Reconstructing the origins and the biogeography of species’ genomes in the highly reticulate allopolyploid-rich model grass genus Brachypodium using minimum evolution, coalescence and maximum likelihood approaches

The identification of homeologous genomes and the biogeographical analyses of highly reticulate allopolyploid-rich groups face the challenge of incorrectly inferring the genomic origins and the biogeographical patterns of the polyploids from unreliable strictly bifurcating trees. Here we reconstruct a plausible evolutionary scenario of the diverging and merging genomes inherited by the diploid and allopolyploid species and cytotypes of the model grass genus Brachypodium. We have identified the ancestral Brachypodium genomes and inferred the paleogeographical ranges for potential hybridization events that originated its allopolyploid taxa. We also constructed a comprehensive phylogeny of Brachypodium from five nuclear and plastid genes using Species Tree Minimum Evolution allele grafting and Species Network analysis. The divergence ages of the lineages were estimated from a consensus maximum clade credibility tree using fossil calibrations, whereas ages of origin of the diploid and allopolyploid species were inferred from coalescence Bayesian methods. The biogeographical events of the genomes were reconstructed using a stratified Dispersal-Extinction-Colonization model with three temporal windows. Our combined Minimum Evolution-coalescence-Bayesian approach allowed us to infer the origins and the identities of the homeologous genomes of the Brachypodium allopolyploids, matching the expected ploidy levels of the hybrids. To date, the current extant progenitor genomes (species) are only known for B. hybridum. Putative ancestral homeologous genome have been inherited by B. mexicanum, ancestral and recent genomes by B. boissieri, and only recently evolved genomes by B. retusum and the core perennial clade allopolyploids (B. phoenicoides, B. pinnatum 4x, B. rupestre 4x). We dissected the complex spatio-temporal evolution of ancestral and recent genomes and have detected successive splitting, dispersal and merging events for dysploid homeologous genomes in diverse geographical scenarios that have led to the current extant taxa. Our data support Mid-Miocene splits of the Holarctic ancestral genomes that preceded the Late Miocene origins of Brachypodium ancestors of the modern diploid species. Successive divergences of the annual B. stacei and B. distachyon diploid genomes were implied to have occurred in the Mediterranean region during the Late Miocene-Pliocene. By contrast, a profusion of splits, range expansions and different genome mergings were inferred for the perennial diploid genomes in the Mediterranean and Eurasian regions, with sporadic colonizations and further mergings in other continents during the Quaternary. A reliable biogeographical scenario was obtained for the Brachypodium genomes and allopolyploids where homeologous genomes split from their respective diploid counterpart lineages in the same ancestral areas, showing similar or distinct dispersals. By contrast, the allopolyploid taxa remained in the same ancestral ranges after hybridization and genome doubling events. Our approach should have utility in deciphering the genomic composition and the historical biogeography of other allopolyploid-rich organismal groups, which are predominant in eukaryotes

Characterization of Chicken IgY Specific to Clostridium difficile R20291 Spores and the Effect of Oral Administration in Mouse Models of Initiation and Recurrent Disease

Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are the leading cause of world-wide nosocomial acquired diarrhea. The current main clinical challenge in CDI is the elevated rate of infection recurrence that may reach up to 30% of the patients, which has been associated to the formation of dormant spores during the infection. We sought to characterize the effects of oral administration of specific anti-spore IgY in mouse models of CDI and recurrent CDI. The specificity of anti-spore IgY was evaluated in vitro. In both, initiation mouse model and recurrence mouse model, we evaluated the prophylactic and therapeutic effect of anti-spore IgY, respectively. Our results demonstrate that anti-spore IgY exhibited high specificity and titers against C. difficile spores and reduced spore adherence to intestinal cells in vitro. Administration of anti-spore IgY to C57BL/6 mice prior and during CDI delayed the appearance of the diarrhea by 1.5 day, and spore adherence to the colonic mucosa by 90%. Notably, in the recurrence model, co-administration of anti-spore IgY coupled with vancomycin delayed the appearance of recurrent diarrhea by a median of 2 days. Collectively, these observations suggest that anti-spore IgY antibodies may be used as a novel prophylactic treatment for CDI, or in combination with antibiotics to treat CDI and prevent recurrence of the infection.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00365/ful

Modeling of energy efficiency for residential buildings using artificial neuronal networks

The energy efficiency dataset used to support the findings of this study has been deposited in the GitHub repository https://github.com/mereshow/ann-energy-efficiency.git.[Abstract] Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings is a strategic objective in the European Union, and it is the main reason why numerous studies have been carried out to evaluate and reduce energy consumption in the residential sector. The process of evaluation and qualification of the energy efficiency in existing buildings should contain an analysis of the thermal behavior of the building envelope. To determine this thermal behavior and its representative parameters, we usually have to use destructive auscultation techniques in order to determine the composition of the different layers of the envelope. In this work, we present a nondestructive, fast, and cheap technique based on artificial neural network (ANN) models that predict the energy performance of a house, given some of its characteristics. The models were created using a dataset of buildings of different typologies and uses, located in the northern area of Spain. In this dataset, the models are able to predict the U-opaque value of a building with a correlation coefficient of 0.967 with the real U-opaque measured value for the same building

The influence of methodological procedures on hydrological classification performance

ABSTRACT: Hydrological classification has emerged as a suitable procedure to disentangle the inherent hydrological complexity of river networks. This practice has contributed to determining key biophysical relations in fluvial ecosystems and the effects of flow modification. Thus, a plethora of classification approaches, which agreed in general concepts and methods but differed largely in specific procedures, have emerged in the last decades. However, few studies have compared the implication of applying contrasting approaches and specifications over the same hydrological data. In this work, using cluster analysis and modelling approaches, we classify the entire river network covering the northern third of the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically, we developed classifications of increasing level of detail, ranging from 2 to 20 class levels, either based on raw and normalized daily flow series and using two contrasting approaches to determine class membership: classify-then-predict (ClasF) and predict-thenclassify (PredF). Classifications were compared in terms of their statistical strength, the hydrological interpretation, the ability to reduce the bias associated with underrepresented parts of the hydrological space and their spatial correspondnece. The results highlighted that both the data processing and the classification strategy largely influenced the classification outcomes and properties, although differences among procedures were not always statistically significant. The normalization of flow data removed the influence of flow magnitude and generated more complex classifications in which a wider range of hydrologic characteristics were considered. The application of the PredF strategy produced, in most of the cases, classifications with higher discrimination ability and presented greater ability to deal with the presence of distinctive gauges in the data set than using the ClasF strategy.This study was partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness as part of the project MARCE (Ref: CTM-2009-07447; http://marce.ihcantabria.es/) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment as part of the project RECORAM (ref: 132/2010). José Barquín is supported by a Ramon y Cajal grant (ref: RYC-2011-08313) of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

New records of non-marine ostracoda (Crustacea, Ostracoda) in Western Patagonia, Chile

Los antecedentes de ostrácodos no-marinos de Chile son escasos y fueron desarrollados por naturalistas europeos que viajaron a América del Sur durante las primeras décadas del siglo pasado. No obstante, a la fecha son obsoletos e incompletos. Los trabajos de Vávra (1898), Daday (1902), Löffl er (1961a, b, 1966) contribuyen con los primeros listados bibliográfi cos y descripciones de ostrácodos en Chile. Martens & Behen (1994) realizaron un listado para Sudámerica que incluye un total de 28 especies para Chile. Todas las especies registradas allí pertenecen al orden Podocopida, las que se encuentran distribuidas entre las familias: Cyprididae, Darwinulidae, Limnocytheridae, Candonidae, Cytherideidae, Illyocyprididae y Notodromatidae. El objetivo de esta comunicación es la expansión del conocimiento de los ostrácodos no-marinos de la Patagonia Chilena y contribuir con nuevos antecedentes sobre su distribuciónFacultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Correlation analysis between ceramic insulator pollution and acoustic emissions

