Field, landscape and regional effects of farmland management on specialist open-land birds: Does body size matter?

Farmland birds have suffered significant declines in the last decades due to agricultural intensification. Agri-environment schemes (AES) aim to reverse this process by promoting “nature friendly” practises at the field-scale. AES based on the habitat requirements of target species have usually been successful, but the concurrence of species groups with contrasting habitat requirements (guilds) makes the design of successful measures for the whole bird community difficult. The effectiveness of AES is also constrained by landscape and regional effects not addressed by its field-scale application. Effects acting at different spatial scales could differ among bird species depending on basic life-history traits such home range size and landscape perception, which should covary with body size. We are not aware, however, of any study which investigates whether relative effects at different spatial scales could vary predictably within bird guilds. We analyse whether relative effects of within-field (including AES application), landscape and regional factors on open-land birds differ according to body size. Large birds were mostly affected by regional and landscape factors, whereas for small birds landscape and within-field factors were important. Hence, relative effects at changing spatial scales showed predictable variation according to bird size within this endangered and specialised farmland guild. These size-dependent effects should be taken into account for the design of more effective, integrated multi-scale strategies for the conservation of farmland birds.This work was partly funded by the EU Project QLK5-CT-2002–1495 ‘Evaluating current European Agri-environment Schemes to quantify and improve Nature Conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes (EASY)Peer reviewe

Datos preliminares de la morfología de la larva y del ciclo biológico de Nitidula carnaria (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), una especie de interés forense

The species Nitidula carnaria (Schaller) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) has economic and forensics importance. The mature larva, reared under controlled conditions of laboratory, was described for the first time. Moreover, preliminary information about the life cycle is provided. The time recorded from the instance mates placed together to the emergence of imago was 59 ± 2.4 days. This publication represents the first record of N. carnaria in South America.La especie Nitidula carnaria (Schaller) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) tiene importancia económica y forense. Por primera vez, se describe la larva madura criada bajo condiciones controladas de laboratorio. Además, se suministra información preliminar del ciclo de vida. Desde la formación de parejas reproductivas hasta obtener el imago, el tiempo registrado fue de 59 ± 2,4 días. Esta publicación es el primer reporte de N. carnaria en Sudámerica.Fil: Zanetti, Noelia Inés. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biologia, Bioquimica y Farmacia. Catedra de Parasitologia Clinica; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnologia. Laboratorio de Entomologia Aplicada y Forense; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Visciarelli, Elena Concepción. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnologia. Laboratorio de Entomologia Aplicada y Forense; ArgentinaFil: Centeno, Néstor D. . Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biologia, Bioquimica y Farmacia. Catedra de Parasitologia Clinica; Argentin

High resolution pulse width modulators in FPGA

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works. Á. de Castro, G. Sutter, S. C. Huerta, and J. A. Cobos, "High resolution pulse width modulators in FPGA",3rd Southern Conference on Programmable Logic, SPL, 2007, Mar del Plata (Argentina), 2007, pp. 137 - 142Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a very common technique used in different applications, from the control of motors, switching power converters (power supplies), audio amplifiers or illumination systems. In some of those applications, the pulse frequency has increased so much in the last years that the resolution obtained with classical (counter) techniques is not enough. This paper explains some methods used for increasing the resolution of PWMs and proposes a new method based on the resources available in almost every FPGA nowadays

Hidatidosis ósea: nuestra casuística

Se revisan los resultados de 16 casos de hidatidosis musculoesquelética tratados en la Unidad de Sépticos del Aparato Locomotor del Hospital Universitario "La Fe" de Valencia en el período 1972-1989. Las dificultades diagnósticas fueron importantes, siendo en 5 de los casos un diagnóstico operatorio. Analizados los métodos de tratamiento se llega a la conclusión de que la curación definitiva sólo se consigue con la resección completa y amplia de la lesión. Los curetajes, acompañados o no de aseptizaciones químicas, suelen dar recidivas. Se recomienda combinar el tratamiento médico con el quirúrgico.The results of 16 cases of musculoskeletal hydatidosis treated in the locomotive Apparatus Septic Unit of the Valencia University Hospital "La Fe" between 1972 and 1989 wer e reviewed. The diagnostic difficulties wer e marked and 5 cases wer e diagnosed at surgery. After analyzing the therapeutical approaches, it is drawn the conclusion that a definitive healing is achieved only when an extensive and complete resection is done. Curettage, with and without chemical aseptization, generally results in recurrence. A combined medical and surgical treatment is recommended

