Francesc Xavier Balmis: ciutadà del món

L'alacantí Francesc Xavier Balmis i Berenguer i el barceloní Josep Salvany Lleopart van ser els protagonistes, el 1803, d'una expedició a Amèrica i Filipines per portar la vacuna de la verola a territoris on aquesta epidèmia provocava alts índexs de mortalitat. Dos-cents anys després, tres professors de la Universitat d'Alacant analitzen la importància d'aquella expedició

Cuarenta años de difusión científica

Editorial.[EN]: Celebrating forty years of unbroken publication of the Revista Española de Drogodependencias (RED) in 2016 is the excuse put forward to look through the history of this journal and its development as regards its objectives, editorial policy, format and presentation. Over all these years, in which new journals have been seen to come out and some indeed disappear as a result of the difficult situation which publishing scientific texts in Spain is going through, the RED has managed to adapt to the new times and improve the criteria for evaluating the quality of journals, drawing this increasingly closer to international standards.[ES]: La celebración de los 40 años de edición ininterrumpida de la Revista Española de Drogodependencias (RED) en 2016 sirve de pretexto para repasar la historia de esta revista y su evolución en lo referente a objetivos, política editorial, formato y presentación. A lo largo de todos estos años, en los que se ha visto nacer y también, como no, desaparecer nuevas revistas como consecuencia de la difícil situación por la que atraviesa la edición de publicaciones científicas en España, la RED ha conseguido adaptarse a los nuevos tiempos y mejorar los criterios para evaluar la calidad de las revistas y acercarla cada vez más a estándares internacionales.Peer reviewe

Revista Española de Drogodependencias: a process and a continuous professional dedication for 40 years

[ES] Se presentan los principales cambios e innovaciones producidos en la Revista Española de Drogode - pendencias , en adelante RED, entre los años 2006-2016 (cuarta década de edición de la revista). Primera publicación científica de habla hispana especializada en alcoholismo y otras adicciones pro - veniente del modelo de revistas biomédicas. Los cambios hechos en el transcurso de sus cuarenta años ininterrumpidos de edición la han convertido en una revista independiente con temática diversa dirigida a todos los profesionales del campo de las adicciones. Se describen los cambios realizados en el proceso editorial, la innovación y la investigación, la cuestión del género en los órganos de decisión así como otros aspectos sobre la visibilidad y la financiación.[EN] The main changes and innovations produced in the Revista Española de Drogodependencias, herein - after RED, are presented between 2006-2016 (fourth decade of publication). First Spanish-language scientific publication specializing in alcoholism and other addictions from the model of biomedical journals. The changes made in the course of its forty years of uninterrupted editing have made it an independent magazine with a diverse theme addressed to all professionals in the field of addictions. It describes changes in the editorial process, innovation and research, gender issues in decision-making bodies as well as other aspects of visibility and funding.Cano Pérez, L.; Osca-Lluch, MJ.; Rojo Moreno, J.; Verdú Asensi, F.; Herrero Lorenzo, R.; Alventosa Del Río, J. (2017). La Revista Española de Drogodependencias: un proceso y una continua dedicación profesional durante 40 años. Revista española de drogodependencias. 42(1):9-17. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/110331S91742

Effects of Covid-19 on the Online Library and Information Science Degree at the University of León (Spain)

.The Degree in Library Science and Documentation of the University of León started during the 1990–1991 academic year. This first curriculum suffered from a strong presence of subjects from the humanities, with a low fraction of experimental work in many subjects because of its inclusion within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. The first years attracted large numbers of students. However, the subsequent decrease in the number of students pursuing the degree drove us to initiate a change toward blended and online modalities. The Librarianship and Documentation Area of the University of León (ULe) already has a long history in blended teaching, starting with the Degree in Librarianship and Documentation, which has used the platform aul@unileon since the 2006–2007 academic year; the Degree of Information and Documentation has used the blended modality since the 2010–2011 academic year, and it has been offered in the distance learning modality since the 2014–2015 academic year. These new technologies have been fully introduced into university education and have facilitated the teaching–learning process through the use of interactive programs via the Internet. The main objective of this column is to determine and study the kind of multimedia tools used by professors of the Bachelor of Information and Documentation at the University of León during the teaching–learning process and in virtual teaching before the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to report which new tools were introduced by the university for this reason. We study the student–teacher and student–student interactions to help promote communication and participatory learning through chats, forums, email, hangouts, Skype, Meet, videoconferences, etc. To carry out this study, two types of methodology were applied: satisfaction surveys implemented by the Quality Office of the ULe to determine the degree of satisfaction of students and teachers, and a study of annual reportsS

A GFP-lacZ Bicistronic Reporter System for Promoter Analysis in Environmental Gram-Negative Bacteria

Here, we describe a bicistronic reporter system for the analysis of promoter activity in a variety of Gram-negative bacteria at both the population and single-cell levels. This synthetic genetic tool utilizes an artificial operon comprising the gfp and lacZ genes that are assembled in a suicide vector, which is integrated at specific sites within the chromosome of the target bacterium, thereby creating a monocopy reporter system. This tool was instrumental for the complete in vivo characterization of two promoters, Pb and Pc, that drive the expression of the benzoate and catechol degradation pathways, respectively, of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440. The parameterization of these promoters in a population (using β-galactosidase assays) and in single cells (using flow cytometry) was necessary to examine the basic numerical features of these systems, such as the basal and maximal levels and the induction kinetics in response to an inducer (benzoate). Remarkably, GFP afforded a view of the process at a much higher resolution compared with standard lacZ tests; changes in fluorescence faithfully reflected variations in the transcriptional regimes of individual bacteria. The broad host range of the vector/reporter platform is an asset for the characterization of promoters in different bacteria, thereby expanding the diversity of genomic chasses amenable to Synthetic Biology methods

Lmo2 expression defines tumor cell identity during T-cell leukemogenesis

The impact of LMO2 expression on cell lineage decisions during T-cell leukemogenesis remains largely elusive. Using genetic lineage tracing, we have explored the potential of LMO2 in dictating a T-cell malignant phenotype. We first initiated LMO2 expression in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and maintained its expression in all hematopoietic cells. These mice develop exclusively aggressive human-like T-ALL. In order to uncover a potential exclusive reprogramming effect of LMO2 in murine hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, we next showed that transient LMO2 expression is sufficient for oncogenic function and induction of T-ALL. The resulting T-ALLs lacked LMO2 and its target-gene expression, and histologically, transcriptionally, and genetically similar to human LMO2-driven T-ALL. We next found that during T-ALL development, secondary genomic alterations take place within the thymus. However, the permissiveness for development of T-ALL seems to be associated with wider windows of differentiation than previously appreciated. Restricted Cre-mediated activation of Lmo2 at different stages of B-cell development induces systematically and unexpectedly T-ALL that closely resembled those of their natural counterparts. Together, these results provide a novel paradigm for the generation of tumor T cells through reprogramming in vivo and could be relevant to improve the response of T-ALL to current therapies.J.H. has been supported by the German Cancer Aid (Project 110997 and Translational Oncology Program 70112951), the German Jose Carreras Leukemia Foundation (DJCLS 02R/2016), Deutsches Konsortium für Translationale Krebsforschung (DKTK), Joint funding (Targeting MYC L*10), the Kinderkrebsstiftung (2016/17), and the “Elterninitiative Kinderkrebsklinik e.V. Düsseldorf”. SG has been supported by a scholarship of the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg. AB has been supported by the German Children's Cancer Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Bonn, Germany. Research in ISG group is partially supported by FEDER and by MINECO (SAF2012-32810, SAF2015-64420-R, and Red de Excelencia Consolider OncoBIO SAF2014-57791-REDC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PIE14/00066), ISCIII- Plan de Ayudas IBSAL 2015 Proyectos Integrados (IBY15/00003), by Junta de Castilla y León (BIO/SA51/15, CSI001U14, UIC-017, and CSI001U16), Fundacion Inocente Inocente, and by the ARIMMORA project (European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 282891). ISG Lab is a member of the EuroSyStem and the DECIDE Network funded by the European Union under the FP7 program. AB and ISG have been supported by the German Carreras Foundation (DJCLS R13/26). IGR was supported by BES-Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2013-063789). AML and GRH were supported by FSE-Conserjería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León (CSI001-13, CSI001-15). Research in CVD group is partially supported by FEDER, “Miguel Servet” Grant (CP14/00082—AES 2013-2016) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), “Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias/Instituto de Salud Carlos III” (PI17/00167), and by the Lady Tata International Award for Research in Leukaemia 2016–2017

The Standard European Vector Architecture (SEVA): a coherent platform for the analysis and deployment of complex prokaryotic phenotypes

The 'Standard European Vector Architecture' database (SEVA-DB, http://seva.cnb.csic.es) was conceived as a user-friendly, web-based resource and a material clone repository to assist in the choice of optimal plasmid vectors for de-constructing and re-constructing complex prokaryotic phenotypes. The SEVA-DB adopts simple design concepts that facilitate the swapping of functional modules and the extension of genome engineering options to microorganisms beyond typical laboratory strains. Under the SEVA standard, every DNA portion of the plasmid vectors is minimized, edited for flaws in their sequence and/or functionality, and endowed with physical connectivity through three inter-segment insulators that are flanked by fixed, rare restriction sites. Such a scaffold enables the exchangeability of multiple origins of replication and diverse antibiotic selection markers to shape a frame for their further combination with a large variety of cargo modules that can be used for varied end-applications. The core collection of constructs that are available at the SEVA-DB has been produced as a starting point for the further expansion of the formatted vector platform. We argue that adoption of the SEVA format can become a shortcut to fill the phenomenal gap between the existing power of DNA synthesis and the actual engineering of predictable and efficacious bacteria