Effects of the dexmedetomidine sedation on intraocular pressure and on the central cornea thickness in the dog

Objetivo: Determinar el efecto de la sedación con dexmedetomidina sobre la presión intraocular (PIO) y el espesor central de la córnea (ECC) en perros Material y métodos: Estudio realizado en 10 perros a los que se midió la PIO y ECC basales y tras administración tópica de tropicamida 1%. Seguidamente sedamos con dexmedetomidina 5μg/kg IV y valoramos PIO y ECC a los 5,10, 15 y 20 minutos post-sedación. Los valores medios se compararon mediante la prueba t de Student para muestras pareadas. Resultados: Los valores medios basales de PIO fueron media ± D.E. 10,95 ± 1,70 mmHg; y 571 ± 21,42 μm para el ECC. No existe asociación significativa entre PIO y ECC (r= -0,2399). La midriasis no varió significativamente los valores de PIO (P= 0,3665) pero sí el ECC (P=5,6109x10-6). La sedación con dexmedetomidina no varía significativamente los valores de PIO ni ECC (P>0,05). Conclusiones: La midriasis provocada por tropicamida 1% disminuye significativamente el ECC pero no la PIO. La sedación con dexmedetomidina 5 mg/kg IV no varía significativamente los valores basales de PIO ni del ECC.Objective: to determine the effects of the dexmedetomidine sedation on intraocular pressure (IOP) and on the central corneal thickness (CCT). Material and methods: this study has been performed over 10 dogs treated in the Veterinary Clinical Hospital of Córdoba University. The IOP and the CCT were measured before and after administration of one drop of 1% tropicamide. Thereafter, they were sedated with dexmedetomidine 5 μg/kg IV, and IOP and CCT were evaluated at 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes after sedation. A t-Student test was performed with paired samples of mean values in order to compare both groups. Results: Basal values of IOP were 10.95 ± 1.70 mmHg, whereas CCT mean values were 571 ± 21.42μm. There were no statistically significant association between IOP and CCT (Pearson correlation r= -0.2399). Mydriasis did not significantly change the values of IOP (P= 0.3665), but did the CCT ones (P= 5.6109x10-6). No statistically significant differences were found between the IOP nor the CCT values before and after sedation with dexmedetomidine (P>0.05). Conclusions: tropicamide-induced mydriasis does not affect IOP value, but it causes a significant decrease of the CCT value. Sedation with 5 g/kg IV dexmedetomidine has not statistically significant effect on IOP or CCT

Resolved Hubble Space spectroscopy of ultracool binary systems

Using the low-resolution mode of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard the \emph{Hubble Space Telescope} (HST), we have obtained spatially resolved spectra of 20 ultracool dwarfs. 18 of them belong to 9 known very low-mass binary systems with angular separations in the range 0.37-0.098 arcseconds. We have derived spectral types in the range dM7.5 to dL6 from the PC3 index, and by comparing our STIS spectra with ground-based spectra of similar spectral resolution from Mart{\'\i}n et al. (1999). We have searched for H$_\alpha$ emission in each object but it was clearly detected in only 2 of them. We find that the distribution of H$_\alpha$ emission in our sample is statistically different from that of single field dwarfs, suggesting an intriguing anticorrelation between chromospheric activity and binarity for M7--M9.5 dwarfs. We provide measuments of the strength of the main photospheric features and the PC3 index, and we derive calibrations of spectral subclasses versus F814W and K-band absolute magnitudes for a subset of 10 dwarfs in 5 binaries that have known trigonometric parallaxes.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

Non-local quantum effects in plasmons of graphene superlattices

By using a non-local, quantum mechanical response function we study graphene plasmons in a one-dimensional superlattice (SL) potential $V_0 \cos G_0x$. The SL introduces a quantum energy scale $E_G \sim \hbar v_F G_0$ associated to electronic sub-band transitions. At energies lower than $E_G$, the plasmon dispersion is highly anisotropic; plasmons propagate perpendicularly to the SL axis, but become damped by electronic transitions along the SL direction. These results question the validity of semiclassical approximations for describing low energy plasmons in periodic structures. At higher energies, the dispersion becomes isotropic and Drude-like with effective Drude weights related to the average of the absolute value of the local chemical potential. Full quantum mechanical treatment of the kinetic energy thus introduces non-local effects that delocalize the plasmons in the SL, making the system behave as a meta-material even near singular points where the charge density vanishes.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure

Aprendizaje basado en problemas en Biología Vegetal

El aprendizaje basado en problemas (ABP) es un método de enseñanzaaprendizaje que usa el problema como punto de partida para la adquisición e integración de nuevos conocimientos. En el desarrollo del ABP el problema es el camino para que los estudiantes alcancen los objetivos de conocimientos, destrezas y habilidades. El ABP y el estudio de casos se centran en el estudiante lo cual implica necesariamente un cambio de función en el profesor que deja de ser protagonista para convertirse en una guía o en tutor. El tutor plantea problemas y cuestiones que contribuyen al entendimiento y a la resolución de problemas promoviendo de esta forma un aprendizaje significativo. Por otra parte, las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación introducen cambios importantes en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en base a lo siguiente: a) el acceso a la información y el modo de adquirir información, b) las nuevas formas de relación profesor-alumno. Este trabajo muestra algunas experiencias para el desarrollo de ABP, el estudio de casos y la elaboración de mapas conceptuales e infografías, experiencias realizadas en el aula con estudiantes de Biología de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y en relación con dos campos de la Biología: la Fisiología Vegetal y la Biología Evolutiva.The problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching-learning method that uses the problem as a starting point for the acquisition and integration of new knowledge. In the development of PBL the problem is the way to achieve the knowledge, skills and abilities. Problem-based learning and case study focuses on the student and therefore imply a change in the teacher role: from protagonist to tutor or guide. A tutor offers questions that contribute to understanding and managing the problem promoting meaningful learning. On the other hand, information and communication technologies introduces important changes in teaching and learning on the basis of two issues: a) access and how to acquire information, b) new forms of teacher-student relationship. This work shows some experiences for the development of PBL, case studies and concept mapping as classroom experiences for Biological Sciences students at the Complutense University of Madrid. Two biological sciences fields were considered: plant physiology and evolutionary plant biology

Supporting info item, In: "Using SHRIMP zircon dating to unravel tectonothermal events in arc environments. The early Palaeozoic arc of NW Iberia revisited"

Dating of zircon cores and rims from granulites developed in a shear zone provides insights into the complex relationship between magmatism and metamorphism in the deep roots of arc environments. The granulites belong to the uppermost allochthonous terrane of the NW Iberian Massif, which forms part of a Cambro-Ordovician magmatic arc developed in the peri-Gondwanan realm. The obtained zircon ages confirm that voluminous calc-alkaline magmatism peaked around 500 Ma and was shortly followed by granulite facies metamorphism accompanied by deformation at c. 480 Ma, giving a time framework for crustal heating, regional metamorphism, deformation and partial melting, the main processes that control the tectonothermal evolution of arc systems. Traces of this arc can be discontinuously followed in different massifs throughout the European Variscan Belt, and we propose that the uppermost allochthonous units of the NW Iberian Massif, together with the related terranes in Europe, constitute an independent and coherent terrane that drifted away from northern Gondwana prior to the Variscan collisional orogenesis

Entanglement structure of quantum fields through local probes

We present a framework to study the entanglement structure of a quantum field theory inspired by the formalism of particle detectors in relativistic quantum information. This framework can in principle be used to faithfully capture entanglement in a QFT between arbitrary-shaped regions of spacetime without encountering UV divergences, bypassing many of the issues typically present in other approaches. Our results also establish the limits of the efficiency of entanglement harvesting, and may also be used to motivate an operational definition of entanglement between spacetime subregions in field theory.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. RevTeX 4.

Fully Relativistic Entanglement Harvesting

We study the protocol of entanglement harvesting when the particle detectors that harvest entanglement from the field are replaced by fully relativistic quantum field theories. We show that two localized modes of the quantum field theories are able to harvest the same amount of leading order entanglement as two non-relativistic particle detectors, thus implying that QFT probes can generally harvest more entanglement than particle detectors. These results legitimize the use of particle detectors to study entanglement harvesting regardless of their internally non-relativistic nature.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. RevTeX 4.

