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This paper argues that libertarianism—and only libertarianism—can vindicate immigration's status as a human right whose protection is morally required in nearly all circumstances. Competing political theories such as liberal egalitarianism fail to rule out significant immigration restrictions in a range of realistic conditions. We begin by outlining the core tenets of libertarianism and their implications for immigration policy. Next, we explain why arguments that appeal to alternative principles are unable to provide robust justification for open borders. We conclude by considering whether our argument vindicates libertarianism or undermines open borders.

Suppose that it was possible to teletransport. The teletransporter would destroy your old brain and body and construct an identical brain and body at a new location. Would you survive teletransportation? Many people think that teletransportation would kill you. On their view, the person that emerges from the teletransporter would be a replica of you, but it wouldn't be you. In contrast, I argue that there's no relevant difference between teletransportation and ordinary survival. So, if you survive ordinary life, then you survive teletransportation. Yet my argument may also show that we have little prudential reason to care about our survival in general.

We propose a system solution to achieve data-efficient, decentralized state estimation for a team of flying robots using thermal images and inertial measurements. Each robot can fly independently, and exchange data when possible to refine its state estimate. Our system front-end applies an online photometric calibration to refine the thermal images so as to enhance feature tracking and place recognition. Our system back-end uses a covariance-intersection fusion strategy to neglect the cross-correlation between agents so as to lower memory usage and computational cost. The communication pipeline uses Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors (VLAD) to construct a request-response policy that requires low bandwidth usage. We test our collaborative method on both synthetic and real-world data. Our results show that the proposed method improves by up to 46 % trajectory estimation with respect to an individual-agent approach, while reducing up to 89 % the communication exchange. Datasets and code are released to the public, extending the already-public JPL xVIO library., 8 pages, 8 figures

N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a potent psychedelic naturally produced by many plants and animals, including humans. Whether or not DMT is significant to mammalian physiology, especially within the central nervous system, is a debate that started in the early 1960s and continues to this day. This review integrates historical and recent literature to clarify this issue, giving special attention to the most controversial subjects of DMT’s biosynthesis, its storage in synaptic vesicles and the activation receptors like sigma-1. Less discussed topics, like DMT’s metabolic regulation or the biased activation of serotonin receptors, are highlighted. We conclude that most of the arguments dismissing endogenous DMT’s relevance are based on obsolete data or misleading assumptions. Data strongly suggest that DMT can be relevant as a neurotransmitter, neuromodulator, hormone and immunomodulator, as well as being important to pregnancy and development. Key experiments are addressed to definitely prove what specific roles DMT plays in mammalian physiology.

Polyamines (PAs) are ubiquitous low molecular weight, molecules found in all living cells with participation in a variety of processes. The establishment of symbiotic interactions between soil nitrogen fixing bacteria (rhizobia) and leguminous plants, as well as the formation of the root nodules where the rhizobia are hosted, depends on the production of PAs by both partners. In the bacteria, PAs provide certain traits that facilitate the recognition between the symbionts, while in the plant, PAs participate in the production of signaling molecules like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO), detected during the initial stages of the symbiosis. Once the symbiosis is established, the high amount and variety of PAs in the root nodules together to their participation in the metabolic reactions supporting nitrogen fixation, suggest their involvement in the nodule functioning. In addition, PAs are key players in the response to abiotic stresses contributing to the adaptation of the symbiosis to salinity, specially, by an increment in the production of PAs in the bacteroids and their interactions with other anti-stress plant hormones. Considering the importance of biological nitrogen fixation in soil fertility and agriculture productivity in a context of climate change, in this review we describe the participation of PAs to the rhizobia-legume interaction and the nitrogen fixation process, as well as its involvement in the response to salinity in the symbiosis.

We describe a (nonparametric) prediction algorithm for spatial data, based on a canonical factorization of the spectral density function. We provide theoretical results showing that the predictor has desirable asymptotic properties. Finite sample performance is assessed in a Monte Carlo study that also compares our algorithm to a rival nonparametric method based on the infinite AR representation of the dynamics of the data. Finally, we apply our methodology to predict house prices in Los Angeles., Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures

The purpose of this article was to assess the effectiveness of ozone therapy as an adjunct to mechanical therapy in periodontitis patients. Thirty-two patients diagnosed with generalized periodontitis were selected, with a total of 655 teeth examined. Each patient’s mouth was divided into four quadrants (the split-mouth model) to be randomly treated with four sessions of gaseous ozone or air. The following clinical variables were recorded: the gingival index, the periodontal clinical attachment loss, the Miller’s mobility index and the clinical improvements, as assessed through the visual analog scale (VAS). In addition, the microorganisms were qualitatively compared. After four weeks of treatment, the teeth of the ozone-treated quadrants showed statistically significant reductions in the gingival index and an improvement in the clinical attachment (p < 0.0001). The same treatment also significantly improved mobility by between 70% and 86% compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). Statistically significant differences were also recorded for the VAS (p < 0.0001). In the qualitative study of the subgingival flora, significant differences were observed (p < 0.0001). The overall results of this trial support the view that ozone treatment is effective and well tolerated in cases of generalized chronic periodontitis.

