Correlation of prostatic artery blood flow assessed by doppler ultrasonography with semen characteristics in beagle dogs

Pulsed-wave Doppler ultrasonography (PwD) is a method used to rapidly and noninvasively assess blood flow dynamics of the canine prostate. Modifications in gland vascularization can affect seminal plasma production and consequently sperm quality. The aim of this study was to determine the normal blood flow parameters of the prostate artery in beagle dogs and to analyze the correlations between vascular flow and semen quality characteristics. PwD was performed on five beagle dogs (5–6 years) measuring vascular features in four different locations of the prostatic artery (cranial, subcapsular, parenchymal and caudal); the measured features were peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), resistive index (RI) and pulsatility index (PI). Ejaculates were obtained using digital manipulation and semen quality was evaluated by determining macroscopic (total volume, sperm-rich fraction volume, color and pH) and microscopic (sperm motility, morphology, viability and acrosome integrity) characteristics. The values of PSV, PI and RI in cranial and caudal prostatic arteries were significantly higher than in subcapsular and parenchymal arteries (p < 0.05). Moreover. a positive correlation of PSV value in the cranial region of the prostatic artery with total ejaculate volume (p < 0.01, r = 0.612) and sperm concentration (p < 0.01, r = 0.587) was determined. PI index was negatively correlated with sperm concentration (p < 0.01, r = -0.709). In conclusion. the results suggest that the prostatic artery blood flow parameters can affect macroscopic semen quality characteristics in healthy dogs

Review of concepts in therapeutic decision-making in HER2-negative luminal metastatic breast cancer

Purpose: Hormone receptor (HR)-positive, Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC) requires a therapeutic approach that takes into account multiple factors, with treatment being based on anti-estrogen hormone therapy (HT). As consensus documents are valuable tools that assist in the decision-making process for establishing clinical strategies and optimize the delivery of health services, this consensus document has been created with the aim of developing recommendations on cretiera for hormone sensitivity and resistance in HER2-negative luminal MBC and facilitating clinical decision-making. Methods: This consensus document was generated using a modification of the RAND/UCLA methodology, which included the definition of the project and identification of issues of interest, a non-exhaustive systematic review of the literature, an analysis and synthesis of the scientific evidence, preparation of recommendations, and external evaluation with a panel of 64 medical oncologists specializing in breast cancer. Results: A Spanish panel of experts reached consensus on 32 of the 32 recommendations/conclusions presented in the first round and were accepted with an approval rate of 100% about definition of metastatic disease not susceptible to local curative treatment, definition of hormone sensitivity and hormone resistance in metastatic luminal disease and therapeutic decision-making. Conclusion: We have developed a consensus document with recommendations on the treatment of patients with HER2-negative luminal MBC that will help to improve therapeutic benefits

SDG localisation and decentralised development aid: exploring opposing discourses and practices in Valencia's aid sector

The approval of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has generated intense debates in the aid sector at the global, national and subnational levels. A key question is whether they can address structural problems in development aid policies and practices, such as the lack of accountability and coherence, unequal power relations, or depoliticisation. It seems that this will depend on how the agenda is adopted in the various territories as well as on the different interests at play. We address this question by studying the case of the Valencian Autonomous region. This is the territory in Spain where institutions have been the most active in establishing the SDGs at the core of the political discourses. We follow a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews with key respondents from the public, civil society and university sectors, participant observation, and the analysis of secondary information. Inspired by critical discourse analysis, we explore the varying and conflicting discourses regarding the potential of SDGs to address the problems of aid, and on the impacts that its adoption are producing. We illustrate that the introduction of SDGs in aid policies is a conflictive process modelled by the power dynamics

