Gene Promoter Evolution Targets the Center of the Human Protein Interaction Network

Assessing the contribution of promoters and coding sequences to gene evolution is an important step toward discovering the major genetic determinants of human evolution. Many specific examples have revealed the evolutionary importance of cis-regulatory regions. However, the relative contribution of regulatory and coding regions to the evolutionary process and whether systemic factors differentially influence their evolution remains unclear. To address these questions, we carried out an analysis at the genome scale to identify signatures of positive selection in human proximal promoters. Next, we examined whether genes with positively selected promoters (Prom+ genes) show systemic differences with respect to a set of genes with positively selected protein-coding regions (Cod+ genes). We found that the number of genes in each set was not significantly different (8.1% and 8.5%, respectively). Furthermore, a functional analysis showed that, in both cases, positive selection affects almost all biological processes and only a few genes of each group are located in enriched categories, indicating that promoters and coding regions are not evolutionarily specialized with respect to gene function. On the other hand, we show that the topology of the human protein network has a different influence on the molecular evolution of proximal promoters and coding regions. Notably, Prom+ genes have an unexpectedly high centrality when compared with a reference distribution (P = 0.008, for Eigenvalue centrality). Moreover, the frequency of Prom+ genes increases from the periphery to the center of the protein network (P = 0.02, for the logistic regression coefficient). This means that gene centrality does not constrain the evolution of proximal promoters, unlike the case with coding regions, and further indicates that the evolution of proximal promoters is more efficient in the center of the protein network than in the periphery. These results show that proximal promoters have had a systemic contribution to human evolution by increasing the participation of central genes in the evolutionary process.

Theory of Wetting-Induced Fluid Entrainment by Advancing Contact Lines on Dry Surfaces

We report on the onset of fluid entrainment when a contact line is forced to advance over a dry solid of arbitrary wettability. We show that entrainment occurs at a critical advancing speed beyond which the balance between capillary, viscous, and contact-line forces sustaining the shape of the interface is no longer satisfied. Wetting couples to the hydrodynamics by setting both the morphology of the interface at small scales and the viscous friction of the front. We find that the critical deformation that the interface can sustain is controlled by the friction at the contact line and the viscosity contrast between the displacing and displaced fluids, leading to a rich variety of wetting-entrainment regimes. We discuss the potential use of our theory to measure contact-line forces using atomic force microscopy and to study entrainment under microfluidic conditions exploiting colloid-polymer fluids of ultralow surface tension.

Telemedicine Experience for Chronic Care in COPD

Information and telecommunication technologies are called to play a major role in the changes that healthcare systems have to face to cope with chronic disease. This paper reports a telemedicine experience for the home care of chronic patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and an integrated system designed to carry out this experience. To determine the impact on health, the chronic care telemedicine system was used during one year (2002) with 157 COPD patients in a clinical experiment; endpoints were readmissions and mortality. Patients in the intervention group were followed up at their homes and could contact the care team at any time through the call center. The care team shared a unique electronic chronic patient record (ECPR) accessible through the web-based patient management module or the home visit units. Results suggest that integrated home telemedicine services can support health professionals caring for patients with chronic disease, and improve their health.We have found that simple telemedicine services (ubiquitous access to ECPR, ECPR shared by care team, accessibility to case manager, problem reporting integrated in ECPR) can increase the number of patients that were not readmitted (51% intervention, 33% control), are acceptable to professionals, and involve low installation and exploitation costs. Further research is needed to determine the role of telemonitoring and televisit services for this kind of patients.

