An event in the iberoamerican cooperation for the conservation and utilization of the zoogenetic resources

Between 1st and 4th of December, 2003; an event was celebrated in the city of Recife (Pernambuco, Brazil) congregating more than 200 researchers of 16 countries, to present results and discuss the last advances in the Iberoamerican Zoogenetics Resources Conservation and Utilization Area, taking into account contents over Genetics, Assisted reproduction, Rural development and Ethnology. In the present editorial a slight introduction is developed to locate the reader in the objectives, the contents and the development of the event, standing out the rule developed by the organizers, the supporters and the contributors.Del uno al cuatro de diciembre de 2003 se celebró en la ciudad de Recife (Pernambuco, Brasil) un evento que congregó a más de 200 investigadores de 16 países, para presentar resultados y discutir los últimos avances en el área de la conservación y utilización de los Recursos Zoogenéticos de Iberoamérica, tratándose contenidos sobre Genética, Reproducción asistida, Desarrollo rural, y Etnología principalmente. En la presente editorial se realiza una somera introducción para ubicar al lector en los objetivos, los contenidos y el desarrollo del evento, resaltando el papel desarrollado por los organizadores, patrocinadores y participantes

OEGMerge: un modelo de mezcla de ontologías basado en casuísticas

Desde hace tiempo la mezcla de ontologías es una actividad necesaria, sin embargo, los actuales métodos de mezcla de ontologías no tienen una casuística detallada ni una formalización precisa. Para la validación de estos métodos, es conveniente disponer de una casuística lo más completa posible. Por ello, en este artículo se presenta el modelo OEGMerge, desarrollado a partir de la experiencia del Grupo de Ingeniería Ontológica (OEG) de la UPM, en el que se describe detallada y formalmente la casuística de mezcla y las acciones a realizar en cada caso. En esta primera aproximación sólo se abarca taxonomía de conceptos, atributos y relacione

Precautionary savings as an instrument to hedge the risk of hydrological drought in irrigated agriculture

This paper explores the use of precautionary savings as a new risk management instrument that can be implemented to hedge hydrological drought risk in irrigated agriculture, a risk currently not covered by any policy instrument. For this purpose, the Drought Savings Account (DSA) is proposed as a personal savings account to which farmers make regular contributions, with withdrawals allowed in the event of irrigation water supply gaps in order to guarantee a minimum income. The implementation of the DSA is empirically assessed in a Mediterranean-climate irrigation district using an innovative simulation approach. Based on the results obtained, the DSA has proved to be a theoretically suitable policy instrument that can overcome the problems hindering the implementation of agricultural insurance, managing the risk in a more cost-effective way. This cost-effectiveness is a key advantage of precautionary savings over agricultural insurance, since the former instrument minimizes moral hazard and adverse selection problems, and the transaction costs of risk-sharing. Moreover, in this context, precautionary savings may play a significant role as an efficient climate change adaptation measure since the self-insurance strategy adopted does not distort the signals underlying farmers’ own risk exposure, leading to better individual assessment and an adequate management of water supply gaps

Evaluación de la competencia clínica en el posgrado de medicina familiar mediante el Examen Clínico Objetivo Estructurado

ObjetivoValorar la competencia clínica de los residentes de primer año del Curso de Especialización en Medicina Familiar aplicando un examen clínico objetivo estructurado (ECOE) para evaluar en forma simultánea las áreas cognoscitiva, afectiva y psicomotriz.DiseñoDescriptivo, observacional.EmplazamientoClínicas de medicina familiar del área metropolitana de la Ciudad de México.ParticipantesOchenta y nueve médicos en capacitación del curso de especialización en medicina familiar, de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Mediciones principalesPrevio diseño de listas de cotejo, validación de contenido por expertos, diseño de material de apoyo para la evaluación y prueba piloto, se aplicó un ECOE con 10 temas o estaciones, ocho de ellas dinámicas y dos estáticas. El criterio para considerar un nivel de desempeño competente fue de 60 puntos de un máximo de 100, tanto en cada estación como en el promedio global. El análisis estadístico fue univariado, utilizando estadística descriptiva.ResultadosEl promedio global de las calificaciones en todas las estaciones fue inferior a 60. El promedio porcentual más alto fue 73 en la estación de control de niño sano. En las cinco estaciones con mejor puntuación, la dispersión fue menor que en las cinco estaciones con la puntuación más baja. En la estación de estudio de familia se obtuvo una puntuación baja.ConclusionesEl rendimiento académico evaluado mediante ECOE para valorar la competencia clínica fue bajo. La aplicación de este tipo de examen permitió evaluar de forma más objetiva la competencia clínica. Se requiere probar escalas de evaluación de intervalo para valorar de forma más adecuada la calidad de la realización de las actividades clínicas.ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical competence of first-year residents on the course specialising in family medicine, by applying a structured objective clinical test (SOCT) for simultaneous assessment of cognitive, affective and psychomotor areas.DesignObservational and descriptive.SettingFamily medicine clinics in the metropolitan area of Mexico City.Participants89 doctors on the specialist course in Family Medicine at the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).Main measurementsAfter prior design of comparison lists, expert validation of content, and design of support material for the evaluation and pilot study, a SOCT with ten themes or sections, eight dynamic and two static, was administered. The cut-off point for competent performance was 60 out of 100, both in each section and in the overall average. The statistical analysis was univariate, using descriptive statistics.ResultsThe overall average of scores in all sections was under 60. The highest average was 73, in the section for monitoring healthy children. In the five highest-scoring sections, the scattering was lower than in the other five. There were low scores in the family study section.ConclusionsAcademic performance, as evaluated by a SOCT measuring clinical competence, was low. This kind of test enabled clinical competence to be assessed more objectively. Interval evaluation scales need to be tested so as to evaluate better the quality of the performance of clinical activities

Towards an integrated approach for monitoring the effects of chemical contaminants in the Spanish coastal Mediterranean waters

Oral communicationIn the past twelve years, chemical monitoring surveys in Spanish Mediterranean coastal waters have developed from the use of native mussels to an integrated sampling of native and caged mussels, fish (red mullet) and sediment. In addition, the application of biological effect measurements (using biomarkers and bioassays) in the same matrices is being gradually arising. So far, biological measurements have comprised a suite of biomarkers in fish (EROD, Ala-D and AChE activities, Metallothionein content, DNA integrity and micronuclei abnormalities) and in mussels (Stress on Stress, lysosomal membrane stability, Metallothionein content, Micronuclei frequency, AChE and antioxidant enzymes) as well as the sea urchin embryotoxicity test with Paracentrotus lividus in sediment elutriates. Most of the driving forces behind these changes came from recommendations and Standard Operation Practices provided by expert organizations as MED POL, ICES, and OSPAR, and these changes have considerably increased the costs of monitoring. However, higher costs of intensive monitoring activities will allow contributing to a more realistic assessment of the quality and health status of the marine ecosystem. For this purpose quality assurance and the development of assessment criteria for the selected methods is a prerequisite. These requirements are necessary to meet national and international obligations (EU-MSFD, EU-WFD). Here, we present and discuss the integrated chemical-biological effect approach that is currently being proposed for implementation in the Spanish Mediterranean monitoring programme 2010-2012. The selected biological measurements, the assessment criteria obtained so far and quality assurance processes are discussed in terms of feasibility.The Spanish Mediterranean Biomonitoring Programs of chemical contamination (BMCW and BMIS programs) are conducted by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment (MEDPOLIEO Project in 2006 and 2-ESMARME Project in 2010-2012)

Biomonitoring strategy to assess the effects of chemical pollution along the Iberian Mediterranean Coast: Present state and future development

oral presentationSince 2001, the Oceanographic Centre of Murcia (Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO) started to include selected biomarkers within the chemical pollution monitoring activities conducted along the Iberian Mediterranean coast. The main objectives of this biomonitoring programme are: (1) the determination of spatial distribution and temporal trends of chemical pollution in coastal and reference areas; (2) to seek evidence of detrimental biological effects and assess them over time. Sediment samples, feral fish (Mullus barbatus) and wild mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) are analysed yearly for selected pollutants (trace metals, organochlorinated compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and selected biomarkers are measured in fish and/or mussels (EROD activity, metallothionein content, micronuclei frequency, genotoxic damages, acetylcholinesterase, stress on stress and lysosomal membrane stability). An integrated chemical-biological effect assessment approach is being conducted at four selected areas since 2006. Due to its geographical location, Spain contributes to both the CEMP and MEDPOL programmes and our future strategy will be focused to achieve the harmonization of criteria among different programmes and to meet the monitoring requirements in a cost-effective and cost-efficient way. The general strategy and methods of this biomonitoring programme together with some preliminary results and future development (use of caged mussels) are described and discussed.This Biomonitoring Programme was initially funded by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, IEO (projects BIOMEJIMED I, BIOMEJIMED II and BIOMEJIMED III). Since November 2005 it is funded by Ministry of Environment (MEDPOLIEO project)

Chiral Symmetry and light resonances in hot and dense matter

We present a study of the $\pi\pi$ scattering amplitude in the $\sigma$ and $\rho$ channels at finite temperature and nuclear density within a chiral unitary framework. Meson resonances are dynamically generated in our approach, which allows us to analyze the behavior of their associated scattering poles when the system is driven towards chiral symmetry restoration. Medium effects are incorporated in three ways: (a) by thermal corrections of the unitarized scattering amplitudes, (b) by finite nuclear density effects associated to a renormalization of the pion decay constant, and complementarily (c) by extending our calculation of the scalar-isoscalar channel to account for finite nuclear density and temperature effects in a microscopic many-body implementation of pion dynamics. Our results are discussed in connection with several phenomenological aspects relevant for nuclear matter and Heavy-Ion Collision experiments, such as $\rho$ mass scaling vs broadening from dilepton spectra and chiral restoration signals in the $\sigma$ channel. We also elaborate on the molecular nature of $\pi\pi$ resonances.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. Contribution to Hard Probes 2008, Illa de A Toxa, Spain, June 8th-14th 200

Diseño de una fachada termoeléctrica activa

La conciencia social sobre el uso eficiente de la energía ha aumentado considerablemente en estos últimos años. La envolvente y los sistemas de climatización son los principales responsables de la demanda y el consumo de energía en los edificios. Teniendo estos puntos en cuenta, un grupo de investigación de la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Navarra está desarrollando un proyecto llamado “Desarrollo, construcción y análisis de un cerramiento de fachada activo con células Peltier”. Dicho trabajo se centra en la obtención de una solución integral de cerramiento y climatización. Para ello se plantea un cerramiento de fachada ventilada opaco industrializado de altas prestaciones capaz de adaptarse de forma dinámica a los cambios ambientales que incluye un sistema de climatización por termoelectricidad en su interior. El sistema de fachada innovador planteado incorpora el sistema de climatización mediante células Peltier que consiste en un sistema de bomba de calor termoeléctrica diseñado para ser incorporado en la fachada de los edificios. Además, se han introducido una serie de mecanismos que permiten el control del flujo de aire dentro de la cámara del cerramiento. Con la intención de cuantificar y comprobar el comportamiento real de las ideas antes planteadas, en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Navarra, se ha construido un prototipo del sistema de fachada innovador y se ha instalado en un módulo prefabricado de ensayo que simula una habitación tipo. De esta manera se están recogiendo datos reales de comportamiento, que permitirán realizar una valoración objetiva del nuevo sistema

Tumor de células granulares de mama: todo un reto diagnóstico

Sr. Editor: Los tumores de células granulares (TCG) fueron descritos por primera vez en 1926 por Abrikossoff como un tumor granular de localización linguae1. Son tumores poco comunes, que se originan en las células de Schwann, y pueden aparecer en distintas localizaciones a lo largo de todo el cuerpo, con una prevalencia en la mama de un 5-15%. Sus características clínicas y radiológicas son variables, aunque en muchas ocasiones simulan un carcinoma de mama. Por ello, su diagnóstico constituye un reto para el radiólogo y hay que recordar incluirlo en el diagnóstico diferencial de las lesiones mamarias. Presentamos el caso de una mujer de 60 años que acudió a nuestro hospital para la realización de una mamografía diagnóstica, debido a que en el estudio externo, realizado dentro del protocolo de cribado de cáncer de mama, se le había detectado una lesión en la mama izquierda..

Construction of an Active Façade Envelope with Peltier Cells

The team researchers have been investigating on alternative ways for buildings to waste less energy. The result is the consecution of a new facade system with Peltier cells, that is to say, a new system of air conditioning that works both as a machine as a facade. That means the application in the field of construction of a technology that is already in use in other areas, fundamentally the military and aerospace. The new system has to be a prefabricated element that perfectly fix between the slabs. The result of all these ideas is the construction of a prefabricated module, consisting of a simplified inhabited housing unit with a thermoelectric installation that provides service to this module. The prototype has been monitored during one year. The University of Navarra has got the national patent for a “prefabricated and decentralized facade module for the climate control of inhabited spaces”. Moreover, the Thermoelectric Conditioning System (TCS) is designed to reach a high comfort level for people living in the local. Without mechanical parts like pumps or compressors, there is no necessity for maintenance, reducing the possibilities of failure. The only mechanical elements are the dissipation heat fans placed in the external face of the prototype. There are also some heat sinks to evacuate the heat from the power elements. The next step is improving the system as a facade, paying special attention to carry out the legal façade envelope’s requirements, such us, noise level, thermal transmittance, hydrothermal condition or behavior against fire. At the same time, it is going to be design a facade solution that tries to take advantage of inside and outside conditions in order to achieve the desire inside comfort conditions. Furthermore, the module is going to integrate photovoltaic panels to achieve a total autonomy system, which does not need to be connected to the traditional electrical network