Preliminary Considerations for Crime Scene Analysis in Cases of Animals Affected by Homemade Ammonium Nitrate and Aluminum Powder Anti-Personnel Landmines in Colombia: Characteristics and Effects

During the armed conflict in Colombia, homemade improvised antipersonnel landmines were used to neutralize the adversary. Many active artifacts remain buried, causing damage to biodiversity by exploding. The extensive literature describes the effects and injuries caused to humans by conventional landmines. However, there is considerably less information on the behavior and effects of homemade antipersonnel landmines on fauna and good field investigation practices. Our objectives were to describe the characteristics of a controlled explosion of a homemade antipersonnel landmine (using ammonium nitrate as an explosive substance), to compare the effectiveness of some evidence search patterns used in forensic investigation, and to determine the effects on a piece of an animal carcass. The explosion generated a shock wave and an exothermic reaction, generating physical effects on the ground and surrounding structures near the point of explosion. The amputation of the foot in direct contact with the device during the explosion and multiple fractures were the main effects on the animal carcass. Finally, it was determined that finding evidence was more effective in a smaller search area. Many factors can influence the results, which must be weighed when interpreting the results, as discussed in this manuscript.Sección Deptal. de Anatomía y Embriología (Veterinaria)Fac. de VeterinariaTRUEpu

La renovación de la palabra en el bicentenario de la Argentina : los colores de la mirada lingüística

El libro reúne trabajos en los que se exponen resultados de investigaciones presentadas por investigadores de Argentina, Chile, Brasil, España, Italia y Alemania en el XII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística (SAL), Bicentenario: la renovación de la palabra, realizado en Mendoza, Argentina, entre el 6 y el 9 de abril de 2010. Las temáticas abordadas en los 167 capítulos muestran las grandes líneas de investigación que se desarrollan fundamentalmente en nuestro país, pero también en los otros países mencionados arriba, y señalan además las áreas que recién se inician, con poca tradición en nuestro país y que deberían fomentarse. Los trabajos aquí publicados se enmarcan dentro de las siguientes disciplinas y/o campos de investigación: Fonología, Sintaxis, Semántica y Pragmática, Lingüística Cognitiva, Análisis del Discurso, Psicolingüística, Adquisición de la Lengua, Sociolingüística y Dialectología, Didáctica de la lengua, Lingüística Aplicada, Lingüística Computacional, Historia de la Lengua y la Lingüística, Lenguas Aborígenes, Filosofía del Lenguaje, Lexicología y Terminología

Tubulin and microtubule‐associated protein pools in unfertilized and fertilized eggs of the trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

A molecular characterization of tubulin and microtubule‐associated proteins (MAPs) along with their intracellular pool distributions in both unfertilized and fertilized oocytes of the trout Oncorhynchus mykiss was carried out. In vitro assembly of microtubular proteins was obtained by cycles of assembly‐disassembly and by taxol‐induced polymerization, thus allowing identification of the protein components of isolated microtubules from the oocyte. Extraction procedures were developed in order to separate molecular components of the egg vitelum prior to purification steps. The use of antibodies that specifically tag tubulin and a set of site‐directed probes against repetitive binding sequences on MAPs provided data on the presence of tubulins and enabled the identification of an 85‐kDa protein that shares common functional epitopes with mammalian MAPs. An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay analysis of the free soluble tubulin pools revealed a significant decrease in the pool extent during fertilization as compared with unfertilized oocytes controls. Interestingly, this decrease in free tubulin in the fertilized trout oocyte appeared to be accompanied with a concomitant increase of the assembled tubulin pools. Within the context of the known effects of heat shock in oocyte fertilization, temperature changes from 4 to 26.5°C of fertilized eggs resulted in a transient increase in the soluble tubulin pools during the initial 5‐min heat incubation, decaying after 10 min treatment, to reach at 15 min the levels of soluble tubulin pools of untreated controls. Total tubulin pools remained constant during the heat incubations of fertilized eggs. The distribution of MAPs pools in the oocyte was also investigated using the specific immunological probes. In contrast to tubulin no major differences were found between free MAPs pools of the fertilized oocytes as compared with unfertilized controls. However, heat shock treatment of fertilized oocytes also induced a transient increase in free MAP pools during the first 5 min followed by a mobilization of immunoreactive MAP components from the soluble to the assembled pool

Preliminary Considerations for Crime Scene Analysis in Cases of Animals Affected by Homemade Ammonium Nitrate and Aluminum Powder Anti-Personnel Landmines in Colombia : Characteristics and Effects

Anti-personnel landmines are a major problem in countries that are subject to internal conflicts of a military or public order nature. They also continue to be a great threat to the population and biodiversity, even in post-conflict stages. Those most often used by armed groups are simple or homemade antipersonnel landmines that are designed without any type of technical regulations and standardized production systems. Their low-cost manufacturing and the use of easily accessible explosive substances for agricultural use, such as ammonium, have allowed their indiscriminate use, turning them into a huge public health problem. They are only detected when people or animals activate them, because they do not contain any materials that are detectable by traditional means. The scant literature on these artifacts focuses on injuries caused to humans, and only incidentally on field work. The objective of our study was to describe the behavior of a controlled explosion of a homemade antipersonnel landmine, and to verify the effects caused by the explosion on fauna and the environment. The results enable us to provide guidelines that may be implemented during field investigations, in which forensic veterinarians and related disciplines participate. During the armed conflict in Colombia, homemade improvised antipersonnel landmines were used to neutralize the adversary. Many active artifacts remain buried, causing damage to biodiversity by exploding. The extensive literature describes the effects and injuries caused to humans by conventional landmines. However, there is considerably less information on the behavior and effects of homemade antipersonnel landmines on fauna and good field investigation practices. Our objectives were to describe the characteristics of a controlled explosion of a homemade antipersonnel landmine (using ammonium nitrate as an explosive substance), to compare the effectiveness of some evidence search patterns used in forensic investigation, and to determine the effects on a piece of an animal carcass. The explosion generated a shock wave and an exothermic reaction, generating physical effects on the ground and surrounding structures near the point of explosion. The amputation of the foot in direct contact with the device during the explosion and multiple fractures were the main effects on the animal carcass. Finally, it was determined that finding evidence was more effective in a smaller search area. Many factors can influence the results, which must be weighed when interpreting the results, as discussed in this manuscript