Endomycobiome associated with females of the planthopper Delphacodes kuscheli (Hemiptera: Delphacidae): A metabarcoding approach

A metabarcoding approach was performed aimed at identifying fungi associated with Delphacodes kuscheli (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), the main vector of “Mal de Río Cuarto” disease in Argentina. A total of 91 fungal genera were found, and among them, 24 were previously identified for Delphacidae. The detection of fungi that are frequently associated with the phylloplane or are endophytes, as well as their presence in digestive tracts of other insects, suggest that feeding might be an important mechanism of their horizontal transfer in planthoppers. This study draws the baseline for future research regarding mutualistic associations present in D. kuscheli as well as their physiological role in the life cycle of this important pest that might lead to developing new management strategies to keep insects populations under control.Fil: Brentassi, Maria Eugenia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Medina, Rocio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología; ArgentinaFil: de la Fuente, Daniela. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Franco, Mario Emilio Ernesto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Toledo, Andrea Vanesa. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Saparrat, Mario Carlos Nazareno. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Botánica Spegazzini; ArgentinaFil: Balatti, Pedro Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigaciones de Fitopatología; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentin

AIM-Mobile Learning Platform 3.0: Design of new functionalities to integrate smartphones in the teaching-learning process

[EN] The combination of Learning Management Systems (LMS) with smartphones is gaining importance in Higher Education studies. Therefore, we have designed a responsive virtual environment, AIM-Mobile Learning Platform, focus on integrating smartphones in class. It permits teachers to send real time questions and learning packets with multimedia resources to students through their smartphones. As the environment instantaneously processes every student response their continuous progress is automated. Moreover, the environment permits to manage teachers, subjects and students by means of a generic interface that can be applied in many educational disciplines. The new version includes more functionalities to promote their consolidation in Education. It integrates an installation and configuration package to provide high flexibility for Institutions as they can intall it in their own servers. Besides, we have complemented the existing quantitative evaluation system with a qualitative functionality based on positives and negatives taking into account the participation of students in class. Finally, the new version allows students to design questions with the aim to build knowledge. These strategies seek to increase the motivation, implication and attention of students in subjects, promoting a constant feedback inside class, which helps students to be more conscious of their self-learning process.This work has been funded by the University of Valladolid, Teaching Innovation Groups 2016-2017Merayo, N.; Medina, A.; Goyanes, G.; De Miguel, I.; Aguado, JC.; Durán, RJ.; Fernández, P.... (2017). AIM-Mobile Learning Platform 3.0: Design of new functionalities to integrate smartphones in the teaching-learning process. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 259-267. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.5166OCS25926

The use of cyclosporine modifies the clinical and histopathological presentation of tuberculosis after renal transplantation

Tuberculosis is one of the most frequent opportunistic infections after renal transplantation and occurred in 30 of 1264 patients transplanted between 1976 and 1996 at Hospital São Paulo - UNIFESP and Hospital Dom Silvério, Brazil. The incidence of 2.4% is five times higher than the Brazilian general population. The disease occurred between 50 days to 18 years after the transplant, and had an earlier and worse development in patients receiving azathioprine, prednisone and cyclosporine, with 35% presenting as a disseminated disease, while all patients receiving azathioprine and prednisone had exclusively pulmonary disease. Ninety percent of those patients had fever as the major initial clinical manifestation. Diagnosis was made by biopsy of the lesion (50%), positivity to M. tuberculosis in the sputum (30%) and spinal cerebral fluid analysis (7%). Duration of treatment ranged from 6 to 13 months and hepatotoxicity occurred in 3 patients. The patients who died had a significant greater number of rejection episodes and received higher doses of corticosteroid. In conclusion, the administration of cyclosporine changed the clinical and histopathological pattern of tuberculosis occurring after renal transplantation.A tuberculose é uma das mais frequentes infecções oportunistas encontradas após o transplante renal. A tuberculose foi diagnosticada em 30 de 1.264 pacientes que foram transplantados entre 1976 e 1996 na unidade de Transplante Renal do Hospital São Paulo - UNIFESP e no Hospital Dom Silvério Gomes Pimenta em São Paulo. A incidência de 2,4%, é cinco vezes superior à estimada para população geral brasileira. O diagnóstico foi realizado entre 50 dias a 18 anos após o transplante. Nos pacientes com esquema duplo de imunossupressão (prednisona e azatioprina), a manifestação inicial foi mais tardia, sendo que em 11 dos 13 pacientes ocorreu após os primeiros 3 anos de transplante. Enquanto com esquema tríplice (prednisona, azatioprina e ciclosporina), em 14 de 17 pacientes a doença ocorreu dentro dos primeiros 3 anos. Com esquema duplo de imunossupressão não houve manifestação de doença extra-torácica, em contrapartida com esquema tríplice de imunossupressão a forma de apresentação disseminada ocorreu em 35% dos casos, sendo mais precoce e mais grave. A febre foi o sintoma clínico principal em 90% dos casos. O diagnóstico foi confirmado, em 50% (n=15) através da biópsia dos órgãos envolvidos, em 30% (n=9) através da pesquisa de bacilos álcool ácido resistentes (BAAR) no escarro, em 7% (n=2) no líquido céfalo-raquidiano e em 13% (n=4) através de necrópsia. O tempo de tratamento da tuberculose variou de 6 a 13 meses. A hepatotoxidade relacionada ao tratamento, ocorreu em três casos. O número de tratamentos prévios de episódios de rejeição e a dose administrada de corticóides foram maiores nos pacientes que morreram com este diagnóstico, quando comparados ao grupo que respondeu ao tratamento. Em conclusão a forma clínica e histopatológica de apresentação da tuberculose é diferente após o transplante em pacientes utilizando ciclosporina, sendo a resposta ao tratamento influenciada pela dose prévia de corticóide

Effects of virtual reality associated with serious games for upper limb rehabilitation inpatients with multiple sclerosis: randomized controlled trial

Background: Dexterity and activities of daily living limitations on the upper limb (UL) represent one of the most common problems in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the specially developed Serious Games that make use of the Leap Motion Controller (LMC) as main user interface for improving UL grip muscle strength, dexterity, fatigue, quality of life, satisfaction and compliance. Methods: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted. The sample was randomized into two groups: an experimental group who received treatment based on serious games designed by the research team using the developed LMC based Serious Games for the UL plus conventional rehabilitation, and a control group who received the same conventional rehabilitation for the UL. Both groups received two 60 min sessions per week over a ten-week period. Grip muscle strength, coordination, speed of movements, fine and gross UL dexterity, fatigue, quality of life, satisfaction and compliance were assessed in both groups pre-treatment, post-treatment and in a follow-up period of 1 month without receiving any treatment. Results: In the experimental group compared to the control group, significant improvements were observed in the post-treatment assessment for coordination, speed of movements, fine and gross UL dexterity. Also, significant results were found in the follow-up in coordination, speed of movements, fine and gross for the more affected side. Conclusions: An experimental protocol using an LMC based Serious Games designed for UL rehabilitation showed improvements for unilateral gross manual dexterity, fine manual dexterity, and coordination in MS patients with high satisfaction and excellent compliance. Trial registration: This randomized controlled trial has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04171908, Nov 2019.The research leading to these results has received funding from the ROBOHEALTH-A project (DPI2013-47944-C4-1-R) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Mainstream hollywoodense en los Andes Ecuatorianos / Hollywood mainstream in the Ecuadorian Andes

The American film industry has been in the hegemony of the world for decades. The Hollywoodmainstreamaffects movie theaters, television and currently the content on demand thanks to the rise of streamingplatforms. This piece of research tries to verify to what extent the North American influence affects countries with big socio-cultural differences like Ecuador. The audiovisual tastes and consumption habits belonging to the Andean population in the center of the country are analyzed. The sample consists of 426 respondents of different ages and occupations in the university environment. The issues raised try to know the audiovisual content preferred by the audience (movies, series, actors, etc.) and different consumption habits (frequency of going to the cinema, ideal place, number of films, etc). After contrasting the answers, different patterns are observed in audiovisual consumption, as well as a huge influence of American cinema on the collective imaginariness of the analyzed public. Finally, it delves into the consequences of the results while proposing various contributions in this regard. La industria cultural cinematográfica estadounidense lleva décadas de hegemonía mundial. El mainstream hollywoodense afecta a las salas de cine, televisión y actualmente a los contenidos a la carta gracias al auge de las plataformas en streaming. Esta investigación trata de comprobar hasta qué punto la influencia norteamericana afecta a países con grandes diferencias socio-culturales como Ecuador. Se analizan los gustos audiovisuales y los hábitos de consumo pertenecientes a la población andina del centro del país. La muestra está formada por 426 encuestados de diferentes edades y ocupaciones en el ámbito universitario. Las cuestiones planteadas tratan de conocer los contenidos audiovisuales preferidos por la audiencia (películas, series, actores, etc.) y los diferentes hábitos de consumo (frecuencia al cine, lugar ideal, número de películas, etc). Tras contrastar las respuestas, se observan diferentes patrones en el consumo audiovisual, así como una enorme influencia del cine estadounidense en el imaginario colectivo del público analizado. Finalmente, se profundiza sobre las consecuencias de los resultados a la vez que se proponen diversas aportaciones al respecto

