'La Escocesa': A fabric of Images

The banning of the practice of graffiti in public space since the approval of the civic regulation in 2006 has restricted the production of graffiti artworks in Barcelona. It transformed and coerced the local graffiti and street art scene towards new forms of production in the city, which are the central focus of this article.  ‘La Escocesa: A factory of images’, is based on my dialogues with the resident graffiti artists of the art centre ‘La Escocesa’ in ‘Poble Nou’. Some of these artists participated in both the creation of the graffiti scene in the 90s and the development of this practice in the city. Today they are recognized artistic figures of the local and international graffiti scene. I shared with some of these graffiti artists in the art centre some of my fieldwork experiences in connection with other local artists and representatives of the local council. In addition, I also opened up dialogues with them using anthropological examples about art and artists, the city and the space. The following section contains part of the conversations, reflexions and debates that we had

Discovery of faint double-peak Halpha emission in the halo of low redshift galaxies

Aiming at the detection of cosmological gas being accreted onto galaxies of the local Universe, we examined the Halpha emission in the halo of 164 galaxies in the field of view of the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer Wide survey (\musew ) with observable Halpha (redshift < 0.42). An exhaustive screening of the corresponding Halpha images led us to select 118 reliable Halpha emitting gas clouds. The signals are faint, with a surface brightness of 10**(-17.3 pm 0.3) erg/s/cm2/arcsec2. Through statistical tests and other arguments, we ruled out that they are created by instrumental artifacts, telluric line residuals, or high redshift interlopers. Around 38% of the time, the Halpha line profile shows a double peak with the drop in intensity at the rest-frame of the central galaxy, and with a typical peak-to-peak separation of the order of pm 200 km/s. Most line emission clumps are spatially unresolved. The mass of emitting gas is estimated to be between one and 10**(-3) times the stellar mass of the central galaxy. The signals are not isotropically distributed; their azimuth tends to be aligned with the major axis of the corresponding galaxy. The distances to the central galaxies are not random either. The counts drop at a distance > 50 galaxy radii, which roughly corresponds to the virial radius of the central galaxy. We explore several physical scenarios to explain this Halpha emission, among which accretion disks around rogue intermediate mass black holes fit the observations best.Comment: pay attention to the last sentence of the abstract! Accepted for publication in Ap

The Relationship between Zinc Intake and Serum/Plasma Zinc Concentration in Children: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

Recommendations for zinc intake during childhood vary widely across Europe. The EURRECA project attempts to consolidate the basis for the definition of micronutrient requirements, taking into account relationships among intake, status and health outcomes, in order to harmonise these recommendations. Data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status reported in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) can provide estimates of dose-response relationships which may be used for underpinning zinc reference values. This systematic review included all RCTs of apparently healthy children aged 1–17 years published by February 2010 which provided data on zinc intake and biomarkers of zinc status. An intake-status regression coefficient was calculated for each individual study and calculated the overall pooled and SE using random effects meta-analysis on a double log scale. The pooled dose-response relationship between zinc intake and zinc status indicated that a doubling of the zinc intake increased the serum/plasma zinc status by 9%. This evidence can be utilised, together with currently used balance studies and repletion/depletion studies, when setting zinc recommendations as a basis for nutrition policies

Efectos de las economias de escala en el comercio internacional en un marco de competencia monopolistica.

72 p.El análisis de todos los nuevos avances en la teoría de comercio internacional es difícil de concentrar en solo un documento. El desarrollo de un objetivo general acotado ha permitido asegurar que el documento es bastante conciso y focalizado, sin que pierda el atractivo que se pretende tenga en términos de comprensión y aplicabilidad practica. El trabajo se ha estructurado en forma temática, siguiendo la estructura de un documento académico, empezando de lo general a lo particular, de manera que el lector pueda contextualizar los desarrollos aquí explicados dentro de los desarrollos del área. El capitulo I parte con una explicación del porque la teoría tradicional de comercio internacional ha perdido su posición monopólica en la explicación del comercio y sus consecuencias, para luego interiorizar al lector en las implicancias de incorporar las economías de escala y la diferenciación de productos en la teoría de comercio internacional. Dado que el interés principal es el tratamiento del comercio de bienes diferenciados, el capitulo II explica conceptos centrales de la teoría de demanda por bienes diferenciados, presentando además, los dos principales enfoques que se han usado en la modelación de las preferencias. En el desarrollo de los capítulos centrales del trabajo (Ill y IV) se pretende extraer las principales conclusiones, y como estas contrastan con las extraídas de Ia teoría tradicional. El capitulo intenta presentar la estructura general del modelo base utilizado, dando las condiciones de equilibrio para una economía autarquica. El capitulo IV, usando el modelo desarrollado en el capitulo Ill, pretende analizar las consecuencias de la apertura al comercio en el contexto analizado, y a la vez comentar contrastes de estos resultados con Ios tradicionalmente aceptados. El trabajo termina con un comentario de la evidencia empírica, como una manera de que el lector tenga una visión general sobre el apoyo que dan los datos a estas nuevas proposiciones teóricas

An X‐Ray, Infrared, and Submillimeter Flare of Sagittarius A*

Energetic flares are observed in the Galactic supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* from radio to X-ray wavelengths. On a few occasions, simultaneous flares have been detected in IR and X-ray observations, but clear counterparts at longer wavelengths have not been seen. We present a flare observed over several hours on 2006 July 17 with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Keck II telescope, the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, and the Submillimeter Array. All telescopes observed strong flare events, but the submillimeter peak is found to occur nearly 100 minutes after the X-ray peak. Submillimeter polarization data show linear polarization in the excess flare emission, increasing from 9% to 17% as the flare passes through its peak, consistent with a transition from optically thick to thin synchrotron emission. The temporal and spectral behavior of the flare require that the energetic electrons responsible for the emission cool faster than expected from their radiative output. This is consistent with adiabatic cooling in an expanding emission region, with X-rays produced through self-Compton scattering, although not consistent with the simplest model of such expansion. We also present a submillimeter flare that followed a bright IR flare on 2005 July 31. Compared to 2006, this event had a larger peak IR flux and similar submillimeter flux, but it lacked measurable X-ray emission. It also showed a shorter delay between the IR and submillimeter peaks. Based on these events we propose a synchrotron and self-Compton model to relate the submillimeter lag and the variable IR/X-ray luminosity ratio.Astronom

Codon usage bias and tRNA over-expression in Buchnera aphidicola after aromatic amino acid nutritional stress on its host Acyrthosiphon pisum

Codon usage bias and relative abundances of tRNA isoacceptors were analysed in the obligate intracellular symbiotic bacterium, Buchnera aphidicola from the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, using a dedicated 35mer oligonucleotide microarray. Buchnera is archetypal of organisms living with minimal metabolic requirements and presents a reduced genome with high-evolutionary rate. Codonusage in Buchnera has been overcome by the high mutational bias towards AT bases. However, several lines of evidence for codon usage selection are given here. A significant correlation was found between tRNA relative abundances and codon composition of Buchnera genes. A significant codon usage bias was found for the choice of rare codons in Buchnera: C-ending codons are preferred in highly expressed genes, whereas G-ending codons are avoided. This bias is not explained by GC skew in the bacteria and might correspond to a selection for perfect matching between codon–anticodon pairs for some essential amino acids in Buchnera proteins. Nutritional stress applied to the aphid host induced a significant overexpression of most of the tRNA isoacceptors in bacteria. Although, molecular regulation of the tRNA operons in Buchnera was not investigated, a correlation between relative expression levels and organization in transcription unit was found in the genome of Buchnera

Combining Next-Generation Sequencing Strategies for Rapid Molecular Resource Development from an Invasive Aphid Species, Aphis glycines

Aphids are one of the most important insect taxa in terms of ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics and genomics, and interactions with endosymbionts. Additionally, many aphids are serious pest species of agricultural and horticultural plants. Recent genetic and genomic research has expanded molecular resources for many aphid species, including the whole genome sequencing of the pea aphid, Acrythosiphon pisum. However, the invasive soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, lacks in any significant molecular resources.Two next-generation sequencing technologies (Roche-454 and Illumina GA-II) were used in a combined approach to develop both transcriptomic and genomic resources, including expressed genes and molecular markers. Over 278 million bp were sequenced among the two methods, resulting in 19,293 transcripts and 56,688 genomic sequences. From this data set, 635 SNPs and 1,382 microsatellite markers were identified. For each sequencing method, different soybean aphid biotypes were used which revealed potential biotype specific markers. In addition, we uncovered 39,822 bp of sequence that were related to the obligatory endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, as well as sequences that suggest the presence of Hamiltonella defensa, a facultative endosymbiont.Molecular resources for an invasive, non-model aphid species were generated. Additionally, the power of next-generation sequencing to uncover endosymbionts was demonstrated. The resources presented here will complement ongoing molecular studies within the Aphididae, including the pea aphid whole genome, lead to better understanding of aphid adaptation and evolution, and help provide novel targets for soybean aphid control

A snapshot of cancer-associated thromboembolic disease in 2018-2019: First data from the TESEO prospective registry

