Revision of Oxalis section Palmatifoliae DC. (Oxalidaceae)

A taxonomic revision of Oxalis section Palmatifoliae and cluster analyses to clarify the limits of the species are provided. This monophyletic section includes five species endemic from Southern Argentina and Chile. A key for the species together with description, illustration, synonymy, and geographical distribution for each species are given. Five lectotypifications and two new synonymies are proposed.Fil: Lopez, Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; ArgentinaFil: Panseri, Andrea Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste (i); ArgentinaFil: Urtubey, Estrella. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Botánica Darwinion; Argentin

THE COLLEGE OF NURSING FACULTY PERCEPTIONS AND ACCEPTABILITY TO THE UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT RETENTION AND ELIMINATION POLICY

Student retention is defined as the extent to which the learners stay or remain at an HEI or Higher Education Institution and complete a program or course of study within a specified period. Several terms are linked to describe retention and its’ policies. Based on research, one of the key components of student success is the faculty. They play a vital role in the student's college experiences, including retention. A college student manual was distributed University-wide and supplemental manuals were created to provide information to the students and faculty regarding rules and regulations. However, despite the presence of these documents, a study regarding the faculty’s perception and whether they accept these policies is still non-existent. The role of the faculty in successful institutional efforts in student retention is not well investigated. Therefore, these weaknesses can challenge the successful outcomes of many institutional efforts, hence creating this research initiative. The purpose of this study is to explore the faculty’s perception regarding the student retention and elimination policy. Moreover, the acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the policy were evaluated. The current research findings and recommendations could assist the University and administration in developing strategic plans to respond more effectively to challenges associated with student retention.The current analysis applied a mixed-methods approach of triangulating the quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interviews. Particularly the concurrent triangulation strategy. . Based on the findings, all areas yielded high acceptability (4.32), highly appropriate (4.375), and highly feasible as reflected in the table. This would mean that the faculty embraced the contents of the student manual about its’ retention and elimination policy. However, four themes emerged during data analysis namely: (A) Dissemination; (B) Orientation; (C) Action; and (D) Revalidation. The faculty members understand the value they bring to institutions’ ability to help retain students, because they care about their success, and strive to incorporate practices that support student retention. The findings show that the faculty have moved beyond needing to be persuaded that they are important to student retention to recognizing the value of their role. Faculty are willing to participate in student retention initiatives that align with their values

Investigation of adenoviral immune neutralization and tropism for improved targeted gene delivery

