Suchergebnisse

This article is a study of the impacts of stabilisation, structural adjustment and foreign capital inflows on the accumulation pattern, factor distribution, employment pattern, output composition, and labour productivity as experienced in the Philippines in the 1980s and 1990s. It also evaluates the prospects for sustainable growth in the Philippines in the 1990s and beyond. (DSE/DÜI)

The influence of the nonionic surfactant Brij 35 on biodegradation of slowly desorbing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was determined in contaminated soils. We employed a soil originated from a creosote-polluted site, and a manufactured gas plant soil that had been treated by bioremediation. The two soils differed in their total content in five indicator 3-, 4-, and 5-ring PAHs (2923 mg kg(-1) and 183 mg kg(-1) in the creosote-polluted and bioremediated soils, respectively) but had a similar content (140 mg kg(-1) vs 156 mg kg(-1)) of slowly desorbing PAHs. The PAHs present in the bioremediated soil were highly recalcitrant. The surfactant at a concentration above its critical micelle concentration enhanced the biodegradation of slowly desorbing PAHs in suspensions of both soils, but it was especially efficient with bioremediated soil, causing a 62% loss of the total PAH content. An inhibition of biodegradation was observed with the high-molecular-weight PAHs pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene in the untreated soil, possibly due to competition effects with other solubilized PAHs present at relatively high concentrations. We suggest that nonionic surfactants may improve bioremediation performance with soils that have previously undergone extensive bioremediation to enrich for a slowly desorbing profile. ; Support for this research was provided by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CGL2007-64199/BOS), Junta de Andalucía (PAI RNM 312) and European Union (contract QLRT-1999-00326). ; Peer Reviewed

This work was funded by the University of Oviedo and Spanish governments through the projects UNOV-13-EMERG-05, and the National Project MINECO CGL2013-42415-R. This paper is a contribution from the Marine Observatory of Asturias (OMA) and the Research Group GRUPIN14-093. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

This study aimed primarily to broaden the limited knowledge presently at hand about ternesite, 5CaO·2SiO·SO (shorthand CSS¯,ter), reactivity in calcium sulfoaluminate-calcium aluminate (CSA-CAC) blended cements by exploring the hydration of the constituents of simplified CaO·AlO (CA) + 5CaO·2SiO·SO (ter) + CaSO·2HO (gypsum, gyp) or 12CaO·7AlO (CA) + 5CaO·2SiO·SO (ter) + CaSO·2HO (gyp) systems. According to earlier research, ternesite, a mineral constituent in some eco-efficient calcium sulfoaluminate cements, may be activated during the hydration of Al(OH) or other calcium aluminates. The extent to which such activation may be affected by the presence of calcium sulfate (gypsum) in CSA cements is not currently known, however. The present findings showed that ternesite is activated by both CA and CA in the presence and absence of gypsum, although less intensely in its presence. Calorimetric analysis revealed that ternesite favours calcium aluminates reactivity with water in the presence and absence of gypsum because its surface serves as a nucleation site where aluminate hydrates cluster just minutes after the reaction begins. The mineralogical characterisation of the aluminate pastes bearing gypsum and ternesite was consistent with thermodynamic modelling, which predicted the same hydration products in both, although with different stability ranges. ; This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIA2016-76466-R project), the Regional Government of Madrid and the European Social Fund (Top Heritage-CM S2018/NMT_4372). Dr Paula Carmona's participation was financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund under project BIA2015-73237-JIN (MINECO/ERDF; EU), whilst author Myriam Montes collaborated as beneficiary of a young researcher internship (PEJ-2014-A-75310).

