Dermatitis granulomatosa de la membrana nictitante causada por Leishmania spp en un gato doméstico

Se describe un caso de dermatitis granulomatosa de la membrana nictitante en una gata no castrada de siete años causada por Leishmania spp

Listeria pathogenesis and molecular virulence determinants

The gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, a highly fatal opportunistic foodborne infection. Pregnant women, neonates, the elderly, and debilitated or immunocompromised patients in general are predominantly affected, although the disease can also develop in normal individuals. Clinical manifestations of invasive listeriosis are usually severe and include abortion, sepsis, and meningoencephalitis. Listeriosis can also manifest as a febrile gastroenteritis syndrome. In addition to humans, L. monocytogenes affects many vertebrate species, including birds. Listeria ivanovii, a second pathogenic species of the genus, is specific for ruminants. Our current view of the pathophysiology of listeriosis derives largely from studies with the mouse infection model. Pathogenic listeriae enter the host primarily through the intestine. The liver is thought to be their first target organ after intestinal translocation. In the liver, listeriae actively multiply until the infection is controlled by a cell-mediated immune response. This initial, subclinical step of listeriosis is thought to be common due to the frequent presence of pathogenic L. monocytogenes in food. In normal indivuals, the continual exposure to listerial antigens probably contributes to the maintenance of anti-Listeria memory T cells. However, in debilitated and immunocompromised patients, the unrestricted proliferation of listeriae in the liver may result in prolonged low-level bacteremia, leading to invasion of the preferred secondary target organs (the brain and the gravid uterus) and to overt clinical disease. L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii are facultative intracellular parasites able to survive in macrophages and to invade a variety of normally nonphagocytic cells, such as epithelial cells, hepatocytes, and endothelial cells. In all these cell types, pathogenic listeriae go through an intracellular life cycle involving early escape from the phagocytic vacuole, rapid intracytoplasmic multiplication, bacterially induced actin-based motility, and direct spread to neighboring cells, in which they reinitiate the cycle. In this way, listeriae disseminate in host tissues sheltered from the humoral arm of the immune system. Over the last 15 years, a number of virulence factors involved in key steps of this intracellular life cycle have been identified. This review describes in detail the molecular determinants of Listeria virulence and their mechanism of action and summarizes the current knowledge on the pathophysiology of listeriosis and the cell biology and host cell responses to Listeria infection. This article provides an updated perspective of the development of our understanding of Listeria pathogenesis from the first molecular genetic analyses of virulence mechanisms reported in 1985 until the start of the genomic era of Listeria research

Understanding handicapping for balancing exertion games

Balancing play can be important for engaging people in games since it allows players with different skills to play together and still feel challenged. Balancing play in exertion games has previously been explored by altering the physical effort. To further our understanding of how to design more balanced experiences, we extend this prior work by studying the affect on play of using a score handicap, which gives the less skilled player an initial score advantage. A performance handicap was also studied by asking the most skilled player to play with the non-dominant hand. We studied digital and non-digital table tennis games, which provide different game interactions, as examples of non-parallel, competitive games. Our results show that these different game interactions influenced the impact that the different handicaps had on player's scores. Therefore, we suggest that the game interaction is a key element to understand the suitability of score and performance balancing methods

Reflections on the design of exertion games

The design of exertion games (i.e., digital games that require physical effort from players) is a difficult intertwined challenge of combining digital games and physical effort. To aid designers in facing this challenge, we describe our experiences of designing exertion games. We outline personal reflections on our design processes and articulate analyses of players' experiences. These reflections and analyses serve to highlight the unique opportunities of combining digital games and physical effort. The insights we seek aim to enhance the understanding of exertion game design, contributing to the advancement of the field, and ultimately resulting in better games and associated player experiences

Enhancing player engagement through game balancing in digitally augmented physical games

Game balancing can be used to compensate for differences in players' skills, in particular in games where players compete against each other. It can help providing the right level of challenge and hence enhance engagement. However, there is a lack of understanding of game balancing design and how different game adjustments affect player engagement. This understanding is important for the design of balanced physical games. In this paper we report on how altering the game equipment in a digitally augmented table tennis game, such as the table size and bat-head size statically and dynamically, can affect game balancing and player engagement. We found these adjustments enhanced player engagement compared to the no-adjustment condition. The understanding of how the adjustments impacted on player engagement helped us to derive a set of balancing strategies to facilitate engaging game experiences. We hope that this understanding can contribute to improve physical activity experiences and encourage people to get engaged in physical activity

Digitally Augmenting Sports: An Opportunity for Exploring and Understanding Novel Balancing Techniques

Using game balancing techniques can provide the right level of challenge and hence enhance player engagement for sport players with different skill levels. Digital technology can support and enhance balancing techniques in sports, for example, by adjusting players' level of intensity based on their heart rate. However, there is limited knowledge on how to design such balancing and its impact on the user experience. To address this we created two novel balancing techniques enabled by digitally augmenting a table tennis table. We adjusted the more skilled player's performance by inducing two different styles of play and studied the effects on game balancing and player engagement. We showed that by altering the more skilled player's performance we can balance the game through: (i) encouraging game mistakes, and (ii) changing the style of play to one that is easier for the opponent to counteract. We outline the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, extending our understanding of game balancing design. We also show that digitally augmenting sports offers opportunities for novel balancing techniques while facilitating engaging experiences, guiding those interested in HCI and sports

Proxemics play: understanding proxemics for designing digital play experiences

Digital games are increasingly profiting from sensing technologies. However, their focus is mostly on sensing limb movements. We propose that sensing capabilities could also be used to engage players with proxemics: the interpersonal distance between players. We further add that wireless networks offer complementary distance zones for designers, offering novel design resources for digital play. We use our own as well as other games to articulate a set of strategies on how designers can utilize both proxemics and the new wireless proxemics to facilitate novel play experiences. Ultimately, with our work, we aim to expand the range of digital play

Publicaciones del Instituto de Biología Aplicada. Tomos 46-47

[Tomo 46] S. Rivas Martínez. — Vegetatio Hispaniae. Notula I. F. Yergés-Serra. — Los Eumenos de la región catalana (Hymenoptera Eumenidae). F. Español. — Notas sobre anóbidos. Jaime Bech.— La precipitación bioquímica, mecanismo generador de travertinos y calizas lacustres. Manuel González. — Contribución al conocimiento del Mediterráneo occidental. Enrique Gadea. — Sobre la nematofauna de Arbahr (Atlas marroquí). C. Altimira. — Notas malacológicas. Jaime Isern. — Sobre las urnas de Sipunculus nudus[Tomo 47] José Antonio Arroyo Merino. — Estudio de la flora bacteriana presente en la gambas (Parapenaeus longirostris) de consumo en Madrid. Enrique Gadea. — La nematocenosis típica de los medios muscíneos montanos centroibéricos. Manuel González. — Sobre el género Phaenotherium Friv. (Col. Anthribidae). María Rambla. — Contribución al estudio de los Opiliones de la Fauna Ibérica. Una n. sp. del Gen. Nemastoma, grupo bacilliferum, Península Fam. Nemastomatidae) de la Ibérica (Opiliones. Fam. Nemastomatoidae). F. Español. — Notas sobre anóbidos (Col.). Christian P. Vivares et Manuel Rubio. — Protozoa parasites de Crustácea Decapoda Brachyura de la cote nordest de l’Espagne. J. P. Mauriés. — Myriapodes de Sierra Nevada (Espagne) nouvelle espéce du genre Ceratosphys Ribaut, 1920 (Diplopoda).Peer reviewe