Using description logics to integrate fishers' ecological knowledge in the research of artisanal fisheries

[Abstract] The aim of this paper is to show the role that Knowledge Representation can play in the research of artisanal fisheries. In particular we concentrate on the epistemological and technological adequacy of implementations of Description Logics to represent fishers’ ecological knowledge, so contributing to address some open methodological questions about its collection and us

Methodology for integration of fisher's ecological knowledge in fisheries biology and management using knowledge representation (artificial intelligence)

Presentado na International Conference "Putting Fisher's Knowledge to Work", Vancouver, Canadá, 27-30 agosto de 2001[abstract] The fisheries crisis of the last decades and the overexploitation of a great number of stocks (FAO 1995) have been due mainly to the inadequacy of scientific knowledge, uncertainties in assessments and/or failures of the management systems. These problems are critical when the management of coastal ecosystems and artisanal fisheries is involved. These systems possess great complexity due to the high number of human factors that influence their functioning and the fishing activity. Small-scale coastal fisheries have a much greater social significance than offshore industrial fisheries, despite the larger economical importance of the latter (only in macro-economic terms). The artisanal coastal fisheries in Galicia (NW Spain) are in a general state of overexploitation derived from the mismatch between management (derived implicitly from models designed for industrial finfisheries) and the biological and socioeconomic context. Freire and García-Allut (2000) proposed a new management policy (based on the establishment of territorial users’ rights, the involvement of fishers in the assessment and management process in collaboration with the government agencies, and the use of protected areas and minimum landing sizes as key regulations) to solve the above problems. As well as a new management system, research should pay special attention to the design and use of inexpensive and rapid methodologies to get relevant scientific data, and introduce local or traditional ecological knowledge of the fishers to the assessment and management process. In this paper, we analyze the values and characteristics of fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK). Using the artisanal coastal fisheries of Galicia as a case study, we present the objectives of the integration of FEK in fisheries biology and management and propose a methodology for that goal. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool for the analysis and integration of FEK is discussed, and the role of Knowledge Representation, a branch of AI, is described to show the epistemological and technological adequacy of the chosen languages and tools in a non-computer science foru

Plasma mitochondrial DNA levels are inversely associated with HIV-RNA levels and directly with CD4 counts: potential role as a biomarker of HIV replication

[Abstract] Objectives. To evaluate plasma mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) levels among HIV-infected patients and its potential role as a biomarker of residual viral replication. Methods. HIV-infected patients on follow-up at a reference hospital in north-west Spain were selected. DNA was isolated from plasma samples and mtDNA levels were assessed using a quantitative real-time PCR assay. HIV-RNA levels and CD4+ cell counts were evaluated in the same blood samples used for plasma mtDNA quantification. Epidemiological and clinical variables were included for the analysis. Results. A total of 235 HIV-infected patients were included. Mean plasma mtDNA levels were 217 ± 656 copies/μL for naive (31.9%) and 364 ± 939 copies/μL for HIV-infected patients receiving ART and with suppressed viraemia (P = 0.043). Among the latter, mean plasma mtDNA levels were 149 ± 440 copies/μL for those with low-level viraemia (LLV; HIV-RNA 20–200 copies/mL), 265 ± 723 copies/μL for those with detected-not-quantified (DNQ) viraemia (HIV-RNA <20 copies/mL) and 644 ± 1310 copies/μL for those with not-detected (ND) viraemia. Of note, a linear trend (P = 0.006) was observed among virologically suppressed (LLV, DNQ and ND) patients. ND patients had higher mtDNA levels compared with LLV patients (P = 0.057). Moreover, mtDNA levels were inversely associated with HIV-RNA levels (Spearman’s rho −0.191, P = 0.003) and directly associated with CD4+ counts (Spearman’s rho 0.131, P = 0.046). Conclusions. Increased plasma mtDNA levels are associated with lower HIV-RNA levels and higher CD4+ cell counts. Among ART-suppressed patients, mtDNA levels were significantly higher in those with complete virological suppression (ND) than in those with LLV. These data suggest that plasma mtDNA levels might serve as a biomarker of residual HIV replication.Instituto de Salud Carlos III; CPII14/00014Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI10/02166Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI13/02266Instituto de Salud Carlos III; FI14/00557Instituto de Salud Carlos III; CM15/00233Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PI16/02159Instituto de Salud Carlos III; MV16/02159Instituto de Salud Carlos III; PTA2013-8277-

Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain : Large-Scale Epidemiological Study

(1) Aims: To assess the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Spain, to describe the main epidemiological and clinical characteristics at diagnosis and the evolution of the disease, and to explore the use of drug treatments. (2) Methods: Prospective, population-based nationwide registry. Adult patients diagnosed with IBD-Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) or IBD unclassified (IBD-U)-during 2017 in Spain were included and were followed-up for 1 year. (3) Results: We identified 3611 incident cases of IBD diagnosed during 2017 in 108 hospitals covering over 22 million inhabitants. The overall incidence (cases/100,000 person-years) was 16 for IBD, 7.5 for CD, 8 for UC, and 0.5 for IBD-U; 53% of patients were male and median age was 43 years (interquartile range = 31-56 years). During a median 12-month follow-up, 34% of patients were treated with systemic steroids, 25% with immunomodulators, 15% with biologics and 5.6% underwent surgery. The percentage of patients under these treatments was significantly higher in CD than UC and IBD-U. Use of systemic steroids and biologics was significantly higher in hospitals with high resources. In total, 28% of patients were hospitalized (35% CD and 22% UC patients, p < 0.01). (4) Conclusion: The incidence of IBD in Spain is rather high and similar to that reported in Northern Europe. IBD patients require substantial therapeutic resources, which are greater in CD and in hospitals with high resources, and much higher than previously reported. One third of patients are hospitalized in the first year after diagnosis and a relevant proportion undergo surgery

