Spanish – Japanese Meeting on Frontier Technologies: “Realities and Challenges in Information and Communication Technologies

The Spanish – Japanese Meeting on Frontier Technologies: “Realities and Challenges in Information and Communication Technologies” is a scientific knowledge exchange forum, organized by the University of Granada in collaboration with the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO) and Toshiba Spain. The meeting will be held at the Higher Technical School of Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Engineering of the University of Granada, on November 24-26, 2009.

This exceptional meeting will host outstanding invited speakers from the most reputed research institutes in Japan:

-> Professor Sadaoki Furui from the Department of Computer Science (Tokyo Institute of Technology in Tokyo)

-> Professor Kaoru Hirota from the Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science (Tokyo Institute of Technology in Yokohama)

-> Professor Hisao Ishibuchi from the Department of Computer Science and Intelligent Systems (Osaka Prefecture University)

-> Professor Kazuo Tanaka from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems (University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo)

-> Professor Takeshi Yamakawa from the Department of Brain Science and Engineering (Kyushu Institute of Technology)

Together with these Japanese experts on ICT, there will also participate well-recognised researchers in this field from the University of Granada.
After multiple previous scientific contacts along the last years between these Japanese researchers and its counterparts at the University of Granada, TIFO has provided the opportunity for all of them to hold this outstanding -and perhaps unique- meeting, whose objectives are:

-> Exchanging the scientific cultures between Japan and Spain,
-> Introducing the most recent technological advances, in such areas as Information and Communication Technologies, Computational Intelligence, Brain Science, Neuroscience, and Brain-like Information Processing Machines,
-> Seeking opportunities for common-interest collaborations between the University of Granada and the Japanese academic Institutions, and
-> Fostering the mutual knowledge of both entities.

The Rector of the University of Granada, Professor Francisco González Lodeiro, and the President of Toshiba Spain, D. Alberto Ruano, will preside the Opening Ceremony next Tuesday November 24th at 9 a.m.

There are no registration fees for the meeting, but the number of participants is limited. Inscriptions must be done before November 15, 2009, following the instructions shown in the URL: http://toshiba-chair.ugr.es/

For further information (topics of the conferences, short bios of the invited speakers, etc.,) please visit the URL of the meeting (http://toshiba-chair.ugr.es) or contact Professor J.L. Verdegay (Delegate for ICT of the Rector of the University of Granada) at detic@ugr.es


Stem Cell Use In Regenerative Medicine May Also Be Bad For Health

Stem Cell Use In Regenerative Medicine May Also Be Bad For Health

Posted on: Friday, 13 November 2009, 07:51 CST

The use of stem cells in regenerative medicine is not always beneficial for human health, it may even be harmful according to a work done by the University of Granada and University of León. Scientists have demonstrated that transplantation of human mononuclear cells isolated from umbilical cord blood exerted a deleterious effect in rats with liver cirrhosis.

Researchers aimed to investigate whether the mononuclear cell fraction of human cord blood (HUCBM cells), which contains stem cells, might be useful in hepatic regenerative medicine. Both histological and biochemical findings obtained in this research suggest that cell transplantation did not improve the health of sick animals but it induced a hepatorenal syndrome instead.

The authors of this work are Ana I Álvarez-Mercado, María V García-Mediavilla, Sonia Sánchez-Campos, Francisco Abadía, María J Sáez-Lara, María Cabello-Donayre, Ángel Gil, Javier González-Gallego and Luis Fontana, researchers from the University of Granada and University of León.

Research in rats

In order to evaluate the regenerative potential of HUCBM cells, researchers carried out a human-to-rat xenograft. First, liver cirrhosis was induced to rats by administration of 0.3 g/L thioacetamide (TAA) in drinking water throughout 4 months. Later on, ten million HUCBM cells were injected through the portal vein. A similar transplantation experiment was done in control rats, i. e., rats that drank water, not TAA.

TAA induced nodular cirrhosis to animals. Cell therapy did not have any effect on hepatic histology, but analysis of biochemical parameters revealed that cirrhotic rats subjected to transplantation exhibited alterations in liver function (lower albumin concentration and higher bilirubin concentration in plasma compared to cirrhotic rats that did not receive HUCBM cells). Also, the group with cirrhosis that received HUCBM cells showed renal damage.

