Escherichia coli EHEC Germany outbreak preliminary functional annotation using BG7 system

We have annotated the European outbreak E. coli EHEC genome sequenced by BGI (6-2-2011) and assembled with MIRA by Nick Loman (6-2-2011 ). Our system BG7, Bacterial Genome annotation of Era7 Bioinformatics, predicts ORFs and annotates them based on fragments of similarity with Uniprot proteins. We have predicted 6327 genes, 6156 encoding proteins y 171 corresponding to ribosomal and tRNA. Based on the preliminary results of our semi-automated method of annotation we have selected some predicted proteins with potential implications in pathogenicity and virulence.
There are 33 predicted genes annotated as toxins and we have found three putative hemolysins: Hemolysin E, a putative hemolysin expression modulating protein and a channel protein, hemolysin III family. We have found 31 predicted genes that could be related to specific antibiotic resistance: beta-lactamic, aminoglycoside, macrolide, polymyxin, tetracycline, fosfomycin and deoxycholate, novobiocin, chloramphenicol, bicyclomycin, norfloxacin and enoxacin and 6-mercaptopurine. This strain is rich in adhesion, secretion systems, pathogenicity and virulence related proteins. It seems to have a restriction-modification system, many proteins involved in Fe transport and utilization (siderophores as aerobactin and enterobactin), lysozyme, one inhibitor of pancreatic serine proteases, proteins involved in anaerobic respiration, antimicrobial peptides, and proteins involved in quorum sensing and biofilm formation that could confer competitive advantage to this strain

ExtraTrain: a database of Extragenic regions and Transcriptional information in prokaryotic organisms

BACKGROUND: Transcriptional regulation processes are the principal mechanisms of adaptation in prokaryotes. In these processes, the regulatory proteins and the regulatory DNA signals located in extragenic regions are the key elements involved. As all extragenic spaces are putative regulatory regions, ExtraTrain covers all extragenic regions of available genomes and regulatory proteins from bacteria and archaea included in the UniProt database. DESCRIPTION: ExtraTrain provides integrated and easily manageable information for 679816 extragenic regions and for the genes delimiting each of them. In addition ExtraTrain supplies a tool to explore extragenic regions, named Palinsight, oriented to detect and search palindromic patterns. This interactive visual tool is totally integrated in the database, allowing the search for regulatory signals in user defined sets of extragenic regions. The 26046 regulatory proteins included in ExtraTrain belong to the families AraC/XylS, ArsR, AsnC, Cold shock domain, CRP-FNR, DeoR, GntR, IclR, LacI, LuxR, LysR, MarR, MerR, NtrC/Fis, OmpR and TetR. The database follows the InterPro criteria to define these families. The information about regulators includes manually curated sets of references specifically associated to regulator entries. In order to achieve a sustainable and maintainable knowledge database ExtraTrain is a platform open to the contribution of knowledge by the scientific community providing a system for the incorporation of textual knowledge. CONCLUSION: ExtraTrain is a new database for exploring Extragenic regions and Transcriptional information in bacteria and archaea. ExtraTrain database is available at

Roger Bacon: The Christian, the Alchemist, the Enigma

This paper explores the life and work of 13th century English Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon in light of the spiritual-religious practice of alchemy. Bacon’s works in pertinence to alchemy reflect his belonging to a school of intellectual thought known as Hermeticism; which encompasses the practice of alchemy. Bacon can be placed among other philosophic practitioners of alchemy throughout history; allowing for expanded insight into the life of this medieval scholar. Throughout history, Bacon’s most well-known work, the Opus Majus, has been interpreted in a variety of ways. However, when considering what the practice of alchemy is at its Arabic roots, the sometimes vague and perplexing character of Roger Bacon becomes less elusive. Bacon has been called both a magician and a scientist as a result of the obscureness in his work; this paper explores the underlying motives Bacon had in constructing the Opus Majus. Roger Bacon expressed that sapientia or divine wisdom could be systematically obtained by following the revised scholastic curriculum he outlined in the Opus Majus. What is this sapientia? Where did Bacon get this idea? And why did Bacon work tirelessly to prove its efficacy to Pope Clement IV? This paper sets out to provide a deeper look into the place that alchemy held in Bacon’s life and the reasons he wished to integrate it into the Christian learning curriculum at the universities of Paris and Oxford

Use of the Analog Neural Networks in the Adaptive Antenna Control Systems

In the paper, original control system of adaptive antennas, which is based on Kalman filter, is presented and compared with earlier approaches to this problem. The designed control circuit eliminates some disadvantages of the control circuits based on the classical Kalman neural network and the Wang one, and enables a real time processing of quickly changing signals processed by adaptive antennas. Especially, the dependence of the convergence rate on ratio of eigenvalues and the risk of instability are significantly reduced

Bacterial repetitive extragenic palindromic sequences are DNA targets for Insertion Sequence elements

BACKGROUND: Mobile elements are involved in genomic rearrangements and virulence acquisition, and hence, are important elements in bacterial genome evolution. The insertion of some specific Insertion Sequences had been associated with repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) elements. Considering that there are a sufficient number of available genomes with described REPs, and exploiting the advantage of the traceability of transposition events in genomes, we decided to exhaustively analyze the relationship between REP sequences and mobile elements. RESULTS: This global multigenome study highlights the importance of repetitive extragenic palindromic elements as target sequences for transposases. The study is based on the analysis of the DNA regions surrounding the 981 instances of Insertion Sequence elements with respect to the positioning of REP sequences in the 19 available annotated microbial genomes corresponding to species of bacteria with reported REP sequences. This analysis has allowed the detection of the specific insertion into REP sequences for ISPsy8 in Pseudomonas syringae DC3000, ISPa11 in P. aeruginosa PA01, ISPpu9 and ISPpu10 in P. putida KT2440, and ISRm22 and ISRm19 in Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 genome. Preference for insertion in extragenic spaces with REP sequences has also been detected for ISPsy7 in P. syringae DC3000, ISRm5 in S. meliloti and ISNm1106 in Neisseria meningitidis MC58 and Z2491 genomes. Probably, the association with REP elements that we have detected analyzing genomes is only the tip of the iceberg, and this association could be even more frequent in natural isolates. CONCLUSION: Our findings characterize REP elements as hot spots for transposition and reinforce the relationship between REP sequences and genomic plasticity mediated by mobile elements. In addition, this study defines a subset of REP-recognizer transposases with high target selectivity that can be useful in the development of new tools for genome manipulation

Morphologic and biochemical variability of tissue and cultured cells from human pheochromocytoma

Primary cell cultures from 18 human pheochromocytomas were maintained in culture for 10 to 12 days and characterized. The cell yields ranged from 1.0 to 60.1 × 10 6 cells/g wet weight of tissue. Cell size, as determined by histofluorescent microscopy, varied as much as seven-fold among cells derived from a given tumor and ten-fold between cells from all tumors. Cell catecholamine content, norepinephrine (NE) plus epinephrine, ranged from 0.4 to 89.5 nmol/10 6 cells at day 5 in culture and did not correlate with catecholamine content of the tissue from which the cells were obtained. Cell catecholamine content decreased with time in culture, but this decrease could not be related to a change in cell viability, the type of media used, an inability to convert dopamine to NE, or an alteration in the uptake of 3 H-NE. Cellular uptake of 1.0 ΜM 3 H-NE varied as much as 230-fold between all cell dispersions. The basal and acetylcholine stimulated release of both preloaded 3 H-NE and the endogenous catecholamines was quite variable. There was no correlation between the release rate, either basal or stimulated, of preloaded 3 H-NE and the endogenous catecholamines. This study represents the largest existing data base on culturing cells from these tumors and describes many of the morphologic and biochemical characteristics of this cell system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49875/1/1041280218_ftp.pd

Uso de Kinect para el entrenamiento de actividades físicas

Este proyecto tiene como meta el diseño y desarrollo de un entrenador personal de capoeira con la tecnología de captura de movimiento de Kinect. La aplicación utilizará el nombre de VIC (Virtual Instructor of Capoeira). Para entender y abordar de una manera correcta este trabajo, se han revisado los diferentes sistemas y tecnologías que existen para la captura de movimientos. Se han expuesto las ventajas que han llevado a utilizar el dispositivo Kinect y se han mencionado varios estudios de investigación previos con resultados favorables. Además, se ha hecho hincapié en las novedades que aporta este proyecto en el ámbito de los Reactive Virtual Trainers (RVT), ya que ha dado lugar a una diversidad de soluciones para la danza, las artes marciales y el ejercicio físico en general. Este proyecto presenta un sistema de entrenamiento personal de capoeira, un arte marcial brasileño, definido como una mezcla entre los deportes de lucha y la danza. Este entorno está pensado para que el alumno pueda aprender a realizar diferentes movimientos de capoeira sin la necesidad de que esté presente un profesor. El entrenamiento consiste en imitar una serie de movimientos realizados por expertos y que han sido previamente grabados. Además, se puede escoger el nivel del alumno, ya sea principiante, avanzado o experto. Así, el alumno va aprendiendo de forma progresiva. Este sistema de bajo coste e intuitivo lleva a cabo un seguimiento del alumno en cada movimiento. Así, el sistema se podrá adaptar fácilmente para, por ejemplo, la rehabilitación de alguna parte del cuerpo dañada o en la medicina deportiva. Tras el estudio realizado, se observó que el funcionamiento de la aplicación es rápido y ofrece unas correcciones muy precisas de los movimientos ejecutados de forma errónea. Por todo ello, se puede afirmar que este entorno tiene un excelente presente y un futuro muy prometedor

OMC-PLUS en el tratado de libre comercio entre Estados Unidos y Panamá

Luego de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el modelo dominante en materia de políticas de desarrollo en América Latina estuvo marcado por la Industrialización por Sustitución de Importaciones (ISI), lo que implicó que se tomaran medidas de carácter proteccionistas que condujeron a que los gobiernos implementen barreras y comiencen a tener una intervención mucho más directa sobre la economía a fin de estimular la inversión y el crecimiento durante esos años de crisis.Instituto de Integración Latinoamerican

La cláusula ambiental y el principio de libre comercio en el Mercosur

El Mercado Común del Sur (MERCOSUR), constituido en el ámbito de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI), fue creado en el año 1991 mediante el Tratado de Asunción como una organización de carácter intergubernamental. En el marco del bloque de integración se ha dictado normativa relativa a la protección del medio ambiente con incidencia en el comercio. En este sentido, dentro de la normativa relativa a la “cláusula ambiental” se puede considerar a la contenida en el preámbulo del Tratado de Asunción; en su Anexo I, art. 2. inc. b) ‘in fine’ y el art. 50 inc. d) del Tratado de Montevideo de 1980. A este respecto, diferentes consideraciones se han realizado en torno a su aplicación y, en efecto, hay autores que consideran que el MERCOSUR aún no ha superado la lógica de considerar a las medidas de protección del ambiente como barreras al comercio. (César Moreira, 2012) Por ello, a través del presente trabajo se pretende reflexionar sobre la dimensión ambiental en el MERCOSUR, a través del análisis de la interpretación de la cláusula ambiental establecida en la normativa regional, efectuada en los laudos arbitrales dictados en el marco de solución de controversias del bloque de integración.Instituto de Integración Latinoamerican