Peste porcina africana, una epidemia que recorre Europa. Un repaso a los orígenes, la epidemiología, los signos clínicos y el futuro de la enfermedad más preocupante para el sector en la actualidad

La peste porcina africana (PPA) es una enfermedad vírica hemorrágica que afecta al cerdo doméstico y al jabalí de declaración obligatoria a la Organización Mundial de Sanidad Animal (OIE). Su agente etiológico, el virus de la PPA (VPPA), es el único miembro del género Asfivirus, que es a su vez el único miembro de la familia Asfarviridae. Se trata de un virus con envoltura, cuyo material genético consiste en una única cadena doble de ADN (bicatenario), de aproximadamente 170-193 Kb, que codifica más de 150 proteínas. El VPPA es sin duda alguna el virus más complejo (desde el punto de vista estructural) con el que se trabaja en medicina veterinaria. Dicha complejidad ha propiciado que a día de hoy, lamentablemente, no existan ni tratamiento ni vacuna eficaces contra la PPA. Así pues, la única estrategia actualmente disponible para controlar la enfermedad consiste en la combinación de un diagnóstico rápido con el vaciado de las granjas afectadas y unos óptimos niveles de bioseguridad

Peste suína africana, uma epidemia que percorre a Europa

Faremos neste artigo uma revisão às origens, epidemiologia, sinais clínicos e o futuro desta doença, que ainda hoje tem um impacto significativo e é tão preocupante para este setor de atividade

Agri-food 4.0: A survey of the supply chains and technologies for the future agriculture

[EN] The term "Agri-Food 4.0" is an analogy to the term Industry 4.0; coming from the concept "agriculture 4.0". Since the origins of the industrial revolution, where the steam engines started the concept of Industry 1.0 and later the use of electricity upgraded the concept to Industry 2.0, the use of technologies generated a milestone in the industry revolution by addressing the Industry 3.0 concept. Hence, Industry 4.0, it is about including and integrating the latest developments based on digital technologies as well as the interoperability process across them. This allows enterprises to transmit real-time information in terms behaviour and performance. Therefore, the challenge is to maintain these complex networked structures efficiently linked and organised within the use of such technologies, especially to identify and satisfy supply chain stakeholders dynamic requirements. In this context, the agriculture domain is not an exception although it possesses some specialities depending from the domain. In fact, all agricultural machinery incorporates electronic controls and has entered to the digital age, enhancing their current performance. In addition, electronics, using sensors and drones, support the data collection of several agriculture key aspects, such as weather, geographical spatialization, animals and crops behaviours, as well as the entire farm life cycle. However, the use of the right methods and methodologies for enhancing agriculture supply chains performance is still a challenge, thus the concept of Industry 4.0 has evolved and adapted to agriculture 4.0 in order analyse the behaviours and performance in this specific domain. Thus, the question mark on how agriculture 4.0 support a better supply chain decision-making process, or how can help to save time to farmer to make effective decision based on objective data, remains open. Therefore, in this survey, a review of more than hundred papers on new technologies and the new available supply chains methods are analysed and contrasted to understand the future paths of the Agri-Food domain.Authors of this publication acknowledge the contribution of the Project 691249, RUC-APS "Enhancing and implementing Knowledge based ICT solutions within high Risk and Uncertain Conditions for Agriculture Production Systems" (www.ruc-aps.eu), funded by the European Union under their funding scheme H2020-MSCARISE-2015.Lezoche, M.; Hernández, JE.; Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Panetto, H.; Kacprzyk, J. (2020). Agri-food 4.0: A survey of the supply chains and technologies for the future agriculture. Computers in Industry. 117:1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2020.103187S115117Ahumada, O., & Villalobos, J. R. (2009). Application of planning models in the agri-food supply chain: A review. 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E-learning in “innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship”: Exploring the new opportunities and challenges of technologies

Companies and society demand professionals be able to provide creative solutions with added value as well as to implement them in order to face the arising challenges in the increasingly dynamic environment. Although the transversal competence “Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship” is essential for engineers that should find innovative solutions to problems, teachers find many difficulties when training and evaluating their students in the scope of the regular courses: large groups, very adjusted time to technical contents. In this context, the School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII) at Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) is aware of the opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies to support teachers in this task while enhancing students’ generic outcomes. For this reason, an e-learning platform has been created on this competence, that offers valuable resources to students to implement this competence throughout the assigned course tasks, and supports teachers prompted to train and evaluate this transversal competence. With this platform, the authors aim to contribute to the still neglected educational aspect of entrepreneurship and address for the first time in an e-learning system its relationship with innovation and creativity

