From Ethnomedicine to Plant Biotechnology and Machine Learning: The Valorization of the Medicinal Plant Bryophyllum sp.

The subgenus Bryophyllum includes about 25 plant species native to Madagascar, and is widely used in traditional medicine worldwide. Different formulations from Bryophyllum have been employed for the treatment of several ailments, including infections, gynecological disorders, and chronic diseases, such as diabetes, neurological and neoplastic diseases. Two major families of secondary metabolites have been reported as responsible for these bioactivities: phenolic compounds and bufadienolides. These compounds are found in limited amounts in plants because they are biosynthesized in response to different biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, novel approaches should be undertaken with the aim of achieving the phytochemical valorization of Bryophyllum sp., allowing a sustainable production that prevents from a massive exploitation of wild plant resources. This review focuses on the study of phytoconstituents reported on Bryophyllum sp.; the application of plant tissue culture methodology as a reliable tool for the valorization of bioactive compounds; and the application of machine learning technology to model and optimize the full phytochemical potential of Bryophyllum sp. As a result, Bryophyllum species can be considered as a promising source of plant bioactive compounds, with enormous antioxidant and anticancer potential, which could be used for their large-scale biotechnological exploitation in cosmetic, food, and pharmaceutical industriesThis research was funded by Xunta de Galicia through “Red de Uso Sostenible de los Recursos Naturales y Agroalimentarios” (REDUSO, grant number ED431D 2017/18) and “Cluster of Agricultural Research and Development” (CITACA Strategic Partnership, gran numbered ED431E 2018/07). The authors acknowledge the FPU grant awarded to Pascual García-Pérez from the Spanish Ministry of Education (grant number FPU15/04849)S

Machine Learning Technology Reveals the Concealed Interactions of Phytohormones on Medicinal Plant In Vitro Organogenesis

Organogenesis constitutes the biological feature driving plant in vitro regeneration, in which the role of plant hormones is crucial. The use of machine learning (ML) technology stands out as a novel approach to characterize the combined role of two phytohormones, the auxin indoleacetic acid (IAA) and the cytokinin 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), on the in vitro organogenesis of unexploited medicinal plants from the Bryophyllum subgenus. The predictive model generated by neurofuzzy logic, a combination of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and fuzzy logic algorithms, was able to reveal the critical factors affecting such multifactorial process over the experimental dataset collected. The rules obtained along with the model allowed to decipher that BAP had a pleiotropic effect on the Bryophyllum spp., as it caused different organogenetic responses depending on its concentration and the genotype, including direct and indirect shoot organogenesis and callus formation. On the contrary, IAA showed an inhibiting role, restricted to indirect shoot regeneration. In this work, neurofuzzy logic emerged as a cutting-edge method to characterize the mechanism of action of two phytohormones, leading to the optimization of plant tissue culture protocols with high large-scale biotechnological applicabilityThe authors acknowledge the FPU grant awarded to Pascual García-Pérez from the Spanish Ministry of Education (grant number FPU15/04849)S

SafeWalks: aplicación móvil de supervisión de pacientes de Alzheimer

El principal objetivo de Internet of Things (IoT) es integrar las tecnologías informáticas en el quehacer cotidiano de las personas, facilitando su interacción con un entorno de dispositivos interconectados, pero el estado actual del arte hace que dicha interacción esté aún lejos de resultar trivial, precisando de continua intervención del usuario. El modelo People as a Service (PeaaS) pretende facilitar estas tareas por medio del uso del teléfono móvil como interfaz del usuario con IoT. PeaaS permite elaborar un perfil sociológico del usuario, que puede ser explotado por el mismo y servido a terceros de forma controlada. En este trabajo presentamos una aplicación móvil para la supervisión de personas afectadas de alzheimer como prueba de concepto del modelo PeaaS, teniendo como resultado una funcionalidad que va mucho más allá de la ofrecida por otros productos similares en este campo.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

EM Modelling of Monostatic RCS for Different Complex Targets in the Near-Field Range: Experimental Evaluation for Traffic Applications

An evaluation of monostatic radar cross section (RCS) response in the near-field range was performed for several targets with different and complex topologies. The main objective was to provide and validate an efficient tool based on electromagnetic (EM) simulations to characterize a traffic scenario. Thus, a novel method based on the combination of geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) and physical optics (PO) was used to estimate RCS, and the results were compared with the method of moments (MoM) methodology. The simulations were xperimentally validated using a commercial vehicular frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar at 24 GHz. With this simple measurement system, RCS measurements can be made using an easier and cheaper process to obtain RCS response in the near-field range, which is the most usual situation for traffic applications. A reasonable agreement between the measurements and the EM simulations was observed, validating the proposed methodology in order to efficiently characterize the RCS of targets typically found in real traffic scenarios.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, European Union and Junta de Comunidades de Castilla La Manch

