JUVENILE RECRUITMENT, EARLY GROWTH, AND MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION IN THE ENDANGERED SANTA CATALINA ISLAND RATTLESNAKE, CROTALUS CATALINENSIS

Life-history information constitutes the raw data for building population models used in species conservation. We provide life-history data for the endangered Santa Catalina Island Rattlesnake, Crotalus catalinensis. We use data from 277 observations of C. catalinensis made between 2002 and 2011 on the island. Mean snout-vent length (SVL) of adult C. catalinensis was 643 mm for males and 631 mm for females; the difference was not significant. The degree of sexual size dimorphism (SSD; using SVL) was -0.02. However, sexes were dimorphic in total length ( SVL + tail length), relative tail length, and stoutness. Juvenile recruitment occurs during late-summer. In their first year of life, juveniles seem to grow at a rate of about 1.7 cm/mo. Females seem to become mature around 570 mm SVL, probably in the year when they become 2 y old. Scattered literature data corroborates the time of juvenile recruitment described herein. Growth in C. catalinensis seems to be slower than that of C. ruber, its sister taxa, but similar to other rattlesnakes.Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO)Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO)Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT)Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT)Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) [FB1484/HK051, SEMARNAT-CONACyT-2002-C01-0584]Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) [2010/50146-3]Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP

Diseño del sistema de agua potable e instalación de UBS en el Caserío de Casumaca, Sanchez Carrión - La Libertad

La tesis denominada “Diseño del Sistema de Agua Potable e Instalaciones de UBS en el Caserío de Casumaca, Sánchez Carrión - La Libertad”, tiene como objetivo mejorar el sistema de agua potable e instalación de Unidades básicas de Saneamiento para una correcta eliminación de excretas en el Caserío de Casumaca; por lo que se está planteando la construcción de una captación tipo ladera , instalación de una línea de conducción de PVC con una longitud de 4+881 km, diámetro 2”, Construcción de un reservorio apoyado de 15 m3, instalación de redes de distribución de 2”, 1 ½”, 1” y ¾ ” conexiones domiciliarias de diámetro de 1/2", construcción de un pase aéreo de 18 m, con tubería PVC t-10, diámetro 2”, instalación de válvulas de purga, instalación de conexiones en viviendas e institución educativa. Se plantea la instalación de 100 unidades básicas de saneamiento (UBS) tipo arrastre hidráulico con biodigestor, pozo de absorción, cámara de lodos y caseta para baño, ya que, según estudio de suelos, no se registró presencia de nivel freático. La Tesis presenta, un sistema por Gravedad Sin Tratamiento (SGST) y UBS con arrastre hidráulico (biodigestor). El costo referencial de inversión asciende a S/. 3,513,855.3

Long-Term Regulation of Excitation–Contraction Coupling and Oxidative Stress in Cardiac Myocytes by Pirfenidone

Pirfenidone (PFD) is used to treat human pulmonary fibrosis. Its administration to animals with distinct forms of cardiovascular disease results in striking improvement in cardiac performance. Here, its functional impact on cardiac myocytes was investigated. Cells were kept 1–2 days under either control culture conditions or the presence of PFD (1 mM). Subsequently, they were subjected to electrical stimulation to assess the levels of contractility and intracellular Ca2+. The PFD treatment promoted an increase in both peak contraction and kinetics of shortening and relaxation. Moreover, the amplitude and kinetics of Ca2+ transients were enhanced as well. Excitation–contraction coupling (ECC) was also investigated, under whole-cell patch-clamp conditions. In keeping with a previous report, PFD increased twofold the density of Ca2+ current (ICa). Notably, a similar increase in the magnitude of Ca2+ transients was also observed. Thus, the gain of ECC was unaltered. Likewise, PFD did not alter the peak amplitude of caffeine-induced Ca2+ release, indicating stimulation of Ca2+-induced–Ca2+-release (CICR) at constant sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ load. A phase-plane analysis indicated that PFD promotes myofilament Ca2+ desensitization, which is being compensated by higher levels of Ca2+ to promote contraction. Interestingly, although the expression of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) was unaffected, the decay of Ca2+ signal in the presence of caffeine was 50% slower in PFD-treated cells (compared with controls), suggesting that PFD downregulates the activity of the exchanger. PFD also inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species, under both, basal conditions and the presence of oxidative insults (acetaldehyde and peroxide hydrogen). Conversely, the production of nitric oxide was either increased (in atrial myocytes) or remained unchanged (in ventricular myocytes). Protein levels of endothelial and neuronal nitric oxide synthases (eNOS and nNOS) were also investigated. eNOS values did not exhibit significant changes. By contrast, a dual regulation was observed for nNOS, which consisted of inhibition and stimulation, in ventricular and atrial myocytes, respectively. In the latter cells, therefore, an up-regulation of nNOS was sufficient to stimulate the synthesis of NO. These findings improve our knowledge of molecular mechanisms of PFD action and may also help in explaining the corresponding cardioprotective effects

