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En el presente trabajo se estandarizó una metodología para la activación y producción de superficies silanizadas de naturaleza hidrofóbica. La metodología fue realizada mediante la activación de grupos OH de superficies de vidrio eliminando la materia inorgánica con etanol y la materia orgánica por reacciones de oxidación, mediante la construcción de una cámara de UV/ozono con dos longitudes de onda diferentes (253,7 nm y 180 nm). Se realizó la silanización de las superficies de vidrio activadas exponiéndolas con el reactivo (7-octen-1-il) trimetoxisilano/n-heptano a diferentes tiempos. La hidrofobicidad obtenida en las superficies silanizadas se determinó midiendo el ángulo de contacto (q). Los resultados permitieron concluir que existe influencia del tiempo de exposición en la formación de superficies hidrofóbicas. Se obtuvieron ángulos de contacto de 92,417° ± 0,631, tras 7 h de exposición seguidas de un proceso de limpieza de las superficies.

En la presente investigación se detalló las barreras para la internacionalización de empresas de productos alimenticios orgánicos no tradicionales desde el cantón Machala hacia el mercado exterior. Se cumplió con el principal objetivo de la investigación que fue analizar las barreras para la internacionalización de las empresas de productos alimenticios orgánicos no tradicionales del cantón Machala mediante la revisión bibliográfica y una investigación de campo de tipo descriptiva y exploratoria con la aplicación de técnicas de investigación como la entrevista y la encuesta se obtuvo información directa de los gerentes de empresas exportadoras de productos alimenticios orgánicos no tradicionales y de los representantes de pymes dedicadas a la producción y comercialización de productos orgánicos en el cantón Machala. Los resultados de la investigación indican que existe un bajo nivel de exportación de productos alimenticios no tradicionales debido al desconocimiento de la demanda internacional y a las exigencias de los mercados internacionales.

Dandy Walker (DW) malformation is a cerebelar malformation associated with multiple cognitive deficits, psychopathological alterations and motor disturbances. We present the case of a patient affected by this malformation who was referred to the child mental health unit. We conducted a review on the anatomy, epidemiology, clinical presentation, prognosis and comorbidity of this malformation as well as on the psychopathology associated with cerebelar pathology as a whole, including Shamahmann and Sherman's cognitive-affective cerebellar syndrome. Finally, we present the case description and establish the differential diagnosis from the patient's history, the mental state examination and complementary examinations (neuroimaging and neuropsychological tests). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective mutism was first described more than 100 years ago. It belongs to an heterogeneous group of conditions that share in common the presence of anomalies in social behavior starting during the developmental period. In DSM-5, it has been classified in the category of Anxiety Disorders. We present a clinical case of a patient that was referred to our child and adolescent Mental Health Unit due to a lack of speech in school and social contexts in spite of speaking with apparent normality in the presence of closest relatives, also accompanied by school failure. We present some of the general characteristics of the disorder: risk factors, diagnostic features according to the most important current classification systems and treatment strategies. We also describe the case, including clinical interviews, analysis of the information shared by the adoptive mother, exploration of the mental state, summary of neuropsychological explorations and school reports, and provide a final discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Malaria has recently re-emerged as a public health burden in Colombia. Although the problem seems to be climate-driven, there remain significant gaps of knowledge in the understanding of the complexity of malaria transmission, which have motivated attempts to develop a comprehensive model. Methods The mathematical tool was applied to represent Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in two endemic-areas. Entomological exogenous variables were estimated through field campaigns and laboratory experiments. Availability of breeding places was included towards representing fluctuations in vector densities. Diverse scenarios, sensitivity analyses and instabilities cases were considered during experimentation-validation process. Results Correlation coefficients and mean square errors between observed and modelled incidences reached 0.897–0.668 (P > 0.95) and 0.0002–0.0005, respectively. Temperature became the most relevant climatic parameter driving the final incidence. Accordingly, malaria outbreaks are possible during the favourable epochs following the onset of El Niño warm events. Sporogonic and gonotrophic cycles showed to be the entomological key-variables controlling the transmission potential of mosquitoes' population. Simulation results also showed that seasonality of vector density becomes an important factor towards understanding disease transmission. Conclusion The model constitutes a promising tool to deepen the understanding of the multiple interactions related to malaria transmission conducive to outbreaks. In the foreseeable future it could be implemented as a tool to diagnose possible dynamical patterns of malaria incidence under several scenarios, as well as a decision-making tool for the early detection and control of outbreaks. The model will be also able to be merged with forecasts of El Niño events to provide a National Malaria Early Warning System.

The juvenile dispersal of raptors is a crucial stage that stretches from parental independence to the establishment of the first breeding area. Between 2012 and 2020, 44 juvenile red kites Milvus milvus from the Spanish breeding population were tagged using GPS telemetry to study their dispersal. Juveniles left the parental breeding area at the end of their first summer and performed wandering movements throughout the Iberian Peninsula, returning to the parental breeding area the following year, repeating the same pattern until they settled in their first breeding area. We analyzed the mean distance from the nest, the maximum reached distances, and the traveled distances (daily and hourly) during the first 2 years of dispersal and compared them. Despite the high individual variability, variables describing the dispersal movements of juveniles showed a decreasing trend during the second dispersal year: 80% of individuals reached a shorter maximum distance in the second year, 70% decreased their mean distance to the nest, 65% decreased their hourly traveled distances, and 50% decreased their daily traveled distances. On the other hand, the red kites usually combined wandering movements with the establishment of temporary settlement areas (TSA). The average duration of settlement in the TSAs was 75 ± 40 days (up to 182 days) and was located at 182 ± 168 km from the nest. In those areas, juveniles used 781.0 ± 1895.0 km 2 (KDE 95%). Some of the TSAs were used by several individuals, which suggests that these areas might be good targets for conservation in future management plans., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Editorial Office, Current Zoology.)

Debate and deliberation surrounding climate change has shifted from mitigation toward adaptation, with much of the adaptation focus centered on adaptive practices, and infrastructure development. However, there is little research assessing expected impacts, potential benefits, and design challenges that exist for reducing vulnerability to expected climate impacts. The uncertainty of design requirements and associated government policies, and social structures that reflect observed and projected changes in the intensity, duration, and frequency of water-related climate events leaves communities vulnerable to the negative impacts of potential flood and drought. The results of international research into how agricultural infrastructure features in current and planned adaptive capacity of rural communities in Argentina, Canada, and Colombia indicate that extreme hydroclimatic events, as well as climate variability and unpredictability are important for understanding and responding to community vulnerability. The research outcomes clearly identify the need to deliberately plan, coordinate, and implement infrastructures that support community resiliency.

Background: Pectinase enzymes catalyze the breakdown of pectin, a key component of the plant cell wall. At industrial level, pectinases are used in diverse applications, especially in food-processing industry. Currently, most of the industrial pectinases have optimal activity at mesophilic temperatures. On the contrary, very little is known about the pectinolytic activities from organisms from cold climates such as Antarctica. In this work, 27 filamentous fungi isolated from marine sponges collected in King George Island, Antarctica, were screened as new source of cold-active pectinases., Results: In semi-quantitative plate assays, 8 out 27 of these isolates showed pectinolytic activities at 15 °C and one of them, Geomyces sp. strain F09-T3-2, showed the highest production of pectinases in liquid medium containing pectin as sole carbon source. More interesting, Geomyces sp. F09-T3-2 showed optimal pectinolytic activity at 30 °C, 10 °C under the temperature of currently available commercial mesophilic pectinases., Conclusion: Filamentous fungi associated with Antarctic marine sponges are a promising source of pectinolytic activity. In particular, pectinases from Geomyces sp. F09-T3-2 may be potentially suitable for biotechnological applications needing cold-active pectinases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the production of pectinolytic activity from filamentous fungi from any environment in Antarctica.

One of the most promising fields for ambient intelligence is the implementation of intelligent emergency plans. Because the use of drills and living labs cannot reproduce social behaviors, such as panic attacks, that strongly affect these plans, the use of agent-based social simulation provides an approach to evaluate these plans more thoroughly. (1) The hypothesis presented in this paper is that there has been little interest in describing the key modules that these simulators must include, such as formally represented knowledge and a realistic simulated sensor model, and especially in providing researchers with tools to reuse, extend and interconnect modules from different works. This lack of interest hinders researchers from achieving a holistic framework for evaluating emergency plans and forces them to reconsider and to implement the same components from scratch over and over. In addition to supporting this hypothesis by considering over 150 simulators, this paper: (2) defines the main modules identified and proposes the use of semantic web technologies as a cornerstone for the aforementioned holistic framework; (3) provides a basic methodology to achieve the framework; (4) identifies the main challenges; and (5) presents an open and free software tool to hint at the potential of such a holistic view of emergency plan evaluation in indoor environments.

Background: Malaria has recently re-emerged as a public health burden in Colombia. Although the problem seems to be climate-driven, there remain significant gaps of knowledge in the understanding of the complexity of malaria transmission, which have motivated attempts to develop a comprehensive model., Methods: The mathematical tool was applied to represent Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in two endemic-areas. Entomological exogenous variables were estimated through field campaigns and laboratory experiments. Availability of breeding places was included towards representing fluctuations in vector densities. Diverse scenarios, sensitivity analyses and instabilities cases were considered during experimentation-validation process., Results: Correlation coefficients and mean square errors between observed and modelled incidences reached 0.897-0.668 (P > 0.95) and 0.0002-0.0005, respectively. Temperature became the most relevant climatic parameter driving the final incidence. Accordingly, malaria outbreaks are possible during the favourable epochs following the onset of El Niño warm events. Sporogonic and gonotrophic cycles showed to be the entomological key-variables controlling the transmission potential of mosquitoes' population. Simulation results also showed that seasonality of vector density becomes an important factor towards understanding disease transmission., Conclusion: The model constitutes a promising tool to deepen the understanding of the multiple interactions related to malaria transmission conducive to outbreaks. In the foreseeable future it could be implemented as a tool to diagnose possible dynamical patterns of malaria incidence under several scenarios, as well as a decision-making tool for the early detection and control of outbreaks. The model will be also able to be merged with forecasts of El Niño events to provide a National Malaria Early Warning System.