Análisis del tamaño de partículas en areniscas de las Catedrales de Salamanca. Independencia entre granulometría y deterioro

11 sandstone samples from the cathedrals of Salamanca were analysed granulometrically. The study was to establish whether there is a direct connection between the particle size of such stone and the surface deterioration of some of the ashlars in the facades. This was carried out with the help of diffraction spectrometry by laser beams. The results show that there is no connection between the nature of the stone texture and their degree of surface deterioration.Se analizan granulométricamente 11 muestras de arenisca de las Catedrales de Salamanca. El objetivo del estudio es establecer si existe relación directa entre el tamaño de las partículas de tales piedras y el deterioro superficial de alguno de los sillares de las fachadas. Esto se lleva a cabo con la ayuda de la espectrometría de difracción por rayos láser. Los resultados muestran que no hay conexión entre la finura textural de las piedras estudiadas y el grado de deterioro superficial que éstas presentan

Beta interferon restricts the inflammatory potential of CD4+ cells through the boost of the Th2 phenotype, the inhibition of Th17 response and the prevalence of naturally occurring T regulatory cells

Beta-interferon (IFN-beta) is a valuable therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) which is also effective in the animal model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). However, the accurate mechanisms to explain its anti-inflammatory activity in the disease are not fully revealed. Available data support that T lymphocytes are among the main cell targets of IFN-beta. We have found that in vitro anti-CD3 stimulation of uncommitted murine naïve T cells under IFN-beta treatment results in skewing the T cell differentiation process towards the T2 phenotype, in a prevention from apoptosis of naturally occurring CD4+ T regulatory cells (nTreg) in correlation with an increase in Bcl-XL expression, and in a decrease of IL-17 expression. Elimination of nTreg from the primary culture of naïve CD4+ cells abolished the down-regulation of IL-17 driven by IFN-beta, what suggests the interaction between Th17 and nTreg subsets. Experiments in EAE induced in SJL mice, showed in vivo evidence for the accumulation of spleen CD4+CD25+GITR+Foxp3+ cells after IFN-beta treatment. On the other hand, treated animals showed a striking decrease of IL-17 expression by peripheral CD4+ cells (Th17) and MBP-specific spinal cord cells. Both the in vivo and in vitro results point out new targets through which IFN-beta could exert its therapeutic action.This work was supported by grants from Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (SAF2003-00189), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-PI061012) and MM Foundation (MPY-1156/07). BB was supported by a grant from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and FMMS was supported by a grant from MM Foundation.S

Spatiotemporal Control of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression Using a Heat-Shock-Activated, Rapamycin-Dependent Gene Switch

A major challenge in regenerative medicine is to develop methods for delivering growth and differentiation factors in specific spatial and temporal patterns, thereby mimicking the natural processes of development and tissue repair. Heat shock (HS)-inducible gene expression systems can respond to spatial information provided by localized heating, but are by themselves incapable of sustained expression. Conversely, gene switches activated by small molecules provide tight temporal control and sustained expression, but lack mechanisms for spatial targeting. Here we combine the advantages of HS and ligand-activated systems by developing a novel rapamycin-regulated, HS-inducible gene switch that provides spatial and temporal control and sustained expression of transgenes such as firefly luciferase and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This gene circuit exhibits very low background in the uninduced state and can be repeatedly activated up to 1 month. Furthermore, dual regulation of VEGF induction in vivo is shown to stimulate localized vascularization, thereby providing a route for temporal and spatial control of angiogenesis.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140102/1/hgtb.2013.026.pd

A template method to measure the tt polarisation

This work is supported by the Spanish Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigacion) through the grant IFT Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa SEV-2016-0597, by the projects PID2019-110058GB-C21, PID2019-110058GB-C22 from MICINN/AEI/ERDF, and by projects CERN/FIS-PAR/0004/2019, CERN/FIS-PAR/0029/2019 from FCT. The work of P.M.R. is supported through the FPI grant BES-2016-076775. The work of M.C.N.F. was supported by the PSC-CUNY Awards 63096-00 51 and 64031-00 52.We develop a template method for the measurement of the polarisation of tt¯ pairs produced in hadron collisions. The method would allow to extract the individual fractions of tLt¯ L, tRt¯ R, tLt¯ R and tRt¯ L pairs with a fit to data, where L, R refer to the polarisation along any axis. These polarisation fractions have not been independently measured at present. Secondarily, the method also provides the net polarisation of t and t¯ , as well as their spin correlation for arbitrary axes.IFT Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa PID2019-110058GB-C21, PID2019-110058GB-C22, SEV-2016-0597PSC-CUNY 63096-00 51, 64031-00 52Spanish Research AgencyFamily Process Institute BES-2016-076775Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónEuropean Regional Development Fund CERN/FIS-PAR/0004/2019, CERN/FIS-PAR/0029/2019Fundació Catalana de TrasplantamentAgencia Estatal de Investigació

Influencia de la adición, en diferentes proporciones, de rocas silíceas opalinas al cemento portland

En este trabajo se estudia la influencia de la presencia de rocas silíceas opalinas, procedentes de las provincias de Salamanca, Zamora y Avila, en las propiedades de los cementos mixtos fabricados con cemento portland y proporciones variables de estas rocas utilizadas como adiciones activas. La caracterización de estos materiales y el estudio de las propiedades de los cementos preparados revelan la capacidad puzolánica de las rocas opalinas, y su singularidad respecto a otras puzolanas naturales, así como su posibilidad de empleo en la fabricación de cementos con adiciones.En este trabajo se estudia la influencia de la presencia de rocas silíceas opalinas, procedentes de las provincias de Salamanca, Zamora y Avila, en las propiedades de los cementos mixtos fabricados con cemento portland y proporciones variables de estas rocas utilizadas como adiciones activas. La caracterización de estos materiales y el estudio de las propiedades de los cementos preparados revelan la capacidad puzolánica de las rocas opalinas, y su singularidad respecto a otras puzolanas naturales, así como su posibilidad de empleo en la fabricación de cementos con adiciones

