145 research outputs found
The oldest dairoidid crab (Decapoda, Brachyura, Parthenopoidea) from the Eocene of Spain
Eubrachyurans, or ‘higher’ true crabs, are the most speciose group of decapod crustaceans and have a rich fossil record extending into the Early Cretaceous. However, most extant families are first found in the fossil record in the Palaeogene, and particularly in the Eocene. Unfortunately, fossils of many early eubrachyuran groups are often fragmentary, and only a few studies have combined extinct and extant taxa in a phylogenetic context using different optimality criteria. Here, we report the dairoidid crab Phrynolambrus sagittalis sp. nov., an enigmatic eubrachyuran from the upper Eocene of Huesca (northern Spain), whose completeness and exquisite preservation permit examination of its anatomy in a phylogenetic context. Dairoidids have previously been considered among the oldest stone crabs (Eriphioidea) or elbow crabs (Parthenopoidea), two disparate and distantly related groups of true crabs living today. Mechanical preparation and computed tomography of the fossil material revealed several diagnostic features that allow a detailed comparison with families across the crab tree of life, and test hypotheses about its phylogenetic affinities. Phrynolambrus sagittalis is the first record of the genus in the Iberian Peninsula, and represents one of the oldest crown parthenopoidean crabs worldwide, expanding our knowledge of the biogeographical distribution of elbow crabs during the Palaeogene, as well as their early origins, anatomical diversity and systematic affinities. Understanding the disparity of Eocene eubrachyurans is pivotal to disentangling the systematic relationships among crown families, and interpreting the spatio-temporal patterns leading to the evolution of modern faunas
Cardiac-Specific Overexpression of ERRγ in Mice Induces Severe Heart Dysfunction and Early Lethality
Disfunció cardíaca; Receptors relacionats amb estrògens; Ratolins transgènicsDisfunción cardíaca; Receptores relacionados con el estrógeno; Ratones transgénicosCardiac dysfunction; Estrogen-related receptors; Transgenic miceProper cardiac function depends on the coordinated expression of multiple gene networks related to fuel utilization and mitochondrial ATP production, heart contraction, and ion transport. Key transcriptional regulators that regulate these gene networks have been identified. Among them, estrogen-related receptors (ERRs) have emerged as crucial modulators of cardiac function by regulating cellular metabolism and contraction machinery. Consistent with this role, lack of ERRα or ERRγ results in cardiac derangements that lead to functional maladaptation in response to increased workload. Interestingly, metabolic inflexibility associated with diabetic cardiomyopathy has been recently associated with increased mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and expression of ERRγ, suggesting that sustained expression of this nuclear receptor could result in a cardiac pathogenic outcome. Here, we describe the generation of mice with cardiac-specific overexpression of ERRγ, which die at young ages due to heart failure. ERRγ transgenic mice show signs of dilated cardiomyopathy associated with cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, increased cell death, and fibrosis. Our results suggest that ERRγ could play a role in mediating cardiac pathogenic responses.Research was funded by “Fundació la Marató de TV3” (# 082610 to JAV) and by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI19/00167 to MZ, co-funded by European Regional Development Fund -FEDER- “A way to make Europe”)
A beam-beam monitoring detector for the MPD experiment at NICA
The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is to be installed at the Nuclotron Ion
Collider fAcility (NICA) of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR).
Its main goal is to study the phase diagram of the strongly interacting matter
produced in heavy-ion collisions. These studies, while providing insight into
the physics of heavy-ion collisions, are relevant for improving our
understanding of the evolution of the early Universe and the formation of
neutron stars. In order to extend the MPD trigger capabilities, we propose to
include a high granularity beam-beam monitoring detector (BE-BE) to provide a
level-0 trigger signal with an expected time resolution of 30 ps. This new
detector will improve the determination of the reaction plane by the MPD
experiment, a key measurement for flow studies that provides physics insight
into the early stages of the reaction. In this work, we use simulated Au+Au
collisions at NICA energies to show the potential of such a detector to
determine the event plane resolution, providing further redundancy to the
detectors originally considered for this purpose namely, the Fast Forward
Detector (FFD) and the Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL). We also show our results for
the time resolution studies of two prototype cells carried out at the T10 beam
line at the CERN PS complex.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Updated to published version with added
comments and correction
¿Se asocia el consumo de refrescos azucarados con la composición corporal? Estudio transversal en adolescentes españoles
Objectives: Published data about the association between
the consumption of sweetened soft-drinks (SSD)
and obesity in childhood are controversial and still inconsistent.
