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The main key drivers of vulnerability for marine species are anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. The widely documented impacts of fishing activities on marine species, the growing concern about the population status of many marine species, and the increase in per capita consumption of marine products worldwide have led to the development of environmentally responsible fishing standards and initiatives to inform consumers about the health status of the species. In Mexico, fishing is a vital source of jobs and food security for many coastal communities, but the population status of many species of commercial importance has not been evaluated. Management efforts and fisheries certification procedures and standards to achieve the sustainability of many Mexican fisheries are hindered by a lack of biological and fishery data for many species. In this study, a risk assessment methodology for data-limited fisheries, a Productivity, and Susceptibility Analysis was used to estimate the relative vulnerability of marine invertebrates and fishes commercially important in Mexico to fishing. Ninety-eight invertebrates, 66 elasmobranchs, and 367 bony fish were analyzed. The vulnerability among the 531 evaluated species is high for 115 (22%), moderate for 113 (21%), and low for 303 (57%). The most vulnerable species are the Mexican geoduck (Panopea globosa) and the Black Sea Cucumber (Holothuria atra) for invertebrates, the Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela) among elasmobranches, and the Black-and-yellow rockfish (Sebastes chrysomelas) for bony fishes. This study provides a first screening of the many species potentially affected by fisheries, prioritizes marine species for future research and management efforts, identifies the main data gaps, and sets the baseline for future research efforts and management. Furthermore, the results could improve market-based approaches like eco-labeling initiatives and the Responsible Seafood Consumption Guide, developed by Mexican authorities in collaboration with Comunidad and Biodiversidad (COBI, a civil society organization), to inform consumers about the origin and sustainability of fishery products.

Focused ultrasound (FUS) is becoming widely researched for medical therapies due to its high penetration depth, spatial resolution, and affordability. Applications of FUS range from high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for the ablation of cancerous tumors to low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) for the treatment of neurological conditions like essential tremors. A key step in developing these treatments and their corresponding FUS devices is characterizing the emitted ultrasound from the proposed transducer. However, a bottleneck exists at this verification and validation stage; current characterization techniques lack the robustness of reliably recording below a 5μm resolution. This level of accuracy is needed to adequately design devices which can target cells like astrocytes or other desired target tissues at this scale. Our Acoustic Measurement Platform for Localizing and Implementing Therapeutic Ultrasound Devices and Equipment (AMPLITUDE) is a solution which enables engineers, scientists, and clinicians to confidently characterize their equipment in a benchtop setting. It achieves this resolution by utilizing an all-in-one water conditioning unit, linear stepper motors with a theoretical step size of 1 μm and a 1% standard deviation on repetitive experiments, as well as signal processing techniques. This system can be used throughout the product timeline including prototyping, verifying efficacy, FDA testing, and routine check-ups during clinical use.

Therapeutic ultrasound is proving to be viable in the clinic and is producing a high level of commercial activity in Therapeutic Ultrasound Systems globally across a wide variety of clinical indications. Recently there has been an increased level of commercial interest in systems delivering lower intensity ultrasound. Some examples of clinical indications include modulating nerves, sonodynamic therapy, or combining ultrasound with drugs to lower the threshold of required intensities. Regardless of the acoustic intensity required, new product inception will adopt an effective bio-acoustic result to match a clinical indication, creating a gap in product development. Sonic Concepts provides transmit ultrasound development services to fill this gap through a phased development program, accelerating first-in-man and time to market. Sonic Concepts has co-developed 30 + clinical systems, servicing customers with more than 100 years of accumulated experience, creative design techniques, and a spectrum of products and intellectual property to leverage. Examples of co-developed clinical systems will be presented, detailing the process from initial concept to first-in-man while using pre-clinical systems, HIFUPlex™ and NeuroFUS® to fast-track development.

Ocean life—from viruses to whales—is built from “biomolecules.” Biomolecules such as DNA infuse each drop of ocean water, grain of sediment, and breath of ocean air. The Ocean Biomolecular Observing Network (OBON) is developing a global collaboration that will allow science and society to understand ocean life like never before. The program will transform how we sense, harvest, protect, and manage ocean life using molecular techniques, as it faces multiple stresses including pollution, habitat loss, and climate change. It will also help communities detect biological hazards such as harmful algal blooms and pathogens, and be a key component of next-generation ocean observing systems. OBON will encourage continuous standardization and intercalibration of methods and data interoperability to help enhance and future-proof capabilities. OBON's objectives are: 1) to build a coastal-to-open ocean multi-omics biodiversity observing system; 2) to develop and transfer capacity between partners; 3) to enhance marine ecosystem digitization and modelling and 4) to coordinate action on pressing scientific, management, and policy questions.

