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The success of many projects linked to the management and planning of water resources depends mainly on the quality of the climatic and hydrological data that is provided. Nevertheless, the missing data are frequently found in hydroclimatic variables due to measuring instrument failures, observation recording errors, meteorological extremes, and the challenges associated with accessing measurement areas. Hence, it is necessary to apply an appropriate fill of missing data before any analysis. This paper is intended to present the filling of missing data of monthly rainfall of 45 gauge stations located in southwestern Colombia. The series analyzed covers 34 years of observations between 1983 and 2016, available from the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM). The estimation of missing data was done using Non-linear Principal Component Analysis (NLPCA); a non-linear generalization of the standard Principal Component Analysis Method via an Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) approach. The best result was obtained using a network with a [45-44-45] architecture. The estimated mean squared error in the imputation of missing data was approximately 9.8 mm. month -1 , showing that the NLPCA approach constitutes a powerful methodology in the imputation of missing rainfall data. The estimated rainfall dataset helps reduce uncertainty for further studies related to homogeneity analyses, conglomerates, trends, multivariate statistics and meteorological forecasts in regions with information deficits such as southwestern Colombia., (© 2019 The Author(s).)

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: Australia , Chaetopsina eucalypti on Eucalyptus leaf litter, Colletotrichum cobbittiense from Cordyline stricta × C. australis hybrid, Cyanodermella banksiae on Banksia ericifolia subsp. macrantha, Discosia macrozamiae on Macrozamia miquelii, Elsinoë banksiigena on Banksia marginata, Elsinoë elaeocarpi on Elaeocarpus sp., Elsinoë leucopogonis on Leucopogon sp., Helminthosporium livistonae on Livistona australis , Idriellomyces eucalypti (incl. Idriellomyces gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus obliqua , Lareunionomyces eucalypti on Eucalyptus sp., Myrotheciomyces corymbiae (incl. Myrotheciomyces gen. nov., Myrotheciomycetaceae fam. nov.), Neolauriomyces eucalypti (incl. Neolauriomyces gen. nov., Neolauriomycetaceae fam. nov.) on Eucalyptus sp., Nullicamyces eucalypti (incl. Nullicamyces gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus leaf litter, Oidiodendron eucalypti on Eucalyptus maidenii , Paracladophialophora cyperacearum (incl. Paracladophialophoraceae fam. nov.) and Periconia cyperacearum on leaves of Cyperaceae , Porodiplodia livistonae (incl. Porodiplodia gen. nov., Porodiplodiaceae fam. nov.) on Livistona australis , Sporidesmium melaleucae (incl. Sporidesmiales ord. nov.) on Melaleuca sp., Teratosphaeria sieberi on Eucalyptus sieberi , Thecaphora australiensis in capsules of a variant of Oxalis exilis. Brazil , Aspergillus serratalhadensis from soil, Diaporthe pseudoinconspicua from Poincianella pyramidalis , Fomitiporella pertenuis on dead wood, Geastrum magnosporum on soil, Marquesius aquaticus (incl. Marquesius gen. nov.) from submerged decaying twig and leaves of unidentified plant, Mastigosporella pigmentata from leaves of Qualea parviflorae , Mucor souzae from soil, Mycocalia aquaphila on decaying wood from tidal detritus, Preussia citrullina as endophyte from leaves of Citrullus lanatus , Queiroziella brasiliensis (incl. Queiroziella gen. nov.) as epiphytic yeast on leaves of Portea leptantha , Quixadomyces cearensis (incl. Quixadomyces gen. nov.) on decaying bark, Xylophallus clavatus on rotten wood. Canada , Didymella cari on Carum carvi and Coriandrum sativum. Chile , Araucasphaeria foliorum (incl. Araucasphaeria gen. nov.) on Araucaria araucana , Aspergillus tumidus from soil, Lomentospora valparaisensis from soil. Colombia , Corynespora pseudocassiicola on Byrsonima sp., Eucalyptostroma eucalyptorum on Eucalyptus pellita , Neometulocladosporiella eucalypti (incl. Neometulocladosporiella gen. nov.) on Eucalyptus grandis × urophylla , Tracylla eucalypti (incl. Tracyllaceae fam. nov., Tracyllalales ord. nov.) on Eucalyptus urophylla. Cyprus , Gyromitra anthracobia (incl. Gyromitra subg. Pseudoverpa ) on burned soil. Czech Republic , Lecanicillium restrictum from the surface of the wooden barrel, Lecanicillium testudineum from scales of Trachemys scripta elegans . Ecuador , Entoloma yanacolor and Saproamanita quitensis on soil. France , Lentithecium carbonneanum from submerged decorticated Populus branch. Hungary , Pleuromyces hungaricus (incl. Pleuromyces gen. nov.) from a large Fagus sylvatica log. Iran , Zymoseptoria crescenta on Aegilops triuncialis. Malaysia , Ochroconis musicola on Musa sp. Mexico , Cladosporium michoacanense from soil. New Zealand , Acrodontium metrosideri on Metrosideros excelsa, Polynema podocarpi on Podocarpus totara, Pseudoarthrographis phlogis (incl. Pseudoarthrographis gen. nov.) on Phlox subulata. Nigeria , Coprinopsis afrocinerea on soil. Pakistan , Russula mansehraensis on soil under Pinus roxburghii. Russia , Baorangia alexandri on soil in deciduous forests with Quercus mongolica. South Africa , Didymocyrtis brachylaenae on Brachylaena discolor. Spain , Alfaria dactylis from fruit of Phoenix dactylifera, Dothiora infuscans from a blackened wall, Exophiala nidicola from the nest of an unidentified bird, Matsushimaea monilioides from soil, Terfezia morenoi on soil. United Arab Emirates , Tirmania honrubiae on soil. USA , Arxotrichum wyomingense (incl. Arxotrichum gen. nov.) from soil, Hongkongmyces snookiorum from submerged detritus from a fresh water fen, Leratiomyces tesquorum from soil, Talaromyces tabacinus on leaves of Nicotiana tabacum. Vietnam , Afroboletus vietnamensis on soil in an evergreen tropical forest, Colletotrichum condaoense from Ipomoea pes-caprae. Morphological and culture characteristics along with DNA barcodes are provided.

