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132 p I. Abstracts. Idatzizko komunikazioak / Comunicaciones escritas: 1. Biozientziak / Biociencias. 2. Fisika eta Ingenieritza Elektronika / Física e Ingeniería Electrónica. 3. Matematika / Matemáticas. 4. Geología / Geología. 5. Kimika / Química. 6. Ingenieritza Kimikoa / Ingeniería Química. 7. SGIker. II. Abstracts. Ahozko komunikazioak / Comunicaciones orales: 1. Biozientziak / Biociencias. 2. Fisika eta Ingenieritza Elektronika / Física e Ingeniería Electrónica. 3. Matematika / Matemáticas. 4. Geología / Geología. 5. Kimika / Química. 6. Ingenieritza Kimikoa / Ingeniería Química.

El estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar las diferencias entre los adolescentesde dos ciudades colombianas (Barranquilla y Bogotá) con nivelesde desarrollo distintos, en sexismo, rasgos de personalidad, competenciassociales, síntomas psicopatológicos y actividades de tiempo libre.La muestra fue de 846 adolescentes colombianos de catorce a dieciséisaños, 51,7% de Barranquilla y 48,3% de Bogotá (59,3% varones; 40,7%mujeres). Se administraron siete instrumentos de evaluación con garantíasde fiabilidad y validez, utilizando un diseño de investigacióndescriptivo y comparativo de corte transversal. Los resultados de losanálisis (MANOVA, T-test) confirmaron que: 1) Los adolescentes deambas ciudades tenían similares niveles de sexismo hostil y neosexismo,sin embargo, en sexismo benevolente, ambivalente y en ideología de rolsexual los de Barranquilla tuvieron puntuaciones significativamente superiores;2) Los adolescentes de Barranquilla manifestaron puntuacionessignificativamente superiores en autoconcepto, extraversión, amabilidad,responsabilidad, conductas de sensibilidad social, ayuda-colaboración,seguridad-firmeza en la interacción y liderazgo prosocial; mientras quelos de Bogotá tuvieron puntuaciones significativamente superiores enneuroticismo, conductas de agresividad, ansiedad-timidez, y en el índicegeneral de síntomas psicopatológicos; y 3) Los adolescentes colombianosen su tiempo libre realizan mayoritariamente actividades sociales y deportivas,en menor medida artísticas, y escasamente intelectuales; aunque losbogotanos realizan más actividades deportivas que los barranquilleros,en el resto de las actividades no hubo diferencias. Los de Barranquilla,aunque más sexistas, tenían un perfil de personalidad y de conducta socialmás adaptativo, y menos síntomas psicopatológicos que los de Bogota.La discusión gira en torno a la influencia de la cultura implícita de lasciudades en los patrones de personalidad y psicopatológicos. The purpose of the study was to analyze the differences between theadolescents from two Colombian cities (Barranquilla and Bogota), withdifferent levels of development, in sexism, personality traits, socialcompetences, psychopathological symptoms, and leisure activities. Thesample comprised 846 Colombian adolescents, aged 14 to 16 years,51.7% from Barranquilla and 48.3% from Bogota (59.3% male; 40.7%female). Seven assessment instruments, with guarantees of reliabilityand validity, were administered, using a cross-sectional, descriptive, andcomparative research design. The results of the analyses (MANOVA,t-test) confirmed that: 1) The adolescents from both cities had similarlevels of hostile sexism and neosexism, but in benevolent and ambivalentsexism and in sexual role ideology, the adolescents from Barranquillascored significantly higher; 2) The adolescents from Barranquillaobtained significantly higher scores in self-concept, extraversion,agreeableness, responsibility, behaviors of social sensitivity, helpcollaboration,and firmness in interaction and prosocial leadership;whereas the adolescents from Bogota scored significantly higher inneuroticism, aggressive behaviors, anxiety-shyness, and the global indexof psychopathological symptoms; and 3) In their free time, Colombianadolescents usually perform social and sports activities and, to a lesserdegree, artistic activities, and few intellectual activities; although theadolescents from Bogota carried out more sports activities than thosefrom Barranquilla, there were no differences in the rest of the activities.Although they were more sexist, the adolescents from Barranquillahad a more adaptive personality and social behavior profile, and fewerpsychopathological symptoms than those from Bogota. The implicitinfluence of culture in personality and psychopathological patterns isdiscussed.

Water temperature is a common variable of interest in stream ecology studies. In this paper, the performance of the ACR SmartButton thermometer and a low-cost protective case were evaluated for stream temperature measurement. The accuracy of the SmartButtons at 0, 10 and 15ºC was well within the ± 1ºC range specified by the manufacturer. For 50-60 % of the readings performed, the error was greater than the ± 0.2ºC correction factor accepted for meteorological temperature measurements. However, the observed level of accuracy is most likely sufficient for most biological applications if the loggers arecalibrated against a reference standard. Themetallic case that we usedhad a negligible effect on temperature measurements and offers a reliable way to protect the SmartButton during use in small streams. La temperatura del agua es una variable de interés en los estudios de ecología fluvial. En este trabajo,se evalúa el rendimiento de los termómetros ACR SmartButton y de una carcasa protectora de bajo coste para la medida de la temperatura en ríos. La precisión de los SmartButton a 0, 10 y 15ºC se encuentra dentro del rango de ± 1ºC que especifica el fabricante. El error observado en las lecturas sobrepasa el factor máximo de corrección de ± 0.2ºC que se acepta para la medida meteorológica de la temperatura en el 50-60 % de los datos recogidos. Sin embargo, la precisión observada es probablemente suficiente para otras aplicaciones biológicas, si los termómetros se calibran frente a una referencia estándar. Las carcasas protectoras que hemos utilizado tienen un efecto despreciable en las medidas de temperatura y representan un método seguro para instalar los SmartButtons en arroyos.

In this work, the average biomass of 80 relatively common families of benthic macroinvertebrates in the streams of the Biscay region (Basque Country, northern Iberian Peninsula) was estimated. The macroinvertebrates were collected using a kick net and preserved alive in cool aerated stream water. The fresh weight, dry weight, and ash-free dry weight (AFDW) were obtained for each family. The biomass values obtained were applied to more than a hundred macroinvertebrate samples collected from 1997 to 2006 in 17 stretches of 14 rivers inhabited by brown trout. The total and partial biomass of each sample was estimated. Significant differences in the density (F = 2.91; df = 16, 100; P < 0.001) and biomass (F = 6.52; df = 16, 100; P < 0.001) of the macroinvertebrates occurred among the stations, with up to a 11-fold and 17-fold range, respectively. The brown trout population size was positively correlated to both the macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass. By age classes, this relationship was significant for only the 1+ and 2+ trout. The AFDW metric is recommended because it represents the real organic biomass value that joins the trophic food chain, avoiding an overestimation of the energy contribution of taxa with shells or cases. The Gammaridae had higher values of AFDW than expected, due to their high content of organic matter. A positive selection of gammarids by the trout was also observed in some cases. Se ha estimado la biomasa media de las 80 familias de macroinvertebrados bentónicos presentes habitualmente en ríos de Bizkaia (País Vasco, Norte de la Península Ibérica). Los macroinvertebrados se recogieron con red Kick y se conservaron vivos en agua del río con aireación forzada. Se obtuvo el peso fresco, el peso seco y el peso seco libre de cenizas (PSLC) para cada familia. Estos valores de biomasa se aplicaron a más de un centenar de muestras de macroinvertebrados recogidas entre 1997 y 2006 en 17 tramos de 14 ríos habitados por trucha común. Se estimó la biomasa total y parcial para cada muestra. Se observaron diferencias significativas entre las estaciones, de hasta 11 veces en términos de abundancia (F = 2.91; df = 16, 100; P < 0.001) y de hasta 17 veces en la biomasa total (F = 6.52; df = 16, 100; P < 0.001) de macroinvertebrados. El tamaño de la población de truchas apareció correlacionado positivamente con la abundancia y biomasa total de macroinvertebrados. Diferenciando por clases de edad, estas relaciones fueron significativas sólo para las clases 1+ y 2+. Se recomienda el uso del PSLC ya que éste representa la fracción de biomasa que realmente se incorpora a la cadena trófica, evitando sobrevalorar la aportación energética de los taxones con conchas o estuches. Los gammáridos mostraron valores de PSLC mayores de los esperados, lo que conlleva un elevado contenido en materia orgánica. En algunos casos, la trucha seleccionaba positivamente este grupo.

