Cardiac damage biomarkers and heart rate variability following a 118-km mountain race: relationship with performance and recovery

This study aimed to assess the release of cardiac damage biomarkers jointly with cardiac autonomic modulation after a mountain ultramarathon. Such knowledge and the possible relationship of these markers with race time is of primary interest to establish possible recommendations upon athletes’ recovery and return to training following these competitions. Forty six athletes enrolled in the Penyagolosa Trails CSP115 race (118 km and a total positive elevation of 5439 m) took part in the study. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-TNT) concentrations as well as linear and nonlinear heart rate variability (HRV) were evaluated before and after the race. NT-proBNP and hs-TNT significantly increased post-race; fifty percent of the finishers surpassed the Upper Reference Limit (URL) for hs-TNT while 87% exceeded the URL for NT-proBNP. Overall and vagally-mediated HRV were diminished and cardiac autonomic modulation became less complex and more predictable following the race. More pronounced vagal modulation decreases were associated with higher levels of postexertional NT-proBNP. Moreover, rise in hs-TNT and NT-proBNP was greater among faster runners, while pre-race overall and vagally-mediated HRV were correlated with finishing time. Participation in a 118-km ultratrail induces an acute release of cardiac damage biomarkers and a large alteration of cardiac autonomic modulation. Furthermore, faster runners were those who exhibited a greater rise in those cardiac damage biomarkers. In light of these findings, an appropriate recovery period after ultraendurance races appears prudent and particularly important among better performing athletes. At the same time, HRV analysis is shown as a promising tool to assess athletes’ readiness to perform at their maximum level in an ultraendurance race

Resultados diferenciales de la aplicación de dos programas en competencias emocionales en contexto escolar

El objetivo del presente estudio es analizar los efectos de dos programas breves de intervención en inteligencia emocional; uno de ellos basado en el modelo de habilidades de inteligencia emocional, el programa INTEMO, y el otro un protocolo de intervención para el fomento de la flexibilidad psicológica con estrategias de mindfulness. Ambos protocolos se aplicaron a lo largo de cinco sesiones, cada una con una duración de una hora y con frecuencia semanal. Se sigue un diseño cuasi-experimental pretest-posttest con dos grupos independientes de medidas repetidas; la muestra inicial es de 215 sujetos, finalmente participaron 120 adolescentes españoles (54.2% varones, con edad media de 12 años), procedentes de un centro de educación secundaria durante dos meses. Los resultados muestran diferencias entre los grupos en supresión emocional, regulación emocional e inteligencia emocional percibida. Igualmente se hallan conexiones entre inteligencia emocional y habilidades en mindfulness. El programa INTEMO obtiene puntuaciones significativamente diferentes y mayores en supresión emocional, regulación emocional e inteligencia emocional percibida. En el análisis de regresión se han hallado factores que parecen estar a la base del desarrollo de inteligencia emocional y mindfulness, encontrando conexión entre ambas

Geomatic methods applied to the change study of the la Paúl Rock Glacier, Spanish Pyrenees

Producción CientíficaRock glaciers are one of the most important features of the mountain permafrost in the Pyrenees. La Paúl is an active rock glacier located in the north face of the Posets massif in the La Paúl glacier cirque (Spanish Pyrenees). This study presents the preliminary results of the La Paúl rock glacier monitoring works carried out through two geomatic technologies since 2013: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) devices. Displacements measured on the rock glacier surface have demonstrated both the activity of the rock glacier and the utility of this equipment for the rock glaciers dynamic analysis. The glacier has exhibited the fastest displacements on its west side (over 35 cm yr-1), affected by the Little Ice Age, and frontal area (over 25 cm yr-1). As an indicator of permafrost in marginal environments and its peculiar morphology, La Paúl rock glacier encourages a more prolonged study and to the application of more geomatic techniques for its detailed analysis.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project CGL2015-68144-R)Junta de Extremadura - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project GR10071

Solving the Location Area Problem by Using Differential Evolution

In mobile networks, one of the hard tasks is to determine the best partitioning in the Location Area problem, but it is also an important strategy to try to reduce all the involved management costs. In this paper we present a new approach to solve the location management problem based on the Location Area partitioning, as a cost optimization problem. We use a Differential Evolution based algorithm to find the best configuration to the Location Areas in a mobile network. We try to find the best values for the Differential Evolution parameters as well as define the scheme that enables us to obtain better results, when compared to classical strategies and to other authors’ results. To obtain the best solution we develop four distinct experiments, each one applied to one Differential Evolution parameter. This is a new approach to this problem that has given us good results

Characterization of the bile and gall bladder microbiota of healthy pigs

MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Bile is a biological fluid synthesized in the liver, stored and concentrated in the gall bladder (interdigestive), and released into the duodenum after food intake. The microbial populations of different parts of mammal's gastrointestinal tract (stomach, small and large intestine) have been extensively studied; however, the characterization of bile microbiota had not been tackled until now. We have studied, by culture-dependent techniques and a 16S rRNA gene-based analysis, the microbiota present in the bile, gall bladder mucus, and biopsies of healthy sows. Also, we have identified the most abundant bacterial proteins in the bile samples. Our data show that the gall bladder ecosystem is mainly populated by members of the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. Furthermore, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) allowed us to visualize the presence of individual bacteria of different morphological types, in close association with either the epithelium or the erythrocytes, or inside the epithelial cells. Our work has generated new knowledge of bile microbial profiles and functions and might provide the basis for future studies on the relationship between bile microbiota, gut microbiota, and health. © 2014 The Authors.This work was supported by AGL2013-44761-P and AGL2013-41980-P projects from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain). Borja Sánchez was the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral contract from MINECO.Peer Reviewe

Proteomics in drug hypersensitivity

21 p.-4 fig.-1 tab.Drug hypersensitivity reactions result from the activation of the immune system by drugs or their metabolites. The clinical presentations of drug hypersensitivity can range from relatively mild local manifestations to severe systemic syndromes that can be life-threatening. As in other allergic reactions, the causes are multifactorial as genetic, metabolic and concomitant factors may influence the occurrence of drug hypersensitivity. Formation of drug protein adducts is considered a key step in drug adverse reactions, and in particular in the immunological recognition in drug hypersensitivity reactions. Nevertheless, non-covalent interactions of drugs with receptors in immune cells or with MHC clefts and/or exposed peptides can also play an important role. In recent years, development of proteomic approaches has allowed the identification and characterization of the protein targets for modification by drugs in vivo and in vitro, the nature of peptides exposed on MHC molecules, the changes in protein levels induced by drug treatment, and the concomitant modifications induced by danger signals, thus providing insight into context factors. Nevertheless, given the complexity and multifactorial nature of drug hypersensitivity reactions, understanding the underlying mechanisms also requires the integration of knowledge from genomic, metabolomic and clinical studies.This work has been supported by grants SAF2012-36519 and SAF2015-68590R from MINECO/FEDER and RETIC RD12/0013/0008 from ISCIII to D.P.-S., and by RETIC RD12/0013/0001 and CP15/00103 from ISCIII, and PI-0699-2011 and PI-0179-2014 from Junta de Andalucía to M.I.M.Peer reviewe

