[S,S]-EDDS Ligand as a Soil Solubilizer of Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu to Improve Plant Nutrition in Deficient Soils

The deficiencies of iron, manganese, zinc, and copper in calcareous soils are a worldwide problem affecting plant growth and fruit quality, usually minimized by the application of recalcitrant synthetic metal chelates. Biodegradable ligand [S,S]- EDDS is an eco-friendly substitute. This study investigates the capacity of [S,S]-EDDS to mobilize micronutrients from agronomic soils and improve plant nutrition. A batch and a plant experiment (Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Black Pole) with three agronomic soils was conducted to monitor the micronutrients solubilized by [S,S]-EDDS, the ligand degradation, and plant uptake. The results demonstrated the high capacity of [S,S]-EDDS to solubilize Fe and other micronutrients related to its chemical behavior and the enhancement of plant nutrition. The best results were shown in sandy-clay soil with low Fe, typically found in the Mediterranean areas. The results support the direct application of the ligand to soils and a possible biotechnological application of the ligandproducer bacteriaAuthors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness project: RTI2018-096268-B-I00, and the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) and Structural Funds 2014−2020 (ERDF and ESF) project AGRISOST-CM S2018/BAA-433

Fast determination of a novel iron chelate prototype used as a fertilizer by liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector

The environmental risk of the application of synthetic chelates has favored the implementation of new biodegradable ligands to correct Fe-deficient plants. This study developed and validated an analytical method for determination of a new prototype iron chelate-Fe(III)-benzeneacetate, 2-hydroxy-α-[(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-(BHH/Fe3+) based on liquid chromatography with diode array detection, as a potential sustainable alternative. Chromatographic analysis was performed on a LiChrospher RP-18 in reverse-phase mode, with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of acetonitrile (solvent A) and sodium borate buffer 0.20 mM at pH = 8 (solvent B) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min in isocratic elution mode. This method was fully validated and found to be linear from the limit of quantification (LOQ) to 50 mg/L and precise (standard deviation below 5%). The proposed method was demonstrated to be selective, precise, and robust. The developed methodology indicated that it is suitable for the quantification of iron chelate BHH/Fe3+The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Project RTI2018-096268-B-I00, and the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) and Structural Funds 2014−2020 (ERDF and ESF) project AGRISOST-CM S2018/BAA-433

Gingival hyperplasia as an early manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia. A retrospective review

We study the prevalence of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) among patients with severe gingival enlargement. We retrospective reviewed the clinical records of patients with severe gingival enlargement, between 2011 and 2018. The Saxer and Mühlemann index were used to measure inflammation and gingival bleeding. The degree of dental mobility was measured by the Nyman and Lindhe technique. A correlation analysis was carried out to test whether there were any associations among the different variables. In the sample of 117 patients the mean gingival bleeding index was ?3 and the degree of dental mobility ?2.3. 1.7% of patients, with severe gingival hyperplasia were diagnosed with AML. We found a significant association between gingival bleeding and aging (p<0.001) and a trend (0.54) between bleeding and suffering from AML. Severe gingival enlargement, abundant gingival bleeding, and dental mobility could be early manifestations of a blood dyscrasia

Clinical and sociodemographic predictors of oral pain and eating problems among adult and senior Spaniards in the national survey performed in 2010

Background: Pain and chewing difficulties have been identified as the strongest predictors of oral disadvantage. The aim of this study is to analyze and quantify the sociodemographic, behavioural and clinical factors modulating the oral pain and eating difficulties reported by Spanish adults and elderly Spanish people in the last National Oral Health Survey performed in 2010. Material and Methods: Data concerning pain and chewing difficulties were acquired on a Likert‑scale format from a representative sample of the Spanish general population with ages between 35-44 years (n=391) and 65 - 74 years (n=405). Risk factors were identified using bivariate analysis, after which the crude association between risk factors (sociodemographic, behavioural and clinical) and outcome variables (pain and eating problems) was assessed by adjusted odds ratios, calculated by means of multivariate logistic regression. Results: Eating problems and oral pain were mainly associated with prosthetic and caries treatment needs as clinical predictors, but female sex was also seen to be a relevant and significant risk factor for suffering pain and eating restrictions. Paradoxically, after taking into account all the aforementioned predictors, the adults had an almost two‑fold higher risk of reporting pain or eating difficulties than the elderly subjects. Conclusions: In agreement with the results from the last national oral health survey, prosthetic and caries treatment needs should be considered key factors in determining the oral well - being of the Spanish population. In sociodemographic terms, the women and adults were seen to be at a significantly higher risk of suffering pain and eating restrictions

