ASPEBI: A MATLAB Tool for Motion Analysis of Non-Specific Low Back Pain Patients

Low back pain is one of the most common health issues worldwide, and non-specific low back pain (NLBP), whose causes are unknown, represents 85% of these cases. Hamstring Extension in Bipedal Position (PEBI) is a clinical sign designed to discriminate the cause of the pain of NLBP as of muscular origin due to the stiffness of the hamstring. Currently, PEBI lacks quantitative assessment, which is required to be utilized in primary care. To support the process of getting such information, in this work, we present ASPEBI, a customized MATLAB® app developed to provide researchers and clinicians with a tool for the visualization of the kinematic and spatiotemporal gait parameters of patients examined with PEBI. This objective information is processed from data collected with the Xsens MTw Awinda system, which can be analyzed by the final users. Lastly, this tool is user-friendly with a modular design that allows integration of other physiological technologies to conduct multimodal analysis, and it could be utilized to explore issues related to older populations or populations with neurodegenerative diseases, among others

"Applications of Intelligent Systems in Tourism: Relevant Methods"

"This article presents a literature review of Intelligent Systems applications in Tourism in different parts of the world. The review focuses on the most relevant methods in free and paid databases, in English and Spanish. Most of the works deal with methodologies based on artificial intelligence, such as expert systems, fuzzy logic, machine learning, data mining, neural networks, genetic algorithms. In the review, several characteristics of the systems have been taken into account, such as, knowledge base, actors in the operation of the system, types of tourists, usefulness or not in space and time. According to the review it was found that most of the researches are deterministic models, the most used methodology in tourism are the expert systems based on rules, observing an emerging innovation in metaheuristics, mainly genetic algorithms and intelligent systems with knowledge base based on optimization methods for route choice or optimal visit plan. It is expected that this work serves to give a general perspective on the application of intelligent systems in the area of tourism, as well as a work that consolidates background for work in this area of research.

Adjustable conduits for guided peripheral nerve regeneration prepared from bi-zonal unidirectional and multidirectional laminar scaffold of type I collagen

Shortness of donor nerves has led to the development of nerve conduits that connect sectioned peripheral nerve stumps and help to prevent the formation of neuromas. Often, the standard diameters of these devices cannot be adapted at the time of surgery to the diameter of the nerve injured. In this work, scaffolds were developed to form filled nerve conduits with an inner matrix with unidirectional channels covered by a multidirectional pore zone. Collagen type I dispersions (5 mg/g and 8 mg/g) were sequentially frozen using different methods to obtain six laminar scaffolds (P1 to P5) formed by a unidirectional (U) pore/channel zone adjacent to a multidirectional (M) pore zone. The physicochemical and microstructural properties of the scaffolds were determined and compared, as well as their biodegradability, residual glutaraldehyde and cytocompatibility. Also, the Young's modulus of the conduits made by rolling up the bizonal scaffolds from the unidirectional to the multidirectional zone was determined. Based on these comparisons, the proliferation and differentiation of hASC were assessed only in the P3 scaffolds. The cells adhered, aligned in the same direction as the unidirectional porous fibers, proliferated, and differentiated into Schwann-like cells. Adjustable conduits made with the P3 scaffold were implanted in rats 10 mm sciatic nerve lesions to compare their performance with that of autologous sciatic nerve grafted lesions. The in vivo results demonstrated that the tested conduit can be adapted to the diameter of the nerve stumps to guide their growth and promote their regeneration.publishe