Notas del primer seminario de integrabilidad de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Estas notas corresponden a las exposiciones presentadas en el \emph{Primer Seminario de Integrabilidad}, dentro de lo que se denomina \emph{Aula de Sistemas Din\'amicos}. Durante este evento se realizaron seis conferencias, todas presentadas por miembros del grupo de Sistemas Din\'amicos de la UPC. El programa desarrollado fue el siguiente:\\\begin{center}AULA DE SISTEMAS DIN\'AMICOS\end{center}\begin{center}\texttt{http://www.ma1.upc.es/recerca/seminaris/aulasd-cat.html}\end{center}\begin{center}SEMINARIO DE INTEGRABILIDAD\end{center}\begin{center}Martes 29 y Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo de 2005\\Facultad de Matem\'aticas y Estad\'{\i}stica, UPC\\Aula: Seminario 1\end{center}\bigskip\begin{center}PROGRAMA Y RES\'UMENES\end{center}{\bf Martes 29 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item15:30. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{El problema de laintegrabilidad en Sistemas Din\'amicos}\medskip {\bf Resumen.} En esta presentaci\'on se pretende dar unaidea de conjunto, pero sin entrar en detalles, sobre las diversasnociones de integrabilidad, asociadas a nombres de matem\'aticostan ilustres como Liouville, Galois-Picard-Vessiot, Lie, Darboux,Kowalevskaya, Painlev\'e, Poincar\'e, Kolchin, Lax, etc. Adem\'astambi\'en mencionaremos la revoluci\'on que supuso en los a\~nossesenta del siglo pasado el descubrimiento de Gardner, Green,Kruskal y Miura sobre un nuevo m\'etodo para resolver en algunoscasos determinadas ecuaciones en derivadas parciales. \medskip\item16:00. David G\'omez-Ullate. \emph{Superintegrabilidad, pares deLax y modelos de $N-$cuerpos en el plano}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Introduciremos algunas t\'ecnicas cl\'asicas paraconstruir modelos de N-cuerpos integrables, como los pares de Laxo la din\'amica de los ceros de un polinomio. Revisaremos lanoci\'on de integrabilidad Liouville y superintegrabilidad, ydiscutiremos un nuevo m\'etodo debido a F. Calogero para contruirmodelos de N-cuerpos en el plano con muchas \'orbitasperi\'odicas. La exposici\'on se acompa\~nar\'a de animaciones delmovimiento de los cuerpos, y se plantear\'an algunos problemasabiertos.\medskip\item17:00. Pausa\medskip\item17:30. Yuri Fedorov. \emph{An\'alisis de Kovalevskaya--Painlev\'ey Sistemas Algebraicamente Integrables}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Muchos sistemas integrables poseen una propiedadremarcable: todas sus soluciones son funciones meromorfas deltiempo como una variable compleja. Tal comportamiento, que serefiere como propiedad de Kovalevskaya-Painleve (KP) y que se usafrecuentemente como una ensayo de integrabilidad, no es accidentaly tiene unas ra\'{\i}ces geom\'etricas profundas. En esta charladescribiremos una clase de tales sistemas (conocidos como lossistemas algebraicamente integrables) y subrayaremos suspropiedades geom\'etricas principales que permiten predecir laestructura de las soluciones complejas y adem\'as encontrarlasexpl\'{\i}citamente. Eso lo ilustraremos con algunos sistemas dela mec\'anica cl\'asica. Tambi\'en mencionaremos unasgeneralizaciones \'utiles de la noci\'on de integrabilidadalgebraica y de la propiedad KP.\end{itemize}\medskip{\bf Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item 15:30. Rafael Ram\'{\i}rez-Ros. \emph{El m\'etodo de Poincar\'e}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Dado un sistema Hamiltoniano aut\'onomo cercano acompletamente integrable Poincar\'e prob\'o que, en general, noexiste ninguna integral primera adicional uniforme en elpar\'ametro de perturbaci\'on salvo el propio Hamiltoniano.Esbozaremos las ideas principales del m\'etodo de prueba ycomentaremos algunas extensiones y generalizaciones.\newpage\item16:30. Chara Pantazi. \emph{El M\'etodo de Darboux}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Darboux, en 1878, present\'o su m\'etodo paraconstruir integrales primeras de campos vectoriales polinomialesutilizando sus curvas invariantes algebraicas. En estaexposici\'on presentaremos algunas extensiones del m\'etodocl\'asico de Darboux y tambi\'en algunas aplicaciones.\medskip\item17:30. Pausa\medskip\item18:00. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{M\'etodos recientes paradetectar la no integrabilidad}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} En 1982 Ziglin utiliza la estructura de laecuaci\'on en variaciones de Poincar\'e (sobre una curva integralparticular) como una herramienta fundamental para detectar la nointegrabilidad de un sistema Hamiltoniano. En esta charla sepretende dar una idea de esta aproximaci\'on a la nointegrabilidad, junto con t\'ecnicas m\'as recientes queinvolucran la teor\'{\i}a de Galois de ecuaciones diferencialeslineales, haciendo \'enfasis en los ejemplos m\'as que en lateor\'{\i}a general. Ilustraremos estos m\'etodos con resultadossobre la no integrabilidad de algunos problemas de $N$ cuerpos enMec\'anica Celeste.\end{itemize}

Contact force transitions in regrasp tasks of planar objects

This paper presents a simple and fast solution to the problem of finding the time variations of the forces that keep the object equilibrium when a finger is removed from a three contact point grasp or a finger is added to a two contact point grasp, assuming the existence of an external perturbation force (that can be the object weight itself). The procedure returns force set points for the control system of a manipulator device in a regrasping action. The approach was implemented and a numerical example is included in the paper to illustrate how it works.

Unifying Time to Contact Estimation and Collision Avoidance across Species

The -function and the -function are phenomenological models that are widely used in the context of timing interceptive actions and collision avoidance, respectively. Both models were previously considered to be unrelated to each other: is a decreasing function that provides an estimation of time-to-contact (ttc) in the early phase of an object approach; in contrast, has a maximum before ttc. Furthermore, it is not clear how both functions could be implemented at the neuronal level in a biophysically plausible fashion. Here we propose a new framework the corrected modified Tau function capable of predicting both -type ("") and -type ("") responses. The outstanding property of our new framework is its resilience to noise. We show that can be derived from a firing rate equation, and, as , serves to describe the response curves of collision sensitive neurons. Furthermore, we show that predicts the psychophysical performance of subjects determining ttc. Our new framework is thus validated successfully against published and novel experimental data. Within the framework, links between -type and -type neurons are established. Therefore, it could possibly serve as a model for explaining the co-occurrence of such neurons in the brain.

