Experimental results and modelling of humidity control strategies for greenhouses in continental and coastal settings in the Mediterranean region. II: Modelling of strategies

Strategies for humidity control —with and without heating— were evaluated via simulations performed with apreviously developed model (see accompanying paper, this issue, part I). With heating, the best strategy combined theuse of a humidity setpoint with step control of the roof window, increasing the ventilation in line with the outsidetemperature. Without heating, the best strategy again combined the use of a humidity setpoint with step control of theroof window, but required ventilation to be increased in line with the inside air temperatur

Artrosis postraumática en pacientes con fractura-luxacion de Lisfranc.

La artrosis postraumática es una de las complicaciones más frecuentes y más invalidantes de la fractura-luxación de Lisfranc (FLL). Objetivo . Evaluar el grado de incidencia de artrosis postraumática como complicación y secuela en pacientes con fractura-luxación de Lisfranc y valorar qué factores muestran relación directa o influyen en su aparición y desarrollo. Material y Método . Se realizó un estudio de cohortes ambispectivo transversal de 83 pacientes con diagnóstico de fractura-luxación de Lisfranc. Se utilizó un protocolo de recogida de datos con variables relacionadas con la lesión, parámetros clínicos, terapéuticos, complicaciones y escalas de valoración clínica. La valoración de artrosis se realiza mediante aparición de signos radiológicos de la clasifica - ción radiológica de Kellgren y Lawrence y su correlación clínica con presencia de dolor. Resultados . La artrosis se mostró como un factor influyente en los resultados, puntuaciones regulares y malas presentan mayor tasa de artrosis (p=0,001), y en cuanto al grado de artrosis, los casos más graves de artrosis se situaban en el grupo de puntuaciones malas (p=0,025). Este grupo de pacientes presentaron peores puntuaciones porque referían más dolor, mayor consumo de analgésicos, más limitación de las actividades de la vida diaria, de las actividades deportivas y limitación de la distancia caminada. Conclusiones . La artrosis se mostró como un factor influyente en los resultados (p=0,001). Los pacientes que desarrollaron artrosis tardaron más tiempo en reincorporarse a su empleo o actividad laboral previa, tenían un tiempo más demorado desde la cirugía al alta y mayor número total de incapacidades laborales y compensaciones económicas con respecto a los pacientes que no desarrollaron artrosis, siendo todos estos valores estadísticamente significativos.The posttraumatic degenerative osteoarthritis is one of the most frequent complications and more disabling of Lisfranc's fracture - luxation (FLL). Objetive. Evaluate the degree of frequency of posttraumatic degenerative osteoarthritis as complication and adverse effect in patients with Lisfranc's fracture - luxation and value what factors show straight relation or influence in its appearance and development. Material and Method.We have made a transversal prospective and retrospective study of cohorts on 83 patients with diagnosis of Lisfranc's fracture - luxation. We have used a data collecting protocol of items related to the injury, clinical, therapeutic parameters, complications and scales of clinical valuation. The assessment valuation of degenerative osteoarthritis is made under radiological signs realized by means of appearance of radiological signs of Kellgren and Lawrence classification and clinical correlation with presence of pain. Results . The degenerative osteoarthri tis appeared as an influential factor in the results, regular and bad punctuations present major rate of degenerative osteoarthritis (p=0,001), and as for the degree of degenerative osteoarthritis, the most serious cases of degenerative osteoarthritis were placing in the group of bad punctuations (p=0,025). This group of patients presented worse punctuations because they were recounting more pain, major consumption of analgesics, more limitation of the activities of the daily life, of the sports activities and limitation of the travelled distance. Conclusions . The degenerative osteoarthritis appeared as an influential factor in the results (p=0,001). The patients who developed degenerative osteoarthritis were late more time in coming back to his employment or labor previous activity; they had a time more delayed from the surgery to the discharge and major total number of labor disabilities and economic compensations with regard to the patients who did not develop degenerative osteoarthritis, being all these statistically significant values

