A bumpy ride on the diagnostic bench of massive parallel sequencing, the case of the mitochondrial genome

The advent of massive parallel sequencing (MPS) has revolutionized the field of human molecular genetics, including the diagnostic study of mitochondrial (mt) DNA dysfunction. The analysis of the complete mitochondrial genome using MPS platforms is now common and will soon outrun conventional sequencing. However, the development of a robust and reliable protocol is rather challenging. A previous pilot study for the re-sequencing of human mtDNA revealed an uneven coverage, affecting predominantly part of the plus strand. In an attempt to address this problem, we undertook a comparative study of standard and modified protocols for the Ion Torrent PGM system. We could not improve strand representation by altering the recommended shearing methodology of the standard workflow or omitting the DNA polymerase amplification step from the library construction process. However, we were able to associate coverage bias of the plus strand with a specific sequence motif. Additionally, we compared coverage and variant calling across technologies. The same samples were also sequenced on a MiSeq device which showed that coverage and heteroplasmic variant calling were much improved

Motivación de las resoluciones judiciales en la imposición de la prisión preventiva en el Primer Juzgado de Investigación Preparatoria de Moyobamba, 2017

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo principal determinar el grado de motivación de las resoluciones judiciales en la imposición de prisión preventiva en el Primer Juzgado de Investigación Preparatoria, Moyobamba 2017. La hipótesis de la investigación planteada fue que el grado de motivación de las resoluciones judiciales es suficiente y la hipótesis nula planteada fue que el grado de motivación de las resoluciones judiciales es insuficiente. La muestra estuvo conformada por 10 resoluciones que impusieron prisión preventiva, el tipo de estudio fue cuantitativo no experimental, con diseño descriptivo transeccional, se utilizó la técnica de análisis documental, la validación de instrumento se realizó utilizando la técnica de juicio de expertos. Los resultados obtenidos del análisis de las resoluciones judiciales fueron que el 62% de estas, son insuficientes; mientras que el 38% de las resoluciones analizadas, indican una suficiente motivación. Los criterios fácticos que aplica el juez en la motivación de las resoluciones judiciales, explicados porcentualmente, tenemos que en un 28% existe argumento correcto del control material, 32% justifica la decisión adoptada, 20% congruencia entre lo pedido y lo resuelto y 20% la aplicación de discrecionalidad del juez. Los criterios jurídicos que aplica el Juez en la motivación de las resoluciones judiciales, tenemos porcentualmente, que un 9% significa la motivación del principio de legalidad, 18% el principio de proporcionalidad, 11% el principio de razonabilidad, 14% el principio de presunción de inocencia, 20% el derecho fundamental a la libertad, 14% la aplicación de jurisprudencia, 14% los presupuestos de prisión preventiva. La conclusión principal fue que la motivación de las resoluciones judiciales en la imposición de prisión preventiva en el Primer Juzgado de Investigación Preparatoria, Moyobamba 2017, es insuficiente, en tal sentido, se rechaza la hipótesis de la investigación, aceptándose la hipótesis nula

Calidad en el sector retail farmacéutico en la ciudad de Lima

La calidad así como su gestión han evolucionado en el mundo. En Perú no es ajeno a ello, y en lo que respecta a la gestión de la calidad de las empresas en Perú, se ha podido observar que existe una mejora significativa en su implementación. A partir de este contexto, se buscó medir el nivel de implementación de la gestión de la calidad en nueve factores de las empresas del Sector Retail Farmacéutico en la Ciudad de Lima, tomando como base a las cinco principales empresas que operan en el medio, siendo estas: (a) Inkafarma, (b) Mifarma, (c) Boticas Torres de Limatambo (BTL), (d) Farmacias Peruanas (FASA), y (e) Boticas Arcángel. La presente tesis buscó ampliar el conocimiento de la calidad en las cinco principales empresas del Sector Retail Farmacéutico mediante una investigación con un enfoque cuantitativo y un alcance descriptivo. Para la investigación se utilizó una herramienta de medición de la implementación de la gestión de la calidad basada en nueve factores: (a) Alta Gerencia, (b) Planeamiento de la Calidad, (c) Auditoría y Evaluación de la Calidad, (d) Diseño del Producto, (e) Gestión de la Calidad del Proveedor, (f) Control y Mejoramiento del Proceso, (g) Educación y Entrenamiento, (h) Círculos de Calidad, y (i) Enfoque hacia la Satisfacción del Cliente; utilizando para ello información de campo recopilada a través de una encuesta realizada en diversos establecimientos de las empresas indicadas. Los resultados han demostrado que no se han implementado factores de la administración de la calidad total en las empresas investigadas, sus actividades operativas se basan en: (a) cumplimiento de requisitos legales y regulatorios, (b) las buenas prácticas de distribución, y (c) las buenas prácticas de almacenamiento, impuestos por la DIGEMID interpretando estos requisitos como un sistema de gestión de calidad cuando en realidad no lo son.Quality and its management have evolved throughout the years and around the world. As a result, we are taking part in this process as the quality management of peruvian companies have improved in their implementation. Thus, I will measure the levels of quality management implementation of pharmaceutical retail sector companies based on five main ones that are currently operating: (a) Inkafarma, (b) Mifarma, (c) Boticas Torres de Limatambo (BTL), (d) Farmacias Peruanas (FASA), and (e) Boticas Arcángel. This thesis tried to extend the knowledge of quality in five pharmaceutical retail companies through an investigation with a quantitative approach and a descriptive scope. For this investigation it was used a measuring instrument for the quality management considering nine factors: (a) Senior Management, (b) Quality Planning, (c) Audit and Evaluation, (d) Product Design, (e) Supplier Quality Management, (f) Control and Improvement of the Process, (g) Education and Training, (h) Quality Circles, and (i) Approaches for Customer’s Satisfaction. All these were gathered by a field data that was compiled thanks to a survey made in different locations of the companies. The results have shown that the researched companies have not used the total quality management implementation. Their activities have their basis on: (a) the regulatory and legal requirements, (b) the good practices of distribution and storage imposed by the General Bureau for Medicines, Drugs, and Inputs (DIGEMID) as if they were a system of quality management implementation when they are not. This study represents a first approach of the reality in the pharmaceutical retail sector concerning systems of quality management as there is no previous information about this topic. Thus, it will be the basis for future studies and measure its evolution in time.Tesi

Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates

Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Andrea Seim, Willy Tegel, Paul J. Krusic, Claudia Baittinger, Christelle Belingard, Mauro Bernabei, Niels Bonde, Paul Borghaerts, Yann Couturier, Anne Crone, Sjoerd van Daalen, Aoife Daly, Petra Doeve, Marta Domínguez-Delmás, Jean-Louis Edouard, Thomas Frank, Christian Ginzler, Michael Grabner, Friederike M. Gschwind, Kristof Haneca, Anton Hansson, Franz Herzig, Karl-Uwe Heussner, Jutta Hofmann, David Houbrechts, Ryszard Jerzy Kaczka, Tomáš Kolář, Raymond Kontic, Tomáš Kyncl, Vincent Labbas, Per Lagerås, Yannick Le Digol, Melaine Le Roy, Hanns Hubert Leuschner, Hans Linderson, Francis Ludlow, Axel Marais, Coralie M. Mills, Mechthild Neyses-Eiden, Kurt Nicolussi, Christophe Perrault, Klaus Pfeifer, Michal Rybníček, Andreas Rzepecki, Martin Schmidhalter, Mathias Seifert, Lisa Shindo, Barbara Spyt, Josué Susperregi, Helene Løvstrand Svarva, Terje Thun, Felix Walder, Tomasz Ważny, Elise Werthe, Thorsten Westphal, Rob Wilson, Ulf BüntgenAlthough variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europe c. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives

Human papillomavirus infection in Brazilian women with normal cervical cytology

We examined the prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in a sample of Brazilian women presenting normal cervical cytology. Possible interactions between patient characteristics and HPV infection were analyzed in order to provide background data to improve cervical cancer screening and prophylaxis. Cervical samples of 399 women, received for routine evaluation in the Health Department of Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil, were subjected to HPV-DNA testing by PCR with MY09/11 primers. HPV-positive specimens were typed by RFLP. A structured epidemiological questionnaire was administered to each woman. HPV prevalence among these cytologically normal women was 11%. Twelve viral types were detected, the most common being HPV-16, -6, -61, -83, and -66. HPV was more prevalent in younger women; high-risk viral types were detected in 61% of the infected women and 27% of the infected women had multiple HPV infections. Significant associations of HPV infection were found with age, literacy, residence, marital status, lifetime number of sexual partners, and parity. We detected a great diversity of HPV types in women with normal cytology. This kind of information about local populations is useful for HPV prevention and vaccination strategies.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FACEPE (PRONEX)Inst Butantan, Dept Genet, Genet Lab, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Ouro Preto, Escola Farm, Dept Anal Clin, Ouro Preto, MG, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ginecol, Lab Tocoginecol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Morfol & Genet, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Pernambuco, Dept Bioquim, Lab Imunopatol Keizo Asami, Recife, PE, BrazilUniv Fed Integracao Latinoamer, Dept Ciencias Biol, Foz Do Iguacu, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Ginecol, Lab Tocoginecol, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Morfol & Genet, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

New Species in the Old World: Europe as a Frontier in Biodiversity Exploration, a Test Bed for 21st Century Taxonomy

The number of described species on the planet is about 1.9 million, with ca. 17,000 new species described annually, mostly from the tropics. However, taxonomy is usually described as a science in crisis, lacking manpower and funding, a politically acknowledged problem known as the Taxonomic Impediment. Using data from the Fauna Europaea database and the Zoological Record, we show that contrary to general belief, developed and heavily-studied parts of the world are important reservoirs of unknown species. In Europe, new species of multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals are being discovered and named at an unprecedented rate: since the 1950s, more than 770 new species are on average described each year from Europe, which add to the 125,000 terrestrial and freshwater multicellular species already known in this region. There is no sign of having reached a plateau that would allow for the assessment of the magnitude of European biodiversity. More remarkably, over 60% of these new species are described by non-professional taxonomists. Amateurs are recognized as an essential part of the workforce in ecology and astronomy, but the magnitude of non-professional taxonomist contributions to alpha-taxonomy has not been fully realized until now. Our results stress the importance of developing a system that better supports and guides this formidable workforce, as we seek to overcome the Taxonomic Impediment and speed up the process of describing the planetary biodiversity before it is too late

Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era

Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other “Old World” climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the “Old World Drought Atlas” (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability

Proyecto: Taller de vivienda saludable para el AA. HH “Las Torres de San Borja” del distrito de Moche, Trujillo 2018

RESUMEN Se realizó un proyecto social y comunitario que lleva por nombre “Taller de vivienda saludable”, promovida por los alumnos de la Universidad Privada Del Norte, donde se reconoce en primer lugar que la vivienda y la familia son determinantes supremos para el bienestar y la salud individual y colectiva. Es decir, se enfocan a personas, familias y comunidades a contribuir que desarrollen como unidad básica adoptando comportamientos saludables y generando un entorno saludable. Es sumamente importante que las familias asuman hábitos saludables y puedan incorporar prácticas en su vida cotidiana para mejorar y proteger la salud de sus familias y así reducir riesgos existentes para su salud en el asentamiento humano “Las torres de San Borja”, Distrito de Moche, Provincia La Libertad. Por ende, cada taller - charla y conversatorio contenía varios temas e información que fueron indagados en diferentes páginas webs confiables como: Redalyc y Scielo y preparados para cada charla. En conclusión, los integrantes de equipo de trabajo de UPN, felicitan a las familias por participar en el proyecto y unir sus esfuerzos cotidianos para lograr una vida saludable, plena y libre de riesgos.ABSTRACT I t has beenmade a social and communityprojectthattakes “Heathly housing workshop” promotedbythestudents of the Del Norte PrivateUniversity, whereitisrecognizedfirst of allthat housing and thefamily are supremedeterminantsfor individual and collectivewell-being and health. Thatis, they focus onpeople, families and communities to contribute to develop as a basicunitadoptinghealthybehaviors and generating a healthyenvironment. Itisextremelyimportantthatfamiliesadopthealthyhabits and incorporatepractices in theirdailylives to improve and protectthehealth of theirfamilies and thus reduce existingrisks to theirhealth in the human settlement "Las Torres de San Borja", Moche District, La Libertad Province. Therefore, each workshop - talk and conversationcontainedseveraltopics and informationthatwereinvestigated in differentreliablewebsitessuch as: Redalyc and Scielo and preparedforeachtalk. In conclusion, UPN teammemberscongratulatefamiliesforparticipating in theproject and jointheirdailyefforts to achieve a healthy, full and risk-free life