Distributed robotic architecture based on smart services

This paper presents an approach for designing robots and robotic systems based on the application of models, architectures, techniques and tools that have contributed valid solutions in other areas, such as e-business. Before applying these solutions, the physical elements that make up a robotic system are subjected to a normalization process in order to characterize their functional contributions. In this way, the conceptual model and the technical architecture of the service-oriented architecture robotic system is established. The paper also includes a simple implementation enabling the proposal to be validated, together with the main conclusions reached and future lines of study

El cuerpo como instrumento de expresión en el adolescente (Sistematización de práctica)

En el presente trabajo se hace una descripción detallada sobre el trabajo realizado en la práctica atención psicológica en contextos en el colegio Gimnasio Sabio Caldas, desde el enfoque psicoanalítico. Específicamente se trata el trabajo con adolescentes a partir de los talleres grupales y cómo los resultados obtenidos demuestran que los adolescentes utilizan su cuerpo como herramienta para expresar las vivencias, los cambios físicos, psicológicos y sociales que se dan durante esta etapa. Desde la teoría psicoanalítica, se concluye que el cuerpo es fuente de expresión del mundo intrapsíquico de los adolescentes.The following work, shows a detailed description about the work done in the practice “Psychological attention in contexts” in the school “Gimnasio Sabio Caldas”, having as a theroical basis the psychoanalitic perspective. Specifically, the workshops done with teenagers of this school, and this leads to show some results like how teenagers use their bodies as a tool to express their experiences, the physical, psychological and social changes that occur during this period. From psychoanalitic theory, it is concluded that the body is a source of expression of the intrapsychic world of teenagersPsicólogo (a)Pregrad

The Right to Code and Share Arms

Glycerol is, to date, the most widely used cryoprotectant to freeze stallion spermatozoa at concentrations between 2% and 5%. Cryoprotectant toxicity has been claimed to be the single most limiting factor for the success of cryopreservation. In order to evaluate the toxic effects of the concentrations of glycerol used in practice, stallion spermatozoa were incubated in Biggers Whitten and Whittingham (BWW) media supplemented with 0%, 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 3.5%, and 5% glycerol. In two additional experiments, a hyposmotic (75 mOsm/kg) and a hyperosmotic (900 mOsm/kg) control media were included. Sperm parameters evaluated included cell volume, membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation, caspase 3, 7, and 8 activation, mitochondrial membrane potential, and integrity of the cytoskeleton. Glycerol exerted toxicity at concentrations 3.5% and the maximal toxicity was observed at 5%. The actin cytoskeleton was especially sensitive to glycerol presence, inducing rapid F actin depolymerization at concentrations over 1.5%. The sperm membrane and the mitochondria were other structures affected. The toxicity of glycerol is apparently related to osmotic and nonosmotic effects. In view of our results the concentration of glycerol in the freezing media for stallion spermatozoa should not surpass 2.5%.Funding Agencies|Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion-FEDER Madrid, Spain|AGL 2010 20758 (GAN)|Inia|RZ2008-00018-00-00|Junta de Extremadura FEDER GR|10010

Apolipoprotein E genotype status affects habitual human blood mononuclear cell gene expression and its response to fish oil intervention

