Type II shell evolution in A = 70 isobars from the N ≥ 40 island of inversion

The level structures of 70 Co and 70 Ni, populated from the β decay of 70 Fe, have been investigated using β -delayed γ -ray spectroscopy following in-flight fission of a 238 U beam. The experimental results are compared to Monte-Carlo Shell-Model calculations including the pf+g9/2+d5/2 orbitals. The strong population of a (1+) state at 274 keV in 70 Co is at variance with the expected excitation energy of ∼1 MeV from near spherical single-particle estimates. This observation indicates a dominance of prolate-deformed intruder configurations in the low-lying levels, which coexist with the normal near spherical states. It is shown that the β decay of the neutron-rich A=70 isobars from the new island of inversion to the Z=28 closed-shell regime progresses in accordance with a newly reported type of shell evolution, the so-called Type II, which involves many particle-hole excitations across energy gaps. ElsevierPeer reviewe

On the local existence of maximal slicings in spherically symmetric spacetimes

In this talk we show that any spherically symmetric spacetime admits locally a maximal spacelike slicing. The above condition is reduced to solve a decoupled system of first order quasi-linear partial differential equations. The solution may be accomplished analytical or numerically. We provide a general procedure to construct such maximal slicings.Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Proceedings of the Spanish Relativity Meeting ERE200

Work related stress and well-being: the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the roles of direct action coping and palliative coping in the relationship between work stressors and psychological well-being, as well as their possible interactions, in a sample of 464 bank employees. Hierarchical regression analyses showed main effects of direct action coping on well-being. Palliative coping predicts higher levels of psychological distress. Contrary to what was expected, the interactions between work stressors and direct action coping were not significant. Palliative coping interacted with work stressors when predicting psychosomatic complaints. The interaction between the two types of coping was significant on psychosomatic complaints and psychological distress, but not on job satisfaction. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of these results, in order to design intervention strategies to prevent and manage job stress

La lectura en el aula : detección del nivel de comprensión lectora en escuelas primarias de la ciudad de Panamá

La aplicación de estrategias de lectura pudiera reflejar cambios en el crecimiento intelectual de los estudiantes. Este proyecto de investigación se propuso detectar el nivel de comprensión de lectura de estudiantes de sexto grado de tres escuelas públicas, del distrito de Panamá, e identificar el tiempo que dedica el docente a !a lectura en el aula, los métodos y las estrategias para el abordaje efectivo del texto Es una investigación de tipo cualitativa, de diseño no experimental-transversal. Se utilizaron dos instrumentos para la recolección de los datos, una prueba diagnostica y una encuesta estructurada. De acuerdo con los resultados obtenidos, el nivel de comprensión lectora es básico o literal un 33% de los docentes dedica de dos a tres días por semana a la lectura y esta cumple una función netamente pedagógica, por lo que sugerimos alejarse de la lectura como tarea de aula y utilizar textos multimodales. Se completa el estudio con una propuesta de intervención didáctica que ataca el problema de los bajos niveles de C L por medio de las estrategias de C L de Daniel Cassany (2001) y las actividades antes, durante y después de la lectura de Isabel Sole (2001)

Retablo mayor de la iglesia del Hospital de la Caridad. Investigación e intervención

A partir de las investigaciones y estudios preliminares recogidos en el proyecto inicial que se realizó en el Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico, la restauración del retablo mayor de la iglesia del Hospital de la Santa Caridad de Sevilla corrió a cargo de la Dirección General de Bienes Culturales de la Junta de Andalucía, bajo la tutela del Proyecto de estudio, investigación y propuesta de intervención del retablo mayor de la iglesia de San Jorge del Hospital de la Caridad. La fase de intervención, iniciada en enero de 2006, ha supuesto para este retablo la oportunidad de profundizar en el estudio de su materialidad, mediante los análisis científicos de caracterización de materiales y la actualización de los datos histórico-artísticos y de historia material. Por otra parte, los tratamientos aplicados garantizarán la adecuada conservación de su arquitectura y esculturas en el futuro, contribuyendo de forma significativa a la recuperación de los valores históricos y artísticos de este magnífico retablo

Xenopus Oocytes as a Powerful Cellular Model to Study Foreign Fully-Processed Membrane Proteins

The use of Xenopus oocytes in electrophysiological and biophysical research constitutes a long and successful story, providing major advances to the knowledge of the function and modulation of membrane proteins, mostly receptors, ion channels, and transporters. Earlier reports showed that these cells are capable of correctly expressing heterologous proteins after injecting the corresponding mRNA or cDNA. More recently, the Xenopus oocyte has become an outstanding host–cell model to carry out detailed studies on the function of fully-processed foreign membrane proteins after their microtransplantation to the oocyte. This review focused on the latter overall process of transplanting foreign membrane proteins to the oocyte after injecting plasma membranes or purified and reconstituted proteins. This experimental approach allows for the study of both the function of mature proteins, with their native stoichiometry and post-translational modifications, and their putative modulation by surrounding lipids, mostly when the protein is purified and reconstituted in lipid matrices of defined composition. Remarkably, this methodology enables functional microtransplantation to the oocyte of membrane receptors, ion channels, and transporters from different sources including human post-mortem tissue banks. Despite the large progress achieved over the last decades on the structure, function, and modulation of neuroreceptors and ion channels in healthy and pathological tissues, many unanswered questions remain and, most likely, Xenopus oocytes will continue to help provide valuable responses.The work in the authors’ laboratories has been supported by grants SAF2017-82977-P (AEI/FEDER, UE) and PGC2018-093505-B-I00 from MINECO and GRE17-01 from Universidad de Alicante (Spain)

Muscle-Type Nicotinic Receptor Blockade by Diethylamine, the Hydrophilic Moiety of Lidocaine

