Celeboxib-mediated neuroprotection in focal cerebral ischemia: an interplay between unfolded protein response and inflammation

Ischemic stroke results from the temporary or permanent lack of blood supply in the brain due to the occlusion of a brain blood vessel. Around 85% of patients with cerebrovascular accidents suffer from ischemic strokes.

Mid and late Holocene forest fires and deforestation in the subalpine belt of the Iberian range,northern Spain

The conversion of subalpine forests into grasslands for pastoral use is a well-knownphenomenon, although for most mountain areas the timing of deforestation has not been determined. The presence of charcoal fragments in soil profiles affected by shallow landsliding enabled us to date the occurrence of fires and the periods of conversion ofsubalpine forest into grasslands in the Urbión Mountains, Iberian Range, Spain. We found that the treeline in the highest parts of the northwestern massifs of the Iberian Range(the Urbión, Demanda, Neila, and Cebollera massifs) is currently between 1500 and 1600 m a.s.l., probably because of pastoral use of the subalpine belt, whereas in the past it would have reached almost the highest divides(at approximately 2100–2200 m a.s.l.). The radiocarbon dates obtained indicate that the transformation of the subalpine belt occurred during the Late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Middle Ages. Forest clearing was probably moderate during fires prior to the Middle Ages, as the small size of the sheep herds and the local character of the markets only required small clearings, and therefore more limited fires. Thus, it is likely that the forest recovered burnt areas in a few decades; this suggests the management of the forest and grasslands following a slash-andburn system. During the Middle and Modern Ages deforestation and grassland expansion affected most of the subalpine belt and coincided with the increasing prevalence of transhumance, as occurred in other mountains in the Iberian Peninsula(particularly the Pyrenees). Although the occurrence of shallow landslides following deforestation between the Neolithic and the Roman Period cannot be ruled out, the most extensive shallow landsliding processes would have occurred from the Middle Ages until recent times.

Neuroprotective effects of meloxicam on transient brain ischemia in rats:the two faces of anti-inflammatory treatments

The inflammato ry response plays an important role in neuroprotection and regeneration after ischemic insult.The use of non-ste roidal anti-inflammatory drugs has been a matter of debate as to whether they have beneficial or detrimental effects.In this context,the effects of the anti-inflammatory agent meloxicam have been scarcely documented after stro ke,but its ability to inhibit both cyclooxygenase isoforms(1 and 2) could be a promising strategy to modulate postischemic inflammation.This study analyzed the effect of meloxicam in a transient focal cerebral ischemia model in rats,measuring its neuroprotective effect after 48 hours and 7 days of reperfusion and the effects of the treatment on the glial scar and regenerative events such as the generation of new progenitors in the subventricular zone and axonal sprouting at the edge of the damaged area.We show that meloxicam’s neuroprotective effects remained after 7 days of reperfusion even if its administration was restricted to the two first days after ischemia.Moreover,meloxicam treatment modulated glial scar reactivity,which matched with an increase in axonal sprouting.However,this treatment decreased the formation of neuronal progenitor cells.This study discusses the dual role of anti-inflammatory treatments after stro ke and encourages the careful analysis of both the neuroprotective and the regenerative effects in preclinical studies.

A new oxidative pathway of nitric oxide production from oximes in plants

Nitric oxide(NO)is an essential reactive oxygen species and a signal molecule in plants.Although several studies have proposed the occurrence of oxidative NO production,only reductive routes for NO production,such as the nitrate(NO_(3)^(-))-upper-reductase pathway,have been evidenced to date in land plants.However,plants grown axenically with ammonium as the sole source of nitrogen exhibit contents of nitrite and NO3−,evidencing the existence of a metabolic pathway for oxidative production of NO.We hypothesized that oximes,such as indole-3-acetaldoxime(IAOx),a precursor to indole-3-acetic acid,are intermediate oxidation products in NO synthesis.We detected the production of NO from IAOx and other oximes catalyzed by peroxidase(POD)enzyme using both 4-amino-5-methylamino-2′,7′-difluorescein fluorescence and chemiluminescence.Flavins stimulated the reaction,while superoxide dismutase inhibited it.Interestingly,mouse NO synthase can also use IAOx to produce NO at a lower rate than POD.We provided a full mechanism for POD-dependent NO production from IAOx consistent with the experimental data and supported by density functional theory calculations.We showed that the addition of IAOx to extracts from Medicago truncatula increased the in vitro production of NO,while in vivo supplementation of IAOx and other oximes increased the number of lateral roots,as shown for NO donors,and a more than 10-fold increase in IAOx dehydratase expression.Furthermore,we found that in vivo supplementation of IAOx increased NO production in Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type plants,while prx33-34 mutant plants,defective in POD33-34,had reduced production.Our data show that the release of NO by IAOx,as well as its auxinic effect,explain the superroot phenotype.Collectively,our study reveals that plants produce NO utilizing diverse molecules such as oximes,POD,and flavins,which are widely distributed in the plant kingdom,thus introducing a long-awaited oxidative pathway to NO production in plants.This knowledge has essential implications for understanding signaling in biological systems.

