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The Basque Country Public Health Service has moved in the last years from considering quality as an attribute of patient care to thinking that all management can be subject to improvement. Consequently, its general management team has promoted and supported a self-assessment experience of all their centres by means of the European Quality Model. This strategy has been facilitated by the Basque Country Government, which has strongly encouraged total quality management in companies, and has created the Basque Foundation for Quality Promotion, a key institution in this whole process. A total of 26 centres of the Public Health Service concluded a self-assessment process. As the main result of this, different improvement areas were detected, and various necessary actions were implemented in the centres assessed. Advantages, troubles and future work lines to extend and improve the use of the EFQM model in the health sector are discussed.

The heat shock response is a cellular protection mechanism against sudden temperature upshifts extensively studied in Escherichia coli . However, the effects of thermal evolution on this response remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the early and late physiological and transcriptional responses to temperature upshift in a thermotolerant strain under continuous culture conditions. Adaptive laboratory evolution was performed on a metabolically engineered E. coli strain (JU15), designed for d -lactic acid production, to enable cellular growth and fermentation of glucose at 45 °C in batch cultures. The resulting homofermentative strain, ECL45, successfully adapted to 45 °C in a glucose-mineral medium at pH 7 under non-aerated conditions. The thermal-adapted ECL45 retained the parental strain’s high volumetric productivity and product/substrate yield. Genomic sequencing of ECL45 revealed eight mutations, including one in a non-coding region and six within the coding regions of genes associated with metabolic, transport, and regulatory functions. Transcriptomic analysis comparing the evolved strain with its parental counterpart under early and late temperature upshifts indicated that the adaptation involved a controlled stringent response. This mechanism likely contributes to the strain’s ability to maintain growth capacity at high temperatures. Key points • The temperature upshift response of a thermally adapted strain in continuous culture was studied for the first time. • Genomic analyses revealed the presence of a double point mutation in the spoT gene. • The thermally adapted strain maintained underexpression of the spoT gene at high temperatures. • Supplementation of 0.15 g/L of hydrolyzed protein favored thermal adaptation at 45 °C.

Background Water evaporation in solar salterns creates salinity gradients that promote the adaptation of microbial species to different salinities. This competitive habitat challenges the metabolic capabilities of microorganisms and promotes alterations in their production of secondary metabolites. Thus, solar salterns are a potentially important source of new natural products. In Colombia, the most important and representative solar saltern is located in Manaure (La Guajira) in the north of Colombia. The aim of this study was to develop an alternative screening strategy to select halophilic bacteria as producers of bioactive compounds from mixed microbial cultures rather than individual environmental isolates. Brine and sediment samples from different ponds (across a salinity gradient) were inoculated in seven different culture media to grow bacteria and archaea, allowing for a total of 40 different mixed cultures. An organic extract from each mixed culture was obtained and tested against multidrug resistant pathogens, including Klebsiella pneumoniae , vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium , methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis . In addition, the extracts were tested against two human cancer cell lines, cervical adenocarcinoma (SiHa) and lung carcinoma (A-549). Results Twenty-four of the forty extracts from mixed cultures obtained from brine and sediment samples from the Manaure solar saltern showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis . Two extracts, referred to as A1SM3–29 and A1SM3–36, were also active against a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , with the latter extract also showing slight cytotoxic activity against the assayed human lung cancer cell line. From this mixed culture, nine isolates were cultivated, and their extracts were tested against the same pathogens, resulting in the identification of a Vibrio sp. strain (A1SM3–36-8) with antimicrobial activity that was similar to that observed for the mixed culture extract. The extract of this strain was subjected to a bioautography assay, and 3 different fractions exhibited antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Based on the amount obtained for each fraction, F3 was selected to isolate and identify its metabolites. The major compound was identified by NMR and HRMS as 13- cis -docosenamide, an amide that has been previously reported to be an antimicrobial and cytotoxic compound. Conclusions Our results shows the utility of our strategy in detecting bioactive molecules in initial mixed cultures by biological assays, resulting in the isolation and characterization of Vibrio sp. A1SM3–36-8, a halophilic strain with great antibacterial and cytotoxic potential.

f. sp. is one of the most destructive soilborne pathogens affecting tomato production, reducing plant growth and yield and highlighting the need for sustainable management alternatives. spp. are promising microbial candidates due to their ability to combine antifungal activity with plant growth promotion characteristics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the biofertilizer and antifungal potential of spp. in Chonto tomato ( Mill.) under greenhouse conditions. Seventy actinobacterial strains were screened in vitro against , and eight exhibited significant antagonistic activity. Based on antagonistic activity, enzymatic profile, cytotoxicity, and plant growth-promoting potential, strains 1B260 and 445 were selected for greenhouse assays. Strain 1B260 achieved 43.5% mycelial growth inhibition and showed the highest phosphate-solubilizing capacity (420 µg/mL), while both strains displayed proteolytic and cellulolytic activity, low cytotoxicity in human skin cell lines (HaCaT and HDFa), nitrogen fixation, and ammonia production. In greenhouse assays under non-infected conditions, 1B260 showed the most consistent biofertilizer effect, promoting stem elongation. Under pathogen pressure, strain 445 improved plant performance compared to the infected control. Overall, strains 1B260 and 445 exhibited complementary roles in tomato crop management, highlighting the potential of multifunctional inoculants for sustainable biofertilization and biocontrol strategies.

