Estado del Arte en Cambio Climático, Agricultura y Seguridad Alimentaria en Costa Rica

El cambio climático ha provocado numerosos efectos en el medio rural de Costa Rica; es por esto que el Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de Costa Rica (MAG) en colaboración con el Programa de Investigación de CGIAR en Cambio Climático, Agricultura y Seguridad Alimentaria (CCAFS) en América Latina y con apoyo del Consejo Agropecuario Centroamericano (CAC) presentan el “Estado del Arte en Cambio Climático, Agricultura y Seguridad Alimentaria en Costa Rica”, que incluye el marco gubernamental y actores involucrados en torno a esta temática. El documento evidencia, los múltiples esfuerzos que en acciones de mitigación frente al calentamiento global viene realizando Costa Rica, convirtiéndolo en país líder en la región de América Central. Buena parte de los avances han sido obtenidos en el sector agropecuario

Choosing a leader on a complex network

In many real life applications a group of people interact through a communication network, mathematically modelled as a connected graph linking each element of the group. These participants may have diverse objectives and play very different roles depending on their knowledge and privileges. We focus on a particular scenario, in which a certain node is absolutely essential for completing the intended task. Moreover, if a technical failure results in disconnection of a participant to this leader node, this participant can no longer take part in the group's performance. In this setting a sound choice of the underlying network topology could minimize the damage caused by random or provoked technical failures. We study different criteria for choosing suitable communication networks, from the point of view of both efficiency and robustness.Partially supported by PPR-2004-16 from Universidad Rey Juan Carlo

Development of preparatory activity indexed by the contingent negative variation in children

Objectives The present study investigated the effect of age on task-specific preparatory activation induced by a spatial cue using the central cue Posner’s paradigm. The behavioral responses and the contingent negative variation (CNV) generated between S1 (the warning stimulus) and S2 (the imperative stimulus) were compared between 16 healthy children (8–13 years old) and 17 healthy young adults (18–23 years old). Methods The EEG was recorded from 20 scalp sites of the International 10–20 system. The complete trial period included a central directional cue that was on for 300 m s and an attentive waiting period lasting 1360 m s. Finally, a peripheral target appeared, subtending a visual angle of 4.56° and situated 2.28° eccentrically in the horizontal meridian. The early and late components of the CNV appearing in the period between cue and target were analyzed. Results The CNV of children showed no contralateral cortical activation related to motor preparation. However, the young adults showed contralateral activation to the cue over motor areas. Both children and young adults showed cortical activation in posterior sensory areas, displaying a pattern of activation contralateral to the cue. Also, a positive parietal component appeared in children during the CNV period. Conclusions These results suggest that the motor preparation system in children is less mature than the sensory preparatory system. The children may have used strategies and brain areas different from those of the young adults to prepare for stimuli and responses

Sequential P3 effects in a Posner’s spatial cueing paradigm: Trial-by-trial learning of the predictive value of the cue

The neurocognitive consequences of correct or incorrect spatial prediction in a sequential S1–S2 paradigm were assessed. Sequential dependence on previous trial outcome (valid or invalid) was assessed by late Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) and behavioural responses. Two different experiments were performed, situating the target in the vertical (Experiment 1) or in the horizontal (Experiment 2) meridian. RTs and late positivities (P3a and P3b) were recorded. ERPs showed that posterior positivity (probably a P3b) was greater in invalid–valid trials than in valid–valid trials but lower than in valid– invalid trials. However, at the frontal electrodes, late positivity (probably a P3a) only appeared in valid–invalid trials, indicating that invalid trials are analyzed as novel-like stimuli. The P3b results suggest trial-by-trial learning of the predictive value of the cue, which needs to be updated as indicated by the pattern of P3b amplitudes: valid–invalid > invalid–valid > valid–valid.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (España)Junta de Andalucí

The relationship between truncation and phosphorylation at the C-terminus of tau protein in the paired helical filaments of Alzheimer's disease