La mayoría de los estudios relacionados con la contaminación de aisladores son desarrollados normalmente con base en un análisis individual entre la corriente de fuga, la humedad relativa y la densidad de los depósitos de sal equivalente (ESDD). Este trabajo presenta un análisis de correlación entre la corriente de fuga y las emisiones acústicas medidas en una subestación eléctrica de 230 kV, en la ciudad de Barranquilla, Colombia. Además, se consideraron variables atmosféricas para desarrollar un modelo de caracterización del proceso de la contaminación de los aisladores eléctricos. Este modelo fue utilizado para demostrar que los niveles de emisión de ruido son un indicador fiable para detectar y caracterizar la contaminación en aisladores de alta tensión. La correlación encontrada entre las variables atmosféricas, eléctricas y las de sonido permitieron determinar las relaciones para el mantenimiento de los aisladores cerámicos en zonas de alta contaminación. En este artículo se muestran los resultados de la investigación sobre el comportamiento de la corriente de fuga en aisladores cerámicos y el sonido que se producen ante diferentes condiciones atmosféricas, lo cual permite evaluar el mejor momento para limpiar el aislador en la subestación. Además, mediante experimentación in situ y utilizando modelos estadísticos, se obtuvo la correlación entre las variables ambientales y la corriente de fuga de la subestación. Algunos de los inconvenientes que trae el ruido externo en la medición fueron superados utilizando varios micrófonos y software especializado que permitían filtrar correctamente el sonido y lograr una mejor medición de las variables.Most of the studies related to insulator pollution are normally performed based on individual analysis among leakage current, relative humidity and equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD). This paper presents a correlation analysis between the leakage current and the acoustic emissions measured in a 230 kV electrical substations in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. Furthermore, atmospheric variables were considered to develop a characterization model of the insulator contamination process. This model was used to demonstrate that noise emission levels are a reliable indicator to detect and characterize pollution on high voltage insulators. The correlation found amount the atmospheric, electrical and sound variables allowed to determine the relations for the maintenance of ceramic insulators in high-polluted areas. In this article, the results on the behavior of the leakage current in ceramic insulators and the sound produced with different atmospheric conditions are shown, which allow evaluating the best time to clean the insulator at the substation. Furthermore, by experimentation on site and using statistical models, the correlation between environmental variables and the leakage current substation was obtained. Some of the problems that bring the external noise were overcome using multiple microphones and specialized software that enabled properly filter the sound and better measure the variables

Performance of Baited Underwater Video: Does It Underestimate Abundance at High Population Densities?

Funding: This work was supported by a grant from the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technological Research and Innovation, the RECMARE project (CTM2012-36982 MAR) and by the SGP (Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries) for the ERICOL project. The South Australian Research Institute provided inkind funding support.Abstract Video survey techniques are now commonly used to estimate animal abundance under the assumption that estimates relate to true abundance, a key property needed to make video a valid survey tool. Using the spiny lobster Palinurus elephas as our model organism, we evaluate the effectiveness of baited underwater video (BUV) for estimating abundance in areas with widely different population density. We test three BUV abundance metrics and compare the results with an independently obtained abundance index from trammel-net surveys (Trammel). Video metrics used to estimate relative abundance include a value for total number of individuals per recording (TotN), the traditional maximum number of fish observed in a single video frame (MaxN) and the recently suggested alternative, the average of the mean MaxN from 5-minute periods throughout the duration of the recording (MeanN). This is the first video study of a wild population to include an estimate for TotN. Comparison of TotN with the other two BUV relative abundance metrics demonstrates that both of the latter lack resolution at high population densities. In spite of this, the three BUV metrics tested, as well as the independent estimate Trammel, distinguished high density areas from low density areas. Thus they could all be used to identify areas of differing population density, but MaxN and MeanN would not be appropriate metrics for studies aimed at documenting increases in abundance, such as those conducted to assess marine protected area effectiveness, as they are prone to sampling saturation. We also demonstrate that time of first arrival (T1) is highly correlated with all of the abundance indices,suggesting T1 may be a potentially useful index of abundance. However, these relationships require further investigation as our data suggests T1 may also become sampling-saturated as lobster abundance increases.Publicad

Hospital Virtual Móvil: Seguimiento del Tratamiento de un Paciente con Vih Desde Su Teléfono Móvil

En los últimos años la movilidad se ha convertido en uno de los puntos de mayor desarrollo dentro de las tecnologías de la información. Uno de los campos en los que las nuevas herramientas de movilidad han encontrado mayor aceptación, es el ámbito de la asistencia sanitaria. Este rápido desarrollo se puede aprovechar para facilitar el cuidado de enfermedades crónicas complejas como el VIH/SIDA que requieren un gran control de la enfermedad y su tratamiento. Dentro del proyecto Hospital VIHrtual se ha creado un portal web con servicios adecuados a los pacientes de VIH y que permite al paciente el acceso en cualquier momento y lugar utilizando su teléfono móvil. Todo ello con el fin de favorecer el cumplimiento del paciente y permitir mejorar su calidad de vida