During visual exploration, saccadic eye movements scan the scene for objects of interest. During attempted fixation, the eyes are relatively still but often produce microsaccades. Saccadic rates during exploration are higher than those of microsaccades during fixation, reinforcing the classic view that exploration and fixation are two distinct oculomotor behaviors. An alternative model is that fixation and exploration are not dichotomous, but are instead two extremes of a functional continuum. Here, we measured the eye movements of human observers as they either fixed their gaze on a small spot or scanned natural scenes of varying sizes. As scene size diminished, so did saccade rates, until they were continuous with microsaccadic rates during fixation. Other saccadic properties varied as function of image size as well, forming a continuum with microsaccadic parameters during fixation. This saccadic continuum extended to nonrestrictive, ecological viewing conditions that allowed all types of saccades and fixation positions. Eye movement simulations moreover showed that a single model of oculomotor behavior can explain the saccadic continuum from exploration to fixation, for images of all sizes. These findings challenge the view that exploration and fixation are dichotomous, suggesting instead that visual fixation is functionally equivalent to visual exploration on a spatially focused scale.

A guideline is proposed that comprises the minimum items to be reported in research studies involving an eye tracker and human or non-human primate participant(s). This guideline was developed over a 3-year period using a consensus-based process via an open invitation to the international eye tracking community. This guideline will be reviewed at maximum intervals of 4 years.

El desarrollo de nuevas moléculas es un proceso que requiere de múltiples etapas y los ensayos clínicos para verificar su eficacia cuesta miles de millones de dólares cada año. El aprendizaje automático es una herramienta que está avanzando rápidamente en el reconocimiento de imágenes, voz y texto, y trabajar In silico aumentaría la capacidad de predecir y priorizar la función de un medicamento. En esta investigación nos preguntamos si la función de los medicamentos de uso terapéutico se puede predecir a partir de la configuración estereoquímica de la molécula. Nosotros usamos redes neuronales convolucionales para predecir el uso terapéutico de fármacos, entrenadas tanto con información bidimensional como con información tridimensional de su estructura química. El modelo entrenado solamente con seis vistas de la información 3D de la estructura molecular mejoró la exactitud en un 10 respecto al modelo entrenado con la información 2D.

   

We studied the environmental effects of the mining activity of Troya Mine on the fluvial ecosystem, in the Basque Country, Spain, from 1993 to 1995. The multivariate analysis of the physicochemical conditions shows that the main abiotic factors of variation are: (i) in the water column, a significant increase in the content of heavy metals and conductivity, and (ii) an intense accumulation of heavy metals in the bottom sediments. We studied the effects of these factors on density, richness, dominance, similarity coefficient and composition of the benthic macroinvertebrate community (BMI). We observed a de-structuring of the community. Richness decreases (from 25 to 11 different number of families), but it does not suitably value the impact. Density oscillates radically (255-1548 individuals m super(-2)) and reflects changes occurred in sediments. Dominance, which oscillates from 0 to 1, increase from 0.16 upstream from the mine, to 0.42 downstream, fundamentally due to oscillations of Chironomidae, Tubificidae, Baetidae and Simuliidae. The similarity coefficient indicates the physicochemical variations both in the sediment and in the water column; this index is therefore suitable for the follow-up of the evolution of the disturbance studied. The families sensitive to disturbance in the water column are: Ephemeridae, Athericidae, Sericostomatidae, Leptophlebiidae, Baetidae, Gammaridae, Perlidae, Heptageniidae, and Leptoceridae; the tolerant ones are: Coenagrionidae, Hydrobiidae, Lumbricidae, and Polycentropodidae. With regard to the metal content in sediments, the sensitive families are: Gammaridae, Ephemeridae and Ceratopogonidae; the tolerant ones are: Simuliidae, Culicidae, Hydrophilidae, Dolichopodidae, Chironomidae, Psychodidae, Tipulidae, and Chrysomelidae. We thus synthesized the complexity inherent to this type of pollution, in which large amounts of variables are normally involved.

en este artículo reflexionamos sobre la relación entre memoria colectiva, infancia y participación, a partir de una intervención pedagógica organizada en un memorial de Santiago de Chile. Utilizamos una metodología cualitativa, teniendo como principales resultados que las memorias de las niñas y los niños se producen en una relación de co-construcción con los sujetos adultos, atravesadas por relaciones de poder que permiten distintas dinámicas de participación. Estos vínculos pueden reproducir memorias centradas en la víctima, en lo familiar y en el duelo, así como memorias transformadoras de la resistencia y la lucha social, en las cuales cobra importancia la apropiación e identificación de las nuevas generaciones con el lugar de memoria. Concluimos con una reflexión sobre la agencia de las niñas y los niños en el campo de la memoria y los derechos humanos.