Determination of biological and physicochemical parameters of <i>Artemia franciscana</i> strains in hypersaline environments for aquaculture in the Colombian Caribbean

Background: Artemia (Crustacea, Anostraca), also known as brine shrimp, are typical inhabitants of extreme environments. These hypersaline environments vary considerably in their physicochemical composition, and even their climatic conditions and elevation. Several thalassohaline (marine) environments along the Colombian Caribbean coast were surveyed in order to contribute to the knowledge of brine shrimp biotopes in South America by determining some vital biological and physicochemical parameters for Artemia survival. Additionally, cyst quality tests, biometrical and essential fatty acids analysis were performed to evaluate the economic viability of some of these strains for the aquaculture industry.Results: In addition to the three locations (Galerazamba, Manaure, and Pozos Colorados) reported in the literature three decades ago in the Colombian Caribbean, six new locations were registered (Salina Cero, Kangaru, Tayrona, Bahía Hondita, Warrego and Pusheo). All habitats sampled showed that chloride was the prevailing anion, as expected, because of their thalassohaline origin. There were significant differences in cyst diameter grouping strains in the following manner according to this parameter: 1) San Francisco Bay (SFB-Control, USA), 2) Galerazamba and Tayrona, 3) Kangarú, 4) Manaure, and 5) Salina Cero and Pozos Colorados. Chorion thickness values were smaller in Tayrona, followed by Salina Cero, Galerazamba, Manaure, SFB, Kangarú and Pozos Colorados. There were significant differences in naupliar size, grouping strains as follows(smallest to largest): 1) Galerazamba, 2) Manaure, 3) SFB, Kangarú, and Salina Cero, 4) Pozos Colorados, and 5) Tayrona. Overall, cyst quality analysis conducted on samples from Manaure, Galerazamba, and Salina Cero revealed that all sites exhibited a relatively high number of cysts.g-1. Essential fatty acids (EFA) analysis performed on nauplii from cyst samples from Manaure, Galerazamba, Salina Cero and Tayrona revealed that cysts from all sites exhibited high arachidonic acid:20:4(n-6) (ArA) and eicosapentaenoic acid: 20:5(n-3) (EPA) levels comparable to the control sample (SFB). In contrast, most cysts collected (including SFB) at different locations, and during different months, presented low docosahexaenoic acid: 22:6(n-3) (DHA) levels (Manaure was the only exception with high DHA levels). Some variations in EPA and ArA levels were observed in all sites, contrasting with the much lower DHA levels which remained constant for all locations, except for Manaure which exhibited variable DHA levels. DHA/EPA ratio was overall very low for all sites compared to SFB cysts. All strains had a low DHA/ArA, but a high EPA/ArA ratio, including the control.Conclusion: The Colombian A. franciscana habitats analyzed were determined to be thalassohaline, and suitable for A. franciscana development. EFA profiles demonstrated that Tayrona, Galerazamba, Manaure and Salina Cero strains are suitable food for marine fish and crustacean culture because of their high EPA/ArA ratio, but might have to be fortified with DHA rich emulsions depending on the nutritional requirements of the species to be cultured, because of their overall low DHA content. The relatively small nauplii are appropriate for marine larvaeculture. In contrast, the strains from Tayrona, Kangarú, Salina Cero, and Pozos Colorados may be of use but limited to Artemia small biomass production quantities, because of the small surface area of their respective locations; Artemia could be exploited at these locations for local aquaculture applications. In general, cyst quality evaluation for Manaure, Salina Cero and Galerazamba cysts revealed that cysts from these three locations could improve their quality by concentrating efforts on cyst processing techniques. Finally, most locations had great A. franciscana production potential and require different degrees of water quality and/or infrastructure management

Microscopic study of the morphology and metabolic activity of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli treated with Jatropha curcas oil and derivatives

AbstractThe fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli is one of the main pathogenic microorganisms of the ornamental genus Gladiolus. The attack of this microorganism includes corms and different plant phenological stages. In this study, different microscopic techniques and fluorochromes were used to evaluate the effect of J. curcas oil and acylglycerides, namely trilinolein, triolein, monomyristin and dimyristin, on the morphology, membrane integrity (%), viability (%) and germination (%) of F. oxsporum f sp. gladioli. Phase-contrast optical photomicrographs and scanning microscopy showed that J. curcas oil and the triglycerides triolein and trilinolein caused the formation of numerous vacuoles, alterations in the morphology of the outer covering of the mycelium and conidia, and inhibition of membrane activity in the fungus during 24h of incubation. The fluorochromes used detected no permanent damage to the viability of the conidia. The high germination percentage of the conidia of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli indicates that the damage caused by the application of the treatments was fungistatic rather than fungicidal and did not cause cell death

Influence of seed layer thickness on properties of electrodeposited ZnO nanostructured films

[EN] The quality and properties of electrodeposited nanostructured ZnO films are improved when they are deposited on a crystal lattice-matching substrate. To this end, a highly conductive indium tin oxide substrate is covered with an interlayer of ZnO using direct-current magnetron sputtering. In this manuscript, we describe the effect of this interlayer on the morphological and optical properties of several nanostructured ZnO films grown by different electrodeposition methods. The thickness of the ZnO interlayer was varied starting from ultrathin layers of 10 nm all the way up to 230 nm as determined by ellipsonnetry. The structural and optical properties of the nanostructured ZnO films deposited on top of these interlayers were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy and UV-visible spectroscopy. Optimum properties of the nanostructured ZnO films for application in thin-film optoelectronic devices are obtained when the ZnO interlayer has a thickness of approximately 45 nm. This is the case for all the electrodeposition methods used in this work.Reyes Tolosa, MD.; Alajami, M.; Montero Reguera, ÁE.; Damonte, L.; Hernández Fenollosa, MDLÁ. (2019). Influence of seed layer thickness on properties of electrodeposited ZnO nanostructured films. SN Applied Sciences. 1(10):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1293-719110Marotti RE, Giorgi P, Machado G, Dalchiele EA (2006) Crystallite size dependence of band gap energy for electrodeposited ZnO grown at different temperatures. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 90:2356–2361Marotti RE, Guerra DN, Bello C, Machado G (2004) Bandgap energy tuning of electrochemically grown ZnO thin films by thickness and electrodeposition potential. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 82:85–103Jin ZC, Hamberg I, Grangvist CG (1988) Optical properties of sputter-deposited ZnO: Al thin films. J Appl Phys 64:5117–5131Chopra KL, Major S, Pandya DK (1983) Transparent conductors—a status review. Thin Solid Films 102:1–46Kiliç B, Wang L, Ozdemir O, Lu M, Tüzemen S (2013) One-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanowires dye sensitized solar cell. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 13:333–338Granqvist CG (2007) Transparent conductors as solar energy materials: a panoramic review. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 9:1529–1598Mallampati B, Nair SV, Ruda HE, Philipose U (2015) ZnO nanowire based photoconductor with high photoconductive gain. Mater Res Soc Symp Proc 1805:720–726Benlamri M, Bothe KM, Ma AM, Shoute G, Afshar A, Sharma H, Mohammadpour A, Gupta M, Cadien KC, Tsui YY, Shankar K, Barlage DW (2014) High-mobility solution-processed zinc oxide thin films on silicon nitride. Phys Status Solidi RRL 8:871–875Galstyan V, Comini E, Ponzoni A, Sberveglieri V, Sberveglieri G (2016) ZnO quasi-1D nanostructures: synthesis, modeling, and properties for applications in conductometric. Chem Sens 4:6–27Ayouchi R, Leinen D, Martin F, Gabas M, Dalchiele E, Ramos-Barrado JR (2003) Preparation and characterization of transparent ZnO thin films obtained by spray pyrolysis. Thin Solid Films 426:68–77Rahmane S, Aida MS, Chala A, Temam HB, Djouadi MA (2007) Elaboration of transparent undoped ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin films by spray pyrolysis and their properties. Plasma Process Polym 4:356–358Zhu G, Zhou Y, Wang S, Yang R, Ding Y, Wang X, Bando Y, Wang ZL (2012) Synthesis of vertically aligned ultra-long ZnO nanowires on heterogeneous substrates with catalyst at the root. Nanotechnology 23:055604–055610Hossein A, Kar P, Farsinezhad S, Sharma H, Shankar K (2015) Effect of sol stabilizer on the structure and electronic properties of solution-processed ZnO thin films. RSC Adv 5:87007–87018Majumder SB, Jain M, Dobal PS, Katiyar RS (2003) Investigations on solution derived aluminium doped zinc oxide thin films. Mater Sci Eng 103:16–25Gao XD, Peng F, Li XM, Yu WD, Qiu JJ (2007) Growth of highly oriented ZnO films by the two-step electrodeposition technique. J Mater Sci 42:9638–9644Dalchiele EA, Giorgi P, Marotti RE, Martín F, Ramos-Barrado JR, Ayouci R, Leinen D (2001) Electrodeposition of ZnO Thin Films on n-Si (100). Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 70:245–254Craciun V, Elders J, Gardeniev JGE, Boyd IW (1994) Characteristics of high quality ZnO thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition. Appl Phys Lett 65:2963–2965Bang KH, Hwang DK, Myoung JM (2003) Effects of ZnO buffer layer thickness on properties of ZnO thin films deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. Appl Surf Sci 207:359–364Hayashi Y, Kondo K, Murai K, Moriga T, Nakabayashi I, Fukumoto H, Tominag K (2004) ZnO–SnO2 transparent conductive films deposited by opposed target sputtering system of ZnO and SnO2 targets. Vacuum 74:607–611Minami T, Nanto H, Takata S (1983) UV emission from sputtered zinc oxide thin films. Thin Solid Films 109:379–384Gu CD, Li J, Lian JS, Zheng GQ (2007) Electrochemical synthesis and optical properties of ZnO thin film on In2O3: Sn (ITO)-coated glass. Appl Surf Sci 253:7011–7015Korber C, Suffner J, Klein A (2010) Surface energy controlled preferential orientation of thin films. J Phys D Appl Phys 43:055301–055304Dadgour HF, Endo K, De VK, Banerjee K (2010) Grain-orientation induced work function variation in nanoscale metal-gate transistors; part I: modeling, analysis, and experimental validation. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 57:2504–2514Sadewasser S, Glatzel T, Schuler S, Nishiwaki S, Kaigawa R, Lux-Steiner MC (2003) Kelvin probe force microscopy for the nano scale characterization of chalcopyrite solar cell materials and devices. Thin Solid Films 257:431–432Boubenia S, Dahiya AS, Poulin-Vittrant G, Morini F, Nadaud K, Alquier DA (2017) Facile hydrothermal approach for the density tunable growth of ZnO nanowires and their electrical characterizations. Sci Rep 7:15187–15196Ghayour H, Rezaie HR, Mirdamadi S, Nourbakhsh AA (2011) The effect of seed layer thickness on alignment and morphology of ZnO nanorods. Vacuum 86:101–105Bae YS, Kim DC, Ahn CH, Kim JH, Cho HK (2010) Growth of ZnO nanorod arrays by hydrothermal method using homo-seed layers annealed at various temperatures. Surf Interface Anal 42:978–982Donderis V, Hernández-Fenollosa MA, Damonte LC, Marí B, Cembrero J (2007) Enhancement of surface morphology and optical properties of nanocolumnar ZnO films. Superlattices Microstruct 42:461–467Chichibu SF, Yoshida T, Onuma T, Nakanishi H (2002) Helicon-wave-excited-plasma sputtering epitaxy of ZnO on sapphire (0001) substrates. J Appl Phys 91:874–877Bouderbala M, Hamzaoui S, Amrani B, Reshak AH, Adnane M, Sahraoui T, Zerdali M (2008) Thickness dependence of structural, electrical and optical behaviour of undoped ZnO thin films. Phys B 403:3326–3330Kishimoto S, Yamamoto T, Nakagawa Y, Ikeda K, Makino H, Yamada T (2006) Dependence of electrical and structural properties on film thickness of undoped ZnO thin films prepared by plasma-assisted electron beam deposition. Superlattices Microstruct 39:306–313Suchea M, Christoulakis S, Katharakis M, Vidakis N, Koudoumas E (2009) Influence of thickness and growth temperature on the optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films. Thin Solid Films 517:4303–4306Mridha S, Basak D (2007) Effect of thickness on the structural, electrical and optical properties of ZnO films. Mater Res Bull 42:875–882Reyes Tolosa MD, Orozco-Messana J, Lima ANC, Camaratta R, Pascual M, Hernandez-Fenollosa MA (2011) Electrochemical deposition mechanism for ZnO nanorods: diffusion coefficient and growth models. J Electrochem Soc 158:107–110Reyes Tolosa MD, Orozco-Messana J, Damonte LC, Hernandez-Fenollosa MA (2011) ZnO nanoestructured layers processing with morphology control by pulsed electrodeposition. J Electrochem Soc 158:452–455Laukaitis G, Lindroos S, Tamulevicius S, Leskela M (2001) Stress and morphological development of CdS and ZnS thin films during the SILAR growth on (1 0 0) GaAs. Appl Surf Sci 185:134–139Ludwig W, Ohm W, Correa-Hoyos JM, Zhao Y, Lux-Steiner MC, Gledhill S (2013) Electrodeposition parameters for ZnO nanorod arrays for photovoltaic applications. Phys Status Solidi A 210:1557–1563Chopra KL, Das SR (1983) Thin film solar cells. Springer, New YorkOhm W, Riedel W, Askünger Ü, Heinemann MD, Kaufmann CA, Lopez Garcia J, Izquierdo V, Fontané X, Goislard T, Lux-Steiner MC, Gledhill S (2015) An overview of technological aspects of Cu(In, Ga)Se2 solar cell architectures incorporating ZnO nanorod arrays. Phys Status Solidi A 212:76–87Wang Q, Wang G, Jie J, Han X, Xu B, Hou JG (2005) Annealing effect on optical properties of ZnO films fabricated by cathodic electrodeposition described. Thin Solid Films 492:61–65Tao Y, Fu M, Zhao A, He D, Wang Y (2010) The effect of seed layer on morphology of ZnO nanorod arrays grown by hydrothermal method. J Alloys Compd 489:99–102El-Zahed H, El- Korashy A, Abdel Rahman M (2003) Effect of heat treatment on some of the optical parameters of Cu9Ge11Te80 films. Vacuum 68:19–27Kumar M, Sasikumar C (2014) Electrodeposition of nanostructured ZnO thin film. Am J Mater Sci Eng 23:18–23Wang J, Chen R, Xiang L, Komarneni S (2018) Synthesis, properties and applications of ZnO nanomaterials with oxygen vacancies: a review. Ceram Int 44:7357–737