BACKGROUND: The ever-growing complexity of cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT), with new antineoplastic drugs and anticoagulants, distinctive characteristics, and decisions with low levels of evidence, justifies this registry. METHOD: TESEO is a prospective registry promoted by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology to which 34 centers contribute cases. It seeks to provide an epidemiological description of CAT in Spain. RESULTS: Participants (N=939) with CAT diagnosed between July 2018 and December 2019 were recruited. Most subjects had advanced colon (21.4%), non-small cell lung (19.2%), and breast (11.1%) cancers, treated with dual-agent chemotherapy (28.4%), monochemotherapy (14.4%), or immune checkpoint inhibitors (3.6%). Half (51%) were unsuspected events, albeit only 57.1% were truly asymptomatic. Pulmonary embolism (PE) was recorded in 571 (58.3%); in 120/571 (21.0%), there was a concurrent deep venous thromboembolism (VTE). Most initially received low molecular weight heparin (89.7%). Suspected and unsuspected VTE had an OS rate of 9.9 (95% CI, 7.3-non-computable) and 14.4 months (95% CI, 12.6-non-computable) (p=0.00038). Six-month survival was 80.9%, 55.9%, and 55.5% for unsuspected PE, unsuspected PE admitted for another reason, and suspected PE, respectively (p<0.0001). The 12-month cumulative incidence of venous rethrombosis was 7.1% (95% CI, 4.7-10.2) in stage IV vs 3.0% (95% CI, 0.9-7.1) in stages I-III. The 12-month cumulative incidence of major/clinically relevant bleeding was 9.6% (95% CI, 6.1-14.0) in the presence of risk factors. CONCLUSION: CAT continues to be a relevant problem in the era of immunotherapy and targeted therapies. The initial TESEO data highlight the evolution of CAT, with new agents and thrombotic risk factors

Disaggregation of SMOS soil moisture over West Africa using the Temperature and Vegetation Dryness Index based on SEVIRI land surface parameters

The overarching objective of this study was to produce a disaggregated SMOS Soil Moisture (SM) product using land surface parameters from a geostationary satellite in a region covering a diverse range of ecosystem types. SEVIRI data at 15 minute temporal resolution were used to derive the Temperature and Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) that served as SM proxy within the disaggregation process. West Africa (3 N, 26 W; 28 N, 26 E) was selected as a case study as it presents both an important North-South climate gradient and a diverse range of ecosystem types. The main challenge was to set up a methodology applicable over a large area that overcomes the constraints of SMOS (low spatial resolution) and TVDI (requires similar atmospheric forcing and triangular shape formed when plotting morning rise temperature versus fraction of vegetation cover) in order to produce a 0.05 degree resolution disaggregated SMOS SM product at sub-continental scale. Consistent cloud cover appeared as one of the main constraints for deriving TVDI, especially during the rainy season and in the southern parts of the region and a large adjustment window (105x105 SEVIRI pixels) was therefore deemed necessary. Both the original and the disaggregated SMOS SM products described well the seasonal dynamics observed at six locations of in situ observations. However, there was an overestimation in both products for sites in the humid southern regions; most likely caused by the presence of forest. Both TVDI and the associated disaggregated SM product was found to be highly sensitive to algorithm input parameters; especially of conditions of high fraction of vegetation cover. Additionally, seasonal dynamics in TVDI did not follow the seasonal patters of SM. Still, its spatial heterogeneity was found to be a good proxy for disaggregating SMOS SM data; main river networks and spatial patterns of SM extremes (i.e. droughts and floods) not seen in the original SMOS SM product were revealed in the disaggregated SM product for a test case of July-September 2012. The disaggregation methodology thereby successfully increased the spatial resolution of SMOS SM, with potential application for local drought/flood monitoring of importance for the livelihood of the population of West Africa

Genome-Wide Screening of Genes Whose Enhanced Expression Affects Glycogen Accumulation in Escherichia coli

Using a systematic and comprehensive gene expression library (the ASKA library), we have carried out a genome-wide screening of the genes whose increased plasmid-directed expression affected glycogen metabolism in Escherichia coli. Of the 4123 clones of the collection, 28 displayed a glycogen-excess phenotype, whereas 58 displayed a glycogen-deficient phenotype. The genes whose enhanced expression affected glycogen accumulation were classified into various functional categories including carbon sensing, transport and metabolism, general stress and stringent responses, factors determining intercellular communication, aggregative and social behaviour, nitrogen metabolism and energy status. Noteworthy, one-third of them were genes about which little or nothing is known. We propose an integrated metabolic model wherein E. coli glycogen metabolism is highly interconnected with a wide variety of cellular processes and is tightly adjusted to the nutritional and energetic status of the cell. Furthermore, we provide clues about possible biological roles of genes of still unknown functions