Alternative symplectic structures for SO(3,1) and SO(4) four-dimensional BF theories

The most general action, quadratic in the B fields as well as in the curvature F, having SO(3,1) or SO(4) as the internal gauge group for a four-dimensional BF theory is presented and its symplectic geometry is displayed. It is shown that the space of solutions to the equations of motion for the BF theory can be endowed with symplectic structures alternative to the usual one. The analysis also includes topological terms and cosmological constant. The implications of this fact for gravity are briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX file, no figure

Reduced antioxidant defense in early onset first-episode psychosis: a case-control study

Background:Our objective is to determine the activity of the antioxidant defense system at admission in patients with early onset first psychotic episodes compared with a control group. Methods: Total antioxidant status (TAS) and lipid peroxidation (LOOH) were determined in plasma. Enzyme activities and total glutathione levels were determined in erythrocytes in 102 children and adolescents with a first psychotic episode and 98 healthy controls. Results: A decrease in antioxidant defense was found in patients, measured as decreased TAS and glutathione levels. Lipid damage (LOOH) and glutathione peroxidase activity was higher in patients than controls. Our study shows a decrease in the antioxidant defense system in early onset first episode psychotic patients. Conclusions: Glutathione deficit seems to be implicated in psychosis, and may be an important indirect biomarker of oxidative stress in early-onset schizophrenia. Oxidative damage is present in these patients, and may contribute to its pathophysiology

The uses of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794)(Diptera: Calliphoridae) in forensic entomology:

Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) occurs on every continent and is closely associated with carrion and decaying material in human environments. Its abilities to find dead bodies and carry pathogens give it a prominence in human affairs that may involve prosecution or litigation, and therefore forensic entomologists. The identification, geographical distribution and biology of the species are reviewed to provide a background for approaches that four branches of forensic entomology (urban, stored-product, medico-criminal and environmental) might take to investigations involving this fly

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Early mobilisation in critically ill COVID-19 patients: a subanalysis of the ESICM-initiated UNITE-COVID observational study

Background Early mobilisation (EM) is an intervention that may improve the outcome of critically ill patients. There is limited data on EM in COVID-19 patients and its use during the first pandemic wave. Methods This is a pre-planned subanalysis of the ESICM UNITE-COVID, an international multicenter observational study involving critically ill COVID-19 patients in the ICU between February 15th and May 15th, 2020. We analysed variables associated with the initiation of EM (within 72 h of ICU admission) and explored the impact of EM on mortality, ICU and hospital length of stay, as well as discharge location. Statistical analyses were done using (generalised) linear mixed-effect models and ANOVAs. Results Mobilisation data from 4190 patients from 280 ICUs in 45 countries were analysed. 1114 (26.6%) of these patients received mobilisation within 72 h after ICU admission; 3076 (73.4%) did not. In our analysis of factors associated with EM, mechanical ventilation at admission (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.25, 0.35; p = 0.001), higher age (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98, 1.00; p ≤ 0.001), pre-existing asthma (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.73, 0.98; p = 0.028), and pre-existing kidney disease (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.71, 0.99; p = 0.036) were negatively associated with the initiation of EM. EM was associated with a higher chance of being discharged home (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.08, 1.58; p = 0.007) but was not associated with length of stay in ICU (adj. difference 0.91 days; 95% CI − 0.47, 1.37, p = 0.34) and hospital (adj. difference 1.4 days; 95% CI − 0.62, 2.35, p = 0.24) or mortality (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.7, 1.09, p = 0.24) when adjusted for covariates. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that a quarter of COVID-19 patients received EM. There was no association found between EM in COVID-19 patients' ICU and hospital length of stay or mortality. However, EM in COVID-19 patients was associated with increased odds of being discharged home rather than to a care facility. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04836065 (retrospectively registered April 8th 2021)

High Hydrostatic Pressure to Increase the Biosynthesis and Extraction of Phenolic Compounds in Food: A Review

