Sobre Globularia gracilis y su hibrido con G. repens subsp. repens en el Pirineo: G. x losae hybr. nov.

6 páginas, 4 figurasNuestro amigo el Dr. M. Laínz S.I. nos ayudó en la descripción latina. Este trabajo ha sido financiado por los proyectos Flora Iberica (CICyT-CSIC) y Banco de datos sobre la flora del Pirineo Aragonés (DGA-CSIC).Peer reviewe

Enrichment of the Phenotypic and Genotypic Data Warehouse analysis using Question Answering systems to facilitate the decision making process in cereal breeding programs

Currently there are an overwhelming number of scientific publications in Life Sciences, especially in Genetics and Biotechnology. This huge amount of information is structured in corporate Data Warehouses (DW) or in Biological Databases (e.g. UniProt, RCSB Protein Data Bank, CEREALAB or GenBank), whose main drawback is its cost of updating that makes it obsolete easily. However, these Databases are the main tool for enterprises when they want to update their internal information, for example when a plant breeder enterprise needs to enrich its genetic information (internal structured Database) with recently discovered genes related to specific phenotypic traits (external unstructured data) in order to choose the desired parentals for breeding programs. In this paper, we propose to complement the internal information with external data from the Web using Question Answering (QA) techniques. We go a step further by providing a complete framework for integrating unstructured and structured information by combining traditional Databases and DW architectures with QA systems. The great advantage of our framework is that decision makers can compare instantaneously internal data with external data from competitors, thereby allowing taking quick strategic decisions based on richer data.This paper has been partially supported by the MESOLAP (TIN2010-14860) and GEODAS-BI (TIN2012-37493-C03-03) projects from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Competitivity. Alejandro Maté is funded by the Generalitat Valenciana under an ACIF grant (ACIF/2010/298)

An authoring tool for decision support systems in context questions of ecological knowledge

Decision support systems (DSS) support business or organizational decision-making activities, which require the access to information that is internally stored in databases or data warehouses, and externally in the Web accessed by Information Retrieval (IR) or Question Answering (QA) systems. Graphical interfaces to query these sources of information ease to constrain dynamically query formulation based on user selections, but they present a lack of flexibility in query formulation, since the expressivity power is reduced to the user interface design. Natural language interfaces (NLI) are expected as the optimal solution. However, especially for non-expert users, a real natural communication is the most difficult to realize effectively. In this paper, we propose an NLI that improves the interaction between the user and the DSS by means of referencing previous questions or their answers (i.e. anaphora such as the pronoun reference in “What traits are affected by them?”), or by eliding parts of the question (i.e. ellipsis such as “And to glume colour?” after the question “Tell me the QTLs related to awn colour in wheat”). Moreover, in order to overcome one of the main problems of NLIs about the difficulty to adapt an NLI to a new domain, our proposal is based on ontologies that are obtained semi-automatically from a framework that allows the integration of internal and external, structured and unstructured information. Therefore, our proposal can interface with databases, data warehouses, QA and IR systems. Because of the high NL ambiguity of the resolution process, our proposal is presented as an authoring tool that helps the user to query efficiently in natural language. Finally, our proposal is tested on a DSS case scenario about Biotechnology and Agriculture, whose knowledge base is the CEREALAB database as internal structured data, and the Web (e.g. PubMed) as external unstructured information.This paper has been partially supported by the MESOLAP (TIN2010-14860), GEODAS-BI (TIN2012-37493-C03-03), LEGOLANGUAGE (TIN2012-31224) and DIIM2.0 (PROMETEOII/2014/001) projects from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Competitivity. Alejandro Maté is funded by the Generalitat Valenciana under an ACIF grant (ACIF/2010/298)

Diferencias de sexo y análisis de género en el periodo perioperatorio en pacientes intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal

INTRODUCCIÓN El sesgo de género es el error sistemático relacionado con la insensibilidad de género, que erróneamente considera a los hombres y mujeres como similares o diferentes en la exposición a riesgos o en la historia natural de la enfermedad, lo cual puede generar una conducta desigual en los servicios sanitarios (incluida la investigación) y es discriminatoria para un sexo respecto al otro. OBJETIVOS Analizar desde la perspectiva de género, la asistencia sanitaria en anestesiología, en los pacientes intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal, señalando sus desigualdades y demostrando la pertinencia de este análisis para corregir el sesgo de género en la práctica clínica y asistencial en anestesiología. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS Es un estudio observacional retrospectivo de pacientes intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal en el Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet de Zaragoza durante el periodo que va desde enero 2009 a diciembre de 2011 ambos inclusive. Primero se realizó un estudio descriptivo de la evaluación preoperatoria, posteriormente, se analizó el manejo anestésico intraoperatorio, valorando el tipo de anestesia que se realiza y por último, se realizó una recogida de los datos y descripción de las distintas complicaciones que aparecieron durante el postoperatorio inmediato. Los datos se introdujeron en una base de datos excel que se desarrolló para la realización de esta tesis y se exportaron a una base de datos del programa Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) para su posterior análisis y explotación estadística. RESULTADOS No existieron diferencias de sexo en el estado físico, según la clasificación ASA, en los pacientes que fueron intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal en el Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet de Zaragoza. Existió variabilidad entre los/as anestesiólogos/as para clasificar a los pacientes según la clasificación ASA-PS. Durante la visita preoperatoria se solicitaron más interconsultas y pruebas complementarias a los pacientes hombres que a las mujeres. En los pacientes que fueron intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal, existió una mayor prevalencia de anemia en los hombres respecto a las mujeres. La tasa de transfusión de hemoderivados en el intraoperatorio del cáncer colorrectal fue mayor en los hombres a pesar de presentar cifras de hemoglobina preoperatoria mayor que las mujeres. En los pacientes intervenidos de cáncer colorrectal, se realizaron más analgesias epidurales en el paciente hombre que en la mujer. Las anestesiólogas realizaron más analgesias epidurales que los anestesiólogos. El anestesiólogo hombre realizó más analgesias epidurales a los pacientes hombres que a las mujeres. Se administraron más coloides intraoperatprios al paciente hombre que a la mujer. La anestesióloga administró más coloides intraoperatorios que el anestesiólogo. El anestesiólogo hombre ingresó en la UCI o en la REA más a pacientes hombres que a mujeres. No hubo diferencias de sexo en el número de complicaciones en los pacientes que se intervinieron de cáncer colorrectal. CONCLUSIONES La ausencia de protocolos o guías de práctica clínica quizá favoreció la existencia de variabilidad entre anestesiólogos y anestesiólogas en su práctica clínica. En anestesiología existían diferentes formas de actuar en función del sexo del paciente y también en función el sexo del anestesiólogo/a. Se necesitan más estudios en anestesiología para investigar el sesgo de género de los profesionales para confirmar los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo

Hardware implementation of a controller based on neurobiological adaptive models of the human motor-control system

In this work, a neural structure has been implemented into a device based on the new trends in hardware integration, for motor-control In multisensorial anthropomorphic robotic systems. This implementation gives a solution to the problem of physic integration of biologically Inspired control hierarchies in a robotic head-arm installation for robotic reaching tasks. The complete architecture has been implemented on an electronic board connected to a PC computer through a PCI interface. The hardware structure consists of two blocks: one for the working phase of the system, and the other for the learning and supervision phase of the system. These two blocks have been implemented with different technologies based on DSP processors and FPGAs. The algorithms implemented on DSPs have the function of updating the neural network on the FPGA, supervising the working of the algorithm implemented on FPGA and introducing corrections when the neural network produces results with little errors. The neural network has been implemented on FPGA and implements spatial-motor transformations of the robotic platform. It is programmed and updated by the supervisor implemented on a DSP processo

A Computer-Driven Scaffold-Hopping Approach Generating New PTP1B Inhibitors from the Pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxaline Core

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a very promising target for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as type II diabetes mellitus. Although it was validated as a promising target for this disease more than 30 years ago, as yet there is no drug in advanced clinical trials, and its biochemical mechanism and functions are still being studied. In the present study, based on our experience generating PTP1B inhibitors, we have developed and implemented a scaffold-hopping approach to vary the pyrrole ring of the pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxaline core, supported by extensive computational techniques aimed to explain the molecular interaction with PTP1B. Using a combination of docking, molecular dynamics and end-point free-energy calculations, we have rationally designed a hypothesis for new PTP1B inhibitors, supporting their recognition mechanism at a molecular level. After the design phase, we were able to easily synthesize proposed candidates and their evaluation against PTP1B was found to be in good concordance with our predictions. Moreover, the best candidates exhibited glucose uptake increments in cellulo model, thus confirming their utility for PTP1B inhibition and validating this approach for inhibitors design and molecules thus obtained

