Alberto Sols Biomedical Research Institute
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Influence of nutrition pattern on exercise performance, inflammation and muscle damage biomarkers in a non-athlete healthy young cohort
No full textPhysical exercise induces muscle damage and inflammation, particularly in non-trained individuals, leading to reduced performance. This study explores the influence of dietary patterns on exercise outcomes and systemic physiological biomarkers in this population. This is an observational study complemented by prospective short-term follow-up to assess the influence of diet on exercise-induced inflammation and muscle damage. Recreationally active volunteers (45 females and 33 males) answered a food frequency questionnaire corrected by FETA. A step-exercise was performed until exhaustion and plasma samples were obtained before (basal) and 2 h and 48 h post-exercise. Muscle damage biomarkers (creatine kinase, CK; lactate dehydrogenase, LDH activities) were evaluated through commercial kits and spectrophotometry, and 8 cytokines were assessed by multiplex ELISA. Principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to cytokine to derive systemic inflammatory scores, and muscle damage biomarkers were standardized to comparable scales. Structural equation modeling was then used to evaluate the latent nutritional pattern and its associations with inflammation, muscle damage, and exercise performance. A dietary pattern characterized by higher intake of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates positively influenced physical performance through muscle mass. PCA evidenced 2 inflammation scores (PC1 and PC2), which explained most of cytokine´s variance with opposing correlations with nutrients. PC1 had a negative correlation with proteins, unsaturated fats, folates and vitamin D, while PC2 had positive correlations with simple sugars, saturated fats, insoluble fiber and folates. Exercise volume influenced early systemic inflammation but had no effect on CK or LDH. No sex differences, other than muscle mass, were detected in the population. In healthy young non-athlete population, nutrient-rich dietary patterns appear to enhance exercise performance through muscle mass in both sexes. Healthy fat intake is a relevant factor modulating these responses and plays a role in inflammation and recoveryFunded by Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades (Spain), Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine & Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Bromatology, Faculty of Sciences, Grant Number: PID2022-138440OB-I0
Unmet shelter: Extreme energy poverty, informal connections, and thermal discomfort in Cañada Real, Madrid
No full textEnergy poverty in developed world regions is typically analysed as a problem of affordability of energy-intensive household services, assuming universal access to electricity and natural gas. However, in marginalised areas of affluent societies, such as informal settlements, this assumption does not hold. In such contexts, affordability may be secondary to more fundamental issues of access, and conventional analytical tools based on survey or expenditure data often fail to capture the depth of deprivation. This article addresses these gaps through a direct measurement approach in Cañada Real, an informal settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. Since October 2020, large sections of its population have experienced collective electricity disconnections. We analyse indoor temperatures in 24 monitored households over several years, supported by socioeconomic and housing quality data. To assess thermal discomfort, we develop a Discomfort Index (DI) and introduce the Shelter Capacity Factor (SCF), a novel indicator that captures the ability of dwellings and households to buffer outdoor temperatures. Results reveal extreme thermal discomfort in several households, with indoor conditions approaching outdoor cold during winter. SCF varies widely, strongly influenced by access to electricity, and to a lesser extent by household income and dwelling quality. Households with stable or self-managed electricity supply perform better, even in poor-quality housing, than those without electricity access. These findings call for rethinking energy poverty metrics and interventions to address unmet shelter needs in one of Europe’s most prominent energy peripheries where access to energy as an essential service is at stakeSergio Tirado-Herrero acknowledges funding from the ‘Ram´on y Cajal’ program (grant RYC2020-029750-I) supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/Spanish Research Agency (MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033) and the European Social Fund (SF) invests in your future. Funding for APC: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Agreement CRUE-Madroño 2025
Computing almost commuting bases of ODOs and Gelfand-Dickey hierarchies
No full textAlmost commuting operators were introduced in 1985 by George Wilson to present generalizations of the Korteweg–de Vries hierarchy, nowadays known as Gelfand-Dickey (GD) hierarchies. In this paper, we review the formal construction of the vector space of almost commuting operators with a given ordinary differential operator (ODO), with the ultimate goal of obtaining a basis by computational routines, using the language of differential polynomials. We use Wilson’s results on weighted ODOs to guarantee the solvability of the triangular system that allows us to compute the homogeneous almost commuting operator of a given order in the ring of ODOs. As a consequence, the computation of the equations of the GD hierarchies is achieved without using pseudo-differential operators. A new package in SageMath called dalgebra has been designed to perform symbolic calculations in differential domains. The algorithms to calculate the almost commuting basis and the GD hierarchies in the ring of ODOs are implemented in SageMath, and explicit examples are providedAll authors are partially supported by the grant PID2021-124473NB-I00, “Algorithmic Differential Algebra and Integrability” (ADAI) from the Spanish MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, UE. R.D. is partially supported by the Poul Due Jensen Grant 88390
