MBR®or 1-STEP® cultures. The tasters did not detect significant differences in the wines obtained from the samestrain of O. oeni in the two inoculation formats

A genome-wide association study using a DNA pooling strategy identifies BBS9 and GLIS3 as novel loci influencing patient’s outcome after stroke

Stroke is a major cause of morbidity in developed countries and therefore finding adequate treatments to promote patient’s recovery is a priority task, requiring the elucidation of the molecular pathways influencing brain recovery. Few studies, however, have assessed the role of genes in stroke outcome. This study describes a pilot genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic factors contributing to patient’s outcome, using a DNA pooling design. Methods: Patient’s outcome was assessed using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) three months after stroke. Using the 250K Affymetrix GeneChip Mapping Assay® – Nsp I, we compared SNP allele frequencies in a pool of non-disabled stroke patients (N=87, mRS=0), with a pool of severely disabled or deceased patients (N=100, mRS>=3). The 100 most interesting SNPs were selected for validation by individual genotyping. Results: 36 SNPs were validated, showing significant differences between patients with extremely good and extremely poor outcome at three months (1.7x10-4 ).This work was supported by the grant PTDC/SAU-GMG/64426/2006, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). Helena Manso and Tiago Krug were supported by FCT fellowships

Combination of X-ray crystallography, SAXS and DEER to obtain the structure of the FnIII-3,4 domains of integrin a6b4

Integrin alpha6beta4 is a major component of hemidesmosomes that mediate the stable anchorage of epithelial cells to the underlying basement membrane. Integrin alpha6beta4 has also been implicated in cell proliferation and migration and in carcinoma progression. The third and fourth fibronectin type III domains (FnIII-3,4) of integrin beta4 mediate binding to the hemidesmosomal proteins BPAG1e and BPAG2, and participate in signalling. Here, it is demonstrated that X-ray crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering and double electron– electron resonance (DEER) complement each other to solve the structure of the FnIII-3,4 region. The crystal structures of the individual FnIII-3 and FnIII-4 domains were solved and the relative arrangement of the FnIII domains was elucidated by combining DEER with site-directed spin labelling. Multiple structures of the interdomain linker were modelled by Monte Carlo methods complying with DEER constraints, and the final structures were selected against experimental scattering data. FnIII-3,4 has a compact and cambered flat structure with an evolutionary conserved surface that is likely to correspond to a protein-interaction site. Finally, this hybrid method is of general application for the study of other macromolecules and complexes

Inclusive physical education through Jail-Survival

Los Deportes Alternativos son una modalidad deportiva en crecimiento que promueve valores positivos y la inclusión de personas con discapacidad. Estos deportes ofrecen beneficios como el desarrollo de habilidades sociales y el disfrute. En el área de educación física, se busca despertar el interés de los estudiantes mediante el uso de nuevos métodos. La implementación de los Deportes Alternativos amplía los horizontes y mejora la inteligencia interpersonal de los estudiantes. Jail-Survival es una nueva modalidad que se presenta como opción para la educación física. Este trabajo tiene el objetivo de indagar y conocer el reglamento del Jail-Survival como Deporte Alternativo, así como identificar los diferentes beneficios y estrategias del juego para implementarlo en el ámbito educativo. El Jail-Survival es una modalidad deportiva adaptable y accesible para todos los alumnos, pero la falta de literatura científica limita su uso. Se recomienda desarrollar propuestas de Unidad Didáctica y realizar intervenciones para evaluar sus beneficios, fortaleciendo así el conocimiento y apoyando a los docentes en la implementación de nuevos contenidos en el ámbito escolarAlternative Sports are a growing sports modality that promotes positive values and the inclusion of people with disabilities. These sports offer benefits such as the development of social skills and enjoyment. In physical education classes, the main objective is to awaken student interest using new methods. The implementation of Alternative Sports expands horizons and enhances student interpersonal intelligence. Jail-Survival is a new modality that is presented as an option for physical education. This work aims to investigate and understand the regulations of Jail-Survival as an Alternative Sport, as well as identify the different benefits and game strategies to implement it in the educational field. Jail-Survival is an adaptable and accessible sport modality for all students, but the lack of scientific literature limits its use. It is recommended to develop Didactics Unit proposals and conduct interventions to assess its benefits, thus strengthening knowledge and supporting teachers in the implementation of new content in the school environmen

Study of the electromagnetic transition form-factors in \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0 decays with NA60

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass muon pairs in 158A GeV In-In collisions. The mass and pT spectra associated with peripheral collisions can quantitatively be described by the known neutral meson decays. The high data quality has allowed to remeasure the electromagnetic transition form factors of the Dalitz decays \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0. Using the usual pole approximation F = (1-M_{\mu\mu}^{2}/\Lambda^{2})^{-1} for the form factors, we find \Lambda^{-2} (in GeV^{-2}) to be 1.95+-0.17(stat.)+-0.05(syst.) for the \eta and 2.24+-0.06(stat.)+-0.02(syst.) for the \omega. While the values agree with previous results from the Lepton-G experiment, the errors are greatly improved, confirming now on the level of 10\sigma the strong enhancement of the \omega form factor beyond the expectation from vector meson dominance. An improved value of the branching ratio BR(\omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0) = [1.73+-0.25(stat.)+-0.14(syst.)]*10^{-4} has been obtained as a byproduct.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett.

A multivariable prognostic score to guide systemic therapy in early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer: a retrospective study with an external evaluation

Background: In early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer, escalation or de-escalation of systemic therapy is a controversial topic. As an aid to treatment decisions, we aimed to develop a prognostic assay that integrates multiple data types for predicting survival outcome in patients with newly diagnosed HER2-positive breast cancer. Methods: We derived a combined prognostic model using retrospective clinical–pathological data on stromal tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes, PAM50 subtypes, and expression of 55 genes obtained from patients who participated in the Short-HER phase 3 trial. The trial enrolled patients with newly diagnosed, node-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer or, if node negative, with at least one risk factor (ie, tumour size >2 cm, histological grade 3, lymphovascular invasion, Ki67 >20%, age ≤35 years, or hormone receptor negativity), and randomly assigned them to adjuvant anthracycline plus taxane-based combinations with either 9 weeks or 1 year of trastuzumab. Trastuzumab was administered intravenously every 3 weeks (8 mg/kg loading dose at first cycle, and 6 mg/kg thereafter) for 18 doses or weekly (4 mg/kg loading dose in the first week, and 2 mg/kg thereafter) for 9 weeks, starting concomitantly with the first taxane dose. Median follow-up was 91·4 months (IQR 75·1–105·6). The primary objective of our study was to derive and evaluate a combined prognostic score associated with distant metastasis-free survival (the time between randomisation and distant recurrence or death before recurrence), an exploratory endpoint in Short-HER. Patient samples in the training dataset were split into a training set (n=290) and a testing set (n=145), balancing for event and treatment group. The training set was further stratified into 100 iterations of Monte-Carlo cross validation (MCCV). Cox proportional hazard models were fit to MCCV training samples using Elastic-Net. A maximum of 92 features were assessed. The final prognostic model was evaluated in an independent combined dataset of 267 patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer treated with different neoadjuvant and adjuvant anti-HER2-based combinations and from four other studies (PAMELA, CHER-LOB, Hospital Clinic, and Padova) with disease-free survival outcome data. Findings: From Short-HER, data from 435 (35%) of 1254 patients for tumour size (T1 vs rest), nodal status (N0 vs rest), number of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (continuous variable), subtype (HER2-enriched and basal-like vs rest), and 13 genes composed the final model (named HER2DX). HER2DX was significantly associated with distant metastasis-free survival as a continuous variable (p<0·0001). HER2DX median score for quartiles 1–2 was identified as the cutoff to identify low-risk patients; and the score that distinguished quartile 3 from quartile 4 was the cutoff to distinguish medium-risk and high-risk populations. The 5-year distant metastasis-free survival of the low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk populations were 98·1% (95% CI 96·3–99·9), 88·9% (83·2–95·0), and 73·9% (66·0–82·7), respectively (low-risk vs high-risk hazard ratio [HR] 0·04, 95% CI 0·0–0·1, p<0·0001). In the evaluation cohort, HER2DX was significantly associated with disease-free survival as a continuous variable (HR 2·77, 95% CI 1·4–5·6, p=0·0040) and as group categories (low-risk vs high-risk HR 0·27, 0·1–0·7, p=0·005). 5-year disease-free survival in the HER2DX low-risk group was 93·5% (89·0–98·3%) and in the high-risk group was 81·1% (71·5–92·1). Interpretation: The HER2DX combined prognostic score identifies patients with early-stage, HER2-positive breast cancer who might be candidates for escalated or de-escalated systemic treatment. Future clinical validation of HER2DX seems warranted to establish its use in different scenarios, especially in the neoadjuvant setting. Funding: Instituto Salud Carlos III, Save the Mama, Pas a Pas, Fundación Científica, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, Fundación SEOM, National Institutes of Health, Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the Veneto Institute of Oncology, and Italian Association for Cancer Research

Highlights from the NA60 experiment

The NA60 experiment is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS. It has measured the dimuon yield in Indium--Indium collisions with an In beam of 158 AGeV/c and in p-A collisions with a proton beam of 400 and 158 AGeV/c. The results allow to address three important physics topics, namely the study of the rho spectral function in nuclear collisions, the clarification of the origin of the dimuon excess measured by NA50 in the intermediate mass range, and the J/psi suppression pattern in a collision system different from Pb-Pb. An overview of these results will be given in this paper