Nuevos métodos de cálculo de la profundidad de las compresiones torácicas a partir de la señal de aceleración.

[EN]These feedback devices are used to improve the quality of chest compressions while performing CPR technique, as they provide real time information to guide the rescuer during resuscitation attempts. Most feedback systems on the market are based on accelerometers and additional sensors or reference signals, used for calculating the displacement of the chest from the acceleration signal. This makes them expensive and complex devices. With the aim of optimizing these feedback systems and overcoming their limitations, in this document we propose three alternative methods for calculating the depth of chest compressions. These methods differ from the ones existing so far in that they use exclusively the chest acceleration signal to compute the displacement. With their implementation, it would be possible to develop systems to provide accurate feedback more easily and economically. In this context, this document details the design and implementation of the three methods and the development of a software environment to analyze the accuracy of each of them and compare the results by means of a detailed calculation of errors. Furthermore, in order to evaluate the methods a database is required, and it can be compiled using a sensorized manikin to record the acceleration signal and the gold standard chest compression depth. The database generated will be used for other studies related to the estimation of the compression depth, because the signals obtained in the manikin platform are very similar to those recorded during a real resuscitation episode.

CGP37157, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, protects neurons from excitotoxicity by blocking voltage-gated Ca2+ channels

Inhibition of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCLX) by CGP37157 is protective in models of neuronal injury that involve disruption of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. However, the Ca2+ signaling pathways and stores underlying neuroprotection by that inhibitor are not well defined. In the present study, we analyzed how intracellular Ca2+ levels are modulated by CGP37157 (10 mu M) during NMDA insults in primary cultures of rat cortical neurons. We initially assessed the presence of NCLX in mitochondria of cultured neurons by immunolabeling, and subsequently, we analyzed the effects of CGP37157 on neuronal Ca2+ homeostasis using cameleon-based mitochondrial Ca2+ and cytosolic Ca2+ ([Ca2+](i)) live imaging. We observed that NCLX-driven mitochondrial Ca2+ exchange occurs in cortical neurons under basal conditions as CGP37157 induced a decrease in [Ca-2](i) concomitant with a Ca2+ accumulation inside the mitochondria. In turn, CGP37157 also inhibited mitochondrial Ca2+ efflux after the stimulation of acetylcholine receptors. In contrast, CGP37157 strongly prevented depolarization-induced [Ca2+](i) increase by blocking voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs), whereas it did not induce depletion of ER Ca2+ stores. Moreover, mitochondrial Ca2+ overload was reduced as a consequence of diminished Ca2+ entry through VGCCs. The decrease in cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca2+ overload by CGP37157 resulted in a reduction of excitotoxic mitochondrial damage, characterized here by a reduction in mitochondrial membrane depolarization, oxidative stress and calpain activation. In summary, our results provide evidence that during excitotoxicity CGP37157 modulates cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca2+ dynamics that leads to attenuation of NMDA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and neuronal cell death by blocking VGCCs.

Un pequeño Eros de bronce procedente del yacimiento de Mariturri (Armentia, Vitoria-Gasteiz)

Homenaje a Ignacio Barandiarán Maestu / coord. por Javier Fernández Eraso, Juan Santos Yanguas.

Nueva ara dedicada a “Mater Dea” procedente de “Veleia” (Iruña de Oca, Álava)

[ES] La realización de algunos trabajos de adecuación del paisaje en la zona sur de la ciudad, en la zona extramuros del llamado "oppidum", han dado como resultado hace pocas semanas la identificación de algunas estructuras de época romana y, sobre todo, de un ara dedicada a la diosa "Mater" cuyo texto conservado abre muchas posibilidades de análisis futuro sobre este asentamiento.

Studying the influence of substitutional elements on mechanical behavior of Alloy 718

In nickel-based superalloys, substitutional solute species have a strong impact on in service mechanical properties as well as on oxidation and corrosion resistances. In alloy 718, recent studies carried out by tensile tests highlighted the fact that refractory solute species are able to interact strongly with mobile dislocations during plastic deformation, generating dynamic strain ageing, and, in wide ranges of tests temperatures and strain rates, Portevin-Le Chatelier effect. The precise nature of the substitutional element responsible for such a dynamic interaction is still subject to debate. We addressed this question by means of mechanical spectroscopy studies of alloy 718 and various related alloys corresponding to monitored changes in the chemical composition. Only a single internal friction relaxation peak has been observed for all the studied alloys. By analyzing the damping behavior of these alloys at different imposed solicitation frequencies by sweeping a large temperatures range, the activation energies of the relaxation process and the type of mechanism involved have been determined. The process is a "Zener relaxation" in the alloys, i.e. a substitutional atoms dipole reorientation under applied stress. The results tend to prove that Niobium is not involved in the relaxation process whereas Molybdenum content seems to play an important role in the relaxation intensity.