Animals are expected to synchronize activity routines with the temporal patterns at which resources appear in nature. Accordingly, species that depend on resources showing temporally mismatched ...patterns should be expected to schedule routines that balance the chances of exploiting each of them. Large avian scavengers depend on carcasses which are more likely available early in the morning, but they also depend on wind resources (i.e. uplifts) to subside flight which are stronger in afternoon hours. To understand how these birds deal with this potential trade-off, we studied the daily routines of GPS-tagged individuals of the world's largest terrestrial soaring scavenger, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus). Andean condors vary largely in weight and show a huge sexual dimorphism that allowed us to evaluate the effect of sex and body size on their daily routines. We found that condors use an intermediate solution strategy between the best times to exploit carcasses and uplifts, with this strategy changing over the year. Bigger males scheduled earlier routines that aligned more closely with uplift availability compared to smaller females, resulting in a partial temporal segregation between sexes. Condors' routines reflect a sexual-size dependent trade-off that may underpin ecological and sociobiological traits of the studied population.
It is presented an alternative biological method based on biomineralization mechanisms of Magnetotactic Bacteria (MTB) for the removal in groundwater, of soluble elements such as Fe+2and Mn+2. In ...first place, it was compared the effectiveness of MTB retention methods for obtention of concentrated volumes in microorganisms, then, it was carried out an inoculation process in groundwater samples and evaluate the removal rate of Fe+2 and Mn+2 in constant conditions of pH and temperature. It was identified electromagnetic method is more efficient in MTB retention, and that the inoculation processes of an enriched solution with MTB in groundwater samples allow to get average removal rates of 47.86% for Fe+2 and 15.26% for Mn+2. In addition, it was evaluated the removal rate of other metals due to magnetic properties of biominerals inside of MTB magnetosome. The highest removal in all cases occurred between the interval of 3 and 5 min of interaction and tended to stabilize in time.
•The electromagnetic detention of magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) is more effective.•Bioremediation with MTB requires low residence times in the treated medium.•MTB are potential Bioremediators of metal ionic elements soluble in groundwater.•The electromagnetic separation of MTB avoids additional microbiological filtration.
Purpose
We evaluated the outcome of children (<15 years) versus that of adolescents and young adults (AYA; 15–≤ 21 years) treated for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in two Pediatric Oncology Group/Children's ...Oncology Group clinical trials, P9425 and P9426, that used dose‐dense, response‐based chemotherapy and reduced dose radiotherapy.
Patients and methods
Subjects 21 years or younger with HL were eligible for these studies. Subjects with low‐risk (stages IA, IIA, and IIIA1) without large mediastinal adenopathy biopsy‐proven HL, eligible for P9426, were treated with two to four 28‐day cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vincristine, and etoposide (ABVE) chemotherapy and 25.5 Gy of involved field radiotherapy. Subjects with intermediate‐risk (stages IB, IIA, IIIA1 with large mediastinal adenopathy, and IIIA2) and high‐risk (stages IIB, IIIB, and IV) biopsy‐proven HL, eligible for P9425, were treated with three to five 21‐day cycles of ABVE plus prednisone and cyclophosphamide (ABVE‐PC) chemotherapy and 21 Gy of involved region radiotherapy. We compared the 5‐year event‐free survival (EFS), based on Kaplan–Meier product‐limit method, of children versus that of AYA.
Results
Four hundred seventy‐one subjects were enrolled on P9425 and P9426 combined. Of these subjects, 203 were AYA, 104 with intermediate and high‐risk HL, and 99 with low‐risk HL. The 5‐year EFS of children did not significantly differ from that of AYA (85.9 vs. 87.1%) with a median follow up of 7.7 years (P = 0.51).
Conclusion
Given the equivalent and excellent results of therapy, HL represents an opportunity for adult and pediatric cancer treatment collaborative groups to jointly design clinical trials targeted to AYA. These trials should focus on both treatment efficacy and the quality of life of AYA while receiving chemotherapy and in reduction of long‐term side effects in the survivorship years.
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•Biocatalytic chitosan nanoparticles have been synthetized.•Nanoencapsulated peroxidase showed an enhanced thermal stability.•Biocatalytic nanoparticles are more stable to conditions ...of wastewater treatment.•Operational stability of nanoparticles is improved by chemical modification.
Chitosan, a renewable biopolymer has the prospective applications in different fields due to its gelation capacity. Nanoconfiguration of chitosan through ionotropic gelation to encapsulate enzymatic activity offers numerous potential applications. In the present study, the preparation and characterization of chitosan nanoparticles loaded with versatile peroxidase are reported. Their performance in bioremediation process and the resistance enhancement against natural microbial biodegradation were studied. The average diameter of enzymatic nanoparticles was 120nm and showed a high enzyme loading capacity. The kinetic parameters of nanoparticles exhibited a slightly lower catalytic activity (kcat), similar affinity constant (Km) for hydrogen peroxide and higher Km value for the phenolic compound when compared with the free enzyme. The enzymatic nanoparticles showed higher thermostability and the same pH activity profile than those from free enzyme. Ten phenolic compounds, including pesticides, halogenated compounds, endocrine disruptors and antibacterials were transformed by the enzymatic nanoparticles. The transformation rate was lower than those obtained with free enzyme suggesting mass transfer limitations. But very importantly, the enzymatic nanoparticles showed a significant increase of the operational stability in real conditions of wastewater treatment process. Moreover, chemical modification of nanoparticles with different aldehydes still enhanced the operational stability of nanoparticulated enzymes. This enhancement of stability in real conditions and the potential use of biocatalytic nanoparticles in bioremediation processes are discussed.
•Ceftriaxone exposure could be critical in life-threatening infections.•High dose regimens are often required for endocarditis or meningitis treatment.•A broad linear dynamic calibration range ...HPLC-MS/MS method has been developed.•Major qualities are robustness, sensitivity and simplicity.
Ceftriaxone is a third-generation cephalosporin, worldwide use as a first-line treatment for several infections, including life-threatening infections as meningitis or endocarditis. Nowadays, ceftriaxone use is changing, embracing high-dose schemes, new populations treated and requirement of dose individualization and optimization. These reasons warranted the development of new sensitive assays. This study aimed to develop and validate a fast and handy bioanalytical method for the quantification of ceftriaxone in human plasma covering a broad range of concentrations. The analysis was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. Sample preparation was based on protein precipitation with acetonitrile followed by centrifugation. Chromatography separation was performed on Phenomenex Luna C18 column (5 μm, 150 × 2.0 mm) and a mobile phase consisting of 70 % of mobile phase A (10 mM of ammonium acetate and 1% formic acid in purified water) and 30 % mobile phase B (0.1 % formic acid in acetonitrile) at a flow rate of 500 μl/min on an isocratic program. Both the analyte and the internal standard were quantified using the positive electrospray ionization (ESI) mode within a single runtime of 5.00 min. The method was validated following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines over the concentration range of 3−1000 μg/mL. The within-run and between-run precision and accuracy were <15 %, and therefore met the standard regulatory acceptance criterion. In conclusion, a sensitive and robust LC–MS/MS method was developed for a fast quantitation of ceftriaxone concentrations in plasma samples with multiples applications in research and clinical therapeutic drug monitoring.
Invasive medical technology has led to an increase in the incidence of healthcare-associated infective endocarditis (HAIE). A prospective multicentre cohort study was conducted at seven hospitals in ...Andalusia, Spain, to establish the characteristics of HAIE and to compare them with those of community-acquired infective endocarditis (CAIE). HAIE was defined as either infective endocarditis (IE) manifesting >48 h after admission to hospital, or IE associated with a significant invasive procedure performed in the 6 months before diagnosis. Seven hundred and ninety-three cases of IE were investigated, and HAIE accounted for 127 (16%). As compared with patients with CAIE, patients with HAIE were older (60.1 ± 14.4 years vs. 53.6 ± 17.5 years) and had more comorbidities (Charlson index 3.3 ± 2.3 vs. 1.8 ± 2.3) and staphylococcal infections (58.3% vs. 24.8%). Vascular manipulation was the main cause of bacteraemia responsible for HAIE (63%). Peripheral vein catheter-associated bacteraemia accounted for 32.8% of the catheter-related bacteraemias. In-hospital mortality (44.9% vs. 24.2%) was higher in the HAIE group. Septic shock (OR 2.2, 95% CI 2.9–30.2) and surgery not performed because of high surgical risk (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.2–20) were independent predictors of mortality in HAIE. The present study demonstrates that HAIE is a growing health problem associated with high mortality. Careful management of vascular devices is essential to minimize the risk of bacteraemias leading to HAIE.
Recent non-invasive 3D photography method has been applied to facial analysis, offering numerous advantages in orthodontic. The purpose of this study was to analyze the faces of a sample of healthy ...European adults from southern Spain with normal occlusion in order to establish reference facial soft tissue anthropometric parameters in this specific geographic-ethnic population, as well as to analyze sexual dimorphism.
A sample of 100 healthy adult volunteers consisting of 50 women (mean age, 22.92 ± 1.56 years) and 50 men (mean age, 22.37 ± 2.12 years) were enrolled in this study. All participants had normal occlusion, skeletal Class I, mesofacial pattern, and healthy body mass index. Three-dimensional photographs of the faces were captured non-invasively using Planmeca ProMax 3D ProFace
. Thirty landmarks related to the face, eyes, nose, and orolabial and chin areas were identified.
Male displayed higher values in all vertical and transversal dimensions, with the exception of the lower lip height. Larger differences between sexes were observed in face, mandible, and nose. Male also had higher values in the angular measurements which referred to the nose. No sex differences were found in transverse upper lip prominence or transverse mandibular prominence. No differences were found in the ratio measurements, with the exception of intercantal width/nasal width, which was higher in women than in men.
Reference anthropometric measurements of facial soft tissues have been established in European adults from southern Spain with normal occlusion. Significant sexual dimorphism was found, with remarkable differences in size between sexes.
AbstractDwarf spheroidal galaxies are regarded as the basic building blocks in the formation of larger galaxies and are the most dark matter dominated systems in the Universe, known so far. There are ...several models that attempt to explain their formation and evolution, but they have problems modelling the formation of isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies. Here, we will explain a possible formation scenario in which star clusters form inside the dark matter halo of a dwarf spheroidal galaxy. These star clusters suffer from low star formation efficiency and dissolve while orbiting inside the dark matter halo. Thereby, they build the faint luminous components that we observe in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. In this paper, we study this model by adding different star formation histories to the simulations and compare the results with our previous work and observational data to show that we can explain the formation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
North-central Mexico has groundwater contaminated with arsenic (As) and fluoride (F). Based on the dispersion patterns of these solutes, their sources are linked to felsic volcanic rock fragments and ...secondary minerals (clays, iron oxyhydroxides) within the alluvium fill of the aquifers. However, little is known about the effect of the enrichment factors for F and As in this area. Natural enrichment factors include evaporation, Ca/Na, and competitive adsorption and desorption from solid phases. This study used 1237 groundwater quality data measurements from 305 sampling sites collected between 2012 and 2019 in the state of Durango in north-central Mexico. To determine the contribution of enrichment factors to As and F content, the study area was divided into four sections, two being in the mountainous part of the state and two in the high plateaus. The data were compared among sections and analyzed using Spearman correlation and Piper and Block diagrams. The results indicate that the main solute enrichment mechanisms are evaporation and weathering of silicates and evaporites. Among the four sections, As, pH, and HCO
3
seemed not to vary, F varied slightly, and nitrate and total dissolved solids varied the most. The lack of variation in As among sections is associated to its strong adsorption to clay minerals and iron oxyhydroxides, whereas the diminished F content in the eastern sections is likely linked to the adsorption of F to precipitating calcite (since groundwater is saturated with respect to calcite (SI
calcite
= 0.43) and undersaturated for fluorite (SI
fluorite
= − 1.16). These processes shed light on the distribution of F and As in this area, and are likely operating in other states in northern Mexico and in semi-arid areas elsewhere.
This paper makes use of a combination of FLEXPART‐WRF simulations forced with ERA5 and the CESM2 model—incorporated in the CMIP6 project—to infer a series of changes over the present century in the ...behavior of the landfalling atmospheric rivers (ARs) arriving to the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, future changes in the intensity and position of their main moisture sources are studied. In overall terms, there is a noticeable increase in the amount of moisture transported by ARs in the study region, particularly accentuated by the end of the century. However, no significant changes in the number of events are observed. A northward shift of both the mean position of the ARs as well as their main sources of moisture is also detected, particularly for the end of the century, and in the summer and fall months. In relation to the latter, an increase in the contribution of moisture contribution is also observed, quantitatively compatible with Clausius‐Clapeyron amplification.
Plain Language Summary
This paper makes use of a combination of simulations forced with reanalysis data and a climate model to infer a series of changes over the present century in the behavior of the landfalling atmospheric river—ARs, regions of intense moisture transport located in the lower layers of the atmosphere—arriving at the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, future changes in the intensity and position of their main moisture sources are studied. In overall terms, there is a noticeable increase in the amount of moisture transported by ARs in the study region, particularly accentuated by the end of the century. However, no significant changes in the number of events are observed. A northward shift of both the mean position of the ARs as well as their main sources of moisture is also detected, particularly for the end of the century, and in the summer and fall months. In relation to the latter, an increase in the contribution of moisture contribution is also observed, in a ratio similar to that expected.
Key Points
FLEXPART‐WRF forced with CESM2 model has been able to reproduce the historical conditions of Atmospheric River over the Iberian Peninsula
A northward shift of the main source regions is projected, notable in summer and fall and particularly by the end of the century
Gradual strengthening in the intensity of Atmospheric Rivers is expected, observable from an increase in the amount of moisture transported
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