This work studies the morphological changes taking place in the Dama dama rumen during prenatal development using histomorphometrics, surface microstructure and immunohistochemistry analysis as well ...as carrying out a comparative analysis of this species with other wild (red deer) and domestic-type ruminants. A total of 25 fallow deer embryos and fetuses were used, from the first stage of prenatal life until birth. The appearance of the rumen from the primitive gastric tube was observed at 51 days of prenatal life (CRL 3 cm, 21% gestation). By 57 days (CRL 4.3 cm, 24% gestation) the ruminal wall comprised three layers: an internal epithelial layer, a middle layer of pluripotential blastemic tissue and an external layer or serosa. Ruminal pillars were visible at 72 days (CRL 6 cm, 30% gestation), and by 85 days (CRL 7.2 cm, 35% gestation) ruminal papillae were starting to appear. Under scanning electron microscopy, by 80 days (CRL 7 cm, 33% gestation) small ruminal papillae were observed protruding from the surface. Morphometric results showed accelerated growth of the epithelial layer and the tunica muscularis at 180 days (75% gestation). By contrast, the growth-rate of the lamina propria and submucosa declined from the early embryonic stages until birth. The serosa maintained a steady rate of growth until birth. Neuroendocrine cells (synaptophysin) were detected at 85 days (CRL 7.2 cm CRL, 35% gestation), while glial cell markers (glial fibrillary acidic protein and vimentin) were found at 108 days (CRL 31 cm, 45% gestation) and 63 days (CRL 4.4 cm, 26% gestation) respectively. Neuropeptide Y and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide were detected immunohistochemically at 180 days (CRL 33 cm, 75% gestation) and 192 days (CRL 35 cm, 80% gestation) respectively. In comparison to other wild and domestic-type ruminants, histomorphogenesis of the rumen in Dama dama was similar to that reported in red deer and goats, but rather slower than that observed for sheep or cattle.
The only natural hosts of Pseudorabies virus (PRV) are members of the family Suidae (Sus scrofa scrofa). In species other than suids infection is normally fatal. In these mammals, including ...carnivores, PRV typically causes serious neurologic disease. The endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is a wild feline endemic to south-western Europe (Iberian Peninsula). The Iberian lynx was found to be the world's most endangered felid species in 2002. In wild felines, PRV infection has only been previously reported once in a Florida panther in 1994. No seropositive lynxes have ever been found, nor has PRV been detected in dead Iberian lynxes to date.
We describe the first reported case of pseudorabies in an Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). Pseudorabies was diagnosed in a young wild Iberian lynx from Extremadura (SW Spain) by histopathological examination, immunohistochemistry, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis. Gross lesions included alopecia of the ventral neck, bloody gastro-intestinal contents and congestion of the brain. Histopathological analysis showed a moderate nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis with diffuse areas of demyelination, necrotizing gastritis and enteritis of the small intestine. Pseudorabies virus (PRV) antigen was found in neuronal and non-neuronal cells of the brain, tonsils, and gastric glandular epithelial cells by immunohistochemical analysis. The presence of the virus in the brain was confirmed by nested PCR. The sequence analysis of the 146 bp fragment (from the viral glycoprotein B gene) showed that the amplified sequence matched (with 100% identity) the PRV genome. Furthermore, specific DNA from glycoprotein D and E encoding-genes was detected by conventional and real-time PCR, respectively, confirming the latter that this infection was produced by a wild-type PRV strain.
This study supports the suspicion that PRV could infect the Iberian lynx. The detection of PRV in a dead Iberian lynx suggests that the virus may have a negative impact on the survival of endangered lynxes in the wild. However, because this is the first verified instance of lynx mortality resulting from pseudorabies, its true impact on the population is unknown.
Currently available reviews in the area of artificial intelligence-based music generation do not provide a wide range of publications and are usually centered around comparing very specific topics ...between a very limited range of solutions. Best surveys available in the field are bibliography sections of some papers and books which lack a systematic approach and limit their scope to only handpicked examples In this work, we analyze the scope and trends of the research on artificial intelligence-based music generation by performing a systematic review of the available publications in the field using the Prisma methodology. Furthermore, we discuss the possible implementations and accessibility of a set of currently available AI solutions, as aids to musical composition. Our research shows how publications are being distributed globally according to many characteristics, which provides a clear picture of the situation of this technology.
Through our research it becomes clear that the interest of both musicians and computer scientists in AI-based automatic music generation has increased significantly in the last few years with an increasing participation of mayor companies in the field whose works we analyze. We discuss several generation architectures, both from a technical and a musical point of view and we highlight various areas were further research is needed.
•Scoping review of Artificial Intelligent based automatic music generation systems.•139 works included from over 300 reviewed and 1512 originally identified.•Analyzes both musical aspects and system architectures exploring their advantages.•Provides a clear picture of where the focus of the research is headed.
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding on demand until at least the sixth month of life. Breast milk or infant formula is the infant's primary food source until the age of ...one year, followed by the gradual introduction of other foods. During weaning, the intestinal microbiota evolves to a profile close to that of the adult, and its disruption can result in an increased incidence of acute infectious diseases. We aimed to determine whether a novel starting formula (INN) provides gut microbiota compositions more similar to those of breastfed (BF) infants from 6 to 12 months of age compared to a standard formula (STD). This study included 210 infants (70 per group) who completed the intervention until they reached the age of 12 months. In the intervention period, infants were divided into three groups. Group 1 received an INN formula with a lower protein content, a casein to whey protein ratio of approximately 70/30, twice as much docosahexaenoic acid as the STD formula, a thermally inactivated postbiotic (
subsp.
