Benthic foraminifera show some resilience to ocean acidification in the northern Gulf of California, Mexico.

The version on PEARL: Corrected proofs are Articles in Press that contain the authors' corrections. Final citation details, e.g., volume/issue number, publication year and page numbers, still need to be added and the text might change before final publication. Although corrected proofs do not have all bibliographic details available yet, they can already be cited using the year of online publication and the DOI , as follows: author(s), article title, journal (year), DOIExtensive CO2 vents have been discovered in the Wagner Basin, northern Gulf of California, where they create large areas with lowered seawater pH. Such areas are suitable for investigations of long-term biological effects of ocean acidification and effects of CO2 leakage from subsea carbon capture storage. Here, we show responses of benthic foraminifera to seawater pH gradients at 74-207m water depth. Living (rose Bengal stained) benthic foraminifera included Nonionella basispinata, Epistominella bradyana and Bulimina marginata. Studies on foraminifera at CO2 vents in the Mediterranean and off Papua New Guinea have shown dramatic long-term effects of acidified seawater. We found living calcareous benthic foraminifera in low pH conditions in the northern Gulf of California, although there was an impoverished species assemblage and evidence of post-mortem test dissolution

An evaluation of 3D head pose estimation using the Microsoft Kinect v2

The Kinect v2 sensor supports real-time non-invasive 3D head pose estimation. Because the sensor is small, widely available and relatively cheap it has great potential as a tool for groups interested in measuring head posture. In this paper we compare the Kinect's head pose estimates with a marker-based record of ground truth in order to establish its accuracy. During movement of the head and neck alone (with static torso), we find average errors in absolute yaw, pitch and roll angles of 2.0 ± 1.2°, 7.3 ± 3.2° and 2.6 ± 0.7°, and in rotations relative to the rest pose of 1.4 ± 0.5°, 2.1 ± 0.4° and 2.0 ± 0.8°. Larger head rotations where it becomes difficult to see facial features can cause estimation to fail (10.2 ± 6.1% of all poses in our static torso range of motion tests) but we found no significant changes in performance with the participant standing further away from Kinect – additionally enabling full-body pose estimation – or without performing face shape calibration, something which is not always possible for younger or disabled participants. Where facial features remain visible, the sensor has applications in the non-invasive assessment of postural control, e.g. during a programme of physical therapy. In particular, a multi-Kinect setup covering the full range of head (and body) movement would appear to be a promising way forward

The potential of an automated system to identify the upper limb component of a controlled sitting posture.

Full trunk control in sitting is demonstrated only when the head-trunk are aligned and upper limbs remain free of contact from mechanical support. These components represent a Controlled Kinetic Chain and can be evaluated in people with neuromotor disability using the Segmental Assessment of Trunk Control (SATCo) when a therapist provides manual trunk support at different segmental levels. However, the SATCo, as with other clinical assessments of control, is subjective. The SATCo was translated to objective rules relating the position of the hands and elbows to the head-trunk and then tested to determine the extent to which this automated objective method replicated the clinical judgement. Clinical evaluation used video to determine whether the upper limb was free of mechanical support while the objective evaluation used 3D motion capture of the trunk and upper limbs with a classification rule. The agreement between clinical and objective classification was calculated for three conditions of a distance-from-support-surface threshold parameter in five healthy adults and five children with cerebral palsy. The unfitted (zero-threshold values) method replicated the clinical judgement in part (68.26%±15.7, adults, 48.3%±33.9 children). The fitted (level-of-support determined) agreement showed that the process could be refined using trial specific parameters (88.32%±5.3 adults, 89.84%±10.2 children). The fixed-values agreement showed high values when using general group parameters (80.80%±3.1 adults, 74.31%±21.5 children). This objective classification of the upper limb component of trunk control largely captures the clinical evaluation. It provides the first stages in development of a clinically-friendly fully automated method

Investigating the impact of poverty on colonization and infection with drug-resistant organisms in humans: a systematic review

