Effect of the faique (Acacia macracantha) on the nutritional value of guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) in a silvopastoral system

Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina. Escuela de Posgrado. Maestría en Producción AnimalEl objetivo del estudio fue determinar la tasa de crecimiento y calidad nutricional del pasto Guinea (Panicum maximum Jacq) bajo un sistema silvopastoril con el árbol faique (Acacia macracantha). Se evaluaron dos épocas (lluviosa y seca) y tres tratamientos: (1) bajo la copa del árbol joven, (2) bajo la copa del árbol mediano y (3) fuera de la copa del árbol. Los árboles se clasificaron según el diámetro a la altura al pecho. El crecimiento y calidad del pasto se midió por el método de corte y separación y posterior análisis de laboratorio. La tasa de crecimiento osciló de 71.09 a 51.15 kg MS/ha/d, fuera y dentro de la copa de los árboles, respectivamente, en la época lluviosa. La proteína cruda varió de 10.58, 12.79 y 13.88% (época lluviosa) y 8.93, 10.26 y 11.99% (época seca) fuera de la copa del árbol, bajo la copa del árbol joven y bajo la copa del árbol mediano, respectivamente (p<0.05). El contenido de calcio en el pasto fue estadísticamente (p<0.05) superior bajo la copa del árbol mediano (0.23%) que fuera de la copa del árbol (0.20%) en la época lluviosa. El fósforo en el pasto varió significativamente (p<0.05) entre 0.72, 0.83 y 0.91% (época lluviosa) y 0.73, 0.87 y 1.06% (época seca), fuera de la copa de los árboles, bajo la copa del árbol joven y bajo la copa del árbol mediano, respectivamente. El estudio reveló que la presencia de árboles leguminosos (Acacia macracantha) dentro de los potreros mejora la calidad nutricional de la pastura Panicum maximum Jacq.The aim of this study was to determine the growth rate and nutritional quality of Guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq) under a silvopastoral system with the faique tree (Acacia macracantha). The evaluation included two seasons (rainy and dry) and three treatments: (1) under the canopy of the young tree, (2) under the canopy of the mediumsize tree, and (3) outside the canopy of the tree. The trees were classified according to the diameter at chest height. The growth and quality of the grass were measured by the method of cutting and separation and subsequent laboratory analysis. The growth rate ranged from 71.09 to 51.15 kg DM/ha/d, outside and inside the tree canopy, respectively, in the rainy season. Crude protein varied from 10.58, 12.79 and 13.88% (rainy season) and 8.93, 10.26 and 11.99% (dry season) outside the tree canopy, under the young tree canopy and under the middle tree canopy respectively (p<0.05). The calcium content in the grass was statistically (p<0.05) higher under the middle tree canopy (0.23%) than outside the tree canopy (0.20%) in the rainy season. The phosphorus in the grass varied significantly (p<0.05) between 0.72, 0.83 and 0.91% (rainy season) and 0.73, 0.87 and 1.06% (dry season), outside the tree canopy, under the canopy of the young tree and under the canopy of the medium tree, respectively. The study revealed that the presence of leguminous trees (Acacia macracantha) within the paddocks improves the nutritional quality of the Panicum maximum Jacq pasture

Decrease of virulence for BALB/c mice produced by continuous subculturing of Nocardia brasiliensis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Subculturing has been extensively used to attenuate human pathogens. In this work we studied the effect of continuous subculturing of <it>Nocardia brasiliensis </it>HUJEG-1 on virulence in a murine model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><it>Nocardia brasiliensis </it>HUJEG-1 was subcultured up to 130 times on brain heart infusion over four years. BALB/c mice were inoculated in the right foot pad with the bacteria subcultured 0, 40, 80, 100 and 130 times (T₀, T₄₀, T₈₀T₁₀₀and T₁₃₀). The induction of resistance was tested by using T₁₃₀to inoculate a group of mice followed by challenge with T0 12 weeks later. Biopsies were taken from the newly infected foot-pad and immunostained with antibodies against CD4, CD8 and CD14 in order to analyze the in situ immunological changes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When using T₄₀, T₈₀T₁₀₀and T₁₃₀as inoculums we observed lesions in 10, 5, 0 and 0 percent of the animals, respectively, at the end of 12 weeks. In contrast, their controls produced mycetoma in 80, 80, 70 and 60% of the inoculated animals. When studying the protection of T₁₃₀, we observed a partial resistance to the infection. Immunostaining revealed an intense CD4+ lymphocytic and macrophage infiltrate in healing lesions.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>After 130 in vitro passages of <it>N. brasiliensis </it>HUJEG-1 a severe decrease in its virulence was observed. Immunization of BALB/c mice, with these attenuated cells, produced a state of partial resistance to infection with the non-subcultured isolate.</p

