Coexistence of jaguars (Panthera onca) and pumas (Puma concolor) in a tropical forest in south–eastern Mexico

The biological ranges of the jaguar (Panthera onca) and puma (Puma concolor) overlap in the Yucatan Peninsula, corresponding to the most important population of jaguars in Mexico. The goal of this study in the El Eden Ecological Reserve (EER) was to investigate the factors that permit these two predators to coexist in the dense vegetation of medium–stature tropical forest and secondary forest in the north–eastern Yucatan Peninsula. We assessed their spatial and temporal overlap using Pianka’s index, and evaluated their habitat use by applying occupancy models. A total sampling effort of 7,159 trap–nights over 4 years produced 142 independent photographic records of jaguars, and 134 of pumas. The felids showed high to very high overlap in their use of different vegetation (0.68–0.99) and trail types (0.63–0.97) and in their activity patterns (0.81–0.90). However, their peak activity patterns showed some temporal separation. Time of day, particularly for peak activity time, was the best predictor to explain the coexistence of the felids in this habitat. While occupancy models showed that the presence of potential prey species and vegetation type could predict the presence of felids in the study area. Natural disturbances during 2010 (hurricane) and 2011 (fire) drastically changed habitat use and activity patterns, resulting in pumas and jaguars adjusting their resource–use and activity pattern through a strategy of mutual evasion

Fermionic vacuum densities in higher-dimensional de Sitter spacetime

Fermionic condensate and the vacuum expectation values of the energy-momentum tensor are investigated for twisted and untwisted massive spinor fields in higher-dimensional de Sitter spacetime with toroidally compactified spatial dimensions. The expectation values are presented in the form of the sum of corresponding quantities in the uncompactified de Sitter spacetime and the parts induced by non-trivial topology. The latter are finite and the renormalization is needed for the first parts only. Closed formulae are derived for the renormalized fermionic vacuum densities in uncompactified odd-dimensional de Sitter spacetimes. It is shown that, unlike to the case of 4-dimensional spacetime, for large values of the mass, these densities are suppressed exponentially. Asymptotic behavior of the topological parts in the expectation values is investigated in the early and late stages of the cosmological expansion. When the comoving lengths of compactified dimensions are much smaller than the de Sitter curvature radius, to the leading order the topological parts coincide with the corresponding quantities for a massless fermionic field and are conformally related to the corresponding flat spacetime results. In this limit the topological parts dominate the uncompactified de Sitter part and the back-reaction effects should be taken into account. In the opposite limit, for a massive field the asymptotic behavior of the topological parts is damping oscillatory.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, cosmological applications are adde

Fermionic Casimir effect in de Sitter spacetime

The Casimir densities are investigated for a massive spinor field in de Sitter spacetime with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified spatial dimensions. The vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor is presented in the form of the sum of corresponding quantity in the uncompactified de Sitter spacetime and the part induced by the non-trivial topology. The latter is finite and the renormalization is needed for the first part only. The asymptotic behavior of the topological term is investigated in the early and late stages of the cosmological expansion. When the comoving lengths of the compactified dimensions are much smaller than the de Sitter curvature radius, to the leading order the topological part coincides with the corresponding quantity for a massless fermionic field and is conformally related to the corresponding flat spacetime result with the same topology. In this limit the topological term dominates the uncompactified de Sitter part and the back-reaction effects should be taken into account. In the opposite limit, for a massive field the asymptotic behavior of the topological part is damping oscillatory.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, talk presented at the International Workshop "60 Years of Casimir Effect", 23 - 27 June, 2008, Brasili

Factors related to the development of health-promoting community activities in Spanish primary healthcare: two case-control studies.

Objective Spanish primary healthcare teams have the responsibility of performing health-promoting community activities (CAs), although such activities are not widespread. Our aim was to identify the factors related to participation in those activities. Design Two case–control studies. setting Performed in primary care of ve Spanish regions. subjects In the rst study, cases were teams that performed health-promoting CAs and controls were those that did not. In the second study (on case teams from the rst study), cases were professionals who developed these activities and controls were those who did not. Main outcome measures Team, professional and community characteristics collected through questionnaires (team managers/professionals) and from secondary sources. results The rst study examined 203 teams (103 cases, 100 controls). Adjusted factors associated with performing CAs were percentage of nurses (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.14), community socioeconomic status (higher vs lower OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.18 to 3.95) and performing undergraduate training (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.93). In the second study, 597 professionals responded (254 cases, 343 controls). Adjusted factors were professional classi cation (physicians do fewer activities than nurses and social workers do more), training in CAs (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1), team support (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.5 to 5.7), seniority (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.09), nursing tutor (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.5), motivation (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.8 to 7.5), collaboration with non-governmental organisations (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 3.1) and participation in neighbourhood activities (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.9 to 5.1). Conclusions Professional personal characteristics, such as social sensitivity, profession, to feel team support or motivation, have in uence in performing health-promoting CAs. In contrast to the opinion expressed by many professionals, workload is not related to performance of health-promoting CAs

ACALASIA Y EMBARAZO: PRESENTACION DE UN CASO Achalasia and pregnancy: Case presentation

La acalasia es un trastorno primario infrecuente de la motilidad esofágica, caracterizado por la ausencia de peristaltismo en el cuerpo esofágico y la disfunción del esfínter esofágico inferior (EEI) que se muestra incapaz de relajarse tras la deglución y cuyos síntomas principales son disfagia, dolor torácico y regurgitación de alimentos ingeridos previamente. Los datos disponibles sobre el efecto de la acalasia en el embarazo y la influencia de éste sobre el curso de la enfermedad son insuficientes. Nos propusimos revisar la literatura internacional sobre el tema a propósito del manejo de una gestante con este trastorno. Reportamos una gestante de 34 años con diagnóstico pregestacional de acalasia que culminó su embarazo con resultados maternos y perinatales favorables. Se concluye que el manejo multidisciplinario de las gestantes complicadas con esta afección, contribuye de manera decisiva a disminuir las complicaciones.The achalasia is an infrequent primary disorder characterized by abnormal motility of the esophageal body and non relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter with swallowing, resulting in dysphagia, chest pain and regurgitation as main symptoms. Information on the effects of achalasia on pregnancy outcome and the influence of pregnancy on the natural course of achalasia is limited. We reviewed the available international literature on the topic in connection with the management of a case complicated with this disorder. A 34 year old pregnant woman with the prenatal diagnosis of Achalasia and successful maternal and perinatal outcomes is reported. The multidisciplinary management of pregnant women complicated with this affection, contributes significantly to decrease complications

Correlation between Thickness and Optical Properties in Nanocrystalline γ-Monoclinic WO3 Thin Films

Results from the analysis of the variation of structural defects, such as oxygen vacancies indicate that by adjusting the thickness of the WO3 films, fabricated by DC reactive sputtering, it is possible to modulate the oxygen vacancies concentration. This has a tremendous influence on the applications of these semiconductor materials. The thicknesses analyzed here are 42, 66, and 131 nm. After the annealing process at 500 °C, films were directly transformed to a stable γ-monoclinic crystal structure with P21/n space group, with a preferential orientation in the (200) plane. Atomic force microscopy exhibits nanometer range particle size with the highest roughness and higher surface area for the thinner film. FTIR analysis shows the presence of characteristic bands of the double bond stretching vibrational modes (W=O) and stretching vibrations of the γ(W-O-W) bonds corresponding to the monoclinic WO3. Raman bands located at 345, and 435 cm−1 are ascribed to the presence of W5+ species that induces the formation of oxygen vacancies VO. The thinner film shows a decrease in the optical indirect band gap attributed to the formation of oxygen vacancies in combination with W5+ species that induce the formation of energy states within the forbidden band gap range

Genomic selection in plant breeding: Methods, models, and perspectives

Genomic selection (GS) facilitates the rapid selection of superior genotypes and accelerates the breeding cycle. In this review, we discuss the history, principles, and basis of GS and genomic-enabled prediction (GP) as well as the genetics and statistical complexities of GP models, including genomic genotype × environment (G × E) interactions. We also examine the accuracy of GP models and methods for two cereal crops and two legume crops based on random cross-validation. GS applied to maize breeding has shown tangible genetic gains. Based on GP results, we speculate how GS in germplasm enhancement (i.e., prebreeding) programs could accelerate the flow of genes from gene bank accessions to elite lines. Recent advances in hyperspectral image technology could be combined with GS and pedigree-assisted breeding

Assessing the impact of the addition of dendritic cell vaccination to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: A model-based characterization approach

Aims: Immunotherapy is a rising alternative to traditional treatment in breast cancer (BC) patients in order to transform cold into hot immune enriched tumours and improve responses and outcome. A computational modelling approach was applied to quantify modulation effects of immunotherapy and chemotherapy response on tumour shrinkage and progression-free survival (PFS) in naïve BC patients. Methods: Eighty-three Her2-negative BC patients were recruited for neoadjuvant chemotherapy with or without immunotherapy based on dendritic cell vaccination. Sequential tumour size measurements were modelled using nonlinear mixed effects modelling and linked to PFS. Data from another set of patients (n = 111) were used to validate the model. Results: Tumour size profiles over time were linked to biomarker dynamics and PFS. The immunotherapy effect was related to tumour shrinkage (P < .05), with the shrinkage 17% (95% confidence interval: 2-23%) being higher in vaccinated patients, confirmed by the finding that pathological complete response rates in the breast were higher in the vaccinated compared to the control group (25.6% vs 13.6%; P = .04). The whole tumour shrinkage time profile was the major prognostic factor associated to PFS (P < .05), and therefore, immunotherapy influences indirectly on PFS, showing a trend in decreasing the probability of progression with increased vaccine effects. Tumour subtype was also associated with PFS (P < .05), showing that luminal A BC patients have better prognosis. Conclusions: Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy is effective in decreasing tumour size. The semi-mechanistic validated model presented allows the quantification of the immunotherapy treatment effects on tumour shrinkage and establishes the relationship between the dynamics of tumour size and PFS