Recent endeavoring in biosurface and biointerface analysis with kinetic electrons and ions
No full textResearch in the field of biointerfaces is currently expanding because of continuous scientific demands stemming from different areas of biology and biomedicine. The most challenging questions require new technological advancements, often emerging from apparently distant disciplines, such as vacuum science and technology (VST). If living systems are characterized by their molecular diversity and scaled hierarchical structure, VST provides a palette of bioanalytical techniques designed to disentangle emerging complex biointerface structures. We review crucial developments in bioanalytical systems concentrating on those based on kinetic electrons and ions. Developments in these techniques are closing the vacuum gap between the conditions required for a sensitive analysis and the natural environment of the sample (near ambient pressure analysis). The biomedical field has been the focus of most of the reviewed developments, with an emphasis on recent research related to microbiological analysis. Additional examples from environmental applications, zoology or agriculture (among others) are also presentedOscar Malvar acknowledges the service from MiNa Laboratory at IMN, and founding from EU (FEDER, FSE), MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 50110001.1033 and Next Generation EU/PRTR (EQC2021-006944-P). T. Pinheiro acknowledges funding from UIDP/04565/2020 (iBB/IST) and LA/P/0140/2020 (i4HB) and from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Coordinated Research Project “Sub-cellular imaging and irradiation using accelerator-based techniques” CRP F11024, Research contract n◦26800. M. Manso-Silván thanks project PID2023-151371OB- C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER, EU, grant FLASHOnChip (PLEC2022-009256) by MCIN and ASAP-CM (P2022/BMD-7434) from DGI-Comunidad de Madrid. M. Mozetic acknowledges support from the Slovenian Research Agency, grant #P2- 0082. Paulina D Rakowska acknowledges funding form the 3D OrbiSIMS project in the Life Science and Health Programme of the National Measurement System of the UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and from the 15HLTH01 MetVBadBugs project of the EMPIR Programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programm
Bases genéticas de la memoria social
No full textTesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología. Fecha de Lectura: 20-06-2025Esta Tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 20-12-2026La memoria es la capacidad de codificar, almacenar y recuperar información, expresándose como una adaptación comportamental basada en experiencias pasadas. En Drosophila melanogaster, al igual que en otros animales sociales, las interacciones con conespecíficos generan memorias sociales específicas del tipo de interacción. En este trabajo exploramos los mecanismos de dos formas de memoria social.
El aislamiento y la socialización generan fenotipos comportamentales distintos en actividad locomotora, ingesta y agresión. Estos perduran incluso después que de la interacción social haya cesado. Nos preguntamos si estos cambios podrían estar mediados por una memoria subyacente que permitiera recordar la socialización con otros congéneres. Por ello, investigamos si el efecto en comportamiento depende de mecanismos similares a la Memoria a Largo Plazo (LTM) y encontramos que, al igual que ésta, requiere de la vía del AMPc, es inhibido por anestesia y, en parte, se codifica en el Mushroom Body (MB), el neuropilo clave en la formación de memoria en insectos. Además, la socialización aumenta en esta estructura la actividad neuronal dependiente de CREB (factor de transcripción esencial en LTM) y la densidad sináptica. Por todo ello, proponemos que la interacción social desencadena una memoria de socialización, definida como cambios duraderos en el comportamiento mediados por mecanismos similares a la LTM.
Utilizando una memoria social bien establecida, el condicionamiento por cortejo, se estudiaron los cambios transcripcionales en el sustrato físico de la memoria o Engrama. Para ello, se reactivó la memoria de las moscas, se aislaron las neuronas del MB que habían activado CREB durante el proceso de aprendizaje/consolidación y se secuenciaron por scRNAseq. El análisis bioinformático identificó tres clústeres celulares según su perfil transcriptómico. Uno de ellos, contaba con una presencia muy baja de células procedentes del control no entrenado y en un 89% pertenecientes a los lóbulos αβ y γ del MB (implicados en esta LTM). Además, estaba enriquecido en los genes clásicos de memoria y presentaba un 50% de hits positivos en un mini-screening funcional realizado. Todo ello identificó a este clúster como el putativo del engrama de memoria. Los 13 hits positivos encontrados presentan funciones relacionadas con rutas de señalización, regulación transcripcional, sinapsis, ubiquitinación, metabolismo y metabolismo proteico, todas ellas relacionadas con LTM tanto en drosophila como en ratón.
Tanto la historia evolutiva de la memoria como la conservación funcional de factores de transcripción como CREB, CBP, NF-κB, NR4A1 o Egr1 sugieren un origen común para todas las formas de LTM. Sin embargo, no se han identificado programas transcripcionales compartidos entre distintos tipos de memoria, tipos celulares o especies. Por ello, se discute la posibilidad de que exista una firma transcripcional común. Para explorar esta hipótesis, comparamos nuestros datos de transcriptómica con estudios previos en ratón y realizamos un análisis preliminar de los ortólogos humanos de los hits positivos más prometedores, para describir el efecto de sus polimorfismos en el rendimiento de la memoria humana en el futur
Functional characterization of poxvirus-encoded TNF receptors: role in pathogenesis and comparative analysis across MPXV clades
No full textTesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biología Molecular. Fecha de Lectura: 05-06-2025Esta Tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 05-12-2026El factor de necrosis tumoral-⍺ (TNF⍺) es una potente citoquina proinflamatoria con un amplio rango de efectos biológicos, incluyendo la activación de programas genéticos inflamatorios, la diferenciación celular y la inducción de apoptosis. Junto con la linfotoxina-⍺ (LT⍺), otro miembro de la superfamilia de ligandos del TNF (TNFLSF), el TNF⍺ juega un papel crítico en la defensa del huésped contra numerosas infecciones virales.
Los poxvirus han desarrollado un amplio repertorio de proteínas inmunomoduladoras para evadir la respuesta inmune del huésped durante la infección. Una de sus estrategias más distintivas de evasión inmune es la secreción de proteínas virales con la capacidad de unirse a citoquinas clave del huésped, previniendo su interacción con los receptores celulares y actuando como receptores señuelo. Para contrarrestar los efectos antivirales del TNF⍺, los poxvirus secretan receptores virales de TNF (vTNFRs), homólogos a los receptores celulares. Entre ellos se encuentran los modificadores de respuesta a citoquinas B (CrmB), CrmC, CrmD y CrmE, los cuales están distribuidos diferencialmente entre las especies de poxvirus y poseen diferentes capacidades de bloqueo de TNF⍺ y LT⍺. Además, algunos de ellos tienen la capacidad de bloquear quimioquinas e interaccionar con los glucosaminoglicanos (GAGs) de la superficie celular, permitiendo su retención en los sitios de infección. La ausencia de CrmD en la infección del virus ectromelia (ECTV) resulta en una gran atenuación en el modelo de infección de mousepox, destacando el papel crítico del bloqueo de TNF⍺ durante la infección. Estos vTNFRs ofrecen modificaciones prometedoras para el desarrollo de nuevas terapias anti-TNF dirigidas a enfermedades inflamatorias mediadas por TNF, o para optimizar las terapias existentes, minimizando así los efectos adversos asociados.
En esta tesis, hemos investigado la capacidad de los vTNFRs para interactuar con la superficie celular. Para ello, hemos generado proteínas recombinantes basadas en vTNFRs con diversas propiedades de unión a GAGs, caracterizando su actividad anti-TNF y su capacidad para interaccionar con la superficie celular. Asimismo, hemos generado ECTVs recombinantes que expresan algunas de estas proteínas modificadas para evaluar su función en la patogénesis de poxvirus. Posteriormente, utilizando el modelo de infección de mousepox, hemos estudiado el impacto de CrmB, el único vTNFR codificado por el virus de la viruela (VARV) y el virus mpox (MPXV), en la patogénesis. Adicionalmente, hemos analizado el papel de la inhibición de LT⍺ durante la infección por poxvirus, utilizando ECTVs recombinantes que expresan vTNFRs con diferentes especificidades de ligandos. Finalmente, hemos demostrado la secreción de vTNFRs durante la infección por MPXV, y hemos evaluado la capacidad de CrmB de diferentes clados de MPXV para proteger a las células de la citotoxicidad inducida por TNF⍺ y LT⍺. Además, hemos comparado la actividad anti-TNF de CrmB de MPXV con la de CrmB de VARV, cuya capacidad para unirse e inhibir estas citoquinas fue previamente demostrad
Sociedad, familia y educación: Material docente para el comentario de texto del libro "La educación no es un parque de atracciones" (Gregorio Luri)
No full textEl comentario de texto es una herramienta fundamental en la formación universitaria, ya que permite desarrollar habilidades analíticas, críticas y argumentativas esenciales para en la formación docente inicial.
En esta actividad, los estudiantes deberán responder a una serie de preguntas sobre un libro de lectura obligatoria, con el objetivo de fomentar la comprensión del texto y su relación con la materia.
