The Integrated Renovation of High-Rise Hotels on the Spanish Mediterranean Coast

In terms of construction and energy efficiency, Spain has one of the highest indexes of obsolete buildings among the developed countries. In the case of high-rise hotel buildings, this problem is further added to by the low levels of safety in the case of fire. The development of tourism in the 1950s and 60s led to the construction of a large number of high-rise hotels with 30+ floors. Initially, they conformed to lax, undemanding regulations regarding fire resistance in their structural components, fire escape routes, protected staircases, and so on. The requirements of today’s regulations in this field, contained in the Basic SI Technical Building Code Document, often make the renovation of these buildings an impossible task. Installing specially protected staircases can entail traumatic modifications that are sometimes unviable due to structural conditions or economic considerations. Furthermore, the building’s energy efficiency and CO2 emissions do not correspond to environmentally-friendly practices. This paper examines the above questions with regard to the Hotel Tryp Gran Sol in Alicante, Spain. The hotel is 97 m high and has 31 floors. The integrated renovation of the hotel requires serious reflection upon the building’s global response to personal safety, its envelope components and its air conditioning. Architectural solutions and the building’s economic viability for future exploitation as an important element in the building’s life cycle assessment (LCA) are discussed

Recensiones [Revista de Historia Económica Año V Otoño 1987 n. 3 pp. 601-647]

Françoise Dosse. L'histoire en miettes. Des «Annales» a la «nouvelle histoire» (Por Femando G. Jaén).-- Jerónimo López-Salazar Pérez. Estructuras agrarias y sociedad rural en La Mancha (siglos XVI-XVII) (Por Enrique Llopis).-- Agustín Guimera Ravina. Burguesía extranjera y comercio atlántico: la empresa comercial irlandesa en Canarias (1703-1771) (Por Pedro Pérez Herrero).-- JMiguel Molina Martínez.El Real Tribunal de Minería de Lima (1785-1821) (Por Kenneth J. Andrien).-- Bárbara A. Tenenbaum. México en la época de los agiotistas, 1821-1857 (Por Inmaculada Romero-Hombrebucno).-- Joan Boadas i Raset. Girona després de la Guerra de Successió. Riquesa urbana i estructura social al primer quart del segle XVIII (Por Enriqueta Camps).-- V. Pinilla Navarro. Teruel (1833-1868). Revolución burguesa y atraso económico (Por M. Teresa Pérez Picazo).-- Jordi Nadal y otros. Catalunya, la fabrica d'Espanya (Un siglo de industrialización catalana, 1833-1936) (Por Sebastián Coll Martín).-- J. SardáDexeus. Escritos (1948-1980) (Por Pablo Martín Aceña).-- Esperanza Frax. Puertos y comercio de cabotaje en España, 1857-1934 y El mercado interior y los principales puertos, 1857-1920 (Por A. Gómez Mendoza).-- Vicent Soler Marco. Guerra i expansió industrial: Pais Valencia (1914-1923) (Por Albert Carreras).-- Guillermo Cortázar. Alfonso XIII, hombrede negocios. Persistencia del Antiguo Régimen, modernización económica y crisis política, 1902-1931 (Por Gabriel Tortella).-- S. N. Broadberry The British Economy between the Wars. A Macroeconomic Survey (Por Francisco Comín)Publicad

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Loss of TRPV2-mediated blood flow autoregulation recapitulates diabetic retinopathy in rats

Loss of retinal blood flow autoregulation is an early feature of diabetes that precedes the development of clinically recognizable diabetic retinopathy (DR). Retinal blood flow autoregulation is mediated by the myogenic response of the retinal arterial vessels, a process that is initiated by the stretch‑dependent activation of TRPV2 channels on the retinal vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Here, we show that the impaired myogenic reaction of retinal arterioles from diabetic animals is associated with a complete loss of stretch‑dependent TRPV2 current activity on the retinal VSMCs. This effect could be attributed, in part, to TRPV2 channel downregulation, a phenomenon that was also evident in human retinal VSMCs from diabetic donors. We also demonstrate that TRPV2 heterozygous rats, a nondiabetic model of impaired myogenic reactivity and blood flow autoregulation in the retina, develop a range of microvascular, glial, and neuronal lesions resembling those observed in DR, including neovascular complexes. No overt kidney pathology was observed in these animals. Our data suggest that TRPV2 dysfunction underlies the loss of retinal blood flow autoregulation in diabetes and provide strong support for the hypothesis that autoregulatory deficits are involved in the pathogenesis of DR

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

International audienceIn 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field