The RNA-binding protein RBP33 dampens non-productive transcription in trypanosomes

In-depth analysis of the transcriptomes of several model organisms has revealed that genomes are pervasively transcribed, giving rise to an abundance of non-canonical and mainly antisense RNA polymerase II-derived transcripts that are produced from almost any genomic context. Pervasive RNAs are degraded by surveillance mechanisms, but the repertoire of proteins that control the fate of these non-productive transcripts is still incomplete. Trypanosomes are single-celled eukaryotes that show constitutive RNA polymerase II transcription and in which initiation and termination of transcription occur at a limited number of sites per chromosome. It is not known whether pervasive transcription exists in organisms with unregulated RNA polymerase II activity, and which factors could be involved in the process. We show here that depletion of RBP33 results in overexpression of similar to 40% of all annotated genes in the genome, with a marked accumulation of sense and antisense transcripts derived from silenced regions. RBP33 loss does not result in a significant increase in chromatin accessibility. Finally, we have found that transcripts that increase in abundance upon RBP33 knockdown are significantly more stable in RBP33-depleted trypanosomes, and that the exosome complex is responsible for their degradation. Our results provide strong evidence that RBP33 dampens non-productive transcription in trypanosomes

El nuevo modelo de evaluación para la categorización de las revistas científicas colombianas: ¿un indicador de calidad e impacto de las revistas en el área de ingeniería y tecnología?

En el año 2016, el Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Colombiano) – Colciencias elaboró y publicó la Política para mejorar la calidad de las publicaciones científicas, en la que uno de los objetivos principales es «aumentar la presencia de las revistas científicas nacionales en los índices citacionales y bases de datos que las comunidades científicas de las diferentes disciplinas reconocen como espacios para la divulgación de resultados de investigación con alto impacto científico». En pro de este objetivo, Colciencias rediseñó el modelo de clasificación de las revistas científicas nacionales, que determina la indexación en el Índice Bibliográfico Nacional IBN-Publindex [1].En el año 2016, el Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Colombiano) – Colciencias elaboró y publicó la Política para mejorar la calidad de las publicaciones científicas, en la que uno de los objetivos principales es «aumentar la presencia de las revistas científicas nacionales en los índices citacionales y bases de datos que las comunidades científicas de las diferentes disciplinas reconocen como espacios para la divulgación de resultados de investigación con alto impacto científico». En pro de este objetivo, Colciencias rediseñó el modelo de clasificación de las revistas científicas nacionales, que determina la indexación en el Índice Bibliográfico Nacional IBN-Publindex [1]

PENGEOM - A general-purpose geometry package for Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport in material systems defined by quadric surfaces

The Fortran subroutine package pengeom provides a complete set of tools to handle quadric geometries in Monte Carlo simulations of radiation transport. The material structure where radiation propagates is assumed to consist of homogeneous bodies limited by quadric surfaces. The pengeom subroutines (a subset of the penelope code) track particles through the material structure, independently of the details of the physics models adopted to describe the interactions. Although these subroutines are designed for detailed simulations of photon and electron transport, where all individual interactions are simulated sequentially, they can also be used in mixed (class II) schemes for simulating the transport of high-energy charged particles, where the effect of soft interactions is described by the random-hinge method. The definition of the geometry and the details of the tracking algorithm are tailored to optimize simulation speed. The use of fuzzy quadric surfaces minimizes the impact of round-off errors. The provided software includes a Java graphical user interface for editing and debugging the geometry definition file and for visualizing the material structure. Images of the structure are generated by using the tracking subroutines and, hence, they describe the geometry actually passed to the simulation code

PENGEOM A general-purpose geometry package for Monte Carlo simulation of radiation transport in complex material structures (New Version Announcement)

