Computational study of coronoid carbazole based Macrocycles: influence of isomerism.

Carbazole (Cz) units have been recognized as crucial conjugated cores in organic electronics due to their good electro- and photoactive properties, such as high hole-transporting mobilities, when compared to other heterocycles. On the other hand, conjugated macrocycles should be useful building blocks for the construction of 2D porous surface networks or 3D inclusion complexes among other supramolecular structures.2 One of the most interesting features of conjugated cyclic oligomers is that their electronic, structural, and optical properties can be tuned as a function of their interior and exterior domains. Therefore, a systematic study of conjugated macrocycles with well-defined diameters is of crucial importance to establish the structure-property relationships of these materials. For that purpose, we carried out a purely theoretical study of coronoid molecules based on three different indolocarbazoles (ICz) structural isomers (see Figure 1) as indolo[2,3-a]carbazole (23a-4MC), indolo[2,3-b]carbazole (23b-4MC) and indolo[3,2-b]carbazole (32b-4MC), which contain four indolecarbazole units (4MC). This work aims to identify new macrostructures with interesting electronic properties as well as to display the usefulness of the theoretical tools to advance knowledge in the organic electronics field. Overall, this investigation contributes to elucidating the electronic properties of coronoid macrocycles, guiding experimental chemists to produce new molecules with desirable properties.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Intestinal parasites in dogs and cats with owners of Barranquilla, Colombia

El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar el parasitismo intestinal en perros y gatos con dueño de la ciudad de Barranquilla. Se realizó un estudio descriptivo retrospectivo donde se incluyeron los reportes de análisis coprológicos realizados en un laboratorio clínico veterinario durante los años 2014 y 2015 a 925 perros y 45 gatos provenientes de 26 veterinarias ubicadas en la ciudad. El 73.3% de los perros y el 62.2% de los gatos presentaban algún tipo de parásito intestinal, sin diferencia significativa entre especies. Los parásitos más frecuentes fueron los helmintos Toxocara sp (12.4 y 8.9% en perros y gatos, respectivamente), seguido de Ancylostoma sp (3.4 y 4.4% en perros y gatos, respectivamente). Los protozoarios más frecuentes fueron Entamoeba sp, Isospora sp y Giardia sp en perros y los dos últimos en gatos. La alta frecuencia de parásitos intestinales de transmisión zoonótica encontrados en perros y gatos demuestra la necesidad de instaurar medidas correctivas y preventivas desde el ámbito de la salud pública para su control.The aim of this study was to evaluate the intestinal parasitism in dogs and cats with owners of the city of Barranquilla. A retrospective descriptive study was carried out, which included the reports of coprological analyses made in a veterinary clinical laboratory during the years 2014 and 2015 to 925 dogs and 45 cats from 26 veterinary centres located in the city. Results showed that 73.3% of dogs and 62.2% of cats had some type of intestinal parasites, without significant difference between species. The most frequent helminths were Toxocara sp (12.4 and 8.9% in dogs and cats, respectively), followed by Ancylostoma sp (3.4 and 4.4% in dogs and cats, respectively). The most frequent protozoa were Entamoeba sp, Isospora sp and Giardia sp in dogs and the last two in cats. The high frequency of intestinal parasites of zoonotic transmission found in dogs and cats showed the need to establish corrective and preventive measures for their control based on public health

Microwave-assisted functionalization of carbon nanohorns with oligothiophene units with SERS activity

[EN] Carbon nanohorns have been functionalized with oligothiophene unitsviathe 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction under microwave irradiation and solvent-free conditions. A dramatic Raman enhancement was found for one of the synthesized derivatives. Experimental andin silicostudies helped to understand the enhancement, attributed to the modification of electromagnetic fields upon functionalization at the tip of the nanostructures.This work was supported by the Iberdrola Foundation (CONV120313), the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CTQ2017-88158-R), the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (SBPLY/17/180501/000204) and FEDER-JCCM (UNCM13-1E-1663). The work at the University of Malaga was funded by the MICINN (PID2019-110305GB-I00) and Junta de Andalucia (P09FQM-4708) projects. M. I. L. acknowledges MINECO for her Juan de la Cierva-formacion grant (FJCI-2016-29593). The authors acknowledge the computer resources, technical expertise, and assistance provided by the Supercomputing and Bioinformatics centre of the University of Malaga.Iglesias, D.; Guerra, J.; Lucío, MI.; González-Cano, RC.; Lopez Navarrete, JT.; Ruiz Delgado, MC.; Vázquez, E.... (2020). Microwave-assisted functionalization of carbon nanohorns with oligothiophene units with SERS activity. Chemical Communications. 56(63):8948-8951. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0CC03496G89488951566

Quantum chemical DFT and spectroscopic UV-Vis-NIR analysis of a series of push-pull oligothiophenes end capped by amino-cyanovinyl groups

A series of push-pull chromophores built around thiophene-based -conjugating spacers and bearing various types of amino-donors and cyanovinyl-acceptors have been analyzed by means of UV-Vis- NIR spectroscopic measurements. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have also been performed to help the assignment of the most relevant electronic features and to derive useful information about the molecular structure of these NLO-phores. The effects of the donor/acceptor substitution in the electronic and molecular properties of the -conjugated spacer have been addressed. The effectiveness of the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) has also been tested as a function of the nature of the end groups (i.e., electron-donating or electron-withdrawing capabilities).Research at the University of Málaga was supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC) of Spain through project CTQ2006-14987-C02-01, and by the Junta de Andalucía for funding our FQM- 0159 scientific group. J.C. is grateful to the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain for a Ramón y Cajal position of Chemistry at the University of Málaga. M.C.R.D. is also grateful to the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of Spain for a personal grant. The group at the University of Minho acknowledges the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal) for financial support through Centro de Química (UM) and through POCTI, FEDER (ref. POCTI/QUI/37816/2001). M. Manuela M. Raposo and A. Maurício C. Fonseca are also grateful to Professor G. Kirsch from University of Metz (France) for his collaboration

Artificial intelligence for automatically detecting animals in camera trap images: a combination of MegaDetector and YOLOv5

Camera traps have gained high popularity for collecting animal images in a cost-effective and non-invasive manner, but manually examining these large volumes of images to extract valuable data is a laborious and costly process. Deep learning, specifically object detection techniques, constitutes a powerful tool for automating this task. Here, we describe the development and result of a deep-learning workflow based on MegaDetector and YOLOv5 for automatically detecting animals in camera trap images. For the development, we first used MegaDetector, which automatically generated bounding boxes for 93.2% of the images in the training set, differentiating animals, humans, vehicles, and empty photos. This annotation phase allowed to discard useless images. Then, we used the images containing animals within the training dataset to train four YOLOv5 models, each one built for a group of species of similar aspects as defined by a human expert. Using four expert models instead of one reduces the complexity and variance between species, allowing for more precise learning within each of the groups. The final result is a workflow where the end-user enters the camera trap images into a global model. Then, this global model redirects the images towards the appropriate expert model. Finally, the final animal classification into a particular species is based on the confidence rates provided by a weighted voting system implemented among the expert models. We validated this workflow using a dataset of 120.000 images collected by 100 camera traps over five years in Andalusian National Parks (Spain) with a representation of 24 mammal species. Our workflow approach improved the global classification F1-score from 0.92 to 0.96. It increased the precision for distinguishing similar species, for example from 0.41 to 0.96 for C. capreolus; and from 0.24 to 0.73 for D. dama, often confounded with other ungulate species, which demonstrates its potential for animal detection in images.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A One Health view of the West Nile virus outbreak in Andalusia (Spain) in 2020

Reports of West Nile virus (WNV) associated disease in humans were scarce in Spain until summer 2020, when 77 cases were reported, eight fatal. Most cases occurred next to the Guadalquivir River in the Sevillian villages of Puebla del Río and Coria del Río. Detection of WNV disease in humans was preceded by a large increase in the abundance of Culex perexiguus in the neighbourhood of the villages where most human cases occurred. The first WNV infected mosquitoes were captured approximately one month before the detection of the first human cases. Overall, 33 positive pools of Cx. perexiguus and one pool of Culex pipiens were found. Serology of wild birds confirmed WNV circulation inside the affected villages, that transmission to humans also occurred in urban settings and suggests that virus circulation was geographically more widespread than disease cases in humans or horses may indicate. A high prevalence of antibodies was detected in blackbirds (Turdus merula) suggesting that this species played an important role in the amplification of WNV in urban areas. Culex perexiguus was the main vector of WNV among birds in natural and agricultural areas, while its role in urban areas needs to be investigated in more detail. Culex pipiens may have played some role as bridge vector of WNV between birds and humans once the enzootic transmission cycle driven by Cx. perexiguus occurred inside the villages. Surveillance of virus in mosquitoes has the potential to detect WNV well in advance of the first human cases.This study was supported by emergency funds from CSIC [grant number 202030E263]; Agencia Estatal de Investigación under [grant numbers PID2021-123761OB-I00, PGC2018-095704-B-I00, PID2020-116768RR-C21/C22] supported by FEDER Funds; and by the European Commission–NextGenerationEU (Regulation EU 2020/2094), through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global) and by Instituto de Salud Carlos III Project "PI19CIII/00014".S