SCOPE: People who carry the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) SNP have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Fish-oil supplementation may help in the prevention of CVD, though inter-individual differences in the response to n-3 PUFAs have been observed. We aimed to assess the impact of APOE genotype on peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) whole genome gene expression at baseline and following a fish-oil intervention.  METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants received 6 months of fish-oil supplementation containing 1800 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid per day. APOE genotype and PBMC whole genome gene expression before and after supplementation were measured. We characterized the differences in gene expression profiles in carriers of APOE4 (N = 8) compared to non-carriers (N = 15). At baseline, 1320 genes were differentially expressed and the fish-oil supplementation differentially regulated 866 genes between APOE4 carriers and non-carriers. Gene set enrichment analysis showed that carriers had a higher gene expression of cholesterol biosynthesis and interferon (IFN) signaling pathways. Fish-oil supplementation reduced expression of IFN-related genes in carriers only.  CONCLUSION: The increased expression of IFN signaling and cholesterol biosynthesis pathways might explain part of the association between APOE4 and CVD. Fish-oil supplementation may particularly benefit APOE4 carriers by decreasing expression of IFN-related genes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Response to Novel Drugs before and after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Relapsed Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains as an incurable disease and, although allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is a potentially curative approach, most patients ultimately relapse, and their treatment remains challenging. Because allo-HSCT can modify not only the biology of the disease, but also the immune system and the microenvironment, it can potentially enhance the response to rescue therapies. Information on the efficacy and safety of novel drugs in patients relapsing after allo-HSCT is lacking, however. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of rescue therapies in patients with MM who relapsed after allo-HSCT, as well as to compare their efficacy before and after allo-HSCT. This retrospective multicenter study included 126 consecutive patients with MM who underwent allo-HSCT between 2000 and 2013 at 8 Spanish centers. All patients engrafted. The incidence of grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was 47%, and nonrelapse mortality within the first 100 days post-transplantation was 13%. After a median follow-up of 92 months, overall survival (OS) was 51% at 2 years and 43% at 5 years. The median progression-free survival after allo-HSCT was 7 months, whereas the median OS after relapse was 33 months. Patients relapsing in the first 6 months after transplantation had a dismal prognosis compared with those who relapsed later (median OS, 11 months versus 120 months; P <.001). The absence of chronic GVHD was associated with reduced OS after relapse (hazard ratio, 3.44; P <.001). Most patients responded to rescue therapies, including proteasome inhibitors (PIs; 62%) and immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs; 77%), with a good toxicity profile. An in-depth evaluation, including the type and intensity of PI- and IMiD-based combinations used before and after allo-HSCT, showed that the overall response rate and duration of response after allo-HSCT were similar to those seen in the pretransplantation period. Patients with MM who relapse after allo-HSCT should be considered candidates for therapy with new drugs, which can achieve similar response rates with similar durability as seen in the pretransplantation period. This pattern does not follow the usual course of the disease outside the transplantation setting, where response rates and time to progression decreases with each consecutive line of treatment

Administración de servicios de Internet. De la teoría a la práctica

El principal objetivo de este libro se centra en exponer y organizar los diferentes conceptos, tecnologías, modelos y herramientas involucrados en el ámbito del desarrollo de sistemas distribuidos en Internet. El libro está organizado en dos grandes secciones: Servicios de red y Servicios avanzados para la red. La primera parte está dedicada a los conceptos y tecnologías asociados con la implantación de aplicaciones distribuidas. Los casos prácticos están más orientados a administradores de sistemas. La segunda parte está dedicada a servicios que suelen proporcionar soporte, no a los usuarios finales, sino a otras aplicaciones y servicios de red

A Review of Accelerometry-Based Wearable Motion Detectors for Physical Activity Monitoring

Characteristics of physical activity are indicative of one’s mobility level, latent chronic diseases and aging process. Accelerometers have been widely accepted as useful and practical sensors for wearable devices to measure and assess physical activity. This paper reviews the development of wearable accelerometry-based motion detectors. The principle of accelerometry measurement, sensor properties and sensor placements are first introduced. Various research using accelerometry-based wearable motion detectors for physical activity monitoring and assessment, including posture and movement classification, estimation of energy expenditure, fall detection and balance control evaluation, are also reviewed. Finally this paper reviews and compares existing commercial products to provide a comprehensive outlook of current development status and possible emerging technologies

The distribution of active RNA polymerase II along the transcribed region is gene-specific and controlled by elongation factors

In order to study the intragenic profiles of active transcription, we determined the relative levels of active RNA polymerase II present at the 3′- and 5′-ends of 261 yeast genes by run-on. The results obtained indicate that the 3′/5′ run-on ratio varies among the genes studied by over 12 log2 units. This ratio seems to be an intrinsic characteristic of each transcriptional unit and does not significantly correlate with gene length, G + C content or level of expression. The correlation between the 3′/5′ RNA polymerase II ratios measured by run-on and those obtained by chromatin immunoprecipitation is poor, although the genes encoding ribosomal proteins present exceptionally low ratios in both cases. We detected a subset of elongation-related factors that are important for maintaining the wild-type profiles of active transcription, including DSIF, Mediator, factors related to the methylation of histone H3-lysine 4, the Bur CDK and the RNA polymerase II subunit Rpb9. We conducted a more detailed investigation of the alterations caused by rpb9Δ to find that Rpb9 contributes to the intragenic profiles of active transcription by influencing the probability of arrest of RNA polymerase II

Autophagy and Apoptosis Have a Role in the Survival or Death of Stallion Spermatozoa during Conservation in Refrigeration

Apoptosis has been recognized as a cause of sperm death during cryopreservation and a cause of infertility in humans, however there is no data on its role in sperm death during conservation in refrigeration; autophagy has not been described to date in mature sperm. We investigated the role of apoptosis and autophagy during cooled storage of stallion spermatozoa. Samples from seven stallions were split; half of the ejaculate was processed by single layer centrifugation, while the other half was extended unprocessed, and stored at 5°C for five days. During the time of storage, sperm motility (CASA, daily) and membrane integrity (flow cytometry, daily) were evaluated. Apoptosis was evaluated on days 1, 3 and 5 (active caspase 3, increase in membrane permeability, phosphatidylserine translocation and mitochondrial membrane potential) using flow cytometry. Furthermore, LC3B processing was investigated by western blotting at the beginning and at the end of the period of storage. The decrease in sperm quality over the period of storage was to a large extent due to apoptosis; single layer centrifugation selected non-apoptotic spermatozoa, but there were no differences in sperm motility between selected and unselected sperm. A high percentage of spermatozoa showed active caspase 3 upon ejaculation, and during the period of storage there was an increase of apoptotic spermatozoa but no changes in the percentage of live sperm, revealed by the SYBR-14/PI assay, were observed. LC3B was differentially processed in sperm after single layer centrifugation compared with native sperm. In processed sperm more LC3B-II was present than in non-processed samples; furthermore, in non-processed sperm there was an increase in LC3B-II after five days of cooled storage. These results indicate that apoptosis plays a major role in the sperm death during storage in refrigeration and that autophagy plays a role in the survival of spermatozoa representing a new pro-survival mechanism in spermatozoa not previously described

The Digestive Tract of Cephalopods: a Neglected Topic of Relevance to Animal Welfare in the Laboratory and Aquaculture

Normal development, growth and the maintenance of health and well-being are only possible if all the digestive tract functions (e.g., motility, digestion, and absorption) operate normally and in concert. Understanding the physiological processes and the impact of external factors (e.g., handling, temperature, diet quality including exposure to food toxins, exposure to viral/bacterial infections and parasites) is important for normal laboratory maintenance of the animal in a research setting, as well as for optimizing conditions for aquaculture at each life stage. The study of the physiology of the cephalopod digestive apparatus has mainly focused on Sepia officinalis (Bidder, 1966; Boucaud-Camou and Boucher-Rodoni, 1983; Mangold and Bidder, 1989; Quintela and Andrade, 2002a,b; Sykes et al., 2013; Costa et al., 2014), Octopus vulgaris (Boucher-Rodoni and Mangold, 1977; Boucaud-Camou and Boucher-Rodoni, 1983; Andrews and Tansey, 1983b; Mangold and Bidder, 1989), Octopus maya (Martínez et al., 2011a,b, 2012; Rosas et al., 2013; Linares et al., 2015; Pech-Puch et al., 2016). Few studies have been carried out in Loligo vulgaris and other squid (Bidder, 1950; Mangold and Bidder, 1989). Furthermore, the morphology, motility and absorptive functions of the digestive tract of Nautilus pompilius have been the subject of limited investigation (Westermann and Schipp, 1998a,b, 1999; Ruth et al., 1999; Westermann et al., 2000, 2002). The inclusion of all “live cephalopods,” taken to mean all living species (about 700), at all life stages after hatching, in Directive 2010/63/EU (European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2010) covering the use of animals in scientific research and education poses a number of challenges for research (Smith et al., 2013; Fiorito et al., 2015) including that aimed at optimizing practices in aquaculture (Sykes et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2013; Fiorito et al., 2015). Whilst the Directive regulates studies in the Member States of the European Union, the principles it enshrines and the approaches to care and welfare required for compliance are likely to impact on cephalopod research outside the European Union (see Fiorito et al., 2014, for discussion of wider implications). In comparison to the commonly studied vertebrate laboratory species and commercially exploited vertebrates such as salmon and trout, chickens, cows, and pigs (Stevens, 1988; Grosell et al., 2010; Rønnestad et al., 2013), knowledge of the physiology of the cephalopod digestive tract at all life stages is limited. Cephalopods are also kept for education and display purposes and, as in the laboratory and aquaculture, the normal functioning of the digestive tract is essential for good health and wellbeing (Fiorito et al., 2015). In this review, we will highlight a number of specific aspects of the relationship between feeding behavior and the physiology of the cephalopod digestive tract where increased understanding is required to ensure animal welfare. We will also discuss areas where further study is required.En prens