Rice seedlings showed a higher heat tolerance through the foliar application of biostimulants

The use of biostimulants is an agronomic tool to improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress in plants. This study explored the effect of foliar biostimulants sprays such as brassinosteroids (BR), amino acids (AA), nitrophenolates (NP) or a biostimulant based on botanical extracts (BE) on leaf gas exchange parameters [photosynthesis (PN), stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E)], leaf photosynthetic pigments, lipid peroxidation of membranes and proline content of two commercial rice genotypes [‘Fedearroz 67’ and ‘Fedearroz 60’] under heat stress conditions. The established treatments were: i) plants without heat stress and foliar applications of biostimulants (C), ii) plants under heat stress and without foliar applications of biostimulants (HT), and iii) plants with heat stress and three foliar applications with BR (1 mL·L-1), AA (30 mL·L-1), NP (15 mL·L-1) or BE (15 mL·L-1). The results showed that the application of BR, AA, NP or BE increased the values ​​of PN (~14.5 µmol CO2·m-2·s-1), gs (~0.46 mmol·m-2·s-1) and E (~43.9 H20 day-1·plant-1) compared to plants (both genotypes) not treated with biostimulants under heat stress (9.9 µmol CO2·m-2·s-1 for PN, 0.31 mmol·m-2·s-1 for gs, and 27.3 H20 day-1·plant-1 for E). Foliar biostimulant sprays also caused a lower malondialdehyde and proline production in rice genotypes under heat stress. In conclusion, the biostimulants BR, AA, NP, or BE can be considered an agronomic strategy to help mitigate the adverse effects of heat stress in rice areas where periods of high temperatures are expected during the day in Colombia

Features of dengue and chikungunya infections of colombian children under 24 months of age admitted to the emergency department

We aimed to assess clinical and laboratory differences between dengue and chikungunya in children <24 months of age in a comparative study. We collected retrospective clinical and laboratory data confirmed by NS1/IgM for dengue for 19 months (1 January 2013 to 17 August 2014). Prospective data for chikungunya confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction were collected for 4 months (22 September 2014-14 December 2014). Sensitivity and specificity [with 95% confidence interval (CI)] were reported for each disease diagnosis. A platelet count <150 000 cells/ml at emergency admission best characterized dengue, with a sensitivity of 67% (95% CI, 53-79) and specificity of 95% (95% CI, 82-99). The algorithm developed with classification and regression tree analysis showed a sensitivity of 93% (95% CI, 68-100) and specificity of 38% (95% CI, 9-76) to diagnose dengue. Our study provides potential differential characteristics between chikungunya and dengue in young children, especially low platelet counts. © The Author [2017].Universidad Nacional de Colombia, UN Johns Hopkins University1Departamento de Epidemiologia, Hospital Infantil Napoleón Franco Pareja—La Casa del Niño, Cartagena, Colombia 2Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia 3Departamento de Epidemiologia, Faculdade de Saúde Publica, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 4Facultad de Ingenería, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, Cartagena, Colombia 5Facultad Ciencias Básicas y Biomédicas, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Barranquilla, Colombia 6Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia 7Instituto de Investigaciones Biologicas del Tropico, Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Colombia 8Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA Correspondence: Angel Paternina-Caicedo, Hospital Infantil Napoleón Franco Pareja—La Casa del Niño, Bruselas Transversal 36 N. 36-33, Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia. Tel: +1-412-3267809. E-mail or

Solar Neutrino Masses and Mixing from Bilinear R-Parity Broken Supersymmetry: Analytical versus Numerical Results

We give an analytical calculation of solar neutrino masses and mixing at one-loop order within bilinear R-parity breaking supersymmetry, and compare our results to the exact numerical calculation. Our method is based on a systematic perturbative expansion of R-parity violating vertices to leading order. We find in general quite good agreement between approximate and full numerical calculation, but the approximate expressions are much simpler to implement. Our formalism works especially well for the case of the large mixing angle MSW solution (LMA-MSW), now strongly favoured by the recent KamLAND reactor neutrino data.Comment: 34 pages, 14 ps figs, some clarifying comments adde

Neutrino Mass and Missing Momentum Higgs Boson Signals

In the simplest scheme for neutrino masses invoking a triplet of Higgs scalars there are two CP-even neutral Higgs bosons $H_i$ (i=1,2) and one massive pseudoscalar $A$. For some choices of parameters, the lightest $H_1$ may be lighter than the Standard Model Higgs boson. If the smallness of neutrino mass is due to the small value of the triplet expectation value, as expected in a seesaw scheme, the Higgs bosons may decay dominantly to the invisible neutrino channel. We derive limits on Higgs masses and couplings that follow from LEP I precision measurements of the invisible Z width.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, ReVTeX, small explanatory notes adde

University quality measurement model based on balanced scorecard

A Higher Education Institution (HEI) has the responsibility to track the processes through indicators that guarantee the measurement of the results in almost real time. This article presents the design of a management and quality model of the processes in a university, through the integration of a Balance Scorecard (BSC) and the implementation of an information system. For which it was required: a review of existing tracing and monitoring systems in the academic sector, definition of the requirements of the proposed technological, a diagnosis of the current measurement system of the HEI analyzed, identify measurement indicators and develop a technological tool. The designed model presents a precise and clear methodological guide that can be replicated in any HEI to monitor its processes

Procalcitonin (PCT) levels for ruling-out bacterial coinfection in ICU patients with influenza: A CHAID decision-tree analysis

Objectives: To define which variables upon ICU admission could be related to the presence of coinfection using CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection) analysis. Methods: A secondary analysis from a prospective, multicentre, observational study (2009-2014) in ICU patients with confirmed A(H1N1)pdm09 infection. We assessed the potential of biomarkers and clinical variables upon admission to the ICU for coinfection diagnosis using CHAID analysis. Performance of cut-off points obtained was determined on the basis of the binominal distributions of the true (+) and true (−) results. Results: Of the 972 patients included, 196 (20.3%) had coinfection. Procalcitonin (PCT; ng/mL 2.4 vs. 0.5, p < 0.001), but not C-reactive protein (CRP; mg/dL 25 vs. 38.5; p = 0.62) was higher in patients with coinfection. In CHAID analyses, PCT was the most important variable for coinfection. PCT <0.29 ng/mL showed high sensitivity (Se = 88.2%), low Sp (33.2%) and high negative predictive value (NPV = 91.9%). The absence of shock improved classification capacity. Thus, for PCT <0.29 ng/mL, the Se was 84%, the Sp 43% and an NPV of 94% with a post-test probability of coinfection of only 6%. Conclusion: PCT has a high negative predictive value (94%) and lower PCT levels seems to be a good tool for excluding coinfection, particularly for patients without shock

Un análisis exploratorio de la relación entre pobreza multidimensional y conflicto armado : el caso de Antioquia en Colombia

RESUMEN: Este artículo analiza la relación entre pobreza y conflicto armado en Antioquia, Colombia. El análisis de la pobreza está enmarcado en el enfoque de las capacidades de Sen, el cual conforma la base conceptual del índice de pobreza multidimensional (IPM) desarrollado por Alkire y Foster. El IPM es calculado con información derivada de la base de datos Sisbén, la cual se utiliza para seleccionar la población atendida por los programas de asistencia social del Gobierno colombiano. Este artículo consideró tres dimensiones de pobreza: estándares de vida, salud, y educación. El conflicto armado fue medido por medio de datos de conteo acerca de la ocurrencia de eventos de violencia registrados entre 1996 y 2010 en cada municipalidad de Antioquia. Luego, la relación entre la pobreza y el conflicto armado se analizó mediante métodos exploratorios y no paramétricos como las distribuciones kernel. Los resultados sugieren que el IPM es robusto con respecto a la elección del umbral de pobreza multidimensional. Los mapas de caja y bigotes sugieren que los pobres están localizados en las regiones periféricas de Antioquia. Las distribuciones kernel muestran que las áreas más afectadas por el conflicto, usualmente, tienen altos niveles de pobreza multidimensional.ABSTRACT: This paper analyses the relationship between poverty and armed conflict in Antioquia, Colombia. The poverty analysis it uses is framed according to Sen’s capability approach, which constitutes the conceptual basis for the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) subsequently developed by Alkire and Foster. The MPI is measured employing data from the government database SISBEN, which is used by the Colombian authorities to identify beneficiaries of social assistance programmes. The paper considers three poverty dimensions: living standards, health, and education. Armed conflict is measured using count data on violent events recorded for every municipality in the Department of Antioquia between 1996 and 2010. The relationship between poverty and armed conflict is then analysed using exploratory and non-parametric methods such as kernel distributions. Results suggest that the MPI is robust when compared multidimensional cutoffs. The MPI box-plot maps suggest that poor people are located in Antioquia’s peripheral areas. Kernel distributions show that areas most affected by conflict tend to show higher levels of multidimensional poverty

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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