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Las capacidades tecnológicas y los hábitos de estudio del estudiante del tercer milenio, han conducido al docente a explorar entornos mixtos y rediseñar metodologías de enseñanza. En el nivel superior, particularmente en las disciplinas de la salud, el aprendizaje práctico debe estar encaminado a i) la adquisición de habilidades de relación y comunicación del conocimiento, ii) mejorar las competencias instrumentales y metrológicas en el laboratorio, y iii) favorecer el pensamiento crítico, autogestivo y asertivo. El método ABP en contraste con la docencia tradicional promete alcanzar estos objetivos en el profesional en formación. En este estudio de investigación correlacional se diseñó una secuencia de estrategias didácticas en donde se combinaron entornos presenciales, virtuales o híbrido, con la didáctica tradicional y mixta (tradicional + ABP). El estudio se llevó a cabo durante 8 semestres. Con un 95% de confianza la metodología mixta (tradicional + ABP) es mejor (P

An increase in milling energy results in higher levels of non-crystallinity, surface modification and indications of Ni–Al–O interactions. Evidence of mechanochemical activation is demonstrated with higher quantities of NiAl2O4.

Covariation induced by compensatory base substitutions in RNA alignments is a great way to deduce conserved RNA structure, in principle. In practice, success depends on many factors, importantly the quality and depth of the alignment and the choice of covariation statistic. Measuring covariation between pairs of aligned positions is easy. However, using covariation to infer evolutionarily conserved RNA structure is complicated by other extraneous sources of covariation such as that resulting from homologous sequences having evolved from a common ancestor. In order to provide evidence of evolutionarily conserved RNA structure, a method to distinguish covariation due to sources other than RNA structure is necessary. Moreover, there are several sorts of artifactually generated covariation signals that can further confound the analysis. Additionally, some covariation signal is difficult to detect due to incomplete comparative data. Here, we investigate and critically discuss the practice of inferring conserved RNA structure by comparative sequence analysis. We provide new methods on how to approach and decide which of the numerous long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have biologically relevant structures.

Education provides the opportunity to overcome poverty and attain greater wellbeing. An evaluation was done of the impact of education - understood as formation of knowledge, values and attitudes – on wellbeing in high school students in a poor rural zone of Yucatan, Mexico. A total of 223 (94 women, 129 men) students from 14 to 19 years of age answered an instrument covering two wellbeing dimensions: eating habits and self-concept. Statistical analyses of their answers showed education to have an effect only in some aspects of eating habits. Differences by sex were present in both eating habits and selfconcept, and age affected only self-concept. The education offered these students had only a minimal effect on improving their wellbeing, undermining one of the overarching purposes of education.

11 Páginas.-- 5 Figuras, Carotenoids are isoprenoid lipids found across the tree of life with important implications in oxidative stress adaptations, photosynthetic metabolisms, as well as in membrane dynamics. The canonical view is that C40 carotenoids are synthesized from phytoene and C30 carotenoids from diapophytoene. Squalene is mostly associated with the biosynthesis of polycyclic triterpenes, although there have been suggestions that it could also be involved in the biosynthesis of C30 carotenoids. However, demonstration of the existence of this pathway in nature is lacking. Here, we demonstrate that C30 carotenoids are synthesized from squalene in the Planctomycetes bacteria and that this squalene route to C30 carotenoids is the most widespread in prokaryotes. Using the evolutionary history of carotenoid and squalene amino oxidases, we propose an evolutionary scenario to explain the origin and diversification of the different carotenoid and squalene-related pathways. We show that carotenoid biosynthetic pathways have been constantly transferred and neofunctionalized during prokaryotic evolution. One possible origin of the squalene pathway connects it with the one of C40 carotenoid synthesis of Cyanobacteria. The widespread occurrence of the squalene route to C30 carotenoids in Bacteria increases the functional repertoire of squalene, establishing it as a general hub of carotenoids and polycyclic triterpenes synthesis., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant No. BFU2016-78326-Pand and MDM-2016-0687). This research is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore foundation through Grant GBMF9733 to D.P.D. We also thank Berend Snel and Anja Spang for financial support of C.S.-M. through a grant funded by Utrecht University and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

Mechanochemical synthesis routes offer a sustainable, simple method for preparing materials. In this work, NiAl

