The Catalan elections of 14 February (14-F) 2021: Elections of change

Aquest assaig presenta, a mode introductori d’aquest número especial, quines van ser les claus que van marcar la convocatòria de les eleccions del 14 de febrer de 2021. Per a fer-ho, revisa tres aspectes rellevants. Primerament, repassa el context polític que va envoltar la celebració dels comicis, marcat per la inhabilitació del president Quim Torra, el canvi d’orientació en el Govern central, la judicialització del Procés i les tensions en el si de l’independentisme, però també per la crisi sanitària derivada de la pandèmia de la covid-19. En segon lloc, el text descriu breument quines van ser les candidatures que van obtenir representació i de quina manera van enfocar la campanya. I, finalment, s’analitzen els resultats de la convocatòria, en què es revisen elements com la participació i l’abstenció, l’orientació del vot i l’estructura del Parlament de Catalunya. D’aquesta manera, els lectors poden tenir una idea precisa de la situació política en què es van convocar les eleccions del 14 de febrer de 2021 abans d’entrar en profunditat en cadascun dels articles del número monogràfic.As an introduction to this special issue, this essay presents the main factors that led to the calling of the Catalan elections of 14 February 2021. In so doing, it reviews three significant aspects. Firstly, we focus on the political context of the elections, marked by the disqualification of the President of Catalonia, Quim Torra; the political changes in the Spanish government; the judicialization of the Catalan independence process; and the tensions between pro-independence supporters, as well as by the health crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, we briefly review which candidates gained representation and how they approached the campaign. And thirdly, we analyze the results of the call, considering such elements as turnout and abstention, vote orientation and the structure of the Catalan parliament. This gives readers a precise idea of the political situation in which the elections of 14 February 2021 took place before they go on to the other articles which make up this monographic issue and which deal in greater depth with the elections’ various aspects

Drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae

To the Editor: since the first description of infection caused by β-lactam-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae, the optimal empirical antibiotic therapy for patients with suspected meningitis caused by this microorganism has remained unknown. Hofmann et al. (Aug. 24 issue)1 reported a 25 percent prevalence of penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae isolates and a 9 percent prevalence of cephalosporin-resistant isolates among 431 patients with invasive pneumococcal infections in Atlanta. The authors recommended adding vancomycin to the initial therapeutic regimen of patients with suspected pneumococcal meningitis

Self-assembly of human latexin into amyloid-like oligomers

Background: In conformational disorders, it is not evident which amyloid aggregates affect specific molecular mechanisms or cellular pathways, which cause disease because of their quantity and mechanical features and which states in aggregate formation are pathogenic. Due to the increasing consensus that prefibrillar oligomers play a major role in conformational diseases, there is a growing interest in understanding the characteristics of metastable polypeptide associations. Results: Here, we show that human latexin, a protein that shares the same fold with cystatin C, assembles into stable spherical amyloid-like oligomers that bind thioflavin-T and congo red similarly to common amyloid structures but do not evolve into fibrils. Latexin self-assembly correlates with the formation of a mostly denaturated state rather than with the population of partially structured intermediates during the unfolding process. The results suggest that unfolding of α-helix 3 might be involved in the transition of latexin toward amyloidotic species, supporting the notion of the protective role of the native protein structure against polymerization. Conclusion: Overall the data herein indicate that latexin could be a good model for the study of the structural and sequential determinants of oligomeric assemblies in protein aggregation processes

Prediction of "hot spots" of aggregation in disease-linked polypeptides

BACKGROUND: The polypeptides involved in amyloidogenesis may be globular proteins with a defined 3D-structure or natively unfolded proteins. The first class includes polypeptides such as β2-microglobulin, lysozyme, transthyretin or the prion protein, whereas β-amyloid peptide, amylin or α-synuclein all belong to the second class. Recent studies suggest that specific regions in the proteins act as "hot spots" driving aggregation. This should be especially relevant for natively unfolded proteins or unfolded states of globular proteins as they lack significant secondary and tertiary structure and specific intra-chain interactions that can mask these aggregation-prone regions. Prediction of such sequence stretches is important since they are potential therapeutic targets. RESULTS: In this study we exploited the experimental data obtained in an in vivo system using β-amyloid peptide as a model to derive the individual aggregation propensities of natural amino acids. These data are used to generate aggregation profiles for different disease-related polypeptides. The approach detects the presence of "hot spots" which have been already validated experimentally in the literature and provides insights into the effect of disease-linked mutations in these polypeptides. CONCLUSION: The proposed method might become a useful tool for the future development of sequence-targeted anti-aggregation pharmaceuticals

