The beginning of 2020 saw the global spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a systematic closure of national borders across the world, which we refer to as the 'covidfencing' panorama. As ...expected, in Europe, where close to two million commuters cross national borders on a daily basis to work, this new reality has provoked significant setbacks to their lives. Based on evidence already available from several sources, this article presents some of the main impacts of the covidfencing process in the European cross-border (CB) areas. It does so by relating this process to the components of a proposed deterritorialism conceptual framework. In essence, it was possible to conclude that social related components like the sharing of health facilities and the need to work across borders show the existence of a high degree of deterritorialism in several parts of Europe. Nevertheless, more integration and deterritorialism is required everywhere, and simultaneously at the social, economic, physical and institutional levels. Crucially, covidfencing has highlighted the need for improving cross-border cooperation (CBC) with a view to mitigating persistent CB barriers and European integration processes.
Con los ambientes naturales del planeta reduciéndose y los sistemas nacionales de áreas protegidas en expansión como estrategia internacional para impedirlo, los consensos internacionales avanzan ...pretendiendo un ambicioso modelo de proporción 70/30 entre zonas bajo predominio del desarrollo humano y zonas más conservadas. Para interpretar el proceso en Argentina se analizó la ejecución presupuestaria de su sistema nacional entre 1999 y 2018 como expresión de sus políticas reales, limitaciones y tendencias. Pese a objetivos insistentemente declamados los datos muestran que han declinado inversiones y proyectos de conservación. Sin mejorar infraestructura, innovar en la gestión y valorizar prudentemente los atractivos turísticos, dominan los enfoques de corto plazo. Designar nuevas áreas sin financiamiento y operación adecuados, no asegura beneficios para la biodiversidad y las comunidades humanas locales. Esta debilidad posiblemente se replique en los sistemas subnacionales y en otros países de Latinoamérica.
Despite the positive contributions of several European Union (EU) policies to reduce border barriers, the EU Cross-Border Review (CBR) initiative reaffirmed their relevance and persistence. Since ...2018, the EU has supported the b-solutions initiative, specifically focused on tackling legal and administrative border obstacles, aiming to highlight replicable solutions which can contribute to reducing these obstacles. This article critically assesses the b-solutions and its contribution to reducing administrative and legal border obstacles, with an eye to promoting a more integrated European territory. It is concluded that b-solutions is a valid, yet insufficient, initiative to provide replicable solutions to mitigate cross-border barriers.
Due to the high prevalence of patients attending with urinary tract infection (UTI) symptoms, the use of flow-cytometry as a rapid screening tool to avoid unnecessary cultures is becoming a widely ...used system in clinical practice. However, the recommended cut-points applied in flow-cytometry systems differ substantially among authors, making it difficult to obtain reliable conclusions. Here, we present FlowUTI, a shiny web-application created to establish optimal cut-off values in flow-cytometry for different UTI markers, such as bacterial or leukocyte counts, in urine from patients with UTI symptoms. This application provides a user-friendly graphical interface to perform robust statistical analysis without a specific training. Two datasets are analyzed in this manuscript: one composed of 204 urine samples from neonates and infants (≤3 months old) attended in the emergency department with suspected UTI; and the second dataset including 1174 urines samples from an elderly population attended at the primary care level. The source code is available on GitHub (https://github.com/GuillermoMG-HUVR/Microbiology-applications/tree/FlowUTI/FlowUTI). The web application can be executed locally from the R console. Alternatively, it can be freely accessed at https://covidiario.shinyapps.io/flowuti/. FlowUTI provides an easy-to-use environment for evaluating the efficiency of the urinary screening process with flow-cytometry, reducing the computational burden associated with this kind of analysis.
Syllis Savigny in Lamarck, 1818, the type genus of Syllidae, is the largest and most diverse within the family. This genus presents many taxonomic, biogeographic, and phylogenetic problems due mainly ...to the lack of molecular data and morphological synapomorphies for many of the species, but also due to poor or inadequate descriptions. In order to improve the knowledge of the genus, we have undertaken a morphological revision of Australian species, based on type material and material collected over years by the Australian Museum. This is the third paper dealing with this family. Eighteen species are herein described, of which five are new and twelve are redescriptions of already known species, with four new combinations: Syllis imajimai, n. sp.; S. narranuk, n. sp.; S. noolinga, n. sp.; S. similisunzima, n. sp.; S. thylacine, n. sp.; S. busseltonensis (Hartmann-Schröder, 1982) n. comb.; S. patriciae (Hartmann-Schröder, 1981) n. comb.; S. pharobroomensis (Hartmann-Schröder, 1979) n. comb., S. pharynxcircunfusata (Hartmann-Schröder, 1979) n. comb, S. armillaris (O. F. Müller, 1771); S. augeneri Haswell, 1920; S. benelihauae (Campoy & Alquézar, 1982); S. hyalina Grube, 1863; S. cf. nigrescens Grube, 1878; S. profunda Cognetti, 1955; S. truncata Haswell, 1920; and S. variegata Grube, 1860.
