Lesions of pemphigus vulgaris on irradiated skin

Summary Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune blistering disease produced by IgG autoantibodies against desmoglein (Dsg)3. Lesions on the skin and mucosa can, in rare cases, be induced by radiotherapy. We report a patient with a history of microprolactinoma and PV, who had only oral lesions from the beginning of her illness but 2 months after treatment with radiotherapy for a breast neoplasia, developed skin lesions limited to the irradiated area. Over the following few months, she also developed autoantibodies against Dsg

Multi-parametrical tool for the design of bottom racks dIMRACK-application to small hydropower plants in Ecuador

A novel computational tool, DIMRACK, is presented for the design of the required length of bottom racks in intake systems. The users may consider clear water cases or the rack's occlusion due to sediment transport in the river. The computational tool uses a methodology based on the experimental works undertaken at the Universidad Politecnica de Cartagena from 2010. This work also presents an extension of the methodology to cover a broad range of void ratios, bar profiles, slopes, and flow rates. Designing nomograms are also proposed. These are two diagrams to allow the approximate graphical computation of the rack length with clear water. In sediment transport cases, an occlusion factor is proposed, obtained from experimental gravel tests. This parameter enables an increment in the rack length due to occlusion, depending on the bar type. The results are compared with those proposed in classical technical manuals. Finally, the results have been compared with ten existing small hydropower plants' bottom intake designs in Ecuador.The authors are grateful to the Fundación Carolina (Spain) by Patricia L. Haro, to the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (Ecuador), and to the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain) for granting the scholarship for the development of the doctoral thesis which is one of the bases of this article. The authors would also like to thank the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional de Ecuador for providing us with information on design projects which helped in the process of developing the computational tool presented. This research was funded by Fundación Séneca through the project “Optimización de los sistemas de captación de fondo para zonas semiáridas y caudales con alto contenido de sedimentos. Definición de los parámetros de diseño”, grant number 19490/PI/1

Diseño de sistemas de captación de fondo

La longitud de reja necesaria para captar un determinado caudal en un sistema de captación de fondo depende de factores como: el tipo de barra —circulares o planas—, el espaciamiento entre barras y la pendiente adoptada por la reja. Este trabajo recoge la campaña experimental realizada en el Laboratorio de Hidráulica de la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT) sobre un dispositivo de captación utilizando dos configuraciones de rejas de sección circular, longitudinalmente dispuestas a la corriente, cuyos índices de huecos (relación área hueca respecto a área total) m = 0.28 y 0.60. Se han considerado el calado al inicio de la reja y la longitud de captación, obtenidos en 237 casos con diversos caudales entrantes y pendientes adoptadas entre 0 y 33%. Las variables adimensionales más influyentes en este tipo de flujo permiten la obtención de un ajuste de regresión lineal múltiple.Los autores agradecen el apoyo financiero de la Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia – España a través del proyecto “Optimización de los sistemas de captación de fondo para zonas semiáridas y caudales con alto contenido de sedimentos. Definición de los parámetros de diseño”. Referencia 19490/PI/14

Propiedades fisicoquímicas de cereal pigmentado con polvo de tuna roja

La tuna roja posee actividad antioxidante y potencial como colorante en la industria alimentaria, sin embargo su uso puede provocar cambios fisicoquímicos en los productos que deben ser evaluados. 2.5, 5.0 y 7.5% de polvo de tuna fueron mezclados con sémola de maíz y procesados en un extrusor de doble tornillo a 22% de humedad, 100 ºC y 325 rpm. Evaluando en los cereales propiedades físicas (humedad, densidad, color, textura e índices: expansión y solubilidad y absorción de agua,) y propiedades químicas (contenidos de polifenoles, betacianinas y betaxantinas, actividad antioxidante). Se encontró que la humedad y el índice de solubilidad en agua no presentaron dependencia al contenido de polvo adicionado. La densidad aumentó al incrementar el contenido de polvo, mientras que los índices de expansión y de absorción de agua disminuyeron con el incremento de polvo adicionado. El incremento en el polvo causó disminución de L*, b*, croma* y h* sin embargo aumentó a* y la textura de los cereales. Así como de los contenidos de polifenoles y betalainas y actividad antioxidante

The JAK/STAT3 Pathway Is a Common Inducer of Astrocyte Reactivity in Alzheimer's and Huntington's Diseases.

