Seismic Microzonation of the City of Puebla, Mexico

We gathered information concerning the seismic response of the city of Puebla including: surface geology and hydrology, bore-hole data, damage information for two destructive earthquakes, and earthquake records in four strong motion instruments that have operated in the city. Additional data was obtained from three experiments: microtremor measurements in 39 points within the urban zone; installation and operation of a temporal digital seismograph network; a small scale refraction experiment. Consideration of all data together allows to draw a coherent picture of site effects in the urban zone. Based on these results, we propose a preliminary seismic microzonation map for the city of Puebla

Contingut en fluor a les aigües de consum públic de Catalunya: aportació de dades i consells pràctics per al clínic

El coneixement del contingut de fluor a les aigües de consum públic és de gran importància pel que fa a l'ús de suplements d'aquest mineral en la prevenció i control de la caries dental. S'exposen dades deis nivells de fluorurs dels abastaments públics de Catalunya, i consells pràctics per al clínic en relació a l'ús de suplements. Quasi un 90 % de les xarxes tingueren ni­vells inferiors a O. 7 mg/1

Efficacy of DNA amplification in tissue biopsy samples to improve the detection of invasive fungal disease

AbstractThe performance of a pan-fungal PCR-based technique was evaluated to assess the aetiology of invasive fungal diseases (IFDs). A total of 89 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsy samples from 84 patients with proven IFD were studied. Culture of tissue was performed in 68 (81%) patients. The sensitivities of the PCR-based technique and microbiological culture of tissues were 89% and 56%, respectively (p <0.01). According to PCR results, Aspergillus species accounted for 67%, Candida species for 13%, zygomycetes for 11%, and rare and emerging fungi for 9%. Aspergillus species were significantly associated with lung samples (79.6%, p <0.01), Mucorales were associated with skin/subcutaneous samples, and Candida species were associated with gastrointestinal samples. Regarding biopsy samples with Aspergillus species, Aspergillus fumigatus DNA was detected in 43 of 50 (86%), and Aspergillus flavus in six of 50 (12%). PCR was positive in 24 of 30 (80%) cases with negative culture. In nine of the 84 patients, the PCR technique failed to amplify the DNA. Six also had negative cultures, and in the remaining three cases culture was positive (Rhizopus microsporus, Rhizopus arrhizus, and Sakseneae vasiformis), suggesting that the PCR technique was not as effective in amplifying the DNA of some species of Zygomycetes. In five cases, there was no correlation between culture results and those obtained with DNA amplification, indicating the possibility of a mixed infection or the presence of colonizer/contaminant microorganisms. In summary, PCR-based techniques for DNA amplification should be implemented in histopathology and microbiology departments, as they appear to be complementary to conventional methods for IFD detection

Inherited photoreceptor degeneration causes the death of melanopsin-positive retinal ganglion cells and increases their coexpression of brn3a

Purpose: To study the population of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (melanopsin-expressing RGCs, m+RGCs) in P23H-1 rats, a rat model of inherited photoreceptor degeneration. Methods: At postnatal (P) times P30, P365, and P540, retinas from P23H dystrophic rats (line 1, rapid degeneration; and line 3, slow degeneration) and Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (control) were dissected as whole-mounts and immunodetected for melanopsin and/or Brn3a. The dendritic arborization of m+RGCs and the numbers of Brn3a+RGCs and m+RGCs were quantified and their retinal distribution and coexpression analyzed. Results: In SD rats, aging did not affect the population of Brn3a+RGCs or m+RGCs or the percentage that showed coexpression (0.27%). Young P23H-1 rats had a significantly lower number of Brn3a+RGCs and showed a further decline with age. The population of m+RGCs in young P23H-1 rats was similar to that found in SD rats and decreased by 22.6% and 28.2% at P365 and P540, respectively, similarly to the decrease of the Brn3a+RGCs. At these ages the m+RGCs showed a decrease of their dendritic arborization parameters, which was similar in both the P23H-1 and P23H-3 lines. The percentage of coexpression of Brn3a was, however, already significantly higher at P30 (3.31%) and increased significantly with age (10.65% at P540). Conclusions: Inherited photoreceptor degeneration was followed by secondary loss of Brn3a+RGCs and m+RGCs. Surviving m+RGCs showed decreased dendritic arborization parameters and increased coexpression of Brn3a and melanopsin, phenotypic and molecular changes that may represent an effort to resist degeneration and/or preferential survival of m+RGCs capable of synthesizing Brn3a

Análisis de técnicas de aumento de datos y entrenamiento en YOLOv3 para detección de objetos en imágenes RGB y TIR del UMA-SAR Dataset

Este trabajo ha recibido financiación del proyecto nacional RTI2018-093421-B-I00El uso de imágenes de los espectros visible (RGB) e infrarrojo térmico (TIR) para la detección de objetos puede resultar crucial en aplicaciones donde las condiciones de visibilidad están limitadas, como la robótica para búsqueda y rescate en catástrofes. Para ello resulta beneficioso analizar cómo las técnicas de aprendizaje profundo basadas en redes neuronales convolucionales (CNN) pueden aplicarse a ambas modalidades. En este artículo se analizan diferentes configuraciones y parámetros para el entrenamiento de CNN tanto para imágenes térmicas como para imágenes equivalentes del espectro visible. En concreto, se aborda el problema del sobre-entrenamiento para determinar una configuración eficaz de técnicas de aumento de datos y parada temprana. El caso de estudio se ha realizado con la red de código abierto YOLOv3, pre-entrenada con el dataset RGB COCO y optimizada (o re-entrenada) con el conjunto público de datos UMA-SAR dataset, que incluye pares de imágenes RGB y TIR obtenidas en ejercicios realistas de rescate.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Anatomy of the Human Optic Nerve: Structure and Function

The optic nerve (ON) is constituted by the axons of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). These axons are distributed in an organized pattern from the soma of the RGC to the lateral geniculated nucleus (where most of the neurons synapse). The key points of the ON are the optic nerve head and chiasm. This chapter will include a detailed and updated review of the ON different parts: RGC axons, glial cells, connective tissue of the lamina cribrosa and the septum and the blood vessels derivate from the central retina artery and from the ciliary system. There will be an up-to-date description about the superficial nerve fibre layer, including their organization, and about prelaminar, laminar and retrolaminar regions, emphasizing the axoplasmic flow, glial barriers, biomechanics of the lamina cribrosa and the role of the macro- and microglia in their working

Core-coupled states and split proton-neutron quasi-particle multiplets in 122-126Ag

Neutron-rich silver isotopes were populated in the fragmentation of a 136Xe beam and the relativistic fission of 238U. The fragments were mass analyzed with the GSI Fragment separator and subsequently implanted into a passive stopper. Isomeric transitions were detected by 105 HPGe detectors. Eight isomeric states were observed in 122-126Ag nuclei. The level schemes of 122,123,125Ag were revised and extended with isomeric transitions being observed for the first time. The excited states in the odd-mass silver isotopes are interpreted as core-coupled states. The isomeric states in the even-mass silver isotopes are discussed in the framework of the proton-neutron split multiplets. The results of shell-model calculations, performed for the most neutron-rich silver nuclei are compared to the experimental data