Human adenovirus serotype 5 (HAdV-5)-based gene delivery vectors are an attractive option for gene therapy applications because they can deliver large transgenes to a broad range of tissues, allow high level transgene expression, have negligible risk of insertional mutagenesis and are easily produced at high titers. Unfortunately, their high immunogenicity and liver and spleen-associated toxicity when intravascularly administered and high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies in patients remain challenges to be overcome for the generation of safe HAdV-5-based vectors for systemic gene therapy. The discovery that coagulation factor X (FX), a zymogen of a vitamin K-dependent serine protease that circulates in the bloodstream, simultaneously binds HAdV-5 hexon and heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs) to mediate hepatic transduction enabled the generation of HAdV-5 vectors with substantially reduced liver transduction via the manipulation of key amino acid residues in the adenoviral hexon protein. However, FX was also recently shown to protect HAdV-5 from neutralization by preventing binding of natural IgM antibodies to HAdV-5 capsids and it was reported that, in the absence of FX-binding and neutralization, HAdV-5 vectors can use alternative FX-independent transduction pathways for hepatocyte transduction. These findings highlight the complex interactions between adenoviruses and host blood factors and cells as well as the need for further research on these processes. Here, the interactions that mediate hepatic and splenic tropism of HAdV-5-based vectors and activation of the anti-viral immune response following intravascular delivery were investigated and targeted HAdV-5 delivery to the kidney was assessed. Liver and spleen transduction was assessed in immunocompetent C57BL/6 and immunocompromised Rag 2-/- or NSG mice lacking different components of the immune response, following intravascular administration of wild type or FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors. HAdV-5 virions were neutralized in C57BL/6 mice in the absence of FX-binding, confirming a role for FX in protecting HAdV-5 from in vivo neutralization. However, NSG mice, which lack both innate and adaptive immunity, failed to neutralize FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 virions. Interestingly, administration of FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors to IgM antibody-deficient Rag 2-/- mice revealed that IgM antibodies might not be required for in vivo neutralization of HAdV-5, indicating that innate immunity alone might be sufficient. In agreement with previous reports, exposure of FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors to C57BL/6 serum or wild type HAdV-5 vectors to C57BL/6 serum pre-incubated with the FX inhibitor X-bp led to HAdV-5 neutralization in vitro. In contrast, Rag 2-/- and NSG serum failed to neutralize HAdV-5 in vitro in the absence of FX-binding, indicating that IgM antibodies are essential for in vitro HAdV-5 neutralization. This suggests in vitro and in vivo adenovirus neutralization is mediated by different mechanisms. Importantly, administration of FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors to NSG mice, which were unable to neutralize HAdV-5, confirmed the existence of alternative FX-independent pathways for liver and spleen transduction in the absence of neutralization. CAR and αvβ3,5 integrins were assessed as possible host cell receptors for HAdV-5 transduction of these tissues in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice. The use of CAR or αvβ3,5 integrin-binding ablated HAdV-5 vectors revealed that CAR and αvβ3,5 integrins might serve as receptors for HAdV-5 liver transduction in immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice in contrast to immunocompromised Rag 2-/- mice. Neither CAR nor αvβ3,5 integrins mediated HAdV-5 spleen transduction in either mouse strain. Furthermore, administration of HAdV-5 vectors simultaneously ablated for FX and αvβ3,5 integrin-binding to NSG mice showed that αvβ3,5 integrins play no role in liver or spleen transduction in the absence of neutralization. With the aim to define novel FX-independent pathways of HAdV-5 transduction in vitro that might be relevant in vivo, cell transduction was assessed for wild type or FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors in the presence of immunocompromised Rag 2-/- serum or serum that had been pre-incubated with X-bp. These studies confirmed the existence of FX-independent mechanisms able to enhance HAdV-5 cell transduction in vitro in the presence of mouse serum and absence of neutralization. To identify the receptor(s) involved in in vitro HAdV-5 transduction in the presence of mouse serum, soluble recombinant HAdV-5 fiber knob was used to block access of virions to CAR and wild type or FX-binding deficient HAdV-5 cell transduction was assessed in high and low CAR-expressing cell lines in the presence of C57BL/6 or Rag 2-/- serum with or without X-bp. HAdV-5 predominantly used a FX-independent pathway for cell transduction of high CAR-expressing cell lines in the presence of Rag 2-/- serum and soluble fiber knob substantially reduced both C57BL/6 and Rag 2-/- serum-enhanced transduction in such cell lines, suggesting a role for CAR, Conversely, HAdV-5 used the FX-mediated pathway or other FX and CAR-independent pathways for low CAR-expressing cell line transduction. Importantly, the use of CAR-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors demonstrated that CAR usage in this setting does not rely on direct interactions of HAdV-5 with CAR, thus implicating a role for a mouse serum protein(s) in this process. To investigate these different pathways further, virions were fluorescently labelled with Alexa Fluor 488 dye and HAdV-5 cell binding, uptake and endosomal membrane penetration were characterized in the presence of FX by microscopic assessment of individual virions at the single cell level. FX substantially enhanced virion cell binding but had minimal effect on virion uptake and it was suggested to decrease efficiency of endosomal membrane penetration, limiting escape of virions from endosomes into the cytosol. Finally, FX and CAR-binding deficient HAdV-5 vectors were engineered to incorporate renal-targeting peptides found by in vitro phage display into the HI loop of the fiber knob domain for kidney-specific gene therapy. The resultant mutant HAdV-5 vectors were tested for their specificity in mediating gene delivery to ligand-expressing cells in vitro but failed to achieve specific targeting. Together, these findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the interactions between HAdV-5 vectors and host blood components and cell receptors, and their implications for liver and spleen transduction and neutralization of virions. The studies presented in this thesis highlight the limitations of current re-targeting strategies and the need for further research to successfully develop efficient HAdV-5-based vectors for systemic gene therapy

