Combined use of the GGSFT data base and on Board Marine Collected Data to Model the Moho Beneath the Powell Basin, Antarctica

The Powell Basin is a small oceanic basin located at the NE end of the Antarctic Peninsula developed during the Early Miocene and mostly surrounded by the continental crusts of the South Orkney Microcontinent, South Scotia Ridge and Antarctic Peninsula margins. Gravity data from the SCAN 97 cruise obtained with the R/V Hespérides and data from the Global Gravity Grid and Sea Floor Topography (GGSFT) database (Sandwell and Smith, 1997) are used to determine the 3D geometry of the crustal-mantle interface (CMI) by numerical inversion methods. Water layer contribution and sedimentary effects were eliminated from the Free Air anomaly to obtain the total anomaly. Sedimentary effects were obtained from the analysis of existing and new SCAN 97 multichannel seismic profiles (MCS). The regional anomaly was obtained after spectral and filtering processes. The smooth 3D geometry of the crustal mantle interface obtained after inversion of the regional anomaly shows an increase in the thickness of the crust towards the continental margins and a NW-SE oriented axis of symmetry coinciding with the position of an older oceanic spreading axis. This interface shows a moderate uplift towards the western part and depicts two main uplifts to the northern and eastern sectors

Underlying SUSY in a generalized Jaynes–Cummings model

We present a general qubit-boson interaction Hamiltonian that describes the Jaynes–Cummings model and its extensions as a single Hamiltonian class. Our model includes non-linear processes for both the free qubit and boson field as well as non-linear, multi-boson excitation exchange between them. It shows an underlying algebra with supersymmetric quantum mechanics features allowing an operator based diagonalization that simplifies the calculations of observables. As a practical example, we show the evolution of the population inversion and the boson quadratures for an initial state consisting of the qubit in the ground state interacting with a coherent field for a selection of cases covering the standard Jaynes–Cummings model and some of its extensions including Stark shift, Kerr-like, intensity dependent coupling, multi-boson exchange and algebraic deformations

Low density DNA microarray for detection of most frequent TP53 missense point mutations

BACKGROUND: We have developed an oligonucleotide microarray (genosensor) utilizing a double tandem hybridization technique to search for 9 point mutations located in the most frequently altered codons of the TP53 gene. Isolated and multiplexed PCR products, 108 and 92 bp long, from exons 7 and 8, respectively, were obtained from 24 different samples. Single-stranded target DNA was then prepared from isolated or multiplexed PCR products, through cyclic DNA synthesis. Independent ssDNA's were annealed with the corresponding pairs of labeled stacking oligonucleotides to create partially duplex DNA having a 7-nt gap, which contains the sequence that will be interrogated by the capture probes forming double tandem hybridization. In the case of multiplexed ssPCR products, only two stacking oligonucleotides were added per target, therefore the gap for the PCR products having two consecutive codons to be interrogated in exon 7 was 12 nt long, so only single tandem hybridization was produced with these respective probes. RESULTS: 18 codon substitutions were found by DNA sequencing. In 13 of them a perfect correlation with the pattern of hybridization was seen (In 5 no signal was seen with the wt probe while a new signal was seen with the appropriate mutant probe, and in 8 more, as expected, no signal was seen with any probe due to the absence of the corresponding probe in the array). In 3 other cases a mutation was falsely suggested by the combination of the absence of the wild type signal along with a false signal in the other probe. In the other 2 cases the presence of the mutation was not detected due to the production of a false hybridization signal with the wild type probe. In both cases (false mutation or no mutation detected) relatively stable mismatched target/probe duplexes should be formed. These problems could be avoided by the addition of probes to improve the performance of the array. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that a simple TP53 microarray employing short (7-mer) probes, used in combination with single or double tandem hybridization approach and a simple or multiplex target preparation method, can identify common TP53 missense mutations from a variety of DNA sources with good specificity

Emulsifying properties of defatted rice bran concentrates enriched in fiber and proteins

BACKGROUND: Rice bran (RB), a by-product of the rice milling industry, constitutes around 10% of the total weight of rough rice. The interest in the use of RB is centered on its nutritional quality, its low cost, and its extensive worldwide production. As RB is commonly used for oil extraction, the defatted rice bran (DRB) is obtained as a second by-product. The aim of this work was to obtain a defatted rice bran concentrate (DRBC), enriched in protein and fiber, from defatted rice bran flour (DRBF) and to determine its physicochemical and emulsifying properties. RESULTS: To obtain the DRBC, the starch was efficiently hydrolyzed (> 98%) with α-amylase and amyloglucosidase, with a concomitant increase in the proportions of crude protein (from 154.7 to 274.3 g kg−1) and total dietary fiber (from 276.1 to 492.3 g kg−1). Defatted rice bran concentrate exhibited a loss of protein solubility and increased surface hydrophobicity compared with DRBF. Defatted rice-bran concentrate dispersions with and without previous ultrasound treatment were prepared. The sonication led to an increase in the apparent viscosity. Emulsions were prepared with dispersions with and without previous ultrasound treatment and showed high stability in quiescent conditions over 28 days. However, the emulsions prepared with dispersions treated with ultrasound resulted in lower D4,3 values and higher elastic and viscous moduli. CONCLUSION: The rice bran concentrate can be used to obtain stable oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, including both soluble and insoluble fractions, in acidic and neutral conditions. These innovative findings thus contribute to increasing the added value of this important by-product of the rice-milling industry.Fil: Bonifacino, Carla. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Química; UruguayFil: Franco Fraguas, Eugenia. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Química; UruguayFil: López, Débora Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Departamento de Química y Física. Área Fisicoquímica; Argentina. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Química e Ingeniería-Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Wagner, Jorge Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología. Laboratorio de Investigación en Funcionalidad y Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Cabezas, Dario Marcelino. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología. Laboratorio de Investigación en Funcionalidad y Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Panizzolo, Luis Alberto. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Química; UruguayFil: Palazolo, Gonzalo Gastón. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología. Laboratorio de Investigación en Funcionalidad y Tecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Abirached, Cecilia. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Química; Urugua

