Local spin Seebeck imaging with scanning thermal probe

In this work we present the results of an experiment to locally resolve the spin Seebeck effect in a high-quality Pt/YIG sample. We achieve this by employing a locally heated scanning thermal probe to generate a highly local non-equilibrium spin current. To support our experimental results, we also present a model based on the non-equilibrium thermodynamic approach which is in a good agreement with experimental findings. To further corroborate our results, we index the locally resolved spin Seebeck effect with that of the local magnetisation texture by MFM and correlate corresponding regions. We hypothesise that this technique allows imaging of magnetisation textures within the magnon diffusion length and hence characterisation of spin caloritronic materials at the nanoscale

Comorbidade entre abuso/dependência de drogas e o sofrimento psíquico em sete países da América Latina e um do Caribe

Fue realizado estudio multicéntrico en pacientes bajo tratamento por dependencia de alcohol y substancias ilícitas, en ocho países (Brasil, Chile, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Uruguay). El objetivo fue investigar la frecuencia de distrés psicológico, diagnóstico actual de comorbilidades, y disfuncionalidad familiar percibida. Fueron incluídos 1.073 voluntarios adultos, que diligenciaron un cuestionario o fueron entrevistados. El distrés psicológico y la disfuncionalidad familiar fueron evaluados por escalas (Kessler K-10 y APGAR-family). Hombres predominaron en todos los lugares (edades entre 18 y 86). En la mayoría de los sitios, el diagnóstico actual de ansiedad varió entre 30% y 40% y el de depresión entre 20% y 35%. Niveles altos u muy altos de distrés psícológico fueron reportados por más de 70% en Uruguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala y Brasil. La disfuncionalidad familiar severa fue mayor en Panamá 34.7% seguida de los sitios de Nicaragua 20-25%. La prevalencia de distrés psicológico sugiere niveles altos de comorbilidad. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTA multicenter study among patients in treatment for alcohol and illicit drugs abuse were conducted in eight countries (Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay). Our objective was to ascertain the frequency of psychological distress, current diagnosis of comorbidities and perceived familiar dysfunction. It was recruited 1,073 adult volunteers and they filled out a questionnaire or were interviewed. Psychological distress was evaluated through the Kessler's K-10 scale and family dysfunction by the APGAR-family scale. Male individuals predominated at all study sites (age range: 18-86). Current diagnosis of anxiety ranged from 30.0% to 40.0% in most sites. Current diagnosis of depression ranged from 20% to 35% in most sites. High and very high levels of psychological stress were higher than 70% in Uruguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Brazil. Severe family dysfunction was higher in Panamá 34.7% followed by Nicaraguan cities 20-25%. The prevalence of psychological distress suggests higher rates of comorbidity. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ RESUMOFoi realizado um estudo multicéntrico em pacientes sob tratamento para dependência de álcool e substâncias ilícitas em oito países (Brasil, Chile, Guatemala, Jamaica, Nicarágua, Panamá, Paraguai, Uruguai). O objetivo foi averiguar a frequência de sofrimento psíquico, diagnóstico atual de comorbidades, e disfuncionalidade familiar percebida. Foram incluídos 1.073 voluntários adultos, que preencheram um questionário ou foram entrevistados. O sofrimento psíquico e a disfuncionalidade familiar foram avaliados por escalas (Kessler K-10 e APGAR-family). Os homens predominaram em todos os locais (idades entre 18 e 86). Na maioria dos locais, o diagnóstico atual de ansiedade variou de 30% a 40% e o de depressão, de 20% a 35%. Níveis altos e muito altos de sofrimento psíquico foram relatados por mais de 70% em Uruguai, Nicarágua, Guatemala e Brasil. Disfuncionalidade familiar severa foi maior no Panamá 34,7%, seguida da Nicarágua 20-25%. A prevalencia de sofrimento psíquico sugere níveis mais altos de comorbidade

Diseño de una planta de procesamiento de productos lácteos y elaboración de un plan de contingencia contra deslaves en el Instituto Tecnológico Universitario Guatemala Sur-USAC. Palón, Escuintla.

