Cartografia bionòmica dels hàbitats de la costa del Montgrí i les illes Medes

La caracterització dels ecosistemes bentònics i el coneixement de l’estructura i funcionalitat dels ecosistemesés una eina imprescindible per a la gestió i conservació del medi natural. A causa de la sevacomposició específica i dinàmica, les diferents espècies i les comunitats que formen responen de formadiferent a les pertorbacions que s’hi produeixen, de manera que la gestió del medi natural ha de tenir en compte les particularitats de cada hàbitat...

Europeans and Biotechnology in 2010. Winds of change?

George Gaskell and colleagues designed, analysed and interpreted the Eurobarometer 73.1 on the Life Sciences and Biotechnology as part of the research project Sensitive Technologies and European Public Ethics (STEPE), funded by the Science in Society Programme of the EC’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7).

La formación política de los jóvenes: una necesidad de higiene democrática

La desafección aparente de los votantes hacia los procesos electorales parece ir en aumento. Algunos estudios proponen una doble vía para enderezar ese proceso: el cambio de las normas del juego democrático y la profundización en la formación política de los jóvenes. En este texto se apuesta decididamente por lo segundo y, para ello, se presentan los resultados de una investigación llevada a cabo en el marco de una de las actividades educativas que se realizan en el Parlamento de Cataluña con jóvenes de bachillerato. En él se exponen algunos datos que vienen a superar el estereotipo de que esa población joven, a las puertas de la mayoría de edad, tiene un conocimiento escaso de la política e incluso una desafección absoluta hacia ella. No sólo se demuestra que tienen interés por temas socialmente relevantes, sino que expresan su voluntad de acudir a las urnas en cuanto tengan oportunidad. Por supuesto, la discusión final del texto sugiere que el marco de obtención de los datos, un taller formativo con parlamentarios, facilita claramente esos resultados, y que esa corriente de inquietud que expresan los jóvenes debería ser adecuadamente canalizada en los centros escolares para redundar en su formación política y reforzar esa aparente expectación. En este sentido, el presente trabajo termina con un mapa de valores para desarrollar programas de formación política en educación secundaria

Characterization of thirty two microsatellite loci for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderm species

Thirty two microsatellites were optimized from 454 pyrosequencing libraries for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderms: Coscinasterias tenuispina, Echinaster sepositus and Arbacia lixula. We observed different frequency of microsatellite types (di-, tri-, tetra- and pentanucleotide) throughout the genome of the species, but no significant differences were observed in allele richness among different microsatellite repeats. No loci showed linkage disequilibrium. Heterozygosity deficit and departure from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium were observed for some loci, in two species, probably due to high levels of inbreeding. Heterozygosity excess observed in C. tenuispina could be explained by selection against homozygotes and/or outcrossing.

Risk of hypoglycemia in newborns from mothers with gestacional diabetes

There are not enough previous publications which are focused on mothers withwell-controlled gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) as a risk factor that determines the occurrence of neonatal hypoglycemia. In addition, approaches to blood glucose monitoring have been inconsistent and poorly defined. Our objective is to determine if being a newborn from a mother with well-controlled gestational diabetes (regardless insulin treatment) have a higher risk to develop hypoglycemia than a healthy newborn, using a defined and strict protocol. The project will take place in a regional hospital of Girona. We will recruit from 2014 to 2015 a cohort of 623 infants born in this center without any malformation or any perinatal pathology or complication, selected with a consecutive sampling. We will record sex, ethnicity and gestational age information. We will measure blood glucose levels and anthropometric measurements in newborns always taking into account the presence of well-controlled maternal gestational diabetes or not. Patients will be followed up during 24 hours to determine the incidence of hypoglycemia. We will analyze the contribution between exposure factors that we have studied and the incidence of the outcome using a multivariate analysis

