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Concrete properties, including its compressive strength, are in general highly nonlinear functions of its components. Concrete mix design methods are basically simulations that require costly and time consuming adjustments in laboratory. A useful support tool based on artificial neural networks, using a multilayer perceptron network, is proposed in this paper as a means to predict compressive strength of concrete mixes. The developed models are useful for reducing the quantity of laboratory tests required for concrete mix design adjustments.

Context Little is known about the association between haptoglobin level and cardiometabolic traits. A previous genome-wide association study identified rs2000999 in the HP gene as the stronger genetic contributor to serum haptoglobin level in European populations. Objective and Design We investigated the association of HP rs2000999 with serum haptoglobin and childhood and adult obesity in up to 540/697 and 592/691 Mexican cases and controls, respectively. Anthropometric and biochemical data were collected. Serum haptoglobin was measured by an immunoturbidimetry assay. HP rs2000999 was genotyped using the TaqMan technology. Mendelian randomization analysis was performed using the Wald and inverse variance weighting methods. Results Haptoglobin level was positively associated with childhood and adult obesity. HP rs2000999 G allele was positively associated with haptoglobin level in children and adults. HP rs2000999 G allele was positively associated with childhood but not adult obesity. The association between HP rs2000999 and childhood obesity was removed after adjusting for haptoglobin level. In a Mendelian randomization analysis, haptoglobin level genetically predicted by HP rs2000999 showed a significant causal effect on childhood obesity by the Wald and inverse variance weighting methods. Conclusion Our data provide evidence for the first time for a causal positive association between serum haptoglobin level and childhood obesity in the Mexican population. Our study contributes to the genetic elucidation of childhood obesity and proposes haptoglobin as an important biomarker and treatment target for obesity.

The macadamia nut borer moth Gymnandrosoma aurantianum, is the main pest of macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) in Central America. This study investigates the effect of the host (M. integrifolia) on attraction of G. aurantianum to its sex pheromone. Y-Tube bioassays showed that females G. aurantianum were attracted to volatiles from M. integrifolia leaves and flowers, while males responded to volatiles from flowers. Both sexes had significantly different electroantennographic responses (EAG) to the extracts of volatiles from flowers, fruits and leaves and (E)-8-dodecenyl acetate (main component of the sex pheromone of G. aurantianum). Females G. aurantianum exhibited electroantennographic responses by CG-EAD to phenylacetaldehyde, (1Z)-3-methylbutanal oxime and (E)-β-ocimene, while the males showed antennal activity in response to phenylacetaldehyde, (1E)-3-methylbutanal oxime, (1Z)-3-methylbutanal oxime, present in the extracts of M. integrifolia. The EAG dose-response with ocimene (mix of isomers) showed that female antennal activity increases as the dose increases, while with males, the highest dose elicited a response that was significantly different from the control. In field tests, the mixture (ocimene/(E)-8-dodecenyl acetate) with the proportion of 10:1 was the treatment that captured the highest number of males and females. Also, we observed that the lowest number of male captures was obtained with the proportion of 1:1, compared to the traps baited with only (E)-8-dodecenyl acetate. These results suggest that the binary mixture of ocimene plus (E)-8-dodecenyl acetate in a proportion of 10:1 could be an option for monitoring this pest because we obtained captures of both sexes.

The current study aimed to determine the antidiabetic and antidyslipidemic activities of moronic acid methyl ester (1) (compound 1) by in vivo, in vitro, in silico, and molecular biology studies. Compound 1 was evaluated to establish its dose-dependent antidiabetic and antihyperglycemic (50 mg/kg) activities, in diabetic and normoglycemic male CD1 mice, respectively. Also, compound 1 was subjected to a subacute study (50 mg/kg per day for 8 days) to determine blood biochemical profiles and the expression of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP-1B), glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPAR-α), PPAR-γ, adiponectin, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) in adipose tissue of animals after treatment. Different doses in acute administration of compound 1 decreased glycemia (p < 0.05) compared with vehicle, showing greater effectiveness in the range 50–160 mg/kg. Also, the oral glucose tolerance test showed that compound 1 induced a significant antihyperglycemic action by opposing the hyperglycemic peak (p < 0.05). Moreover, compound 1 subacute administration decreased glucose and triglyceride levels after treatment (p < 0.05); while the expression of PPAR-α and PPAR-γ, adiponectin, and GLUT4 displayed an increase (p < 0.05) compared with the diabetic control group. In conclusion, compound 1 showed antihyperglycemic, antidiabetic, and antidyslipidemic effects in normal and diabetic mice, probably due to insulin sensitization through increased mRNA expression of GLUT4, PPAR-α, PPAR-γ, and adiponectin genes.

