Implicancias para la pesca y la conservación de la caracterización molecular y la trazabilidad de muestras de ceviche del Pacífico de Panamá

Genetic analysis of 111 samples from ceviche cocktails and fish fillets used for ceviche, obtained from fish markets and processing plants in the Pacific zone of Panama were conducted to determine species composition, trace origin (native, nonnative or imported frozen species) and CITES species status. A total of 21 species were detected (20 fishes and one invertebrate): Coryphaena hippurus (dolphin fish), Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (basa), Trachinotus falcatus (pompano), Cyclopsetta querna (toothed flounder), Atheresthes stomias (arrow-tooth flounder), Lobotes pacificus (Pacific tripletail), Bagre panamensis (Chihuil sea-catfish), B. bagre (Coco sea-catfish), Ariopsis seemanni (Tete sea-catfish), Aspistor luniscutis (yellow sea-catfish), Centropomus viridis (white snook), C. undecimalis (Union snook), Sphyrae naensis (Mexican barracuda), Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia), O. mossambicus (Mozambique tilapia), Cynoscion praedatorius (Boccone weakfish), Protonibea diacanthus (blackspotted croaker), Gadus chalcogrammus (Alaska pollock), Sphyrna lewini (scalloped hammerhead shark), Makaira nigricans (blue marlin) and Dosidicus gigas (giant Humbolt squid). Native species found in ceviche samples were reduced in numbers compared with imported and cultivated ones. Thus, the most common detected fish species was basa, followed by the Nile tilapia and the dolphin fish. This is a positive result in terms of sustainability of local fisheries, since basa is imported as frozen fish meat from Asia. The same applies for Nile tilapia, a cultivated freshwater species not captured from local fisheries. For the dolphin fish, despite being common and exploited in Pacific waters, previous studies suggest its fishery is sustainable in Panama waters. In terms of conservation status, one species cataloged by IUCN as vulnerable (VU), the blue marlin (M. nigricans) and one as critically endangered (CR), the scalloped hammerhead shark (S. lewini) were detected. Sphyrae lewini is also catalog as CITES appendix II. The giant Humbolt squid (D. gigas), classified by IUCN as data deficient (DD), was the only invertebrate detected in samples obtained from a ceviche processing plant. Two sets of primers and dual labeled probes were designed for qPCR eDNA detection of the only CITES species, S. lewini. These represent the first qPCR markers for eDNA detection of S. lewini. Results from this project promote the sustainable use of fishery resources and might provide ceviche producers with a certificate from MarViva Foundation certifying that their ceviche is free of sharks or species threatened/protected by law, giving added value to their product. Molecular detection and molecular traceability are sensitive and species specific, what makes of this tool a reliable method to combat IUU (illegal, unreported and undocumented) fishing.Se realizaron análisis genéticos de 111 muestras de cócteles de ceviche y filetes de pescado utilizados para ceviche, obtenidas en lonjas y plantas de procesado de la zona Pacífica de Panamá para determinar la composición por especies, el origen y la trazabilidad de éstas (especies autóctonas, no autóctonas o importadas congeladas) y el estatus de especies CITES. Se detectó un total de 21 especies (20 peces y un invertebrado): Coryphaena hippurus (dorado), Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (basa), Trachinotus falcatus (pompano), Cyclopsetta querna (platija dentada), Atheresthes stomias (platija diente de flecha), Lobotes pacificus (berrugate del Pacífico), Bagre panamensis (bagre, chihuil), B. bagre (bagre doncella), Ariopsis seemanni (bagre tete), Aspistor luniscutis (bagre amarillo), Centropomus viridis (róbalo plateado), C. undecimalis (róbalo blanco), Sphyrae naensis (barracuda mexicana), Oreochromis niloticus (tilapia del Nilo), O. mossambicus (tilapia de Mozambique), Cynoscion praedatorius (corvina bocona), Protonibea diacanthus (corvina negra), Gadus chalcogrammus (abadejo de Alaska), Sphyrna lewini (tiburón martillo), Makaira nigricans (merlín azul) y Dosidicus gigas (calamar gigante de Humbolt). Las especies autóctonas encontradas en las muestras de ceviche eran menos numerosas que las importadas y cultivadas. Así, la especie de pescado detectada con más frecuencia fue el Basa, seguida de la tilapia del Nilo y el dorado. Se trata de un resultado positivo en términos de sostenibilidad de la pesca local, ya que el Basa se importa de Asia como carne de pescado congelada. Lo mismo ocurre con la tilapia del Nilo, una especie cultivada de agua dulce que no se captura en las pesquerías locales. En cuanto al dorado, a pesar de ser común y explotado en aguas del Pacífico, estudios previos sugieren que su pesca es sostenible en aguas panameñas. En cuanto al estado de conservación, se detectó una especie catalogada por la UICN como vulnerable (VU), el Merlín azul (M. nigricans) y otra en peligro crítico (CR), el tiburón martillo festoneado (S. lewini). Sphyrna lewini también está catalogado como CITES: apéndice II. El calamar gigante de Humbolt (D. gigas), clasificado por la UICN como de datos insuficientes (DD), fue el único invertebrado detectado en las muestras obtenidas en una planta procesadora de ceviche. Se diseñaron dos conjuntos de cebadores y sondas de doble etiquetado para la detección qPCReDNA de la única especie CITES, S. lewini. Estos representan los primeros marcadores qPCR para la detección eDNA de S. lewini. Los resultados de este proyecto promueven el uso sostenible de los recursos pesqueros y podrían proporcionar a los productores de ceviche un certificado de la Fundación MarViva de ceviche libre de tiburones o especies amenazadas/protegidas por la ley, que dan un valor añadido a su producto. La detección y trazabilidad molecular son sensibles y específicas para cada especie, lo que hace de esta herramienta un método fiable para combatir la pesca Ilegal, No declarada e Indocumentada (INDNR)