Acknowledgements: Authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. P. Davies (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA) and Lester I. Binder (NorthWestern, Chicago, IL, USA) for the generous gift of mAbs (TG-3, Alz-50, and MC1), and (TauC-3), respectively, and to M. en C. Ivan J. Galván-Mendoza for his support in confocal microscopy, and Ms. Maricarmen De Lorenz for her secretarial assistance. We also want to express our gratitude to the Mexican Families who donate the brain of their loved ones affected with Alzheimer's disease, and made possible our research. This work was financially supported by CONACyT grant, No. 142293 (For R.M).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Percepción de la vulnerabilidad social frente al riesgo de desastres en San Juan De Lurigancho

This research aimed to analyze the social vulnerability to disaster risk from the perception of the population of a sector of San Juan de Lurigancho district. The study was quantitativedescriptive; a social vulnerability questionnaire about physical frailty, social frailty, resilience capacity and perception of danger was applied to 100 inhabitants of Agrupación Buena Vista Human Settlement. The results indicated that the degree of physical fragility and the perception of danger is high, nevertheless social fragility and resilience capacity are of medium degree. In conclusion, there is a high social vulnerability to disasters perceived by the inhabitants.La investigación tuvo como objetivo analizar la vulnerabilidad social frente al riesgo de desastres desde la percepción de la población de una zona de San Juan de Lurigancho, para lo cual fue necesario analizar los siguientes aspectos: la fragilidad física, la fragilidad social, la capacidad de resiliencia de la población, así como la percepción del peligro frente a los desastres. El estudio se enmarcó en la teoría de la vulnerabilidad y carencias del desarrollo (Cardona, 2001), es una investigación tipo cuantitativa - descriptiva que consideró la aplicación de un cuestionario sobre vulnerabilidad social a 100 pobladores del asentamiento humano “Agrupación Buena Vista”. Para la estimación del grado de vulnerabilidad social, se asumió el modelo de índice sumatorio ponderado propuesto por García et al. (2004). Los resultados muestran un alto grado de fragilidad física y percepción del peligro al alcanzar el valor equivalente a 1.0, mientras que la fragilidad social y capacidad de resiliencia obtuvieron el valor de 0.56 y 0.58 respectivamente, siendo de grado medio. En conclusión, el grado de vulnerabilidad social frente a los desastres percibida por los pobladores es alto. Urge fortalecer las capacidades sociales de la población para potenciar el trabajo articulado de las organizaciones sociales que den como resultado, el buen uso de los recursos y capacidades disponibles para enfrentar condiciones adversas que podrían conducir a un desastre

Planificación de la infraestructura energética considerando la incertidumbre en los precios de los recursos fósiles

El presente trabajo propone un modelo de programación matemática cuyo objetivo se centra en la planificación de inversiones, destinadas a la gestión y empleo eficiente de las fuentes de energías convencionales y renovables en la Argentina. La problemática sobre la actual composición de la matriz energética nacional, notablemente sesgada hacia la utilización de recursos fósiles, puede ser abordada desde distintos puntos claves; todos ellos reunidos bajo el concepto de sustentabilidad. En este caso, el enfoque adoptado se acopla a un análisis socio-económico; el modelo orientado por la maximización del valor presente neto (VPN) es sujeto a variaciones en los precios del petróleo y del gas natural. La incertidumbre, en los precios de las fuentes fósiles, es representada e introducida a partir de números triangulares dando origen a un modelo difuso; la solución exhibida se desprende de un modelo lineal convencional equivalente al que se arriba a partir de una serie de reformulaciones descritas.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Planificación de la infraestructura energética considerando la incertidumbre en los precios de los recursos fósiles

El presente trabajo propone un modelo de programación matemática cuyo objetivo se centra en la planificación de inversiones, destinadas a la gestión y empleo eficiente de las fuentes de energías convencionales y renovables en la Argentina. La problemática sobre la actual composición de la matriz energética nacional, notablemente sesgada hacia la utilización de recursos fósiles, puede ser abordada desde distintos puntos claves; todos ellos reunidos bajo el concepto de sustentabilidad. En este caso, el enfoque adoptado se acopla a un análisis socio-económico; el modelo orientado por la maximización del valor presente neto (VPN) es sujeto a variaciones en los precios del petróleo y del gas natural. La incertidumbre, en los precios de las fuentes fósiles, es representada e introducida a partir de números triangulares dando origen a un modelo difuso; la solución exhibida se desprende de un modelo lineal convencional equivalente al que se arriba a partir de una serie de reformulaciones descritas.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

