Alcohols, esters and heavy sulphur compounds production by pure and mixed cultures of apiculate wine yeasts

Strains of Hanseniaspora uvarum, Hanseniaspora guilliermondii and Saccharomyces cerevisiae were used as pure or mixed starter cultures in commercial medium, in order to compare their kinetic parameters and fermentation patterns. In pure and mixed cultures, yeasts presented similar ethanol yield and productivity. Pure cultures of H. uvarum and S. cerevisiae showed a specific growth rate of 0.38 h⁻¹; however, this value decreased when these yeasts were grown in mixed cultures with H. guilliermondii. The specific growth rate of pure cultures of H. guilliermondii was 0.41 h⁻⁻¹ and was not affected by growth of other yeasts. H. guilliermondii was found to be the best producer of 2-phenylethyl acetate and 2-phenylethanol in both pure and mixed cultures. In pure cultures, H. uvarum led to the highest contents of heavy sulphur compounds, but H. guilliermondii and S. cerevisiae produced similar levels of methionol and 2-methyltetrahydrothiophen-3-one. Growth of apiculate yeasts in mixed cultures with S. cerevisiae led to amounts of 3-methylthiopropionic acid, acetic acid-3-(methylthio)propyl ester and 2- methyltetrahydrothiophen-3-one similar to those obtained in a pure culture of S. cerevisiae; however, growth of apiculate yeasts increased methionol contents of fermented media

S. epidermidis isolates from a tertiary care Portuguese hospital show very high antibiotic non-susceptible rates and significant ability to form biofilms

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have been increasing during recent decades, leading to long hospital stays and high morbidity and mortality rates. The usage of antibiotics therapy against these infections is enhancing the emergence of more multiple-drug resistant strains, in particular in Staphylococcus epidermidis. Hence, this study focused on the resistance pattern of S. epidermidis isolates from clinical settings and its association with phenotypic and molecular traits. Our results showed that HAIs were more prevalent among infants and older adults, and the most frequent type of HAI was central line-associated bloodstream infection. Half of the patients received antibiotic therapy before laboratory diagnosis. Preceding microbiological diagnosis, the number of patients receiving antibiotic therapy increased by 29.1%. Eighty-six per cent of the clinical isolates presented a multidrug resistance (MDR) profile, and a quarter were strong biofilm producers. Furthermore, polysaccharide intercellular adhesin (PIA)-dependent biofilms presented higher biomass production (p=0.0041) and a higher rate of antibiotic non-susceptibility than PIA-independent biofilms, emphasizing the role of icaABDC operon in infection severity. Therefore, this study suggests that a thorough understanding of the phenotypic and molecular traits of the bacterial cause of the HAIs may lead to a more suitable selection of antibiotic therapy, improving guidance and outcome assessment.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and COMPETE grants PTDC/BIA-MIC/113450/2009 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014309). The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the project NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2—O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cambios en el mapa mediático del ecuador: los medios públicos que tenemos y los medios que queremos

The public media system of Ecuador consists of 22 mass media organizations with diverse origins and structures, constituting a new power without clear limits that tries to compete with private and traditional mass media organizations whose administration has a family, monopolistic character. Public media organizations in Ecuador are far from the universal characteristics proposed for this type of media, basically, due to their closeness to State organizations. The competition between private and government media groups is unequal, a situation that modifies the national media agenda, exposing some of the weaknesses and limitations of journalistic work and the handling of journalistic enterprises, in particular. This article is based in a descriptive analysis of the communications media in Ecuador and the power game that the presence of public media has unleashed in this last decade. It also analyzes the role of journalism and its position confronting vital issues for the country, showing the lack of a comprehensive policy that favors citizens and weaknesses in the journalism profession. It concludes with recommendations for improving the role of media in Ecuador.  El sistema de medios públicos en Ecuador está compuesto por 22 medios de diferente origen y estructura, constituyéndose un poder nuevo y sin límites claros, que intenta competir con medios privados y tradicionales del país, cuya administración es de carácter familiar y monopólico. Los medios públicos en Ecuador distan de las características universales planteadas para este tipo de medios, básicamente por la cercanía con los organismos del Estado, en general. La competencia entre medios públicos y privados es desigual, situación que modifica la agenda mediática nacional, dejando a la luz algunas debilidades y limitaciones del ejercicio periodístico y del manejo de la empresa periodística, en particular. El presente artículo se fundamenta en un análisis descriptivo de los medios de comunicación en Ecuador y el juego de poderes que ha desatado la presencia de medios públicos en esta última década. Analizan también el rol del periodismo y su posición frente a los temas vitales para el país, evidenciando la ausencia de una política integral a favor del ciudadano y debilidades en la profesión periodística. Concluye con recomendaciones para mejorar el papel de los medios en Ecuador. &nbsp