Differential antibody response against conformational and linear epitopes of the L1 protein from human papillomavirus types 16/18 is generated in vaccinated woman or with different exposures to the virus

Antibodies against human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 protein are associated to past infections and related to the evolution of the disease, while antibodies against L1 virus like particles (VLPs-L1) are used to follow the neutralizing immune response in vaccinated women. In this study, sera antibodies against conformational and linear epitopes of L1 protein from HPV16/18 were evaluated to discriminate HPV vaccinated women from those naturally infected or with uterine cervical lesions. The VLPs-L1 from HPV16/18 generated in baculovirus were purified by CsCl gradient and linear L1 protein obtained by denature VLPs. Serum antibodies against VLPs-L1 and L1 from vaccinated women or with different exposures to the virus were measured by ELISA. Regresion and ROC analysis were carried out to evaluete the test performance to discriminate the different women populations. The results showed that antibodies against VLPs-L1-16/18 highly associated with vaccinated women (OR=2.11e+08 and 57.74, respectively), but not associations were observed with natural infected women or with cervical lesions. However, antibodies against L1-16/18 showed high associations with vaccinated women (OR= 101.33 and 37.91, respectively) (p≤ 0.05), but also associations of these antibodies were observed with the cervical cancer (CC) group (OR= 3.33 and 5.65, respectively). The ROC analysis showed that antibodies against VLPs-L1 and L1 16/18 were highly effective to detect vaccinated women (AUC= 0.96, 0.91. 0.80 and 0.78, respectively), with high sensitivity for HPV16 (100% and 86.3%), and moderate for HPV18 (63.6%). However, anti-L1 antibodies had the best test performance to discriminate the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3)/CC group from controls (AUC= 0.67 HPV16 and 0.63 HPV18), with low sensitivity (15% to 20%, respectively) and high specificity (96% and 92%, respectively). In conclusion, our results suggested that anti-VLPs-L1 16/18 antibodies are highly efficient to detect vaccinated women, but anti-L1 antibodies are better to discriminate CIN3/CC among the general population

Desarrollo y evaluación de un sistema interactivo para personas con discapacidad visual

This document presents the experimentation, development and results of testing conducted on a computer application designed for visually impaired people. The interactive system aims to promote some places in the State of Aguascalientes, Mexico, and improve the memory of blind users. The purpose of this article is to describe the construction of the system and the testing conducted to measure the degree of interactivity with blind people. Creating interactivity-focused applications is important since it can improve the degree of technology usage (mobile devices) of people with disabilities. To assess the quality of this type of software, the specifications they should meet need to be established. They involve big screens, adapted keyboards and ergonomics [1] and depend on the type of disability being addressed. Therefore, they should be characterized to determine how to develop them and assess their quality with the degree of interaction obtained. The main contribution of this work is presenting the results of the degree of interactivity of the system when used by blind people and detailing part of the Team Software Process (TSP) defined by Watts Humphrey and adopted for developing the application [2].Lo que se presenta en este documento es una experimentación sobre el desarrollo y los resultados de las pruebas realizadas de una aplicación para computadora, enfocadas a personas con discapacidad visual. Los objetivos del sistema interactivo son: dar a conocer algunos lugares del estado de Aguascalientes, México; y fortalecer la memoria del usuario ciego. El propósito de este artículo es que mediante la construcción del sistema y las pruebas realizadas se da a conocer el grado de interactividad para personas ciegas. El construir aplicaciones con calidad enfocada a la interactividad es importante, ya que, para personas con discapacidad, puede mejorar el grado de uso de las tecnologías (dispositivos móviles). Para determinar la calidad es necesario conocer las características que debe de tener este tipo de aplicaciones, como lo son: pantalla grande, teclado adecuado, ergonomía, entre otras [1], dependiendo del tipo de discapacidad al que se esté refiriendo, es decir, se debe de caracterizar la aplicación para poder determinar cómo desarrollar la aplicación y la medición de la calidad mediante el grado de interacción obtenido. La principal aportación de este trabajo es mostrar los resultados obtenidos del grado de interactividad del sistema al ser utilizado por personas ciegas, así como mostrar parte del proceso de producción de software en el trabajo en equipos definido por Watts Humphrey utilizado para la construcción de la aplicación (TSP) [2]