Pictures of facial expressions of emotion are used in a wide range of experiments. The last decade has seen an increase in the number of studies presenting local sets of emotion stimuli. However, only a few existing sets contain pictures of Latin Americans, despite the growing attention emotion research is receiving in this region. Here we present the development and validation of the Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Expresiones de Emociones Faciales (UNCEEF), a Facial Action Coding System (FACS)-verified set of pictures of Argentineans expressing the six basic emotions, plus neutral expressions. FACS scores, recognition rates, Hu scores, and discrimination indices are reported. Evidence of convergent validity was obtained using the Pictures of Facial Affect in an Argentine sample. However, recognition accuracy was greater for UNCEEF. The importance of local sets of emotion pictures is discussed.

The selection of features is generally the most difficult field to model in BCIs. Therefore, time and effort are invested in individual feature selection prior to data set training. Another great difficulty regarding the model of the BCI topology is the brain signal variability between users. How should this topology be in order to implement a system that can be used by large number of users with an optimal set of features? The proposal presented in this paper allows for obtaining feature reduction and classifier selection based on software agents. The software agents contain Genetic Algorithms (GA) and a cost function. GA used entropy and mutual information to choose the number of features. For the classifier selection a cost function was defined. Success rate and Cohen's Kappa coefficient are used as parameters to evaluate the classifiers performance. The obtained results allow finding a topology represented as a neural model for an adaptive BCI, where the number of the channels, features and the classifier are interrelated. The minimal subset of features and the optimal classifier were obtained with the adaptive BCI. Only three EEG channels were needed to obtain a success rate of 93% for the BCI competition III data set IVa.

Objectives/hypothesis: A pedicled nasoseptal flap is our preferred reconstructive technique after endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery. Its harvesting implies that the donor site (septal cartilage) is left bare. Secondary healing leads to crusting at the donor site that negatively affects the patient's quality of life and requires multiple outpatient debridements. A nasoseptal reverse rotation flap was designed to eliminate this problem; however, its outcomes have not been reported., Study Design: Retrospective review., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical charts of patients who underwent endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery at the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University from November 2010 to September 2012, and in whom a reverse flap was used. We analyzed patients' demographics, pathology, and outcomes regarding the reverse flap., Results: Forty-nine patients with various pathologies were included (11 meningiomas, seven craniopharyngiomas, five pituitary macroadenomas, five chondrosarcomas, five meningoencephaloceles, three chordomas, 11 malignant tumors, two other lesions). There were two patients lost to follow-up. Mean follow-up time was 11 weeks (range = 1-39 weeks). A follow-up examination 1 to 2 weeks after surgery revealed a complete re-epithelialization in 46 of 47 patients (97.87%). Adverse events included granuloma (n = 1), anterior dehiscence (n = 1), and excoriated mucosa (n = 1). Factors such as underlying disease, prior chemoradiotherapy, and postoperative chemoradiotherapy did not seem to affect the healing of the reverse flap., Conclusions: The reverse flap provides complete remucosalization of the denuded donor septum, decreasing septal crusting within the first 1 to 2 postoperative weeks, and adds minimal morbidity., (Copyright © 2013 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Purpose: A key issue in cancer is apoptosis resistance. However, little is known about the transcription factors that contribute to cellular survival of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)., Experimental Design: Three batches (54, 64, and 38) of HNSCC specimens were used for cellular and molecular analyses to determine the major molecular signaling pathways for cellular survival in HNSCC. Animal models (cell culture and xenografts) were used to verify the importance of apoptosis resistance in HNSCC., Results: Inhibitor of differentiation (Id) family member, Id1, was significantly upregulated in clinical HNSCC specimens and acted to protect keratinocytes from apoptosis. Transfection of HNSCC cells with Id1 in vitro induced the phosphorylation of Akt (p-Akt) via phosphoinositide 3-kinase and increased the expression of survivin via NF-kappaB. Blockage of both pathways by specific inhibitors (LY294002 and IkappaBalphaM, respectively) abrogated Id1-induced cell survival of keratinocytes. In vivo studies showed that increased expression of Id1 allowed nontumorigenic keratinocytes (Rhek-1A) to become tumorigenic in nude mice by increased expression of survival genes such as p-Akt and survivin. More importantly, short interfering RNA for Id1 significantly reduced HNSCC tumor volume of HNSCC in xenograft studies. Analysis of clinical data verified the importance of the Id1 downstream molecule, survivin, in the prognosis of HNSCC patients., Conclusions: The above data, taken together, suggest that Id1 and its downstream effectors are potential targets for treatment of HNSCC because of their contribution to apoptosis resistance.

Purpose: Upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer has not experienced significant overall survival improvement for over 20 years, and no successful treatments for systemic disease exist. Most patients with UADT cancer experience immune suppression, therefore immune restorative therapies may offer promise for these patients. We presently tested the efficacy of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) delivered via 28-day continuous infusion pump, in combination with irradiated tumor cells, in a flank model of UADT cancer., Methods: Five groups of rats were inoculated with syngeneic mucosally derived squamous carcinoma cells (FAT-7). Osmotic minipumps were implanted in the contralateral flank to deliver GM-CSF at 0 (PBS), 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 ng/day (n = 6 per group) for 28 days; 10(6) irradiated FAT-7 cells (ITC) were injected at the site of the GM-CSF infusion on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 immune infiltrates in tumors were analyzed., Results: Rats that received 10 or 100 ng/day GM-CSF/ITC had a significantly slower tumor growth rate compared to those who received 0, 0.1, or 1 ng/day (ANOVA, P < 0.01). There were increased CD 4+, CD 8+, and CD 68+ cells in tumors of GM-CSF/ITC treated animals over controls., Conclusion: GM-CSF (10 or 100 ng/day) delivered locally via osmotic pump with ITC slows the growth rate of mucosally derived squamous cell carcinoma in rats while improving immune cell infiltrates. The efficacy of locally delivered GM-CSF immunotherapy in this model may be a first step toward this immunotherapy strategy for humans.

NF-kappaB is activated during acute inflammatory states as well as in other injury response disease states. Several pathologic states in squamous tissue injury response are characterized by increased squamous proliferation. This study was performed to investigate the hypothesis that Pseudomonas aeruginosa LPS is able to activate a proliferative phenotype in squamous cells via NF-kappaB induction and that this NF-kappaB-mediated response may be abrogated with the classic anti-inflammatory agent indomethacin. EMSA, luciferase reporter gene experiments, Western blots, and cellular proliferation assays were performed in normal and transformed human keratinocytes after stimulation with P. aeruginosa LPS. EMSA and luciferase reporter gene assays showed a 3- to 5-fold induction of active NF-kappaB in human keratinocyte cell lines after stimulation with P. aeruginosa LPS. The stimulation correlated with significantly increased cellular proliferation. As one potential mechanism for this increase in proliferation, an NF-kappaB-specific activation of cyclin D1 was observed. Both the NF-kappaB induction and proliferation response were inhibited with indomethacin and in dominant negative stable transfection clones. P. aeruginosa LPS activates proliferation of human keratinocytes, potentially through the induction of NF-kappaB and cyclin D1. These findings suggest that bacterial components can contribute to proliferative disease states in squamous epithelium through NF-kappaB activation.