Cyclists' Safety and Security Multiple Correspondence Analysis from GPS Records for Route Choice in Bogotá - Colombia

This research analyzes cyclists' route decision by considering attributes of road safety and security from GPS records of a mobile application in Bogotá. The dataset comprises 3016 georeferenced routes of cyclists registered in the Biko mobile application during February 2018. This database was complemented with accident and thefts records from public entities, a descriptive statistical univariate analysis (RStudio), a Multiple Correspondence Analysis -MCA- (Stata), with multivariate statistical approach, and geographic component (QGIS and ArcGIS). The methods allowed obtaining: [i] a procedure for characterizing quantitative variables per km of route traveled; [ii] Categorization of continuous variables for establishing multivariate relationships through MCA -prerequisite for using this method instead of using surveys (Mobility survey 2019 cyclists' section in Bogotá); [iii] cyclists' commuting patterns with identification of main Origin - Destination zones (UTAM in Bogotá), and [iv] possible initial conditions for the public policies approach in Bogotá, with a continuous comparison between case studies in: Colombia, Latin America, Europe, and the United States, in order to be replicable for any city. ... [From: Introduction

Herpetofauna inside and outside from a natural protected area: the case of Reserva Estatal de la Biósfera Sierra San Juan, Nayarit, Mexico

Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) includes important species richness, and it is assumed that these are the best areas for biodiversity conservation. There are certain doubts, however, about the effectiveness of the NPAs in developing countries, where economic resources for conservation are scarce and NPAs are not monitored and managed efficiently. In the present study we assessed the species richness, diversity, abundance, and functional guilds of amphibians and reptiles inside and outside of the NPA Reserva Estatal de la Biósfera Sierra San Juan (REBSSJ), Nayarit, Mexico. Our results showed that species numbers of amphibian and reptiles were higher outside than inside the reserve, as well the individual number distributed among species, except for lizard species. Analyses of functional guilds showed that both richness and functional dispersion were greater in amphibians and reptiles outside the reserve. Likewise, outside the reserve we recorded a higher species number with some category of risk at the national level (NOM-059), international level (IUCN), and also by using the Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS) algorithm. The results suggest that areas outside of the reserve are crucial to the maintenance of regional biodiversity, due to high complementarity with species composition inside of the reserves. These data can be used to implement conservation measures that include a new demarcation of the reserve and the consideration of surrounding areas to include a great number of species

Production of recombinant proteins in E. coli by the heat inducible expression system based on the phage lambda pL and/or pR promoters

The temperature inducible expression system, based on the pL and/or pR phage lambda promoters regulated by the thermolabile cI857 repressor has been widely use to produce recombinant proteins in prokariotic cells. In this expression system, induction of heterologous protein is achieved by increasing the culture temperature, generally above 37°C. Concomitant to the overexpression of heterologous protein, the increase in temperature also causes a variety of complex stress responses. Many studies have reported the use of such temperature inducible expression system, however only few discuss the simultaneous stress effects caused by recombinant protein production and the up-shift in temperature. Understanding the integral effect of such responses should be useful to develop improved strategies for high yield protein production and recovery. Here, we describe the current status of the heat inducible expression system based on the pL and/or pR λ phage promoters, focusing on recent developments on expression vehicles, the stress responses at the molecular and physiological level that occur after heat induction, and bioprocessing factors that affect protein overexpression, including culture operation variables and induction strategies

A statistical analysis of electric self-potential time series associated to two 1993 earthquakes in Mexico

Recent studies related with earthquake prediction involve statistical studies of the ground electric self-potential behavior. Published results about the complexity of this kind of processes encourage us to study the statistical behavior of the ground electric self-potential recorded in Guerrero state, Mexico. This region is characterized by high seismicity. The electric self-potential variations were recorded in the Acapulco station directly from the ground. The sampling period was four seconds and the data were stored from March to December of 1993. Two significant earthquakes (EQs) occurred near this station, 15 May and 24 October whose magnitudes were Mw=6.0 and Mw=6.6 respectively. A preliminary processing was carried out consisting of a moving average of the original time series in order to filter the very high frequencies and to complete short lacks of data and outliers. Then, a visual inspection of the complete filtered signal was performed to search some seismic electric signals (SES), which were ambiguously depicted. Subsequently, a detrending of µ=0 was applied with the windows of 3.3, 6.6 and 10 h. Later, the analysis of the spectral exponent β was made, showing changes during the total period examined, and the most evident changes occurred during the preparation mechanism of the Mw=6.6 EQ. Fifteen days before the 24 October EQ, a Brownian-noise like behavior was displayed (β≈2), having a duration of about two days. In addition a Higuchi fractal method and wavelet analysis were made confirming the presence of the β-anomaly

Vivienda vernácula palafítica mayangna y miskitu de Nicaragua

El presente artículo describe elementos de la vivienda palafítica, como hecho ontológico. Lo anterior establece una relación de existencia influenciada por aspectos sociales, dividiéndose por su orden en económico (productivo), e ideológico (teológico, político, simbólico). Con base en lo anterior, se reflexionó sobre la prevalencia tipológica de la ubicación y la configuración arquitectónica de las viviendas, respecto a su relación con los aspectos sociales ideológicos. Para su comprobación se seleccionó, como objeto de estudio, las viviendas de las comunidades miskitu y mayangna de la región Atlántica de Nicaragua. Tras documentar aspectos etnográficos y antropológicos, se estableció la existencia de tres tipologías de hábitat palafítico relacionados con su cuerpo ideológico, atribuyéndose sus características al significado que tiene el habitante respecto a los elementos de su medio ambiente espiritual. Lo anterior explica el por qué, pese a que los pobladores están expuestos a situaciones de riesgo que inciden en su permanencia, asumen el modelo tradicional de hábitat

Slight temperature changes cause rapid transcriptomic responses in Trypanosoma cruzi metacyclic trypomastigotes.

BACKGROUND: Severe changes in temperature can affect the behavior and ecology of some infectious agents. Trypanosoma cruzi is a protozoan that causes Chagas disease. This parasite has high genetic variability and can be divided into six discrete typing units (DTUs). Trypanosoma cruzi also has a complex life-cycle, which includes the process of metacyclogenesis when non-infective epimastigote forms are differentiated into infective metacyclic trypomastigotes (MT). Studies in triatomines have shown that changes in temperature also affect the number and viability of MT.METHODS: The objective of this study was to evaluate how temperature affects the transcriptional profiles of T. cruzi I and II (TcI and TcII) MT by exposing parasites to two temperatures (27°C and 28°C) and comparing those to normal culture conditions at 26°C. Subsequently, RNA-seq was conducted and differentially expressed genes were quantified and associated to metabolic pathways.RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was observed in the number of MT between the temperatures evaluated and the control, TcII DTU was not strongly affected to exposure to high temperatures compared to TcI. Similar results were found when we analyzed gene expression in this DTU, with the greatest number of differentially expressed genes being observed at 28°C, which could indicate a dysregulation of different signaling pathways under this temperature. Chromosome analysis indicated that chromosome 1 harbored the highest number of changes for both DTUs for all thermal treatments. Finally, gene ontology (GO) analyses showed a decrease in the coding RNAs involved in the regulation of processes related to the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates, the evasion of oxidative stress, and proteolysis and phosphorylation processes, and a decrease in RNAs coding to ribosomal proteins in TcI and TcII, along with an increase in the expression of surface metalloprotease GP63 in TcII.CONCLUSIONS: Slight temperature shifts lead to increased cell death of metacyclic trypomastigotes because of the deregulation of gene expression of different processes essential for the TcI and TcII DTUs of T. cruzi

Usporedba djelovanja korionskog gonadotropina konja (eCG) i estradiol cipionata primijenjenih 24 sata nakon prestanka kontrolirane primjene progesterona kao dijela protokola za sinkronizaciju estrusa i umjetno osjemenjivanje meksičkog Criollo goveda.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of administering equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) in substitution of estradiol, 24 h after the removal of a progesterone intravaginal device, on estrus and ovulatory response, and pregnancy rates of Rodeo Criollo cows (exp. 1, n = 21) and heifers (exp. 2, n = 39) subjected to a synchronization protocol (estradiol + CIDR + PGF2α) with estrus-detected artificial insemination. All females were inseminated 12 h after detected estrus. In cows, estrus and ovulation response, and maximum pre-ovulatory follicle diameter were similar (P>0.05) between equine chorionic gonadotropin and estradiol groups. However, the time to estrus was shorter (P0.05) in ovulation rate. Both treatments resulted in low pregnancy rates, with a significantly lower (P0,05) u skupinama krava kod kojih je bio primijenjen korionski gonadrotropin ili estradiol. Međutim, u skupini kod koje je bio primijenjen estradiol vrijeme do estrusa je bilo kraće (P0,05) u stopi ovulacije. Oba su postupka dovela do niže stope gravidnosti, pri čemu je smanjenje kod junica kojima je bio primijenjen korionski gonadotropin konja bilo signifikantno (P<0,05). Zaključno, primjena korionskog gonadotropina konja, kao zamjene za estradiol nakon uklanjanja sredstva za otpuštanje progesterona, dovela je u sklopu protokola za otkrivanje estrusa i umjetno osjemenjivanje do povećanog grupiranja estrusa i ovulacije te posljedično veće stope gravidnosti u krava, ali ne i u junica