Hahb-4, a homeobox-leucine zipper gene potentially involved in abscisic acid-dependent responses to water stress in sunflower

The nucleotide sequence data reported will appear in the EMBL, GenBank and DDBJ Nucleotide Sequence Databases under the accession numbers AF339748 and AF339749.Homeodomain-leucine zipper proteins constitute a family of transcription factors found only in plants. We have characterized a full-length cDNA encoding the sunflower homeobox-leucine zipper protein Hahb-4 (Helianthus annuus homeo box-4). The complete cDNA is 674 base pairs long and contains an open reading frame of 177 amino acids that belongs to the Hd-Zip I subfamily. Northern blot and RNAse A protection analysis show that the expression of Hahb-4 is rapidly, strongly and reversibly induced by water deficit in whole seedlings, roots, stems and leaves. A similar fast induction of Hahb-4 expression is observed when seedlings are subjected to a treatment with the hormone abscisic acid (ABA). Nuclei prepared from seedlings treated with ABA or subjected to water stress show a significant increase of protein(s) that specifically bind the sequence 5′-CAAT(A/T)ATTG-3′, recognized in vitro by Hahb-4, suggesting that an active protein is synthesized in response to these treatments. The promoter region of the Hahb-4 gene contains sequences that fit the consensus for a G-box present in some ABA responsive elements (ABREs). We propose that Hahb-4 may function in signalling cascade(s) that control(s) a subset of the ABAmediated responses of sunflower to water stress.This work was supported by grants from CONICET, ANPCyT, Fundación Antorchas (Argentina) and Universidad Nacional del Litoral. R.L.C. and D.H.G. are members of CONICET; G.M.G. is a fellow of the same Institution. The laboratory work of J.J. and C.A. was also supported by grants BIO99-794 (from the Spanish Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología) and CVI 148 (from Plan Andaluz de Investigación).Peer reviewe

Peptides naturally generated from ubiquitin-60S ribosomal protein as potential biomarkers of dry-cured ham processing time

Proteolysis is a complex and dynamic process which takes place throughout the whole dry-cured processing due to the action of endogenous muscle peptidases, and results in the generation of a high number of small peptides and free amino acids responsible for the final quality of dry-cured ham. In this study, a total of sixty-eight peptides derived from the ubiquitin-60S ribosomal protein have been identified in dry-cured ham at 2, 3.5, 5, 6.5, and 9 months of processing using various chromatographic separations and a quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometer in tandem. Some of the identified peptides have been detected during the whole process, whereas a total of fourteen of them were exclusively identified at 9 months of curing. The presence of any of these peptides could be a good indicative that dry-cured ham pieces have reached a minimum curing process of 9 months. The study of the generated peptides has contributed both to a better knowledge of proteolysis evolution and the endogenous enzymes participating, and to determine their potential to be used as quality markers to monitor the processing time.Grant PROMETEO/2012/001 from Conselleria d'Educació, Formació i Ocupació of Generalitat Valenciana (Spain) is fully acknowledged. FPI Scholarship BES-2011-046096 from MINECO (Spain) to M.G. and JAEDOC-CSIC postdoctoral contract to L.M. are also acknowledged. Mass spectrometry analysis was performed in the SCSIE_University of Valencia Proteomics Unit, a member of ISCIII ProteoRed Proteomics Platform.Peer Reviewe

