El papel del piping en la espeleogénesis del sistema endokárstico de Seso (Pirineo central,Huesca)

[ES] El sistema endokárstico de Seso (Boltaña, Huesca), localizado en el sector central surpirenaico, presenta una espeleogénesis singular. La excavación mecánica en condiciones vadosas de material margoso fácilmente erosionable (procesos de piping) constituye el principal mecanismo espeleogenético. La disposición espacial del sistema endokárstico respecto a las terrazas datadas del río Ara permite situar la formación de la cavidad en el Pleistoceno superior, probablemente coincidiendo con fases húmedas del MIS 4[EN] The Seso Cave system (Boltaña, Huesca province) in the Southcentral Pyrenees presents a singular speleogenesis. Vadose mechanical entrenchment of highly erosive and dispersive marls (piping processes) is the main espeleogenetic mechanism. Geometric relationship between the endokarstic system and a terrace of the Ara River chronologically controlled allows dating the cave formation in the Upper Pleistocene, probably during stages of the MIS 4 with high water availabilityEste trabajo es una contribución del Proyecto CGL2009-10455/BTE (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Fondos Europeos) y de los Grupos de Investigación Geomorfología y Cambio Global y Paleoambientes del Quaternario del Gobierno de Aragón.Agradecemos la ayuda económica del Geoparque del Sobrarbe y la colaboración de Enrique Oliver en el trabajo de laboratorio. Los autores agradecen los comentarios realizados por Juan José Durán, Jerónimo López- Martínez y un revisor anónimo.Peer reviewe

Modulating climacteric intensity in melon through QTL stacking

Fruit ripening is one of the main processes affecting fruit quality and shelf life. In melon there are both climacteric and non-climacteric genotypes, making it a suitable species to study fruit ripening. In the current study, in order to fine tune ripening, we have pyramided three climacteric QTLs in the non-climacteric genotype “Piel de Sapo”: ETHQB3.5, ETHQV6.3 and ETHQV8.1. The results showed that the three QTLs interact epistatically, affecting ethylene production and ripening-related traits such as aroma profile. Each individual QTL has a specific role in the ethylene production profile. ETHQB3.5 accelerates the ethylene peak, ETHQV6.3 advances the ethylene production and ETHQV8.1 enhances the effect of the other two QTLs. Regarding aroma, the three QTLs independently activated the production of esters changing the aroma profile of the fruits, with no significant effects in fruit firmness, soluble solid content and fruit size. Understanding the interaction and the effect of different ripening QTLs offers a powerful knowledge for candidate gene identification as well as for melon breeding programs, where fruit ripening is one of the main objectives.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

N-alpha-Aminoacyl Colchicines as Promising Anticancer Agents

Background: In the last years, many efforts have been made to find colchicine derivatives with reduced toxicity. Additionally, the deregulation of amino acid uptake by cancer cells provides an opportunity to improve anticancer drug effectiveness. Objective: To design new colchicine derivatives with reduced cytotoxicity and enhanced selectivity by means of introducing aminoacyl groups. Methods: 34 colchicine analogues bearing L- and D-amino acid pendants were synthetized and characterized by NMR, IR and MS techniques. Cytotoxicity and antimitotic properties were assessed by spectrophotometry and cell cycle assays. Oncogene downregulation was studied by RTqPCR whereas in vivo studies were performed in SCID mice. Results: Compounds exhibit high antiproliferative activities at the nanomolar level while being, in general, less cytotoxic than colchicine. Most compounds inhibit the polymerization of tubulin in a way similar to colchicine itself, with L-amino acid derivatives being the most active in the inhibition of tubulin polymerization. All selected compounds caused cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase when tested at 1 μM. More specifically, Boc-L-proline derivative 6 arrested half of the population and showed one of the highest Selectivity Indexes. Derivatives 1 (Boc-glycine), 27 (D-leucine) and 31 (Boc-glycine-glycine) proved fairly active in downregulating the expression of the c-Myc, hTERT and VEGF oncogenes, with compound 6 (Boc-L-proline) having the highest activity. This compound was shown to exert a potent anti-tumor effect when administered intraperitoneally (LD50 > 100 mg/kg for 6, compared with 2.5 mg/kg for colchicine). Conclusion: Compound 6 offers an opportunity to be used in cancer therapy with less toxicity problems than colchicine

Teachers' digital competences in higher education in Portugal and Spain

The potential of DTIC has brought new and emerging challenges to teachers, making it essential to acquire digital competences, especially in virtual learning environments and online technologies. In this sense, based on the DigCompEdu CheckIn self-assessment questionnaire, validated for the Portuguese population by earlier studies, this research aims to identify the most fragile and robust areas of digital competences of Portuguese and Spanish university teachers. The quantitative methodological approach emphasizes teachers' perception of their digital competences in three dimensions: teachers' professional competences, teachers' pedagogical competences and students' competences and involved 347 teachers from Portugal and Spain. The results show that teachers of the two institutions have an overall moderate level of digital proficiency-level B1 and B2-and that the differences encountered between Portuguese and Spanish teachers (for example, Portuguese teachers have level A2 in area 4-assessment-, while Spanish teachers are already at level B2) highlight the need to invest in specific training that may address specific frailties, and therefore allow for the promotion of their digital competences. Results relating to teaching experience and age show that there is no direct relation between either factor or being digitally competent. Regarding gender, results reveal that men had slightly better results than women. Overall, what the results show is the need for teachers to increase the level of digital competence through specific training, prepared according to the specificities of each institution, and the importance of developing public policies that prepare teachers for a more digital education

Response of pollinators to the tradeoff between resource acquisition and predator avoidance

Although the behaviour of animals facing the conflicting demands of increasing foraging success and decreasing predation risk has been studied in many taxa, the response of pollinators to variations in both factors has only been studied in isolation. We compared visit rates of two pollinator species, hoverflies and honeybees, to 40 Chrysanthemum segetum patches in which we manipulated predation risk (patches with and without crab spiders) and nectar availability (rich and poor patches) using a full factorial design. Pollinators responded differently to the tradeoff between maximising intake rate and minimising predation risk: honeybees preferred rich safe patches and avoided poor risky patches while the number of hoverflies was highest at poor risky patches. Because honeybees were more susceptible to predation than hoverflies, our results suggest that, in the presence of competition for resources, less susceptible pollinators concentrate their foraging effort on riskier resources, where competition is less severe. Crab spiders had a negative effect on the rate at which inflorescences were visited by honeybees. This effect was mediated through changes in the foraging strategy of honeybees, and could, in principle, be reversed by increasing nectar productivity of inflorescences. Our study shows that both pollinator species responded simultaneously and differently to variations in food reward and predation risk, and highlights the importance of studying the foraging strategies of pollinators in order to fully understand how plant-pollinator interactions are established

Fruit Morphology and Ripening-Related QTLs in a Newly Developed Introgression Line Collection of the Elite Varieties ‘Védrantais’ and ‘Piel de Sapo’

Melon is an economically important crop with widely diverse fruit morphology and ripening characteristics. Its diploid sequenced genome and multiple genomic tools make this species suitable to study the genetic architecture of fruit traits. With the development of this introgression line population of the elite varieties ‘Piel de Sapo’ and ‘Védrantais’, we present a powerful tool to study fruit morphology and ripening traits that can also facilitate characterization or pyramidation of QTLs in inodorous melon types. The population consists of 36 lines covering almost 98% of the melon genome, with an average of three introgressions per chromosome and segregating for multiple fruit traits: morphology, ripening and quality. High variability in fruit morphology was found within the population, with 24 QTLs affecting six different traits, confirming previously reported QTLs and two newly detected QTLs, FLQW5.1 and FWQW7.1. We detected 20 QTLs affecting fruit ripening traits, six of them reported for the first time, two affecting the timing of yellowing of the rind (EYELLQW1.1 and EYELLQW8.1) and four at the end of chromosome 8 affecting aroma, abscission and harvest date (EAROQW8.3, EALFQW8.3, ABSQW8.3 and HARQW8.3). We also confirmed the location of several QTLs, such as fruit-quality-related QTLs affecting rind and flesh appearance and flesh firmness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pollution and physiological variability in gentoo penguins at two rookeries with different levels of human visitation