Summary We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known species of urban microorganisms and a consistent set of 31 species found in 97% of samples that were distinct from human commensal organisms. Profiles of AMR genes varied widely in type and density across cities. Cities showed distinct microbial taxonomic signatures that were driven by climate and geographic differences. These results constitute a high-resolution global metagenomic atlas that enables discovery of organisms and genes, highlights potential public health and forensic applications, and provides a culture-independent view of AMR burden in cities., Graphical abstract, Highlights • Cities possess a consistent “core” set of non-human microbes • Urban microbiomes echo important features of cities and city-life • Antimicrobial resistance genes are widespread in cities • Cities contain many novel bacterial and viral species, This systematic, worldwide catalog of urban microbiomes represents a metagenomic atlas important for understanding the ecology, virulence, and antibiotic resistance of city-specific microbial communities.

The 12S protocol is aimed at amplifying the hypervariable region of the mitochondrial DNA 12S rRNA gene in eukaryotes. The primers (MiFish-U-F & MiFish-U-R) used in this protocol were developed by Miya et al., 2015 for metabarcoding environmental DNA (eDNA) from fishes. Touchdown thermocycling protocols were adapted from the CALeDNA group. This work was supported by NASA grant NNX14AP62A ‘National Marine Sanctuaries as Sentinel Sites for a Demonstration Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)’ funded under the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP RFP NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2014-2003803 in partnership between NOAA, BOEM, and NASA), and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office. Citations 1) Miya M et al. 2015 MiFish, a set of universal PCR primers for metabarcoding environmental DNA from fishes: detection of more than 230 subtropical marine species. R.Soc.opensci. 2: 150088. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150088 2) CALeDNA. 2019. University of California Conservation Genomics Consortium.

Introduction To improve patient outcomes (eg, reducing blood loss and infection), practitioners have gravitated toward noninvasive and minimally invasive surgeries (MIS), which demand specialized toolkits. Focused ultrasound, for example, facilitates thermal ablation from a distance, thereby reducing injury to surrounding tissue. Focused ultrasound can often be performed noninvasively; however, it is more difficult to carry out in neuro-oncological tumors, as ultrasound is dramatically attenuated while propagating through the skull. This shortcoming has prompted exploration of MIS options for intracranial placement of focused ultrasound probes, such as within the BrainPath™ (NICO Corporation, Indianapolis, IN). Herein, we present the design, development, and in vitro testing of an image-guided, focused ultrasound prototype designed for use in MIS procedures. This probe can ablate neuro-oncological lesions despite its small size. Materials & Methods Preliminary prototypes were iteratively designed, built, and tested. The final prototype consisted of three 8-mm-diameter therapeutic elements guided by an imaging probe. Probe functionality was validated on a series of tissue-mimicking phantoms. Results Lesions were created in tissue-mimicking phantoms with average dimensions of 2.5 × 1.2 × 6.5 mm and 3.4 × 3.25 × 9.36 mm after 10- and 30-second sonification, respectively. 30 s sonification with 118 W power at 50% duty cycle generated a peak temperature of 68 °C. Each ablation was visualized in real time by the built-in imaging probe. Conclusion We developed and validated an ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound probe for use in MIS procedures. The dimensional constraints of the prototype were designed to reflect those of BrainPath trocars, which are MIS tools used to create atraumatic access to deep-seated brain pathologies.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the association between anatomic tumor characteristics and the radiation dose in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed over a 42 months period. A total of 51 TACE procedures were included in the study. Information collected included: Gender, BMI, height, weight, cumulative dose area product (KAP), cumulative reference air kerma (RAK), maximum tumor diameter, multinodular tumors, and embolization material. Parametric univariate and simple linear regression analysis were used to determine associations between quantitative variables. Results: A total of 51 procedures in 37 patients, 19 women (51%) and 18 men (49%), with a mean age of 56 years (±17.3 years) and a mean BMI of 24 kg/m2 were included in the study. Overall, patient radiation dose was as follows: Mean KAP of 542.2 Gy* cm2 (±307 Gy* cm2) with a mean RAK of 2930.2 mGy (±1776.5 mGy). Higher patient radiation doses were observed in men (581.6 ± 262.9 Gy* cm2 vs. 497.8 ± 350.5 Gy* cm2) (P = 0.06) and in patients with higher BMIs (KAP: r = 0.37 [P = 0.01]; RAK: r = 0.4 [P = 0.01]). Patients with multinodular disease were found with lower radiation dose according to RAK (1710.7 ± 1118.6 mGy vs. 3227.7 ± 1789.1 mGy, P = 0.03). Furthermore, logistic regression analysis demonstrated that patients with multinodular disease received 10% lower dose, according to RAK, when compared to patients with single tumors (odds ratio 1.001, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1–1.002) (P = 0.02). Conclusion: TACE is an effective method to treat patients with HCC that may be performed within acceptable radiation dose limits. Anatomic tumor characteristics were found to be associated with patient radiation dose. Interestingly, multi-tumor disease was found to cause a radiation dose reduction of 10%.

