New Viverrinae (Carnivora: Mammalia) from the basal Middle Miocene of Arrisdrift, Namibia

A new genus and species of viverrid of modern type, Orangic!is gariepensis, is described from the basal Middle Miocene locality of Arrisdrift in southern Namibia. It is the earliest known representative of the subfamily Viverrinae from Africa. Detailed examination of the mongoose-like carnivores of the early Miocene of Africa, hitherto all assigned to the family Viverridae, reveals that none of them are related to this group.The Council's Research Committee, University of the Witwatersrand; National Research Foundation (NRF); Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust (PAST); Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid DGICYT projects PB 95-0113 and PB95-0014; Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI

Bioestratigrafía y biogeografía de la fauna de Mamíferos de Los Valles de Fuentidueña (Segovia)

RESUMEN El yacimiento de Los Valles de Fuentidueña ha proporcionado una fauna de gran interés para la caracterización del Vallesiense inferior de la cuenca del Duero al agrupar gran diversidad de especies de macro y micromamíferos, permitiendo correlacionarla con faunas de la misma edad en otras cuencas. El análisis de este conjunto faunístico permite afirmar que durante el Aragoniense superior y Vallesiense inferior la fauna de la cuenca del Duero es netamente semejante a la de la cuenca de Calatayud-Teruel, pudiendo ser ambas incluidas en una misma unidad biogeográfica, distinta de la del Vallés-Penedés, cuya fauna presenta mayores afinidades con las de Francia y Alemania de esta edad. Por último, la caracterización del límite Aragoniense-Vallesiense posee un significado diferente para las faunas de roedores que para las de macromamíferos; para las primeras no existe corte faunístico, mientras que para las segundas la entrada del género Hipparion supone una alteración importante y brusca en su composición.ABSTRACT The site Los Valles de Fuentidueña (Segovia, Spain), having provided remains of a diversified fauna of both micro- and macromammals, becomes highly relevant for the characterization of the Lower Vallesian from the Duero basin, allowing correlations with faunal assemblages of the same age in other basins. The analysis of this fauna indicates that during the Upper Aragonian and Lower Vallesian the Duero basin fauna is clearly similar to the Calatayud-Teruel basin one, being possible in fact to include both in a single biogeographical unit. This unit shows clear differences with respect to the Vallés-Penedés faunal composition, that presents more similarities with the German and French ones of the same age. Finally, it is shown that the delimitation of the Aragonian-Vallesian boundary has a different character for micro- and macromammals. The former present no noticeable faunistic "coupure", while in the latter the sudden appearance of the genus Hipparion causes an important alteration on its compositions.Peer reviewe

La fauna villafranquiense de El Rincón-1 (Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha)

25 páginas, 7 figuras, 5 láminas, 23 tablas.[ES] El yacimiento de El Rincón-l situado a techo de la serie continental de Casas del Rincón (Albacete, cuenca del Júcar), cuenta con una diversidad faunística de 13 especies de micro y macromamíferos. Sus características tafonómicas indican que el proceso de acumulación de los restos de mamíferos fósiles debió de ser un proceso catastrófico relativamente rápido de muerte y enterramiento. Los micromamíferos Mimomys cf. medasensis y Castillomys crusafonti crusafonti permiten situar el yacimiento en el Villafranquiense inferior. El caballo, Equus livenzovensis, sería uno de los más antiguos registrados en Europa Occidental, anterior al límite Gauss-Matuyama (2,48 Ma, recalibrado en 2,6 y 2,58 Ma). La aparición del caballo se sitúa por tanto en la parte más reciente de esta edad de mamíferos, como se había definido clásicamente.[EN] The El Rincón-l locality is located at the top of the Casas del Rincón series (Albacete, Júcar basin) with 13 micro- and macromammal species. The taphonomical features indicate a relatively rapid accumulation process of death and burial of the mammal remains, interpreted as a catastrophic evento The micromammals, Mimomys cf. medasensis and Castillomys crusafonti crusafonti, permit us to assign this locality to the Early Villafranchian. The horse, Equus livenzovensis, would be among the oldest ones recorded from Western Europe before the Gauss-Matuyama paleomagnetic boundary (2.48 Ma, revised calibration as 2.6 and 2.58 Ma). Therefore, the horse appears in the most recent part of this mammal age, as it was classically defined.Peer reviewe

Derivation of HVR1, HVR2 and HVR3 human embryonic stem cell lines from IVF embryos after preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for monogenic disorder

