Dual refractive index and viscosity sensing using polymeric nanofibers optical structures

Porous materials have demonstrated to be ideal candidates for the creation of optical sensors with very high sensitivities. This is due both to the possibility of infiltrating the target substances into them and to their notable surface-to-volume ratio that provides a larger biosensing area. Among porous structures, polymeric nanofibers (NFs) layers fabricated by electrospinning have emerged as a very promising alternative for the creation of low-cost and easy-to-produce high performance optical sensors, for example, based on Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometers. However, the sensing performance of these polymeric NFs sensors is limited by the low refractive index contrast between the NFs porous structure and the target medium when performing in-liquid sensing experiments, which determines a very low amplitude of the FP interference fringes appearing in the spectrum. This problem has been solved with the deposition of a thin metal layer (∼ 3 nm) over the NFs sensing layer. We have successfully used these metal-coated FP NFs sensors to perform several real-time and in-flow refractive index sensing experiments. From these sensing experiments, we have also determined that the sponge-like structure of the NFs layer suffers an expansion/compression process that is dependent of the viscosity of the analyzed sample, what thus gives the possibility to perform a simultaneous dual sensing of refractive index and viscosity of a fluid

Identification and “in silico” structural analysis of the glutamine-rich protein Qrp (YheA) in staphylococcus aureus

Background: YlbF and YmcA are two essential proteins for the formation of biofilm, sporulation, and competence in Bacillus subtilis. In these two proteins, a new protein domain called com_ylbF was recently discovered, but its role and protein function has not yet been established. Objective: In this study, we identified and performed an “in silico” structural analysis of the YheA protein, another com_ylbF-containing protein, in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Methods: The search of the yheA gene was performed using BLAST-P and tBLASn algorithms. The three-dimensional (3D) models of YheA, as well as YlbF and YmcA proteins, were built using the I-TASSER and Quark programs. The identification of the native YheA in Staphylococcus aureus was carried out through chromatography using the FPLC system. Results: We found that YheA protein is more widely distributed in Gram-positive bacteria than YlbF and YmcA. Two new and important characteristics for YheA and other com_ylbF-containing proteins were found: a highly conserved 3D structure and the presence of a putative conserved motif located in the central region of the domain, which could be involved in its function. Additionally, we established that Staphylococcus aureus expresses YheA protein in both planktonic growth and biofilm. Finally, we suggest renaming YheA as glutamine-rich protein (Qrp) in S. aureus. Conclusion: The Grp (YheA), YlbF, and YmcA proteins adopt a highly conserved three-dimensional structure, harboring a protein-specific putative motif within the com_ylbF domain, which possibly favors the interaction with their substrates. Finally, Staphylococcus aureus expresses the Grp (YheA) protein in both planktonic and biofilm growth

Hydrography90m: a new high-resolution global hydrographic dataset

The geographic distribution of streams and rivers drives a multitude of patterns and processes in hydrology, geomorphology, geography, and ecology. Therefore, a hydrographic network that accurately delineates both small streams and large rivers, along with their topographic and topological properties, with equal precision would be indispensable in the earth sciences. Currently, available global hydrographies do not feature small headwater streams in great detail. However, these headwaters are vital because they are estimated to contribute to more than 70 % of overall stream length. We aimed to fill this gap by using the MERIT Hydro digital elevation model at 3 arcsec (∼90 m at the Equator) to derive a globally seamless, standardised hydrographic network, the “Hydrography90m”, with corresponding stream topographic and topological information. A central feature of the network is the minimal upstream contributing area, i.e. flow accumulation, of 0.05 km2 (or 5 ha) to initiate a stream channel, which allowed us to extract headwater stream channels in great detail. By employing a suite of GRASS GIS hydrological modules, we calculated the range-wide upstream flow accumulation and flow direction to delineate a total of 1.6 million drainage basins and extracted globally a total of 726 million unique stream segments with their corresponding sub-catchments. In addition, we computed stream topographic variables comprising stream slope, gradient, length, and curvature attributes as well as stream topological variables to allow for network routing and various stream order classifications. We validated the spatial accuracy and flow accumulation of Hydrography90m against NHDPlus HR, an independent, national high-resolution hydrographic network dataset of the United States. Our validation shows that the newly developed Hydrography90m has the highest spatial precision and contains more headwater stream channels compared to three other global hydrographic datasets. This comprehensive approach provides a vital and long-overdue baseline for assessing actual streamflow in headwaters and opens new research avenues for high-resolution studies of surface water worldwide. Hydrography90m thus offers significant potential to facilitate the assessment of freshwater quantity and quality, inundation risk, biodiversity, conservation, and resource management objectives in a globally comprehensive and standardised manner. The Hydrography90m layers are available at https://doi.org/10.18728/igb-fred-762.1 (Amatulli et al., 2022a), and while they can be used directly in standard GIS applications, we recommend the seamless integration with hydrological modules in open-source QGIS and GRASS GIS software to further customise the data and derive optimal utility from it

Diagnosis and Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in A Tertiary Care Center in Mexico City

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The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt

Owing to a long history of anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to biodiversity loss$^{1}$. Mitigation measures, including wastewater treatment and hydromorphological restoration, have aimed to improve environmental quality and foster the recovery of freshwater biodiversity$^{2}$. Here, using 1,816 time series of freshwater invertebrate communities collected across 22 European countries between 1968 and 2020, we quantified temporal trends in taxonomic and functional diversity and their responses to environmental pressures and gradients. We observed overall increases in taxon richness (0.73% per year), functional richness (2.4% per year) and abundance (1.17% per year). However, these increases primarily occurred before the 2010s, and have since plateaued. Freshwater communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery. Communities at sites with faster rates of warming had fewer gains in taxon richness, functional richness and abundance. Although biodiversity gains in the 1990s and 2000s probably reflect the effectiveness of water-quality improvements and restoration projects, the decelerating trajectory in the 2010s suggests that the current measures offer diminishing returns. Given new and persistent pressures on freshwater ecosystems, including emerging pollutants, climate change and the spread of invasive species, we call for additional mitigation to revive the recovery of freshwater biodiversity

The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt

Owing to a long history of anthropogenic pressures, freshwater ecosystems are among the most vulnerable to biodiversity loss1. Mitigation measures, including wastewater treatment and hydromorphological restoration, have aimed to improve environmental quality and foster the recovery of freshwater biodiversity2. Here, using 1,816 time series of freshwater invertebrate communities collected across 22 European countries between 1968 and 2020, we quantified temporal trends in taxonomic and functional diversity and their responses to environmental pressures and gradients. We observed overall increases in taxon richness (0.73% per year), functional richness (2.4% per year) and abundance (1.17% per year). However, these increases primarily occurred before the 2010s, and have since plateaued. Freshwater communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery. Communities at sites with faster rates of warming had fewer gains in taxon richness, functional richness and abundance. Although biodiversity gains in the 1990s and 2000s probably reflect the effectiveness of water-quality improvements and restoration projects, the decelerating trajectory in the 2010s suggests that the current measures offer diminishing returns. Given new and persistent pressures on freshwater ecosystems, including emerging pollutants, climate change and the spread of invasive species, we call for additional mitigation to revive the recovery of freshwater biodiversity.publishedVersio

Contribución de la producción animal en pequeña escala al desarrollo rural

La producción y el consumo de productos de origen animal han experimentado un rápido crecimiento en todo el mundo, y se prevé que continuarán aumentando. Se considera que la mayor parte del incremento en la producción provendrá de sistemas de producción en pequeña escala, que representan el medio de vida de hasta un 70% de la población rural pobre del mundo.1 La producción animal en pequeña escala se reconoce en todo el mundo como un elemento que contribuye al alivio de la pobreza en el medio rural, mediante generación de ingresos, oportunidades de ocupación y dinamismo del uso de los recursos disponibles. Por lo tanto, es de suma importancia conocer las dinámicas de estos sistemas de producción animal y su contribución al desarrollo rural en México. Investigadores y extensionistas deben priorizar las demandas de la producción animal en las comunidades rurales, ya que la producción animal en pequeña escala ha contribuido a mejorar la calidad de vida y a disminuir la vulnerabilidad de las familias productoras. En el México prehispánico la población sólo criaba xoloitzcuintle y guajolotes como animales domésticos, y complementaba en proteínas su dieta con la caza y la pesca. Sin embargo, con la llegada de los españoles en 1521 llegaron también los primeros bovinos a la Nueva España, que se reprodujeron con suma rapidez. La carne de bovino llegó a constituir una parte sustancial de la dieta alimenticia de toda la población.2 A pesar de que al inicio la producción animal era casi nula, ésta empezó a desarrollarse rápidamente y en la actualidad representa un pilar importante para el desarrollo rural en las familias campesinas de nuestro país, pues es vista como una fuente de ingreso

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe