First record of a tropical shallow water barnacle Tetraclita sp. (Cirripedia: Tetraclitoidea) from the middle Neogene of the Canary Islands

This paper describes the first record of the intertidal, tropical tetraclitoid barnacle Tetraclita sp. cf. T. stalactifera (Lamarck, 1818) from the middle Neogene of the Canary Islands. The barnacles were recovered as isolated plates from a bioclastic volcanic agglomerate. Associated fauna in- cludes patellid and neritid gastropods, and an oyster bank, which confirm a shallow-water litoral setting. Living Tetraclita stalactifera is recorded from tropical waters of the America, South Africa and the Arabian Sea; it is first recorded as fossil from Plio-Pleistocene of Curaçao (Caribbean Sea, Venezuela)

Electron microscopy for inorganic-type drug delivery nanocarriers for antitumoral applications: What is possible to see?

The use of nanoparticles able to transport drugs, in a selective and controlable manner, directly to diseased tissues and cells have improved the therapeutic arsenal for addressing unmet clinical situations. In the recent years, a vast number of nanocarriers with inorganic, organic, hybrid and even biological nature have been developed, expecially for their application in oncology fied. The exponential growing in the nanomedicine field would not have been possible without the also rapid expansion of electron microscopy techniques, which allow a more precise observation of nanometric objects. The use of these techniques provides a better understanding of the key parameters which rule their synthesis and behavior. In this review, the recent advances performed in the application of inorganic nanoparticles for clinical uses and the role which has played electron microscopy will be presented

Parasitismo de Oreotrochilus leucopleurus (Trochilidae) en la Reserva Provincial de San Juan, Argentina

El conocimiento en ectoparásitos de aves silvestres es fragmentario, a pesar de que el parasitismo en este grupo de vertebrados es omnipresente. El ácaro rojo, Dermanyssus sp, es un parásito obligado de aves silvestres y domésticas. Ocasionalmente infesta mamíferos, incluidos perros, gatos, caballos, ganados y roedores. Este género representa gran importancia en medicina veterinaria para América Latina y cuya distribución se extiende en todo el mundo.En este sentido, el objetivo del trabajo fue determinar el ectoparasitismo en el picaflor andino Oreotrochilus leucopleurus en el centro oeste de Argentina. Se determinó la presencia de ninfas de Dermanyssus sp mediante muestras obtenidas de un nido de O. leucopleurus a 3500 metros de altitud. Nuestro estudio representa el primer registro de este parásito en O. leucopleurus, contribuyendo al conocimiento del parasitismo en aves silvestres

Robust Ensemble Classification Methodology for I123-Ioflupane SPECT Images and Multiple Heterogeneous Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease

In last years, several approaches to develop an effective Computer-Aided-Diagnosis (CAD) system for Parkinson’s Disease (PD) have been proposed. Most of these methods have focused almost exclusively on brain images through the use of Machine-Learning algorithms suitable to characterize structural or functional patterns. Those patterns provide enough information about the status and/or the progression at intermediate and advanced stages of Parkinson’s Disease. Nevertheless this information could be insufficient at early stages of the pathology. The Parkinson’s ProgressionMarkers Initiative (PPMI) database includes neurological images along with multiple biomedical tests. This information opens up the possibility of comparing different biomarker classification results. As data come from heterogeneous sources, it is expected that we could include some of these biomarkers in order to obtain new information about the pathology. Based on that idea, this work presents an Ensemble Classification model with Performance Weighting. This proposal has been tested comparing Healthy Control subjects (HC) vs. patients with PD (considering both PD and SWEDD labeled subjects as the same class). This model combines several Support-Vector-Machine (SVM) with linear kernel classifiers for different biomedical group of tests—including CerebroSpinal Fluid (CSF), RNA, and Serum tests—and pre-processed neuroimages features (Voxels-As-Features and a list of definedMorphological Features) fromPPMI database subjects. The proposed methodology makes use of all data sources and selects the most discriminant features (mainly from neuroimages). Using this performance-weighted ensemble classification model, classification results up to 96% were obtained.This work was supported by the MINECO/FEDER under the TEC2015-64718-R project and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation, Science and Employment of the Junta de Andalucía under the Excellence Project P11-TIC-7103

Monovinyl sulfone beta-cyclodextrin. A flexible drug carrier system

Cyclodextrins have been conjugated to target various receptors and have also been functionalized with carbohydrates for targeting specific organs. However, this approach is based on a rigid design that implies the ad hoc synthesis of each cyclodextrin-targeting agent conjugate. We hypothesized that: 1) a modular design that decouples the carrier function from the targeting function leads to a flexible system, 2) combining the reactivity of the vinyl sulfone group toward biomolecules that act as targeting agents with the ability of cyclodextrin to form complexes with a wide range of drugs may yield a versatile system that allows the targeting of different organs with different drugs, and 3) the higher reactivity of histidine residues toward the vinyl sulfone group can be exploited to couple the cyclodextrin to the targeting system with a degree of regioselectivity. As a proof of concept, we synthesized a monovinyl sulfone beta-cyclodextrin (module responsible for the payload), which, after coupling to recombinant antibody fragments raised against Trypanosoma brucei (module responsible for targeting) and loading with nitrofurazone (module responsible for therapeutic action) resulted in an effective delivery system that targets the surface of the parasites and shows trypanocidal activity