Connected parents: combining online and off-line parenthood in vlogs and blogs

This article explores evaluative discourse in a corpus sample of parents' vlogs (video blogs) and blogs (henceforth v/ blogs) dealing with family tasks and responsibilities, as a reflection of underlying values concerning parenthood. It pays special attention to the important role played by the expression of attitude, understood as "ways of feeling" and including the meanings of affect, judgement and appreciation, together with positive politeness in the social practices of the discursive construction of online and off-line parenthood. Analysis and description of the data show two main patterns in parents' practices, either aiming at perfection through juggling and multi-tasking or building resistance to the demands of families and society. Results show that parents frequently exploit the system of affect for building positive face and rapport, while indirectly expressing judgement of social esteem and social sanction, which construct their identities as mothers and fathers and those of the members of their communities of practice. The corpus for the study consists of a random sample of 400 evaluative units in posts and comments on v/ blogs dealing with family tasks and responsibilities (200 in English and 200 in Spanish, with half the sample being drawn from fathers' and the other half from mothers' v/ blogs). I will approach the analysis of the data from appraisal (Martin and White 2005, Bednarek 2008) and politeness theory (Brown and Levinson 1987) in order to explore the features of evaluative discourse and the management of face. The methodology for processing the data borrows quantitative techniques from Corpus Linguistics, including the coding and statistical treatment of the sample with UAM Corpus Tools (O'Donnell 2011), together with Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis (DA), as done in some previous research (Santamaría-García 2011, 2014).Project "EMO-FUNDETT: EMOtion and language at work", I+D FFI2013-47792-C2-1-P, sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovatio

Amphilimus- vs. zotarolimus-eluting stents in patients with diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease: the SUGAR trial

Aim: Patients with diabetes mellitus are at high risk of adverse events after percutaneous revascularization, with no differences in outcomes between most contemporary drug-eluting stents. The Cre8 EVO stent releases a formulation of sirolimus with an amphiphilic carrier from laser-dug wells, and has shown clinical benefits in diabetes. We aimed to compare Cre8 EVO stents to Resolute Onyx stents (a contemporary polymer-based zotarolimus-eluting stent) in patients with diabetes. Methods and results: We did an investigator-initiated, randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded trial at 23 sites in Spain. Eligible patients had diabetes and required percutaneous coronary intervention. A total of 1175 patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive Cre8 EVO or Resolute Onyx stents. The primary endpoint was target-lesion failure, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction, and clinically indicated target-lesion revascularization at 1-year follow-up. The trial had a non-inferiority design with a 4% margin for the primary endpoint. A superiority analysis was planned if non-inferiority was confirmed. There were 106 primary events, 42 (7.2%) in the Cre8 EVO group and 64 (10.9%) in the Resolute Onyx group [hazard ratio (HR) 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44 to 0.96; pnon-inferiority <0.001; psuperiority = 0.030]. Among the secondary endpoints, Cre8 EVO stents had significantly lower rate than Resolute Onyx stents of target-vessel failure (7.5% vs 11.1%, HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.99; p = 0.042). Probable or definite stent thrombosis and all-cause death were not significantly different between groups. Conclusions: In patients with diabetes, Cre8 EVO stents were non-inferior to Resolute Onyx stents with regard to target-lesion failure composite outcome. An exploratory analysis for superiority at 1 year suggests that the Cre8 EVO stents might be superior to Resolute Onyx stents with regard to the same outcome

Relationship between Symptoms and Gene Expression Induced by the Infection of Three Strains of Rice dwarf virus

BACKGROUND: Rice dwarf virus (RDV) is the causal agent of rice dwarf disease, which often results in severe yield losses of rice in East Asian countries. The disease symptoms are stunted growth, chlorotic specks on leaves, and delayed and incomplete panicle exsertion. Three RDV strains, O, D84, and S, were reported. RDV-S causes the most severe symptoms, whereas RDV-O causes the mildest. Twenty amino acid substitutions were found in 10 of 12 virus proteins among three RDV strains. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyzed the gene expression of rice in response to infection with the three RDV strains using a 60-mer oligonucleotide microarray to examine the relationship between symptom severity and gene responses. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upon the infection of RDV-O, -D84, and -S was 1985, 3782, and 6726, respectively, showing a correlation between the number of DEGs and symptom severity. Many DEGs were related to defense, stress response, and development and morphogenesis processes. For defense and stress response processes, gene silencing-related genes were activated by RDV infection and the degree of activation was similar among plants infected with the three RDV strains. Genes for hormone-regulated defense systems were also activated by RDV infection, and the degree of activation seemed to be correlated with the concentration of RDV in plants. Some development and morphogenesis processes were suppressed by RDV infection, but the degree of suppression was not correlated well with the RDV concentration. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Gene responses to RDV infection were regulated differently depending on the gene groups regulated and the strains infecting. It seems that symptom severity is associated with the degree of gene response in defense-related and development- and morphogenesis-related processes. The titer levels of RDV in plants and the amino acid substitutions in RDV proteins could be involved in regulating such gene responses

Amphilimus- vs. zotarolimus-eluting stents in patients with diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease: the SUGAR trial.

