Culicidae (Diptera) selection of humans, chickens and rabbits in three different environments in the province of Chaco, Argentina

Studies were conducted to determine the selection of humans, chickens and rabbits by Culicidae in three different environments in the province of Chaco, Argentina. Mosquitoes were collected fortnightly using cylindrical metal traps containing animal bait (chickens and rabbits). The mosquitoes were collected between June 2001-May 2002. During the same period and with the same frequency, mosquitoes biting the human operators of the traps were collected during the first 15 min of exposure within different time intervals: from 09:00 am-11:00 am, 01:00 pm-03:00 pm, 05:00 pm-07:00 pm and 09:00 pm-10:00 pm. A total of 19,430 mosquitoes of 49 species belonging to 10 genera were collected. Culex species mainly selected chicken bait and Wyeomyia species selected rabbit bait. Ochlerotatus and Psorophora species were more abundant in rabbit-baited traps. Anopheles triannulatus, Coquillettidia nigricans, Ochlerotatus scapularis, Mansonia titillans and Psorophora albigenu showed a strong attraction for human bait. The Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex and Mansonia species were more active between 05:00 pm-09:00 pm, while Ochlerotatus, Psorophora, Haemagogus and Wyeomyia were most active from 09:00 am-07:00 pm. This study provides additional information about the biology and ecology of arbovirus vectors in Chaco.

Estudio contrastivo de transposición semántica entre el lenguaje metafórico en lengua inglesa y española

El projecte de tesi doctoral que estem portant a terme requereix una mitjana de quatre anys de durada. A hores d‟ara, nou mesos després de la concessió de l‟ajut, estem treballant per a la defensa del projecte, que farem en el primer trimestre de l‟any 2012. El nostre treball pertany al camp de la lingüística i està directament relacionat amb la lexicografia i la semàntica. L‟objectiu final és el disseny de materials per a la traducció i l‟ensenyament de llengües. L‟ús de lèxic és el tema escollit. D‟una banda, volem esbrinar com autors consagrats de literatura utilitzen el llenguatge. Per això, mirem de diferenciar el que es consideran usos “normals” del llenguatge del que serien “explotacions”, especialmente aquelles relacionades amb l‟extensió de significat i, més específicament, amb la metáfora. D‟altra banda, perseguim fer una proposta de material destinat tant a l‟ensenyament de llengües estrangeres com a la traducció (els idiomas amb els quals treballem són anglès i espanyol). Les teories que utilitzem en la nostra recerca són la teoria del lèxic generatiu (de J. Pustejovsky) i la teoria de normes i explotacions (de P. Hanks). Encara no hem decidit quins autors estudiarem, tot i estar consultant obres d‟escriptors com V. S. Naipaul i J. Marías. El treball de recerca desenvolupat fins avui ha consistit en la redacció de la memòria final de màster (Màster Oficial en Formació de Professors d‟Espanyol com a Llengua Estrangera) en què s‟estudiava el tractament de la metáfora en diferents diccionaris d‟ELE i d‟EFL i en la cerca, lectura i selección de documents que podran ajudar-nos en la nostra empresa.

Càlcul, disseny i fabricació d'una carrosseria autoportant en material compòsit per al vehicle de baix consum Àliga

El projecte és l’inici de la creació d’un nou prototip per a poder competir la temporada 2008 a la cursa de vehicles de baix consum Shell Eco-Marathon. El principal objectiu és aconseguir un xassís que redueixi, en la mesura del possible, el pes del prototip a la vegada que asseguri una millor rigidesa i millori l’ergonomia de tot el conjunt. Es dissenyarà tota la part estructural de la carrosseria, que serà sotmesa a càlcul mitjançant la tècnica dels elements finits i posteriorment es realitzarà una guia de producció per tal de guiar els membres de l’equip que en realitzin la producció

El implante de condrocitos autólogos en la red sanitaria pública de Andalucía. Resultados tras 6 años de circuito asistencial.

Objective: To asses the results of Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ACI) whith periosteal patch and To propagate the care circuits existing about in Andalusia. Material and Methods: From its of ficial licence in 2005, the tissue bank and the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital from Málaga, performed the ACI in the Andalusian public health system. 16 patients has been operated between 2006-2013, whith medium follow-up 47,6 months (6 months-6 years), from public hos- pitals throughout Andalucia, managed by hospital admission source and destination. Physiologically younger patients were selected (<50 años), with singles, > 2cm2 symptomatics chondral lesions, in stables and well aligned knees. ACI was used as res- cue procedure after microfracture ́s failure except osteochondritis dissecans. To assess the results the Concinnati score and the Short Form 36 (SF-36) score were used. A descriptive analysis was performed and non-parametric tests were used to establish correlations and compare results. Results: In 15 patients with more than one year of follow-up: 14 men(87.5%) and 2women (14.5%), medium age 28.2 years old (min 17 max 43), the lesion was located into de femoral condyle, mostly in the internal one (81,2%) with medium size 2,7cm2(2-4,2). We founded significant improvement (p<0,001), both daily activities ( 89,3% preop. limitatión - 9% postop), as in the sports (90,2% preop limitatión - 38% postop) and the exploration of the knee (67,7% hpatological findings preop- 13,3%postop). The SF-36 score improved in all categories, over all in mental health (p> 0,01). The patient satisfaction was high or very high in 12 of the 15 patients ( 80%), and low in 3 patients. Conclusions: ACI improve quality of life and knee function in femoral condyle chondral lesions. The case ́s selection and the collaboration with Tissue Bank, allows us to create care circuits for treatment of patients from other provinces in the Public Sanitary Health System in Andalucia. It is necessary to increase the experience with this type of therapy, consolidating multicenter workgroups that provide strength to the conclusions.

Do pseudo-absence selection strategies influence species distribution models and their predictions? An information-theoretic approach based on simulated data

Background Multiple logistic regression is precluded from many practical applications in ecology that aim to predict the geographic distributions of species because it requires absence data, which are rarely available or are unreliable. In order to use multiple logistic regression, many studies have simulated "pseudo-absences" through a number of strategies, but it is unknown how the choice of strategy influences models and their geographic predictions of species. In this paper we evaluate the effect of several prevailing pseudo-absence strategies on the predictions of the geographic distribution of a virtual species whose "true" distribution and relationship to three environmental predictors was predefined. We evaluated the effect of using a) real absences b) pseudo-absences selected randomly from the background and c) two-step approaches: pseudo-absences selected from low suitability areas predicted by either Ecological Niche Factor Analysis: (ENFA) or BIOCLIM. We compared how the choice of pseudo-absence strategy affected model fit, predictive power, and information-theoretic model selection results. Results Models built with true absences had the best predictive power, best discriminatory power, and the "true" model (the one that contained the correct predictors) was supported by the data according to AIC, as expected. Models based on random pseudo-absences had among the lowest fit, but yielded the second highest AUC value (0.97), and the "true" model was also supported by the data. Models based on two-step approaches had intermediate fit, the lowest predictive power, and the "true" model was not supported by the data. Conclusion If ecologists wish to build parsimonious GLM models that will allow them to make robust predictions, a reasonable approach is to use a large number of randomly selected pseudo-absences, and perform model selection based on an information theoretic approach. However, the resulting models can be expected to have limited fit.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy or open lobectomy for non-small-cell lung cancer? Minimizing selection bias in observational studies.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Adherence to preventive measures and prescribed medications is the cornerstone of the successful management of hypertension. The role of adherence is particularly important when treatments are not providing the expected clinical results, for example, in patients with resistant hypertension. The goal of this article is to review the recent observations regarding drug adherence in resistant hypertension. RECENT FINDINGS: Today, the role of drug adherence as a potential cause of resistant hypertension is largely underestimated. Most studies suggest that a low adherence to the prescribed medications can affect up to 50% of patients with resistant hypertension.A good adherence to therapy is generally associated with an improved prognosis. Nonetheless, adherence should probably not be a target for treatment per se because data on adherence should always be interpreted in the view of clinical results. In our opinion, the availability of reliable data on drug adherence would be a major help for physicians to manage patients apparently resistant to therapy. SUMMARY: The actual development of new drugs for hypertension is slow. Thus, focusing on drug adherence to the drugs available is an important way to improve blood pressure control in the population. More emphasis should be put on measuring drug adherence in patients with resistant hypertension to avoid costly investigations and treatments.

Interoperabilitat entre repositoris de material docent i recol·lectors de metadades

L'objectiu principal d'aquest projecte és estudiar les mancances en la interoperabilitat entre els repositoris de material docent i els recol·lectors de metadades, així com incloure una proposta d'arquitectura per superar-ho, basada en ontologies per a cada tipus de material docent o mitjançant crosswalks.

Selection of Reference Genes for Quantitative Real Time PCR (qPCR) Assays in Tissue from Human Ascending Aorta.

