Successful strategies implemented towards the elimination of canine rabies in the Western Hemisphere

Almost all cases of human rabies result from dog bites, making the elimination of canine rabies a global priority. During recent decades, many countries in the Western Hemisphere have carried out large-scale dog vaccination campaigns, controlled their free-ranging dog populations and enforced legislation for responsible pet ownership. This article reviews progress in eliminating canine rabies from the Western Hemisphere. After briefly summarizing the history of control efforts and describing the approaches listed above, we note that programs in some countries have been hindered by societal attitudes and severe economic disparities, which underlines the need to discuss measures that will be required to complete the elimination of canine rabies throughout the region. We also note that there is a constant threat for dog-maintained epizootics to re-occur, so as long as dog-maintained rabies "hot spots" are still present, free-roaming dog populations remain large, herd immunity becomes low and dog-derived rabies lyssavirus (RABLV) variants continue to circulate in close proximity to rabies-naïve dog populations. The elimination of dog-maintained rabies will be only feasible if both dog-maintained and dog-derived RABLV lineages and variants are permanently eliminated. This may be possible by keeping dog herd immunity above 70% at all times, fostering sustained laboratory-based surveillance through reliable rabies diagnosis and RABLV genetic typing in dogs, domestic animals and wildlife, as well as continuing to educate the population on the risk of rabies transmission, prevention and responsible pet ownership. Complete elimination of canine rabies requires permanent funding, with governments and people committed to make it a reality. An accompanying article reviews the history and epidemiology of canine rabies in the Western Hemisphere, beginning with its introduction during the period of European colonization, and discusses how spillovers of viruses between dogs and various wild carnivores will affect future eradication efforts (Velasco-Villa et al., 2017)

Tuning the product distribution during the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires: The effect of the nature of metals and the reaction temperature

Metal catalysts based on Ni, Co, and Pd supported on SiO2 were evaluated in the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires using pyrolysis experiments coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS) and thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (TGA–FTIR) techniques. The effect of temperature and the nature of metals on the product distribution and reaction pathways was determined. Catalytic pyrolysis promoted aromatization and cracking reactions at particularly low temperatures ca. 350 °C, leading mainly to the formation of alkenes (isoprene), aromatic terpenes (p-cymene), aliphatic terpenes (d,l-limonene), and other aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). The Pd/SiO2 catalyst was the most selective toward aromatic compounds (around 40 %), owing to its well-known hydrogenation/dehydrogenation capacity, while CCsingle bond bond cleavage reactions, leading to alkenes, were more favored on the Ni/SiO2 and Co/SiO2 catalysts. In all cases, high selectivity to limonene and isoprene was observed at low temperature. Above 400 °C, no significant differences in product distribution were observed between catalyzed and uncatalyzed pyrolysis. Herein, selectivity toward high-value hydrocarbons (i.e., d,l-limonene, isoprene, BTX, and p-cymene) during the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires was tuned by the nature of the supported transition metals (i.e., Ni, Co, Pd) and the reaction temperature (e.g., <400 °C). The results demonstrate that the use of these catalysts is a promising strategy to valorize waste tires into high added-value products.Fil: Osorio Vargas, Paula Alejandra. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Menares, Tamara. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Lick, Ileana Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Casella, Mónica Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Romina. Universidad de Concepción; Chile. Universidad de Tarapaca. Instituto de Alta Investigacion.; ChileFil: Jiménez, Romel. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Arteaga Pérez, Luis E.. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; Chil

Adrenalectomía laparoscópica por metástasis metácrona. Experiencia en 12 casos

To assess the peroperative and oncological results of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for an isolated metastasis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective, descriptive study was conducted of 12 laparoscopic adrenalectomies performed for metastases out of a total of 40 adrenalectomies performed from May 1998 to April 2009. The primary tumor was pulmonary in 7 patients, renal in 3, and colonic in 2. Demographic data collected included median age, operating time, blood loss, complications, tumor size, and length of hospital stay. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze survival. RESULTS: Operating time was 150 min (range, 90-206). Peroperative bleeding was 60 ml (range, 15-150). Peroperative complications occurred in 3% of patients. Tumor size was 4.5 cm (range, 1.3-8.5). No positive margins were seen in the resected specimens. Hospital stay was 3 days (range 3-5). Actuarial survival was 55.6% at 23 months (range, 2-38) with mean and median follow-up times of 20.9 and 23 months. CONCLUSIONS: In selected patients, laparoscopic adrenalectomy for metastasis is a safe procedure with oncological results superimposable to those of open surgery

Nefrectomía parcial laparoscópica. Análisis de los primeros 30 casos de nuestra serie y revisión de la literatura

Objective: Our goal is to analyze the surgical and clinicopathological results of our first 30 laparoscopic partial nephrectomies (LPN) performed consecutively and correlate the results with the literature. Material and methods: This is a cases series, with 30 patients (20 men and 10 women) operated between 2006 and 2008. We assessed the clinicopathological factors and complications. The mean and median follow-up was 25 and 5 months. Results: Resected tumors had an average size of 2.4 cm. 60% of the tumors were malignant. The pathological stage was pT1 in 100% of cases (47% grade I, 53% Fuhrman grade II). Surgical margins were positive in 3 cases, switching to open surgery. Intraoperative bleeding was 74.66 cc (35.7±SD) and 70 cc of mean and median. The mean operative time was 214.4min (±69) and ischemia time of 31.3min (±13.8). Conclusions: Our results are similar to those reported in the literature, except for positive margins and conversion attributable to the learning curve

Experimental quantum tomography of photonic qudits via mutually unbiased basis

We present the experimental quantum tomography of 7- and 8-dimensional quantum systems based on projective measurements in the mutually unbiased basis (MUB-QT). One of the advantages of MUB-QT is that it requires projections from a minimal number of bases to be performed. In our scheme, the higher dimensional quantum systems are encoded using the propagation modes of single photons, and we take advantage of the capabilities of amplitude- and phase-modulation of programmable spatial light modulators to implement the MUB-QT.Comment: Published versio

Alexithymia and depression in elderly people that get directed physical activity

La relación entre la alexitimia y la depresión y los factores sociodemográficos ha sido estudiada en personas mayores. Sin embargo, el papel atenuador del ejercicio en estas afecciones aún debe ser determinado. En el presente estudio se mide el grado de alexitimia y depresión en adultos mayores, comparando una muestra sedentaria con una de practicantes de actividad física. Se utilizó un diseño descriptivo transversal con una muestra compuesta por 27 participantes, 9 hombres y 18 mujeres de más de 60 años (64 ± 5.1 años), con objeto de medir el grado de alexitimia y depresión que presentaban en el momento de la recogida de datos. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron la escala de depresión de Yesavage, la Escala de Alexitimia de Toronto (TAS-20) y el Cuestionario de Salud SF-12. Los resultados mostraron que los practicantes de actividad física presentaban puntuaciones más bajas en alexitimia y depresión que los sujetos sedentarios, sin que éstas variables estuvieran relacionadas en función del género y la edad. A tenor de los resultados, el ejercicio pudiera jugar algún papel en la modulación de las alteraciones psicológicas