Con autorización de la revista para autores CSIC ; [EN] We present the results of excavations carried out in the Tossal de la Vila settlement. At the site, we have identified human occupations of the VIII century and the beginning of the VII BC, finished by fire, which has permitted the recovery of a notable inventory of archaeological material. Later, in the tenth century, an Islamic military emplacement was established over the ancient remains. In this work, we present the first results about the first occupation of the final of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the old-iron age ; [ES] Se presentan los primeros resultados de las excavaciones efectuadas en el asentamiento del Tossal de la Vila. En el yacimiento se han localizado ocupaciones pertenecientes a los siglos VIII y principios del VII ANE, cuya finalización van asociadas a un incendio, lo que ha permitido recuperar un registro material notable. Posteriormente, en el siglo X de la Era se establece sobre los restos antiguos un emplazamiento militar de época islámica, que afecta desigualmente los restos anteriores. En este trabajo se presentan los primeros datos sobre la ocupación del Bronce Final-Hierro Antiguo ; Peer reviewed

There are very limited data on the impact of ART initiation on inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers compared to patients who remain ART naïve [1]. We designed a prospective comparative study to evaluate these changes. Prospective observational cohort study of HIV‐infected patients who start ART and a group of age‐matched controls who remain ART‐naïve. Blood levels of insulin, fibrinogen, D‐dimer, high‐sensitivity PCR, inflammatory (IL‐1β, IL‐6, MCP‐1 and sCD40) and anti‐inflammatory cytokines (IL‐4), were compared at baseline, 24 weeks and 48 weeks. Summary of results: 94 patients included (57 treated, 37 controls). Baseline characteristics were balanced except for (treated/controls): median [IQR], HIV duration (0.9 [0.4–2.4] / 2.7 [0.6–5.5]) years, CD4 nadir (262 [198–317] / 452 [367–553]) cells/µl, viral load (4.4 [4–5.1] / 3.8 [3.1–4.4]) log cop/ml, current CD4 count (283 [213–323] / 525 [449–669]) cells/µl, HDL cholesterol (38 [29–45] / 41 [36–50]) mg/dl and female gender (8.8%/35%). There were no differences between groups in baseline biomarkers levels except that those starting ART had lower median [IQR] IL‐1β (4.1 [3.5–4.7] vs. 4.6 [3.7–6.8] pg/ml; p= 0.019) and lower IL–6 levels (4 [3.4–4.6] vs. 5.2 [4.2–6.6] pg/ml; p< 0.001). No significant correlation was found between biomarkers and baseline viral load. 91% of treated patients achieved viral suppression (<50 c/ml). There were statistically significant differences between groups at week 48 with lower (mean [95% CI]) D‐dimer (−138.2 [−268.0, −8.4] mg/L; p=0.001), IL‐1β (−0.6 [−0.9, −0.4] pg/ml; p<0.001) and higher IL‐4 (0.6 [0.2, 0.9] pg/ml; p=0.004) in those starting ART. In the ART‐naïve group there were significant increases of IL‐1β (1.3 [0.9, 1.6] pg/ml; p<0.001), sCD40 (22.7 [0.8, 44.6] AU; p=0.043), IL‐6 (0.5 [0.0, 0.9] pg/ml; p= 0.049) and a significant decrease of IL‐4 (−0.7 [−1.1, −0.3] pg/ml; p=0.001) levels. After 48 weeks of ART there were statistically significant decreases in pro‐inflammatory and coagulation markers (Figure 1) while levels of anti‐inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL‐4) were significantly increased. Opposite trends were found in controls.In conclusion, compared to untreated controls, 48 weeks of effective ART significantly reduces pro‐inflammatory (IL‐1β, IL‐6), coagulation (fibrinogen, D‐dimer), and metabolic (insulin) markers and increases levels of an anti‐inflammatory cytokines like IL‐4.Median percentage changes in bio markers from baseline to week 48.image

