443 research outputs found

    Pertinencia de los programas técnicos y tecnológicos ofrecidos por el Sena Centro Agroempresarial Regional Cesar

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    En Colombia los niveles de vida mejoran cuando se brinda a sus habitantes la educaciĂłn necesaria para su avance y desarrollo creativo que permita la influencia con su entorno. El sector educativo interactĂșa con el sector productivo gracias a un trabajo de sinergia que facilita el acceso a talento humano capacitado y acorde a las necesidades del sector productivo nacional y regional, enfocĂĄndose a una educaciĂłn de talla internacional. Este artĂ­culo abordĂł entonces, en la pertinencia de los programas tĂ©cnicos y tecnolĂłgicos ofrecidos por el SENA Centro Agroempresarial Regional CĂ©sar, como tambiĂ©n la pertinencia de los aprendices en el ĂĄmbito laboral regional. AsĂ­ pues, se encontrĂł que la manera en que se definen los programas a ofrecer debe ser reestructurada, incluyendo no sĂłlo la oferta laboral, sino tambiĂ©n la demanda estudiantil de aprendices, pues segĂșn los datos, uno o dos programas llegan a formar el 25% a 30% de los aprendices mientras que esta misma cifra de aprendices certificados se logra tambiĂ©n con 34 programas de menos de 30 personas

    Pertinencia de los programas técnicos y tecnológicos ofrecidos por el Sena Centro Agroempresarial Regional Cesar

    Get PDF
    En Colombia los niveles de vida mejoran cuando se brinda a sus habitantes la educaciĂłn necesaria para su avance y desarrollo creativo que permita la influencia con su entorno. El sector educativo interactĂșa con el sector productivo gracias a un trabajo de sinergia que facilita el acceso a talento humano capacitado y acorde a las necesidades del sector productivo nacional y regional, enfocĂĄndose a una educaciĂłn de talla internacional. Este artĂ­culo abordĂł entonces, en la pertinencia de los programas tĂ©cnicos y tecnolĂłgicos ofrecidos por el SENA Centro Agroempresarial Regional CĂ©sar, como tambiĂ©n la pertinencia de los aprendices en el ĂĄmbito laboral regional. AsĂ­ pues, se encontrĂł que la manera en que se definen los programas a ofrecer debe ser reestructurada, incluyendo no sĂłlo la oferta laboral, sino tambiĂ©n la demanda estudiantil de aprendices, pues segĂșn los datos, uno o dos programas llegan a formar el 25% a 30% de los aprendices mientras que esta misma cifra de aprendices certificados se logra tambiĂ©n con 34 programas de menos de 30 personas

    Nanoscale friction of biomimetic hair surfaces

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    We investigate the nanoscale friction between biomimetic hair surfaces using chemical colloidal probe atomic force microscopy experiments and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. In the experiments, friction is measured between water-lubricated silica surfaces functionalised with monolayers formed from either octadecyl or sulfonate groups, which are representative of the surfaces of virgin and ultimately bleached hair, respectively. In the simulations, friction is monitored between coarse-grained model hair surfaces with different levels of chemical damage, where a specified amount of grafted octadecyl groups are randomly replaced with sulfonate groups. The sliding velocity dependence of friction in the simulations can be described using an extended stress-augmented thermally activation model. As the damage level increases in the simulations, the friction coefficient generally increases, but its sliding velocity-dependence decreases. At low sliding velocities, which are closer to those encountered experimentally and physiologically, we observe a monotonic increase of the friction coefficient with damage ratio, which is consistent with our new experiments using biomimetic surfaces and previous ones using real hair. This observation demonstrates that modified surface chemistry, rather than roughness changes or subsurface damage, control the increase in nanoscale friction of bleached or chemically damaged hair. We expect the methods and biomimetic surfaces proposed here to be useful to screen the tribological performance of hair care formulations both experimentally and computationally

    Epigenetic regulation of Gfi1 in endocrine-related cancers: a role regulating tumor growth

