A Historical Overview of Protected Agriculture in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico: Implications for Improving Rural Prosperity

Economic development is an important phenomenon that can positively impact societal problems such as poverty, lack of education, and insufficient infrastructure, among other ills. In this regard, technological advances are essential to making better use of resources. The agricultural sector is no exception. With the passage of time, advances in agriculture have allowed processes to be optimized, improving production practices and minimizing risks, by using innovative technologies (Schenkel, Finley, & Chumney, 2012). For this reason, the adoption and use of approaches to protected agricultural production grew steadily in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico during the last century and until today. Such technology assisted significantly in the economic development of the region. This inquiry sought to understand factors and forces that augmented expansion of protected agriculture, especially regarding tomato production, and its advantages compared to traditional systems, as experienced by producers in Sinaloa. Understanding such a phenomenon may provide important implications for improving the economies of similar contexts in need of economic development where agriculture is a viable secto

Adiposidad y riesgo cardio-metabólico en escolares

El exceso de grasa corporal en niñas y niños también es un factor de riesgo modificable que se asocia al desarrollo de enfermedades no transmisibles desde etapas tempranas de la vida. Objetivo. Examinar la relación del porcentaje de grasa por las ecuaciones de Slaughter, la circunferencia de cintura abdominal y el índice cintura/estatura para estimar el grado de riesgo cardio-metabólico de escolares entre 6 y 12 años respecto a su nivel de adiposidad. Metodología. En una muestra de 147 niñas y 156 niños en edades entre los 6 y 12 años, se determinó la correlación de las ecuaciones de Slaughter que utilizan los pliegues de tríceps y pierna medial (GS1) y de tríceps y subescapular (GS2) con la circunferencia de cintura abdominal (CC) y con el índice cintura/estatura (ICE); se identificó la concordancia entre ambas ecuaciones de Slaughter por Bland&Altman (Giavarina, 2015); se analizó la capacidad diagnóstica de las ecuaciones de Slaughter para identificar el riesgo cardio-metabólico (RC-M) por curvas de ROC. Resultados. Se encontraron correlaciones más altas de GS1 y GS2 con CC que con ICE en niñas y niños, pero todas significativas (p<0.001). GS1 y GS2 mostraron buena concordancia, aunque GS1 estimó valores más altos de porcentaje de grasa con una media de las diferencias de 0.5715 (95% IC). La sensibilidad y especificidad para detectar RC-M fueron más altas en GS1 (90.6% y 90.4%, respectivamente) que en GS2. Conclusiones. GS1 puede discriminar la presencia de RC-M en escolares a un menor porcentaje de grasa corporal.Excess body fat in girls and boys is a modifiable risk factor that is associated with the development of non-communicable diseases from early stages of life.  Aims. To examine the relationship of the percentage of fat by the Slaughter equations, the abdominal waist circumference and the waist / height ratio to estimate the degree of cardio-metabolic risk of schoolchildren between 6 and 12 years old with respect to their level of adiposity. Methods. In a sample of 147 girls and 156 boys between the ages of 6 and 12, the correlation of the Slaughter equations using the triceps and medial calf folds (GS1) and the triceps and subscapular skinfolds (GS2) with the abdominal waist circumference (WC) and the waist/height index (WHI) was determined; concordance between both Slaughter equations was identified by Bland & Altman (Giavarina, 2015) ; the diagnostic capacity of the Slaughter equations was analyzed to identify the cardio-metabolic risk (CMR) by ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves. Results. Higher correlations of GS1 and GS2 were found with WG than with WHI in girls and boys, but all were significant (p<0.001). GS1 and GS2 showed good agreement, although GS1 estimated higher values of fat percentage with a mean of the differences of 0.5715 (95% CI). The sensitivity and specificity to detect CMR were higher in GS1 (90.6% and 90.4%, respectively) than in GS2. Conclusions. GS1 can discriminate the presence of CMR in schoolchildren at a lower percentage of body fat

Tool support for verifying applications using object-oriented patterns

Applying design patterns is considered a helpful technique for designing software systems. Patterns description, however, results not sufficiently precise providing a weak understanding and making it difficult to be certain when a pattern is being used correctly. We have formally specified properties of patterns and a formal basis for object-oriented design. In the present work, our formal basis is used as a support to an automatic tool for verifying proper applications of patterns. The usage of this tool is mainly focused on the learning process about patterns applications. Through a better understanding of patterns, the designer may certify when and how a pattern is being appropriately applied to solve a specific design problem. Furthermore, the whole design process could be improved by using a precise technique supported by an automatic tool for verification.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Base de DatosRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Distribution of polymorphic variants of CYP2A6 and their involvement in nicotine addiction

Tobacco consumption has become a major public health issue, which has motivated studies to identify and understand the biological processes involved in the smoking behavior for prevention and smoking cessation treatments. CYP2A6 has been identified as the main gene that codifies the enzyme that metabolizes nicotine. Many alleles have been identified after the discovery of CYP2A6, suggesting a wide interethnic variability and a diverse smoking behavior of the allele carrying individuals. The main purpose of this review is to update and highlight the effects of the CYP2A6 gene variability related to tobacco consumption reported from diverse human populations. The review further aims to consider CYP2A6 in future studies as a possible genetic marker for the prevention and treatment of nicotine addiction. Therefore, we analyzed several population studies and their importance at addressing and characterizing a population using specific parameters. Our efforts may contribute to a personalized system for detecting, preventing and treating populations at a higher risk of smoking to avoid diseases related to tobacco consumption

Loss of pancreas upon activated Wnt signaling is concomitant with emergence of gastrointestinal identity

Organ formation is achieved through the complex interplay between signaling pathways and transcriptional cascades. The canonical Wnt signaling pathway plays multiple roles during embryonic development including patterning, proliferation and differentiation in distinct tissues. Previous studies have established the importance of this pathway at multiple stages of pancreas formation as well as in postnatal organ function and homeostasis. In mice, gain-of-function experiments have demonstrated that activation of the canonical Wnt pathway results in pancreatic hypoplasia, a phenomenon whose underlying mechanisms remains to be elucidated. Here, we show that ectopic activation of epithelial canonical Wnt signaling causes aberrant induction of gastric and intestinal markers both in the pancreatic epithelium and mesenchyme, leading to the development of gut-like features. Furthermore, we provide evidence that β -catenin-induced impairment of pancreas formation depends on Hedgehog signaling. Together, our data emphasize the developmental plasticity of pancreatic progenitors and further underscore the key role of precise regulation of signaling pathways to maintain appropriate organ boundaries

Layered Software Architecture for Nanosatellites

Layered software architecture has been used to increase code portability and reduce development times during the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The main objective of the EMIDSS-4 project is to develop a reliable and scalable hardware and software layered architecture for data acquisition in nanosatellites. An iterative hardware/software co-design approach was employed, transitioning from an FPGA architecture to an NXP-based microcontroller. The results demonstrate that the new architecture provides continuous and adaptable data acquisition capabilities, enhancing the long-term viability of the project. In conclusion, this study contributes to the field of space exploration and lays the foundation for future research in nanosatellites.ITESO, A. C