Leflunomide derivative FK778 inhibits production of antibodies in an experimental model of alloreactive T-B cell interaction

El pdf es el artículo en full text.-- et al.[Objectives]: The contribution of humoral immune response in allograft and xenograft rejection has been clearly demonstrated in recent years. For this reason, inhibition of alloantibody production has become essential in managing transplanted patients. Here, we assessed the effects of the leflunomide derivative FK778 (FK778) in the control of antibody production resulting from semiallogeneic cognate T-B-cell interactions. [Materials and Methods]: BALB/c mice were tolerized at birth with semiallogeneic spleen cells from (BALB/c × C57BL/6) F1 mice, with or without overexpression of human bcl-2 transgene in B cells. These tolerized mice were treated with different dosages of FK778, either from birth, or from the third week of age, when autoantibody production was detected. The production of autoantibodies, used as markers of semiallogeneic cognate T-B-cell interactions, was evaluated at different time points during drug administration or after the interruption of treatment. [Results]: FK778 treatment started at birth inhibited the production of semiallogeneic-driven antibodies in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, FK778 also reduced the levels of preformed circulating autoantibodies in adult mice, although the dosage required was 4 times higher than that used in neonates. However, the levels of IgG antibodies in these tolerized mice increased after FK778 withdrawal, indicating that FK778 failed to induce tolerance to semiallogeneic host CD4+ Th2 and/or donor B cells. [Conclusions]: Our results demonstrate the efficacy of FK778 in the control of antibody production resulting from semiallogeneic cognate T-B-cell interactions. © Başkent University 2009. All Rights Reserved.This work was supported by REDINREN RD06/0016 and PI070683 grants from the “Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo” (Spain) to MA, by grant No. SAF2005-00811 from the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia,” and a grant from the “Fundación Ramón Areces” (Spain) to RM, by grants No. SAF2006-012520-C02-02 from the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia,” and grant No. API07/08 from the “Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla” (Spain) to JM, and MAR-B is the recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the “Instituto Reina Sofía de la Fundación Renal Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo,” Spain. IS is funded by the “Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla, API06/07” (Spain).Peer Reviewe

A DSP-BASED active contour model

In this paper a DSP-based active contour model for tracking of the endocardium in a sequence of echocardiographic images is presented. If a contour is available in the first frame of a sequence, the contours in the subsequent frames are segmented. Deformable active contours is a technique that combine geometry, physics and approximation theory in order to solve problems of fundamental importance to medical image analysis; such as segmentation, representation and matching of shapes, and the tracking of objects in movement. The procedure has been developed on a DSP processor using its hardware features. The results are illustrated using a sequence of four-chambers apical echocardiographic images

Reduction of the speckle noise in echocardiographic images by a cubic spline filter

One of the main problems to resolve in the processing of biomedical images is the reduction of noise. The problem is specially important if the noise has a multiplicative nature (speckle noise), for instance if the object of analysis is an ultrasonic image. In this report we carry out a review of techniques which can be used to reduce this type of noise on four-chamber view B-mode echocardiographic images in an appropriated way. Different ways of nonlinear filtering, adaptive techniques based on the statistical ordering and a cubic spline interpolation will be shown as suitable techniques for this objective but regarding quantitative and qualitative results we have obtained, we can confirm that a cubic spline filter is the most suitable filter that we have reviewed.This work has been supported by Fundación Séneca of Región de Murcia and Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain, under grants PB/63/FS/02 and TIC2003-09400- C04-02, respectively

Lo llaman Democracia, pero ¿a qué? Tres perspectivas sobre el significado de la Democracia en tiempos de crisis y protesta

Review-Essay sobre las siguientes obras: • COLECTIVO NOVECENTO (VV. AA), Lo llamaban democracia. De la crisis económica al cuestionamiento de un régimen político, Icaria, Barcelona, 2013, ps. 96 • MONEREO, Manuel, De la crisis a la Revolución Democrática, El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, 2013, ps. 175 • RODRÍGUEZ, Emmanuel, Hipótesis Democracia. Quince tesis para la revolución anunciada, Traficantes de sueños, Madrid, 2013, ps. 37

Efecto de una exposición aguda a una estimulación neuromuscular mecánica en el tiempo de respuesta electiva a pie parado en tiradores de esgrima

En este trabajo se aplicó un protocolo de exposición aguda a las vibraciones en competidores de esgrima de nivel nacional, para analizar el efecto producido sobre el sistema neuromuscular en el tiempo de respuesta electiva

Extracción de Cu(II) y Zn(II) con ácidos resínicos

Tesis-Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1.985.Fac. de Ciencias QuímicasTRUEProQuestpu

FUSULINOIDEANS FROM THE PUENTELLÉS FORMATION (UPPER CARBONIFEROUS, NW SPAIN): DISCUSSION ON PHYLOGENY, PALEOECOLOGY AND PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY

The Cantabrian Zone is the only area in Western Europe that contains marine successions of Kasimovian and Gzhelian (late Late Carboniferous, late Pennsylvanian) age. These successions yield fusulinoideans that are presently the subject of an in depth-study by members of a IUGS SCCS working group intending to find stratigraphic markers for the subdivision of the Carboniferous System. The youngest fusulinoidean faunas of the Cantabrian Zone are recorded in the Puentellés Formation, a succession of calcareous strata consisting of two members. The lower member is made up of reworked and re-sedimented carbonates, which form shallow turbidite deposits showing frequent lateral changes of facies, whereas the upper member corresponds to autochthonous limestones, mainly consisting of dark mudstones, skeletal wackestones and thick-bedded boundstones. Generally speaking, the lower member is late Kasimovian in age while the upper one is early Gzhelian. However, there are also a few successions of late Kasimovian age that show sedimentary facies similar to those of the upper member. The fusulinoidean assemblages from the lower member are dominated by elongated species of the genus Ferganites, which sometimes occur with Schubertella and Staffella species. Rauserites, Tumefactus, Jigulites, Quasifusulina, as well as certain Ferganites species showing obese shell, mainly appear in strata belonging to the upper member.Detailed analyses of the fusulinoideans from the Cantabrian Zone have allowed several questions related to their paleoecology, biostratigraphy, and paleobiogeography to be ascertained. First, it has been shown that the Ferganites accumulated in the strata of the lower member could have lived in near-shore and high-energy environments. The presence of some relevant forms (e. g. Rauserites cf. rossicus, and Jigulites sp.) allow a correlation between the Cantabrian successions and the standard stratigraphic units of the Russian Platform. Moreover, the composition of the fusulinoidean assemblages clearly shows the biogeographic affinities of the Cantabrian Zone with the Carnic Alps and the Central Asian regions. On the contrary, these assemblages differ greatly from those in other western Eurasian areas, such as the Russian Platform and the Donets Basin, suggesting that these areas were not well-connected with the Paleo-Tethys.   Some observations give rise to relevant questions on more general aspects dealing with the latest Carboniferous fusulinoideans while yielding, at the same time, preliminary data for solving them. This is the case of the phrenotheca, an inner partition existing in some fusulinoidean shells whose functional role is still uncertain. The abundance in the Cantabrian Zone strata of Tumefactus specimens showing phrenotheca provides information for reconstructing its geometry as well as enabling speculation on its likely function. Another problematic aspect concerns the origin and distribution of the genus Triticites. It is noteworthy that this genus seems to be absent from both the Cantabrian Zone and most Eurasian areas, bringing up the question of whether the American and the Eurasian Triticites really had a common ancestor. The possibilities involved are discussed here.&nbsp

An automatic welding defects classifier system

Radiographic inspection is a well-established testing method to detect weld defects. However, interpretation of radiographic films is a difficult task. The reliability of such interpretation and the expense of training suitable experts have allowed that the efforts being made towards automation in this field. In this paper, we describe an automatic detection system to recognise welding defects in radiographic images. In a first stage, image processing techniques, including noise reduction, contrast enhancement, thresholding and labelling were implemented to help in the recognition of weld regions and the detection of weld defects. In a second stage, a set of geometrical features was proposed and extracted between defect candidates. In a third stage, an artificial neural network for weld defect classification was used under three regularisation process with different architectures. For the input layer, the principal component analysis technique was used in order to reduce the number of feature variables; and, for the hidden layer, a different number of neurons was used in the aim to give better performance for defect classification in both cases

Teaching-learning model for the science of electronics

We present a method for the teaching of Electronics, defined as the scientific discipline that studies the movement and behavior of electrons in semiconductor materials and in vacuum. Electronics can be considered as a science with a solid physical foundation. Within the field of Electronics there are different disciplines, some of them can be considered as pure science, while some others are more oriented to applications. Our methodology has been applied to the wide range of courses that develop the different approaches to Electronics, from the physics of semiconductors or the physics of microelectronic devices, generally taught at physics faculties, to microelectronic fabrication technology or microelectronic design, subjects that typically have a more application-oriented character. To ensure an effective learning of these subjects, a teaching-learning model has been established. This model involves the criteria for developing the programs and defining objectives according to the curricular competences, as well as the development of a series of activities in which the methods, techniques, forms of presentation and didactic resources most useful to achieve the proposed objectives will be used. An evaluation system that assesses the effectiveness of the educational process and detects its anomalies is also included. The impact of this method on the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process was evaluated by a comparative analysis of the results of the surveys distributed by the university to the students for the assessment of quality, together with surveys to the lecturers of the subjects of ElectronicsPeer Reviewe