Purpose of the studyEfficacy, toxicity and complexity of antiretroviral (ARV) regimens may impact the quality of life (QoL). Since over the past years the simplification approach of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) as monotherapy (MT) has been shown to be non‐inferior to triple therapy (TT) in virological and immunological efficacy, the objective of this study was to compare several health‐ and treatment‐related outcomes between both ARV strategies with LPV/r.MethodsA phase IV national, multicenter, controlled, randomized (2:1), open label, parallel‐group clinical trial to compare the QoL in patients on ARV TT containing any boosted protease inhibitor (PI), undetectable viral load (VL< 50 cop/mL) in the past 6 months and a CD4 nadir > 100 cells/µL, versus those who were simplified to LPV/r MT, for 24 weeks. QoL and health outcomes were evaluated by the Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS‐HIV) and the five‐dimensional EuroQol questionnaire (EQ‐5D). Treatment satisfaction was assessed by the Spanish Questionnaire of Satisfaction with ARV Treatment (CESTA). Treatment adherence was assessed by the Spanish Multifactorial Adherence questionnaire (GEEMA) and a visual analog scale (VAS). Tolerability, safety and virological and immunological efficacy at week 24 were also analyzed.Summary of results225 patients from 29 sites were enrolled (MT: 146, 64.5%; TT: 79, 35.1%). Mean age (years) was 44.5 in MT and 45.2 in TT (p=0.745); mean duration (years) from HIV infection was 13.4 in MT and 12.8 in TT (p=0.587) and 71% were male in both arms. 87.6% of patients completed correctly the study (MT: 88.4%; TT: 86.1%; p=0.674). Health and treatment outcomes evaluated at final study visit are shown in figure 1 1. At study end, 84.1% in MT and 89.6% in TT had undetectable VL (p=0.313) and mean CD4 count were 742.8 cells/µL in MT and 646.5 cells/µL in TT (p=0.060). There were no significant differences in the percentage of patients with virological failure at week 24 as VL >50 cop/mL (MT: 8.2%; TT: 3.9%; p=0.271) and as VL >200 cop/mL (MT: 3.4%; TT: 0%; p=0.167).'Quality of life' impact: monotherapy vs triple therapy.imageConclusionsThe MT simplification strategy with LPV/r maintains comparable virological and immunological efficacy, as well as the tolerability profile, than the TT. The saving resulting from NRTIs withdrawal from the ARV regimen and the good results on QoL and patients treatment satisfaction make MT strategy with LPV/r be taken into account in clinical practice.

Purpose of the studyTo investigate if boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy is associated with a higher risk of neurocognitive impairment (NCI).MethodsHIV‐infected patients from two hospitals in Madrid (Spain) without concomitant major neurocognitive confounders, currently receiving for ≥1 year lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV) or darunavir/ritonavir (DRV) as monotherapy or with two N(t)RTIs were included if they had prolonged (≥1 year) plasma viral suppression (<50 c/mL, single blip allowed). Patients underwent full neurocognitive assessment (7 domains) by two psychologists blinded to the treatment group. NCI was defined as per 2007 Frascati criteria using demographically adjusted normative scores. Rates of NCI and the association between NCI and boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy, adjusted by significant confounders, were analyzed. Two categories of monotherapy duration were considered: short‐term (1–2 years) and long‐term (2–9 years). We evaluated as potential confounding variables: demographics, HIV risk factor, AIDS, CD4 (nadir/current), smoking, alcohol/illicit drug use, prior medical, neurological and psychiatric disease, HCV coinfection, years of ART, prior blips, time with HIV viral suppression, type of protease inhibitor, lipids and HOMA index.Summary of results191 patients (89.5% Caucasian) were included (Table 1).