Habitats are the places where organisms live and are defined by a set of abiotic and biotic characteristics that affect individual fitness and community structure. Therefore, the habitat of river organisms can be linked to a long list of relevant variables, including hydraulics, channel form, substrate composition, water quality, irradiance, and abundance of organic matter. Habitat preferences are well known for some species, particularly salmonids, but large uncertainties remain for many taxa. River habitats are not composed of static features; instead the features fluctuate as the result of a large set of processes acting from the basin to the local scale. Local processes of importance in shaping river habitats include (depending on river type) channel migration, growth and mortality of riparian trees, formation of wood jams, storage of organic matter, macrophyte development, and travertine deposition. Sometimes it is possible to assess the positive or negative effect of a given process for a particular species, but most often researchers rely on the patterns of physical habitat rather than on the processes that shape these habitats. As an example of the adjustment of river habitats to local processes, we show data from an experiment in which large wood was reintroduced to a small mountain stream.Wood jams produced large effects on hydraulics and substrate, large increases in the storage of organic matter, increases in invertebrate and fish densities, and changes in ecosystem functioning. This example emphasises the tight relationship between riparian dynamics and in-stream habitat, and the importance of local processes, in this case inputs of large wood to streams. Therefore, the assessment and management of river habitats must take into account not only the habitat itself but also key local processes that are essential for the long-term continuity of this habitat. El hábitat, el lugar en el que viven los organismos, viene definido por la serie de características abióticas y bióticas que afectan desde el éxito individual hasta la estructura de la comunidad. Por tanto, el hábitat de los organismos fluviales puede estar determinado por una larga lista de variables importantes, como la hidráulica, la forma del cauce, la composición del sustrato, la calidad del agua, la irradiancia, o la abundancia de materia orgánica. Se conocen bien las preferencias de hábitat de algunas especies, especialmente de salmónidos, pero existe mucha incertidumbre para otros taxones. Los hábitats fluviales no son entidades estáticas, sino el resultado de una larga serie de procesos que actúan desde la escala de cuenca hasta una escala local. Entre los procesos locales que tienen importancia en el modelado de los hábitat fluviales se incluyen, dependiendo del tipo de río, la migración del cauce, el crecimiento y mortalidad de los bosques de ribera, la formación de acumulaciones de madera, la acumulación de materia orgánica, el desarrollo de macrófitas, o la precipitación de travertinos. A veces se puede evaluar el efecto positivo o negativo de determinado proceso en una especie dada, pero a menudo los investigadores se limitan a evaluar patrones en el hábitat fluvial en lugar de evaluar los procesos que modelan dichos patrones. Como ejemplo del ajuste del hábitat fluvial a procesos locales, mostramos resultados de un experimento de reintroducción de madera muerta en un arroyo de montaña. Las acumulaciones de madera tuvieron un gran efecto en la hidráulica y en el sustrato, produjeron un fuerte aumento en la acumulación de materia orgánica, aumentos en la densidad de invertebrados y peces, y cambios en el funcionamiento del ecosistema. Este ejemplo recalca la estrecha relación existente entre la dinámica de las riberas y el hábitat del cauce, así como la importancia de los procesos locales, en este caso de la caída de troncos a los ríos. Por ello, la evaluación y la gestión de los hábitat fluviales deben tener en cuenta no sólo el hábitat propiamente dicho, sino también procesos locales clave que son esenciales para la continuidad a largo plazo de dicho hábitat.

Histiocitosis; Granuloma eosinófilo; Inhibidores BRAF Histiocitosi; Granuloma eosinòfil; Inhibidors BRAF Histiocytosis; Eosinophilic granuloma; BRAF inhibitors Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a type of myeloid neoplasia that can affect different organs or tissues and exhibits substantial variability in its clinical presentation and biological behaviour, so it may mimic different diseases. Performance of different clinical assessments and laboratory and imaging tests is recommended to determine the extent of involvement, which may be of a single location or multisystemic, and the presence or absence of dysfunction in risk organs, such as the haematopoietic system, liver and spleen. The diagnosis must be confirmed by histological examination of a biopsy sample. Molecular tests have identified mutations in the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, which has expanded treatment options. The diagnosis is complex and there is controversy regarding the management of certain cases. Treatment recommendations depend on the location of the lesions and the extent of involvement. International collaborative studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of prolonged combination therapies such as vinblastine and prednisone in severe or multisystemic forms, and anti-inflammatory drugs such as indomethacin and other cytostatic combinations have proven beneficial. Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a good example of the importance of precision medicine and the benefit of identifying molecular targets, common to different neoplasms, to develop new therapies. MAPK pathway inhibitors offer an alternative treatment option in refractory cases and neurodegenerative forms of LCH. Molecular testing can contribute to the prognosis, treatment and follow-up of LCH, especially in severe forms of disease. La histiocitosis de células de Langerhans es un tipo de neoplasia hematológica de origen mieloide, que puede afectar a diferentes órganos o tejidos, con gran variabilidad en la presentación clínica y comportamiento biológico, por lo que puede simular diferentes enfermedades. Se recomienda realizar diversas pruebas clínicas, analíticas y de imagen, para determinar la extensión de la afectación, que puede ser única o multisistémica, y la presencia o no de disfunción en órganos de riesgo como sistema hematopoyético, hígado y bazo. El diagnóstico se debe confirmar mediante biopsia y estudio histológico. Los estudios moleculares han permitido identificar mutaciones en la vía MAPK, lo que han ampliado las opciones terapéuticas. El diagnóstico es complejo y existe controversia en el manejo de ciertos casos. Las recomendaciones terapéuticas dependen de la localización de las lesiones y la extensión de la afectación. Los estudios colaborativos internacionales han demostrado la efectividad de terapias prolongadas combinadas como vinblastina y prednisona en formas graves o multisistémicas y destaca el papel beneficioso de fármacos antinflamatorios como indometacina y de otras combinaciones de citostáticos. HCL representa un buen ejemplo de la importancia de la medicina de precisión y del beneficio de la identificación de dianas moleculares, comunes a diferentes neoplasias, para desarrollar nuevas terapias dirigidas. Los inhibidores de la vía MAPK representan una alternativa terapéutica en casos refractarios y en las formas neurodegenerativas de HCL. Los estudios moleculares pueden contribuir en el pronóstico, tratamiento y seguimiento, especialmente en las formas graves. The study was partially funded by a grant allocated to the Histiocytosis Research Project of the Fundación Vasca de Innovación e Investigación Sanitaria BIOEF (BIO16/ER/020/BC) and the Asociación Española contra la Histiocitosis-ACHE (BC/A/15/012, BIOEF11/017, BIOEF09/047), whose principal investigator is Itziar Astigarraga.

Background Odontogenic myxoma (OM) is a benign intraosseous neoplasm that exhibits local aggressiveness and high recurrence rates. Osteoclastogenesis is an important phenomenon in the tumor growth of maxillary neoplasms. RANK (Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor κappa B) is the signaling receptor of RANK-L (Receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-Β ligand) that activates the osteoclasts. OPG (osteoprotegerin) is a decoy receptor for RANK-L that inhibits pro-osteoclastogenesis. The RANK / RANKL / OPG system participates in the regulation of osteolytic activity under normal conditions, and its alteration has been associated with greater bone destruction, and also with tumor growth. Objectives To analyze the immunohistochemical expression of OPG, RANK and RANK-L proteins in odontogenic myxomas (OMs) and their relationship with the tumor size. Material and Methods Eighteen OMs, 4 small ( 3cm) and 18 dental follicles (DF) that were included as control were studied by means of standard immunohistochemical procedure with RANK, RANKL and OPG antibodies. For the evaluation, 5 fields (40x) of representative areas of OM and DF were selected where the expression of each antibody was determined. Descriptive and comparative statistical analyses were performed with the obtained data. Results There are significant differences in the expression of RANK in OM samples as compared to DF (p = 0.022) and among the OMSs and OMLs (p = 0.032). Also a strong association is recognized in the expression of RANK-L and OPG in OM samples. Conclusions Activation of the RANK / RANK-L / OPG triad seems to be involved in the mechanisms of bone balance and destruction, as well as associated with tumor growth in odontogenic myxomas. Key words:Odontogenic myxoma, dental follicle, RANK, RANK-L, OPG, osteoclastogenesis.

CAKUT; HNF1B; MODY CAKUT; HNF1B; MODY CAKUT; HNF1B; MODY BACKGROUND: Mutations in hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) have been associated with congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) in humans. Diabetes and other less frequent anomalies have also been described. Variable penetrance and intrafamilial variability have been demonstrated including severe prenatal phenotypes. Thus, it is important to differentiate this entity from others with similar clinical features and perform confirmatory molecular diagnosis. METHODS: This study reports the results of HNF1B screening in a cohort of 60 patients from 58 unrelated families presenting with renal structural anomalies and/or non-immune glucose metabolism alterations, and other minor features suggesting HNF1B mutations. RESULTS: This study identified a pathogenic variant in 23 patients from 21 families. The most frequent finding was bilateral cystic dysplasia or hyperechogenic kidneys (87% of patients). Sixty percent of them also fulfilled the criteria for impaired glucose metabolism, and these were significantly older than those patients with an HNF1B mutation but without diabetes or prediabetes (14.4 versus 3.3 years, P

In this work we report a detailed spectroscopic study of the near-infrared to visible upconversion luminescence in Erdoped lanthanum oxysulfide crystal powders after excitation of level 4I9/2. The analysis of the decay curves of the upconversion emission indicates that energy transfer upconversion is the main mechanism responsible for the green (4S3/2) and red (4F9/2) upconversion luminescence. The temperature dependence of the green upconverted emission from the two thermally coupled 2H11/2 and 4S3/2 levels has been analyzed in the 230 K- 300 K temperature range in order to check its availability as a temperature sensor.

