Assessment of mortar evolution in pig slurry by mechanical and ultrasonic measurements

This work presents the results obtained in a long-term experiment focused on the study of the evolution of cementitious materials immersed in pig slurry at real conditions. Cement mortars were made with four different cement types and immersed in pig slurry for 48 months. Furthermore, to separate pure hydration process from pig slurry effect, mortar samples were immersed in water for 12 months at laboratory conditions. Compressive strength, X-ray diffraction and ultrasonic measurements were made in all samples. Ultrasonic measurements were made from ultrasonic images obtained from automatic ultrasonic inspections. Use of ultrasonic images has allowed the extraction of information about the state of the studied materials. An empirical relationship between ultrasonic velocity and compressive strength has been obtained and the long-term effect of pig slurry on cementitious materials has been determined

EL CENTRALIDAD COMO UN ARQUETIPO SOCIAL DE LA CIUDAD

La centralidad ligada al crecimiento de las ciudades se traduce en un arquetipo social y urbano. En su origen los centros contribuyeron de manera significativa al desarrollo de la vida comunitaria. Los grandes imperios convirtieron a la centralidad en un mecanismo de control y sometimiento social. Una excesiva centralidad producirá tarde o temprano una severa crisis sistémica. El reto de la nueva centralidad radica en recuperar el sentido democrático de los núcleos urbanos.La centralidad ligada al crecimiento de las ciudades se traduce en un arquetipo social y urbano. En su origen los centros contribuyeron de manera significativa al desarrollo de la vida comunitaria. Los grandes imperios convirtieron a la centralidad en un mecanismo de control y sometimiento social. Una excesiva centralidad producirá tarde o temprano una severa crisis sistémica. El reto de la nueva centralidad radica en recuperar el sentido democrático de los núcleos urbanos

Preclinical discovery of duloxetine for the treatment of depression

Introduction: Affective disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD), are among the most severely disabling mental disorders, and in many cases areIntroduction: Affective disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD), are among the most severely disabling mental disorders, and in many cases are associated with poor treatment outcomes. From the emergence of the monoamine hypothesis of depression, the first-line treatment for MDD had mainly acted by inhibiting monoamine reuptake, and thereby increasing these levels in the synaptic cleft. However, in recent years, several newantidepressant drugs have appeared, including duloxetine, a dual serotonin (5-HT) and noradrenaline (NA) reuptake inhibitor recommended for the treatment of MDD. Areas covered: The article reviews and discusses the biochemical and functional profile of duloxetine splitting the review into acute and long-term treatment with this dual monoamine reuptake inhibitor. In addition, the authors summarize available preclinical behavioral research data, which have demonstrated among other effects, the antidepressant-like activity of duloxetine in several animal models. The authors focus on the most recent literature on synaptic neuroplasticity modulation of this antidepressant drug. Finally, the authors briefly mention other approved indications of duloxetine. Expert opinion: Duloxetine inhibits 5-HT and NA reuptake, effectively desensitizes various autoreceptors and promotes neuroplasticity. Clinically, duloxetine is an effective antidepressant that is well tolerated and has significant efficacy in the treatment of MDD. associated with poor treatment outcomes. From the emergence of the monoamine hypothesis of depression, the first-line treatment for MDD had mainly acted by inhibiting monoamine reuptake, and thereby increasing these levels in the synaptic cleft. However, in recent years, several new antidepressant drugs have appeared, including duloxetine, a dual serotonin (5-HT) and noradrenaline (NA) reuptake inhibitor recommended for the treatment of MDD

Neurotrophins Role in Depression Neurobiology: A Review of Basic and Clinical Evidence

Depression is a neuropsychiatric disorder affecting a huge percentage of the active population especially in developed countries. Research has devoted much of its attention to this problematic and many drugs have been developed and are currently prescribed to treat this pathology. Yet, many patients are refractory to the available therapeutic drugs, which mainly act by increasing the levels of the monoamines serotonin and noradrenaline in the synaptic cleft. Even in the cases antidepressants are effective, it is usually observed a delay of a few weeks between the onset of treatment and remission of the clinical symptoms. Additionally, many of these patients who show remission with antidepressant therapy present a relapse of depression upon treatment cessation. Thus research has focused on other possible molecular targets, besides monoamines, underlying depression. Both basic and clinical evidence indicates that depression is associated with several structural and neurochemical changes where the levels of neurotrophins, particularly of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), are altered. Antidepressants, as well as other therapeutic strategies, seem to restore these levels. Neuronal atrophy, mostly detected in limbic structures that regulate mood and cognition, like the hippocampus, is observed in depressed patients and in animal behavioural paradigms for depression. Moreover, chronic antidepressant treatment enhances adult hippocampal neurogenesis, supporting the notion that this event underlies antidepressants effects. Here we review some of the preclinical and clinical studies, aimed at disclosing the role of neurotrophins in the pathophysiological mechanisms of depression and the mode of action of antidepressants, which favour the neurotrophic/neurogenic hypothesis

Relacion entre el indice de variabilidad lexica y la edad en ninos con desarrollo tipico del lenguaje

54 p.El propósito del presente trabajo fue conocer la relación existente entre el Índice de Variabilidad Léxica (IVL) y la edad de niños de la ciudad de Talca con desarrollo típico del lenguaje, específicamente en niños de 6 años a 6 años 11 meses de edad. La hipótesis planteada es “el Índice de Variabilidad Léxica (IVL) en niños con desarrollo típico del lenguaje de 6 años a 8 años 11 meses de edad pertenecientes a la ciudad de Talca en la Región del Maule, se correlaciona directa y positivamente con la edad”. Así, se seleccionó una muestra aleatoria y representativa de niños pertenecientes a establecimientos educacionales particular subvencionados de la ciudad de Talca, en la Región del Maule. Los resultados indican que no existe una relación estrecha entre el índice de variabilidad léxica y la edad de estos niños, es decir, a medida que aumenta la edad no aumenta la habilidad para producir palabras nuevas, e incrementar así la totalidad de palabras que conforman sus enunciados. Finalmente se discuten las proyecciones clínicas de la presente investigación

Novel Functions of the Neurodegenerative-Related Gene Tau in Cancer

The analysis of global and comparative genomics between different diseases allows us to understand the key biological processes that explain the etiology of these pathologies. We have used this type of approach to evaluate the expression of several neurodegeneration-related genes on the development of tumors, particularly brain tumors of glial origin (gliomas), which are an aggressive and incurable type of cancer. We have observed that genes involved in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, correlate with better prognosis of gliomas. Within these genes, high Tau/MAPT expression shows the strongest correlation with several indicators of prolonged survival on glioma patients. Tau protein regulates microtubule stability and dynamics in neurons, although there have been reports of its expression in glial cells and also in gliomas. However, little is known about the regulation of Tau/MAPT transcription in tumors. Moreover, our in silico analysis indicates that this gene is also expressed in a variety of tumors, showing a general correlation with survival, although its function in cancer has not yet been addressed. Another remarkable aspect of Tau is its involvement in resistance to taxanes in various tumors types such as breast, ovarian and gastric carcinomas. This is due to the fact that taxanes have the same tubulin-binding site as Tau. In the present work we review the main knowledge about Tau function and expression in tumors, with a special focus on brain cancer. We will also speculate with the therapeutic implications of these findings.RG has been funded by the AECC Scientific Foundation. Research has been funded by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO-RETOS)/FEDER: SAF2015-65175-R to PS-G.S

A Survey on Metamorphic Testing

A test oracle determines whether a test execution reveals a fault, often by comparing the observed program output to the expected output. This is not always practical, for example when a program's input-output relation is complex and difficult to capture formally. Metamorphic testing provides an alternative, where correctness is not determined by checking an individual concrete output, but by applying a transformation to a test input and observing how the program output “morphs” into a different one as a result. Since the introduction of such metamorphic relations in 1998, many contributions on metamorphic testing have been made, and the technique has seen successful applications in a variety of domains, ranging from web services to computer graphics. This article provides a comprehensive survey on metamorphic testing: It summarises the research results and application areas, and analyses common practice in empirical studies of metamorphic testing as well as the main open challenges

ATENEA UPC and the new "Activity Stream" or "Wall" feature

The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya–Barcelona Tech (UPC), has added a new feature to its ATENEA UPC e-Learning platform based on Moodle. ATENEA UPC Service is UPC’s e-Learning platform which supports the Bachelor and Master studies, both face-to-face and blended. This new feature, called "Activity Stream" or "wall", allows progress in the implementation of methodologies based on social learning and mobile learning within the field of university studies. The Institut de Ciències de la Educació (Education Sciences Institute - ICE) leads the educational aims of the platform, and UPCnet -UPC’s ICT services company- offers the service and carries out the technical evolution projects of the platform (change of versions, development of new features, ...) The ICE, teachers at UPC and UPCnet, through working groups and projects in ATENEA Teaching Innovation LABs, evolve and test the new features of the platform that will later incorporate to UPC’s ATENEA Service. The aim of this presentation is to explain the pedagogical motivation of the initiative, the feature’s design process, the technological development done and the result of the actual experience carried out between February and June 2012 within the framework of the official engineering studies taught at the Escola d'Enginyeria de Telecomunicació i Aeronàutica in Castelldefels (EETAC).Preprin