Dilatation of the ascending aorta (AAD) is a prevalent aortopathy that occurs frequently associated with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV), the most common human congenital cardiac malformation. The molecular mechanisms leading to AAD associated with BAV are still poorly understood. The search for differentially expressed genes in diseased tissue by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) is an invaluable tool to fill this gap. However, studies dedicated to identify reference genes necessary for normalization of mRNA expression in aortic tissue are scarce. In this report, we evaluate the qPCR expression of six candidate reference genes in tissue from the ascending aorta of 52 patients with a variety of clinical and demographic characteristics, normal and dilated aortas, and different morphologies of the aortic valve (normal aorta and normal valve n = 30; dilated aorta and normal valve n = 10; normal aorta and BAV n = 4; dilated aorta and BAV n = 8). The expression stability of the candidate reference genes was determined with three statistical algorithms, GeNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper. The expression analyses showed that the most stable genes for the three algorithms employed were CDKN1β, POLR2A and CASC3, independently of the structure of the aorta and the valve morphology. In conclusion, we propose the use of these three genes as reference genes for mRNA expression analysis in human ascending aorta. However, we suggest searching for specific reference genes when conducting qPCR experiments with new cohort of samples.

Polymorphism at a sex-linked transcription cofactor in European tree frogs (Hyla arborea): Sex-antagonistic selection or neutral processes?

Nascent sex chromosomes offer a unique opportunity to investigate the evolutionary fate of genesrecently trapped in non-recombining segments. A housekeeping gene (MED15) was recently shown to lie on the nascent sex-chromosomes of the European tree frog (Hyla arborea), with different alleles fixed on the X and the Y chromosomes. Here we document a polymorphism (glutamine deletion) in the X copy of the gene, and use population surveys and experimental crosses to test whether this polymorphism is neutral or maintained by sex-antagonistic selection. Tadpoles from parents of known genotypes revealed significant discrepancies from Mendelian inheritance, suggesting possible sex-antagonistic effects under laboratory conditions. Quantitatively, however, these effects did not meet the conditions for polymorphism maintenance. Furthermore, field estimates of female genotypic frequencies did not differ from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and allelic frequencies on the X chromosome did not differ between sexes. In conclusion, although sex antagonistic effects cannot be excluded given the laboratory conditions, the X-linked polymorphism under study appears neutral in the wild. Alternatively, sex-antagonistic selection might still account for the fixation of a male specific allele on the Y chromosome.

Genetic variability in G2 and F2 region between biological clones of human respiratory syncytial virus with or without host immune selection pressure

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) is an important respiratory pathogens among children between zero-five years old. Host immunity and viral genetic variability are important factors that can make vaccine production difficult. In this work, differences between biological clones of HRSV were detected in clinical samples in the absence and presence of serum collected from children in the convalescent phase of the illness and from their biological mothers. Viral clones were selected by plaque assay in the absence and presence of serum and nucleotide sequences of the G2 and F2 genes of HRSV biological clones were compared. One non-synonymous mutation was found in the F gene (Ile5Asn) in one clone of an HRSV-B sample and one non-synonymous mutation was found in the G gene (Ser291Pro) in four clones of the same HRSV-B sample. Only one of these clones was obtained after treatment with the child's serum. In addition, some synonymous mutations were determined in two clones of the HRSV-A samples. In conclusion, it is possible that minor sequences could be selected by host antibodies contributing to the HRSV evolutionary process, hampering the development of an effective vaccine, since we verify the same codon alteration in absence and presence of human sera in individual clones of BR-85 sample.

Extensive variation at MHC DRB in the New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri) provides evidence for balancing selection.

Marine mammals are often reported to possess reduced variation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes compared with their terrestrial counterparts. We evaluated diversity at two MHC class II B genes, DQB and DRB, in the New Zealand sea lion (Phocarctos hookeri, NZSL) a species that has suffered high mortality owing to bacterial epizootics, using Sanger sequencing and haplotype reconstruction, together with next-generation sequencing. Despite this species' prolonged history of small population size and highly restricted distribution, we demonstrate extensive diversity at MHC DRB with 26 alleles, whereas MHC DQB is dimorphic. We identify four DRB codons, predicted to be involved in antigen binding, that are evolving under adaptive evolution. Our data suggest diversity at DRB may be maintained by balancing selection, consistent with the role of this locus as an antigen-binding region and the species' recent history of mass mortality during a series of bacterial epizootics. Phylogenetic analyses of DQB and DRB sequences from pinnipeds and other carnivores revealed significant allelic diversity, but little phylogenetic depth or structure among pinniped alleles; thus, we could neither confirm nor refute the possibility of trans-species polymorphism in this group. The phylogenetic pattern observed however, suggests some significant evolutionary constraint on these loci in the recent past, with the pattern consistent with that expected following an epizootic event. These data may help further elucidate some of the genetic factors underlying the unusually high susceptibility to bacterial infection of the threatened NZSL, and help us to better understand the extent and pattern of MHC diversity in pinnipeds.

Drug assessment by a Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee: from drug selection criteria to use in clinical practice.

BACKGROUND In Spain, hospital medicines are assessed and selected by local Pharmacy and Therapeutics committees (PTCs). Of all the drugs assessed, cancer drugs are particularly important because of their budgetary impact and the sometimes arguable added value with respect to existing alternatives. This study analyzed the PTC drug selection process and the main objective was to evaluate the degree of compliance of prescriptions for oncology drugs with their criteria for use. METHODS This was a retrospective observational study (May 2007 to April 2010) of PTC-assessed drugs. The variables measured to describe the committee's activity were number of drugs assessed per year and number of drugs included in any of these settings: without restrictions, with criteria for use, and not included in formulary. These drugs were also analyzed by therapeutic group. To assess the degree of compliance of prescriptions, a score was calculated to determine whether prescriptions for bevacizumab, cetuximab, trastuzumab, and bortezomib were issued in accordance with PTC drug use criteria. RESULTS The PTC received requests for inclusion of 40 drugs, of which 32 were included in the hospital formulary (80.0%). Criteria for use were established for 28 (87.5%) of the drugs included. In total, 293 patients were treated with the four cancer drugs in eight different therapeutic indications. The average prescription compliance scores were as follows: bevacizumab, 83% for metastatic colorectal cancer, 100% for metastatic breast cancer, and 82.3% for non-small-cell lung cancer; cetuximab, 62.0% for colorectal cancer and 50% for head and neck cancer; trastuzumab, 95.1% for early breast cancer and 82.4% for metastatic breast cancer; and bortezomib, 63.7% for multiple myeloma. CONCLUSION The degree of compliance with criteria for use of cancer drugs was reasonably high. PTC functions need to be changed so that they can carry out more innovative tasks, such as monitoring conditions for drug use.

Adverse selection, moral hazard, and outlier payment policy

In this article, we analyze the rationale for introducing outlier payments into a prospective payment system for hospitals under adverse selection and moral hazard. The payer has only two instruments: a fixed price for patients whose treatment cost is below a threshold and a cost-sharing rule for outlier patients. We show that a fixed-price policy is optimal when the hospital is sufficiently benevolent. When the hospital is weakly benevolent, a mixed policy solving a trade-off between rent extraction, efficiency, and dumping deterrence must be preferred. We show how the optimal combination of fixed price and partially cost-based payment depends on the degree of benevolence of the hospital, the social cost of public funds, and the distribution of patients severity. [Authors]

Enhanced Model Selection for motion segmentation

In this paper a novel rank estimation technique for trajectories motion segmentation within the Local Subspace Affinity (LSA) framework is presented. This technique, called Enhanced Model Selection (EMS), is based on the relationship between the estimated rank of the trajectory matrix and the affinity matrix built by LSA. The results on synthetic and real data show that without any a priori knowledge, EMS automatically provides an accurate and robust rank estimation, improving the accuracy of the final motion segmentation

Electoral competition through issue selection

Politics must tackle multiple issues at once. In a first-best world, political competition constrains parties to prioritize issues according to the voters' true concerns. In the real world, the opposite also happens: parties manipulate voter priorities by emphasizing issues selectively during the political campaign. This phenomenon, known as priming, should allow parties to pay less attention to the issues that they intend to mute. We develop a model of endogenous issue ownership in which two vote-seeking parties (i) invest to attract voters with "better" policy proposals and (ii) choose a communication campaign to focus voter attention on specific issues. We identify novel feedbacks between communication and investment. In particular, we find that stronger priming effects can backfire by constraining parties to invest more resources in all issues, including the ones they would otherwise intend to mute. We also identify under which conditions parties prefer to focus on their "historical issues" or to engage in issue stealing. Typically, the latter happens when priming effects are strong, and historical reputations differentiates parties less.