Distribución horizontal de las larvas de invertebrados alrededor de la isla oceánica de Gran Canaria: Efecto de la variabilidad de mesoescala

11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table.-- Published online 21 April 2009.[EN] In October 1991, the horizontal distribution of invertebrate larvae was studied in the waters surrounding the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands). The cruise was typified by the presence of three recurrent mesoscale hydrographic structures: a cyclonic eddy southwest of the island, a warm lee region downstream of the island and the offshore boundary of an upwelling filament from the African coast reaching the southeast of the island. Decapod larvae were the most abundant group. In general, a rather high spatial variability was found. The horizontal distribution of the invertebrate larvae groups showed that the highest values of abundance occurred in an elongated zone around the island oriented in the overall direction of flow, leeward and windward of the island, while the lowest values occurred off the eastern and western flanks of the islands. On the other hand, Stomatopoda and Mollusca larvae showed a distribution associated with the boundary of the upwelling filament and decapod larvae of pelagic species were distributed around the eddy structure. Our results suggest specific retention mechanisms for the larvae of neritic invertebrate populations that are related to the particular physical oceanography around Gran Canaria.[ES] Se estudió la distribución horizontal de las larvas de invertebrados alrededor de la isla de Gran Canaria (Islas Canarias) en octubre de 1991. La campaña se caracterizó por la presencia de tres fenómenos oceanográficos de mesoescala recurrentes: un remolino ciclónico al suroeste de la isla, la estela cálida a sotavento de la misma y el borde de un filamento proveniente del afloramiento africano situado al sureste de Gran Canaria. Las larvas de crustáceos decápodos fueron las más abundantes. En general, las larvas de los diferentes taxa estudiados mostraron una gran variabilidad en cuanto a su distribución espacial. La distribución horizontal de las larvas de los diferentes grupos de invertebrados mostró que las densidades más altas se registraban alrededor de la isla en la banda cercana y orientada hacia el suroeste, en la dirección del flujo, mientras que los valores más bajos se encontraron en el norte y en los flancos este y oeste de la isla. Por otro lado, las larvas de estomatópodos y moluscos presentaron una distribución asociada al frente del filamento, mientras que las larvas de decápodos pelágicos se distribuyeron en torno al remolino ciclónico. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren la existencia de mecanismos de retención específicos para el mantenimiento de las poblaciones insulares, relacionados con los procesos físicos de mesoescala predominantes.This work was funded by the MAST 0031 project of the European Union and the ConAfrica project (CICYT, CTM2004-02319) of the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. JML was supported by a postgraduate grant (BES-2005-10960) from the European Social Fund.Peer reviewe

Supporting New Ways of Interaction in Cultural Environments

Non

Native plants from Argentina reported as effective against Leishmania spp.

Leishmaniasis represents a spectrum of diseases caused by infection with protozoan pathogens of the genus Leishmania. It is a major neglected tropical disease associated with high rates of disability and death, with extended endemic areas in the Americas. Despite current therapeutic approaches, current treatments for leishmaniasis are unsatisfactory due to high associated toxicity, cost, complex administration and the emergence of resistant strains. Because of this, efforts have greatly increased over the last decade to identify novel compounds with anti-leishmanial properties. Thus, one strategy in the search for new compounds is the screening of molecules purified from plant sources. The current work reviewed the available information about the Argentinean natural sources reported as effective against Leishmania spp; including: its relevant chemical compounds, efficiency and applied methodology. Reported studies need to be considered as precursors works to extend the search between the profuse native plants from Argentina.Fil: Lozano, Esteban Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Fisiología; ArgentinaFil: Hapon, María Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo. ; ArgentinaFil: Cargnelutti, D. E.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo. ; ArgentinaFil: Gamarra Luques, Carlos Diego. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentin

Non BPS noncommutative vortices

We construct exact vortex solutions to the equations of motion of the Abelian Higgs model defined in non commutative space, analyzing in detail the properties of these solutions beyond the BPS point. We show that our solutions behave as smooth deformations of vortices in ordinary space time except for parity symmetry breaking effects induced by the non commutative parameter $\theta$.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Automatic detection of falls and fainting

Healthcare environments have always been considered an important scenario in which to apply new technologies to improve residents and employees conditions, solve problems and facilitate the performance of tasks. In this way, the use of sensors based on user movement interaction allows solving complicated situations that should be immediately addressed, such as controlling falls and fainting spells in residential care homes. However, ensuring that all the residents are always visually controlled by at least one employee is quite complicated. In this paper, we present a ubiquitous and context-aware system focused on geriatrics and residential care homes, but it could be applied to any other healthcare centre. This system has been designed to automatically detect falls and fainting spells, alerting the most appropriate employees to address the emergency. To that end, the system is based on movement interaction through a set of Kinect devices that allows the identification of the position of a person. These devices imply some development problems that authors have had to deal with, including camera location, the detection of head movements and people in horizontal position. The proposed system allows controlling each resident posture through a notification and warning procedure. When an anomalous situation is detected, the system analyses the resident posture and, if necessary, the most adequate employee will be warned to react urgently. Ubiquity and context-awareness are essential features since the proposed system has to be able to know where any employee is and what they are doing at any time. Finally, we present the outcomes of an evaluation based on the ISO 9126-4 about the usability of the system.We would like to acknowledge the project CICYT TIN2011-27767-C02-01 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the Regional Goverment: Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha PPII10-0300-4174 and PII2C09-0185-1030 projects for partially funding this work

Formación en psicología para entrenadores de fútbol : una propuesta metodológica

En este trabajo se presenta una metodología específica para la formación en psicología de entrenadores de fútbol. Se propone la utilización de técnicas de la dinámica de grupos, agrupando a los entrenadores por grupos homogéneos, utilizando como criterio fundamental la pertenencia de éstos a un mismo club deportivo. Se presentan algunas de las técnicas utilizadas (torbellino de ideas, trabajo individual, trabajos en pequenos grupos, exposiciones y debates, etc.), sí como los contenidos de las sesiones formativas: variables psicológicas implicadas en el rendimiento deportivo de los futbolistas (en entrenamiento y competición) y variables psicológicas del entrenador para optimizar su competencia profesional. Finalmente, se presenta la valoración realizada por los entrenadores respecto a la sesiones formativas.This work presents a specific methodology to form football coaches in psychology. It's proposed the use of techniques of group dynamics, gathering the coaches into «homogeneous groups», considering as an essential criterion they belong to the same sport club. Some of the used techniques are presented (brainstorming, individual work, small groups work, expositions and discussions, etc.), as well as the contents of the formative sessions: psychological variables of football players influencing in sport performance (in training and competition) and psychological variables of the coach to improve his professional competence. Finally, it's presented the valuation done by the coaches respected to the formative sessions

Zinc-binding properties of Junín virus nucleocapsid protein

The arenavirus nucleocapsid protein (N) is a highly basic 63 kDa protein with a dual function during the virus life-cycle. First, it is involved in essential steps of genome replication, promoting the synthesis of the full-length antigenomic copy of S RNA, and second it associates with the genomic RNA to form the nucleocapsid. We have expressed the N protein of Junín virus in E. coli and shown that it binds zinc in vitro. This property is in agreement with the presence in the carboxy-terminal region of the N protein of the CX2HX23CX4C sequence, which resembles a classical zinc-finger motif. The specificity for zinc binding was demonstrated by competition with other divalent metal ions. The ability of the predicted motif to bind zinc was established by analysis of a series of N mutants, including truncated variants and amino acid substitutions. In addition, alternative zinc-binding sites were found.Instituto de Biotecnologia y Biologia Molecula