La sedimentación deltaica actual en el embalse de Cellers (Río Noguera Pallaresa, provincia de Lérida)

[Resumen] Condicionados por diversos factores, dependientes principalmente de las características morfodinámicas de la zona y del régimen de explotación, la sedimentación costera muestra un considerable desarrollo en el embalse de Cellers (río Noguera Pallaresa, provincia de Lérida). A partir de datos geomorfológicos y sedimentológicos obtenidos en superficie, en este trabajo se aborda el estudio de los cuerpos sedimentarios originados. Se describen sus características y el mecanismo de sedimentación. Por último, se incide en la previsible evolución de estos depósitos deltaicos ante hipotéticas variaciones del nivel de base.[Abstract] The Cellers reservoir at the Noguera Pallaresa river (Lérida) shows a elldeveloped sedimentacion along its shores, due to the regional dominant geomorphic processes and the exploitation regime. Using geomorphological and sedimentological data, we describe the carachteristics of the sedimentary bodies and their depositional mechanisms. We also discuss possible evolutionary trends of these deltaic deposits as a response to base level changes

Polymeric self-assemblies based on tetra-ortho-substituted azobenzene as visible light responsive nanocarriers

Most of reported polymeric light-responsive nanocarriers make use of UV light to trigger morphological changes and the subsequent release of encapsulated cargoes. Moving from UV-to visible-responsive units is interesting for the potential biomedical applications of these materials. Herein we report the synthesis by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of a series of amphiphilic diblock copolymers, into which either UV or visible responsive azobenzenes have been introduced via copper(I) catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). These copolymers are able to self-assemble into spherical micelles or vesicles when dispersed in water. The study of the response of the self-assemblies upon UV (365 nm) or visible (530 or 625 nm) light irradiation has been studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy (Cryo-TEM), and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) studies. Encapsulation of Nile Red, in micelles and vesicles, and Rhodamine B, in vesicles, and its light-stimulated release has been studied by fluorescence spectroscopy and confocal microscopy. Appreciable morphological changes have been induced with green light, and the subsequent release of encapsulated cargoes upon green light irradiation has been confirmed

Crecimiento diametral de la encina (Quercus ilex L.) en un año de abundante precipitación estival : efecto de la irrigación previa y de la fertilización

Diameter growth of 1131 Quercus ilex stems in a closed-canopy stand in the Prades mountains (NE Spain) was measured in 1992, a year of higher than average summer rainfall, to know (i) whether increased water availability in summer resulted in increased stem diameter growth in the same year, and (ii) whether a higher light interception capacity, induced by soil fertilization or previous imgation had a positive effect on tree growth during a year when summer water stress was reduced. Twenty four experimental plots were used in a complete factorial design involving three factors each at two levels: nitrogen fertilization (O and 250 kg Nha), phosphorus fertilization (O and 125 kg P/ha), and imgation (O and 20 mm per week during the warm seasons of 1989, 1990 and 1991). Fertilizers were applied in March 1989, and the same dose repeated in March 1992. Mean stem diameter growth per plot during 1992, averaged over all plots, was 0.83 mm yr-' (k0.09 S.E. among plot means), a growth rate roughly double that of the three preceding years. Thus, Q. ilex is able to use summer rainfall to increase its stem diameter growth in the same year. When all Q. ilex stems were included in the analysis, none of the three experimental factors significantly affected stem diameter growth during 1992. For dominant stems, N fertilization significantly increased mean stem diameter growth by 42%, compared to non-fertilized stems, while P fertilization and previous inigation did not. Thus, increased light interception capacity by itself (as shown by the previously imgated plots) was not conductive to increased stem diameter growth in a year of relatively high water availability. However, increased light interception capacity of the crowns coupled with an enhanced N supply (as in the N-fertiiized plots) did so in dominant trees. This is the first time that a significant effect of N fertilization on stem diameter growth of Q. ilex is reported for the Prades experimental plots.Se midió el crecimiento diametral de 1131 pies de encina en monte bajo de vuelo cerrado en el monte de Poblet (Prades, Tarragona) durante 1992, un año con precipitación estival superior a la media, para averiguar (1) si la mayor disponibilidad estival de agua se traducia en un mayor crecimiento de 10s troncos en el mismo &o, y (2) si una mayor capacidad de intercepción de la luz, como resultado de la imgación previa o de la fertilización del suelo tenia un efecto positivo sobre el crecimiento en un año lluvioso. Se utilizaron venticuatro parcelas en un diseño factorial completo con tres factores a dos niveles cada uno: fertilización con nitrógeno (O y 250 kg N/ha), fertilización con fósforo (O y 125 kg Pha) e irrigación (O y 20 mm semanales durante las estaciones cáíidas de 1989,1990 y 1991). Los fertilizantes se aplicaron en marzo de 1989, y la misma dosis se repitió en marm de 1992. El crecimiento diametral medio durante 1992, promediado sobre todas las parcelas, fue de 0.83 mm año-' ( a . 0 9 E.E. entre parcelas), una tasa aproximadamente el doble que la media de 10s tres años anteriores. La encina es pues capaz de utilizar la precipitación estival para aumentar su crecimiento diametral en el mismo año. Analizando conjuntamente 10s datos de todas las encinas, ninguno de 10s tres factores experimentales tuvo efectos significatives sobre el crecimiento de 1992. Sin embargo, para 10s pies dominantes, la fertilizaci6n con N aumentó significativamente el crecimiento diametral medio en un 42% con respecto a las encinas dominantes que recibieron otros tratamientos, mientras que la fertilización con P y la inigación previa no tuvieron efecto significativa. Por tanto, la mayor capacidad de intercepción de luz por si misrna (como en las parcelas previamente irrigadas) no se tradujo en un mayor crecimiento diametral en un año de buena disponibilidad hídrica. En cambio, la mayor capacidad de intercepción de luz del dosel combinada con una mejor nutrición nitrogenada (como en las parcelas fertilizadas con N) si tuvo tal efecto. Esta es la primera vez que se demuestra que el N es un factor limitante del crecimiento diametral de 10s troncos de las encinas en el monte bajo de las montañas de Prades

Hematotoxicity of magnetite nanoparticles coated with polyethylene glycol: in vitro and in vivo studies

Accepted Manuscript.-- et al.Hematotoxicity of magnetite nanoparticles coated with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) has been evaluated by determining their safety in vitro and in vivo in a rat model up to 30 days after administration of a single dose. The in vitro analysis consists of global plasma coagulation (PT, aPTT, and fibrinogen) and platelet aggregation tests while the hematotoxicity studies in vivo include a complete blood count and the possible genotoxic effect analysis in the bone marrow hematopoietic function. Prolonged aPTT values indicate a higher anticoagulant effect for NP-DMSA compared with PEG-coated nanoparticles as a consequence of the higher surface charge of the former. The in vivo tests showed that these bioferrofluids do not cause genotoxic effects, affect erythropoiesis or increase the number of immature erythrocytes in the bone marrow at the analyzed dose. However, nanoparticle administration showed a significant effect on the leukocyte counts in animals treated with DMSA coated nanoparticles 24 h after injection. This response is not observed in animals treated with PEG modified nanoparticles which justifies the use of this polymer in biomasking strategies.L.M.A.A. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation FPI research grants. Technical support from the University Hospital Lozano Blesa, Zaragoza, Spain and from María Angeles Gracia, Ana Isabel Martínez de Ternero, Maria Rosa Borrell Sanz. AR holds a predoctoral fellowship from a CSIC-CITMA collaborative project (B01CU2009; ICMM, 2011–2014) and a short-term fellowship from CNPq (DTI-2; 383934/2013-3). This work was partially supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MAT2011-23641 and MAT2011-25991).Peer Reviewe

Influence of structural and magnetic properties in the heating performance of multicore bioferrofluids

Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (CC-BY).Biomedical applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide particles have been of interest for quite a number of years. Recent developments show that multifunctionality can be efficiently achieved using polymers to coat the particles and to provide anchoring elements to their surface. This leads to the formation of nanobeads with a reduced number of particles trapped by the polymeric structure. While the magnetothermic behavior of isolated nanoparticles has been a subject of interest over the past several years, multicore magnetic nanobeads have thus far not received the same attention. The influence of structural and magnetic properties in the hyperthermia performance of a series of magnetic fluids designed for biomedical purposes is studied here. The fluids are made of maghemite multicore polymeric beads, with variable nanoparticle size and hydrodynamic size, dispersed in a buffer solution. The specific loss power (SLP) was measured from 5 to 100 kHz with a field intensity of 21.8 kA/m. SLP increases with increasing magnetic core size, reaching 32 W/g Fe 2O3 at 100 kHz for 16.2 nm. Within the framework of the linear response theory, a graphical construction is proposed to describe the interplay of both size distributions and magnetic properties in the heating performance of such fluids in a given frequency range. Furthermore, a numerical model is developed to calculate the spare contribution of Néel and Brown relaxation mechanisms to SLP, which gives a fair reproduction of the experimental data. © 2013 American Physical Society.R.B. would like to thank ICMA-CSIC for the JAE predoc grant. Financial support from Grant No. MAT2011-25991 is gratefully acknowledged. We acknowledge Fundaçâo para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), COMPETE, and FEDER programs (Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2013). N.J.O.S. acknowledges FCT for the Ciência 2008 program.Peer Reviewe

Assessing predicted age-specific breast cancer mortality rates in 27 Europea countries by 2020

