Extracellular Vesicle-Mediated Communication between the Glioblastoma and Its Microenvironment

The glioblastoma is the most malignant form of brain cancer. Glioblastoma cells use multiple ways of communication with the tumor microenvironment in order to tune it for their own benefit. Among these, extracellular vesicles have emerged as a focus of study in the last few years. Extracellular vesicles contain soluble proteins, DNA, mRNA and non-coding RNAs with which they can modulate the phenotypes of recipient cells. In this review we summarize recent findings on the extracellular vesicles-mediated bilateral communication established between glioblastoma cells and their tumor microenvironment, and the impact of this dialogue for tumor progression and recurrence.España MINECO grant number PGC2018-094654-B-10

Modeling and stability analysis of tethered kites at high altitudes

A systematic analysis of the role played by several physical mechanisms in the longitudinal stability of a tethered kite is presented. A simple model, which artificially constrains the pitch motion of the kite and approximates the tether by a massless and rigid bar, is improved progressively to include the kite pitch motion as well as the tether inertia, flexibility, wind load, and elasticity. The models are presented as compact sets of ordinary differential equations without algebraic constraints, which are explicitly eliminated by making an extensive use of Lagrangian mechanics. The contributions of each physical mechanism on kite stability are investigated separately, and a tradeoff between the complexity and computational costs of the models against their accuracy and reliability is carried out. The wind load on the tether is identified as a key effect stabilizing the steady state of the kites. The optimal bridle design and tether length selections to compute the kite ceiling are discussed.This work was supported by Fundación BBVA under the Convocatoria 2015 de Ayudas BBVA a Investigadores y Creadores Culturales grant no. IN[15]_TIC_ING_0313. G. Sánchez-Arriaga was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (grant no. RYC-2014-15357)Publicad

Brainwashing constituents in Aldous Huxley's brave new worldand George Orwell's nineteen eighty-four

Brave New Worldand Nineteen Eighty-Fourare some of the best examples of dystopian novels in the twentieth century. Following the definition given by Gregory Claeys in his chapter, The origins of dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell, 'dystopia' is often used interchangeably with 'anti-utopia' or 'negative utopia', by contrast to utopia or 'eutopia' (good place), to describe a fictional portrayal of a society in which evil, or negative social and political developments, have theupper hand, or as a satire of utopian aspirations which attempts to show up their fallacies. According to the distinction made by Jorge

Using ict to reinforce motivation working in English in Natural Science

The development of the present work is based on the use of new technologies with the main objective to enhance the learning of foreign languages and as an important resource for students and teachers to use in classrooms. In addition, the target of this report is to promote the acquisition and development of a second language, in this case the English Language, with students of the second cycle of Primary Education. This purpose will be reflected in an implement proposal linked to the subject of Natural Science, making use of technology and working with cooperative groups.Grado en Educación Primari

The Double Feminine Nature and the Medical Gaze: Elsie Venner (1861)

Elsie Venner: A Romance of Destiny, written in 1861 by Oliver Wendell Holmes, is a singular novel. Written at a time when medicine was struggling to become a model of professionalization, its singularity lies in the fact that there are four doctors involved in the novel: its author, the narrator of the story and two main characters. Apart from this, out of the three main female characters in the novel, two of them sicken as a consequence of their disobedience to social and moral standards. The novel helps us explore some of the most important issues that were at the center of public debate in nineteenth century medicine: the supposedly pathological nature of female health, the complex relationship between doctor and patient, the consequences of crossing the borders of gender roles, the medical treatment of hysteria, the observational skills of the doctor, the role of the nurse and the threats to healthy reproduction.Elsie Venner: A Romance of Destiny, escrita en 1861 por Oliver Wendell Holmes, es una novela singular. Escrita en una época en que la medicina luchaba por convertirse en un modelo de profesionalización, su singularidad recae en el hecho de que hay cuatro médicos implicados en la novela: su autor, el narrador de la historia y dos personajes principales. Aparte de esto, de los tres personajes femeninos principales en la novela, dos de ellos enferman como consecuencia de su desobediencia a los estándares morales y sociales. La novela nos ayuda a explorar algunas de las cuestiones más importantes que se situaban en el centro del debate público en la medicina del siglo XIX: la supuesta naturaleza patológica de la salud femenina, la compleja relación entre el médico y su paciente, las consecuencias de cruzar las fronteras de los roles de género, el tratamiento médico de la histeria, las destrezas observacionales del médico, el papel de la enfermera y las amenazas a la salud de la reproducción

Interactions between neural progenitor cells and microglia in the subventricular zone: physiological implications in the neurogenic niche and after implantation in the injured brain

The adult subventricular zone (SVZ) of the mammalian brain contains neural progenitor cells (NPCs) that continuously produce neuroblasts throughout life. These neuroblasts migrate towards the olfactory bulb where they differentiate into local interneurons. The neurogenic niche of the SVZ includes, in addition to NPCs and neuroblasts, astrocytes, ependymal cells, blood vessels and the molecules released by these cell types. In the last few years, microglial cells have also been included as a key component of the SVZ neurogenic niche. Microglia in the SVZ display unique phenotypic features, and are more densely populated and activated than in non-neurogenic regions. In this article we will review literature reporting microglia-NPC interactions in the SVZ and the role of this bilateral communication in microglial function and in NPC biology. This interaction can take place through the release of soluble factors, extracellular vesicles or gap junctional communication. In addition, as NPCs are used for cell replacement therapies, they can establish therapeutically relevant crosstalks with host microglia which will also be summarized throughout the article.España MINECO Y FEDER BFU2012-33975 and BFU2015-64515-

“Living on the edge” : the role of field margins for common vole (Microtus arvalis) populations in recently colonised Mediterranean farmland

