El algoritmo HyRPNI y una aplicación en bioinformática

Proponemos un algoritmo de inferencia gramatical para lenguajes regulares que permite ahorrar cómputo al usar dos criterios diferentes para elegir los estados a ser procesados, un criterio se usa en la primera fase del proceso de inferencia (al principio) y el otro en el resto del proceso. Realizamos experimentos para observar el desempeño del algoritmo, para aprender sobre el tamaño ideal de su primera fase y para mostrar su aplicación en la solución de un problema específico en bioinformática: la predicción de sitios de corte en poliproteínas codificadas por virus de la familia Potyviridae./ We propose a grammar inference algorithm for regular languages which saves computational cost by using two different criteria to choose states to be processed: one in the first phase of the inference process (the beginning) and another for the rest of the process. We applied experiments to observe performance of the algorithm, to learn about the best size of its first phase and to show results of its application to solve a specific problem in Bioinformatics: the cleavage site prediction problem in polyproteins encoded by viruses of the Potyviridae family

First detection of Gongylonema species in Geotrupes mutator in Europe

The detection of three Gongylonema sp. infective larvae in two specimens of the dung beetle Geotrupes mutator (Marsham, 1802) from western Spain is reported here for the first time in Europe. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the analyzed specimens belong to the genus Gongylonema, but it was not possible to determine the species identity by the lack of morphological information in the literature and because many of the phenotypic characteristics had not yet fully developed at this juvenile stage. Nevertheless, a phylogenetic analysis using amplified cox1 nucleotide sequences has revealed that the studied larvae could be clearly discriminated ( 89% identity) from all the other Gongylonema cox1 sequences available in public genetic databases. While our results are limited by the scarcity of genetic information available for this genus, the possibility that the analyzed specimens might correspond to a new species should not be ruled out, and more studies are needed. The results provided in this report indicate that G. mutator is involved in the transmission cycle of Gongylonema sp.To vertebrates in Europe.publishersversionpublishe

Master Plan for the Region of Sierras Chicas, Cordoba, Argentina

El Plan Director de Sierras Chicas fue una experiencia innovadora en planificación regional, desarrollada por un Consejo de Planificación Metropolitana, coordinado por el Gobierno de la Provincia de Córdoba e integrado, además de los organismos técnicos provinciales, por los gobiernos municipales involucrados en el área de estudio; universidades; organizaciones sociales y profesionales. Con un horizonte temporal de planificación aproximado de 15 años, el Plan aplica sobre un sector particular del Área Metropolitana de Córdoba conocido como Sierras Chicas, una conurbación integrada por 11 Municipalidades y Comunas recostadas sobre el faldeo oriental de las sierras, en el cuadrante noroeste metropolitano. Se trata de un corredor que ha experimentado un crecimiento poblacional explosivo y desordenado en las últimas décadas, con consecuencias que afectan sus sobresalientes condiciones ambientales, paisajísticas y culturales, patrimonio que deben preservarse para beneficio de los habitantes y visitantes, actuales y futuros. Su alcance regional implica la integración en un espacio geográfico amplio de distintas competencias territoriales municipales. La planificación enfocada en la escala regional permite abordar una multiplicidad de aspectos que hacen a un desarrollo armónico de las ciudades. Cuencas, excedentes hídricos, agua potable, cloacas, energía, transporte, ordenación territorial, vialidad, equipamientos sociales y muchas otras variables que podrían ampliar esta lista, resultan imposibles de ser estudiadas y resueltas dentro de los recortes de cada radio municipal.El Pla Director de Serres Chicas va ser una experiència innovadora en planificació regional, desenvolupada per un Consell de Planificació Metropolitana, coordinat pel Govern de la Província de Còrdova i integrat, a més dels organismes tècnics provincials, pels governs municipals involucrats en l'àrea de estudi; universitats; organitzacions socials i professionals. Amb un horitzó temporal de planificació aproximat de 15 anys, el Pla s'aplica sobre un sector particular de l'Àrea Metropolitana de Còrdova conegut com a Serres Noies, una conurbació integrada per 11 Municipalitats i comunes recolzades sobre la vessant oriental de les serres, en el quadrant nord-oest metropolità . Es tracta d'un corredor que ha experimentat un creixement poblacional explosiu i desordenat en les últimes dècades, amb conseqüències que afecten les seves excel·lents condicions ambientals, paisatgístiques i culturals, patrimoni que s'han de preservar per a benefici dels habitants i visitants, actuals i futurs. El seu abast regional implica la integració en un espai geogràfic ampli de diferents competències territorials municipals. La planificació enfocada en l'escala regional permet abordar una multiplicitat d'aspectes que fan a un desenvolupament harmònic de les ciutats. Conques, excedents hídrics, aigua potable, clavegueres, energia, transport, ordenació territorial, vialitat, equipaments socials i moltes altres variables que podrien ampliar aquesta llista, resulten impossibles de ser estudiades i resoltes dins de les retallades de cada ràdio municipal.The Master Plan for Sierras Chicas was an innovative experience in regional planning. It was developed by a Metropolitan Planning Council, Provincial technical entities, governments of the cities included in the area under analysis, universities, professional and social entities, all of them coordinated by the Government of the Province of Cordoba. With an approximate time, span of 15 years, the Plan applies to a specific sector of the Metropolitan Area of Cordoba known as Sierras Chicas. This conurbation is made up of 11 cities and communes that lie on the eastern slope of the hills in the northwest quadrant of the metropolitan area. This corridor has undergone a disorderly and explosive population growth in the past decades as a consequence affecting its outstanding cultural, landscape, and environmental conditions, which are a heritage that should be preserved for future and current visitors and inhabitants. It has regional impact on the integration in a vast geographical space with different city territorial competencies. If planning is focused on the region, a number of aspects can be approached for a harmonic development of cities. It's impossible to analyze and plan efficiently for basins, surplus water, drinking water, sewage, energy, transport, territory ordering, roads, social equipment, and many other variables, if such analysis is made on each city in isolation.Peer Reviewe

