A Novel Technique for Mitigating Multipactor by Means of Magnetic Surface Roughness

Multipactor phenomena which are closely linked to the SEY (secondary electron yield)can be mitigated by many different methods including groves in the metal surface as well as using electric or magnetic bias fields. However frequently the application of global magnetic or electric bias field is not practicable considering the weight and power limitations on-board satellites. Additionally, surface grooves may degrade the RF performance. Here we present a novel technique which is based on a magnetostatic field pattern on the metallic surface with fast spatial modulation in the order of 30 micron. This field pattern is produced by proper magnetization of an underlying ferromagnetic layer such as nickel. Simulations and preliminary experimental results will be shown and a number of applications, both for particle accelerators and satellite microwave payloads are discussed

Children's consumption of rabbit meat

[EN] The nutritional and dietary properties of rabbit meat make it an ideal food for children, recommended by the World Health Organisation. However, the presence of children under 18 in the home has been found to decrease the frequency of rabbit meat consumption. If we focus on households with children under 18, 52.5% of minors do not consume rabbit meat. The main reason why children (intended as people under 18 yr old) do not consume rabbit meat is the fact that they do not like it (40.9%) and because it is not bought/eaten at home (30.9%). Faced with this situation, there is a pressing need to seek appropriate strategies to adapt rabbit meat for consumption by the youngest family members. In light of the results, the following strategies are proposed. First, the development of functional foods for babies and children, such as rabbit meat enriched with ω3 and docosahexaenoic acid. Secondly, improving meat tenderness. Third, adapting rabbit meat presentations for children (burgers, nuggets, sausages, marinades …), converting them into convenience products for parents and extending their shelf life. Fourth, adapting the labelling/packaging for children to attract attention of both parents and offspring. Finally, developing communication strategies on the nutritional value of rabbit meat aimed at both children and parents. It is observed that if minors consume rabbit meat, they also eat other types of meat such as lamb and beef more often. Therefore, in this type of households a varied and complete diet is consumed in terms of meat consumption, so it would be necessary to rethink joint communication strategies among the three meat sectors. Promoting rabbit meat consumption among the under 18s has several consequences, as in the future they will be in charge of household purchases or share this responsibility.Escribá-Pérez, C.; Baviera-Puig, A.; Montero-Vicente, L.; Buitrago-Vera, J. (2019). 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World Rabbit Sci., 20: 155-162. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2012.1147González-Redondo P., Mena Y., Fernández-Cabanás V.M. 2010. Factors affecting rabbit meat consumption among Spanish university students. Ecol. Food Nutr., 49: 298-315. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2010.491053Halford J.C.G., Gillespie J., Brown V., Pontin E.E., Dovey T.M. 2004. Effect of television advertisements for foods on food consumption in children. Appetite, 42: 221-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2003.11.006Hermida M., González M., Miranda M., Rodríguez-Otero J.L. 2006. Mineral analysis in rabbit meat from Galicia (NW Spain). Meat Sci., 73: 635-639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2006.03.004Hernández P. 2008. Enhancement of nutritional quality and safety in rabbit meat. In Proc.: 9th World Rabbit Congress, 10-13 June, 2008. Verona, Italy. 1: 1287-1300.Ilicic J., Baxter S.M., Kulczynski A. 2018. To Meet or Meat? Homophones in Advertising Encourage Judgments and Behaviors in Children. J. 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Modifications of fatty acids profile, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant capacity in raw and cooked rabbit burgers added with ginger. Meat Sci., 133: 151-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2017.07.003MAPAMA. 2018. Informe del consumo de alimentación en España 2017. Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación. Available at: https://www.mapa.gob.es/images/es/informeanualdeconsumoalimentario2017_tcm30-456186.pdf. Accessed May 2019.Montero-Vicente L., Escribá-Pérez C., Baviera-Puig A., Buitrago-Vera J. 2018. Analysis of the commercial value of rabbit meat based on positioning of the different types of fresh meat. Span. J. Agric. Res., 16: e0110. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2018163-13407Morgan J., Taylor A., Fewtrell M. 2004. Meat Consumption is Positively Associated with Psychomotor Outcome in Children up to 24 Months of Age. J. Pediatr. Gastroenterol. 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New fermions and a vector-like third generation in SU(3)c⊗SU(3)L⊗U(1)NSU(3)_c\otimes SU(3)_L\otimes U(1)_N models

We study two 3-3-1 models with i) five (four) charge 2/3 ($-1/3$) quarks and, ii) four (five) charge 2/3 ($-1/3$) quarks and a vector-like third generation. Possibilities beyond these models are also briefly considered.Comment: 32 pages, Revtex 3.0, no figure

Effects and Mechanisms of Cognitive, Aerobic Exercise, and Combined Training on Cognition, Health, and Brain Outcomes in Physically Inactive Older Adults: The Projecte Moviment Protocol