Optimization of total anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity of a Hibiscus sabdariffa infusion using response surface methodology

Hibiscus sabdariffa L. calyces are underutilized sources of health-promoting anthocyanins. Infusions are the most common way to consume them, but because anthocyanins are thermosensitive, prolonged extraction times at high temperatures may reduce their bioactivities, suggesting the need to identify optimal preparation conditions. Response surface methodology was used to establish calyces-to-water ratio (X1: 1–20 g/100 mL), temperature (X2: 70–100 °C), and time (X3: 1–30 min) that would produce an infusion with optimized total anthocyanin content (TAC) and antioxidant activity. Under optimum conditions (X1=10 g/100 mL, X2=88.7 °C, and X3=15.5 min) TAC was 132.7±7.8 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents (C3G)/100 mL, and antioxidant activity was 800.6±69.9 (DPPH assay), and 1792.0±153.5 (ABTS assay) μmol Trolox equivalents (TE)/100 mL. Predicted and experimental results were statistically similar. Identifying ideal processing conditions can promote consumption of an H. sabdariffa-based functional beverage with high anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity that exert health-promoting bioactivities on the consumer

De novo Development of Heart Valve Calcification in Incident Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background and AimsCardiac valve calcification (VC) is a frequent complication in chronic kidney disease and is considered a risk factor for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. However, little is known about the pathophysiology mechanisms that originate it and the factors associated with its development. We undertook this study to analyze the frequency and factors related to de novo development of mitral valve calcification (MVC) and aortic valve calcifications (AVC) in incident peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.MethodsA prospective cohort of 124 incident PD patients was studied. Demographic and clinical data were recorded and blood assayed at baseline and after 1 year of follow-up for calcium, phosphorus, glucose, urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides by spectrophotometry assay; high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) by immunoturbidimetric ultrasensitive assay, intact parathormone (iPTH) and osteocalcin by electrochemiluminescence, fetuin-A and osteoprotegerin by EDI-ELISA. Valve calcification was evaluated by M-mode bidimensional echocardiogram.ResultsSixty eight percent of patients were male, ages 43 ± 13 years; 51% were diabetic with 1.4 ± 1 months on PD. After 12.3 ± 1 months, 57 patients (46%) developed VC: AVC in 33 (57.8%), MVC in 15 (26.3%) and 9 (15.8%) patients in both valves. There was no correlation between AVC and MCV. In univariate logistic regression analysis, age, diabetes and elevated concentrations of OPG, iPTH and CRP were risk factors for development MVC. In multivariate analysis, only iPTH remained an independent risk factor as was also the case in AVC.ConclusionsAge, diabetes, osteoprotegerin, parathormone and C-reactive protein are risk factors related to de novo development of MVC and iPTH for AVC in incident dialysis patients

Appistóteles

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad determinar y comprobar la aceptación y viabilidad de la propuesta empresarial llamada Appistóteles. La cual apunta a ofrecer un servicio de asesoría universitaria de calidad a distancia a través de videollamadas por Google Meet. Basado en el entendimiento sobre la coyuntura actual y dificultades en su educación universitaria que el segmento identificado afronta día a día. Por ese motivo, la propuesta ha sido concebida para satisfacer las necesidades de las personas en etapa universitaria con un estilo de vida moderno y progresista, cuya rutina este alineada al uso constante de la tecnología y familiarizada con los canales educativos disponibles actualmente en el mercado. Por ello, Appistóteles se compromete a ofrecer un servicio educativo eficaz e intuitivo, el cual se adaptará a la variedad de cursos disponibles, tipos consultas y disponibilidad de asesores para los alumnos que deseen contar con nuestros servicios. Es preciso señalar que la propuesta será introducida al mercado a través de la redes sociales, avisos digitales y publicidad en vallas, estas últimas ubicadas cerca de las universidades de Lima Metropolitana. Finalmente, y basados en el levantamiento de información de mercado y finanzas proyectados, se determinó que el proyecto es viable debido a que obtuvimos una TIR del 65% y un VAN de S/ 39,571.00 que se encuentran descritos en el desarrollo del presente trabajo.The purpose of this research work is to determine and verify the acceptance and viability of the business called Appistóteles. That aims to offer a quality distance university advising service through video calls on Google Meet. From the knowledge abour the current situation and difficulties in their university education that the identified segment faces every day. Therefore, the proposal has been conceived to satisfy the needs of people in the university stage with a modern and progressive lifestyle, whose routine is aligned with the constant use of technology and familiar with the educational channels currently available on the market. For this reason, Appistóteles is committed to offer an effective and intuitive eduational service, which adapts to the variety of courses available, types of consultations and availability of advisers for students who wish to a have our services. It should be noted that the proposal will be introduced to the market through social networks, digital advertisements and billboards, located near the universities of Lima Metropolitana. Finally, and based on the projected market and financial information obtained, it was determined that the porject is viable because it obtained an IRR of 65% and a VAN of S/ 39,571.00 that are described in the development of this work.Trabajo de investigació

New stable by construction autonomous aerial vehicle: configuration and dynamic model.