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21 p.-9 fig.-3 tab., Fermentative processes by lactic acid bacteria can produce metabolites of interest to the health and food industries. Two examples are the production of B-group vitamins, and of prebiotic and immunomodulatory dextran-type exopolysaccharides. In this study, three riboflavin- and dextran-producing Weissella cibaria strains (BAL3C-5, BAL3C-7 and BAL3C-22) were used to develop a new method for selection and isolation of spontaneous riboflavin-overproducing W. cibaria mutants. This method was based on the selection of strains resistant to roseoflavin. The DNA sequencing of the FMN riboswitch of bacterial cell populations treated with various roseoflavin concentrations, revealed the existence of at least 10 spontaneous and random point mutations at this location. Folding and analysis of the mutated FMN riboswitches with the RNA fold program predicted that these mutations could result in a deregulation of the rib operon expression. When the roseoflavin-treated cultures were plated on medium supporting dextran synthesis, the most promising mutants were identified by the yellow color of their mucous colonies, exhibiting a ropy phenotype. After their isolation and recovery in liquid medium, the evaluation of their riboflavin production revealed that the mutant strains synthesized a wide range of riboflavin levels (from 0.80 to 6.50 mg/L) above the wild-type level (0.15 mg/L). Thus, this was a reliable method to select spontaneous riboflavin-overproducing and dextran-producing strains of W. cibaria. This species has not yet been used as a starter or adjunct culture, but this study reinforces the potential that it has for the food and health industry for the production of functional foods or as a probiotic. Furthermore, analysis of the influence of FMN present in the growth medium, on rib mRNA and riboflavin levels, revealed which mutant strains produce riboflavin without flavin regulation. Moreover, the BAL3C-5 C120T mutant was identified as the highest riboflavin-overproducer. Determination of its chromosomal DNA sequence and that of BAL3C-5, revealed a total identity between the 2 strains except for the C120T mutation at the FMN riboswitch. To our knowledge, this work is the first demonstration that only a single alteration in the genome of a lactic acid bacteria is required for a riboflavin-overproducing phenotype., This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (grant RTI2018-097114-B-I00), CSIC (grant COOPA20488), the University of Basque Government (grants IT1662-22 and PIBA_2020_1_0032), and the University of Basque Country (UPV-EHU; GIU19/014). ID-O is the beneficiary of a postdoctoral grant Margarita Salas by UPV-EHU (MARSA21/25) in the framework of “the requalification of the Spanish university system” funded by the European Union-Next Generation EU.

The present investigation explores the upconversion properties of Er3+- doped La2O2S crystal powder as well as its potentiality for anti-Stokes cooling. A detailed study of the wavelength and pumping power dependence of the spectroscopic properties and of the temperature field of samples with various erbium concentrations is presented. The analysis of both spectroscopic and thermal measurements shows that after a transient heating induced by the background absorption, cooling can be attained by means of anti-Stokes processes.

58 p.-8 fig., The genus Aspergillus includes industrially, medically and agriculturally important species. All of them, as do fungi in general, disperse to new niches principally by means of asexual spores. Regarding the genetic/molecular control of asexual development, Aspergillus nidulans is the main reference. In this species, two pathways control the production of conidiophores, the structures bearing asexual spores (conidia). The Upstream Developmental Activation (UDA) pathway transduces environmental signals, determining whether the Central Developmental Pathway (CDP) and the required morphological changes are induced. The transcriptional regulator BrlA links both pathways as loss-of-function mutations in flb (UDA) genes block brlA transcription and, consequently, conidiation. However, the aconidial phenotype of specific flb mutants is reverted under salt-stress conditions. Previously, we generated a collection of ΔflbB mutants unable to conidiate on culture medium supplemented with NaH2PO4 (0.65M). Here, we identified a Gly347Stop mutation within flpA as responsible for the FLIP57 phenotype. The putative cyclin FlpA and the remaining putative components of the C-terminal domain kinase-1 (CTDK-1) complex are necessary for proper germination, growth and developmental patterns in both A. nidulans and A. fumigatus. Cellular localization and functional interdependencies of the three proteins are also analyzed. Overall, this work links the putative CTDK-1 complex of aspergilli with growth and developmental control., Work at O.E. s lab has been supported by UPV/EHU (GIU19/014 to O.E.) and the Basque Government (PIBA-PUE PIBA_2020_1_0032; Elkartek KK-2021/43 and KK 2022/00107; and GIC IT1662-22, to O.E.). Work at CIB Margarita Salas-CSIC has been supported by MICIU/AEI (RTI2018-094263-B-100, to E.A.E.). A.O. hold a Margarita Salas grant (MARSA21/69), funded by Next-Generation EU, at the UPV/EHU. A.F was a degree student with a collaboration grant by the Spanish Ministry of Education (21/19070). Z.A was a Master Thesis student at O.E.´s lab, held an Ikertalent Fellow funded by the Basque Government (PIF21/003) at the Basque Culinary Center, and is now a PhD student at O.E.´s lab with funds of the KK 2022/00107 project. Work at J.R.F.´s lab has been supported by NIH grants R01-AI158442 and R01-AI143197.

The design of high-temperature ferrimagnetic materials is highly demanded for next-generation functional spintronic devices. Here, we propose that the combination of nonmetallic structural units and magnetic atoms is an effective way to achieve high-temperature magnetism in two-dimensional (2D) materials. The predicted FeP4 monolayer, consisting of quasisquare P4 units, shows intrinsic half-metal ferrimagnetism above room temperature. Each Fe atom is coordinated with four P atoms associated with the surrounding four quasisquare P4 units. First-principles calculations suggest that the FeP4 monolayer presents a Curie temperature of 460 K. More interestingly, the itinerant electrons and the unique quasisquare P4 units act as intermediaries and play an important role in promoting the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida and superexchange interactions, respectively, which induces a robust ferrimagnetism. Our findings not only shed light on the promising future of 2D magnetic materials, but also are of interest for high-temperature spintronic applications., The authors acknowledge the funding support from the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 21873017 and No. 21573037, the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 2013M541283, the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province (Grant No. 20190201231JC), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (Grant No. B2021203030), the Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (Grant No. JZX2023020). The work was carried out at National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, and the calculations were performed on TianHe-1 (A). A.B. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant No. PID2019-105488GB-I00) and the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government and the University of the Basque Country (Grant No. IT1707-22).

In two recent works, the authors have investigated the spectro-temporal properties of the random laser emission from solid state dye-doped powders in picosecond pumping regime. Each emission pulse consists, both above and below threshold, in a collection of narrow peaks of a spectro-temporal width at the theoretical limit (ΔωΔt≅1). The distribution of path lengths traveled inside the diffusive active medium by photons that can be amplified by stimulated emission explains this behavior, as demonstrated by a simple theoretical model developed by the authors. The aim of the present work is, first, to develop an implemented model that does not depend on fitting parameters, and which is compatible with the energetic and spectro-temporal properties of the material; and second, to get knowledge about the spatial properties of the emission. The transverse coherence size of each emitted photon packet has been measured; and in addition, we have shown the existence of spatial fluctuations of the emission of these materials, as our model predicts., Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (GIU/21/006); Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PID2020115419GB/C22).

Stem cell-based therapies have shown promising results for the regeneration of the nervous system. However, the survival and integration of the stem cells in the neural circuitry is suboptimal and might compromise the therapeutic outcomes of this approach. The development of functional scaffolds capable of actively interacting with stem cells may overcome the current limitations of stem cell-based therapies. In this study, three-dimensional hydrogels based on graphene derivatives and cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles are presented as prospective supports allowing neural stem cell adhesion, migration and differentiation. The morphological, mechanical and electrical properties of the resulting hydrogels can be finely tuned by controlling several parameters of the self-assembly of graphene oxide sheets, namely the amount of incorporated reducing agent (ascorbic acid) and CeO2 nanoparticles. The intrinsic properties of the hydrogels, as well as the presence of CeO2 nanoparticles, clearly influence the cell fate. Thus, stiffer adhesion substrates promote differentiation to glial cell lineages, while softer substrates enhance mature neuronal differentiation. Remarkably, CeO2 nanoparticle-containing hydrogels support the differentiation of neural stem cells to neuronal, astroglial and oligodendroglial lineage cells, promoting the in vitro generation of nerve tissue grafts that might be employed in neuroregenerative cell therapies., This work has been funded by the Basque Government (GV/EJ) Department of Education (GIC21/131 IT1766-22, IT1751-22), Health Department (RIS3, 2021333012), Grants PID2019-106236GB-I00 and PID2019-104766RB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Grant RYC-2013-13450 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ESF investing in your future” by the “European Union” and Achucarro Seed-Fund 003 (JRP), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) by GIU19/040, GIU 20/050, PPGA 20/22, COLAB19/03 and IKERTU-2020.0155. GV/EJ, Hazitek ZE-2019/00012-IMABI and ELKARTEK KK-2019/00093. Polimerbio and Y. P. have a Bikaintek PhD grant (20-AFW2-2018-00001). Part of this research was performed within the framework of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 793644 (BIONICS).

One-dimensional (1D) metal–organic (MO) nanowires are captivating from fundamental and technological perspectives due to their distinctive magnetic and electronic properties. The solvent-free synthesis of such nanomaterials on catalytic surfaces provides a unique approach for fabricating low-dimensional single-layer materials with atomic precision and low amount of defects. A detailed understanding of the electronic structure of MO polymers such as band gap and dispersive bands is critical for their prospective implementation into nanodevices such as spin sensors or field-effect transistors. Here, we have performed the on-surface reaction of quinoidal ligands with single cobalt atoms (Co-QDI) on a vicinal Au(788) surface in ultra-high vacuum. This procedure promotes the growth and uniaxial alignment of Co-QDI MO chains along the surface atomic steps, while permitting the mapping of their electronic properties with space-averaging angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In the direction parallel to the principal chain axis, a well-defined 1D band structure with weakly dispersive and dispersive bands is observed, confirming a pronounced electron delocalization. Low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy delves into the atomically precise structure of the nanowires and elucidates their narrow bandgap. These findings are supported with GW0 band structure calculations showing that the observed electronic bands emanate from the efficient hybridization of Co(3d) and molecular orbitals. Our work paves the way towards a systematic search of similar 1D π–d hybridized MO chains with tunable electronic and magnetic properties defined by the transition or rare earth metal atom of choice., Financial support was provided from the Spanish Research Council CSIC through I-LINK C20002; grants PID2019-107338RB-C63, PID2019-103910GB-100 and PID2020-116093RB-C44 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We further thank support from the Basque Government, grants IT-1591-22, IT-1527-22, IT-1246-19 and IT-1260-19 as well as Universidad del País Vasco grant GIU18/138.

