A method for the complete analysis of NORM building materials by γ-ray spectrometry using HPGe detectors

[EN] A methodology including software tools for analysing NORM building materials and residues by low-level gamma-ray spectrometry has been developed. It comprises deconvolution of gamma-ray spectra using the software GALEA with focus on the natural radionuclides and Monte Carlo simulations for efficiency and true coincidence summing corrections. The methodology has been tested on a range of building materials and validated against reference materials

On the Metric Dimension of Cartesian Products of Graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G resolves G if every vertex is uniquely determined by its vector of distances to the vertices in S. The metric dimension of G is the minimum cardinality of a resolving set of G. This paper studies the metric dimension of cartesian products G*H. We prove that the metric dimension of G*G is tied in a strong sense to the minimum order of a so-called doubly resolving set in G. Using bounds on the order of doubly resolving sets, we establish bounds on G*H for many examples of G and H. One of our main results is a family of graphs G with bounded metric dimension for which the metric dimension of G*G is unbounded

Quantitative study of hydration of C3S and C2S by thermal analysis. Evolution and composition of C-S-H gels formed

This research is part of a European project (namely, CODICE project), main objective of which is modelling, at a multi-scale, the evolution of the mechanical performance of non-degraded and degraded cementitious matrices. For that, a series of experiments were planned with pure synthetic tri-calcium silicate (C3S) and bi-calcium silicate (C2S) (main components of the Portland cement clinker) to obtain different calcium–silicate–hydrate (C–S–H) gel structures during their hydration. The characterization of those C–S–H gels and matrices will provide experimental parameters for the validation of the multi-scale modelling scheme proposed. In this article, a quantitative method, based on thermal analyses, has been used for the determination of the chemical composition of the C–S–H gel together with the degree of hydration and quantitative evolution of all the components of the pastes. Besides, the microstructure and type of silicate tetrahedron and mean chain length (MCL) were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and 29Si magic-angle-spinning (MAS) NMR, respectively. The main results showed that the chemical compositions for the C–S–H gels have a CaO/SiO2 M ratio almost constant of 1.7 for both C3S and C2S compounds. Small differences were found in the gel water content: the H2O/SiO2 M ratio ranged from 2.9 ± 0.2 to 2.6 ± 0.2 for the C3S (decrease) and from 2.4 ± 0.2 to 3.2 ± 0.2 for the C2S (increase). The MCL values of the C–S–H gels, determined from 29Si MAS NMR, were 3.5 and 4 silicate tetrahedron, for the hydrated C3S and C2S, respectively, remaining almost constant at all hydration periods

Effect of Maraviroc intensification on HIV-1-specific T cell immunity in recently HIV-1-infected individuals

BACKGROUND: The effect of maraviroc on the maintenance and the function of HIV-1-specific T cell responses remains unknown. METHODS: Subjects recently infected with HIV-1 were randomized to receive anti-retroviral treatment with or without maraviroc intensification for 48 weeks, and were monitored up to week 60. PBMC and in vitro-expanded T cells were tested for responses to the entire HIV proteome by ELISpot analyses. Intracellular cytokine staining assays were conducted to monitor the (poly)-functionality of HIV-1-specific T cells. Analyses were performed at baseline and week 24 after treatment start, and at week 60 (3 months after maraviroc discontinuation). RESULTS: Maraviroc intensification was associated with a slower decay of virus-specific T cell responses over time compared to the non-intensified regimen in both direct ex-vivo as well as in in-vitro expanded cells. The effector function profiles of virus-specific CD8⁺ T cells were indistinguishable between the two arms and did not change over time between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Maraviroc did not negatively impact any of the measured parameters, but was rather associated with a prolonged maintenance of HIV-1-specific T cell responses. Maraviroc, in addition to its original effect as viral entry inhibitor, may provide an additional benefit on the maintenance of virus-specific T cells which may be especially important for future viral eradication strategies

Morphofunctional and Molecular Assessment of Nutritional Status in Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Systemic Treatment: Role of Inflammasome in Clinical Nutrition

Malnutrition in patients with head and neck cancer is frequent, multifactorial and widely associated with clinical evolution and prognosis. Accurate nutritional assessments allow for early identification of patients at risk of malnutrition in order to start nutritional support and prevent sarcopenia. We aimed to perform a novel morphofunctional nutritional evaluation and explore changes in inflammasome-machinery components in 45 patients with head and neck cancer who are undergoing systemic treatment. To this aim, an epidemiological/clinical/anthropometric/biochemical evaluation was performed. Serum RCP, IL6 and molecular expression of inflammasome-components and inflammatory-associated factors (NOD-like-receptors, inflammasome-activation-components, cytokines and inflammation/apoptosis-related components, cell-cycle and DNA-damage regulators) were evaluated in peripheral-blood mononuclear-cells (PBMCs). Clinical-molecular correlations/associations were analyzed. Coherent and complementary information was obtained in the morphofunctional nutritional assessment of the patients when bioimpedance, anthropometric and ultrasound data were analyzed. These factors were also correlated with different biochemical and molecular parameters, revealing the complementary aspect of the whole evaluation. Serum reactive C protein (RCP) and IL6 were the most reliable parameters for determining patients with decreased standardized phase angle, which is associated with increased mortality in patients with solid malignancies. Several inflammasome-components were dysregulated in patients with malnutrition, decreased phase angle and dependency grade or increased circulating inflammation markers. A molecular fingerprint based on gene-expression of certain inflammasome factors (p27/CCL2/ASC) in PBMCs accurately differentiated patients with and without malnutrition. In conclusion, malnutrition induces a profound alteration in the gene-expression pattern of inflammasome-machinery components in PBMCs. A comprehensive nutritional assessment including novel morphofunctional techniques and molecular markers allows a broad characterization of the nutritional status in cancer patients. Profile of certain inflammasome-components should be further studied as potential targets for nutrition-focused treatment strategies in cancer patients

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs Guaranteed time observations Data Release 1 (2016-2020)

I. Ribas et al.[Context] The CARMENES instrument, installed at the 3.5 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería, Spain, was conceived to deliver high-accuracy radial velocity (RV) measurements with long-term stability to search for temperate rocky planets around a sample of nearby cool stars. Moreover, the broad wavelength coverage was designed to provide a range of stellar activity indicators to assess the nature of potential RV signals and to provide valuable spectral information to help characterise the stellar targets.[Aims] We describe the CARMENES guaranteed time observations (GTO), spanning from 2016 to 2020, during which 19 633 spectra for a sample of 362 targets were collected. We present the CARMENES Data Release 1 (DR1), which makes public all observations obtained during the GTO of the CARMENES survey.[Methods] The CARMENES survey target selection was aimed at minimising biases, and about 70% of all known M dwarfs within 10 pc and accessible from Calar Alto were included. The data were pipeline-processed, and high-level data products, including 18 642 precise RVs for 345 targets, were derived. Time series data of spectroscopic activity indicators were also obtained.[Results] We discuss the characteristics of the CARMENES data, the statistical properties of the stellar sample, and the spectroscopic measurements. We show examples of the use of CARMENES data and provide a contextual view of the exoplanet population revealed by the survey, including 33 new planets, 17 re-analysed planets, and 26 confirmed planets from transiting candidate follow-up. A subsample of 238 targets was used to derive updated planet occurrence rates, yielding an overall average of 1.44 ± 0.20 planets with 1 M⊕ < Mpl sin i < 1000 M⊕ and 1 day < Porb < 1000 days per star, and indicating that nearly every M dwarf hosts at least one planet. All the DR1 raw data, pipeline-processed data, and high-level data products are publicly available online.[Conclusions] CARMENES data have proven very useful for identifying and measuring planetary companions. They are also suitable for a variety of additional applications, such as the determination of stellar fundamental and atmospheric properties, the characterisation of stellar activity, and the study of exoplanet atmospheres.CARMENES is an instrument at the Centro Astronómico Hispano en Andalucía (CAHA) at Calar Alto (Almería, Spain), operated jointly by the Junta de Andalucía and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC). CARMENES was funded by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through projects FICTS-2011-02, ICTS-2017-07-CAHA-4, and CAHA16-CE-3978, and the members of the CARMENES Consortium (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Landessternwarte Königstuhl, Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Hamburger Sternwarte, Centro de Astrobiología and Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán), with additional contributions by the MINECO, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through the Major Research Instrumentation Programme and Research Unit FOR2544 “Blue Planets around Red Stars”, the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the states of Baden-Württemberg and Niedersachsen, and by the Junta de Andalucía. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (AEI-MCIN) and the ERDF “A way of making Europe” through projects PID2020-117493GB-I00, PID2019-109522GB-C5[1:4], PID2019-110689RB-I00, PID2019-107061GB-C61, PID2019-107061GB-C64, PGC2018-098153-B-C33, PID2021-125627OB-C31/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and the Centre of Excellence “Severo Ochoa” and “María de Maeztu” awards to the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (CEX2020-001058-M), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (CEX2019-000920-S), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709), and Centro de Astrobiología (MDM-2017-0737). We also benefited from additional funding from: the Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Empresa i Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya, with additional funding from the European FEDER/ERDF funds, and from the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme; the DFG through the Major Research Instrumentation Programme and Research Unit FOR2544 “Blue Planets around Red Stars” (RE 2694/8-1); the University of La Laguna through the Margarita Salas Fellowship from the Spanish Ministerio de Universidades ref. UNI/551/2021-May-26, and under the EU Next Generation funds; the Gobierno de Canarias through projects ProID2021010128 and ProID2020010129; the Spanish MICINN under Ramón y Cajal programme RYC-2013-14875; the “Fondi di Ricerca Scientifica d’Ateneo 2021” of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”; and the programme “Alien Earths” supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under agreement No. 80NSSC21K0593. TPeer reviewe

Screening Arabidopsis mutants in genes useful for phytoremediation

Emissions of heavy metals have risen over the past 200 years and significantly exceed those from natural sources. Phytoremediation strategies may be able to recover soil productivity in self-sustaining ecosystems; however, our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in plant heavy-metal perception and signalling is scarce. The aim of this study was to assemble a “molecular tool box” of genes useful for phytoremediation. To identify mutants with different heavy-metal-tolerance, we first selected a medium from mixtures containing three metals based on their presence in two Spanish mining areas and then screened about 7000 lines of Arabidopsis T-DNA mutants and found 74 lines more resistant and 56 more susceptible than the wild type (WT). Classification of the genes showed that they were mainly linked to transport, protein modification and signalling, with RNA metabolism being the most representative category in the resistant phenotypes and protein metabolism in the sensitive ones. We have characterized one resistant mutant, Athpp9 and one sensitive, Atala4. These mutants showed differences in growth and metal translocation. Additionally, we found that these mutants keep their phenotype in amended former soils, suggesting that these genes may be useful for phytoremediation and the recovery of contaminated soils.This study was supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces(http://www.fundacionareces.es) Spain, by ERDF co-financed grant BIO2015-67657-P from MICINN and the Junta de Andalucía (BIO-337). MRS is grateful to the CSIC and European Social Fund (ESF) fora JAE-DOC contract. The English text was corrected by Ms. AngelaTate