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Comprehending symbiont abundance among host species is a major ecological endeavour, and the metabolic theory of ecology has been proposed to understand what constraints symbiont populations. We parameterized metabolic theory equations to predict how bird species’ body size and the body size of their feather mites relate to mite abundance according to four potential energy (microbial abundance, uropygial gland size) and space constraints (wing area, number of feather barbs). Predictions were compared with the empirical scaling of feather mite abundance from 26,604 birds of 106 passerine species, using phylogenetic modelling and quantile regression. Feather mite populations were strongly constrained by host space (number of feather barbs) and not energy. Moreover, feather mite species’ body size was unrelated to their abundance or to the body size of their host species. We discuss the implications of our results for our understanding of the bird-feather mite system and for symbiont abundance in general.

Resumen Introduccion y objetivos Si bien la utilizacion de anticoagulantes orales directos (ACOD) en pacientes con fibrilacion auricular (FA) y protesis valvular biologica como alternativa a los antagonistas de la vitamina K (AVK) esta recogida en las guias, en la practica real son escasos los estudios que recogen estos pacientes, mas aun en nuestro pais, dadas las restricciones que existen a su prescripcion. Metodos Se analizo a los pacientes intervenidos de forma consecutiva en nuestro hospital de sustitucion valvular aortica por protesis biologica con indicacion de anticoagulantes orales por FA durante los anos 2013-2018. Comparamos caracteristicas clinicas basales, asi como tasas de eventos cerebrovasculares, hemorragias mayores y menores, y mortalidad de los tratados con ACOD frente a los tratados con AVK. Resultados Incluimos 132 pacientes tratados con AVK (62,6%) y 79 con ACOD (37,4%; apixaban 20%, edoxaban 10%, rivaroxaban 6% y dabigatran 3%). No hubo diferencias significativas en sus caracteristicas clinicas basales en cuanto a edad, sexo, funcion renal o escalas de riesgo embolico. El seguimiento medio fue de 32,85 ± 15 meses. La tasa de incidencia de ictus isquemico/accidente isquemico transitorio (AIT) fue de 1,5/100 pacientes/ano en el grupo ACOD frente a 1,32 en AVK. La tasa de incidencia de sangrado mayor fue de 2,02/100 pacientes/ano en el grupo ACOD frente a 3,7 en AVK. Los pacientes con AVK presentaron 6 ictus hemorragicos frente a ninguno en el grupo de pacientes con ACOD. Conclusiones La utilizacion de ACOD en pacientes con protesis cardiaca biologica e indicacion de ACO permanente por FA parece una alternativa eficaz y segura al uso de AVK.

A major obstacle to obtaining cost-effective experimental data on the fatigue life of sandwich panels is the prohibitive amount of time and cost required to carry out millions of cycles. On the other hand, vibration techniques applied to sandwich geometries fail to match the stress patterns that are obtained from standard flexural fatigue tests. To overcome such limitations, a vibration-based fatigue technique is proposed, which entails the use of sandwich specimens whose geometries are optimized to reproduce the stress distribution observed during three point bend loading while vibrating at the first resonant frequency. The proposed vibration technique was experimentally validated. The results, compared with the average number of cycles to failure at different stress ratios obtained via the Three-Point Bending test, showed high levels of accuracy. The proposed method is robust and time effective and indicates the possibility of attaining fatigue lifetime prediction of a wide class of composite elements, such as sandwich panels.

“Modelos didácticos como soporte fundamental a la actividad docente a través de la Plataforma de Enseñanza Virtual” es un proyecto de innovación docente que pretende facilitar al alumnado los contenidos teóricos y prácticos, mediante vídeos, de algunas asignaturas del grado. Este en concreto describe el proceso de realización de un dibujo de estatua dividido en dos fases: encaje y valoración. Este vídeo explica conceptos fundamentales del dibujo como son la proporción y la valoración. Ambos se obtienen a través de la observación visual y un riguroso sistema de medición. El vídeo permite al espectador poner en práctica la metodología del dibujo de estatua.

INTRODUCTION Short stems seem to be a good alternative for young patients as they offer promising results, rapid recovery and preservation of metaphyseal bone stock. This is one of the few studies in the literature to report medium-term clinical-radiological results for short hip stems. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective study evaluated 68 short femoral stems in 63 patients treated with total hip replacement. Clinical, functional and quality-of-life outcomes were measured at 6 and 12 months, and annually thereafter until the end of follow-up. The radiological analysis included measurements of potential leg length discrepancies, stem alignment and signs compatible with stress shielding. RESULTS Fifty-four males (59 hips) and nine females (9 hips) of an average age of 44.3 years (range, 25-68) were studied. The most common diagnosis was osteoarthritis (51.5%). Mean overall follow-up was 7.8 years (range, 5.8-9.8). The overall survival rate was 97.1% (95% CI 88.7-99.7%). Surgery resulted in an increase of 42.3 ± 1.1 points in the modified Harris Hip Score and 21.9 ± 0.6 points in the Oxford Hip Score (p

Introduction and objectives The pocket sized KardiaMobile (KM) is a monitoring device for ECG recording through a smartphone-based application. This system is generally aimed as screening tool to detect alterations in cardiac rhythm but its diagnostic potential for detection of ST changes remains largely unknown. This study sought to assess the diagnostic sensitivity of the KM system for detection of ST changes in patients with ST elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods Patients admitted with diagnosis of STEMI were consecutively included. Recordings with KM were obtained in leads I, II and anterior precordial. KM recordings were obtained as well from healthy individuals. All recordings were submitted for blinded assessment. Results A total of 112 patients with STEMI and 25 healthy individuals were included. Among those showing ST changes, these consisted mostly in depression (75%). Sensitivity was modest for individual leads (57-58%). The combination of 2-leads, when including the precordial, and the combination of 3-leads markedly increased sensitivity (88-98% and 100% respectively) for both inferior and anterior STEMI. Specificity was very high (96-100%) and the Youden's J statistic was excellent for the 2-leads combinations that included the precordial lead (0.84-0.94) and for the 3-leads combination (0.96). Conclusions The Kardia Mobile system with the combination of 2-leads (I + precordial or II + precordial) or 3-leads shows a very high sensitivity for both anterior and inferior STEMI.

We study non-interacting automorphic quantum scalar fields with positive mass in two-dimensional de Sitter space. We find that there are no Hadamard states which are de Sitter invariant except in the periodic case, extending the result of Epstein and Moschella for the anti-periodic case. We construct the two-point Wightman functions for the non-Hadamard de Sitter-invariant states by exploiting the fact that they are functions of the geodesic distance between the two points satisfying an ordinary differential equation. We then examine a certain Hadamard state, which is not de Sitter invariant, and show that it is approximately a thermal state with the Gibbons-Hawking temperature when restricted to a static region of the spacetime., 33 pages, 2 figures

A whole-exome capture and next-generation sequencing applied to an 11 y/o patient with a clinical history of congenital hypotonia, generalized motor and cognitive neurodevelopmental delay, severe cognitive deficit, without any identifiable Syndromic pattern, and to her parents, disclosed a de novo heterozygous pathogenic mutation, c.697_699del p.Phe233del (rs786204835)(ACMG classification PS2, PM1, PM2, PP5), harbored in the PURA gene (MIM*600473) (5q31.3), associated to Autosomal Dominant Mental Retardation 31 (MIM # 616158). We used the significant improvement in the accuracy of protein structure prediction recently implemented in AlphaFold that incorporates novel neural network architectures and training procedures based on the evolutionary, physical, and geometric constraints of protein structures. The wild-type (WT) sequence and the mutated one, missing the Phe233, were reconstructed. The predicted local Distance Difference Test (lDDT) for the PURA WT and the PURA-Phe233del showed that the occurrence of the Phe233del affects between 220-320 amino acids. The distortion in the PURA structural confor-mation in the ~5Å surrounding area after the p.Phe233del produces a conspicuous disruption of the repeat III, where the DNA and RNA helix unwinding capability occurs. PURA Protein-DNA Docking corroborated these results in silico Analysis that showed a loss of the contact of the PURA-Phe233del III repeat domain model with the DNA. Together, i) the energetic and stereochemical, ii) the hydropathic indices and polarity surfaces, and iii) the hybrid Quantum Mechanics-Molecular Mechanics (QM-MM) analyses of the PURA molecular models demarcate at the atomic resolution the specific surrounding region affected by these mutations and paves the way for future cell-based functional analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a de novo mutation underpinning a PURA syndrome in a Latin American patient and highlights the importance of predicting the molecular effects in protein structure using artificial intelligence algorithms and molecular and atomic resolution stereochemical analyses.

Feathers are the habitat of a myriad of organisms, from fungi and bacteria to lice and mites. Although most studies focus on specific taxa and their interaction with the bird host, anecdotal data glimpse feathers as holders of a system with its own ecology, what we call here the stylosphere. A major gap in our knowledge of the stylosphere is the ecology of the total abundance of microorganisms, being also rare to find studies that analyze abundance of more than one group of microorganisms at the bird interspecific level. Here, we quantified bacterial and fungi abundances through qPCR on the wing feathers of 144 birds from 24 passerine and one non-passerine bird species from three localities in Southern Spain. Bacteria and fungi abundances spanned three orders of magnitude among individual birds, but were consistent when comparing the right and the left wing feathers of individuals. Sampling locality explained ca. 14% of the variation in both bacteria and fungi abundances. Even when statistically controlling for sampling locality, microbial abundances consistently differed between birds from different species, but these differences were not explained by bird phylogeny. Finally, bird individuals and species having more bacteria also tended to held larger abundances of fungi. Our results suggest a quite complex explanation for stylosphere microorganisms’ abundance, being shaped by bird individual and species traits, as well as environmental factors, and likely bacteria–fungi interactions.

Introduction Transient osteoporosis of the hip (THO) is a rare disease of unknown pathogenesis that has traditionally been considered an early and reversible stage of avascular necrosis (AN). Thrombophilia or familial hypofibrinolysis is considered a risk factor for the development of AN and THO. Factor V Leiden is one of the most common hereditary hypercoagulability disorders. Clinical cases Case series study. The development and course of 3 THO cases in 3 siblings (two males and one female) aged between 40 and 43 years are described consecutively. Clinical and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies confirmed the diagnosis of THO and ruled out the presence of AN. The G1691A mutation of factor v Leiden was positive in all cases. The clinical and radiological outcome was favourable, with healing without sequelae and disappearance of bone oedema on control MRI at 6 months in all cases. Discussion The results of this study support the ischaemic aetiology and establish HTO as an early and reversable stage of hip AN. Factor V Leiden causes a state of hypercoagulability and hypofibrinolysis that encourages the development of THO due to ischaemic causes. Conclusions This study outlines the first familiar description of factor v Leiden-linked THO.

The yellowstriped oakworm, Anisota peigleri, is an occasional pest on oak trees in the southeastern United States. In Florida, outbreak populations defoliated laurel, water and Shumard oaks in Gainesville from 1996 until 2001. Even when defoliation is not severe, the falling frass (droppings) and large numbers of caterpillars are a major concern for many homeowners. Frass commonly stains driveways, walkways, pool decks and other outdoor structures.

Due to their location in tropical latitudes, mangrove forests are susceptible to the impact of hurricanes and can be vastly damaged by their high-speed winds. Given the logistic difficulties regarding field surveys in mangroves, remote sensing approaches have been considered a reliable alternative. We quantified trends in damage and early signs of canopy recovery in a fringe Rhizophora mangle area of Marismas Nacionales, Mexico, following the landfall of Hurricane Willa in October 2018. We monitored (2016-2021) broad canopy defoliation using 21 vegetation indices (VI) from the Google Earth Engine tool (GEE). We also mapped a detailed canopy fragmentation and developed digital surface models (DSM) during five study periods (2018-2021) with a consumer-grade unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over an area of 100 ha. Based on optical data from the GEE time series, results indicated an abrupt decline in the overall mangrove canopy. The VARI index was the most reliable VI for the mangrove canopy classification from a standard RGB sensor. The impact of the hurricane caused an overall canopy defoliation of 79%. The series of UAV orthomosaics indicate a gradual recovery in the mangrove canopy, while the linear model predicts at least 8.5 years to reach pre-impact mangrove cover conditions. However, the sequence of DSM estimates that the vertical canopy configuration will require a longer time to achieve its original structure.

Durante los dos períodos del reinado del emperador Galieno, primero asociado con su padre Valeriano (253-260) y, después, en solitario (260-268), la institución imperial desarrolló, en consonancia con la delicada situación dinástica, un programa plástico adecuado al público con el que quería conectar y de acuerdo con los mensajes que quería desarrollar: estabilidad, prosperidad y autoridad. En el presente artículo explicaremos los detalles de la plástica de Galieno a través de sus 21 retratos actualmente reconocidos, analizando sus atributos y estadísticas más interesantes.