Nowadays, approximately 17% of the world population is affected by liver diseases. There is to date no specific treatment for the liver fibrosis that develops in chronic hepatic diseases, and patients receive treatment for its associated complications. In addition, the current therapy for end-stage hepatic disease, whole liver transplantation, is limited by the shortage of organ donors. Accordingly, novel therapies, such as the use of cord blood stem cells, are required to alleviate the suffering of many patients. This work, however, highlights the need of further research in the area of hepatic regenerative medicine.

The work has been funded by Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), FEDER, Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa (Junta de Andalucía), Consejería de Sanidad (Junta de Castilla y León), and Federación de Cajas de Ahorro de Castilla y León. It will appear in the November issue of the journal Cell Transplantation.

Image Caption: This is a microscope view of the cirrhotic liver of a rat. Credit: University of Granada
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Fish consumption linked to lower cognition

Fish consumption linked to lower cognition

GRANADA, Spain, Nov. 13 (UPI) —

Children who eat fish more than three times per week show decreased performance in cognition, researchers in Spain found.

Researcher Carmen Freire Warden, led by Professors Nicolas Olea and Marieta Fernandez Serrano Cabrera of the University of Granada, analyzed the exposure to environmental contaminants through water, air and diet in a sample of 220 children in the geographic healthcare area of San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada, Spain.

Concentrations were higher than those found in other pediatric populations with a lower consumption of fish, but lower than levels found in high-consuming areas.

Important exposure factors were: place of residence, maternal age, passive exposure to tobacco smoke and consumption of oily fish.

The findings suggest fish consumption is the main source of exposure to mercury in the sample population studied.

The research also revealed there is a direct relationship between children\’s passive exposure to tobacco smoke and the use of gas stoves inside houses.

The findings were published in Environmental Research, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Science of the Total Environment and Gaceta Sanitaria
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El PSOE pide al alcalde que no use el Plan E para «políticas de fachada

El PSOE pide al alcalde que no use el Plan E para «políticas de fachada»

Le insta a que se coordine con las demás instituciones para gastar los 25 millones
Efe / Granada | Actualizado 16.11.2009 – 01:00

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El PSOE pidió ayer al Ayuntamiento de Granada que se coordine con las demás instituciones para fijar los proyectos a los que destinar los 25 millones que le corresponden del fondo estatal de inversión.

El concejal José María Rueda instó al alcalde, José Torres Hurtado, a que tenga «sentido estratégico, visión de futuro y altura de miras» para destinar esa inversión «no a políticas de fachada, sino a proyectos de calado que permitan dar un salto cualitativo».

Le recomendó que se coordine con instituciones como la Universidad de Granada, que ha impulsado un plan estratégico para lograr el reconocimiento de Campus de Excelencia Internacional. Para Rueda, una forma de que el Ayuntamiento respalde ese reconocimiento sería colaborando con actuaciones que beneficien a la Universidad como la de ampliar el carril bici o darle nuevos usos a los edificios universitarios que quedarán vacíos una
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Ideal

Portada: La Junta garantiza que las obras del metro del Zaidín no tendrán retraso
Pág. 6: La Junta garantiza que las obras del Barranco Hondo no supondrán un “parón” en el metro
Pág. 9: Piden que no desaparezca la titulación de Psicopedagogía
Pág. 18 – Opinión: Granada Convenio Bureau, sí
Pág. 53: Tres día de homenaje a Javier Egea con la lectura de sus poemas
Pág. 56: Detergentes contaminantes
Pág. 59 – Agenda: “Paisaje de la Sierra los Filabres” le espera |La astronomía de los libros |“Espacios de reflexión” |“Stilitas”
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Fish consumption linked to lower cognition

Fish consumption linked to lower cognition
Published: Nov. 13, 2009 at 5:50 PM
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GRANADA, Spain, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Children who eat fish more than three times per week show decreased performance in cognition, researchers in Spain found.

Researcher Carmen Freire Warden, led by Professors Nicolas Olea and Marieta Fernandez Serrano Cabrera of the University of Granada, analyzed the exposure to environmental contaminants through water, air and diet in a sample of 220 children in the geographic healthcare area of San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada, Spain.

Concentrations were higher than those found in other pediatric populations with a lower consumption of fish, but lower than levels found in high-consuming areas.

Important exposure factors were: place of residence, maternal age, passive exposure to tobacco smoke and consumption of oily fish.

The findings suggest fish consumption is the main source of exposure to mercury in the sample population studied.

The research also revealed there is a direct relationship between children\’s passive exposure to tobacco smoke and the use of gas stoves inside houses.

The findings were published in Environmental Research, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Science of the Total Environment and Gaceta Sanitaria.
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Consumption of certain fish during pregnancy associated with poorer cognitive performance

Consumption of certain fish during pregnancy associated with poorer cognitive performance
nächste Meldung
13.11.2009
Children who eat fish more than 3 times per week show a worse performance in the general cognitive, executive and perceptual-manipulative areas. Those with higher levels of exposure to mercury show a generalised delay in cognitive, memory and verbal areas. Mercury is a contaminant found especially in oily fish and canned fish and to a lesser extent in white fish.

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This conclusion emerges from research conducted at the University of Granada, which warns of the need to assess children\’s health risk according to fish consumption, distinguishing between varieties or species they consume, especially in those areas where fish is part of the staple diet of the population.

…mehr zu:
> air pollutant > air pollutant NO2 concentrations > Consumption > environmental contaminants > environmental exposure > fish consumption > health risk > Medicine > NO2 > NO2 concentrations > radiology > tobacco smoke > white fish

The work entitled «Children\’s exposure to environmental contaminants in Granada and potential effects on health» was carried out by Carmen Freire Warden, from the Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine of the UGR, and led by professors Nicolás Olea and Marieta Fernández Serrano Cabrera.

For this study, scientists analyzed the exposure to environmental contaminants through water, air and diet, in a sample of 220 children in the geographic health care area of San Cecilio University Hospital in Granada. This study has described for the first time the extent of childhood exposure to environmental pollutants of special concern, such as trihalomethanes, NO2, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and mercury. Following the hypotheses posed, this research assessed the combination of exposure to air pollution, on the one hand, and mercury, on the other, with child neurodevelopment at 4 years of age.

Mercury concentrations

Thus, total mercury concentrations found in the hair of 4 year-old-children from Granada were between 0.04 and 6.67 g / g. Concentrations were higher than those found in other paediatric populations with a lower consumption of fish, but lower than levels found in high consuming areas.

Important factors in this exposure were the place of residence, maternal age, passive exposure to tobacco smoke and consumption of oily fish. The results suggest that fish consumption is the main source of exposure to mercury in the sample population studied.

The work carried out at the University of Granada also suggests that in Granada, children\’s health risk from exposure to trihalomethanes via drinking water can be considered to be significantly lower than in other areas of the country, and that air pollutant NO2 concentrations (measured in the external environment of the study area) were also lower than those described in other Spanish cities. Traffic of motor vehicles is the main source of emission of these pollutants in the study area.

Moreover, the research also revealed that there is a direct relationship between children\’s passive exposure to tobacco smoke and the use of gas stoves inside houses, and the presence of 1-hydroxypyrene, an indicator of exposure to damaging health air pollutants.

Researchers warn that although environmental exposure levels found in children are low enough not to cause any obvious concern, they could have an impact on child development in the long-term, only appearing as symptoms many years after first exposure. Consequently, they explain, «whatever the extent of involvement of environmental exposures in the etiology of the disease, the simple fact of acting very early in life opens the door to a transcendental field in public health: the possibility of applying early prevention measures to minimize problems.»

These research results were recently published in scientific journals such as Environmental Research, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Science of the Total Environment and Gaceta Sanitaria.

Reference: Carmen Freire Warden, Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine, University of Granada. Tel: (+34) 958 240 758. E-mail: cfreire@ugr.es
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Agua y desarrollo humano

Agua y desarrollo humano PDF Imprimir E-Mail
Escrito por José Aureliano Martín
domingo, 15 de noviembre de 2009
Se ha celebrado la 137 Conferencia anual de la Asociación Americana de Salud Pública en Filadelfia (Pensilvania), «la ciudad del amor fraternal», desde donde se proclamó la independencia de las antiguas colonias inglesas. El tema central de este año era el agua, analizada desde la perspectiva de la salud pública.
Su problemática ha sido abordada desde distintos puntos de vista por especialistas de diversos ámbitos. Ingenieros, médicos, economistas, abogados, higienistas, personal sanitario…han aportado sus experiencias y análisis. Pero también se han tratado otros temas.
Como viene siendo habitual en los últimos años, un grupo de trabajo multidisciplinar de la Universidad de Granada, compuesto principalmente por médicos, economistas, ingenieros y abogados, hemos hecho también nuestra contribución, hablando sobre temas tan diversos como la siniestralidad laboral, las experiencias relacionadas con OMARS, el observatorio medioambiental y de responsabilidad social corporativa, o las formas de gestión sostenible del agua.
Respecto a las aportaciones de otros participantes, me llamó la atención la exposición de un colega de la India acerca de los programas que estaban desarrollando para conseguir frenar la transmisión de enfermedades contagiosas entre los más de dos millones de trabajadores de la minería de la piedra a cielo abierto y sus familias, en una zona cercana a Pakistán, consistentes, simplemente, en facilitar el agua necesaria para consumo y aseo. También fue interesante la experiencia de otro colega japonés respecto a distintos proyectos de construcción de plantas de tratamiento de aguas para consumo humano en algunas zonas deprimidas de América latina, financiados por el Gobierno de su país. En ambos casos se trataba de medidas tan simples y tan de sentido común, que me hicieron reflexionar sobre lo poco que tenemos que hacer para ayudar a los más necesitados.
Por nuestra parte, en uno de los estudios presentados se estimaba la influencia que ejercía el agua en la esperanza de vida al nacer de las personas. Para ello se utilizó el índice de escasez de agua (Water Powerty Index) elaborado y publicado para 128 países, que agrupaba componentes como el acceso al agua, los recursos disponibles, la capacidad de distribución y almacenamiento, el uso y el medio ambiente. Pues bien, nuestra conclusión es que de todos estos componentes, independientemente de la cantidad de recursos hídricos que tengan los países, es la posibilidad de acceso al agua potable de la población la que ejerce una influencia claramente significativa en el incremento de la esperanza de vida al nacer de las personas.
En otro de los trabajos se analizaba si la mejora en el tratamiento de aguas residuales que se observaba en España en la última década había sido homogénea entre Comunidades Autónomas, así como si había asociación estadística entre el volumen de aguas tratadas y el tremendo incremento en la superficie construida. Para ello se elaboró un panel de datos que recogía información de todas nuestras regiones entre los años 1996 y 2006.
Los resultados de los análisis nos mostraban que, tanto el factor regional, como el temporal influían de forma significativa en la variabilidad observada del tratamiento de las aguas residuales, así como que la \’superficie construida\’ ejercía una importante influencia negativa sobre el mismo. Es decir, aunque la serie nacional de dicho tratamiento en España mostrara una evolución favorable de forma global, la comparación por regiones revelaba la existencia de diferencias importantes entre ellas, que crecían conforme se incrementaba la presión urbanística, lo que implica que las diferencias regionales en la salud de la población española surgen, en parte, como consecuencia del diferente ritmo de crecimiento económico, a pesar del efecto nivelador que se produce como consecuencia del reparto de Fondos estructurales.
En definitiva, un buen Congreso, del que se aprende bastante y del que se pueden sacar conclusiones y aportaciones importantes para ayudar al desarrollo sostenible del planeta.
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Piden al Ayuntamiento ´visión de futuro´ en la inversión del fondo estatal

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Piden al Ayuntamiento ´visión de futuro´ en la inversión del fondo estatal
El PSOE de Granada ha pedido al consistorio que se coordine con el resto de instituciones a la hora de fijar los proyectos a los que destinar los 25 millones de euros

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EFE El PSOE ha hecho un llamamiento al Ayuntamiento de Granada para que se coordine con el resto de instituciones a la hora de fijar los proyectos a los que destinar los 25 millones de euros que le corresponden del fondo estatal de inversión.

El concejal socialista José María Rueda ha instado al alcalde, José Torres Hurtado (PP), a que tenga «sentido estratégico de la ciudad, visión de futuro y altura de miras» para destinar esa inversión a proyectos de calado, y no a políticas de fachada, que permitan a Granada dar un «salto cualitativo».

Para ello, ha hecho un llamamiento al alcalde instándole a que se coordine con el resto de instituciones, como la Universidad de Granada, que ha impulsado un plan estratégico de cara a lograr el reconocimiento de Campus de Excelencia Internacional.

Para Rueda, una forma de que el Ayuntamiento respalde ese reconocimiento sería colaborando con actuaciones que beneficien a la Universidad como la de ampliar el carril bici en la ciudad o darle nuevos usos a los edificios universitarios que quedarán vacíos una vez se trasladen al Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, como el de la Facultad de Medicina.

El objetivo del Gobierno con el fondo estatal de inversión es que las partidas vayan destinadas a proyectos relacionados con la economía sostenible, la innovación, el medio ambiente y el nuevo modelo productivo, según el concejal socialista, para quien otra de las actuaciones que podría acometer el Ayuntamiento con este plan de ayudas es la puesta en marcha de un plan local de innovación.

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