The use of medical ozone in the treatment of chronic pain is progressively expanding in Spain and today it is used both in public and private medical centers. However, there is a great lack of knowledge about this technology not only in primary care but also in medical specialties. Although its biochemical bases are well determined and there are various systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the literature that justify its use in pain medicine, some professionals still are prejudiced against it. The evidence level of using medical ozone according SIGN (Scotish Intercollegiate Guideline Network) criteria is similar or superior to most of the techniques used in a Pain Unit. In this paper, we have done a review on ozone therapy in pain medicine, compiling the evidence published about it.

The martensitic transformation in pure Fe and its alloys has been studied over many decades. Several theoretical models have been proposed to describe the atomic motion that leads to the fcc-to-bcc martensitic transformation. However, such models do not account for the effect of pre-existing planar defects such as twin boundaries and stacking faults, present in the high-temperature austenite phase prior to the transformation process. This work systematically studies the role of nano-spaced planar faults with different inter-spacing on the martensitic transformation using molecular dynamics simulations. Research shows that the investigated planar defects affect the nucleation and growth mechanisms during martensite formation, the morphology of the resulting microstructure, the specific atomic path leading to the phase transformation, and the martensite start temperatures. Martensite variants were identified by the analysis of the atomic shears and slip systems during the transformation process. A crystallographic analysis is done to explain the existence of different shear mechanisms of martensite transformation at different locations in the fcc austenite. The present investigation provides fundamental insights into the martensitic transformation process in presence of pre-existing planar defects and can be applied to other material systems, e.g., Fe alloys.

Background: Gastrointestinal symptomatology is frequent among patients with fibromyalgia, which increases disease burden and lacks specific treatment, either pharmacological or nonpharmacological. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a multi-strain probiotic, VSL#3®, for the treatment of fibromyalgia-associated gastrointestinal manifestations. Methods: This randomized, placebo-controlled trial included 12 weeks of probiotic or placebo treatment followed by 12 weeks of follow up. The primary outcome variable was the mean change from the baseline to the endpoint in the composite severity score of the three main gastrointestinal symptoms reported by patients with fibromyalgia (abdominal pain, abdominal bloating and meteorism). Secondary outcome variables were the severity of additional gastrointestinal symptoms, fibromyalgia severity, depression, sleep disturbance, health-related quality of life and patients’ overall impression of improvement. Results: No differences were found between VSL#3® (n = 54) and the placebo (n = 56) in the primary outcome (estimated treatment difference: 1.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.1, 4.2; p = 0.501), or in any of the secondary outcomes. However, responders to VSL#3 were more likely to maintain any improvement during the follow-up period compared to responders in the placebo arm. Overall, VSL#3 tolerability was good. Conclusion: Our data could not demonstrate any beneficial effects of VSL#3® either on the composite score of severity of abdominal pain, bloating and meteorism or in any of the secondary outcome variables. More research is needed to elucidate specific factors that may predict a favourable response to treatment in patients with fibromyalgia., Actial Farmaceutica Srl (Rome, Italy), Ferring SAU (Madrid, Spain), Neither Actial Farmaceutica Srl nor Ferring SAU, Actial Farmaceutica Srl

El objetivo general de la investigación fue analizar jurídicamente el femicidio y el abuso de menores en tiempos de Covid-19 en Ecuador. El presente trabajo se desarrolló desde el enfoque cuantitativo desde una metodología descriptiva con diseño no experimental, apoyándose en el análisis documental–bibliográfico. Fundamentándose en la exploración metódica, rigurosa de material documental de trabajos científicos. El diseño bibliográfico se apoya en los procesos lógicos y mentales. Desde las leyes, normas, revistas; trabajos científicos y jurídico, relacionados al tema. El método utilizado fue el analítico-sintético, el cual permitió en la duración de la investigación considerar las particularidades principales en correspondencia al respeto al derecho de la mujer. Se concluye, que los datos conocidos en la investigación demuestran que el abuso del que son víctimas tanto mujeres como menores de edad principalmente vienen de su propia casa, ya que más del 80% de los agresores están dentro del círculo familiar.

The aim of the paper is to describe a bootstrap, contrary to the sieve boot- strap, valid under either long memory (LM) or short memory (SM) depen- dence. One of the reasons of the failure of the sieve bootstrap in our context is that under LM dependence, the sieve bootstrap may not be able to capture the true covariance structure of the original data. We also describe and ex- amine the validity of the bootstrap scheme for the least squares estimator of the parameter in a regression model and for model specification. The moti- vation for the latter example comes from the observation that the asymptotic distribution of the test is intractable.

Water deficit is one of the most serious environmental factors that affect the productivity of crops in the world. Arachis hypogaea is a legume with a high nutritional value and 70% is cultivated in semi-arid regions. This research aimed to study the effect of water deficit on peanut root exudates composition, analyzing the importance of exudates on peanut-PGPR interaction under restrictive water condition.Peanut seedlings were subjected to six treatments: 0 and 15 mM PEG, in combination with non-inoculated, Bradyrhizobium sp. and Bradyrhizobium-Azospirillum brasilense inoculated treatments. We analyzed the 7-day peanut root exudate in response to a water restrictive condition and the presence of bacterial inocula. Molecular analysis was performed by HPLC, UPLC and GC. Bacteria motility, chemotaxis, bacterial adhesion to peanut roots and peanut growth parameters were analyzed. Restrictive water condition modified the pattern of molecules exuded by roots, increasing the exudation of Naringenin, oleic FA, citric and lactic acid, and stimulation the release of terpenes of known antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The presence of microorganisms modified the composition of root exudates. Water deficit affected the first events of peanut-PGPR interaction and the root exudates favored bacterial mobility, the chemotaxis and attachment of bacteria to peanut roots.Changes in the profile of molecules exuded by roots allowed A. hypogaea-Bradyrhizobium and A.hypogaea?Bradyrhizobium-Azospirillum interaction thus reversing the negative effects of restrictive water condition on peanut growth. These findings have a future potential application to improve plant-PGPR interactions under water deficit by formulating inoculants containing key molecules exuded during stress. Fil: Cesari, Adriana Belen. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular; Argentina Fil: Paulucci, Natalia Soledad. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular; Argentina Fil: López Gómez, Miguel. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Hidalgo Catellano, Javier. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Luch Plá, Carmen. Universidad de Granada; España Fil: Dardanelli, Marta Susana. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Cordoba. Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular; Argentina

This paper is concerned with inference in threshold regression models when the practitioners do not know whether at the threshold point the true specification has a kink or a jump. We nest previous works that assume either continuity or discontinuity at the threshold point and develop robust inference methods on the parameters of the model, which are valid under both specifications. In particular, we found that the parameter values under the kink restriction are irregular points of the Hessian matrix of the expected Gaussian quasi-likelihood. This irregularity destroys the asymptotic normality and induces the non-standard cube root convergence rate for the threshold estimate. However, it also enables us to obtain the same asymptotic distribution as in Hansen (2000) for the quasi-likelihood ratio statistic for the unknown threshold up to an unknown scale parameter. We show that this scale parameter can be consistently estimated by a kernel method as long as no higher order kernel is used. Furthermore, we propose to construct confidence intervals for the unknown threshold by bootstrap test inversion, also known as grid bootstrap. Finite sample performances of the grid bootstrap confidence intervals are examined through Monte Carlo simulations. We also implement our procedure to an economic empirical application., Comment: 56 pages, 3 figures

Polyamines (PAs) are small nitrogen polycationic compounds involved in the response to salinity as well as in biotic interactions. Legumes are salt sensitive species characterised by their ability to establish symbiotic interactions with nitrogen fixing bacteria known as rhizobia that colonize the roots inducing the formation of nodules where the nitrogen fixation occurs. The content of PAs can be regulated among others by the catabolic enzymes diamine oxidase (DAO) and polyamine oxidase that additionally, are a source of H2O2, required in the regulation of biotic interactions including the rhizobia-legume symbiosis. Therefore, the role of PAs catabolism in the symbiosis between Medicago truncatula and Sinorhizobium meliloti under salt stress conditions was assessed in this work by the inhibition of DAO with the specific inhibitor aminoguanidine (AG). Treatment with AG limited the symbiosis, reducing root nodule formation and nitrogenase activity. Under salt stress conditions, the reduction of the PAs levels in nodules, together with glutamic acid (Glu), support that synthesis of PAs would be involved in the regulation of PAs levels rather than degradation. In addition, the content of H2O2 in mature nodules and leaves is regulated by catalase activity (CAT), instead of PAs oxidation, while H2O2 produced by PAs catabolism seems to be involved in the inhibition of the symbiosis establishment.