La Salmonelosis como Factor de Riesgo de Mortinatalidad en Cuyes

The association between positive cases of Salmonella sp isolated from vaginal swabs collected within 24 hours of the parturition and stillbirth in a guinea pig farm in Huancayo, Peru was evaluated. The study included 258 breeding females using a CaseControl design, where litter size was paired between the two groups and parity and number of birth and barn of the breeding female were used as co-variables. In the ‘Case’ group were included females with at least one stillbirth per litter and in the ‘Control’ group were included females where the entire litter was alive. Results showed that 8.5% of the breeding females in the ‘Case’ group were positive to Salmonella sp, and by the logistic regression analysis was estimated an Odds Ratio of 4.32 (95% confidence interval; p<0.05) for positive cases in relation to the controls. On the other hand, the cause of death in 91.5% (118/129) of the females with stillbirths was due to other infectious or noninfectious causes. The results show that Salmonella should be considered as a cause of stillbirths in guinea pigs.Se evaluó la asociación entre casos positivos a aislamiento de Salmonella sp a partir de hisopados vaginales dentro de las 24 horas del parto y la mortinatalidad en una granja de cuyes en Huancayo, Perú. Se trabajó con 258 cuyes siguiendo un diseño de Caso-Control, pareando el tamaño de camada y utilizando como covariables al número de parto y el galpón de procedencia de la reproductora. En el grupo de ‘Caso’, se incluyeron hembras en cuyo parto hubo por lo menos un mortinato y en el ‘Control’ hembras con toda la camada viva. El 8.5% de las reproductoras en el grupo de ‘Caso’ resultaron positivas a Salmonella sp, y mediante el análisis de regresión logística se estimó una Odds Ratio de 4.32 (95% de intervalo de confianza, p<0.05) de los casos positivos respecto a los controles. Por otro lado, la causa de muerte en el 91.5% (118/129) de hembras con mortinatos se debería a otras causas infeccionas o a causas no infecciosas. Los resultados indican que la salmonelosis debe ser considerada como una de las causas de mortinatalidad en cuyes

EVALUACIÓN DEL ESPACIO VITAL DE CUYES CRIADOS EN POZAS

El efecto del espacio vital sobre los parámetros productivos y reproductivos fue evaluado en 2,325 cuyes de la Estación IVITA El Mantaro (300 machos y hembras de recría, 750 machos y hembras de engorde y 200 hembras y 25 machos de primer empadre). El estudio se dividió en siete ensayos evaluando en cada uno de ellos cinco diferentes espacios vitales con cinco diferentes cantidades de animales por poza, totalizando 25 pozas para cada ensayo. Se analizaron variables asociadas a cada etapa productiva (ganancia de peso, consumo de alfalfa, índice de conversión alimenticia, número de cicatrices debido a peleas, tamaño de camada, mortalidad y la relación beneficio/costo). En los ensayos de recría y engorde de machos los mayores espacios vitales permitieron obtener mayores ganancias de peso, menor consumo de alfalfa, menor índice de conversión alimenticia y menor número de cicatrices por animal, presentando patrones de respuesta lineal significativos (p = 0.0001 a 0.02 en recría de machos y p = 0.0001 a 0.0007 en engorde de machos). En las hembras de recría se obtuvieron los mismos patrones excepto en la ganancia de peso. En las hembras de engorde la ganancia de peso y el índice beneficio/costo se ajustaron a regresiones cuadráticas alcanzando un óptimo biológico y económico a 0.19 y 0.18 m2 /cuy, respectivamente. Se recomiendan los siguientes espacios vitales: 0.16 m2 /cuy para machos de recría, 0.14 m2 /cuy para hembras de recria, 0.24 m2 /cuy para machos de engorde, 0.18 m2 /cuy para hembras de engorde y 0.28 m2 /cuy para pozas de reproducción.The effect of vital area on productive and reproductive performance was evaluated in 2,325 guinea pigs at IVITA El Mantaro Research Station (300 growing male and female guinea pigs, 750 fattening male and female guinea pigs and 200 female and 25 first mating male guinea pigs). The study was divided in seven assays. Five different vital areas and five different number of animals per well were evaluated in each assay. A total of 25 wells were used for each assay. Different variables (body weight gain, alfalfa intake, feeding convertion index, number of scars due to fights, litter size, mortality and profit/cost index) associated to each productive phase were analyzed. Larger vital areas in assays that involved growing and fattening males resulted in greater body weight gain, lower alfalfa intake, lower feeding convertion index and lower number of scars due to fights. All of these variables showed significant lineal response patterns (p = 0.0001 to 0.02 for growing males and p = 0.0001 to 0.0007 in fattening males). The same pattern was shown for growing females except for body weight gain. For fattening females, weight gain and profit/cost index were adjusted to cuadratic regresion reaching a biological and an economic optimum at 0.19 and 0.18 m2 /guinea pig. The following vital areas were recommended: 0.16 m2 /guinea pig for growing males, 0.14 m2 /guinea pig for growing females, 0.24 m2 /guinea pig for fattening males, 0.18 m2 /guinea pig for fattening females, and 0.28 m2 /guinea pig for breeding animals

