The use of branch piles to assist in the restoration of degraded semiarid steppes

Desertification is a major environmental problem in arid and semiarid regions. Tree plantation has been commonly employed to foster the recovery of degraded areas. However, this technique is costly, and their outcomes are often uncertain. Therefore, we evaluated an alternative method for the restoration of degraded semiarid steppes that involved the construction of branch piles to attract frugivores as potential seed-dispersing birds, promoting seed rain, and fostering the formation of woody patches. We measured the success of branch piles in terms of the number of bird visits and seed input compared to naturally occurring shrub patches. Generally, frugivorous birds visited branch piles less frequently than shrub patches. Yet, branch piles accumulated seeds of patch-forming shrub species. Seed rain was higher under patches of the dominant shrub Rhamnus lycioides than under branch piles. In contrast, woody patches and branch piles did not differ in seed input of the less abundant Pistacia lentiscus shrub. Our study demonstrates that branch piles are used by frugivorous birds and accumulate seeds of patch-forming shrubs. Branch piles may be a suitable method to promote the expansion of bird-dispersed plant species and restore semiarid wooded steppes. However, their efficiency largely depends on pile persistence and economic cost

Novos desafios e oportunidades para as cooperativas vitivinícolas : a criação de rotas enológicas.

As mudanças que se estão a verificar nas zonas rurais como consequência da aplicação dos novos conceitos definidos pela Política Agrícola Comum (PAC) estão a originar que as cooperativas vitivinícolas enveredem por actividades complementares, tais como o turismo enológico. No presente trabalho apresentamos os primeiros resultados de um projecto de investigação onde se procura avaliar o potencial económico da introdução da actividade do enoturismo em três áreas geográficas (Montilla-Moriles e Alicante em Espanha, e Beira Interior em Portugal), baseada na qualidade do produto que oferecem e acordo com a sua classificação de Denominação de Origem. Para tal analisamos como se está a definir um movimento associativo que, tendo como base as tradicionais cooperativas vitivinícolas da região, está a possibilitar a criação de novos segmentos de mercado para dar resposta à procura originada por esta incipiente actividade turística.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lung purinoceptor activation triggers ventilator-induced brain injury

OBJECTIVES: Mechanical ventilation can cause ventilator-induced brain injury via afferent vagal signaling and hippocampal neurotransmitter imbalances. The triggering mechanisms for vagal signaling during mechanical ventilation are unknown. The objective of this study was to assess whether pulmonary transient receptor potential vanilloid type-4 (TRPV4) mechanoreceptors and vagal afferent purinergic receptors (P2X) act as triggers of ventilator-induced brain injury. DESIGN: Controlled, human in vitro and ex vivo studies, as well as murine in vivo laboratory studies. SETTING: Research laboratory. SUBJECTS: Wild-type, TRPV4-deficient C57BL/6J mice, 8-10 weeks old. Human postmortem lung tissue and human lung epithelial cell line BEAS-2B. INTERVENTION: Mice subjected to mechanical ventilation were studied using functional MRI to assess hippocampal activity. The effects of lidocaine (a nonselective ion-channel inhibitor), P2X-purinoceptor antagonist (iso-PPADS), or genetic TRPV4 deficiency on hippocampal dopamine-dependent pro-apoptotic signaling were studied in mechanically ventilated mice. Human lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) were used to study the effects of mechanical stretch on TRPV4 and P2X expression and activation. TRPV4 levels were measured in postmortem lung tissue from ventilated and nonventilated patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Hippocampus functional MRI analysis revealed considerable changes in response to the increase in tidal volume during mechanical ventilation. Intratracheal lidocaine, iso-PPADS, and TRPV4 genetic deficiency protected mice against ventilationinduced hippocampal pro-apoptotic signaling. Mechanical stretch in both, BEAS-2B cells and ventilated wild-type mice, resulted in TRPV4 activation and reduced Trpv4 and P2x expression. Intratracheal replenishment of adenosine triphosphate in Trpv4 mice abrogated the protective effect of TRPV4 deficiency. Autopsy lung tissue from ventilated patients showed decreased lung TRPV4 levels compared with nonventilated patients. CONCLUSIONS: TRPV4 mechanosensors and purinergic receptors are involved in the mechanisms of ventilator-induced brain injury. Inhibition of this neural signaling, either using nonspecific or specific inhibitors targeting the TRPV4/adenosine triphosphate/P2X signaling axis, may represent a novel strategy to prevent or treat ventilator-induced brain injury

Sistema inteligente para el tratamiento de ruidos

El principal objetivo es lograr recuperar sonidos similares automáticamente de una base de datos con sonidos previamente almacenados. Se utiliza un sonido como argumento de la consulta y se obtienen los resultados con un grado de confiabilidad parametrizable. Este estudio se desarrolla en el marco de las investigaciones realizadas en el laboratorio AIGroup, bajo el nombre de proyecto FIC. En la propuesta del sistema se incluye la capacidad de distinción de ruidos, música, voz y combinación de los anteriores.Eje: Agentes y Sistemas InteligentesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Sistema inteligente para el tratamiento de ruidos

El principal objetivo es lograr recuperar sonidos similares automáticamente de una base de datos con sonidos previamente almacenados. Se utiliza un sonido como argumento de la consulta y se obtienen los resultados con un grado de confiabilidad parametrizable. Este estudio se desarrolla en el marco de las investigaciones realizadas en el laboratorio AIGroup, bajo el nombre de proyecto FIC. En la propuesta del sistema se incluye la capacidad de distinción de ruidos, música, voz y combinación de los anteriores.Eje: Agentes y Sistemas InteligentesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Experiments of Interfacial Roughening in Hele-Shaw Flows with Weak Quenched Disorder

We have studied the kinetic roughening of an oil--air interface in a forced imbibition experiment in a horizontal Hele--Shaw cell with quenched disorder. Different disorder configurations, characterized by their persistence length in the direction of growth, have been explored by varying the average interface velocity v and the gap spacing b. Through the analysis of the rms width as a function of time, we have measured a growth exponent beta ~= 0.5 that is almost independent of the experimental parameters. The analysis of the roughness exponent alpha through the power spectrum have shown different behaviors at short (alpha_1) and long (alpha_2) length scales, separated by a crossover wavenumber q_c. The values of the measured roughness exponents depend on experimental parameters, but at large velocities we obtain alpha_1 ~= 1.3 independently of the disorder configuration. The dependence of the crossover wavenumber with the experimental parameters has also been investigated, measuring q_c ~ v^{0.47} for the shortest persistence length, in agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: 20 pages, 22 figure

Diffusive transport and self-consistent dynamics in coupled maps

The study of diffusion in Hamiltonian systems has been a problem of interest for a number of years. In this paper we explore the influence of self-consistency on the diffusion properties of systems described by coupled symplectic maps. Self-consistency, i.e. the back-influence of the transported quantity on the velocity field of the driving flow, despite of its critical importance, is usually overlooked in the description of realistic systems, for example in plasma physics. We propose a class of self-consistent models consisting of an ensemble of maps globally coupled through a mean field. Depending on the kind of coupling, two different general types of self-consistent maps are considered: maps coupled to the field only through the phase, and fully coupled maps, i.e. through the phase and the amplitude of the external field. The analogies and differences of the diffusion properties of these two kinds of maps are discussed in detail.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Resistant sources and genetic control of resistance to ToLCNDV in cucumber

[EN] Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) is a severe threat for cucurbit production worldwide. Resistance has been reported in several crops, but at present, there are no described accessions with resistance to ToLCNDV in cucumber (Cucumis sativus). C. sativus var. sativus accessions were mechanically inoculated with ToLCNDV and screened for resistance, by scoring symptom severity, tissue printing, and PCR (conventional and quantitative). Severe symptoms and high load of viral DNA were found in plants of a nuclear collection of Spanish landraces and in accessions of C. sativus from different geographical origins. Three Indian accessions (CGN23089, CGN23423, and CGN23633) were highly resistant to the mechanical inoculation, as well as all plants of their progenies obtained by selfing. To study the inheritance of the resistance to ToLCNDV, plants of the CGN23089 accession were crossed with the susceptible accession BGV011742, and F-1 hybrids were used to construct segregating populations (F-2 and backcrosses), which were mechanically inoculated and evaluated for symptom development and viral load by qPCR. The analysis of the genetic control fit with a recessive monogenic inheritance model, and after genotyping with SNPs distributed along the C. sativus genome, a QTL associated with ToLCNDV resistance was identified in chromosome 2 of cucumber.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, cofunded with FEDER funds (project nos. AGL2017-85563-C2-1-R and RTA2017-00061-C03-03 [INIA]) and by PROMETEO project 2017/078 (to promote excellence groups) by the Conselleria d'Educacio, Investigacio, Cultura i Esports (Generalitat Valenciana).Sáez-Sánchez, C.; Ambrosio, LG.; Miguel, SM.; Valcarcel Germes, JV.; Díez Niclós, MJTDJ.; Picó Sirvent, MB.; López Del Rincón, C. (2021). Resistant sources and genetic control of resistance to ToLCNDV in cucumber. Microorganisms. 9(5):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms90509131179

TIGAR inclusion pathology is specific for Lewy body diseases

BACKGROUND: We previously reported up-regulation of tigarb (the zebrafish orthologue? of human TIGAR, TP53 - Induced Glycolysis and Apoptosis Regulator) in a zebrafish pink1-/- model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Genetic inactivation of tigarb led to the rescue of dopaminergic neurons and mitochondrial function in pink-/- zebrafish. The aim of this study was to determine the relevance of TIGAR for human PD, investigate its disease specificity and identify relevant upstream and downstream mechanisms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: TIGAR Immunohistochemistry using a range of antibodies was undertaken for detailed assessment of TIGAR in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue from post mortem brains of PD patients and other neurodegenerative disorders (n = 10 controls, 10 PD cases, 10 dementia with Lewy bodies, 5 motor neurone disease (MND), 3 multiple system atrophy (MSA) and complemented by immunohistochemistry for p53, hexokinase I (HK-I) and hexokinase II (HK-II; n = 4 control, 4 PD, and 4 dementia with Lewy bodies). RESULTS: TIGAR was detected in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in the substantia nigra of sporadic PD and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) patients. Staining of adjacent sections confirmed the presence of TIGAR alongside alpha-synuclein in these LB and Neurites. In contrast, TIGAR-positive aggregates were not seen in cortical Lewy bodies. TIGAR protein was also absent in both TDP-43-positive inclusions in MND and glial cytoplasmic inclusions in MSA. Subsequent investigation of the TIGAR-upstream regulator p53 and the downstream targets HK-I and HK-II in PD brains suggested a possible mild increase in HK-I. CONCLUSIONS: TIGAR protein, is present in SN Lewy bodies of both sporadic PD and DLB. The absence of TIGAR protein in the pathological inclusions of MND or MSA suggests disease specificity and further raises the possibility that TIGAR may be involved in PD pathogenesis

Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Aragonian (middle Miocene) mammalian faunas from the Madrid Basin based on body-size structure

As a consequence of the growth of the Antarctic ice-sheet during the middle Miocene, a global decrease of temperatures and an associated increase in aridity provoked several environmental changes all around the world. Such environmental variations can be detected in the continental record of the mammalian prey community structure using a synecological approach. Because of the good quality of its faunas, the rich Aragonian vertebrate fossil record from the Madrid Basin (Spain) appears as a good candidate to explore these environmental changes. In order to analyse the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula associated to the Global Cooling Event, two classic palaeosynecological methodologies (cenograms and body size diversity), based on body-size community structure, were applied to 6 fossil sites from the Madrid Basin, ranging over 2 million years (15.5 – 13.5 Ma). To establish a comparative framework, we used the ecological faunal data from 100 modern localities uniformly distributed all around the world. Our palaeoenvironmental inference is based on multivariate discriminant analysis of the dataset containing both modern and fossil mammals. Finally, we can conclude that the Aragonian mammalian assemblage from the Madrid Basin showed a predominance of semiarid environments with pulses of higher aridity in biozones Dc, E and F associated with the Global Cooling Event of the middle Miocene.Como consecuencia del crecimiento del casquete polar Antártico, durante el Mioceno medio, se produjo un descenso global de la tem­peratura asociado a un aumento de la aridez. Este tipo de cambios ambientales pueden ser detectados en el registro continental, siguiendo un modelo sinecológico para analizar la estructura de las comunidades de las faunas de mamíferos herbívoros. Debido a la calidad de sus faunas, el registro fósil de las faunas de vertebrados del Aragoniense de la Cuenca de Madrid se antoja como un buen candidato para explorar estos patrones de cambio ambiental. Con el objetivo de analizar la evolución climática de la Península Ibérica asociada al evento de enfriamiento global durante este lapso temporal, dos metodologías paleosinecológicas clásicas (cenogramas y espectros de diversidad de tamaño corporal), basadas en la estructura de tamaños corporales de las comunidades de mamíferos, han sido aplicadas a la fauna de herbívoros fósiles presente en seis yacimientos de la Cuenca de Madrid, abarcando aproximadamente 2 millones de años (15.5 – 13.5 Ma). Se ha establecido un marco comparativo usando los datos ecológicos de la fauna de mamíferos presente en 100 localidades uniformemente distribuidas por todo el planeta. Esta inferencia paleoambiental está basada en la aplicación de análisis discriminante multivariante sobre el conjunto de datos de las faunas actuales y fósiles. Finalmente, las faunas de mamíferos del Aragoniense de la Comunidad de Madrid mostraron una predominancia de ambientes semiáridos con varios pulsos de mayor aridez en las biozonas Dc, E y F asociados al evento de enfriamiento global del Mioceno medio