The objective of the work is to evaluate whether Bradyrhizobium sp. SEMIA6144 and Azospirillum brasilense Az39 can be used for inoculation to mitigate the negative effect of water restriction on growth of Arachis hypogaea. In this study, nitrogenase activity was determined by measuring the H2 evolution in an open-flow system, and N and C concentration in plants were determined by Elemental Analyzer. Lipid peroxidation and polyamines (PA) levels were analyzed by HPLC. The results showed that the restrictive water condition (RWC) caused an 80% inhibition of the N fixation rate. Although both single and double inoculation favored peanut growth under RWC, the inoculation with SEMIA6144 was better. Peanut plants have higher numbers of nodules in the roots when inoculated with SEMIA6144 in the absence of Az39, although it was observed that the inoculation with Az39 favored root development thus allowing the appearance of more infection sites in peanut roots. In double inoculation, the demand for N in the peanut was met with greater effectiveness. PAs found in leaves were putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. The results show that SEMIA6144 inoculation reversed the negative effects of RWC on growth and nodulation peanut parameters. Simultaneous application of SEMIA6144 and Az39 improved early nodulation, efficiency in N fixation and total N, thus increasing the tolerance of A. hypogaea to RWC. Our findings provide new insights in the context of mixed inoculation and improvement of peanut production in a limited water environment. Fil: Cesari, Adriana Belen. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular. Sección Química Biológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Paulucci, Natalia Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular. Sección Química Biológica; Argentina Fil: López-Gómez, Miguel. Universidad de Granada. Instituto de Biotecnología; España Fil: Hidalgo-Castellanos, Javier. Universidad de Granada. Instituto de Biotecnología; España Fil: Lluch Plá, Carmen. Universidad de Granada. Instituto de Biotecnología; España Fil: Dardanelli, Marta Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología Molecular. Sección Química Biológica; Argentina

The development of mixed grazing systems is an interesting alternative for the utilization of rangelands with ecological and/or economic limitations; therefore, the study of patterns and eating habits of different species in the same grazing area is important. A mixed grazing study was carried out on a Mediterranean grassland sown with Thinopyrum ponticum 30 years ago (Rinconada de Maipu, Chile 33o 28’S; 70o 51ʼ W) with the purpose of quantifying the botanical composition, dietary overlap and selectivity indexes of the main grass species consumed by goats and sheep. Trophic behavior was studied in seven young Suffolk Down rams, seven young Merino-Precoz rams and seven young Boer-Criollo bucks grazing together during three grassland phenological stages. During the grassland vegetative stage, diets were mainly composed of annual grasses and forbs. Perennial grasses dominated the animals’ diets during the reproductive and dry grassland stages. The diversity of the goats’ diets was higher than that of the sheep, demonstrating greater plasticity in their dietary habits. However, in this environment, both species behaved as generalist herbivores. The level of diet overlap between the sheep and goats was high, especially when grazing during the grassland reproductive and dry phenological stages, suggesting potential competition during lower forage quality stages.

To the scarce information on dietary habits in fibromyalgia (FM), it is added that there are no comparative studies with other rheumatic diseases. The objective of this study was to characterise the dietary habits of patients with FM by comparing, for the first time, with healthy controls (HC) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).This cross-sectional, observational study was based on data obtained from the Dietfibrom project for FM and from the IMID Consortium for RA and HC. All participants completed a food frequency questionnaire evaluating their weekly dietary intake of main food groups. The three cohorts were compared using a multiple logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, and body mass index.After quality control, n=287 FM, n=1,983 HC and n=1,942 RA patients were analysed. We found that FM had a profound impact in the diet compared to HC, reducing the consumption of dairy (OR=0.32, p0.0001), bread and/or whole grain cereals (OR=0.59, p=0.0006), fresh fruit (OR=0.66, P=0.008), and fish (OR=0.64, p=0.002). These same four food groups were also significantly reduced in FM patients in comparison to RA patients (p0.0005 in all cases). Additionally, a lower consumption of pasta, rice and/or potatoes was also observed in FM compared to RA (OR=0.72, p=0.028).The present cross-sectional study shows that FM is associated to a significant change in the normal dietary patterns. These results underscore the importance of diet in this prevalent disease and are a warning of the potential long-range effects of a deficient nutritional status.