207 research outputs found
Reproducció accidental de ropit Erithacus rubecula a l'illa de Mallorca
Incidental breeding of Robin Erithacus rubecula in Mallorca. First breeding report of the Robin, Erithacus rubecula, in the Balearic Islands. This species is considered a migrant and an abundant winter visitor to these islands. Since 2002 it has been observed during the breeding season at an area known as Son Pax in Palma. In 2004 a maximum of two birds was observed between 30th April and 14th September. On 3rd April 2005 two birds hatched the previous year (EURING code 5) were trapped using mist-nets, one of which was developing an incubation patch (Patch code 1)(PINILLA, 2000). On 16th July a juvenile (EURING code 3) with a brownish head and back, brownish-yellow spots and a red breast was observed at the same place. This confirmed successful breeding of this species in Mallorca and probably for the region
Automatic learning framework for pharmaceutical record matching
Pharmaceutical manufacturers need to analyse a vast number of products in their daily activities. Many times, the same product can be registered several times by different systems using different attributes, and these companies require accurate and quality information regarding their products since these products are drugs. The central hypothesis of this research work is that machine learning can be applied to this domain to efficiently merge different data sources and match the records related to the same product. No human is able to do this in a reasonable way because the number of records to be matched is extremely high. This article presents a framework for pharmaceutical record matching based on machine learning techniques in a big data environment. The proposed framework aims to explode the well-known rules for the matching of records from different databases for training machine learning models. Then the trained models are evaluated by predicting matches with records that do not follow these known rules. Finally, the production environment is simulated by generating a huge amount of combinations of records and predicting the matches. The obtained results show that, despite the good results obtained with the training datasets, in the production environment, the average accuracy of the best model is around 85%. That shows that matches which do not follow the known rules can be predicted and, considering that there is not a human way to process this amount of data, the results are promising.This work was supported by the Research Program of the Ministry of Economy and competitiveness, Government of Spain, through the DeepEMR Project, under Grant TIN2017-87548-C2-1-
Black-glazed ware in ancient Caura
En este artículo presentamos el primer estudio realizado sobre cerámica fina de barniz negro procedente de la antigua Caura (Coria del Río, Sevilla, España). La cronología de los materiales abarca un período comprendido entre la segunda mitad del siglo V y el siglo I a.C. Se estudian tanto las importaciones procedentes de Grecia (Ática) e Italia (Campania, Toscana, entorno de Nápoles y Sicilia) como los productos del Mediterráneo occidental.We present in this paper the very first study on black-glazed fine ware from the ancient Caura (Coria Del Río, Seville, Spain). The research object materials chronology goes from the second half of the Vth century to Ist century BC. We analyze the imported wares from Greece (Attica) and Italy (Campania, Tuscany, Naples hinterland and Sicily), and also the western Mediterranean ones
Self-Organization and Information Processing: from Basic Enzymatic Activities to Complex Adaptive Cellular Behavior
One of the main aims of current biology is to understand the origin of the molecular organization that underlies the complex dynamic architecture of cellular life. Here, we present an overview of the main sources of biomolecular order and complexity spanning from the most elementary levels of molecular activity to the emergence of cellular systemic behaviors. First, we have addressed the dissipative self-organization, the principal source of molecular order in the cell. Intensive studies over the last four decades have demonstrated that self-organization is central to understand enzyme activity under cellular conditions, functional coordination between enzymatic reactions, the emergence of dissipative metabolic networks (DMN), and molecular rhythms. The second fundamental source of order is molecular information processing. Studies on effective connectivity based on transfer entropy (TE) have made possible the quantification in bits of biomolecular information flows in DMN. This information processing enables efficient self-regulatory control of metabolism. As a consequence of both main sources of order, systemic functional structures emerge in the cell; in fact, quantitative analyses with DMN have revealed that the basic units of life display a global enzymatic structure that seems to be an essential characteristic of the systemic functional metabolism. This global metabolic structure has been verified experimentally in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Here, we also discuss how the study of systemic DMN, using Artificial Intelligence and advanced tools of Statistic Mechanics, has shown the emergence of Hopfield-like dynamics characterized by exhibiting associative memory. We have recently confirmed this thesis by testing associative conditioning behavior in individual amoeba cells. In these Pavlovian-like experiments, several hundreds of cells could learn new systemic migratory behaviors and remember them over long periods relative to their cell cycle, forgetting them later. Such associative process seems to correspond to an epigenetic memory. The cellular capacity of learning new adaptive systemic behaviors represents a fundamental evolutionary mechanism for cell adaptation.This work was supported by the University of Basque Country UPV/EHU and Basque Center of Applied Mathematics, grant US18/2
Use of BABA and INA As Activators of a Primed State in the Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