High-resolution seasonal and decadal inventory of anthropogenic gas-phase and particle emissions for Argentina

This work presents the integration of a gas-phase and particulate atmospheric emission inventory (AEI) for Argentina in high spatial resolution (0.025×0.025; approx. 2.5km×2.5 km) considering monthly variability from 1995 to 2020. The new inventory, called GEAA-AEIv3.0M, includes the following activities: Energy production, fugitive emissions from oil and gas production, industrial fuel consumption and production, transport (road, maritime, and air), agriculture, livestock production, manufacturing, residential, commercial, and biomass and agricultural waste burning. The following species, grouped by atmospheric reactivity, are considered: (i) greenhouse gases (GHGs)-CO2, CH4, and N2O; (ii) ozone precursors-CO, NOx (NO+NO2), and non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs); (iii) acidifying gases-NH3 and SO2; and (iv) particulate matter (PM)-PM10, PM2.5, total suspended particles (TSPs), and black carbon (BC). The main objective of the GEAA-AEIv3.0M high-resolution emission inventory is to provide temporally resolved emission maps to support air quality and climate modeling oriented to evaluate pollutant mitigation strategies by local governments. This is of major concern, especially in countries where air quality monitoring networks are scarce, and the development of regional and seasonal emissions inventories would result in remarkable improvements in the time and space chemical prediction achieved by air quality models. Despite distinguishing among different sectoral and activity databases as well as introducing a novel spatial distribution approach based on census radii, our high-resolution GEAA-AEIv3.0M shows equivalent national-wide total emissions compared to the Third National Communication of Argentina (TNCA), which compiles annual GHG emissions from 1990 through 2014 (agreement within ±7.5%). However, the GEAA-AEIv3.0M includes acidifying gases and PM species not considered in TNCA. Temporal comparisons were also performed against two international databases: Community Emissions Data System (CEDS) and EDGAR HTAPv5.0 for several pollutants; for EDGAR it also includes a spatial comparison. The agreement was acceptable within less than 30% for most of the pollutants and activities, although a >90% discrepancy was obtained for methane from fuel production and fugitive emissions and >120% for biomass burning. Finally, the updated seasonal series clearly showed the pollution reduction due to the COVID-19 lockdown during the first quarter of year 2020 with respect to same months in previous years. Through an open-access data repository, we present the GEAA-AEIv3.0M inventory as the largest and more detailed spatial resolution dataset for the Argentine Republic, which includes monthly gridded emissions for 12 species and 15 stors between 1995 and 2020.Fil: Puliafito, Salvador Enrique. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bolanõ Ortiz, Tomás R.. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María; ChileFil: Fernandez, Rafael Pedro. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Berná, Lucas L.. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Ministerio de Ciencia. Tecnología e Innovación Productiva. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica; ArgentinaFil: Pascual Flores, Romina María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; ArgentinaFil: Urquiza, Josefina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Noreña, Ana Isabel. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Tames, María Florencia. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentin

The Integrative Conjugative Element ICESpyM92 Contributes to Pathogenicity of Emergent Antimicrobial-Resistant emm92 Group A Streptococcus

Antimicrobial resistance-encoding mobile genetic elements (MGEs) may contribute to the disease potential of bacterial pathogens. We previously described the association of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) derived from invasive disease with increasingly frequent antimicrobial resistance (AMR). We hypothesized that a 65-kb AMR-encoding MGE (ICESpyM92), highly conserved among closely related emergent invasive emm92 GAS, contributes to GAS disease potential. Here, we provide evidence that a combination of ICESpyM92- and core genome-dependent differential gene expression (DGE) contributes to invasive disease phenotypes of emergent emm92 GAS. Using isogenic ICESpyM92 mutants generated in distinct emm92 genomic backgrounds, we determined the presence of ICESpyM92 enhances GAS virulence in a mouse subcutaneous infection model. Measurement of in vitro and ex vivo DGE indicates ICESpyM92 influences GAS global gene expression in a background-dependent manner. Our study links virulence and AMR on a unique MGE via MGE-related DGE and highlights the importance of investigating associations between AMR-encoding MGEs and pathogenicity