RESPUESTA PRODUCTIVA Y ECONÓMICA AL USO DE CUATRO TIPOS DE BEBEDEROS Y A LA ADICIÓN DE VITAMINA C EN LA CRIANZA DE CUYES EN ÉPOCA SECA EN EL VALLE DEL MANTARO

The study evaluated the effect of four types of drinkers and the addition of Vitamin C in the supplement on the productive performance and economic benefit of guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) reared during the dry season in the Mantaro valley, Junin, Peru. Four hundred weaned males, 14 ± 3 days of age from the experimental farm of the IVITA Research Centre were used in a completely randomized design with 2 x 4 arrangement factorial (with and without addition of vitamin C and four types of drinkers) using five experimental units for treatment and every experimental unit formed by 10 animals. The drinkers were the type of a bowl (POC), continuous recharge (REC), suction (SUC) and nipple (NIP). The quantity of vitamin C supplied was 12 mg/animal/day. REC and NIP drinkers allowed a major consumption of water than POC and SUC (p<0.05), but REC had a greater waste of water. A similar trend was observed for feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion index, and in the benefit/cost ratio. The addition of vitamin C only improved the intake (p<0.05). The study concluded that the NIP and REC drinkers are the most suitable for rearing guinea pigs during the dry season in relation to productive performance and NIP for economic benefit.Se evaluó el efecto de cuatro tipos de bebederos y la adicion de vitamina C en la ración sobre el comportamiento productivo y económico en la crianza de cuyes (Cavia porcellus) durante la época seca en el valle del Mantaro, Junín. Se trabajó con 400 cuyes machos, destetados, de 14 ± 3 días de edad, de la granja experimental del Centro de Investigación IVITA. Se empleó un diseño completamente al azar con arreglo factorial 2 x 4 (con y sin adición de vitamina C y cuatro tipos de bebederos), con cinco unidades experimentales por tratamiento y cada unidad experimental con 10 cuyes en una poza de cría. Los bebederos eran de tipo pocillo (POC), pocillo con recarga continua (REC), botella con pajilla de succión (SUC) y de niple (NIP). La cantidad de vitamina C fue de 12 mg/cuy/día. Los bebederos REC y NIP permitieron un mayor consumo de agua respecto a POC y SUC (p<0.05); pero se obtuvo un menor desperdicio de agua con REC. La misma tendencia se observó en los resultados de consumo de alimento, ganancia de peso, índice de conversión alimenticia (ICA) y relación beneficio/costo. La adición de vitamina C solo permitió mejorar el consumo (p<0.05). Se concluye que los bebederos tipo NIP o REC son los más indicados para la crianza de cuyes durante la época seca en términos productivos y el tipo NIP para una mejor respuesta económica

Development of a body condition score in guinea pigs: relationships between body condition and quantitative estimates of body fat

