Dysregulation of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem, being the sixth most common cancer world-wide. Dysregulation of the balance between proliferation and cell death represents a pro-tumorigenic principle in human hepatocarcinogenesis. This review updates the recent relevant contributions reporting molecular alterations for HCC that induce an imbalance in the regulation of apoptosis. Alterations in the expression and/or activation of p53 are frequent in HCC cells, which confer on them resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs. Many HCCs are also insensitive to apoptosis induced either by death receptor ligands, such as FasL or TRAIL, or by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Although the expression of some pro-apoptotic genes is decreased, the balance between death and survival is dysregulated in HCC mainly due to overactivation of anti-apoptotic pathways. Indeed, some molecules involved in counteracting apoptosis, such as Bcl-XL, Mcl-1, c-IAP1, XIAP or survivin are over-expressed in HCC cells. Furthermore, some growth factors that mediate cell survival are up-regulated in HCC, as well as the molecules involved in the machinery responsible for cleavage of their pro-forms to an active peptide. The expression and/or activation of the JAK/STAT, PI3K/AKT and RAS/ERKs pathways are enhanced in many HCC cells, conferring on them resistance to apoptotic stimuli. Finally, recent evidence indicates that inflammatory processes, as well as the epithelial-mesenchymal transitions that occur in HCC cells to facilitate their dissemination, are related to cell survival. Therefore, therapeutic strategies to selectively inhibit anti-apoptotic signals in liver tumor cells have the potential to provide powerful tools to treat HCC.

Trencant espais fixes: programa de prevenció contra l'homo / trans fòbia a l'escola

“Trencant espais fixes: Programa de prevenció contra l’(homo/trans)fòbia a l’escola” és un programa finançat per l’Ajuntament de Barcelona que pren per objectiu prevenir i suprimir l’opressió que reben gais, lesbianes, transsexuals i bisexuals (LGTB) dins del centre educatiu, així com també d’aquells nens i nenes que transgredeixin les normes socials hegemòniques de gènere (establertes dins d’un sistema catalogat com a sexista, patriarcal i heteronormatiu), a través de la formació i apoderament dels docents dels centres educatius públics i concertats dels diferents districtes de Barcelona –fent ús de la prevenció primària, secundària i terciària-. Es pretén fer incís a l’educació de la diversitat afectivo-sexual, a les manifestacions sexistes, al sistema sexe-gènere-desig, als estereotips i prejudicis establerts en la societat i a les diverses dinàmiques de violència, desigualtat i relacions de poder, a fi de sensibilitzar, conscienciar i proporcionar eines als docents per prevenir i poder fer front a les diferents manifestacions discriminatòries a raó d’orientació sexual o identitat de gènere. S’utilitza una metodologia dinàmica i participativa, estructurada en tres sessions de 2,5h en cadascun dels centres educatius inscrits en el programa (a demanda del centre), el qual pren com a principis rectors la perspectiva integral del gènere, la intervenció preventiva, la transversalitat educativa, el procés participatiu i, finalment, l’interseccionalitat de factors identitaris d’una persona. Es pren consideració al Codi Ètic i Deontològic de la professió de Treball Social, ja que el present programa es caracteritza pel seu caràcter sensible i influent en la vida de les persones. Aquets fet suposa certes limitacions pels dinamitzadors dels tallers/sessions, ja sigui per la pròpia sensibilitat o per la manca de participació o de cohesió del grup destinatari.

Current Sheet Regulation of Solar Near-Relativistic Electron Injection Histories

We present a sample of three large near-relativistic (>50 keV) electron events observed in 2001 by both the ACE and the Ulysses spacecraft, when Ulysses was at high-northern latitudes (>60°) and close to 2 AU. Despite the large latitudinal distance between the two spacecraft, electrons injected near the Sun reached both heliospheric locations. All three events were associated with large solar flares, strong decametric type II radio bursts and accompanied by wide (>212°) and fast (>1400 km s-1) coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We use advanced interplanetary transport simulations and make use of the directional intensities observed in situ by the spacecraft to infer the electron injection profile close to the Sun and the interplanetary transport conditions at both low and high latitudes. For the three selected events, we find similar interplanetary transport conditions at different heliolatitudes for a given event, with values of the mean free path ranging from 0.04 AU to 0.27 AU. We find differences in the injection profiles inferred for each spacecraft. We investigate the role that sector boundaries of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) have on determining the characteristics of the electron injection profiles. Extended injection profiles, associated with coronal shocks, are found if the magnetic footpoints of the spacecraft lay in the same magnetic sector as the associated flare, while intermittent sparse injection episodes appear when the spacecraft footpoints are in the opposite sector or a wrap in the HCS bounded the CME structure.

Copy number variations of colorectal cancer by whole exome sequencing data

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. About 85% of the cases of CRC are known to have chromosomal instability, an allelic imbalance at several chromosomal loci, and chromosome amplification and translocation. The aim of this study is to determine the recurrent copy number variant (CNV) regions present in stage II of CRC through whole exome sequencing, a rapidly developing targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology that provides an accurate alternative approach for accessing genomic variations. 42 normal-tumor paired samples were sequenced by Illumina Genome Analyzer. Data was analyzed with Varscan2 and segmentation was performed with R package R-GADA. Summary of the segments across all samples was performed and the result was overlapped with DEG data of the same samples from a previous study in the group1. Major and more recurrent segments of CNV were: gain of chromosome 7pq(13%), 13q(31%) and 20q(75%) and loss of 8p(25%), 17p(23%), and 18pq(27%). This results are coincident with the known literature of CNV in CRC or other cancers, but our methodology should be validated by array comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH) profiling, which is currently the gold standard for genetic diagnosis of CNV.

Financial stress transmission in EMU sovereign bond market volatility: a connectedness analysis

This paper measures the connectedness in EMU sovereign market volatility between April 1999 and January 2014, in order to monitor stress transmission and to identify episodes of intensive spillovers from one country to the others. To this end, we first perform a static and dynamic analysis to measure the total volatility connectedness in the entire period (the system-wide approach) using a framework recently proposed by Diebold and Yılmaz (2014). Second, we make use of a dynamic analysis to evaluate the net directional connectedness for each country and apply panel model techniques to investigate its determinants. Finally, to gain further insights, we examine the timevarying behaviour of net pair-wise directional connectedness at different stages of the recent sovereign debt crisis.

Volatility spillovers in EMU sovereign bond markets

We analyse volatility spillovers in EMU sovereign bond markets. First, we examine the unconditional patterns during the full sample (April 1999-January 2014) using a measure recently proposed by Diebold and Yılmaz (2012). Second, we make use of a dynamic analysis to evaluate net directional volatility spillovers for each of the eleven countries under study, and to determine whether core and peripheral markets present differences. Finally, we apply a panel analysis to empirically investigate the determinants of net directional spillovers of this kind.

Imposicions estructurals en el drenatge de la conca del riu Onyar (Girona)

The Onyar River basin is situated in the depression of la Selva. His origins are related to tectonic activity during Neogen in this region. In his evolution, we note a slowly and continuous downfall which directs the morphodinamical behaviour. In this sense, the drainage network has a directional trend towards the north, as consecuence of fault systems, and specially the N-S oriented one. A fault of this system has an important influence in the basin morphology, directs the drainage towards the north and avoids a closely drainage in the basin

Bias and standard error for social reciprocity measurements

The directional consistency and skew-symmetry statistics have been proposed as global measurements of social reciprocity. Although both measures can be useful for quantifying social reciprocity, researchers need to know whether these estimators are biased in order to assess descriptive results properly. That is, if estimators are biased, researchers should compare actual values with expected values under the specified null hypothesis. Furthermore, standard errors are needed to enable suitable assessment of discrepancies between actual and expected values. This paper aims to derive some exact and approximate expressions in order to obtain bias and standard error values for both estimators for round-robin designs, although the results can also be extended to other reciprocal designs.

Control d'una bobinadora automàtica

Un dels problemes típics de regulació en el camp de l’automatització industrial és el control de velocitat lineal d’entrada del fil a les bobines, ja que com més gruix acumulem a igual velocitat de rotació de la bobina s’augmenta notablement la velocitat lineal d’entrada del fil, aquest desajust s’ha de poder compensar de forma automàtica per aconseguir una velocitat d’entrada constant. Aquest problema de regulació de velocitats és molt freqüent i de difícil control a la indústria on intervé el bobinat d’algun tipus de material com cablejat, fil, paper, làmines de planxa, tubs, etc... Els dos reptes i objectius principals són, primer, la regulació de la velocitat de rotació de la bobina per aconseguir una velocitat lineal del fil d’entrada, i segon, mitjançant el guiatge de l’alimentació de fil a la bobina, aconseguir un repartiment uniforme de cada capa de fil. El desenvolupament consisteix amb l’automatització i control d’una bobinadora automàtica mitjançant la configuració i programació de PLC’s, servomotors i encoders. Finalment es farà el muntatge pràctic sobre una bancada per verificar i simular el seu correcte funcionament que ha de donar solució a aquests problemes de regulació de velocitats. Com a conclusions finals s’han aconseguit els objectius i una metodologia per fer una regulació de velocitats de rotació per bobines, amb accionaments de servomotors amb polsos, i a nivell de coneixements he aconseguit dominar les aplicacions d’aquest tipus d’accionaments aplicats a construccions mecàniques.

Análisis de la fiabilidad de indicadores para sistemas de seguimiento de precios en los mercados

Para este trabajo se ha desarrollado un programa en Matlab, que nos permite realizar ensayos con algunas de las herramientas fundamentales del análisis técnico. Concretamente nos hemos centrado en el “Indicador de Movimiento Direccional” de Wilder. El programa está formado por seis funciones que permiten descargar datos, hacer la simulación del indicador, ajustar automáticamente algunos de sus parámetros y presentar los resultados obtenidos en la simulación. Con los experimentos y simulaciones realizadas se ha visto la importancia de escoger adecuadamente los períodos de ±DIs (indicadores direccionales positivo y negativo) y el ADX (Average Directional Movement Index). También hemos visto que la reglas decisión apuntadas por autores de reconocido prestigio como Cava y Ortiz ,no siempre se comportan como cabría esperar. Se propone mejorar el rendimiento y la fiabilidad de este indicador Incluyendo alguna media móvil de los precios y el volumen de contratación, en los criterios de decisión. También se podría mejorar implementando un sistema para que se pudiesen autoajustar los criterios de decisión.