Imaging Approaches and the Quantitative Analysis of Heart Development.

Heart morphogenesis is a complex and dynamic process that has captivated researchers for almost a century. This process involves three main stages, during which the heart undergoes growth and folding on itself to form its common chambered shape. However, imaging heart development presents significant challenges due to the rapid and dynamic changes in heart morphology. Researchers have used different model organisms and developed various imaging techniques to obtain high-resolution images of heart development. Advanced imaging techniques have allowed the integration of multiscale live imaging approaches with genetic labeling, enabling the quantitative analysis of cardiac morphogenesis. Here, we discuss the various imaging techniques used to obtain high-resolution images of whole-heart development. We also review the mathematical approaches used to quantify cardiac morphogenesis from 3D and 3D+time images and to model its dynamics at the tissue and cellular levels.Grant support PGC2018-096486-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Grant H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016-722427 from the EU Horizon 2020 program to M.T. M.S. was supported by a La Caixa Foudation PhD fellowship (LCF/BQ/DE18/11670014) and The Company of Biologists travelling fellowship (DEVTF181145). The CNIC is supported by the Spanish Ministery of Science and the ProCNIC Foundation.S

Dissecting the Complexity of Early Heart Progenitor Cells.

Early heart development depends on the coordinated participation of heterogeneous cell sources. As pioneer work from Adriana C. Gittenberger-de Groot demonstrated, characterizing these distinct cell sources helps us to understand congenital heart defects. Despite decades of research on the segregation of lineages that form the primitive heart tube, we are far from understanding its full complexity. Currently, single-cell approaches are providing an unprecedented level of detail on cellular heterogeneity, offering new opportunities to decipher its functional role. In this review, we will focus on three key aspects of early heart morphogenesis: First, the segregation of myocardial and endocardial lineages, which yields an early lineage diversification in cardiac development; second, the signaling cues driving differentiation in these progenitor cells; and third, the transcriptional heterogeneity of cardiomyocyte progenitors of the primitive heart tube. Finally, we discuss how single-cell transcriptomics and epigenomics, together with live imaging and functional analyses, will likely transform the way we delve into the complexity of cardiac development and its links with congenital defects.Grant support PGC2018-096486-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia eInnovación and Grant H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016-722427 from the EU Horizon 2020 program to MT.MS was supported by a La Caixa Foudation PhD fellowship (LCF/BQ/DE18/11670014) and TheCompany of Biologists travelling fellowship (DEVTF181145). OH.O. is supported by the Ministerio deCiencia e Innovación (grant RTI2018-097617-J-I00). The CNIC is supported by the Spanish Ministeryof Science and the ProCNIC Foundation.S

Cre recombinase microinjection for single-cell tracing and localised gene targeting.

Tracing and manipulating cells in embryos are essential to understand development. Lipophilic dye microinjections, viral transfection and iontophoresis have been key to map the origin of the progenitor cells that form the different organs in the post-implantation mouse embryo. These techniques require advanced manipulation skills and only iontophoresis, a demanding approach of limited efficiency, has been used for single-cell labelling. Here, we perform lineage tracing and local gene ablation using cell-permeant Cre recombinase (TAT-Cre) microinjection. First, we map the fate of undifferentiated progenitors to the different heart chambers. Then, we achieve single-cell recombination by titrating the dose of TAT-Cre, which allows clonal analysis of nascent mesoderm progenitors. Finally, injecting TAT-Cre to Mycnflox/flox embryos in the primitive heart tube revealed that Mycn plays a cell-autonomous role in maintaining cardiomyocyte proliferation. This tool will help researchers identify the cell progenitors and gene networks involved in organ development, helping to understand the origin of congenital defects.This research was supported by grant PGC2018-096486-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and grant H2020-MSCA-ITN-2016-722427 from the EU Horizon 2020 program to M.T. M.S. was supported by a “la Caixa” Foundation PhD fellowship (LCF/BQ/DE18/11670014) and The Company of Biologists travelling fellowship (DEVTF181145). O.H.O. is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant RTI2018-097617-J-I00). J.N.D. received funding from grant 1380918 from the European Regional Development Fund Andalucıa 2014-2020 ́ Operating Program. Open access funding provided by Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares. Deposited in PMC for immediate release.S

Descrites nou noves espècies d'insectes

Investigadors de la UAB, en col·laboració amb d'altres universitats estatals i del Museu Valencià d'Història Natural han publicat una monografia sobre el gènere Coletina. Aquest gènere d'insectes viu a coves, és gairebé transparent i cec. Com a resultat d'aquesta investigació, han descrit nou noves espècies incrementant el número d'espècies d'aquest gènere de 12 a 21 a nivell mundial. Algunes d'aquestes noves espècies són endèmiques de diferents coves que van des de Cadis a Tarragona.Investigadores de la UAB, en colaboración con otras universidades estatales y del Museu Valencià d'Història Natural han publicado una monografía sobre el género Coletina. Este género de insectos vive en cuevas, es casi transparente y ciego. Como resultado de esta investigación, han descrito nueve nuevas especies de este genero incrementando su número, a nivel mundial, de 12 a 21. Algunas de estas nuevas especies son endémicas de diferentes cuevas desde Cádiz hasta Tarragona

