Independència de la deambulació i la defecació en un camp obert poc atemoridor, posada de manifest en un estudi generacional

El principal objetivo del presente trabajo ha sido poner en evidencia la independencia de la deambulación y la defecación en un campo abierto poco atemorizador, mediante un estudio generacional. Los sujetos experimentales que formaban una nueva generación eran descendientes de padres seleccionados por puntuaciones extremas de deambulación. Cruzando entre sí los sujetos con más altas puntuaciones en deambulación y, a su vez, los de más bajas puntuaciones, obteníamos dos líneas con características de deambulación distintas. Un análisis de la evolución de la característica defecación, muestra la independencia de esta medida con la deambulación.The main purpose of the present paper has been to make evident that ambulation and defecation scores in a low-frigtening open field are independent. Subjects with highest and lowest expression of the ambulation character are selected. Mating like with like will tend to increase the mean score in subsequent generations giving two lines: high and low ambulator ' ones. The effect of ambulation upon the leve1 of defecation is analized. The results showed that ambulation measure is independent to defecation one

Mycobacterial aminoglycoside acetyltransferases: a little of drug resistance, and a lot of other roles

Aminoglycoside acetyltransferases are important determinants of resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics in most bacterial genera. In mycobacteria, however, aminoglycoside acetyltransferases contribute only partially to aminoglycoside susceptibility since they are related with low level resistance to these antibiotics (while high level aminoglycoside resistance is due to mutations in the ribosome). Instead, aminoglycoside acetyltransferases contribute to other bacterial functions, and this can explain its widespread presence along species of genus Mycobacterium. This review is focused on two mycobacterial aminoglycoside acetyltransferase enzymes. First, the aminoglycoside 2'-N-acetyltransferase [AAC(2')], which was identified as a determinant of weak aminoglycoside resistance in M. fortuitum, and later found to be widespread in most mycobacterial species; AAC(2') enzymes have been associated with resistance to cell wall degradative enzymes, and bactericidal mode of action of aminoglycosides. Second, the Eis aminoglycoside acetyltransferase, which was identified originally as a virulence determinant in M. tuberculosis (enhanced intracellular survival); Eis protein in fact controls production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and other pathways. The relation of Eis with aminoglycoside susceptibility was found after the years, and reaches clinical significance only in M. tuberculosis isolates resistant to the second-line drug kanamycin. Given the role of AAC(2') and Eis proteins in mycobacterial biology, inhibitory molecules have been identified, more abundantly in case of Eis. In conclusion, AAC(2') and Eis have evolved from a marginal role as potential drug resistance mechanisms into a promising future as drug targets

The Motor Dysfunction Seen in Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Isolated Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep Behavior Disorder (iRBD) requires quantitative tools to detect incipient Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS: A motor battery was designed and compared with the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (MDS-UPDRS-III) in people with iRBD and controls. This included two keyboard-based tests (BRadykinesia Akinesia INcoordination tap test and Distal Finger Tapping) and two dual tasking tests (walking and finger tapping). RESULTS: We included 33 iRBD patients and 29 controls. The iRBD group performed both keyboard-based tapping tests more slowly (P < 0.001, P = 0.020) and less rhythmically (P < 0.001, P = 0.006) than controls. Unlike controls, the iRBD group increased their walking duration (P < 0.001) and had a smaller amplitude (P = 0.001) and slower (P = 0.007) finger tapping with dual task. The combination of the most salient motor markers showed 90.3% sensitivity for 89.3% specificity (area under the ROC curve [AUC], 0.94), which was higher than the MDS-UPDRS-III (minus action tremor) (69.7% sensitivity, 72.4% specificity; AUC, 0.81) for detecting motor dysfunction. CONCLUSION: Speed, rhythm, and dual task motor deterioration might be accurate indicators of incipient PD in iRBD. © 2024 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

Isolated rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) in the Island Study Linking Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) Sleep Study: protocol and baseline characteristics