Conocimiento materno de alimentación complementaria relacionado con el nivel de hemoglobina en niños de 6 a 12 meses del C.S.M.I EL Porvenir-2022

El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la relación entre los conocimientos maternos de alimentación complementaria con el nivel de hemoglobina en niños de 6 a 12 meses del Centro de Salud Materno Infantil “El Porvenir”-2022. La metodología aplicada en esta investigación fue correlacional, de enfoque cuantitativo y de corte transversal. La muestra estuvo conformada por 113 madres y/o apoderados que participaron junto con sus hijos de 6 a 12 meses de edad, el instrumento utilizado fue una encuesta para los niveles de conocimientos y un registro para el nivel de hemoglobina extraído de la base de datos. Los resultados mostraron que la edad promedio de las madres varían entre los 19 y 41 años, en los niños predomina el sexo femenino y la edad de 12 meses. Además, se mostraron que el 77% de las madres presentan un conocimiento alto sobre alimentación complementaria y el 84.1% de los niños exhibieron un nivel de hemoglobina normal. Se concluye que existe relación significativa entre el nivel de conocimiento materno de alimentación complementaria con el nivel de hemoglobina en los niños (p < 0.05) por lo tanto, se evidenció que existen conocimientos altos de alimentación complementaria de las madres con niveles normales de hemoglobina en los niños

Phenotypic Correlations Between Juvenile-Mature Wood Density and Growth in Black Spruce

Phenotypic correlations between juvenile-mature wood density and growth were examined based on increment core samples from two plantations, a provenance test and a commercial plantation, of black spruce [Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.]. The ring density components are significantly correlated to their respective ring width components: earlywood and ring densities are negatively correlated to ring and earlywood widths, respectively, while ring and latewood densities are positively correlated to latewood width. These hold true in both juvenile and mature wood. However, the correlation between ring width and ring density decreases with increasing age. This suggests that the correlation between wood density and growth rate tends to lessen as the tree ages. For each character, the correlation between juvenile and mature wood is significant but moderate. Thus, juvenile wood characters are only indicative of mature wood ones. On the other hand, trees with 12 growth rings from the pith were good predictors of wood density and radial growth of the whole tree. Individual growth rings from the juvenile-mature wood transition zone can be used to predict to some extent the wood density of either mature wood or the whole tree

Captura de carbono en el compartimiento leñoso del bosque seco en la provincia de Loja con perspectivas de mercado.

Se determinó el valor económico del servicio ambiental captura de carbono del bosque seco de la provincia de Loja y formuló una propuesta de mercadeo de bonos de carbono. Para ello se analizó el valor ecológico del bosque mediante un inventario de las especies de árboles ≥ a 5 cm de diámetro a la altura del pecho (DAP), evaluando 150 parcelas. Se estimó el contenido de carbono del compartimiento leñoso del bosque y los certificados de carbono (VER) que se pueden negociar en mercados voluntarios. Se consideró potencialidades, oportunidades, debilidades y amenazas para elaborar la propuesta de mercadeo de bonos de carbono. Se reportan 62 especies leñosas, correspondientes a 51 géneros y 29 familias, las especies sobresalientes: Ceiba trichistandra, Eriotheca ruizii, Cochlospermum vitifolium y Handroanthus chrysanthus. El reservorio de carbono del compartimento leñoso del bosque seco es de 118,44 tCO xiii 2 e/ha. Se obtuvo la valoración económica del servicio ecosistémico en USD 183 582 000, se estimó un flujo de ingresos para plantear un plan de negocio y comercializar los VERs en el mercado voluntario. Se generó una ecuación alométrica para estimaciones de biomasa de otros bosques secos. Se recomienda utilizar los resultados como referente para realizar estudios encaminados a asignar el valor económico del bosque considerando toda su flora y fauna.It was determined the economic value of the environmental service carbon capture of the forest in Loja province and it formulated a proposal of marketing of carbon credits. For this, it was analyzed the ecological value of the forest throughout an inventory of the species of trees ≥ 5 cm of diameter at the height of the chest (DHCH), evaluating 150 parcels. The carbon content of the woody compartment of the forest and the carbon certificates (VERs) that can be negotiated in voluntary markets were estimated. In order to elaborate the proposal for the marketing of carbon credits, there were considered the potentials, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. There are 62 woody species, corresponding to 51 genders and 29 families. The outstanding species are: Ceiba trichistandra, Eriotheca ruizii, Cochlospermum vitifolium and Handroanthus chrysanthus. The carbon reservoir of the woody compartment of the dry forest is 118,44 tCo2 e /ha, the economic valuation of the ecosystem service was obtained at USD 183 582 000, an income stream was estimated to propose a business plan and to market the VERs in the voluntary market. An allometric equation was generated to estimate the biomass from other dry forests. It is recommended to use the results as a reference for studies aimed at assigning the economic value of the forest considering all its flora and fauna

