Decaying neutron propagation in the Galaxy and the Cosmic Ray anisotropy at 1 EeV

We study the cosmic ray arrival distribution expected from a source of neutrons in the galactic center at energies around 1 EeV and compare it with the anisotropy detected by AGASA and SUGAR. Besides the point-like signal in the source direction produced by the direct neutrons, an extended signal due to the protons produced in neutron decays is expected. This associated proton signal also leads to an excess in the direction of the spiral arm. For realistic models of the regular and random galactic magnetic fields, the resulting anisotropy as a function of the energy is obtained. We find that for the anisotropy to become sufficiently suppressed below E\sim 10^{17.9}eV, a significant random magnetic field component is required, while on the other hand, this also tends to increase the angular spread of the associated proton signal and to reduce the excess in the spiral arm direction. The source luminosity required in order that the right ascension anisotropy be 4% for the AGASA angular exposure corresponds to a prediction for the point-like flux from direct neutrons compatible with the flux detected by SUGAR. We also analyse the distinguishing features predicted for a large statistics southern observatory.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, minor changes to match published versio

Mechanistic modeling of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map.

Here we present a web interface that implements a comprehensive mechanistic model of the SARS-CoV-2 disease map. In this framework, the detailed activity of the human signaling circuits related to the viral infection, covering from the entry and replication mechanisms to the downstream consequences as inflammation and antigenic response, can be inferred from gene expression experiments. Moreover, the effect of potential interventions, such as knock-downs, or drug effects (currently the system models the effect of more than 8000 DrugBank drugs) can be studied. This freely available tool not only provides an unprecedentedly detailed view of the mechanisms of viral invasion and the consequences in the cell but has also the potential of becoming an invaluable asset in the search for efficient antiviral treatments

Transcriptome analysis of pterygium and pinguecula reveals evidence of genomic instability associated with chronic inflammation

Solar damage due to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is implicated in the development of two proliferative lesions of the ocular surface: pterygium and pinguecula. Pterygium and pinguecula specimens were collected, along with adjacent healthy conjunctiva specimens. RNA was extracted and sequenced. Pairwise comparisons were made of differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Computational methods were used for analysis. Transcripts from 18,630 genes were identified. Comparison of two subgroups of pterygium specimens uncovered evidence of genomic instability associated with inflammation and the immune response; these changes were also observed in pinguecula, but to a lesser extent. Among the top DEGs were four genes encoding tumor suppressors that were downregulated in pterygium: C10orf90, RARRES1, DMBT1 and SCGB3A1; C10orf90 and RARRES1 were also downregulated in pinguecula. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis overwhelmingly linked DEGs to cancer for both lesions; however, both lesions are clearly still benign, as evidenced by the expression of other genes indicating their well‐differentiated and non‐invasive character. Pathways for epithelial cell proliferation were identified that distinguish the two lesions, as well as genes encoding specific pathway components. Upregulated DEGs common to both lesions, including KRT9 and TRPV3, provide a further insight into pathophysiology. Our findings suggest that pterygium and pinguecula, while benign lesions, are both on the pathological pathway towards neoplastic trans-formation.Fil: Suarez, María Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; Argentina. Tufts University School of Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Echenique, Jose Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Juan Manuel. Instituto de Microcirugía Ocular Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Medina, Esteban Roberto. Instituto de Microcirugia Ocular Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Irós, Mariano. Instituto de Microcirugia Ocular Cordoba; ArgentinaFil: Serra, Horacio Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Fini, M. Elizabeth. Tufts Graduate School Of Biomedical Sciences, Boston; Estados Unido

Genetic evidence and new morphometric data as essential tools to identify the Patagonian seahorse Hippocampus patagonicus (Pisces, Syngnathidae)

A genetic study to support morphometric analyses was used to improve the description and validate the Patagonian seahorse Hippocampus patagonicus (Syngnathidae) on the basis of a large number of specimens collected in the type locality (San Antonio Bay, Patagonia, Argentina). DNA sequence data (from the cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial genome) were used to differentiate this species from its relatives cited for the west Atlantic Ocean. Both phylogenetic and genetic distance analyses supported the hypothesis that H. patagonicus is a species clearly differentiated from others, in agreement with morphometric studies. Hippocampus patagonicus can be distinguished from Hippocampus erectus by the combination of the following morphometric characteristics: (1) in both sexes and all sizes of H. patagonicus, the snout length is always less than the postorbital length, whereas the snout length of H. erectus is not shorter than the postorbital length in the largest specimens; (2) in both sexes of H. patagonicus, the trunk length:total length (LTr:LT) is lower than in H. erectus (in female H. patagonicus: 0·27-0·39, H. erectus: 0·36-0·40 and in male H. patagonicus: 0·24-0·34, H. erectus: 0·33-0·43) and (3) in both sexes, tail length:total length (LTa:LT) in H. patagonicus is larger than in H. erectus (0·61-0·78 v. 0·54-0·64).Fil: González, Raul Alberto Candido. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Biología Marina y Pesquera Almirante Storni; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Dinghi, Pablo Adrián. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Corio, C.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; ArgentinaFil: Medina, Alonso Ismael. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Biología Marina y Pesquera Almirante Storni; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Maggioni, M.. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Biología Marina y Pesquera Almirante Storni; ArgentinaFil: Storero, Lorena Pia. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto de Biología Marina y Pesquera Almirante Storni; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gosztonyi, Atila Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico; Argentin

Faint recombination lines in Galactic PNe with [WC] nucleus

We present spatially resolved high-resolution spectrophotometric data for the planetary nebulae PB8, NGC2867, and PB6. We have analyzed two knots in NGC2867 and PB6 and one in PB8. The three nebulae are ionized by [WC] type nuclei: early [WO] for PB6 and NGC2867 and [WC 5-6] in the case of PB8. Our aim is to study the behavior of the abundance discrepancy problem (ADF) in this type of PNe. We measured a large number of optical recombination (ORL) and collisionally excited lines (CEL), from different ionization stages (many more than in any previous work), thus, we were able to derive physical conditions from many different diagnostic procedures. We determined ionic abundances from the available collisionally excited lines and recombination lines. Based on both sets of ionic abundances, we derived total chemical abundances in the nebulae using suitable ionization correction factors. From CELs, we have found abundances typical of Galactic disk planetary nebulae. Moderate ADF(O++) were found for PB8 (2.57) and NGC2867 (1.63). For NGC2867, abundances from ORLs are higher but still consistent with Galactic disk planetary nebulae. On the contrary, PB8 presents a very high O/H ratio from ORLs. A high C/O was obtained from ORLs for NGC2867; this ratio is similar to C/O obtained from CELs and with the chemical composition of the wind of the central star, indicating that there was no further C-enrichment in the star, relative to O, after the nebular material ejection. On the contrary, we found C/O<1 in PB8. Interestingly, we obtain (C/O)ORLs/(C/O)CELs < 1 in PB8 and NGC2867; this added to the similarity between the heliocentric velocities measured in [OIII] and OII lines for our three objects, argue against the presence of H-deficient metal-rich knots coming from a late thermal pulse event.Comment: 25 pages, 13 Tables, 4 Figures Accepted for publication in A&A. First page is blank for obscure latex reason

Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 variants after immunization with different vaccines in Mexico

There is limited information on the antibody responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in subjects from developing countries with populations having a high incidence of co-morbidities. Here, we analysed the immunogenicity of homologous schemes using the ChAdOx1-S, Sputnik V, or BNT162b2 vaccines and the effect of a booster dose with ChAdOx1-S in middle-aged adults who were seropositive or seronegative to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein before vaccination. The study was conducted post-vaccination with a follow-up of 4 months for antibody titre using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and pseudovirus (PV) neutralization assays (PNAs). All three vaccines elicited a superior IgG anti-receptor-binding domain (RBD) and neutralization response against the Alpha and Delta variants when administered to individuals with a previous infection by SARS-CoV-2. The booster dose spiked the neutralization activity among individuals with and without a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. The ChAdOx1-S vaccine induced weaker antibody responses in infection-naive subjects. A follow-up of 4 months post-vaccination showed a drop in antibody titre, with about 20% of the infection-naive and 100% of SARS-CoV-2 pre-exposed participants with detectable neutralization capacity against Alpha pseudovirus (Alpha-PV) and Delta PV (Delta-PV). Our observations support the use of different vaccines in a country with high seroprevalence at the vaccination time

Simulación y análisis del algoritmo de codificación turbo en sistemas de comunicaciones móviles: un estudio comparativo

El objetivo de un sistema de comunicación es transmitir información a la mayor velocidad con el menor consumo de energía y con la mínima cantidad de errores; aún cuando el medio o canal de comunicación empleado sea muy ruidoso. La máxima capacidad de transmisión de datos de un canal de comunicación está dada por el límite de Shannon [1]. Debido a su performance cercana a ese límite, los Códigos Turbo han recibido mucha atención desde su aparición [2] y han sido incluidos en las especificaciones de los futuros sistemas de comunicaciones móviles de tercera generación (3G) como el Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)[3]. Este trabajo presenta la implementación de un algoritmo de codificación turbo, basado en las especificaciones de UMTS, mostrando la mejora de la performance de error frente a un sistema no codificado y a un codificador convolucional basado en el algoritmo de Viterbi. Se presenta un ejemplo concreto donde se aprecian las diferencias de la mejora en la tasa de error de bits en un canal con ruido y con modulación BPSK.VI Workshop de Procesamiento Distribuido y Paralelo (WPDP)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Simulación y análisis del algoritmo de codificación turbo en sistemas de comunicaciones móviles: un estudio comparativo