Mitos del amor romántico y autoestima en adolescentes

The myths of romantic love are socially constructed upon irrational beliefs about the nature of love, which stipulates what “true love” is, which the desirable characteristics are in a future partner, the importance of love, future expectations and the type of relationship. The presence of these romantic beliefs favours or maintains gender violence within the couple and constitutes the essence of control-based relationships, which are mainly characterized by lower self-esteem. The purpose of this study is to consider the internalization of the myths of romantic love among a group of adolescents and to analyse their relationship in relation with their self-esteem. To achieve this objective, a sample of 321 participants (52% men and 48% women), amongst 11 and 18 years of age, completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire and the Romantic Love Myths Scale, by Luzón, Ramos, Recio and De La Peña. The analysis showed significant differences in the internalization of romantic myths according to the gender in favour of man, specifically in the miths of jealousy (Chi2=25,50; p smaller than .001), omnipotence (Chi2=28,96; p smaller than .001), marriage (Chi2=7,60; p=.006), total submission (Chi2=13,80; p=.001) and in the groups of myths “Love is the most importat and requires total delivery” (Chi2=33,80; p smaller than .001), “Love as possession and exclusivity” (Chi2=26,59; p smaller than .001) and “Love can do anything” (Chi2=25,19; p smaller than .001). On the other hand, is observed in the total sample a significant and inverse relationship between self-esteem and the group of myths “Love can do everything” (rho=-.121*) and the myths of omnipotence (rho=-.121*) and exclusivity (rho=-.128*). In view of these results, two conclusions are reached. On the one hand, that men assume more romantic beliefs than woman. On the other hand, that people with lower self-steem have a stronguer internalization of romantic beliefs. Based on these findings, both differences between genders about the internalization of romantic myths and the role of self-esteem should be considered in future interventions.Los mitos del amor romántico son creencias irracionales socialmente construidas sobre la naturaleza del amor, las cuales estipulan qué es el “amor verdadero”, cuáles son las características deseables al seleccionar pareja, la importancia del amor, las expectativas de futuro y el tipo de relación. La presencia de estas creencias románticas favorece o mantiene la violencia de género en la pareja y las relaciones basadas en el control, las cuales se relacionan con una menor autoestima. El objetivo de este estudio es registrar la interiorización de los mitos del amor romántico en un grupo de adolescentes y analizar su relación con la autoestima. Para la consecución de dicho objetivo, una muestra formada por un total de 321 participantes (52% hombres y 48% mujeres) de entre 11 y 18 años de edad, cumplimentó el Cuestionario de Autoestima de Rosenberg y la Escala de Mitos Hacia del Amor Romántico de Luzón, Ramos, Recio y de la Peña (2011). Los análisis mostraron diferencias significativas en la interiorización de mitos románticos en función del género a favor de los hombres, concretamente en los mitos de los celos (Chi2=25,50; p menor que .001), de la omnipotencia (Chi2=28,96; p menor que .001), del matrimonio (Chi2=7,60; p=.006), de la entrega total (Chi2=13,80; p=.001)  y en los grupos de mitos “El amor es lo más importante y requiere entrega total” (Chi2=33,80; p menor que .001), “Amor como posesión y exclusividad” (Chi2=26,59; p menor que .001) y “El amor lo puede todo” (Chi2=25,19; p menor que .001). Por otro lado, se observa en el total de la muestra una relación significativa e inversa entre la autoestima y el grupo de mitos “el amor lo puede todo” (rho=-.121*) y los mitos de la omnipotencia (rho=-.121*) y exclusividad (rho=-.128*). A la vista de dichos resultados se concluye, por un lado, que los hombres asumen más creencias románticas que las mujeres y por otro, que las personas con menor autoestima presentan una mayor interiorización de las creencias románticas. En base a dichas conclusiones, tanto las diferencias entre géneros por lo que respecta a la interiorización de los mitos románticos como el papel de la autoestima deberían ser considerados en futuras intervenciones.

Feature extraction based on bio-inspired model for robust emotion recognition

Emotional state identification is an important issue to achieve more natural speech interactive systems. Ideally, these systems should also be able to work in real environments in which generally exist some kind of noise. Several bio-inspired representations have been applied to artificial systems for speech processing under noise conditions. In this work, an auditory signal representation is used to obtain a novel bio-inspired set of features for emotional speech signals. These characteristics, together with other spectral and prosodic features, are used for emotion recognition under noise conditions. Neural models were trained as classifiers and results were compared to the well-known mel-frequency cepstral coefficients. Results show that using the proposed representations, it is possible to significantly improve the robustness of an emotion recognition system. The results were also validated in a speaker independent scheme and with two emotional speech corpora.Fil: Albornoz, Enrique Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional; ArgentinaFil: Milone, Diego Humberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional; ArgentinaFil: Rufiner, Hugo Leonardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Hídricas. Instituto de Investigación en Señales, Sistemas e Inteligencia Computacional; Argentin