El propósito del estudio fue contribuir al desarrollo y validación de un índice de condición corporal (ICC) para cuyes del Centro de Investigación IVITA, midiendo su consistencia entre evaluadores y su capacidad de predicción de la acumulación de grasa corporal. Se trabajó con 40 hembras Perú, las cuales fueron sometidas a restricciones variables en la dieta por cuatro semanas para obtener individuos representativos de cada unidad del ICC. Cuatro técnicos evaluaron el ICC de cada animal en una escala de 1 a 5 con incrementos de 0.5 (1 es emaciado, 5 es obeso). Luego, los cuyes fueron pesados y medidos para obtener el índice de masa corporal (IMC), y se beneficiaron para obtener la masa gravimétrica de los cuerpos grasos mesentérico, perirenal-uterino, dorso cervical caudal, mamario, poplíteo y axilar. Se estimó el grado de consistencia del ICC entre evaluadores mediante el coeficiente de correlación intraclase (CCI), la asociación entre el ICC y nueve estimados cuantitativos de grasa corporal mediante análisis de correlación, y la capacidad de predecir variaciones en los estimados cuantitativos mediante análisis de regresión. El ICC mostró buena consistencia entre evaluadores (CCI = 0.77), y una correlación significativa con todos los estimados de grasa corporal, siendo los coeficientes más altos con el IMC (0.87), grasa total (0.83) y grasa dorso cervical caudal (0.86). Cada incremento unitario en el ICC produce un incremento de 0.17 ± 0.032 en el IMC, 62.78 ± 13.21 g en la grasa total y 8.03 ± 1.46 g en la grasa dorso cervical caudal. Los resultados indican que ICC en desarrollo es promisorio, tanto en su consistencia entre evaluadores como en la capacidad de predecir significativamente variaciones en grasa corporal.The purpose of the study was to strengthen the development and validation of a body condition score (BCS) system for guinea pigs of the IVITA Research Centre, measuring its consistency among evaluators and its ability to predict fat changes. Forty Peru female guinea pigs were under feed restriction for four weeks to obtain animals in each unit of the BCS. Four technicians evaluated each animal in a 1 to 5 rating system, with 0.5 increments (1 = emaciated, 5 = obese). Then, the animals were weighed and measured to obtain the body mass index (BMI) and slaughtered to obtain the gravimetric mass of the mesenteric, perirenal-uterine, dorso-cervical-caudal, mammary, popliteal, and axilar fat deposits. The inter-rater reliability was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC); the association between BCS and nine quantitative estimates of body fat was measured through correlation analysis; and the ability to predict variations in the quantitative fat was measured through regression analysis. The BCS showed a good inter-rater reliability (CCI = 0.77), and its values were significantly correlated with all body fat estimates; however, the highest coefficients were obtained for IMC (0.87), total fat (0.83) and dorso-cervical-caudal fat (0.86). Each unit increment in BCS resulted in an increment of 0.17 ± 0.032 in BMI, 62.78 ± 13.21 g in total fat, and 8.03 ± 1.46 g in dorsocervical- caudal fat. These results suggest that the IVITA BCS system is a promissory management technique in terms of its consistency, good association with quantitative body fat and its ability to predict fat changes in guinea pigs

Effect of three mating types and two feeding types on reproductive parameters in guinea pig reared in the Peruvian highlands

En este estudio se evaluó el efecto de tres tipos de empadre y dos tipos de alimentación sobre parámetros reproductivos. Se utilizaron 210 cuyes hembras y 30 machos reproductores en un diseño de bloques completos al azar con arreglo factorial de tres tipos de empadre (posparto, posdestete y posdescanso) x dos tipos de alimentación (forraje verde, forraje verde más suplemento). El estudio comprendió la evaluación de las reproductoras durante el segundo y tercer parto. Se encontró efecto del tipo de empadre sobre las variables peso al nacimiento, número de partos por año y uso eficiente del celo (p<0.05). También hubo efecto del tipo de alimentación sobre la variable peso al nacimiento (p<0.05). La interacción tipo de alimento por tipo de empadre fue significativa,indicando que la suplementación tiende a mejorar la tasa de fertilidad, el tamaño de camada y el índice de productividad anual en el empadre posparto y tiende a reducirlo en los empadres posdestete y posdescanso proporcionalmente al tiempo trascurrido desde el parto al inicio del empadre (p<0.05). En crianzas de cuyes en la sierra peruana se recomienda el empadre posparto con suplementación energética en lugar de una ración de forraje verde a discreción o el empadre posdestete con alimentación de forraje verde a discreción.This study aimed to evaluate the effect of three mating types and two feeding types on reproductive parameters. A total of 210 females and 30 males guinea pigs were used in a complete block design with a factorial arrangement of three mating types (post-partum, post weaning, 7-day after weaning) x two feeding types (green forage, green forage with supplement). The study included the evaluation of the reproductive performance of females between the second and third parturition. The results showed the significant effect of the mating type on birth weight, number of parturitions per year and the efficient use of estrus (p<0.05). Additionally, there was a significant effect of feeding type on birth weight (p<0.05). The interaction feeding and mating type was significant indicating that supplementation tends to improve fertility rate, litter size and annual productivity index when applying the post-partum mating; likewise, it tends to proportionally reduce them according to the interval between parturition and the beginning of mating in the postweaning and 7-day after weaning mating types (p<0.05). In guinea pig breeding in the Peruvian highlands is recommended the post-partum mating with energy supplementation instead of only green forage or post-weaning mating using green forage