Three Trocars Laparoscopic Resection of Angiomyolipoma of the Liver

Angiomyolipoma of the liver (AML) is an infrequent neoplasm composed of three tissues (adipose, muscle and vessels). In spite of advances in radiology, preoperative correct diagnosis is difficult. Clasically, a conservative management strategy was adopted in patients with asymptomatic tumors less than 5 cm with undoubtful diagnosis. But after publishing some few cases of malignant angiomyolipoma a more radical has been advocated. Laparoscopic resection of liver tumors is becoming a excellent approach for operating on benign liver tumors. Usually is performed using five trocars but in some cases a less invasive technique with three trocars could be used. We present a laparoscopic resection of liver angiomyolipoma in a 65 year-old male using only three trocars and also discuss the optimal management of AML and technical tips of three-trocar technique

A new lower limb portable exoskeleton for gait assistance in neurological patients: a proof of concept study

Background: Few portable exoskeletons following the assist-as-needed concept have been developed for patients with neurological disorders. Thus, the main objectives of this proof-of-concept study were 1) to explore the safety and feasibility of an exoskeleton for gait rehabilitation in stroke and multiple sclerosis patients, 2) to test different algorithms for gait assistance and measure the resulting gait changes and 3) to evaluate the user's perception of the device. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Five patients were recruited (4 patients with stroke and 1 with multiple sclerosis). A robotic, one-degree-of-freedom, portable lower limb exoskeleton known as the Marsi Active Knee (MAK) was designed. Three control modes (the Zero Force Control mode, Mode 1 and Mode 3) were implemented. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were measured by the 10-m walking test (10MWT), the Gait Assessment and Intervention Tool (G.A.I.T.) and Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (gait subscale) before and after the trials. A modified QUEST 2.0 questionnaire was administered to determine each participant's opinion about the exoskeleton. The data acquired by the MAK sensors were normalized to a gait cycle, and adverse effects were recorded. Results: The MAK exoskeleton was used successfully without any adverse effects. Better outcomes were obtained in the 10MWT and G.A.I.T. when Mode 3 was applied compared with not wearing the device at all. In 2 participants, Mode 3 worsened the results. Additionally, Mode 3 seemed to improve the 10MWT and G.A.I.T. outcomes to a greater extent than Mode 1. The overall score for the user perception of the device was 2.8 ± 0.4 95% CI. Conclusions: The MAK exoskeleton seems to afford positive preliminary results regarding safety, feasibility, and user acceptance. The efficacy of the MAK should be studied in future studies, and more advanced improvements in safety must be implemented.G. Puyuelo-Quintana has received financial support by the “Doctorado Industrial” grant of Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España (reference DI-16- 08731). A. Plaza-Flores and E. Garces-Castellote have received financial support by the “Doctorado Industrial” grant of Comunidad de Madrid (reference IND2017/TIC-7698 and IND2018/TIC-9618, respectively).Peer reviewe

Mitochondrial DNA insertions into nuclear DNA affecting chromosome segregation: Insights for a novel mechanism of immunosenescence in mice

Mitochondrial DNA sequences were found inserted in the nuclear genome of mouse peritoneal T lymphocytes that increased progressively with aging. These insertions were preferentially located at the pericentromeric heterochromatin. In the same individuals, binucleated T-cells with micronuclei showed a significantly increased frequency associated with age. Most of them were positive for centromere sequences, reflecting the loss of chromatids or whole chromosomes. The proliferative capacity of T lymphocytes decreased with age as well as the glutathione reductase activity, whereas the oxidized glutathione and malondialdehyde concentrations exhibited a significant increase. These results may point to a common process that provides insights for a new approach to understanding immunosenescence. We propose a novel mechanism in which mitochondrial fragments, originated by the increased oxidative stress status during aging, accumulate inside the nuclear genome of T lymphocytes in a timedependent way. The primary entrance of mitochondrial fragments at the pericentromeric regions may compromise chromosome segregation, causing genetic loss that leads to micronuclei formation, rendering aneuploid cells with reduced proliferation capacity, one of the hallmark of immunosenescence. Future experiments deciphering the mechanistic basis of this phenomenon are needed

The formation of sunspot penumbra. I. Magnetic field properties

We study the formation of a sunspot penumbra in the active region NOAA11024. We simultaneously observed the Stokes parameters of the photospheric iron lines at 1089.6 nm with the TIP and 617.3 nm with the GFPI spectropolarimeters along with broad-band images using G-band and CaIIK filters at the German VTT. The formation of the penumbra is intimately related to the inclined magnetic field. Within 4.5 h observing time, the magnetic flux of the penumbra increases from 9.7E+20 to 18.2E+20 Mx, while the magnetic flux of the umbra remains constant at about 3.8E+20 Mx. Magnetic flux in the immediate surroundings is incorporated into the spot, and new flux is supplied via small flux patches (SFPs), which on average have a flux of 2-3E+18 Mx. The spot's flux increase rate of 4.2E+16 Mx/s corresponds to the merging of one SFP per minute. We also find that during the formation of the spot penumbra: a) the maximum magnetic field strength of the umbra does not change, b) the magnetic neutral line keeps the same position relative to the umbra, c) the new flux arrives on the emergence side of the spot while the penumbra forms on the opposite side, d) the average LRF inclination of the light bridges decreases from 50 to 37 deg, and e) as the penumbra develops, the mean magnetic field strength at the spot border decreases from 1.0 to 0.8 kG. The SFPs associated with elongated granules are the building blocks of structure formation in active regions. During the sunspot formation, their contribution is comparable to the coalescence of pores. A quiet environment in the surroundings is important for penumbral formation. As remnants of trapped granulation between merging pores, the light bridges are found to play a crucial role in the formation process. They seem to channel the magnetic flux through the spot during its formation. Light bridges are also the locations where the first penumbral filaments form.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted by A&

Engineering the isobutanol biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli by comparison of three aldehyde reductase/alcohol dehydrogenase genes

Biofuels synthesized from renewable resources are of increasing interest because of global energy and environmental problems. We have previously demonstrated production of higher alcohols from Escherichia coli using a 2-keto acid-based pathway. Here, we have compared the effect of various alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) for the last step of the isobutanol production. E. coli has the yqhD gene which encodes a broad-range ADH. Isobutanol production significantly decreased with the deletion of yqhD, suggesting that the yqhD gene on the genome contributed to isobutanol production. The adh genes of two bacteria and one yeast were also compared in E. coli harboring the isobutanol synthesis pathway. Overexpression of yqhD or adhA in E. coli showed better production than ADH2, a result confirmed by activity measurements with isobutyraldehyde

Usefulness of a New Large Set of High Throughput EST-SNP Markers as a Tool for Olive Germplasm Collection Management

Germplasm collections are basic tools for conservation, characterization, and efficient use of olive genetic resources. The identification of the olive cultivars maintained in the collections is an important ongoing task which has been performed by both, morphological and molecular markers. In the present study, based on the sequencing results of previous genomic projects, a new set of 1,043 EST-SNP markers has been identified. In order to evaluate its discrimination capacity and utility in diversity studies, this set of markers was used in a representative number of accessions from 20 different olive growing countries and maintained at the World Olive Germplasm Collection of IFAPA Centre ‘Alameda del Obispo’ (Córdoba, Spain), one of the world’s largest olive germplasm bank. Thus, the cultivated material included: cultivars belonging to previously defined core collections by means of SSR markers and agronomical traits, well known homonymy cases, possible redundancies previously identified in the collection, and recently introduced accessions. Marker stability was tested in repeated analyses of a selected number of accessions, as well as in different trees and accessions belonging to the same cultivar. In addition, 15 genotypes from a cross ‘Picual’ × ‘Arbequina’ cultivars from the IFAPA olive breeding program and a set of 89 wild genotypes were also included in the study. Our results indicate that, despite their relatively wide variability, the new set of EST-SNPs displayed lower levels of genetic diversity than SSRs in the set of olive core collections tested. However, the EST-SNP markers displayed consistent and reliable results from different plant material sources and plant propagation events. The EST-SNPs revealed a clear cut off between inter- and intra-cultivar variation in olive. Besides, they were able to reliably discriminate among different accessions, to detect possible homonymy cases as well as efficiently ascertain the presence of redundant germplasm in the collection. Additionally, these markers were highly transferable to the wild genotypes. These results, together with the low genotyping error rates and the easy and fully automated procedure used to get the genotyping data, validate the new set of EST-SNPs as possible markers of choice for olive cultivar identification