Phenolic compounds from fruits and vegetables have shown antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, among other beneficial properties for human health. All these benefits have motivated multiple studies about preserving, extracting, and even increasing the concentration of these compounds in foods. A diverse group of vegetable products treated with High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) at different pressure and time have shown higher phenolic content than their untreated counterparts. The increments have been associated with an improvement in their extraction from cellular tissues and even with the activation of the biosynthetic pathway for their production. The application of HHP from 500 to 600 MPa, has been shown to cause cell wall disruption facilitating the release of phenolic compounds from cell compartments. HPP treatments ranging from 15 to 100 MPa during 10–20 min at room temperature have produced changes in phenolic biosynthesis with increments up to 155%. This review analyzes the use of HHP as a method to increase the phenolic content in vegetable systems. Phenolic content changes are associated with either an immediate stress response, with a consequent improvement in their extraction from cellular tissues, or a late stress response that activates the biosynthetic pathways of phenolics in plants

X-Ray Supramolecular Structure, NMR Spectroscopy and Synthesis of 3-Methyl-1-phenyl-1H-chromeno[4,3-c]pyrazol-4-ones Formed by the Unexpected Cyclization of 3-[1-(Phenyl-hydrazono)ethyl]-chromen-2-ones

The molecular structures of nine 3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-chromeno[4,3-c]pyrazol-4-one isomers, obtained by the oxidative cyclization of the corresponding 1-phenylhydrazono chromen-2-ones with copper acetate as catalyst, are reported. The molecular and supramolecular structures of the 8-chloro, 8-bromo- and 8-nitro isomers 2b-d, were established by X-ray diffraction. The halogenated isomers 2b and 2c are isomorphs, they crystallize as a triclinic system, space group P-1 with two molecules in the asymmetric unit. Compound 2d crystallizes as a monoclinic system, space group P21/m with two molecules in the unit cell. The 1-phenyl ring [Cg(4)] is almost perpendicularly positioned to the chromene-pyrazole ring system. This conformation is in agreement with the anisotropic NMR shielding effect exerted by the phenyl ring over H-9 in solution. The supramolecular architecture is almost controlled by C―H···A (A = O, p) and face to face p-stacking interactions. The observed p-stacking trend between chromene and pyrazole rings is given by the overlapping between the best donor and acceptor rings in each compound

