La fracturación hidráulica (fracking)

La fracturación hidráulica es una técnica conocida y utilizada industrialmente desde hace casi setenta años, pero en las dos últimas décadas ha experimentado un avance espectacular.Trata de explotar los denominados “hidrocarburos no convencionales”: estos recursos pueden contribuir a la seguridad energética global de modo sostenible y rentable; además, pueden contribuir a reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Sin embargo, recientemente se ha desarrollado una preocupación social sobre los efectos ambientales y sociales que pueden causar tales explotaciones, contaminando el subsuelo y los acuíferos subterráneos de aguas potables. No obstante, la fracturación se realiza a una profundidad mucho mayor que la de los acuíferos y, si se aplican las prácticas adecuadas de perforación y cementación de los pozos, no deberían verse afectados. Se discuten brevemente las técnicas empleadas, las principales objeciones y el impacto económico mundial de su uso a gran escal

Fan-delta slope deposits and sequences in the Murcia-Carrascoy Basin (Late Neogene, S.E. Spain)

Tortonian sedimentation in the Betics records a major tectonic event, the largest orogenic defonnation of the cordillera. superimposed on the largerscale, lhird-order TB 3.2 cyc1e of eustatic sea-level change. A first intetpretation of the Sequence Stratigraphy oí the Murcia-Carrascoy basin is presented. Uplift of positive feliefs around the basin favoured the deposition of thick successions of conglomerates evidencing cannibalism. Facies associations witness deposition on the steep slope of a basin, fed by mountain rivers that supplied coarse sediments to the basin. The resulting fan delta is comparable in many respects to those described in fjords, and a depositional model is presented. [RESUMEN] La sedimentación tortoniense en las Béticas registra la superposición de un gran evento tectónico, correspondiente a la deformación más importante de la cordillera, y del ciclo global TB 3.2 de cambios del nivel de mar. Se ofrece la primera propuesta de interpretación de la cuenca de Murcia Carrascoy en términos de Estratigrafía Secuencial. La surrección de relieves positivos alrededor de la cuenca favoreció el depósito de potentes acumulaciones de conglomerados que manifiestan la autofagia de la cuenca. Las asociaciones de facies indican que el depósito se produjo en un talud de cuenca abrupto alimentado por ríos de montaña que aportaba materiales de grano grueso. El fan delta resultante es comparable en muchos aspectos a los descritos en fiordos y se presenta un modelo sedimentario

Eliciting expert opinion for cost-effectiveness analysis: a flexible family of prior distributions

The Bayesian approach to statistics has been growing rapidly in popularity as an alternative to the classical approach in the economic evaluation of health technologies, due to the significant benefits it affords. One of the most important advantages of Bayesian methods is their incorporation of prior information. Thus, use is made of a greater amount of information, and so stronger results are obtained than with frequentist methods. However, since Stevens and O’Hagan (2002) showed that the elicitation of a prior distribution on the parameters of interest plays a crucial role in a Bayesian cost-effectiveness analysis, relatively few papers have addressed this issue. In a cost-effectiveness analysis, the parameters of interest are the mean efficacy and mean cost of each treatment. The most common prior structure for these two parameters is the bivariate normal structure. In this paper, we study the use of a more general (and flexible) family of prior distributions for the parameters. In particular, we assume that the conditional densities of the parameters are all normal. The model is validated using data of a real clinical trial. The posterior distributions have been simulated using Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques.Peer Reviewe

Preface: Earth Observation for Integrated Water and Basin Management: Challenges for adaptation to a changing environment

Integrated river basin management involves a sound knowledge of water and land interactions, and impacts from and feedbacks to human activity. Remote sensing has been an efficient and increasingly promising means of gathering direct information of the Earth surface, as well as information on water and energy fluxes. The recent generation of high-resolution sensors offers a huge potential for monitoring, assessing, and modelling our changing environment in a context of uncertainty about how future climate conditions will affect the current water resource and basin management framework. Moreover, large amounts of data are now available posing a challenging opportunity to the scientific community for both exploring and transforming these data into readily usable information products for different end-users in our societies

AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms play distinct roles during breast cancer progression through the regulation of specific downstream proteins

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms associated with the specific effects of AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms in breast cancer progression. We modulated the abundance of specific AKT isoforms in IBH-6 and T47D human breast cancer cell lines and showed that AKT1 promoted cell proliferation, through S6 and cyclin D1 upregulation, but it inhibited cell migration and invasion through β1-integrin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) downregulation. In contrast, AKT2 promoted cell migration and invasion through F-actin and vimentin induction. Thus, while overexpression of AKT1 promoted local tumor growth, downregulation of AKT1 or overexpression of AKT2 promoted peritumoral invasion and lung metastasis. Furthermore, we evaluated The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset for invasive breast carcinomas and found that increased AKT2 but not AKT1 mRNA levels correlated with a worse clinical outcome. We conclude that AKT isoforms play specific roles in different steps of breast cancer progression, with AKT1 involved in the local tumor growth and AKT2 involved in the distant tumor dissemination, having AKT2 a poorer prognostic value and consequently being a worthwhile target for therapy.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoCentro de Investigaciones Inmunológicas Básicas y Aplicada

AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms play distinct roles during breast cancer progression through the regulation of specific downstream proteins

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms associated with the specific effects of AKT1 and AKT2 isoforms in breast cancer progression. We modulated the abundance of specific AKT isoforms in IBH-6 and T47D human breast cancer cell lines and showed that AKT1 promoted cell proliferation, through S6 and cyclin D1 upregulation, but it inhibited cell migration and invasion through β1-integrin and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) downregulation. In contrast, AKT2 promoted cell migration and invasion through F-actin and vimentin induction. Thus, while overexpression of AKT1 promoted local tumor growth, downregulation of AKT1 or overexpression of AKT2 promoted peritumoral invasion and lung metastasis. Furthermore, we evaluated The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset for invasive breast carcinomas and found that increased AKT2 but not AKT1 mRNA levels correlated with a worse clinical outcome. We conclude that AKT isoforms play specific roles in different steps of breast cancer progression, with AKT1 involved in the local tumor growth and AKT2 involved in the distant tumor dissemination, having AKT2 a poorer prognostic value and consequently being a worthwhile target for therapy.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoCentro de Investigaciones Inmunológicas Básicas y Aplicada

Modeling of sodium nitrite and water transport in pork meat

[EN] Four models were used to simulate nitrite uptake and water loss during pork meat curing with sodium nitrite: three empirical ones (the Azuara, the Peleg and the Zugarramurdi and Lupin) and one theoretical (the diffusional). By means of the Azuara and the Peleg models, the equilibrium moisture content and the equilibrium nitrite content were properly identified. Zugarramurdi and Lupin's model did not provide information about process parameters. The effective diffusivities of water (Dwe) and nitrite (DNe) were calculated. The activation energy (ENa and Ewa) was evaluated from the parameters of both the Peleg and the diffusional models. The results were similar; the Peleg model having the advantage of simplicity of calculation. The effect of meat anisotropy was confirmed from the diffusional model; the perpendicular transport of nitrite is easier than the parallel. This study highlighted the importance of choosing the most appropriate model depending on the objective to be achieved.The authors of this paper acknowledge the financial support from CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010 (CSD2007-00016), Spain.Gómez, J.; Sanjuán Pellicer, MN.; Arnau, J.; Bon Corbín, J.; Clemente Polo, G. (2019). Modeling of sodium nitrite and water transport in pork meat. Journal of Food Engineering. 249:48-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2019.01.008S485424