Procedimiento para la enseñanza de la discriminación entre derecha e izquierda. Estudio de caso para un niño con deficiencia visual y discapacidad intelectual

El objetivo del estudio era la enseñanza de la discriminación entre derecha e izquierda a un niño de 7 años con deficiencia visual y discapacidad intelectual. Se abordó la enseñanza desde la perspectiva del análisis de los estímulos implicados en las discriminaciones. El programa de aprendizaje consistió en la enseñanza explícita de una discriminación simple, que incluyó un estímulo, una respuesta y una consecuencia y se probó (test) la transferencia a la discriminación condicional que incluyó dos estímulos, una respuesta y una consecuencia. Los resultados pusieron de manifiesto la transferencia del aprendizaje sin un entrenamiento explícito. El aprendizaje fue mantenido a los seis meses de seguimiento. El procedimiento descrito puede ser un método fácil de aplicar, que reduce el esfuerzo de los participantes.The aim of the research was the teaching of the discrimination between right and lelf in a seven-year-old child with visual impairment and intellectual disability. The teaching was approached from the perspective of the analysis of the stimuli implied in the discriminations. The learning procedure consisted of the explicit teaching of the simple discrimination which included a stimulus, an answer and a consequence testing the transfer to the condicional discrimination that included two stimuli, an answer and a consequence. The results showed the transfer of the learning without an explicit training. The learning was maintained during the six months of the follow-up. The procedure discribed can be a method, easy to apply, that reduces the effort of the participants

Effects of nitrate contamination and seasonal variation on the denitrification and greenhouse gas production in La Rocina stream (Doñana National Park, SW Spain)

Climatic influence (global warming and decreased rainfall) could lead to an increase in the ecological and toxicological effects of the pollution in aquatic ecosystems, especially contamination from agricultural nitrate (NO3 −) fertilizers. Physicochemical properties of the surface waters and sediments of four selected sites varying in NO3 − concentration along La Rocina Stream, which feeds Marisma del Rocio in Do˜nana National Park (South West, Spain), were studied. Electrical conductivity, pH, content in macro and microelements, total organic carbon and nitrogen, and dissolved carbon and nitrogen were affected by each sampling site and sampling time. Contaminant NO3 − in surface water at the site with the highest NO3 − concentration (ranged in 61.6–106.6mgL−1) was of inorganic origin, most probably from chemical fertilizers, as determined chemically (90% of the total dissolved nitrogen from NO3 −) and by isotopic analysis of ı15N-NO3 −. Changes in seasonal weather conditions and hydrological effects at the sampling sites were also responsible for variations in some biological activities (dehydrogenase, -glucosidase, arylsulphatase, acid phosphatase and urease) in sediments, as well as in the production of the greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and N2O. Both organic matter and NO3 − contents influenced rates of gas production. Increased NO3 − concentration also resulted in enhanced levels of potential denitrification measured as N2O production. The denitrification process was affected by NO3 − contamination and the rainfall regimen, increasing the greenhouse gases emissions (CO2, CH4 and especially N2O) during the driest season in all sampling sites studied.This work was supported by grants CGL2006-06870 and CTM2009-1473-C02-02 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) and RNM-4746 from Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa de la Junta de Andalucía (Spain), all of them co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Support of Junta de Andalucía to Research Group BIO-275 is also acknowledged. D. David Correa thanks Ministerio de Educación for predoctoral grant AP2007-03967.Peer reviewe

Isolation and transfection of strawverry protoplasts for gene editing

Strawberry is the most economically important soft fruit. The improvement of the organoleptic qualities of ripe fruit and the postharvest shelf life are main objectives of strawberry breeding programs. Fruit softening is mainly due to the disassembly of cell walls and the dissolution of middle lamella. In strawberry, functional analyses of genes encoding polygalacturonases (PGs) indicate that these enzymes play a key role in fruit softening, i.e. the antisense downregulation of PG genes FaPG1 or FaPG2 increased fruit firmness and postharvest shelf life (Paniagua et al., 2020). These results suggest that PG encoding genes are excellent targets for gene editing to improve strawberry fruit quality. Transfection of protoplasts with CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes is currently being explored in many species to produce DNA-free edited plants. In this research, a protocol for strawberry protoplasts transfection has been optimized with the final goal of producing non-transgenic strawberry plants with the FaPG1 gene edited. Protoplasts were isolated from 9 weeks old in vitro grown plants of Fragaria x ananassa, cv. ‘Chandler’, micropropagated in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2 mg/L of BA. Protoplast extraction and purification was performed as described by Barceló et al. (2019). Using this protocol, a yield of 1 x 105 protoplast/g fresh tissue was obtained and nearly 50-70% of them were viable. Protoplasts were transfected with the plasmid pHBT-sGFP(S65T)-NOS using a PEG-mediated transformation system, as reported by Yoo et al. (2007). To improve the efficiency of protoplast transfection, different variables were evaluated: PEG concentration, time of incubation on PEG and DNA concentration. At 48 h after transfection, the highest percentage of protoplasts showing GFP expression, 18%, was obtained with 15 minutes incubation in 20% of PEG and 5 µg of DNA

GaAs nanoscale membranes: prospects for seamless integration of III–Vs on silicon

The growth of compound semiconductors on silicon has been widely sought after for decades, but reliable methods for defect-free combination of these materials have remained elusive. Recently, interconnected GaAs nanoscale membranes have been used as templates for the scalable integration of nanowire networks on III-V substrates. Here, we demonstrate how GaAs nanoscale membranes can be seamlessly integrated on silicon by controlling the density of nuclei in the initial stages of growth. We also correlate the absence or presence of defects with the existence of a single or multiple nucleation regime for the single membranes. Certain defects exhibit well-differentiated spectroscopic features that we identify with cathodoluminescence and micro-photoluminescence techniques. Overall, this work presents a new approach for the seamless integration of compound semiconductors on silicon

Age validation in Octopus vulgaris beaks across full ontogenetic range. Beaks as recorders of live-events in octopuses

En prensa

PISCO: The Pmas/ppak Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation

We present the Pmas/ppak Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation (PISCO) which comprises Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) of 232 supernova (SN) host galaxies, that hosted 272 SNe, observed over several semesters with the 3.5m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA). PISCO is the largest collection of SN host galaxies observed with wide-field IFS, totaling 466,347 individual spectra covering a typical spatial resolution of $\sim$380 pc. While focused studies regarding specific SN Ia- related topics will be published elsewhere, this paper aims to present the properties of the SN environments with stellar population (SP) synthesis and the gas-phase ISM, providing additional results separating stripped-envelope SNe into their subtypes. With 11,270 HII regions detected in all galaxies, we present for the first time an HII region statistical analysis, that puts HII regions that have hosted SNe in context with all other SF clumps within their galaxies. SNe Ic are associated to more metal-rich, higher EW(H{\alpha}) and higher SF rate environments within their host galaxies than the mean of all HII regions detected within each host, on contrary SNe IIb occur at the most different environments compared to other CC SNe types. We find two clear components of young and old SP at SNe IIn locations. We find that SNe II fast-decliners (IIL) tend to explode at locations where {\Sigma}SFR is more intense. Finally, we outline how a future dedicated IFS survey of galaxies in parallel to an untargeted SN search would overcome the biases in current environmental studies.Comment: 21 pages, 10 Figures, 6 Tables. Accepted in Ap

Optimización de la transfección de protoplastos para la edición génica en fresa

Esta investigación ha sido financiada por los fondos FEDER EU, el Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España (AGL2017-86531-C2-1-R), y el contrato FPI PRE2018-085509.La fresa es un fruto blando de gran importancia económica, particularmente en Andalucía. La mejora de las cualidades organolépticas del fruto y la disminución del reblandecimiento para alargar la vida postcosecha del fruto, son unos de los principales objetivos de los programas de mejora en este cultivo. El reblandecimiento del fruto es consecuencia del desmantelamiento de la pared celular, la disolución de la lámina media y la pérdida de turgencia. En fresa, el silenciamiento mediante la transformación en antisentido de genes que codifican poligalacturonasas (PG) aumenta la firmeza del fruto y la vida postcosecha (Paniagua et al., 2020). Por tanto, estos genes son excelentes dianas para la edición génica con el fin de mejorar la calidad del fruto de la fresa. La transfección de protoplastos con complejos preensamblados Cas9-sgRNA permite la producción de plantas editadas vía CRISPR/Cas9 libres de ADN foráneo, que podrían ser consideradas como no transgénicas. En esta investigación, se ha optimizado un protocolo para la transfección de protoplastos de fresa, con el objetivo final de producir plantas no transgénicas con el gen de poligalacturonasa FaPG1 mutado. Como fuente de material vegetal se utilizaron hojas de plantas de Fragaria x ananassa, cv. ‘Chandler’, micropropagadas en medio Murashige y Skoog (MS) suplementado con 2 mg/L de BA. Para la extracción de protoplastos se utilizó el protocolo descrito por Barceló et al. (2019). A las 24 h del aislamiento, los protoplastos fueron transfectados con el plásmido pHBT-sGFP(S65T)-NOS que contiene el gen marcador GFP, mediante un tratamiento con polietilenglicol (PEG), como se describe en Yoo et al. (2007). Se evaluaron, entre otras variables, el efecto de la concentración y tiempo de incubación en PEG y la concentración de ADN. Los valores más altos de protoplastos con actividad GFP a las 48 h de la transfección, entre el 15-18%, se obtuvieron tras la incubación en 20% de PEG en presencia de 5 µg de ADN.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Supernova 2014J at M82 – II. Direct analysis of a middle-class Type Ia supernova

We analyze a time series of optical spectra of SN 2014J from almost two weeks prior to maximum to nearly four months after maximum. We perform our analysis using the SYNOW code, which is well suited to track the distribution of the ions with velocity in the ejecta. We show that almost all of the spectral features during the entire epoch can be identified with permitted transitions of the common ions found in normal SNe Ia in agreement with previous studies. We show that 2014J is a relatively normal SN Ia. At early times the spectral features are dominated by Si II, S II, Mg II, and Ca II. These ions persist to maximum light with the appearance of Na I and Mg I. At later times iron-group elements also appear, as expected in the stratified abundance model of the formation of normal type Ia SNe. We do not find significant spectroscopic evidence for oxygen, until 100 days after maximum light. The +100 day identification of oxygen is tentative, and would imply significant mixing of unburned or only slight processed elements down to a velocity of 6,000 km~s−1. Our results are in relatively good agreement with other analyses in the IR. We briefly compare SN 2011fe to SN 2014J and conclude that the differences could be due to different central densities at ignition or differences in the C/O ratio of the progenitors