Caracterización y análisis del campo magnético ambiental en un taller de reparación de equipos electromédicos

Según reportes de la Organización Mundial de la Saludlos campos electromagnéticos son causantes deafectaciones a la salud.Es por este motivo que se debe mantener un control estricto sobre la radiación no ionizante emitida por el equipamiento en talleres de reparación y mantenimiento de equipos médicosdebido a la gran acumulación de estos, que operan con energía eléctrica y emanan radiación electromagnética de baja frecuencia. Esta acción debe realizarse sobre todo en países donde no existen normativas acerca de este tema. En este trabajo se seleccionó el Centro Provincial de Electromedicina donde se realizaron mediciones, en cinco locales de interés, por cinco días consecutivos, utilizando un gaussímetro. Se calcularon promedios para representar el campo magnético ambiental mediante mapas de colores. Los resultados obtenidos medioambientales y anual de exposición electromagnética no sobrepasan los recomendados por la Comisión Internacional de Protección Contra las Radiaciones No Ionizantes

Accuracy of probabilistic record linkage in the assessment of high-complexity cardiology procedures

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a viabilidade de estratégia de relacionamento probabilístico de bases de dados na identificação de óbitos de pacientes submetidos a procedimentos de alta complexidade em cardiologia. MÉTODOS: O custo de processamento foi estimado com base em 1.672 registros de pacientes submetidos à cirurgia de revascularização do miocárdio, relacionados com todos os registros de óbito no Brasil em 2005. A acurácia do relacionamento baseou-se em linkage probabilístico entre 99 registros de autorização de internação hospitalar de pacientes submetidos a cirurgias cardíacas em instituto de referência em cardiologia, com status vital conhecido, e todos os registros de óbito do estado do Rio de Janeiro em 2005. O linkage foi realizado em quatro etapas: padronização das bases, blocagem, pareamento e classificação dos pares. Utilizou-se a blocagem em cinco passos, com chaves de blocagem com combinação de variáveis como soundex do primeiro e último nome, sexo e ano de nascimento. As variáveis utilizadas no pareamento foram "nome completo", com a utilização da distância de Levenshtein, e "data de nascimento". RESULTADOS: O segundo e o quinto passos de blocagem tiveram os maiores números de pares formados e os maiores tempos de processamento para o pareamento. O quarto passo demandou menor custo de processamento. No estudo de acurácia, após os cinco passos de blocagem, a sensibilidade do linkage foi de 90,6% e a especificidade foi de 100%. CONCLUSÕES: A estratégia de relacionamento probabilístico utilizada apresenta boa acurácia e poderá ser utilizada em estudos sobre a efetividade dos procedimentos de alta complexidade e alto custo em cardiologia.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the viability of a probabilistic record linkage strategy to identify patients who underwent complex cardiology procedures among the total deceased population. METHODS: The processing cost was estimated based on 1,672 records of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting that were compared with all death records in Brazil in 2005. The accuracy of the linkage strategy was based on the probabilistic linkage of 99 hospital admissions records of patients, with known vital status, who underwent cardiac surgery at a single cardiology institute, with the death records of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, in 2005. Linkage was conducted in four stages: standardizing the databases, blocking, matching, and rating peers. Blocking in five steps was used, with blocking keys formed by a combination of variables such as soundex codes for the first and last names, sex, and year of birth. The variables used for matching were "full name" with the use of Levenshtein distance and "birth date". RESULTS: The second and fifth blocking steps resulted in the largest number of formed pairs and the largest processing times for the matching. The fourth step required a lower processing cost. In the accuracy study, after five blocking steps, the sensitivity of the linkage was 90.6%, and the specificity was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: The probabilistic strategy used has high accuracy and can be used in studies of the effectiveness of high-complexity, high-cost cardiology procedures.OBJETIVO: Evaluar la viabilidad de estrategia de relación probabilística en la identificación de pacientes sometidos a procedimientos de alta complejidad en cardiología. MÉTODOS: El costo de procesamiento fue calculado con base en 1.672 registros de pacientes sometidos a cirugía de revascularización del miocardio, relacionados con todos los registros de óbito en Brasil en 2005. La precisión de la relación se basó en linkage probabilística de 99 registros de autorización de internación hospitalaria de pacientes sometidos a cirugías cardíacas en instituto de referencia en cardiología, con status vital conocido, con todos los registros de óbito del estado de Rio de Janeiro en 2005. El linkage fue realizado en cuatro etapas: estandarización de las bases, blocaje, pareamiento y clasificación de los pares. Se utilizó blocaje en cinco pasos, con claves de blocaje con combinación de variables como soundex del primero y último nombre, sexo y año de nacimiento. Las variables utilizadas en el pareamiento fueron "nombre completo", con la utilización de la distancia de Levenshtein y "fecha de nacimiento". RESULTADOS: El segundo y el quinto pasos de blocaje tuvieron los mayores números de pares formados y los mayores tiempos de procesamiento para el pareamiento. El cuarto paso demandó menor costo de procesamiento. En el estudio de precisión, posterior a cinco pasos de blocaje, la sensibilidad del linkage fue de 90,6% y la especificidad fue de 100%. CONCLUSIONES: La estrategia de relación probabilística utilizada presenta buena precisión y podrá ser utilizada en estudios sobre la efectividad de los procedimientos de alta complejidad y alto costo en cardiología

