Transborder Teaching/Docencia transfronteriza

“Trans-Border Teaching / Docencia transfronteriza” (TBT) fue un proyecto de innovación docente internacional, virtual e interdisciplinario con el objetivo global de fomentar la internacionalización de la docencia en la Facultad de Filosofía de la UCM. Motivado en parte por el objetivo de la Unión Europea (UE) de armonizar sus distintos sistemas académicos, TBT creó y dinamizó un espacio de interacción para miembros de la Facultad de Filosofía de la UCM—PDI, PAS y estudiantes—con miembros PDI de universidades situadas en otros países europeos (Inglaterra y Portugal) y no europeos (Egipto). Las actividades, que fueron virtuales, se compusieron de (1) reuniones privadas entre el equipo de trabajo del proyecto para discutir, libre y abiertamente, los métodos que se usan para enseñar filosofía y su eficacia; (2) una serie de intercambios donde los miembros PDI de las universidades del extranjero impartieron una clase (en inglés) a los estudiantes de los cursos en inglés de los miembros PDI de la UCM; (3) la organización de un congreso internacional para discutir el tema y facilitar el intercambio de ideas con investigadores internacionales situados en sistemas académicos no representados en el proyecto.Depto. de Lógica y Filosofía TeóricaFac. de FilosofíaFALSEsubmitte

The parthenocarpic hydra mutant reveals a new function for a SPOROCYTELESS-like gene in the control of fruit set in tomato

[EN] Fruit set is an essential process to ensure successful sexual plant reproduction. The development of the flower into a fruit is actively repressed in the absence of pollination. However, some cultivars from a few species are able to develop seedless fruits overcoming the standard restriction of unpollinated ovaries to growth. We report here the identification of the tomato hydra mutant that produces seedless (parthenocarpic) fruits. Seedless fruit production in hydra plants is linked to the absence of both male and female sporocyte development. The HYDRA gene is therefore essential for the initiation of sporogenesis in tomato. Using positional cloning, virus-induced gene silencing and expression analysis experiments, we identified the HYDRA gene and demonstrated that it encodes the tomato orthologue of SPOROCYTELESS/NOZZLE (SPL/NZZ) of Arabidopsis. We found that the precocious growth of the ovary is associated with changes in the expression of genes involved in gibberellin (GA) metabolism. Our results support the conservation of the function of SPL-like genes in the control of sporogenesis in plants. Moreover, this study uncovers a new function for the tomato SlSPL/HYDRA gene in the control of fruit initiation.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci on (MICINN; AGL2009-07617 to C.G-M.; AGL2015-64991-C3-3-R to V.M.; and AGL2015-64991-C3-1-R to R.L.) and the Ram on y Cajal Program (RYC-2007-00627). We thank Rafael Martinez and Primitivo Murias for expert plant care; Marisol Gasc on for technical assistance with the microscope; and Dr Cristina Ferrandiz for critical reading of the manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci on (MICINN; AGL2009-07617 to C.G-M.; AGL2015-64991-C3-3-R to V.M.; and AGL2015-64991-C3-1-R to R.L.) and the Ram on y Cajal Program (RYC-2007-00627). We thank Rafael Martinez and Primitivo Murias for expert plant care; Marisol Gasc on for technical assistance with the microscope; and Dr Cristina Ferrandiz for critical reading of the manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.Rojas-Gracia, P.; Roque Mesa, EM.; Medina Herranz, M.; Rochina Peñalver, MC.; Hamza, R.; Angarita-Diaz, MP.; Moreno Ferrero, V.... (2017). The parthenocarpic hydra mutant reveals a new function for a SPOROCYTELESS-like gene in the control of fruit set in tomato. New Phytologist. 214(3):1198-1212. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14433S11981212214

IgE-reactivity pattern of tomato seed and peel nonspecific lipid-transfer proteins after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

The influence of gastrointestinal digestion on the immunological properties of three different nonspecific lipid-transfer proteins (nsLTPs) described in tomato fruit has been assessed using an in vitro system mimicking the stomach and intestine digestion conditions. Tomato peel/pulp nsLTP, Sola l 3, was degraded after digestion, although the immunoglobulin E (IgE) recognition of intact protein and a 10 kDa band were still observed after 30 min of duodenal digestion in the presence of phosphatidylcholine. The tomato seed nsLTP, Sola l 7, showed a higher stability than the other seed allergen, Sola l 6, during digestion. Sola l 7 showed an IgE immunoreactive 6.5 kDa band in immunoblotting analysis, retaining up to 7% of its IgE-binding capacity in inhibition ELISA test after 60 min of duodenal digestion and keeping intact its ability to activate basophils after digestion. These results suggest that the tomato seed allergen Sola l 7 might be considered as an important allergen in the induction of allergic responses to tomato due to its high stability against gastrointestinal digestion.This work was supported by grants SAF2017-86483-R from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and PI13/00928 Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), ISCIII cofounded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – FEDER for the Thematic Networks and Co-operative Research Centres; RIRAAF RD16/0006/0024 and ARADyAL (RD16/0006/0001; RD16/0006/0013; RD16/0006/0014); and EAACI Exchange Research Fellowship 2016. The authors would like to thank the excellent technical support of Sara Abián. S.B. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación contract from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.Peer reviewe

Dysregulated FOXO1 activity drives skeletal muscle intrinsic dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a multisystemic neurodegenerative disorder, with accumulating evidence indicating metabolic disruptions in the skeletal muscle preceding disease symptoms, rather than them manifesting as a secondary consequence of motor neuron (MN) degeneration. Hence, energy homeostasis is deeply implicated in the complex physiopathology of ALS and skeletal muscle has emerged as a key therapeutic target. Here, we describe intrinsic abnormalities in ALS skeletal muscle, both in patient-derived muscle cells and in muscle cell lines with genetic knockdown of genes related to familial ALS, such as TARDBP (TDP-43) and FUS. We found a functional impairment of myogenesis that parallels defects of glucose oxidation in ALS muscle cells. We identified FOXO1 transcription factor as a key mediator of these metabolic and functional features in ALS muscle, via gene expression profiling and biochemical surveys in TDP-43 and FUS-silenced muscle progenitors. Strikingly, inhibition of FOXO1 mitigated the impaired myogenesis in both the genetically modified and the primary ALS myoblasts. In addition, specific in vivo conditional knockdown of TDP-43 or FUS orthologs (TBPH or caz) in Drosophila muscle precursor cells resulted in decreased innervation and profound dysfunction of motor nerve terminals and neuromuscular synapses, accompanied by motor abnormalities and reduced lifespan. Remarkably, these phenotypes were partially corrected by foxo inhibition, bolstering the potential pharmacological management of muscle intrinsic abnormalities associated with ALS. The findings demonstrate an intrinsic muscle dysfunction in ALS, which can be modulated by targeting FOXO factors, paving the way for novel therapeutic approaches that focus on the skeletal muscle as complementary target tissue

Spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant through Europe in the summer of 2020

[EN] Following its emergence in late 2019, the spread of SARS-CoV-21,2 has been tracked by phylogenetic analysis of viral genome sequences in unprecedented detail3,4,5. Although the virus spread globally in early 2020 before borders closed, intercontinental travel has since been greatly reduced. However, travel within Europe resumed in the summer of 2020. Here we report on a SARS-CoV-2 variant, 20E (EU1), that was identified in Spain in early summer 2020 and subsequently spread across Europe. We find no evidence that this variant has increased transmissibility, but instead demonstrate how rising incidence in Spain, resumption of travel, and lack of effective screening and containment may explain the variant’s success. Despite travel restrictions, we estimate that 20E (EU1) was introduced hundreds of times to European countries by summertime travellers, which is likely to have undermined local efforts to minimize infection with SARS-CoV-2. Our results illustrate how a variant can rapidly become dominant even in the absence of a substantial transmission advantage in favourable epidemiological settings. Genomic surveillance is critical for understanding how travel can affect transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and thus for informing future containment strategies as travel resumes.S

The first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in Spain was associated with early introductions and fast spread of a dominating genetic variant

