Applications of convex analysis within mathematics

This talk is based on the paper: Aragón, Borwein, Martín-Márquez, Yao Applications of convex analysis within mathematics, Math. Program., Ser B, December 2014, Volume 148, Issue 1, pp 49-88. in a special issue to celebrate the 50th birthday of Modern Convex Analysis and convex optimization that became a tribute to the memory of Jean Jacques Moreau who passed away (on January 9, 2014) as the edition was being completed

Detecting regime transitions in gas-solid fluidized beds from low frequency accelerometry signals

Low frequency accelerometry signals have been applied for detecting regime transitions in a gas solid fluidized bed. Three solids have been fluidized to promote bubbling, churn and slugging regime. The Kolmogorov entropy and the power spectral density have been used to determine the regime transitions as well as to analyze the dynamical features characterizing the different regimes. Pressure and external acceleration measurements have been taken simultaneously. The accelerometry signal was sampled at 10 kHz; then, the envelope was extracted and resampled at 400 Hz. Pressure signal was sampled at 10 kHz and resampled at 400 Hz. Two problems were found during the work: the colored noise present in the envelope and the lack of low frequency information for one of the tested solids. FIR, wavelet and EMD filter strategies have been applied to remove the noise present in the envelope. It is concluded that the envelope of the accelerometry signal might be used to detect regime transition in the same way as the pressure fluctuation signals. Both Kolmogorov and spectral analysis exhibit common features to those obtained from pressure signal analysis, supporting the hypothesis of using low frequency accelerometry instead of conventional pressure measurements for monitoring fluidized bedsThe authors would like to especially thank Prof. María C. Palancar for her contribution to this work and the useful guiding during those years. Moreover, the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Research, project CTQ2006 15525 C02 01 is kindly acknowledgedPublicad

Perceptions of poverty in Spain: differences in the attitudinal profiles between women and men

Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses privation of education, health or housing. Women show more positive perceptions of poor people, making external attributions for the causes of poverty or the circumstances that explain it. The aim of this study is to analyse perceptions of poverty, identifying the differences in attitudinal profiles between women and men, and the influence of their political and religious beliefs. The sample consists of 278 participants (154 women and 124 men), who completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Scale of Attitudes and Stereotypes toward Poverty. The results showed two attitude profiles for women and men, with differences in the first profile, where women or men did not have religious beliefs, had left-wing or centre-left political ideas and favourable attitudes about poverty

Exploring Biopsychosocial Stress Markers in Women With Fibromyalgia

Background: Identification of fibromyalgia has been a challenge for healthcare professionals due to the lack of a clinical biomarker. A well-supported integrative hypothesis holds that this condition is a chronic pain problem partly caused by long-term dysregulation of stress response. Therefore, stress assessment from a biopsychosocial perspective may be a useful approach to recognizing fibromyalgia. Purpose: A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted to explore stress markers from a multidi- mensional perspective, including heart rate variability (as a biomarker of stress) as well as psychological distress and social stress. Methods: Forty-seven women with fibromyalgia were recruited from support groups and another 47 were recruited as matched pain-free controls. Comparison and discriminant function analyses were performed. Results: The data support the goodness of biopsychosocial stress markers in women with fibromyalgia, resulting in the identification of between 70% and 74.5% of fibromyalgia cases (sensitivity) and 85%-87% pain-free controls (specificity), with medium-high levels of fit ( λ= 0.58 and λ= 0.59; p < .00). Women with fibromyalgia were characterized by high levels of psychological distress, social stress (disorder lev- els), and autonomic dysregulation. Although distress and social stress had a greater weight in discrimi- nant functions, dysregulation in terms of low parasympathetic activity and high sympathetic activity at rest was also relevant. Conclusions: A biopsychosocial approach to stress with an objective biomarker such as heart rate vari- ability may be a useful tool to identify and manage FM

Supplementation of Male Pheromone on Rock Substrates Attracts Female Rock Lizards to the Territories of Males: A Field Experiment

Background: Many animals produce elaborated sexual signals to attract mates, among them are common chemical sexual signals (pheromones) with an attracting function. Lizards produce chemical secretions for scent marking that may have a role in sexual selection. In the laboratory, female rock lizards (Iberolacerta cyreni) prefer the scent of males with more ergosterol in their femoral secretions. However, it is not known whether the scent-marks of male rock lizards may actually attract females to male territories in the field. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the field, we added ergosterol to rocks inside the territories of male lizards, and found that this manipulation resulted in increased relative densities of females in these territories. Furthermore, a higher number of females were observed associated to males in manipulated plots, which probably increased mating opportunities for males in these areas. Conclusions/Significance: These and previous laboratory results suggest that female rock lizards may select to settle in home ranges based on the characteristics of scent-marks from conspecific males. Therefore, male rock lizards might attract more females and obtain more matings by increasing the proportion of ergosterol when scent-marking their territories. However, previous studies suggest that the allocation of ergosterol to secretions may be costly and only high quality male

La autoeficacia y su relación con la salud psicosocial ocupacional en médicos de urgencias hospitalarias