, BPL1
HT), and twice as much arachidonic acid as the STD formula contained. The second group received the STD formula, while the third group was exclusively BF for exploratory purposes. In the course of the study, visits were conducted at 6 months and 12 months of age. Compared to the BF and STD groups, the
phylum levels in the INN group were significantly reduced after 6 months. At the end of 6 months, the alpha diversity indices of the BF and INN groups differed significantly from those of the STD group. At 12 months, the
phylum levels in the STD group were significantly lower than those in the BF and INN groups. Based on the comparison between 6 and 12 months, the
phylum levels in the BF group were significantly higher than those in the INN and STD groups. When comparing the INN group with the BF and STD groups,
1 was significantly higher in the INN group. The STD group had higher levels of calprotectin than the INN and BF groups at 6 months. The immunoglobulin A levels in the STD group were significantly lower than those in the INN and BF groups after 6 months. Both formulas had significantly higher levels of propionic acid than the BF group at 6 months. At 6 months, the STD group showed a higher quantification of all metabolic pathways than the BF group. The INN formula group exhibited similar behavior to the BF group, except for the superpathway of phospholipid biosynthesis (
). We hypothesize that the novel INN formula may promote an intestinal microbiota that is more similar to the microbiota of an infant who consumes only human milk before the weaning period.
Celiac disease (CD) is a multisystemic disorder with different clinical expressions, from malabsorption with diarrhea, anemia, and nutritional compromise to extraintestinal manifestations. Anemia ...might be the only clinical expression of the disease, and iron deficiency anemia is considered one of the most frequent extraintestinal clinical manifestations of CD. Therefore, CD should be suspected in the presence of anemia without a known etiology. Assessment of tissue anti-transglutaminase and anti-endomysial antibodies are indicated in these cases and, if positive, digestive endoscopy and intestinal biopsy should be performed. Anemia in CD has a multifactorial pathogenesis and, although it is frequently a consequence of iron deficiency, it can be caused by deficiencies of folate or vitamin B
, or by blood loss or by its association with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or other associated diseases. The association between CD and IBD should be considered during anemia treatment in patients with IBD, because the similarity of symptoms could delay the diagnosis. Vitamin B
deficiency is common in CD and may be responsible for anemia and peripheral myeloneuropathy. Folate deficiency is a well-known cause of anemia in adults, but there is little information in children with CD; it is still unknown if anemia is a symptom of the most typical CD in adult patients either by predisposition due to the fact of age or because biochemical and clinical manifestations take longer to appear.
The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has made the COVID-19 disease a worldwide epidemic. The most common tests to identify COVID-19 are invasive, time consuming and limited in resources. Imaging is a ...non-invasive technique to identify if individuals have symptoms of disease in their lungs. However, the diagnosis by this method needs to be made by a specialist doctor, which limits the mass diagnosis of the population. Image processing tools to support diagnosis reduce the load by ruling out negative cases. Advanced artificial intelligence techniques such as Deep Learning have shown high effectiveness in identifying patterns such as those that can be found in diseased tissue. This study analyzes the effectiveness of a VGG16-based Deep Learning model for the identification of pneumonia and COVID-19 using torso radiographs. Results show a high sensitivity in the identification of COVID-19, around 100%, and with a high degree of specificity, which indicates that it can be used as a screening test. AUCs on ROC curves are greater than 0.9 for all classes considered.
Falls are one of the leading causes of permanent injury and/or disability among the elderly. When these people live alone, it is convenient that a caregiver or family member visits them periodically. ...However, these visits do not prevent falls when the elderly person is alone. Furthermore, in exceptional circumstances, such as a pandemic, we must avoid unnecessary mobility. This is why remote monitoring systems are currently on the rise, and several commercial solutions can be found. However, current solutions use devices attached to the waist or wrist, causing discomfort in the people who wear them. The users also tend to forget to wear the devices carried in these positions. Therefore, in order to prevent these problems, the main objective of this work is designing and recollecting a new dataset about falls, falling risks and activities of daily living using an ankle-placed device obtaining a good balance between the different activity types. This dataset will be a useful tool for researchers who want to integrate the fall detector in the footwear. Thus, in this work we design the fall-detection device, study the suitable activities to be collected, collect the dataset from 21 users performing the studied activities and evaluate the quality of the collected dataset. As an additional and secondary study, we implement a simple Deep Learning classifier based on this data to prove the system's feasibility.
Glaucoma is a degenerative disease that affects vision, causing damage to the optic nerve that ends in vision loss. The classic techniques to detect it have undergone a great change since the ...intrusion of machine learning techniques into the processing of eye fundus images. Several works focus on training a convolutional neural network (CNN) by brute force, while others use segmentation and feature extraction techniques to detect glaucoma. In this work, a diagnostic aid tool to detect glaucoma using eye fundus images is developed, trained and tested. It consists of two subsystems that are independently trained and tested, combining their results to improve glaucoma detection. The first subsystem applies machine learning and segmentation techniques to detect optic disc and cup independently, combine them and extract their physical and positional features. The second one applies transfer learning techniques to a pre-trained CNN to detect glaucoma through the analysis of the complete eye fundus images. The results of both systems are combined to discriminate positive cases of glaucoma and improve final detection. The results show that this system achieves a higher classification rate than previous works. The system also provides information on the basis for the proposed diagnosis suggestion that can help the ophthalmologist to accept or modify it.
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