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG [Abstract] Past human persecution of wildlife has acted as a major selection agent shaping many animal features including behaviour. A major component of behaviour with diverse consequences for conservation is the shyness/boldness continuum. Shyer individuals are often geographically restricted, less prone to wander out of their ecological refuges but, on the contrary, less likely to experience human-induced mortality and lead to human-wildlife conflict. In this essay we discuss how the success of translocations may interact both positively and negatively with animal personalities, based on several case studies of re-introductions and reinforcements involving remnant mammal and bird populations. Although shyness may be inconvenient to conservationists when dealing with raptor translocations in which eventual dispersal may be a desired trait in the long run, a trade-off may emerge between boldness and prevention of human-wildlife conflict when dealing with large carnivores. Some other trade-offs may also occur, such as that between boldness and desired philopatry at the initial stage of re-introductions. AMA was funded by Xunta de Galicia, project ED431C 2018/57 Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2018/57

There is broad consensus that increasing the use of renewable energies is effective to mitigate the global climate crisis. However, the development of renewables may carry environmental impacts, and their expansion could accelerate biodiversity loss (1). However, Dunnett et al. (2) have recently estimated a minimal overlap between renewable energy expansion and important conservation areas (ICAs;i.e., protected areas, key biodiversity areas, wilderness areas) (sensu ref. 2), suggesting that these infrastructures would not significantly affect biodiversity conservation if properly planned and regulated.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Equal opportunities to access technical advances with recognized clinical value should be a priority of the publicly-funded health system. We analyzed variability among all the Spanish autonomous communities in the use of cardiovascular techniques with an established indication and its relationship with economic indicators, burden of disease, and hospital mortality. METHODS: The activity registries of various Associations of the Spanish Society of Cardiology from 2011 to 2019 were analyzed for coronary angiography, overall percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), primary PCI, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD), cardiac resynchronization therapy, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Economic indices (gross domestic product and per capita health care expenditure) were obtained from public sources and data on attendance rates and mortality from the Resources and Quality in Cardiology (RECALCAR) reports of the Spanish Society of Cardiology. We analyzed the coefficient of variation for activity and the correlation of activity with regional economic indices, attendance rates, and risk-adjusted rates of in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: We identified wide variability in the use of technologies, especially for primary PCI (18%), ICD (22%), cardiac resynchronization therapy (36%), and TAVR (42%). A certain correlation with attendance rates was seen only for overall PCI and ICD. In general, no significant correlation was found between the use of the techniques and the economic indices of wealth and expenditure. The correlation with in-hospital mortality showed no significant results, although this was the analysis with the greatest limitations because the impact of these techniques on survival is exerted more in the mid- and long-term. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study, despite its inherent limitations, show marked variability between autonomous communities in the use of cardiovascular technologies, which is not explained by economic differences or by hospital attendance rates due to the corresponding diseases.

Objectives Stroke treatment with intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is effective and efficient, but as its benefits are highly time dependent, it is essential to treat the patient promptly after symptom onset. This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of a blood biomarker test to differentiate ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke to guide pre-hospital treatment with tPA in patients with suspected stroke, compared with standard hospital management. The standard care for patients suffering stroke consists mainly in diagnosis, treatment, hospitalization and monitoring. Methods A Markov model was built with four health states according to the modified Rankin scale, in adult patients with suspected moderate to severe stroke (NIHSS 4-22) within 4.5 hours after symptom onset. A Spanish Health System perspective was used. The time horizon was 15 years. Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and life-years gained (LYGs) were used as a measure of effectiveness. Short- and long-term direct health costs were included. Costs were expressed in Euros (2022). A discount rate of 3% was used. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis and several one-way sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results The use of a blood-test biomarker compared with standard care was associated with more QALYs (4.87 vs. 4.77), more LYGs (7.18 vs. 7.07), and greater costs (12,807€ vs. 12,713€). The ICER was 881€/QALY. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed that the biomarker test was cost-effective in 82% of iterations using a threshold of 24,000€/QALY. Conclusions The use of a blood biomarker test to guide pre-hospital thrombolysis is cost-effective compared with standard hospital care in patients with ischemic stroke.

We study the solutions to the Klein–Gordon equation for the massive scalar field in the universal covering space of a two-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. For certain values of the mass parameter, we impose a suitable set of boundary conditions, which make the spatial component of the Klein–Gordon operator self-adjoint. This makes the time-evolution of the classical field well defined. Then, we use the transformation properties of the scalar field under the isometry group of the theory, namely, the universal covering group of [Formula: see text], in order to determine which self-adjoint boundary conditions are invariant under this group and which lead to the positive-frequency solutions forming a unitary representation of this group and, hence, to a vacuum state invariant under this group. Then, we examine the cases where the boundary condition leads to an invariant theory with a non-invariant vacuum state and determine the unitary representation to which the vacuum state belongs.

