Shannon entropy and particle decays

We deploy Shannon's information entropy to the distribution of branching fractions in a particle decay. This serves to quantify how important a given new reported decay channel is, from the point of view of the information that it adds to the already known ones. Because the entropy is additive, one can subdivide the set of channels and discuss, for example, how much information the discovery of a new decay branching would add; or subdivide the decay distribution down to the level of individual quantum states (which can be quickly counted by the phase space). We illustrate the concept with some examples of experimentally known particle decay distributions.Comment: 12 pages, 18 plots; to appear in Nuclear Physics

Initiation codon selection is accomplished by a scanning mechanism without crucial initiation factors in sindbis virus subgenomic mRNA

Translation initiation of alphavirus subgenomic mRNA (sgmRNA) can occur in the absence of several initiation factors (eIFs) in infected cells; however, the precise translation mechanism is still poorly understood. In this study, we have examined the mechanism of initiation and AUG selection in Sindbis virus (SINV) sgmRNA. Our present findings suggest that sgmRNA is translated via a scanning mechanism, since the presence of a hairpin structure before the initiation codon hampers protein synthesis directed by this mRNA. In addition, translation is partially recovered when an in-frame AUG codon is placed upstream of this hairpin. This scanning process takes place without the participation of eIF4A and active eIF2. These results, combined with our findings through modifying the SINV sgmRNA leader sequence, do not support the possibility of a direct initiation from the start codon without previous scanning, or a shunting mechanism. Moreover, studies carried out with sgmRNAs containing two alternative AUG codons within a good context for translation reveal differences in AUG selection which are dependent on the cellular context and the phosphorylation state of eIF2α. Thus, initiation at the additional AUG is strictly dependent on active eIF2, whereas the genuine AUG codon can start translation following eIF2α inactivation. Collectively, our results suggest that SINV sgmRNA is translated by a scanning mechanism without the potential participation of crucial eIFs. A model is presented that explains the mechanism of initiation of mRNAs bearing two alternative initiation codonsThis work was supported by a DGICYT (Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain) grant BFU2012-31861. M.G.-M. is holder of a FPI (Formación de Personal Investigador) fellowship. The Institutional Grant awarded to the Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM) by the Fundación Ramón Areces is acknowledge

Fisheries and reproductive biology of Octopus vulgaris (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) in the Gulf of Alicante (Northwestern Mediterranean)

The common octopus Octopus vulgarisCuvier, 1797 is the most fished cephalopod species along the Spanish coasts. Its catches are highly fluctuating due to the short life cycle of the species and to the annual variability of the recruitment pattern, strongly dependent on the environmental conditions affecting the eggs and paralarvae. This study examines the common octopus fishery, the catch composition, and the main features of the reproductive biology of this species in the Gulf of Alicante (Spanish Eastern coast, Western Mediterranean FAO division 37.1.1). The common octopus fishery was studied analysing the monthly landing and effort data by fishing gear from 1994 to 2005. Monthly samplings of the commercial O. vulgarislandings from trawlers and clay pots from January 2004 to December 2005 resulted in the measuring of 1833 specimens to enable analysis of the catch composition, and allowed the biological sampling of 1176 individuals to provide the reproductive parameters of the species in the study area. The length-weight relationship calculated for the species was BW = 0.51 * DML 2.87. The yearly sex ratios (males:females) were 1:1 (trawl, 2004), 1:0.74 (trawl, 2005), and 1:0.88 (clay pots, 2005). The size (dorsal mantle length, DML) at maturity of the species in the study area was 9.67 cm for males and 14.38 cm for females. The gonadosomatic index reached a peak between April and July for males and in July for females. The Fulton condition index was lower in both sexes between June and September, and for males in November-December, whereas for both sexes the values of the digestive gland index were at their maximum between June and December. The energy allocation between somatic and reproductive growth was investigated and the results suggested that the energy spent on reproduction mainly came from feeding, and not from energy stored in the mantle tissues or in the digestive glan

Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) in sport and exercise: Systematic review and future perspectives