An RNA design algorithm takes a target RNA structure and finds a sequence that folds into that structure. This is fundamentally important for engineering therapeutics using RNA. Computational RNA design algorithms are guided by fitness functions, but not much research has been done on the merits of these functions. We survey current RNA design approaches with a particular focus on the fitness functions used. We experimentally compare the most widely used fitness functions in RNA design algorithms on both synthetic and natural sequences. It has been almost 20 years since the last comparison was published, and we find similar results with a major new result: maximizing probability outperforms minimizing ensemble defect. The probability is the likelihood of a structure at equilibrium and the ensemble defect is the weighted average number of incorrect positions in the ensemble. We find that maximizing probability leads to better results on synthetic RNA design puzzles and agrees more often than other fitness functions with natural sequences and structures, which were designed by evolution. Also, we observe that many recently published approaches minimize structure distance to the minimum free energy prediction, which we find to be a poor fitness function.

Under ever-changing environmental conditions, the General Stress Response (GSR) represents a lifesaver for bacteria in order to withstand hostile situations. In α-proteobacteria, the EcfG-type extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ factors are the key activators of this response at the transcriptional level. In this work, we address the hierarchical function of the ECF σ factor paralogs EcfG1 and EcfG2 in triggering the GSR in Sphingopyxis granuli TFA and describe the role of EcfG2 as global switch of this response. In addition, we define a GSR regulon for TFA and use in vitro transcription analysis to study the relative contribution of each EcfG paralog to the expression of selected genes. We show that the features of each promoter ultimately dictate this contribution, though EcfG2 always produced more transcripts than EcfG1 regardless of the promoter. These first steps in the characterisation of the GSR in TFA suggest a tight regulation to orchestrate an adequate protective response in order to survive in conditions otherwise lethal., This work was supported by grant BIO2014–57545-R, co-funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and the European Regional Development Fund, and by fellowships from the FPU program (Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain), awarded to R.D.

Mechanochemistry offers a solventless, ‘waste free’ route to preparing metal oxide catalysts, however, there is limited information on the chemical steps involved. In this work, the perovskite LaMnO3 has been successfully synthesized via mechanochemistry from metal oxide powders, La2O3 and Mn2O3, at room temperature, using a planetary ball mill. Separate ex situ ‘time slices’ were taken during the milling procedure to provide insights into the underlying chemistry. The crystalline material was assessed using XRD, which identified 100% perovskite phase after 3 h of milling. Conversely, characterization by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at both the Mn K-edge and La L3-edge provides a very different picture. The XAS data shows that there are significant structural alterations as early as 30 min of milling, with the La precursor dispersed over Mn2O3. Increasing milling time then allows for mechanical activation of both precursors and the formation of powdered LaMnO3, with no calcination step required. The XAS highlights that there is a significant amount of amorphous, oxygen deficient, content even when XRD has identified 100% perovskite phase. The samples were tested for the decomposition of the environmental pollutant N2O; at a milling time of 3 h, the LaMnO3 catalyst displays a much early onset production of N2 compared to a traditional sol–gel synthesized LaMnO3, resulting from increased oxygen deficiency at the surface, confirmed by XPS and STEM-EELS. This is an encouraging sign that mechanochemical routes can be harnessed to provide a sustainable route to preparing mixed metal oxide catalysts with enhanced catalytic performance.

Access to axenic cultures is crucial to extend the knowledge of the biology, lifestyle or metabolic capabilities of bacteria from different phyla. The phylum Planctomycetes is an excellent example since its members display an unusual cell biology and complex lifestyles. As a contribution to the current collection of axenic planctomycete cultures, here we describe strain Mal48T isolated from phytoplankton material sampled at the coast of S’Arenal close to Palma de Mallorca (Spain). The isolated strain shows optimal growth at pH 7.0–7.5 and 30 °C and exhibits typical features of Planctomycetes. Cells of the strain are spherical to pear-shaped, divide by polar budding with daughter cells showing the same shape as the mother cell, tend to aggregate, display a stalk and produce matrix or fimbriae. Strain Mal48T showed 95.8% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the recently described Thalassoglobus neptunius KOR42T. The genome sequence of the novel isolate has a size of 6,357,355 bp with a G+C content of 50.3%. A total of 4874 protein-coding genes, 41 tRNA genes and 2 copies of the 16S rRNA gene are encoded in the genome. Based on phylogenetic, morphological and physiological analyses, we conclude that strain Mal48T (= DSM 100737T = LMG 29019T) should be classified as the type strain of a new species in the genus Thalassoglobus, for which the name Thalassoglobus polymorphus sp. nov. is proposed., Open Access funding provided by Projekt DEAL. Part of this research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Grants KA 4967/1-1 and JO 893/4-1, Grant ALWOP.308 of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), SIAM (Soehngen Institute for Anaerobic Microbiology) Grant No. 024002002 and the Radboud Excellence fellowship.

