A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Janus Kinase Inhibitors in Dermatology : Part 1 - General Considerations and Applications in Vitiligo and Alopecia Areata Inhibidores de JAK: usos en dermatología. Parte 1: generalidades, aplicaciones en vitíligo y en alopecia areata

Dermatologists' interest in the Janus-associated kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway has been growing as evidence builds to support its key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases. Because certain proinflammatory cytokines use the JAK/STAT pathway for signal transduction, it has become a promising therapeutic target in diseases where selective modulation of the immune system can be useful. We aim to review current knowledge of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and its role in immune-mediated skin diseases. In the first part of the review we cover the efficacy and safety of oral and topical JAK inhibitors in the treatment of vitiligo and alopecia areata

Janus Kinase Inhibitors in Dermatology : Part 2: Applications in Psoriasis, Atopic Dermatitis, and Other Dermatoses Inhibidores de JAK: usos en dermatología. Parte 2: aplicaciones en psoriasis, dermatitis atópica y otras dermatosis

Dermatologists' interest in the Janus-associated kinase (JAK)/signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) pathway has been growing as evidence builds to support its key role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases. Because certain proinflammatory cytokines use the JAK/STAT pathway for signal transduction, it has become a promising therapeutic target in diseases where selective modulation of the immune system can be useful. We aim to review current knowledge of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and its role in immune-mediated skin diseases. In the second part of the review we cover the efficacy and safety of oral and topical JAK inhibitors in the treatment of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and other skin diseases

Unmet Needs in the Management of Moderate-to-Severe Psoriasis in Spain: A Multidimensional Evaluation.

Psoriasis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disease that affects the skin, with a high impact on patients' quality of life. The aim of this study was to identify and determine the relative importance of unmet needs in the management of moderate-to-severe psoriasis in Spain, from a multi-stakeholder perspective. A mixed method-approach was used to collect information, design a questionnaire and a discrete-choice exercise, and elicit the unmet needs through a multidisciplinary committee composed of 12 experts. A total of 65 unmet needs were identified and categorized into 4 areas: clinical, patient-related, decision-making process, and social. Decision-making process unmet needs were perceived as the most pressing ones, followed by social, clinical and patient-related. Individually, the need to incorporate outcomes that are important to the patients and to have treatments that achieve total clearance with a rapid onset of action and long-term persistence were the most important unmet needs