Este estudio tiene como objetivo principal profundizar en el conocimiento de las principales actividades laborales desarrolladas por las mujeres en la ciudad de Lleida a lo largo de la Baja Edad ...Media, a través de la documentación generada por el tribunal penal de Coltellades. Un análisis detenido de los Llibres de Crims que se guardan en el Archivo Municipal de Lleida permite valorar la importante contribución de la mujer al conjunto de la sociedad leridana y al desarrollo de su economía, ya sea en actividades campesinas o propiamente urbanas, de forma autónoma o colaborando de forma activa con el grupo familiar.
Five-year survival for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients remains below 7% due to the lack of effective treatments. Here, we report that combined ablation of EGFR and c-RAF expression ...results in complete regression of a significant percentage of PDAC tumors driven by Kras/Trp53 mutations in genetically engineered mice. Moreover, systemic elimination of these targets induces toxicities that are well tolerated. Response to this targeted therapy correlates with transcriptional profiles that resemble those observed in human PDACs. Finally, inhibition of EGFR and c-RAF expression effectively blocked tumor progression in nine independent patient-derived xenografts carrying KRAS and TP53 mutations. These results open the door to the development of targeted therapies for PDAC patients.
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•Combined Egfr/Raf1 ablation results in complete regression of a subset of PDACs•Mouse mutant Kras/Trp53-induced PDACs display distinct transcriptional profiles•PDAC transcriptional profiles determine their response to Egfr/Raf1 ablation•EGFR/c-RAF inhibition also prevents proliferation of PDX-derived tumor cells
Blasco et al. show that ablation of Egfr and Raf1 results in complete regression of a subset of mutant Kras/Trp53-induced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) without overt toxicity. Inhibition of EGFR and c-RAF expression also blocks the progression of patient-derived PDAC xenografts with mutant KRAS/TP53.
For more than six decades, the European Union (EU) has promoted, one way or the other, systematic European territorial integration, understood as the process of reducing many kinds of cross-border ...barriers. This article debates the role of the EU b-solutions initiative in facilitating cross-border commuting in Europe via its contribution to a body of knowledge, which, in its practical application, has the potential to act as a resource to be drawn on in the mitigation of a wide range of legal-administrative barriers. A theoretical framework for relating cross-border commuting and cross-border barriers is set out, and existing cases from the b-solutions initiative are mapped against it. The authors demonstrate the framework's value as a tool for determining the relevance of cross-border obstacles and solution factors for the issue of cross-border commuting. The paper concludes that the EU b-solutions contributed with concrete policy actions as well as a body of knowledge and solution-orientated planning towards reducing a range of legal-administrative cross-border barriers in Europe, and therefore represents a set of lebenswelt interventions contributing to the potential for increasing cross-border commuting flows.
A recent mathematical model describing the pretreatment and alkaline hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomasses in twin screw extruders (TSEs) is used to study the deconstruction and degradation of blue ...agave bagasse (BAB), an important waste biomass from the Tequila industry, in a laboratory-scale extruder. This pretreatment process using TSEs is technologically important. Experiments using NaOH for the delignification, extraction, and partial hydrolysis of hemicellulose and cellulose were performed. The effects of using different configurations of the screw elements, temperatures, and operational conditions on biopolymer degradation were assessed. NaOH concentration, residence time, and temperature are found to be determining factors in the extraction of cellulose and hemicelluloses. Partial hydrolysis of the carbohydrates is observed at some of the studied conditions. Reasonably good agreement between experimental data and model predictions is observed, which confirms that the key aspects of the actual process are captured well with the model. This modeling frame may be used in the future for the analysis and study (e.g., scaling up) of industrial processes.
Depth cameras are developing widely. One of their main virtues is that, based on their data and by applying machine learning algorithms and techniques, it is possible to perform body tracking and ...make an accurate three-dimensional representation of body movement. Specifically, this paper will use the Kinect v2 device, which incorporates a random forest algorithm for 25 joints detection in the human body. However, although Kinect v2 is a powerful tool, there are circumstances in which the device's design does not allow the extraction of such data or the accuracy of the data is low, as is usually the case with foot position. We propose a method of acquiring this data in circumstances where the Kinect v2 device does not recognize the body when only the lower limbs are visible, improving the ankle angle's precision employing projection lines. Using a region-based convolutional neural network (Mask RCNN) for body recognition, raw data extraction for automatic ankle angle measurement has been achieved. All angles have been evaluated by inertial measurement units (IMUs) as gold standard. For the six tests carried out at different fixed distances between 0.5 and 4 m to the Kinect, we have obtained (mean ± SD) a Pearson's coefficient,
= 0.89 ± 0.04, a Spearman's coefficient,
= 0.83 ± 0.09, a root mean square error, RMSE = 10.7 ± 2.6 deg and a mean absolute error, MAE = 7.5 ± 1.8 deg. For the walking test, or variable distance test, we have obtained a Pearson's coefficient,
= 0.74, a Spearman's coefficient,
= 0.72, an RMSE = 6.4 deg and an MAE = 4.7 deg.
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