Phytolith and spherulite studies of herbivores dung from the African Savannah as a tool for palaeocological reconstruction.

Los restos fecales están compuestos mayoritariamente por materia orgánica, la cual se degrada con el tiempo despareciendo finalmente del registro arqueológico. Sin embargo, estos restos fecales también contienen ciertos elementos resistentes al paso del tiempo y a los efectos postdeposicionales. Las esferulitas son cristales de carbonato cálcico formadas en los intestinos de ciertos animales herbívoros, principalmente rumiantes y que posteriormente son depositados en los restos fecales. Los fitolitos de sílice, aunque se forman en las plantas, son también comúnmente identificados en los restos fecales de animales herbívoros. Su número y morfología dependerá de la dieta vegetal de estos animales. El estudio que aquí se presenta se centra en el análisis microscópico de ambos elementos, fitolitos y esferulitas, identificados en restos fecales, de varios animales herbívoros, recolectados durante la estación seca en la Garganta de Olduvai en Tanzania. Los fitolitos y las esferulitas fueron identificados y analizados siguiendo un método morfológico y cuantitativo. Los fitolitos fueron luego comparados con una colección de referencia de plantas modernas de la misma zona geográfica con el propósito de estudiar la dieta de cada uno de los animales analizados. Finalmente los resultados fueron relacionados con los obtenidos del estudio de esferulitas, con el propósito de analizar la relación entre morfología y número de fitolitos y morfología y número de esferulitas para cada uno de los restos fecales analizados. El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en evaluar la utilidad de combinar ambas técnicas para identificar restos fecales en el registro arqueológico y, consecuentemente, responder a cuestiones relacionadas con el animal productor de estos restos, su dieta y movimientos migratorios y, paralelamente, la paleovegetación y el paleopaisaje en una región determinada.

Alkaline phosphatase activity as a tool for assessing nutritional conditions in the seagrass Posidonia oceanica.(L.) Delile

The effects of experimental phosphorus enrichments on alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile were tested. Short-term additions (as phosphate, 12 hours, in the laboratory) decreased APA by 18-2896, depending on the plant part considered (roots, young leaves or old leaves). The values of APA after this treatment were well correlated with interna1 phosphorus pools (as P concentration in plant tissues). Long-term additions (as phosphate, added to the sediment, 1 month in situ) decreased APA by 40-75%, also depending on the plant part. We conclude that alkaline phosphatase activity is a good indicator of P deficiency in this seagrass. We used this indicator to assess the P-nutritional status in a series of meadows in the NW Mediterranean, finding a high geographical variability, but correlations between APA and basic features of the meadows (carbonate content of the sediment, organic content of the sediment, shoot density, etc.) were not significant. Consequently, phosphorus deficiency does not seem to be directly related to these descriptors.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Raman spectroscopy as a powerful analytical tool: probing the structure of matter

Podeu consultar el llibre complet a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/32166

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Traducción comentada del ámbito biomédico:«La integración de los genomas»

El presente trabajo consiste en la traducción comentada de un artículo científico. Nuestros objetivos son reflexionar sobre las características y problemas de la traducción especializada, analizar las estrategias y las soluciones propuestas, y producir un texto meta ‘adecuado’ teniendo en cuenta la tipología textual y el ámbito al que pertenece.

Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry: A tool to predict pork quality

Expression of water soluble proteins of fresh pork Longissimus thoracis from 4 pure breed pigs (Duroc, Large White, Landrace, and Piétrain) was studied to identify candidate protein markers for meat quality. Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) was used to obtain the soluble protein profiles of Longissimus thoracis muscles. The pure breeds showed differences among the studied meat quality traits (pHu, drip loss, androstenone, marbling, intramuscular fat, texture, and moisture), but no significant differences were detected in sensory analysis. Associations between protein peaks obtained with SELDI-TOF-MS and meat quality traits, mainly water holding capacity, texture and skatole were observed. Of these peaks, a total of 10 peaks from CM10 array and 6 peaks from Q10 array were candidate soluble protein markers for pork loin quality. The developed models explained a limited proportion of the variability, however they point out interesting relationships between protein expression and meat quality

Creation and Validation of Chronojump-Boscosystem: A Free Tool to Measure Vertical Jumps

Measuring the height of the vertical jump is an indicator of the strength and power of the lower body. The technological tools available to measure the vertical jump are black boxes and are not open to third-party verification or adaptation. We propose the creation of a measurement system called Chronojump-Boscosystem, consisting of open hardware and free software. Methods: A microcontroller was created and validated using a square wave generator and an oscilloscope. Two types of contact platforms were developed using different materials. These platforms were validated by the minimum pressure required for activation at different points by a strain gauge, together with the on/off time of our platforms in respect of the Ergojump-Boscosystem platform by a sample of 8 subjects performing submaximal jumps with one foot on each platform. Agile methodologies were used to develop and validate the software. Results: All the tools fall under the free software / open hardware guidelines and are, in that sense, free. The microcontroller margin of error is 0.1%. The validity of the fiberglass platform is 0.95 (ICC). The management software contains nearly 113.000 lines of code and is available in 7 languages.

El significado de las ocupaciones en las personas mayores-jóvenes: algunas tendencias

Con la llegada del nuevo paradigma del “envejecimiento activo” planteado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS, 2002), estamos asistiendo a una nueva manera de enfocar el progresivo envejecimiento de la población. Este enfoque trata de fomentar la consecución de una esperanza de vida saludable y libre de discapacidad, gracias a la promoción de políticas y programas cuyos objetivos principales se centran en la independencia y en la autonomía a lo largo del proceso de envejecimiento. Acorde con este enfoque pensamos que las ocupaciones significativas son una buena herramienta para mantener la autonomía de estas personas al fomentar la prevención y la promoción de su salud, motivo por el cual desarrollamos este estudio. Los objetivos principales del presente estudio son conocer y comprender que ocupaciones adquieren un significado y satisfacción personal en las personas mayores-jóvenes, que han concluido su etapa laboral, que cuentan con buena salud y condiciones psicofísicas favorables y que viven de manera autónoma en la comunidad, así como explorar también si se establece en estas personas alguna vinculación entre las actividades que eligen desarrollar en la actualidad con su perfil e historia ocupacional previa. Por último, este estudio pretende conocer el tipo de gestión que cada persona prefiere para llevar a cabo las actividades cotidianas que les son más significativas, a partir de los contextos en los que se inscribe. El marco teórico se desarrolla a partir de la conceptualización aportada por diversos autores sobre el envejecimiento activo y la ciencia de la ocupación. La metodología utilizada es de carácter cualitativo, enfocado desde un paradigma constructivista. Los resultados del estudio muestran que se inicia tímidamente un cambio de tendencias en la elección y el significado que las personas mayores-jóvenes atribuyen a sus ocupaciones. Muestran también que las ocupaciones elegidas como más significativas por estas personas mantienen una vinculación con las que ya realizaban con anterioridad a la jubilación, con su historia o perfil 6 ocupacional previo. Y finalmente demuestran que el tipo de gestión que eligen para efectuarlas influye en la elección del entorno donde las llevan a término.

RNA interference: a new and powerful tool for functional genomic analysis.

In many species, the introduction of double-stranded RNA induces potent and specific gene silencing, referred to as RNA interference. This phenomenon, which is based on targeted degradation of mRNAs and occurs in almost any eukaryote, from trypanosomes to mice including plants and fungi, has sparked general interest from both applied and fundamental standpoints. RNA interference, which is currently used to investigate gene function in a variety of systems, is linked to natural resistance to viruses and transposon silencing, as if it were a primitive immune system involved in genome surveillance. Here, we review the mechanism of RNA interference in post-transcriptional gene silencing, its function in nature, its value for functional genomic analysis, and the modifications and improvements that may make it more efficient and inheritable. We also discuss the future directions of this versatile technique in both fundamental and applied science.

Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of hepatorenal syndrome in cirrhosis

Hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) is a serious complication of end-stage liver disease, occurring mainly in patients with advanced cirrhosis and ascites, who have marked circulatory dysfunction,1 as well as in patients with acute liver failure.2 In spite of its functional nature, HRS is associated with a poor prognosis,3 4 and the only effective treatment is liver transplantation. During the 56th Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, the International Ascites Club held a Focused Study Group (FSG) on HRS for the purpose of reporting the results of an international workshop and to reach a consensus on a new definition, criteria for diagnosis and recommendations on HRS treatment. A similar workshop was held in Chicago in 1994 in which standardised nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for refractory ascites and HRS were established.5 The introduction of innovative treatments and improvements in our understanding of the pathogenesis of HRS during the previous decade led to an increasing need to undertake a new consensus meeting. This paper reports the scientific rationale behind the new definitions and recommendations. The international workshop included four issues debated by four panels of experts (see Acknowledgements). The issues were: (1) evidence-based HRS pathogenesis; (2) treatment of HRS using vasoconstrictors; (3) other HRS treatments using transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent-shunt (TIPS) and extracorporeal albumin dialysis (ECAD); and (4) new definitions and diagnostic criteria for HRS and recommendations for its treatment.