Applications of the ACGT Master Ontology on Cancer

In this paper we present applications of the ACGT Master Ontology (MO) which is a new terminology resource for a transnational network providing data exchange in oncology, emphasizing the integration of both clinical and molecular data. The development of a new ontology was necessary due to problems with existing biomedical ontologies in oncology. The ACGT MO is a test case for the application of best practices in ontology development. This paper provides an overview of the application of the ontology within the ACGT project thus far

Evaluating the cellular consequences of ACLY inhibition in primary hepatocytes and pancreatic islets

Motivation: Metabolic diseases and their pandemic proportions cause a significant loss in quality and expectancy of life in around 25% of the population. Therefore, the development of more efficient therapies should be a clinical priority. This project aims to evaluate the cellular consequences of a chronic Ac-CoA cytosolic pool reduction induced by the inhibition of ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY), core enzyme in metabolism and major source of Ac-CoA within the cytoplasm. Ac-Coa is a central molecule in many metabolic pathways involved in de novo lipogenesis, cholesterol production and protein acetylation.Methods: Most of the assays were performed on mouse primary cultured hepatocytes and islets of Langerhans. Hepatocytes were obtained by perfusing the mouse liver with collagenase and isolated by filtering and differential centrifugation. Islets of Langerhans were obtained by perfusing the mouse pancreas with collagenase and were isolated by handpicking. Cells were treated with 0, 10, 30, 50 and 100 μM of SB-204990 (SB), an ACLY inhibitor with a Ki of 1 μM. Metabolic cell activity, cell death and urea secretion were measured. Radioactive metabolite tracing was performed to assess ACLY-dependent metabolic functions. Proteins of treated hepatocytes were extracted to perform western blots.Results: In primary hepatocytes, SB neither affected metabolic activity nor urea production when concentration was <50 μM SB. However, exposure to this drug resulted in a significant increase in cell toxicity at ≥30 μM SB. We detected a dose-dependent decrease in liponeogenesis upon treatment. β-oxidation of fatty acids was affected by SB following a hormetic effect, with a rise at 10 μM and a reduction at 50 and 100 μM. The GAPDH protein expression was higher at 10 μM SB, suggesting a modulation of glycolysis/gluconeogenesis. LC3B protein expression patterns indicated autophagy was reduced at 10 μM SB and incremented at 100 μM SB. In primary islets, SB did not impair metabolic activity, while cell death, determined by ELISA, showed a reduction at 30 μM and no effects at other concentrations.Conclusions: The effects of ACLY inhibition showed that this enzyme plays a key role in the cellular homeostasis of primary hepatocytes. Fatty acids catabolism and glucose utilization relies on the presence of functional ACLY. In islets, SB revealed to be non toxic. Our results suggest that ACLY may represent a promising target for the treatment of metabolc disorders

Systematic review of the nature of nursing care described by using the Caring Behaviours Inventory

Aim To describe the nature of care received by patients measured through the Caring Behaviours Inventory. Background Professional nursing practice combines two dimensions of caring: instrumental care and expressive care. Instrumental care focuses on physical health needs, in terms of efficiency and employs interventions based on evidence. Expressive care is patient‐centred and based on the interpersonal relationship. It requires caring attitudes that include respect, kindness, sensitivity and patience. The Caring Behaviours Inventory is a tool designed to assess the care expressed through the behaviours nurses perform, contextualised within the Jean Watson's Theory of Human Caring. Methods A systematic review following PRISMA recommendations. Scopus, PubMed and CINAHL databases were consulted using the keywords “Caring Behaviours Inventory” AND “Nursing”. The Joanna Briggs Institute tool was used for the quality appraisal. A conceptual analysis and a thematic synthesis were performed for data extraction. Results 11 articles were selected. Three categories were identified: nature of caring, congruence between perceived care by patients and nurses, and factors associated with the expression of care. Discussion An emphasis on care of an instrumental nature was identified. The perception of patients differs from that of nurses, patients perceive a lower level of expressive caring than the one nurses believe to deliver. Caring behaviours are affected by the working environment, nurses' emotional intelligence and coping skills, and socio‐demographic characteristics. Conclusion This paper described the findings of previous research regarding the nature of care that is transmitted and received in clinical practice. Results highlight an emphasis on the instrumental aspect of the nursing care according to the patients' perception. Relevance to clinical practice Findings summarised in this review could contribute to a better understanding of the nursing care. Results reported in this paper could also help to improve the quality of care delivered by nurses as well as patient‐centeredness