Constellations and the unsupervised learning of graphs

In this paper, we propose a novel method for the unsupervised clustering of graphs in the context of the constellation approach to object recognition. Such method is an EM central clustering algorithm which builds prototypical graphs on the basis of fast matching with graph transformations. Our experiments, both with random graphs and in realistic situations (visual localization), show that our prototypes improve the set median graphs and also the prototypes derived from our previous incremental method. We also discuss how the method scales with a growing number of images

Una concepción moderna de Técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial en la Universidad de Alicante

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo presentar la estructura de la asignatura Técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial en la Universidad de Alicante haciendo especial hincapié en los recursos (nuevas tecnologías, material docente y aplicaciones software) empleados durante el desarrollo de la misma. Parte de estos recursos docentes están siendo empleados como herramienta de apoyo para la adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior

Métodos de escalamiento aplicados a la priorización de necesidades de formación en organizaciones

Los criterios para priorizar las necesidades que justifican las acciones formativas a implantar no se suelen explicitar a priori en los programas de formación continua en contextos organizacionales. En este trabajo se proponen los métodos de escalamiento como procedimiento factible y útil para identificar criterios explícitos de priorización de necesidades, y se concreta cuál de ellos es más apropiado en este contexto de intervención. 404 empleados de una organización pública cumplimentaron un cuestionario ad hoc para priorizar necesidades formativas en diferentes áreas durante el período 2004 al 2006; concretamente, se ordenaron 117, 75 y 286 estímulos, respectivamente. Se calcularon y compararon las ordenaciones obtenidas con cuatro métodos de escalamiento: el método de Dunn-Rankin y tres métodos derivados de la Ley del Juicio Categórico de Thurstone, concretamente ordenación por rangos, intervalos sucesivos e intervalos aparentemente iguales. Con los resultados, se constata la factibilidad y utilidad de estos métodos de escalamiento para la solución de los problemas planteados; a partir de los métodos más precisos, se propone el uso del método de ordenación por rangos por su parsimonia (respecto a sencillez en su procedimiento); y se anticipan futuras líneas de actuación

Neurofuzzy logic predicts a fine-tuning metabolic reprogramming on elicited Bryophyllum PCSCs guided by salicylic acid

Novel approaches to the characterization of medicinal plants as biofactories have lately increased in the field of biotechnology. In this work, a multifaceted approach based on plant tissue culture, metabolomics, and machine learning was applied to decipher and further characterize the biosynthesis of phenolic compounds by eliciting cell suspension cultures from medicinal plants belonging to the Bryophyllum subgenus. The application of untargeted metabolomics provided a total of 460 phenolic compounds. The biosynthesis of 164 of them was significantly modulated by elicitation. The application of neurofuzzy logic as a machine learning tool allowed for deciphering the critical factors involved in the response to elicitation, predicting their influence and interactions on plant cell growth and the biosynthesis of several polyphenols subfamilies. The results indicate that salicylic acid plays a definitive genotype-dependent role in the elicitation of Bryophyllum cell cultures, while methyl jasmonate was revealed as a secondary factor. The knowledge provided by this approach opens a wide perspective on the research of medicinal plants and facilitates their biotechnological exploitation as biofactories in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical fields.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431E 2018/07Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431D2017/1

Osteotomía valguizante de tibia proximal en el tratamiento del genu varo artrósico

Fundamento: la asimilación de fuerzas en una rodilla mal alineada implica dolor, deformidad y disminución del rango de movimiento. La corrección quirúrgica retarda la progresión de la afección degenerativa articular y la realización de una artroplastia total. Objetivo: evaluar los resultados de la osteotomía valguizante de tibia proximal en el tratamiento del genu varo artrósico. Métodos: estudio descriptivo sobre 21 pacientes atendidos en el Servicio de Ortopedia del Hospital Territorial Docente Julio Aristegui Villamil, entre enero del 2003 y septiembre del 2008, con el diagnóstico de gonartrosis del compartimiento medial y deformidad angular vara secundaria, a los que se les realizó una osteotomía valguizante de tibia proximal con el uso de fijador externo RALCA®. Resultados: predominaron los pacientes masculinos (71,4 %), con edad media de 56,3±2,01 años, el sobrepeso como factor predisponente (57, 1 %) y 52,3 % de lesiones grado II según criterios de Ahlback. Desde el posoperatorio inmediato hasta los dos años, se logró un promedio de corrección quirúrgica del eje femorotibial de 9±1, 13 grados, con una pérdida de corrección de 2 ± 0,34 grados. La osteítis del alambre fue la complicación más frecuente (19, 04 %). A los dos años de evolución los resultados eran buenos en el 80,9 % de los casos. Se retrasó la artroplastia total o parcial de rodilla, disminuyó el dolor, mejoró la capacidad funcional y la calidad de vida en el 95, 2 % de los pacientes. Conclusiones: la osteotomía valguizante de tibia proximal resultó efectiva en el tratamiento del genu varo artrósico