Lidocaine bears in its structure both an aromatic ring and a terminal amine, which can be protonated at physiological pH, linked by an amide group. Since lidocaine causes multiple inhibitory actions on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), this work was aimed to determine the inhibitory effects of diethylamine (DEA), a small molecule resembling the hydrophilic moiety of lidocaine, on Torpedo marmorata nAChRs microtransplanted to Xenopus oocytes. Similarly to lidocaine, DEA reversibly blocked acetylcholine-elicited currents (IACh) in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 close to 70 μM), but unlike lidocaine, DEA did not affect IACh desensitization. IACh inhibition by DEA was more pronounced at negative potentials, suggesting an open-channel blockade of nAChRs, although roughly 30% inhibition persisted at positive potentials, indicating additional binding sites outside the pore. DEA block of nAChRs in the resting state (closed channel) was confirmed by the enhanced IACh inhibition when pre-applying DEA before its co-application with ACh, as compared with solely DEA and ACh co-application. Virtual docking assays provide a plausible explanation to the experimental observations in terms of the involvement of different sets of drug binding sites. So, at the nAChR transmembrane (TM) domain, DEA and lidocaine shared binding sites within the channel pore, giving support to their open-channel blockade; besides, lidocaine, but not DEA, interacted with residues at cavities among the M1, M2, M3, and M4 segments of each subunit and also at intersubunit crevices. At the extracellular (EC) domain, DEA and lidocaine binding sites were broadly distributed, which aids to explain the closed channel blockade observed. Interestingly, some DEA clusters were located at the α-γ interphase of the EC domain, in a cavity near the orthosteric binding site pocket; by contrast, lidocaine contacted with all α-subunit loops conforming the ACh binding site, both in α-γ and α-δ and interphases, likely because of its larger size. Together, these results indicate that DEA mimics some, but not all, inhibitory actions of lidocaine on nAChRs and that even this small polar molecule acts by different mechanisms on this receptor. The presented results contribute to a better understanding of the structural determinants of nAChR modulation.This work was supported by grants BFU2012-31359, BFU2012-39092-C02-01, BFU2011-25920, and CSD2008-00005 from the MINECO and PROMETEO/2014/11 from GVA (Spain)

Experimental Type 2 Diabetes Induces Enzymatic Changes in Isolated Rat Enterocytes

Diabetes in humans and in experimental animals produces changes in the function and structure of the small intestine. The authors determined the activity of intestinal disaccharidases (maltase and sucrase) and of 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase (PFK-1) in enterocytes isolated from the small intestine of male Wistar rats (2.5 to 3 months old) with experimental nonobese type 2 diabetes, induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection on the day of birth (n0-STZ) or on the 5th day of life (n5-STZ), with different degrees of hyperglycemia and insulinemia (n0-STZ and n5-STZ models). The glycemia (mmol/L) of the diabetic rats (n0-STZ: 8.77 ± 0.47; n5-STZ: 20.83 ± 0.63) was higher (P < .01) than that of the nondiabetic (ND) rats (5.99 ± 0.63); on the contrary, the insulinemia (ng/mL) was significantly lower in both n0-STZ (1.74 ± 0.53; P < .05) and n5-STZ (1.12 ± 0.44; P < .01) diabetic rats than in normal rats (3.77 ± 0.22). The sucrase and maltase activities (U/g protein) in diabetic rats (n0-STZ: 89 ± 9 and 266 ± 12; n5-STZ: 142 ± 23 and 451 ± 57) were significantly higher than those in the ND group (66 ± 5 and 228 ± 22). The PFK-1 activities (mU/mg protein) in the diabetic models (n0-STZ: 14.89 ± 1.51; n5-STZ: 13.35 ± 3.12) were significantly lower (P < .05) than in ND rats (20.54 ± 2.83). The data demonstrated enzymatic alterations in enterocytes isolated fromthe small intestine of n0-STZ rats that are greater (P < .05) than in the more hyperglycemic and hypoinsulinemic n5-STZ animals. The results also show that nonobese type 2–like diabetes in the rat produces modifications that favor an increase in glucose absorption rates

Digestor anaeróbico enterrado asistido por energía solar térmica

Un digestor anaeróbico es un módulo capaz de entregar una mezcla de gases como metano y dióxido de carbono llamado biogás. Este debe ser cargado con material orgánico que se degrada bajo condiciones de temperatura constante y en ausencia total de oxígeno. La aclimatación de un digestor anaeróbico requiere de temperaturas de entre 25° C y 45° C en el rango mesofílico. En este trabajo se propone la incorporación de un colector solar con este fin. El colector solar no posee cubierta transparente y está construido casi en su mayoría con material plástico de PVC. Posee alta capacidad de acumulación y sus dimensiones son: 0,80 metros de ancho por 2,20 metros de largo. Este se integra a un digestor anaeróbico enterrado de 1000 litros de capacidad llenado en un 40% de su volumen. Se mantiene al digestor a una temperatura constante de 30° C por tanto se cuenta con un sistema de calefacción eléctrico capaz de asistir en los momentos en que no se cuente con la radiación solar. Con el sistema de calentamiento propuesto se logró lo cometido, la temperatura se mantuvo estable con pequeñas oscilaciones que el digestor en operación puede soportar sin interrupciones de la producción normal de biogás. La aplicación del colector depende mucho de las condiciones de radiación solar dada por el lugar en donde se encuentre instalado. En la Ciudad de Salta se logra una ventaja mayor que en otras regiones del país ya que posee un clima seco de alta radiación solar en la estación invernal. Se expone en este trabajo los resultados de las medidas de temperatura tomadas en el colector solar y el digestor anaeróbico. También se evalúa la curva de eficiencia del colector.Facultad de Ingenierí