EFECTO DE DIETAS DE ALFALFA VERDE, HARINA DE CEBADA Y BLOQUE MINERAL SOBRE LA EFICIENCIA PRODUCTIVA DE CUYES

The effect of feed supplementation with barley meal and mineral block on body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion index, slaughter age, production cost and profit/cost ratio was evaluated in guinea pigs fed with alfalfa. A total of 250 male weaned animals were used in a completely randomized block design with a 2x2 factorial arrangement (barley meal x mineral block) and one additional treatment for contrast (balanced diet).Barley meal supplementation significantly improved (p<0.05) body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion index, benefit cost ratio and decreased slaughter age while mineral block supplementation only decreased slaughter age (p<0.05). On the other hand,plain forage without supplements and forage plus barley meal showed the best economic results.Se evaluó el efecto de la suplementación con harina de cebada y bloque mineralsobre la ganancia de peso, consumo, índice de conversión alimenticia, edad de saca,costo de producción y relación beneficio-costo en cuyes en crecimiento alimentadoscon alfalfa. Se utilizaron 250 cuyes machos destetados, en un diseño de bloques completosal azar con arreglo factorial 2x2 (harina de cebada x bloque mineral), más un quintotratamiento para fines de contraste (concentrado integral). La suplementación con harinade cebada mejoró significativamente (p<0.05) la ganancia de peso, consumo, índicede conversión, relación beneficio-costo y, consecuentemente, la edad de saca, en tantoque la suplementación con bloque mineral solo tuvo un efecto significativo para la edadde saca (p<0.05). Asimismo, el forraje sin suplemento y el forraje más harina de cebadapresentaron el mejor rendimiento económico

POTATO BY-PRODUCTS FOR SHEEP STRATEGIC FEEDING DURING THE DRY SEASON IN THE MANTARO VALLEY

Se evaluó el efecto de niveles crecientes de suplementación con subproducto de papa sobre la ganancia de peso vivo en ovinos. Se usó 120 ovinos Junín (69 hembras y 51 machos) en un arreglo factorial de 5 tratamientos x 2 sexos. Un tratamiento fue de solo pastoreo por 8 h y los otros cuatro fueron de 4 h/día de pastoreo más rastrojo de maíz amonificado (550 g/animal(día) con adición de 0, 200, 400 y 600 g/ovino/día de subproducto de papa para un periodo de engorde de 24 días. La respuesta en ganancia de peso a la suplementación con subproducto de papa fue mayor para ovinos machos (p<0.01), en los cuales el patrón de respuesta para los niveles crecientes de subproducto de papa fue de tipo cuadrático (p<0.05), y donde un nivel de 570 g de subproducto de papa dio ganancias de peso e índices económicos similares a los del sistema pastoril (8 h/día). Se concluye que la inclusión de subproducto de papa en niveles de 570 g/ovino/día a dietas de pastoreo restringido (4 h/día) más rastrojo de maíz amonificado es una estrategia de alimentación viable y económica para engordar ovinos machos durante la estación seca en la Sierra peruana.The effect of increasing levels of supplementation with potato by-products on sheep body weight gain was evaluated. It was used 120 Junín sheep (69 female and 51 male) in a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement (two sexes x 5 feeding types). One treatment was 8 h/day of grazing and other four with addition of 0, 200, 400 and 600 g of potato by-products over ammoniated corn crop residue basal diet on 4-h a day grazing system for 24 days. Body weight gain was higher in males (p<0.01) in which the response pattern to the increasing levels of potato by-products supplementation was quadratic (p<0.01), and the level of 570 g of potato by-products gave a biological and economic performance similar to the full (8-h a day) grazing system. Data suggested that the inclusion of 570 g of potato by-products on ammoniated corn crop residues is a practical and economical feeding strategy for fattening male sheep on a 4-h a day restricted grazing regime during the dry season in the Peruvian highlands