Monitoring Neurological disease in Phonation

It is well known that many neurological diseases leave a fingerprint in voice and speech production. The dramatic impact of these pathologies in life quality is a growing concert. Many techniques have been designed for the detection, diagnose and monitoring the neurological disease. Most of them are costly or difficult to extend to primary services. The present paper shows that some neurological diseases can be traced a the level of voice production. The detection procedure would be based on a simple voice test. The availability of advanced tools and methodologies to monitor the organic pathology of voice would facilitate the implantation of these tests. The paper hypothesizes some of the underlying mechanisms affecting the production of voice and presents a general description of the methodological foundations for the voice analysis system which can estimate correlates to the neurological disease. A case of study is presented from spasmodic dysphonia to illustrate the possibilities of the methodology to monitor other neurological problems as well

Tripeptides as Integrin-Linked Kinase Modulating Agents Based on a Protein-Protein Interaction with alfa-Parvin

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) has emerged as a controversial pseudokinase protein that plays a crucial role in the signaling process initiated by integrin-mediated signaling. However, ILK also exhibits a scaffolding protein function inside cells, controlling cytoskeletal dynamics, and has been related to non-neoplastic diseases such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although this protein always acts as a heterotrimeric complex bound to PINCH and parvin adaptor proteins, the role of parvin proteins is currently not well understood. Using in silico approaches for the design, we have generated and prepared a set of new tripeptides mimicking an alpha-parvin segment. These derivatives exhibit activity in phenotypic assays in an ILK-dependent manner without altering kinase activity, thus allowing the generation of new chemical probes and drug candidates with interesting ILK-modulating activities

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Sex-dependent calcium hyperactivity due to lysosomal-related dysfunction in astrocytes from APOE4 versus APOE3 gene targeted replacement mice

Background The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene exists in three isoforms in humans: APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4. APOE4 causes structural and functional alterations in normal brains, and is the strongest genetic risk factor of the sporadic form of Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). Research on APOE4 has mainly focused on the neuronal damage caused by defective cholesterol transport and exacerbated amyloid-β and Tau pathology. The impact of APOE4 on non-neuronal cell functions has been overlooked. Astrocytes, the main producers of ApoE in the healthy brain, are building blocks of neural circuits, and Ca2+ signaling is the basis of their excitability. Because APOE4 modifies membrane-lipid composition, and lipids regulate Ca2+ channels, we determined whether APOE4 dysregulates Ca2+signaling in astrocytes. Methods Ca2+ signals were recorded in astrocytes in hippocampal slices from APOE3 and APOE4 gene targeted replacement male and female mice using Ca2+ imaging. Mechanistic analyses were performed in immortalized astrocytes. Ca2+ fluxes were examined with pharmacological tools and Ca2+ probes. APOE3 and APOE4 expression was manipulated with GFP-APOE vectors and APOE siRNA. Lipidomics of lysosomal and whole-membranes were also performed. Results We found potentiation of ATP-elicited Ca2+responses in APOE4 versus APOE3 astrocytes in male, but not female, mice. The immortalized astrocytes modeled the male response, and showed that Ca2+ hyperactivity associated with APOE4 is caused by dysregulation of Ca2+ handling in lysosomal-enriched acidic stores, and is reversed by the expression of APOE3, but not of APOE4, pointing to loss of function due to APOE4 malfunction. Moreover, immortalized APOE4 astrocytes are refractory to control of Ca2+ fluxes by extracellular lipids, and present distinct lipid composition in lysosomal and plasma membranes. Conclusions Immortalized APOE4 versus APOE3 astrocytes present: increased Ca2+ excitability due to lysosome dysregulation, altered membrane lipidomes and intracellular cholesterol distribution, and impaired modulation of Ca2+ responses upon changes in extracellular lipids. Ca2+ hyperactivity associated with APOE4 is found in astrocytes from male, but not female, targeted replacement mice. The study suggests that, independently of Aβ and Tau pathologies, altered astrocyte excitability might contribute to neural-circuit hyperactivity depending on APOE allele, sex and lipids, and supports lysosome-targeted therapies to rescue APOE4 phenotypes in LOAD