Echinoderms from the Museum of Zoology from the Universidad de Costa Rica

El Museo de Zoología de la Universidad de Costa Rica (MZUCR) se funda en 1966 y alberga la colección de organismos vertebrados e invertebrados más completa de Costa Rica. El MZUCR cuenta actualmente con 24 colec-ciones que contienen más de cinco millones de especíme-nes, y más de 13 000 especies identificadas. Las primeras colecciones datan 1960 e incluyen peces, reptiles, anfibios, poliquetos, crustáceos y equinodermos. Para este último grupo, el MZUCR posee un total de 157 especies, en 1 173 lotes y 4 316 ejemplares. Estas 157 especies representan el 54% del total de especies de equinodermos que posee Costa Rica (293 especies). El resto de especies están repar-tidas en las siguientes instituciones: Academia de la Cien-cias de California (CAS) (4.8%), Instituto Oceanográfico Scripps (SIO) (5.2%), en la Colección Nacional de equino-dermos “Dra. Ma. Elena Caso” de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (ICML-UNAM) (12.7%), Museo de Zoología Comparada de Harvard (MZC) (19.2%), y en el Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Instituto Smithso-niano (USNM) (35.1%). Es posible que haya material de Costa Rica en el Museo de Historia Natural de Dinamarca (NCD) y en el Museo de Historia Natural de los Ángeles (LACM), sin embargo, no hubo acceso a dichas coleccio-nes. A su vez hay 9.6% de especies que no aparecen en ningún museo, pero están reportadas en la literatura. Con base en esta revisión de colecciones se actualizó el listado taxonómico de equinodermos para Costa Rica que consta de 293 especies, 152 géneros, 75 familias, 30 órdenes y cinco clases. La costa Pacífica de Costa Rica posee 153 especies, seguida por la isla del Coco con 134 y la costa Caribe con 65. Holothuria resultó ser el género más rico con 25 especies.The Museum of Zoology, Universidad de Costa Rica (MZUCR) was founded in 1966 and houses the most complete collection of vertebrates and invertebrates in Costa Rica. The MZUCR currently has 24 collections containing more than five million specimens, and more than 13 000 species. The earliest collections date back to 1960 and include fishes, reptiles, amphibians, polychaetes, crustaceans and echinoderms. For the latter group, the MZUCR has a total of 157 species, in 1 173 lots and 4 316 specimens. These 157 species represent 54% of the total species of echino-derms from Costa Rica. The remaining species are distributed in the following institutions: California Academy of Sciences (CAS) (4.8%), Scripps Oceanographic Institute (SIO) (5.2%), National Echinoderm Collection “Dr. Ma. Elena Caso” from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (ICML-UNAM) (12.7%), the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute (USNM) (35.1%), and the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (19.2%). There may be material from Costa Rica in the Natural History Museum of Denmark (NCD) and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (LACM), however, there was no access to such collections. There are 9.6% that do not appear in museums, but are reported in the literature. Based on this revision, the taxonomic list of echinoderms for Costa Rica is updated to 293 species, 152 genera, 75 families, 30 orders and 5 classes. The Pacific coast of Costa Rica has 153 species, followed by the Isla del Coco with 134 and the Caribbean coast with 65. Holothuria is the most diverse genus with 25 species.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Ciencias Básicas::Facultad de Ciencias::Escuela de BiologíaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Artes y Letras::Museo de la Universidad de Costa Ric

Peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and infants: NEonate and Children audiT of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe: A prospective European multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: Little is known about current clinical practice concerning peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and small infants. Guidelines suggest transfusions based on haemoglobin thresholds ranging from 8.5 to 12 g dl-1, distinguishing between children from birth to day 7 (week 1), from day 8 to day 14 (week 2) or from day 15 (≥week 3) onwards. OBJECTIVE: To observe peri-operative red blood cell transfusion practice according to guidelines in relation to patient outcome. DESIGN: A multicentre observational study. SETTING: The NEonate-Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe (NECTARINE) trial recruited patients up to 60 weeks' postmenstrual age undergoing anaesthesia for surgical or diagnostic procedures from 165 centres in 31 European countries between March 2016 and January 2017. PATIENTS: The data included 5609 patients undergoing 6542 procedures. Inclusion criteria was a peri-operative red blood cell transfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the haemoglobin level triggering a transfusion for neonates in week 1, week 2 and week 3. Secondary endpoints were transfusion volumes, 'delta haemoglobin' (preprocedure - transfusion-triggering) and 30-day and 90-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Peri-operative red blood cell transfusions were recorded during 447 procedures (6.9%). The median haemoglobin levels triggering a transfusion were 9.6 [IQR 8.7 to 10.9] g dl-1 for neonates in week 1, 9.6 [7.7 to 10.4] g dl-1 in week 2 and 8.0 [7.3 to 9.0] g dl-1 in week 3. The median transfusion volume was 17.1 [11.1 to 26.4] ml kg-1 with a median delta haemoglobin of 1.8 [0.0 to 3.6] g dl-1. Thirty-day morbidity was 47.8% with an overall mortality of 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate lower transfusion-triggering haemoglobin thresholds in clinical practice than suggested by current guidelines. The high morbidity and mortality of this NECTARINE sub-cohort calls for investigative action and evidence-based guidelines addressing peri-operative red blood cell transfusions strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02350348

Design and implementation of full bridge bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter for high power applications

18th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE 2016 ECCE Europe --5 September 2016 through 9 September 2016 -- --This paper proposes the design and implementation of a high power full bridge bidirectional isolated DC-DC converter (BIDC) which comprises of two symmetrical voltage source converters and a high frequency transformer. In the proposed BIDC, a well-known PI controller based single phase-shift (SPS) modulation technique is used in order to achieve high power transfer. Besides, different phase shift methods such as extended phase-shift (EPS) and double phase-shift (DPS) are compared with SPS. Both simulation and experimental results are caried out to verify PI controller based simple phase-shift controlled BIDC prototype that is designed for 300-V 2.4-kW and operating at 20 kHz. © 2016 IEEE and EPE Association

Interline hybrid unified power quality conditioner

18th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, EPE 2016 ECCE Europe --5 September 2016 through 9 September 2016 -- --This paper proposes a new interline hybrid unified power quality conditioner (IHUPQC) structure to improve the power quality of distribution feeders and to decrease the power ratings/voltages and switching losses of voltage source converters (VSCs). The IHUPQC consists of dynamic voltage restorer (DVR), an isolated dc-dc converter and a shunt hybrid active power filter (SHAPF) with a common dc bus. The inverse park phase locked loop (IP-PLL) technique is used to detect the distortions of signals in both feeders. Sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) based voltage control and current control are used for DVR and SHAPF respectively. The isolated dc-dc converter has PI controller based simple phase shift (SPS) technique. The proposed structure is designed for 34.5 kV voltage level and simulated by using PSCAD/EMTDC to verify system. © 2016 IEEE and EPE Association