Late Bronze Age Hoard studied by PIXE

The hoards of metallic objects belonging to the Late European Bronze Age can be interpreted differently depending on the type, number and composition of the artefacts. PIXE analysis has been performed in nine items from the Hoard of Freixanda in Portugal comprising 4 socket axes, a palstave axe, a ring, a chisel, a dagger, and a casting debris. Besides the composition of the main matrix elements, that is Cu and Sn, the amount of trace elements of interest like, As, Pb, Ni and Ag has been determined using this ion beam technique. The high tin content alloy and the high purity of the metals from the Freixanda hoard are characteristic of the Portuguese and Spanish Late Bronze Age metallurgy, supporting the idea of a regional production

Immune activation throughout a boosted darunavir monotherapy simplification strategy

AbstractOur aim was to assess the evolution and the impact that blips, intermittent low-level viraemia and virological failure (VF) episodes have on patients’ immune activation (IA) profiles during ritonavir-boosted darunavir monotherapy (mtDRV/rtv). A prospective cohort of human immunodeficiency virus-1-infected patients who switched to mtDRV/rtv was followed for 2 years. Cellular IA was assessed according to HLA-DR and CD38 expression in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells and their naïve, effector memory and central memory subpopulations, and systemic IA was evaluated according to sCD14 and D-dimer levels. Seventy-five patients from the MonDAR cohort were selected for this substudy, and classified according to viral outcome as having continuous undetectable viraemia (n = 19), blips (n = 19), intermittent viraemia (n = 21), and VF (n = 16). The IA profile was closely linked to viral behaviour. Patients on viral suppression for 24 months showed a significant decrease in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell activation and sCD14 and D-dimer levels. Patients with transient low-level viraemia episodes (blips and intermittent viraemia) showed cellular and systemic IA similar to baseline values. In contrast, significant increases in T-cell activation and sCD14 and D-dimer levels were observed in patients with VF. Baseline levels of HLA-DR+CD38+CD8+ T-cells of >6.4% were independently associated with the emergence of VF. Therefore, mtDRV/rtv might be considered as a safe simplification strategy, on the basis of the IA results, whenever viral replication is under medium-term and long-term control. Transient low-level viraemia episodes do not affect patients’ IA status. Moreover, HLA-DR+CD38+CD8+ T-cell baseline levels should be considered when patients are switched to mtDRV/rtv

Xpert MTB/RIF kit en el diagnóstico de tuberculosis de muestras no respiratorias

La detección rápida de M. tuberculosis (MTB) es uno de los objetivos de fundamentales de la OMS y el empleo de técnicas de amplificación de ácidos nucleicos es cada día mas habitual en los laboratorios avanzados, sin embargo la mayoría de estas técnicas están diseñadas para el estudio de MTB en muestras respiratorias y su funcionamiento es controvertido en muestras no respiratorias donde la carga bacilar es pobr

High conductance values in p -folded molecular junctions

Folding processes play a crucial role in the development of function in biomacromolecules. Recreating this feature on synthetic systems would not only allow understanding and reproducing biological functions but also developing new functions. This has inspired the development of conformationally ordered synthetic oligomers known as foldamers. Herein, a new family of foldamers, consisting of an increasing number of anthracene units that adopt a folded sigmoidal conformation by a combination of intramolecular hydrogen bonds and aromatic interactions, is reported. Such folding process opens up an efficient through-space charge transport channel across the interacting anthracene moieties. In fact, single-molecule conductance measurements carried out on this series of foldamers, using the scanning tunnelling microscopy-based break-junction technique, reveal exceptionally high conductance values in the order of 10(-1) G(0) and a low length decay constant of 0.02 angstrom(-1) that exceed the values observed in molecular junctions that make use of through-space charge transport pathways.We thank Dr J.I. Miranda (University of the Basque Country) for assistance on NMR characterization. We are grateful to the Basque Science Foundation for Science (Ikerbasque), POLYMAT, the University of the Basque Country (SGIker and UFI11/23), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AU 373/3-1 and MA 5215/4-1), Gobierno de Espana (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad CTQ2016-77970-R, CTQ2015-71936-REDT, CTQ2015-71406-ERC, CTQ2015-64579-C3-3P, CTQ-2014-54464-R and CTQ-2015-68148), Gobierno Vasco (BERC programme, Consolidated Groups IT520-10 and PC2015-1-01(06-37)), Diputacion Foral de Guipuzcoa (OF215/2016(ES)), CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679 (FCT ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013), ON2 (NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000086) and the European Union (ERA Chemistry, Marie Curie Career Integration Grant No. 618247, and FET-Open (2D-INK) Grant No. 664878)