Introduction: Age-related health, brain, and cognitive impairment is a great challenge in current society. Cognitive training, aerobic exercise and their combination have been shown to benefit health, brain, cognition and psychological status in healthy older adults. Inconsistent results across studies may be related to several variables. We need to better identify cognitive changes, individual variables that may predict the effect of these interventions, and changes in structural and functional brain outcomes as well as physiological molecular correlates that may be mediating these effects. Projecte Moviment is a multi-domain randomized trial examining the effect of these interventions applied 5 days per week for 3 months compared to a passive control group. The aim of this paper is to describe the sample, procedures and planned analyses. Methods: One hundred and forty healthy physically inactive older adults will be randomly assigned to computerized cognitive training (CCT), aerobic exercise (AE), combined training (COMB), or a control group. The intervention consists of a 3 month home-based program 5 days per week in sessions of 45 min. Data from cognitive, physical, and psychological tests, cardiovascular risk factors, structural and functional brain scans, and blood samples will be obtained before and after the intervention. Results: Effects of the interventions on cognitive outcomes will be described in intention-to-treat and per protocol analyses. We will also analyze potential genetic, demographic, brain, and physiological molecular correlates that may predict the effects of intervention, as well as the association between cognitive effects and changes in these variables using the per protocol sample. Discussion: Projecte Moviment is a multi-domain intervention trial based on prior evidence that aims to understand the effects of CCT, AE, and COMB on cognitive and psychological outcomes compared to a passive control group, and to determine related biological correlates and predictors of the intervention effects.Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03123900

Whole-genome resequencing of Cucurbita pepo morphotypes to discover genomic variants associated with morphology and horticulturally valuable traits

[EN] Cucurbita pepo contains two cultivated subspecies, each of which encompasses four fruit-shape morphotypes (cultivar groups). The Pumpkin, Vegetable Marrow, Cocozelle, and Zucchini Groups are of subsp. pepo and the Acorn, Crookneck, Scallop, and Straightneck Groups are of subsp. ovifera. Recently, a de novo assembly of the C. pepo subsp. pepo Zucchini genome was published, providing insights into its evolution. To expand our knowledge of evolutionary processes within C. pepo and to identify variants associated with particular morphotypes, we performed whole-genome resequencing of seven of these eight C. pepo morphotypes. We report for the first time whole-genome resequencing of the four subsp. pepo (Pumpkin, Vegetable Marrow, Cocozelle, green Zucchini, and yellow Zucchini) morphotypes and three of the subsp. ovifera (Acorn, Crookneck, and Scallop) morphotypes. A high-depth resequencing approach was followed, using the BGISEQ-500 platform that enables the identification of rare variants, with an average of 33.5X. Approximately 94.5% of the clean reads were mapped against the reference Zucchini genome. In total, 3,823,977 high confidence single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. Within each accession, SNPs varied from 636,918 in green Zucchini to 2,656,513 in Crookneck, and were distributed homogeneously along the chromosomes. Clear differences between subspecies pepo and ovifera in genetic variation and linkage disequilibrium are highlighted. In fact, comparison between subspecies pepo and ovifera indicated 5710 genes (22.5%) with Fst > 0.80 and 1059 genes (4.1%) with Fst = 1.00 as potential candidate genes that were fixed during the independent evolution and domestication of the two subspecies. Linkage disequilibrium was greater in subsp. ovifera than in subsp. pepo, perhaps reflective of the earlier differentiation of morphotypes within subsp. ovifera. Some morphotype-specific genes have been localized. Our results offer new clues that may provide an improved understanding of the underlying genomic regions involved in the independent evolution and domestication of the two subspecies. Comparisons among SNPs unique to particular subspecies or morphotypes may provide candidate genes responsible for traits of high economic importance.This work has been supported by Hellenic Agricultural Organization (ELGO) Demeter. Furthermore, we thank the Conselleria de Educacio, Investigacio, Cultura i Esport (Generalitat Valenciana) for funding Project Prometeo 2017/078 "Seleccion de Variedades Tradicionales y Desarrollo de Nuevas Variedades de Cucurbitaceas Adaptadas a la Produccion Ecologica". 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Next Generation Flow for highly sensitive and standardized detection of minimal residual disease in multiple myeloma

[EN]Flow cytometry has become a highly valuable method to monitor minimal residual disease (MRD) and evaluate the depth of complete response (CR) in bone marrow (BM) of multiple myeloma (MM) after therapy. However, current flow-MRD has lower sensitivity than molecular methods and lacks standardization. Here we report on a novel next generation flow (NGF) approach for highly sensitive and standardized MRD detection in MM. An optimized 2-tube 8-color antibody panel was constructed in five cycles of design-evaluation-redesign. In addition, a bulk-lysis procedure was established for acquisition of ⩾107 cells/sample, and novel software tools were constructed for automatic plasma cell gating. Multicenter evaluation of 110 follow-up BM from MM patients in very good partial response (VGPR) or CR showed a higher sensitivity for NGF-MRD vs conventional 8-color flow-MRD -MRD-positive rate of 47 vs 34% (P=0.003)-. Thus, 25% of patients classified as MRD-negative by conventional 8-color flow were MRD-positive by NGF, translating into a significantly longer progression-free survival for MRD-negative vs MRD-positive CR patients by NGF (75% progression-free survival not reached vs 7 months; P=0.02). This study establishes EuroFlow-based NGF as a highly sensitive, fully standardized approach for MRD detection in MM which overcomes the major limitations of conventional flow-MRD methods and is ready for implementation in routine diagnostics.This work has been supported by the International Myeloma Foundation-Black Swan Research Initiative, the Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer (RTICC); grant SA079U14 from the Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain and; grant DTS15/00119 from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Madrid, Spain

Epidemiological trends of HIV/HCV coinfection in Spain, 2015-2019

Altres ajuts: Spanish AIDS Research Network; European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER).Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies and active HCV infection (HCV-RNA-positive) in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Spain in 2019 and compared the results with those of four similar studies performed during 2015-2018. Methods: The study was performed in 41 centres. Sample size was estimated for an accuracy of 1%. Patients were selected by random sampling with proportional allocation. Results: The reference population comprised 41 973 PLWH, and the sample size was 1325. HCV serostatus was known in 1316 PLWH (99.3%), of whom 376 (28.6%) were HCV antibody (Ab)-positive (78.7% were prior injection drug users); 29 were HCV-RNA-positive (2.2%). Of the 29 HCV-RNA-positive PLWH, infection was chronic in 24, it was acute/recent in one, and it was of unknown duration in four. Cirrhosis was present in 71 (5.4%) PLWH overall, three (10.3%) HCV-RNA-positive patients and 68 (23.4%) of those who cleared HCV after anti-HCV therapy (p = 0.04). The prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies decreased steadily from 37.7% in 2015 to 28.6% in 2019 (p < 0.001); the prevalence of active HCV infection decreased from 22.1% in 2015 to 2.2% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Uptake of anti-HCV treatment increased from 53.9% in 2015 to 95.0% in 2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In Spain, the prevalence of active HCV infection among PLWH at the end of 2019 was 2.2%, i.e. 90.0% lower than in 2015. Increased exposure to DAAs was probably the main reason for this sharp reduction. Despite the high coverage of treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents, HCV-related cirrhosis remains significant in this population

MEGARA, the new intermediate-resolution optical IFU and MOS for GTC: getting ready for the telescope

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía) is an optical Integral-Field Unit (IFU) and Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) designed for the GTC 10.4m telescope in La Palma that is being built by a Consortium led by UCM (Spain) that also includes INAOE (Mexico), IAA-CSIC (Spain), and UPM (Spain). The instrument is currently finishing AIV and will be sent to GTC on November 2016 for its on-sky commissioning on April 2017. The MEGARA IFU fiber bundle (LCB) covers 12.5x11.3 arcsec2 with a spaxel size of 0.62 arcsec while the MEGARA MOS mode allows observing up to 92 objects in a region of 3.5x3.5 arcmin2 around the IFU. The IFU and MOS modes of MEGARA will provide identical intermediate-to-high spectral resolutions (RFWHM~6,000, 12,000 and 18,700, respectively for the low-, mid- and high-resolution Volume Phase Holographic gratings) in the range 3700-9800ÅÅ. An x-y mechanism placed at the pseudo-slit position allows (1) exchanging between the two observing modes and (2) focusing the spectrograph for each VPH setup. The spectrograph is a collimator-camera system that has a total of 11 VPHs simultaneously available (out of the 18 VPHs designed and being built) that are placed in the pupil by means of a wheel and an insertion mechanism. The custom-made cryostat hosts a 4kx4k 15-μm CCD. The unique characteristics of MEGARA in terms of throughput and versatility and the unsurpassed collecting are of GTC make of this instrument the most efficient tool to date to analyze astrophysical objects at intermediate spectral resolutions. In these proceedings we present a summary of the instrument characteristics and the results from the AIV phase. All subsystems have been successfully integrated and the system-level AIV phase is progressing as expected

Credit Supply: Identifying Balance-Sheet Channels with Loan Applications and Granted Loans

To identify credit availability we analyze the extensive and intensive margins of lending with loan applications and all loans granted in Spain. We find that during the period analyzed both worse economic and tighter monetary conditions reduce loan granting, especially to firms or from banks with lower capital or liquidity ratios. Moreover, responding to applications for the same loan, weak banks are less likely to grant the loan. Our results suggest that firms cannot offset the resultant credit restriction by turning to other banks. Importantly the bank-lending channel is notably stronger when we account for unobserved time-varying firm heterogeneity in loan demand and quality