On optimal temozolomide scheduling for slowly growing glioblastomas

Background: Temozolomide (TMZ) is an oral alkylating agent active against gliomas with a favorable toxicity profile. It is part of the standard of care in the management of glioblastoma (GBM), and is commonly used in low-grade gliomas (LGG). In-silico mathematical models can potentially be used to personalize treatments and to accelerate the discovery of optimal drug delivery schemes. Methods: Agent-based mathematical models fed with either mouse or patient data were developed for the in-silico studies. The experimental test beds used to confirm the results were: mouse glioma models obtained by retroviral expression of EGFR-wt/EGFR-vIII in primary progenitors from p16/p19 ko mice and grown in-vitro and in-vivo in orthotopic allografts, and human GBM U251 cells immobilized in alginate microfibers. The patient data used to parametrize the model were obtained from the TCGA/TCIA databases and the TOG clinical study. Results: Slow-growth "virtual" murine GBMs benefited from increasing TMZ dose separation in-silico. In line with the simulation results, improved survival, reduced toxicity, lower expression of resistance factors, and reduction of the tumor mesenchymal component were observed in experimental models subject to long-cycle treatment, particularly in slowly growing tumors. Tissue analysis after long-cycle TMZ treatments revealed epigenetically driven changes in tumor phenotype, which could explain the reduction in GBM growth speed. In-silico trials provided support for implementation methods in human patients. Conclusions: In-silico simulations, in-vitro and in-vivo studies show that TMZ administration schedules with increased time between doses may reduce toxicity, delay the appearance of resistances and lead to survival benefits mediated by changes in the tumor phenotype in slowly-growing GBMs.This research was funded by the James S. Mc. Donnell Foundation (USA) 21st Century Science Initiative in Mathematical and Complex Systems Approaches for Brain Cancer (Collaborative award 220020560, doi:10.37717/220020560); Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia (ref. number 451-03-9/2021-14/200007); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and FEDER funds, Spain (grant number PID2019-110895RB-I00, doi: 10.13039/501100011033 to VMP-G, and RTI2018-093596 and PI21CIII/00002 to PS-G); and Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (grant number 2020-PREDUCLM-15634 to JJ-S).S

Dredging impact on the benthic community of an unaltered inlet in southern Spain

The impact of dredging on macrobenthic communities was studied in an unaltered zone, the Getares inlet of Algeciras Bay (SW Spain). The data obtained before, during and after dredging in a time series spanning 5 years revealed the re-establishment of directly affected communities and of physicochemical substrate characteristics within 1 month of the end of dredging, although 2 years later there was a confusing biological impoverishment of the whole inlet. After 4 years, there was a high degree of population re-establishment, both on the bottoms directly affected by the works and on neighbouring areas, that was partly due to the hydrodynamic conditions. Before this type of activity is undertaken, each case should be studied regarding viability, the environmental medium where it will take place, the best time of year, and the type of dredging to be used

Enseñanza de Arquitecturas de Memorias Caché mediante Simuladores

En este trabajo se presentan dos experiencias docentes en la enseñanza de arquitecturas de memoria caché para la titulación de Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad de Extremadura. Estas experiencias se desarrollan desde dos puntos de vista: Sistemas caché multinivel para una asignatura de carácter fundamental ("Estructura de Computadores"), y sistemas de memoria caché en multiprocesadores, para una asignatura de carácter avanzado ("Arquitectura de Computadores")

Mejorando la docencia en las prácticas de la asignatura Arquitectura e Ingeniería de Computadores

En la actualidad es habitual la utilización de simuladores en las prácticas de muchas de las asignaturas de Informática. El uso de estos simuladores facilita a los alumnos la comprensión de un gran número de conceptos prácticos que de otra forma, y a pesar de la teoría impartida, quedarían algo difusos. En esta ponencia se presentan las mejoras docentes aplicadas en las prácticas de la asignatura Arquitectura e Ingeniería de Computadores, con el ánimo de darlas a conocer a otros profesores, y buscando siempre el intercambio de ideas y experiencias. En estas prácticas, se utiliza un nuevo enfoque: los alumnos deben construir versiones reducidas de diversos simuladores, y no sólo usarlos. Dicho de otro modo, los alumnos cambian el papel de usuarios por otro más activo, el de desarrolladores de estos recursos didácticos. En este trabajo se detallan varias de las prácticas (simuladores) realizadas por los estudiantes, indicando su funcionalidad, dificultad,... En conclusión, se ha comprobado que la construcción de estos simuladores obliga a los estudiantes a conocer con más profundidad las consideraciones teóricas en las que se apoyan, que si sólo los usaran, por lo que adquieren un conocimiento mejor