Fil: Barbosa, Andres. Departamento Ecología Evolutiva. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. CSIC. Madrid; EspañaFil: De Mas, Eva. Departamento Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas. CSIC. Almeria; EsapañaFil: Benzal, Jesús. Departamento Ecología Funcional y Evolutiva. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas. CSIC. Almeria; EsapañaFil: Díaz, Julia Inés. Centro de Estudios en Parasitología y Vectores (CEPAVE). Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Motas, Miguel. Departamento Toxicología. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad de Murcia. Murcia; EspañaFil: Pérez, Silvia. Departamento Toxicología. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad de Murcia. Murcia; EspañaFil: Pertierra, Luis. Departamento Ecología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Madrid; EspañaFil: Benayas, Javier. Departamento Ecología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Madrid; EspañaFil: Justel, Ana. Departamento Ecología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Madrid; EspañaFil: Lauzurica, Pilar. Unidad de Activación Inmunológica. Centro Nacional de Microbiología. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Majadahonda; EspañaFil: García-Peña, Francisco Javier. Laboratorio Central de Veterinaria. Algete; EspañaFil: Serrano, Tania. Laboratorio Central de Veterinaria. Algete; Españ

Gut microbiome diversity detected by high-coverage 16S and shotgun sequencing of paired stool and colon sample

The gut microbiome has a fundamental role in human health and disease. However, studying the complex structure and function of the gut microbiome using next generation sequencing is challenging and prone to reproducibility problems. Here, we obtained cross-sectional colon biopsies and faecal samples from nine participants in our COLSCREEN study and sequenced them in high coverage using Illumina pair-end shotgun (for faecal samples) and IonTorrent 16S (for paired feces and colon biopsies) technologies. The metagenomes consisted of between 47 and 92 million reads per sample and the targeted sequencing covered more than 300 k reads per sample across seven hypervariable regions of the 16S gene. Our data is freely available and coupled with code for the presented metagenomic analysis using up-to-date bioinformatics algorithms. These results will add up to the informed insights into designing comprehensive microbiome analysis and also provide data for further testing for unambiguous gut microbiome analysis

Role of piping processes in the speleogenesis of Seso Cave (Central Pyrenees, Huesca province)

El sistema endokárstico de Seso (Boltaña, Huesca), localizado en el sector central surpirenaico, presenta una espeleogénesis singular. La excavación mecánica en condiciones vadosas de material margoso fácilmente erosionable (procesos de piping) constituye el principal mecanismo espeleogenético. La disposición espacial del sistema endokárstico respecto a las terrazas datadas del río Ara permite situar la formación de la cavidad en el Pleistoceno superior, probablemente coincidiendo con fases húmedas del MIS 4The Seso Cave system (Boltaña, Huesca province) in the Southcentral Pyrenees presents a singular speleogenesis. Vadose mechanical entrenchment of highly erosive and dispersive marls (piping processes) is the main espeleogenetic mechanism. Geometric relationship between the endokarstic system and a terrace of the Ara River chronologically controlled allows dating the cave formation in the Upper Pleistocene, probably during stages of the MIS 4 with high water availabilit

La restauración de la villa romana de La Ontavia (Terrinches, Ciudad Real)

En el mes de julio de 2010 se iniciaron las labores de conservación y restauración en el yacimiento romano de La Ontavia (Terrinches, Ciudad Real). Durante cuatro meses se han simultaneado estos trabajos con la excavación arqueológica, en la que han colaborado once alumnos de la Escuela Superior de Conservación y Restauración de Bienes Culturales de la Comunidad de Madrid, bajo la dirección del equipo técnico, realizando prácticas para completar su formación. La intervención llevada a cabo ha estado enfocada a minimizar el efecto de los agentes de deterioro a los que se halla expuesto el yacimiento, que se encuentra al aire libre. El presente artículo tiene como finalidad la difusión de los trabajos de conservación y restauración realizados durante esta campaña, prestando especial atención a la metodología y a los materiales utilizadosIn July 2010 conservation and restoration work began at the Roman site of La Ontavia (Terrinches, Ciudad Real). For four months, the work was carried out alongside the archaeological excavation, involving eleven students from the Madrid School of Cultural Asset Conservation and Restoration, doing work experience under the guidance of a technical team to complete their training. The intervention focused on minimising the effect of the deterioration factors that this open-air site has been exposed to. This article aims to provide a report of the conservation and restoration work carried out in this campaign, paying special attention to the methodology and materials use