Maintenance of pointing in historic buildings. Decay and replacement

The choice of incompatible mortars for the repair of pointing in historic buildings is among the most important causes of damage and too early maintenance need. Central in the project was the compatibility of mortars in historic buildings. The assessment of recurrent damages in which re-pointing is involved, hypotheses on the role of the re-pointing mortar in the occurrence of damage and laboratory research on incompatible and compatible solutions form the framework of the research undertaken

Intercellular Signaling in Cardiac Development and Disease: The NOTCH pathway

The heart is the first organ to develop in the embryo, and its formation is an exquisitely regulated process. Inherited mutations in genes required for cardiac development may cause congenital heart disease (CHD), manifested in the newborn or in the adult. Notch is an ancient, highly conserved signaling pathway that communicates adjacent cells to regulate cell fate specification, differentiation, and tissue patterning. Mutations in Notch signaling elements result in cardiac abnormalities in mice and humans, demonstrating an essential role for Notch in heart development. Recent work has shown that endocardial Notch activity orchestrates the early events as well as the patterning and morphogenesis of the ventricular chambers in the mouse and that inactivating mutations in the NOTCH pathway regulator MIND BOMB-1 (MIB1) cause left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC), a cardiomyopathy of poorly understood etiology. Here, we review these data that shed some light on the etiology of LVNC that at least in the case of that caused by MIB1 mutations has a developmental basis.J.L. de la Pompa is funded by grants SAF2013-45543, RD12/0042/0005 (RIC), and RD12/0019/0003 (TERCEL) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and grant FP7-ITN 215761 (NotchIT) from the European Commission. G. Luxan had a PhD fellowship from the MINECO (FPI Program, ref. BES-2008-002904) and G. D’Amato holds a PhD fellowship associated with grant FP7-ITN 215761 (NotchIT). The CNIC is supported by the MINECO and the Pro-CNIC Foundation.S