Ether à go-go (EAG) potassium channels display oncogenic properties. In normal tissues, EAG mRNA is almost exclusively expressed in brain, but it is expressed in several somatic cancer cell lines, including HeLa, from cervix. Antisense experiments against eag reduce cell proliferation in some cancer cell lines, and inhibition of EAG-mediated currents has been suggested to decrease cell proliferation in a melanoma cell line. Because of the potential clinical relevance of EAG, we investigated EAG mRNA expression in the following fresh samples from human uterine cervix: 5 primary cultures obtained from cancerous biopsies, 1 cancerous fresh tissue, and 12 biopsies of control normal tissue. All of the control cervical samples came from patients with negative pap smears. Reverse transcription-PCR and Southern-blot experiments revealed eag expression in 100% of the cancerous samples and in 33% of the normal biopsies. Immunochemistry experiments showed the presence of EAG channel protein in cells from the primary cultures and in cervical cancer biopsies sections from the same patients. In addition, we looked for EAG-mediated currents in the cultures from cervical cancer cells. Here we show for the first time EAG channel activity in human tumors. Patch-clamp recordings showed typical EAG-mediated currents modulated by magnesium and displaying a pronounced Cole-Moore shift. Because EAG expression and channel activity have been suggested to be important in cell proliferation, our findings strongly support the idea of considering EAG as a tumor marker as well as a potential membrane therapeutic target for cervical cancer.

VAMOS 1 was a prototype detector built in 2011 at an altitude of 4100 m a.s.l. in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The aim of VAMOS was to finalize the design, construction techniques and data acquisition system of the HAWC observatory. HAWC is an air-shower array currently under construction at the same site of VAMOS with the purpose to study the TeV sky. The VAMOS setup included six water Cherenkov detectors and two different data acquisition systems. It was in operation between October 2011 and May 2012 with an average live time of 30%. Besides the scientific verification purposes, the eight months of data were used to obtain the results presented in this paper: the detector response to the Forbush decrease of March 2012, and the analysis of possible emission, at energies above 30 GeV, for long gamma-ray bursts GRB111016B and GRB120328B.

USY faujasites (SiO2/Al2O3 = 12, 30 and 80) were used as hydrodesulphurization (HDS) catalyst supports. Mo, Co and P were impregnated at two concentrations: ∼12.5, ∼3 and ∼1.6 mass %; ∼18, ∼5.5 and ∼2.2 mass % (CL and HL series, respectively). Surface acidity decreased after Co‐Mo‐P deposition. Sulphided catalysts were tested in dibenzothiophene (DBT) HDS (320°C, 5.59 MPa). The HDS rate slightly increased with both SiO2 content and Co‐Mo‐P loading. High selectivity to hydrogenated products suggested deficient Mo promotion in CL solids. Improved Mo promotion by Co (HL series) could be responsible for higher activity and marked selectivity to desulphurization to biphenyl.