IDENTIFICACIÓN DE ORGANISMOS PLAGA DEL PIÑÓN (Jatropha curcas L.)

Jatropha [Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae)] has raised much interest in recent years, because biodiesel can be produced from the oil extracted from its seeds. Despite the toxic properties of the plant, and its alleged resistance, there are reports of pest organisms throughout the world, which damage different parts of the plant; therefore, a literature review was carried out about the main pest organisms that damage J. curcas. The information presented includes data about geographical distribution, parts of the plant damaged, and damage estimation.El piñón, Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae), ha despertado mucho interés en los últimos años, debido a que a partir del aceite que se extrae de sus semillas se puede producir biodiesel. A pesar de las propiedades tóxicas de la planta y su supuesta resistencia, existen reportes de organismos plaga en todo el mundo, las cuales dañan diferentes partes de la planta; por ello, se realizó una revisión de literatura sobre los principales organismos plaga que dañan a J. curcas. La información que se presenta incluye datos de distribución geográfica, parte de la planta dañada y estimación de daños

Rapid and accurate detection of escherichia coli and klebsiella pneumoniae strains susceptible/resistant to cotrimoxazole through evaluation of cell elongation

Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is a well-known antibiotic that inhibits folic acid synthesis, a topic of renewed interest. Since resistant strains are increasingly more common, an early and accurate discrimination of susceptibility may assure confident therapy. Two morphological assays were performed in Escherichia coli (n = 50; 27 non-susceptible) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 52; 18 non-susceptible). First, the strains were incubated with the CLSI breakpoint of cotrimoxazole for 150 min, which induced cell lengthening in the susceptible strains. Second, the bacteria were incubated with mitomycin C (MMC) (0.5 mg/L) for 120 min to induce a SOS-linked cell enlargement higher than that obtained by cotrimoxazole alone. When cotrimoxazole was added 30 min before MMC, the inhibition of folic acid synthesis in the susceptible strain resulted in the suppression of MMC-induced extra elongation. In the non-susceptible strains, folic acid synthesis continued despite the antibiotic, so that the MMC-induced extra cell lengthening could not be impeded. Whereas the first assay resulted in five false negatives and four false positives of resistance, the results of the second assay matched those of the conventional antibiogram. This simple morphological procedure is performed in 2 h and 45 min and may allow a rapid selection of useful and relatively inexpensive therapy, thereby preserving the newer broad-spectrum antibiotics

Fragilidad de bordos perimetrales ante la falla por erosión debida al desbordamiento - Fragility of flood protection levees for surge only overtopping erosion failure

El presente artículo describe un enfoque original para determinar curvas de fragilidad de bordos perimetrales, ante la falla por erosión debida al desbordamiento basado en la simulación de variables aleatorias. El análisis de fragilidad toma en cuenta la incertidumbre asociada con la estimación de los parámetros de un modelo que describe la erosión superficial del material del bordo, y después, las curvas de fragilidad se expresan en función del tirante de agua, por encima de la cresta del bordo. En los análisis de fragilidad, tradicionalmente se supone a priori una distribución lognormal para las curvas de fragilidad y sus parámetros se obtienen posteriormente, utilizando alguna técnica de estimación estadística. Los resultados del presente artículo muestran que, al considerar una densidad de probabilidad no gaussiana para el coeficiente de erodibilidad, las curvas de fragilidad difieren de manera significativa de la distribución lognormal

Saponins from edible spears of wild asparagus inhibit AKT, p70S6K, and ERK signalling, and induce apoptosis through G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in human colon cancer HCT-116 cells

41 Páginas, 6 Figuras, 1 TablaThe effects of steroidal saponins from edible spears of wild triguero Huetor-Tajar asparagus on some of the oncogenic molecular pathways that are affected in human colon cancer cells were investigated. Reverse-phase chromatography and a new HPLC-MS method were used to respectively isolate and analyse the composition of the steroidal saponins. They were resistant to simulated digestion and, when in contact with HTC-116 human colon carcinoma cells, interfered with extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), S6 kinase (p70S6K, mTOR), and RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase (AKT) pathways by a downregulation of these proteins. The expressions of cyclins D, E, and A were also decreased, leading to G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. In addition, these steroidal saponins induced typical features of apoptosis by the promotion of caspase-3 activity, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) cleavage, and DNA fragmentation. These results offer potential dietary intervention strategy against human colon cancer cells.This study was supported by grants AGL2011-29632 and AGL2011-29008 funded by MICINN. S.L. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish MINECO (JCI-2012-13084, Juan de la Cierva) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC)/JAE-doc Program (JAEDOC089), a contract cofounded by the European Social Fund (ESF).Peer reviewe

Mutations related to Antiretroviral Resistance identified by ultra-deep sequencing in HIV-1 infected children under Structured Interruptions of HAART

Altres ajuts: CONACYT/GCPS/44519Although Structured Treatment Interruptions (STI) are currently not considered an alternative strategy for antiretroviral treatment, their true benefits and limitations have not been fully established. Some studies suggest the possibility of improving the quality of life of patients with this strategy; however, the information that has been obtained corresponds mostly to studies conducted in adults, with a lack of knowledge about its impact on children. Furthermore, mutations associated with antiretroviral resistance could be selected due to sub-therapeutic levels of HAART at each interruption period. Genotyping methods to determine the resistance profiles of the infecting viruses have become increasingly important for the management of patients under STI, thus low-abundance antiretroviral drug-resistant mutations (DRM's) at levels under limit of detection of conventional genotyping (<20% of quasispecies) could increase the risk of virologic failure. In this work, we analyzed the protease and reverse transcriptase regions of the pol gene by ultra-deep sequencing in pediatric patients under STI with the aim of determining the presence of high- and low-abundance DRM's in the viral rebounds generated by the STI. High-abundance mutations in protease and high- and low-abundance mutations in reverse transcriptase were detected but no one of these are directly associated with resistance to antiretroviral drugs. The results could suggest that the evaluated STI program is virologically safe, but strict and carefully planned studies, with greater numbers of patients and interruption/restart cycles, are still needed to evaluate the selection of DRM's during STI

Innovación abierta en tecnología, diseño y dinámicas sociales

ITESO, A.C

Study of the behavior of biodegradable starch/polyvinyl alcohol/rosin blends

Biodegradable potato starch/PVA samples containing different concentrations of rosin were prepared by melt-mixing in order to study the enhancement of the properties of native starch films. Glycerol and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are commonly used as plasticizers of starch. Their relatively low molecular weight (compared with starch) contributes to a good processability. Rosin is a renewable product whose incorporation in the starch/PVA matrix induces processing aid and reinforcing effects. Its relatively high molecular weight might prevent its migration to the surface of the final product. Water content, solubility in water, mechanical properties, microstructure and dynamic mechanical analysis of the samples were studied. The addition of 8% rosin to starch/PVA blends led to tensile strength values higher than 10 MPa and elongation at break values close to 2000%, values comparable to those offered by conventional polymers used in food packaging, for example LDPE. Furthermore, starch compounds have low cost and high biodegradability.This work was partially supported from the European Commission (FEDER/ERDF) and the Spanish MINECO (Ref. CTQ2016-78246-R) and Generalitat Valenciana (Project PROMETEOII/2014/007). M.G. Montalbán acknowledges support from MINECO (Juan de la Cierva-Formación contract, Ref. FJCI-2016-28081)

Metastable polymorphic phases in monolayer TaTe2

Polymorphic phases and collective phenomena—such as charge density waves (CDWs)—in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) dictate the physical and electronic properties of the material. Most TMDs naturally occur in a single given phase, but the fine-tuning of growth conditions via methods such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) allows to unlock otherwise inaccessible polymorphic structures. Exploring and understanding the morphological and electronic properties of new phases of TMDs is an essential step to enable their exploitation in technological applications. Here, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is used to map MBE-grown monolayer (ML) TaTe2. This work reports the first observation of the 1H polymorphic phase, coexisting with the 1T, and demonstrates that their relative coverage can be controlled by adjusting synthesis parameters. Several superperiodic structures, compatible with CDWs, are observed to coexist on the 1T phase. Finally, this work provides theoretical insight on the delicate balance between Te…Te and Ta–Ta interactions that dictates the stability of the different phases. The findings demonstrate that TaTe2 is an ideal platform to investigate competing interactions, and indicate that accurate tuning of growth conditions is key to accessing metastable states in TMD

Agentes y lazos sociales: la experiencia de volverse comunidad

En la colonia Lomas de Polanco, al sur de la ciudad de Guadalajara, México, entre 1970 y 1990 se generó un movimiento ciudadano, enraizado en las Comunidades Eclesiales de Base y la educación popular, que emprendió una lucha exitosa para conseguir los servicios de infraestructura urbana ante las promesas incumplidas de autoridades y fraccionadores. La confluencia de actores, individuales y colectivos, de distintos contextos, contribuyeron a la reconstitución del tejido social y la creación de los lazos que dieron sentido de comunidad a los colonos y al desarrollo de su capacidad de agencia para la trasformación positiva de su entorno y de su vida. Esta experiencia se recupera en esta obra, a partir de una serie de entrevistas con los actores del movimiento, mediante un análisis retrospectivo y desde varias perspectivas teóricas. Su estudio permite comprender mejor las dinámicas sociales acontecidas y posibilita su reproducción para enfrentar de manera organizada y con éxito problemas en contextos urbanos y sociales particulares.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y TecnologíaGobierno del Estado de Jalisc

Does Size Matters? Relationships among Social Dominance and Some Morphometric Traits upon Out-of-Season Reproductive Outcomes in Anestrus Dairy Goats Treated with P4 + eCG

The possible role of the social rank (R) (i.e., low-LSR, middle-MSR, or high-HSR) in anestrus goats exposed to a P4 + eCG (D) (i.e., 100 or 350 IU) estrus induction protocol (EIP) was evaluated. Goats (Alpine-Saanen-Nubian × Criollo; n = 70; 25° North) managed under stall-fed conditions were all ultrasound evaluated to confirm anestrous status, while the social rank was determined 30 d prior to the EIP. The response variables included estrus induction (EI, %), duration of estrus (DUR, h), ovulation rate (OR, n), live weight (LW, kg), thoracic perimeter (TP, cm), thoracic diameter (TD, cm), body length (BL, cm), height at withers (HW, cm), beard length (BEA, cm), compactness index (COM, cm), and anamorphosis index (ANA, cm), as affected by R, D, and the R × D interaction were evaluated, while the correlation coefficients among reproductive and morphometric variables were quantified. An R × D interaction (p 0.05) with any response variable, either reproductive or morphometric. As expected, LW had high correlation coefficients (p < 0.01) with TP (0.86), TD (0.88), BL (0.82), HW (0.75), BEA (0.51), COM (0.97), and ANA (0.75). In general, the morphometric variables as a whole demonstrated important correlation coefficients among them (p < 0.01), ranging from 0.38 up to 0.84. To estimate the importance of the morphometric differences between social rank upon estrus induction, a principal component (PC) analysis was performed based on the correlation matrix derived from the corporal measurements. The PC1 and PC2 explained 70.3% and 17.6% of the morphometric variation, respectively. The PC1 was a measure of the goat size (i.e., small, medium, large) and its association with estrus occurrence was evaluated using a logistic regression model; the bigger the goat, the increased probability of being in estrus, by up to five times compared to small goats. Our results confirm that the higher social ranked, larger goats amalgamated some fundamental factors to be successful: aggressiveness, primacy to food access, augmented live weight, and corporal size; all of these were able to modulate out-of-season reproductive success in crossbred dairy goats subjected to an estrus induction protocol and managed under stall-fed conditions in Northern Mexico