El objetivo de un sistema de comunicación es transmitir información a la mayor velocidad con el menor consumo de energía y con la mínima cantidad de errores; aún cuando el medio o canal de comunicación empleado sea muy ruidoso. La máxima capacidad de transmisión de datos de un canal de comunicación está dada por el límite de Shannon [1]. Debido a su performance cercana a ese límite, los Códigos Turbo han recibido mucha atención desde su aparición [2] y han sido incluidos en las especificaciones de los futuros sistemas de comunicaciones móviles de tercera generación (3G) como el Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)[3]. Este trabajo presenta la implementación de un algoritmo de codificación turbo, basado en las especificaciones de UMTS, mostrando la mejora de la performance de error frente a un sistema no codificado y a un codificador convolucional basado en el algoritmo de Viterbi. Se presenta un ejemplo concreto donde se aprecian las diferencias de la mejora en la tasa de error de bits en un canal con ruido y con modulación BPSK.VI Workshop de Procesamiento Distribuido y Paralelo (WPDP)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Simulación y análisis del algoritmo de codificación turbo en sistemas de comunicaciones móviles: un estudio comparativo

El objetivo de un sistema de comunicación es transmitir información a la mayor velocidad con el menor consumo de energía y con la mínima cantidad de errores; aún cuando el medio o canal de comunicación empleado sea muy ruidoso. La máxima capacidad de transmisión de datos de un canal de comunicación está dada por el límite de Shannon [1]. Debido a su performance cercana a ese límite, los Códigos Turbo han recibido mucha atención desde su aparición [2] y han sido incluidos en las especificaciones de los futuros sistemas de comunicaciones móviles de tercera generación (3G) como el Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)[3]. Este trabajo presenta la implementación de un algoritmo de codificación turbo, basado en las especificaciones de UMTS, mostrando la mejora de la performance de error frente a un sistema no codificado y a un codificador convolucional basado en el algoritmo de Viterbi. Se presenta un ejemplo concreto donde se aprecian las diferencias de la mejora en la tasa de error de bits en un canal con ruido y con modulación BPSK.VI Workshop de Procesamiento Distribuido y Paralelo (WPDP)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Prevalence and Risk Factors of MASLD and Liver Fibrosis amongst the Penitentiary Population in Catalonia: The PRISONAFLD Study

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease; Metabolic syndrome; PrisonMalaltia hepàtica esteatòtica associada a disfunció metabòlica; Síndrome metabòlica; PresóEnfermedad hepática esteatósica asociada a disfunción metabólica; Síndrome metabólico; PrisiónBackground and Aims: The prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases, particularly metabolic syndrome (MetS), has increased among the prison population. Nevertheless, we have limited data on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), the hepatic manifestation of this syndrome. We aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of MASLD and MASLD-associated liver fibrosis in the penitentiary population in Catalonia, Spain. Method: A cross-sectional observational study involving eight penitentiary centers. Participants had at least one metabolic disorder and were at a closed-regimen penitentiary. Individuals with concomitant liver diseases and/or alcohol risk consumption were excluded. Significant fibrosis and MASLD were defined as liver stiffness ≥8 kPa and a controlled attenuation parameter ≥275 dB/m by vibration-controlled transient elastography (VCTE), respectively. After exclusions, metabolic inmates with VCTE were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of MASLD and MASLD-associated significant fibrosis. Results: Out of the 4338 inmates studied, 1290 (29.7%) had metabolic disorders, and 646 (14.9%) underwent VCTE. The mean age was 48.0 years (SD 12.1), and 89.5% were male. MASLD prevalence was 33.9%. Significant fibrosis and MASLD-associated significant fibrosis were found in 16.4% and 9.4% of inmates, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, T2D, waist circumference, MetS, and higher ALT values were identified as independent risk factors for MASLD and MASLD-associated significant fibrosis amongst the prison population. Conclusions: Metabolic disorders including MASLD are highly prevalent among inmates. The prevalence of significant fibrosis seems notably higher than that of the general population, underscoring the need for targeted screening programs and therapeutic interventions in the incarcerated population