Squalene is mostly associated with the biosynthesis of polycyclic triterpenes. Although there have been suggestions that squalene could be involved in the biosynthesis of carotenoids, functionally and evolutionarily related to polycyclic triterpenes, evidence of this ‘squalene route’ in nature was lacking. We demonstrate that planctomycetes synthesize C30 carotenoids via squalene and that this ‘squalene route’ is widely distributed in Bacteria. We also investigated the functional roles of hopanoids and carotenoids in Planctomycetes and show that their protective functions under stress conditions are complementary. Our evolutionary analyses suggest that the C30 carotenoid biosynthetic pathway is the most ancestral, with a potential origin in Firmicutes or Planctomycetes. In addition, we propose an evolutionary scenario to explain the diversification of the different carotenoid and squalene pathways. Together, these results improve the evolutionary contextualization of these molecules. Likewise, the widespread occurrence of the squalene route in bacteria increases the functional repertoire of squalene.

The structure and activity of Mo/Silicalite‐1 (MFI, Si/Al=∞) were compared to Mo/H‐ZSM‐5 (MFI, Si/Al=15), a widely studied catalyst for methane dehydroaromatisation (MDA). The anchoring mode of Mo was evaluated by in situ X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and density functional theory (DFT). The results showed that in Mo/Silicalite‐1, calcination leads to dispersion of MoO3 precursor into tetrahedral Mo‐oxo species in close proximity to the microporous framework. A weaker interaction of the Mo‐oxo species with the Silicalite‐1 was determined by XAS and DFT. While both catalysts are active for MDA, Mo/Silicalite‐1 undergoes rapid deactivation which was attributed to a faster sintering of Mo species leading to the accumulation of carbon deposits on the zeolite outer surface. The results shed light onto the nature of the Mo structure(s) while evidencing the importance of framework Al in stabilising active Mo species under MDA conditions.

Many non-coding RNAs with known functions are structurally conserved: their intramolecular secondary and tertiary interactions are maintained across evolutionary time. Consequently, the presence of conserved structure in multiple sequence alignments can be used to identify candidate functional non-coding RNAs. Here, we present a bioinformatics method that couples iterative homology search with covariation analysis to assess whether a genomic region has evidence of conserved RNA structure. We used this method to examine all unannotated regions of five well-studied fungal genomes (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans, Neurospora crassa, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe). We identified 17 novel structurally conserved non-coding RNA candidates, which include 4 H/ACA box small nucleolar RNAs, 4 intergenic RNAs, and 9 RNA structures located within the introns and untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs. For the two structures in the 3′ UTRs of the metabolic genes GLY1 and MET13, we performed experiments that provide evidence against them being eukaryotic riboswitches.

Rfam is a database of RNA families where each of the 3444 families is represented by a multiple sequence alignment of known RNA sequences and a covariance model that can be used to search for additional members of the family. Recent developments have involved expert collaborations to improve the quality and coverage of Rfam data, focusing on microRNAs, viral and bacterial RNAs. We have completed the first phase of synchronising microRNA families in Rfam and miRBase, creating 356 new Rfam families and updating 40. We established a procedure for comprehensive annotation of viral RNA families starting with Flavivirus and Coronaviridae RNAs. We have also increased the coverage of bacterial and metagenome-based RNA families from the ZWD database. These developments have enabled a significant growth of the database, with the addition of 759 new families in Rfam 14. To facilitate further community contribution to Rfam, expert users are now able to build and submit new families using the newly developed Rfam Cloud family curation system. New Rfam website features include a new sequence similarity search powered by RNAcentral, as well as search and visualisation of families with pseudoknots. Rfam is freely available at https://rfam.org.

Small pore zeolites have shown great potential in a number of catalytic reactions. While Mo-containing medium pore zeolites have been widely studied for methane dehydroaromatisation (MDA), the use of small pore supports has drawn limited attention due to the fast deactivation of the catalyst. This work investigates the structure of the small pore Mo/H-SSZ-13 during catalyst preparation and reaction by operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), in situ synchrotron powder diffraction (SPD), and electron microscopy, then, the results are compared with the medium pore Mo/H-ZSM-5. While SPD suggests that during catalyst preparation, part of the MoOx anchors inside the pores, Mo dispersion and subsequent ion exchange was less effective in the small pore catalyst, resulting in the formation of mesopores and Al2(MOO4)3 particles. Unlike Mo/H-ZSM-5, part of the Mo species in Mo/H-SSZ-13 undergoes full reduction to Mo0 during MDA, whereas characterisation of the spent catalyst indicates that differences also exist in the nature of the formed carbon deposits. Hence, the different Mo speciation and the low performance on small pore zeolites can be attributed to mesopores formation during calcination and the ineffective ion exchange into well dispersed Mo-oxo sites. The results open the scope for the optimisation of synthetic routes to explore the potential of small pore topologies.

The use of mechanochemistry to prepare catalytic materials is of significant interest; it offers an environmentally beneficial, solvent-free, route and produces highly complex structures of mixed amorphous and crystalline phases. This study reports on the effect of milling atmosphere, either air or argon, on mechanochemically prepared LaMnO3 and the catalytic performance towards N2O decomposition (deN2O). In this work, high energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), X-ray emission, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to probe the electronic structural properties of the mechanochemically prepared materials. Moreover, in situ studies using near ambient pressure (NAP)-XPS, to follow the materials during catalysis, and high pressure energy dispersive EXAFS studies, to mimic the preparation conditions, have also been performed. The studies show that there are clear differences between the air and argon milled samples, with the most pronounced changes observed using NAP-XPS. The XPS results find increased levels of active adsorbed oxygen species, linked to the presence of surface oxide vacancies, for the sample prepared in argon. Furthermore, the argon milled LaMnO3 shows improved catalytic activity towards deN2O at lower temperatures compared to the air milled and sol–gel synthesised LaMnO3. Assessing this improved catalytic behaviour during deN2O of argon milled LaMnO3 by in situ NAP-XPS suggests increased interaction of N2O at room temperature within the O 1s region. This study further demonstrates the complexity of mechanochemically prepared materials and through careful choice of characterisation methods how their properties can be understood.

Introducción: El objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar los estilos de vida saludables de niños y niñas en etapa inicial atendidos en la Fundación Guardería Infantil La Alquitrana del Ministerio del Poder Popular de Petróleo, Distrito Capital, Venezuela y establecer relaciones entre los factores que influyen en los estilos de vida del grupo. Métodos: Es una investigación de campo, descriptiva, prospectiva, transversal y analítica, realizada durante el periodo febrero-marzo 2018. Se diseñó un instrumento para recolectar la información a través de preguntas abiertas y cerradas. Se tomaron las mediciones antropométricas. Resultados: Según valores del IMC, se tiene que 91,03% de los niños está en el rango de Normalidad; mientras que 8,97% tiene Riesgo de sobrepeso y Obesidad. La evaluación semicuantitativa del consumo de alimentos, revela que 67,26%, tiene una dieta Adecuada, 21,98% tienen una dieta inadecuada por exceso y sólo 10,76% una dieta inadecuada por déficit. La frecuencia de consumo revelo mayor consumo de carnes, huevos, frutas, evidenciándose una dieta variada, pero baja en consumo de pescado y lácteos. 67,26% no realiza ninguna actividad física. Se obtuvieron altas correlaciones: entre Peso-Talla, Peso-Kcal/día y Talla-Kcal/día (r>0,82); diferencias significativas, por sexo, entre Peso (t =1,85 > 1,65 = t1;0,05) y Talla (t = 1,69 < t1;0,05). Además, hay asociación entre Estrato social-Ingreso, Estrato social-Actividad Física, Estrato social-Lactancia materna y Estado Nutricional con Lactancia materna, Actividad Física y Momento de comida (p < 0,001). Conclusiones: El estilo de vida de estos niños esta caracterizado por: Estrato social, ingreso, lactancia materna, actividad física y estado Nutricional.