Este ejercicio no solo busca reforzar la capacidad de interpretar y evaluar ideas, sino que también promueve el desarrollo de una expresión escrita clara y estructurada. A través de la lectura atenta y el análisis guiado por las preguntas propuestas, los docentes en formación podrán identificar conceptos clave, argumentar de manera fundamentada y establecer conexiones entre el contenido del libro y otras referencias teóricas o prácticas de la materia.
La actividad está diseñada para estimular el pensamiento reflexivo y el debate académico, habilidades esenciales en el ámbito universitario y en el desarrollo profesional futuro. Se busca que la lectura obligatoria trascienda el mero cumplimiento de una tarea y se convierta en una experiencia de aprendizaje que aporte sentido y significadoActividad: Comentario de texto-image
Ontología de la imagen contemporánea dinamismo, circulación, valor
No full textTesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Lingüística General, Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia, Lenguas Modernas, Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada, Estudios de Asia Oriental. Fecha de Lectura: 16-06-2025Esta Tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 16-12-2026El objetivo principal de esta investigación es dar cuenta del estado de los estudios de la imagen hoy, dados los cambios fundamentales que se han producido en los modos de producción y difusión de las imágenes en la última década, y que han revolucionado nuestra forma de entenderlas, así como nuestras relaciones intersubjetivas. La investigación propone recuperar el proyecto de una ontología de la imagen con las herramientas que ofrece la filosofía de Cornelius Castoriadis: la crítica a la ontología determinista y la propuesta de una lógica magmática. Así, no se trata de entender el «ser» de las imágenes como algo estático, sino dinámico, lo que nos conduce a desarrollar una red conceptual con el fin de dinamitar el acercamiento unidireccional a la lógica icónica. En tanto que texto comprometido con la actualidad de la imagen, la investigación aúna la crítica a la ontología tradicional y la propuesta de una nueva aproximación conceptual con el estudio de las dimensiones económicas de la imagen, explorando la proximidad ontológica entre imagen y mercancía desde lecturas marxistas asociadas con la crítica del valor y las nociones de visibilidad e invisibilidad en el proceso de circulación del capital. El proyecto de la ontología de la imagen que aquí presentamos adquiere así una dimensión triádica: crítica, de la mano de la filosofía de Castoriadis, a las aproximaciones representacionales y estáticas de la imagen; elaboración de un modelo conceptual dinámico que sea capaz de capturar las divergencias y contradicciones del logos icónico; exploración, en términos ontológicos, de las imágenes como agentes productores de valorThe main objective of this dissertation is to give an account of the state of image studies today, given the fundamental changes that have occurred in the modes of production and dissemination of images in the last decade, and that have revolutionized our way of understanding them, as well as our intersubjective relationships. The research proposes to retrieve the project of an ontology of the image with the tools offered by the philosophy of Cornelius Castoriadis: the critique of deterministic ontology and the proposal of a magmatic logic. Thus, it is not a matter of understanding the “being” of images as something static, but dynamic, which leads us to develop a conceptual network to dynamite the traditional unidirectional approach to iconic logic. As a text committed to the contemporariness of the image, the research combines the critique of traditional ontology and the proposal of a new conceptual approach with the study of the economic dimensions of the image, exploring the ontological proximity between image and commodity form, from Marxist readings associated with the critique of value to the notions of visibility and invisibility in the process of circulation of capital. The project of the ontology of the image that we present here thus acquires a triadic dimension: critique, hand in hand with Castoriadis' philosophy, of the representational and static approaches to the image; elaboration of a dynamic conceptual model capable of capturing the divergences and contradictions of the iconic logos; exploration, in ontological terms, of images as value-producing agent
How does a queen ant behave? An inquiry-based pre-service teacher learning experience
No full textThis is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Journal of Biological Education. Gálvez Esteban, Rosa; Bermejo, Ángela; Bravo Torija, Beatriz; Mora Urda, Ana Isabel. “How does a queen ant behave? An inquiry-based pre-service teacher learning experience”. Journal of Biological Education 2024): 05 November 2024. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedThis paper examines how pre-service teachers develop their teaching and scientific skills using ants as a teaching resource. This study forms part of a specific teacher training programme, #Sponsor a Queen, which focuses on how to use non-prototypical animals to design inquiry activities for science classes. One hundred and eighty-five pre-service teachers working in 38 small groups of four or five participants each were asked to design an inquiry-based activity to investigate the behaviour of a queen ant Messor barbarus in response to different stimuli. Participants were instructed to base the research question on the conclusions they planned to obtain. The contents of the written submission by each group of students were analysed to identify their performance level and the limitations faced at each stage of the inquiry activity designed. Results indicate an intermediate performance (level of 2 over 3) achieved by most groups. While better performance was observed in the stage ‘reasoning of the problem’, for the remaining stages, improvement was limited. The difficulties encountered were also compiled. It is essential for future teachers to work on such practical projects to develop the necessary skills to address teaching and scientific issues in their teaching practic
Determinantes dietéticos de la fragilidad y la multimorbilidad en adultos mayores
No full textTesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública y Microbiología. Fecha de Lectura: 05-09-2024Esta tesis tiene embargado el acceso al texto completo hasta el 05-03-2026The world population is aging at an upward pace. By 2050, the number of individuals over the
age of 65 will exceed the number of children under the age of 5, adolescents, and young adults.
