Improving the earthquake resilience of primary schools in the border regions of neighbouring countries

This work summarises the strategy adopted in the European research project PERSISTAH. It aims to increase the resilience of the population, focusing on the existing primary schools in the Algarve (Portugal) and Huelva (Spain) regions. Software was developed to assess the seismic safety of these schools, considering different earthquake scenarios. Seismic retrofitting measures were studied and numerically tested. Some of them were also implemented in the retrofitting activities of two case study schools (one in each country). It was found that the adopted ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) considerably affect the results obtained with the software, especially for offshore earthquake scenarios. Furthermore, the results show that the masonry buildings would be the most damaged school typologies for all the scenarios considered. Additionally, a set of guidelines was created to support the school community and the technicians related to the construction industry. The goal of these documents is to increase the seismic resilience of the population. Different activities were carried out to train schoolteachers in seismic safety based on the guidelines produced, obtaining positive feedback from them.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

α-synuclein levels affect autophagosome numbers in vivo and modulate Huntington disease pathology

Huntington and Parkinson diseases (HD and PD) are two major neurodegenerative disorders pathologically characterized by the accumulation of the aggregate-prone proteins mutant huntingtin (in HD) and a-synuclein (in PD). Mutant huntingtin is an autophagy substrate and autophagy modulators affect HD pathology both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, α-synuclein levels are able to modulate autophagy: α-synuclein overexpression inhibits autophagy, whereas downregulation promotes autophagy. Here, we review our recent studies showing that α-synuclein levels modulate mutant huntingtin toxicity in mouse models. This phenotypic modification is accompanied by the in vivo modulation of autophagosome numbers in mouse brains from both control and HD mice expressing different levels of α-synuclein. © 2012 Landes Bioscience.Peer Reviewe

Enzimas antioxidantes en la maduración de carne de vacuno procedente de dos cabañas autóctonas asturianas

Antioxidant enzymes throughout ageing from two local cattle breeds In this study, meat from double-muscled (“culones”, mh/mh) and normal (+/+) young bulls of the breed Asturiana de los Valles (AV) as well as normal (+/+) animals from Asturiana de la Montaña (AM) was analysed during ageing at 4°C with regard to its oxidative status. Activities of the following main antioxidant enzymes were determined: Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and Glutathione reductase (GR). In both breeds (AV and AM), lipid peroxidation (LPO) was also measured throughout the ageing period, because meat shelf life is mainly limited by lipids and proteins. All enzymes were apparently stable during meat ageing. While GR exhibited the lowest activity among antioxidant enzymes, SOD and CAT showed activity along the ageing period studied, with similar activity pattern seen in both double-muscled and normal animals, although, being advanced in the formers. In normal animals of both the AV and AM breeds, lipid peroxidation did not vary during ageing. However, double- muscled meat showed a significant increase after 7 days of maturation.En este trabajo se determinó el estado oxidativo de la carne procedente de terneros añojos de genotipo culón (mh/mh) y normal (+/+) de la raza Asturiana de los Valles (AV) así como terneros normales (+/+) de la raza Asturiana de la Montaña (AM) durante su periodo de maduración a 4ºC, mediante el estudio de la actividad de los principales enzimas antioxidantes: Superóxido dismutasa (SOD), Catalasa (CAT) y Glutatión reductasa (GR). Se midió también el nivel de peroxidación lipídica (LPO) a lo largo de la maduración a 4ºC de carne procedente de ambas razas (AV y AM) por ser los lípidos y las proteínas las biomoléculas que más limitan la vida media de la carne durante este periodo. Los resultados reflejaron una clara estabilidad de los enzimas durante el periodo de maduración de la carne, siendo el enzima GR el que mostró menor actividad, mientras que SOD y CAT presentaron actividad a lo largo de todo el período de maduración estudiado con un patrón de actividad que se repitió en la carne de terneros (mh/mh) y (+/+) de raza AV, siendo más adelantado en los primeros que en los segundos. La peroxidación lipídica no mostró variación alguna a lo largo de la maduración tanto en animales (+/+) de la raza AV como en animales (+/+) de la raza AM. Sin embargo, los animales (mh/mh) de la raza AV mostraron un incremento significativo del daño lipídico en el músculo tras 7 días de maduración

Circulating microRNAs in Huntington's disease: Emerging mediators in metabolic impairment

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disease, with peripheral consequences that negatively contribute to quality of life. Circulating microRNAs (cmiRNAs) are being explored for their roles in intercellular communication and gene expression regulation, which allows gaining insight into the regulation of crosstalk between neuronal and peripheral tissues. Here, we explore the cmiRNA profile of plasma samples from fifteen symptomatic patients, with 40-45 CAG repeats in the HTT gene, and seven healthy matched controls. Isolated miRNAs from plasma samples were run against human miRNome panels, which have sequences for 752 human mature miRNAs. We found that 168 cmiRNAs are altered in symptomatic patients. Considering Bonferroni's correction, miR-877-5p, miR-223-3p, miR-223-5p, miR-30d-5p, miR-128, miR-22-5p, miR-222-3p, miR-338-3p, miR-130b-3p, miR-425-5p, miR-628-3p, miR-361-5p, miR-942 are significantly increased in HD patients as compared with controls. Moreover, after patient's organization according to approved HD scales, miR-122-5p is significantly decreased in HD patients with Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale >24, whereas an increase in miR-100-5p levels and a decrease in miR-641 and miR-330-3p levels were recorded when patients were rearranged by Total Functional Capacity. These results suggest that cmiRNA profile could be further modified by disease progression, making cmiRNAs useful as monitoring biomarkers. Analysis of target genes indicated a general overexpression of cmiRNAs implicated in metabolism regulation. Profiling cmiRNA of HD subjects opens the possibility of personalized therapies for different groups of HD patients, based on disease modifiers: regulation of altered pathways might contribute to not only alleviate disease symptoms, but also influence HD progression