Functional and expression analyses of the ribosomal RNA methyltransferase NSUN5 upon heavy metals and trace elements

Methylation is the addition of a methyl group on a substrate such as a DNA or RNA molecule. In biological systems, methylation is catalyzed by enzymes regulates the gene expression. Nsun5-1 and nsun5-2 are in this group of enzymes called rRNA cytosine methyltransferase l (RCM1 in yeast or nsun5 in human and plant) that catalyzes the methylation of one cytosine on the 25S rRNA in Arabidopsis thaliana. The use of heavy metals and trace elements as cadmium, manganese, led and zinc as abiotic stress to compare how the gene expression NSUN5 is modified in comparison with a control medium is still unknown.La metilació és l'addició d'un grup metil en un substrat tal com una molècula d'ADN o ARN. En els sistemes biològics, la metilació és catalitzada per enzims que regulen l'expressió de gens. Nsun5-1 i nsun5-2 són en aquest grup d'enzims anomenats rRNA citosina metiltransferasa l ( RCM1 en el llevat o nsun5 en humans i plantes ) que catalitza la metilació d'una citosina en el 25S rRNA en Arabidopsis thaliana. L'ús de metalls pesats i elements traça com cadmi.manganes, plom i zinc com a estrés abiotic and comparar com l'expressio genica de NSUN5 es modificada en vers a la mostra control es encara desconeguda.La metilación es la adición de un grupo metilo en un sustrato tal como una molécula de ADN o ARN. En los sistemas biológicos , la metilación es catalizada por enzimas que regulan la expresión de genes. Nsun5-1 y nsun5-2 son en este grupo de enzimas llamadas rRNA citosina metiltransferasa l ( RCM1 en la levadura o nsun5 en humanos y plantas) que cataliza la metilación de una citosina en el 25S rRNA en Arabidopsis thaliana . El uso de metales pesados y elementos traza como cadmio,manganeso, plomo y zinc como estres abiotico para comparar como la expresion genica de NSUN5 es modificada en comparacion con el de la muestra control es aun desconocido

Predictors of school dropout across Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam

In this paper the authors utilize the five rounds of Young Lives household surveys across four countries (Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam) to study the characteristics of children who had dropped out of school by 22 years of age. While most children in the longitudinal sample go to primary school, they tend to drop out more often and earlier in Ethiopia. In India most children complete the early grades of school but drop out later, particularly in grades 11 and 13. Researchers find that in all countries, except Vietnam, there is a considerable number of children who drop out of school but at some point return to it, either to complete secondary or drop out again. The reasons provided by children for dropping out across the countries are oftentimes related to poverty: for example, the need to work, or care or provide for family. The multivariate analysis shows that indeed in many cases the wealth level of the family at an early age predicts later dropout, as does maternal education level, students’ early skills and residence in certain regions of each country. There are also some variations across countries; for example, boys are more likely to drop out of school in Ethiopia and Vietnam, and children who have repeated a grade are more likely to drop out of school in Peru. However, having high educational aspirations at early ages seems to be a protective factor against dropping out. This suggests that the value that children place on education may be an important preventative factor against dropping out. Overall, these results suggest the need to act early through education and social protection interventions to target young children who are at risk of dropping out, and the follow their trajectories, providing support as needed to specific groups and even individuals, so that all children may fulfill their right to complete at least secondary education.En este documento, los autores utilizan las cinco rondas de encuestas de hogares de Young Lives en cuatro países (Etiopía, India, Perú y Vietnam) para estudiar las características de los niños que abandonaron la escuela a los 22 años de edad. Si bien la mayoría de los niños de la muestra longitudinal van a la escuela primaria, tienden a abandonar la escuela con mayor frecuencia y antes en Etiopía. En India, la mayoría de los niños completan los primeros grados de la escuela pero abandonan más tarde, particularmente en los grados 11 y 13. Los investigadores encuentran que en todos los países, excepto Vietnam, hay un número considerable de niños que abandonan la escuela pero en algún momento regresan a la escuela. ya sea para completar la secundaria o abandonar nuevamente. Las razones dadas por los niños en todos los países para explicar por qué abandonaron la escuela a menudo están relacionadas con la pobreza; por ejemplo, la necesidad de trabajar, cuidar o mantener a la familia. El análisis multivariando muestra que, de hecho, en muchos casos el nivel de riqueza de la familia a una edad temprana predice el abandono posterior, al igual que el nivel de educación materna, las habilidades tempranas de los estudiantes y la residencia en ciertas regiones de cada país. También hay algunas variaciones entre países; por ejemplo, los niños tienen más probabilidades de abandonar la escuela en Etiopía y Vietnam, y los niños que han repetido una calificación tienen más probabilidades de abandonar la escuela en Perú. Sin embargo, tener altas aspiraciones educativas a edades tempranas parece ser un factor protector contra el abandono escolar. Esto sugiere que el valor que los niños otorgan a la educación puede ser un importante factor preventivo contra el abandono escolar. En general, estos resultados sugieren la necesidad de actuar temprano a través de la educación y las intervenciones de protección social para dirigirse a los niños pequeños que corren el riesgo de abandonar la escuela, y seguir sus trayectorias, brindando apoyo según sea necesario a grupos específicos e incluso a individuos, para que todos los niños puedan cumplir con su derecho a completar al menos la educación secundaria