Replacement of palm oil with soybean acid oil in broiler chicken diet : Fat digestibility and lipid class content along the intestinal tract

Funding: Pre-doctoral FPI contract number BES-2016-077930.This study aimed to evaluate the replacement of palm oil (P) with increasing levels of soybean acid oil (SA), a by-product of soybean oil (S) refining, on lipid class content and fatty acid (FA) digestibility in the intestine and excreta of chickens at 11 and 35 days (d). Five experimental diets were obtained by supplementing a basal diet with 6% of P (P6), 6% of SA (SA6), 4% of P + 2% SA (P4-SA2), 2% of P + 4% of SA (P2-SA4) and 6% of S (S6). A total of 480 one-d-old female broiler chickens (Ross 308) were housed in metabolic cages (6 cages/treatment, with 16 birds/cage). Replacing P with SA improved fat absorption at 11 and 35 d (p < 0.05), but not feed AME values and saturated FA (SFA) digestibility at 11 d. As age increased, the absorption of SFA and free fatty acids (FFA) improved, and the contribution of the upper ileum to FA absorption increased (p < 0.05). At 35 d, SA6 (56% FFA) and P2-SA4 (40% FFA, 2.6 unsaturated-to-saturated FA ratio) could replace S6 without impairing fat utilization. The replacement of P with SA represents a suitable strategy to use this by-product

Olive Pomace and Soybean-Sunflower Acid Oils as Alternative Fat Sources in European Seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Diets : effects on Performance, Digestibility and Flesh Fatty Acid Composition and Quality Parameters

Altres ajuts: ERDFThe effects of dietary inclusion of soybean-sunflower and olive pomace acid oils on growth, digestibility and flesh composition were studied in European seabass. Eight diets were fed for 100 days (101.37 ± 0.33 g initial weight, mean ± SD), differing in the added fat source (25% fish oil, 75% experimental oil): S (crude soybean oil), SA (soybean-sunflower acid oil), O (crude olive pomace oil) or OA (olive pomace acid oil); 3 blends: S-O, S-OA, SA-OA at a 1:1 ratio; and a diet containing only fish oil (F) as a control. Animals fed OA showed the worst performance among dietary treatments, with the lowest weight, specific growth ratio, average daily gain and the highest feed conversion ratio (p 0.05), but a lower digestibility of lipids and saturated fatty acids was observed (p 0.05). Hence the results suggest that the studied acid oils may potentially be used in fish diets although further studies are needed

Analysis of bias stress on thin-film transistors obtained by Hot-Wire Chemical Vapour Deposition

The stability under gate bias stress of unpassivated thin film transistors was studied by measuring the transfer and output characteristics at different temperatures. The active layer of these devices consisted of in nanocrystalline silicon deposited at 125 °C by Hot-Wire Chemical Vapour Deposition. The dependence of the subthreshold activation energy on gate bias for different gate bias stresses is quite different from the one reported for hydrogenated amorphous silicon. This behaviour has been related to trapped charge in the active layer of the thin film transistor

Desenvolupament de recursos per a la creació i gestió de material docent orientat a l’aprenentatge actiu que faciliti l’adaptació d’assignatures tècniques a l'EEES i la seva aplicació a l’ensenyament de circuits elèctrics