Acknowledgments RRP was supported by a PhD-studentship from the University of Valladolid (co-funded by Banco Santander, RR 30/04/2014). Financial support was provided by ECOCYCLES (BIODIVERSA 2008, Era-net European project, EUI2008-03658 and NERC NE/G002045/1 to XL) and ECOVOLE projects (CGL2012-35348; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain). The article also contributes to project ECOTULA (CGL2015-66962-C2-1-R). We held all the necessary licenses and permits for conducting this work (JJLL, FM and RRP held animal experimentation permits of level B for Spain, and a capture permit was provided by the Consejería de Fomento y Medio Ambiente, Junta de Castilla y León (Expte: EP/CYL/665/2014)). We thank two anonymous reviewers for providing and constructive comments to improve the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Español académico a través de la Guía académica para estudiantes internacionales de la Universidad de Alicante

Este trabajo se enmarca en el ámbito de la adquisición del español como lengua extranjera con fines académicos, de creciente interés por el auge de los intercambios universitarios y la internacionalización de nuestro alumnado. Esta especialidad se ha ido afianzando desde los primeros estudios de Vázquez (2001, 2004, 2005) y está cobrando gran relevancia en los últimos años. Desde el grupo de investigación ACQUA, venimos trabajando en esta línea desde 2010 mediante la realización de Cursos de Español académico para estudiantes extranjeros, que van por su sexta edición (Gil del Moral 2014), así como a través de tres Redes de Investigación en Docencia Universitaria, a partir de 2013 (Pastor 2015a, 2015b, 2016). Partiendo de este marco, los objetivos de este trabajo son, en primer lugar, analizar la recepción de la Guía académica para estudiantes internacionales de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, que fue resultado de la segunda de las Redes citadas y, en segundo lugar, determinar sus beneficios de cara a la adquisición de la lengua y el rendimiento académico. Para la obtención de los datos hemos empleado una metodología mixta, a través de un cuestionario con preguntas abiertas y cerradas para el alumnado de intercambio internacional de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UA durante 2015-16. Los resultados evidencian la utilidad de la Guía, que ha obtenido por parte del alumnado una valoración positiva, lo cual impulsa su mejora y futura implementación.This study is carried out in the field of the Acquisition of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) for academic purposes, a growing interest área due to increasing university exchanges and the internationalisation of our students. This field has been gained momentum since the Vázquez’ first studies (2001, 2004, 2005) and is becoming more important in recent years. At the University of Alicante (UA), within the research group on Acquisition and Teaching of Second and Foreign Languages (ACQUA), we have been working along these lines since 2010 through offering Courses of Academic Spanish for foreign students, which go for their sixth edition (Gil del Moral 2014), as well as through three Research Projects on university teaching, during the academic years 2013-14, 2014-15 y 2015-16 (Pastor 2015a, 2015b, 2016). Building on this framework, this paper aims, firstly, to analyse the reception of the Guía académica para estudiantes internacionales of the Faculty of Arts (FA), which was the result of the second Research Project mentioned and, secondly, to determine its benefits for the acquisition of the language and the academic performance. This mixed method study obtained the data through an opened-ended questionnaire for the international exchange students of the FA at UA during the first and second semester of the current academic year 2015-2016. Results show the usefulness of the Guía, which have been valued positively by the students

New properties about the intersection of rotational quadratic surfaces and their applications in Architecture

A graphic conjecture is presented based on a singular property stated by Archimedes [287-212 B.C.] in his work On Conoids and Spheroids. This ancient text constitutes the starting argument for graphic research that has revealed an unknown property regarding the intersection of rotational quadratic surfaces which they share one of their foci. This article shows the heuristic geometric reasoning carried out stemming from Archimedes’ text transcriptions and a conjecture that can be deduced when the initial property is generalised for the rest of the quadratic surfaces. Moreover, an explanation is offered for the possibilities of this property to be used for the discretisation of architectural surfaces through the use of parametric design and digital fabrication

The T309G MDM2 gene polymorphism is a novel risk factor for proliferative vitreoretinopathy

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is still the major cause of failure in retinal detachment (RD) surgery. It is believed that down-regulation in the p53 pathway could be an important key in PVR pathogenesis. The purpose was to evaluate the impact of T309G MDM2 polymorphism (rs2279744) in PVR. Distribution of T309G MDM2 genotypes among European subjects undergoing RD surgery was evaluated. Proportions of genotypes between subsamples from different countries were analyzed. Also, a genetic interaction between rs2279744 in MDM2 and rs1042522 in p53 gene was analyzed. Significant differences were observed comparing MDM2 genotype frequencies at position 309 of intron 1 between cases (GG: 21.6%, TG: 54.5%, TT: 23.8%) and controls (GG: 7.3%, TG: 43.9%, TT: 48.7%). The proportions of genotypes between sub-samples from different countries showed a significant difference. Distribution of GG genotype revealed differences in Spain (35.1-53.0)/(22.6-32.9), Portugal (39.0-74.4)/(21.4-38.9), Netherlands (40.6-66.3)/(25.3-38.8) and UK (37.5-62.4)/(23.3-34.2). The OR of G carriers in the global sample was 5.9 (95% CI: 3.2 to 11.2). The OR of G carriers from Spain and Portugal was 5.4 (95% CI: 2.2-12.7), whereas in the UK and the Netherlands was 7.3 (95% CI: 2.8-19.1). Results indicate that the G allele of rs2279744 is associated with a higher risk of developing PVR in patients undergoing a RD surgery. Further studies are necessary to understand the role of this SNP in the development of PVR.This work was supported by SAF 2007-66394, FIS PI10/00219 and Group of Excellence Grant (GR15) from Junta de Castilla y León.Peer Reviewe