Treatment of rats with a self-selected hyperlipidic diet, increases the lipid content of the main adipose tissue sites in a proportion similar to that of the lipids in the rest of organs and tissues

Adipose tissue (AT) is distributed as large differentiated masses, and smaller depots covering vessels, and organs, as well as interspersed within them. The differences between types and size of cells makes AT one of the most disperse and complex organs. Lipid storage is partly shared by other tissues such as muscle and liver. We intended to obtain an approximate estimation of the size of lipid reserves stored outside the main fat depots. Both male and female rats were made overweight by 4-weeks feeding of a cafeteria diet. Total lipid content was analyzed in brain, liver, gastrocnemius muscle, four white AT sites: subcutaneous, perigonadal, retroperitoneal and mesenteric, two brown AT sites (interscapular and perirenal) and in a pool of the rest of organs and tissues (after discarding gut contents). Organ lipid content was estimated and tabulated for each individual rat. Food intake was measured daily. There was a surprisingly high proportion of lipid not accounted for by the main macroscopic AT sites, even when brain, liver and BAT main sites were discounted. Muscle contained about 8% of body lipids, liver 1-1.4%, four white AT sites lipid 28-63% of body lipid, and the rest of the body (including muscle) 38-44%. There was a good correlation between AT lipid and body lipid, but lipid in"other organs" was highly correlated too with body lipid. Brain lipid was not. Irrespective of dietary intake, accumulation of body fat was uniform both for the main lipid storage and handling organs: large masses of AT (but also liver, muscle), as well as in the"rest" of tissues. These storage sites, in specialized (adipose) or not-specialized (liver, muscle) tissues reacted in parallel against a hyperlipidic diet challenge. We postulate that body lipid stores are handled and regulated coordinately, with a more centralized and overall mechanisms than usually assumed.

Coexistence of protease sensitive and resistant prion protein in 129VV homozygous sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: a case report

Introduction: The coexistence of different molecular types of classical protease-resistant prion protein in the same individual have been described, however, the simultaneous finding of these with the recently described protease-sensitive variant or variably protease-sensitive prionopathy has, to the best of our knowledge, not yet been reported. Case presentation: A 74-year-old Caucasian woman showed a sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease clinical phenotype with reactive depression, followed by cognitive impairment, akinetic-rigid Parkinsonism with pseudobulbar syndrome and gait impairment with motor apraxia, visuospatial disorientation, and evident frontal dysfunction features such as grasping, palmomental reflex and brisk perioral reflexes. She died at age 77. Neuropathological findings showed: spongiform change in the patient"s cerebral cortex, striatum, thalamus and molecular layer of the cerebellum with proteinase K-sensitive synaptic-like, dot-like or target-like prion protein deposition in the cortex, thalamus and striatum; proteinase K-resistant prion protein in the same regions; and elongated plaque-like proteinase K-resistant prion protein in the molecular layer of the cerebellum. Molecular analysis of prion protein after proteinase K digestion revealed decreased signal intensity in immunoblot, a ladder-like protein pattern, and a 71% reduction of PrPSc signal relative to non-digested material. Her cerebellum showed a 2A prion protein type largely resistant to proteinase K. Genotype of polymorphism at codon 129 was valine homozygous. Conclusion: Molecular typing of prion protein along with clinical and neuropathological data revealed, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of the coexistence of different protease-sensitive prion proteins in the same patient in a rare case that did not fulfill the current clinical diagnostic criteria for either probable or possible sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This highlights the importance of molecular analyses of several brain regions in order to correctly diagnose rare and atypical prionopathies

Effect of sex and prior exposure to a cafeteria diet on the distribution of sex hormones between plasma and blood cells

It is generally assumed that steroid hormones are carried in the blood free and/or bound to plasma proteins. We investigated whether blood cells were also able to bind/carry sex-related hormones: estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone. Wistar male and female rats were fed a cafeteria diet for 30 days, which induced overweight. The rats were fed the standard rat diet for 15 additional days to minimize the immediate effects of excess ingested energy. Controls were always kept on standard diet. After the rats were killed, their blood was used for 1) measuring plasma hormone levels, 2) determining the binding of labeled hormones to washed red blood cells (RBC), 3) incubating whole blood with labeled hormones and determining the distribution of label between plasma and packed cells, discounting the trapped plasma volume, 4) determining free plasma hormone using labeled hormones, both through membrane ultrafiltration and dextrancharcoal removal. The results were computed individually for each rat. Cells retained up to 32% estrone, and down to 10% of testosterone, with marked differences due to sex and diet (the latter only for estrogens, not for DHEA and testosterone). Sex and diet also affected the concentrations of all hormones, with no significant diet effects for estradiol and DHEA, but with considerable interaction between both factors. Binding to RBC was non-specific for all hormones. Estrogen distribution in plasma compartments was affected by sex and diet. In conclusion: a) there is a large non-specific RBC-carried compartment for estrone, estradiol, DHEA and testosterone deeply affected by sex; b) Prior exposure to a cafeteria (hyperlipidic) diet induced hormone distribution changes, affected by sex, which hint at sex-related structural differences in RBC membranes; c) We postulate that the RBC compartment may contribute to maintain free (i.e., fully active) sex hormone levels in a way similar to plasma proteins non-specific binding.