La presente investigación se realizó en el Instituto Tecnológico Universitario Guatemala Sur, es una dependencia de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, descentralizada con patrimonio propio, encargado de desarrollar la formación teórica y práctica y la educación profesional en las áreas tecnológicas. Está ubicado en el municipio de Palín, departamento de Escuintla. En el Instituto Tecnológico Universitario Guatemala Sur (ITUGS), se imparten 5 carreras técnicas, dentro de las cuales está la carrera de Técnico en Producción Alimentaria donde se imparte el curso de procesamiento de productos lácteos. La carrera de Técnico necesita el aprendizaje práctico y técnico de la elaboración de alimentos y actualmente el ITUGS no cuenta con las instalaciones adecuadas para desarrollar las prácticas de dicha carrera, por lo que se propone el diseño de una planta de procesamiento de productos lácteos, en donde los alumnos puedan realizar las prácticas de los conocimientos aprendidos en la teoría

Las tramas de la Unidad en Nuestramérica : aportes para pensar la integración

La presente publicación es el resultado del trabajo de un colectivo de investigadores e investigadoras nucleados en un PID-UNR3 que se ejecutó entre 2020 y 2022. Ahora bien, esta publicación es mucho más significativa aún porque, producto del colectivo reunido en torno al PID, se constituyó un equipo de trabajo denominado GEICRAL –Grupo de Estudios en Integración y Cooperación Regional en América Latina–, radicado en el Instituto de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario (Res. CD 3394/21-CUDI 32380/2021).Fil: Saavedra, Olga. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales; Argentina

Nested effects models for high-dimensional phenotyping screens

Motivation: In high-dimensional phenotyping screens, a large number of cellular features is observed after perturbing genes by knockouts or RNA interference. Comprehensive analysis of perturbation effects is one of the most powerful techniques for attributing functions to genes, but not much work has been done so far to adapt statistical and computational methodology to the specific needs of large-scale and high-dimensional phenotyping screens. Results: We introduce and compare probabilistic methods to efficiently infer a genetic hierarchy from the nested structure of observed perturbation effects. These hierarchies elucidate the structures of signaling pathways and regulatory networks. Our methods achieve two goals: (1) they reveal clusters of genes with highly similar phenotypic profiles, and (2) they order (clusters of) genes according to subset relationships between phenotypes. We evaluate our algorithms in the controlled setting of simulation studies and show their practical use in two experimental scenarios: (1) a data set investigating the response to microbial challenge in Drosophila melanogaster, and (2) a compendium of expression profiles of Saccharomyces cerevisiae knockout strains. We show that our methods identify biologically justified genetic hierarchies of perturbation effects. Availability: The software used in our analysis is freely available in the R package ‘nem’ from www.bioconductor.or

Differential DARC/ACKR1 expression distinguishes venular from non-venular endothelial cells in murine tissues

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant AI112521 and the John and Virginia Kaneb Fellowship

An Extensive Quality Control and Quality Assurance (QC/QA) Program Significantly Improves Inter-Laboratory Concordance Rates of Flow-Cytometric Minimal Residual Disease Assessment in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: An I-BFM-FLOW-Network Report

Monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) by flow cytometry (FCM) is a powerful prognostic tool for predicting outcomes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To apply FCM-MRD in large, collaborative trials, dedicated laboratory staff must be educated to concordantly high levels of expertise and their performance quality should be continuously monitored. We sought to install a unique and comprehensive training and quality control (QC) program involving a large number of reference laboratories within the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (I-BFM) consortium, in order to complement the standardization of the methodology with an educational component and persistent quality control measures. Our QC and quality assurance (QA) program is based on four major cornerstones: (i) a twinning maturation program, (ii) obligatory participation in external QA programs (spiked sample send around, United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Service (UK NEQAS)), (iii) regular participation in list-mode-data (LMD) file ring trials (FCM data file send arounds), and (iv) surveys of independent data derived from trial results. We demonstrate that the training of laboratories using experienced twinning partners, along with continuous educational feedback significantly improves the performance of laboratories in detecting and quantifying MRD in pediatric ALL patients. Overall, our extensive education and quality control program improved inter-laboratory concordance rates of FCM-MRD assessments and ultimately led to a very high conformity of risk estimates in independent patient cohorts

Towards a System Level Understanding of Non-Model Organisms Sampled from the Environment: A Network Biology Approach

The acquisition and analysis of datasets including multi-level omics and physiology from non-model species, sampled from field populations, is a formidable challenge, which so far has prevented the application of systems biology approaches. If successful, these could contribute enormously to improving our understanding of how populations of living organisms adapt to environmental stressors relating to, for example, pollution and climate. Here we describe the first application of a network inference approach integrating transcriptional, metabolic and phenotypic information representative of wild populations of the European flounder fish, sampled at seven estuarine locations in northern Europe with different degrees and profiles of chemical contaminants. We identified network modules, whose activity was predictive of environmental exposure and represented a link between molecular and morphometric indices. These sub-networks represented both known and candidate novel adverse outcome pathways representative of several aspects of human liver pathophysiology such as liver hyperplasia, fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. At the molecular level these pathways were linked to TNF alpha, TGF beta, PDGF, AGT and VEGF signalling. More generally, this pioneering study has important implications as it can be applied to model molecular mechanisms of compensatory adaptation to a wide range of scenarios in wild populations