Electrical and Thermal Transport in Coplanar Polycrystalline Graphene-hBN Heterostructures.

We present a theoretical study of electronic and thermal transport in polycrystalline heterostructures combining graphene (G) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) grains of varying size and distribution. By increasing the hBN grain density from a few percent to 100%, the system evolves from a good conductor to an insulator, with the mobility dropping by orders of magnitude and the sheet resistance reaching the MΩ regime. The Seebeck coefficient is suppressed above 40% mixing, while the thermal conductivity of polycrystalline hBN is found to be on the order of 30-120 Wm-1 K-1. These results, agreeing with available experimental data, provide guidelines for tuning G-hBN properties in the context of two-dimensional materials engineering. In particular, while we proved that both electrical and thermal properties are largely affected by morphological features (e.g., by the grain size and composition), we find in all cases that nanometer-sized polycrystalline G-hBN heterostructures are not good thermoelectric materials.

Protective effect of carvedilol on oxidative stress induced by okadaic acid in N1E-115 cells.

The effect of carvedilol on oxidative and cell damage induced by okadaic acid in N1E-115 cells were studied. The effects of okadaic acid were evaluated as changes in: the quantity of lipid peroxidation products, protein carbonyl groups, reduced glutathione content (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and total lactate dehydrogenase (cell LDH). Additionally, a dose of carvedilol (10(-5)M) was added 2h before incubation with okadaic acid (50 nM) and was present until the end of the experiment (2h later added okadaic acid). Our results reveal that okadaic acid induces oxidative stress and an increase of cell LDH in N1E-115 cells, whereas carvedilol prevented the changes prompted by okadaic acid. In conclusion, the data show the protective effect of carvedilol, as well as its ability to modify cell response to okadaic acid, involving like cytoprotective mechanism its antioxidative properties.

El virus de la Hepatitis C como patógeno emergente III: tratamiento de la infección crónica / No disponible

En esta revisión mostramos cómo ha ido evolucionando el tratamiento de la infección crónica por VHC. En la actualidad, los tratamientos con régimenes basados en la combinación de interferón pegilado y ribavirina son los que mayor tasa de éxito están mostrando. A pesar de todo, su eficacia en los genotipos 1 y 4 es muy limitada. Debido a que comparte vía de transmisión, la coinfección VIHVHC es muy frecuente y la hepatopatía crónica, así como las complicaciones asociadas a ella, son una importante causa de morbimortalidad en estos pacientes. Por tanto su tratamiento resulta de gran importancia. Se utilizan tratamientos similares a los de la población general pero con peores resultados. Mostramos también fármacos actualmente en experimentación, que se espera mejoren los resultados de los tratamientos utilizados actualmente (AU)

In this review we show how it has been evolving the treatment of the chronic infection by HCV. At the present time, the treatments with regimes based on pegylated interferon and ribavirin have showed the greater rate of success. In spite of everything, its effectiveness in genotypes1 and 4 is limited. While HIV shares similar routes of transmission, the co-infection HCV-HIV is very frequent and the chronic hepatopathy and complications associated with its clinical course are an important cause of morbid-mortality in these patients. Therefore its treatment is very important. Treatments are similar to those of the general population but with worse results. We also showed drugs at the moment in experimentation, that improves the results of the current treatments (AU)

Evaluation of the COBAS TaqMan 48 real-time PCR system for quantitation of hepatitis B virus DNA.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the new real-time PCR COBAS TaqMan 48 analyzer, comparing it to the existing COBAS AMPLICOR HBV MONITOR based on conventional PCR technology. The study used 104 samples from different patients. No differences were found in the sensitivity of the tests. There was an excellent correlation between the sample with a viral load within the dynamic range of the two tests (r = 0.938). The COBAS TaqMan test has a wider linear range, and this fact enables quantifying of the viral load without diluting the sample.