Variaciones estacionales y espaciales de la comunidad de larvas de peces de Gran Canaria, Islas Canarias

Temporal and spatial variations of the larval fish community off the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) were studied in weekly surveys from October 2005 to June 2006. A total of 156 taxa, belonging to 51 families and 15 orders, were identified. Myctophidae was by far the most abundant family (30%), followed by Sparidae (11%), Clupeidae (9%) and Gonostomatidae (7%). As expected for an oceanic island, neritic and oceanic taxa contributed in similar proportions. Leeward and windward retention areas were found for total egg and neritic larval abundance. However, seasonality showed a stronger influence on the annual larval assemblage than sampling site, as the latter was not significant on a long time scale. Results suggest that there are two seasonal larval assemblages corresponding to the two main characteristic periods of the water column in these waters: mixing (winter) and stratification (summer). In addition, a significant relationship was recorded between lunar illumination and small mesozooplankton biomass, suggesting that this relationship may be extended to certain neritic families. The most abundant neritic larvae (Sparidae) showed this lunar pattern, which partially supports a recent hypothesis about the effect of lunar illumination on larval fish survival and development in subtropical waters.Se estudiaron las variaciones temporales y espaciales en la comunidad de larvas de peces de la isla de Gran Canaria (Islas Canarias) a partir de muestreos semanales desde octubre 2005 a junio 2006. Se identificaron un total de 156 taxones, pertene- cientes a 51 familias y 15 órdenes. La familia Myctophidae fue la más abundante (30%), seguida por Sparidae (11%), Clupei- dae (9%) y gonostomatidae (7%). Como es de esperar en una isla oceánica, los taxones neríticos y oceánicos contribuyeron en proporciones similares. Se encontraron dos zonas de retención para huevos y larvas de especies neríticas, a sotavento y barlovento de la isla. Sin embargo, la estacionalidad mostró una mayor influencia en la estructura de la comunidad larvaria que la zona de muestreo, siendo ésta no significativa a largo plazo. Se observaron dos asociaciones estacionales de larvas correspondiendo con los dos períodos más característicos en la columna de agua: periodo de mezcla (invierno) y de estrati- ficación (verano). además, se encontró una relación significativa entre la iluminación lunar y la biomasa del zooplancton de pequeño tamaño, que podría ser extensible a las larvas neríticas. Las larvas neríticas más abundantes (Sparidae) mostraron una relación con el ciclo lunar, apoyando parcialmente una hipótesis reciente sobre el efecto de la iluminación lunar en la supervivencia larvaria y su desarrollo en aguas subtropicales

Transforming the legislative: a pending task of Brazilian and Colombian constitutionalism

The Constitutions of 1988 in Brazil and 1991 in Colombia have instantiated a complex process of transformative constitutionalism associated with the protection of rights, and the inclusion of minority groups. In spite of the prominent role of the judiciary in these processes, it should be stated that these Constitutions recognized the importance of the legislative branch within the transformations they seek to achieve. The question that remains open is whether a strong intervention by the judiciary is instrumental to put the legislature back in shape and put it in tune with the transformation that both Constitutions seek to achieve. As this paper will show, despite the good decisions delivered when deciding particular cases, overall, transformative constitutionalism based on the prominent role of the Courts has not been that transformative in terms of reforming political institutions. In this sense, what this paper seeks to highlight is that, in order to develop an adequate theory on judicial review, it is crucial to truly identify the limitations of constitutionalism and what judicial review can and cannot do

Enlarged Kuramoto model: Secondary instability and transition to collective chaos

The emergence of collective synchrony from an incoherent state is a phenomenon essentially described by the Kuramoto model. This canonical model was derived perturbatively, by applying phase reduction to an ensemble of heterogeneous, globally coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators. This derivation neglects nonlinearities in the coupling constant. We show here that a comprehensive analysis requires extending the Kuramoto model up to quadratic order. This “enlarged Kuramoto model” comprises three-body (nonpairwise) interactions, which induce strikingly complex phenomenology at certain parameter values. As the coupling is increased, a secondary instability renders the synchronized state unstable, and subsequent bifurcations lead to collective chaos. An efficient numerical study of the thermodynamic limit, valid for Gaussian heterogeneity, is carried out by means of a Fourier-Hermite decomposition of the oscillator density.We acknowledge Support by Agencia Estatal de Investigación and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional under Project No. FIS2016-74957-P (AEI/FEDER, EU). IL acknowledges support by Universidad de Cantabria and Government of Cantabria under the Concepción Arenal programme

Phase reduction beyond the first order: The case of the mean-field complex Ginzburg-Landau equation

Phase reduction is a powerful technique that makes possible to describe the dynamics of a weakly perturbed limit-cycle oscillator in terms of its phase. For ensembles of oscillators, a classical example of phase reduction is the derivation of the Kuramoto model from the mean-field complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (MF-CGLE). Still, the Kuramoto model is a first-order phase approximation that displays either full synchronization or incoherence, but none of the nontrivial dynamics of the MF-CGLE. This fact calls for an expansion beyond the first order in the coupling constant. We develop an isochron-based scheme to obtain the second-order phase approximation, which reproduces the weak-coupling dynamics of the MF-CGLE. The practicality of our method is evidenced by extending the calculation up to third order. Each new term of the power-series expansion contributes with additional higher-order multibody (i.e., nonpairwise) interactions. This points to intricate multibody phase interactions as the source of pure collective chaos in the MF-CGLE at moderate coupling.We acknowledge support by MINECO (Spain) under Project No. FIS2016-74957-P. IL acknowledges support by Universidad de Cantabria and Government of Cantabria under the Concepción Arenal programme

Computational Screening of Structure-Directing Agents for the Synthesis of Pure Silica ITE Zeolite

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01734.[EN] "Shape" was the first criterion claimed to explain the specificity between organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) and zeolite micropores. With the advent of computational chemistry methods applied to study the effectiveness of SDA-zeolite combinations, "energy" (mainly van der Waals) became the most commonly invoked concept to explain the zeolite phase selectivity. The lower the energy, the better the SDA_ In this study, we rescue the concept of shape, and we combine it with the concept of energy within the frame of a SDA screening approach to identify new SDAs for the synthesis of cage-based ITE zeolite. Once we identify an appropriate shape fingerprint, filtering through the SDA database can be done quickly and accurately. With the shape selection, an automated Monte Carlo software allows us to assess the suitability using the force-field-calculated zeo-SDA energy. The computational approach can be promptly applied to other cage-based zeolites.We thank MICINN of Spain for funding through projects RTI2018-101784-B-I00, RTI2018-101033-B-I00, and SEV-2016-0683. S.L. thanks MICINN for the predoctoral grant BES-2017-081245 corresponding to project SEV-2016-068317-2. Prof. A. Corma is acknowledged for collaboration from the SEV-2016-0683 project. We thank ASIC-UPV for the use of their computational facilities.León-Rubio, S.; Sastre Navarro, GI. (2020). Computational Screening of Structure-Directing Agents for the Synthesis of Pure Silica ITE Zeolite. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 11(15):6164-6167. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01734S616461671115Davis, M. E. (2013). Zeolites from a Materials Chemistry Perspective. Chemistry of Materials, 26(1), 239-245. doi:10.1021/cm401914uLi, J., Corma, A., & Yu, J. (2015). Synthesis of new zeolite structures. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(20), 7112-7127. doi:10.1039/c5cs00023hČejka, J., Millini, R., Opanasenko, M., Serrano, D. P., & Roth, W. J. (2020). Advances and challenges in zeolite synthesis and catalysis. Catalysis Today, 345, 2-13. doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2019.10.021Rimer, J. D. (2018). Rational design of zeolite catalysts. Nature Catalysis, 1(7), 488-489. doi:10.1038/s41929-018-0114-5Barrer, R. M. (1960). Stabilization of lattices by sorbed and included molecules. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 16(1-2), 84-89. doi:10.1016/0022-3697(60)90076-7Zones, S. I. (1989). Synthesis of pentasil zeolites from sodium silicate solutions in the presence of quaternary imidazole compounds. Zeolites, 9(6), 458-467. doi:10.1016/0144-2449(89)90039-0Davis, M. E. (1993). New vistas in zeolite and molecular sieve catalysis. Accounts of Chemical Research, 26(3), 111-115. doi:10.1021/ar00027a006Gies, H., & Marker, B. (1992). The structure-controlling role of organic templates for the synthesis of porosils in the systems SiO2/template/H2O. Zeolites, 12(1), 42-49. doi:10.1016/0144-2449(92)90008-dBoyett, R. E., Stevens, A. P., Ford, M. G., & Cox, P. A. (1996). A quantitative shape analysis of organic templates employed in zeolite synthesis. Zeolites, 17(5-6), 508-512. doi:10.1016/s0144-2449(96)00073-5Bell, R. G., Lewis, D. W., Voigt, P., Freeman, C. M., Thomas, J. M., & Catlow, C. R. A. (1994). Computer Modelling of Sorbates and Templates in Microporous Materials. Zeolites and Related Microporous Materials: State of the Art 1994 - Proceedings of the 10th International Zeolite Conference, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 17-22 July 1994, 2075-2082. doi:10.1016/s0167-2991(08)63768-4Cox, P. A., Casci, J. L., & Stevens, A. P. (1997). Molecular modelling of templated zeolite synthesis. Faraday Discussions, 106, 473-487. doi:10.1039/a701487bWagner, P., Nakagawa, Y., Lee, G. S., Davis, M. E., Elomari, S., Medrud, R. C., & Zones, S. I. (2000). Guest/Host Relationships in the Synthesis of the Novel Cage-Based Zeolites SSZ-35, SSZ-36, and SSZ-39. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 122(2), 263-273. doi:10.1021/ja990722uShi, C., Li, L., Yang, L., & Li, Y. (2020). Molecular simulations of host-guest interactions between zeolite framework STW and its organic structure-directing agents. Chinese Chemical Letters, 31(7), 1951-1955. doi:10.1016/j.cclet.2020.01.016Burton, A. W., Lee, G. S., & Zones, S. I. (2006). Phase selectivity in the syntheses of cage-based zeolite structures: An investigation of thermodynamic interactions between zeolite hosts and structure directing agents by molecular modeling. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 90(1-3), 129-144. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2005.11.022Gálvez-Llompart, M., Cantín, A., Rey, F., & Sastre, G. (2018). Computational screening of structure directing agents for the synthesis of zeolites. A simplified model. Zeitschrift für Kristallographie - Crystalline Materials, 234(7-8), 451-460. doi:10.1515/zkri-2018-2132Gálvez-Llompart, M., Gálvez, J., Rey, F., & Sastre, G. (2020). Identification of New Templates for the Synthesis of BEA, BEC, and ISV Zeolites Using Molecular Topology and Monte Carlo Techniques. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 60(6), 2819-2829. doi:10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00231Schmidt, J. E., Deem, M. W., & Davis, M. E. (2014). Synthesis of a Specified, Silica Molecular Sieve by Using Computationally Predicted Organic Structure-Directing Agents. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 53(32), 8372-8374. doi:10.1002/anie.201404076Daeyaert, F., & Deem, M. W. (2019). Design of organic structure directing agents for polymorph A zeolite beta. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 7(16), 9854-9866. doi:10.1039/c8ta11913aDaeyaert, F., Ye, F., & Deem, M. W. (2019). Machine-learning approach to the design of OSDAs for zeolite beta. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(9), 3413-3418. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818763116Camblor, M. A., Corma, A., Lightfoot, P., Villaescusa, L. A., & Wright, P. A. (1997). Synthesis and Structure of ITQ-3, the First Pure Silica Polymorph with a Two-Dimensional System of Straight Eight-Ring Channels. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English, 36(23), 2659-2661. doi:10.1002/anie.199726591Olson, D. H., Camblor, M. A., Villaescusa, L. A., & Kuehl, G. H. (2004). Light hydrocarbon sorption properties of pure silica Si-CHA and ITQ-3 and high silica ZSM-58. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 67(1), 27-33. doi:10.1016/j.micromeso.2003.09.025SciFinder; CAS: Columbus, OH, 2020. https://www.cas.org/products/scifinder. 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Las actitudes de los estudiantes peruanos hacia la lectura, la escritura, la matemática y las lenguas indígenas.

El presente Documento de Trabajo contiene los resultados de la administración de diversas escalas de actitudes a estudiantes de cuarto y sexto grado de primaria y cuarto grado de secundaria durante la evaluación nacional del rendimiento estudiantil organizada por la Unidad de Medición de la Calidad Educativa (UMC) del Ministerio de Educación a fines del 2001. Las escalas están referidas al gusto, autoeficacia y utilidad del estudiante frente a la lectura, la escritura y la matemática. Adicionalmente se incluyó una escala de actitudes de respeto hacia las lenguas vernáculas y las personas que las hablan. El estudio de las actitudes de los estudiantes peruanos es un tema relevante, tanto como el estudio del rendimiento en las áreas académicas. De hecho lo uno y lo otro está presente en el currículo vigente. De los resultados aquí presentados se pueden sacar lecciones que deberían sugerir políticas educativas que ayuden a conseguir mejores logros tanto en lo cognoscitivo como en lo afectivo, ya que es indudable que ambos aspectos están relacionados. El presente Documento de Trabajo es resultado de un esfuerzo conjunto de investigadores de GRADE y la UMC.Actitud del estudiante, Evaluación del estudiante, Lectura, Escritura, Matemáticas, Lenguas indígenas, Student attitudes, Student evaluation, Lecture, Writing, Mathematics, Indigenous languages, Peru

Evaluation of the alkalinity stress tolerance of three Brassica rapa CAX1 TILLING mutants

Alkalinity is an important environmental factor that affects crop production and will be exacerbated in the current climate change scenario. Thus, the presence of carbonates and high pH in soils negatively impacts nutrient assimilation and photosynthesis and causes oxidative stress. A potential strategy to improve tolerance to alkalinity could be the modification of cation exchanger (CAX) activity, given that these transporters are involved in calcium (Ca2+) signaling under stresses. In this study, we used three Brassica rapa mutants (BraA. cax1a-4, BraA.cax1a-7, and BraA.cax1a-12) from the parental line ‘R-o-18’ that were generated by Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) and grown under control and alkaline conditions. The objective was to assess the tolerance of these mutants to alkalinity stress. Biomass, nutrient accumulation, oxidative stress, and photosynthesis parameters were analyzed. The results showed that BraA.cax1a-7 mutation was negative for alkalinity tolerance because it reduced plant biomass, increased oxidative stress, partially inhibited antioxidant response, and lowered photosynthesis performance. Conversely, the BraA.cax1a-12 mutation increased plant biomass and Ca2+ accumulation, reduced oxidative stress, and improved antioxidant response and photosynthesis performance. Hence, this study identifies BraA.cax1a-12 as a useful CAX1 mutation to enhance the tolerance of plants grown under alkaline conditions.Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia, University of Granada awarde

Oportunidades de aprendizaje y rendimiento escolar en Matemáticas y Lenguaje: resumen de tres estudios en Perú

El presente estudio sintetiza tres investigaciones sobre la relación entre oportunidades de aprendizaje (ODA) y rendimiento escolar en escuelas públicas de Perú. Oportunidades de aprendizaje en estos estudios se definió operacionalmente a partir de la cobertura curricular, demanda cognoscitiva, retroalimentación al estudiante y ejercicios correctos. Estas se estimaron a partir de los ejercicios resueltos en los cuadernos y cuadernos de trabajo de una muestra de estudiantes, que fueron recogidos a finales del año escolar. El análisis descriptivo mostró mayores ODA para los estudiantes de relativo mayor nivel socioeconómico. La cobertura en matemática se centró en temas de números y numeración y en lenguaje en temas de reflexión sobre la lengua (normas para su uso). En conjunto las ODA tuvieron un fuerte poder explicativo en el rendimiento, en particular la variable demanda cognoscitiva. Esta variable refleja el nivel de complejidad intelectual requerido por los ejercicios planteados a los estudiantes. En general sin embargo, se observaron niveles muy bajos de demanda cognoscitiva, vinculados a la memorización de conceptos y aplicación de reglas de manera mecánica para solución de ejercicios