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    Prostate and breast cancer constitute the most common cancers among men and women worldwide. The aging population is one of the main risk factors for prostate and breast cancer development and accumulating studies link aging with epigenetic changes. Growth factor independence-1 (Gfi1) is a transcriptional repressor with an important role in human malignancies, including leukemia, colorectal carcinoma, and lung cancer, but its role in prostate and breast cancer is unknown. We have found that Gfi1 epigenetic silencing is a common event in prostate and breast cancer. Gfi1 re-expression in prostate and breast cancer cell lines displaying Gfi1 epigenetic silencing decreases cell proliferation, reduced colony formation density, and tumor growth in nude mice xenografts. In addition, we found that Gfi1 repress alpha 1-anti-trypsin (AAT) and alpha 1-anti-chymotrypsin (ACT) expression, two genes with important functions in cancer development, suggesting that Gfi1 silencing promotes tumor growth by increasing AAT and ACT expression in our system. Finally, Gfi1 epigenetic silencing could be a promising biomarker for prostate cancer progression because it is associated with shorter disease-free survival. In conclusion, our findings strongly indicate that Gfi1 epigenetic silencing in prostate and breast cancer could be a crucial step in the development of these two-well characterized endocrine related tumors

    A simulation analysis of an influenza vaccine production plant in areas of high humanitarian flow. A preliminary study for the region of norte de santander (colombia)

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    The production of vaccines of biological origin presents a tremendous challenge for re-searchers. In this context, animal cell cultures are an excellent alternative for the isolation and production of biologicals against several viruses, since they have an affinity with viruses and a great capacity for their replicability. Different variables have been studied to know the system’s ideal parameters, allowing it to obtain profitable and competitive products. Consequently, this work fo-cuses its efforts on evaluating an alternative for producing an anti‐influenza biological from MDCK cells using SuperPro Designer v8.0 software. The process uses the DMEN culture medium supple-mented with nutrients as raw material for cell development; the MDCK cells were obtained from a potential scale‐up with a final working volume of 500 L, four days of residence time, inoculum volume of 10%, and continuous working mode with up to a total of 7400 h/Yr of work. The scheme has the necessary equipment for the vaccine’s production, infection, and manufacture with yields of up to 416,698 units/h. In addition, it was estimated to be economically viable to produce recom-binant vaccines with competitive prices of up to 0.31 USD/unit

    The effect of LEDs on biomass and phycobiliproteins production in thermotolerant oscillatoria sp

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    Featured Application: The selection of LEDs wavelength, intensity, and light: Dark cycle positively enhances the biomass production and phycocyanin synthesis in Oscillatoria sp. This study evaluates the role of different LED lights (white, blue/red), intensity (”mol m−2 s−1), and photoperiod in the production of biomass and phycocyanin-C, allophycocyanin and phycoerythrin (C-PC, APC, and PE respectively) from a novel thermotolerant strain of Oscillatoria sp. Results show that a mixture of white with blue/red LEDs can effectively double the biomass concentration up to 1.3 g/L, while the concentration of the selected phycobiliproteins increased proportionally to biomass. Results also indicate that high light intensities (>120 ”mol m−2 s−1) can diminish the final concentration of C-PC, APC, and PE, significantly reducing the overall biomass produced. Finally, the photoperiod analysis showed that longer light exposure times (18:6 h) improved both biomass and phycobiliproteins concentration. These results demonstrate that the application of LEDs to produce a novel strain of Oscillatoria sp can double the biomass concentration, and the photoperiod regulation can eventually enhance the final concentration of specific phycobiliproteins such as APC and PE