Catabolism of raw and cooked green pepper (Capsicum annuum) (poly)phenolic compounds after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and fecal fermentation.

A total of 21 (poly)phenolic compounds (free and bound) were quantified in raw, olive oil fried, sunflower oil fried and griddled green pepper before and after a simulated gastrointestinal digestion. Flavonoids, particularly quercetin rhamnoside, were the main compounds. The bioaccessibility of (poly)phenolic compounds after gastrointestinal digestion was higher in cooked (>82%) than in raw (48%) samples, showing a positive effect of heat treatment on the release of (poly)phenols from the vegetal matrix. Additionally, a faecal fermentation was carried out for 24h. A time-dependent microbial metabolic activity was observed, which resulted firstly (<5h) in the hydrolysis of flavonoid glycosides and then in the formation of 3 catabolites, namely 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, dihydrocaffeic acid and 3-(3′-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid, this being by far the most abundant. Catabolic pathways for colonic microbial degradation of flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acids have been proposed. Griddled pepper showed the highest amount of (poly)phenols both after gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation

An analysis of the composite stellar population in M32

We obtained long-slit spectra of high signal-to-noise ratio of the galaxy M32 with the GMOS spectrograph at the GEMINI North telescope. We analysed the integrated spectra by means of full spectral fitting in order to extract the mixture of stellar populations that best represents its composite nature. Three different galactic radii were analysed, from the nuclear region out to 2 arcmin from the centre. This allows us to compare, for the first time, the results of integrated light spectroscopy with those of resolved colour-magnitude diagrams from the literature. As our main result, we propose that an ancient and an intermediate-age population coexist in M32, and that the balance between these two populations change between the nucleus and outside 1 effective radius in the sense that the contribution from the intermediate population is larger at the nuclear region. We retrieve a smaller signal of a young population at all radii whose origin is unclear and may be a contamination from horizontal-branch stars, such as the ones identified by Brown et al. in the nuclear region. We compare our metallicity distribution function for a region 1 to 2 arcmin from the centre to the one obtained with photometric data by Grillmair et al. Both distributions are broad, but our spectroscopically derived distribution has a significant component with [Z/Z_{\sun}] \leq -1, which is not found by Grillmair et al.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRA

Decreased Axon Caliber Underlies Loss of Fiber Tract Integrity, Disproportional Reductions in White Matter Volume, and Microcephaly in Angelman Syndrome Model Mice

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder caused by loss of function of the maternally inherited UBE3A allele. It is currently unclear how the consequences of this genetic insult unfold to impair neurodevelopment. We reasoned that by elucidating the basis of microcephaly in AS, a highly penetrant syndromic feature with early postnatal onset, we would gain new insights into the mechanisms by which maternal UBE3A loss derails neurotypical brain growth and function. Detailed anatomical analysis of both male and female maternal Ube3a-null mice reveals that microcephaly in the AS mouse model is primarily driven by deficits in the growth of white matter tracts, which by adulthood are characterized by densely packed axons of disproportionately small caliber. Our results implicate impaired axon growth in the pathogenesis of AS and identify noninvasive structural neuroimaging as a potentially valuable tool for gauging therapeutic efficacy in the disorder

Performance of the QWIP Focal Plane Array for NASA's Landsat 9 Mission

The flight focal plane array (FPA) for the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) instrument, to be flown on Landsat 9, was built and characterized at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The FPA was assembled using GaAs quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) arrays from the same lot as the TIRS instrument on Landsat 8. Each QWIP array is hybridized to an Indigo ISC9803 readout integrated circuit (ROIC) with 640 x 512, 25m by 25m pixels. Each QWIP hybrid was tested at the NASA/GSFC Detector Characterization Laboratory (DCL) as a single sensor chip assembly (SCA). The best SCAs in terms of performance were then built up into an FPA consisting of three SCAs, required to provide the necessary 15-degree field of view of the instrument. The FPA was tested to determine if project requirements were being met as a fully assembled unit. The performance of the QWIP SCAs and the fully assembled, NASA flight-qualified FPA will be reviewed

Constraints from CMB in the intermediate Brans-Dicke inflation

We study an intermediate inflationary stage in a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. In this scenario we analyze the quantum fluctuations corresponding to adiabatic and isocurvature modes. Our model is compared to that described by using the intermediate model in Einstein general relativity theory. We assess the status of this model in light of the seven-year WMAP data.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Search for Top Quark FCNC Couplings in Z' Models at the LHC and CLIC

The top quark is the heaviest particle to date discovered, with a mass close to the electroweak symmetry breaking scale. It is expected that the top quark would be sensitive to the new physics at the TeV scale. One of the most important aspects of the top quark physics can be the investigation of the possible anomalous couplings. Here, we study the top quark flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) couplings via the extra gauge boson Z' at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) energies. We calculate the total cross sections for the signal and the corresponding Standard Model (SM) background processes. For an FCNC mixing parameter x=0.2 and the sequential Z' mass of 1 TeV, we find the single top quark FCNC production cross sections 0.38(1.76) fb at the LHC with sqrt{s_{pp}}=7(14) TeV, respectively. For the resonance production of sequential Z' boson and decays to single top quark at the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) energies, including the initial state radiation and beamstrahlung effects, we find the cross section 27.96(0.91) fb at sqrt{s_{e^{+}e^{-}}}=1(3) TeV, respectively. We make the analysis to investigate the parameter space (mixing-mass) through various Z' models. It is shown that the results benefit from the flavor tagging.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 6 table

Allelic Specificity of Ube3a Expression in the Mouse Brain during Postnatal Development

Genetic alterations of the maternal UBE3A allele result in Angelman syndrome (AS), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe developmental delay, lack of speech, and difficulty with movement and balance. The combined effects of maternal UBE3A mutation and cell type-specific epigenetic silencing of paternal UBE3A are hypothesized to result in a complete loss of functional UBE3A protein in neurons. However, the allelic specificity of UBE3A expression in neurons and other cell types in the brain has yet to be characterized throughout development, including the early postnatal period when AS phenotypes emerge. Here we define maternal and paternal allele-specific Ube3a protein expression throughout postnatal brain development in the mouse, a species which exhibits orthologous epigenetic silencing of paternal Ube3a in neurons and AS-like behavioral phenotypes subsequent to maternal Ube3a deletion. We find that neurons downregulate paternal Ube3a protein expression as they mature and, with the exception of neurons born from postnatal stem cell niches, do not express detectable paternal Ube3a beyond the first postnatal week. By contrast, neurons express maternal Ube3a throughout postnatal development, during which time localization of the protein becomes increasingly nuclear. Unlike neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrotyes biallelically express Ube3a. Notably, mature oligodendrocytes emerge as the predominant Ube3a-expressing glial cell type in the cortex and white matter tracts during postnatal development. These findings demonstrate the spatiotemporal characteristics of allele-specific Ube3a expression in key brain cell types, thereby improving our understanding of the developmental parameters of paternal Ube3a silencing and the cellular basis of AS

Bar pattern speeds in CALIFA galaxies: I. Fast bars across the Hubble sequence

The bar pattern speed ($\Omega_{\rm b}$) is defined as the rotational frequency of the bar, and it determines the bar dynamics. Several methods have been proposed for measuring $\Omega_{\rm b}$. The non-parametric method proposed by Tremaine \& Weinberg (1984; TW) and based on stellar kinematics is the most accurate. This method has been applied so far to 17 galaxies, most of them SB0 and SBa types. We have applied the TW method to a new sample of 15 strong and bright barred galaxies, spanning a wide range of morphological types from SB0 to SBbc. Combining our analysis with previous studies, we investigate 32 barred galaxies with their pattern speed measured by the TW method. The resulting total sample of barred galaxies allows us to study the dependence of $\Omega_{\rm b}$ on galaxy properties, such as the Hubble type. We measured $\Omega_{\rm b}$ using the TW method on the stellar velocity maps provided by the integral-field spectroscopy data from the CALIFA survey. Integral-field data solve the problems that long-slit data present when applying the TW method, resulting in the determination of more accurate $\Omega_{\rm b}$. In addition, we have also derived the ratio $\cal{R}$ of the corotation radius to the bar length of the galaxies. According to this parameter, bars can be classified as fast ($\cal{R}$ $1.4). For all the galaxies,$\cal{R}$is compatible within the errors with fast bars. We cannot rule out (at 95$\%$level) the fast bar solution for any galaxy. We have not observed any significant trend between$\cal{R}$ and the galaxy morphological type. Our results indicate that independent of the Hubble type, bars have been formed and then evolve as fast rotators. This observational result will constrain the scenarios of formation and evolution of bars proposed by numerical simulations.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&