The AGATA spectrometer has a well-established organisational and management structure for its construction and operation. The roles and responsibilities of each of the management committees and their ...interaction, as well as the scientific organisation is described in this contribution. The organisation of the present campaign, which aims to realise the 4
π
spectrometer, is presented. General comments on the previous physics campaigns at LNL (2010–2011), GSI (2012–2014) and GANIL (2015–2021) are made.
Cities in the northern Gulf of Mexico, such as Houston, have experienced one of the fastest rates of subsidence, with groundwater/hydrocarbon withdrawal being considered the primary cause. This work ...reports substantial ground subsidence in a few parts of Greater Houston and adjoining areas not reported before. Observation of surface deformation using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data obtained from Sentinel-1A shows total subsidence of up to 9 cm in some areas from 2016 to 2020. Most of the area within the Houston city limits shows no substantial subsidence, but growing suburbs around the city, such as Katy in the west, Spring and The Woodlands in the north and northwest, and Fresno in the south, show subsidence. In this study, we performed emerging hot spot analysis on InSAR displacement products to identify areas undergoing significant subsidence. To investigate the contributions of groundwater to subsidence, we apply optimized hot spot analysis to groundwater level data collected over the past 31 years from over 71,000 water wells and look at the correlation with fault surface deformation patterns. To evaluate the contribution of oil/gas pumping, we applied optimized hot spot analysis to known locations of oil and gas wells. The high rate of water pumping in the suburbs is the main driver of subsidence, but oil/gas withdrawal plays an important role in areas such as Mont Belvieu. Displacement time series shows that the Clodine, Hockley, and Woodgate faults are active, whereas the Long Point Fault shows no motion, although it was once very active.
Purpose
To describe a novel endoscopic technique to approach the maxillary sinus (MS), the Modified Anterior Medial Maxillary Approach (MAMMA), preserving the inferior turbinate (IT) and the ...nasolacrimal duct (NLD). To perform radiological measurements and describe a case series to study the feasibility and limits of MAMMA.
Methods
Computed tomography (CT) scans (
n
= 150 nasal cavities) were used to calculate areas of the MAMMA to define surgical limits and extensions. Measurement of distances to critical anatomy landmarks and total area for the MAMMA were calculated. An instructional case illustrating the surgical technique and outcome was also included.
Results
Radiological analysis showed a mean distance from the Piriform Aperture (PA) to the anterior limit of the NLD of 1.03 ± 0.18 cm (range 0.59–1.48) and a mean distance from de PA to the posterior limit of the NLD of 1.57 ± 0.22 cm (range 1.02–2.11). The mean distance from the nasal floor to the Hasner’s valve was 1.61 ± 0.27 cm (range 1.06–2.52) and the distance from the nasal floor to the insertion of the IT was 2.20 ± 0.36 cm (range 1.70–3.69). Finally, the mean total area for the MAMMA was 4.04 ± 0.52 cm2 (range 3.17–5.53). No complications or recurrence of the pathology were observed in operated patients.
Conclusion
The MAMMA provides a wide surgical field of the MS walls comparable to more aggressive techniques, with preservation of the sinonasal and lacrimal function. MAMMA is an effective alternative to treat different MS pathologies including benign recurrent maxillary sinus tumors.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder caused by loss of the protein dystrophin. In humans, DMD has early onset, causes developmental delays, muscle necrosis, loss of ambulation, and ...death. Current animal models have been challenged by their inability to model the early onset and severity of the disease. It remains unresolved whether increased sarcoplasmic calcium observed in dystrophic muscles follows or leads the mechanical insults caused by the muscle’s disrupted contractile machinery. This knowledge has important implications for patients, as potential physiotherapeutic treatments may either help or exacerbate symptoms, depending on how dystrophic muscles differ from healthy ones. Recently we showed how burrowing dystrophic (dys-1) C. elegans recapitulate many salient phenotypes of DMD, including loss of mobility and muscle necrosis. Here, we report that dys-1 worms display early pathogenesis, including dysregulated sarcoplasmic calcium and increased lethality. Sarcoplasmic calcium dysregulation in dys-1 worms precedes overt structural phenotypes (e.g., mitochondrial, and contractile machinery damage) and can be mitigated by reducing calmodulin expression. To learn how dystrophic musculature responds to altered physical activity, we cultivated dys-1 animals in environments requiring high intensity or high frequency of muscle exertion during locomotion. We find that several muscular parameters (e.g., size) improve with increased activity. However, longevity in dystrophic animals was negatively associated with muscular exertion, regardless of effort duration. The high degree of phenotypic conservation between dystrophic worms and humans provides a unique opportunity to gain insight into the pathology of the disease as well as the initial assessment of potential treatment strategies.
•Detailed instructions for the construction of burrowing assays are provided.•Assays permit the study of the effect of muscular exertion on locomotion.•Assays are useful to study burrowing preference ...including magnetic orientation.
The study of locomotion in vermiform animals has largely been restricted to animals crawling on agar surfaces. While this has been fruitful in the study of neuronal basis of disease and behavior, the reduced physical challenge posed by these environments has prevented these organisms from being equally successful in the study of neuromuscular diseases. Our burrowing assay allowed us to study the effects of muscular exertion on locomotion and muscle degeneration during disease (Beron et al., 2015), as well as the natural burrowing preference of diverse Caenorhabditis elegans strains (Vidal-Gadea et al., 2015).
We describe a simple, rapid, and affordable set of assays to study the burrowing behavior of nematodes and other vermiform organisms which permits the titration of muscular exertion in test animals.
We show that our burrowing assay design is versatile and can be adapted for use in widely different experimental paradigms.