P28 85. Análisis de la supervivencia a corto y medio plazo de la cirugía de aorta ascendente

ObjetivosEvaluar la mortalidad hospitalaria y la supervivencia a medio plazo de los pacientes sometidos a una cirugía de aorta ascendente y determinar cuáles son sus factores de riesgo.Material y métodosSe analizó de forma retrospectiva toda la población de pacientes sometidos a un procedimiento quirúrgico de aorta ascendente (sustitución con o sin cirugía valvular o de raíz asociada) entre enero de 2003 y diciembre de 2008. Se evaluó la mortalidad hospitalaria y la supervivencia absoluta en el seguimiento, y mediante análisis uni y multivariante se determinaron las correspondientes variables predictoras.ResultadosTrescientos sesenta y cinco pacientes fueron sometidos de forma consecutiva a algún procedimiento quirúrgico de la aorta ascendente. Edad media: 63,1 años (desviación estándar [DE] 13); n = 99 (27,1%) fueron mujeres; n = 58 (15,9%) habían sido sometidos a una cirugía previa. En 32 pacientes se sustituyó total o parcialmente el arco aórtico. EuroSCORE mediano de 11,72% (interquartile range [IQR]: 6,78-20,43). La mortalidad hospitalaria fue 7,7% (n = 28). Los predictores de mortalidad en análisis multivariante fueron: cirugía cardíaca previa (odds ratio [OR]: 3,18; p = 0,045), tabaquismo activo (OR: 5,7; p = 0,021), insuficiencia renal (OR: 3,03; p = 0,043), estado crítico preoperatorio (OR: 5,63; p = 0,005), edad (OR: 1,06; p = 0,018) y cirugía coronaria asociada (OR: 3,17; p = 0,35). La supervivencia a 1, 3 y 5 años fue 96, 94 y 92%. Sólo edad (hazard ratio [HR]: 1,08; p = 0,022) e hipertensión pulmonar grave (HR: 3,5; p = 0,026) fueron predictores independientes de mortalidad en el seguimiento.ConclusionesEn nuestra experiencia, la sustitución de la aorta ascendente demuestra una baja mortalidad hospitalaria y una adecuada supervivencia a medio plazo

Accurate Atmospheric Parameters at Moderate Resolution Using Spectral Indices: Preliminary Application to the MARVELS Survey

Studies of Galactic chemical and dynamical evolution in the solar neighborhood depend on the availability of precise atmospheric parameters (Teff, [Fe/H] and log g) for solar-type stars. Many large-scale spectroscopic surveys operate at low to moderate spectral resolution for efficiency in observing large samples, which makes the stellar characterization difficult due to the high degree of blending of spectral features. While most surveys use spectral synthesis, in this work we employ an alternative method based on spectral indices to determine the atmospheric parameters of a sample of nearby FGK dwarfs and subgiants observed by the MARVELS survey at moderate resolving power (R~12,000). We have developed three codes to automatically normalize the observed spectra, measure the equivalent widths of the indices and, through the comparison of those with values calculated with pre-determined calibrations, derive the atmospheric parameters of the stars. The calibrations were built using a sample of 309 stars with precise stellar parameters obtained from the analysis of high-resolution FEROS spectra. A validation test of the method was conducted with a sample of 30 MARVELS targets that also have reliable atmospheric parameters from high-resolution spectroscopic analysis. Our approach was able to recover the parameters within 80 K for Teff, 0.05 dex for [Fe/H] and 0.15 dex for log g, values that are lower or equal to the typical external uncertainties found between different high-resolution analyzes. An additional test was performed with a subsample of 138 stars from the ELODIE stellar library and the literature atmospheric parameters were recovered within 125 K for Teff, 0.10 dex for [Fe/H] and 0.29 dex for log g. These results show that the spectral indices are a competitive tool to characterize stars with the intermediate resolution spectra.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. Abstract edited to comply with arXiv standards regarding the number of character

SEOM clinical guidelines for the treatment of head and neck cancer (2017)

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is defined as malignant tumours located in the upper aerodigestive tract and represents 5% of oncologic cases in adults in Spain. More than 90% of these tumours have squamous histology. In an effort to incorporate evidence obtained since 2013 publication, Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) presents an update of HNC diagnosis and treatment guideline. The eighth edition of TNM classification, published in January 2017, introduces important changes for p16-positive oropharyngeal tumours, for lip and oral cavity cancer and for N3 category. In addition, there are new data about induction chemotherapy and the role of immunotherapy in HNC

An agent-based approach to assess drivers’ interaction with pre-trip information systems.

This article reports on the practical use of a multi-agent microsimulation framework to address the issue of assessing drivers’ responses to pretrip information systems. The population of drivers is represented as a community of autonomous agents, and travel demand results from the decision-making deliberation performed by each individual of the population as regards route and departure time. A simple simulation scenario was devised, where pretrip information was made available to users on an individual basis so that its effects at the aggregate level could be observed. The simulation results show that the overall performance of the system is very likely affected by exogenous information, and these results are ascribed to demand formation and network topology. The expressiveness offered by cognitive approaches based on predicate logics, such as the one used in this research, appears to be a promising approximation to fostering more complex behavior modelling, allowing us to represent many of the mental aspects involved in the deliberation process

A model based on the combination of ifn-γ, ip-10, ferritin and 25-hydroxyvitamin d for discriminating latent from active tuberculosis in children

Altres ajuts: This work was supported by grants from: (i) the Isolana Foundation, (ii) the Maria Francisca de Roviralta Foundation expedient AT/MA 1-19/07/2017, AT/MA 70-27/04/2016, and AT/MA 3-22/10/2014 and (vi) Fundació Recerca i Docència Mútua Terrassa.In recent years, pediatric research on tuberculosis (TB) has focused on addressing new biomarkers with the potential to be used as immunological non-sputum-based methods for the diagnosis of TB in children. The aim of this study was to characterize a set of cytokines and a series of individual factors (ferritin, 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], parasite infections, and nutritional status) to assess different patterns for discriminating between active TB and latent TB infection (LTBI) in children. The levels of 13 cytokines in QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) supernatants were analyzed in 166 children: 74 with active TB, 37 with LTBI, and 55 uninfected controls. All cytokines were quantified using Luminex or ELISA. Ferritin and 25(OH)D were also evaluated using CLIA, and Toxocara canis Ig-G antibodies were detected with a commercial ELISA kit. The combination of IP-10, IFN-γ, ferritin, and 25(OH)D achieved the best diagnostic performance to discriminate between active TB and LTBI cases in children in relation to the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve 0.955 (confidence interval 95%: 0.91-1.00), achieving optimal sensitivity and specificity for the development of a new test (93.2 and 90.0%, respectively). Children with TB showed higher ferritin levels and an inverse correlation between 25(OH)D and IFN-γ levels. The model proposed includes a combination of biomarkers for discriminating between active TB and LTBI in children to improve the accuracy of TB diagnosis in children. This combination of biomarkers might have potential for identifying the onset of primary TB in children

Participación comunitaria y procesos de comunicación en la implementación de programas de reasentamiento de familias dentro del contexto del desarrollo urbano en Barranquilla (Colombia)

Planning processes of development and growth of the city of Barranquilla have required the relocation of the population living in areas of intervention actions. As part of the implementation of the New Management Plan Territorial (POT), the city plans to revitalize an area around the Magdalena River with a view to improving the quality of life of citizens and to increase competitiveness of the city. The revitalization project is known as project “La Loma “. Under the current Land Use Plan of Barranquilla (POT), the urban development project “La Loma” includes, among other activities, the transfer of a large number of people currently living in this area. For this reason, this article aims to review the current POT and documents from City Council and the Mayor’s office associated with the POT and “La Loma” project, in order to identify and analyze the component of community participation and communication related to the implementation of this project. The results of the documents revealed the presence of regulatory elements associated with community participation. The results also showed potentially useful spaces for the implementation of inclusive communication processes. Therefore, this article proposes a guide for the formulation of a strategic communication plan with a focus on participatory communication and dialogue facilitator to be used during the execution of urban projects that include the relocation of families. © 2016, Universidad del Norte. All rights reserved