Astrocyte reactivity is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases (ND), but its effects on disease outcomes remain highly debated. Elucidation of the signaling cascades inducing reactivity in astrocytes during ND would help characterize the function of these cells and identify novel molecular targets to modulate disease progression. The Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK/STAT3) pathway is associated with reactive astrocytes in models of acute injury, but it is unknown whether this pathway is directly responsible for astrocyte reactivity in progressive pathological conditions such as ND. In this study, we examined whether the JAK/STAT3 pathway promotes astrocyte reactivity in several animal models of ND. The JAK/STAT3 pathway was activated in reactive astrocytes in two transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and in a mouse and a nonhuman primate lentiviral vector-based model of Huntington's disease (HD). To determine whether this cascade was instrumental for astrocyte reactivity, we used a lentiviral vector that specifically targets astrocytes in vivo to overexpress the endogenous inhibitor of the JAK/STAT3 pathway [suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3)]. SOCS3 significantly inhibited this pathway in astrocytes, prevented astrocyte reactivity, and decreased microglial activation in models of both diseases. Inhibition of the JAK/STAT3 pathway within reactive astrocytes also increased the number of huntingtin aggregates, a neuropathological hallmark of HD, but did not influence neuronal death. Our data demonstrate that the JAK/STAT3 pathway is a common mediator of astrocyte reactivity that is highly conserved between disease states, species, and brain regions. This universal signaling cascade represents a potent target to study the role of reactive astrocytes in ND

SOBRINA Spanish study-analysing the frequency, cost and adverse events associated with overuse in primary care: protocol for a retrospective cohort study

Introduction Several institutions and quality national agencies have fostered the creation of recommendations on what not to do to reduce overuse in clinical practice. In primary care, their impact has hardly been studied. The frequency of adverse events (AEs) associated with doing what must not be done has not been analysed, either. The aim of this study is to measure the frequency of overuse and AEs associated with doing what must not be done (commission errors) in primary care and their cost. Methods and analysis A coordinated, multicentric, national project. A retrospective cohort study using computerised databases of primary care medical records from national agencies and regional health services will be conducted to analyse the frequency of the overuse due to ignore the do-not-do recommendations, and immediately afterwards, depending on their frequency, a representative random sample of medical records will be reviewed with algorithms (triggers) that determine the frequency of AEs associated with these recommendations. Cost will determine by summation of the direct costs due to the consultation, pharmacy, laboratory and imaging activities according to the cases. Ethics and dissemination The study protocol has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Primary Care Research of the Valencian Community. We aim to disseminate the findings through international peerreviewed journals and on the website (http://www. nohacer. es/). Outcomes will be used to incorporate algorithms into the electronic history to assist in making clinical decisions

Combined use of gliadins and SSRs to analyse the genetic variability of the Spanish collection of cultivated diploid wheat (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum)

This work studied the combined use of gliadins and SSRs to analyse inter- and intra-accession variability of the Spanish collection of cultivated einkorn (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum) maintained at the CRF-INIA. In general, gliadin loci presented higher discrimination power than SSRs, reflecting the high variability of the gliadins. The loci on chromosome 6A were the most polymorphic with similar PIC values for both marker systems, showing that these markers are very useful for genetic variability studies in wheat. The gliadin results indicated that the Spanish einkorn collection possessed high genetic diversity, being the differentiation large between varieties and small within them. Some associations between gliadin alleles and geographical and agro-morphological data were found. Agro-morphological relations were also observed in the clusters of the SSRs dendrogram. A high concordance was found between gliadins and SSRs for genotype identification. In addition, both systems provide complementary information to resolve the different cases of intra-accession variability not detected at the agro-morphological level, and to identify separately all the genotypes analysed. The combined use of both genetic markers is an excellent tool for genetic resource evaluation in addition to agro-morphological evaluation

First Measurement of the W Boson Mass in Run II of the Tevatron

We present a measurement of the W boson mass using 200/pb of data collected in pbar p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV by the CDF II detector at Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron. With a sample of 63964 W -> e nu candidates and 51128 W -> mu nu candidates, we measure M_W = (80413 +- 34 (stat) +- 34 (syst) = 80413 +- 48) MeV/c^2. This is the most precise single measurement of the W boson mass to date.Comment: published version in PR

Observation and Mass Measurement of the Baryon Ξb−\Xi^-_b

We report the observation and measurement of the mass of the bottom, strange baryon $\Xi^-_b$ through the decay chain $\Xi^-_b \to J/\psi \Xi^-$, where $J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^-$, $\Xi^- \to \Lambda \pi^-$, and $\Lambda \to p \pi^-$. Evidence for observation is based on a signal whose probability of arising from the estimated background is 6.6 x 10^{-15}, or 7.7 Gaussian standard deviations. The $\Xi^-_b$ mass is measured to be $5792.9\pm 2.5$ (stat.) $\pm 1.7$ (syst.) MeV/$c^2$.Comment: Minor text changes for the second version. Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let