New multiproxy data obtained from the sedimentary fill of the Ría de Ferrol, NW Iberia

Several gravity cores and vibro-cores were recovered from selected sites in the inner sector of Ría de Ferrol, NW Iberia (Muñoz Sobrino et al., 2021) [1]. These sediment cores were obtained during the surveys ECOMER-2014 and ECOMER-2015, developed from 2014 to 2015 on-board the R/V Mytilus (Consejo Superior de Investigación Científica) and the Amarradores Mil (Amarradores del Puerto y Ría de Ferrol, S.L.), respectively. Sedimentary and other multiproxy data presented here belong to four selected sediment cores located in the innermost part of the study area. Two were recovered using a gravity corer and another two using a vibro-corer. The depth of the cores and samples obtained is referred to the NMMA (the mean sea level in Alicante), which is the Spanish orthometric datum. One half of each core was subjected to non-destructive analysis using an ITRAX core scanner providing X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental data. Particle size distribution was characterised by laser diffraction. For radiocarbon dating, well-preserved articulated valves, small remains of wood and very organic bulk sediment from one location free of biogenic gas were selected. Palynological analyses were performed on selected sections of the sediment. All samples were spiked with Lycopodium spores for absolute palynomorph estimation and analysed using 400x and 600x magnifications. The ratio of dinoflagellate cyst concentrations to pollen, fern spore and dinoflagellate cyst concentrations (D/P ratio, ranging between 0 and 1) was calculated for each sample to show the temporal variation. Combined seismic, lithological, elemental, chronological and palynological data enable reconstructing the environmental changes that occurred during the local marine transgression. Besides, the combination of evidence identified may also be applied to other areas or periods in order to perform local reconstructions of changing coastal ecosystems. This type of high-resolution spatial-temporal reconstructions of past changes in estuarine environments may be a valuable tool for modelling, predicting and managing the changes and threats linked to the global warming and sea-level rise associated

Changes in flavonoid content of grapefruit juice caused by thermal treatment and storage

The effect of conventional and microwave pasteurization on the main flavonoids present in grapefruit juice and their stability throughout 2 months of refrigerated and frozen storage was evaluated. Individual flavonoids were analyzed by HPLC. The results showed that naringin, narirutin, quercetin and naringenin were the most abundant flavonoids in grapefruit juice. In general, although every pasteurization treatment caused a significant reduction in the content of all the studied flavonoids, the treated samples were more stable during storage. While fresh squeezed juice (FS) and conventional pasteurized juice (CP) were better preserved under refrigeration conditions, microwave pasteurized juice (MP) conserved better when frozen stored. In fact, after 2 months, frozen MP samples showed the greatest flavonoid retention. From this point of view, microwave treatment can be considered a good alternative to conventional pasteurization. Industrial relevance: Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds present in fruits and vegetables relevant not only in terms of quality, as they influence the visual appearance and taste, but also from a therapeutical point of view, as they appear to be associated with the prevention of degenerative diseases. The consumption of grapefruit juice is fairly widespread among the population. Traditionally, juices have been pasteurized by heat treatment to prolong their shelf life. However, this process may cause irreversible losses of nutritional quality and antioxidant activity and, in consequence, may affect their health-related properties. In this sense, the use of microwaves can be considered an alternative to conventional thermal pasteurization. Microwave energy was applied as alternative to conventional heating for grapefruit juice pasteurization. The results obtained in this study showed that when the effect of pasteurization process and storage is considered together, the use of microwave energy led to a greater retention of all the analyzed flavonoids, thereby representing a good alternative to conventional pasteurization. In this case, frozen storage of processed product would be recommended to better preserve these compounds. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia and FEDER for their financial support throughout the Project AGL 2005-05994.Igual Ramo, M.; García Martínez, EM.; Camacho Vidal, MM.; Martínez Navarrete, N. (2011). Changes in flavonoid content of grapefruit juice caused by thermal treatment and storage. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies. 12(2):153-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2010.12.010S15316212