Bioethanol as a renewable source of energy. In his thesis, Antonio Peinado Amores, from the Department of Chemistry,the process of alcoholic fermentation has been monitored by using an on-line Near-Infrared probe. In that way, the spectral information recorded has been translated into meaningful chemical information with the help of different...
The first chroniclers who came to America described the highly civilized and urbanized societies. In the course of time these facts were distorted and the western world was acquiring a different vision from reality. Why?. In his doctoral dissertation Isabel Bargalló Sánchez digs this alteration up and answers to this one and...
In the design of new medicines, it is very important to know how the proteins' functions are characterized. Sandra Izquierdo's doctoral thesis, "�cids (+) i (-) aminociclobutan-1-carbox�lics i la seva incorporaci� en �-p�ptids. Estudi sint�tic i estructural", studied how the secondary structures of the particles that form the proteins, the...
Doctor Carlos Margarit, head of the Adult and Paediatric Liver Transplant Program at Vall d'Hebron Hospital, died last December as a result of an accident while out trecking in the mountains. Dr Itxarone Bilbao, who worked with him for 15 years, reviews his life and his achievements in this article.
Plants can be victims of aluminium's toxicity, wich, for example, affects the growth of the roots. In response of this, plants like corn have generated defence mechanisms. They produce compounds that had already been studied for their resistance to pesticides or their defence...
Chromosomes are composed of a material named chromatin. Generally it is accepted that DNA is packaged in chromosomes during mitosis following a succession of chromatin fiber folds. According to a study carried out by UAB researchers, in addition to...
The Catalonian donkey is one of the most endangered donkey breeds in the world. In this study, the investigators J.P. Gutierrez, J. Marmi, F. Goyache i J. Jordana analysed the pedigree information of the Catalonian donkey herdbook to assess the genetic diversity and population structure of the breed. They found that the Catalonian donkey has...
Alcoholism and the hepatic alcoholic illness are heterogeneous clinical entity. We still don't known why people become alcoholic. We also don't known why only a part of them develop the hepatic alcoholic illness. Since the environmental factors do not explain everything, the research efforts are studying the genetic determinants of people. This...
In according with our temperament we run the risk of being an addict. Investigators of the Institute of Neurosciences suggest that people who search constantly new sensations are potentially addicts. This conclusion is the fruit of a study produced with morphine and snooper rats.
Sometimes and without a clock we are capable to tell what time it is or to wake up an hour in particular. Scientists suspect that this skill is mechanized in some place of our body. Investigators of the Service of Neurology have stimulated and inhibited parts of the brain supposedly implied. The results discard the role of the prefrontal lobe...