Previous assays for the study of neuromuscular integrity in nematodes relied on movement through facile and homogeneous environments. The ability of modulating substrate density allows our burrowing assay to be used to separate animal populations where muscular fitness or health are not visible differentiable by standard techniques.
The simplicity, versatility, and potential for greatly facilitating the study of previously challenging neuromuscular disorders makes this assay a valuable addition that overcomes many of the limitations inherent to traditional behavioral tests of vermiform locomotion.
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been a powerful model system for the study of key muscle genes relevant to human neuromuscular function and disorders. The behavioral robustness of C. elegans, ...however, has hindered its use in the study of certain neuromuscular disorders because many worm models of human disease show only subtle phenotypes while crawling. By contrast, in their natural habitat, C. elegans likely spends much of the time burrowing through the soil matrix. We developed a burrowing assay to challenge motor output by placing worms in agar‐filled pipettes of increasing densities. We find that burrowing involves distinct kinematics and turning strategies from crawling that vary with the properties of the substrate. We show that mutants mimicking Duchenne muscular dystrophy by lacking a functional ortholog of the dystrophin protein, DYS‐1, crawl normally but are severely impaired in burrowing. Muscular degeneration in the dys‐1 mutant is hastened and exacerbated by burrowing, while wild type shows no such damage. To test whether neuromuscular integrity might be compensated genetically in the dys‐1 mutant, we performed a genetic screen and isolated several suppressor mutants with proficient burrowing in a dys‐1 mutant background. Further study of burrowing in C. elegans will enhance the study of diseases affecting neuromuscular integrity, and will provide insights into the natural behavior of this and other nematodes.
A genetic screen uncovered mutations that suppress the poor burrowing behavior of the Caenorhabditis elegans Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutant dys‐1.
1. Major floods of riparian and grassland habitats may lead to a shift in the availability of resources (e.g., food, space) that produces cascading effects on the organisms that rely on it. After ...flooding occurs, particularly in natural grasslands or agricultural fields, massive aggregative spider webs are occasionally observed. However, given it is an infrequent and unpredictable event, it is seldom reported in detail.
2. We characterise two instances of massive web aggregations that followed major floods in grasslands and agricultural fields in Argentina and Uruguay in 2015. In the Argentinean event, we compare the composition of spider assemblages on the webs, in grasses below the webs, and in grasses from nearby habitats, with samples taken in the same location but when the fields were not flooded.
3. The assemblage of spiders in the massive web aggregations largely consisted of immature Diapontia uruguayensis (Lycosidae). In the grass below the webs, we recorded an impressive density of 1007 specimens m−1 belonging to several spider species, 6–15 times the density of similar samples without aggregated webs, co‐occurring and showing low levels of aggression among them.
4. Our observations and review of the literature support the idea massive webs produced by lycosids are a byproduct of an unusually high density of spiders simultaneously attempting to disperse through the air via ballooning and escaping from floods.
This is the first detailed report of aggregative spider webs in South America with an extensive survey of the spiders on the webs and in the surrounding vegetation.
After two major floods in grasslands and agricultural fields in Argentina and Uruguay, we found multispecific aggregations 6–15 times the density of similar samples without aggregated webs.
Results and literature review suggest this phenomenon as a byproduct of an unusually high density of spiders simultaneously attempting to disperse through the air via ballooning and escaping from floods.
Coronavirus Gadea, Carlos A.; Bayce, Rafael
Estudios sociológicos,
01/2021, Letnik:
39, Številka:
115
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
La euforia global en torno al coronavirus nos ha impuesto repensar ciertos vínculos analíticos entre la incertidumbre y el miedo, la realidad práctica y la falsa certidumbre hiperreal, así como entre ...ciencia, política, medios de comunicación, sentido común y opinión pública. Nuevas relaciones sociales se han establecido y es posible identificarlas bajo la forma de una nueva profilaxis social y un mayor temor al contacto entre las personas, aprensiones asociadas a los miedos muy bien internalizados desde los tiempos del sida y la experiencia del terrorismo. La incertidumbre y falsas certidumbres han ganado aún más terreno a pesar del auge de la sociedad de la información y de las medidas políticas emprendidas para su eventual contención. La pionera sociología de Simmel, los análisis en torno a la “teoría penal del enemigo” de Jakobs, la hiperrealidad según Baudrillard y las nociones de catástrofe e incertidumbre sustentan la siguiente reflexión sobre las implicaciones y los cambios recientes suscitados por la pandemia global.
The global euphoria surrounding Coronavirus has forced us to rethink certain analytical links between uncertainty and fear, practical reality and hyperreal false certainty, as well as between science, politics, the media, common sense and public opinion. New social relationships have been established. It is possible to identify them in the form of anew social prophylaxis and a greater fear of contact between people, apprehensions associated with the fears already internalized since the time of aids and the experience of terrorism. Uncertainty and false certainties have gained even more ground despite the rise of the information society and the political measures undertaken for its eventual containment. Simmel’s pioneering sociology, Jakobs’s analysis of the “penal theory of the enemy,” hyperreality according to Baudrillard, and the notions of catastrophe and uncertainty support the following reflection on the implications and recent changes brought about by the global pandemic.
Conceptual design and Monte Carlo simulations of the AGATA array Farnea, E.; Recchia, F.; Bazzacco, D. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2010, Letnik:
621, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The aim of the Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) project is the construction of an array based on the novel concepts of pulse shape analysis and
γ
‐ray
tracking with highly segmented Ge ...semiconductor detectors. The conceptual design of AGATA and its performance evaluation under different experimental conditions has required the development of a suitable Monte Carlo code. In this article, the description of the code as well as simulation results relevant for AGATA, are presented.
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