Vine-cacti pitayas: the new crops of the world

Until 1994, only scarce research existed on these plants; however the worldwide interest in this novel fruit crop is evident, as numbers of pitaya-related publications have grown rapidly, especially during the past decade .There is a big confusion about both botanical and commercial names and there is a need to clear this point. Herein, we attempt to review existing knowledge on the taxonomy, breeding and other horticultural characteristics of this unique crop. This paper comments abou taxonomy,breeding,physiology and horticultura e chatera ristics,postsharvest and uses.

The conditions for the reproduction of the SAGUAPAC water cooperative in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia : discourse analysis

The SAGUAPAC cooperative in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Eastern Bolivia) is regularly presented as an example of cooperative successes regarding water supply and sanitation. Its efficiency, both economic and technical, is widely considered as the main reason for its attractiveness. However, without denying its importance, we show, through a discourse analysis from and about SAGUAPAC in local media, that moral and non-instrumental factors are crucial in the reproduction of the cooperative. These factors create attachment and affection toward the cooperative, through a storytelling using a four-dimensional rhetoric (mythification, identification, emotionalisation and personification). This storytelling technique, internalized in the local media discourse and materializing the so-called new spirit of capitalism, exploits the affects and instrumentalisation of local myths and legends, as well as the 'camba' ethnic identity. In that, it tends to retain SAGUAPAC members and to canvass new ones, by providing them with recognition in their quality of local community members. However, the mobilisation of social norms and power hierarchies might end up reinforcing the social exclusion of Andean non-camba immigrants, inspite of an a priori inclusive and democratic organisation.

Spain, Economic Crisis, and the New Enclosure of the Reproductive Commons

In the past f ew years numerous authors have examined how the current economic crisis in Spain has dif f erential impacts on women and men.1 While this is important to show, this article’s goal is to make the leap f rom a mere description of the gendered effects of the crisis, to an analysis of some of the very gendered processes that shape it at its core. In other words, the intent is to understand how both the crisis itself and the ways the state manages it are structurally shaped by gender.

The New Era of Value Creation. Case: Sonera Zed

Tutkielman tavoitteena on selvittää kuinka arvonluonti-ideologia on muuttunut arvoketjuajattelusta arvoverkkomalliin ja mitä tekijöitä tarvitaan toimivan arvoverkon rakentamiseen. Teoriaosuus käsittelee arvonmuodostuksen muutosta kokonaisvaltaisesti. Tuloksena saavutetaan arvoverkko. Tutkielman empiirisessä osassa käytetään hyväksi laadullista case-tutkimusta. Teemahaastattelut ovat pääasiallinen empiirisen tiedon lähde. Tuloksena saatuja empiirisen osan tietoja verrataan teoriakappaleen vastaaviin tuloksiin. Case-yritys, Sonera zed, on suomalainen mobiiliportaaliyritys, joka tarjoaa matkapuhelimien lisäarvopalveluita loppuasiakkaille. Case-yrityksen operaatiomalli on rakentaa näitä palveluita yhteistyössä muiden yritysten kanssa. Empiirisen osan tavoite on selvittää toimiiko teoreettinen arvoverkkomalli myös tosielämässä. Arvoverkkomallia hyödynnetään case-yrityksessä vain osittain. Mallia käytetään hyväksi osa-alueilla missä yrityksellä ei ole omia kompetensseja. Sen sijaan alueilla joilla yritys omaa ydinosaamista, ei arvoverkkomallia hyödynnetä tarpeeksi. Tästä huolimatta uskotaan, että oikein hyödynnettynä arvoverkko kykenisi tarjoamaan merkittävää kilpailuetua kilpailijoihin nähden, mikäli mallia hyödynnettäisiin matkapuhelimien lisäarvopalvelutuotannon joka vaiheessa.

Gaining momentum: New options and opportunities for the treatment of advanced melanoma.

Before 2011, patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma had a particularly poor long-term prognosis. Since traditional treatments failed to confer a survival benefit, patients were preferentially entered into clinical trials of investigational agents. A greater understanding of the epidemiology and biology of disease has underpinned the development of newer therapies, including six agents that have been approved in the EU, US and/or Japan: a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 inhibitor (ipilimumab), two programmed cell death-1 receptor inhibitors (nivolumab and pembrolizumab), two BRAF inhibitors (vemurafenib and dabrafenib) and a MEK inhibitor (trametinib). The availability of these treatments has greatly improved the outlook for patients with advanced melanoma; however, a major consideration for physicians is now to determine how best to integrate these agents into clinical practice. Therapeutic decisions are complicated by the need to consider patient and disease characteristics, and individual treatment goals, alongside the different efficacy and safety profiles of agents with varying mechanisms of action. Long-term survival, an outcome largely out of reach with traditional systemic therapies, is now a realistic goal, creating the additional need to re-establish how clinical benefit is evaluated. In this review we summarise the current treatment landscape in advanced melanoma and discuss the promise of agents still in development. We also speculate on the future of melanoma treatment and discuss how combination and sequencing approaches may be used to optimise patient care in the future.

New beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain.

Three beetles remains from the Lower Cretaceous lithographic limestones of Spain are described. We classified them into two new genus and three new species. One specimen named Tetraphalerus brevicapitisn.sp. was placed in the Cupedidae, and both Megacoptoclava longiurogomphia n.gen., n.sp. and Bolbonectus lithographicus n.gen., n.sp. in Coptoclavidae.

MHC/Peptide-Specific Interaction of the Humoral Immune System: A New Category of Antibodies.

Abs bind to unprocessed Ags, whereas cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells recognize peptides derived from endogenously processed Ags presented in the context of class I MHC complexes. We screened, by ELISA, human sera for Abs reacting specifically with the influenza matrix protein (IMP)-derived peptide58-66 displayed by HLA-A*0201 complexes. Among 653 healthy volunteers, blood donors, and women on delivery, high-titered HLA-A*0201/IMP58-66 complex-specific IgG Abs were detected in 11 females with a history of pregnancies and in 1 male, all HLA-A*0201(-). These Abs had the same specificity as HLA-A*0201/IMP58-66-specific cytotoxic T cells and bound neither to HLA-A*0201 nor the peptide alone. No such Abs were detected in HLA-A*0201(+) volunteers. These Abs were not cross-reactive to other self-MHC class I alleles displaying IMP58-66, but bound to MHC class I complexes of an HLA nonidentical offspring. HLA-A*0201/IMP58-66 Abs were also detected in the cord blood of newborns, indicating that HLA-A*0201/IMP58-66 Abs are produced in HLA-A*0201(-) mothers and enter the fetal blood system. That Abs can bind to peptides derived from endogenous Ags presented by MHC complexes opens new perspectives on interactions between the cellular and humoral immune system.

New features of the layer-by-layer deposition of microcrystalline silicon films revealed by spectroscopic ellipsometry and high resolution transmission electron microscopy

Spectroscopic ellipsometry and high resolution transmission electron microscopy have been used to characterize microcrystalline silicon films. We obtain an excellent agreement between the multilayer model used in the analysis of the optical data and the microscopy measurements. Moreover, thanks to the high resolution achieved in the microscopy measurements and to the improved optical models, two new features of the layer-by-layer deposition of microcrystalline silicon have been detected: i) the microcrystalline films present large crystals extending from the a-Si:H substrate to the film surface, despite the sequential process in the layer-by-layer deposition; and ii) a porous layer exists between the amorphous silicon substrate and the microcrystalline silicon film.

MRI/TRUS fusion software-based targeted biopsy: the new standard of care?

The advent of multiparametric MRI has made it possible to change the way in which prostate biopsy is done, allowing to direct biopsies to suspicious lesions rather than randomly. The subject of this review relates to a computer-assisted strategy, the MRI/US fusion software-based targeted biopsy, and to its performance compared to the other sampling methods. Different devices with different methods to register MR images to live TRUS are currently in use to allow software-based targeted biopsy. Main clinical indications of MRI/US fusion software-based targeted biopsy are re-biopsy in men with persistent suspicious of prostate cancer after first negative standard biopsy and the follow-up of patients under active surveillance. Some studies have compared MRI/US fusion software-based targeted versus standard biopsy. In men at risk with MRI-suspicious lesion, targeted biopsy consistently detects more men with clinically significant disease as compared to standard biopsy; some studies have also shown decreased detection of insignificant disease. Only two studies directly compared MRI/US fusion software-based targeted biopsy with MRI/US fusion visual targeted biopsy, and the diagnostic ability seems to be in favor of the software approach. To date, no study comparing software-based targeted biopsy against in-bore MRI biopsy is available. The new software-based targeted approach seems to have the characteristics to be added in the standard pathway for achieving accurate risk stratification. Once reproducibility and cost-effectiveness will be verified, the actual issue will be to determine whether MRI/TRUS fusion software-based targeted biopsy represents anadd-on test or a replacement to standard TRUS biopsy.