A new version of the code system pengeom, which provides a complete set of tools to handle different geometries in Monte Carlo simulations of radiation transport, is presented. The distribution package consists of a set of Fortran subroutines and a Java graphical user interface that allows building and debugging the geometry-definition file, and producing images of the geometry in two- and three-dimensions. A detailed description of these tools is given in the original paper [Comput. Phys. Commun. 199 (2016) 102-113] and in the code manual included in the distribution package. The present new version corrects a bug in the Fortran subroutines, and it includes various improvements of the Java graphical user interface

Association of maternal body composition and diet on breast milk hormones and neonatal growth during the first month of lactation

Introduction: Preterm birth is associated with altered growth patterns and an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases, with breast milk (BM) being a counteracting factor. Preterm infants also show alterations in adipokines and gut hormones influencing appetite and metabolism. Since these hormones are present in BM, it is possible that their levels may equilibrate deficiencies improving infant growth. We aimed to assess 1) the BM levels of ghrelin, resistin, leptin, insulin, peptide YY, and the gastrointestinal peptide in women with preterm and term labor; 2) the relationship between BM hormones and neonatal growth; and 3) the influence of maternal body composition and diet on these BM hormones. Methods: BM from 48 women (30 term and 18 preterm labor) was collected at days 7, 14, and 28 of lactation. Maternal body composition was evaluated by bioimpedance, and neonate anthropometric parameters were collected from medical records. The maternal dietary pattern was assessed by a 72-h dietary recall at days 7 and 28 of lactation. BM hormones were analyzed by the U-Plex Ultra-sensitive method. Data were analyzed using linear regression models. BM from women with preterm labor had lower ghrelin levels, with the other hormones being significantly higher compared to women with term delivery. Results: In premature infants, growth was positively associated with BM ghrelin, while, in term infants, it was positively associated with insulin and negatively with peptide YY. In the first week of lactation, women with preterm labor had higher body fat compared to women with term labor. In this group, ghrelin levels were positively associated with maternal body fat and with fiber and protein intake. In women with term labor, no associations between anthropometric parameters and BM hormones were found, and fiber intake was negatively associated with peptide YY. Discussion: Preterm labor is a factor influencing the levels of BM adipokines and gut hormones, with BM ghrelin being a relevant hormone for premature infant growth. Since ghrelin is lower in BM from women with preterm labor and the levels are associated with maternal fat storage and some dietary components, our data support the importance to monitor diet and body composition in women who gave birth prematurely to improve the BM hormonal statusThis research was funded by Promotion of Knowledge Transfer program (PTC-2020) from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in collaboration with Alter Farmacia, SA, Spanish Ministry of Science, and Innovation (RTI2018-097504-B-I00

Integration of emerging motion capture technologies and videogames for human upper-limb telerehabilitation: A systematic review

Integrating emerging technologies has shown to have the potential to improve access to rehabilitation services and the adherence for physical therapy when they are applied into telemedicine environments. This systematic review aims to explore telerehabilitation systems that use motion capture and video games for upper-limb rehabilitation purposes. Motion capture was focused on the information fusion from inertial sensors and other technologies. The search was limited to 2010-2013, from which 667 papers were obtained; afterwards, duplicate papers were removed, thus, reducing the sample to 57 papers with full text availability. Finally, only 3 of them were selected by approaching the subject of this study. We conclude that the fusion information from inertial sensors and other motion capture technologies appears to be a new tendency in remote monitoring of motor rehabilitation process. However, the combination of them with active video games in physiotherapy programs is only an emerging research area with promising results

Observation and Spectroscopy of New Proton-Unbound Isotopes 30Ar and 29Cl: An Interplay of Prompt Two-Proton and Sequential Decay

Previously unknown isotopes Ar30 and Cl29 have been identified by measurement of the trajectories of their in-flight decay products S28+p+p and S28+p, respectively. The analysis of angular correlations of the fragments provided information on decay energies and the structure of the parent states. The ground states of Ar30 and Cl29 were found at 2.25+0.15−0.10 and 1.8±0.1  MeV above the two- and one-proton thresholds, respectively. The lowest states in Ar30 and Cl29 point to a violation of isobaric symmetry in the structure of these unbound nuclei. The two-proton decay has been identified in a transition region between simultaneous two-proton and sequential proton emissions from the Ar30 ground state, which is characterized by an interplay of three-body and two-body decay mechanisms. The first hint of a fine structure of the two-proton decay of Ar∗30(2+) has been obtained by detecting two decay branches into the ground and first-excited states of the S28 fragment.A. G., S. K., S. R., and P. S. were supported by the Helmholtz Association Grant No. IK-RU-002. L. V. G. was partly supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Grant No. NSh- 932.2014.2. A. F., A. G., L. V. G., S. K., P. S., and R. S. were partly supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Grant No. 14-02-00090-a. This work was partly supported by the Polish National Science Center under Contract No. UMO-2011/01/B/ST2/01943. A. A. C. acknowledges support by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education by Grant No. 0079/DIA/ 2014/43 (Grant Diamentowy). M. P. and X. X. are grateful for a support from the Helmholtz International Center for FAIR (HIC for FAIR). Y. L. was supported by the Helmholtz-CAS Joint Research Group Grant No. HCJRG- 108. J. M. E. acknowledges support from the FPA2009- 08848 contract (MICINN, Spain

Use of Nanomaterials in the Stabilization of Expansive Soils into a Road Real-Scale Application

Stabilization is a traditional strategy used to improve soils with the main objective of ensuring that this base is compliant with the technical specifications required for the subsequent development of different infrastructures. This study proposes the use of commercial nanomaterials, based on a solution of silicates, to improve the technical characteristics and bearing capacity of the expansive soil. A physical–chemical property study was carried out on the additive nanomaterial. Subsequently, different mixtures of expansive soil, selected soil and artificial gravel with quicklime and commercial nanomaterials were developed to evaluate the improvement obtained by the use of nanomaterials in the technical characteristics of the soil. Compressive strength and the Californian Bearing Ratio index were considerably increased. A full-scale study was carried out in which the nanomaterial product was applied to two different sections of stabilized road compared to a control section. The results obtained showed that the use of nanomaterial led to the possibility of reducing the control section by 30 cm, thus achieving less use of quicklime and a mechanical means for preparing the road section. The use of commercial nanomaterial improved the behavior of the stabilized sub-base layer. Through life cycle assessment, this study has shown that the use of nanomaterials reduces the environmental impact associated with soil stabilization.FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades-Agencia Estatal de Investigacion/Ecaryse RCT-2017-6202-

Association of maternal body composition and diet on breast milk hormones and neonatal growth during the first month of lactation

Preterm birth is associated with altered growth patterns and an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases, with breast milk (BM) being a counteracting factor. Preterm infants also show alterations in adipokines and gut hormones influencing appetite and metabolism. Since these hormones are present in BM, it is possible that their levels may equilibrate deficiencies improving infant growth. We aimed to assess 1) the BM levels of ghrelin, resistin, leptin, insulin, peptide YY, and the gastrointestinal peptide in women with preterm and term labor; 2) the relationship between BM hormones and neonatal growth; and 3) the influence of maternal body composition and diet on these BM hormone

The atypical iron-coordination geometry of cytochrome f remains unchanged upon binding to plastocyanin, as inferred by XAS

The transient complex between cytochrome f and plastocyanin from the cyanobacterium Nostoc sp. PCC 7119 has been analysed by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy in solution, using both proteins in their oxidized and reduced states. Fe K-edge data mainly shows that the atypical metal coordination geometry of cytochrome f, in which the N-terminal amino acid acts as an axial ligand of the heme group, remains unaltered upon binding to its redox partner, plastocyanin. This fact suggests that cytochrome f provides a stable binding site for plastocyanin and minimizes the reorganization energy required in the transient complex formation, which could facilitate the electron transfer between the two redox partners