This protocol is aimed at amplifying the 16S rRNA hypervariable region 4 (16S V4) in prokaryotes. The primers (515fBand 806rB, 926R) used in this protocol are based on the primer utilized in Apprill et al 2015 and the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP). This work was supported by NASA grant NNX14AP62A ‘National Marine Sanctuaries as Sentinel Sites for a Demonstration Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)’ funded under the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP RFP NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2014-2003803 in partnership between NOAA, BOEM, and NASA), and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office. CitationApprill, A., McNally, S., Parsons, R. & Weber, L. Minor revision to V4 region SSU rRNA 806R gene primer greatly increases detection of SAR11 bacterioplankton. Aquat Microb Ecol 75, 129–137 (2015). doi:10.3354/ame01753 Earth Microbiom Projecthttp://press.igsb.anl.gov/earthmicrobiome/protocols-and-standards/16s/

Nucleic acids extraction from the filters using the Qiagen DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit with some modifications to the manufacturer’s protocol. These extraction protocols, adapted from Thomsen et al (2012), are used by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) for Monterey Bay, CA samples (MB). All MB samples were extracted in the Chavez Laboratory at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing California. This work was supported by NASA grant NNX14AP62A ‘National Marine Sanctuaries as Sentinel Sites for a Demonstration Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON)’ funded under the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP RFP NOAA-NOS-IOOS-2014-2003803 in partnership between NOAA, BOEM, and NASA), and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Program Office. Thomsen, P. F., Kielgast, J., Iversen, L. L. N., Møller, P. R., Rasmussen, M. & Willerslev, E., 2012, Detection of a Diverse Marine Fish Fauna Using Environmental DNA from Seawater Samples. Plos One, 7(8),e41732. Qiagen Inc., July 2006 DNeasy Blood and Tissue Handbook; available online from Qiagen Inc§ . Qiagen, Inc., June 2012 Qiamp DNA Mini and Blood Mini Handbook, available online from Qiagen, Inc.

Esta tesis propone el diseño y desarrollo de un marco basado en IO-Link para sensores genéricos.

This protocol is aimed at amplifying the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) mitochondrial gene in eukaryotes. The primers (forward: mlCOIintF, reverse: HCO2198) utilized in this protocol are based on the primers utilized in Leray et al. 2013 (forward) and Folmer et al. 1994 (reverse). Amplicons generated using this protocol can then be sequenced using the Illumina platform. Primers used: Fluidigm CS1+mlCOIinfF Fluidigm CS2+HCO2198 Secondary COI PCR primers PE1-BC-CS1 PE2-BC-CS2

Nucleic acids extraction from the filters using the Qiagen DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit with some modifications to the manufacturer’s protocol. These extraction protocols are used by the University of South Florida (USF) for Florida Keys samples (FK) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) for Monterey Bay, CA samples (MB). FK samples were extracted in the Breitbart Laboratory at the University of South Florida and all MB samples were extracted in the Chavez Laboratory at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute using the same extraction protocol.

The research was carried out at the "El Guarumo" drinking water plant located in Santa Ana, province of Manabi, Ecuador. The objective of the investigation was the proposal of a plan of prevention of occupational risks that allows the management of the labor risks in said plant. The main tools used were: survey, interview, checklist, LEST questionnaire for the diagnosis of the current situation in terms of working conditions, the risk identification matrix and the binary method of risk assessment. The main results obtained were the identification of the risks in their different categories, observing that the critical risk factors are related to the physical overexertion, the uncomfortable postures and the manual lifting of the load. Among the important risks are falling objects, skin contact with toxic substances and mental overwork, closely related to work pressures and job security? It was possible to carry out the proposal of preventive and corrective measures in order to properly manage the risks and contribute to the safety and health of the workers.