Correction : Chaparro et al. Incidence, Clinical Characteristics and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Spain: Large-Scale Epidemiological Study. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 2885

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

The Helicobacter pylori Genome Project : insights into H. pylori population structure from analysis of a worldwide collection of complete genomes

Helicobacter pylori, a dominant member of the gastric microbiota, shares co-evolutionary history with humans. This has led to the development of genetically distinct H. pylori subpopulations associated with the geographic origin of the host and with differential gastric disease risk. Here, we provide insights into H. pylori population structure as a part of the Helicobacter pylori Genome Project (HpGP), a multi-disciplinary initiative aimed at elucidating H. pylori pathogenesis and identifying new therapeutic targets. We collected 1011 well-characterized clinical strains from 50 countries and generated high-quality genome sequences. We analysed core genome diversity and population structure of the HpGP dataset and 255 worldwide reference genomes to outline the ancestral contribution to Eurasian, African, and American populations. We found evidence of substantial contribution of population hpNorthAsia and subpopulation hspUral in Northern European H. pylori. The genomes of H. pylori isolated from northern and southern Indigenous Americans differed in that bacteria isolated in northern Indigenous communities were more similar to North Asian H. pylori while the southern had higher relatedness to hpEastAsia. Notably, we also found a highly clonal yet geographically dispersed North American subpopulation, which is negative for the cag pathogenicity island, and present in 7% of sequenced US genomes. We expect the HpGP dataset and the corresponding strains to become a major asset for H. pylori genomics

NowOnWeb: a NewsIR System

Hoy en día existen miles de sitios web de noticias. Los modos tradicionales para acceder a este inmenso repositorio de información no son adecuados. En este contexto presentamos NowOnWeb, un sistema de recuperación de noticias que obtiene los artículos de la red y permite buscar y navegar entre los mismos.Nowadays there are thousands of news sites available on-line. Traditional methods to access this huge news repository are overwhelmed. In this paper we present NowOnWeb, a news retrieval system that crawls the articles from the internet publishers and provides news searching and browsing.This work was cofunded by the “Secretaría de Estado de Universidades e Investigación” and FEDER funds (MEC TIN2005- 08521-C02-02) and “Xunta de Galicia” (PGIDIT06 PXIC10501PN)

A procedure for monitoring the phenological status of peach flowers with artificial vision

Tree flowering is a major event in crop production as it anticipates season yield. However a number of issues may occur during the campaign such as frost, and/or irregular mineral nutrition, among other, that strongly affect this process. On the other hand many fruit species show the phenomenon of “vecería” that refers to the fact that the trees have an increased yield every two year. Therefore, fruit growers and production engineers demand an insitu tool that would allow providing quantitative features regarding the amount of flowering, their phenological status, or even the presence of strong mineral deficiencies which lead to an abnormal development of the sexual organs of the flowers. Artificial vision suites into such a demands since it can be performed in the fields on-board of drones. In this work free online tools such as Makesense, Roboflow and YOLOv4 have been used to train and validate an automated procedure for the identification of the position of the sexual organs of Caterina Peach Flowers in order to relate their status with the nutrition state of the trees

Assessment of watercore development in apples with MRI: Effect of fruit location in the canopy

27 Pags., 7 Figs., 7 Tabls. The definitive version is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09255214Watercore distribution inside apple fruit (block or radial), and its incidence (% of tissue) were related to the effect of solar radiation inside the canopy as measured by a set of low-cost irradiation sensors. 221 samples were harvested in two seasons from the top and the bottom of the canopy and submitted to the non-invasive and non-destructive technique of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to obtain 20 inner tomography slices from each fruit and analyze the damaged areas using an interactive 3D segmentation method. The number of fruit corresponding to each type of damage and the relevant percentage were calculated and it was found that apples from the top of the tree were mainly of the radial type (84%) and had more watercore (approx. 5% more) than apples from the bottom (65% radial). From the image segmentation, the Euler number, a morphometric parameter, was extracted from the segmented images and related to the type of watercore symptoms. Apples with block watercore were grouped in Euler numbers between −400 and 400 with a small evolution. For apples with radial development, the Euler number was highly negative: up to −1439. Significant differences were also found regarding sugar composition, with higher fructose and total sugar contents in apples from the upper canopy, compared to those in the lower canopy location. In the seasons studied (2011 and 2012), significantly higher sorbitol and lower sucrose and fructose contents were found in watercore-affected tissue compared to the healthy tissue of affected apples and also compared to healthy apples.(FP7-226783) EU project for financial supportPeer reviewe