Implementation of a parentage control system in Portuguese beef-cattle with a panel of microsatellite markers

A study was conducted to assess the feasibility of applying a panel of 10 microsatellite markers in parentage control of beef cattle in Portugal. In the first stage, DNA samples were collected from 475 randomly selected animals of the Charolais, Limousin and Preta breeds. Across breeds and genetic markers, means for average number of alleles, effective number of alleles, expected heterozygosity and polymorphic information content, were 8.20, 4.43, 0.733 and 0.70, respectively. Enlightenment from the various markers differed among breeds, but the set of 10 markers resulted in a combined probability above 0.9995 in the ability to exclude a random putative parent. The marker-set thus developed was later used for parentage control in a group of 140 calves from several breeds, where there was the suspicion of possible faulty parentage recording. Overall, 76.4% of the calves in this group were compatible with the recorded parents, with most incompatibilities due to misidentification of the dam. Efforts must be made to improve the quality of pedigree information, with particular emphasis on information recorded at the calf's birth

Differentiation between ischemic and heart rate related events using the continuous wavelet transform

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the main causes of death in the world, as a result much efforts have been made to detect early ischemia. Traditionally changes produced in the ST or STT segments of the heartbeat were analyzed. The main difficulty relies on alterations produced in the ST or STT segment because of non ischemic events, such as changes in the heart rate, the ventricular conduction or the cardiac electrical axis. The aim of this work is to differentiate between ischemic and heart rate related events using the information provided by the continuous wavelet transform of the electrocardiogram. To evaluate the performance of the classifier, the Long Term ST Database was used, with ischemic and non ischemic differentiated events annotated by specialists. The analysis was performed over 77 events (52 ischemic and 25 heart rate related), obtaining a sensitivity and positive predictivity of 86.64% for both indicators.Fil: Fernández Biscay, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; ArgentinaFil: Arini, Pedro David. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; ArgentinaFil: Rincon Soler, Anderson Ivan. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; ArgentinaFil: Bonomini, Maria Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Argentino de Matemática Alberto Calderón; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Ingeniería Biomédica; Argentina8th International Work-Conference on the Interplay between Natural and Artificial ComputationAlmeríaEspañaInterplay between Natural and Artificial Computatio

Introduction to complex systems analysis with wavelets

In this chapter the authors deal with a few methods of nonlinear wavelet analysis for the characterization of nonstationary signals. The methods herein described can be used in a wide variety of biological signals including ECG, HRV, pressure waves and heart sounds. The reader can find both conventional methods of wavelet analysis such as linear and nonlinear denoising, as well as more sophisticated methods based on fractal analysis and entropy. Applications of such algorithms to the analysis of the heartbeat dynamics are also described

From vineyards to controlled environments in grapevine research: investigating responses to climate change scenarios using fruit-bearing cuttings

21 Pags.- 5 Tabls.- 6 Figs.This paper describes the use of fruit-bearing grapevine hardwood cuttings as a model system for grapevine research, translating some studies that are difficult to execute under field conditions in the vineyards to facilities under controlled conditions. This approach enables to simulate in greenhouses future climate conditions and to investigate putative responses of grapevine to climate change. An updated description of how to grow grapevine fruit-bearing cuttings is made, together with modifications to carry out studies of partial rootzone drying, regulated deficit irrigation studies and symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. We summarize how extensive has been the use of fruit-bearing cuttings in grapevine research over the years, with special emphasis in those experiments that analyze the effects of factors related to climate change, such as elevated CO2, elevated temperature, water availability and UV-B radiation, on grapevine physiology, production and grape quality. A validation of the model is made, comparing results obtained with fruit-bearing cuttings with those obtained from vineyard-grown plants. We discuss some advantages of growing grapevines under elevated CO2 with an atmosphere depleted in 13C, using this stable isotope (13C) and others (15N, 54Fe or 57Fe, etc.) as tracers for C, N and other nutrient metabolism studies.This work was supported by the European Project INNOVINE Call FP7-KBBE-2011-6, Proposal No. 311775, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (BFU2011-26989, AGL2011-30386-C02-02 and AGL2014-56075-C2-1-R), and Aragón Government (A03 Research Group).Peer reviewe