El presente trabajo está dirigido a contrarrestar las causas que han provocado las insuficiencias que presentan los docentes en formación del municipio Banes - Cuba; en el desarrollo de las cualidades laborales con énfasis en ser responsable y autoridad profesional. Para ello se ha trazado como objetivo la elaboración de actividades para favorecer el desarrollo de las referidas cualidades. El proceso investigativo, ha tenido como soporte la aplicación de métodos teóricos como el análisis y síntesis, inductivo-deductivo, histórico-lógico, y sistémico estructural funcional, así como otros de carácter empíricos; entre ellos, el análisis documental, entrevistas y encuestas a docentes en formación, tutores y miembros de familias, organizaciones, organismos, instituciones y entidades comunitarias. El resultado del pre-experimento aplicado demostró la validez de las actividades, con transformaciones sustanciales en las dimensiones cognitivas, conductuales y contextuales, que expresan el modo de actuación de los docentes en formación del territorio en relación con estas cualidades. Así mismo ha constituido una herramienta para el desarrollo y crecimiento profesional de los docentes de la Educación Superior Pedagógica, en problemas profesionales como diagnóstico, proyección, dinámica y evaluación en el proceso de Gestión y Desarrollo de la Formación Laboral. PALABRAS CLAVE: formación laboral; personalidad; cualidades; cualidades laborales. ACTIVITIES FOR LABOR TRAINING IN HIGHER PEDAGOGICAL EDUCATION ABSTRACT The present work deals with the process and development of the job training of the personality and in particular of the pedagogical job training from a psychological perspective, taking into account the sustenance and link of this science with the others that serves as theoretical support for this subject, presents a synthetic analysis of it based on the vision and analysis of different students of psychology and its link to the training of professionals. It also establishes some relationships of this science, Sociology and Pedagogy as a point of convergence to support the training of education professionals based on the potential of the process for the management and development of job qualities, also provide an example some moments of the process where such correspondence of its components is evidenced. KEYWORDS: Alternative, job training, personality, qualities, job qualities.

The use of mechanochemistry to prepare catalytic materials is of significant interest; it offers an environmentally beneficial, solvent-free, route and produces highly complex structures of mixed amorphous and crystalline phases. This study reports on the effect of milling atmosphere, either air or argon, on mechanochemically prepared LaMnO3 and the catalytic performance towards N2O decomposition (deN2O). In this work, high energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD), X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES), X-ray emission, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to probe the electronic structural properties of the mechanochemically prepared materials. Moreover, in situ studies using near ambient pressure (NAP)-XPS, to follow the materials during catalysis, and high pressure energy dispersive EXAFS studies, to mimic the preparation conditions, have also been performed. The studies show that there are clear differences between the air and argon milled samples, with the most pronounced changes observed using NAP-XPS. The XPS results find increased levels of active adsorbed oxygen species, linked to the presence of surface oxide vacancies, for the sample prepared in argon. Furthermore, the argon milled LaMnO3 shows improved catalytic activity towards deN2O at lower temperatures compared to the air milled and sol-gel synthesised LaMnO3. Assessing this improved catalytic behaviour during deN2O of argon milled LaMnO3 by in situ NAP-XPS suggests increased interaction of N2O at room temperature within the O 1s region. This study further demonstrates the complexity of mechanochemically prepared materials and through careful choice of characterisation methods how their properties can be understood.

Tavares’ conclusions depend on an assumption that the statistic they use (RAFS) is an appropriate measure of RNA base pair covariation, but RAFS was not designed to measure covariation alone. RAFS detects positive signals in common patterns of primary sequence conservation in absence of any covariation. To illustrate the severity of the problem, we show that Tavares’ analysis reports “significantly covarying base pairs” in 100% identical sequence alignments with no variation or covariation. We use Tavares’ sequence alignment of HOTAIR domain 1 as an example to show that the base pairs they identify as significantly covarying actually arise from primary sequence conservation patterns. Their analysis still reports similar numbers of “significant covarying” base pairs in a negative control in which we permute residues in independent alignment columns to destroy covariation. There remains no significant covariation support for evolutionarily conserved RNA structure in the HOTAIR lncRNA or other lncRNA structures and alignments we have analyzed.

Most bacteria divide by binary fission using an FtsZ-based mechanism that relies on a multi-protein complex, the divisome. In the majority of non-spherical bacteria another multi-protein complex, the elongasome, is also required for the maintenance of cell shape. Components of these multi-protein assemblies are conserved and essential in most bacteria. Here, we provide evidence that at least three proteins of these two complexes are not essential in the FtsZ-less ovoid planctomycete bacterium Planctopirus limnophila which divides by budding. We attempted to construct P. limnophila knock-out mutants of the genes coding for the divisome proteins FtsI, FtsK, FtsW and the elongasome protein MreB. Surprisingly, ftsI, ftsW and mreB could be deleted without affecting the growth rate. On the other hand, the conserved ftsK appeared to be essential in this bacterium. In conclusion, the canonical bacterial cell division machinery is not essential in P. limnophila and this bacterium divides via budding using an unknown mechanism., This work was supported by BFU2016-78326-P and MDM-2016-0687, Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. Also, part of this work was supported by a visiting scientist grant awarded to ERM by the Soehngen Institute of Anaerobic Microbiology (SIAM, project 024002002) of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). SHP is supported by the NWO grant ALWOP.308 and LC by the Spinoza prize awarded to Prof. dr. M.S.M. Jetten.

Planctomycetes are ubiquitous bacteria with environmental and biotechnological relevance. Axenic cultures of planctomycetal strains are the basis to analyse their unusual biology and largely uncharacterised metabolism in more detail. Here, we describe strain Mal4T isolated from marine sediments close to Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Strain Mal4T displays common planctomycetal features, such as division by polar budding and the presence of fimbriae and crateriform structures on the cell surface. Cell growth was observed at ranges of 10–39 °C (optimum at 31 °C) and pH 6.5–9.0 (optimum at 7.5). The novel strain shows as pear-shaped cells of 2.0 ± 0.2 × 1.4 ± 0.1 µm and is one of the rare examples of orange colony-forming Planctomycetes. Its genome has a size of 7.7 Mb with a G+C content of 63.4%. Phylogenetically, we conclude that strain Mal4T (= DSM 100296T = LMG 29133T) is the type strain representing the type species of a novel genus, for which we propose the name Maioricimonas rarisocia gen. nov., sp. nov., Open Access funding provided by Projekt DEAL. Part of this research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Grants KA 4967/1-1 and JO 893/4-1, Grant ALWOP.308 of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), SIAM (Soehngen Institute for Anaerobic Microbiology) Grant No. 024002002 and the Radboud Excellence fellowship.

When it comes to the discovery and analysis of yet uncharted bacterial traits, pure cultures are essential as only these allow detailed morphological and physiological characterization as well as genetic manipulation. However, microbiologists are struggling to isolate and maintain the majority of bacterial strains, as mimicking their native environmental niches adequately can be a challenging task. Here, we report the diversity-driven cultivation, characterization and genome sequencing of 79 bacterial strains from all major taxonomic clades of the conspicuous bacterial phylum Planctomycetes. The samples were derived from different aquatic environments but close relatives could be isolated from geographically distinct regions and structurally diverse habitats, implying that ‘everything is everywhere’. With the discovery of lateral budding in ‘Kolteria novifilia’ and the capability of the members of the Saltatorellus clade to divide by binary fission as well as budding, we identified previously unknown modes of bacterial cell division. Alongside unobserved aspects of cell signalling and small-molecule production, our findings demonstrate that exploration beyond the well-established model organisms has the potential to increase our knowledge of bacterial diversity. We illustrate how ‘microbial dark matter’ can be accessed by cultivation techniques, expanding the organismic background for small-molecule research and drug-target detection., This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant no. JO 893/4-1) and the Volkswagen foundation (experiment no. 89256). M.Y.G. was funded by the NIH IRP at the US National Library of Medicine. Work in the Mascher lab was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant no. MA2837/2-2) and the Bundeministerium für Bildung und Forschung in the framework of the ERAnet Synthetic Biology (project: ERASynBio2-ECFexpress). R.A. and A.M. were funded by the Max Planck Society.

Mechanochemistry offers a solventless, 'waste free' route to preparing metal oxide catalysts, however, there is limited information on the chemical steps involved. In this work, the perovskite LaMnO

Pairwise sequence covariations are a signal of conserved RNA secondary structure. We describe a method for distinguishing when lack of covariation signal can be taken as evidence against a conserved RNA structure, as opposed to when a sequence alignment merely has insufficient variation to detect covariations. We find that alignments for several long non-coding RNAs previously shown to lack covariation support do have adequate covariation detection power, providing additional evidence against their proposed conserved structures. Availability and implementation The R-scape web server is at eddylab.org/R-scape, with a link to download the source code. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

These are exciting times for PVC researchers! The PVC superphylum is composed of the bacterial phyla Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae (those three founders giving it its name), Lentisphaerae and Kirimatiellaeota as well as some uncultured candidate phyla, such as the Candidatus Omnitrophica (previously known as OP3). Despite early debates, most of the disagreements that surround this group of bacteria have been recently resolved. In this article, we review the history of the study of PVC bacteria, with a particular focus on the misinterpretations that emerged early in the field and their resolution. We begin with a historical perspective that describes the relevant facts of PVC research from the early times when they were not yet termed PVC. Those were controversial times and we refer to them as the “discovery age” of the field. We continue by describing new discoveries due to novel techniques and data that combined with the reinterpretations of old ones have contributed to solve most of the discordances and we refer to these times as the “illumination age” of PVC research. We follow by arguing that we are just entering the “golden age” of PVC research and that the future of this growing community is looking bright. We finish by suggesting a few of the directions that PVC researches might take in the future., This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (Grant Number BFU2013-40866-P) and the Junta de Andalucía (CEIC Grant C2A Program).

La presente disertación propone como línea base la validación de la sistematización de experiencias en procesos pedagógicos e interdisciplinarios para la inclusión educativa en Colombia como una nueva forma de investigación, por cuanto han dejado huellas para la resignificación de teorías alrededor de nuevas maneras de pensar y actuar frente a los desafíos que depara el desarrollo de propuestas pedagógico-didácticas en el marco de una política pública educativa inclusiva del Ministerio de Educación Nacional (MEN), mediante decreto 1421 de 2017, que anuló la presencia de centros de educación especial, y responsabilizó a instituciones escolares regulares, que carecen de profesores capacitados, modelo pedagógico y currículo adecuado para atender diferencias individuales de estilos y ritmos de aprendizajes; con esta ausencia de condiciones, las instituciones justifican la no aceptación de estudiantes con necesidades específicas de apoyo educativo diferenciado. En este sentido, es preciso indagar la iniciativa de aulas para la inclusión mediante la formación profesoral e innovación didáctica que pretende lograr el aprendizaje de todos, convirtiéndose en posibilidad válida de un proceso de intervención educativa.

A new method, R-scape, tests whether observed sequence covariation supports a conserved secondary structure in RNA. The program finds no evidence for previously proposed conserved secondary structures in several lncRNAs. Many functional RNAs have an evolutionarily conserved secondary structure. Conservation of RNA base pairing induces pairwise covariations in sequence alignments. We developed a computational method, R-scape (RNA Structural Covariation Above Phylogenetic Expectation), that quantitatively tests whether covariation analysis supports the presence of a conserved RNA secondary structure. R-scape analysis finds no statistically significant support for proposed secondary structures of the long noncoding RNAs HOTAIR, SRA, and Xist.

Las frutas y hortalizas ofrecen una amplia variedad de alimentos, además de desempeñar un papel muy importante en la dieta humana pues constituyen la fuente principal de vitaminas, minerales y fibra. Son de carácter perecedero y para alcanzar su vida útil es necesario transformarlos mediante el empleo de algunos métodos de conservación. Por tal motivo en el presente trabajo de investigación se planteó elaborar una conserva de zanahoria en almíbar de maracuyá y naranja en tres concentraciones de °Brix. Se trabajó con las mezclas como factor A zumo de cítricos (maracuyá y naranja) y como factor B concentración de sólidos solubles en el almíbar (ºBrix) para seleccionar la mejor conserva. Se caracterizó haciendo un análisis físico – químico, y organoléptico. Las conservas de zanahorias elaboradas con almíbar de zumo de maracuyá a 22°Brix finales aportaron buenas características en todas las propiedades organolépticas estudiadas (sabor, color, olor, textura, y apariencia general) por lo cual se consideró como el mejor producto en el análisis sensorial. Los pH obtenidos en el producto elaborado estuvieron entre 3,73, 4, 33 y los °Brix tuvieron con no menos de 14°Brix para jugos edulcorados y no menos de 18°Brix para jugos muy edulcorado. Además se comprobó que el tipo de zumo de frutas y la concentración de sólidos solubles no fueron factores influyentes sobre el número de días necesarios para la estabilización de componentes, ya que los resultados no demostraron diferencias significativas estadísticamente. La investigación fue realizada tomando como referencia la Norma Técnica Ecuatoriana INEN 2760:2013 en cuanto a la elaboración de conserva de vegetales/frutas.

RNAcentral is a comprehensive database of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) sequences, collating information on ncRNA sequences of all types from a broad range of organisms. We have recently added a new genome mapping pipeline that identifies genomic locations for ncRNA sequences in 296 species. We have also added several new types of functional annotations, such as tRNA secondary structures, Gene Ontology annotations, and miRNA-target interactions. A new quality control mechanism based on Rfam family assignments identifies potential contamination, incomplete sequences, and more. The RNAcentral database has become a vital component of many workflows in the RNA community, serving as both the primary source of sequence data for academic and commercial groups, as well as a source of stable accessions for the annotation of genomic and functional features. These examples are facilitated by an improved RNAcentral web interface, which features an updated genome browser, a new sequence feature viewer, and improved text search functionality. RNAcentral is freely available at https://rnacentral.org.