The mangrove-estuarine system of Marismas Nacionales, Mexico is considered the most extensive wetland complex of the eastern Pacific coast. Originally, this large wetland was connected to the ocean solely through a natural inlet (Teacapan). However, in the early 1970s, it was decided that an artificial inlet (Cuautla Canal) will provide a second direct connection to the ocean that could help enhance local economic development. Unfortunately, it is believed that hydrological modification resulting from this inlet changed the hydrodynamics and thus massive loss of mangroves. Hence, the purpose of this investigation was to assess the tidal hydrodynamics before and after the canal’s construction and thus understand the potential negative impacts of such unsupervised coastal projects. Specifically, sea level elevation and tidal circulation velocities were simulated during flood and ebb currents using nonlinear numerical models for both inlets. Results indicated that sea level elevation and salinity increased from 2 to 35 cm and 0.5 to 35 PSU in the Agua Brava lagoon, respectively. Additionally, there was an overall increase of 0.6 m/s regarding the tidal current velocities, and thus it is probable that the Cuautla Canal contributed to the deterioration of the once Laguncularia racemosa dominated forests, which is slowly being replaced by Avicennia germinans, Rhizophora mangle, and extensive hypersaline floodplains. Consequently, such modeling could help in mitigating the impacts of future coastal developments in Mexico or elsewhere by helping in the prediction of the possible influence of tidal hydrodynamic changes on the subtropical coastal vegetation.

Landscape characterisation using social media photographs from popular platforms has been proposed as a landscape and ecosystem services approach. However, popular crowdsourced websites provide uncharacterized data and are only representative of the general public. Photographs from crowdsourced sports platforms, whose users are more homogeneous, could help to characterise landscape more uniformly. In this study we use automated content analysis from photographs on Wikiloc, a crowd-sourced sports platform, to characterize landscape in the Ebro Delta Natural Park, a protected area in Spain. Our approach applies big data procedures and spatial analysis to provide in-depth information regarding what draws visitors’ attention to a landscape and to ascertain their intrasite flow. Our results show that sports users are keen on natural landscapes and pay less attention to rural and degraded landscapes, and that areas closer to paths are more photographed than more distant areas.

The aerodynamic performance of four 12-inch diameter propellers was investigated at propeller disk angles-of-attack ranging from 0° to 90° and at advance ratios ranging from 0 to 0.55. Aerodynamic load measurements using a six-axis load cell showed that the thrust of all four propellers increased with an increasing disk angle-of-attack, for all the advance ratios investigated. On the other hand, power consumption demonstrated lower sensitivity to variations in the propeller angle-of-attack. The load difference between the advancing and retreating blades caused pitch and yaw moments, which increased with an increasing propeller angle-of-attack. When plotted as a function of the inflow advance ratio, the thrust, power and propulsive efficiency plots overlapped for the range of disk angle-of-attacks. Analytical prediction of the performance of the rotor was carried out using blade element theory. Comparisons of the experimental data acquired and the predictions using different inflow models was made. The evaluation showed that the Glauert [15] and Coleman et al. [16] inflow models are capable of predicting propeller performance at a wide range of non-zero disk angle-of-attack with maximum discrepancy of 15%.

El estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la asociación de fascioliasis con la crianza de animales, características de la vivienda y consumo de alimentos de niños del distrito de Santa María de Chicmo, Apurímac, Perú. Se tomaron muestras serológicas a 493 niños de 6 a 16 años, de ambos sexos, con el consentimiento informado de sus padres. La prevalencia, determinada mediante la técnica de inmunoblot fue de 5.3% (IC95% = 3.2%-7.4%; 26/493). El análisis univariado demostró que la crianza de bovinos y gatos, así como la crianza de tres o más cerdos fueron factores asociados a fascioliasis. La crianza de más de cinco ovinos configuró un factor de protección. La fascioliasis en niños no estuvo asociada a las características de las viviendas ni al consumo de alimentos. Se concluye que el distrito de Santa María de Chicmo es mesoendémico para fascioliasis en niños, y que la crianza de algunas especies de animales domésticos implica riesgo de fascioliasis humana. The aim of this study was to determine the association of fascioliasis with the breeding of animals, housing characteristics and food consumption of children in the district of Santa María de Chicmo, Apurimac, Peru. Serological samples were taken from 493 children aged 6 to 16 years, males and females, with the informed consent of their parents. The prevalence, determined by the immunoblot technique was 5.3% (95% CI = 3.2% -7.4%, 26/493). The univariate analysis showed that the breeding of cattle and cats, and raising three or more pigs were factors associated with fascioliasis. The breeding of more than five sheep resulted as a protection factor. Fascioliasis in children was not associated with the characteristics of the dwellings or the consumption of food. It is concluded that the district of Santa María de Chicmo is mesoendemic for fascioliasis in children, and that the rearing of some species of domestic animals involves risk of human fascioliasis.