Impact of COVID-19 on case reporting for HTLV and HIV-2 in Spain.

The medical demand imposed by COVID-19 has distracted proper care of other illnesses. Herein, we report the impact on new diagnoses of HTLV-1, HTLV-2, and HIV-2 in Spain, where these infections are mostly driven by immigration flows from endemic regions. As expected, case reporting declined for all three retroviral infections with respect to prior years. Furthermore, late presentations were more common. The two major reasons for these observations were significant declines in the arrival of foreigners from endemic regions and a shift in medical resources to prioritize COVID-19

AMPLIACIONES DEL TEOREMA DE PITÁGORAS A TRAVÉS DE LA HISTORIA, PARA POLÍGONOS REGULARES

The objective of this article is to highlight how captivating and transcendent the Pythagorean theorem is, as well as, how striking and beautiful it is to go beyond verifying that it is true only for squares built on the sides of a right triangle; and that, it ceases to be perceived as a simple formula that is recited mechanically and coldly.  Two famous proofs of this theorem are presented, then this theorem is extended to equilateral triangles, regular hexagons, and semicircles until it is generalized to all regular polygons.El objetivo de este artículo es resaltar lo cautivador y trascendente que es el teorema de Pitágoras, además de lo llamativo y hermoso que resulta ir más allá de verificar que se cumple solo para cuadrados construidos sobre los lados de un triángulo rectángulo; y que se deje de percibir como una simple fórmula que se recita de forma mecánica y fría.  Se presentan dos famosas demostraciones de este teorema, luego se amplía este teorema para triángulos equiláteros, hexágonos regulares y semicírculos hasta llegar a generalizarlo para todo polígono regular

Emphysema model in rats exposed to tobacco smoke. Morphometric and functional analysis

Several models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in mice have been developed; the most similar to the habit of smoking is the inhalation of the smoke in mice. The objective was to develop and implement an experimental model of COPD in mice through the passive inhalation of smoke and demonstrate the physiological changes on ventilatory function and its correlation with 3 emphysema quantification methods. Materials and methods: Twenty Wistar mice were included in an experimental and control group. The experimental group was exposed to tobacco smoke, and we performed several pulmonary functional tests and imaging techniques. Results: Pulmonary function tests showed the volume expiration in the first second (VEF1) differs significantly between groups (p < 0.001). Pulmonary compliance was reduced in the experimental group by 50% in comparison to the control group (male vs control p < 0.001). Morphometric analysis: 17% reduction in lung volume with a destructive index (DI) of 45%. The intersection test had a DI of 43%. The free point test showed a DI of 44%. Conclusions: The implementation of our model generated the presence of emphysema and alterations in the lung physiology in the experimental group. We demonstrated evidence of 90% with emphysem

Neutron capture measurements with high efficiency detectors and the Pulse Height Weighting Technique

Neutron capture cross section measurements in time-of-flight facilities are usually performed by detecting the prompt γ-rays emitted in the capture reactions. One of the difficulties to be addressed in these measurements is that the emitted γ-rays may change with the neutron energy, and therefore also the detection efficiency. To deal with this situation, many measurements use the so called Total Energy Detection (TED) technique, usually in combination with the Pulse Height Weighting Technique (PHWT). With it, it is sought that the detection efficiency depends only on the total energy of the γ-ray cascade, which does not vary much with the neutron energy. This technique was developed in the 1960s and has been used in many neutron capture experiments to date. One of the requirements of the technique is that γ-ray detectors have a low efficiency. This has meant that the PHWT has been used with experimental setups with low detection efficiencies. However, this condition does not have to be fulfilled by the experimental system as a whole. The main goal of this work is to show that it is possible to measure with a high efficiency detection system that uses the PHWT, and how to analyze the measured data.This work was supported in part by the I+D+i grant PGC2018- 096717-B-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Commission H2020 Framework Programme project SANDA (Grant agreement ID: 847552)

First survey of Wolf-Rayet star populations over the full extension of nearby galaxies observed with CALIFA

The search of extragalactic regions with conspicuous presence of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars outside the Local Group is challenging task due to the difficulties in detecting their faint spectral features. In this exploratory work, we develop a methodology to perform an automated search of WR signatures through a pixel-by-pixel analysis of integral field spectroscopy (IFS) data belonging to the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey, CALIFA. This technique allowed us to build the first catalogue of Wolf-Rayet rich regions with spatially-resolved information, allowing to study the properties of these complexes in a 2D context. The detection technique is based on the identification of the blue WR bump (around He II 4686 {\AA}, mainly associated to nitrogen-rich WR stars, WN) and the red WR bump (around C IV 5808 {\AA} and associated to carbon-rich WR stars, WC) using a pixel-by-pixel analysis. We identified 44 WR-rich regions with blue bumps distributed in 25 galaxies of a total of 558. The red WR bump was identified only in 5 of those regions. We found that the majority of the galaxies hosting WR populations in our sample are involved in some kind of interaction process. Half of the host galaxies share some properties with gamma-ray burst (GRB) hosts where WR stars, as potential candidates to being the progenitors of GRBs, are found. We also compared the WR properties derived from the CALIFA data with stellar population synthesis models, and confirm that simple star models are generally not able to reproduce the observations. We conclude that other effects, such as the binary star channel (which could extend the WR phase up to 10 Myr), fast rotation or other physical processes that causes the loss of observed Lyman continuum photons, are very likely affecting the derived WR properties, and hence should be considered when modelling the evolution of massive stars.Comment: 33 pages, accepted for publication in A&

Establecimiento de la glycine (Neonotonia wightii) con fertilizante mineral, estiércol vacuno y cal en suelos Ferralíticos y Fersialíticos

Because of its high raw protein content, and adaptation to different agroecosystems, Glycine is one of the most extended legumes over the country; nevertheless, it needs fertile and not too acid soils. In Camagüey province, most of cattle raising areas are located on soils whose fertility and pH are medium to low; for that reason, two experiments were carried out in glass-house conditions to determine the effect of three soil fertility improvers on Glycine (Neonotonia wightii) cv. Tinaroo, behavior in fersialitic and ferralitic soils. Pots of 1,5 kg of capacity were used to study three doses of mineral fertilizer, cattle manure and lime in a randomized design with a factorial arrangement and four repetitions, evaluated by a double classification variance test (P≤ 0,05) and when there were significant differences Dunca'ns multiple range test was applied for comparison in case of significant differences (P≤ 0,05). Significant increases in Glycine yields were detected when applying the three mentioned improvers, while the highest dry matter production (8,23 and 21,54 g/pot) was registered with 50 t/ha of cattle manure combined to intermediate P-K doses (50-100 and 100-200 kg/ha for ferralitic and fersialitic soils) in addition to 2 t/ha CaCo3. Moreover, Glycine showed suitable contents of raw protein (15,69 and 18,80 %) and calcium (0,86 and 1,44 %) for animal normal growing up.Por sus altos contenidos en proteína bruta y su adaptabilidad a diferentes agroecosistemas, la Glycine es una de las leguminosas que más se ha extendido por todo el país; pero requiere de suelos fértiles y no muy ácidos. En Camagüey la mayoría de las áreas ganaderas están ubicadas en suelos de fertilidad y pH de medios a bajos, por lo que en condiciones de casa de cristal se condujeron dos experimentos para determinar el efecto de tres mejoradores de la fertilidad del suelo sobre el establecimiento de la Glycine (Neonotonia wightii) cv. Tinaroo, en suelos Ferralíticos y Fersialíticos. En macetas de 1,5 kg de capacidad se estudiaron tres dosis de fertilizante mineral, estiércol vacuno y cal (CaCO3) en cada suelo, mediante un diseño completamente aleatorizado con arreglo factorial y cuatro repeticiones, que se evaluaron por análisis de varianza de doble clasificación (P≤ 0,05) y en los casos de significación las medias se compararon por la prueba de rango múltiple de Duncan (P≤ 0,05). Se encontró que los rendimiento aumentaron significativamente con la aplicación de los tres mejoradores y que las mayores producciones de materia seca (8,23 y 21,54 g/maceta) se obtuvieron con el empleo de dosis equivalentes a 50 t/ha de estiércol vacuno combinado con la dosis intermedia de P-K (50-100 y 100-200 kg/ha para el suelo Ferralítico y Fersialítico, respectivamente) así como cuando se añadieron 2 t/ha de CaCO3. Además se encontró que esta especie muestra contenidos adecuados de proteína bruta (15,69 y 18,80 %) y calcio (0,86 y 1,44 %) para el normal desarrollo de los animales

Imprints of galaxy evolution on H ii regions Memory of the past uncovered by the CALIFA survey

H ii regions in galaxies are the sites of star formation and thus particular places to understand the build-up of stellar mass in the universe. The line ratios of this ionized gas are frequently used to characterize the ionization conditions. We use the Hii regions catalogue from the CALIFA survey (~5000 H ii regions), to explore their distribution across the classical [OIII]/Hbeta vs. [NII]/Halpha diagnostic diagram, and how it depends on the oxygen abundance, ionization parameter, electron density, and dust attenuation. We compared the line ratios with predictions from photoionization models. Finally, we explore the dependences on the properties of the host galaxies, the location within those galaxies and the properties of the underlying stellar population. We found that the location within the BPT diagrams is not totally predicted by photoionization models. Indeed, it depends on the properties of the host galaxies, their galactocentric distances and the properties of the underlying stellar population. These results indicate that although H ii regions are short lived events, they are affected by the total underlying stellar population. One may say that H ii regions keep a memory of the stellar evolution and chemical enrichment that have left an imprint on the both the ionizing stellar population and the ionized gasComment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publishing in A&

Total Absorption Spectroscopy Study of 92^{92}Rb Decay: A Major Contributor to Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum Shape

The antineutrino spectra measured in recent experiments at reactors are inconsistent with calculations based on the conversion of integral beta spectra recorded at the ILL reactor. $^{92}$Rb makes the dominant contribution to the reactor spectrum in the 5-8 MeV range but its decay properties are in question. We have studied $^{92}$Rb decay with total absorption spectroscopy. Previously unobserved beta feeding was seen in the 4.5-5.5 region and the GS to GS feeding was found to be 87.5(25)%. The impact on the reactor antineutrino spectra calculated with the summation method is shown and discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

The Sensitivity of HAWC to High-Mass Dark Matter Annihilations

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a wide field-of-view detector sensitive to gamma rays of 100 GeV to a few hundred TeV. Located in central Mexico at 19 degrees North latitude and 4100 m above sea level, HAWC will observe gamma rays and cosmic rays with an array of water Cherenkov detectors. The full HAWC array is scheduled to be operational in Spring 2015. In this paper, we study the HAWC sensitivity to the gamma-ray signatures of high-mass (multi- TeV) dark matter annihilation. The HAWC observatory will be sensitive to diverse searches for dark matter annihilation, including annihilation from extended dark matter sources, the diffuse gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation, and gamma-ray emission from non-luminous dark matter subhalos. Here we consider the HAWC sensitivity to a subset of these sources, including dwarf galaxies, the M31 galaxy, the Virgo cluster, and the Galactic center. We simulate the HAWC response to gamma rays from these sources in several well-motivated dark matter annihilation channels. If no gamma-ray excess is observed, we show the limits HAWC can place on the dark matter cross-section from these sources. In particular, in the case of dark matter annihilation into gauge bosons, HAWC will be able to detect a narrow range of dark matter masses to cross-sections below thermal. HAWC should also be sensitive to non-thermal cross-sections for masses up to nearly 1000 TeV. The constraints placed by HAWC on the dark matter cross-section from known sources should be competitive with current limits in the mass range where HAWC has similar sensitivity. HAWC can additionally explore higher dark matter masses than are currently constrained.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, version to be published in PR

VAMOS: a Pathfinder for the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

VAMOS was a prototype detector built in 2011 at an altitude of 4100m a.s.l. in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The aim of VAMOS was to finalize the design, construction techniques and data acquisition system of the HAWC observatory. HAWC is an air-shower array currently under construction at the same site of VAMOS with the purpose to study the TeV sky. The VAMOS setup included six water Cherenkov detectors and two different data acquisition systems. It was in operation between October 2011 and May 2012 with an average live time of 30%. Besides the scientific verification purposes, the eight months of data were used to obtain the results presented in this paper: the detector response to the Forbush decrease of March 2012, and the analysis of possible emission, at energies above 30 GeV, for long gamma-ray bursts GRB111016B and GRB120328B.Comment: Accepted for pubblication in Astroparticle Physics Journal (20 pages, 10 figures). Corresponding authors: A.Marinelli and D.Zaboro