In addition, data are lacking in the Spanish population.
The purpose of this study was therefore, to explore
the cross-sectional association between body composition-
related parameters and SSD consumption in Spanish
adolescents.
Subjects and methods: A representative sample of 1,523
adolescents (768 boys and 755 girls), with complete dietary
data as well as anthropometric measurements, were
included in this study. Weight, height, waist circumferences,
and 6 skinfolds were measured, and BMI and percentage
body fat were calculated. From a 24h dietary recall
the subjects were grouped in 3 groups according to their
SSD consumption: 1) Non-consumers (0 g of SSD consumption);
2) Moderate consumption (< 336 g/day of
SSD, equivalent to the average SSD portion size); and 3)
High consumption (> 336 g/day of SSD).
Results: 67% males and 75% females did not consume
any SSD the day before the dietary recall interview.
Males consumed more SSD than females. Regarding the
association between SSD consumption and measures of
obesity, no difference was observed between the three
groups of SSD consumption in any of the anthropometric
measurement, BMI or body fat.
Conclusion: As no association was present between
SSD consumption and obesity in our cross-sectional study
we suggest that dietary patterns and habits as well as
lifestyle factors such as physical activity should be present when examining cross-sectional or longitudinal relationships
with obesity. Multidisciplinary intervention
studies are crucial when trying to develop solutions
against the increasing obesity epidemic.Objetivos: Los datos publicados sobre la asociación
entre el consumo de refrescos azucarados (SSD) y la obesidad
en la infancia son controvertidos y todavía inconsistentes.
Además, estos datos son muy escasos en la población
española. Por ello, el propósito de este estudio ha sido
estudiar la asociación entre los parámetros relacionados
con la composición corporal y el consumo de SSD en adolescentes
españoles.
Sujetos y métodos: Se ha realizado el estudio en una
muestra de 1.523 adolescentes (768 chicos y 755 chicas)
que tenían cumplimentados los datos dietéticos y los
parámetros antropométricos (peso, altura, circunferencias
de cintura, y 6 pliegues). Se calculó el IMC y el porcentaje
de grasa corporal. La dieta ha sido calculada a
partir de un recordatorio de 24h. Los sujetos fueron divididos
en grupos dependiendo de la cantidad de SSD que
consumían: 1) No consumidores (0 g de consumo SSD); 2)
Consumo moderado (< 336 g/día de SSD, equivalente a
una bebida al día de SSD); y 3) Consumo alto (> 336 g/día
de SSD).
Resultados: El 67% de los varones y el 75% de las
mujeres indican no consumir este tipo de bebidas el día
anterior a la encuesta. Los varones en general consumieron
más SSD que las mujeres. En cuanto a la asociación
entre consumo SSD y medidas antropométricas y de composición
corporal, no se encontraron diferencias significativas
entre los tres grupos de estudio en los parámetros
antropométricos, IMC o grasa corporal.
Conclusión: Dado que no se ha encontrado en este estudio
ninguna asociación entre el consumo de SSD y la obesidad,
sugerimos que los patrones y hábitos dietarios así
como los factores del estilo de vida, y la actividad física,
deberían tenerse en cuenta al examinar las relaciones
transversales o longitudinales con la obesidad, y que los estudios de intervención multidisciplinar son cruciales
cuando se trata de desarrollar soluciones contra el incremento
de una epidemia como la obesidad.The AVENA study was supported by Spanish Ministry
of Health (00/0015) and by grants from the Spanish Higher
Sports Council (05/UPB32/01, 09/UPB31/03 and
13/UPB20/04), the Spanish Ministry of Education
(AP2003-2128 and AP2004-2745), Coca-Cola, Panrico
SA, Madaus SA and Procter & Gamble SA
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
AVANCES DEL PROYECTO DEVAG - UNICA. INVESTIGACIONES EN SISTEMAS DIVERSIFICADOS DE FRUTALES Y PEQUEÑOS RUMIANTES EN LA REGIÓN DEL CARIBE
El proyecto DEVAG-UNICA es desarrollado entre el Polo Regional de Investigaciones Agroambientales de la Martinica (PRAM), específicamente el Centro de Cooperación Internacional en Investigaciones Agronómicas para el Desarrollo (CIRAD) y la Universidad “Máximo Gómez Báez” de Ciego de Ávila, en el marco del financiamiento otorgado por el Programa INTERREG IV CARAIBES 2007- 2013. Dicho proyecto desarrolla seis tareas fundamentales: (1) Potencial forrajero de especies arvenses en la cobertura del frutal; (2) Optimización de la carga en la asociación frutal- planta de cobertura- ovino; (3) Sustancia alternativa para lograr el acondicionamiento aversivo de ovinos a ramas de frutales; (4) Método alternativo para reducir la utilización de antiparasitarios convencionales en ovinos integrados a agro- ecosistemas de frutales; (5) Dinámica de la descomposición de excretas y hojarascas en el suelo y su impacto en el agroecosistema; y (6) Capacitación de productores. Se tienen hasta el momento nueve resultados de investigación- capacitación y, en etapas siguientes, se pretende evaluar métodos de manejo para incrementar, de forma armónica, la carga de ovinos integrados a huertas de frutales, utilizando el acondicionamiento aversivo y otros métodos de selección de alimentos; también se avizoran alternativas para el control de las nematodosis gastrointestinales en esta especie animal, permitiendo reducir importaciones de productos químicos para producir antiparasitarios. Estos resultados constituirán una oportunidad para incrementar la población de ovinos de la provincia y otras regiones del país. La crianza de animales integrada a frutales posibilitará nuevas oportunidades de empleo, especialmente para mujeres del campo, idóneas en las labores de pastores de ovejas en el mundo
Sarilumab in patients admitted to hospital with severe or critical COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial
Background: Elevated proinflammatory cytokines are associated with greater COVID-19 severity. We aimed to assess safety and efficacy of sarilumab, an interleukin-6 receptor inhibitor, in patients with severe (requiring supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula or face mask) or critical (requiring greater supplemental oxygen, mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal support) COVID-19. Methods: We did a 60-day, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multinational phase 3 trial at 45 hospitals in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Russia, and Spain. We included adults (≥18 years) admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and pneumonia, who required oxygen supplementation or intensive care. Patients were randomly assigned (2:2:1 with permuted blocks of five) to receive intravenous sarilumab 400 mg, sarilumab 200 mg, or placebo. Patients, care providers, outcome assessors, and investigators remained masked to assigned intervention throughout the course of the study. The primary endpoint was time to clinical improvement of two or more points (seven point scale ranging from 1 [death] to 7 [discharged from hospital]) in the modified intention-to-treat population. The key secondary endpoint was proportion of patients alive at day 29. Safety outcomes included adverse events and laboratory assessments. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04327388; EudraCT, 2020-001162-12; and WHO, U1111-1249-6021. Findings: Between March 28 and July 3, 2020, of 431 patients who were screened, 420 patients were randomly assigned and 416 received placebo (n=84 [20%]), sarilumab 200 mg (n=159 [38%]), or sarilumab 400 mg (n=173 [42%]). At day 29, no significant differences were seen in median time to an improvement of two or more points between placebo (12·0 days [95% CI 9·0 to 15·0]) and sarilumab 200 mg (10·0 days [9·0 to 12·0]; hazard ratio [HR] 1·03 [95% CI 0·75 to 1·40]; log-rank p=0·96) or sarilumab 400 mg (10·0 days [9·0 to 13·0]; HR 1·14 [95% CI 0·84 to 1·54]; log-rank p=0·34), or in proportions of patients alive (77 [92%] of 84 patients in the placebo group; 143 [90%] of 159 patients in the sarilumab 200 mg group; difference −1·7 [−9·3 to 5·8]; p=0·63 vs placebo; and 159 [92%] of 173 patients in the sarilumab 400 mg group; difference 0·2 [−6·9 to 7·4]; p=0·85 vs placebo). At day 29, there were numerical, non-significant survival differences between sarilumab 400 mg (88%) and placebo (79%; difference +8·9% [95% CI −7·7 to 25·5]; p=0·25) for patients who had critical disease. No unexpected safety signals were seen. The rates of treatment-emergent adverse events were 65% (55 of 84) in the placebo group, 65% (103 of 159) in the sarilumab 200 mg group, and 70% (121 of 173) in the sarilumab 400 mg group, and of those leading to death 11% (nine of 84) were in the placebo group, 11% (17 of 159) were in the sarilumab 200 mg group, and 10% (18 of 173) were in the sarilumab 400 mg group. Interpretation: This trial did not show efficacy of sarilumab in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and receiving supplemental oxygen. Adequately powered trials of targeted immunomodulatory therapies assessing survival as a primary endpoint are suggested in patients with critical COVID-19. Funding: Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
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