Índice de provisión de hábitat potencial para la biodiversidad de controladores biológicos en un paisaje de interfase urbano rural en Mendoza, Argentina

La expansión urbana sobre paisajes agrícolas genera interfases urbano-rurales. La coexistencia de usos del suelo agrícolas y residenciales puede promover conflictos en torno al uso de plaguicidas. En Mendoza, Argentina, la escasez del recurso hídrico limita el traslado de la agricultura más allá de las áreas irrigadas, por lo que es importante mejorar esta convivencia. Para disminuir el uso de plaguicidas se necesitan estrategias asentadas en funciones ecosistémicas como el control biológico de plagas por conservación. Esta estrategia depende de la biodiversidad funcional presente en el paisaje; en especial, de las comunidades vegetales con capacidad de brindar hábitat a especies de artrópodos, parasitoides y depredadores generalistas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue construir un índice para evaluar la capacidad de proveer hábitat potencial para los controladores biológicos (IHPB) en diferentes ambientes de un paisaje, con el fin de aportar conocimientos para el ordenamiento ambiental territorial de áreas de interfase. El IHPB se construyó a partir de 5 indicadores y se puso a prueba en el distrito de Lunlunta (Maipú, Mendoza). Se clasificó el área de estudio en 6 unidades de paisaje (UP): Natural de secano, Natural de ribera, Seminatural, Agrícola convencional, Agrícola biodiverso y Urbana. En ellas se realizaron censos de vegetación para calcular los indicadores. El valor más alto de IHPB ocurrió en la UP Natural de secano por la alta diversidad y la cobertura total y de especies arbóreas y arbustivas nativas presentes en su comunidad vegetal; el IHPB más bajo ocurrió en la UP Agrícola convencional. Su aplicación confirmó la importancia de las áreas naturales en cuanto a su potencialidad para sostener a la entomofauna benéfica base para el control biológico de plagas, y la necesidad de mejorar las condiciones de hábitat en los ambientes agrícolas.Urban sprawl over agricultural landscapes generates urban-rural interfaces. The coexistence of agricultural and residential land uses can promote conflicts over the use of pesticides. In Mendoza (Argentina), the scarcity of water resources is a constraint for moving agriculture beyond irrigated areas, so it is important to improve this coexistence. In order to reduce the use of pesticides, strategies based on ecosystem functions such as biological pest control through conservation are necessary. This strategy depends on the functional biodiversity present in the landscape, especially on plant communities with the capacity to provide habitat for arthropod species, parasitoids and generalist predators. The objective of this work was to construct an index to evaluate the capacity to provide potential habitat for biological controllers (IHPB) in different areas of a landscape, in order to provide knowledge for the territorial environmental management of interface areas. The IHPB was constructed from five indicators and evaluated in the Lunlunta district (Maipú, Mendoza). The study area was classified into six landscape units (UP): Dryland natural, Riverside natural, Semi-natural, Conventional agricultural, Biodiverse agricultural and Urban, in which vegetation censuses were conducted for the calculation of the indicators. The IHPB showed the highest value in the Dryland natural UP due to the high diversity, total cover and native tree and shrub species present in its plant community; the lowest was registered in Conventional agriculture. Its application confirmed the importance of natural areas in terms of their potential to sustain the beneficial entomofauna base for the biological control of pests, and the need to improve habitat conditions in agricultural environments.EEA MendozaFil: Del Barrio, Lucia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Fruitos, Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Junin; ArgentinaFil: Fruitos, Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Sarandon, Santiago. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. CIC-LIRA; ArgentinaFil: Portela, Jose Antonio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria La Consulta; ArgentinaFil: D'Amario, Julieta. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; ArgentinaFil: Martin Velasco, Maria J. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario; ArgentinaFil: Perez, Martin Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mendoza; Argentin

JANUS: an FPGA-based System for High Performance Scientific Computing

This paper describes JANUS, a modular massively parallel and reconfigurable FPGA-based computing system. Each JANUS module has a computational core and a host. The computational core is a 4x4 array of FPGA-based processing elements with nearest-neighbor data links. Processors are also directly connected to an I/O node attached to the JANUS host, a conventional PC. JANUS is tailored for, but not limited to, the requirements of a class of hard scientific applications characterized by regular code structure, unconventional data manipulation instructions and not too large data-base size. We discuss the architecture of this configurable machine, and focus on its use on Monte Carlo simulations of statistical mechanics. On this class of application JANUS achieves impressive performances: in some cases one JANUS processing element outperfoms high-end PCs by a factor ~ 1000. We also discuss the role of JANUS on other classes of scientific applications.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Improved version, largely rewritten, submitted to Computing in Science & Engineerin

Calcitriol, the Bioactive Metabolite of Vitamin D, Increases Ventricular K+ Currents in Isolated Mouse Cardiomyocytes

Calcitriol, the bioactive metabolite of vitamin D, interacts with the ubiquitously expressed nuclear vitamin D receptor (VDR) to induce genomic effects, but it can also elicit rapid responses via membrane-associated VDR through mechanisms that are poorly understood. The down-regulation of K+ currents is the main origin of electrophysiological remodeling in pathological hypertrophy and heart failure (HF), which can contribute to action potential prolongation and subsequently increase the risk of triggered arrhythmias. Adult mouse ventricular myocytes were isolated and treated with 10 nM calcitriol or vehicle for 15–30 min. In some experiments, cardiomyocytes were pretreated with the Akt inhibitor triciribine. In the adult mouse ventricle, outward K+ currents involved in cardiac repolarization are comprised of three components: the fast transient outward current (Itof), the ultrarapid delayed rectifier K+ current (Ikur), and the non-inactivating steady-state outward current (Iss). K+ currents were investigated using the whole-cell or the perforated patch-clamp technique and normalized to cell capacitance to obtain current densities. Calcitriol treatment of cardiomyocytes induced an increase in the density of Itof and Ikur, which was lost in myocytes isolated from VDR-knockout mice. In addition, calcitriol activated Akt in cardiomyocytes and pretreatment with triciribine prevented the calcitriol-induced increase of outward K+ currents. In conclusion, we demonstrate that calcitriol via VDR and Akt increases both Itof and Ikur densities in mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes. Our findings may provide new mechanistics clues for the cardioprotective role of this hormone in the heart

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligand FICZ improves left ventricular remodeling and cardiac function at the onset of pressure overload-Induced heart failure in mice

Adverse ventricular remodeling is the heart’s response to damaging stimuli and is linked to heart failure and poor prognosis. Formyl-indolo [3,2-b] carbazole (FICZ) is an endogenous ligand for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), through which it exerts pleiotropic effects including protection against inflammation, fibrosis, and oxidative stress. We evaluated the effect of AhR activation by FICZ on the adverse ventricular remodeling that occurs in the early phase of pressure overload in the murine heart induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Cardiac structure and function were evaluated by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) before and 3 days after Sham or TAC surgery in mice treated with FICZ or with vehicle, and cardiac tissue was used for biochemical studies. CMRI analysis revealed that FICZ improved cardiac function and attenuated cardiac hypertrophy. These beneficial effects involved the inhibition of the hypertrophic calcineurin/NFAT pathway, transcriptional reduction in pro-fibrotic genes, and antioxidant effects mediated by the NRF2/NQO1 pathway. Overall, our findings provide new insight into the role of cardiac AhR signaling in the injured heart.This research was supported by Grants SAF2017-84777-R, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) of Spain, PID2020-113238RB-I00 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN)/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 of Spain and the “European Union Next GenerationEU/PRTR”; PI20/01482-1 funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, CB16/11/00222 funded by the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV) and a Grant (Proyectos 2021) financed by the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

MicroRNA expression profiling in Imatinib-resistant Chronic Myeloid Leukemia patients without clinically significant ABL1-mutations

The development of Imatinib Mesylate (IM), the first specific inhibitor of BCR-ABL1, has had a major impact in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), establishing IM as the standard therapy for CML. Despite the clinical success obtained with the use of IM, primary resistance to IM and molecular evidence of persistent disease has been observed in 20-25% of IM treated patients. The existence of second generation TK inhibitors, which are effective in patients with IM resistance, makes identification of predictors of resistance to IM an important goal in CML. In this study, we have identified a group of 19 miRNAs that may predict clinical resistance to IM in patients with newly diagnosed CML

Ancient genomics

The past decade has witnessed a revolution in ancient DNA (aDNA) research. Although the field's focus was previously limited to mitochondrial DNA and a few nuclear markers, whole genome sequences from the deep past can now be retrieved. This breakthrough is tightly connected to the massive sequence throughput of next generation sequencing platforms and the ability to target short and degraded DNA molecules. Many ancient specimens previously unsuitable for DNA analyses because of extensive degradation can now successfully be used as source materials. Additionally, the analytical power obtained by increasing the number of sequence reads to billions effectively means that contamination issues that have haunted aDNA research for decades, particularly in human studies, can now be efficiently and confidently quantified. At present, whole genomes have been sequenced from ancient anatomically modern humans, archaic hominins, ancient pathogens and megafaunal species. Those have revealed important functional and phenotypic information, as well as unexpected adaptation, migration and admixture patterns. As such, the field of aDNA has entered the new era of genomics and has provided valuable information when testing specific hypotheses related to the past.No Full Tex