Del gimnàs al lleure-salut. Centres de Fitness, Fitness Center, Fitness & Wellness, Spa, Balnearis, Centres de Talassoteràpia, Curhotel

Actualment, el sector “gimnasos i centres esportius” constitueix una parcel·la de gran importància dins del panorama de la indústria del lleure. L’apogeu creixent del sector lleure-salut s’està produint des de fa diverses dècades, de manera que a hores d’ara el lleure i el temps de lleure, i l’exercici físic i l’esport com a lleure són predictors de qualitat de vida. En aquest sentit, podem relacionar i hem de relacionar el lleure amb la qualitat de vida, un concepte multidimensional que inclou tots els àmbits de la vida humana (estat de la salut, benestar, participació social, condicions de vida...). En aquest treball analitzem de quina forma han anat evolucionat els centres dedicats a la practica esportiva i a la salut. Un sector que des de l’antiguitat fins als nostres dies ha hagut d’anar adaptant i ampliant la seva oferta d’activitats i productes, segons les necessitats dels usuaris.

Cyclicity versus center problem

We prove that there are one-parameter families of planar differential equations for which the center problem has a trivial solution and on the other hand the cyclicity of the weak focus is arbitrarily high. We illustrate this phenomenon in several examples for which this cyclicity is computed.

Using the optical flow to implement a relative virtual mouse controlled by head movements

The following paper introduces the work conducted to create a relative virtual mouse based on the interpretation of head movements and face gesture through a low cost camera and the optical flow of the images. This virtual device is designed specifically as an alternative non-contact pointer for people with mobility impairments in the upper extremities and reduced head control. The proposed virtual device was compared with a conventional mouse, a touchpad and a digital joystick. Validation results show performances close to a digital joystick but far away from a conventional mouse.

Integrability of a linear center perturbed by a fourth degree homogeneous polynomial

In this work we study the integrability of a two-dimensional autonomous system in the plane with linear part of center type and non-linear part given by homogeneous polynomials of fourth degree. We give sufficient conditions for integrability in polar coordinates. Finally we establish a conjecture about the independence of the two classes of parameters which appear in the system; if this conjecture is true the integrable cases found will be the only possible ones.

Integrability of a linear center perturbed by a fifth degree homogeneous polynomial

In this work we study the integrability of two-dimensional autonomous system in the plane with linear part of center type and non-linear part given by homogeneous polynomials of fifth degree. We give a simple characterisation for the integrable cases in polar coordinates. Finally we formulate a conjecture about the independence of the two classes of parameters which appear on the system; if this conjecture is true the integrable cases found will be the only possible ones.

Del gimnasio al ocio-salud Centros de Fitness, Fitness Center, Fitness & Wellness, Spa, Balnearios, Centros de Talasoterapia, Curhotel

Actualmente el sector “gimnasios y centros deportivos” se constituye como una parcela de gran importancia dentro del panorama de la industria del ocio. El auge creciente del sector ocio-salud se viene produciendo desde hace varias décadas, de modo que en la actualidad el ocio y tiempo de ocio, y ejercicio físico y deporte como ocio son predictores de calidad de vida. En este sentido es cuando podemos y debemos relacionar ocio con la calidad de vida, un concepto multidimensional que incluye todos los ámbitos de la vida humana (estado de la salud, bienestar, participación social, condiciones de vida...). En este trabajo se analiza como han ido evolucionado los centros dedicados a la practica deportiva y a la salud. Un sector que desde la antigüedad hasta nuestros días ha tenido que ir adaptando y ampliando su oferta de actividades y productos según las necesidades de los usuarios.

Unifying Time to Contact Estimation and Collision Avoidance across Species

The -function and the -function are phenomenological models that are widely used in the context of timing interceptive actions and collision avoidance, respectively. Both models were previously considered to be unrelated to each other: is a decreasing function that provides an estimation of time-to-contact (ttc) in the early phase of an object approach; in contrast, has a maximum before ttc. Furthermore, it is not clear how both functions could be implemented at the neuronal level in a biophysically plausible fashion. Here we propose a new framework- the corrected modified Tau function- capable of predicting both -type ("") and -type ("") responses. The outstanding property of our new framework is its resilience to noise. We show that can be derived from a firing rate equation, and, as , serves to describe the response curves of collision sensitive neurons. Furthermore, we show that predicts the psychophysical performance of subjects determining ttc. Our new framework is thus validated successfully against published and novel experimental data. Within the framework, links between -type and -type neurons are established. Therefore, it could possibly serve as a model for explaining the co-occurrence of such neurons in the brain.

Els Intel·lectuals de "La Nova Catalunya" de L’Havana

L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és analitzar les característiques i motivacions dels intel·lectuals que es relacionaren amb Cuba durant les primeres dècades del segle XX, a partir dels casos particulars de Josep Conangla i Fontanilles (Montblanc, 1875 – L’Havana, 1965), representant de les figures que s’establiren a l’Illa, i Prudenci Bertrana (Tordera, 1867 – Barcelona, 1941). Aquests intel·lectuals van mantenir relacions de col·laboració amb la comunitat del Centre Català de L’Havana