Development of Podosphaera fusca haustoria

3rd Powdery Mildew Workshop, Copenhagen, Denmar

Criterios racionales para la limitación de asientos bajo sistemas de vía en placa

Pérez-Romero J, Movilla J, Villamanzo D & Ciruela-Ochoa F (2016). Criterios racionales para la limitación de asientos bajo sistemas de vía en placa. 10º Simposio Nacional de Ingeniería Geotécnica; Reconocimiento, Tratamiento y Mejora del Terreno. Sociedad Española de Mecánica del Suelo, La Coruña, octubre de 2016, pp. 445-453Los sistemas de vía en placa cuentan con determinadas características funcionales que los hacen más adecuados que los sistemas tradicionales sobre balasto, especialmente para velocidades de circulación elevadas. Sin em- bargo, la existencia de asientos de cierta magnitud en la plataforma ha supuesto un serio impedimento a la hora de acudir a tramos de vía en placa sobre rellenos de altura considerable. En este artículo se aborda dicha cuestión empezando por describir las causas que provocan de asientos postconstructivos en plataformas ferroviarias y la capacidad de mitigación de asientos con que cuentan los sistemas de vía en placa. A continuación se recopilan los criterios existentes en la actua- lidad para la limitación de asientos entre los cuales los más restrictivos son, claramente, los relacionados con la circula- ción ferroviaria, y no los asociados a la vulnerabilidad estructural de los sistemas de vía en placa. Finalmente, partiendo de los criterios normativos vigentes se presenta una propuesta innovadora sobre su interpretación, consistente básica- mente en observar, y limitar, la curvatura de la deformada del carril. Se presenta un ejemplo de aplicación, basado en datos reales, de asientos registrados en un tramo de plataforma sobre relleno perteneciente a una LAV española. Este ejemplo permite comprobar que los sistemas de vía en placa actuales cuentan con sistemas de adaptación de la deformada del carril a valores admitidos en la normativa, concluyéndose que estos sistemas están preparados para soportar asien- tos postconstructivos de consideración.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Evaluación de la capacidad nematicida de los agentes de biocontrol UMAF6614 y UMAF6639

Los nematodos fitoparásitos son uno de los grupos de patógenos de cultivos más destructivos causando graves pérdidas anuales a nivel mundial. La mayoría de los nematodos fitoparásitos se localizan en el suelo siendo patógenos de la raíz, lo que implica una gran dificultad en cuanto a su control y erradicación. Hoy en día, la aplicación de agentes químicos sigue siendo el método más común para la gestión y control de estos patógenos. Sin embargo, debido a la crecientes preocupaciones sobre los problemas de seguridad del medio ambiente y salud pública, muchos nematicidas químicos con alto grado de toxicidad se han retirado o se ha restringido su uso. Por tanto, urge desarrollar alternativas ecológicas para el control de estos patógenos. El empleo de bacterias beneficiosas para combatir plagas o enfermedades de plantas ha cobrado gran importancia en las últimas décadas. Entre las diferentes especies microbianas estudiadas, los miembros del género Bacillus se han demostrado eficaces para su uso como agentes de control biológico. En un estudios previos, se demostró que las cepas de Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, UMAF6614 y UMAF6639, son excelentes candidatas como agentes de biocontrol contra enfermedades fúngicas y bacterianas de las cucurbitáceas. Tras realizar los ensayos de mortalidad se ha visto que estas cepas tienen actividad nematicida pero se desconoce cuáles son los factores que median esta actividad y el modo de acción de dichos factores. Por tanto, en este trabajo se integran técnicas de química analítica y aproximaciones genómicas para identificar los compuestos responsables de dicha actividad y regiones en el genoma que codifiquen compuestos con actividad nematicida

Varicella-zoster virus clades circulating in Spain over two decades

BACKGROUND: Despite childhood universal VZV immunization was introduced in 2015, there are no data on VZV clade distribution in Spain. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the varicella-zoster virus strains circulating in Spain between 1997 and 2016. STUDY DESIGN: In this retrospective study, we determined the VZV clades in 294 patients with different pathologies (mainly encephalitis, zoster and varicella) by sequencing three fragments within ORF 22, ORF 21 and ORF 50 and, subsequently analyzing 7 relevant SNPs. RESULTS: Among these 294 patients, 132(44.9%) patients were infected by clade 1, 42(14.3%) patients by clade 3, 19(6.5%) by clade 5, 29(9.9%) by clade VI and 3(1%) by clade 4. Four patients (1.4%) were infected by clade 2 vOKA strains, who received one dose of live-attenuated varicella vaccine. Putative recombinant clade 1/3 was identified in 6 cases (2.0%). Results obtained from partial sequences were assigned to clade 1 or 3 in 56(19%) patients and clade 5 or VI in 3(1.0%) patients. In the multivariate analysis, encephalitis was independently associated with clades 1 and 3 and age >14y.o. (P = 0.035 and P = 0.021, respectively). Additionally, Madrid had significant fewer cases of encephalitis compared with the rest of regions analyzed (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Higher prevalence of clades 1 and 3 and their relation with encephalitis and age >14y.o. suggest earlier introduction of this clades in Spain. Putative interclade 1 and 3 recombinants are circulating in patients with encephalitis, herpes zoster and varicella. Several cases were related to vOKA vaccination but vaccine strains do not seem to circulate in the general population.This work was supported by a grant from Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Project code MPY1372/12. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Evaluation of an integrated system for classification, assessment and comparison of services for long-term care in Europe: the eDESDE-LTC study

The harmonization of European health systems brings with it a need for tools to allow the standardized collection of information about medical care. A common coding system and standards for the description of services are needed to allow local data to be incorporated into evidence-informed policy, and to permit equity and mobility to be assessed. The aim of this project has been to design such a classification and a related tool for the coding of services for Long Term Care (DESDE-LTC), based on the European Service Mapping Schedule (ESMS). Methods. The development of DESDE-LTC followed an iterative process using nominal groups in 6 European countries. 54 researchers and stakeholders in health and social services contributed to this process. In order to classify services, we use the minimal organization unit or "Basic Stable Input of Care" (BSIC), coded by its principal function or "Main Type of Care" (MTC). The evaluation of the tool included an analysis of feasibility, consistency, ontology, inter-rater reliability, Boolean Factor Analysis, and a preliminary impact analysis (screening, scoping and appraisal). Results: DESDE-LTC includes an alpha-numerical coding system, a glossary and an assessment instrument for mapping and counting LTC. It shows high feasibility, consistency, inter-rater reliability and face, content and construct validity. DESDE-LTC is ontologically consistent. It is regarded by experts as useful and relevant for evidence-informed decision making. Conclusion: DESDE-LTC contributes to establishing a common terminology, taxonomy and coding of LTC services in a European context, and a standard procedure for data collection and international comparison

Phase I Study Assessing the Pharmacokinetic Profile, Safety, and Tolerability of a Single Dose of Ceftazidime-Avibactam in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients.

This study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and tolerability of a single dose of ceftazidime-avibactam in pediatric patients. A phase I, multicenter, open-label PK study was conducted in pediatric patients hospitalized with an infection and receiving systemic antibiotic therapy. Patients were enrolled into four age cohorts (cohort 1, ≥12 to <18 years; cohort 2, ≥6 to <12 years; cohort 3, ≥2 to <6 years; cohort 4, ≥3 months to <2 years). Patients received a single 2-h intravenous infusion of ceftazidime-avibactam (cohort 1, 2,000 to 500 mg; cohort 2, 2,000 to 500 mg [≥40 kg] or 50 to 12.5 mg/kg [<40 kg]; cohorts 3 and 4, 50 to 12.5 mg/kg). Blood samples were collected to describe individual PK characteristics for ceftazidime and avibactam. Population PK modeling was used to describe characteristics of ceftazidime and avibactam PK across all age groups. Safety and tolerability were assessed. Thirty-two patients received study drug. Mean plasma concentration-time curves, geometric mean maximum concentration (Cmax), and area under the concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity (AUC0-∞) were similar across all cohorts for both drugs. Six patients (18.8%) reported an adverse event, all mild or moderate in intensity. No deaths or serious adverse events occurred. The single-dose PK of ceftazidime and avibactam were comparable between each of the 4 age cohorts investigated and were broadly similar to those previously observed in adults. No new safety concerns were identified. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT01893346.)

Carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae in Spain in 2012

We report the epidemiological impact of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) in Spain in 2012. Of the 237 carbapenemases detected, 163 were from the OXA-48 group, 60 were from VIM-1, 8 were from KPC-2, 5 were from IMP, and 1 was from NDM-1. Interhospital spread of carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae was due to a limited number of multilocus sequence types (MLST) and carbapenemase types, including ST15-VIM-1, ST11-OXA-48, ST405-OXA-48, ST101-KPC-2, and ST11-VIM-1. The number of CPE cases in Spain has increased sharply in recent years, due mainly to the emergence of OXA-48.This study was supported by the Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Program of the Spanish Centro Nacional de Microbiología of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Verónica Bautista was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofinanced by the European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe” ERDF, Spanish Network for the Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD12/0015).S

EEMD-MUSIC-Based Analysis for Natural Frequencies Identification of Structures Using Artificial and Natural Excitations

This paper presents a new EEMD-MUSIC- (ensemble empirical mode decomposition-multiple signal classification-) based methodology to identify modal frequencies in structures ranging from free and ambient vibration signals produced by artificial and natural excitations and also considering several factors as nonstationary effects, close modal frequencies, and noisy environments, which are common situations where several techniques reported in literature fail. The EEMD and MUSIC methods are used to decompose the vibration signal into a set of IMFs (intrinsic mode functions) and to identify the natural frequencies of a structure, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology has been validated and tested with synthetic signals and under real operating conditions. The experiments are focused on extracting the natural frequencies of a truss-type scaled structure and of a bridge used for both highway traffic and pedestrians. Results show the proposed methodology as a suitable solution for natural frequencies identification of structures from free and ambient vibration signals

Esclarecimiento de los determinantes moleculares que promueven la actividad nematicida del agente de biocontrol Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UMAF6639

Los nematodos fitoparásitos son uno de los grupos de patógenos de cultivos más destructivos causando graves pérdidas anuales a nivel mundial. La mayoría de los nematodos fitoparásitos se localizan en el suelo siendo patógenos de la raíz, lo que implica una gran dificultad en cuanto a su control y erradicación. Hoy en día, la aplicación de agentes químicos sigue siendo el método más común para la gestión y control de estos patógenos. Sin embargo, debido a la crecientes preocupaciones sobre los problemas de seguridad del medio ambiente y salud pública, muchos nematicidas químicos con alto grado de toxicidad se han retirado o se ha restringido su uso. Por tanto, urge desarrollar alternativas ecológicas para el control de estos patógenos. El empleo de bacterias beneficiosas para combatir plagas o enfermedades de plantas ha cobrado gran importancia en las últimas décadas. En un estudio previo, se demostró que la cepa de Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UMAF6639, es una excelente candidata como agente de biocontrol contra enfermedades fúngicas y bacterianas de las cucurbitácea. Resultados preliminares indicaron que también podría ser efectiva contra nematodos parásitos de plantas. En este trabajo persigue esclarecer cuáles son los factores que median dicha actividad nematicida y el modo de acción de dichos factores, para ello se integran técnicas de química analítica y aproximaciones genómicas para identificar los compuestos responsables de dicha actividad.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Exciton-carrier coupling in a metal halide perovskite nanocrystal assembly probed by two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy

The surface chemistry and inter-connectivity within perovskite nanocrystals play a critical role in determining the electronic interactions. They manifest in the Coulomb screening of electron-hole correlations and the carrier relaxation dynamics, among other many-body processes. Here, we characterize the coupling between the exciton and free carrier states close to the band-edge in a ligand-free formamidinium lead bromide nanocrystal assembly via two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy. The optical signatures observed in this work show: (i) a nonlinear spectral lineshape reminiscent of Fano-like interference that evidences the coupling between discrete electronic states and a continuum, (ii) symmetric excited state absorption cross-peaks that suggest the existence of a coupled exciton-carrier excited state, and (iii) ultrafast carrier thermalization and exciton formation. Our results highlight the presence of coherent coupling between exciton and free carriers, particularly in the sub-100 femtosecond timescales