A telemedicine distributed system for cooperative medical diagnosis

Procceedings of: Eighteenth Annual Symposium on Computer Aplications in Medical Care, november 5-9, 1994, Washington, USA. Edited by Judy G. OzboltTelemedicine is changing the classicalform of health care delivery, dramatically increasing the number of new applications in which some type of distributed synchronous cooperation between health care professionals is required. This paper presents the design and development ofa telemedicine distributed system for cooperative medical diagnosis based on two new approaches: 1) a distributed layered architecture specially designed to add synchronous computer supported cooperative workfeatures either to new or existing medical applications; 2) the definition of a methodological procedure to design graphical user interfaces for telemedicine cooperative working scenarios. The cooperative work is supported by a collaborative toolkit that provides telepointing, window sharing, coordination and synchronization. Finally, we have implemented and installed the telemedicine system in clinical practice between two hospitals, providing teleconferencing facilities for cooperative decision support in haemodynamics studies. This specific implementation and a preliminary evaluation were accomplished under the Research Project FEST "Framework for European Services in Telemedicine" funded by the EU AIM Programme.This work is supported in part by EU - AIM FEST project no. A-201 1, and by grants CICYT TEMA TIC 92-1288-PB and TELEMEDICINA TIC 93-1279-E.Publicad

Urbanización, movilidad y demanda energética

El artículo es parte del libro Matriz de recursos energéticos de la Provincia de Córdoba. Córdoba : Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Conicet, 2013El trabajo establece inicialmente las interacciones entre las modalidades de urbanización y la movilidad de personas, con diferentes consecuencias como el aumento en las demandas de energía. El enfoque conceptual, está referenciado al caso de Córdoba (Argentina) y en concordancia con la realidad actual, la escala de análisis abarca la región metropolitana. En ese contexto físico se analizan las situaciones generadas por las expansiones de la urbanización en conurbaciones de baja densidad, acompañadas por crecimientos acelerados en la población de los pueblos y ciudades de la región. Estas situaciones tienen secuelas negativas en el tránsito, los accidentes, la polución y el consumo energético entre otras. Desde este enfoque, se proponen acciones sobre las variables prioritarias para un proceso de planificación en la escala regional como son los usos del suelo y la movilidad. En el primer caso se ensaya un modelo que promueve una mayor densificación evitando una innecesaria expansión suburbana, aunque manteniendo un constante ensamble con áreas verdes. En la variable de movilidad se plantea una alternativa superadora para el sistema vial metropolitano y un plan de transporte público guiado que utiliza en la medida de lo posible, los espacios ferroviarios disponibles.Fil: Irós, Guillermo M. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; Argentina.Fil: Moiso, Enrique A. Gobierno de la provincia de Córdoba. Ministerio de Servicios Públicos. Instituto de Planificación del Área Metropolitana; Argentina.Fil: Irós, Guillermo. Gobierno de la provincia de Córdoba. Ministerio de Servicios Públicos. Instituto de Planificación del Área Metropolitana; Argentina.Fil: Moiso, Enrique A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; Argentina.Fil: Bravo, Augusto O. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; Argentina.Fil: Alonso, César S. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; Argentina.Otras Ingenierías y Tecnología