Cleaner Production (CP) strategies are fundamentally concerned with operations, environmental sustainability and maximization of waste reduction, recycling, and reuse at the enterprise level, and are thus microeconomic in scope. Sustainable development (SD), however, involves the design of integrated approaches that are capable of addressing environmental sustainability and waste while ensuring social and economic prosperity at the national or even global level implying a macroeconomic scope. Due to its philosophy, broad scope and long-term horizons, sustainable development necessitates capacity building via advancement of sustainable societal patterns and the creation of a new set of visions, paradigms, policies, methodological tools and applicable procedures. The first and foremost step on this path is the development of human capital required to make such a transition. This paper proposes the application of a methodology via which leaders in higher education could assess the necessity and the urgency for designing training programs that could assist with developing human capital needed to support SD. The methodology evaluates the conditions and constraints that could control the effectiveness and ease of implementation of such programs. At its core, the proposed methodology utilizes expert judgment to assess importance of including CP and SD indicators listed in the questionnaire on the proposed academic programs. During a pilot study which was conducted in the fall of 2013 at selected universities in the USA, Latin America, and China, experts evaluated a series of proposed CP-infused academic programs according to a matrix consisting of SD indicators, and under consideration of the norms, culture, political systems, regulations, resource availability, and local, regional and global economic development goals and objectives. Results of data analysis in the pilot study suggested that inclusion of the resource management (RM) topics in designing academic programs is the most preferred approach in all three different regions, followed by development of programs that could cover topics in areas of human capital development (HCD), human system designs (HSD) and sustainable economic development and prosperity (SEDP). Quantitative analysis of the data indicated existence of two clusters of preferences for CP–SD criteria: one for in the Americas (including Latin America) and one for China.

When a music student begins training, one of the main problems encountered is the proper understanding of specific terms that teachers introduce as a way of analyzing the type of sound produced by the student. The goal of a music teacher is that their students improve the quality of the sound they are emitting, but not in all cases students understand and know how to apply the concepts that the teacher wants the instrument to be able to emit the expected sound. Any tool that allows students to distinguish between sound quality would be helpful. The work presented here is a preliminary study of the quality of the sound emitted by a clarinet using deep learning techniques. It presents a first approximation of what will become a software tool that will allow music students to see that the sound quality they are emitting is correct and in real time. With this type of tools music students will be able to understand and associate the concepts explained by the teacher in a simpler way, and will even serve as a guide to improve their learning when the teacher is not present.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Specific practices in the management of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) have strong evidence supporting their benefit in reducing rates of recurrence and progression. These key practices include the utilization of intravesical chemotherapy following transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) for low grade (LG) disease, as well as re-staging TURBT and intravesical BCG therapy for high grade (HG) or T1 disease. However, recent studies, including the featured best poster at the AUA meeting in 2015, report alarmingly low adoption of such practices at a population level.(1) We report institutional rates of utilization of such practices following the implementation of quality improvement initiatives to determine reasonable expected benchmarks for implementation of these practices. METHODS: As part of a quality assessment and improvement initiative within our institution, data was prospectively collected for all patients with a new diagnosis of NMIBC undergoing TURBT over a 2 year period spanning 2014 and 2015. Summary data at the institution level was reported back to all providers to increase awareness and provide feedback. Data was collected on patient medical history, clinical and pathologic staging, and treatments performed. Reasons for failure to utilize specific practices in otherwise eligible patients were also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 153 patients were enrolled over a 2 year period across all stages of bladder cancer. Among incident cases of LG NMIBC, 77% received immediate intravesical chemotherapy following TURBT. Among patients with HG or T1 NMIBC, 76% underwent repeat TURBT within 3 months. When considering patients scheduled for restaging TURBT but unable to complete their surgery, rates increased to 92%. For patients with either HG or T1 disease, 91% underwent either induction intravesical therapy or radical cystectomy. The remaining 9% of patients who did not receive appropriate therapy either refused recommended treatment or were unable to receive due to the BCG shortage. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to a wealth of data demonstrating shortcomings at the population level in the utilization of evidence based practices in NMIBC, we present encouraging results from a local quality initiative with a focus on maximizing such practices. We also report expected achievable rates of utilization with minimal intervention in the current practice environment. (1) Nabbout P, Slaton J. BCG and re-staging transurethral bladder tumor resection underused for T1 bladder cancer. AUA News. 20(10): 11-12, October 2015.