Necroptosis in global cerebral ischemia: a role for endoplasmic reticulum stress

Necroptosis has been reported in the last years as a type of regulated cell death that can be ignited by a number of specific death receptors,such as FAS,tumor necrosis factor receptor 1(TNFR1),or pathogen recognition receptors.This cell death subroutine is involved in the response to stress and in homeostatic functions,such as the maintenance of adult T-cell balance(Galluzzi et al.,2018).Dead receptor activation leads to the recruitment of protein complexes that act as nodes of signaling that can elicit different pathways driving to death or survival,depending on the cell conditions.

Combining anti-inflammatory and unfolding protein responses to fight stroke

This perspective shows an attempt to obtain synergy effects to fight ischemic stroke by combining agents acting on two different homeostatic mechanisms:inflammation and unfolded protein response (Anuncibay-Soto et al.,2018).Different pharmacological approaches have been assayed to alleviate cerebrovascular accident (stroke), which represents one of the most devastating diseases in the elderly.

Narcea—an unknown,ancient cultivated rose variety from northern Spain

The present work reports the discovery and the complete characterisation of an ancient cultivated rose variety found growing in a private garden in the southwest of the Principality of Asturias(northern Spain).The variety is here given the name Narcea.The majority of roses currently cultivated belong to the so-called group of‘Modern Roses’,all of which were obtained after 1867 via artificial crosses and improvement programmes.All are destined for ornamental use.Until the 19th century,the great majority of the many ancient cultivated roses in Europe were used in perfumery and cosmetics,or had medicinal uses.Rosa damascena and Rosa centifollia are still grown and used by the French and Bulgarian perfume industries.The Asturian Massif of the Cantabrian Mountain Range provides a natural habitat for some 75%of the wild members of the genus Rosa,but until now there was no evidence that this area was home to ancient cultivated roses.A complete botanical description is here provided for a discovered ancient rose.It is also characterised according to a series of sequence tagged microsatellite sites,and its agronomic features are reported.In addition,a histological description(optical and scanning electronic microscope studies)of the petals is offered,along with an analysis of the volatile compounds present in these organs as determined by solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy.The results reveal the uniqueness of this ancient type of rose and suggest it may be of interest to the perfume industry.

Flexible Co-Combustion of High Ratios of Sustainable Biomass with Coal in Oxy-CFB Boiler for CO₂Capture

Coal-fired plants are under pressure to reduce their carbon-intensity. Available options include co-firing CO2-neutral biomass, oxy-fuel-combustion as part of a carbon capture process or a combination of both to give a “CO2-negative” power plant. BioCCS, the combination of CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) with sustainable biomass conversion, is the only large-scale technology that can achieve net negative emissions. Combining, developing and demonstrating the oxy-combustion of high ratios of sustainable biomass with coal in flexible circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler will bring significant advances in the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Areas addressed include possibilities for: biomass characterization;handling and feeding;co-firing ratios definition;CFB oxy-co-combustion studies;combustion performance;boiler flexibility in fuel and load;main emissions analysis;slaging, fouling and agglomeration;corrosion and erosion;and implications on plant operation and associated costs. The article will detail a comprehensive understanding on sustainable biomass supply, co-firing ratios and how direct biomass co-combustion under oxy-fuel conditions can be implemented. It seeks to push biomass co-combustion in future large-scale oxy-fuel CFB power stations to high thermal shares while enhancing the power plants’ operational flexibility, economic competitiveness and give operational procedures. There will be a need to consider the public acceptance of power production from coal and coal sustainability, by its combination with renewable sources of energy (biomass).