A radiochemical method for carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I: application to rats fed a hyperproteic diet

A method for the measurement of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase I activity in animal tissues has been developed using the livers of rats under normal and hyperproteic diets. The method is based on the incorporation of 14C-ammonium bicarbonate to carbamoyl-phosphate in the presence of ATP-Mg and N-acetyl-glutamate. The reaction is stopped by chilling, lowering the pH and adding ethanol. Excess bicarbonate is flushed out under a gentle stream of cold CO2. The only label remaining in the medium was that incorporated into carbamoyl-phosphate, since all 14C-CO2 from bicarbonate was eliminated. The method is rapid and requires only a low pressure supply of CO2 to remove the excess substrate. The reaction is linear up to 10 min using homogenate dilutions of 1:20 to 1:200 (w/v). Rat liver activity was in the range of 89±8 nkat/g. Hyperproteic diet resulted in a significant 1.4-fold increase. The design of the method allows for the processing of multiple samples at the same time, and incubation medium manipulation is unnecessary, since the plastic incubation vial and its contents are finally counted together.

Stability of hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin-film transistors

Hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin-films were obtained by catalytic chemical vapour deposition at low substrate temperatures (150°C) and high deposition rates (10 Å/s). These films, with crystalline fractions over 90%, were incorporated as the active layers of bottom-gate thin-film transistors. The initial field-effect mobilities of these devices were over 0.5 cm 2/V s and the threshold voltages lower than 4 V. In this work, we report on the enhanced stability of these devices under prolonged times of gate bias stress compared to amorphous silicon thin-film transistors. Hence, they are promising candidates to be considered in the future for applications such as flat-panel displays.

La presencia de la mujer en la poesía de José Agustín Goytisolo

El 19 de marzo del pasado año 2009 se cumplieron diez años de la muerte de José Agustín Goytisolo. Con este motivo se han sucedido los homenajes y congresos que se han ocupado de estudiar su poesía y de repasar su legado desde ángulos muy diversos. Este artículo aspira también a rellenar un hueco que –sorprendentemente o no– no ha merecido hasta el presente especial atención: la presencia de la mujer en la poesía goytisoliana. Mi objetivo es trazar una panorámica del lugar que las mujeres ocupan en sus versos y mostrar que en su gran mayoría son diferentes de las figuras femeninas que pueblan la tradición literaria. En primer lugar porque, desde el punto de vista de la enunciación, la voz poética no se apropia de la mujer convirtiéndola en objeto de contemplación, sino que, en general, es sujeto de la historia en paridad con el poeta. En segundo lugar, porque las mujeres goytisolianas tampoco se ajustan a los “códigos” a los que las ha relegado el discurso patriarcal: tienen vida propia y no funcionan como símbolo de aspiraciones ajenas ni como proyección del imaginario masculino.

La colección Marca Hispanica, un ambicioso proyecto de traducción de José Agustín Goytisolo

In May 1985 José Agustín Goytisolo launched an ambitious project to translate into Spanish works originally written in Catalan. To this end, with a small group of collaborators he founded the Marca Hispanica collection. Its aim was to spread Catalan literature beyond its borders to reach millions of readers of Spanish through schools, teachers and language academies around the world. The initial idea was to make available in bilingual editions a hundred representative works of Catalan literature but, in the event, only twenty-two volumes were ever published. Based on access to unpublished documents, in this article we defend this endeavour, report on its progress and relate the circumstances, beyond the control of the participants, that led to its demise.

Ilustración y nihilismo en los Artículos de Mariano José de Larra

En la primera parte de este artículo se muestra cómo el concepto de ser humano que Larra utiliza en sus escritos es de clara raigambre ilustrada. En la segunda, se analiza cómo el autor de los Artículos, tras tomar conciencia de los límites de dicho ideal, reaccionó con un extremismo nihilista que le llevó a ver como detestables aquellas capacidades humanas que los ilustrados habían valorado positivamente: el lenguaje, la racionalidad y la sociabilidad. En la tercera parte, se estudia, a la luz de los escritos de Friedrich Nietzsche, los dos tipos de nihilismo que se enfrentaron en el espíritu y en la obra de Larra.

Las claves de la financiación autonómica: José V. Sevilla Segura, Crítica, Barcelona 2001

Reseña del libro 'Las claves de la financiación autonómica', de José V. Sevilla Segura (Barcelona: Crítica, 2001).

La serie sísmica de Tivissa, 1845 (cadenas costeras catalanas): Los deslizamientos del barranco del Manou

La serie sísmica de Tivissa tuvo lugar durante la lluviosa década de 1840-1850, 21 días después de los aguaceros que ocasionaron graves inundaciones. La serie empezó el 30 de septiembre y finalizó el 14 de octubre. Los terremotos de mayor intensidad ocurrieron el 3 (IEMS-98=VI) y el 7 de octubre (IEMS-98=VI-VII). De acuerdo con la distribución de la información macrosísmica se propone un área epicentral para ambos terremotos entre Tivissa y Vandellòs. El sismo del 7 de octubre indujodeslizamientos de masa al Sur de Tivissa. La estratigrafía, la disposición estructural y la orografía facilitaron estos deslizamientos: tuvieron lugar en una secuencia de capas calcáreas, decimétricas, con interestratos centimétricos de margas que buzan en el mismo sentido que la pendiente de la vertiente del valle, pero menos que ésta, y que está afectada por diaclasas perpendiculares a la estratificación. Ello implica la existencia de masas rocosas aisladas por la estratificación y las diaclasas, susceptibles de deslizarse hacia el valle. El agua de los aguaceros que precedieron a los sismos infiltrada por las diaclasas podría haber facilitado el despegue a nivel de los interestratos margosos. Teniendo en cuenta los datos geológicos y sismológicos se discuten las posibles fuentes de estos terremotos.

Late and postmagmatic alterations in the tin-bearing batholith of Ricobayo (Iberian Massif, NW Spain)

The deuteric alteration processes undergone by the granites of the Ricobayo Batholith were: microclinization, chloritization, albitization, muscovitization, tourmalinization and garnetization. These processes must be interpreted in a dynamic context so that the different reactions that take place are the consequence of a successive interaction between rock and fluids. The physicochemical conditions deduced from these fluids are: temperature lower than 600 OC, pressure between 1.5 and 1 Kb, fugacity of oxygen between 10-25 and 10-35 bars, fugacity of sulphur lower than 10-l5 bars, the composition was kept stable and their log (a(K+)/a(Ht)) and log (a(Na+)/a(H+)) varied between 3.8 and 3.2 and between 3.5 and 4.6, respectively, and the pH of the fluids was higher than 5 during the microclinization, muscovitization and tourmalinization, and lower during chloritization and albitization. The deposition of cassiterite occurs with pH episodes that exceed 5.

The Spatial Distribution of Spanish Transport Infrastructure between 1860 and 1930

The origin of Spanish regional economic divergence can be traced back at least until the seventeenth century, although its full definition took place during industrialisation. Historians have often included uneven regional infrastructure endowments among the factors that explain divergence among Spanish regions, although no systematic analysis of the spatial distribution of Spanish infrastructure and its determinants has been carried out so far. This paper aims at filling that gap, by offering a description of the regional distribution of the main Spanish transport infrastructure between the middle of the nineteenth century and the Civil War. In addition, it estimates a panel data model to search into the main reasons that explain the differences among the Spanish regional endowments of railways and roads during that period. The outcomes of that analysis indicate that both institutional factors and the physical characteristics of each area had a strong influence on the distribution of transport infrastructure among the Spanish regions.

Excavaciones (1981-1983) en el poblado de Carretela (Aitona, Segrià, Lleida)

Con este artículo damos a conocer un poco más en profundidad un yacimiento al que muchas veces se ha hecho referencia en la bibliografía sin que existiera aún una publicación monográfica al respecto. Las excavaciones del poblado fechados a principios de los CC.UU. Antiguos, reflejan la sucesión de diversas ocupaciones de un mismo espacio habitado. El conocimiento de este período queda igualmente completado a partir de diversos estudios adicionales.

Ignacio Arellano y José Antonio Rodríguez Garrido (eds.), 'El teatro en la Hispanoamérica colonial'

Este volumen, publicado por la Universidad de Navarra y la editorial Iberoamerica-Vervuert, recoge las contribuciones realizadas durante el encuentro celebrado en Lima, del 5 al 7 de abril de 2006, en el que , bajo la organización del Instituto Riva-Agüero de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú y del Grupo de Investigación Siglo de Oro de la Universidad de Navarra, numerosos especialistas pusieron en común el resultado de sus investigaciones sobre el teatro colonial hispanoamericano.

Task Trade and its determinants in Spain: a national and regional analysis

Globalisation and technological advances have made possible to offshore specific productive tasks (that do not require physical proximity to the actual location of the work unit) to foreign countries where these are usually performed at lower costs. We analyse the effect of task trade (i.e. task offshorability) on Spanish regional and national employment levels correlating a newly built index of task-delocalisation index to key variables such as the region’s wealth, the worker’s age and level of education, the importance of the service sector and the technological level of the economic activities undertaken in that particular geographical area. We conclude that approximately 25 per cent of Spanish occupations are potentially affected by task trade / offshoring and that this is likely to benefit Spanish economy (and the performance of specific regions, categories of workers and sectors) being Spain a potential recipient of tasks offshored from abroad. Also we obtain that Spain’s trade in tasks correlates strongly with the above variables, presenting significant regional differences.