Characterization of branch complexity by fractal analyses

9 páginas, 4 tablas, 3 figurasThe comparison between complexity in the sense of space occupancy (box-counting fractal dimension Dc and information dimension DI) and heterogeneity in the sense of space distribution (average evenness index J&d1; and evenness variation coefficient JCV) were investigated in mathematical fractal objects and natural branch structures. In general, increased fractal dimension was paired with low heterogeneity. Comparisons between branch architecture in Anthyllis cytisoides under different slope exposure and grazing impact revealed that branches were more complex and more homogeneously distributed for plants on northern exposures than southern, while grazing had no impact during a wet year. Developmental instability was also investigated by the statistical noise of the allometric relation between internode length and node order. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that fractal dimension of branch structure can be used to analyze the structural organization of plants, especially if we consider not only fractal dimension but also shoot distribution within the canopy (lacunarity). These indexes together with developmental instability analyses are good indicators of growth responses to the environment.Peer reviewe

Actual treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

El tratamiento del trastorno por défi cit de atención e hiperactividad (TDAH) incluye intervenciones farmacológicas, psicosociales y educativas, y en él se aconseja un diseño personalizado teniendo en cuenta las características del paciente, el tipo de trastorno y la comorbilidad que lo acompaña. Los fármacos de primera línea son el psicoestimulante metilfenidato (MTF) y atomoxetina (ATX), un simpaticomimético de acción central no estimulante. Ambos reducen las manifestaciones clínicas de inquietud, inatención e impulsividad, mejorando la calidad de las relaciones sociales y el rendimiento académico. Metilfenidato bloquea el transportador presináptico de dopamina (DA) y noradrenalina (NA), aumentando la concentración de estos neurotransmisores en el espacio presináptico neuronal. Se presenta en formas de liberación inmediata (LI) (Rubifen® y Medicebran® en preparados de acción prolongada con tecnología OROS® [osmotic controlled-release oral delivery system], Concerta® y Metilfenidato Sandoz®) y en pellets (Medikinet®), que permiten seleccionar adecuadamente la dosis y la pauta posológica. Las formas de LI pueden inducir efecto rebote al provocar un pico plasmático elevado que decae en poco tiempo. Atomoxetina (Strattera®) es un inhibidor muy selectivo y potente del transportador presináptico de NA; aumenta los niveles de NA y DA en la corteza prefrontal, pero no en las regiones corticales relacionadas con el desarrollo de tics o riesgo de abusos de sustancias. Puede ser la alternativa a MTF cuando éste pierde efi cacia o está contraindicado. La efectividad de ambos fármacos debe considerarse a partir de las 2-4 semanas. Sus reacciones adversas son numerosas y con frecuencia causan malestar, lo que difi culta la adherencia. Por ello es necesario el seguimiento de estos pacientes, y el farmacéutico puede ejercer un papel destacado para mejorar el cumplimiento y los efectos de la farmacoterapiaTreatment of attention defi cit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) includes pharmacological, psychosocial and educational interventions. A custom designed treatment taking into account patient characteristics, type of disorder and comorbidity must be advisable. First election drugs are the psychostimulant methylphenidate (MTF) and the sympathomimetic not stimulant atomoxetine (ATX). These drugs reduce the clinical manifestations of restlessness, inattention and impulsivity, improving the quality of social relationships and academic performance. MTF blocks the presynaptic dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NA) transporters increasing the concentration of these neurotransmitters in the presynaptic neuron. Both of them are available in the pharmaceutical forms of immediate release (IR) (Rubifen ® and Medicebran®, prolonged acting preparations with OROS® [osmotic controlled-release oral delivery system] technology, Con certa® and Metilfenidato Sandoz®) and pellets (Medikinet®), allowing a proper selection of dosage pattern. IR pharmaceutical forms can induce rebounding effect by causing high plasma peak that decays quickly. ATX is a highly selective and a potent inhibitor of presynaptic NA transporter, increasing levels of NA and DA in the prefrontal cortex, but not in cortical regions related to the development of tics or risk of substance abuse. It can be an alternative to MTF when this loses effectiveness or is contraindicated. The effectiveness of both drugs must be considered after 2 to 4 weeks of treatment. Their side effects are numerous and often cause discomfort making diffi cult adherence. Therefore it is necessary to monitor these patients playing pharmacist a leading role in improving the performance and the effects of pharmacotherap