Recent advances of synthesis of Boron derivatives and their applications in bioimaging

The increasing interest in the luminescent boron materials is due to their potential application in diverse areas such as solar cells, optoelectronic devices, and biological imaging materials. Continuous search for the compounds with better properties, luminescent organoboron materials have been gaining more importance, especially in the development of new technologies and novel techniques for bioimaging, which is a powerful tool to analyze the cellular organelles with important value into the cell biology and medical research. Synthesis, properties, and applications of luminescent boron compounds and their application in bioimaging are reviewed.

Exploiting large pre-trained models for low-resource neural machine translation

Pre-trained models have revolutionized the natural language processing field by leveraging large-scale language representations for various tasks. Some pre-trained models offer general-purpose representations, while others are specialized in particular tasks, like neural machine translation (NMT). Multilingual NMT-targeted systems are often fine-tuned for specific language pairs, but there is a lack of evidence-based best-practice recommendations to guide this process. Additionally, deploying these large pre-trained models in computationally restricted environments, typically found in developing regions where low-resource languages are spoken, has become challenging. We propose a pipeline to tune the mBART50 pre-trained model to 8 diverse low-resource language pairs, and then distill the resulting system to obtain lightweight and more sustainable NMT models. Our pipeline conveniently exploits back-translation, synthetic corpus filtering, and knowledge distillation to deliver efficient bilingual translation models that are 13 times smaller, while maintaining a close BLEU performance.This paper is part of the R+D+i project PID2021-127999NB-I00 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN), the Spanish Research Agency (AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the European Regional Development Fund A way to make Europe. The computational resources used were funded by the European Regional Development Fund through project IDIFEDER/2020/00

Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811) : puesta incubación y eclosión en un ecosistema urbano. Universidad de Panamá, Panamá

Del 6 de enero al 18 de mayo del 2000 estudiamos los huevos de la tierrerita Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811), para determinar su aspecto externo, el tamaño de la camada, la duración de la incubación y la eclosión. Las observaciones se realizaron en el Campus Central de la Universidad de Panamá, ubicada a 8°59'02" N. y 79°31'59" O., ciudad de Panamá. Mediante búsqueda generalizada localizamos los nidos y una vez que los huevos fueron puestos procedimos a marcarlos, medirlos y describirlos. Los marcamos en el orden en que fueron puestos para poder determinar el tiempo de incubación y eclosión de cada uno. Los huevos son blancos, ovalados, poco granulosos y poco brillantes. En 38 nidos observados, predominó la camada de 2 con promedio de 1.34 huevos por nido encontrado y 1.89 huevos por nido activo. Los promedios registrados para peso, largo y ancho fueron de 3.05g, 20.40 mm y 16.04 mm, respectivamente. El promedio de incubación fue de 12 días, observándose al macho incubar en el día. Eclosionó el 52.94% de los huevos. La mayor cantidad de huevos se encontró de 2.3 a 3.9 metros de altura. La ovoposición se registró durante todo el período de observación, destacándose enero como el mes más exitoso en este aspecto, pero en febrero y marzo se dio la mayor cantidad de eclosiones. Sólo en 13 especies de plantas encontramos nidos con huevos, Ficus benjamina y Veitchia merrillii presentaron la mayor cantidad de nidos con huevos eclosionados. Hubo huevos que fracasaron por depredación, condiciones atmosféricas, perturbación por personas y probablemente por la presencia de huevos no fecundados

Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811): PUESTA, INCUBACIÓN Y ECLOSIÓN EN UN ECOSISTEMA URBANO. UNIVERSIDAD DE PANAMÁ, PANAMÁ

Eggs of ruddy-ground dove, Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811) were studied between January 6, to May 18, 2000 to determine their external characteristics, clutch size, period of incubation and eggs hatch. The observations were carried out at the main Campus of the University of Panama, located at 8°59’02” N and 79°31’59” W. Nests were localized by visual searchings, and, once eggs were laid, they were labeled, measured and described. Eggs were labeled according to the laying time in order to determine the period of incubation and the hatch time for each one. The eggs were white, oval, lightly granulous and lightly glossy. In thirty eight nest observed the clutch size was two with a mean of 1.34 eggs/nest and a mean of 1.89 eggs/active nest. The means for weight, length and diameter were 3.05g, 20.40 mm and 16.04 mm, respectively. The mean period of incubation was 12 days, and during day hours the incubation was carried out by the male. We found that 52.94% of eggs hatched. Most eggs were found at 2.30 to 3.90 meters. Laying process was recorded during the complete observations period and we found that January was the most successful month for laying while more eggs hatched during February and March. Nests with eggs were found only on 13 plant species, but the higher amount of nests with hatchlings were found only on Ficus benjamina and Veitchia merrillii. There were eggs that failure to hatch because of predation, enviromental conditions, perturbation caused by people and perhaps some eggs failed to hatch because were not fertilized.  Del 6 de enero al 18 de mayo del 2000 estudiamos los huevos de la tierrerita Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1811), para determinar su aspecto externo, el tamaño de la camada, la duración de la incubación y la eclosión. Las observaciones se realizaron en el Campus Central de la Universidad de Panamá, ubicada a 8°59'02" N. y 79°31'59" O., ciudad de Panamá. Mediante búsqueda generalizada localizamos los nidos y una vez que los huevos fueron puestos procedimos a marcarlos, medirlos y describirlos. Los marcamos en el orden en que fueron puestos para poder determinar el tiempo de incubación y eclosión de cada uno. Los huevos son blancos, ovalados, poco granulosos y poco brillantes. En 38 nidos observados, predominó la camada de 2 con promedio de 1.34 huevos por nido encontrado y 1.89 huevos por nido activo. Los promedios registrados para peso, largo y ancho fueron de 3.05g, 20.40 mm y 16.04 mm, respectivamente. El promedio de incubación fue de 12 días, observándose al macho incubar en el día. Eclosionó el 52.94% de los huevos. La mayor cantidad de huevos se encontró de 2.3 a 3.9 metros de altura. La ovoposición se registró durante todo el período de observación, destacándose enero como el mes más exitoso en este aspecto, pero en febrero y marzo se dio la mayor cantidad de eclosiones. Sólo en 13 especies de plantas encontramos nidos con huevos, Ficus benjamina y Veitchia merrillii presentaron la mayor cantidad de nidos con huevos eclosionados. Hubo huevos que fracasaron por depredación, condiciones atmosféricas, perturbación por personas y probablemente por la presencia de huevos no fecundados

A Sensor-Based Methodology to Differentiate Pure and Mixed White Tequilas Based on Fused Infrared Spectra and Multivariate Data Treatment

[Abstract]: Mexican Tequila is one of the most demanded import spirits in Europe. Its fast-raising worldwide request makes counterfeiting a profitable activity affecting both consumers and legal distillers. In this paper, a sensor-based methodology based on a combination of infrared measurements (IR) and multivariate data analysis (MVA) is presented. The case study is about differentiating two categories of white Tequila: pure Tequila (or ‘100% agave’) and mixed Tequila (or simply, Tequila). The IR spectra were treated and fused with a low-level approach. Exploratory data analysis was performed using PCA and partial least squares (PLS), whilst the authentication analyses were carried out with PLS-discriminant analysis (DA) and soft independent modeling for class analogy (SIMCA) models. Results demonstrated that data fusion of IR spectra enhanced the outcomes of the authentication models capable of differentiating pure from mixed Tequilas. In fact, PLS-DA presented the best results which correctly classified all fifteen commercial validation samples. The methodology thus presented is fast, cheap, and of simple application in the Tequila industry.Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; PIAPI 2042Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; PAPIIT IT20091

Meta-omic evaluation of bacterial microbial community structure and activity for the environmental assessment of soils: Overcoming protein extraction pitfalls

Microorganisms play unique, essential and integral roles in the biosphere. This work aims to assess the utility of soil´s metaomics for environmental diagnosis. Doñana National Park (DNP) was selected as a natural lab, since it contains a strictly protected core that is surrounded by numerous threats of pollution. Culture-independent high-throughput molecular tools were used to evaluate the alterations of the global structure and metabolic activities of the microbiome. 16S rRNA sequencing shows lower bacterial abundance and diversity in areas historically exposed to contamination that surround DNP. For metaproteomics, an innovative post-alkaline protein extraction protocol was developed. After NaOH treatment, successive washing with Tris-HCl buffer supplemented with glycerol was essential to eliminate interferences. Starting from soils with different physico-chemical characteristics, the method renders proteins with a remarkable resolution on SDS-PAGE gels. The proteins extracted were analyzed by using an in-house database constructed from the rRNA data. LC-MS/MS analysis identified 2,182 non-redundant proteins, with 135 showing significant differences in relative abundance in the soils around DNP. Relevant global biological processes were altered in response to the environmental changes, such as: protective and antioxidant mechanisms, translation, folding and homeostasis of proteins, membrane transport and aerobic respiratory metabolism

Distribución espacial de aves migratorias en la zona costera de Costa del Este, ciudad de Panamá

La zona costera de Costa del Este representa un eslabón en la ruta de muchas aves migratorias, por lo que nuestro objetivo fue determinar la distribución espacial de las aves migratorias en cuatro zonas ecológicas durante seis meses. Se realizaron conteos mensuales para determinar similitudes y diferencias en el número de avistamientos y riqueza de especies, anotando la utilidad que las aves obtienen de cada zona ecológica. Se registraron 211,792 avistamientos que corresponden a 20 especies, seis familias y tres órdenes, siendo Calidris mauri, Scolopacidae y Charadriiformes los taxa mejor representados. La diversidad fue baja (Dmg: 1.55) y a pesar de la marcada dominancia poblacional de C. mauri (Ibp: 0.88), sus poblaciones han declinado un 25%. Hubo poca similitud entre las zonas, pero las zonas adyacentes compartieron mayor número de especies. La zona de mareas con el 98.91% de avistamientos, 19 especies, cinco familias y tres órdenes fue la más utilizada, siendo el litoral fangoso, el principal hábitat que ofreció alimento y espacio

4-[(E)-(4-Fluoro­benzyl­idene)amino]­benzoic acid

In the title compound, C14H10FNO2, the benzene rings make a dihedral angle of 57.50 (13)°, and the molecule has an E configuration about the C=N bond. In the crystal, molecules are linked via pairs of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming inversion dimers

Evolutionary dynamics at the tumor edge reveal metabolic imaging biomarkers

Human cancers are biologically and morphologically heterogeneous. A variety of clonal populations emerge within these neoplasms and their interaction leads to complex spatiotemporal dynamics during tumor growth. We studied the reshaping of metabolic activity in human cancers by means of continuous and discrete mathematical models and matched the results to positron emission tomography (PET) imaging data. Our models revealed that the location of increasingly active proliferative cellular spots progressively drifted from the center of the tumor to the periphery, as a result of the competition between gradually more aggressive phenotypes. This computational finding led to the development of a metric, normalized distance from F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-18-FDG) hotspot to centroid (NHOC), based on the separation from the location of the activity (proliferation) hotspot to the tumor centroid. The NHOC metric can be computed for patients using F-18-FDG PET-computed tomography (PET/CT) images where the voxel of maximum uptake (standardized uptake value [SUV]max) is taken as the activity hotspot. Two datasets of F-18-FDG PET/CT images were collected, one from 61 breast cancer patients and another from 161 non-small-cell lung cancer patients. In both cohorts, survival analyses were carried out for the NHOC and for other classical PET/CT-based biomarkers, finding that the former had a high prognostic value, outperforming the latter. In summary, our work offers additional insights into the evolutionary mechanisms behind tumor progression, provides a different PET/CT-based biomarker, and reveals that an activity hotspot closer to the tumor periphery is associated to a worst patient outcome

N-[3-(2,6-Dimethylanilino)-1-methylbut-2-enylidene]-2,6-dimethylanilinium chloride1

The title salt, C21H27N2 +·Cl− resulted from the condensation between 2,6-dimethyl­aniline and acetyl­acetone in acidified ethanol. The bulky cation is stabilized in a β-imino­enamine tautomeric form, and presents a W-shaped conformation. The benzene rings are arranged almost parallel, with a dihedral angle of 6.58 (4)° between the mean planes. Both N—H groups in the cation form strong hydrogen bonds with two symmetry-related chloride anions. The resulting supra­molecular structure is a one dimensional polymer running along [001], alternating cations and anions. The π–π inter­action observed in the mol­ecule, characterized by a centroid–centroid separation of 4.298 (4) Å, is thus extended to the chains, with separations of 5.222 (4) Å between benzene rings of neighbouring cations in the crystal