Bacteria from the Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Chlamydiae (PVC) superphylum are exceptions to the otherwise dominant mode of division by binary fission, which is based on the interaction between the FtsZ protein and the peptidoglycan (PG) biosynthesis machinery. Some PVC bacteria are deprived of the FtsZ protein and were also thought to lack PG. How these bacteria divide is still one of the major mysteries of microbiology. The presence of PG has recently been revealed in Planctomycetes and Chlamydiae, and proteins related to PG synthesis have been shown to be implicated in the division process in Chlamydiae, providing important insights into PVC mechanisms of division. Here, we review the historical lack of observation of PG in PVC bacteria, its recent detection in two phyla and its involvement in chlamydial cell division. Based on the detection of PG-related proteins in PVC proteomes, we consider the possible evolution of the diverse division mechanisms in these bacteria. We conclude by summarizing what is known and what remains to be understood about the evolutionary cell biology of PVC division modes., ER-M and DD are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant BFU2013-40866-P) and the Junta de Andalucía (CEIC Grant C2A program to DD). IC is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant BIO2014-57545-R).

Regulation of tetralin biodegradation operons is one of the examples of unconventional LysR-type mediated transcriptional regulation. ThnR activates transcription from two divergent and closely located promoters PB and PC. Although ThnR activates each promoter independently, transcription from each one increases when both promoters are together. Mutational analysis of the intergenic region shows that cooperative transcription is achieved through formation of a ThnR complex when bound to its respective sites at each promoter, via formation of a DNA loop. Mutations also defined ThnR contact sites that are important for independent transcriptional activation at each promoter. A mutation at the PB promoter region, which abolishes its independent transcription, does not affect at all PB transcription in the presence of the divergent promoter PC, thus indicating that the complex formed via DNA loop can compensate for the deficiencies in the correct protein-DNA interaction at one of the promoters. Combination of mutations in both promoters identifies a region at PC that is not important for its independent transcription but it is essential for cooperative transcription from both promoters. This work provides new insights into the diversity and complexity of activation mechanisms used by the most abundant type of bacterial transcriptional regulators., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity, Grants BIO2011-24003 and BIO2014-57545-R.

Bacteria belonging to the Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae (PVC) superphylum are of interest for biotechnology, evolutionary cell biology, ecology, and human health. Some PVC species lack a number of typical bacterial features while others possess characteristics that are usually more associated to eukaryotes or archaea. For example, the Planctomycetes phylum is atypical for the absence of the FtsZ protein and for the presence of a developed endomembrane system. Studies of the cellular and molecular biology of these infrequent characteristics are currently limited due to the lack of genetic tools for most of the species. So far, genetic manipulation in Planctomycetes has been described in Planctopirus limnophila only. Here, we show a simple approach that allows mutagenesis by homologous recombination in three different planctomycetes species (i.e., Gemmata obscuriglobus, Gimesia maris, and Blastopirellula marina), in addition to P. limnophila, thus extending the repertoire of genetically modifiable organisms in this superphylum. Although the Planctomycetes show high resistance to most antibiotics, we have used kanamycin resistance genes in G. obscuriglobus, P. limnophila, and G. maris, and tetracycline resistance genes in B. marina, as markers for mutant selection. In all cases, plasmids were introduced in the strains by mating or electroporation, and the genetic modification was verified by Southern Blotting analysis. In addition, we show that the green fluorescent protein (gfp) is expressed in all four backgrounds from an Escherichia coli promoter. The genetic manipulation achievement in four phylogenetically diverse planctomycetes will enable molecular studies in these strains, and opens the door to developing genetic approaches not only in other planctomycetes but also other species of the superphylum, such as the Lentisphaerae., ER-M and DPD are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (Grant BFU2013-40866-P) and the Junta de Andalucía (CEIC Grant C2A program to DPD). IC and ES are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (Grant BIO2014-57545-R).

The use of wireless electrochemical promotion of catalysis (EPOC) of a Pt catalyst supported on a mixed ionic electronic conducting hollow fibre membranes is investigated. This reactor configuration offers high surface areas per unit volume and is ideally suited for scaled-up applications. The MIEC membrane used is the La 0.6 Sr 0.4 Co 0.2 Fe 0.8 O 3 perovskite (LSCF) with a Pt catalyst film deposited on the outer surface of the LSCF membrane. Experimental results showed that after initial catalyst deactivation (in the absence of an oxygen chemical potential difference across the membrane) the catalytic rate can be enhanced by using an oxygen sweep and wireless EPOC can be used for the in situ regeneration of a deactivated catalyst.