SeqCOVID-Spain consortium: Álvaro Chiner-Oms, Irving Cancino-Muñoz, Mariana G. López, Manuela Torres-Puente, Inmaculada Gómez-Navarro, Santiago Jiménez-Serrano, Jordi Pérez-Tur, Darío García de Viedma, Laura Pérez-Lago, Marta Herranz, Jon Sicilia, Pilar Catalán-Alonso, Julia Suárez González, Patricia Muñoz, Mireia Coscolla, Paula Ruiz-Rodríguez, Fernando González-Candelas, Iñaki Comas, Lidia Ruiz-Roldán, María Alma Bracho, Neris García-González, Llúcia Martínez Priego, Inmaculada Galán-Vendrell, Paula Ruiz-Hueso, Griselda De Marco, María Loreto Ferrús-Abad, Sandra Carbó-Ramírez, Giuseppe D’Auria, Galo Adrian Goig, Juan Alberola, Jose Miguel Nogueira, Juan José Camarena, David Navarro, Eliseo Albert, Ignacio Torres, Maitane Aranzamendi Zaldumbide, Óscar Martínez Expósito, Nerea Antona Urieta, María de Toro, María Pilar Bea-Escudero, Jose Antonio Boga, Cristian Castelló-Abietar, Susana Rojo-Alba, Marta Elena Álvarez-Argüelles, Santiago Melón, Elisa Martró, Antoni E. Bordoy, Anna Not, Adrián Antuori, Anabel Fernández-Navarro, Andrés Canut-Blasco, Silvia Hernáez Crespo, Maria Luz Cordón Rodríguez, Maria Concepción Lecaroz Agara, Carmen Gómez-González, Amaia Aguirre-Quiñonero, José Israel López-Mirones, Marina Fernández-Torres, Maria Rosario Almela-Ferrer, Ana Carvajal, Juan Miguel Fregeneda-Grandes, Héctor Argüello, Gustavo Cilla Eguiluz, Milagrosa Montes Ros, Luis Piñeiro Vázquez, Ane Sorarrain, José María Marimón, José J. Costa-Alcalde, Rocío Trastoy, Gema Barbeito Castiñeiras, Amparo Coira, María Luisa Pérez del Molino, Antonio Aguilera, Begoña Palop-Borrás, Inmaculada de Toro Peinado, Maria Concepción Mediavilla Gradolph, Mercedes Pérez-Ruiz, Mirian Fernández-Alonso, Jose Luis del Pozo, Oscar González-Recio, Mónica Gutiérrez-Rivas, Jovita Fernández-Pinero, Miguel Ángel Jiménez Clavero, Begoña Fuster Escrivá, Concepción Gimeno Cardona, María Dolores Ocete Mochón, Rafael Medina-Gonzalez, José Antonio Lepe, Verónica González Galán, Ángel Rodríguez-Villodres, Nieves Gonzalo Jiménez, Jordi Reina, Carla López-Causapé, Maria Dolores Gómez-Ruiz, Eva M. Gonzalez-Barbera, José Luis López-Hontangas, Vicente Martín, Antonio J. Molina, Tania Fernandez-Villa, Ana Milagro Beamonte, Nieves Felisa Martínez-Cameo, Yolanda Gracia-Grataloup, Rosario Moreno-Muñoz, Maria Dolores Tirado Balaguer, José María Navarro-Marí, Irene Pedrosa-Corral, Sara Sanbonmatsu-Gámez, Antonio Oliver, Mónica Parra Grande, Bárbara Gómez Alonso, Francisco José Arjona Zaragozí, Maria Carmen Pérez González, Francisco Javier Chamizo López, Ana Bordes-Benítez, Núria Rabella, Ferran Navarro, Elisenda Miró, Antonio Rezusta, Alexander Tristancho, Encarnación Simarro Córdoba, Julia Lozano-Serra, Lorena Robles Fonseca, Álex Soriano, Francisco Javier Roig Sena, Hermelinda Vanaclocha Luna, Isabel Sanmartín, Daniel García-Souto, Ana Pequeño-Valtierra, Jose M. C. Tubio, Javier Temes, Jorge Rodríguez-Castro, Martín Santamarina García, Manuel Rodríguez-Iglesias, Fátima Galán-Sanchez, Salud Rodríguez-Pallares, José Manuel Azcona-Gutiérrez, Miriam Blasco-Alberdi, Alfredo Mayor, Alberto L. García-Basteiro, Gemma Moncunill, Carlota Dobaño, Pau Cisteró, Oriol Mitjà, Camila González-Beiras, Martí Vall-Mayans, Marc Corbacho-Monné, Andrea Alemany, Cristina Muñoz-Cuevas, Guadalupe Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Rafael Benito, Sonia Algarate, Jessica Bueno, Andrea Vergara-Gómez, Miguel J. Martínez, Jordi Vila, Elisa Rubio, Aida Peiró-Mestres, Jessica Navero-Castillejos, David Posada, Diana Valverde, Nuria Estévez, Iria Fernández-Silva, Loretta de Chiara, Pilar Gallego-García, Nair Varela, Ulises Gómez-Pinedo, Mónica Gozalo-Margüello, Maria Eliecer Cano García, José Manuel Méndez-Legaza, Jesus Rodríguez-Lozano, María Siller, Daniel Pablo-Marcos, Maria Montserrat Ruiz-García, Antonio Galiana, Judith Sánchez-Almendro, Maria Isabel Gascón Ros, Cristina Juana Torregrosa-Hetland, Eva María Pastor Boix, Paloma Cascales Ramos, Pedro Luis Garcinuño Enríquez, Salvador Raga Borja, Julia González Cantó, Olalla Martínez Macias, Adolfo de Salazar, Laura Viñuela González, Natalia Chueca, Federico