La nefritis lúpica como complicación del lupus eritematoso sistémico y su pronóstico de acuerdo a las manifestaciones clínicas, clasificación histopatológica y tratamiento de la enfermedad

La nefritis lúpica es la complicación con mayor relevancia clínica asociada al lupus eritematoso sistémico, incluso, puede encontrarse como la presentación inicial de la misma; se puede explicar como una glomerulonefritis originada por complejos autoinmunes que comprometen la histología y función renal. Esta patología afecta especialmente a jóvenes de raza hispana, asiática y africana, por lo que se vuelve pertinente su estudio, sobretodo porque estos pacientes tienen un riesgo elevado de presentar una afección renal terminal, que aumenta el índice de morbimortalidad. Por este motivo, es de vital importancia conocer la historia natural de la enfermedad, las manifestaciones clínicas, además, de la compleja relación etiológica que incluyen factores genéticos, hormonales y ambientales. Un diagnóstico precoz y oportuno de la nefritis lúpica conlleva a una disminución en la probabilidad de una respuesta terapéutica desfavorable, especialmente, si el paciente se encuentra en estadíos finales de la enfermedad renal. Por otra parte, no se debe olvidar, que la nefritis lúpica, se asocia a manifestaciones clínicas propias del lupus, sumada con alteraciones en las pruebas de función renal, indica el diagnóstico preliminar, el cual debe ser confirmado mediante una muestra de biopsia renal, que permite hacer el estudio histopatológico y con esto, clasificar el estadío o clase de la enfermedad. Este conjunto de datos, son decisivos para instaurar un tratamiento pertinente que pueda ser relacionado con el pronóstico del paciente y a su vez con la calidad de vida del mismo.PregradoMedic

Geodetic fault slip rates on active faults in the Baza sub-Basin (SE Spain): Insights for seismic hazard assessment

One of the most significant parameters for seismic hazard assessment analyses is the fault slip rate. The combination of both geological (long-term) and geodetic (short-term) data offers a more complete characterization of the seismic potential of active faults. Moreover, geodetic data are also a helpful tool for the analysis of geodynamic processes. In this work, we present the results of a local GPS network from the Baza sub-Basin (SE Spain). This network, which includes six sites, was established in 2008 and has been observed for seven years. For the first time, we obtain short-term slip rates for the two active faults in this area. For the normal Baza Fault, we estimate slip rates ranging between 0.3 ± 0.3 mm/yr and 1.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr. For the strike-slip Galera Fault, we quantify the slip rate as 0.5 ± 0.3 mm/yr. Our GPS study shows a discrepancy for the Baza Fault between the short-term slip rates and previously reported long-term rates. This discrepancy indicates that the fault could be presently in a period with a displacement rate higher than the mean of the magnitude 6 seismic cycle. Moreover, the velocity vectors that we obtained also show the regional tectonic significance of the Baza Fault, as this structure accommodates one-third of the regional extension of the Central Betic Cordillera. Our GPS-related slip rates form the basis for future seismic hazard analysis in this area. Our results have further implications, as they indicate that the Baza and Galera Faults are kinematically coherent and they divide the Baza sub-Basin into two tectonic blocks. This points to a likely physical link between the Baza and Galera Faults; hence, a potential complex rupture involving both faults should be considered in future seismic hazard assessment studies.We acknowledge the comments of Editor Prof. Irina M. Artemieva and two anonymous reviewers, which significantly improved the quality of this paper. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University (Research Projects: RTI2018-100737-BI00 and CGL2016-80687-R), the University of Alicante (Research Project: VIGROB053), the University of Jaén (PAIUJA 2019-2020 and Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 - call made by UJA 2018), the University of Granada (B-RNM-301-UGR18) and the Junta de Andalucía regional government (RNM148, RNM282, and RNM370 and P18-RT-3275 research groups). We thank all observers who collected the data of survey-mode GPS measurements