Background Bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA) is a general concept that includes all methodologies used in the analysis of the bioelectrical vector, whereas the "classic" BIVA is a patented methodology included among these methods of analysis. Once this was clarified, the systematic review of the literature provides a deeper insight into the scope and range of application of BIVA in sport and exercise. Objective The main goal of this work was to systematically review the sources on the applications of BIVA in sport and exercise and to examine its usefulness and suitability as a technique for the evaluation of body composition, hydration status, and other physiological and clinical relevant characteristics, ultimately to trace future perspectives in this growing area, including a proposal for a research agenda. Methods Systematic literature searches in PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Scopus databases up to July, 2017 were conducted on any empirical investigations using phase-sensitive bioimpedance instruments to perform BIVA within exercise and sport contexts. The search included healthy sedentary individuals, physically active subjects and athletes. Result Nineteen eligible papers were included and classified as sixteen original articles and three scientific conference communications. Three studies analysed short-term variations in the hydration status evoked by exercise/training through whole-body measurements, eleven assessed whole-body body composition changes induced by long-term exercise, four compared athletic groups or populations using the whole-body assessment, and two analysed bioelectrical patterns of athletic injuries or muscle damage through localised bioimpedance measurements. Conclusions BIVA is a relatively new technique that has potential in sport and exercise, especially for the assessment of soft-tissue injury. On the other hand, the current tolerance ellipses of “classic” BIVA are not a valid method to identify dehydration in individual athletes and a new approach is needed. “Specific” BIVA, a method which proposes a correction of bioelectrical values for body geometry, emerges as the key to overcome “classic” BIVA limitations regarding the body composition assessment. Further research establishing standardised testing procedures and investigating the relationship between physiology and the bioelectrical signal in sport and exercise is needed. © 2018 Castizo-Olier et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Scopu

In vitro propagation of cedar (Cedrela odorata L.) from juvenile shoots

Garriga, M (Garriga, Miguel); Caligari, PDS (Caligari, Peter D. S.). Univ Talca, Inst Biol Vegetal & Biotecnol, Talca, ChileCedrela odorata L. is one of the most important timber species currently traded in the Caribbean and Central America; however, it has been intensively exploited. In vitro techniques and clonal propagation can help to develop new plantations and assist in establishing improvement programs for this species. The aim of this study was to develop a protocol to establish in vitro conditions and to micropropagate this species from nodal explants from juvenile cuttings taken from field trees. Disinfection of node explants with 5% propiconazole CE 25 during 3 min resulted in 100% explant disinfection and 60% morphogenic response on those established explants. Shoot development was optimized by cultivating in vitro node explants in Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with 2 mg L(-1) 6-bencilaminopurine and 3 mg L(-1) naphthaleneacetic acid. This medium resulted in 100% shoot development from the in vitro node explants with a 3.93 cm mean height. Rooting was also stimulated 6 wk after individualization of the regenerated plants on the same micropropagation medium with a mean of 3.9 roots per plant. In vitro plants did not show morphologic differences when compared to ex vitro seeds

Artificial intelligence-based software (AID-FOREST) for tree detection: A new framework for fast and accurate forest inventorying using LiDAR point clouds

Forest inventories are essential to accurately estimate different dendrometric and forest stand parameters. However, classical forest inventories are time consuming, slow to conduct, sometimes inaccurate and costly. To address this problem, an efficient alternative approach has been sought and designed that will make this type of field work cheaper, faster, more accurate, and easier to complete. The implementation of this concept has required the development of a specifically designed software called "Artificial Intelligence for Digital Forest (AID-FOREST)", which is able to process point clouds obtained via mobile terrestrial laser scanning (MTLS) and then, to provide an array of multiple useful and accurate dendrometric and forest stand parameters. Singular characteristics of this approach are: No data pre-processing is required either pre-treatment of forest stand; fully automatic process once launched; no limitations by the size of the point cloud file and fast computations.To validate AID-FOREST, results provided by this software were compared against the obtained from in-situ classical forest inventories. To guaranty the soundness and generality of the comparison, different tree spe-cies, plot sizes, and tree densities were measured and analysed. A total of 76 plots (10,887 trees) were selected to conduct both a classic forest inventory reference method and a MTLS (ZEB-HORIZON, Geoslam, ltd.) scanning to obtain point clouds for AID-FOREST processing, known as the MTLS-AIDFOREST method. Thus, we compared the data collected by both methods estimating the average number of trees and diameter at breast height (DBH) for each plot. Moreover, 71 additional individual trees were scanned with MTLS and processed by AID-FOREST and were then felled and divided into logs measuring 1 m in length. This allowed us to accurately measure the DBH, total height, and total volume of the stems.When we compared the results obtained with each methodology, the mean detectability was 97% and ranged from 81.3 to 100%, with a bias (underestimation by MTLS-AIDFOREST method) in the number of trees per plot of 2.8% and a relative root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 9.2%. Species, plot size, and tree density did not significantly affect detectability. However, this parameter was significantly affected by the ecosystem visual complexity index (EVCI). The average DBH per plot was underestimated (but was not significantly different from 0) by the MTLS-AIDFOREST, with the average bias for pooled data being 1.8% with a RMSE of 7.5%. Similarly, there was no statistically significant differences between the two distribution functions of the DBH at the 95.0% confidence level.Regarding the individual tree parameters, MTLS-AIDFOREST underestimated DBH by 0.16 % (RMSE = 5.2 %) and overestimated the stem volume (Vt) by 1.37 % (RMSE = 14.3 %, although the BIAS was not statistically significantly different from 0). However, the MTLS-AIDFOREST method overestimated the total height (Ht) of the trees by a mean 1.33 m (5.1 %; relative RMSE = 11.5 %), because of the different height concepts measured by both methodological approaches. Finally, AID-FOREST required 30 to 66 min per ha-1 to fully automatically process the point cloud data from the *.las file corresponding to a given hectare plot. Thus, applying our MTLS-AIDFOREST methodology to make full forest inventories, required a 57.3 % of the time required to perform classical plot forest inventories (excluding the data postprocessing time in the latter case). A free trial of AID -FOREST can be requested at [email protected]

Investigation of VvMybA1 and VvMybA2 berry color genes in ‘Aglianico’ biotypes

Research Not

Predicting morbidity by local similarities in multi-scale patient trajectories

[EN] Patient Trajectories (PTs) are a method of representing the temporal evolution of patients. They can include information from different sources and be used in socio-medical or clinical domains. PTs have generally been used to generate and study the most common trajectories in, for instance, the development of a disease. On the other hand, healthcare predictive models generally rely on static snapshots of patient information. Only a few works about prediction in healthcare have been found that use PTs, and therefore benefit from their temporal dimension. All of them, however, have used PTs created from single-source information. Therefore, the use of longitudinal multi-scale data to build PTs and use them to obtain predictions about health conditions is yet to be explored. Our hypothesis is that local similarities on small chunks of PTs can identify similar patients concerning their future morbidities. The objectives of this work are (1) to develop a methodology to identify local similarities between PTs before the occurrence of morbidities to predict these on new query individuals; and (2) to validate this methodology on risk prediction of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) occurrence in patients with diabetes. We have proposed a novel formal definition of PTs based on sequences of longitudinal multi-scale data. Moreover, a dynamic programming methodology to identify local alignments on PTs for predicting future morbidities is proposed. Both the proposed methodology for PT definition and the alignment algorithm are generic to be applied on any clinical domain. We validated this solution for predicting CVD in patients with diabetes and we achieved a precision of 0.33, a recall of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.38. Therefore, the proposed solution in the diabetes use case can result of utmost utility to secondary screening.This work was supported by the CrowdHealth project (COLLECTIVE WISDOM DRIVING PUBLIC HEALTH POLICIES (727560)) and the MTS4up project (DPI2016-80054-R).Carrasco-Ribelles, LA.; Pardo-Más, JR.; Tortajada, S.; Sáez Silvestre, C.; Valdivieso, B.; Garcia-Gomez, JM. (2021). Predicting morbidity by local similarities in multi-scale patient trajectories. Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 120:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2021.103837S1912

Star Formation Under the Outflow: The Discovery of a Non-Thermal Jet from OMC-2 FIR 3 and its Relationship to the Deeply Embedded FIR 4 Protostar

We carried out multiwavelength (0.7-5 cm), multiepoch (1994-2015) Very Large Array (VLA) observations toward the region enclosing the bright far-IR sources FIR 3 (HOPS 370) and FIR 4 (HOPS 108) in OMC-2. We report the detection of 10 radio sources, seven of them identified as young stellar objects. We image a well-collimated radio jet with a thermal free-free core (VLA 11) associated with the Class I intermediate-mass protostar HOPS 370. The jet presents several knots (VLA 12N, 12C, 12S) of non-thermal radio emission (likely synchrotron from shock-accelerated relativistic electrons) at distances of ~7,500-12,500 au from the protostar, in a region where other shock tracers have been previously identified. These knots are moving away from the HOPS 370 protostar at ~ 100 km/s. The Class 0 protostar HOPS 108, which itself is detected as an independent, kinematically decoupled radio source, falls in the path of these non-thermal radio knots. These results favor the previously proposed scenario where the formation of HOPS 108 has been triggered by the impact of the HOPS 370 outflow with a dense clump. However, HOPS 108 presents a large proper motion velocity of ~ 30 km/s, similar to that of other runaway stars in Orion, whose origin would be puzzling within this scenario. Alternatively, an apparent proper motion could result because of changes in the position of the centroid of the source due to blending with nearby extended emission, variations in the source shape, and /or opacity effects.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa