Productive Grasslands – The Role of Adapted Species to Increase Ecosystems Resilience

Producers are interested in diversifying grazing systems with native warm-season grasses. Climate variations may result in extreme weather events. For instance, recent studies show strong evidence pointing to an increasing frequency of flooding in the central US, due to changes in both seasonal rainfall and temperature across this region. In a constantly changing climate, adapted species play a crucial role in increasing ecosystems resilience and resistance to extreme weather events. Native grasses may be well adapted to the future changes on climatic conditions, with wide ecological amplitude and resistance under different conditions. Use of adapted warm season grasses, associated with appropriate management practices may enhance pasture ecosystem resilience, and ultimately productivity

Teaching mathematics at distance: A challenge for universities

The focus of this research is how Sicilian state university mathematics professors faced the challenge of teaching via distance education during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic entered our lives suddenly, the professors found themselves having to lecture using an e-learning platform that they had never used before, and for which they could not receive training due to the health emergency. In addition to the emotional aspects related to the particular situation of the pandemic, there are two aspects to consider when teaching mathematics at a distance. The first is related to the fact that at university level, lecturers generally teach mathematics in a formal way, using many symbols and formulas that they are used to writing. The second aspect is that the way mathematics is taught is also related to the students to whom the teaching is addressed. In fact, not only online, but also in face-to-face modality, the teaching of mathematics to students on the mathematics degree course involves a different approach to lessons (as well as to the choice of topics to explain) than teaching mathematics in another degree course. In order to investigate how the Sicilian State university mathematics professors taught mathematics at distance, a questionnaire was prepared and administered one month after the beginning of the lockdown in Italy. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were made, which allowed us to observe the way that university professors have adapted to the new teaching modality: they started to appropriate new artifacts (writing tablets, mathematical software, e-learning platform) to replicate their face-to-face teaching modality, mostly maintaining their blackboard teacher status. Their answers also reveal their beliefs related to teaching mathematics at university level, noting what has been an advantageous or disadvantageous for them in distance teaching

Implementación de codificación diagnostica basado en SNOMED-CT Swiss Medical Group Argentina

La codificación de diagnósticos se viene desarrollando hace varios años para las causas de muertes, enfermedades y actos clínicos, en seguimiento por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, usándose el CIE 10, Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades Versión 10. Siendo necesario para fines tanto estadísticos o científicos tener un adecuado sistema de codificación, para poder fácilmente interpretar e identificar diferentes situaciones y acciones médicas, sin necesidad de recurrir al texto libre.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Implementación de codificación diagnostica basado en SNOMED-CT Swiss Medical Group Argentina

La codificación de diagnósticos se viene desarrollando hace varios años para las causas de muertes, enfermedades y actos clínicos, en seguimiento por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, usándose el CIE 10, Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades Versión 10. Siendo necesario para fines tanto estadísticos o científicos tener un adecuado sistema de codificación, para poder fácilmente interpretar e identificar diferentes situaciones y acciones médicas, sin necesidad de recurrir al texto libre.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Implementación de codificación diagnostica basado en SNOMED-CT Swiss Medical Group Argentina

La codificación de diagnósticos se viene desarrollando hace varios años para las causas de muertes, enfermedades y actos clínicos, en seguimiento por la Organización Mundial de la Salud, usándose el CIE 10, Clasificación Internacional de Enfermedades Versión 10. Siendo necesario para fines tanto estadísticos o científicos tener un adecuado sistema de codificación, para poder fácilmente interpretar e identificar diferentes situaciones y acciones médicas, sin necesidad de recurrir al texto libre.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

The impact of pericardial approach and myocardial protection onto postoperative right ventricle function reduction

Background The reduction of RV function after cardiac surgery is a well-known phenomenon. It could persist up-to one year after the operation and often leads to an incomplete recovery at follow-up echocardiographic control. The aim of the present study is to analyze the impact of different modalities of pericardial incision (lateral versus anterior) and of myocardial protection protocols (Buckberg versus Custodiol) onto postoperative RV dynamic by relating two- and three-dimensional echocardiographic parameters in patients undergoing mitral valve repair through minimally invasive or traditional surgery approach. Methods We have analyzed 44 consecutive patients with severe degenerative mitral regurgitation who underwent mitral reparation with different surgical approach and cardioplegia type: Group 1 (17 pts): sternotomy with Buckberg cardioplegia protocol; Group 2 (10 pts): sternotomy with Custodiol cardioplegia; Group 3 (17 pts): mini-invasive surgery with Custodiol cardioplegia. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography was performed pre- and 6 months post-surgery to evaluate RV function by tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE). Results All patients underwent successful and uneventful. A postoperative TAPSE reduction was found in all groups. However, mini-invasive patients experienced a significant reduced variation versus traditional surgery. Conclusions Mini-invasive mitral repair, with lateral incision of pericardium, reduces postoperative TAPSE fall, while cardioplegia protocol fails to have an impact onto longitudinal RV function. In our study, the RV seems to experience a clinically irrelevant geometrical modification too, whose entity appears to be less evident in case of lateral pericardial approach. These results could strengthen the use of minimally invasive approach also to preserve RV function

PMCA-Based Detection of Prions in the Olfactory Mucosa of Patients With Sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by the conformational conversion of the prion protein (PrPC) into an abnormally folded form, named prion (or PrPSc). The combination of the polymorphism at codon 129 of the PrP gene (coding either methionine or valine) with the biochemical feature of the proteinase-K resistant PrP (generating either PrPSc type 1 or 2) gives rise to different PrPSc strains, which cause variable phenotypes of sCJD. The definitive diagnosis of sCJD and its classification can be achieved only post-mortem after PrPSc identification and characterization in the brain. By exploiting the Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC) assay, traces of PrPSc were found in the olfactory mucosa (OM) of sCJD patients, thus demonstrating that PrPSc is not confined to the brain. Here, we have optimized another technique, named protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) for detecting PrPSc in OM samples of sCJD patients. OM samples were collected from 27 sCJD and 2 genetic CJD patients (E200K). Samples from 34 patients with other neurodegenerative disorders were included as controls. Brains were collected from 26 sCJD patients and 16 of them underwent OM collection. Brain and OM samples were subjected to PMCA using the brains of transgenic mice expressing human PrPC with methionine at codon 129 as reaction substrates. The amplified products were analyzed by Western blot after proteinase K digestion. Quantitative PMCA was performed to estimate PrPSc concentration in OM. PMCA enabled the detection of prions in OM samples with 79.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Except for a few cases, a predominant type 1 PrPSc was generated, regardless of the tissues analyzed. Notably, all amplified PrPSc were less resistant to PK compared to the original strain. In conclusion, although the optimized PMCA did not consent to recognize sCJD subtypes from the analysis of OM collected from living patients, it enabled us to estimate for the first time the amount of prions accumulating in this biological tissue. Further assay optimizations are needed to faithfully amplify peripheral prions whose recognition could lead to a better diagnosis and selection of patients for future clinical trials

Brain hemodynamic intermediate phenotype links Vitamin B12 to cognitive profile of healthy and mild cognitive impaired subjects

Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine are implicated in pivotal neurodegenerative mechanisms and partake in elders' mental decline. Findings on the association between vitamin-related biochemistry and cognitive abilities suggest that the structural and functional properties of the brain may represent an intermediate biomarker linking vitamin concentrations to cognition. Despite this, no previous study directly investigated whether vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine levels are sufficient to explain individual neuropsychological profiles or, alternatively, whether the activity of brain regions modulated by these compounds better predicts cognition in elders. Here, we measured the relationship between vitamin blood concentrations, scores at seventeen neuropsychological tests, and brain activity of sixty-five elders spanning from normal to Mild Cognitive Impairment. We then evaluated whether task-related brain responses represent an intermediate phenotype, providing a better prediction of subjects' neuropsychological scores, as compared to the one obtained considering blood biochemistry only. We found that the hemodynamic activity of the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was positively associated (p value < 0 05 cluster corrected) with vitamin B12 concentrations, suggesting that elders with higher B12 levels had a more pronounced recruitment of this salience network region. Crucially, the activity of this area significantly predicted subjects' visual search and attention abilities (p value = 0 0023), whereas B12 levels per se failed to do so. Our results demonstrate that the relationship between blood biochemistry and elders' cognitive abilities is revealed when brain activity is included into the equation, thus highlighting the role of brain imaging as intermediate phenotype.Vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine are implicated in pivotal neurodegenerative mechanisms and partake in elders' mental decline. Findings on the association between vitamin-related biochemistry and cognitive abilities suggest that the structural and functional properties of the brain may represent an intermediate biomarker linking vitamin concentrations to cognition. Despite this, no previous study directly investigated whether vitamin B12, folate, and homocysteine levels are sufficient to explain individual neuropsychological profiles or, alternatively, whether the activity of brain regions modulated by these compounds better predicts cognition in elders. Here, we measured the relationship between vitamin blood concentrations, scores at seventeen neuropsychological tests, and brain activity of sixty-five elders spanning from normal to Mild Cognitive Impairment. We then evaluated whether task-related brain responses represent an intermediate phenotype, providing a better prediction of subjects' neuropsychological scores, as compared to the one obtained considering blood biochemistry only. We found that the hemodynamic activity of the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was positively associated (p value < 0 05 cluster corrected) with vitamin B12 concentrations, suggesting that elders with higher B12 levels had a more pronounced recruitment of this salience network region. Crucially, the activity of this area significantly predicted subjects' visual search and attention abilities (p value = 0 0023), whereas B12 levels per se failed to do so. Our results demonstrate that the relationship between blood biochemistry and elders' cognitive abilities is revealed when brain activity is included into the equation, thus highlighting the role of brain imaging as intermediate phenotype

Physical properties of Centaur (60558) 174P/Echeclus from stellar occultations

The Centaur (60558) Echeclus was discovered on March 03, 2000, orbiting between the orbits of Jupiter and Uranus. After exhibiting frequent outbursts, it also received a comet designation, 174P. If the ejected material can be a source of debris to form additional structures, studying the surroundings of an active body like Echeclus can provide clues about the formation scenarios of rings, jets, or dusty shells around small bodies. Stellar occultation is a handy technique for this kind of investigation, as it can, from Earth-based observations, detect small structures with low opacity around these objects. Stellar occultation by Echeclus was predicted and observed in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We obtain upper detection limits of rings with widths larger than 0.5 km and optical depth of $\tau$ = 0.02. These values are smaller than those of Chariklo's main ring; in other words, a Chariklo-like ring would have been detected. The occultation observed in 2020 provided two positive chords used to derive the triaxial dimensions of Echeclus based on a 3D model and pole orientation available in the literature. We obtained $a = 37.0\pm0.6$ km, $b = 28.4 \pm 0.5$ km, and $c= 24.9 \pm 0.4$ km, resulting in an area-equivalent radius of $30.0 \pm 0.5$ km. Using the projected limb at the occultation epoch and the available absolute magnitude ($\rm{H}_{\rm{v}} = 9.971 \pm 0.031$), we calculate an albedo of $p_{\rm{v}} = 0.050 \pm 0.003$. Constraints on the object's density and internal friction are also proposed.Comment: Corrected and typeset versio