Valoración del trabajo colaborativo y rendimiento académico en el proceso de enseñanza de un curso de investigación en estudiantes de medicina

Introduction. Collaborative work promotes learning through active participation of students, allowing the development of social abilities and the construction of their own knowledge. Objective. To analyze collaborative work and its relationship with academic performance in medical students in a research course. Methods. Cross-sectional study, in which 148 human medicine students enrolled in the research course participated, selected using a non-probabilistic sample. The questionnaire called analysis of cooperative work in higher education that assesses the importance of collaborative work, of 49 questions distributed in seven dimensions, was used. A Likert scale was used in a range of 1 to 5, where 1 is valued as a total disagreement and 5 totally agree. Three groups were established: low group to 33 percentile; middle group, from 34th percentile to 66th percentile; and high group, from 67th percentile to more. Results. The average age was 22,4 years and 52,7% corresponded to the female gender. In the “conception of work” dimension, 40,5% of students belonged to the middle group; in the dimension “planning the work of the groups by the teacher”, 41,9% to the low group; in “criteria for organizing groups”, 37,8% for the low group; in “internal operation”, 43,2% to the low group; and in “work efficiency”, 32,4% to the high group and 39,9% to the low group. The global average of grades corresponded to 12,7. The academic performance in students of the low and medium group was similar, and in the female students of the high group it was significantly higher (p=0,049). Conclusions. The low group predominated in the dimensions “teacher’s work planning”, “criteria for organizing groups”, “operating standards”, “internal functioning” and “efficiency”. 54,7% of students corresponded to the high group and the overall grade point average was 12,7. There was no relationship between the variables studied.Introducción. El trabajo colaborativo incentiva el aprendizaje mediante la participación activa de los estudiantes, permitiendo desarrollar habilidades sociales y construir sus propios conocimientos. Objetivo. Analizar el trabajo colaborativo y su relación con el rendimiento académico en estudiantes de medicina de un curso de investigación. Métodos. Estudio transversal, en el que participaron 148 estudiantes de medicina humana matriculados en el curso de investigación, seleccionados mediante una muestra no probabilística. Se utilizó el cuestionario denominado análisis del trabajo cooperativo en educación superior que valora la importancia del trabajo colaborativo, de 49 preguntas distribuidas en siete dimensiones. Se utilizó una escala de Likert en un rango de 1 a 5, donde 1 se valora como total desacuerdo y 5 totalmente de acuerdo. Se establecieron tres grupos: grupo bajo hasta percentil 33; grupo medio, de percentil 34 a percentil 66; y grupo alto, de percentil 67 a más. Resultados. La edad promedio fue 22,4 años y 52,7% correspondieron al género femenino. En la dimensión “concepción del trabajo”, 40,5% de estudiantes pertenecieron al grupo medio; en la dimensión “planificación del trabajo de los grupos por el profesor”, 41,9% al grupo bajo; en “criterios para organizar grupos”, 37,8% al grupo bajo; en “funcionamiento interno”, 43,2% al grupo bajo; y en “eficacia del trabajo”, 32,4% al grupo alto y 39,9% al grupo bajo. El promedio global de notas correspondió a 12,7. El rendimiento académico en estudiantes del grupo bajo y medio fue similar, y en las estudiantes de género femenino del grupo alto fue significativamente mayor (p=0,049). Conclusiones. El grupo bajo predominó en las dimensiones “planificación del trabajo del profesor”, “criterios para organizar grupos”, “normas de funcionamiento”, “funcionamiento interno” y “eficacia”. 54,7% de estudiantes correspondió al grupo alto y el promedio global de calificaciones fue 12,7. No existió relación entre las variables estudiadas