Gestión del conocimiento de Diseño en la industria del mueble

Ponencia presentada en el VIII Congreso Internacional de Ingeniería de Proyectos celebrada en Bilbao en el año 2004The goal of the project was to improve the design process of the products in the furniture industry. It consisted of investigating the definition of a knowledge-based model in order to assist in the design of the industrial products. Firstly, a design process analysis and redesign was made through the process modeling. From the current design process model of the studied company a new design process model was achieved. In the new process, changes and consequences of introducing a new design tool, such as Catia V5, were reflected. Improvements referring to times, workflows, reduction of mistakes and better efficiency in the product design were achieved. Then, an Informal Model was built up and developed with the product knowledge of the company. This model was the necessary way between the information that defines the product related with the company and the Formal Model, which is required for its application in computer programs for products design. Finally, through using the program Catia V5, the prototype of a model was built up. That model allowed the achievement of variations in current designs automatically, taking into account the features and limitations of itself. Those automatic designs were gotten by the user, modifying the defined variables by introducing the searched parameters. In that way, a reduction of the time needed for current design and less mistakes of any type were achieved. As a whole, the project achieved a reduction of times and mistakes, increased flexibility referred to changes in the product design and integration between the design tasks, and achieved a best product knowledge management in the company.El objetivo general de este proyecto era mejorar el proceso de diseño de los productos de la industria del mueble. Consistía en investigar en la definición de un modelo basado en el conocimiento para asistir el diseño de productos industriales. En primer lugar se realizó un análisis y rediseño del proceso de diseño actual de la empresa estudiada mediante el modelado de procesos. A partir del modelo de proceso actual se obtuvo un nuevo modelo, en el cual se analizaban y reflejaban los cambios y consecuencias en el proceso ante la implementación de una nueva herramienta de diseño, como es el Catia. Se obtuvieron mejoras en aspectos de tiempo, flujo de actividades, reducción de fallos y una mayor eficiencia en el diseño. Otro de los puntos del proyecto fue la construcción de un Modelo Informal, desarrollado con el conocimiento de producto de la empresa, el cual constituye el paso necesario entre la información que define el producto en relación con la empresa y la obtención del Modelo Formal, requerido para su aplicación en herramientas informáticas para el diseño de productos. Y por último, mediante la utilización de la aplicación Catia V5 se desarrolló un prototipo de un modelo que permite la obtención de variaciones en diseños desarrollados rutinariamente de manera automática, teniendo en cuenta las características y limitaciones del mismo. Esto se produce, cuando el usuario introduce los parámetros deseados, modificando así las variables definidas, produciendo de esta forma una reducción de tiempos y minimización en cualquier tipo de error. Con todo ello se consigue una minimización de tiempos y errores, aumentar la flexibilidad en cuanto a la introducción de cambios en el diseño, aumentar la integración entre las actividades de producción y las actividades de diseño y una mejor gestión del conocimiento del producto por parte de la organización

Role of the yeast multidrug transporter Qdr2 in cation homeostasis and the oxidative stress response

We have identified QDR2 in a screening for genes able to confer tolerance to sodium and/or lithium stress upon overexpression. Qdr2 is a multidrug transporter of the major facilitator superfamily, originally described for its ability to transport the antimalarial drug quinidine and the herbicide barban. To identify its physiological substrate, we have screened for phenotypes dependent on QDR2 and found that Qdr2 is able to transport monovalent and divalent cations with poor selectivity, as shown by growth tests and the determination of internal cation content. Moreover, strains overexpressing or lacking QDR2 also exhibit phenotypes when reactive oxygen species- producing agents, such as hydrogen peroxide or menadione were added to the growth medium. We have also found that the presence of copper and hydrogen peroxide repress the expression of QDR2. In addition, the copper uptake of a qdr2 mutant strain is similar to a wild type, but the extrusion is clearly impaired. Based on our results, we propose that free divalent copper is the main physiological substrate of Qdr2. As copper is a substrate for several redox reactions that occur within the cytoplasm, its function in copper homeostasis explains its role in the oxidative stress response.This work was supported by grants PAID-06-10-1496 of the Universitat Politècnica de València (Valencia, Spain), PROMETEO/2010/038 of the ‘Consellería de Educación’ (Valencia, Spain), by grant BFU2011-30197-C03-03 and by grant BFU2011-22526 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Madrid, Spain)

Distinctive Traits for Drought and Salt Stress Tolerance in Melon (Cucumis melo L.)

Melon (Cucumis melo L.) is a crop with important agronomic interest worldwide. Because of the increase of drought and salinity in many cultivation areas as a result of anthropogenic global warming, the obtention of varieties tolerant to these conditions is a major objective for agronomical improvement. The identification of the limiting factors for stress tolerance could help to define the objectives and the traits which could be improved by classical breeding or other techniques. With this objective, we have characterized, at the physiological and biochemical levels, two different cultivars (sensitive or tolerant) of two different melon varieties (Galia and Piel de Sapo) under controlled drought or salt stress. We have performed physiological measurements, a complete amino acid profile and we have determined the sodium, potassium and hormone concentrations. This has allowed us to determine that the distinctive general trait for salt tolerance in melon are the levels of phenylalanine, histidine, proline and the Na+/K+ ratio, while the distinctive traits for drought tolerance are the hydric potential, isoleucine, glycine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, serine, and asparagine. These could be useful markers for breeding strategies or to predict which varieties are likely perform better under drought or salt stress. Our study has also allowed us to identify which metabolites and physiological traits are differentially regulated upon salt and drought stress between different varieties.SC was a recipient of grant FPU19/01977 from the Spanish Ministerio de Universidades. LM and AV activities were funded by the Prometeu program (IMAGINA project, PROMETEU/2019/110). LM was also supported by the Spanish MICINN (PTA2019-018094). The CEAM foundation was funded by the Generalitat Valenciana

Exomer Is Part of a Hub Where Polarized Secretion and Ionic Stress Connect

[EN] Plasma membrane and membranous organelles contribute to the physiology of the Eukaryotic cell by participating in vesicle trafficking and the maintenance of ion homeostasis. Exomer is a protein complex that facilitates vesicle transport from the trans-Golgi network to the plasma membrane, and its absence leads to the retention of a set of selected cargoes in this organelle. However, this retention does not explain all phenotypes observed in exomer mutants. The Schizosaccharomyces pombe exomer is composed of Cfr1 and Bch1, and cfr1¿ and bch1¿ were sensitive to high concentrations of potassium salts but not sorbitol, which showed sensitivity to ionic but not osmotic stress. Additionally, the activity of the plasma membrane ATPase was higher in exomer mutants than in the wild-type, pointing to membrane hyperpolarization, which caused an increase in intracellular K+ content and mild sensitivity to Na+, Ca2+, and the aminoglycoside antibiotic hygromycin B. Moreover, in response to K+ shock, the intracellular Ca2+ level of cfr1¿ cells increased significantly more than in the wild-type, likely due to the larger Ca2+ spikes in the mutant. Microscopy analyses showed a defective endosomal morphology in the mutants. This was accompanied by an increase in the intracellular pools of the K+ exporting P-type ATPase Cta3 and the plasma membrane Transient Receptor Potential (TRP)-like Ca2+ channel Pkd2, which were partially diverted from the trans-Golgi network to the prevacuolar endosome. Despite this, most Cta3 and Pkd2 were delivered to the plasma membrane at the cell growing sites, showing that their transport from the trans-Golgi network to the cell surface occurred in the absence of exomer. Nevertheless, shortly after gene expression in the presence of KCl, the polarized distribution of Cta3 and Pkd2 in the plasma membrane was disturbed in the mutants. Finally, the use of fluorescent probes suggested that the distribution and dynamics of association of some lipids to the plasma membrane in the presence of KCl were altered in the mutants. Thus, exomer participation in the response to K+ stress was multifaceted. These results supported the notion that exomer plays a general role in protein sorting at the trans-Golgi network and in polarized secretion, which is not always related to a function as a selective cargo adaptor.Financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad/European Regional Development Fund¿FEDER¿program (BFU2017-84508-P to M-HV and PGC2018-098924-B-I00 to PP), and from the Junta de Castilla y Leon/FEDER program (CSI150P20 to PP, and ¿Escalera de Excelencia¿ CLU-2017-03/14-20 to the IBFG), made this work possible. SM was supported by fellowships from the Universidad de Salamanca and the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, and EMR by a fellowship from Junta de Castilla y León. The Agencia Española de Investigación (AEI) Grants PID2019-104054 GB-I00 and RTC-2017-6468-2-AR supported JM. QC and AP were supported by the University of Toledo start up fund and a grant from National Institutes of Health (R15GM134496).Moro, S.; Moscoso-Romero, E.; Poddar, A.; Mulet, JM.; Pérez, P.; Chen, Q.; Valdivieso, M. (2021). Exomer Is Part of a Hub Where Polarized Secretion and Ionic Stress Connect. Frontiers in Microbiology. 12:1-22. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.708354S1221

Overexpression of BvHb2, a Class 2 Non-Symbiotic Hemoglobin from Sugar Beet, Confers Drought-Induced Withering Resistance and Alters Iron Content in Tomato

Drought stress is one of the major threats to agriculture and concomitantly to food production. Tomato is one of the most important industrial crops, but its tolerance to water scarcity is very low. Traditional plant breeding has a limited margin to minimize this water requirement. In order to design novel biotechnological approaches to cope with this problem, we have screened a plant cDNA library from the halotolerant crop sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) for genes able to confer drought/osmotic stress tolerance to the yeast model system upon overexpression. We have identified the gene that encodes BvHb2, a class 2 non-symbiotic hemoglobin, which is present as a single copy in the sugar beet genome, expressed mainly in leaves and regulated by light and abiotic stress. We have evaluated its biotechnological potential in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and found that BvHb2 is able to confer drought and osmotic stress tolerance. We also generated transgenic lines of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) overexpressing BvHb2 and found that the resulting plants are more resistant to drought-induce withering. In addition, transgenic lines overexpressing BvHb2 exhibit increased levels of iron content in leaves. Here, we show that class 2 non-symbiotic plant hemoglobins are targets to generate novel biotechnological crops tolerant to abiotic stress. The fact that these proteins are conserved in plants opens the possibility for using Non-GMO approaches, such as classical breeding, molecular breeding, or novel breeding techniques to increase drought tolerance using this protein as a target.</jats:p