Triple therapy (n=95)
Monotherapy (n=96)
p value




Male. n (%)
70 (73.7)
70 (72.9)
0.91


Former IVDU. n (%)
30 (31.6)
34 (35.4)
0.85


MSM. n (%)
29 (30.5)
30 (31.3)
0.85


Age. Median (IQR)
44.7 (40.6–48.4)
47.4 (44.8–51.4)
<0.01


Years of education. Mean (SD)
11.3 (4.1)
10.4 (4.4)
0.13


Prior neurologic disease. N (%)
12 (12.6)
10 (10.4)
0.63


Prior psychiatric disease. n (%)
19 (20.0)
24 (25.0)
0.44


Current or past use of illicit drugs. n (%)
49 (53.6)
46 (47.9)
0.66


HCV coinfection (past or active)
43 (47.3)
43 (45.3)
0.54


Years of ART. Median (IQR)
10.7 (4.8–15.7)
14.1 (10.7–15.9)
0.01


Years of monotherapy. Median (IQR)
Not applicable
2.3 (1.7–3.2)
Not applicable


Years suppressed (<50 c/mL). Median (IQR)
4.8 (2.9–8.9)
7.5 (4.5–10.0)
<0.01


No prior blip
63 (66.3)
61 (63.5)
0.17


Currently on LPV. n (%)
70 (73.7)
53 (55.2)
<0.01


Currently on DRV. n (%)
25 (26.3)
43 (44.8)
<0.01


CPE score (2010). Median (IQR)
7 (7–7)
3 (3–3)
Not applicable


CD4 cell nadir. Median (IQR)
153 (49–255)
182 (76–288)
0.11


CD4 cell current. Median (IQR)
560 (440–754)
629.5 (476–845.5)
<0.05




Proportion (95% CI) with NCI: Overall: 27.2% (20.9–33.6, all asymptomatic or mild). Triple therapy: 31.6 (22.1–41.0). 1–2 years of monotherapy (n=40): 25.0 (11.3–38.7). 2–9 years of monotherapy (n=56): 21.4 (10.5–32.3) No differences in rates of NCI were found by treatment group (p=0.38). In our regression model confounding variables for NCI were years on ART, ethnicity, years of education, transmission category and the HOMA index. Adjusted by those variables the odds ratio (95% CI) for NCI of patients receiving boosted protease inhibitor monotherapy monotherapy during 1–2 years was 0.85 (0.29–2.50) and for 2–9 years was 0.40 (0.14–1.15).ConclusionsBoosted protease inhibitor monotherapy, regardless of duration, was not associated with a higher rate of neurocognitive impairment than triple drug ART. These results call into question the ability of neuropenetrance scores to predict the neuroefficacy of antiretroviral regimens in HIV‐infected patients with adequate blood viral suppression.

The He I infrared (IR) triplet at 10 830 Å is known as an activity indicator in solar-type stars and has become a primary diagnostic in exoplanetary transmission spectroscopy. He I IR lines are a tracer of the stellar extreme-ultraviolet irradiation from the transition region and corona. We study the variability of the He I triplet lines in a spectral time series of 319 M dwarf stars that was obtained with the CARMENES high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectrograph at Calar Alto. We detect He I IR line variability in 18% of our sample stars, all of which show Hα in emission. Therefore, we find detectable He I variability in 78% of the sub-sample of stars with Hα emission. Detectable variability is strongly concentrated in the latest spectral sub-types, where the He I lines during quiescence are typically weak. The fraction of stars with detectable He I variation remains lower than 10% for stars earlier than M3.0 V, while it exceeds 30% for the later spectral sub-types. Flares are accompanied by particularly pronounced line variations, including strongly broadened lines with red and blue asymmetries. However, we also find evidence for enhanced He I absorption, which is potentially associated with increased high-energy irradiation levels at flare onset. Generally, He I and Hα line variations tend to be correlated, with Hα being the most sensitive indicator in terms of pseudo-equivalent width variation. This makes the He I triplet a favourable target for planetary transmission spectroscopy. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