Isolated rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (iRBD) is a sleep disorder that is characterised by dream enactment episodes during REM sleep. It is the strongest known predictor of α-synuclein-related neurodegenerative disease (αNDD), such that >80% of people with iRBD will eventually develop Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or multiple system atrophy in later life. More research is needed to understand the trajectory of phenoconversion to each αNDD. Only five 'gold standard' prevalence studies of iRBD in older adults have been undertaken previously, with estimates ranging from 0.74% to 2.01%. The diagnostic recommendations for video-polysomnography (vPSG) to confirm iRBD makes prevalence studies challenging, as vPSG is often unavailable to large cohorts. In Australia, there have been no iRBD prevalence studies, and little is known about the cognitive and motor profiles of Australian people with iRBD. The Island Study Linking Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disease (ISLAND) Sleep Study will investigate the prevalence of iRBD in Tasmania, an island state of Australia, using validated questionnaires and home-based vPSG. It will also explore several cognitive, motor, olfactory, autonomic, visual, tactile, and sleep profiles in people with iRBD to better understand which characteristics influence the progression of iRBD to αNDD. This paper details the ISLAND Sleep Study protocol and presents preliminary baseline results

The first hominin of Europe

The earliest hominin occupation of Europe is one of the most debated topics in palaeoanthropology. However, the purportedly oldest of the Early Pleistocene sites in Eurasia lack precise age control and contain stone tools rather than human fossil remains(1-5). Here we report the discovery of a human mandible associated with an assemblage of Mode 1 lithic tools and faunal remains bearing traces of hominin processing, in stratigraphic level TE9 at the site of the Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain(6-8). Level TE9 has been dated to the Early Pleistocene ( approximately 1.2 - 1.1 Myr), based on a combination of palaeomagnetism, cosmogenic nuclides and biostratigraphy. The Sima del Elefante site thus emerges as the oldest, most accurately dated record of human occupation in Europe, to our knowledge. The study of the human mandible suggests that the first settlement of Western Europe could be related to an early demographic expansion out of Africa. The new evidence, with previous findings in other Atapuerca sites ( level TD6 from Gran Dolina(9-13)), also suggests that a speciation event occurred in this extreme area of the Eurasian continent during the Early Pleistocene, initiating the hominin lineage represented by the TE9 and TD6 hominins.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62855/1/nature06815.pd

New luminescence ages for the Galeria Complex archaeological site: resolving chronological uncertainties on the Acheulean record of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Northern Spain

Published: October 22, 2014The archaeological karstic infill site of Galería Complex, located within the Atapuerca system (Spain), has produced a large faunal and archaeological record (Homo sp. aff. heidelbergensis fossils and Mode II lithic artefacts) belonging to the Middle Pleistocene. Extended-range luminescence dating techniques, namely post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR) dating of K-feldspars and thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence (TT-OSL) dating of individual quartz grains, were applied to fossil-bearing sediments at Galería. The luminescence dating results are in good agreement with published chronologies derived using alternative radiometric dating methods (i.e., ESR and U-series dating of bracketing speleothems and combined ESR/U-series dating of herbivore teeth), as well as biochronology and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions inferred from proxy records (e.g., pollen data). For the majority of samples dated, however, the new luminescence ages are significantly (∼50%) younger than previously published polymineral thermoluminescence (TL) chronologies, suggesting that the latter may have overestimated the true burial age of the Galería deposits. The luminescence ages obtained indicate that the top of the basal sterile sands (GIb) at Galería have an age of up to ∼370 thousand years (ka), while the lowermost sub-unit containing Mode II Acheulean lithics (base of unit GIIa) was deposited during MIS 9 (mean age = 313±14 ka; n = 4). The overlying units GIIb-GIV, which contain the richest archaeopalaeontological remains, were deposited during late MIS 8 or early MIS 7 (∼240 ka). Galería Complex may be correlative with other Middle Pleistocene sites from Atapuerca, such as Gran Dolina level TD10 and unit TE19 from Sima del Elefante, but the lowermost archaeological horizons are ∼100 ka younger than the hominin-bearing clay breccias at the Sima de los Huesos site. Our results suggest that both pIR-IR and single-grain TT-OSL dating are suitable for resolving Middle Pleistocene chronologies for the Sierra de Atapuerca karstic infill sequences.Martina Demuro, Lee J. Arnold, Josep M. Parés, Alfredo Pérez-González, Ana I. Ortega, Juan L. Arsuaga, José M. Bermúdez de Castro, Eudald Carbonel

Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain

Current knowledge of the evolution of the postcranial skeleton in the genus Homo is hampered by a geographically and chronologically scattered fossil record. Here we present a complete characterization of the postcranium of the middle Pleistocene paleodeme from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) and its paleobiological implications. The SH hominins show the following: (i) wide bodies, a plesiomorphic char- acter in the genus Homo inherited from their early hominin ancestors; (ii) statures that can be found in modern human middle-latitude pop- ulations that first appeared 1.6–1.5 Mya; and (iii) large femoral heads in some individuals, a trait that first appeared during the middle Pleistocene in Africa and Europe. The intrapopulational size variation in SH shows that the level of dimorphism was similar to modern humans (MH), but the SH hominins were less encephalized than Ne- andertals. SH shares many postcranial anatomical features with Ne- andertals. Although most of these features appear to be either plesiomorphic retentions or are of uncertain phylogenetic polarity, a few represent Neandertal apomorphies. Nevertheless, the full suite of Neandertal-derived features is not yet present in the SH popula- tion. The postcranial evidence is consistent with the hypothesis based on the cranial morphology that the SH hominins are a sister group to the later Neandertals. Comparison of the SH postcranial skeleton to other hominins suggests that the evolution of the postcranium oc- curred in a mosaic mode, both at a general and at a detailed level

Foodways in transition: food plants, diet and local perceptions of change in a Costa Rican Ngäbe community

Background Indigenous populations are undergoing rapid ethnobiological, nutritional and socioeconomic transitions while being increasingly integrated into modernizing societies. To better understand the dynamics of these transitions, this article aims to characterize the cultural domain of food plants and analyze its relation with current day diets, and the local perceptions of changes given amongst the Ngäbe people of Southern Conte-Burica, Costa Rica, as production of food plants by its residents is hypothesized to be drastically in recession with an decreased local production in the area and new conservation and development paradigms being implemented. Methods Extensive freelisting, interviews and workshops were used to collect the data from 72 participants on their knowledge of food plants, their current dietary practices and their perceptions of change in local foodways, while cultural domain analysis, descriptive statistical analyses and development of fundamental explanatory themes were employed to analyze the data. Results Results show a food plants domain composed of 140 species, of which 85 % grow in the area, with a medium level of cultural consensus, and some age-based variation. Although many plants still grow in the area, in many key species a decrease on local production–even abandonment–was found, with much reduced cultivation areas. Yet, the domain appears to be largely theoretical, with little evidence of use; and the diet today is predominantly dependent on foods bought from the store (more than 50 % of basic ingredients), many of which were not salient or not even recognized as ‘food plants’ in freelists exercises. While changes in the importance of food plants were largely deemed a result of changes in cultural preferences for store bought processed food stuffs and changing values associated with farming and being food self-sufficient, Ngäbe were also aware of how changing household livelihood activities, and the subsequent loss of knowledge and use of food plants, were in fact being driven by changes in social and political policies, despite increases in forest cover and biodiversity. Conclusions Ngäbe foodways are changing in different and somewhat disconnected ways: knowledge of food plants is varied, reflecting most relevant changes in dietary practices such as lower cultivation areas and greater dependence on food from stores by all families. We attribute dietary shifts to socioeconomic and political changes in recent decades, in particular to a reduction of local production of food, new economic structures and agents related to the State and globalization

The Spanish Infrared Camera onboard the EUSO-BALLOON (CNES) flight on August 24, 2014

The EUSO-Balloon (CNES) campaign was held during Summer 2014 with a launch on August 24. In the gondola, next to the Photo Detector Module (PDM), a completely isolated Infrared camera was allocated. Also, a helicopter which shooted flashers flew below the balloon. We have retrieved the Cloud Top Height (CTH) with the IR camera, and also the optical depth of the nonclear atmosphere have been inferred with two approaches: The first one is with the comparison of the brightness temperature of the cloud and the real temperature obtained after the pertinent corrections. The second one is by measuring the detected signal from the helicopter flashers by the IR Camera, considering the energy of the flashers and the location of the helicopter

The atmospheric science of JEM-EUSO

An Atmospheric Monitoring System (AMS) is critical suite of instruments for JEM-EUSO whose aim is to detect Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) and (EHECR) from Space. The AMS comprises an advanced space qualified infrared camera and a LIDAR with cross checks provided by a ground-based and airborne Global Light System Stations. Moreover the Slow Data Mode of JEM-EUSO has been proven crucial for the UV background analysis by comparing the UV and IR images. It will also contribute to the investigation of atmospheric effects seen in the data from the GLS or even to our understanding of Space Weather