The Boom of cohabitation in Colombia and in the Andean Region : social and spatial patterns

In this chapter we use census microdata to document the rise in cohabitation in Colombia and in the Andean countries of Ecuador, Bolivia, Perú and Venezuela over the last four decades. We use multilevel logistic regression models to examine the effect of individual and contextual variables on cohabitation. We show the individual and contextual effects of social stratification, ethnicity and religion on cohabitation. Cohabitation levels follow a negative gradient with education and vary according to ethnic background. The Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian censuses reveal that the two largest ethnic groups (i.e. the Quechua and Aymara) have, controlling for other characteristics, the lowest incidence of cohabitation. By contrast, Afro-American populations show the highest levels of cohabitation. The joint use of individual- and contextual-level explanatory variables is sufficient to account for the majority of Bolivia's internal diversity regarding cohabitation, but not sufficient to account for the internal diversity identified in Colombia, Peru or Ecuador. Even after controls, residence in the Andes mountain areas continues to be a factor associated with lower levels of cohabitation. This invites further investigations on how the institutionalization of marriage occurred in the Andes

Palladium Mesoionic Carbene Pre-catalyst for General Cross-Coupling Transformations in Deep Eutectic Solvents

A strong σ-donor mesoionic carbene ligand has been synthesized and applied to four different palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling transformations, proving the catalyst/medium compatibility and the increased activity of this system over previous reports in Deep Eutectic Solvent medium. Some cross-coupling processes could be carried out at room temperature and using aryl chlorides as starting materials. The possible implementation of multistep synthesis in eutectic mixtures has also been explored. The presence of palladium nanoparticles in the reaction media has been evaluated and correlated to the observed activity.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (CTQ2015-66624-P and PGC2018-096616-B-I00) and the University of Alicante (VIGROB-316)

Virucidal action mechanism of alcohol and divalent cations against human adenovirus

Hygiene and disinfection practices play an important role at preventing spread of viral infections in household, industrial and clinical settings. Although formulations based on >70% ethanol are virucidal, there is a currently a need to reformulate products with much lower alcohol concentrations. It has been reported that zinc can increase the virucidal activity of alcohols, although the reasons for such potentiation is unclear. One approach in developing virucidal formulations is to understand the mechanisms of action of active ingredients and formulation excipients. Here, we investigated the virucidal activity of alcohol (40% w/v) and zinc sulfate (0.1% w/v) combinations and their impact on a human adenovirus (HAdV) using, nucleic acid integrity assays, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We observed no difference in virucidal activity (5 log10 reduction in 60 min) against between an ethanol only based formulation and a formulation combining ethanol and zinc salt. Furthermore, TEM imaging showed that the ethanol only formulation produced gross capsid damage, whilst zinc-based formulation or formulation combining both ethanol and zinc did not affect HAdV DNA. Unexpectedly, the addition of nickel salt (5 mM NiCl2) to the ethanol-zinc formulation contributed to a weakening of the capsid and alteration of the capsid mechanics exemplified by AFM imaging, together with structural capsid damage. The addition of zinc sulfate to the ethanol formulation did not add the formulation efficacy, but the unexpected mechanistic synergy between NiCl2 and the ethanol formulation opens an interesting perspective for the possible potentiation of an alcohol-based formulation. Furthermore, we show that AFM can be an important tool for understanding the mechanistic impact of virucidal formulation

Project goals, target selection, and stellar characterization

The detection of habitable worlds is one of humanitya-s greatest endeavors. Thus far, astrobiological studies have shown that one of the most critical components for allowing life to develop is liquid water. Its chemical properties and its capacity to dissolve and, hence, transport other substances makes this constituent a key piece in this regard. As a consequence, looking for life as we know it is directly related to the search for liquid water. For a remote detection of life in distant planetary systems, this essentially means looking for planets in the so-called habitable zone. In this sense, K-dwarf stars are the perfect hosts to search for planets in this range of distances. Contrary to G-dwarfs, the habitable zone is closer, thus making planet detection easier using transit or radial velocity techniques. Contrary to M-dwarfs, stellar activity is on a much smaller scale, hence, it has a smaller impact in terms of both the detectability and the true habitability of the planet. Also, K-dwarfs are the quietest in terms of oscillations, and granulation noise. In spite of this, there is a dearth of planets in the habitable zone of K-dwarfs due to a lack of observing programs devoted to this parameter space. In response to a call for legacy programs of the Calar Alto observatory, we have initiated the first dedicated and systematic search for habitable planets around these stars: K-dwarfs Orbited By habitable Exoplanets (KOBE). This survey is monitoring the radial velocity of 50 carefully pre-selected K-dwarfs with the CARMENES instrument over five semesters, with an average of 90 data points per target. Based on planet occurrence rates convolved with our detectability limits, we expect to find 1.68 ± 0.25 planets per star in the KOBE sample. Furthermore, in half of the sample, we expect to find one of those planets within the habitable zone. Here, we describe the motivations, goals, and target selection for the project as well as the preliminary stellar characterization. © 2022 EDP Sciences. All rights reserved