E-learning in "innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship": Exploring the new opportunities and challenges of technologies

[EN] Companies and society demand professionals be able to provide creative solutions with added value as well as to implement them in order to face the arising challenges in the increasingly dynamic environment. Although the transversal competence ¿Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship¿ is essential for engineers that should find innovative solutions to problems, teachers find many difficulties when training and evaluating their students in the scope of the regular courses: large groups, very adjusted time to technical contents. In this context, the School of Industrial Engineering (ETSII) at Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) is aware of the opportunities offered by new information and communication technologies to support teachers in this task while enhancing students¿ generic outcomes. For this reason, an e-learning platform has been created on this competence, that offers valuable resources to students to implement this competence throughout the assigned course tasks, and supports teachers prompted to train and evaluate this transversal competence. With this platform, the authors aim to contribute to the still neglected educational aspect of entrepreneurship and address for the first time in an e-learning system its relationship with innovation and creativity.The authors acknowledge the financial support partly from the ETSII of UPV and partly from the Universitat Politècnica de València through the Coordinación metodológica a través de webs de apoyo en las titulaciones de la ETSII para las Competencias Transversales PIME/19-20 Ref.150, Ref.151 and Ref.152 projects.Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Vallés Lluch, A.; Villanueva López, JF.; García-Serra García, J. (2021). E-learning in "innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship": Exploring the new opportunities and challenges of technologies. Journal of Small Business Strategy (Online). 31(1):39-50. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/189826395031

A tool to overcome technical barriers for bias assessment in human language technologies

Automatic processing of language is becoming pervasive in our lives, oftentaking central roles in our decision making, like choosing the wording for ourmessages and mails, translating our readings, or even having full conversationswith us. Word embeddings are a key component of modern natural languageprocessing systems. They provide a representation of words that has boosted theperformance of many applications, working as a semblance of meaning. Wordembeddings seem to capture a semblance of the meaning of words from raw text,but, at the same time, they also distill stereotypes and societal biases whichare subsequently relayed to the final applications. Such biases can bediscriminatory. It is very important to detect and mitigate those biases, toprevent discriminatory behaviors of automated processes, which can be much moreharmful than in the case of humans because their of their scale. There arecurrently many tools and techniques to detect and mitigate biases in wordembeddings, but they present many barriers for the engagement of people withouttechnical skills. As it happens, most of the experts in bias, either socialscientists or people with deep knowledge of the context where bias is harmful,do not have such skills, and they cannot engage in the processes of biasdetection because of the technical barriers. We have studied the barriers inexisting tools and have explored their possibilities and limitations withdifferent kinds of users. With this exploration, we propose to develop a toolthat is specially aimed to lower the technical barriers and provide theexploration power to address the requirements of experts, scientists and peoplein general who are willing to audit these technologies.Fil: Alemany, Laura Alonso. Fundación Via Libre; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Benotti, Luciana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Fundación Via Libre; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Lucía. Fundación Via Libre; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Maina, Hernán Javier. Fundación Via Libre; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Busaniche, Beatriz. Fundación Via Libre; ArgentinaFil: Halvorsen, Alexia. Fundación Via Libre; ArgentinaFil: Bordone, Matías. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Fundación Via Libre; ArgentinaFil: Sanchez, Jorge Adrian. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Childhood trauma and the rs1360780 SNP of FKBP5 gene in psychosis: a replication in two general population samples

FKBP5 gene interacts with childhood trauma in the risk for several stress-related psychiatric disorders including subclinical psychosis. The present study examined whether variation at the rs1360780 SNP of FKBP5 gene moderated the association between childhood abuse and psychotic experiences. The discovery sample included 437 individuals and the replication sample included 305, all drawn from the general population. In both samples, a significant gene-environment interaction effect was detected indicating that T allele homozygotes of the FKBP5 gene scored significantly higher on positive PEs after exposure to childhood abuse compared to CC carriers.Ministry of Science and Innovation. SAF2008-05674-C03-00 SAF2008-05674-C03-03 PI12/00018 PNSD2008-I090 PNSD2009-I019. Institute of Health Carlos III CIBER of Mental Health (CIBERSAM) Comissionat per a Universitats i Recerca, DIUE, Generalitat de Catalunya 2014SGR1636 ERA-NET NEURON PIM2010-ERN-00642 Fundacio Caixa Castello-Bancaixa P1.1B2010-40 P1.1B2011-4

Psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis are related to both childhood abuse and COMT genotypes

OBJECTIVE: To test whether the association between childhood abuse, cannabis use and psychotic experiences (PEs) was moderated by the COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) gene. METHOD: Psychotic experiences (PEs), childhood abuse, cannabis use and COMT Val158Met genotypes were assessed in 533 individuals from the general population. Data were analysed hierarchically by means of multiple linear regression models. RESULTS: Childhood abuse showed a significant main effect on both positive (β = 0.09; SE = 0.04; P = 0.047) and negative PEs (β = 0.11; SE = 0.05; P = 0.038). A significant three-way interaction effect was found among childhood abuse, cannabis use and the COMT gene on positive PEs (β = -0.30; SE = 0.11; P = 0.006). This result suggests that COMT genotypes and cannabis use only influenced PE scores among individuals exposed to childhood abuse. Furthermore, exposure to childhood abuse and cannabis use increased PE scores in Val carriers. However, in individuals exposed to childhood abuse but who did not use cannabis, PEs increased as a function of the Met allele copies of the COMT gene. CONCLUSION: Cannabis use after exposure to childhood abuse may have opposite effects on the risk of PEs, depending on the COMT genotypes providing evidence for a qualitative interaction. Val carriers exposed to childhood abuse are vulnerable to the psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis

Prevention strategies for sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and viral hepatitis in Europe

The current prevention efforts for STIs, HIV and viral hepatitis in the WHO European Region, especially in the Central and Eastern subregions, are hindered by healthcare disparities, data gaps, and limited resources. In this comprehensive narrative review, we aim to highlight both achievements and persisting challenges while also exploring new developments that could significantly impact the prevention of these infections in the near future. While pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV has been broadly approved and implemented in 38 out of 53 countries in the region, challenges remain, including cost, limited licensing, and incomplete adherence. We explore innovative approaches like on-demand PrEP, long-acting injectable cabotegravir, and intravaginal rings that have shown promising results, alongside the use of six-monthly lenacapavir, the outcomes of which are pending. Additionally, the potential of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis has been discussed, revealing efficacy in reducing chlamydia and syphilis risk, but effectiveness against gonorrhoea being contingent on tetracycline resistance rates, and the need of further data to determine potential resistance development in other bacteria and its impact on the gut microbiome. We examine successful vaccination campaigns against HBV and HPV, the ongoing development of vaccines for chlamydia, syphilis, herpesvirus, and gonorrhoea, and challenges in HIV vaccine research, including lines of research with significant potential like sequential immunization, T-cell responses, and mRNA technology. This review underscores the research endeavors that pave the way for a more resilient and robust approach to combating STIs, HIV, and viral hepatitis in the region

Psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis are related to both childhood abuse and COMT genotypes.

Evidence suggests that childhood trauma and cannabis use sinergistically impact on psychosis risk, although a non-replication of this environment-environment interaction was recently published. Gene-environment interaction mechanisms may partially account for this discrepancy. The aim of the current study was to test whether the association between childhood abuse, cannabis use and psychotic experiences (PEs) was moderated by the COMT gene. PEs, childhood abuse, cannabis use and COMT Val158Met genotypes were assessed in 533 individuals from the general population. Childhood abuse was shown to have a significant main effect on PEs (B=.08; SE=.04; p=.047). Furthermore, a significant three-way interaction among childhood abuse, cannabis use and the COMT gene was found (B=-.23; SE=.11; p=.006). This indicates that COMT genotypes and cannabis use only influenced PE scores among individuals exposed to childhood abuse. Exposure to childhood abuse and cannabis use increased PE scores in Val carriers. However, in individuals exposed to childhood abuse but who do not use cannabis, PEs increased as a function of the Met allele copies of the COMT gene. Our findings suggest that the psychosis-inducing effects of childhood abuse and cannabis use are moderated by the Val158Met polymorphism of the COMT gene, which supports a gene-environment-environment interaction. Cannabis use after exposure to childhood abuse may have opposite effects on the risk of PEs, depending on the COMT genotypes. Val carriers are vulnerable to the psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis