Soluble Semicarbazide Sensitive Amine Oxidase (SSAO) catalysis induces apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells

AbstractSemicarbazide sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) metabolizes oxidative deamination of primary aromatic and aliphatic amines. It is selectively expressed in vascular cells of blood vessels, but it is also circulating in blood plasma. SSAO activity in plasma is increased in some diseases associated with vascular complications and its catalytic products may cause tissue damage. We examined the effect of the oxidation of the SSAO substrate, methylamine, on cultured smooth muscle cells. Cell incubation with methylamine plus soluble SSAO, contained in bovine serum, resulted toxic to rat aorta A7r5 and human aortic smooth muscle cells, as measured by MTT reduction. This effect was completely reverted by specific SSAO inhibitors, indicating that the toxicity was mediated by the end products generated. Moreover, SSAO-mediated deamination of methylamine induced apoptosis in A7r5 cells, detected by chromatin condensation, Caspase-3 activation, PARP cleavage and cytochrome c release to cytosol. Formaldehyde, rather than H2O2, resulted to be a strong apoptotic inducer to A7r5 cells. Taken together, the results suggest that increased plasma SSAO activity in pathological conditions, could contribute to apoptosis in smooth muscle cells, leading to vascular tissue damage

Disseny d’un sistema d’alerta de corrents d’arrossegalls basat en lògica difusa

Un corrent d’arrossegalls (debris flow) és un moviment de massa compost d’aigua i una gran proporció de sediment que es propaga pendent avall per l’acció gravitatòria. La causa d’inicialització més habitual és la pluja, que en incrementar la pressió de porus, provoca la inestabilitat del terreny augmenti. Es tracta d’un un fenomen altament destructiu que zones de muntanya provoca enormes pèrdues econòmiques i humanes. A banda de les eventuals mesures de protección estructurals, per tal de minimitzar els danys que causen els corrents d’arrossegalls és imprescindible desenvolupar sistemes de previsió i alerta. Davant de la complexitat del fenomen, s’ha intentat abordar la problemàtica de l’avaluació de l’amenaça des de molts punts de vista: des de models numèrics de simulació a tècniques estadístiques. En un sistema d’alerta a escala regional, però, les limitacions per obtenir dades i cost computacional obliga a trobar un compromís entre la simplicitat del sistema i la representativitat del fenomen. En aquesta tesina s’han combinat dues línies de treball per dissenyar un sistema d’alerta d’amenaça de corrents d’arrossegalls. Per una banda, les corbes llindar són una eina àmpliament utilitzada en la previsió d’ocurrència d’esllavissades i corrents d’arrossegalls. Aquestes estableixen relacions entre la magnitud dels factors desencadenants (pluja) i l’ocurrència de corrents d’arrossegalls. Per l’altra banda, per tal de determinar factors condicionants, s’estan dedicant esforços a descubrir patrons de comportament a partir de característiques geomorfològiques de les conques. Aquestes variables tenen l’avantatge de que es poden calcular de manera relativament senzilla a partir d’informació de l’orografia (mapes digitals d’elevacions) que és una informació disponible en la majoria de les situacions. El sistema d’alerta dissenyat integra de manera innovadora les dades de pluja radar per a l’avaluació de l’amenaça de corrents d’arrossegalls, proporcionant un nivel d’amenaça a cada conca de la zona d’estudi i en cada pas de temps. El radar és una eina de mesura indirecta de la precipitació que té l’avantatge de proporcionar un camp distribuït a molt alta resolució. Els criteris per assignar el nivell d’amenaça es basen en la combinació de dos aspectes: la susceptibilitat i la magnitud de l’episodi de pluja a cada conca. La primera és avaluada a partir de les seves característiques geomorfològiques i la segona a partir de les dades de pluja radar i corbes intensitatdurada- pluja antecedent. Per avaluar aquests aspectes i combinar-los s’utilitza lògica difusa. La lògica difusa permet combinar diverses variables d’una forma molt flexible amb un cost computacional molt baix. Tot i que no es tracta d’un model físic, aquesta flexibilitat permet copsar la física que hi ha darrera el fenomen i introduir els coneixements experts del modelador. L’última part de la tesina ha consistit en aplicar el classificador al període de maig a octubre en la zona d’estudi situada als Pirineus Orientals. S’han analitzat les tendències de comportament general en tot el període i en cinc episodis curts. En alguns pocs casos en què es disposava d’informació sobre l’ocurrència de corrents d’arrossegalls en conques concretes, s’ha avaluat el funcionament del clasificador comparant aquesta informació amb les alertes que proporcionava el classificador. Concretament s’han estudiat casos a les conques del Rebaixader i del Torrent d’Erill (Alta Ribagorça) i Port Ainé (Pallars Sobirà)

An urban weather generator coupling a building simulation program with an urban canopy model

Thesis (S.M. in Building Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-128).The increase in air temperature observed in urban environments compared to the undeveloped rural surroundings, known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, is being intensely studied, due to its adverse environmental and economic impacts. Some of the causes of the UHI effect are related to the interactions between buildings and the urban environment. This thesis presents a methodology intended to integrate building energy and urban climate studies for the first time. It is based on the premise that at the same time buildings are affected by their urban environment, the urban climate is affected by the energy performance of buildings. To predict this reciprocal interaction, the developed methodology couples a detailed building simulation program, EnergyPlus, with a physically based urban canopy model, the Town Energy Balance (TEB). Both modeling tools are leading their respective fields of study. The Urban Weather Generator (UWG) methodology presented in this thesis is a transformation of meteorological information from a weather station located in an open area to a particular urban location. The UWG methodology fulfils two important needs. First, it is able to simulate the energy performance of buildings taking into account site-specific urban weather conditions. Second, it proposes a building parameterization for urban canopy models that takes advantage of the modelling experience of a state-of-the-art building simulation program. This thesis also presents the application of the UWG methodology to a new urban area, Masdar (Abu Dhabi). The UHI effect produced in this hot and arid climate by an urban canyon configuration and its impact on the energy performance of buildings are analyzed.by Bruno Bueno Unzeta.S.M.in Building Technolog

Projecte de l'EDAR i dels col·lectors de Farrera (Pallars Sobirà)

Projecte de l'EDAR i dels col·lectors de Farrera (Pallars Sobirà). S'ha fet un anàlisi integral de la problemàtica de depuració de les aigües residuals al muncipi i s'ha donat una solució local al nucli de Farrera mitjançant un sistema de tractament de baix cost basat en aiguamolls construïts

Prevalencia y caracterización clínico-lesional de los principales procesos infecciosos de etiología vírica que afectan a las colonias de gatos callejeros en Madrid capital = Prevalence and clinico-pathological characterization of the main viral infections affecting street cat colonies in Madrid

424 p.Este estudio doctoral tiene como objetivo general establecer la prevalencia de las principales enfermedades infecciosas víricas que afectan a los gatos de diferentes colonias de gatos callejeros que hay en Madrid capital. En el estudio fueron examinados 296 gatos callejeros procedentes de cuatro colonias felinas localizadas en la ciudad de Madrid, capturados con la colaboración de asociaciones protectoras. Se analizó la difusión de las enfermedades entre las diferentes colonias de gatos evaluadas y la relación que existe entre dichas infecciones con la edad de los animales, sexo y los principales signos clínicos y lesiones encontradas Los resultados de este estudio indican que las infecciones víricas son altamente prevalentes en los gatos callejeros que viven en colonias en la ciudad de Madrid. Estas infecciones están asociadas a signos clínicos evidentes y graves en ocasiones, que inciden notablemente sobre el bienestar de los animales, además de suponer un riesgo de contagio para el resto de gatos. Estos resultados apoyarían la necesidad de establecer programas de control sanitario en este tipo de animale

Study and prediction of the energy interactions between buildings and the urban climate

Thesis (Ph. D. in Building Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-130).Urbanization produces higher air temperatures in cities than in the undeveloped rural surroundings. This phenomenon is known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and has been measured in different cities around the world. Conventional building energy programs use standard meteorological databases obtained from measurements at operational weather stations, which are usually located in open areas outside of the city, typically at the airport. Therefore, air temperature measurements may not include the UHI effect. The UHI effect can have an impact on the energy consumption of buildings, especially residential and naturally ventilated buildings. At the same time, the energy performance of buildings can affect outdoor air temperatures, mainly through the waste heat emissions from outdoor air-conditioning equipment. Consequently, there are situations in which the interactions between the indoor and outdoor environments are reciprocal and thus both domains have to be solved simultaneously. This thesis presents a study of the energy interactions between buildings and the urban climate through the development and evaluation of a set of models. Based on first principles, these models include three different Urban Canopy and Building Energy Models (UC-BEMs), with different levels of detail and applications, and a novel urban climate prediction tool, the Urban Weather Generator (UWG). Developed at the intersection of building energy and urban climate studies, the research builds on fundamental knowledge in both domains. The UC-BEMs account for building thermal effects on climatological predictions and have the potential to predict building energy consumption at urban scale. The UC-BEMs can be coupled with mesoscale atmospheric simulations, establishing a multi-scale model approach from the atmosphere down to buildings that can be used to analyze the impact of future climate change scenarios on the urban climate and the energy consumption of buildings. The UWG calculates site-specific urban climate conditions from measurements at an operational weather station. The model can be used alone or integrated into existing programs in order to account for the UHI effect in building energy simulations. The UWG is evaluated with field data from Toulouse, France, and Basel, Switzerland.by Bruno Bueno Unzeta.Ph.D.in Building Technolog

Trastorno de la conducta alimentaria, trastorno por déficit de atención e hiperactividad, e impulsividad: un estudio sobre su relación

Los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA) componen un conjunto heterogéneo de trastornos psiquiátricos que van desde el grupo de la anorexia nerviosa restrictiva, con progresiva pérdida de peso y restricción alimentaria intensa con dos subtipos el restrictivo puro, sin atracones ni conductas purgativas, el subtipo purgativo con atracones y/o purgas en forma de vómitos, abuso de laxantes o diuréticos, hasta la bulimia nerviosa y el trastorno por atracones, donde el peso suele ser normal o elevado, con grandes oscilaciones del mismo y presencia de episodios de ingesta de alimentos de forma descontrolada. Se ha propuesto que la impulsividad es una característica esencial de los trastornos purgativos, al igual que una dimensión clínica asociada estrechamente a la depresión, ansiedad, inatención, obsesividad e inestabilidad emocional. En los últimos años se han postulado diversos modelos de los Trastornos de Conducta Alimentaria. Sugieren que la enfermedad debe considerarse una entidad compleja, que integra una disfunción del comportamiento alimentario, síntomas psicopatológicos, rasgos de la personalidad y otras características clínicas, habitualmente desde una perspectiva multidimensional. Este concepto de TCA va más allá de las definiciones propuestas por el DSM-IV y la Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades (CIE-10) y en el DSM 5, que se centran en la insatisfacción corporal y las alteraciones del comportamiento alimentario..

Development and evaluation of a building energy model integrated in the TEB scheme

The use of air-conditioning systems is expected to increase as a consequence of global-scale and urban-scale climate warming. In order to represent future scenarios of urban climate and building energy consumption, the Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme must be improved. This paper presents a new building energy model (BEM) that has been integrated in the TEB scheme. BEM-TEB makes it possible to represent the energy effects of buildings and building systems on the urban climate and to estimate the building energy consumption at city scale (~10 km) with a resolution of a neighbourhood (~100 m). The physical and geometric definition of buildings in BEM has been intentionally kept as simple as possible, while maintaining the required features of a comprehensive building energy model. The model considers a single thermal zone, where the thermal inertia of building materials associated with multiple levels is represented by a generic thermal mass. The model accounts for heat gains due to transmitted solar radiation, heat conduction through the enclosure, infiltration, ventilation, and internal heat gains. BEM allows for previously unavailable sophistication in the modelling of air-conditioning systems. It accounts for the dependence of the system capacity and efficiency on indoor and outdoor air temperatures and solves the dehumidification of the air passing through the system. Furthermore, BEM includes specific models for passive systems, such as window shadowing devices and natural ventilation. BEM has satisfactorily passed different evaluation processes, including testing its modelling assumptions, verifying that the chosen equations are solved correctly, and validating the model with field data.French National Research Agency (ANR). MUSCADE project (ANR-09-VILL-003)European Commission Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) (BRIDGE Project grant 211345

ASS234, as a new Multi-Target Directed propargylamine for Alzheimer’s disease therapy

MU and JMC thank MINECO (Spain) for support (Grant SAF2012-33304; SAF2015-65586-R). RRR, MU, GE and JMC thank EU (COST Action 1103) for support.The complex nature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has prompted the design of Multi-Target-Directed Ligands (MTDL) able to bind to diverse biochemical targets involved in the progress and development of the disease. In this context, we have designed a number of MTD propargylamines showing antioxidant, anti-betaamyloid, anti-inflammatory, as well as cholinesterase and monoamine oxidase inhibition capacities. Here, we describe these properties in the MTDL ASS234, our lead-compound ready to enter in pre-clinical studies for AD, as a new multipotent, permeable cholinesterase/monoamine oxidase inhibitor, able to inhibit Aβ- aggregation, possessing antioxidant and neuroprotective properties.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe