A closed-form formula for the RBF-based approximation of the Laplace-Beltrami operator

In this paper we present a method that uses radial basis functions to approximatethe Laplace&-Beltrami operator that allows to solve numerically diffusion (and reaction&-diffusion) equations on smooth, closed surfaces embedded in R3. The novelty of the methodis in a closed-form formula for the Laplace&-Beltrami operator derived in the paper, whichinvolve the normal vector and the curvature at a set of points on the surface of interest.An advantage of the proposed method is that it does not rely on the explicit knowledgeof the surface, which can be simply defined by a set of scattered nodes. In that case, thesurface is represented by a level set function from which we can compute the needed normalvectors and the curvature. The formula for the Laplace&-Beltrami operator is exact for radialbasis functions and it also depends on the first and second derivatives of these functionsat the scattered nodes that define the surface. We analyze the converge of the method andwe present numerical simulations that show its performance. We include an application thatarises in cardiology.This work has been supported by Spanish MICINN Grant FIS2016-77892-R. We thank the anonymous reviewer for his or her careful reading of our manuscript and his or her many insightful comments and suggestions

Compost obtained from feces of dairy cattle vs. fertilizer on triticale production (X Triticum secale Wittmack)

El uso de abono es cada vez más frecuente en la agricultura por su efecto positivo sobre la fertilidad del suelo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la altura de planta, número de tallos por m2, longitud foliar, número de hojas por tallo y rendimiento de materia seca de triticale (X Triticum secale Wittmack), fertilizado con abono (humus de lombriz y ácidos húmicos) y urea. Los tratamientos fueron: humus de lombriz, ácidos húmicos, urea, humus de lombriz + urea, ácidos húmicos + urea y testigo. Se utilizó un diseño completo al azar, con 6 tratamientos y 3 repeticiones, en unidades experimentales de 60 m2 y densidad de siembra de 100 kg de semilla por ha. Los mayores resultados de producción indican que la combinación de la fertilización orgánica e inorgánica fue mejor que los demás tratamientos (p<0,05), sin embargo, no hubo diferencias en las propiedades bromatológicas (p>0,05). La producción de triticale en los tratamientos con urea fue hasta un 70% superior al testigo y a los tratamientos únicamente con abonos.The use of compost obtained from feces is increasingly common in agriculture for soil fertility, the objective of this study was to determine the plant height, number of stems per m2, leaf length, number of leaves per stem and dry matter yield of triticale (X Triticum secale Wittmack), fertilized with compost (humus and humic acids) and urea. A complete randomized design was used with 6 treatments and 3 replications in experimental units of 60 m2 and seeding density of 100 kg of seed per ha. The treatments were: humus, humic acids, urea, humus + urea, humic acids + urea and control. The higher production indicate that the combination of organic and inorganic fertilization was better than the other treatments (p <0.05), however, there were no differences in the bromatological properties (p> 0.05). The production of triticale in treatments with urea was up to 70% higher than the control and anothers treatments evaluated.Fil: Beltrán Santoyo, Miguel Ángel. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (México)Fil: Álvarez Fuentes, Gregorio. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (México)Fil: García Lopez, Juan Carlos. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (México)Fil: Castro Rivera, Rigoberto

University and diversity: disabled students’ educational needs

Desde hace aproximadamente una década se ha constatado un aumento en el número de alumnado con discapacidad matriculado en las universidades españolas. Esta presencia creciente ha generado un interés por investigar la situación de este alumnado, especialmente en lo relativo a las dificultades que pudiera tener tanto en el acceso como en el desarrollo de los aprendizajes, en una institución que no ha tenido previsto mecanismos de accesibilidad a los estudios como en el resto de los niveles educativos. En este artículo se ofrecen datos relativos a la opinión que el profesorado de la Universidad de La Laguna tiene acerca de la atención educativa al alumnado con discapacidad. Se presentan los resultados obtenidos del análisis de 166 cuestionarios on-line respondidos por el profesorado de esta Universidad.For approximately a decade an increase has been stated in the number of disability students registered in the Spanish Universities. This increasing presence has generated an interest to investigate the situation of this students, specially in the relative thing to the difficulties that they could have both in the access and in the development of the learning’s, in an institution that has not foreseen mechanisms of accessibility to the studies like in the rest of the educational levels. In this article there offers information relative to the opinion that the professorship of the La Laguna University has over of the educational attention to the disability student’s. It presents the results obtained of the analysis of 166 questionnaires on-line answered by the professorship of this University

Abonos obtenidos del compostado de heces de ganado bovino de leche vs. fertilizante en la producción de triticale (X Triticum secale Wittmack)

The use of compost obtained from feces is increasingly common in agriculture for soil fertility, the objective of this study was to determine the plant height, number of stems per m2, leaf length, number of leaves per stem and dry matter yield of triticale (X Triticum secale Wittmack), fertilized with compost (humus and humic acids) and urea. A complete randomized design was used with 6 treatments and 3 replications in experimental units of 60 m2 and seeding density of 100 kg of seed per ha. The treatments were: humus, humic acids, urea, humus + urea, humic acids + urea and control. The higher production indicate that the combination of organic and inorganic fertilizationwas better than the other treatments (p 0.05). The production of triticale in treatments with urea was up to 70% higher than the control and anothers treatments evaluated.El uso de abono es cada vez más frecuente en la agricultura por su efecto positivo sobre la fertilidad del suelo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la altura de planta, número de tallos por m2, longitud foliar, número de hojas por tallo y rendimiento de materia seca de triticale (X Triticum secale Wittmack), fertilizado con abono (humus de lombriz y ácidos húmicos) y urea. Los tratamientos fueron: humus de lombriz, ácidos húmicos, urea, humus de lombriz + urea, ácidos húmicos + urea y testigo. Se utilizó un diseño completo al azar, con 6 tratamientos y 3 repeticiones, en unidades experimentales de 60 m2 y densidad de siembra de 100 kg de semilla por ha. Los mayores resultados de producción indican que la combinación de la fertilización orgánica e inorgánica fue mejor que los demás tratamientos (p0,05). La producción de triticale en los tratamientos con urea fue hasta un 70% superior al testigo y a los tratamientos únicamente con abonos

Intrapericardial Administration of Secretomes from Menstrual Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells: Effects on Immune-Related Genes in a Porcine Model of Myocardial Infarction.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a manifestation of ischemic heart disease where the immune system plays an important role in the re-establishment of homeostasis. We hypothesize that the anti-inflammatory activity of secretomes from menstrual blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (S-MenSCs) and IFNγ/TNFα-primed MenSCs (S-MenSCs*) may be considered a therapeutic option for the treatment of AMI. To assess this hypothesis, we have evaluated the effect of S-MenSCs and S-MenSCs* on cardiac function parameters and the involvement of immune-related genes using a porcine model of AMI. Twelve pigs were randomly divided into three biogroups: AMI/Placebo, AMI/S-MenSCs, and AMI/S-MenSCs*. AMI models were generated using a closed chest coronary occlusion-reperfusion procedure and, after 72 h, the different treatments were intrapericardially administered. Cardiac function parameters were monitored by magnetic resonance imaging before and 7 days post-therapy. Transcriptomic analyses in the infarcted tissue identified 571 transcripts associated with the Gene Ontology term Immune response, of which 57 were differentially expressed when different biogroups were compared. Moreover, a prediction of the interactions between differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and miRNAs from secretomes revealed that some DEGs in the infarction area, such as STAT3, IGFR1, or BCL6 could be targeted by previously identified miRNAs in secretomes from MenSCs. In conclusion, the intrapericardial administration of secretome early after infarction has a significant impact on the expression of immune-related genes in the infarcted myocardium. This confirms the immunomodulatory potential of intrapericardially delivered secretomes and opens new therapeutic perspectives in myocardial infarction treatment.This study was supported by competitive grants, such as: “PFIS” contract (FI19/00041) from the National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII, 2019 Call Strategic Action in Health 2019) to M.Á.d.P.; Santander Bank “Convenio de colaboración empresarial en actividades de interés general” to F.M.; “Sara Borrell” grant (CD19/00048) from ISCIII to E.L.; grant “TE-0001-19” from Consejería de Educación y Empleo (co-funded by European Social Fund -ESF- “Investing in your future”), ayuda para el fomento de la contratación de personal de apoyo a la investigación en la Comunidad Autónoma de Extremadura to M.P. Costs for experimental development were funded by grant “CB16/11/00494” from CIBER-CV ISCIII, RD21/0017/0014 from ISCIII (co-funded by NextGenerationEU. Plan de Recuperación Transformación y Resiliencia) and Ayuda Grupos catalogados de la Junta de Extremadura (GR21201) from Junta de Extremadura, Consejería de Economía, Ciencia y Agenda Digital (co-funded by European Regional Development Fund—ERDF) to F.M.S.-M.; J.G.C. received fundings from the ISCIII through a “Miguel Servet I” grant (MS17/00021) co-funded by ERDF/ESF “A way to make Europe” “Investing in your future”, funding from the projects “CP17/00021” and “PI18/0911” (co-funded by ERDF/ESF), and by Junta de Extremadura. V.C. received fundings from ISCIII (grant number “PI16/01172” and “PI20/00247”). E.L. received fundings from Junta de Extremadura through a “IB20184” grant (co-funded by ERDF/ESF). The funders had no role in study designs, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Doñana, diversidad y ciencia

144 páginasLa biodiversidad es más que la suma de los elementos que componen el mundo vivo; también son biodiversidad las relaciones entre esos elementos, los procesos ecológicos que hacen posible su existencia y los procesos evolutivos que los han originado. […] Los seres humanos necesitamos a la biodiversidad más que ella a nosotros, ya que es la responsable de que la Tierra funcione de una manera satisfactoria. […] El entramado de la vida se ocupa de regular la composición de la atmósfera (y con ella, el clima), de depurar el aire y el agua, de hacer fértil al suelo, de evitar riadas y avalanchas, de polinizar las cosechas, de reducir las plagas, etc. Por todo ello es indispensable conservar la biodiversidad, hoy amenazada.” (Miguel Delibes) Doñana, diversidad y ciencia es un paseo conceptual por el espacio natural más emblemático de Europa. La esencia de un mito a través de decenas de fotografías… Un acercamiento respetuoso a la diversidad de sus conceptos, un paseo por la esencia de su historia y una curiosa aproximación a la ciencia que genera hoy en día. En este recorrido descubriremos el carácter distintivo de algunos de los parajes de la reserva, sus matices más interesantes, las texturas y las formas más sorprendentes de la naturaleza, sus colores y conjuntos, sus transformaciones en las últimas décadas y la influencia de la presencia humana en el privilegiado ecosistema de la Reserva Biológica de Doñana

Factors associated with therapeutic response in acromegaly diagnosed in the elderly in Spain

ContextSome reports suggest that acromegaly in elderly patients has a more benign clinical behavior and could have a better response to first-generation long-acting somatostatin receptor ligands (SRL). However, there is no specific therapeutic protocol for this special subgroup of patients. ObjectiveThis study aimed at identifying predictors of response to SRL in elderly patients. DesignMulticentric retrospective nationwide study of patients diagnosed with acromegaly at or over the age of 65 years. ResultsOne-hundred and eighteen patients (34 men, 84 women, mean age at diagnosis 71.7 +/- 5.4 years old) were included. Basal insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1) above the upper limit of normal (ULN) and growth hormone (GH) levels (mean +/- SD) were 2.7 +/- 1.4 and 11.0 +/- 11.9 ng/ml, respectively. The mean maximal tumor diameter was 12.3 +/- 6.4 mm, and up to 68.6% were macroadenoma. Seventy-two out of 118 patients (61.0%) underwent surgery as primary treatment. One-third of patients required first-line medical treatment due to a rejection of surgical treatment or non-suitability because of high surgical risk. After first-line surgery, 45/72 (63.9%) were in disease remission, and 16/34 (46.7%) of those treated with SRL had controlled disease. Patients with basal GH at diagnosis <= 6 ng/ml had lower IGF-1 levels and had smaller tumors, and more patients in this group reached control with SRL (72.7% vs. 33.3%; p < 0.04) [OR: 21.3, IC: 95% (2.4-91.1)], while male patients had a worse response [OR: 0.09, IC 95% (0.01-0.75)]. The predictive model curve obtained for SRL response showed an AUC of 0.82 CI (0.71-0.94). ConclusionsThe most frequent phenotype in newly diagnosed acromegaly in the elderly includes small adenomas and moderately high IGF-1 levels. GH at diagnosis <= 6 ng/ml and female gender, but not age per se, were associated with a greater chance of response to SRL

A methodology to quantify the differences between alternative methods of heart rate variability measurement

This work proposes a systematic procedure to report the differences between heart rate variability time series obtained from alternative measurements reporting the spread and mean of the differences as well as the agreement between measuring procedures and quantifying how stationary, random and normal the differences between alternative measurements are. A description of the complete automatic procedure to obtain a differences time series (DTS) from two alternative methods, a proposal of a battery of statistical tests, and a set of statistical indicators to better describe the differences in RR interval estimation are also provided. Results show that the spread and agreement depend on the choice of alternative measurements and that the DTS cannot be considered generally as a white or as a normally distributed process. Nevertheless, in controlled measurements the DTS can be considered as a stationary process.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Disposición hacia el pensamiento crítico en estudiantes de una universidad estatal de Lima Metropolitana

Critical thinking disposition was researched in male and female students from different professional areas of a public university in Lima Metropolitan Area. One thousand three hundred seventy-six (1,376) university students were recruited using a non-probability quota sampling. Comparisons were made considering the participants’ different professional areas and sex. The results show that there are only significant statistical differences in the Curiosity dimension of the test according to the profes­sional areas of the university. &nbsp;Se investigó la disposición hacia el pensamiento crítico en estudiantes de diversas áreas profesionales, hombres y mujeres, de una universidad estatal de Lima Metropolitana. Participaron 1376 universitarios, obtenidos a través de un procedimiento de muestreo no probabilístico por cuotas. Se realizaron las comparaciones considerando las diversas carreras profesionales y el sexo de los participantes. Los resultados indican que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas solo en el área Curiosidad de la Disposición hacia el Pensamiento Crítico según las áreas profesionales de la universidad

Association Among Polyphenol Intake, Uric Acid, and Hyperuricemia: A CrossSectional Analysis in a Population at High Cardiovascular Risk

Dietary polyphenol intake has been associated with a decreased risk of hyperuricemia, but most of this knowledge comes from preclinical studies. The aim of the present study was to assess the association of the intake of different classes of polyphenols with serum uric acid and hyperuricemia. This cross- sectional analysis involved baseline data of 6332 participants. Food polyphenol con- tent was estimated by a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and from the Phenol-Explorer database. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models with serum uric acid (milligrams per deciliter) as the outcome and polyphenol intake (quintiles) as the main independent variable were fitted. Cox regression models with constant follow-up time (t=1) were performed to estimate the prevalence ratios (PRs) of hyperuricemia (≥7 mg/dL in men and ≥6 mg/dL in women). An inverse association between the intake of the phenolic acid class (β coefficient, −0.17 mg/dL for quintile 5 versus quintile 1 [95% CI, −0.27 to −0.06]) and hydroxycinnamic acids (β coefficient, −0.19 [95% CI, −0.3 to −0.09]), alkylmethoxyphenols (β coefficient, −0.2 [95% CI, −0.31 to −0.1]), and methoxyphenols (β coefficient, −0.24 [95% CI, −0.34 to −0.13]) subclasses with serum uric acid levels and hyperuricemia (PR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71– 0.95]; PR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71– 0.95]; PR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.70– 0.92]; and PR, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.69– 0.91]; respectively) was found. The intake of hydroxybenzoic acids was directly and significantly as- sociated with mean serum uric acid levels (β coefficient, 0.14 for quintile 5 versus quintile 1 [95% CI, 0.02– 0.26]) but not with hyperuricemia