vgaraujov/thesis-chile huggingface dataset:
How embodied is action language? Neurological evidence from motor diseases.

Although motor-language coupling is now being extensively studied, its underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. In this sense, a crucial opposition has emerged between the non-representational and the representational views of embodiment. The former posits that action language is grounded on the non-brain motor system directly engaged by musculoskeletal activity – i.e., peripheral involvement of ongoing actions. Conversely, the latter proposes that such grounding is afforded by the brain’s motor system – i.e., activation of neural areas representing motor action. We addressed this controversy through the action-sentence compatibility effect (ACE) paradigm, which induces a contextual coupling of motor actions and verbal processing. ACEs were measured in three patient groups – early Parkinson’s disease (EPD), neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and acute transverse myelitis (ATM) patients – as well as their respective healthy controls. NMO and ATM constitute models of injury to non-brain motor areas and the peripheral motor system, whereas EPD provides a model of brain motor system impairment. In our study, EPD patients exhibited impaired ACE and verbal processing relative to healthy participants, NMO, and ATM patients. These results indicate that the processing of action-related words is mainly subserved by a cortico-subcortical motor network system, thus supporting a brain-based embodied view on action language. More generally, our findings are consistent with contemporary perspectives for which action/verb processing depends on distributed brain networks supporting context-sensitive motor-language coupling.
Determinación del aumento de peso en pollos de engorde (Gallus gallus) mediante la incorporación de diferentes fuentes proteicas a su alimentación

En la presente investigación se usaron fuentes alternas de proteína dentro de la alimentación balanceada de los pollos de engorde (Gallus gallus). Se consideraron granos de la región tales como la soya (Glycine max) y el chocho (Lupinus mu- tabilis) por su gran contenido proteico y por la facilidad de obtenerlos y procesarlos. Estos se sustituyeron en porcentajes de 0 (Testigo Experimental), 25, 50 y 75% del balanceado comercial. La etapa de levante, que comprende desde el día 1 hasta el día 28, dejó como conclusión que porcentajes de 50% balan- ceado comercial y 50% de soya son los mejores para tener un aumento de peso superior al reportado en tablas por casas comerciales. Los tratamientos propuestos producen el mismo aumento de peso en las aves; se redujo la cantidad de ba- lanceado comercial y se aumentó la fuente de proteína alterna resultando en menores costos de producción y carne más sana y apetecible.
Diastolic shock index and clinical outcomes in patients with septic shock.

Abstract Background Loss of vascular tone is a key pathophysiological feature of septic shock. Combination of gradual diastolic hypotension and tachycardia could reflect more serious vasodilatory conditions. We sought to evaluate the relationships between heart rate (HR) to diastolic arterial pressure (DAP) ratios and clinical outcomes during early phases of septic shock. Methods Diastolic shock index (DSI) was defined as the ratio between HR and DAP. DSI calculated just before starting vasopressors (Pre-VPs/DSI) in a preliminary cohort of 337 patients with septic shock (January 2015 to February 2017) and at vasopressor start (VPs/DSI) in 424 patients with septic shock included in a recent randomized controlled trial (ANDROMEDA-SHOCK; March 2017 to April 2018) was partitioned into five quantiles to estimate the relative risks (RR) of death with respect to the mean risk of each population (assumed to be 1). Matched HR and DAP subsamples were created to evaluate the effect of the individual components of the DSI on RRs. In addition, time-course of DSI and interaction between DSI and vasopressor dose (DSI*NE.dose) were compared between survivors and non-survivors from both populations, while ROC curves were used to identify variables predicting mortality. Finally, as exploratory observation, effect of early start of vasopressors was evaluated at each Pre-VPs/DSI quintile from the preliminary cohort. Results Risk of death progressively increased at gradual increments of Pre-VPs/DSI or VPs/DSI (One-way ANOVA, p < 0.001). Progressive DAP decrease or HR increase was associated with higher mortality risks only when DSI concomitantly increased. Areas under the ROC curve for Pre-VPs/DSI, SOFA and initial lactate were similar, while mean arterial pressure and systolic shock index showed poor performances to predict mortality. Time-course of DSI and DSI*NE.dose was significantly higher in non-survivors from both populations (repeated-measures ANOVA, p < 0.001). Very early start of vasopressors exhibited an apparent benefit at higher Pre-VPs/DSI quintile. Conclusions DSI at pre-vasopressor and vasopressor start points might represent a very early identifier of patients at high risk of death. Isolated DAP or HR values do not clearly identify such risk. Usefulness of DSI to trigger or to direct therapeutic interventions in early resuscitation of septic shock need to be addressed in future studies.
3D simulations of clump formation in stellar wind collisions

The inner parsec of our Galaxy contains tens of Wolf-Rayet stars whose powerful outflows are constantly interacting while filling the region with hot, diffuse plasma. Theoretical models have shown that, in some cases, the collision of stellar winds can generate cold, dense material in the form of clumps. However, their formation process and properties are not well-understood yet. In this work we present, for the first time, a statistical study of the clump formation process in unstable wind collisions. We study systems with dense outflows $(dot{M}sim10^{-5}rm M_{odot} yr^{-1})$, wind speeds of $sim500$-$1500rm km s^{-1}$, and stellar separations of $sim20$-$200rm au$. We develop 3D high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of stellar wind collisions, making use of the adaptive-mesh refinement grid-based code Ramses. We aim to characterise the initial properties of clumps that form through hydrodynamic instabilities, mostly via the non-linear thin shell instability. Our results confirm that more massive clumps are formed in systems whose winds are close to the transition between the radiative and adiabatic regimes, as long as such collisions are capable of creating cold, thin shells. Also, we find that increasing either the wind speed or the degree of asymmetry in the wind interaction increases the dispersion of the clump masses and ejection speed distribution. Nevertheless, our findings show that the most massive clumps are very light $(sim10^{-3}$-$10^{-2}rm M_{oplus})$, approximately three orders of magnitude less massive than theoretical upper limits. We apply our results to the central parsec of our Galaxy finding that clumps formed are not heavy enough neither to affect the thermodynamic state of the region nor to survive for long enough in order to fall onto the central super-massive black hole before being destroyed....
A massive binary system can feed Sgr A*

The enigmatic G2 cloud just passed pericentre around the Galactic Centre super-massive black hole, Sgr A. Despite all theoretical and observational efforts, its nature remains unclear. If purely gaseous, it is possible to explain it as a gas clump formed in a colliding wind binary. Here we study the hypothesis of G2 being one of such clumps ejected from the massive binary IRS 16SW....
Analysis of the velocity data of cluster A562

We present a recent study of the dynamics of the cluster of galaxies Abell 562 intended to determine if ram pressure is responsible for the jet bending in the Wide-Angle Tailed (WAT) radio source located in the central elliptical galaxy. Given the properties of the jet and of the intra-cluster medium (ICM), a relative velocity between the galaxy and the ICM greater than 800 km/s is needed for this mechanism to bend the WAT jet. We find that the peculiar velocity of the WAT galaxy is 170 ± 140 km/s which is not enough to produce the bending. This is based on the analysis of the velocity of 146 galaxy cluster members obtained with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrometer (GMOS) at Gemini North. However, our analysis of these velocity data and archival Chandra data suggests that an off-axis merger occurred in this system. This type of merger typically produces bulk flow motions with peak velocities greater than 1000 km/s which should be enough to explain the bending of the jets....
Functional and genomic characterization of three novel cell lines derived from a metastatic gallbladder cancer tumor.

Abstract Background Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most common tumor of the biliary tract. The incidence of GBC shows a large geographic variability, being particularly frequent in Native American populations. In Chile, GBC represents the second cause of cancer-related death among women. We describe here the establishment of three novel cell lines derived from the ascitic fluid of a Chilean GBC patient, who presented 46% European, 36% Mapuche, 12% Aymara and 6% African ancestry. Results After immunocytochemical staining of the primary cell culture, we isolated and comprehensively characterized three independent clones (PUC-GBC1, PUC-GBC2 and PUC-GBC3) by short tandem repeat DNA profiling and RNA sequencing as well as karyotype, doubling time, chemosensitivity, in vitro migration capability and in vivo tumorigenicity assay. Primary culture cells showed high expression of CK7, CK19, CA 19-9, MUC1 and MUC16, and negative expression of mesothelial markers. The three isolated clones displayed an epithelial phenotype and an abnormal structure and number of chromosomes. RNA sequencing confirmed the increased expression of cytokeratin and mucin genes, and also of TP53 and ERBB2 with some differences among the three cells lines, and revealed a novel exonic mutation in NF1. The PUC-GBC3 clone was the most aggressive according to histopathological features and the tumorigenic capacity in NSG mice. Conclusions The first cell lines established from a Chilean GBC patient represent a new model for studying GBC in patients of Native American descent.
3D whole-heart isotropic sub-millimeter resolution coronary magnetic resonance angiography with non-rigid motion-compensated PROST.

Abstract Background To enable free-breathing whole-heart sub-millimeter resolution coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) in a clinically feasible scan time by combining low-rank patch-based undersampled reconstruction (3D-PROST) with a highly accelerated non-rigid motion correction framework. Methods Non-rigid motion corrected CMRA combined with 2D image-based navigators has been previously proposed to enable 100% respiratory scan efficiency in modestly undersampled acquisitions. Achieving sub-millimeter isotropic resolution with such techniques still requires prohibitively long acquisition times. We propose to combine 3D-PROST reconstruction with a highly accelerated non-rigid motion correction framework to achieve sub-millimeter resolution CMRA in less than 10 min. Ten healthy subjects and eight patients with suspected coronary artery disease underwent 4–5-fold accelerated free-breathing whole-heart CMRA with 0.9 mm3 isotropic resolution. Vessel sharpness, vessel length and image quality obtained with the proposed non-rigid (NR) PROST approach were compared against translational correction only (TC-PROST) and a previously proposed NR motion-compensated technique (non-rigid SENSE) in healthy subjects. For the patient study, image quality scoring and visual comparison with coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) were performed. Results Average scan times [min:s] were 6:01 ± 0:59 (healthy subjects) and 8:29 ± 1:41 (patients). In healthy subjects, vessel sharpness of the left anterior descending (LAD) and right (RCA) coronary arteries were improved with the proposed non-rigid PROST (LAD: 51.2 ± 8.8%, RCA: 61.2 ± 9.1%) in comparison to TC-PROST (LAD: 43.8 ± 5.1%, P = 0.051, RCA: 54.3 ± 8.3%, P = 0.218) and non-rigid SENSE (LAD: 46.1 ± 5.8%, P = 0.223, RCA: 56.7 ± 9.6%, P = 0.50), although differences were not statistically significant. The average visual image quality score was significantly higher for NR-PROST (LAD: 3.2 ± 0.6, RCA: 3.3 ± 0.7) compared with TC-PROST (LAD: 2.1 ± 0.6, P = 0.018, RCA: 2.0 ± 0.7, P = 0.014) and non-rigid SENSE (LAD: 2.3 ± 0.5, P = 0.008, RCA: 2.5 ± 0.7, P = 0.016). In patients, the proposed approach showed good delineation of the coronaries, in agreement with CCTA, with image quality scores and vessel sharpness similar to that of healthy subjects. Conclusions We demonstrate the feasibility of combining high undersampling factors with non-rigid motion-compensated reconstruction to obtain high-quality sub-millimeter isotropic CMRA images in ~ 8 min. Validation in a larger cohort of patients with coronary artery disease is now warranted.
Early origins of allergy and asthma (ARIES): study protocol for a prospective prenatal birth cohort in Chile.

Abstract Background Growing evidence shows that atopic dermatitis (AD), food allergy (FA), allergic rhinitis, and asthma are largely determined during the first 1000 days (time elapsed from conception to the 2nd birthday). The ARIES birth cohort aims to determine prenatal and perinatal conditions, as well as genetic and epigenetic factors, that participate in the early setting of immune responses, and the role of these in the later determination of the risk of allergic diseases and asthma in the offspring. Methods We have designed a birth cohort of 250 families with prenatal recruitment (~ 14 weeks). We will genotype relevant allergy/asthma-associated variants in trios and will perform immunophenotyping and evaluation of allergy biomarkers in cord blood. At 1 and 2 years of age we will assess if infants have developed allergic sensitization, AD, FA, as well as biomarkers of asthma including the asthma predictive index. We will also evaluate how maternal conditions modify immune programming through epigenetic modifications and will then depict newborn epigenetic cues of allergy/asthma risk. Next, we will assess composition/diversity of maternal gut, placenta, breastmilk and infant gut microbiome and their association with immunophenotype and biomarkers at birth, and clinical outcomes at age 1 and 2. Finally, we plan to assess how environmental exposures (perinatal outdoor and indoor pollution, allergens and endotoxin) affect the incidence of allergic sensitization, AD, FA, and risk of asthma. Discussion The in-depth study of the ARIES birth cohort shall provide crucial information to understand the rising incidence of allergies and asthma in developing countries, and hopefully provide cues on how to prevent and treat these diseases. Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov NCT04186949, retrospectively registered on December 5, 2019.
Sub-way or the highway : the effects of transport infrastructure on the density of a city.

This thesis studies the impacts of investments on urban highways and subway stations on a city’s structural density. I use data from Santiago, Chile, to analyze the effects of the inaugurations of six urban highways and several subway stations between 2001 and 2010 on built-up land. As treatment variables, I use the variation in a network-based accessibility index, which controls for the non-random location of transport infrastructure. Results show that inaugurations of subway stations decrease overall construction density in the neighboring areas by -0,75 percent. In contrast, the opening of urban highways increases square meters built by 1,72 percent. The effects of urban highways on residential and industrial land use are also positive and statistically significant, with coefficients of 1,64 and 1,55 percent. The interacted effect of both infrastructures on the overall construction, services, and commercial purposes suggests a crowding-out type of dynamic. At the same time, for residential and industrial land use purposes, this relation is positive, which indicates complementary dynamics of improvement in infrastructures.
Thermodynamic study of the extraction of guaiacol from hydrocarbons for bio-oil upgrade.

Dentro de la última década, los combustibles fósiles han sido explotados para obtener una fuente de energía y ser la base en la síntesis de diversos productos. Este tipo de combustibles presentan una alta huella de carbono y no son reutilizables, lo que los hace cada día menos atractivos. Es por esto, que hace algunos años se están estudiando fuentes renovables, como posibles alternativas. Una de las principales es la biomasa, que se entiende como cualquier mezcla de compuestos orgánicos, la cual puede ser aprovechada para nuevos procesos industriales. Dentro de los compuestos más abundantes en la biomasa, se encuentra la lignina, la cual se encuentra principalmente en la madera. Este compuesto puede ser la materia prima de diversos procesos, destacándose la pirólisis, que trata a la lignina a temperaturas sobre los 200 y hasta los 370 oC, obteniéndose un líquido llamado bio-oil. El bio-oil es una mezcla de varios compuestos orgánicos, los cuales sirven como precursores para la síntesis de diversos productos o como combustible. Para el caso de este estudio se utilizará el guaiacol como modelo ideal del aceite obtenido. El principal objetivo es caracterizar los posibles solventes que puedan servir para realizar futuras síntesis o extracciones a partir del bio-oil. Para esto, se calcularon diferentes propiedades que permitan entender el comportamiento termodinámico de las mezclas y equilibrios según corresponda. Además, se modelaron los comportamientos para poder extrapolar a distintos escenarios y así tener un gran espectro en el cual se pueda trabajar. Se logró determinar que el metanol, etanol y acetona son los solventes que forman solo una fase con el guaiacol, y los que formaron equilibrio líquido-líquido, dodecano y hexadecano. Finalmente, se logró modelar de buena manera las diferentes propiedades, pudiendo explicar el comportamiento de los equilibrios en estudio.
Identificando los mejores candidatos para la detección indirecta de materia oscura entre galaxias enanas esferoidales.

La materia oscura (DM), cuya naturaleza y mecanismos de interacción son todavía un tema abierto, constituye alrededor del 25 % de la densidad de energía del Universo. Las partículas masivas de débil interacción (WIMPs) son consideradas como fuertes candidatos para las partículas DM. Su búsqueda, se lleva a cabo convenientemente a través de la detección de rayos gamma. Las galaxias enanas esferoidales (dSphs) clásicas o ultradébiles , ubicadas en las cercanías de la Galaxia, exhiben altos valores de la relación masa luminosidad, y por lo tanto se consideran objetos dominados por materia oscura. Estos objetos están al alcance del Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), que es el proyecto de astronomía de rayos gamma que llegará en esta década, con una mejor sensibilidad (un orden de magnitud) con respecto a los experimentos de la generación actual. El principal objetivo de este trabajo es sugerir posibles candidatos para el estudio con CTA, considerando sus respectivas incertezas. Para ello se obtuvo el J-factor de 5 distintas galaxias enanas, de modo de comprender cual de estas galaxias presenta los mayores valores, considerando que el J-factor nos dice la cantidad de materia oscura existente en una determinada región del espacio integrado a lo largo de la línea de visión. Para obtener este valor, es necesario realizar un análisis de Jeans, con los datos cinemáticos de cada galaxia, en donde encontramos carencia de datos en algunas de ellas, lo que imposibilita a obtener valores confiables para determinar un J-factor robusto. Se fija una cota inferior de 150 estrellas para obtener valores confiables de una galaxia esferoidal, este resultado se obtuvo del análisis de galaxias clásicas con una gran muestra de datos cinemáticos, de las cuales extrajimos datasets más pequeños simulando galaxias con menores datos estadísticos. El análisis de Jeans realizado, contempló el uso del método MCMC para obtener los parámetros de los perfiles de densidad de materia oscura para cada dSph. Finalmente, se denomina a la galaxia Sculptor como un excelente candidato para el estudio de una posible señal de rayos gamma con CTA, debido a su alto valor de J-factor y su poca incerteza en la medición, log J(α0,5) = 18,8 ± 0,1 [GeV2 cm −5 ]. Sin embargo, se deja la invitación a estudiar con más detalle la cinemática de las galaxias ultra-débiles como Triangulum II, quien presenta el J-factor más elevado, log J(α0,5) = 21,8±0,5 [GeV2 cm −5 ], pero con una gran incerteza en su medición, ya que consideramos que estas galaxias pueden ser la clave para comprender la naturaleza de la materia oscura en un futuro no muy lejano.
C-ABL kinase in Niemann Pick type a disease : its implication in the pathogenic mechanisms leading to autophagic flux alterations and neurodegeneration.

Niemann-Pick type A (NPA) disease is a fatal lysosomal neurodegenerative and autosomal recessive disorder. It is characterized by deficiency in acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) and accumulation of sphingomyelin and cholesterol in lysosomes. Unfortunately, there is no cure for patients who die between 2-3 years of age. Previously we described that the c-Abl proapoptotic signaling pathway is key in neuronal death in different neurodegenerative diseases, including lysosomal disorders. Furthermore, recent studies show a role for c-Abl in autophagy and cellular clearance, processes that depend on the lysosome, and are essential for keeping cellular homeostasis. Indeed, autophagy dysfunctions are involved in different pathologies, including neurodegenerative diseases. Considering these antecedents, we propose to evaluate if c-Abl is hyperactivated and modulates autophagy and cellular clearance in NPA disease. The hypothesis of this thesis is that c-Abl hyperactivation blocks the autophagy flux contributing to the neuronal pathogenesis in Niemann Pick type A disease. Our general aim is to determine if c-Abl hyperactivation blocks the autophagy flux contributing to the neuronal pathogenesis in Niemann Pick type A disease. The specific aims are: 1) To determine if the c-Abl signaling pathway is hyperactivated and participates in NPA disease neurodegeneration and 2) To evaluate if hyperactivation of the c-Abl signaling pathway inhibits autophagy flux in NPA models. We used several NPA models including; fibroblasts from NPA patients, Neural Stem Cells derived from these fibroblasts and a NPA mouse. In these models we modulated c-Abl activity and evaluated cell death, cerebellar inflammation and autophagy flux. Our results show that: i) c-Abl is hyperactivated and contributes to the neurodegeneration in in vitro and in vivo NPA models; ii) There are lysosomal and autophagy alterations in NPA models; iii) c-Abl inhibition induces autophagy and decreases lipid accumulation in in vitro NPA models; iv) c-Abl inhibition decreases neuronal death and inflammation at the cerebellum and improves locomotor function in NPA mice and v) the downregulated genes in NPA fibroblasts increase their expression upon Imatinib treatment. Interestingly, these genes are direct or indirectly related with autophagy. These results give new antecedents to understand the role of c-Abl in autophagy regulation and its contribution to the NPA disease pathogenic mechanisms. Additionally, these results allow us to propose c-Abl inhibitors as a therapeutic option for this disease.