Background Poverty increases the risk of contracting infectious diseases and therefore exposure to antibiotics. Yet there is lacking evidence on the relationship between income and non-income dimensions of poverty and antimicrobial resistance. Investigating such relationship would strengthen antimicrobial stewardship interventions. Methods A systematic review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Ovid, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, PsychINFO, EBSCO, HMIC, and Web of Science databases were searched in October 2016. Prospective and retrospective studies reporting on income or non-income dimensions of poverty and their influence on colonisation or infection with antimicrobial-resistant organisms were retrieved. Study quality was assessed with the Integrated quality criteria for review of multiple study designs (ICROMS) tool. Results Nineteen articles were reviewed. Crowding and homelessness were associated with antimicrobial resistance in community and hospital patients. In high-income countries, low income was associated with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii resistance and a seven-fold higher infection rate. In low-income countries the findings on this relation were contradictory. Lack of education was linked to resistant S. pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. Two papers explored the relation between water and sanitation and antimicrobial resistance in low-income settings. Conclusions Despite methodological limitations, the results suggest that addressing social determinants of poverty worldwide remains a crucial yet neglected step towards preventing antimicrobial resistance

Estimation of parameters in a structured SIR model

[EN] In this paper, an age-structured epidemiological process is considered. The disease model is based on a SIR model with unknown parameters. We addressed two important issues to analyzing the model and its parameters. One issue is concerned with the theoretical existence of unique solution, the identifiability problem. The second issue is how to estimate the parameters in the model. We propose an iterative algorithm to study the identifiability of the system and a method to estimate the parameters which are identifiable. A least squares approach based on a finite set of observations helps us to estimate the initial values of the parameters. Finally, we test the proposed algorithms.The authors would like to thank the referees and the editor for their comments and useful suggestions for improvement of the manuscript. This work has been partially supported by Spanish Grant MTM2013-43678-P.Cantó Colomina, B.; Coll, C.; Sánchez, E. (2017). Estimation of parameters in a structured SIR model. Advances in Difference Equations. 33:1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13662-017-1078-5S11333Strogatz, S, Friedman, M, Mallinck-Rodt, AJ, McKay, S: Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering. Perseus Books, Washington (1994)De La Sen, M, Quesada, A: Some equilibrium, stability, instability and oscillatory results for an extended discrete epidemic model with evolution memory. Adv. Differ. Equ. 2013, 234 (2013)Han, Q, Wang, Z: On extinction of infectious diseases for multi-group SIRS models with satured incidence rate. Adv. Differ. Equ. 2015, 333 (2015)Cantó, B, Coll, C, Sánchez, E: Structural identifiability of a model of dialysis. Math. Comput. Model. 50, 733-737 (2009)Cantó, B, Coll, C, Sánchez, E: Identifiability of a class of discretized linear partial differential algebraic equations. Math. Probl. Eng., 1-12 (2011)Craciun, G, Pantea, C: Identifiability of chemical reaction networks. J. Math. Chem. 44, 244-259 (2008)Malik, MB, Salman, M: State-space least mean square. Digit. Signal Process. 18, 334-345 (2008)Ding, F, Liu, PX, Liu, G: Multiinnovatiovation least-squares identification for system modeling. IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern., Part B, Cybern. 18(3), 767-778 (2010)Ben-Zvi, A, McLellan, PJ, McAuley, KB: Identifiability of linear time-invariant differential-algebraic systems, I. The generalized Markov parameter approach. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 42, 6607-6618 (2003)Boyadjiev, C, Dimitrova, E: An iterative method for model parameter identification. Comput. Chem. Eng. 29, 941-948 (2005)Ben-Zvi, A, McLellan, PJ, McAuley, KB: Identifiability of linear time-invariant differential-algebraic systems, 2. The differential-algebraic approach. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 43, 1251-1259 (2004)Dion, JM, Commault, C, van der Woude, J: Generic properties and control of linear structured systems: a survey. Automatica 39, 1125-1144 (2003)Chou, IC, Voit, EO: Recent developments in parameter estimation and structure identification of biochemical and genomic systems. Math. Biosci. 219, 57-83 (2009)Schmitz, OJ: Ecology and Ecosystems Conservation. Island Press, Washington (2013

Cross-species chromosome painting tracks the independent origin of multiple sex chromosomes in two cofamiliar Erythrinidae fishes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Erythrinidae fish family is characterized by a large variation with respect to diploid chromosome numbers and sex-determining systems among its species, including two multiple X₁X₂Y sex systems in <it>Hoplias malabaricus </it>and <it>Erythrinus erythrinus</it>. At first, the occurrence of a same sex chromosome system within a family suggests that the sex chromosomes are correlated and originated from ancestral XY chromosomes that were either homomorphic or at an early stage of differentiation. To identify the origin and evolution of these X₁X₂Y sex chromosomes, we performed reciprocal cross-species FISH experiments with two sex-chromosome-specific probes designed from microdissected X₁and Y chromosomes of <it>H. malabaricus </it>and <it>E. erythrinus</it>, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results yield valuable information regarding the origin and evolution of these sex chromosome systems. Our data indicate that these sex chromosomes evolved independently in these two closed related Erythrinidae species. Different autosomes were first converted into a poorly differentiated XY sex pair in each species, and additional chromosomal rearrangements produced both X₁X₂Y sex systems that are currently present.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data provide new insights into the origin and evolution of sex chromosomes, which increases our knowledge about fish sex chromosome evolution.</p

Revealing the last 13,500 years of environmental history from the multiproxy record of a mountain lake (Lago Enol, northern Iberian Peninsula)

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10933-009-9387-7.We present the Holocene sequence from Lago Enol (43°16′N, 4°59′W, 1,070 m a.s.l.), Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain. A multiproxy analysis provided comprehensive information about regional humidity and temperature changes. The analysis included sedimentological descriptions, physical properties, organic carbon and carbonate content, mineralogy and geochemical composition together with biological proxies including diatom and ostracod assemblages. A detailed pollen study enabled reconstruction of variations in vegetation cover, which were interpreted in the context of climate changes and human impact. Four distinct stages were recognized for the last 13,500 years: (1) a cold and dry episode that includes the Younger Dryas event (13,500–11,600 cal. year BP); (2) a humid and warmer period characterizing the onset of the Holocene (11,600–8,700 cal. year BP); (3) a tendency toward a drier climate during the middle Holocene (8,700–4,650 cal. year BP); and (4) a return to humid conditions following landscape modification by human activity (pastoral activities, deforestation) in the late Holocene (4,650–2,200 cal. year BP). Superimposed on relatively stable landscape conditions (e.g. maintenance of well established forests), the typical environmental variability of the southern European region is observed at this site.The Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), the Spanish National Parks agency, the European Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Science, and the European Social Fund

Revealing the last 13,500 years of environmental history from the multiproxy record of a mountain lake (Lago Enol, northern Iberian Peninsula)

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10933-009-9387-7.We present the Holocene sequence from Lago Enol (43°16′N, 4°59′W, 1,070 m a.s.l.), Cantabrian Mountains, northern Spain. A multiproxy analysis provided comprehensive information about regional humidity and temperature changes. The analysis included sedimentological descriptions, physical properties, organic carbon and carbonate content, mineralogy and geochemical composition together with biological proxies including diatom and ostracod assemblages. A detailed pollen study enabled reconstruction of variations in vegetation cover, which were interpreted in the context of climate changes and human impact. Four distinct stages were recognized for the last 13,500 years: (1) a cold and dry episode that includes the Younger Dryas event (13,500–11,600 cal. year BP); (2) a humid and warmer period characterizing the onset of the Holocene (11,600–8,700 cal. year BP); (3) a tendency toward a drier climate during the middle Holocene (8,700–4,650 cal. year BP); and (4) a return to humid conditions following landscape modification by human activity (pastoral activities, deforestation) in the late Holocene (4,650–2,200 cal. year BP). Superimposed on relatively stable landscape conditions (e.g. maintenance of well established forests), the typical environmental variability of the southern European region is observed at this site.The Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT), the Spanish National Parks agency, the European Commission, the Spanish Ministry of Science, and the European Social Fund