CARACTERIZACIÓN MORFOLÓGICA DE COLECTAS Y ACCESIONES DE Jatropha curcas L, EN EL DEPARTAMENTO DE ALTO PARANÁ, PARAGUAY

Esta evaluación se llevó acabo entre los meses de enero y julio del 2009, con el propósito de caracterizar morfológicamente la colección de germoplasma de Jatropha curcas del Centro Tecnológico Agropecuario en Paraguay (CETAPAR). El método empleado para las evaluaciones fue el de muestreo aleatorio con quince tratamientos y cinco repeticiones. La colección se encuentra compuesta de 15 híbridos clonales implantados en el año 2007, provenientes de colectas de las localidades paraguayas de: Guayaki, Juan León Mallorquín, Minga Guazú, Caraguatay, La Colmena, Sapucai, Fulgencio R. Moreno, Santa Rosa del Aguaray y Horqueta; y de la localidad brasileña de Dourados; además de accesiones del estado brasileño de Minas Gerais, cuyas denominaciones son: Bento, Filomena, Gonzalo, Oracilia y Paraguaçu. Se evaluaron la altura de plantas en enero y julio, crecimiento en altura en 6 meses, diámetro de tallo, diámetro de copa, número de ramas primarias y secundarias, diámetro ecuatorial de frutos, longitud y ancho de semillas. Los resultados estadísticos muestran que para las variables: altura de planta y número de ramas por planta existen diferencias entre los materiales, no así para las demás características evaluadas

ATAC-clock: An aging clock based on chromatin accessibility.

The establishment of aging clocks highlighted the strong link between changes in DNA methylation and aging. Yet, it is not known if other epigenetic features could be used to predict age accurately. Furthermore, previous studies have observed a lack of effect of age-related changes in DNA methylation on gene expression, putting the interpretability of DNA methylation-based aging clocks into question. In this study, we explore the use of chromatin accessibility to construct aging clocks. We collected blood from 159 human donors and generated chromatin accessibility, transcriptomic, and cell composition data. We investigated how chromatin accessibility changes during aging and constructed a novel aging clock with a median absolute error of 5.27 years. The changes in chromatin accessibility used by the clock were strongly related to transcriptomic alterations, aiding clock interpretation. We additionally show that our chromatin accessibility clock performs significantly better than a transcriptomic clock trained on matched samples. In conclusion, we demonstrate that the clock relies on cell-intrinsic chromatin accessibility alterations rather than changes in cell composition. Further, we present a new approach to construct epigenetic aging clocks based on chromatin accessibility, which bear a direct link to age-related transcriptional alterations, but which allow for more accurate age predictions than transcriptomic clocks

Sucrose esters from Physalis peruviana calyces with anti-inflammatory activity

Physalis peruviana is a native plant from the South American Andes and is widely used in tra- ditional Colombian medicine of as an anti-inflam- matory medicinal plant, specifically the leaves, calyces, and small stems in poultice form. Pre- vious studies performed by our group on P. pe- ruviana calyces showed potent anti-inflamma- tory activity in an enriched fraction obtained from an ether total extract. The objective of the present study was to obtain and elucidate the ac- tive compounds from this fraction and evaluate their anti-inflammatory activity in vivo and in vi- tro. The enriched fraction of P. peruviana was pu- rified by several chromatographic methods to ob- tain an inseparable mixture of two new sucrose esters named peruviose A (1) and peruviose B (2). Structures of the new compounds were eluci- dated using spectroscopic methods and chemical transformations. The anti-inflammatory activity of the peruvioses mixture was evaluated using λ-carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats and lipopolysaccharide-activated peritoneal macro- phages. Results showed that the peruvioses did not produce side effects on the liver and kidneys and significantly attenuated the inflammation in- duced by λ-carrageenan in a dosage-dependent manner, probably due to an inhibition of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2, which was demon- strated in vitro. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the presence of sucrose esters in P. pe- ruviana that showed a potent anti-inflammatory effect. These results suggest the potential of su- crose esters from the Physalis genus as a novel natural alternative to treat inflammatory diseases

Changes in the nocturnal activity of birds during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a neotropical city

Changes in the nocturnal activity of birds during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in a neotropical city. The COVID-19 lockdown provided the opportunity to measure species biodiversity in urban environments under conditions divergent from regular urban rhythms. For 90 days, including weeks of strict lockdown and the subsequent relaxation of restrictions, we measured the presence and abundance of birds that were active at night at two sites in the city of Cali, Colombia. Our results show that species richness of nocturnal birds decreased 40% to 58% during the weeks with more human activity, adding further evidence to the biodiversity responses of the 'anthropause' on urban environments.Non peer reviewe

Immune Activation in Amyloid-β-Related Angiitis Correlates with Decreased Parenchymal Amyloid-β Plaque Load

Background: Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS) is a rare but serious condition. A fraction of patients suffering from PACNS concurrently exhibit pronounced cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) which is characterized by deposits of amyloid-β (Aβ) in and around the walls of small and medium-sized arteries of the brain. PACNS with CAA has been identified as a distinct disease entity, termed Aβ-related angiitis (ABRA). Evidence points to an immune reaction to vessel wall Aβ as the trigger of vasculitis. Objective: To investigate whether the inflammatory response to Aβ has (1) any effect on the status of immune activation in the brain parenchyma and (2) leads to clearance of Aβ from brain parenchyma. Methods: We studied immune activation and Aβ load by quantitative immunohistochemical analysis in brain parenchyma adjacent to affected vessels in 11 ABRA patients and 10 matched CAA controls. Results: ABRA patients showed significantly increased immune activation and decreased Aβ loads in the brain parenchyma adjacent to affected vessels. Conclusion: Our results are in line with the hypothesis of ABRA being the result of an excessive immune response to Aβ and show that this can lead to enhanced clearance of Aβ from the brain parenchyma by immune-mediated mechanisms

q-Deformed Superalgebras

The article deals with q-analogs of the three- and four-dimensional Euclidean superalgebra and the Poincare superalgebra.Comment: 38 pages, LateX, no figures, corrected typo

Simulation of the CMS Resistive Plate Chambers

The Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) muon subsystem contributes significantly to the formation of the trigger decision and reconstruction of the muon trajectory parameters. Simulation of the RPC response is a crucial part of the entire CMS Monte Carlo software and directly influences the final physical results. An algorithm based on the parametrization of RPC efficiency, noise, cluster size and timing for every strip has been developed. Experimental data obtained from cosmic and proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV have been used for determination of the parameters. A dedicated validation procedure has been developed. A good agreement between the simulated and experimental data has been achieved.Comment: to be published in JINS

Geology of La Reforma caldera complex, Baja California, Mexico

A new geological map at 1:50,000 scale of La Reforma Caldera Complex has been produced applying modern survey methodologies to volcanic areas. This map aims to represent a reliable and objective tool to understand the geological evolution of the region. La Reforma Caldera Complex is a Pleistocene nested caldera located in the central part of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. The twelve formations defined within the Quaternary volcanic record were grouped into three phases (pre-caldera, caldera, and post-caldera). The pre-caldera phase (>1.35 Ma) is characterized by scattered eruptions, mostly occurred in submarine environment. The caldera phase (1.35–0.96 Ma) groups several distinct explosive and effusive eruptions that formed the present-day caldera depression. The post caldera phase includes scattered effusive eruptions (ended at 0.28 Ma) and resurgence, characterized by several hundred meters of uplift of the central block within the caldera depression