Geoffrey: An Automated Schedule System on a Social Robot for the Intellectually Challenged

The accelerated growth of the percentage of elder people and persons with brain injury-related conditions and who are intellectually challenged are some of the main concerns of the developed countries. These persons often require special cares and even almost permanent overseers that help them to carry out diary tasks. With this issue in mind, we propose an automated schedule system which is deployed on a social robot. The robot keeps track of the tasks that the patient has to fulfill in a diary basis. When a task is triggered, the robot guides the patient through its completion. The system is also able to detect if the steps are being properly carried out or not, issuing alerts in that case. To do so, an ensemble of deep learning techniques is used. The schedule is customizable by the carers and authorized relatives. Our system could enhance the quality of life of the patients and improve their self-autonomy. The experimentation, which was supervised by the ADACEA foundation, validates the achievement of these goals.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government TIN2016-76515R Grant, supported with FEDER funds. Edmanuel Cruz is funded by a Panamanian grant for PhD studies IFARHU & SENACYT 270-2016-207. Jose Carlos Rangel was supported by the National System of Research (SNI) of the SENACYT of Panama. This work has also been supported by a Spanish grant for PhD studies ACIF/2017/243 and FPU16/00887

Multidrug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis treatment regimens and patient outcomes: an individual patient data meta-analysis of 9,153 patients.

Treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is lengthy, toxic, expensive, and has generally poor outcomes. We undertook an individual patient data meta-analysis to assess the impact on outcomes of the type, number, and duration of drugs used to treat MDR-TB

Los microorganismos que habitan los bañados de desborde fluvial como indicadores de los efectos de la urbanización y la actividad agropecuaria

Riverine wetlands play an integral role in the ecology of river basins and their self-purification capacity. The anthropic demand for space and water jeopardizes its biota and the ecosystem benefits they provide. The objectives of this work were to analyze the assemblages of microorganisms that inhabit riverine wetlands, relate their variations to anthropogenic impact and evaluate how the microbiota can be an indicator of these environmental changes. The assemblages of benthic diatoms, phytoplankton, zooplankton, ostracods and fungi of four riverine wetlands were studied: two of peri-urban location with agricultural and horticultural land use (Del Gato and Carnaval), and two of rural location and livestock land use (Cajaravillas and Chubichaminí). In most of the groups the differences in relation to geographical location were clearly expressed, resulting in two kind of assemblages: rural (with more species sensitive to pollution and eutrophication) and peri-urban (with more species highly tolerant to pollution and eutrophication). In the latter, both the participation of the main taxonomic groups and the trophic levels were more restricted and related to the detritivorous path over the photosynthetic one, and the strategies to face water stress were emphasized. The results show the effects of human pressure, the importance that microorganisms acquire and the need of adequate use of the territory plans to avoid the loss of functions and benefits of these environments.Los bañados de desborde fluvial (BDF) desempeñan un papel integral en la ecología de las cuencas fluviales y en su capacidad de autodepuración. La demanda antrópica de espacio y agua pone en riesgo su biota y los beneficios ecosistémicos que brindan. Los objetivos del trabajo fueron analizar los ensambles de microorganismos que habitan en BDF, relacionar sus variaciones al impacto antrópico y evaluar cómo la microbiota puede ser indicadora de estos cambios ambientales. Se estudiaron los ensambles de diatomeas bentónicas, fitoplancton, zooplancton, ostrácodos y hongos de cuatro BDF: dos de ubicación periurbana con uso del suelo agrícola y hortícola (Del Gato y Carnaval), y dos de ubicación rural y uso ganadero (Cajaravillas y Chubichaminí). En la mayoría de los grupos las diferencias vinculadas a la ubicación geográfica se expresaron claramente, resultando en una agrupación de ensambles en: BDF rurales (con un número de especies sensibles a la contaminación y a la eutrofización comparativamente mayor) y BDF periurbanos (donde fueron más importantes las especies muy tolerantes a la contaminación y a la eutrofización). En estos últimos, tanto la participación de los grandes grupos taxonómicos como los niveles tróficos estuvieron más restringidos y relacionados a la vía detritívora por sobre la fotosintética, y allí también se acentuaron las estrategias para afrontar el estrés hídrico. Los resultados evidencian los efectos de la presión humana, la importancia que adquieren los microorganismos y la necesidad de una planificación adecuada del uso del territorio para evitar la pérdida de funciones y beneficios en estos ambientes

A shoot Fe signaling pathway requiring the OPT3 transporter controls GSNO reductase and ethylene in arabidopsis thaliana roots

Ethylene, nitric oxide (NO) and glutathione (GSH) increase in Fe-deficient roots of Strategy I species where they participate in the up-regulation of Fe acquisition genes. However, S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO), derived from NO and GSH, decreases in Fe-deficient roots. GSNO content is regulated by the GSNO-degrading enzyme S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR). On the other hand, there are several results showing that the regulation of Fe acquisition genes does not solely depend on hormones and signaling molecules (such as ethylene or NO), which would act as activators, but also on the internal Fe content of plants, which would act as a repressor. Moreover, different results suggest that total Fe in roots is not the repressor of Fe acquisition genes, but rather the repressor is a Fe signal that moves from shoots to roots through the phloem [hereafter named LOng Distance Iron Signal (LODIS)]. To look further in the possible interactions between LODIS, ethylene and GSNOR, we compared Arabidopsis WT Columbia and LODIS-deficient mutant opt3-2 plants subjected to different Fe treatments that alter LODIS content. The opt3-2 mutant is impaired in the loading of shoot Fe into the phloem and presents constitutive expression of Fe acquisition genes. In roots of both Columbia and opt3-2 plants we determined 1-aminocyclopropane1-carboxylic acid (ACC, ethylene precursor), expression of ethylene synthesis and signaling genes, and GSNOR expression and activity. The results obtained showed that both 'ethylene' (ACC and the expression of ethylene synthesis and signaling genes) and 'GSNOR' (expression and activity) increased in Fe-deficient WT Columbia roots. Additionally, Fe-sufficient opt3-2 roots had higher 'ethylene' and 'GSNOR' than Fe-sufficient WT Columbia roots. The increase of both 'ethylene' and 'GSNOR' was not related to the total root Fe content but to the absence of a Fe shoot signal (LODIS), and was associated with the up-regulation of Fe acquisition genes. The possible relationship between GSNOR(GSNO) and ethylene is discussed

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016