García, Cristina Gómez-Camarasa, Amparo Farga Martí, Rocío Falcón, Victoria Domínguez-Márquez, Anna M. Planas, Israel Fernández-Cádenas, Maria Ángeles Marcos, Carmen Ezpeleta, Ana Navascués, Ana Miqueleiz Zapatero, Manuel Segovia, Antonio Moreno-Docón, Esther Viedma, Raúl Recio Martínez, Irene Muñoz-Gallego, Sara Gonzalez-Bodi, Maria Dolores Folgueira, Jesús Mingorance, Elias Dahdouh, Fernando Lázaro-Perona, María Rodríguez-Tejedor, María Pilar Romero-Gómez, Julio García-Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Galán, Mario Rodríguez-Dominguez, Laura Martínez-García, Melanie Abreu Di Berardino, Manuel Ponce-Alonso, Jose Maria González-Alba, Ivan Sanz-Muñoz, Diana Pérez San José, Maria Gil Fortuño, Juan B. Bellido-Blasco, Alberto Yagüe Muñoz, Noelia Hernández Pérez, Helena Buj Jordá, Óscar Pérez Olaso, Alejandro González Praetorius, Nora Mariela Martínez Ramírez, Aida Ramírez Marinero, Eduardo Padilla León, Alba Vilas Basil, Mireia Canal Aranda, Albert Bernet Sánchez, Alba Bellés Bellés, Eric López González, Iván Prats Sánchez, Mercè García-González, Miguel José Martínez-Lirola, Manuel Ángel Rodríguez Maresca, Maria Teresa Cabezas Fernández, María Eugenia Carrillo Gil, Maria Paz Ventero Martín, Carmen Molina Pardines, Nieves Orta Mira, María Navarro Cots, Inmaculada Vidal Catalá, Isabel García Nava, Soledad Illescas Fernández-Bermejo, José Martínez-Alarcón, Marta Torres-Narbona, Cristina Colmenarejo, Lidia García-Agudo, Jorge A. Pérez García, Martín Yago López, María Ángeles Goberna Bravo, Victoria Simón García, Gonzalo Llop Furquet, Agustín Iranzo Tatay, Sandra Moreno-Marro, Noelia Lozano Rodríguez, Amparo Broseta Tamarit, Juan José Badiola Díez, Amparo Martínez-Ramírez, Ana Dopazo, Sergio Callejas, Alberto Benguría, Begoña Aguado, Antonio Alcamí, Marta Bermejo Bermejo, Ricardo Ramos-Ruíz, Víctor Manuel Fernández Soria, Fernando Simón Soria & Mercedes Roig CardellsThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the world radically since 2020. Spain was one of the European countries with the highest incidence during the first wave. As a part of a consortium to monitor and study the evolution of the epidemic, we sequenced 2,170 samples, diagnosed mostly before lockdown measures. Here, we identified at least 500 introductions from multiple international sources and documented the early rise of two dominant Spanish epidemic clades (SECs), probably amplified by superspreading events. Both SECs were related closely to the initial Asian variants of SARS-CoV-2 and spread widely across Spain. We inferred a substantial reduction in the effective reproductive number of both SECs due to public-health interventions (Re < 1), also reflected in the replacement of SECs by a new variant over the summer of 2020. In summary, we reveal a notable difference in the initial genetic makeup of SARS-CoV-2 in Spain compared with other European countries and show evidence to support the effectiveness of lockdown measures in controlling virus spread, even for the most successful genetic variants.This work was mainly funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III project COV20/00140, with additional funding by Spanish National Research Council project CSIC-COV19-021, Ministerio de Ciencia project PID2019-104477RB-100, ERC StG 638553 and ERC CoG 101001038 to I.C., and BFU2017-89594R to F.G.C. M.C. is supported by Ramón y Cajal program from Ministerio de Ciencia and grants RTI2018-094399-A-I00 and Generalitat Valenciana (Regional Government) project SEJI/2019/011. We gratefully acknowledge Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, IrsiCaixa AIDS Research Lab and all the international researchers and institutions that submitted sequenced SARS-CoV-2 genomes to the GISAID’s EpiCov Database (Supplementary Table 1), as an important part of our analyses has been made possible by the sharing of their work. We also thank Unidad de Bioinformática y Estadística, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, for allowing us to use the Computer Cluster to perform some of the bioinformatic analysis.Peer reviewe

I am not that one. The Sinister in Grete Stern´s Photomontages

Lo siniestro constituye una categoría estética que, en su vínculo con la sensibilidad, desborda cualquier intento de abordaje unidireccional. En este sentido, y por su imbricación con lo reprimido, el psicoanálisis se ha interesado por el tratamiento de lo ominoso, concepto que no solo conforma un interesante fenómeno pulsional, sino que supone la cristalización de una época cuyo espíritu transita entre la desilusión y la utopía. En la resaca de este contexto, las mujeres argentinas de la primera mitad del siglo XX conformaban una masa social atravesada por imperativos contradictorios: ser madre, esposa y garante del bienestar de la familia, pero, también, eslabón imprescindible de la cadena de desarrollo colectivo, constituye una carga material y psíquica presente en los sueños de las lectoras de Idilio. En este sentido, Grete Stern supo captar, a través de sus fotomontajes, los psiquismos fracturados de la sociedad de consumo emergente, coyuntura que desestabilizó las subjetividades en tránsito de unas mujeres sometidas a una alienación doble: la provocada y la consentida. El presente trabajo sintetiza el estudio freudiano de lo siniestro en su relación con el pasado psíquico y expone, a través de la selección de alguna de las piezas que Stern realizó para la revista Idilio, la dimensión ominosa en su revelado social.The sinister constitutes an aesthetic category that, in its link with sensitivity, goes beyond any attempt at a one-way approach. In this sense, and due to its overlap with the repressed, psychoanalysis has been interested in the treatment of the ominous, a concept that not only constitutes an interesting drive phenomenon, but also represents the crystallization of an era whose spirit transits between disillusionment and disillusionment. Utopia. In the hangover of this context, Argentine women in the first half of the 20th century formed a social mass traversed by contradictory imperatives: to be a mother, wife and guarantor of the well-being of the family, but also an essential link in the chain of collective development , constitutes a material and psychic charge present in the dreams of the readers of Idilio. In this sense, Grete Stern was able to capture, through her photomontages, the fractured psyches of the emerging consumer society, a situation that destabilized the subjectivities in transit of some women subjected to a double alienation: the provoked and the consented. The present work synthesizes the Freudian study of the sinister in its relationship with the psychic past and exposes, through the selection of some of the pieces that Stern made for the magazine Idilio, the ominous dimension in its social development.Depto. de Filosofía y SociedadFac. de FilosofíaTRUEunpu

A lumped parameter modelling of particle generation from Na-pool fires in SFR containments

Modelling of sodium-evaporation and formation of sodium-oxide aerosols from a sodium-pool fire is of fundamental importance for the assessing of the radiological consequences in Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors severe accidents. This paper summarizes the derivation of a simple model to estimate the amount and size of particles being generated from Na-pool fires and its performance assessment, once implemented in an integral severe accident tool (ASTEC-Na), against available large-scale separate effect tests. The model has been transposed in analytical correlations which implementation in lumped-parameter severe accident codes is straightforward. According to the comparisons to data set, the correlations do not adversely impact the code estimates with respect to other more empirical alternative approaches and, in addition, the correlations remove any need of user-defined ad-hoc parameters in the input deck concerning Na-based particles behaviour, as other alternates do. Regarding code behaviour, the model predictions yield the same order of magnitude both in terms of suspended aerosol concentration and diameter as data and capture the reliable measured data trends