From 106 human blastocyts donate for research after in vitro fertilization (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for monogenetic disorder, 3 human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) HVR1, HVR2 and HVR3 were successfully derived. HVR1 was assumed to be genetically normal, HVR2 carrying Becker muscular dystrophy and HVR3 Hemophilia B. Despite the translocation t(9;15)(q34.3;q14) detected in HVR2, all the 3 cell lines were characterised in vitro and in vivo as normal hESCs lines and were registered in the Spanish Stem Cell Bank.Junta de Andalucía FEDER TCMR0021/06, PI246-2008Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FEDER) RD12/0019/0028, RD012/0036/0017, PI10/00964, PI11/02923, PI14/0101

Exploring the Heterogeneity and Trajectories of Positive Functioning Variables, Emotional Distress, and Post-traumatic Growth During Strict Confinement Due to COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic-related confinement may be a fruitful opportunity to use individual resources to deal with it or experience psychological functioning changes. This study aimed to analyze the evolution of different psychological variables during the first coronavirus wave to identify the different psychological response clusters, as well as to keep a follow-up on the changes among these clusters. The sample included 459 Spanish residents (77.8% female, Mage = 35.21 years, SDage = 13.00). Participants completed several online self-reported questionnaires to assess positive functioning variables (MLQ, Steger et al. in J Loss Trauma 13(6):511–527, 2006. 10.1080/15325020802173660; GQ-6, McCullough et al. in J Person Soc Psychol 82:112–127, 2002. 10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.112; CD-RISC, Campbell-Sills and Stein in J Traum Stress 20(6):1019–1028, 2007. 10.1002/jts.20271; CLS-H, Chiesi et al. in BMC Psychol 8(1):1–9, 2020. 10.1186/s40359-020-0386-9; SWLS; Diener et al. in J Person Assess, 49(1), 71–75, 1985), emotional distress (PHQ-2, Kroenke et al. in Med Care 41(11):1284–1292, 2003. 10.1097/01.MLR.0000093487.78664.3C; GAD-2, Kroenke et al. in Ann Internal Med 146(5):317–325, 2007. 10.7326/0003-4819-146-5-200703060-00004; PANAS, Watson et al. in J Person Soc Psychol 47:1063–1070, 1988; Perceived Stress, ad hoc), and post-traumatic growth (PTGI-SF; Cann et al. in Anxiety Stress Coping 23(2):127–137, 2010. 10.1080/10615800903094273), four times throughout the 3 months of the confinement. Linear mixed models showed that the scores on positive functioning variables worsened from the beginning of the confinement, while emotional distress and personal strength improved by the end of the state of alarm. Clustering analyses revealed four different patterns of psychological response: “Survival”, “Resurgent”, “Resilient”, and “Thriving” individuals. Four different profiles were identified during mandatory confinement and most participants remained in the same cluster. The “Resilient” cluster gathered the largest number of individuals (30–37%). We conclude that both the heterogeneity of psychological profiles and analysis of positive functioning variables, emotional distress, and post-traumatic growth must be considered to better understand the response to prolonged adverse situations

Los juegos tradicionales influyen en el aprendizaje de los Niños de 4 a 5 años en los centros infantiles ¿divino niño¿ y ¿Santa Catalina Laboure¿ de la ciudad de Atuntaqui en el Periodo de septiembre 2010 a abril 2011.

El estudio de los juegos tradicionales que influyen en el aprendizaje de los niños y niñas de 4 a 5 años de la ciudad de Atuntaqui, con una Guía Didáctica como propuesta de mejoramiento, es sin duda una cuestión de actualidad e importancia en la formación de los niños de nivel inicial. Los Centros del Buen Vivir administrados por el MIES INFA, disponen únicamente de una docente parvularia – en el mejor de los casos; y el número de madres promotoras quienes sin formación específica docente, deben asumir la responsabilidad de proteger y formar a los niños y niñas que la comunidad entrega bajo su cuidado. Por esta razón, se hizo necesario elaborar una Guía Didáctica que proporcione al personal de los Centros investigados, las herramientas de trabajo más adecuadas para asumir con éxito el rol que cumplen en el Centro de Desarrollo Infantil.Los docentes de los Centros de Desarrollo Infantil ¿Santa Catalina de Laboure¿ y ¿Divino Niño¿ no están muy familiarizados con los juegos tradicionales de la ciudad de Atuntaqui, quizás debido a que no todos los docentes que trabajan en esas instituciones son originarios o residen en la ciudad, tampoco cuentan con el apoyo de su director o autoridad para trabajar con nuevas estrategias de enseñanza aprendizaje de nivel inicial, particularmente con la estrategia del juego en el aula.-Sobre esta información se procedió a seleccionar los juegos tradicionales que sean aplicables al trabajo de aula de nivel inicial para estructurar la guía.- La intencionalidad del diseño de la guía didáctica es facilitar el trabajo de las madres promotoras y la parvularia y encontrar además la metodología y estrategias que mejoren la calidad del aprendizaje y motiven la participación de los niños y niñas de los centros investigado