Anales de Edafología y Agrobiología Tomo 44 Número 5-6

l. Suelos-Física. Dinámica superficial de un suelo calizo, por Juan L. de Olmedo Pujol.-- l. Suelos-Química. Extracción y fraccionamiento de la materia orgánica de suelos forestales bajo abetos y cedros de montañas mediterráneas de Marruecos, Argelia, Turquía y Grecia, por M. S. Marín, L. Corral y G. Paneque.-- Morfología y propiedades químicas de suelos forestales de Grecia. Suelos bajo Abies cephalonica, por M. S. Marín, L. Corral y G. Paneque.-- Influencia de los aniones silicato y fluoruro sobre la retención de fósforo en suelos volcánicos, por V. Hemando, J. Baez, B. Eleizaldet y V. García.-- Alfisoles de los Montes de Toledo. I. Perfil typic palexeralf. Estudio mineralógico de la fracción arcilla por difracción de rayos X y espectroscopia infrarroja, por P. Recio, M. T. García-González y J. García Vicente.-- Alfisules de los Montes de Toledo. II. Perfil Typic palexeralf. Estudio mineralógico de la fracción arcilla por métodos térmicos. Determinaciones analíticas elementales, por P. Recio, M. T. García González y J. García Vicente.-- Valoración del amonio no intercambiable en suelos de la región centro-oeste de España, por Moyano, A. y Gallardo, J. F.-- Suelos-Biología Efectos de la deforestación sobre los suelos de la comarca de Antequera (Málaga) I. Caracteres generales del área y morfología de los perfiles, por Barceló, G., Pdrraga, J., Ruiz Camacho, C. y Delgado Calvo-Flores, R.-- Efectos de la deforestación sobre los suelos de la comarca de Antequera (Málaga) II. Propiedades y clasificación de los perfiles, por Párraga, J., Barceló, G. y Delgado CalvoFlores, R.-- l. Suelos.-Fertilidad La sorción del fósforo en presencia de carbonato, bicarbonato y cloruro añadidos a suelos canarios, por J. Baez, J. M. Hemández Moreno, Benigna Eleizalde y M. Fernández. II. Biología Vegetal.-Nutrición Nutrición mineral de las leguminosas: Nitrógeno y Azufre, por Ligero, F. y Lluch, C.-- Molibdeno y contenido de compuestos metabólicos (Carbohidratos y proteínas) en Phaseolus vulgaris L., por Gómez, M. G., Marín, M. S. y Abad, J. B.-- Composición polifenólica del limbo foliar de los cultivares de vid airen y cencibel durante la fructificación, por Eugenio Revilla, Octavio Carpena y Jorge J. Mataix.-- Balance iónico en savia como índice de nutrición del tomate. Nueva metodología analítica aplicable "in situ", por M. J. Sarro, C. Cadahia y O. Carpena.-- II. Biología Vegetal.- Fisiología Sistemática de muestreo foliar en plantas de pimiento dulce cultivadas en invernadero bajo riego localizado. III. Influencia de la posición de la hoja en la planta sobre el balance iónico de extractos de peciolos foliares, por M. A. Martínez.Cañadas; F. Martínez-Sánchez, J. Vera y C. F. Alcaraz.-- Sistemática de muestreo foliar en plantas de pimiento dulce cultivadas en invernadero bajo riego localizado. IV. Tamaño de muestra representativa de un invernadero, por M. A. Martínez-Cañadas; J. Vera; F. Martínez.Sánchez y C. F. Alcaraz.-- Efectos combinados Ca x B y Mg x B en el desarrollo y nutrición del guisante, por Salinas, R. M., A . Cerdá, F. G. Fernández y M. Caro.-- Biología de las fluctuaciones del acaro de las maravillas (Acería sheldoni ewing) en un clima seco y su aplicación en controles fitosanitarios de limonero, por Ortuño, A., Hernansáez, A., Gómez, J. y Abrisqueta, J. Ma.-- Determinación rápida de un índice de color en tomate durante su maduración, por F. R. Romojaro, F. Martínez Sánchez y S . Llorente.-- Desarrollo foliar en plantas de pimiento dulce cultivadas en invernadero, por M.A . Martínez-Cañadas, F. Martínez-Sánchez, F. Sevilla y C. F. Alcaraz.-- II. Biología Vegetal.-Agrobiología Estudio de las características agronómicas del agua residual depurada y su u tilización en agricultura, por V. Pérez García, M. Fernández Falcón y E. Iglesias Jiménez.-- Evaluación de impactos climáticos en almendros, por J. Vera Muñoz y J. E. Garda García.-- BibliografíaPeer reviewe

Experimental design-aided systematic pathway optimization of glucose uptake and deoxyxylulose phosphate pathway for improved amorphadiene production

Artemisinin is a potent antimalarial drug; however, it suffers from unstable and insufficient supply from plant source. Here, we established a novel multivariate-modular approach based on experimental design for systematic pathway optimization that succeeded in improving the production of amorphadiene (AD), the precursor of artemisinin, in Escherichia coli. It was initially found that the AD production was limited by the imbalance of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (GAP) and pyruvate (PYR), the two precursors of the 1-deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) pathway. Furthermore, it was identified that GAP and PYR could be balanced by replacing the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS) with the ATP-dependent galactose permease and glucose kinase system (GGS) and this resulted in fivefold increase in AD titer (11 to 60 mg/L). Subsequently, the experimental design-aided systematic pathway optimization (EDASPO) method was applied to systematically optimize the transcriptional expressions of eight critical genes in the glucose uptake and the DXP and AD synthesis pathways. These genes were classified into four modules and simultaneously controlled by T7 promoter or its variants. A regression model was generated using the four-module experimental data and predicted the optimal expression ratios among these modules, resulting in another threefold increase in AD titer (60 to 201 mg/L). This EDASPO method may be useful for the optimization of other pathways and products beyond the scope of this study.Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART