Genética de las proteínas de reserva del cotiledón en castaño (Castanea sativa Miller)

A first approximation to the inheritance of cotyledon storage proteins was studied in European sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) by evaluating the offspring of a controlled cross between two local chestnut varieties (Corriente and Pilonga) from southern Spain. The analysis was carried out in 15 polymorphic bands corresponding to the albumin fraction of the storage proteins. The relationship between bands displayed one case of allelism and four of linkage. These results should be considered as the baseline of the genetics of these proteins and suggest that they could be useful for the evaluation of the genetic variability in chestnut.Se ha efectuado una primera aproximación a la genética de las proteínas de reserva del cotiledón en castaño (Castanea sativa Mill.). Para ello, se ha evaluado la progenie resultante del cruzamiento controlado entre dos variedades locales del sur de España (Corriente y Pilonga). El análisis se ha realizado en 15 bandas polimórficas correspondientes a la fracción albúmina de las proteínas de reserva. El estudio de la combinación entre bandas ha permitido identificar un caso de alelismo y cuatro de ligamiento. Estos resultados suponen una contribución al estudio de la genética de estas proteínas y sugieren que podrían ser una herramienta útil para la evaluación de la variabilidad genética del castaño

Simulation of fuel particles motion in a 2D fluidized bed using a hybrid-model considering wall friction

The mixing of fuel particles is a key issue on the performance of fluidized bed reactors. In this work, the motion of a non-reactive fuel particle in a 2D bubbling fluidized bed at ambient conditions is simulated employing a hybrid-model. The hybrid-model, implemented in the code MFIX, simulates the dense and gas phases using a Two-Fluid Model (TFM) while the fuel particles are modeled using a Discrete Element Method (DEM). The importance of the present hybrid-model is that the interaction of the continuum phases with the fuel particles behavior is fully coupled. In a previous study, Hernández-Jiménez et al. (1) compared the fuel particles motion obtained from the simulation with experimental results measured in a cold 2D fluidized bed by Soria-Verdugo et al. (2, 3). The simulation results related to the location of the fuel particle in the bed were similar to the experimental data (Figure-1). Nevertheless, some discrepancies were found in important parameters such as the circulation time of the fuel particles. These discrepancies were associated to the overprediction of the simulated solids velocity. In the present work, in order to improve the accuracy of the simulated fuel particle motion in a bubbling fluidized bed, a friction term accounting for the effect of the walls of the bed on the continuum solid phase is introduced in the hybrid-model, as proposed by Hernández-Jiménez et al. (4). According to the results, prediction of the fuel circulation time is clearly improved when the friction term is included in the simulation (Figure-2). REFERENCES Hernández-Jiménez F. , Garcia-Gutierrez L.M., Soria-Verdugo A., Acosta-Iborra A. 2015. Fully coupled TFM-DEM simulations to study the motion of fuel particles in a fluidized bed, Chem. Eng. Sci.,134, 29, 57-66. Soria-Verdugo, A., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Sánchez-Delgado, S., Ruiz-Rivas,U., 2011a. Circulation of an object immersed in a bubbling fluidized bed. Chem. Eng. Sci. 66, 78–87. Soria-Verdugo, A., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., García-Hernando, N., Ruiz-Rivas, U., 2011b. Buoyancy effects on objects moving in a bubbling fluidized bed. Chem. Eng. Sci.66, 2833–2841. Hernández-Jiménez, F., Cano-Pleite, E., Sánchez-Prieto, J., Garcia-Gutierrez, L.M., Acosta-Iborra, A. Development of an empirical wall-friction model for 2D simulations of pseudo-2D fluidized beds. Submitted for publication. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Prevention of anxiety among at-risk children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Anxiety disorders are common, often start in childhood and run a chronic course. As such there is a need for effective prevention. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized, controlled trials to prevent the onset of anxiety disorders in ‘at risk’ young people. Diagnostic and symptom outcomes were examined. Putative moderators were tested as was publication bias. Results We included 16 trials (2545 young people). Two trials reported diagnostic outcomes, and significant effects were found for these at end-of-programme (RR = .09, 95%CI = .02 to .16), 6- (RR = .17, 95%CI = .06 to .27) and 12-month (RR = .31, 95%CI .17 to .45) follow-ups. Based on 16 trials, improved anxiety symptoms were significant compared to nonattention controls only, with small effect sizes reported by young people at the end-of-programmes, 6- and 12-month follow-ups; and by parents at the end of the programmes and 12-, but not 6-, month follow-ups. There was no evidence of significant moderation or publication bias. Conclusions Fourteen studies included children and young people who presented with elevated anxiety symptoms, but anxiety disorder was not ruled out in the participants in these studies. Hence, these studies might be reporting results of mixed prevention/early intervention programmes. Prevention programmes that target developmental risk factors, not only disorder maintaining factors, appear most promising. The clinically meaningful impact of anxiety disorder prevention programmes remains unknown