Performance of alginate films for retention of l-(+)-ascorbic acid

In view of acting as controlled delivery systems for nutritional supplementation, therapy or antioxidant activity at interfaces, alginate films of different copolymer composition and glycerol plasticizer levels were developed in the presence of Ca2+ for achieving higher stability of l-(+)-ascorbic acid (AA). The ability of the alginate network to preserve AA from hydrolysis, tested by storage under vacuum at 25 °C, only decreased with the relative humidity (RH) increase when alginates were mainly constituted by guluronic–guluronic acid blocks (GG), whereas also decreased with the glycerol level increase when mannuronic–mannuronic acid (MM) and/or alternating guluronic–mannuronic (GM + MG) flexible blocks were present in higher proportions. This result could be probably related to the lower capability of the latter alginate block compositions to immobilize water in the network as they are not able to constitute Ca2+ mediated junction zones where water molecules are highly retained. Films also studied under air storage showed that even at less favorable conditions of RH and glycerol levels, both GG and GM + MG enriched alginate networks in general preserved AA from oxidation. It also demonstrated that hydrolysis is the principal way by which AA is lost when supported in films.Fil: De'nobili, Maria Dolores. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Curto, Lucrecia María. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas "Prof. Alejandro C. Paladini". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Delfino, Jose Maria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas "Prof. Alejandro C. Paladini". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Físico-Química Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Soria, Marcelo Abel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Biología Aplicada y Alimentos. Cátedra de Microbiología Agrícola; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biociencias Agrícolas y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Fissore, Eliana Noemi. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rojas, Ana Maria Luisa. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Cortical thickness and behavior abnormalities in children born preterm

Abstract Aim To identify long-term effects of preterm birth and of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) on cortical thickness (CTh). To study the relationship between CTh and cognitive-behavioral abnormalities. Methods We performed brain magnetic resonance imaging on 22 preterm children with PVL, 14 preterm children with no evidence of PVL and 22 full-term peers. T1-weighted images were analyzed with FreeSurfer software. All participants underwent cognitive and behavioral assessments by means of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Results We did not find global CTh differences between the groups. However, a thinner cortex was found in left postcentral, supramarginal, and caudal middle rostral gyri in preterm children with no evidence of PVL than in the full-term controls, while PVL preterm children showed thicker cortex in right pericalcarine and left rostral middle frontal areas than in preterm children with no evidence of PVL. In the PVL group, internalizing and externalizing scores correlated mainly with CTh in frontal areas. Attentional scores were found to be higher in PVL and correlated with CTh increments in right frontal areas. Interpretation The preterm group with no evidence of PVL, when compared with full-term children, showed evidence of a different pattern of regional thinning in the cortical gray matter. In turn, PVL preterm children exhibited atypical increases in CTh that may underlie their prevalent behavioral problems

Exploring Knowledge about Fang Traditional Medicine: An Informal Health Seeking Behaviour for Medical or Cultural Afflictions in Equatorial Guinea

This study explores a range of informal health-seeking behaviors, including the use of Fang Traditional Medicine (FTM) for medical or cultural afflictions in Equatorial Guinea (EQ), the therapeutic methods used, the health problems handled, the learning process, traditional medicine user profiles and the social images of Fang Traditional Healers (FTHs). Ethnography was employed as a qualitative strategy using emic–etic approaches. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 individuals, including 6 community leaders, 19 tribal elders, 7 healthcare professionals, 11 FTHs and 2 relatives of traditional healers in 5 districts of EQ. FTM offers a cure for malaria and treatments for reproductive health issues, bone fractures and cultural illnesses. Several methods used to learn FTM are based on empirical observation, and without the need for traditional schooling, unlike with Western medical professionals: for example, watching a family member, or the spirits or ancestors, can reveal healing knowledge. Materials from forests, including tree barks and plants, and rituals are used to keep Fang populations healthy; in addition, two rituals known as “osuiñ” and “etoak” (infusions of tree barks with the blood of sacrificed animals) are the most commonly used treatments. In addition, elders and women are the most active consumers of FTM. FTM plays a relevant role in curing medical and cultural afflictions in Fang communities. The informal health-seeking behavior among the Fang community is conditioned by the explanation model of illness.Depto. de EnfermeríaFac. de Enfermería, Fisioterapia y PodologíaTRUEpu