N-benzylpiperidine derivatives as α7 nicotinic receptor antagonists

This document is the accepted manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Chemical Neuroscience 7.8, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.6b00122.A series of multitarget directed propargylamines, as well as other differently susbstituted piperidines have been screened as potential modulators of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Most of them showed antagonist actions on α7 nAChRs. Especially, compounds 13, 26, and 38 displayed submicromolar IC50 values on homomeric α7 nAChRs, whereas they were less effective on heteromeric α3β4 and α4β2 nAChRs (up to 20-fold higher IC50 values in the case of 13). Antagonism was concentration dependent and noncompetitive, suggesting that these compounds behave as negative allosteric modulators of nAChRs. Upon the study of a series of less complex derivatives, the N-benzylpiperidine motif, common to these compounds, was found to be the main pharmacophoric group. Thus, 2-(1-benzylpiperidin-4-yl)-ethylamine (48) showed an inhibitory potency comparable to the one of the previous compounds and also a clear preference for α7 nAChRs. In a neuroblastoma cell line, representative compounds 13 and 48 also inhibited, in a concentration-dependent manner, cytosolic Ca2+ signals mediated by nAChRs. Finally, compounds 38 and 13 inhibited 5-HT3A serotonin receptors whereas they had no effect on α1 glycine receptors. Given the multifactorial nature of many pathologies in which nAChRs are involved, these piperidine antagonists could have a therapeutic potential in cases where cholinergic activity has to be negatively modulated.This work was supported by grants SAF2011-22802 to S.S., SAF2012-33304 to J.M.-C., CSD2008-00005 (the Spanish Ion Channel Initiative-CONSOLIDER INGENIO 2010) to M.C. from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad)

Distinctive physiological and molecular responses to cold stress among cold-tolerant and cold-sensitive Pinus halepensis seed sources

Background: Forest species ranges are confined by environmental limitations such as cold stress. The natural range shifts of pine forests due to climate change and proactive-assisted population migration may each be constrained by the ability of pine species to tolerate low temperatures, especially in northern latitudes or in high altitudes. The aim of this study is to characterize the response of cold-tolerant versus cold-sensitive Pinus halepensis (P. halepensis) seedlings at the physiological and the molecular level under controlled cold conditions to identify distinctive features which allow us to explain the phenotypic difference. With this objective gas-exchange and water potential was determined and the photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugars, glutathione and free amino acids content were measured in seedlings of different provenances under control and cold stress conditions. Results: Glucose and fructose content can be highlighted as a potential distinctive trait for cold-tolerant P. halepensis seedlings. At the amino acid level, there was a significant increase and accumulation of glutathione, proline, glutamic acid, histidine, arginine and tryptophan along with a significant decrease of glycine. Conclusion: Our results established that the main difference between cold-tolerant and cold-sensitive seedlings of P. halepensis is the ability to accumulate the antioxidant glutathione and osmolytes such as glucose and fructose, proline and arginine.This study is a part of the research project: “Application of molecular biology techniques in forest restoration in Mediterranean environments, PAID-05-11” funded by the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), program for supporting R&D of new multidisciplinary research lines. The authors are grateful to the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad AGL2014–57431-P and BIO2016–77776-P. AV was supported by project Survive-2 (CGL2015–69773-C2–2-P MINECO/FEDER) by the Spanish Government and Prometeo program (DESESTRES Generalitat Valenciana). CEAM is funded by Generalitat Valenciana

Experimental supporting data on the influence of platelet-derived factors of malignant pleural effusions on T cell effector functions and their relevance in predicting prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma patients with pleural metastasis

The data described in this article are supplementary to our primary article "Platelet factor 4 regulates T cell effector functions in malignant pleural effusions". Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a common complication of advanced lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) associated with a poor life expectancy [1]. Several challenges need to be addressed to identify non-invasive molecular biomarkers that help to predict the prognosis of LAC patients with MPE [2]. In the primary publication, we proposed that platelet-derived factors, especially platelet factor 4 (PF4), can negatively regulate T lymphocyte activation and granzyme B expression in pleural metastasis and its levels were associated with a worse prognosis. Here, we provide data on the influence of other platelet-derived factors, including transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), vascular endothelial factor (VEGF), and P-selectin on T lymphocyte response in MPE and their relevance as prognostic factors in lung cancer patients with pleural metastasis. Pleural fluids from 35 lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) and 20 heart failure (HF) patients were collected by thoracentesis and its platelet-derived factors' content was measured by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISAs). Correlations between pleural levels of platelet-derived factors and T cell functions were analyzed by Pearson coefficients. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to estimate the effect of pleural concentrations of platelet-derived factors on overall survival of LAC patients with pleural metastasis. These analyses showed that the concentration of platelet-derived factors was not associated with T cell proliferation and cytotoxicity. Furthermore, their levels do not predict the survival of LAC with MPE