Erythrosensors Cellular Characterization

For diabetics, continuous glucose monitoring, and the resulting tighter control of glucose levels, ameliorates serious complications from hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Today, diabetics measure their blood glucose levels multiple times a day by finger pricks, or use implantable monitoring devices. Still, glucose and other analytes in the blood fluctuate throughout the day and the current monitoring methods are invasive, immunogenic, and/or present biodegradation problems. Using carrier erythrocytes loaded with a fluorescent sensor, we seek to develop a biodegradable, efficient, and potentially cost effective method for long-term monitoring of blood analytes. We aim to reintroduce sensor-loaded erythrocytes to the bloodstream and conserve the erythrocytes lifetime of 120 days in the circulatory system. Here, the efficiency of two loading procedures is compared. Hypotonic dilution employs hypotonic buffer to create transient pores in the erythrocyte membrane, allowing dye entrance and a hypertonic buffer to restore tonicity. Electroporation relies on controlled electrical pulses that results in reversible pores formation to allow cargo entrance. As part of the cellular characterization of loaded erythrocytes, size and hemoglobin content was evaluated. Cell recovery and fluorescence per cell measurements also render optimal loading conditions. Furthermore, AFM and confocal microscopy protocols were implemented to evaluate morphological changes induced by hypotonic dilution. The development of a suitable protocol to engineer carrier erythrocytes has profound and lasting implications in the erythrocytes’ lifespan and sensing capabilities

Phaseless Microwave Tomography Assessment for Breast Imaging: Preliminary Results

In the present work, a phaseless approach for microwave imaging applications is presented. The proposed solution strategy is based on the formulation of the scattering phenomena in terms of contrast source, while no phase-recovery stage is involved into the numerical procedure, thus providing a phaseless single-step resolution method. The image recovering potentialities of the discussed method are numerically validated by successfully distinguishing different tissues of a slice breast model, with a tumor located wherein. The above preliminary assessment encourages the adoption of the proposed solution in the framework of biomedical imaging

Deciphering the suppressive soil microbiota from an avocado crop

Comunicación en pósterDifferent strategies based on ecological principles have been approached in sustainable agriculture causing positive effects, including the induction of soil suppressiveness against a wide range of soilborne pathogens. Suppressiveness against the phytopathogenic fungus Rosellinia necatrix was observed after the application of composted almond shells in avocado crops. Previous works have analyzed the use of this traditional strategy and applied new microbial community analysis techniques in order to help in the identification of targeted sustainable agricultural strategies. These studies have focused on the microbial profile from an induced-suppressive soil where the soil microbiome had a proven essential role. Microbial profiles based on the 16S rRNA gene and ITS regions sequencing were analysed and an increase in Gammaproteobacteria and Dothideomycetes groups, as well as a reduction in Xylariales (where R. necatrix is allocated) were observed. These results led to the bacterial isolation of different groups of Gammaproteobacteria from this suppressive soil in order to identify new strains with biological control properties. Different characterization tests were performed, and a final selection of representative strains belonging to the genus Pseudomonas and related groups showed, all of them, plant disease protection abilities. Moreover, using previously described biological control agents against R. necatrix, a bacterial synthetic community have been design in order to improve the knowledge of the multitrophic interactions that occur during biological control process.This work was supported by Plan Nacional I+D+I (MINECO, Spain) (AGL2014-52518-C2-IR) and co-financed by FEDER funds (EU). C.Vida was supported by a PhD fellowship from the FPI program of MINECO. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Isolation, characterization and selection of Pseudomonas spp. as biological control agents from a suppressive soil

Bacterial profile from a suppressive soil against Rosellinia necatrix, fungal pathogen of avocado roots, were obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results revealed a significant increase in the bacterial class of Gammaproteobacteria, especially in some antagonistic representatives of Pseudomonas spp. For this reason, a collection of 246 bacterial isolates was obtained from this suppressive soil in order to identify new strains with antifungal activity against this fungal phytopathogen. First, we performed an isolation on a selective medium for Pseudomonas-like microorganisms. Then, we used different characterization tests in order to analyse the bacterial collection, including the identification of the general metabolic profile of glucose, the profiling of antifungals produced, both the putative production of antifungal compounds and lytic exoenzymes, as well as the evaluation of traits related with beneficial effects on plants. A final selection of representative strains resulted in antifungal isolates belonging to the genus Pseudomonas and related groups. These selected strains were tested for plant protection by an in vivo experiment using avocado and wheat plants challenged by the pathogen R. necatrix, showing all of them an antifungal ability and plant disease protection.This work was supported by Plan Nacional I+D+I from MINECO (Spain) (AGL2014-52518-C2-IR) and co-financed by FEDER funds (EU). C.Vida was supported by a PhD fellowship from the FPI program of MINECO.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Advances in mapping ice-free surfaces within the Northern Antarctic peninsula region using polarimetric RADARSAT-2 data

Ice-free areas within the Northern Antarctic Peninsula region are of interest for studying changes occurring to surface covers, including those related to glacial coverage, raised beach deposits and periglacial processes and permafrost. The objective of this work is to map the main surface covers within ice-free areas of King George Island, the largest island of the South Shetlands archipelago, using fully polarimetric RADARSAT-2 SAR data. Surface covers such as rock outcrops and glacial till, stone fields, patterned ground, and sand and gravel deposits form the most representative classes and account for 84 km2 of the ice-free areas on the island. A distribution of complex geomorphological features and landforms was obtained, being some of them considered indicators of periglacial processes and presence of permafrost.Published versio

Isolation, characterization and selection of bacterial isolates from a suppressive soil with beneficial traits to plants

Backgrounds This study focused on the characterization and selection of bacterial strains obtained from a suppressive soil displaying antifungal activity against the soilborne phytopathogenic fungi Rosellinia necatrix. Bacterial profile from this suppressive soil were first obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, revealing a significant increase in the bacterial class Gammaproteobacteria, especially in some antagonistic representatives of Pseudomonas spp. Objectives To obtain and characterize a collection of 246 bacterial isolates obtained from this suppressive soil, in order to identify new strains with antifungal activity against fungal phytopathogens. Methods To obtain the bacterial collection, we performed an isolation on a selective medium for Pseudomonas-like microorganisms. Further characterization tests were used in order to analyse the bacterial collection, including identification of the general metabolic profile of glucose, the profiling of antifungals produced, including both the putative production of antifungal compounds and lytic exoenzymes, and the evaluation of traits related with beneficial effects on plants. Conclusions A final selection of representative strains resulted in antifungal isolates belonging to the genus Pseudomonas, but also some representatives of the genera Serratia and Stenotrophomonas. These selected strains were tested for plant protection by an in vivo experiment using avocado and wheat plants challenged by the pathogen R. necatrix, showing all of them an antifungal ability and plant disease protection. Pseudomonas-like strains isolated from suppressive soils constitute an excellent source for novel microbial biocontrol agents against soilborne fungal pathogens. This work was supported by grant AGL2014-52518-C2-1-R. Carmen Vida and Sandra Tienda are supported by a PhD fellowship from the FPI program of the Spanish Government.This work was supported by grant AGL2014-52518-C2-1-R. Carmen Vida and Sandra Tienda are supported by a PhD fellowship from the FPI program of the Spanish Government; Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Advances in Green Communications and Networking

Lloret, J.; Sendra, S.; Macias-Lopez, E. (2019). Advances in Green Communications and Networking. Mobile Networks and Applications. 24(2):653-656. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-019-01212-yS65365624

Incentivos tributarios de la ley 27037 y crecimiento económico de hoteles turísticos de Chachapoyas, 2021.

La presente tesis ha tenido por objetivo determinar la relación que existe entre incentivos tributarios de la Ley N° 27037 y crecimiento económico de hoteles turísticos de la ciudad de Chachapoyas, 2021. El diseño de investigación fue no experimental, alcance correlacional y enfoque cuantitativo; la población estuvo conformada por 12 hoteles; el instrumento utilizado fue el cuestionario a los gerentes y un colaborador de cada empresa; la técnica utilizada fue la encuesta y entrevistas a dos expertos; como resultados se evidencia que en la ciudad de Chachapoyas el 50% de empresas a veces aplica la exoneración tributaria del IGV; el 50% casi nunca se beneficia con la disminución de la tasa del impuesto a la renta; el 33% siempre aplica el crédito fiscal del IGV; el 58% tiene disponibilidad para asistir a charlas acerca de incentivos tributarios y el 58% mencionó que los incentivos tributarios siempre permiten mejorar el crecimiento económico; asimismo, según los colaboradores, el 42% considera que la empresa donde labora siempre aplica algún incentivo tributario; el 42% conoce que los clientes a veces han cancelado sus reservaciones en el año 2021 y el 50% afirma que casi siempre la disminución de ventas ha afectado su remuneración económica. Se concluyó una relación no significativa ni directa entre los incentivos tributarios de la Ley 27037 y el crecimiento económico de los hoteles turísticos de Chachapoyas, 2021

The Oxidative State of Chylomicron Remnants Influences Their Modulation of Human Monocyte Activation

Chylomicron remnants (CMRs) contribute directly to human monocyte activation in vitro, by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell migration. In this study, the effects of the oxidative state of CMR on the degree of monocyte activation was investigated. CMR-like particles (CRLPs) were prepared in three different oxidative states, normal (CRLPs), protected from oxidation by incorporation of the antioxidant, probucol (pCRLPs), or oxidised with CuSO4 (oxCRLPs). Lipid accumulation and ROS production were significantly increased in primary human monocytes incubated with CRLPs, whilst secretion on monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 was reduced, but oxCRLPs had no additional effect. In contrast, pCRLPs were taken up by monocytes to a lesser extent and had no significant effect on ROS or MCP-1 secretion. These studies suggest that the oxidative state of CMRs modulates their stimulation of the activation of peripheral blood human monocytes and that dietary antioxidants may provide some protection against these atherogenic effects