Power-Aware Multi-Objective Evolvable Hardware System on an FPGA

Dynamic and Partial Reconfiguration (DPR) allows a system to be able to modify certain parts of itself during run-time. This feature gives rise to the capability of evolution: changing parts of the configuration according to the online evaluation of performance or other parameters. The evolution is achieved through a bio-inspired model in which the features of the system are identified as genes. The objective of the evolution may not be a single one; in this work, power consumption is taken into consideration, together with the quality of filtering, as the measure of performance, of a noisy image. Pareto optimality is applied to the evolutionary process, in order to find a representative set of optimal solutions as for performance and power consumption. The main contributions of this paper are: implementing an evolvable system on a low-power Spartan-6 FPGA included in a Wireless Sensor Network node and, by enabling the availability of a real measure of power consumption at run-time, achieving the capability of multi-objective evolution, that yields different optimal configurations, among which the selected one will depend on the relative “weights” of performance and power consumption

Influence of seasonal factors in the earned value of construction

[EN] The objectives in each construction process can be multiple. However, the constructions have to be carried out under some restrictions concerning price and terms. They constitute some strategic and interdependent goals. In other words, ¿time is money¿. Several papers support that seasonal effects influence the execution rate of construction. Thus, most of them try to improve the forecasts by evaluating and joining them to the planning, although always measuring their influence indirectly. In this paper, we suggest a methodology to directly measure the influence of the seasonal factors as a whole over the earned value of construction. Additionally, we apply it to a certain case study regarding the subsidised housing of public promotion in the Castilla-La Mancha region (Spain). It is worth mentioning that our results are clarified: we have calculated the average monthly production for each month a year with respect to the annual monthly mean. Moreover, the differences regarding the average monthly production we have contributed are quite significant, and hence they have to be taken into account for each earned value forecast so that a project becomes reliable.The authors would like to thank Gicaman SA, Eres SA, and Urvial SA (construction companies) by the cession of their outcome data corresponding to 161 public promotions that gave rise to 5,319 subsidised housing.Ruiz-Fernández, JP.; Benlloch Marco, J.; López, MA.; Valverde-Gascueña, N. (2019). Influence of seasonal factors in the earned value of construction. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences. 4(1):21-34. https://doi.org/10.2478/AMNS.2019.1.00003S213441Koehn, E., & Brown, G. (1985). Climatic Effects on Construction. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 111(2), 129-137. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(1985)111:2(129)El-Rayes, K., & Moselhi, O. (2001). Impact of Rainfall on the Productivity of Highway Construction. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 127(2), 125-131. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(2001)127:2(125)Kenley, R., & Wilson, O. D. (1989). A construction project net cash flow model. Construction Management and Economics, 7(1), 3-18. doi:10.1080/01446198900000002Skitmore, M. (1992). Parameter prediction for cash flow forecasting models. Construction Management and Economics, 10(5), 397-413. doi:10.1080/01446199200000038Chan, D. W. M., & Kumaraswamy, M. M. (1995). A study of the factors affecting construction durations in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, 13(4), 319-333. doi:10.1080/01446199500000037Kaka, A. P., & Price, A. D. F. (1993). Modelling standard cost commitment curves for contractors’ cash flow forecasting. Construction Management and Economics, 11(4), 271-283. doi:10.1080/01446199300000027Blyth, K., & Kaka, A. (2006). A novel multiple linear regression model for forecasting S‐curves. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 13(1), 82-95. doi:10.1108/09699980610646511Khosrowshahi, F., & Kaka, A. P. (2007). A Decision Support Model for Construction Cash Flow Management. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 22(7), 527-539. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8667.2007.00508.

Safety and Efficacy of a New Synthetic Material Based on Monetite, Silica Gel, PS-Wallastonite, and a Hydroxyapatite Calcium Deficient: A Randomized Comparative Clinic Trial

Background and Objectives: Maxillary bone defects related to post-extraction alveolar ridge resorption are usual. These defects may lead to failure in further surgical implant phases given the lack of bone volume to perform the dental implant. The objective of this clinical assay was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of an experimental synthetic bone substitute in the preservation of post-extraction maxillary alveoli. Materials and Methods: 33 voluntary patients who had at least one maxillary premolar tooth that was a candidate for exodontia (n = 39) and subsequent implant rehabilitation participated. The regenerated alveoli were monitored by means of periodic clinical examinations (days 9 ± 1, 21 ± 4, 42 ± 6, and 84 ± 6), measuring the height and width of the alveolar crest (days 0 and 180 ± 5), measurement of radiodensity using tomographic techniques (days 0–5 and 175 ± 5), and histological examination of biopsies collected at 180 ± 5 days. Results: No significant differences were observed during the entire follow-up period between the two groups with respect to the safety variables studied. A variation in width of −0.9 ± 1.3 mm and −0.6 ± 1.5 mm, and a variation in height of −0.1 ± 0.9 mm and −0.3 ± 0.7 mm was observed for experimental material Sil-Oss® and Bio-Oss®, respectively. The radiodensity of the alveoli regenerated with the experimental material was significantly lower than that corresponding to Bio-Oss®. However, the histological study showed greater osteoid matrix and replacement of the material with newformed bone in the implanted beds with the experimental material. Conclusions: Both materials can be used safely and proved equally effective in maintaining alveolar flange dimensions, they are also histologically biocompatible, bioactive and osteoconductive. The experimental material showed the advantage of being resorbable and replaced with newformed bone, in addition to promoting bone regeneration

Role of chitosan in titanium coatings. trends and new generations of coatings

Survival studies of dental implants currently reach high figures. However, considering that the recipients are middle-aged individuals with associated pathologies, research is focused on achieving bioactive surfaces that ensure osseointegration. Chitosan is a biocompatible, degradable polysaccharide with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, capable of inducing increased growth and fixation of osteoblasts around chitosan-coated titanium. Certain chemical modifications to its structure have been shown to enhance its antibacterial activity and osteoinductive properties and it is generally believed that chitosan-coated dental implants may have enhanced osseointegration capabilities and are likely to become a commercial option in the future. Our review provided an overview of the current concepts and theories of osseointegration and current titanium dental implant surfaces and coatings, with a special focus on the in vivo investigation of chitosan-coated implants and a current perspective on the future of titanium dental implant coatings

Instruments to Assess Physical Activity in Primary Education Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

The scientific evidence supports that physical inactivity in childhood is a reality throughout the world which generates important consequences in the global development of children. Young people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), due to the characteristics of the disorder they suffer, constitute a group at risk. Therefore, assessing the levels of physical activity (PA) in this group is fundamental for subsequent decision making and implementation of PA promotion programmes. Consequently, the aim of this systematic review was to identify, summarise and analyse the main instruments used to assess the levels of PA (in terms of time and/or intensity) in primary school children diagnosed with ASD. Scientific articles in English and Spanish published in five databases were reviewed: PsycINFO, WOS, SPORTDiscus, Scopus and PubMed, following the guidelines of the PRISMA statement. Out of the 605 articles identified, 12 met the previously established inclusion criteria. The instruments used by the studies analysed were divided into two main groups: accelerometers and questionnaires. Both showed different strengths and limitations but agreed on the low levels registered of PA in children with ASD. For this reason, it is considered necessary that further research be carried out in this field, as well as the development and implementation of sports programmes adjusted and adapted to the needs and characteristics of the ASD groupS

IAA : Información y actualidad astronómica (10)

Sumario : Investigación: Chorros relativistas en núcleos activos de galaxias.-- Materia oscura: a tientas por el Universo.-- Ventana Abierta: Físico teórico autónomo se ofrece para.-- Charlas con… Robert Haberle.-- Actualidad Científica: La búsqueda de las estrellas más viejas de la Galaxia.-- Un superbólido más brillante que la Luna llena surcó el cielo argelino.-- Actividades IAA.-- Agenda.Esta revista se publica con la ayuda de la Acción Especial DIF 2001-4284-E del Programa Nacional de Difusión de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, del Ministerio de Ciencia y TecnologíaN