Transition from Juvenile to Mature Wood in Black Spruce (Picea Mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.)

The radial patterns of several intra-ring traits in increment cores of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) plantation trees were modeled with polynomials to characterize their trends and to estimate the transition age from juvenile to mature wood. Wood density, ring width, latewood density, and latewood proportion were obtained by X-ray densitometry. Average radial trends were similar to those reported earlier in Picea species. For all traits measured, significant differences were found among diameter classes. Thus, the juvenile wood production period varies with growth rate. In addition, transition age for a given diameter class varies, depending on trait. Hence, transition age needs to be defined more precisely, basing it on biological processes

V1T: large-scale mouse V1 response prediction using a Vision Transformer

Accurate predictive models of the visual cortex neural response to natural visual stimuli remain a challenge in computational neuroscience. In this work, we introduce V1T, a novel Vision Transformer based architecture that learns a shared visual and behavioral representation across animals. We evaluate our model on two large datasets recorded from mouse primary visual cortex and outperform previous convolution-based models by more than 12.7% in prediction performance. Moreover, we show that the self-attention weights learned by the Transformer correlate with the population receptive fields. Our model thus sets a new benchmark for neural response prediction and can be used jointly with behavioral and neural recordings to reveal meaningful characteristic features of the visual cortex.Comment: updated references and added link to code repository; add analysis on generalization and visualize aRF

Enhancing genetic mapping of complex genomes through the design of highly-multiplexed SNP arrays: application to the large and unsequenced genomes of white spruce and black spruce

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To explore the potential value of high-throughput genotyping assays in the analysis of large and complex genomes, we designed two highly multiplexed Illumina bead arrays using the GoldenGate SNP assay for gene mapping in white spruce (<it>Picea glauca </it>[Moench] Voss) and black spruce (<it>Picea mariana </it>[Mill.] B.S.P.).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Each array included 768 SNPs, identified by resequencing genomic DNA from parents of each mapping population. For white spruce and black spruce, respectively, 69.2% and 77.1% of genotyped SNPs had valid GoldenGate assay scores and segregated in the mapping populations. For each of these successful SNPs, on average, valid genotyping scores were obtained for over 99% of progeny. SNP data were integrated to pre-existing ALFP, ESTP, and SSR markers to construct two individual linkage maps and a composite map for white spruce and black spruce genomes. The white spruce composite map contained 821 markers including 348 gene loci. Also, 835 markers including 328 gene loci were positioned on the black spruce composite map. In total, 215 anchor markers (mostly gene markers) were shared between the two species. Considering lineage divergence at least 10 Myr ago between the two spruces, interspecific comparison of homoeologous linkage groups revealed remarkable synteny and marker colinearity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The design of customized highly multiplexed Illumina SNP arrays appears as an efficient procedure to enhance the mapping of expressed genes and make linkage maps more informative and powerful in such species with poorly known genomes. This genotyping approach will open new avenues for co-localizing candidate genes and QTLs, partial genome sequencing, and comparative mapping across conifers.</p