Synthesis Of Ag@silica Nanoparticles By Assisted Laser Ablation

This paper reports the synthesis of silver nanoparticles coated with porous silica (Ag@Silica NPs) using an assisted laser ablation method. This method is a chemical synthesis where one of the reagents (the reducer agent) is introduced in nanometer form by laser ablation of a solid target submerged in an aqueous solution. In a first step, a silicon wafer immersed in water solution was laser ablated for several minutes. Subsequently, an AgNO3 aliquot was added to the aqueous solution. The redox reaction between the silver ions and ablation products leads to a colloidal suspension of core-shell Ag@Silica NPs. The influence of the laser pulse energy, laser wavelength, ablation time, and Ag+ concentration on the size and optical properties of the Ag@Silica NPs was investigated. Furthermore, the colloidal suspensions were studied by UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).10Mexican founding agency CONACyT [CB183728, CB 176705]Instituto Politecnico Nacional [SIP20130216, SIP20141409, SIP 20151327]Brasilian founding agency FACEPEConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Mechanical canopy and trunk shaking for the harvesting mechanization of table olive orchards

Table olive harvesting is highly dependent on manual labour and may jeopardize the crop benefit. The introduction of a mechanical harvest system requires a global evaluation of the whole process. A trunk shaker along with shaker combs and a continuous canopy shaker harvester have been tested in two orchards with different tree training and layout to determine their feasibility to mechanical harvesting in table olives. For that purpose, several parameters have been evaluated. Canopy shaker required adapted orchard layout and hedge of canopies for reaching an acceptable harvesting efficiency about 80% and trunk shaker performed a higher efficiency of more than 95% but depended highly on labour. Both systems had a high field capacity about 0.15 ha h-1 but low for the trunk shaker considering the people (0.01 ha h-1 person-1). The vibration pattern that applied on branches was totally different although the quantitative tree damages were no significative different. There were no significant differences in fruit bruising between both systems, but there were between the different sampling points, mainly in the detachment. The fruit bruising index of the remaining fruit on canopy suggests that it is possible to perform a second harvest. Both mechanical systems are suitable for table olive harvesting whilst improving the efficiency of manual systems with bearable damages, but each one has pros and cons that must be considered bearing in mind that require an adaptation of the orchard where there are applied. Highlights Table olives mechanization is possible by integrating with the fruit liquid store. Trunk shaker performed high efficiency in adapted orchards but depended on labour. Canopy shakers require the adaption of orchard and machine for commercial purposes. There were no differences in detached fruit bruising between both mechanical systems. The bruising index of the remaining fruit on trees suggest second harvesting pass.Table olive harvesting is highly dependent on manual labour and may jeopardize the crop benefit. The introduction of a mechanical harvest system requires a global evaluation of the whole process. A trunk shaker along with shaker combs and a continuous canopy shaker harvester have been tested in two orchards with different tree training and layout to determine their feasibility to mechanical harvesting in table olives. For that purpose, several parameters have been evaluated. Canopy shaker required adapted orchard layout and hedge of canopies for reaching an acceptable harvesting efficiency about 80% and trunk shaker performed a higher efficiency of more than 95% but depended highly on labour. Both systems had a high field capacity about 0.15 ha h-1 but low for the trunk shaker considering the people (0.01 ha h-1 person-1). The vibration pattern that applied on branches was totally different although the quantitative tree damages were no significative different. There were no significant differences in fruit bruising between both systems, but there were between the different sampling points, mainly in the detachment. The fruit bruising index of the remaining fruit on canopy suggests that it is possible to perform a second harvest. Both mechanical systems are suitable for table olive harvesting whilst improving the efficiency of manual systems with bearable damages, but each one has pros and cons that must be considered bearing in mind that require an adaptation of the orchard where there are applied. Highlights Table olives mechanization is possible by integrating with the fruit liquid store. Trunk shaker performed high efficiency in adapted orchards but depended on labour. Canopy shakers require the adaption of orchard and machine for commercial purposes. There were no differences in detached fruit bruising between both mechanical systems. The bruising index of the remaining fruit on trees suggest second harvesting pass

Effects of Low-Energy Laser Irradiation on Sperm Cells Dynamics of Rabbit (Oryctolagus Cuniculus)

Infertility is a world disease in which a couple is unable to achieve pregnancy. There are numerous parameters to determinate fertility; nevertheless, sperm motility is by consensus one of the most important attributes to evaluate male fertility. Contributions to a better understanding of this crucial parameter are imperative; hence, the aim of this investigation was to assess the effect of low-energy laser irradiation on sperm cell dynamics in thawed samples that were cryopreserved. We used a 405 nm blue laser beam to irradiate spermatic cells from rabbit inside a temperature-controlled dispersion chamber at 37 °C; then, we applied an image recognizing system to calculate individual sperm trajectories and velocities. We found that sperms raise its motility after irradiation suggesting that λ=405 nm is an optimal wavelength for spermatic photo-stimulation

Methodology for Olive Pruning Windrow Assessment Using 3D Time-of-Flight Camera

The management of olive pruning residue has shifted from burning to shredding, laying residues on soil, or harvesting residues for use as a derivative. The objective of this research is to develop, test, and validate a methodology to measure the dimensions, outline, and bulk volume of pruning residue windrows in olive orchards using both a manual and a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) camera. Trees were pruned using trunk shaker targeted pruning, from which two different branch sizes were selected to build two separate windrow treatments with the same pruning residue dose. Four windrows were built for each treatment, and four sampling points were selected along each windrow to take measurements using both manual and 3D ToF measurements. Windrow section outline could be defined using a polynomial or a triangular function, although manual measurement required processing with a polynomial function, especially for high windrow volumes. Different branch sizes provided to be significant differences for polynomial function coefficients, while no significant differences were found for windrow width. Bigger branches provided less bulk volume, which implied that these branches formed less porous windrows that smaller ones. Finally, manual and 3D ToF camera measurements were validated, giving an adequate performance for olive pruning residue windrow in-field assessment