To survive in adverse conditions, plants have evolved complex mechanisms that prime their defense system to respond and adapt to stresses. Their competence to respond to such stresses fundamentally depends on its capacity to modulate the transcriptome rapidly and specifically. Thus, chromatin dynamics is a mechanism linked to transcriptional regulation and enhanced defense in plants. For example, in Arabidopsis, priming of the SA-dependent defense pathway is linked to histone lysine methylation. Such modifications could create a memory of the primary infection that is associated with an amplified gene response upon exposure to a second stress-stimulus. In addition, the priming status of a plant for induced resistance can be inherited to its offspring. However, analyses on the molecular mechanisms of generational and transgenerational priming in the common bean (Phaseolus vulagris L.), an economically important crop, are absent.Here, we provide evidence that resistance to P. syringae pv. phaseolicola infection was induced in the common bean with the synthetic priming activators BABA and INA. Resistance was assessed by evaluating symptom appearance, pathogen accumulation, changes in gene expression of defense genes, as well as changes in the H3K4me3 and H3K36me3 marks at the promoter-exon regions of defense-associated genes. We conclude that defense priming in the common bean occurred in response to BABA and INA and that these synthetic activators primed distinct genes for enhanced disease resistance.We hope that an understanding of the molecular changes leading to defense priming and pathogen resistance will provide valuable knowledge for producing disease-resistant crop varieties by exposing parental plants to priming activators, as well as to the development of novel plant protection chemicals that stimulate the plant's inherent disease resistance mechanisms
Preliminary hydrogeological characterization of an evaporite karst area (province of Cordoba, South Spain)
The northern sector of the Subbetic Domain in the Betic Cordillera is formed by an olistostrome unit known as
the Chaotic Subbetic Complex (CSC). This megabreccia is basically made of Triassic (Keuper) clays and evaporites
(gypsum, anhidrite and halite) as well as blocks of other lithologies (limestones, dolostones, sandstones, etc).
Despite that low permeability has been traditionally assumed for these materials, water flow and storage through
them is likely derived of their aquitard behavior, but also because of the highly permeable conduits generated by
dissolution/karstification processes within the evaporite rocks. The geological complexity of the CSC materials
determines their hydrogeological heterogeneity, with groundwater flow systems of different length and various
scales from recharge areas to discharge zones.
Three springs draining the CSC outcrops have been identified around an evaporitic karst plateau located
between the Anzur River (to the North) and the Genil River (to the South), in the province of Cordoba (Spain). Data
logger devices have been installed in two of them, located at the Anzur River (left margin), providing an hourly
record of discharge, electrical conductivity and water temperature. Water samples have been collected fortnightly
for subsequent chemical analysis. After two years of record, the results obtained show that the response of the
springs to rainfall events is completely different between them. One has a clearly karstic behavior, with a rapid
response to recharge whereas the other one is more inertial, and variations in its waters occur in a yearly scale.
This is an evidence of the aforementioned hydrogeological heterogeneity of the CSC.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech
Alterations in Energy Partitioning and Methane Emissions in Murciano-Granadina Goats Fed Orange Leaves and Rice Straw as a Replacement for Beet Pulp and Barley Straw
[EN] Reducing methane emissions in ruminants with the recycling of agro-industrial by-products is of great importance today. Pruning waste from citrus trees is currently burned or incorporated into soil. Regarding rice straw, this waste is traditionally eliminated through controlled burning, releasing into the atmosphere large amounts of greenhouse gases as well. The aim of this study was to convert this recovered waste into a new animal feed capable of reducing methane emissions in ruminants. The interest in use waste by-products for ruminant nutrition is increasing. Therefore, we replace the beet pulp and cereal straw from dry-non-pregnant goats' diet with orange leaves and rice straw with the objective of studying their effect upon intake, digestibility, energy efficiency, carbon and nitrogen balance, and methane emissions.
Considering the huge quantities of crops by-products and pruning waste such as rice straw and citrus leaves produced annually worldwide, and their potential pollution capacity, recycling as feed for livestock is an alternative. The objective was to study these by-products effect on energy balance and methane emissions in 10 Murciano-Granadina goats at maintenance. The control diet (CTR) included barley straw and beet pulp while the experimental diet (ORG) consisted of rice straw and orange leaves. Differences were found for energy intake (248 kJ/kg of BW0.75 greater for CTR than ORG). The intake of metabolizable energy was 199 kJ/kg of BW0.75 lower in ORG than CTR, and the energy efficiency was higher with CTR (0.61) than ORG (0.48). Protein retained in the body was 9 g/goat greater with CTR than ORG, and fat retention in the body was approximately 108 g/goat greater with CTR than ORG. Despite more unfavorable energy balance in response to feeding ORG than CTR, the retention of body energy was always positive. Reductions in CH4 emissions were detected when goats were fed ORG diet (from 22.3 to 20.0 g/d). Overall results suggested that feeding orange leaves and rice straw was effective in reducing CH4 emissions without adversely affecting energy balance.This study was supported by LIFE Project, Spain (ref. LIFE2016/CCM/ES/000088 LOW CARBON FEED).Romero Rueda, T.; Palomares Carrasco, JL.; Moya, V.; Loor, JJ.; Fernández Martínez, CJ. (2021). Alterations in Energy Partitioning and Methane Emissions in Murciano-Granadina Goats Fed Orange Leaves and Rice Straw as a Replacement for Beet Pulp and Barley Straw. Animals. 11(1):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11010038S11411
Los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria: ¿menos es más?
Nos hemos preguntado si los trastornos de la
conducta alimentaria (TCA) son un fenómeno
exclusivo de las sociedades occidentales,
de reciente aparición, producido o alentado
por los medios de comunicación de masas (MM) y,
si es así, cuáles han podido ser los cambios experimentados
en los valores de nuestras sociedades que han alentado el auge de estas patologías a lo
largo del siglo XX. Concluimos que conductas
semejantes a lo que hoy identificamos como TCA
(AN y BN), han existido desde la antigüedad.
Probablemente desde la incorporación del cristianismo
a la historia de la civilización occidental,
previa impregnación de éste de valores religiosos
orientales que establecían una separación cuerpo-alma
o materia-espíritu. En culturas alejadas de la
occidental, los TCA virtualmente no han existido y
sólo aparecen tras la incorporación de los valores
del occidente desarrollado a la mismas. Los MM
influyen poderosamente en la vivencia de la imagen
propia que tienen las personas, particularmente
las mujeres. La universalización del prototipo de
mujer alta y delgada, conduce a una distorsión de
la propia imagen corporal que predispone a la sicopatología.
El cambio de lo que tradicionalmente se
consideró riqueza y valor social acontecido a finales
del s. XIX y comienzos del XX, junto a la
incorporación de la mujer al mundo del trabajo en
las ciudades, coinciden paso a paso con lo que, respecto
a la estética, se dio en llamar el estilo moderno
y el de la nueva mujer; "menos es más" es el
lema. La anorexia y la bulimia son consecuencia
lógica de la norma imperante.We have wondered if the disorders of the
alimentary conduct (DAC) are an exclusive
and recent phenomenon of the
Western societies, produced or encouraged by the
mass media (MM) and, if it is so, who they could
have been the changes experienced in the ethical
values of our societies that have encouraged the
peak of these pathologies along the 20th century.
We concluded that conducts similar to what we
today identified like DAC (anorexia nervosa
and/or bulimia), they have existed from the antiquity.
Probably from the incorporation of the
Christianity to the history of the Western civilization,
previous influence of this of eastern religious values that established a separation body-soul or
matter-spirit. In cultures with their views are far
apart from the Westerner, the DAC they virtually
have not existed and they only appear after the
incorporation of the ethical values of the occident
developed to the same. The MM influences mightily
in the experience of the own image that has the
people, particularly the women. The universality
of the prototype of high and thin woman, it lead to
a distortion of the own corporal image that predisposes
to the mental disorder. The change of what it
traditionally was considered wealth and social
value happened to end of the 19th century and
beginnings of the 20th century, next to the incorporation
of women into the workforce in the cities,
they coincide step to step with what, concerning
the aesthetics, it occurred in calling the modern
style and that of the new woman; "less is more" it
is the leitmotiv. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are
logical consequence of the prevaling norm
Use of orange leaves as a replacement for alfalfa in energy and nitrogen partitioning, methane emissions and milk performance of murciano-granadina goats
[EN] The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of substituting alfalfa with orange leaves on energy, nitrogen and carbon balance, methane emission, and milk performance in dairy goats. Ten Murciano-Granadina dairy goats in mid lactation (43.5 +/- 3.59 kg of body weight [BW]) were selected in a crossover design experiment, where each goat received two treatments in 2 periods. One group of five goats was fed a mixed ration with 450 g of pelleted alfalfa and 550 g of pelleted concentrate/kg of dry matter (ALF diet), and the other diet replaced alfalfa with orange leaves (ORG diet). Inclusion of ORG than ALF diet reduced (P = 0.041) dry matter intake. The metabolizable energy intake was identical between treatments (901 kJ/kg of BW0.75, on average) and, the efficiency of metabolizable energy for milk production was 0.73. Retention of energy was lower (P = 0.001) in ORG diet than ALF diet. Carbon and nitrogen intake (P = 0.022 and P = 0.004, respectively) was greater for diet ALF than ORG, with no differences in milk carbon and nitrogen. The ORG diet reduced (P = 0.037) milk fat 3 g/kg, and CH4 (P = 0.001) 6 g/d. One of the milk fatty acids positively correlated with CH4 production was C16:0; it was greater (P < 0.05) in ALF than ORG diet. When CH4 was expressed over OM digestibility and milk basis, differences were preserved. Results suggest that orange leaves are effective in reducing CH4 emission without detrimental effect on nutrients balance and milk yield.This study was supported by HELIOTEC S.L., La Vall d'Uixo, Castellon de la Plana, Valencia, Spain, though LIFE Ecocitric Project and, LIFE2016/CCM/ES/000088 LOW CARBON FEED.Fernández Martínez, CJ.; Pérez Baena, I.; Martí Vicent, JV.; Palomares Carrasco, JL.; Jorro-Ripoll, J.; Segarra, J. (2019). Use of orange leaves as a replacement for alfalfa in energy and nitrogen partitioning, methane emissions and milk performance of murciano-granadina goats. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 247:103-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2018.11.008S10311124
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