AIM: Patients with diabetes mellitus are at high risk of adverse events after percutaneous revascularization, with no differences in outcomes between most contemporary drug-eluting stents. The Cre8 EVO stent releases a formulation of sirolimus with an amphiphilic carrier from laser-dug wells, and has shown clinical benefits in diabetes. We aimed to compare Cre8 EVO stents to Resolute Onyx stents (a contemporary polymer-based zotarolimus-eluting stent) in patients with diabetes. METHODS AND RESULTS: We did an investigator-initiated, randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded trial at 23 sites in Spain. Eligible patients had diabetes and required percutaneous coronary intervention. A total of 1175 patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive Cre8 EVO or Resolute Onyx stents. The primary endpoint was target-lesion failure, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target-vessel myocardial infarction, and clinically indicated target-lesion revascularization at 1-year follow-up. The trial had a non-inferiority design with a 4% margin for the primary endpoint. A superiority analysis was planned if non-inferiority was confirmed. There were 106 primary events, 42 (7.2%) in the Cre8 EVO group and 64 (10.9%) in the Resolute Onyx group [hazard ratio (HR): 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.44-0.96; Pnon-inferiority < 0.001; Psuperiority = 0.030]. Among the secondary endpoints, Cre8 EVO stents had significantly lower rate than Resolute Onyx stents of target-vessel failure (7.5% vs. 11.1%, HR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46-0.99; P = 0.042). Probable or definite stent thrombosis and all-cause death were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: In patients with diabetes, Cre8 EVO stents were non-inferior to Resolute Onyx stents with regard to target-lesion failure composite outcome. An exploratory analysis for superiority at 1 year suggests that the Cre8 EVO stents might be superior to Resolute Onyx stents with regard to the same outcome. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03321032

Base de datos de abejas ibéricas

Las abejas son un grupo extremadamente diverso con más de 1000 especies descritas en la península ibérica. Además, son excelentes polinizadores y aportan numerosos servicios ecosistémicos fundamentales para la mayoría de ecosistemas terrestres. Debido a los diversos cambios ambientales inducidos por el ser humano, existen evidencias del declive de algunas de sus poblaciones para ciertas especies. Sin embargo, conocemos muy poco del estado de conservación de la mayoría de especies y de muchas de ellas ignoramos cuál es su distribución en la península ibérica. En este trabajo presentamos un esfuerzo colaborativo para crear una base de datos de ocurrencias de abejas que abarca la península ibérica e islas Baleares que permitirá resolver cuestiones como la distribución de las diferentes especies, preferencia de hábitat, fenología o tendencias históricas. En su versión actual, esta base de datos contiene un total de 87 684 registros de 923 especies recolectados entre 1830 y 2022, de los cuales un 87% presentan información georreferenciada. Para cada registro se incluye información relativa a la localidad de muestreo (89%), identificador y colector de la especie (64%), fecha de captura (54%) y planta donde se recolectó (20%). Creemos que esta base de datos es el punto de partida para conocer y conservar mejor la biodiversidad de abejas en la península ibérica e Islas Baleares. Se puede acceder a estos datos a través del siguiente enlace permanente: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6354502ABSTRACT: Bees are a diverse group with more than 1000 species known from the Iberian Peninsula. They have increasingly received special attention due to their important role as pollinators and providers of ecosystem services. In addition, various rapid human-induced environmental changes are leading to the decline of some of its populations. However, we know very little about the conservation status of most species and for many species, we hardly know their true distributions across the Iberian Peninsula. Here, we present a collaborative effort to collate and curate a database of Iberian bee occurrences to answer questions about their distribution, habitat preference, phenology, or historical trends. In total we have accumulated 87 684 records from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands of 923 different species with 87% of georeferenced records collected between 1830 and 2022. In addition, each record has associated information such as the sampling location (89%), collector and person who identified the species (64%), date of the capture (54%) and plant species where the bees were captured (20%). We believe that this database is the starting point to better understand and conserve bee biodiversity in the Iberian Peninsula. It can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6354502Esta base de datos se ha realizado con la ayuda de los proyectos EUCLIPO (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, LISBOA-01-0145-FEDER-028360/EUCLIPO) y SAFEGUARD (ref. 101003476 H2020 -SFS-2019-2).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio