Comparative Integumentary Morphology in Four Species of Pipa (Anura: Pipidae) from Colombia

As most neotropical pipids, the four species of Pipa present in Colombia are poorly understood despite their particular biology. The tegument of these New-World pipids presents particular structures which variations have been hardly analyzed. Therefore, we aim to describe the morphological variations of the dermal flap, barbels, fingertips, and the lateral line pattern among these four species, focusing on changes during the ontogeny. The results of the study show that the dermal flap was exclusively found in P. pipa, while barbels are usually present in P. pipa but seldom in P. snethlageae. The lateral line pattern in the dorsum is shared by the four species, but P. pipa present more neuromast lines along the snout than P. snethlageae. These species were different from P. parva and P. myersi, which cannot be distinguished based on external morphology, as they were more similar in all lateral line elements and exhibited the same fingertip morphology. On the other hand, the fingertips of young individuals of P. pipa and P. snethlageae presented four simple distal lobes which bifurcate twice during the ontogeny, so that adults present sixteen lobes. The difference between species is observed in the fingertip morphology: P. pipa has all four lobes distally placed, but P. snethlageae has one pair more proximal. The tegument structures analyzed here have a taxonomic utility using external morphology for P. pipa and P. snethlageae, but for P. parva and P. myersi additional studies are necessary. For future research, evaluating the function and anatomy of these structures is important to the understanding these integumentary structures in Pipa

A novel architecture for room temperature microwave optomechanical experiments

We have developed a novel architecture for room temperature microwave cavity optomechanics, which is based on the coupling of a 3D microwave reentrant cavity to a compliant membrane. Devices parameters have enabled resolving the thermomechanical motion of the membrane, and observing optomechanically induced transparency/absorption in the linear regime, for the first time in a microwave optomechanical system operated at room temperature. We have extracted the single photon coupling rate (g0) using four independent measurement techniques, and hence obtain a full characterization of the proposed cavity optomechanical system

Estudios de la respuesta fisiológica de la yerba mate a la disponibilidad de aluminio en el sustrato

Anais do II Encontro de Iniciação Científica e de Extensão da Unila - Sessão de Biologia I - 03/07/13 – 13h30 às 18h30 - Unila-PTI - Bloco 03 – Espaço 03 – Sala 03El cono sur presenta frecuentemente en su geograf ́ ıa suelos donde la acidez puede tornarse un problema. Entre los principales se encuentra la biodisponibilidad de metales como el Aluminio y el manganeso, que en cantidades aun peque ̃ nas pueden provocar toxicidad. Dado que la yerba mate se distribuye naturalmente en la regi ́on decidimos evaluar el comportamiento de la yerba mate a Aluminio soluble (pH<5). Para evaluar la respuesta de plantas de yerba mate a las diferentes condiciones de acidez y toxicidad del suelo, se sometieron plantas en estad ́ ıos iniciales de desarrollo a la presencia de aluminio en el medio de crecimiento, con variaci ́ on del pH. Para esto, se obtuvieron 6 planteras con pl ́antulas de aproximadamente 4 cm de la ciudad de Jard ́ ın Am ́erica, Misiones, Argentina. Estas plantas fueron llevadas a la Moradia I de UNILA y fueron ubicadas en un lugar adecuado para su climatizaci ́ on. Para comenzar con el tratamiento, el sustrato de las plantas fue retirado cuidadosamente para evitar la interferencia de fertilizantes, las ra ́ ıces fueron lavadas y las plantas separadas en dos grupos seg ́ un el tama ̃ no. El sustrato fue sustituido por una mezcla en proporci ́on 2:1 de arena/humus. Mientras las plantas se fueron re- aclimatando a su nuevo sustrato, se prepararon las soluciones de Hoagland para el tratamiento. Fueron establecidos 6 tratamientos, los cuales fueron aplicados a cada 3 d ́ ıas. Los mismos fue- ron: 1) Control: Soluci ́on de Hoagland 0,5x a pH 4 (4CT); 2) Aluminio en baja concentraci ́ on: Soluci ́ on de Hoagland 0,5x con 100uM de Sulfato de aluminio a pH 4 (4A1); 3) Aluminio en alta concentraci ́ on: Soluci ́on de Hoagland 0,5x con 400uM de sulfato de aluminio a pH 4 (4A4); 4) Control: Soluci ́on de Hoagland 0,5x a pH 5 (5CT); 5)Aluminio en baja concentraci ́ on: Soluci ́on de Hoagland 0,5x con 100uM de Sulfato de aluminio a pH 5 (5A1); 6)Aluminio en alta concen- traci ́ on: Soluci ́on de Hoagland 0,5x con 400uM de Sulfato de aluminio a pH 5 (5A4). Entre las aplicaciones de los tratamientos el riego fue suplementado con agua, cada vez que la humedad del sustrato lo requiri ́o. Este tratamiento estaba previsto para un periodo de aproximadamente dos meses, el cual no pudo ser llevado a t ́ermino debido a estr ́es h ́ ıdrico provocado por el clima y drenaje excesivo del sustrato que llevo a la muerte de la mayor ́ ıa de las plantas. El experimento fue repetido en un lugar con condiciones ambientales m ́ as adecuadas, sin remoci ́on del sustrato para evitar el estr ́es que esto provoca y siguiendo el procedimiento anterior. El tratamiento lleva siendo ejecutado un mes y se esperan observar resultados en un lapso de uno a dos meses.Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA

Living in a cold tropical mountain: do the microhabitat use and activity pattern change with elevation in the high-Andean lizard Stenocercus trachycephalus (Squamata: Tropiduridae)?

The high mountain environment is a tough habitat that imposes many challenges to reptiles. As temperature decreases with altitude and has a dramatic variation throughout the day in the tropical mountains, ectotherms must cope with these harsh conditions. We studied the use of microhabitat and activity patterns of Stenocercus trachycephalus in the eastern Andes mountain range of Colombia. Three localities were sampled across the wide altitudinal distribution of this lizard species, in a range from 2,670 to 3,950 m a.s.l. The initial hypothesis was that these natural history traits would change with altitude but instead, we found that they remained roughly consistent, showing the great plasticity of this species. The results support that this lizard is a microhabitat-generalist using principally herb across the gradient, rarely shifting to specific plants or microhabitats such as rocks depending on availability. Regarding the activity pattern, this species was active throughout the day from 8:00 to 16:00 with a similar pattern along the gradient. Nevertheless, some differences were detected across localities. The activity pattern shifted from bimodal in the lower locality to unimodal in the higher ones. As expected, a correlation between temperature and activity patterns was found in one of the study sites. However, this was not the case for the lower and mid-elevation localities, where there was no correlation between these variables. The mid-elevation study site was the most interesting locality as the use of microhabitat relied virtually just on the herb stratum and the activity was constrained to the morning hours. These findings may be the result of the synergic effects of other ecological variables (weather variability, human impact, predation, population structure, or reproductive season). Our study gives the basis for a better understanding of how behavior (microhabitat choice and hours of activity) of ectotherms can help to counter thermal constraints in the neotropics when facing an altitudinal gradient. Further studies should focus on the thermal biology of this species, considering the influence of anthropic impact on these lizards’ populations

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Effectiveness of Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavaria Nordic Vaccination in a Population at High Risk of Mpox: A Spanish Cohort Study

Background: With over 7,500 cases notified since April 2022, Spain has experienced the highest incidence of mpox in Europe. From July 12th onwards, the Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavaria Nordic (MVA-BN) smallpox vaccine was offered as pre-exposure prophylaxis for individuals at high-risk of mpox, including those receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (HIV-PrEP). Our aim was to assess the effectiveness of one dose of MVA-BN vaccine as pre-exposure against mpox virus (MPXV) infection in persons on HIV-PrEP. Methods: We conducted a national retrospective cohort study between July 12 and December 12, 2022. Individuals ≥18 years, receiving HIV-PrEP as of July 12 and with no previous MPXV infection or vaccination were eligible. Each day, we matched individuals receiving a first dose of MVA-BN vaccine and unvaccinated controls of the same age group and region. We used a Kaplan-Meier estimator and calculate risk ratios (RR) and vaccine effectiveness (VE = 1-RR). Results: We included 5,660 matched pairs, with a median follow-up of 62 days (interquartile range 24-97). Mpox cumulative incidence was 5.6 per 1,000 (25 cases) in unvaccinated and 3.5 per 1,000 (18 cases) in vaccinated. No effect was found during days 0-6 post-vaccination (VE -38.3; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): -332.7; 46.4), but VE was 65% in ≥7 days (95%CI 22.9; 88.0) and 79% in ≥14 days (95%CI 33.3; 100.0) post-vaccination. Conclusions: One dose of MVA-BN vaccine offered protection against mpox in a most-at-risk population shortly after the vaccination. Further studies need to assess the VE of a second dose and the duration of protection over time.S

Search for flavour-changing neutral tqH interactions with H -> gamma gamma in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral interactions involving the top quark, the Higgs boson and an up-type quark q ( q = c, u) is presented. The proton-proton collision data set used, with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1), was collected at root s = 13TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Both the decay process t -> qH in tt production and the production process pp. tH, with the Higgs boson decaying into two photons, are investigated. No significant excess is observed and upper limits are set on the t. cH and the t. uH branching ratios of 4.3x10(-4) and 3.8x10(-4), respectively, at the 95% confidence level, while the expected limits in the absence of signal are 4.7x10(-4) and 3.9x10(-4). Combining this search with ATLAS searches in the H. t+ t- and H. b b final states yields observed (expected) upper limits on the t -> cH branching ratio of 5.8 x 10(-4) (3.0 x 10(-4)) at the 95% confidence level. The corresponding observed (expected) upper limit on the t -> uH branching ratio is 4.0 x 10(-4) (2.4 x 10(-4))

Combined Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass from the Formula Presented and Formula Presented Decay Channels with the ATLAS Detector Using Formula Presented, 8, and 13 TeV Formula Presented Collision Data

A measurement of the mass of the Higgs boson combining the Formula Presented and Formula Presented decay channels is presented. The result is based on Formula Presented of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector during LHC run 2 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV combined with the run 1 ATLAS mass measurement, performed at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, yielding a Higgs boson mass of Formula Presented. This corresponds to a 0.09% precision achieved on this fundamental parameter of the Standard Model of particle physics