First record of bat-pollination in the species-rich genus Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae)

Background and Aims Bromeliaceae is a species-rich neotropical plant family that uses a variety of pollinators, principally vertebrates. Tillandsia is the most diverse genus, and includes more than one-third of all bromeliad species. Within this genus, the majority of species rely on diurnal pollination by hummingbirds; however, the flowers of some Tillandsia species show some characteristics typical for pollination by nocturnal animals, particularly bats and moths. In this study an examination is made of the floral and reproductive biology of the epiphytic bromeliad Tillandsia macropetala in a fragment of humid montane forest in central Veracruz, Mexico. Methods The reproductive system of the species, duration of anthesis, production of nectar and floral scent, as well as diurnal and nocturnal floral visitors and their effectiveness in pollination were determined. Key Results Tillandsia macropetala is a self-compatible species that achieves a higher fruit production through outcrossing. Nectar production is restricted to the night, and only nocturnal visits result in the development of fruits. The most frequent visitor (75 % of visits) and the only pollinator of this bromeliad (in 96 % of visits) was the nectarivorous bat Anoura geoffroyi (Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae). Conclusions This is the first report of chiropterophily within the genus Tillandsia. The results on the pollination biology of this bromeliad suggest an ongoing evolutionary switch from pollination by birds or moths to bat

Transferencia de investigaciones virológicas a sectores educativos y generales de la comunidad

La educación es la única y verdadera herramienta válida, por excelencia, para lograr cambios positivos en la historia, en la política, en la salud o en cualquiera otro aspecto importante de la vida de los hombres. Entonces, deberíamos insistir en mejorar la calidad educativa de los ciudadanos y alumnos de todos los niveles, mejorando necesariamente la actualización de los saberes de los funcionarios, profesionales y docentes para que se inscriba en el discurso cotidiano. El desconocer, no prepararse, nos lleva a crisis sociales que inevitablemente incrementan flagelos como la pobreza, la pérdida de biodiversidad, las guerras, las epidemias, entre otros. Así, desde donde se produce y construye el conocimiento científico, la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas y específicamente el Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella" también se promueve el objetivo de extensión comunitaria, brindando este proyecto a docentes, alumnos y comunidad en general de la provincia de Córdoba como servicio educativo y actualización. Las temáticas son variadas, los talleres convocan a la Divulgación científica y tecnológica de infecciones virales de importancia sanitaria su conocimiento, prevención y difusión, no solo para el sector educativo sino también para la comunidad en general. Las actividades son talleres, conferencias, laboratorios, jornadas de un día hasta dos semanas. Las metodologías aplicadas son charlas dialogadas, vídeos, dinámica de grupos, Hay evaluaciones de seguimiento a través de comentarios, relatos, encuestas. Todas las actividades de extensión del InViV cuentan con la aprobación de la Facultad Ciencias Médicas a través de las Res. Decanales anuales.Fil: Balangero, Marcos. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Gil, Pedro Ignacio: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Gil, Pedro Ignacio: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Frutos: María Cecilia: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Frutos: María Cecilia: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Díaz, Luis Adrián. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Ré, Viviana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Farias, Adrián Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Spinsanti, Lorena. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Venezuela, Raúl Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Kiguen, Ana Ximena. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Konigheim, Brenda. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Pisano, María Belén. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil:Masachessi, Gisela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Barril, Patricia Angélica. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Varella"; Argentina.Fil: Barril, Patricia Angelica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Castro, Gonzalo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Batallán, Pedro Gonzalo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Batallán, Pedro Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Quaglia, Agustín.Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Tauro, Laura Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Tauro, Laura Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Flores, Fernando Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Flores, Fernando Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Beranek, Mauricio. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Beranek, Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Maturano, Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Rodríguez, Pamela Elizabeth. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Cámara, Jorge Augusto. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil, Albrieu Llinás, Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil, Albrieu Llinás, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Estudios en Comunicación, Expresión y Tecnologías; Argentina.Fil: Adamo, María Pilar. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Ghietto, Lucía María. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Ghietto, Lucía María. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Pedranti, Mauro Sebastián. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Giordano, Miguel Oscar. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Laura Cecilia.Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Isa, Maria Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Ascheri, Stella Maris. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Paredes, Norma Gladys. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Contigiani, Marta Silvia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Benítez, Marta. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Theiler, Gerardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Augello, Marysol. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Fosatti, L. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; ArgentinaFil:Moreno, F. Colegio San Martín; Argentina.Fil:Marín, M. Colegio Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Corazón; Argentina.Fil: Carreras, G. Provincia de Córdoba. Ipem 323 de Villa Angelelli; Argentina.Fil: Navarro, A. Provincia de Córdoba. Ipem 323 de Villa Angelelli; Argentina.Fil: Fuentes, M. Provincia de Córdoba. Ipem 323 de Villa Angelelli; Argentina.Fil: Santiago, T. Provincia de Córdoba. Ipem 323 de Villa Angelelli; Argentina.Fil: Cámara, Alicia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Paglini, María Gabriela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Cuffini, Cecilia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Gallego, Sandra Verónica.Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Aguilar, Javier. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Paván, Jorge. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Fil: Nates, Silvia Viviana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Virología "Dr. José María Vanella"; Argentina.Enfermedades Infecciosa

The evolution of the ventilatory ratio is a prognostic factor in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 ARDS patients

Background: Mortality due to COVID-19 is high, especially in patients requiring mechanical ventilation. The purpose of the study is to investigate associations between mortality and variables measured during the first three days of mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19 intubated at ICU admission. Methods: Multicenter, observational, cohort study includes consecutive patients with COVID-19 admitted to 44 Spanish ICUs between February 25 and July 31, 2020, who required intubation at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation for more than three days. We collected demographic and clinical data prior to admission; information about clinical evolution at days 1 and 3 of mechanical ventilation; and outcomes. Results: Of the 2,095 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU, 1,118 (53.3%) were intubated at day 1 and remained under mechanical ventilation at day three. From days 1 to 3, PaO2/FiO2 increased from 115.6 [80.0-171.2] to 180.0 [135.4-227.9] mmHg and the ventilatory ratio from 1.73 [1.33-2.25] to 1.96 [1.61-2.40]. In-hospital mortality was 38.7%. A higher increase between ICU admission and day 3 in the ventilatory ratio (OR 1.04 [CI 1.01-1.07], p = 0.030) and creatinine levels (OR 1.05 [CI 1.01-1.09], p = 0.005) and a lower increase in platelet counts (OR 0.96 [CI 0.93-1.00], p = 0.037) were independently associated with a higher risk of death. No association between mortality and the PaO2/FiO2 variation was observed (OR 0.99 [CI 0.95 to 1.02], p = 0.47). Conclusions: Higher ventilatory ratio and its increase at day 3 is associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 receiving mechanical ventilation at ICU admission. No association was found in the PaO2/FiO2 variation

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for anomalous production of events with three or more leptons in pp collisions at √s = 8TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.A search for physics beyond the standard model in events with at least three leptons is presented. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5fb-1 of proton-proton collisions with center-of-mass energy s=8TeV, was collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC during 2012. The data are divided into exclusive categories based on the number of leptons and their flavor, the presence or absence of an opposite-sign, same-flavor lepton pair (OSSF), the invariant mass of the OSSF pair, the presence or absence of a tagged bottom-quark jet, the number of identified hadronically decaying τ leptons, and the magnitude of the missing transverse energy and of the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta. The numbers of observed events are found to be consistent with the expected numbers from standard model processes, and limits are placed on new-physics scenarios that yield multilepton final states. In particular, scenarios that predict Higgs boson production in the context of supersymmetric decay chains are examined. We also place a 95% confidence level upper limit of 1.3% on the branching fraction for the decay of a top quark to a charm quark and a Higgs boson (t→cH), which translates to a bound on the left- and right-handed top-charm flavor-violating Higgs Yukawa couplings, λtcH and λctH, respectively, of |λtcH|2+|λctH|2<0.21