L'autoaprenentatge i l’autoavaluació d’assignatures tècniques requereixen eines de càlcul que no estan disponibles dintre del campus virtual ATENEA, per aquest motiu s’ha incorporat al campus virtual de la UPC el software WIRIS Quizzes, que integra el motor de càlcul matemàtic WIRIS amb el sistema de preguntes de Moodle, ampliant les opcions per a la realització de qüestionaris i facilitant l’adaptació d’assignatures reglades de caràcter tècnic a l'EEES. Els qüestionaris desenvolupats, tant d’autoavaluació com d’avaluació, es particularitzen per cada estudiant aprofitant que WIRIS Quizzes permet incorporar a les preguntes de Moodle elements matemàtics generats de forma aleatòria. Els qüestionaris desenvolupats permeten a l’estudiant escriure tot el desenvolupament de l’exercici amb una sintaxis específica i guardar aquesta resposta, amb el que es millora la informació rebuda pel professor permetent adaptar l’ensenyament a les necessitats dels alumnes. En la línia d’adaptar les assignatures de Circuits Elèctrics a l'EEES s’ha creat l’assignatura virtual “l’ensenyament de circuits elèctrics” al campus virtual de la UPC en la que a part del qüestionaris s’ha afegit el material docent desenvolupat mitjançant l’editor de documents multimèdia EMDOC, aquest material que resta al DMD consta d’apunts amb problemes desenvolupats. També s’han desenvolupat exercicis pràctics amb l’objectiu d’incentivar l’adquisició de coneixements.Peer Reviewe

Resistance to penicillin and cephalosporin and mortality from severe pneumococcal pneumonia in Barcelona, Spain

Background: Penicillin-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae are now found worldwide, and strains with resistance to cephalosporin are being reported. The appropriate antibiotic therapy for pneumococcal pneumonia due to resistant strains remains controversial. Methods: To examine the effect of resistance to penicillin and cephalosporin on mortality, we conducted a 10-year, prospective study in Barcelona of 504 adults with culture-proved pneumococcal pneumonia. Results: Among the 504 patients, 145 (29 percent) had penicillin-resistant strains of S. pneumoniae (minimal inhibitory concentration [MIC] of penicillin G, 0.12 to 4.0 μg per milliliter), and 31 patients (6 percent) had cephalosporin-resistant strains (MIC of ceftriaxone or cefotaxime, 1.0 to 4.0 μg per milliliter). Mortality was 38 percent in patients with penicillin-resistant strains, as compared with 24 percent in patients with penicillin-sensitive strains (P = 0.001). However, after the exclusion of patients with polymicrobial pneumonia and adjustment for other predictors of mortality, the odds ratio for mortality in patients with penicillin-resistant strains was 1.0 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.5 to 1.9; P = 0.84). Among patients treated with penicillin G or ampicillin, the mortality was 25 percent in the 24 with penicillin-resistant strains and 19 percent in the 126 with penicillin-sensitive strains (P = 0.51). Among patients treated with ceftriaxone or cefotaxime, the mortality was 22 percent in the 59 with penicillin-resistant strains and 25 percent in the 127 with penicillin-sensitive strains (P = 0.64). The frequency of resistance to cephalosporin increased from 2 percent in 1984-1988 to 9 percent in 1989-1993 (P = 0.002). Mortality was 26 percent in patients with cephalosporin-resistant S. pneumoniae and 28 percent in patients with susceptible organisms (P = 0.89). Among patients treated with ceftriaxone or cefotaxime, mortality was 22 percent in the 18 with cephalosporin-resistant strains and 24 percent in the 168 with cephalosporin-sensitive organisms (P = 0.64). Conclusions: Current levels of resistance to penicillin and cephalosporin by S. pneumoniae are not associated with increased mortality in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia. Hence, these antibiotics remain the therapy of choice for this disease

Desenvolupament de recursos per a la creació i gestio de material docent orientat a l’aprenentatge actiu que faciliti l’adaptació d’assignatures tècniques a l’EEES i la seva aplicació a l’ensenyament de circuits elèctrics

L'autoaprenentatge i l’autoavaluació d’assignatures tècniques requereixen eines de càlcul que no estan disponibles dintre del campus virtual ATENEA, per aquest motiu s’ha incorporat al campus virtual de la UPC el software WIRIS Quizzes, que integra el motor de càlcul matemàtic WIRIS amb el sistema de preguntes de Moodle, ampliant les opcions per a la realització de qüestionaris i facilitant l’adaptació d’assignatures reglades de caràcter tècnic a l'EEES. Els qüestionaris desenvolupats permeten a l’estudiant escriure tot el desenvolupament de l’exercici amb una sintaxis específica i guardar aquesta resposta, amb el que es millora la informació rebuda pel professor permetent adaptar l’ensenyament a les necessitats dels alumnes.Peer Reviewe