Coalbed Methane Potential in the Basin Guardo-Barruelo (North Spain)

Coal during its carbonization process produces a gas, which, mainly formed by methane, can be used. The use of CBM (Coal bed methane) as an energetic resource is not much known in Spain. This work is the first step to enhance the development of this resource in Castilla y León Guardo-Barruelo basin. A review of the state of the art is introduced, taking into account all the factors that can influence in the development of a CBM project. Then CBM resources have been quantified for Guardo-Barruelo basin accurately for every coal bed. After that, technical feasibility has been used to evaluate total amount of gas that can be recovered.

Project for Residues Valorisation and Reutilization from an Oxy-Combustion Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler with CO₂Capture

Power generation industry has tackled waste reuse and valorisation for decades. Nevertheless, new technologies, like Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers operating in oxy-combustion, have an important gap of knowledge in residues characterization and valorisation. This project will tackle this. Furthermore, as a result of the high quantity of waste that these installations generate new business models can be opened. The project aims at characterizing the residues from a large scale oxy-CFB facility with carbon, capture, use and storage (CCUS) focusing on the larger and main residues produced: fly ash, bottom ash, and algae production from captured CO2. An analysis of possible uses and treatment needs, such as additives or preparation for use in agriculture or industry, will be carried out. Best re-utilization and valorisation options will be stated for fly ash, bottom ash and algae, aiming for a novel combination of CO2 capture technologies with recovery of valuable materials from different wastes, addressing different and sustainable solutions for their reuse, enhancing the feasibility of CCUS, and combining research with the creation of new business models towards a green economy more attractive to the public perception.

Economics of Coalbed Methane in North West Spain

Coal during its carbonization process produces a gas. This gas, mainly formed by methane, can be used. The use of CBM (Coal bed methane) as an energetic resource is not much known in Spain. This work is the first step to enhance the development of this resource in Castilla y León. A theoretical review and a state of the art description have been carried out, taking into account all the factors that can influence in the development of a CBM project. Then CBM resources have been quantified by Castilla y León accurately for every coal bed. After that, technical feasibility has been used to evaluate total amount of gas that can be recovered. The last step was to evaluate economic feasibility to know how much gas could be economically profitable. This paper covers the economic factor and exploitation options of CBM in Castilla y León, considering technical parameters together with costs and economic requirements for the tow most promising areas in north-west Spain. The main findings include that a CBM system would be feasible in Guardo-Barruelo, however, the economic feasibility will be limited to long operation time of the wells and an increase of the prices of natural gas. In North Leon, the results show a high profitability even under low natural gas prices.

A Review of Energy Efficiency in Data Processing Centers

This article explores, through a case study, measures of energy efficiency in data processing centers. An analysis of this case demonstrates how the design criteria could improve the rate of consumption in IT centers, which is currently the second most contaminating industry on the planet, and is the responsible for 2% of CO2 emissions, surpassed only by the aeronautical industry. The present and future situation of IT center energy consumption and associated environmental effects is analyzed, and also looks at how state-of-the-art technology, correctly implemented, could ensure significant rationalization of data processing center energy consumption. The article will examine optimization techniques, specific problems and case studies.

Insights into adsorbent tortuosity across aqueous adsorption systems

Pore network,pore connectivity,and the resulting effective adsorbate pore diffusivity within an adsorbent are critical physical considerations in mass transport modeling of aqueous adsorption.Tied to these three adsorbent features are the adsorbent tortuosity and tortuosity factor concepts.These concepts encompass the collective hindrance to intra-adsorbent adsorbate transport arising because of a disorderly adsorbent porous topology.It is crucial for materials scientists,chemists,chemical engineers,and water treatment specialists to understand the complex and variable connections among adsorbate chemistry,adsorbent chemistry,adsorbent porosity,pore shape,size,and tortuosity,pore wall effect,adsorbate-adsorbent interactions,and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions in competitively contaminated aqueous environments.Adsorbent tortuosity has been sporadically studied in aqueous adsorption models.Despite the small population of these studies,insightful observations and inferences have been reported.However,as it appears,no review has been published to compile,compare,and contrast these aspects.Hence,this review concisely brings up those observations and interpretations around adsorbent tortuosity for aqueous adsorption systems.The notion of an adsorbent's tortuosity being single-valued is argued to be imprecise.Finally,perspectives are aired on possible research and development directions for elucidating the dynamic attributes of adsorbent tortuosity and applying them in real-scale adsorption-oriented water purification.The data acquired by filling in these research gaps can enable the design of adsorbents more adapted for real-scale water purification.

An analysis and enhanced proposal of atmospheric boundary layer wind modelling techniques for automation of air traffic management

The air traffic management automation imposes stringent requirements on the weather models,in such a way that they should be able to provide reliable short-time forecasts in digital formats in almost real time.The atmospheric boundary layer is one of the regions where aircraft operation and coordination are critical and therefore atmospheric model performance is also vital.This paper presents conventional and innovative techniques to improve the accuracy in the forecasting of winds in the lower atmospheric layer,proposing mechanisms to develop better models including deterministic and stochastic simulations.Accuracy is improved by optimizing the grid,assimilating observations in cycling simulations and managing a number of ensemble members.An operationdriven post-processing stage helps to incorporate detailed terrain definitions and real-time observations without re-running the model.The improvements are checked against mesoscale weather simulations at different scales and a dedicated flight campaign.The results show good performance of the model without sensitively increasing the required throughput.

Winkler Support Model and Nonlinear Boundary Conditions Applied to 3D Elastic Contact Problem Using the Boundary Element Method

This work presents a numerical methodology for modeling the Winkler supports and nonlinear conditions by proposing new boundary conditions. For the boundary conditions of Winkler support model, the surface tractions and the displacements normal to the surface of the solid are unknown, but their relationship is known by means of the ballast coefficient, whereas for nonlinear boundary conditions, the displacements normal to the boundary of the solid are zero in the positive direction but are allowed in the negative direction. In those zones, detachments of nodes might appear, leading to a nonlinearity, because the number of nodes that remain fixed or of the detached ones (under tensile tractions) is unknown. The proposed methodology is applied to the 3D elastic receding contact problem using the boundary element method. The surface t r actions and the displacements of the common int erface bet ween the two solids in contac t under the influence of different supports are calculated as well as the boundary zone of the solid where the new boundary conditions are applied. The problem is solved by a double-iterative met hod, so in the final solut ion, t here are no t r act ions or pene trations between the two solids or at the boundary of the solid where the nonlinear boundary conditions are Simula ted. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by examples.

Distribution of DNA damage in the human sperm nucleus:implications of the architecture of the sperm head

The sperm nucleus is prone to sustain DNA damage before and after ejaculation.Distribution of the damage is not homogeneous,and the factors determining differential sensitivity among nuclear regions have not yet been characterized.Human sperm chromatin contains three structural domains,two of which are considered the most susceptible to DNA damage:the histone bound domain,harboring developmental related genes,and the domain associated with nuclear matrix proteins.Using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR)approach,we analyzed the number of lesions in genes homeobox A3(HOXA3),homeobox B5(HOXB 5),sex-determining region Y(SRY)-box 2(SOX2),β-GLOBIN,rDNA 18S,and rDNA 28S in human sperm after ultraviolet irradiation(400μW cm−2,10 min),H2O2treatment(250 mmol l−1,20 min),and cryopreservation,which showed differential susceptibility to genetic damage.Differential vulnerability is dependent on the genotoxic agent and independent of the sperm nuclear proteins to which the chromatin is bound and of accessibility to the transcription machinery.Immunodetection of 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine(8-OHdG)showed that the highest level of oxidation was observed after H2O2treatment.The distribution of oxidative lesions also differed depending on the genotoxic agent.8-OHdG did not colocalize either with histone 3(H3)or with type IIα+βtopoisomerase(TOPO IIα+β)after H2O2treatment but matched perfectly with peroxiredoxin 6(PRDX6),which is involved in H2O2metabolism.Our study reveals that the characteristics of the sperm head domains are responsible for access of the genotoxicants and cause differential degree of damage to nuclear areas,whereas chromatin packaging has a very limited relevance.The histone-enriched genes analyzed cannot be used as biomarkers of oxidative DNA damage.