[ES] En los últimos años, diferentes estrategias y modelos matemáticos se han desarrollado para el análisis y control de vehículos aéreos no tripulados. El presente artículo amplía este panorama al enfocarse en un sistema aéreo no tripulado estable por construcción. Gracias a su diseño, el sistema reportado disipa la energía que recibe por la acción de perturbaciones externas. El sistema propuesto cuenta con un rotor único para el desarrollo de diferentes tipos de vuelo. Este artículo reporta el concepto de diseño del sistema aéreo no tripulado, la estructura de su modelo dinámico de nueve grados de libertad, un conjunto de simulaciones numéricas que permiten analizar el comportamiento del modelo desarrollado y los primeros resultados experimentales que validan la estabilidad por construcción del vehículo aéreo autónomo. Los dos aspectos más significativos e innovadores reportados en este artículo son el uso de un rotor único orientable para la ejecución de diferentes modos de vuelo y la propiedad inherente del sistema tal que sus estructuras, externa e interna, son estables por construcción.[EN] In recent years, different strategies and mathematical models have been developed in order to analyze and control unmanned aerial vehicles. This article expands this panorama by focusing on a, stable by construction, unmanned aerial system. Thanks to its design, the reported system dissipates the energy received by the action of external disturbances. The proposed vehicle has a unique rotor in order to perform different flight modes. This article reports the design concept of the aerial system, the mathematical structure of its nine degrees of freedom dynamic model, a set of numerical simulations allowing the analysis of the behavior of the developed model and the first experimental results that validate the stability, by construction, of the aerial vehicle. The two most significant and innovative aspects reported in this article are the use of a single orientable rotor to perform different flight modes and the inherent property of the system that makes it stable by construction.Este trabajo fue apoyado por la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México bajo el proyecto de investigación: Desarrollo de un Vehículo Esférico Aéreo Autónomo con clave 3818/2014/CIB. Eduardo Sánchez Fontes agradece el financiamiento por la beca CONACYT CVU 553663.Sánchez-Fontes, E.; Avila Vilchis, JC.; Vilchis-González, AH.; Saldivar, B.; Jacinto-Villegas, JM.; Martínez-Mendez, R. (2020). Nuevo vehículo aéreo autónomo estable por construcción: configuración y modelo dinámico. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática industrial. 17(3). https://doi.org/10.4995/riai.2020.11603OJS275173Apkarian, J., Sep. 2010. Aerial vehicle. Patent US 2010/0224723 A1, Bereskin and Parr LLP/S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l. 40 King Street West, Box 401 Toronto, onM5H 3Y2.Austin, R., 2010. Unmanned Aircraft Systems: UAVs Design, Development and Deployment. AIAA education series. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470664797Avila Vilchis, J. C., Sanchez-Fontes, E., Vilchis González, A. H., Saldivar, B., Martinez-Mendez, R., 2018. Dispositivo aéreo de rotor único. Patent application MX/a/2018/012344, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, México.Briod, A., Klaptocz, A., Zu_erey, J. C., Floreano, D., Jul. 2012. The airburr: A flying robot that can exploit collisions. In: International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering (CME). pp. 569-574. https://doi.org/10.1109/iccme.2012.6275674Briod, A., Przemyslaw, K., Christophe, Z. J., Dario, F., 2014. A collision-resilient flying robot. Journal of Field Robotics 31 (4), 496-509. https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.21495Briod, A., Przemyslaw, K. M., Adam, K., Jean-Christophe, Z., Dario, F., Dec. 2015. Vertical take-off and landing aerrial vehicle. Patent US 2015/0360776 A1, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Washington, DC: US.Daler, L., Garnier, A., Briod, A., Jun. 2016. Vertical take-off and landing aerial vehicle. Patent US 2016/0001875 A1, Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne, Washington, DC: US.Elfeky, M., Elshafei, M., Saif, A.-W. A., Al-Malki, M. F., Aug. 2016. Modeling and simulation of quadrotor uav with tilting rotors. International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems 14 (4), 1047-1055. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12555-015-0064-5Escareño, J., Salazar, S., Lozano, R., 2006a. Modelling and control of a convertible VTOL aircraft. In: Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. pp. 69-74. https://doi.org/10.1109/CDC.2006.376915Escareño, J., Sanchez, A., Garcia, O., Lozano, R., 2008b. Triple tilting rotor mini-uav: Modeling and embedded control of the attitude. In: American Control Conference. pp. 3476-3481. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACC.2008.4587031Flores, G., Lozano, R., 2013. Transition flight control of the quad-tilting rotor convertible mav. In: International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS). pp. 789-794. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICUAS.2013.6564761Garcia, P., Lozano, R., Dzul, A., 2006. Modelling and control of mini-flying machines. Vol. 48. Springer London. https://doi.org/10.1109/taes.2012.6324687Jacinto-Villegas, J. M., Satler, M., Filippeschi, A., Bergamasco, M., Ragaglia, M., Argiolas, A., Niccolini, M., Avizzano, C. A., Oct. 2017. A novel wearable haptic controller for teleoperating robotic platforms. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters 2 (4), 2072-2079. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2017.2720850Keith, C., S. Repasky, K., L. Lawrence, R., Jay, S., Carlsten, J., 2009. Monitoring effects of a controlled subsurface carbon dioxide release on vegetation using a hyperspectral imager. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 3, 626-632. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2009.03.003Klaptock, A., 2012. Design of flying robots for collision absorption and self-recovery. Ph.D. thesis, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne-Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.1116Lefort, P., Hamann, J., 1995. L'Hélicoptère. Théorie et Pratique. CHIRON, Paris.Lin, C. E., Supsukbaworn, T., 2017. Development of dual power multirotor system. International Journal of Aerospace Engineering 2017, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/9821401Liu, Z., He, Y., Yang, L., Han, J., 2017. Control techniques of tilt rotor unmanned aerial vehicle systems: A review. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics 30 (1), 135-148. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cja.2016.11.001Lozano, R., 2013. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Embedded Control. Vol. 42 of ISTE. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4142Mendelow, B., Muir, P., Boshielo, B., Robertson, J., 2007. Development of e-juba, a preliminary proof of concept unmanned aerial vehicle designed to facilitate the transportation of microbiological test samples from remote rural clinics to national health laboratory service laboratories. South African Medical Journal 15, 1021-1030. https://doi.org/10.1002/lom3.10222Mohamed, M. K., Lanzon, A., 2012. Design and control of novel tri-rotor uav. In: Proceedings of 2012 UKACC International Conference on Control. pp. 304-309. https://doi.org/10.1109/CONTROL.2012.6334647Motlagh, N. H., Bagaa, M., Taleb, T., Feb. 2017. UAV-based iot platform: A crowd surveillance use case. IEEE Communications Magazine 55 (2), 128-134. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2017.1600587CMNex, F., Remondino, F., Mar. 2014. UAV for 3d mapping applications: A review. Applied Geomatics 6 (1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12518-013-0120-xPerlo, P., Bollea, D., Finizio, R., Carvignese, C., Balocco, E., Dec. 2005. VTOL micro-aircraft. Patent US 6,976,653 B2, C.R.F Societa Consortile per Azioni, Washington, DC: US.Prouty, R., Jan. 2003. Helicopter performance, Stability, and Control. Krieger.Remondino, F., Barazzetti, L., Nex, F., Scaioni, M., Sarazzi, D., Jan. 2011. UAV photogrammetry for mapping and 3d modeling-current status and future perspectives. In: ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVIII-1/C22. pp. 25-31. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-xxxviii-1-c22-25-2011Sanchez, A., Escareño, J., Garcia, O., Lozano, R., 2008. 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Content of bioactive compounds and their contribution to antioxidant capacity during ripening of pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) cv Esmeralda

Pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) cv Esmeralda is a commercially important fruit with many bioactive compounds like vitamin C, β-carotene, phenolic compounds and flavonoids, which have been reported only for fruits of commercial maturity. Our objective was to evaluate changes in concentration of main pineapple bioactives, their contribution to total antioxidant capacity and enzyme activities of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) during pineapple ripening. Fruits were grouped into four ripening stages (RS) according to their weight, size and percentage of yellow skin color (RS1: 100% green, RS2: up to 30% yellow, RS3: 30% - 75% yellow, RS4: 75% - 100% yellow). Vitamin C content initially increased, and decreased at RS4; β-carotene, phenolics and antioxidant capacity increased gradually. Phenolics contributed over 40% of antioxidant capacity, followed by vitamin C and β-carotene. Major phenolic compounds identified were gallic acid, catechin and epicatechin. PAL and POD activity increased with ripening and correlated with concentration of phenolics. No PPO activity was quantified. We concluded that ripening of pineapple cv Esmeralda alters the concentration of bioactive compounds. Phenolic compounds, particularly gallic acid, exert the most antioxidant capacity during all RS, even if other compounds have higher concentrations

Autoinhibition of TBCB regulates EB1-mediated microtubule dynamics

Tubulin cofactors (TBCs) participate in the folding, dimerization, and dissociation pathways of the tubulin dimer. Among them, TBCB and TBCE are two CAP-Gly domain-containing proteins that interact and dissociate the tubulin dimer. Here we show how TBCB localizes at spindle and midzone microtubules during mitosis. Furthermore, the motif DEI/M-COO– present in TBCB, which is similar to the EEY/F-COO– element characteristic of EB proteins, CLIP-170, and α-tubulin, is required for TBCE–TBCB heterodimer formation and thus for tubulin dimer dissociation. This motif is responsible for TBCB autoinhibition, and our analysis suggests that TBCB is a monomer in solution. Mutants of TBCB lacking this motif are derepressed and induce microtubule depolymerization through an interaction with EB1 associated to microtubule tips. TBCB is also able to bind to the chaperonin complex CCT containing α-tubulin, suggesting that it could escort tubulin to facilitate its folding and dimerization, recycling or degradation