ZigBee/ZigBee PRO security assessment based on compromised cryptographic keys

Sensor networks have many applications in monitoring and controlling of environmental properties such as sound, acceleration, vibration and temperature. Due to limitedresources in computation capability, memory and energy, they are vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. The ZigBee specification based on the 802.15.4 standard, defines a set of layers specifically suited to sensor networks. These layers support secure messaging using symmetric cryptographic. This paper presents two different ways for grabbing the cryptographic key in ZigBee: remote attack and physical attack. It also surveys and categorizes some additional attacks which can be performed on ZigBee networks: eavesdropping, spoofing, replay and DoS attacks at different layers. From this analysis, it is shown that some vulnerabilities still in the existing security schema in ZigBee technology.

VoIP: Making Secure Calls and Maintaining High Call Quality

Modern multimedia communication tools must have high security, high availability and high quality of service (QoS). Any security implementation will directly impact on QoS. This paper will investigate how end-to-end security impacts on QoS in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). The QoS is measured in terms of lost packet ratio, latency and jitter using different encryption algorithms, no security and just the use of IP firewalls in Local and Wide Area Networks (LAN and WAN). The results of laboratory tests indicate that the impact on the overall performance of VoIP depends upon the bandwidth availability and encryption algorithm used. The implementation of any encryption algorithm in low bandwidth environments degrades the voice quality due to increased loss packets and packet latency, but as bandwidth increases encrypted VoIP calls provided better service compared to an unsecured environment.

A wolf in sheep"s clothing: carnivory in dominant sea urchins in the Mediterranean

Arbacia lixula and Paracentrotus lividus are the dominant sea urchins in the Mediterranean sublittoral, where they are key structuring species due to their grazing activity. It has been commonly accepted that competition between both species is minimized by specializing in different algal foods. A. lixula is considered to feed mainly on encrusting coralline algae, while P. lividus prefers fleshy macroalgae. We used stable isotope analysis to test if these species occupy different trophic positions at 3 locations in the western Mediterranean and one in Macaronesia. Our results show unambiguously that A. lixula always occupies a higher trophic level than P. lividus, with a δ15N comparable in some locations to strict carnivores such as Actinia schmidti or Marthasterias glacialis. A temporal monitoring at one locality showed that this signature of a higher trophic level is consistent throughout the year. These results are incompatible with the current belief of an herbivorous diet for A. lixula and suggest that it must be considered an omnivore tending to carnivory in Mediterranean ecosystems, feeding at least partially on sessile animals such as Cirripedia, Hydrozoa or Bryozoa. A parallel analysis of gut contents showed a predominance of vegetal items in both species, although A. lixula consistently had a higher abundance of animal components than P. lividus. Our results challenge the validity of using gut content observations alone for characterizing the trophic behaviour of omnivorous marine invertebrates that feed on a variety of food sources with different digestibility.

Estudio transdiciplinar de la fosa EE1 de la Cova Colomera (Prepirineo de Lleida): implicaciones domesticas y paleoambientales en el Bronce Antiguo del Noreste de la Peninsula Iberica

El estudio transdisciplinar de la fosa EE1 de la Cova Colomera ha proporcionado un conjunto de datos que aportan importante información sobre las prácticas domésticas y económicas desarrolladas en ella, y sobre las características paleoambientales de esta zona del noreste peninsular en el tránsito III-II milenio cal. AC. Los resultados apuntan a que esta cueva fue ocupada por grupos reducidos, con una economía mixta agropecuaria, que recurrían también a actividades cinegéticas para completar su dieta. En sus cortas estancias en la Cova Colomera, crearon y amortizaron estructuras excavadas en el suelo de la cavidad, como la fosa EE1, bien para almacenar excedentes y después desechar basura, o bien para eliminar residuos de origen doméstico.

Alcalosis metabólica y tratamiento con Diálisis Peritoneal. A propósito de un caso

La acidosis metabólica que presentan los pacientes en IRC es consecuencia del fallo, por parte de los riñones, de la eliminación de los hidrogeniones. Estos son captados por el bicarbonato formando dióxido de carbono y eliminándolos por vía renal, mientras que el bicarbonato es reabsorbido por los túbulos renales (1). Una de las funciones de la diálisis es corregir la acidosis poniendo la sangre del paciente en contacto con soluciones tampón para que equilibren dicha acidosis. Estas soluciones captan los hidrogeniones, facilitando el mantenimiento del equilibrio ácido-base (2). La corrección de la acidosis en pacientes sometidos a tratamiento con diálisis peritoneal (DP) no está exenta de...

Un viaje hacia a excelencia relacional a través de la comunicación. Sikkhona

La presente comunicación es el resultado de la experiencia de trabajar con equiposde trabajo en organizaciones, empresas, escuelas y en la universidad. Es una propuesta metodológicapara alcanzar la excelencia en las relaciones grupales a través de la comunicación.Todos los grupos (profesionales, personales o familiares) pasan por distintas etapas de relaciónentre sus miembros, algunas altamente productivas o constructivas, otras frustrantes o destructivas.Sikkhona proporciona un conjunto de dinámicas y herramientas destinadas a estimularla comunicación entre los miembros del grupo, a abordar positivamente los conflictos y acrecer en cohesión. Ayuda a hacer evolucionar estos grupos en la dirección correcta, haciéndoloscrecer y ayudando a promover a cada uno de sus miembros. Para ello se ha desarrollado unjuego de comunicación para facilitar los lenguajes emocionales a través de la imagen y del diseñode oportunidades para alcanzar los niveles más óptimos de comunicación y de relación.Los resultados son altamente satisfactorios siendo clave para el desarrollo los equipos human.

Characterization of thirty two microsatellite loci for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderm species

Thirty two microsatellites were optimized from 454 pyrosequencing libraries for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderms: Coscinasterias tenuispina, Echinaster sepositus and Arbacia lixula. We observed different frequency of microsatellite types (di-, tri-, tetra- and pentanucleotide) throughout the genome of the species, but no significant differences were observed in allele richness among different microsatellite repeats. No loci showed linkage disequilibrium. Heterozygosity deficit and departure from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium were observed for some loci, in two species, probably due to high levels of inbreeding. Heterozygosity excess observed in C. tenuispina could be explained by selection against homozygotes and/or outcrossing.

Direct Interrogation of Viral Peptides Presented by the Class I HLA of HIV-Infected T Cells

Identification of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes has traditionally relied upon testing of overlapping peptide libraries for their reactivity with T cells in vitro. Here, we pursued deep ligand sequencing (DLS) as an alternative method of directly identifying those ligands that are epitopes presented to CTLs by the class I human leukocyte antigens (HLA) of infected cells. Soluble class I HLA-A*11:01 (sHLA) was gathered from HIV-1 NL4-3-infected human CD4+ SUP-T1 cells. HLA-A*11:01 harvested from infected cells was immunoaffinity purified and acid boiled to release heavy and light chains from peptide ligands that were then recovered by size-exclusion filtration. The ligands were first fractionated by high-pH high-pressure liquid chromatography and then subjected to separation by nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) at low pH. Approximately 10 million ions were selected for sequencing by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). HLA-A*11:01 ligand sequences were determined with PEAKS software and confirmed by comparison to spectra generated from synthetic peptides. DLS identified 42 viral ligands presented by HLA-A*11:01, and 37 of these were previously undetected. These data demonstrate that (i) HIV-1 Gag and Nef are extensively sampled, (ii) ligand length variants are prevalent, particularly within Gag and Nef hot spots where ligand sequences overlap, (iii) noncanonical ligands are T cell reactive, and (iv) HIV-1 ligands are derived from de novo synthesis rather than endocytic sampling. Next-generation immunotherapies must factor these nascent HIV-1 ligand length variants and the finding that CTL-reactive epitopes may be absent during infection of CD4+ T cells into strategies designed to enhance T cell immunity.