Pompeu Fabra University

About: Pompeu Fabra University is a education organization based out in Barcelona, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 8093 authors who have published 23570 publications receiving 858431 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitat Pompeu Fabra & UPF.

Epidemiology of urinary bladder cancer: from tumor development to patient's death.

Abstract: Urinary bladder cancer (UBC) ranks ninth in worldwide cancer incidence. It is more frequent in men than in women. We review the main established/proposed factors, both environmental and genetic, associated with bladder cancer etiology and prognosis. Data were extracted from previous reviews and original articles identified from PubMed searches, reference lists, and book chapters dealing with the reviewed topics. Evaluation and consensus of both the contribution of each factor in bladder cancer burden and the appropriateness of the available evidences was done during an ad hoc meeting held during the 18th Congress of the European Society for Urological Research. Cigarette smoking and specific occupational exposures are the main known causes of UBC. Phenacetin, chlornaphazine and cyclophosphamide also increase the risk of bladder cancer. Chronic infection by Schistosoma haematobium is a cause of squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder. NAT2 slow acetylator and GSTM1 null genotypes are associated with an increased risk of this cancer. Vegetables and fresh fruits protect against this tumor. Regarding prognosis, there is little knowledge on the predictive role of environmental exposures and genetic polymorphisms on tumor recurrence and progression and patient’s death. Although active tobacco smoking is the most commonly studied factor, no definitive conclusion can be drawn from the literature. More research is needed regarding the effect of complex etiological factors in bladder carcinogenesis. Subgroup analysis according to stage, grade, and molecular features may help in identifying specific etiological and prognostic factors involved in different bladder cancer progression pathways.

Voting after the Bombings: A Natural Experiment on the Effect of Terrorist Attacks on Democratic Elections

Abstract: Can terrorist attacks be timed to change the outcome of democratic elections? In this paper, we analyze the electoral impact of the terrorist attacks of March 11, 2004, in Madrid. Studies using individual level postelectoral survey data reach contradictory conclusions. We propose an alternative approach. Since the bombings took place only three days before the 2004 congressional election, we can find a control group of individuals who cast their vote before the terrorist attacks. The results indicate that the attacks had an important electoral impact, rejecting the hypothesis that the identity of the winner was unaffected by the terrorist attacks.

Roles of the Polycomb group proteins in stem cells and cancer

Abstract: Polycomb group proteins have long been linked to the occurrence of different forms of cancer. Polycomb proteins form at least two distinct complexes, the Polycomb-repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2). Some of the PRC complex subunits have been found to be overexpressed in a variety of different tumors. Epigenetic perturbations are likely to be the cause for transcriptional misregulation of tumor suppressor genes and of certain cell fates. It is especially critical for stem cells that their potential to self-renewal and to differentiate is tightly controlled and properly orchestrated. Misregulation of Polycomb protein levels often leads to either a block or unscheduled activation of developmental pathways, thereby enhancing the proliferation capability of a cell. The consequences of this misregulation have been linked to the establishment of cancer stem cells, which can produce tumors through a combination of increased self-renewal and the lack of complete cellular differentiation. Cancer stem cells are believed to persist within tumors and to elicit relapse and metastasis. In this review, we recapitulate the roles of Polycomb proteins in stem cell biology, and the impact their misregulation can have on cancer.

Antenna Subset Modulation for Secure Millimeter-Wave Wireless Communication

Abstract: The small carrier wavelength at millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies enables featuring a large number of co-located antennas. This paper exploits the potential of large antenna arrays to develop a low-complexity directional modulation technique, Antenna Subset Modulation (ASM), for point-to-point secure wireless communication. The main idea in ASM is to modulate the radiation pattern at the symbol rate by driving only a subset of antennas in the array. This results in a directional radiation pattern that projects a sharply defined constellation in the desired direction and expanded further randomized constellation in other directions. Two techniques for implementing ASM are proposed. The first technique selects an antenna subset randomly for every symbol. While randomly switching antenna subsets does not affect the symbol modulation for a desired receiver along the main direction, it effectively randomizes the amplitude and phase of the received symbol for an eavesdropper along a sidelobe. Using a simplified statistical model, an expression for the average uncoded symbol error rate (SER) is derived as a function of the observation angle. To overcome the problem of large sidelobes in random antenna subset switching, the second technique uses an optimized antenna subset selection procedure based on simulated annealing to achieve superior performance compared with random selection. Numerical comparisons of the SER performance and secrecy capacity of the proposed techniques against those of conventional array transmission are presented to highlight the potential of ASM.