Existing and upcoming instrumentation is collecting large amounts of astrophysical data, which require efficient and fast analysis techniques. We present a deep neural network architecture to analyze high-resolution stellar spectra and predict stellar parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, metallicity, and rotational velocity. With this study, we firstly demonstrate the capability of deep neural networks to precisely recover stellar parameters from a synthetic training set. Secondly, we analyze the application of this method to observed spectra and the impact of the synthetic gap (i.e., the difference between observed and synthetic spectra) on the estimation of stellar parameters, their errors, and their precision. Our convolutional network is trained on synthetic PHOENIX-ACES spectra in different optical and near-infrared wavelength regions. For each of the four stellar parameters, Teff, log g, [M/H], and v sin i, we constructed a neural network model to estimate each parameter independently. We then applied this method to 50 M dwarfs with high-resolution spectra taken with CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs), which operates in the visible (520-960 nm) and near-infrared wavelength range (960-1710 nm) simultaneously. Our results are compared with literature values for these stars. They show mostly good agreement within the errors, but also exhibit large deviations in some cases, especially for [M/H], pointing out the importance of a better understanding of the synthetic gap. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

The He » I infrared (IR) line at a vacuum wavelength of 10 833 Å is a diagnostic for the investigation of atmospheres of stars and planets orbiting them. For the first time, we study the behavior of the He » I IR line in a set of chromospheric models for M-dwarf stars, whose much denser chromospheres may favor collisions for the level population over photoionization and recombination, which are believed to be dominant in solar-type stars. For this purpose, we use published PHOENIX models for stars of spectral types M2 V and M3 V and also compute new series of models with different levels of activity following an ansatz developed for the case of the Sun. We perform a detailed analysis of the behavior of the He I IR line within these models. We evaluate the line in relation to other chromospheric lines and also the influence of the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation field. The analysis of the He » I IR line strengths as a function of the respective EUV radiation field strengths suggests that the mechanism of photoionization and recombination is necessary to form the line for inactive models, while collisions start to play a role in our most active models. Moreover, the published model set, which is optimized in the ranges of the Na » I D2, Hα, and the bluest Ca » II IR triplet line, gives an adequate prediction of the He » I IR line for most stars of the stellar sample. Because especially the most inactive stars with weak He » I IR lines are fit worst by our models, it seems that our assumption of a 100% filling factor of a single inactive component no longer holds for these stars. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)

We announce the discovery of two planets orbiting the M dwarfs GJ 251 (0.360 ± 0.015M-) and HD 238090 (0.578 ± 0.021M-) based on CARMENES radial velocity (RV) data. In addition, we independently confirm with CARMENES data the existence of Lalande 21185 b, a planet that has recently been discovered with the SOPHIE spectrograph. All three planets belong to the class of warm or temperate super-Earths and share similar properties. The orbital periods are 14.24 d, 13.67 d, and 12.95 d and the minimum masses are 4.0 ± 0.4 M-, 6.9 ± 0.9 M-, and 2.7 ± 0.3 M- for GJ 251 b, HD 238090 b, and Lalande 21185 b, respectively. Based on the orbital and stellar properties, we estimate equilibrium temperatures of 351.0 ± 1.4 K for GJ 251 b, 469.6 ± 2.6 K for HD 238090 b, and 370.1 ± 6.8 K for Lalande 21185 b. For the latter we resolve the daily aliases that were present in the SOPHIE data and that hindered an unambiguous determination of the orbital period. We find no significant signals in any of our spectral activity indicators at the planetary periods. The RV observations were accompanied by contemporaneous photometric observations. We derive stellar rotation periods of 122.1 ± 2.2 d and 96.7 ± 3.7 d for GJ 251 and HD 238090, respectively. The RV data of all three stars exhibit significant signals at the rotational period or its first harmonic. For GJ 251 and Lalande 21185, we also find long-period signals around 600 d, and 2900 d, respectively, which we tentatively attribute to long-term magnetic cycles. We apply a Bayesian approach to carefully model the Keplerian signals simultaneously with the stellar activity using Gaussian process regression models and extensively search for additional significant planetary signals hidden behind the stellar activity. Current planet formation theories suggest that the three systems represent a common architecture, consistent with formation following the core accretion paradigm. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)