Background: We assessed differences in predicted breast cancer (BC) mortality rates, across Europe, by 2020, taking into account changes in the time trends of BC mortality rates during the period 2000-2010. Methods: BC mortality data, for 27 European Union (EU) countries, were extracted from the World Health Organization mortality database. First, we compared BC mortality data between time periods 2000-2004 and 2006-2010 through standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and carrying out a graphical assessment of the age-specific rates. Second, making use of the base period 2006-2012, we predicted BC mortality rates by 2020. Finally, making use of the SMRs and the predicted data, we identified a clustering of countries, assessing differences in the time trends between the areas defined in this clustering. Results: The clustering approach identified two clusters of countries: the first cluster were countries where BC predicted mortality rates, in 2020, might slightly increase among women aged 69 and older compared with 2010 [Greece (SMR 1.01), Croatia (SMR 1.02), Latvia (SMR 1.15), Poland (SMR 1.14), Estonia (SMR 1.16), Bulgaria (SMR 1.13), Lithuania (SMR 1.03), Romania (SMR 1.13) and Slovakia (SMR 1.06)]. The second cluster was those countries where BC mortality rates level off or decrease in all age groups (remaining countries). However, BC mortality rates between these clusters might diminish and converge to similar figures by 2020. Conclusions: For the year 2020, our predictions have shown a converging pattern of BC mortality rates between European regions. Reducing disparities, in access to screening and treatment, could have a substantial effect in countries where a non-decreasing trend in age-specific BC mortality rates has been predicted

Efficient training of energy-based models via spin-glass control

[EN] We introduce a new family of energy-based probabilistic graphical models for efficient unsupervised learning. Its definition is motivated by the control of the spin-glass properties of the Ising model described by the weights of Boltzmann machines. We use it to learn the Bars and Stripes dataset of various sizes and the MNIST dataset, and show how they quickly achieve the performance offered by standard methods for unsupervised learning. Our results indicate that the standard initialization of Boltzmann machines with random weights equivalent to spin-glass models is an unnecessary bottleneck in the process of training. Furthermore, this new family allows for very easy access to low-energy configurations, which points to new, efficient training algorithms. The simplest variant of such algorithms approximates the negative phase of the log-likelihood gradient with no Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling costs at all, and with an accuracy sufficient to achieve good learning and generalization.ML and AA groups acknowledge the Spanish Ministry MINECO and State Research Agency AEI (FIDEUA PID2019-106901GBI00/10.13039/501100011033, Severo Ochoa Grant Nos. SEV-2015-0522 and CEX2019-000910-S, FPI), the European Social Fund, Fundacio Cellex, Fundacio Mir-Puig, Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR Grant Nos. 2017 SGR 1341 and SGR 1381, CERCA program, QuantumCAT U16-011424, co-funded by ERDF Operational Program of Catalonia 2014-2020), ERC AdG NOQIA and CERQUTE, EU FEDER, MINECO-EU QUANTERA MAQS (funded by the State Research Agency AEI PCI2019-111828-2/10.13039/501100011033), the National Science Centre, Poland-Symfonia Grant No. 2016/20/W/ST4/00314 and the AXA Chair in Quantum Information Science. A P-K acknowledges funding from Fundacio Obra Socialla Caixa' (LCF/BQ/ES15/10360001) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme-Grant Agreement No. 648913. G M-G acknowledges funding from Fundacio Obra Social 'la Caixa' (LCF-ICFO grant). M A G-M acknowledges funding from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) through the Beatriz Galindo program 2018 (BEAGAL18/00203).Pozas-Kerstjens, A.; Muñoz-Gil, G.; Piñol, E.; Garcia March, MA.; Acín, A.; Lewenstein, M.; Grzybowski, PR. (2021). Efficient training of energy-based models via spin-glass control. Machine Learning: Science and Technology. 2(2). https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-2153/abe8070250262

Catastrophic senescence and semelparity in the Penna aging model

The catastrophic senescence of the Pacific salmon is among the initial tests used to validate the Penna aging model. Based on the mutation accumulation theory, the sudden decrease in fitness following reproduction may be solely attributed to the semelparity of the species. In this work, we report other consequences of mutation accumulation. Contrary to earlier findings, such dramatic manifestation of aging depends not only on the choice of breeding strategy but also on the value of the reproduction age, R, and the mutation threshold, T. Senescence is catastrophic when $T \leq R$. As the organism's tolerance for harmful genetic mutations increases, the aging process becomes more gradual. We observe senescence that is threshold dependent whenever T>R. That is, the sudden drop in survival rate occurs at age equal to the mutation threshold value

Multidisciplinary consensus statement on the clinical management of patients with pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) remains one of the most aggressive tumors with an increasing incidence rate and reduced survival. Although surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment for PC, only 15-20% of patients are resectable at diagnosis. To select the most appropriate treatment and thus improve outcomes, the diagnostic and therapeutic strategy for each patient with PC should be discussed within a multidisciplinary expert team. Clinical decision-making should be evidence-based, considering the staging of the tumor, the performance status and preferences of the patient. The aim of this guideline is to provide practical and evidence-based recommendations for the management of PC