Medición del ritmo mediante la sincronía. Propuesta de una batería de tests

En el presente estudio, proponemos una batería de pruebas que permite analizar de una manera específica y objetiva las diferentes capacidades implícitas en la sincronización motora de un sujeto ante diferentes estímulos auditivos rítmicos. La aplicación de la batería de pruebas nos permitirá medir: El compás o tempo espontáneo, la capacidad de percepción de las estructuras rítmicas, la capacidad de aprehensión o memoria inmediata de estructuras rítmicas, la capacidad de anticipación y sincronización con estructuras rítmicas y la capacidad psicomotora para controlar las respuestas. La validación del test es teórica y se basa en una revisión sobre tests ya probados de medida del ritmo a los que se le añaden otros, destinados a cubrir aspectos relevantes en la ejecución rítmica. La finalidad del estudio es conocer si las pruebas propuestas pueden ser útiles para evaluar la capacidad rítmica de los sujetos y predecir un mejor resultado en actividades donde el ritmo es un factor determinante: música, danza, gimnasia rítmica y artística, etc. La batería de pruebas se ha diseñado mediante un programa informático, siendo necesaria la utilización de un ordenador personal y un pulsador táctil también diseñado para el estudio

Institutions and Economics of Water Scarcity and Droughts

Integrated water resources management seeks an efficient blend of all water resources (e.g., fresh surface water, groundwater, reused water, desalinated water) to meet the demands of the full range of water users (e.g., agriculture, municipalities, industry, and e-flows). Water scarcity and droughts already affect many regions of the world and are expected to increase due to climate change and economic growth. In this Special Issue, 10 peer-reviewed articles have been published that address the questions regarding the economic effects of water scarcity and droughts, management instruments, such as water pricing, water markets, technologies and user-based reallocation, and the strategies to enhance resiliency, adaptation to scarcity and droughts. There is a need to improve the operation of institutions in charge of the allocation and re-allocation of resources when temporal (drought) or structural over-allocation arises. Water scarcity, droughts and pollution have increased notably in recent decades. A drought is a temporary climatic effect or natural disaster that can occur anywhere and can be short or prolonged. Water scarcity involves a lack of supply relative to potential or current demand that generates conflict between alternative uses of water, especially regarding the requirements of societies, economic sectors, territories and ecosystems. Traditionally, users in water-scarce regions have adapted to dealing with water shortages; however, droughts can greatly increase problems since they are uncertain events and also affect water-abundant regions, with climate change increasing their frequency and severity [1]. Supply-side mechanisms have traditionally been employed to cope with drought by building infrastructure (wells, dams, channels, inter-basin transfers), and recently by including desalinised, brackish, and reclaimed wastewater into the resource mix. Berbel and Esteban [2] study the influence of drought as a catalyst for water policy reform in three developed economies with a Mediterranean climate (Spain, California and Australia), and find that solutions and institutions are trajectory-dependant and grounded in social institutions. Nevertheless, there is a convergence of the type of instruments employed to manage water scarcity and droughts. In this Special Issue, the reported case studies recount experiences from USA, China, and the European Union (southern Member States). A variety of proposals aimed at tackling droughts and scarcity have been discussed, ranging from economic tools (pricing and insurance) and the increased use of reclaimed wastewater, to reforming the institutional setting (water markets and priority rights). Most of these papers analyses economic instruments and agriculture, but other economic sectors as well as non-market values are also addressed

Factores de variabilidad del lanzamiento en salto en balonmano por efecto de la oposición

Se han analizado las variables biomecánicas que determinan la eficacia de un gesto técnico como es el lanzamiento en salto a distancia en balonmano realizado sin y con oposición defensiva. El propósito del trabajo es estudiar los factores de variabilidad por efecto de la oposición. Para el desarrollo de este trabajo se han utilizado las técnicas fotogramétricas tridimensionales (3D). El aspecto más relevante que se desprende de los resultados expuestos es la falta de significación estadística entre todos los factores causales cuando se comparan las dos situaciones experimentales propuestas (sin y con oposición)