Pulsed blooms and persistent oil-degrading bacterial populations in the water column during and after the Deepwater Horizon blowout

One of the defining features of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the rapid formation and persistence of a hydrocarbon plume in deep water. Here we use 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments to outline the temporal dynamics of the bacterial community in the water column near the Macondo wellhead. Our timeline starts with the pre-spill (March 2010) status of the water column bacterial community, continues through the bacterial enrichments dominating the hydrocarbon plume after the blowout (DWH Oceanospirillales, Cycloclasticus, Colwellia in late May 2010), and leads towards post-spill bacterial communities with molecular signatures related to degradation of phytoplankton pulses (September and October 2010; July 2011) in the water column near the Macondo wellhead. We document a dramatic transition as the complex bacterial community before the oil spill was temporarily overwhelmed by a few specialized bacterial groups responding to the massive influx of hydrocarbons in May 2010. In September and October 2010, this bacterial bloom had been replaced by a diversified bacterial community which resembled its predecessor prior to the spill. Notably, the post-plume 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and pyrosequencing datasets illustrated the continued presence of oil-degrading bacteria in the water column near the Macondo wellhead which we posit to represent an inherent signature of hydrocarbon catabolic potential to the Gulf of Mexico. The pyroseqencing results detected and tracked minority bacterial populations that were not visible in the conventional 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and allowed us to identify natural reservoirs of the Deepwater Horizon Oceanospirillales within and outside of the Gulf of Mexico

Flow and clogging of a sheep herd passing through a bottleneck

We present an experimental study of a flock passing through a narrow door. Video monitoring of daily routines in a farm has enabled us to collect a sizable amount of data. By measuring the time lapse between the passage of consecutive animals, some features of the flow regime can be assessed. A quantitative definition of clogging is demonstrated based on the passage time statistics. These display broad tails, which can be fitted by power laws with a relatively large exponent. On the other hand, the distribution of burst sizes robustly evidences exponential behavior. Finally, borrowing concepts from granular physics and statistical mechanics, we evaluate the effect of increasing the door size and the performance of an obstacle placed in front of it. The success of these techniques opens new possibilities regarding their eventual extension to the management of human crowds

Derivation and external validation of the SIMPLICITY score as a simple immune-based risk score to predict infection in kidney transplant recipients

Existing approaches for infection risk stratification in kidney transplant recipients are suboptimal. Here, we aimed to develop and validate a weighted score integrating non-pathogen-specific immune parameters and clinical variables to predict the occurrence of post-transplant infectious complications. To this end, we retrospectively analyzed a single-center derivation cohort of 410 patients undergoing kidney transplantation in 2008-2013 in Madrid. Peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, serum immunoglobulin and complement levels were measured at one-month post-transplant. The primary and secondary outcomes were overall and bacterial infection through month six. A point score was derived from a logistic regression model and prospectively applied on a validation cohort of 522 patients undergoing kidney transplantation at 16 centers throughout Spain in 2014-2015. The SIMPLICITY score consisted of the following variables measured at month one after transplantation: C3 level, CD4+ T-cell count, CD8+ T-cell count, IgG level, glomerular filtration rate, recipient age, and infection within the first month. The discrimination capacity in the derivation and validation cohorts was good for overall (areas under the receiver operating curve of 0.774 and 0.730) and bacterial infection (0.767 and 0.734, respectively). The cumulative incidence of overall infection significantly increased across risk categories in the derivation (low-risk 13.7%; intermediate-risk, 35.9%; high-risk 77.6%) and validation datasets (10.2%, 28.9% and 50.4%, respectively). Thus, the SIMPLICITY score, based on easily available immune parameters, allows for stratification of kidney transplant recipients at month one according to their expected risk of subsequent infection

Quality control for the first large areas of triple-GEM chambers for the CMS endcaps

The CMS Collaboration plans to equip the very forward muon system with triple-GEM detectors that can withstand the environment of the High-Luminosity LHC.This project is at the final stages of R&D and moving to production. A large area of several 100 m 2 are to be instrumented with GEM detectors which will be produced in six different sites around the world. A common construction and quality control procedure is required to ensure the performance of each detector.The quality control steps will include optical inspection,cleaning and baking of all materials and parts used to build the detector,leakage current tests of the GEM foils,high voltage tests,gas leak tests of the chambers and monitoring pressures time,gain calibration to know the optimal operation region of the detector,gain uniformity tests, and studying the efficiency,noise and tracking performance of the detectors in a cosmic stand using scintillator

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min energy threshold, \nobreak{$6\times 10^{19}$eV}. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than $3.1^\circ$ from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the V\'eron-Cetty and V\'eron $12^{\rm th}$ catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is $(38^{+7}_{-6})$, compared with $21$ expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of $(69^{+11}_{-13})$. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics on 31 August 201