    Insulinotropic Effect of the Non-Steroidal Compound STX in Pancreatic ÎČ-Cells

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    The non-steroidal compound STX modulates the hypothalamic control of core body temperature and energy homeostasis. The aim of this work was to study the potential effects of STX on pancreatic ÎČ-cell function. 1–10 nM STX produced an increase in glucose-induced insulin secretion in isolated islets from male mice, whereas it had no effect in islets from female mice. This insulinotropic effect of STX was abolished by the anti-estrogen ICI 182,780. STX increased intracellular calcium entry in both whole islets and isolated ÎČ-cells, and closed the KATP channel, suggesting a direct effect on ÎČ-cells. When intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test was performed, a single dose of 100 ”g/kg body weight STX improved glucose sensitivity in males, yet it had a slight effect on females. In agreement with the effect on isolated islets, 100 ”g/kg dose of STX enhanced the plasma insulin increase in response to a glucose load, while it did not in females. Long-term treatment (100 ”g/kg, 6 days) of male mice with STX did not alter body weight, fasting glucose, glucose sensitivity or islet insulin content. Ovariectomized females were insensitive to STX (100 ”g/kg), after either an acute administration or a 6-day treatment. This long-term treatment was also ineffective in a mouse model of mild diabetes. Therefore, STX appears to have a gender-specific effect on blood glucose homeostasis, which is only manifested after an acute administration. The insulinotropic effect of STX in pancreatic ÎČ-cells is mediated by the closure of the KATP channel and the increase in intracellular calcium concentration. The in vivo improvement in glucose tolerance appears to be mostly due to the enhancement of insulin secretion from ÎČ-cells

    Velocity-Based Heuristic Evaluation for Path Planning and Vehicle Routing for Victim Assistance in Disaster Scenarios

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    Published in "Robot 2019: Fourth Iberian Robotics Conference. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, Vol 1093. Silva M., LuĂ­s Lima J., Reis L., Sanfeliu A., Tardioli D. (eds)" published by Springer, Cham. Avalaible online at: https://doi.org/10.1007.987-3-030-36150-1_10Natural and human-made disasters require effective victim assistance and last-mile relief supply operations with teams of ground vehicles. In these applications, digital elevation models (DEM) can provide accurate knowledge for safe vehicle motion planning but grid representation results in very large search graphs. Furthermore, travel time, which becomes a crucial cost optimization criterion, may be affected by inclination and other challenging terrain characteristics. In this paper, our goal is to evaluate a search heuristic function based on anisotropic vehicle velocity restrictions for building the cost matrix required for multi-vehicle routing on natural terrain and disaster sites. The heuristic is applied to compute the fastest travel times between every pair of matrix elements by means of a path planning algorithm. The analysis is based on a case study on the ortophotographic-based DEM of natural terrain with different target points, where theUniversidad de MĂĄlaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucĂ­a Tech. This work has received funding from the national project RTI2018-093421-B-I00 (Spanish Government), the University of Malaga (AndalucĂ­a Tech) and the grant BES-2016-077022 of the European Social Fund

    Mendelian randomization study of B-type natriuretic peptide and type 2 diabetes: evidence of causal association from population studies

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    <p>Background: Genetic and epidemiological evidence suggests an inverse association between B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in blood and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the prospective association of BNP with T2D is uncertain, and it is unclear whether the association is confounded.</p> <p>Methods and Findings: We analysed the association between levels of the N-terminal fragment of pro-BNP (NT-pro-BNP) in blood and risk of incident T2D in a prospective case-cohort study and genotyped the variant rs198389 within the BNP locus in three T2D case-control studies. We combined our results with existing data in a meta-analysis of 11 case-control studies. Using a Mendelian randomization approach, we compared the observed association between rs198389 and T2D to that expected from the NT-pro-BNP level to T2D association and the NT-pro-BNP difference per C allele of rs198389. In participants of our case-cohort study who were free of T2D and cardiovascular disease at baseline, we observed a 21% (95% CI 3%-36%) decreased risk of incident T2D per one standard deviation (SD) higher log-transformed NT-pro-BNP levels in analysis adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, smoking, family history of T2D, history of hypertension, and levels of triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The association between rs198389 and T2D observed in case-control studies (odds ratio = 0.94 per C allele, 95% CI 0.91-0.97) was similar to that expected (0.96, 0.93-0.98) based on the pooled estimate for the log-NT-pro-BNP level to T2D association derived from a meta-analysis of our study and published data (hazard ratio = 0.82 per SD, 0.74-0.90) and the difference in NT-pro-BNP levels (0.22 SD, 0.15-0.29) per C allele of rs198389. No significant associations were observed between the rs198389 genotype and potential confounders.</p> <p>Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for a potential causal role of the BNP system in the aetiology of T2D. Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms underlying this association and possibilities for preventive interventions.</p&gt
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