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The package BiomSoft 2.0 “has applications in the field of orthopedics, rehabilitation, treatment and prosthetic aids for the disabled. Jaime Fernández Recio researcher has combined his work in very different areas of expertise: Computer with biomechanics of human movement and ergonomics.
The computer engineer Jaime Fernández Recio has developed in its final project package “BiomSoft 2.0″ for applications in the biomechanical analysis of normal and pathological human gait. The work was led by professors from the University of Extremadura Kostas Gianikellis Laboratory of Biomechanics of Human Movement and Ergonomics (Faculty of Sports Science) and Alonso Gazo Cervero, Department of Systems Engineering and Telematics (Ecole Polytechnique .)
The relevance of the project is that this type of software, developed for the first time in Spain, to analyze the normal and pathological human gait and develop various applications in the field of orthopedics, rehabilitation, treatment ortho-prosthetic foot and podiatry and aid to the disabled. In turn, facilitates the study of the processes of human movement control analysis of a motor pattern is very characteristic of human nature is that of “progress.”
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In a subgroup of tumors of the colon, stomach and uterine cancer cells hijack a group of antitumor molecules within their core preventing mature and perform their function in the cell, according to the work program of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Research Institute Biomédica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) published today in the journal Cancer Cell.
All human cells have a central core where the DNA (our genetic material), an aqueous medium (cytoplasm) which produce the proteins and metabolic processes take place, and a peripheral layer around the entire cell and gives a (plasma membrane). There is a continuous traffic of molecules between these three compartments to allow for the proper functioning of the cell.
The recent discovery team led by Manel Esteller, ICREA Barcelona, shows that this traffic is disrupted in cancer cells. The group of small molecules sequestered by the tumor cell at its core are called microRNAs that can not exercise their normal activity to inhibit cancer development.
“The tumors described” says Manel Esteller, “have a mutation in a protein called exportin-5, whose function in a healthy cell is to make a taxi driver and transport microRNAs from nucleus to cytoplasm. But in these cancers is unable to lead them out of the nucleus, so it loses its protective anti-tumor. ”
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A team of researchers coordinated by the Astronomical Observatory of Paris (France) publishes today Nature details of the astronomical object most distant confirmed so far, the galaxy UDFy-38135539, as suggested by some images from the Hubble telescope. The authors report that its light was emitted more than 13 billion years, and that this galaxy has a redshift (redshifIn English) record of 8.6. UDFy-38135539 is also of interest for being a beacon of “reionization epoch” of the early universe.
An international team of astronomers has measured the distance to the most distant galaxy known. Through careful analysis of the faint glow of the galaxy, they found that the observed light was emitted when the Universe was only 600 million years old, “known as redshift of 8.6 (z = 8.55), as advises the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
The supertelescopio Very Large Telescope (VLT) ESO in Chile has allowed the observations, the first confirmation of a galaxy whose light is clearing the opaque fog of hydrogen filling the universe at that early period. This is the galaxy UDFy-38135539 and details of the research appears this week in the journal Nature.
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The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could not happen at a worse time for bluefin tuna, between April and May, just the main spawning season. This is confirmed by the images captured during the disaster by satellites European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, which are helping to better understand the impact of the oil slick on this protected species.
The majestic Atlantic bluefin tuna capable of reaching the size of a car approaches the Gulf of Mexico between January and June to spawn and the main spawning peak of this protected species is reached between the months of April May.
Just at that time and in that place, this year we were pouring into the ocean about 10 million liters of oil per day, following the explosion on April 20 in the rig ‘Deepwater Horizon. ” When sealing was achieved on July 15 had already been poured 750 million gallons of crude oil.
Tuna roe containing a drop of fat that allows them to float, being fertilized by the males near the surface of the ocean. The presence of oil in the Gulf could affect eggs, larvae and even adults. ” The western stock of Atlantic Tunas has decreased by 82% in the last 30 years, so it is imperative to ensure their reproduction in order to preserve the species.
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The UN General Assembly agreed last June to celebrate today the first “World Statistics Day.” The objectives are to “enhance the contribution of the social welfare official statistics” and recognize the importance of indicators to measure countries’ progress, says the Society of Statistics and Operations Research (SEIO).
The statistic has been defined as the practice of torture to confess numbers “by Pere Grima, professor of the Research Group of Applied Statistics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. The phrase refers to that statistics is an essential tool to analyze and interpret information, looking for regular patterns hidden in vast amounts of data.
In modern science, the technology enables more and collect more data, statistical analysis becomes necessary to draw conclusions. This is what happens in genomics, with an increasing number of sequenced genomes of organisms, in physics and astrophysics, which have increasingly sensitive detectors, or in epidemiological or effectiveness of drugs, among countless examples.
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British and Spanish scientists have analyzed first dissolved silver content in coastal waters of Europe. The results confirm that discharges wastewater raise the concentration of this metal, one of the most toxic to microorganisms and marine invertebrates. In the study areas, the coast of A Coruña is the one with the highest levels of silver.
“We have confirmed that the presence of dissolved silver in natural waters is influenced by human presence, following the release to the sewage,” explains to SINC Jose Luis Barrios, co-author of the study and professor at the University of A Coruña .
The research, published recently in the journal Water Research, Is the first study of dissolved silver in European coastal waters. This metal is one of the most harmful to the microbial community and invertebrates that live in the sea, but so far only been tested locally in some estuaries.
Led from the British universities of Plymouth and Southampton, the team took water samples of A Coruña, in the fjord Gullmar (Sweden), the Adriatic Sea (near the Italian coast) and in two estuaries in the UK (Tamar and Fal .)
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The Programme United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) presented at the Biodiversity Summit to be held until 29 October in Nagoya (Japan) the report of Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB, for its acronym in English .) According to the work that has assessed the economic value of forests, freshwater, soil and coral reefs, and social and economic costs of its loss, the natural wealth of the world has an economic importance that should be at the point politically targeted.
“The TEEB report has documented the importance not only multi-billion natural world in the global economy, but also the type of policy changes and the type of smart market mechanisms that can integrate new ideas in a world surrounded by a growing number of multiple challenges, “said Pavan Sukhdev, the study’s lead banker who heads the Green Economy Initiative Programme of UNEP.
According to Sukhdev, “The good news is that many communities and countries are already seeing the possibility of incorporating the value of nature in making decisions.” The report took two years to develop and hundreds of experts from around the world have participated in its realization.
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Expert Research Group Phytopathogenic Fungi (GIHF)-framed in the Mediterranean Agroforestry Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, together with the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research and Service, Plant Health and Plant Protection Department of Agriculture designed a new treatment strategy to protect the crop against the persimmon leaf necrosis disease. It is based on the use of two active substances fungicides, mancozeb and pyraclostrobin.
The results obtained in this research field, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, to control the disease have been very positive and are a breakthrough in finding a solution to the disease since 2008 has significantly eroded the profitability of this crop mainly spread in the region of La Ribera. In fact, according to estimates from the Council of the Designation of Origin Ribera del Kaki of Xúquer thanks to this new treatment khaki-production in the area of that Control Board, will exceed 50,000 tonnes this season, and significantly increasing Last year’s results.
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Researchers at the University of Alicante and Miguel Hernández University have developed and patented a device for detecting substances of environmental, biochemical and food industries. The team hopes that the procedure involves a major advance in the new generation of electrochemical sensors.
The use of electrochemical sensors is well known in the biochemical and clinical sector (eg, glucose meters used by diabetics), but limited to components of medical interest. Therefore, these devices have not significantly penetrated into other sectors such as food or the environment because of their low selectivity and the difficulty involved in creating new phase sensing for a wide range of products.
The patented technology is based on a deposit method electroasistido of molecularly imprinted silica layers on different electrodes that act as filters with high selectivity to detect molecules of interest.
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Researchers at the University of Seville, led by Raúl Perillo, have designed software that will help predict if a chemical spill or oil spill, trajectory and characteristics of the stain of pollution over several days after the episode contaminant.
The software has been taken as references hydrodynamic variables (currents, tides, temperatures …) throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean arc Andalusia. Also, the group has performed simulations Hispalense basis of the density, particle size range of chemicals, including radioactive, and oil.
“This is a standardized process. A model is a set of equations that is solved by a computer. On the one hand, introduce variables such as currents, winds, tides and on the other hand, other data such as pollutants, topology, composition, density … This helps us to form a database and to predict which direction the landfill, “says the researcher in an article published in Marine Pollution Bulletin with the title In September of rapid-response models for pollutant dispersion in southern Spain Assessments coastal waters.
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