Polycarboxylic ethers or polycarboxylate (PCEs) are one of the most employed superplasticizers in construction. However, the understanding of their microstructure–property relationship is still incomplete. Recently, a theoretical model was proposed that relates the microstructure–conformation of the PCE to its effect on the adsorption onto cement particles and cement hydration time. In this work, the effects of a wide range of PCEs with different side chain lengths (P = 5, Group 1; P = 20, Group 2; and P = 45 and 113, Group 3) having flexible backbone worm conformation except one which has stretch backbone worm conformation (P = 113) were experimentally investigated for their effect on adsorption and cement hydration. It is found that PCEs from Group 1 show electrostatic repulsion as dispersing mechanism, unlike PCEs from Groups 2 and 3. Furthermore, the prediction of the theoretical model is also assessed for all the studied PCEs. Only Group 1 PCEs (shortest side chains) showed deviation from the theoretical predictions, and it was attributed to their different behaviors from the standard PCEs for which the theoretical model was developed., The authors thank the financial support received from EUSKAMPUS Fundazioa, POLYMAT (UPV/EHU), and Tecnalia to carry out the project. The work was carried out under the umbrella of the LTC “Green Concrete”. The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from Misiones Euskampus 1.0 (project “HEMEN”). J. R. Leiza and I. Emaldi also acknowledge the funding from Basque Government (Project IT-1512-22) and MINECO (PID2021-123146OB-I00), and J. S. Dolado acknowledges the funding from the Gobierno Vasco UPV/EHU (Project No. IT-1246-19).

This article belongs to the Section Theory and Simulation of Nanostructures., Using relativistic spin-polarized density functional theory calculations we investigate magnetism, electronic structure and topology of the ternary thallium gadolinium dichalcogenides TlGdZ2 (Z= Se and Te) as well as superlattices on their basis. We find TlGdZ2 to have an antiferromagnetic exchange coupling both within and between the Gd layers, which leads to frustration and a complex magnetic structure. The electronic structure calculations reveal both TlGdSe2 and TlGdTe2 to be topologically trivial semiconductors. However, as we show further, a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic topological insulator (TI) state can potentially be achieved by constructing superlattices of the TlGdZ2/(TlBiZ2)n type, in which structural units of TlGdZ2 are alternated with those of the isomorphic TlBiZ2 compounds, known to be non-magnetic 3D TIs. Our results suggest a new approach for achieving 3D magnetic TI phases in such superlattices which is applicable to a large family of thallium rare-earth dichalcogenides and is expected to yield a fertile and tunable playground for exotic topological physics., M.M.O. and M.B. acknowledge the support by Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant No. PID2019-103910GB-I00) and the University of the Basque Country (Grant no. IT1527-22). A.Yu.V. and E.K.P. acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation within State Task No. FSWM-2020-0033 (in the part of bulk and surface electronic structure calculations). E.V.C. acknowledges support from Saint Petersburg State University (Grant ID No. 90383050). Yu.M.K. acknowledges support from the Government research assignment for ISPMS SB RAS, project FWRW-2022-0001 (in the part of the topological classification of bulk band structure).

In recent decades, the technology of polymeric materials used in biomedical applications has been greatly improved, replacing the metals that had been used until now. This change has not only meant an improvement in the cost of the raw material and in its processing, but it is also due to the fact that there are applications, such as stents, where the material is required to have a certain flexibility, both during the surgical intervention and during the healing or conditioning the tissue in which the intervention is performed. In this type of application, the so-called shape memory polymers (SMPs) are very interesting, but for this, they must meet the condition of being biocompatible. In this work, new polyurethane materials have been designed in which, in addition to shape memory prevailing, adequate cell proliferation values are obtained for possible use in biomedical applications. Furthermore, during the synthesis, in order to avoid undesired and toxics subproducts, instead of the typical aromatic diisocyanates, an aliphatic 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) has been selected. Moreover, neither solvents nor catalysts were used, which makes eco-friendly synthesis suitable for scaling at an industrial level. Finally, castor oil (CO) has been used as one of the main synthesis reagents, which is an abundant compound obtained from biological sources. For all this, it can be concluded that the polymers described here have a wide range of application possibilities (biomedicine, food packaging…), and are highly interesting to preserve our Planet., Authors would like to acknowledge the Basque Government funding within the ELKARTEK 2020 AVANSITE (KK-2020/00019). Also, authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the University of the Basque Country (GIU20/075).

Precise control over the size and shape of graphene nanostructures allows engineering spin-polarized edge and topological states, representing a novel source of non-conventional π-magnetism with promising applications in quantum spintronics. A prerequisite for their emergence is the existence of robust gapped phases, which are difficult to find in extended graphene systems. Here we show that semi-metallic chiral GNRs (chGNRs) narrowed down to nanometer widths undergo a topological phase transition. We fabricated atomically precise chGNRs of different chirality and size by on surface synthesis using predesigned molecular precursors. Combining scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements and theory simulations, we follow the evolution of topological properties and bulk band gap depending on the width, length, and chirality of chGNRs. Our findings represent a new platform for producing topologically protected spin states and demonstrate the potential of connecting chiral edge and defect structure with band engineering., We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) through projects No MAT2016-78293, PID2019-107338RB, and FIS2017-83780-P, and the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme MDM-2016-0618, from the Xunta de Galicia (Centro singular de investigación de Galicia, accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/09), from the University of the Basque Country (Grant IT1246-19) and the Basque Departamento de Educación (PhD scholarship no. PRE_2019_2_0218 of S.S.), and from the European Regional Development Fund. We also acknowledge funding from the European Union (EU) H2020 program through the ERC (grant agreement No. 635919) and FET Open project SPRING (grant agreement No. 863098).

Ingestión; Imanes; Urgencias de pediatría Ingestion; Magnets; Paediatric emergencies Ingestió; Imants; Urgències de pediatria Introduction The ingestion of magnetic objects can cause complications in children, and there are no epidemiological or clinical data on the subject in Spain. Objectives To determine the incidence, epidemiological characteristics and management of magnet ingestion in paediatric emergency departments in Spain. Material and methods Prospective observational multicentre study conducted over a 3-year period. The study universe consisted of patients aged less than 14 years. Results The incidence was 4.8 cases per 100 000 emergency care episodes. Of the 72 patients included (mean age, 7.2 years), 54% were male. Seven percent had neuropsychiatric disorders. Sixty-one percent of the magnets were spherical and 69% came from toys. The size was variable, most frequently between 5 and 10 mm (50%), and ranging from 3 to 30 mm. Eighty-six percent of patients were asymptomatic. The most frequent symptom was abdominal pain. Eighty-three percent of the patients sought medical care within 6 h of ingestion and 92% within 24 h. Thirty-one percent of the cases were of multiple ingestion. Endoscopy was required for extraction in 15% of cases, a proportion that rose to 36% in the group of cases of multiple ingestion. None of the patients required surgery. We did not observe any gastrointestinal complications of magnet ingestion. Conclusions The ingestion of multiple magnets is less frequent than single magnet ingestion, and we did not observe any complications despite the lower frequency of procedures compared to other studies. Introducción Las ingestas de objetos imantados pueden presentar complicaciones en el niño, no existiendo datos epidemiológicos ni clínicos en España. Objetivos Conocer la incidencia de ingesta de objetos imantados en los Servicios de Urgencias Pediátricos Españoles, sus características epidemiológicas y su manejo. Material y métodos Estudio observacional prospectivo multicéntrico realizado durante 3 años. Población de referencia menores de 14 años. Resultados La incidencia fue de 4,8/100.000 urgencias. De los 72 pacientes incluidos (edad media de 7,2 años), el 54% fueron varones. El 7% presentaron antecedentes neuropsiquiátricos. El 61% de los imanes fueron esféricos y el 69% procedían de juguetes. El tamaño fue variable con un predominio de los imanes entre 5 y 10 mm (50%). El 86% fueron asintomáticos. El síntoma más frecuente fue el dolor abdominal. El 83% de los pacientes consultaron en menos de 6 horas y el 92% en las primeras 24 horas. El 31% fueron ingestas múltiples. El 15% precisó intervención endoscópica, cifra que ascendió al 36% en los casos de ingestas múltiples. No se realizó ninguna intervención quirúrgica. No se observó ninguna complicación gastrointestinal secundaria. Conclusiones Las ingestas de imanes múltiples son menos frecuentes que las simples y en este estudio no se han observado complicaciones a pesar de que las intervenciones realizadas han sido menores que en otros estudios. The study was funded through the 2016 annual grant of the Research Network of the Sociedad Española de Urgencias de Pediatría (RiSEUP-SPERG), for an amount of euro4000.

Individual magnetic transition metal dopants in a solid host usually exhibit relatively small spin excitation energies of a few meV. Using scanning tunneling microscopy and inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) techniques, we have observed a high spin excitation energy around 36 meV for an individual Co substitutional dopant in ultrathin NaCl films. In contrast, the Cr dopant in the NaCl film shows much lower spin excitation energy around 2.5 meV. Electronic multiplet calculations combined with first-principles calculations confirm the spin excitation induced IETS, and quantitatively reveal the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropies for both Co and Cr. They also allow reproducing the experimentally observed redshift in the spin excitations of Co dimers and ascribe it to a charge and geometry redistribution., This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91961102, 11704057), the Shenzhen fundamental research funding (JCYJ20190806112206698), the starting funding from HIT Shenzhen (HA45001082), and the Research Foundation Flanders (G0D56.19N and G0A05.19N) and by the KU Leuven Research Council (C14/22/103). Financial support by the following Projects: RTI2018-097895-B-C41, PID2019-109539GB-C41 and PID2019-103910GB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa, as well as GIU18/138 by Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU; IT-1246-19, IT986-16 and IT-1260-19 by Gobierno Vasco, is gratefully acknowledged.