Benefits of vibration training in the neuromuscular system of the elderly

Introducción: El entrenamiento vibratorio puede ser una opción de intervención óptima para prevenir la pérdida de masa muscular en adultos mayores. Objetivo: Comprobar la efectividad del entrenamiento vibratorio en el sistema neuromuscular de los adultos mayores. Material y método: Revisión bibliográfica en las bases de datos Medline, CINAHL, WOS y PEDro, mediante la combinación de los descriptores del Medical Subjects Headings referentes a entrenamiento vibratorio, fuerza muscular, masa muscular y personas mayores. Resultados: Los estudios localizados sobre el entrenamiento vibratorio en personas mayores se realizaron, bien como única intervención, o en combinación con otro tipo de ejercicios de fuerza, aeróbicos, de equilibrio o de flexibilidad. La diversidad de protocolos empleados dificulta una comparación entre estudios. Conclusión: El entrenamiento con plataformas vibratorias demuestra ser un método de entrenamiento de la fuerza seguro, adecuado y eficaz para la población de mayor edad, pero con resultados similares al ejercicio de resistencia convencional

Quantification of prebiotics in commercial infant formulas

Since breastfeeding is not always possible, infant formulas (IFs) are supplemented with prebiotic oligosaccharides, such as galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and/or fructooligosaccharides (FOS) to exert similar effects to those of the breast milk. Nowadays, a great number of infant formulas enriched with prebiotics are disposal in the market, however there are scarce data about their composition. In this study, the combined use of two chromatographic methods (GC-FID and HPLC-RID) for the quantification of carbohydrates present in commercial infant formulas have been used. According to the results obtained by GC-FID for products containing prebiotics, the content of FOS, GOS and GOS/FOS was in the ranges of 1.6-5.0, 1.7-3.2, and 0.08-0.25/2.3-3.8 g/100 g of product, respectively. HPLC-RID analysis allowed quantification of maltodextrins with degree of polymerization (DP) up to 19. The methodology proposed here may be used for routine quality control of infant formula and other food ingredients containing prebiotics.This work has been supported by projects AGL2011-27884 and AGL2014-58205-REDC from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; ALIBIRD-CM S-2013/ABI-272 (Comunidad de Madrid).Peer Reviewe

Retos y oportunidades de la implantación de los bancos de agua en España

Con el fin de conseguir una buena gobernanza del agua, que trate de alcanzar un equilibrio entre los objetivos de eficiencia económica y sostenibilidad ambiental, durante las últimas décadas se ha potenciado el uso de instrumentos económicos para una mejor gestión de la demanda de los recursos hídricos, dada la dificultad de seguir aumentando la oferta de los mismos. En este contexto, este trabajo se centra en los bancos de agua como mecanismo de mercado que aporta la necesaria flexibilidad institucional en la asignación de los recursos hídricos entre los diferentes usuarios. La investigación realizada en este sentido ha permitido desarrollar una tipología de los bancos de agua que actualmente operan a nivel mundial en base a sus características operativas. Esta caracterización ha permitido igualmente realizar un análisis crítico de las experiencias de bancos de agua implementadas hasta la fecha, con el fin poder valorar el desempeño de este instrumento económico para la mejora de la gestión pública del agua. La investigación llevada a cabo revela que los bancos de agua son un instrumento útil para la gestión de los recursos hídricos, aportando sugerencias para la mejora de su implementación operativa en España mediante la correspondiente reforma de la Ley de Aguas.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) AGL2013-48080-C2-1-RFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) AGL2013-48080-C2-1-

Retrospective distribution of Trypanosoma cruzi I genotypes in Colombia

Trypanosoma cruzi is the aetiological agent of Chagas disease, which affects approximately eight million people in the Americas. This parasite exhibits genetic variability, with at least six discrete typing units broadly distributed in the American continent. T. cruzi I (TcI) shows remarkable genetic diversity; a genotype linked to human infections and a domestic cycle of transmission have recently been identified, hence, this strain was named TcIDom. The aim of this work was to describe the spatiotemporal distribution of TcI subpopulations across humans, insect vectors and mammalian reservoirs in Colombia by means of molecular typing targeting the spliced leader intergenic region of mini-exon gene. We analysed 101 TcI isolates and observed a distribution of sylvatic TcI in 70% and TcIDom in 30%. In humans, the ratio was sylvatic TcI in 60% and TcIDom in 40%. In mammal reservoirs, the distribution corresponded to sylvatic TcI in 96% and TcIDom in 4%. Among insect vectors, sylvatic TcI was observed in 48% and TcIDom in 52%. In conclusion, the circulation of TcIDom is emerging in Colombia and this genotype is still adapting to the domestic cycle of transmission. The epidemiological and clinical implications of these findings are discussed herein. © 2015, Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz. All rights reserved

Priority water rights. Are they useful for improving water-use efficiency at the irrigation district level?

This paper examines the effectiveness of reforming water rights regimes in the agricultural sector by replacing allocation procedures based on the proportional rule with the implementation of a priority rule that establishes security-differentiated water rights. The main objective is to assess whether this change improves the economic efficiency of water allocation at the irrigation district level, particularly during cyclical scarcity events. To this end, a Positive Mathematical Programming model is built to simulate the performance of the proposed reform in an irrigation district in southern Spain. The results show that the efficiency gains brought about by this change are very small, which casts doubt on its ability to improve water-use efficiency in the agricultural sector at the local level (i.e., irrigation district) under current local climate and water availability conditions. In any case, further research is needed to assess the suitability of this change in allocations rules at basin scale with greater farm heterogeneity, especially given the likelihood of more frequent, more intense droughts due to climate change

Nested Biogeochemical Interactions in Seagrass Ecosystems

Seagrass meadows are globally distributed coastal ecosystems that engineer complex habitats for a plethora of lifeforms colonizing the plant surfaces and the sediment. These lifeforms are not limited to multicellular life: microbial communities are found associated to both the plant and the faunal community at several degrees of metabolic integration, creating with their hosts more complex forms of individuality called holobionts or metaorganisms. The currency of these “trades” is often the exchange of nutrients or an enhanced access to basal resources that otherwise would limit ecosystem diversity and functioning. Thus, seagrass meadows are not only habitat-forming (autogenic) ecosystem engineers, but also allogenic ecosystem engineers that modify the biophysical environment. Of primary importance among seagrass- associated animals are macroinvertebrates, which link benthic primary production to higher-level consumers. However, little research to date has been conducted to study plant-invertebrate microbe associations in seagrass meadows and their role in biogeochemical cycling of key nutrients, such as carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Therefore, in chapter 1 of my thesis I summarize the state of the art on invertebrate-microbe associations as biogeochemical engineers in seagrass sediments. Further, to explore our current collective knowledge on potentially relevant but neglected plant-invertebrate-microbe associations, I build a bipartite network of associations consisting in marine invertebrate genera from seagrass ecosystems and microbe taxa from the NCBI database. This analysis provides a snapshot of the diversity of invertebrate-microbe associations from Mediterranean seagrass ecosystems, showing how microbial taxa can be key links connecting diverse invertebrate bioturbation habits and clear clustering depending on the benthic position of epifauna vs infauna. Deciphering microbial communities associated with seagrasses is paramount not only for the study of their biodiversity, but also for any prospective management and conservation plan facing climate change. As I uncover in chapter 2, the phyllosphere microbial community structure of P. oceanica naturally growing within CO2 vents of Ischia (Italy) is largely unaffected by the reduced pH mimicking future ocean acidification (OA). Conversely, key nitrogen transformation rates accelerated, with particularly high rates of N2 fixation but also increases in potential nitrification, denitrification and anammox, highlighting that plasticity of the P. oceanica microbiome may be key to the resilience of these ecosystems to OA. I build upon these multipartite interactions under environmental stress in chapter 3. Using mesocosms, we tested the facultative mutualism between the chemosymbiotic lucinid clam Loripes orbiculatus and the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa on sediments from a highly polluted area, and found that the interaction between clams and plants benefitted both organisms and promoted plant growth irrespective of the sediment type. In particular, C. nodosa had higher leaf growth, leaf surface, and leaf biomass when associated with the clams, consolidating the notion that nested plant-invertebrate-microbe associations promote ecosystem functioning. Chapter 4 delves into a different and less explored plant-invertebrate microbe association, that between the cyanosponge Chondrilla nucula and the seagrass P. oceanica. Commonly growing on hard substrates, C. nucula in the area of Bacoli (Italy) is found as epibiont of P. oceanica surrounding the upper portion of the rhizome. I argue that this association can be described as a facultative mutualism by i) quantifying the benthic distribution of the sponge within the seagrass meadow, verifying mutual (spatial) dependence, and ii) by quantifying net fluxes of organic and inorganic nutrients in incubations with the sponge and the plant (alone or in association), which indicate that the plant and the sponge holobionts may benefit from each other’s metabolism. This thesis provides novel insights into the field of symbiosis research using a holistic approach spanning from ecology to biogeochemistry and microbiology, yielding results of potential interest for innovative seagrass conservation and restoration protocols