Genetic Deletion of NOD1 Prevents Cardiac Ca2+ Mishandling Induced by Experimental Chronic Kidney Disease

© 2020 by the authors.Risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases considerably as renal function declines in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 1 (NOD1) has emerged as a novel innate immune receptor involved in both CVD and CKD. Following activation, NOD1 undergoes a conformational change that allows the activation of the receptor-interacting serine/threonine protein kinase 2 (RIP2), promoting an inflammatory response. We evaluated whether the genetic deficiency of Nod1 or Rip2 in mice could prevent cardiac Ca2+ mishandling induced by sixth nephrectomy (Nx), a model of CKD. We examined intracellular Ca2+ dynamics in cardiomyocytes from Wild-type (Wt), Nod1−/− and Rip2−/− sham-operated or nephrectomized mice. Compared with Wt cardiomyocytes, Wt-Nx cells showed an impairment in the properties and kinetics of the intracellular Ca2+ transients, a reduction in both cell shortening and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ load, together with an increase in diastolic Ca2+ leak. Cardiomyocytes from Nod1−/−-Nx and Rip2−/−-Nx mice showed a significant amelioration in Ca2+ mishandling without modifying the kidney impairment induced by Nx. In conclusion, Nod1 and Rip2 deficiency prevents the intracellular Ca2+ mishandling induced by experimental CKD, unveiling new innate immune targets for the development of innovative therapeutic strategies to reduce cardiac complications in patients with CKD.This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and European Regional Development Fund (SAF-2017-84777R), Institute of Health Carlos III (PI17/01093 and PI17/01344), Sociedad Española de Cardiología, Proyecto Traslacional 2019, Fundación Renal Íñigo Álvarez de Toledo (FRIAT), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), FSE, and CIBER-CV, a network funded by ISCIII. M.F.-V. is Miguel Servet II researcher of ISCIII (MSII16/00047 Carlos III Health Institute). G.R.-H. is Miguel Servet I researcher of ISCIII (CP15/00129 Carlos III Health Institute). M.T. is a PhD student funded by the FPU program of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU17/06135). A.R. was supported by Fondo SEP-Cinvestav project #601410 FIDSC 2018/2; and Fondo SEP-Conacyt Ciencia Básica A1-S-9082

Auto-atribuciones Académicas: Diferencias de Género y Curso en Estudiantes de Educación Secundaria

El análisis de las autoatribuciones académicas constituyeun aspecto esencial del componente afectivo y emocionalde la motivación escolar en estudiantes de educaciónsecundaria obligatoria (ESO). El objetivo de este estudiofue analizar, mediante un diseño transversal, las diferenciasde género y curso y el papel predictivo de estas variables enlas atribuciones causales académicas de los alumnos medidasa través de las escalas generales de la Sydney AttributionScale (SAS). El cuestionario fue administrado a 2.022estudiantes (51.08% chicos) de 1º a 4º de ESO. El rangode edad fue de 12 a 16 años (M = 13.81; DT = 1.35).Los resultados derivados de los análisis de varianza y de los tamaños del efecto (índice d) revelaron que los chicosatribuyeron sus éxitos significativamente más a su capacidad,mientras las chicas los atribuyeron significativamente másal esfuerzo. Respecto a las atribuciones de fracaso escolar,los resultados indicaron que los chicos los atribuyeronsignificativamente más a la falta de esfuerzo que las chicas.Asimismo, se hallaron diferencias de curso académico en lamayoría de las atribuciones causales analizadas. Los análisisde regresión logística indicaron que el género y el cursofueron predictores significativos de las atribuciones causalesacadémicas, aunque los resultados variaron para cada unade las escalas de la SAS. Los resultados son discutidos enrelación a la necesidad de diseñar programas de intervenciónque tengan en cuenta las variables sexo y curso académico

Efecto del nivel de fibra soluble y de la suplementación con celobiosa sobre los rendimientos productivos en conejos en cebo

El objetivo de este trabajo fue estudiar el efecto de la fibra soluble y la suplementación de con celobiosa en agua sobre los rencimientos productivos del gazapo tras el destete. A los gazapos se les suministró dos piensos que difirieron en el nivel de fibra soluble (7,7 vs.15,2%, sobre MS) y tres concentraciones de celobiosa en agua (0,0,75 y 1,5 fl). Los piensos y la celobiosa se suministraron a gazapos desde el destete (34 d edad 781±88 g, 44 gazapos/pienso) hasta los 48 d edad

Role of small-sized phytoplankton in triggering an ecosystem disruptive algal bloom in a Mediterranean hypersaline coastal lagoon

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