We have disentangled the contributions to the glass transition as observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on simplified systems of industrial interest consisting of blends of styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) and polystyrene (PS) oligomer. To do this, we have started from a model previously proposed to describe the effects of blending on the equilibrium dynamics of the α-relaxation as monitored by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). This model is based on the combination of self-concentration and thermally driven concentration fluctuations (TCFs). Considering the direct insight of small-angle neutron scattering on TCFs, blending effects on the α-relaxation can be fully accounted for by using only three free parameters: the self-concentration of the components φselfSBR and φselfPS) and the relevant length scale of segmental relaxation, 2Rc. Their values were determined from the analysis of the BDS results on these samples, being that obtained for 2Rc ≈ 25Å in the range usually reported for this magnitude in glass-forming systems. Using a similar approach, the distinct contributions to the DSC experiments were evaluated by imposing the dynamical information deduced from BDS and connecting the component segmental dynamics in the blend above the glass-transition temperature Tg (at equilibrium) and the way the equilibrium is lost when cooling toward the glassy state. This connection was made through the α-relaxation characteristic time of each component at Tg, τg. The agreement of such constructed curves with the experimental DSC results is excellent just assuming that τg is not affected by blending., A. Alegría, A. Arbe, and J. Colmenero acknowledge the Grant PID2021-123438NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”, as well as financial support of Eusko Jaurlaritza, codes IT-1175-19 and IT-1566-22, and from the IKUR Strategy under the collaboration agreement between Ikerbasque Foundation and the Materials Physics Center on behalf of the Department of Education of the Basque Government., Open Access funding provided by University of Basque Country.

Earth-abundant electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) able to work in acidic working conditions are elusive. While many first-row transition metal oxides are competitive in alkaline media, most of them just dissolve or become inactive at high proton concentrations where hydrogen evolution is preferred. Only noble-metal catalysts, such as IrO2, are fast and stable enough in acidic media. Herein, we report the excellent activity and long-term stability of Co3O4-based anodes in 1 M H2SO4 (pH 0.1) when processed in a partially hydrophobic carbon-based protecting matrix. These Co3O4@C composites reliably drive O2 evolution a 10 mA cm–2 current density for >40 h without appearance of performance fatigue, successfully passing benchmarking protocols without incorporating noble metals. Our strategy opens an alternative venue towards fast, energy efficient acid-media water oxidation electrodes., The authors thank the support from projects RED2018-102459-T, RTI2018-095618-B-I00, PID2020-116093RB-C41,C43&C44, PID2019-107338RB-C63 and PID2020-114252GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”; the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-1406 and 2017-SGR-327), and the Basque Government (grant IT1591-22). J.Y. thanks the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for predoctoral fellowships (File No. 201806270234). S.B. acknowledges Grant RYC-2017-21931 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF Investing in your future, and UPV/EHU project EHUrOPE19/01 and IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science. ICIQ and ICN2 are supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación through the Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditations CEX2019-000925-S (MIC/AEI) and SEV-2017-0706; and by the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. M.C.S. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skodowska-Curie grant 754510 (PROBIST) and the Severo Ochoa programme. M.C.S. has received funding from the postdoctoral fellowship Juan de la Cierva Incorporation from MICINN (JCI-2019) and the Severo Ochoa programme. M.P.D. acknowledges funding for a Ph.D. fellowship from the MPC Foundation.

Autophagy is a process in which parts of the eukaryotic cell are selectively degraded in the lysosome. The materials to be catabolized are first surrounded by a double-membrane structure, the autophagosome. Autophagosome generation is a complex event, in which many proteins are involved. Among the latter, yeast Atg8 or its mammalian orthologues are essential in autophagosome membrane elongation, shaping and closure. A subfamily of the human Atg8 orthologues is formed by the proteins LC3A, LC3B, and LC3C. Previous studies suggest that, at variance with the other two, LC3C does not participate in cardiolipin-mediated mitophagy. The present study was devoted to exploring the binding of LC3C to lipid vesicles, bilayers and monolayers, and the ensuing protein-dependent perturbing effects, in the absence of the mitochondrial lipid cardiolipin. All Atg8 orthologues are covalently bound to a phospholipid prior to their involvement in autophagosome elongation. In our case, a mutant in the C-terminal amino acid, LC3C G126C, together with the use of a maleimide-derivatized phosphatidyl ethanolamine, ensured LC3C lipidation, up to 100% under certain conditions. Ultracentrifugation, surface pressure measurements, spectroscopic and cryo-electron microscopic techniques revealed that lipidated LC3C induced vesicle aggregation (5-fold faster in sonicated than in large unilamellar vesicles) and inter-vesicular lipid mixing (up to 82%), including inner-monolayer lipid mixing (up to 32%), consistent with in vitro partial vesicle fusion. LC3C was also able to cause the release of 80–90% vesicular aqueous contents. The data support the idea that LC3C would be able to help in autophagosome elongation/fusion in autophagy phenomena., This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCI), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (grant No. PGC2018-099857-B-I00), by the Basque Government1 (grants No. IT1625-22 and IT1270-19), by Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP20A6619), by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia, and by the Basque Excellence Research Centre (BERC) program of the Basque Government. M.N.I. and Y.V. were recipients of pre-doctoral FPU fellowships from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU16/05873, FPU18/00799). U.B. thanks the University of the Basque Country for a pre-doctoral contract. A.E. was a post-doctoral scientist supported by the Basque Government and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

[Background] PCSK9 (Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9) regulates LDL-C (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) metabolism by targeting LDLr (LDL receptor) for lysosomal degradation. PCSK9 gain-of-function variants cause autosomal dominant hypercholesterolemia by reducing LDLr levels, the D374Y variant being the most severe, while loss-of-function variants are associated with low LDL-C levels. Gain-of-function and loss-of-function activities have also been attributed to variants occurring in the PCSK9 signal peptide. Among them, L11 is a very rare PCSK9 variant that seems to increase LDL-C values in a moderate way causing mild hypercholesterolemia., [Methods] Using molecular biology and biophysics methodologies, activities of L8 and L11 variants, both located in the leucine repetition stretch of the signal peptide, have been extensively characterized in vitro., [Results] L8 variant is not associated with increased LDLr activity, whereas L11 activity is increased by ≈20% compared with wt PCSK9. The results suggest that the L11 variant reduces LDLr levels intracellularly by a process resulting from impaired cleavage of the signal peptide. This would lead to less efficient LDLr transport to the cell membrane and promote LDLr intracellular degradation., [Conclusions] Deletion of a leucine in the signal peptide in L8 variant does not affect PCSK9 activity, whereas the leucine duplication in the L11 variant enhances LDLr intracellular degradation. These findings highlight the importance of deep in vitro characterization of PCSK9 genetic variants to determine pathogenicity and improve clinical diagnosis and therapy of inherited familial hypercholesterolemia disease., This work was supported by the Basque Government (Grupos Consolidados IT-1264-19) and Instituto de Salud Carlos III: CIBERCV and FIS PI19/0069. U. Galicia-Garcia was supported by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia. A. Benito-Vicente was supported by Programa de especialización de Personal Investigador Doctor en la UPV/EHU (2019) 2019-2020. S. Jebari-Benslaiman and A. Larrea-Sebal were supported by a grant PIF (2017–2018) and (2019-2020), Gobierno Vasco, respectively. A.L-S was partially supported by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia.

A ferromagnetic insulator (FI) in contact with a superconductor (S) is known to induce a spin splitting of the BCS density of states at the FI/S interface. This spin splitting causes the Cooper pairs to reduce their singlet-state correlations and acquire odd-in-frequency triplet correlations. We consider a diffusive FI/S bilayer with a sharp magnetic domain wall in the FI, and we study the local quasiparticle density of states and triplet superconducting correlations. In the case of collinear alignment of the domains, we obtain analytical results by solving the Usadel equation. For a small enough exchange field or weak superconductivity, we also find an analytical expressions for arbitrary magnetic textures, which reveals how the triplet component vector depends on the local magnetization of the FI. For an arbitrary angle between the magnetizations and the strength of the exchange field, we numerically solve the problem of a sharp domain wall. We finally propose two different setups based on FI/S/F stacks, where F is a ferromagnetic layer, to filter out singlet pairs and detect the presence of triplet correlations via tunneling differential conductance measurements., This work was partially funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (MICINN) through Project PID2020-114252GB-I00 (SPIRIT), and EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 800923 (SUPERTED). A.H. acknowledges funding by the University of the Basque Country (Project PIF20/05).

