The Multifarious Role of Microglia in Brain Metastasis

The immune landscape in brain metastasis is a very heterogeneous framework. Amongst a broad plethora of cells within the tumor microenvironment, the presence of activated microglia has been perfectly described. The innate role of microglial cells is to detect and eliminate any insults that may disturb the regular behavior of the brain. As part of its defensive role, it releases pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines that aim to modulate the inflammatory scenario at the metastatic foci. However, the long term effects that these cells may exert on the metastatic progression is not clear. One of the biggest challenges in the field is to distinguish between brain resident microglial cells and infiltrated bone-marrow derived macrophages. Part of this issue is the fact that both cell types share similar phenotypes. Current studies are based on the modulation of the immune response against cancer cells (immunotherapy). However, most of current clinical trials and newly developed drugs focus on the adaptive immune response (e.g., immune blockade check-points). Additionally, the unique structure of the central nervous system with the presence of the blood-brain barrier have hindered a significant advance in novel therapies against brain metastasis. In this manuscript, we describe current advances in characterization of tumor-associated microglia and macrophages, the importance of microglia during the anti-cancerous response, and the future direction for the development of new strategies against this complex disease

Exponential convergence to equilibrium in cellular automata asymptotically emulating identity

We consider the problem of finding the density of 1's in a configuration obtained by $n$ iterations of a given cellular automaton (CA) rule, starting from disordered initial condition. While this problems is intractable in full generality for a general CA rule, we argue that for some sufficiently simple classes of rules it is possible to express the density in terms of elementary functions. Rules asymptotically emulating identity are one example of such a class, and density formulae have been previously obtained for several of them. We show how to obtain formulae for density for two further rules in this class, 160 and 168, and postulate likely expression for density for eight other rules. Our results are valid for arbitrary initial density. Finally, we conjecture that the density of 1's for CA rules asymptotically emulating identity always approaches the equilibrium point exponentially fast.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

The packing number of the double vertex graph of the path graph

Neil Sloane showed that the problem of determine the maximum size of a binary code of constant weight 2 that can correct a single adjacent transposition is equivalent to finding the packing number of a certain graph. In this paper we solve this open problem by finding the packing number of the double vertex graph (2-token graph) of a path graph. This double vertex graph is isomorphic to the Sloane's graph. Our solution implies a conjecture of Rob Pratt about the ordinary generating function of sequence A085680.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. V2: 22 pages, more figures added. V3. minor corrections based on referee's comments. One figure corrected. The title "On an error correcting code problem" has been change

Perturbative approach to diatomic lattices

By using a small rotation approach, we show that it is possible to obtain well behaved perturbed solutions for the amplitude of the electromagnetic field propagating in a photonic waveguide array. This array mimics the propagation of a quasiparticle among the sites of an infinite one-dimensional chain.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Development of Technologies for Local Composting of Food Waste From Universities

[Abstract] The amount of biowaste generated by university canteens (BWUC) in the faculties of the University of A Coruña (UDC) varies between 6 and 100 kg/day. In addition, the gardening services of the campus generate even higher amounts of garden waste (GrW), including pruning, which, once crushed, serves as bulking material for composting the biowaste from the canteens. Decentralized composting has been chosen with the aim of producing high quality organic fertilizers for university urban gardens while reducing the environmental burdens of both waste management and agricultural practice. Small static home composters of 340 L (SHC) for smaller amounts of generation (up to 20 kg BWUC/day) were used, while, for faculties of higher generation (up to 40 kg BWUC/day on average), the first composting stage was carried out in a closed and dynamic composter (DC). The dynamic composter was designed and built specifically for this project and its features were improved and optimized throughout the study. The pilot project was carried out in two centers of the UDC, which are known as the Philology Faculty (PF) and the School of Architecture (SA). All the organic waste generated by the canteens of these two colleges from January 2011 to July 2011 (approximately 3000 kg) was treated. Composting in SHC included a thermophilic phase that extended one month beyond the loading period for which thermophilic temperatures were also recorded. The use of the DC as the first stage in combination with static composters (SC) for the maturation stage reduced the overall thermophilic phase to 6–8 weeks. The complete maturation (Rottegrade class IV-V) was achieved after about four months in SHC and after two months when using the combined DC-SC system, if the right conditions of moisture were maintained. The chemical quality of the compost produced was compatible with Class A of Spanish legislation (equivalent to organic farmer quality) and the C/N ratio ranged from 9 to 15 depending on the relation BWUC:GrW

La educación en el Magisterio Pontificio: algunas enseñanzas de la teología del cuerpo

14 p.Por qué hablar hoy de la teología del cuerpo o cómo el cuerpo va a hacer parte de la ciencia que estudia a Dios, podrían ser cuestionamientos surgidos espontáneamente ante la expresión e idea de la teología del cuerpo. En primera instancia, se puede acudir a las razones y al contexto planteados por Juan Pablo II, autor de la misma. Pero, en segunda instancia, conviene reconocer que el origen de esta fuente de reflexiones y enseñanzas toma su punto de partida de la comprensión e interpretación cuidadosa del hecho mismo de la encarnación, ya que Dios, al hacerse hombre en su hijo Jesucristo, incorpora a su familia trinitaria la humanidad en toda su estructura personal.Introducción Núcleo bíblico de la antropología adecuada de los seis ciclos A modo de conclusión. La teología del cuerpo en Amoris Laetitia Bibliografí