In recent years, special attention is paid to the role of self-efficacy on occupational health in different professions, with few studies on physicians. The aim of the study is to analyze the relationship between self-efficacy and well-being variables and labor unrest starting from a previous theoretical model. The sample was composed by 117 physicians of Hospital Emergency Services (HES) in Alicante, 54.8 % male, composed the sample. The response rate was 71.8 % (n = 84). We administered Emotional Exhaustion and Cynicism Scales of MBI-GS and Vigor and Dedication Scales of UWES as a measure of unrest and welfare. The General Self-Efficacy Scale was administered to measure self-efficacy. Descriptive analyzes are conducted and confirmatory factor analysis. The results confirm the theoretical model proposed and the relationships between variables. Self-efficacy beliefs predict wellbeing and discomfort experienced by HES physicians.En los últimos años, se ha prestado especial atención al papel de la autoeficacia sobre la salud ocupacional en diferentes profesiones, siendo escasos los trabajos en médicos. El objetivo del estudio es analizar la relación entre la autoeficacia y variables del bienestar y el malestar laboral, a partir de un modelo teórico previo. Para ello, se solicitó la participación voluntaria de los 117 médicos de los Servicios de Urgencias Hospitalarias (SUH) de Alicante, de los cuales el 54.8 % eran hombres. La tasa de respuesta fue del 71.8 % (n=84). Se administraron las escalas de Agotamiento Emocional y Cinismo del MBI-GS y Vigor y Dedicación del UWES como medida de malestar y bienestar. La Escala de Autoeficacia General se administró para medir autoeficacia. Se realizan análisis descriptivos y análisis factorial confirmatorio. Los resultados confirman el modelo teórico propuesto, así como las relaciones entre variables. Las creencias de autoeficacia predicen el bienestar y malestar experimentado por los médicos de los SUH

Selective expression of the neurexin substrate for presenilin in the adult forebrain causes deficits in associative memory and presynaptic plasticity

Presenilins (PS) form the active subunit of the gamma-secretase complex, which mediates the proteolytic clearance of a broad variety of type-I plasma membrane proteins. Loss-of-function mutations in PSEN1/2 genes are the leading cause of familial Alzheimer's disease (fAD). However, the PS/gamma-secretase substrates relevant for the neuronal deficits associated with a loss of PS function are not completely known. The members of the neurexin (Nrxn) family of presynaptic plasma membrane proteins are candidates to mediate aspects of the synaptic and memory deficits associated with a loss of PS function. Previous work has shown that fAD-linked PS mutants or inactivation of PS by genetic and pharmacological approaches failed to clear Nrxn C-terminal frag-ments (NrxnCTF), leading to its abnormal accumulation at presynaptic terminals. Here, we generated transgenic mice that selectively recreate the presynaptic accumulation of NrxnCTF in adult forebrain neurons, leaving unaltered the function of PS/gamma-secretase complex towards other substrates. Behavioral characterization identified selective impairments in NrxnCTF mice, including decreased fear-conditioning memory. Electro-physiological recordings in medial prefrontal cortex-basolateral amygdala (mPFC-BLA) of behaving mice showed normal synaptic transmission and uncovered specific defects in synaptic facilitation. These data functionally link the accumulation of NrxnCTF with defects in associative memory and short-term synaptic plasticity, pointing at impaired clearance of NrxnCTF as a new mediator in ADMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-101886-B-100)Junta de Andalucía (PY18-823)Junta de Andalucía (P11- CVI-7599)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (BES-2016-076579)Garantía Juvenil contract from Universidad de Sevill

Molecular analysis of isoniazid and rifampin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates recovered from Barcelona.

We studied the presence of mutations in the whole katG gene and specific regions of the oxyR-ahpC and mabA-inhA regulatory region in 61 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isoniazid-resistant isolates. An 81-bp region of the rpoB gene was also sequenced in 17 rifampin-resistant strains. Alterations in the katG gene were detected in 55% of the isolates. Mutation in codon 315 was the most prevalent (32%). Strains showed a high level of resistance, and most maintained a substantial catalase-peroxidase activity. Three strains with an isoniazid MIC of ≥32 µg/ml lacked catalase-peroxidase activity. Two of them had deletions in the catalytic domain of the KatG protein. One strain with deletion and three strains with mutations in the C-terminal domain showed low-level resistance and conserved the catalase-peroxidase activity. Mutations in the mabA-inhA regulatory region were identified in 32% of the isolates. All had low-level resistance, and the vast majority conserved catalase-peroxidase activity. Seventeen percent of the isoniazid-resistant isolates had no detectable alterations at the studied loci. Resistance to rifampin was associated with mutations in the 81-bp of the rpoB gene in all cases. IS6110 analysis indicated that recent transmission contributed substantially to the emergence of isoniazid- resistant tuberculosis in Barcelona through short transmission chains. A rapid genotypic assay, including the 315-katG codon and the -15 nucleotide of the mabA-inhA regulatory region, may cover 62% of isoniazid- resistant strains in Barcelona. In contrast, the targeting of the 81-bp region of rpoB would detect all our rifampin-resistant isolates

Statins: Are Lipid-lowering Drugs Useful in Sarcomas?

Sarcomas are rare tumors that are difficult to treat. Many of them are chemo-resistant and with a high tendency to recur. Hence, finding new treatments is imperative in these tumors. Metabolic changes in tumor biology have become an essential characteristic in carcinogenesis processes, highlighting among them the role of lipids in these events, mainly cholesterol biosynthesis. Statins, inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMGCoAR), a key enzyme in the mevalonate pathway responsible for cholesterol synthesis, have an effect beyond the reduction in plasma cholesterol levels. These are the so-called pleiotropic effects of statins, responsible for some of the antitumor action of statins. Although there are considerable epidemiological and preclinical evidences that support the use of these medicaments in the treatment of sarcomas as adjuvant reprofiled drugs, clinical trials are disparate and heterogeneous, and do not provide enough information to help determine the convenience of their use, being necessary more studies to evaluate the efficacy and safety of statins in sarcomas. The purpose of this review is to update the role played by the reprofiled statins in the treatment of sarcomas

Crítica de Libros.

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