The irradiation of (Z)-2-phenyl-4-aryliden-5(4H)-oxazolones 1 in deoxygenated CH2Cl2 at 25 °C with blue light (465 nm) in the presence of [Ru(bpy)3](BF4)2 (5% mole ratio) as a triplet photocatalyst promotes the [2+2] photocycloaddition of the C═C bonds of the 4-arylidene moiety, thus allowing the completely regio- and stereoselective formation of cyclobutane-bis(oxazolone)s 2 as single stereoisomers. Cyclobutanes 2 have been unambiguously characterized as the μ-isomers and contain two E-oxazolones coupled in an anti-head-to-head form. The use of continuous-flow techniques in microreactors allows the synthesis of cyclobutanes 2 in only 60 min, compared with the 24–48 h required in batch mode. Ring opening of the oxazolone heterocycle in 2 with a base affords the corresponding 1,2-diaminotruxinic bis-amino esters 3, which are also obtained selectively as μ-isomers. The ruthenium complex behaves as a triplet photocatalyst, generating the reactive excited state of the oxazolone via an energy-transfer process. This reactive excited state has been characterized as a triplet diradical 3(E/Z)-1* by laser flash photolysis (transient absorption spectroscopy). This technique also shows that this excited state is the same when starting from either (Z)- or (E)-oxazolones. Density functional theory calculations show that the first step of the [2+2] cycloaddition between 3(E/Z)-1* and (Z)-1 is formation of the C(H)–C(H) bond and that (Z) to (E) isomerization takes place at the 1,4-diradical thus formed., The authors thank the Spanish Government for funding: Project PID2020-119636GB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; Projects PID2019-106394GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, PID2019-110441RB-C33/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, and PID2019-110008GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; Projects RTI2018-101784-B-I00, RTI2018-101033-B-I00, and CTQ2017-84825-R, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa. E.P.U., A.I.J., and S.S. thank Gobierno de Aragón-FSE (Spain, research group Aminoácidos y Péptidos E19_20R) for funding. G.S. thanks CTI-CSIC and ASIC-UPV for the use of computational facilities. E.G.-B. thanks SGIker (UPV/EHU) for providing human and computational resources. A.P. is grateful for the financial support of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research through Grant PN-III-P1-1.1-MC-2018-2580. S.S. thanks Gobierno de Aragón-FSE for a Ph.D. fellowship.

We derive the nonlinear σ model to describe diffusive transport in normal metals and superconductors with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The SOC is described via an SU(2) gauge field, and we expand the model to the fourth order in gradients to find the leading non-Abelian field-strength contribution. This contribution generates the spin-charge coupling that is responsible for the spin-Hall effect. We discuss how its symmetry differs from the leading quasiclassical higher-order gradient terms. We also derive the corresponding Usadel equation describing the diffusive spin-charge dynamics in superconducting systems. As an example, we apply the obtained equations to describe the anomalous supercurrent in dirty Rashba superconductors at arbitrary temperatures., P.V. and F.S.B. acknowledge funding from EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 800923 (SUPERTED). P.V. acknowledges funding from Academy of Finland Project 317118. I.V.T. acknowledges support by Grupos Consolidados UPV/EHU del Gobierno Vasco (Grant No. IT1249-19). F.S.B. and I.V.T acknowledge funding by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) (Projects PID2020-117671GB-I00 (SPIRIT) and PID2020-112811GB-I00). F.S.B thanks Professor Björn Trauzettel for his hospitality at Würzburg University, and the A. v. Humboldt Foundation for financial support.

QENS/WINS 2022 – 15th Edition of the QENS Series and 10th of the WINS Workshops., This work is focused on atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of water carried out at 300 K. The main goal is to better understand the experimental results of the coherent dynamic structure factor S(Q,ν) of D2O that were obtained by means of neutron scattering with polarization analysis and previously reported by us [A. Arbe et al. Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 022015 (2020)]. From the simulations, we have calculated the coherent dynamic structure factor in the time domain S(Q,t) as well as its selfand distinctcontributions. We have also calculated S(Q,t) corresponding to a H2O sample. The main results obtained are: (i) The Q-independent relaxation process identified in S(Q,ν) in the mesoscopic range (Q0-mode) is the responsible of the restructuring of the hydrogen bond (HB) network at times shorter than that corresponding to the molecular diffusion; (ii) the vibrational contribution identified at high frequency in S(Q,ν) corresponds to a hydrodynamic-like mode propagating in an elastic medium (fixed HB bonding pattern); (iii) in the crossover range from mesoscopic to intermolecular scales, diffusion also progressively contributes to the decay of density fluctuations; (iv) MD-simulations suggest that it would be basically impossible to measure S(Q,ν,) of H2O in the mesoscopic range with the current neutron scattering capabilities., We acknowledge the Grant PID2021-123438NB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. We also acknowledge financial support of Eusko Jaurlaritza, code: and IT1566-22, as well as from the IKUR Strategy under the collaboration agreement between Ikerbasque Foundation and the Materials Physics Center on behalf of the Department of Education of the Basque Government.

This article belongs to the Topic Thermal Energy Transfer and Storage., Thermal energy storage (TES) systems are dependent on materials capable of operating at elevated temperatures for their performance and for prevailing as an integral part of industries. High-temperature TES assists in increasing the dispatchability of present power plants as well as increasing the efficiency in heat industry applications. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based concretes are widely used as a sensible TES material in different applications. However, their performance is limited to operation temperatures below 400 °C due to the thermal degradation processes in its structure. In the present work, the performance and heat storage capacity of geopolymer-based concrete (GEO) have been studied experimentally and a comparison was carried out with OPC-based materials. Two thermal scenarios were examined, and results indicate that GEO withstand high running temperatures, higher than 500 °C, revealing higher thermal storage capacity than OPC-based materials. The high thermal energy storage, along with the high thermal diffusion coefficient at high temperatures, makes GEO a potential material that has good competitive properties compared with OPC-based TES. Experiments show the ability of geopolymer-based concrete for thermal energy storage applications, especially in industries that require feasible material for operation at high temperatures., This work was born under the umbrella of the project “Energy storage solutions based on concrete (E-CRETE)” (RTI2018-098554-B-I00) funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Program I+D+i RETOS INVESTIGACIÓN 2018). Mohammad Rahjoo acknowledges the grant PRE2019-087676 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and co-financed by the European Social Fund under the 2019 call for grants for predoctoral contracts for the training of doctors contemplated in the State Training Subprogram of the State Program for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability in R&D&I, within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017–2020. In addition, the economic support from POVAZSKA is acknowledged. Jorge S. Dolado acknowledges the funding from the Gobierno Vasco UPV/EHU (project no. IT1569-22).

Abnormalities in myelination are associated to behavioral and cognitive dysfunction in neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders. Thus, therapies to promote or accelerate myelination could potentially ameliorate symptoms in autism. Clemastine, a histamine H1 antagonist with anticholinergic properties against muscarinic M1 receptor, is the most promising drug with promyelinating properties. Clemastine penetrates the blood brain barrier efficiently and promotes remyelination in different animal models of neurodegeneration including multiple sclerosis, ischemia and Alzheimer’s disease. However, its role in myelination during development is unknown. We showed that clemastine treatment during development increased oligodendrocyte differentiation in both white and gray matter. However, despite the increase in the number of oligodendrocytes, conduction velocity of myelinated fibers of corpus callosum decreased in clemastine treated mice. Confocal and electron microscopy showed a reduction in the number of myelinated axons and nodes of Ranvier and a reduction of myelin thickness in corpus callosum. To understand the mechanisms leading to myelin formation impairment in the presence of an excess of myelinating oligodendrocytes, we focused on microglial cells that also express muscarinic M1 receptors. Importantly, the population of CD11c+ microglia cells, necessary for myelination, as well as the levels of insulin growth factor-1 decrease in clemastine-treated mice. Altogether, these data suggest that clemastine impact on myelin development is more complex than previously thought and could be dependent on microglia-oligodendrocyte crosstalk. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of microglia cells on developmental myelination., This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (SAF 2016-75292- R); Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID 2019-109724RB-I00); Basque Government (PI-2016-1-0016); the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU); and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red, Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED; grant CB06/05/0076). AP has a predoctoral fellowship from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), AM has a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and AO-de-A has a postdoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government.

We use the constrained random-phase approximation (cRPA) method to calculate the Hubbard U parameter in four one-dimensional magnetic transition metal atom oxides of composition XO2 (X = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni) on Ir(100). In addition to the expected screening of the oxide, i.e., a significant reduction of the U value by the presence of the metal substrate, we find a strong dependence on the electronic configuration (multiplet) of the X(d) orbital. Each particular electronic configuration attained by atom X is dictated by the O ligands, as well as by the charge transfer and hybridization with the Ir(100) substrate. We find that MnO2 and NiO2 chains exhibit two different screening regimes, while the case of CoO2 is somewhere in between. The electronic structure of the MnO2 chain remains almost unchanged upon adsorption. Therefore, in this regime, the additional screening is predominantly generated by the electrons of the neighboring metal surface atoms. The screening strength for NiO2/Ir(100) is found to depend on the Ni(d) configuration in the adsorbed state. The case of FeO2 shows an exceptional behavior, as it is the only insulating system in the absence of the metallic substrate and, thus, it has the largest U value. However, this value is significantly reduced by the two mentioned screening effects after adsorption., Projects No. PID2019-103910GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI, 10.13039/501100011033/; No. GIU18/138 by Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU; No. IT-1246-19 and No. IT-1260-19 by Gobierno Vasco. Computational resources were partially provided by the DIPC computing center. S.B. acknowledges funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through priority program SPP 2137 “Skyrmionics” (Project No. BL 444/16) and the Collaborative Research Centers SFB 1238 (Project No. C01).

The last generation of cement hydration accelerators relies on the seeding effect induced by amorphous calcium silicate hydrate particles. However, little is known about the effect of variables, such as the degree of crystallinity and morphology, on their performance. In this work, particles with a Ca/(Si+Al) molar ratio of 0.83 and different proportions of aluminum substitution for silicon were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. X-ray diffractograms, nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and scanning electron microscopy images showed that this altered the degree of crystallinity, structure, and morphology of the particles. Nevertheless, the addition of the synthesis products to cement pastes and their subsequent study by isothermal calorimetry and mechanical tests showed that the variables with the largest impact on cement hydration are the dosage and the proper dispersion of the particles. In fact, the use of a dispersing agent is highly recommended while drying of the particles should be avoided to prevent irreversible agglomeration processes from taking place., This study was carried out under the umbrella of the BASKRETE initiative and the Laboratory for Transborder Cooperation“Aquitaine-Euskadi Network in Green Concrete and Cement-based Materials” (LTC-Green Concrete). Economic support was providedby the Basque Government under the ELKARTEK Program [project NEOMAT (KK-2021/00059)]. In addition, Marta Diez-Garcia is grateful to the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Bordeaux for her pre-doctoral fellow-ship, within the framework of the Cross-Border Euroregional Campus of International Excellence IDEX Bordeaux–Euskampus. Francisco B. Aguirre acknowledges the funding received from Tecnalia to carry out his Ph.D. in cotutelle between the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and University of Bordeaux within the framework of the Cross-Border Euroregional Campus of International Excellence IDEX Bordeaux–Euskampus. Theauthors wish also to express their gratitude to the SAREN Re-search Group (IT-1619-22, Basque Government) and MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER, UE (PID2021-124203OB-I00).

Stackings in graphene have a pivotal role in properties that could be useful in the future, as seen in the recently found superconductivity of twisted bilayer graphene. Beyond bilayer graphene, the stacking order of multilayer graphene can be rhombohedral, which shows flat bands near the Fermi level that are associated with interesting phenomena, such as tunable conducting surface states that can be expected to exhibit spontaneous quantum Hall effect, surface superconductivity, and even topological order. However, the difficulty in exploring rhombohedral graphenes is that in experiments, the alternating, hexagonal stacking is the most commonly found geometry and has been considered to be the most stable configuration for many years. Here we reexamine this stability issue in line with current ongoing studies in various laboratories. We conducted a detailed investigation of the relative stability of trilayer graphene stackings and showed how delicate this aspect is. These few-layer graphenes appear to have two basic stackings with similar energies. The rhombohedral and Bernal stackings are selected using not only compressions but anisotropic in-plane distortions. Furthermore, switching between stable stackings is more clearly induced by deformations such as shear and breaking of the symmetries between graphene sublattices, which can be accessed during selective synthesis approaches. We seek a guide on how to better control – by preserving and changing – the stackings in multilayer graphene samples., This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grants no. PID2019-105488GB-I00), the Gobierno Vasco UPV/EHU (project no. IT-1569-22), and the European Commission NRG-STORAGE project (project no. GA 870114) and H2020-FET OPEN Project MIRACLE (No. GA 964450). This research was conducted in the scope of the Transnational Common Laboratory (LTC) “Aquitaine-Euskadi Network in Green Concrete and Cement-based Materials”.

Discerning the kinetics of photoluminescence (PL) decay of packed quantum dots (QDs) and QD-based hybrid materials is of crucial importance for achieving their promising potential. However, the interpretation of the decay kinetics of QD-based systems, which usually are not single-exponential, remains challenging. Here, we present a method for analyzing photoluminescence (PL) decay curves of fluorophores by studying their statistical moments. A certain combination of such moments, named as the n-th order moments’ ratio, Rn, is studied for several theoretical decay curves and experimental PL kinetics of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) acquired by time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). For the latter, three different case studies using the Rn ratio analysis are presented, namely, (i) the effect of the inorganic shell composition and thickness of the core–shell QDs, (ii) QD systems with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) decay channels, and (iii) system of QDs near a layer of plasmonic nanoparticles. The proposed method is shown to be efficient for the detection of slight changes in the PL kinetics, being time-efficient and requiring low computing power for performing the analysis. It can also be a powerful tool to identify the most appropriate physically meaningful theoretical decay function, which best describes the systems under study., Funding from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Financing UID/FIS/04650/2020 is acknowledged. V.K. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 101025664 (QESPEM). Y.P.R. acknowledges funding from the Basque Government for Consolidated groups of the Basque University (Grant IT 1526-22) and Basic and/or Applied Research Projects (Grant PIBA-2021-0026). Part of this work dealing with the synthesis of CdSe/ZnS and CdSe/ZnS/CdS/ZnS quantum dots was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Grant 18-19-00588).

Synaptic impairment might precede neuronal degeneration in Parkinson’s disease. However, the intimate mechanisms altering synaptic function by the accumulation of presynaptic α-synuclein in striatal dopaminergic terminals before dopaminergic death occurs, have not been elucidated. Our aim is to unravel the sequence of synaptic functional and structural changes preceding symptomatic dopaminergic cell death. As such, we evaluated the temporal sequence of functional and structural changes at striatal synapses before parkinsonian motor features appear in a rat model of progressive dopaminergic death induced by overexpression of the human mutated A53T α-synuclein in the substantia nigra pars compacta, a protein transported to these synapses. Sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra proteomics identified deregulated proteins involved first in energy metabolism and later, in vesicle cycling and autophagy. After protein deregulation and when α-synuclein accumulated at striatal synapses, alterations to mitochondrial bioenergetics were observed using a Seahorse XF96 analyser. Sustained dysfunctional mitochondrial bioenergetics was followed by a decrease in the number of dopaminergic terminals, morphological and ultrastructural alterations, and an abnormal accumulation of autophagic/endocytic vesicles inside the remaining dopaminergic fibres was evident by electron microscopy. The total mitochondrial population remained unchanged whereas the number of ultrastructurally damaged mitochondria increases as the pathological process evolved. We also observed ultrastructural signs of plasticity within glutamatergic synapses before the expression of motor abnormalities, such as a reduction in axospinous synapses and an increase in perforated postsynaptic densities. Overall, we found that a synaptic energetic failure and accumulation of dysfunctional organelles occur sequentially at the dopaminergic terminals as the earliest events preceding structural changes and cell death. We also identify key proteins involved in these earliest functional abnormalities that may be modulated and serve as therapeutic targets to counterbalance the degeneration of dopaminergic cells to delay or prevent the development of Parkinson’s disease., This study was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III through the projects PI14/00763 and PI19/01915 (co-funded by ERDF/ESF, ‘Investing in your future’). L.M.-G. held a Predoctoral Research Fellowship from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). T.R.-C. and A.Q.-V. were funded by CIBERNED. T.R.-C. held a Fundación Jesús de Gangoiti Barrera Foundation grant (Bilbao, Spain). H.J.-U. and A.B.-I. held a Predoctoral Research Fellowship from the Government of the Basque Country. Israel Science Foundation (536/19) and the Spanish Ministry of Science (SAF2016-78071-R) funded the contribution of S.K. and A.O.

The excitation of low-energy electron–hole pairs is one of the most relevant processes in the gas–surface interaction. An efficient tool to account for these excitations in simulations of atomic and molecular dynamics at surfaces is the so-called local density friction approximation (LDFA). The LDFA is based on a strong approximation that simplifies the dynamics of the electronic system: a local friction coefficient is defined using the value of the electronic density for the unperturbed system at each point of the dynamics. In this work, we apply real-time time-dependent density functional theory to the problem of the electronic friction of a negative point charge colliding with spherical jellium metal clusters. Our non-adiabatic, parameter-free results provide a benchmark for the widely used LDFA approximation and allow the discussion of various processes relevant to the electronic response of the system in the presence of the projectile., This work has been supported in part by the Basque Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación, the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (Grant No. IT1246-19), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIN) Grants No. PID2019-107396GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and PID2019-107338RB-C66/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, as well as the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence (CEX-2018-000867-S). NK acknowledges the funding from Spanish MICIN through grant PID2019-107338RB-C61/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, as well as a María de Maeztu award to Nanogune, Grant CEX2020-001038-M funded by MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

The existence of pure spin currents in absence of any driving external field is commonly considered an exotic phenomenon appearing only in quantum materials, such as topological insulators. We demonstrate instead that equilibrium spin currents are a rather general property of materials with non-negligible spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Equilibrium spin currents can be present at the surfaces of a slab. Yet, we also propose the existence of global equilibrium spin currents, which are net bulk spin currents along specific crystallographic directions of solid-state materials. Equilibrium spin currents are allowed by symmetry in a very broad class of systems having gyrotropic point groups. The physics behind equilibrium spin currents is uncovered by making an analogy between electronic systems with SOC and non-Abelian gauge theories. The electron spin can be seen as analogous to the color degree of freedom in SU(2) gauge theories and equilibrium spin currents can then be identified with diamagnetic color currents appearing as the response to a effective non-Abelian magnetic field generated by the SOC. Equilibrium spin currents are not associated with spin transport and accumulation, but they should nonetheless be carefully taken into account when computing transport spin currents. We provide quantitative estimates of equilibrium spin currents for a number of different systems, specifically the Au(111) and Ag(111) metallic surfaces presenting Rashba-type surface states, nitride semiconducting nanostructures, and bulk materials, such as the prototypical gyrotropic medium tellurium. In doing so, we also point out the limitations of model approaches showing that first-principles calculations are needed to obtain reliable predictions. We therefore use density functional theory computing the so-called bond currents, which represent a powerful tool to deeply understand the relation between equilibrium currents, electronic structure, and crystal point group., A.D. was funded through the EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie individual fellowship SPINMAN (ID No. SEP-210189940) during the very initial stage this work. The development of the work was then supported by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Royal Society University Research Fellowship URF-R1-191769 and by the European Commission H2020-EU.1.2.1 FET-Open project INTERFAST (ID No. 965046). I.V.T. acknowledges support by Grupos Consolidados UPV/EHU del Gobierno Vasco (Grant No. IT1249-19) and the Spanish MICINN Project No. PID2020-112811GB-I00. I.R. acknowledges the support of the U.K. Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). A.R. was supported by the European Research Council (Grant No. ERC-2015-AdG694097), the Cluster of Excellence “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter” of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)-EXC 2056 (Project ID No. 390715994), SFB925 “Light induced dynamics and control of correlated quantum systems” and partially by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research Grant No. RouTe-13N14839.

Rhodopsin (RHO) is a light-sensitive pigment in the retina and the main prototypical protein of the G-protein-coupled receptor (GCPR) family. After receiving a light stimulus, RHO and its cofactor retinylidene undergo a series of structural changes that initiate an intricate transduction mechanism. Along with RHO, other partner proteins play key roles in the signaling pathway. These include transducin, a GTPase, kinases that phosphorylate RHO, and arrestin (Arr), which ultimately stops the signaling process and promotes RHO regeneration. A large number of RHO genetic mutations may lead to very severe retinal dysfunction and eventually to impaired dark adaptation disease called autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP). In this study, we used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to evaluate the different behaviors of the dimeric form of wild-type RHO (WT dRHO) and its mutant at position 135 of arginine to leucine (dR135L), both in the free (noncomplexed) and in complex with the transducin-like protein (Gtl). Gtl is a heterotrimeric model composed of a mixture of human and bovine G proteins. Our calculations allow us to explain how the mutation causes structural changes in the RHO dimer and how this can affect the signal that transducin generates when it is bound to RHO. Moreover, the structural modifications induced by the R135L mutation can also account for other misfunctions observed in the up- and downstream signaling pathways. The mechanism of these dysfunctions, together with the transducin activity reduction, provides structure-based explanations of the impairment of some key processes that lead to adRP., D.M.A.G. was supported by an EMBO short-term fellowship (number 8225/2019). M.M.B. acknowledges support from CONICET, Argentina., D.M.A.G. thanks the financial support from GIU18/172 Grupos de Investigación de la UPV/EHU, and Grant from CSIC Programa I-COOP+2020 (ICOOPB20503), Spain. MMB thanks the financial support from CONICET (PIP11220200103235CO).

Untreated familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) leads to atherosclerosis and early cardiovascular disease. Mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) gene constitute the major cause of FH, and the high number of mutations already described in the LDLr makes necessary cascade screening or in vitro functional characterization to provide a definitive diagnosis. Implementation of high-predicting capacity software constitutes a valuable approach for assessing pathogenicity of LDLr variants to help in the early diagnosis and management of FH disease. This work provides a reliable machine learning model to accurately predict the pathogenicity of LDLr missense variants with specificity of 92.5% and sensitivity of 91.6%., This study was supported by grants from the Basque Government (Cesar Martin, Grupos Consolidados IT-1264-19). Mr Larrea-Sebal was supported by a FPI grant from Gobierno Vasco (2019–2020). Dr Benito-Vicente was supported by Programa de especialización de Personal Investigador Doctor en la UPV/EHU (2019) 2019-2020. Dr Galicia-Garcia was supported by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia. Ms Jebari-Benslaiman was supported by grant PIF (2017–2018), Gobierno Vasco.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in several immune processes, including the immune response to vaccination, but most of them remain uncharacterised in livestock species. The mechanism of action of aluminium adjuvants as vaccine components is neither not fully understood. Results: We built a transcriptome from sheep PBMCs RNA-seq data in order to identify unannotated lncRNAs and analysed their expression patterns along protein coding genes. We found 2284 novel lncRNAs and assessed their conservation in terms of sequence and synteny. Differential expression analysis performed between animals inoculated with commercial vaccines or aluminium adjuvant alone and the co-expression analysis revealed lncRNAs related to the immune response to vaccines and adjuvants. A group of co-expressed genes enriched in cytokine signalling and production highlighted the differences between different treatments. A number of differentially expressed lncRNAs were correlated with a divergently located protein-coding gene, such as the OSM cytokine. Other lncRNAs were predicted to act as sponges of miRNAs involved in immune response regulation. Conclusions: This work enlarges the lncRNA catalogue in sheep and puts an accent on their involvement in the immune response to repetitive vaccination, providing a basis for further characterisation of the non-coding sheep transcriptome within different immune cells., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Industry project number AGL2013-49137-C3 to BMJ and University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) predoctoral fellowships to MB-A (PIF17/ 306) and EV-M ( PIF15/361) and a postdoctoral fellowship to NA (ESP-COC16/43).

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are increasingly positioned as leading causes of global deaths. The accelerated aging of the population and its strong relationship with neurodegeneration forecast these pathologies as a huge global health problem in the upcoming years. In this scenario, there is an urgent need for understanding the basic molecular mechanisms associated with such diseases. A major molecular hallmark of most NDs is the accumulation of insoluble and toxic protein aggregates, known as amyloids, in extracellular or intracellular deposits. Here, we review the current knowledge on how molecular chaperones, and more specifically a ternary protein complex referred to as the human disaggregase, deals with amyloids. This machinery, composed of the constitutive Hsp70 (Hsc70), the class B J-protein DnaJB1 and the nucleotide exchange factor Apg2 (Hsp110), disassembles amyloids of α-synuclein implicated in Parkinson's disease as well as of other disease-associated proteins such as tau and huntingtin. We highlight recent studies that have led to the dissection of the mechanism used by this chaperone system to perform its disaggregase activity. We also discuss whether this chaperone-mediated disassembly mechanism could be used to solubilize other amyloidogenic substrates. Finally, we evaluate the implications of the chaperone system in amyloid clearance and associated toxicity, which could be critical for the development of new therapies., This research was funded by MCI/AEI/FEDER, UE (grant PID2019-111068GB-I00) and by the Basque Government (grant IT1201-19). L.V.-C. is the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the UPV/EHU and N.O. holds a contract funded by Fundacion Biofisika Bizkaia.

Adsorbed atoms (adatoms) coupled to the matrix of solid state host materials as impurities can significantly modify their properties. Especially in low-dimensional materials, such as one-dimensional organic polymer chains or quasi-one-dimensional graphene nanoribbons, intriguing manipulation of the optical properties, such as the absorption cross section, is possible. The most widely used approach to couple quantum emitters to optical antennas is based on the Purcell effect. This formalism, however, does not comprise charge transfer from the emitter to the antenna, but only spontaneous emission of the quantum emitter into the tailored photonic environment, that is evoked by the antenna. To capture such effects, we present a tight-binding formalism to couple an adatom to a finite Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain, where the former is treated as a two-level system and the latter acts as an optical antenna. We systematically analyze how the coupling strength and the position of the adatom influence the optical properties of the molecular chains in the model. We take into account charge transfer from the adatom to the chain and vice versa via an intersystem hopping parameter, and also include Coulomb interaction within the chain as well as between the adatom and the chain. We show that coupling the adatom to one of the bulk atoms of the linear chain results in a substantial change in optical properties already for comparatively small coupling strengths. We also find that the position of the adatom crucially determines if and how the optical properties of the chains are altered. Therefore, we identify this adatom-chain hybrid system as a tunable platform for light-matter interaction at the nanoscale., M.M.M. acknowledges financial support through the Research Travel Grant by the Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS). M.M.M. and C.R. acknowledge support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) (Project No. 378579271) within Project RO 3640/8-1 and from the VolkswagenStiftung. M.K. and K.S. acknowledge the support from the National Science Centre, Poland (Project No. 2016/23/G/ST3/04045). A.A. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with Grants No. PID2019-105488GB-I00 and No. PCI2019-103657, the Basque Government through the University of the Basque Country Project No. IT-1246-19, and the European Commission from the NRG-STORAGE Project (No. GA 870114) and H2020-FET OPEN Project MIRACLE (No. GA 964450).

Atypical sensory processing is currently included within the diagnostic criteria of autism. The cerebellum is known to integrate sensory inputs of different modalities through its connectivity to the cerebral cortex. Interestingly, cerebellar malformations are among the most replicated features found in postmortem brain of individuals with autism. We studied sensory processing in the cerebellum in a mouse model of autism, knock-out (KO) for the Cntnap2 gene. Cntnap2 is widely expressed in Purkinje cells (PCs) and has been recently reported to regulate their morphology. Further, individuals with CNTNAP2 mutations display cerebellar malformations and CNTNAP2 antibodies are associated with a mild form of cerebellar ataxia. Previous studies in the Cntnap2 mouse model show an altered cerebellar sensory learning. However, a physiological analysis of cerebellar function has not been performed yet. We studied sensory evoked potentials in cerebellar Crus I/II region on electrical stimulation of the whisker pad in alert mice and found striking differences between wild-type and Cntnap2 KO mice. In addition, single-cell recordings identified alterations in both sensory-evoked and spontaneous firing patterns of PCs. These changes were accompanied by altered intrinsic properties and morphologic features of these neurons. Together, these results indicate that the Cntnap2 mouse model could provide novel insight into the pathophysiological mechanisms of autism core sensory deficits., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science (MCIU/AEl/FEDER) Grant RTI2018-101427-B-I00 (to O.P.), the ERANET-NEURON Grant nEUrotalk (to O.P.), the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) Grant GIU18/094 (to O.P.), the Israel Science Foundation Grant 536/19 (to S.K.), the Spanish Ministry of Science Grant SAF2016-78071-R (to S.K.), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy (MINECO-FEDER) Grant BFU2017-89615-P (to J.M.-R.). M.F. holds the MINECO Predoctoral Fellowship BES-2016–078420, and T.S.-A. is a Basque Government predoctoral fellow (PRE-2020–2-0109).