Aging is associated with the accumulation of molecular damages and reduced physiological
reserve that led to functional declines. The loss of function can be considered a proxy for the
aging process, and it is reflected in the development of geriatric syndromes. Frailty and
multimorbidity are two complex phenomena with major implications for older adults. They are
highly prevalent in older age and are associated with the onset of adverse health-related outcomes,
impaired quality of life, disability, and mortality. Moreover, they impose a significant burden on
healthcare systems. Identifying lifestyle behaviors, such as adequate nutrition, that could help in
the prevention and management of these conditions has become a priority in the field of healthy
aging research.
A substantial body of literature has shown that adherence to healthy dietary patterns, such as the
Mediterranean diet, diet quality, and consumption of fruits and vegetables, are associated with a
reduced risk of impaired physical function and frailty. The current focus of research is the
identification of key nutrients. In Study I, we investigated the association of habitual zinc intake
through diet with impaired lower-extremity function and frailty among adults aged 60 years and
older from the Seniors-ENRICA 1 cohort. Zinc is a trace element with anti-inflammatory and proantioxidant
mediation activity. We found that higher habitual intake of zinc was associated with
lower risk of ILEF and frailty. In Study II, we investigated the associations of dietary leucine
intake with ILEF and frailty in the same cohort. Leucine is a branched-chain amino acid that plays
a central role in muscle protein synthesis pathways. We found that higher leucine intake was
associated with reduced risk of ILEF and frailty. Higher consumption of important sources of
leucine such as unprocessed beef, oily and white fish, and bread were also associated with the
outcomes. These studies identify potential key nutrients in the prevention of frailty and the
maintenance of physical function into old age.
The investigation of the relationship between dietary factors and multimorbidity is a relatively
recent field of research with many knowledge gaps. In Study III, we aimed to assess the
prospective association between adherence to a micronutrient-based diet quality index and
incidence of complex multimorbidity. Higher micronutrient adequacy was associated with lower
risk of multimorbidity in 1461 community-dwelling older adults from the Seniors-ENRICA 2
cohort. In Study IV, we examined the prospective association between quality of plant-based diets
and incidence of complex multimorbidity in a representative sample of middle-aged and older
adults from the U.S, comprising the Health and Retirement Study. We found that adherence to a
healthful plant-based diet was associated with lower risk of multimorbidity, while higher
adherence to an unhealthful plant-based diet was not associated with multimorbidity. In Study V,
we examined diet quality in association with the number of chronic conditions and the rate of
multimorbidity development in the Seniors-ENRICA 2 cohort. Higher adherence to the AHEI-
2010 was cross-sectionally and longitudinally associated with lower number of chronic health
conditions, and with a lower rate of multimorbidity development. Findings in these studies
suggest that improving nutritional adequacy of diet, high-quality plant-based diets and the overall
diet quality may help prevent the development of complex multimorbidity.
Lastly, the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN)
has updated the Spanish dietary guidelines by incorporating the latest evidence of the impact of
diet on health as well as the sustainability dimension. Given the relevance of this report in the
national context, we propose, in Study VI, the Sustainable Dietary Recommendations for the
Spanish population Index (S-DRSI) to estimate adherence to these guidelines in a populationbased
study of community-dwelling adults from Spain; and secondly, we examined the
association between the S-DRSI and all-cause mortality in this population. We found that
adherence to the guidelines was relatively poor, and that the S-DRSI reflected optimal intake of
key nutrients and was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortalityThis doctoral thesis has been funded by the grants FIS 20/1040, 19/319, 22/1111, 23/272 (Instituto
de Salud Carlos III, State Secretary of R+D+I and European Regional Development Fund/
European Social Fund), and co-funded by a European Regional Development Fund, “A way of
shaping Europe”. Veronica Vega Cabello was supported by the “Training of university professors
- FPU” grant (FPU19/06572) and “Supplementary mobility grant for FPU” (EST23/00086) from
the Spanish Ministry for Universitie