La implicació de la secció d´Expressió Gràfica a l´Enginyeria al voltant de la sostenibilitat i el compromís social

Amb la present comunicació volem fer palès el fet que seccions departamentals de caràcter eminentment transversal com la nostra, poden jugar un paper clau alhora que integrador en temes com el de la present jornada. Cal tenir en compte que la nostra secció té encarregades assignatures de caràcter integrador com ara Instal•lacions i Construcció Industrial, Oficina Tècnica i Disseny Gràfic Avançat, mitjançant les que els nostres estudiants adquireixen tot els coneixements tècnics i teòrics, alhora que aprenen mitjançant casos o exemples. És amb aquesta última part, amb la que l’alumnat més gaudeix i treballa, prenent i entenent decisions de disseny, triant d’entre les millors tècniques disponibles (MTDs) per a la realització d’una instal•lació, projecte o mecanisme. A més, i en aquesta mateixa línia integradora, cada any oferim força projectes finals de carrera (PFCs) cada vegada més sensibilitzats amb l’eficiència energètica, el respecte al medi ambient i el compromís social. Finalitzem el present text amb alguns exemples de treballs fets per l’alumnat

Estimation of age- and stage-specific Catalan breast cancer survival functions using US and Catalan survival data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During the last part of the 1990s the chance of surviving breast cancer increased. Changes in survival functions reflect a mixture of effects. Both, the introduction of adjuvant treatments and early screening with mammography played a role in the decline in mortality. Evaluating the contribution of these interventions using mathematical models requires survival functions before and after their introduction. Furthermore, required survival functions may be different by age groups and are related to disease stage at diagnosis. Sometimes detailed information is not available, as was the case for the region of Catalonia (Spain). Then one may derive the functions using information from other geographical areas. This work presents the methodology used to estimate age- and stage-specific Catalan breast cancer survival functions from scarce Catalan survival data by adapting the age- and stage-specific US functions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cubic splines were used to smooth data and obtain continuous hazard rate functions. After, we fitted a Poisson model to derive hazard ratios. The model included time as a covariate. Then the hazard ratios were applied to US survival functions detailed by age and stage to obtain Catalan estimations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We started estimating the hazard ratios for Catalonia versus the USA before and after the introduction of screening. The hazard ratios were then multiplied by the age- and stage-specific breast cancer hazard rates from the USA to obtain the Catalan hazard rates. We also compared breast cancer survival in Catalonia and the USA in two time periods, before cancer control interventions (USA 1975–79, Catalonia 1980–89) and after (USA and Catalonia 1990–2001). Survival in Catalonia in the 1980–89 period was worse than in the USA during 1975–79, but the differences disappeared in 1990–2001.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that access to better treatments and quality of care contributed to large improvements in survival in Catalonia. On the other hand, we obtained detailed breast cancer survival functions that will be used for modeling the effect of screening and adjuvant treatments in Catalonia.</p

Regulatory T Cells in γ Irradiation-Induced Immune Suppression

Sublethal total body γ irradiation (TBI) of mammals causes generalized immunosuppression, in part by induction of lymphocyte apoptosis. Here, we provide evidence that a part of this immune suppression may be attributable to dysfunction of immune regulation. We investigated the effects of sublethal TBI on T cell memory responses to gain insight into the potential for loss of vaccine immunity following such exposure. We show that in mice primed to an MHC class I alloantigen, the accelerated graft rejection T memory response is specifically lost several weeks following TBI, whereas identically treated naïve mice at the same time point had completely recovered normal rejection kinetics. Depletion in vivo with anti-CD4 or anti-CD25 showed that the mechanism involved cells consistent with a regulatory T cell (T reg) phenotype. The loss of the T memory response following TBI was associated with a relative increase of CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+ expressing T regs, as compared to the CD8+ T effector cells requisite for skin graft rejection. The radiation-induced T memory suppression was shown to be antigen-specific in that a third party ipsilateral graft rejected with normal kinetics. Remarkably, following the eventual rejection of the first MHC class I disparate skin graft, the suppressive environment was maintained, with markedly prolonged survival of a second identical allograft. These findings have potential importance as regards the immunologic status of T memory responses in victims of ionizing radiation exposure and apoptosis-inducing therapies

Fine-Scale Mapping of the 4q24 Locus Identifies Two Independent Loci Associated with Breast Cancer Risk

Background: A recent association study identified a common variant (rs9790517) at 4q24 to be associated with breast cancer risk. Independent association signals and potential functional variants in this locus have not been explored. Methods: We conducted a fine-mapping analysis in 55,540 breast cancer cases and 51,168 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Results: Conditional analyses identified two independent association signals among women of European ancestry, represented by rs9790517 [conditional P = 2.51 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–1.07] and rs77928427 (P = 1.86 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02–1.07). Functional annotation using data from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project revealed two putative functional variants, rs62331150 and rs73838678 in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs9790517 (r2 ≥ 0.90) residing in the active promoter or enhancer, respectively, of the nearest gene, TET2. Both variants are located in DNase I hypersensitivity and transcription factor–binding sites. Using data from both The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC), we showed that rs62331150 was associated with level of expression of TET2 in breast normal and tumor tissue. Conclusion: Our study identified two independent association signals at 4q24 in relation to breast cancer risk and suggested that observed association in this locus may be mediated through the regulation of TET2. Impact: Fine-mapping study with large sample size warranted for identification of independent loci for breast cancer risk

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Diagnosis y rehabilitación desde una visión europea Erasmus+

Un dels objectius del projecte "DIAGNOSIS Innovating a crucial profession in Building and construction sector" era definir el perfil professional d'un expert en diagnosis d'edificis. En aquest article es fa difusió en una revista del sector, a les conclusions a les que s'ha arribat després dels 2 anys de treball col·laboratiu amb diferents entitats i empreses del sector de la construcció, i universitats de Polonia, Italia i Regne UnitPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Geophysical and geological constraints on the evolution of the Guadalquivir foreland basin, Spain

This paper is included in the Special Publication entitled 'Cenozoic foreland basins of Western Europe' edited by A. Mascle, C. Puigdefabrega, H.P. Luterbacher and M. Fernandez. This paper presents a compilation and reinterpretation of available geophysical and geological data recently acquired for the ENE-WSW Guadalquivir foreland basin, located on the northern margin of the Betic orogen in southern Iberia. The data include seismic reflection and refraction profiles, well logs, gravity, geoid, surface heat- flow data and field observations. The deep structure of the southern Iberian margin is characterized by large variations in crustal thickness and high heat-flow values, which result in a very low lithospheric rigidity for the whole area. Geoid and gravity data show that deformation affected the crust and the lithospheric mantle differently, producing anomalous mass distributions that could act as subsurface loads. Seismic sequence analysis of the basin infill has permitted the re-assessment of the depositional sequential arrangement of the sediments deposited from Late Langhian- Early Serravallian to Messinian. They are arranged in six sequences and do not show any E-W progradational pattern indicating that during this period the acting loads moved essentially in a NNW direction. A careful analysis of the southern border of the basin shows that the 'so-called olistostromes' correspond to lateral diapirs of squeezed Triassic evaporites and internally imbricated Miocene wedges. We discuss the results obtained in terms of palaeo-geographic environments, time distribution and nature of acting loads, and constraints for future basin modelling approaches.Peer Reviewe