OBJETIVO: Evaluar a un año el resultado del uso de espaciadores dinámicos en listésis grado I de Meyerding utilizando la escala de incapacidad de Oswestry. MÉTODOS: Se revisa el historial electrónico y radiográfico de los pacientes según criterios en el período de enero 2008 a diciembre 2010, con el propósito de realizar un estudio de cohortes, retrospectivo, longitudinal y observacional. RESULTADOS: El Oswestry prequirúrgico fue de 3.4% leve, 55.2% moderado y 41.4% severo; mientras que el posquirúrgico fue de 79.3% leve y 20.7% moderado. La cirugía realizada más común fue exploración y liberación con un 72.4%, presentando discectomía únicamente el 27.6%. Los pacientes presentaron dolor irradiado a miembro pélvico derecho en el 37.9%, miembro pélvico izquierdo 44.8% y a ambos miembros pélvicos en un 17.2%. Se presentó dolor posquirúrgico irradiado a miembro pélvico únicamente en el 2.4% siendo que el 100% de los casos presentaron algún tipo de dolor irradiado. Se utilizó espaciador DIAM en 79.3% y Wallis en 20.7% CONCLUSIONES: El tratamiento con espaciador interespinoso presenta un bajo índice de reintervención y por lo menos a un año presenta mejoría significativa en el índice de incapacidad.

OBJETIVO: Evaluar a un año el resultado del uso de espaciadores dinámicos en listésis grado I de Meyerding utilizando la escala de incapacidad de Oswestry. MÉTODOS: Se revisa el historial electrónico y radiográfico de los pacientes según criterios en el período de enero 2008 a diciembre 2010, con el propósito de realizar un estudio de cohortes, retrospectivo, longitudinal y observacional. RESULTADOS: El Oswestry prequirúrgico fue de 3.4% leve, 55.2% moderado y 41.4% severo; mientras que el posquirúrgico fue de 79.3% leve y 20.7% moderado. La cirugía realizada más común fue exploración y liberación con un 72.4%, presentando discectomía únicamente el 27.6%. Los pacientes presentaron dolor irradiado a miembro pélvico derecho en el 37.9%, miembro pélvico izquierdo 44.8% y a ambos miembros pélvicos en un 17.2%. Se presentó dolor posquirúrgico irradiado a miembro pélvico únicamente en el 2.4% siendo que el 100% de los casos presentaron algún tipo de dolor irradiado. Se utilizó espaciador DIAM en 79.3% y Wallis en 20.7% CONCLUSIONES: El tratamiento con espaciador interespinoso presenta un bajo índice de reintervención y por lo menos a un año presenta mejoría significativa en el índice de incapacidad. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o resultado em ano do uso de espaçadores dinâmicos em listese de grau I de Meyerding, utilizando a escala de incapacidade de Oswestry. MÉTODOS: Foi revisado o prontuário eletrônico e as radiografias dos pacientes, de acordo com os critérios, no período de janeiro de 2008 a dezembro de 2010, visando realizar um estudo de coortes, retrospectivo, longitudinal e observacional. RESULTADOS: O índice de Oswestry pré-cirúrgico foi de 3,4% leves, 55,2% moderados e 41,4% graves, enquanto o pós-cirúrgico foi de 79,3% leves e 20,7% moderados. A cirurgia mais realizada foi exploração e liberação, em 72,4%, sendo que 27,6% apresentaram apenas discectomia. Os pacientes tinham dor irradiada para o membro inferior direito em 37.9%, para o membro inferior esquerdo em 44,8% e para ambos os membros inferiores, em 17,2%. Verificou-se dor pós-operatória irradiada para o membro inferior só em 2,4%, sendo que 100% dos casos tinham algum tipo de dor irradiada. Foi empregado o espaçador DIAM em 79.3% e o Wallis em 20.7% CONCLUSÕES: O tratamento com espaçador interespinhoso apresenta baixo índice de re-intervenção e pelo menos em um ano, apresenta melhora significante do índice de incapacidade. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate one-year results of using dynamic spacers in listhesis grade I of Meyerding using Oswestry Disability Index. METHODS: The disability scale review was based in the electronic and radiographic history of patients according to criteria in the period from January 2008 to December 2010, in order to conduct a cohort study, retrospective, longitudinal, and observational. RESULTS: The Oswestry index before surgery was 3.4% mild, 55.2% moderate and severe 41.4%, while the postoperative was 79.3% mild and 20.7% moderate. The most common surgery performed was exploration and release in 72.4%, and only 27.6% had discectomy. Patients had pain radiating to right lower limb in 37.9%, to the left lower limb in 44.8% and to both lower extremities in 17.2%. Pain radiating to the lower limb after surgery was found only in 2.4%, and 100% of the cases had some type of radiating pain. The DIAM interspinous implant was used in 79.3%, and the Wallis in 20.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with interspinous spacer has a low rate of reoperation and at least during one year presented significant improvement in the rate of disability.

Today, Peru’s anchoveta fleet and fishmeal factories remain idle for most of the year. Although fish are abundant, large numbers of vessels resulting from overinvestment mean that seasonal quotas can be reached shortly after the fishing season opens (figure 5.1). After a brief period of intensive work, hundreds of fishers, dockworkers, and factory employees must search for jobs in whatever other employment may be available the rest of the year. However, these hardships pale in comparison with the social and economic upheavals that followed the anchoveta population collapse in the early 1970s, when coastal villages became virtual ghost towns. A generation later, as catch rebounded to nearly 10 million metric tons per year, reinvestment in the fishery soared (figure 5.2).

"En el presente trabajo se describen métodos ópticos para la detección de forma y la teoría básica para la implementación de un dispositivo para la medición de la antropometría del pie. El dispositivo óptico desarrollado consiste en proyectar una línea láser, sobre el pie de una persona el cual está colocado sobre una superficie de vidrio (aprox. 35 x 14 cm). Posteriormente, un sistema electromecánico mueve la línea en forma horizontal en pasos de fracción de milímetros. Con este proceso, el pie es barrido en toda su superficie por la línea de luz láser. Por medio de 3 cámaras CCD´s se obtienen imágenes de la línea de luz en cada desplazamiento, las cuales son procesadas por una PC para extraer los perfiles seccionales del pie. La técnica perfilo métrica está basada en el principio de que la forma de la superficie se calcula de las deformaciones que sufre la línea de luz cuando se proyecta sobre el objeto de prueba. Éstas deformaciones son adquiridas determinando la posición de la línea de luz proyectada sobre la superficie analizada. La posición se calcula con una resolución de fracciones de píxel, mediante la aproximación de la intensidad de los píxeles a una función continua. Cada perfil del pie que se extrae en forma independiente de cada imagen adquirida, es guardado en un arreglo de memoria, con lo que queda conformada la forma tridimensional del pie de una persona. Se presentan resultados obtenidos con este prototipo. Con los resultados obtenidos se prueba la eficiencia del método óptico utilizado para este diseño. Además del desarrollo de un sistema de visión robusto de buen rendimiento a bajo costo."

Depth profiles of dimethylmercury (DMHg) concentration were determined at nearshore to offshore sites in Monterey Bay, California. The onset of spring upwelling in the bay was accompanied by increases in DMHg concentrations. Profiles show DMHg increasing gradually with depth in fall and winter from

The role of AMA-1 during merozoite invasion has not yet been determined. However, reported experimental evidence suggests that this protein can be used, in particular as erythrocyte-binding protein, since, Fab fragments against this protein are able to block merozoite invasion. Using a previously described methodology, eight peptides with high binding activity to human erythrocyte, scattered along the different domains and having around 130 nM affinity constants, were identified in the Plasmodium falciparum AMA-1 protein. Their binding activity was sialic acid independent. Some of these peptides showed homology with the erythrocyte binding domains of one of the apical organelle protein family, MAEBL, identified in rodent malarial parasites. One of these peptides shares amino acid sequence with a previously reported B-cell epitope which induces antibodies to block parasite growth. The critical residues were identified for erythrocyte binding conserved peptides 4313 (DAEVAGTQYRLPSGKCPVFG), 4321 (VVDNWEKVCPRKNLQNAKFG), 4325 (MIKSAFLPTGAFKADRYKSH) and 4337 (WGEEKRASHTTPVLMEKPYY). All conserved peptides were able to block merozoite invasion of new RBC and development, suggesting that these peptides are involved in P. falciparum invasion.