Comercio electrónico y exportaciones de una empresa de calzados en el Cercado de Lima, 2021

La investigación tuvo como objetivo, Identificar la relación entre el comercio electrónico y exportaciones de una empresa de calzados en el Cercado de Lima, 2021. La metodología fue de enfoque cuantitativo, con una muestra de 50 colaboradores de una empresa exportadora de calzados, la técnica fue una encuesta y el instrumento fue el cuestionario con un total de 15 preguntas con las dimensiones e indicadores correspondientes para la variable del comercio electrónico y las exportaciones que fueron validadas por juicios de expertos, para luego comprobar que son confiables los datos a través del método del Alfa de cronbach. Los datos fueron tratados previamente a través del programa SPSS v.25.0 lo cual ayudó a comprobar las hipótesis planteadas, dando como resultado general un coeficiente de correlación de 0,562 con una significancia de 0,000, lo cual aprueba la hipótesis alterna y descarta la hipótesis nula, señalando que existe una relación entre las variables, concluyendo que el comercio electrónico se relaciona con las exportaciones de una empresa de calzados en el Cercado de Lima, 2021

Hydroxylation of N-acetylneuraminic Acid Influences the in vivo Tropism of N-linked Sialic Acid-Binding Adeno-Associated Viruses AAV1, AAV5, and AAV6

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are promising candidates for gene therapy. However, a number of recent preclinical large animal studies failed to translate into the clinic. This illustrates the formidable challenge of choosing the animal models that promise the best chance of a successful translation into the clinic. Several of the most common AAV serotypes use sialic acid (SIA) as their primary receptor. However, in contrast to most mammals, humans lack the enzyme CMAH, which hydroxylates cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMP-Neu5Ac) into cytidine monophosphate-N-glycolylneuraminic acid (CMP-Neu5Gc). As a result, human glycans only contain Neu5Ac and not Neu5Gc. Here, we investigate the tropism of AAV1, 5, 6 and 9 in wild-type C57BL/6J (WT) and CMAH knock-out (CMAH−/−) mice. All N-linked SIA-binding serotypes (AAV1, 5 and 6) showed significantly lower transduction of the heart in CMAH−/− when compared to WT mice (5–5.8-fold) and, strikingly, skeletal muscle transduction by AAV5 was almost 30-fold higher in CMAH−/− compared to WT mice. Importantly, the AAV tropism or distribution of expression among different organs was also affected. For AAV1, AAV5 and AAV6, expression in the heart compared to the liver was 4.6–8-fold higher in WT than in CMAH−/− mice, and for AAV5 the expression in the heart compared to the skeletal muscle was 57.3-fold higher in WT than in CMAH−/− mice. These data thus strongly suggest that the relative abundance of Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc plays a role in AAV tropism, and that results obtained in commonly used animal models might not translate into the clinic.Fil: Lopez Gordo, Estrella. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados UnidosFil: Orlowski, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares "Dr. Horacio Eugenio Cingolani". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares "Dr. Horacio Eugenio Cingolani"; Argentina. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Arthur. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados UnidosFil: Weinberg, Alan. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados UnidosFil: Sahoo, Susmita. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados UnidosFil: Weber, Thomas. Icahn School of Medicine ; Estados Unido

Influencia del programa "WORDS BY SONGS" en el incremento del vocabulario del idioma inglés en estudiantes del 4to grado "A" y "B" del nivel primaria de la l.E. "Miguel Chuquisengo Ramírez" Tarapoto - 2014

The following research deals with a methodological proposal in the teaching of vocabulary through the use of songs in English from the view of the musical expression and the English language. This research has an interdisciplinary approach between music and language in order to achieve a meaningful learning for the student, with the attempt to increase the English vocabulary of these students. The proposal is based on the importance of singing as a motivating activity for the students. Besides, the Psychomotricity Stage makes an important contribution for the success of this investigation. Students express themselves with their body and at the same time they sing, this improves the learning process. The song as a fusion of music and language is the ideal way of developing the expression and communication among people. lt is an essential element of the daily musical behavior, therefore it is necessary for the students to know many songs so these can give them expressive variety and raises their interest, and it becomes one of the most meaningful learning. For making possible this goal, we have gathered information from an experimental group of students in the 4th Grade "B" a sample of ten (10) of the l.E Miguel Chuquisengo Ramirez - Tarapoto 2014, we have applied a pre-test based on questions related to the contents we develop during the program "WORDS BY SONGS" which are based on the simultaneous development of 6 other workshops which their main goal is to improve the vocabulary in English. By the end of the 6 learning activities, we have applied a post-test to be contrasted with the first pre-test and carry out the tabulation, description, and analysis corresponding to the data. The respective comparison of scores gave as result the increment on average in scores of 07 to 16 just as the chart Nº 11 shows. This graphic at the same time shows that students of the 4th grade "B" at l.E Miguel Chuquisengo Ramirez - Tarapoto 2014 have considerably improved the vocabulary.El presente trabajo de investigación aborda una propuesta metodológica en la enseñanza de vocabulario a través de canciones en inglés desde la didáctica de la expresión musical y de la lengua inglesa. Esta investigación cuenta con un enfoque interdisciplinar entre ambas asignaturas para lograr un aprendizaje más significativo en el alumno, con la intención de incrementar el vocabulario inglés de los mencionados alumnos. La propuesta presentada se basa en la importancia del canto como una actividad muy motivadora para los alumnos. Además, se presenta la etapa de la psicomotricidad, la cual hace un aporte importante para el éxito de la presente investigación. Los alumnos se expresan corporalmente al mismo tiempo que cantan y esto optimiza el aprendizaje la canción, como fusión de música y lenguaje, es el vehículo ideal para desarrollar la expresión y la comunicación de las personas. Es un elemento básico del comportamiento musical cotidiano, por lo que es necesario que los alumnos conozcan una variedad de canciones que les aporten variedad expresiva y despiertan su interés, siendo uno de los mejores aprendizajes significativos de su enseñanza. Para cumplir este propósito se recolectó información de una muestra de 10 estudiantes en el grupo experimental en el 4º grado "B" de la l.E Miguel Chuquisengo Ramírez - Tarapoto 2014; se aplicó un pre-test con preguntas referentes a los contenidos a desarrollar. Seguidamente se ejecutó el programa "WORDS BY SONGS" que consta de 6 sesiones o aplicaciones, este tiene como objetivo incrementar el vocabulario del idioma inglés. Al término de las 6 sesiones se aplicó un post-test para ser contrastado con el pretest y realizar la tabulación, descripción y análisis correspondiente de datos. La comparación respectiva de puntajes dio como resultado un incremento en el promedio de notas de 07a16 tal como muestra el cuadro Nº 11 de los resultados. Este gráfico al mismo tiempo muestra que los estudiantes del 4º grado "B" nivel primaria de la l.E Miguel Chuquisengo Ramírez - Tarapoto 2014, han incrementado considerablemente su vocabulario

Fruit Decay to Diseases: Can Induced Resistance and Priming Help?

Humanity faces the challenge of having to increase food production to feed an exponentially growing world population, while crop diseases reduce yields to levels that we can no longer afford. Besides, a significant amount of waste is produced after fruit harvest. Fruit decay due to diseases at a post-harvest level can claim up to 50% of the total production worldwide. Currently, the most effective means of disease control is the use of pesticides. However, their use post-harvest is extremely limited due to toxicity. The last few decades have witnessed the development of safer methods of disease control post-harvest. They have all been included in programs with the aim of achieving integrated pest (and disease) management (IPM) to reduce pesticide use to a minimum. Unfortunately, these approaches have failed to provide robust solutions. Therefore, it is necessary to develop alternative strategies that would result in effective control. Exploiting the immune capacity of plants has been described as a plausible route to prevent diseases post-harvest. Post-harvest-induced resistance (IR) through the use of safer chemicals from biological origin, biocontrol, and physical means has also been reported. In this review, we summarize the successful activity of these different strategies and explore the mechanisms behind. We further explore the concept of priming, and how its long-lasting and broad-spectrum nature could contribute to fruit resistance.This work was funded by the BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship BB/P00556X/1 to E.L., by Bordeaux University and INRA, Bordeaux Metabolome Facility and MetaboHUB (ANR-11-INBS-0010 project) to P.P., and by the H2020-MSCA-IF-2016-EPILIPIN-746136 to A.L.Peer reviewe

Study of the impact of social learning and gamification methodologies on learning results in higher education

In this work, as the last step of a longitudinal study of the impact of so- cial learning and gamification methodologies on learning results in higher education, we have recorded the activity in a software platform based on Moodle, especially built for encouraging online participation of the stu- dents to design, carry out and evaluate a set of learning tasks and games, during two consecutive editions of an undergraduate course. Our aim is to confirm the relationships of the patterns of accomplishment of the gam- ified activities and the network structure of the social graphs associated to the online forums with knowledge adquisition and final outcomes. For this purpose we have offered two learning paths, traditional and novel, to our students. We have identified course variables that quantitatively explain the improvements reported when using the innovative methodolo- gies integrated in the course design, and we have applied techniques from the social network analysis (SNA) and the machine learning/deep learn- ing (ML/DL) domains to conduct success/failure classification methods finding that, generally, very good results are obtained when an ensemble approach is used, that is, when we blend the predictions made by different classifiers. The proposed methodology can be used over reduced datasets and variable time windows for having early estimates that allow pedagog- ical interventions. Finally, we have applied other statistical tests to our datasets, that confirm the influence of learning path on learning results

Incidence of zygomycosis in transplant recipients

AbstractRecently, a remarkable increase in the incidence of zygomycosis has been reported from institutions in the USA and Europe. The use of voriconazole for the treatment of aspergillosis and, less frequently, the use of echinocandins as empirical treatment for invasive fungal infections are thought to be responsible for the increase. In addition, an increased incidence of this infection has been observed in transplant recipients, including both haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) and solid organ transplant (SOT) patients. There are no global surveys on the prevalence or incidence of zygomycosis, but data from individual institutions and countries show that zygomycosis is an emerging infection. The increased incidence of zygomycosis most probably reflects a greater frequency of predisposing factors, such as higher numbers of patients undergoing HSCT and immunosuppressive chemotherapy. In addition, the emergence of rare pathogens as a result of the rise in the use of antifungal therapy against common species can be postulated. Further, the availability of antifungal agents with activity profiles that are more specific for selected fungi increases the necessity of identifying pathogenic fungi; the frequency of Zygomycetes infections may have been underestimated until now because therapeutic decisions did not depend on the precise identification of pathogenic fungi

Chia Oil Extraction Coproduct as a Potential New Ingredient for the Food Industry: Chemical, Physicochemical, Techno-Functional and Antioxidant Properties

The aim of this work was to characterize the coproduct obtained from chia oil production (cold-pressing) with a view to its possible application in new food product development. For this characterization, the following determinations were made: proximate composition, physicochemical analysis, techno-functional properties, total phenolic and flavonoid content, polyphenolic profile and antioxidant capacity (using four different methods). Chia coproduct showed significantly higher levels of proteins and total dietary fiber and lower levels of fats than chia seeds, pointing to the promising nature of this coproduct as an ingredient of food formulations since it remains a source of high biological value proteins and total dietary fiber (as chia seeds themselves) but with a lower energy value. This chia coproduct presents similar techno-functional properties to the original chia seeds and significantly higher levels of polyphenolic compounds and, consequently, higher antioxidant activit