Observation of second sound in a rapidly varying temperature field in Ge

Second sound is known as the thermal transport regime where heat is carried by temperature waves. Its experimental observation was previously restricted to a small number of materials, usually in rather narrow temperature windows. We show that it is possible to overcome these limitations by driving the system with a rapidly varying temperature field. This effect is demonstrated in bulk Ge between 7 kelvin and room temperature, studying the phase lag of the thermal response under a harmonic high frequency external thermal excitation, addressing the relaxation time and the propagation velocity of the heat waves. These results provide a new route to investigate the potential of wave-like heat transport in almost any material, opening opportunities to control heat through its oscillatory nature.Comment: After careful revision we have ruled out the presence of coherent noise and from any other noise source within the reported data. We have updated the manuscript providing a detailed analysis of the photoreflectance signal, demonstrating with experiments its thermal origi

Actualització de la cartera de serveis i dels criteris de planificació per a l’atenció als nounats: recomanacions generals i detall per als nounats complexos

Nounats; Planificació; Cartera de serveis; Centres hospitalaris; SISCATRecién nacidos; Planificación; Cartera de servicios; Centros hospitalarios; SISCATNewborns; Planning; Portfolio of services; Hospital centers; SISCATEl CatSalut proposa com a objectiu principal actualitzar els criteris operatius de planificació i cartera de serveis establerts en relació amb l’atenció dels nounats als centres hospitalaris del SISCAT de Catalunya prenent com a referència principal el Pla estratègic d'ordenació de l’atenció maternoinfantil de l’any 2008. Per tal d’aconseguir aquest propòsit, es defineixen els objectius específics següents: Actualitzar els nivells d’atenció neonatal i la prestació de serveis associada a cada nivell. Actualitzar els indicadors i criteris d’activitat associat a cada nivell. Valorar els criteris d’organització i recursos en relació amb les cures intensives i intermèdies

Listado de especies y subespecies cavernícolas (hipogeas) consideradas como troglobias y estigobias de la península ibérica e islas Baleares

La fauna hipogea o cavernícola ibero-balear ha sido a lo largo de muchos años puesta en evidencia por numerosos zoólogos en las distintas disciplinas. Especialistas de los distintos grupos faunísticos capaces de colonizar las cuevas y las aguas subterráneas que las recorren. Hoy sabemos que esta diversidad de troglobios y estigobios alcanza un total de 1364 taxones: 1285 especies y 79 subespecies hipogeas (cavernícolas) pertenecientes a cuatro filos: Plathyhelminthes (2), Annelida (23), Mollusca (122) y Arthropoda (1217) en todo el territorio ibero-balear. Una fauna que cuenta con numerosos ejemplos de elementos relictos de especial interés paleogeográfico. De la totalidad de taxones hipogeos o cavernícolas del territorio ibero balear, 438 taxones (430 especies y 8 subespecies) son estigobios y 926 taxones (852 especies y 74 subespecies) son troglobios. En lo referente a la distribución de los taxones troglobios es el distrito Cantábrico el que posee una mayor riqueza en especies y subespecies, un total de 208, seguido del Vasco con 163 taxones, el Pirenaico con 153 y el Bético con 142. Algo menos diversos son los distritos Levantino (124 taxones) y Catalán (104 taxones), seguidos de lejos por el Lusitánico con 46 taxones, el Balear con 41 y el Central con tan sólo 19. Entre los estigobios 156 especies y subespecies pueblan las aguas subterráneas de las regiones delimitadas por las cuecas lusitánicas. Le siguen en diversidad las cuencas pirenaicas con 154 taxones estigobios, las béticas con 114 y por último las aguas del subsuelo de las cuencas baleáricas con 47 taxones estigobios, algunos de los cuales son talaso-estigobios, propios de las aguas marinas costeras

Juego de equilibrios

To undertake large-scale projects requires organising a team that is very large in size. To aide this kind of team organisation ICT, 3D modelling, and File Organisation programmes can be of great use. The danger, however, of using content sharing sites and 3D tools is to believe that everything that can be modelled can be built. This article presents different ways in which the architectural-technological relationship can be understood, and is supported by using the example of the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création project. Locating boundaries, confronting technological challenges, rationalising projects, and building whilst maintaining the magic of the original idea is a task for both the architect and the engineer: key for the success of the project

Revision of Cestocampa Condé (Diplura, Campodeidae), with description of a new species from caves in the eastern Iberian Peninsula

A new cave-dwelling Diplura, Cestocampa iberica, is described from the eastern Iberian Peninsula. The new species wascollected in ten caves located in the large karstic area occurring along the Castilian-Valencian branch of the IberianMountain Range. It closely resembles other Cestocampa spp., especially C. gasparoi and C. balcanica. The delimitationof Cestocampa is reviewed. Cestocampa balcanica is redescribed and C. kashiensis is removed from the genus andtransferred to Plusiocampa. A phylogeographic analysis, based on the cox1 mtDNA gene of the new species, reveals aclear geographic structure with high levels of population phylopatry, indicating limited dispersal capabilities as found inother soil arthropods. Evidence of gene flow between nearby localities suggests interconnections among nearby caves.Under certain climatic conditions the species may be able to disperse over the surface, as suggested by one presumed longdistance dispersal event