Analyzing the Mass-Rearing System of the California Red Scale Parasitoid Aphytis melinus (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)

Results from studies to improve mass rearing production of the parasitoid Aphytis melinus De Bach (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) are presented. Parasitoid production was carried out following standard commercial procedures using an alternative host, Aspidiotus nerii Bouché (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), infesting Cucurbita moschata (Duchesne) (Cucurbitaceae), butternut squash. We found that the initial number of A. melinus adults introduced into rearing cages to start production and the scale/parasitoid ratio in those cages profoundly influenced future parasitoid production. We also observed that scale parasitism was positively correlated with the production of parasitoid adults, but this relationship was negatively correlated if > 2.6 parasitoids per d, per cm2, were used in the cages to start parasitism. Supplemental honey (provided on the squash surface) had no clear impact on parasitoid production or survival, but improved host parasitism. Approximately 47% of the host scale population on squash was parasitized, with another 43.1% of the population recorded as dead. We found that ≤ 10 host scales per cm2 on squash was an adequate density for mass production purposes

Spatial dimension changes in second hand housing prices in Alcalá de Henares and León (Spain)

The objective of this study is to show different recent trends (2001-2009) in second-hand housing prices in Spain and in different neighbourhoods in Alcala de Henares and León, both of which are cities with very diverse economic and demographic characteristics. The first is a city in the metropolitan area of Madrid, with high land prices. The increasing demand for housing in Alcala de Henares is a good alternative for households, in view of high prices in Madrid. The second is Léon, the capital of the province of León, which is undergoing a depopulation process. We will demonstrate that house price dynamics is a local phenomenon and national or regional level data conceal interesting differences within cities (districts and neighbourhoods). The latest rise and decline in housing prices is clearly visible on the outskirts and sometimes non-existent in the town centre area

An extension problem for the CR fractional Laplacian

We show that the conformally invariant fractional powers of the sub-Laplacian on the Heisenberg group are given in terms of the scattering operator for an extension problem to the Siegel upper halfspace. Remarkably, this extension problem is different from the one studied, among others, by Caffarelli and Silvestre.Comment: 33 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0709.1103 by other author

Culturas, políticas y prácticas de inclusión en las universidades: enfoque desde la formación inicial del profesorado

Nuestra definición de Inclusión parte de la propuesta de una educación accesible y de calidad, que contemple a todas las personas, en cualquier nivel de enseñanza. Tal definición apuesta por la construcción de una mirada crítica en el currículo y su transversalidad durante la formación de futuros profesionales, lo que consideramos fundamental para discutir la organización de una propuesta de Educación Inclusiva en el nivel de enseñanza superior. El objetivo de este proyecto es profundizar en los procesos de inclusión/exclusión educativa en la formación inicial del profesorado, ya que como futuros educadores sus concepciones al respecto influirán en su práctica docente, a lo que hay que añadir la proyección social de la figura del profesional de la educación. Este estudio incorpora, además, la consideración del tema en un ámbito internacional desde una perspectiva educativa comparada, convirtiéndolo en una experiencia mucho más enriquecedora y que aporta datos de interés para otros trabajos en el campo abordado.Our definition of inclusion originates of the proposal for an accessible and quality education, which includes everyone, at any level of education. This definition is committed to building a critical look at the curriculum and its mainstreaming in the education of future professionals; we considered the organization to discuss a proposal for Inclusive Education in the higher education level. Examine the processes of inclusion/exclusion of education in initial teacher training is the goal of this project, because as future educators their conceptions influence in their teaching practice, to which must be added the outreach they have. This study incorporates our interest in international comparative educational perspective, making it a much richer experience and it provides very interesting data

Psicología Jurídica en España: Delimitación Conceptual, Campos de Investigación e Intervención y Propuesta Formativa dentro de la Enseñanza Oficial / Legal Psychology in Spain: Conceptual Boundary, Fields of Investigation and Intervention and Formative Proposal of Official Education

La Psicología Jurídica como especialidad profesional del psicólogo ha tenido un desarrollo exponencial desde finales de los años ochenta hasta la actualidad, considerándose un campo consolidado dentro de la Psicología Aplicada. Inexplicablemente, sin embargo, esta madurez de la Psicología Jurídica no se ha visto reflejada con su incursión en los nuevos itinerarios curriculares elaborados a partir del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. En el presente trabajo se maneja como hipótesis explicativa de esta situación la dificultad de vertebrar este campo disciplinar debido a los diversos ámbitos de interés investigador y de intervención. Se pretende, por tanto, generar debate entre académicos y profesionales de la Psicología Jurídica con el fin de buscar el consenso que impulse un firme afianzamiento no sólo de perfiles profesionales específicos dentro del ámbito de la Psicología Jurídica sino de ésta como disciplina dentro de la Psicología. Se propone así, un concepto único para definir el campo, distintas áreas en las que agrupar la investigación y prácticas profesionales, a la vez que se sugiere un proyecto de Master Oficial en Psicología Jurídica como punto de partida para el debate. El reconocimiento académico de la Psicología Jurídica además de garantizar la proyección futura de la disciplina tanto en su vertiente aplicada como de investigación permitirá seguir ofreciendo a la sociedad en general y al mundo de la ley en particular una actuación profesional de calidad y adaptada a los retos futuros. [ABSTRACT]Legal Psychology as psychologist´s professional specialty has had an exponential development since the end of the Eighties until the present time, considering itself a consolidated field within Applied Psychology. Inexplicably, nevertheless, this maturity of Legal Psychology has not been reflected with its incursion in the new curricular itineraries elaborated from the European Space of Superior Education. This paper handles, as an explanatory hypothesis of this situation, the difficulty of integrating this disciplinary field due to the diverse scopes of investigative interest and intervention. It is intended, therefore, to generate debate between academics and professionals of Legal Psychology in altars to the search of the consensus that impels a firm reinforcement not only of specific professional profiles within the scope of Legal Psychology but also as a discipline within Psychology. A unique concept to define the field, different areas in which to group the professional investigation and practices, are being proposed, as well as it is being suggested a project of Official Masters in Legal Psychology as departure point for the debate. The academic recognition of Legal Psychology, along with guaranteeing the future projection of this discipline in its applied and investigative areas, will allow to continue offering a professional and qualified performance adapted to future challenges, to the mainly society and specifically the world of the law

Functional and molecular characterization of inherited platelet disorders in the Iberian Peninsula: results from a collaborative study

12 p.-6 tab. Sánchez-Guiu et al.[Background] The diagnostic evaluation of inherited platelet disorders (IPDs) is complicated and time-consuming, resulting in a relevant number of undiagnosed and incorrectly classified patients. In order to evaluate the spectrum of IPDs in individuals with clinical suspicion of these disorders, and to provide a diagnostic tool to centers not having access to specific platelets studies, we established the project “Functional and Molecular Characterization of Patients with Inherited Platelet Disorders” under the scientific sponsorship of the Spanish Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis.[Patients/methods] Subjects were patients from a prospective cohort of individuals referred for clinical suspicion of IPDs as well as healthy controls. Functional studies included light transmission aggregation, flow cytometry, and when indicated, Western-blot analysis of platelet glycoproteins, and clot retraction analysis. Genetic analysis was mainly performed by sequencing of coding regions and proximal regulatory regions of the genes of interest.[Results] Of the 70 cases referred for study, we functionally and molecularly characterized 12 patients with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia, 8 patients with Bernard Soulier syndrome, and 8 with other forms of IPDs. Twelve novel mutations were identified among these patients. The systematic study of patients revealed that almost one-third of patients had been previously misdiagnosed.[Conclusions] Our study provides a global picture of the current limitations and access to the diagnosis of IPDs, identifies and confirms new genetic variants that cause these disorders, and emphasizes the need of creating reference centers that can help health care providers in the recognition of these defects.Research of the authors’ group is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII, PI10/02594), RECAVA RD12/0042/0050(ISCIII and FEDER), and Fundación Séneca (07703/GERM/07). ISG holds a fellowship from ISCIII (FI10/00535). CGM is supported by the Spanish Plan of Research & Development (BFU2010-15237).Peer reviewe

Extracellular vesicle and soluble fractions of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells secretome induce inflammatory cytokines modulation in an in vitro model of discogenic pain

.BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) secretome or conditioned medium (CM) is a complex cocktail of different molecules, some of which, particularly those con- tained in extracellular vesicles, already have proven therapeutic applications. PURPOSE: CM may well represent promising therapy for discogenic pain and the intention of this work is to assess its therapeutic potential using an in vitro model of this condition. STUDY DESIGN: This is an experimental study. METHODS: Our in vitro model comprised Nucleus Pulposus (NP) and Annulus Fibrosus (AF) cells inflamed with TNF. To assess the potential therapeutic value of CM and its components, extracellular vesicles (EVs) and soluble culture fraction (SF), cell inflammation took place under 3 different conditions: either in the presence of whole CM, isolated EVs or SF, and concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, metalloproteinases (MMPs) and neurotrophic factors produced in all 3 cases were compared. RESULTS: In the presence of whole CM, both in vitro gene expression by the NP and AF test cells and analysis of their protein content showed high modulatory effects on inflammation and MMP inhibition. The presence of EVs and SF showed similar but much smaller effects, and this was par- ticularly marked in the case of NP cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that, compared to EVs and SF, the presence of whole CM has the greatest positive effect on the modulation of pro-inflammatory and catabolic factors. These observations suggest that CM could protect against inflammation and the resulting intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration that leads to discogenic pain. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Many patients' expectations are not met by current non-operative and surgical treatments for discogenic low back pain. We propose the use of the MSCs secretomeS