The local skin cellular immune response determines the clinical outcome of sarcoptic mange in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica)

[EN] Introduction: Sarcoptic mange, caused by Sarcoptes scabiei, is a disease with implications for wildlife conservation and management. Its severity depends on the host’s local skin immune response, which is largely unknown in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica), a mountain ungulate dramatically affected by mange. In this species, the clinical outcome of sarcoptic mange varies among individuals, and the local immune response could be key to controlling the infestation. This study aims to characterize the local cellular immune response and its relationship with the clinical outcome. Methods: Fourteen Iberian ibexes were experimentally infested with S. scabiei and six more served as controls. Clinical signs were monitored, and skin biopsies were collected from the withers at 26, 46, and 103 days post-infection (dpi). The presence and distribution of macrophages (including M1 and M2 phenotypes), T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, plasma cells, and interleukine 10 were quantitatively evaluated using immunohistochemical techniques. Results: An inflammatory infiltrate that decreased significantly from 26 to 103 dpi was observed in all the infested ibexes. The predominant inflammatory cell population in the skin of the mangy ibexes was formed by macrophages (mainly the M2 phenotype) followed by T lymphocytes, with lower numbers of B lymphocytes and plasma cells. Three clinical courses were identified: total recovery, partial recovery, and terminal stage. The inflammatory infiltrates were less pronounced in the fully recovered ibexes than in those that progressed to the terminal stage throughout the study. Discussion: The results suggest an exacerbated but effective Th1-type cellular immune response controlling mange in Iberian ibex. Furthermore, the local immune response appears to determine the variability of the clinical responses to S. scabiei infestation in this species. This first report on the progression of local skin immune cells is relevant not only for individuals but also for population management and conservation.SIThis project was funded by the Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía (project 173/2009/M/00;03/15/M/00; 861_11_M_00 and 2016/00014/M) and the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (projects CGL2012-40043-C02-01, CGL2012-40043-C02-02, and CGL2016-80543-P). The authors’ research activities are partially supported by the Plan Andaluz de Investigación (RNM-118 group). MV is supported by a FI-GENCAT Fellowship (2020_FI_B2_00049, which is cofinanced by the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca and the European Social Fund). GM is a Serra Húnter FellowThe authors would like to thank the Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía and in particular the Sierra Nevada Natural Space for their logistical support and the Sierra de Huétor Natural Park for the transfer of their experimental facilities. We also give special thanks to the park wardens and fieldworkers in the SNNS and above all to Apolo Sánchez, José López, Isidro Puga, Elías Martínez, Francisco Felipe, and Antonio Rodríguez for their professional and personal involvement in the study. The authors are also grateful to Manolo Herrera for the maintenance of the ibex and the facilities during the experimental phase, Emmanuel Serrano for advice, and the Service of Veterinary Pathology of the UAB for the histological preparation of samples. The technical and human support provided by Marta Silva is gratefully acknowledged

The local skin cellular immune response determines the clinical outcome of sarcoptic mange in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica)

Sarcoptic mange, caused by Sarcoptes scabiei, is a disease with implications for wildlife conservation and management. Its severity depends on the host's local skin immune response, which is largely unknown in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica), a mountain ungulate dramatically affected by mange. In this species, the clinical outcome of sarcoptic mange varies among individuals, and the local immune response could be key to controlling the infestation. This study aims to characterize the local cellular immune response and its relationship with the clinical outcome. Fourteen Iberian ibexes were experimentally infested with S. scabiei and six more served as controls. Clinical signs were monitored, and skin biopsies were collected from the withers at 26, 46, and 103 days post-infection (dpi). The presence and distribution of macrophages (including M1 and M2 phenotypes), T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, plasma cells, and interleukine 10 were quantitatively evaluated using immunohistochemical techniques. An inflammatory infiltrate that decreased significantly from 26 to 103 dpi was observed in all the infested ibexes. The predominant inflammatory cell population in the skin of the mangy ibexes was formed by macrophages (mainly the M2 phenotype) followed by T lymphocytes, with lower numbers of B lymphocytes and plasma cells. Three clinical courses were identified: total recovery, partial recovery, and terminal stage. The inflammatory infiltrates were less pronounced in the fully recovered ibexes than in those that progressed to the terminal stage throughout the study. The results suggest an exacerbated but effective Th1-type cellular immune response controlling mange in Iberian ibex. Furthermore, the local immune response appears to determine the variability of the clinical responses to S. scabiei infestation in this species. This first report on the progression of local skin immune cells is relevant not only for individuals but also for population management and conservation

Obtención y purificación de extractos de la enzima monóxido de carbono deshidrogenasa de Oligotropha carboxidovorans (cepa OM 5) con actividad de oxidación de monóxido de carbono detectable electroquímicamente por medio de un microelectrodo de platin

Extracts of the enzyme carbon monoxide dehydrogenase capable to oxidize carbon monoxide to CO2 were obtained from the carboxidotrophic bacteria Oligotropha carboxidovorans OM5 cultivated under aerobic conditions in a mineral medium saturated with CO. The extracts were obtained disrupting cells by sonication and purification by molecular size-exclusion chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography. The enzymatic activity of the extracts was measured using methylene blue as an artificial electronic acceptor in the oxidation of the CO to CO2. Crude and purified extracts showed enzymatic activity detectable by spectrophotometry. The maximum grade of purification obtained was 200 times and specific enzymatic activities were achieved in the range from 0.01 to 2.0 mU/mg of protein. Electrochemical assays using a platinum microelectrode and methylene blue as an electronic mediator showed an increase of the anodic current when the substrate carbon monoxide was added to the cell that contained the enzymatic extract. These results encourage the construction of an electrochemical biosensor for the detection of carbon monoxide using enzymatic extracts obtained from carboxidotrophic bacteria.Se obtuvieron extractos crudos y purificados de la enzima monóxido de carbono deshidrogenasa capaces de oxidar monóxido de carbono a CO2, a partir de cultivos de la bacteria carboxidotrofa Oligotropha carboxidovorans (cepa OM5) cultivadas aeróbicamente em un medio mineral saturado con CO. Los extractos crudos se obtuvieron mediante la ruptura de las células por sonicación y se purificaron por cromatografía de exclusión molecular y cromatografía de intercambio iónico. La actividad enzimática de los extractos se midió utilizando azul de metileno como aceptor electrónico artificial en la oxidación del CO a CO2. Se obtuvieron extractos crudos y purificados con actividad enzimática detectable por medio de espectrofotometría. El grado máximo de purificación obtenido fue de 200 veces y se lograron actividades enzimáticas específicas en el rango de 0.01 a 2.0 mU/mg de proteína. Ensayos electroquímicos usando un microelectrodo deplatino y azul de metileno como mediador electrónico, mostraron un aumento de la corriente anódica cuando se adicionó el sustrato monóxido de carbono a la celda que contenía el extracto enzimático. Estos resultados permiten alentar la construcción de un biosensor electroquímico para la detección de monóxido de carbono, utilizando extractos enzimáticos obtenidos a partir de bacterias carboxidotrofas

The sigma-1 receptor curtails endogenous opioid analgesia during sensitization of TRPV1 nociceptors

Background and Purpose: Peripheral sensitization contributes to pathological pain. While prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nerve growth factor (NGF) sensitize peptidergic C-nociceptors (TRPV1+), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) sensitizes non-peptidergic C-neurons (IB4+). Sigma-1 receptor (σ1R) is a Ca2+-sensing chaperone known to modulate analgesia induced by opioid drugs. This receptor binds both to TRPV1 and the µ-opioid receptor (MOPr), although the functional repercussions of these physical interactions in peripheral sensitization are unknown. Experimental Approach: We tested the effect of sigma-1 antagonism on PGE2-, NGF- and GDNF-induced mechanical and heat hyperalgesia in mice. We used immunohistochemistry to determine the presence of endomorphin-2, an endogenous MOPr agonist, on dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Recombinant proteins were used to study the interactions between σ1R, MOPr and TRPV1. We used calcium imaging to study the effects of sigma-1 antagonism on PGE2-induced sensitization of TRPV1+ nociceptors. Key Results: σ1R antagonists reversed PGE2- and NGF-induced hyperalgesia, but not GDNF-induced hyperalgesia. Endomorphin-2 was detected on TRPV1+ but not on IB4+ neurons. Peripheral opioid receptor antagonism by naloxone methiodide or administration of an anti-endomorphin-2 antibody to a sensitized paw, reversed the antihyperalgesia induced by sigma-1 antagonists. Sigma-1 antagonism transfers σ1R from TRPV1 to MOPr, suggesting that σ1R participate in TRPV1-MOPr crosstalk. Moreover, σ1R antagonism reversed, in a naloxone-sensitive manner, PGE2-induced sensitization of DRG neurons to the calcium flux elicited by capsaicin, the prototypic TRPV1 agonist. Conclusion and Implications: σ1R antagonism harnesses endogenous opioids produced by TRPV1+ neurons to reduce hyperalgesia by increasing MOPr activity