Bound states in the Continuum (BICs) represent a new paradigm for resonant photonics due to their infinite lifetimes associated with the full suppression of radiation losses. This property makes it impossible to directly investigate BICs with standard far-field spectroscopy. In this contribution, we demonstrate the local excitation and the direct measurement of the near-field of BICs in arrays of dimer resonators and report their extremely long lifetimes due to the out-of-phase field oscillations in the resonators.

The purpose is to compare the rate of recurrent deep wound infection in patients who retained MCGRs versus those who underwent implant removal and exchange following index deep wound infection.Using a multicenter registry, we identified patients with EOS who underwent surgical correction with MCGR. We defined deep SSI as any infection that required subsequent ID and antibiotic therapy. Recurrent infection was defined as any additional deep SSI following treatment of index deep infection. We considered MCGR to be salvaged if implant exchange or removal was not performed for at least 1 year following date of infection. Bivariate statistical analyses were performed.992 EOS patients were identified, of whom 33 (3.3%) developed deep SSI. The mean time between initial surgery and first deep SSI was 13.1 months (Interquartile range [IQR]: 1 to 25 months. Infection rates by EOS diagnosis were as follows: 13/354 patients (3.6%) had neuromuscular scoliosis (NMS), 9/225 (4.0%) syndromic, 6/248 (2.4%) idiopathic, 3/135 congenital (2.2%), and 2/30 (6.6%) unknown etiology. MCGR was salvaged in 69% of NMS patients, 77% of syndromic patients, 100% of congenital patients, and 83% of idiopathic patients (83%). There were only four recurrent infections (2/13 NMS, 2/9 syndromic) and no differences in rates of recurrent infection between salvaged or replaced/exchanged MCGR. (p = 0.97).Deep wound infection occurred in 3% of MCGR patients at a mean of 13.1 months. There were no significant differences in rates of recurrent infection between salvaged implants and those removed or exchanged.

Normal aging is associated with changes in volumetric indices of brain atrophy. A quantitative understanding of age-related brain changes can shed light on successful aging. To investigate the effect of age on global and regional brain volumes and cortical thickness, 3514 magnetic resonance imaging scans were analyzed using automated brain segmentation and parcellation methods in elderly healthy individuals (69–88 years of age). The machine learning algorithm extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) achieved a mean absolute error of 2 years in predicting the age of new subjects. Feature importance analysis showed that the brain-to-intracranial-volume ratio is the most important feature in predicting age, followed by the hippocampi volumes. The cortical thickness in temporal and parietal lobes showed a superior predictive value than frontal and occipital lobes. Insights from this approach that integrate model prediction and interpretation may help to shorten the current explanatory gap between chronological age and biological brain age.

Bound states in the Continuum (BICs) represent a new paradigm for resonant photonics due to their infinite lifetime associated with the full suppression of radiation losses. This property makes it also impossible to directly measure BICs with standard far-field spectroscopic techniques. Here, we directly observe the temporal evolution of a BIC by using a near-field excitation and detection microscope.

Terahertz spectroscopy is a powerful and contactless technique that enables to measure charge carrier properties in metals and semiconductors. However, the relatively long wavelengths of THz radiation and the diffraction limit imposed by optical imaging systems, reduces the applicability of THz spectroscopy considerably. We have developed a time-resolved terahertz near-field microscope that allows measurements of the carrier dynamics with sub-diffraction resolution. This microscope is used to measure an exfoliated flake of a 2D transition metal dichalcogenide crystal with a few tens of microns' resolution. Mapping carrier dynamics of semiconductors, non-invasively, and on micron length scales, opens new possibilities for material characterization.

Composite spectrum (CS) is a data-fusion technique that reduces the number of spectra to be analyzed, simplifying the analysis process for machine monitoring and fault detection. In this work, vibration signals from five components of a combine harvester (thresher, chopper, straw walkers, sieve box, and engine) are obtained by placing four accelerometers along the combine-harvester chassis in non-optimal locations. Four individual spectra (one from each accelerometer) and three CS (non-coherent, coherent and poly-coherent spectra) from 18 cases are analyzed. The different cases result from the combination of three working conditions of the components&mdash, deactivated (off), balanced (healthy), and unbalanced (faulty)&mdash, and two speeds&mdash, idle and maximum revolutions per minute (RPM). The results showed that (i) the peaks can be identified in the four individual spectra that correspond to the rotational speeds of the five components in the analysis, (ii) the three formulations of the CS retain the relevant information from the individual spectra, thereby reducing the number of spectra required for monitoring and detecting rotating unbalances within a combine harvester, and, (iii) data noise reduction is observed in coherent and poly-coherent CS with respect to the non-coherent CS and the individual spectra. This study demonstrates that the rotating unbalances of various components within agricultural machines, can be detected with a reduced number of accelerometers located in non-optimal positions, and that it is feasible to simplify the monitoring with CS. Overall, the coherent CS may be the best composite spectra formulation in order to monitor and detect rotating unbalances in agricultural machines.

What is life, what is the difference between something that is alive and something that is not, are viruses living beings, or what would life be like elsewhere in the universe, are questions that still do not have clear-cut answers fully accepted by the scientific community. Based on the fundamental attributes of all living things, I define life as a process that takes place in very ordered organic structures and is characterized by being automatic, interactive and evolutionary. I also define a living being as an organic, highly ordered, automatic, interacting and evolutionary system, and a robot as an ordered automatic and interacting system. Based on this definition and what we know about the biology of viruses, I maintain that they should be considered as living entities. Finally, I explain why if there were life elsewhere in the universe, it would be very similar to what we know on our planet.

Travel log from the mission trip to the Dominican Republic 2019

Glycine modulates inflammatory processes mediated by macrophages and adipocytes through decreasing the secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and leptin, while increasing adiponectin. These effects have been associated with the inactivation of NF-κB in response to TNF-α, across an increase of its inhibitor IκB-α in adipocytes. However, glycine upstream mainly influences the IκB kinase (IKK) complex, a multi-protein kinase complex considered a critical point in regulation of the NF-κB pathway; whether that is responsible for the TNF-α-induced phosphorylation of IkB has not been explored. Additionally, although previous studies have described glycine interactions with specific receptors (GlyR) in different immune system cell types, it is currently unknown whether adipocytes present GlyR. In this research, participation of the IKK-α/β complex in the inhibition of the TNF-α/NF-κB pathway by glycine was evaluated and associated with the synthesis and secretion of inflammatory cytokines in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Furthermore, we also explored GlyR expression, its localization on the plasmatic membrane, intracellular calcium concentrations [Ca 2+ ] i and strychnine antagonist action over the GlyR in these cells. Glycine decreased the IKK-α/β complex and the phosphorylation of NF-κB, diminishing the expression and secretion of IL-6 and TNF-α, but increasing that of adiponectin. GlyR expression and its fluorescence in the plasma membrane were increased in the presence of glycine. In addition, glycine decreased [Ca 2+ ] i ; whereas strychnine + glycine treatment inhibited the activation of NF-κB observed with glycine. In conclusion, the reduction of TNF-α and IL-6 and suppression of the TNF-α/NF-κB pathway by glycine may be explained in part by inhibition of the IKK-α/β complex, with a possible participation of GlyR in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES The prevalence of abdominal obesity in Mexican children has risen dramatically in the past decade. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) performed predominantly in European descent adult populations have identified multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with larger effects in women. The contribution of these SNPs to WHR in non-European children is unknown. SUBJECTS/METHODS Mexican children and adolescents (N = 1421, 5-17 years) were recruited in Mexico City. Twelve GWAS SNPs were genotyped using TaqMan Open Array and analyzed individually and as a gene score (GS). RESULTS Mexican boys and girls displayed 2.81 ± 0.29 and 3.10 ± 0.31 WHR standard deviations higher than children and adolescents from the United States. WHR was positively associated with TG (β = 0.733 ± 0.190, P = 1.1 × 10-4) and LDL-C (β = 0.491 ± 0.203, P = 1.6 × 10-2), and negatively associated with HDL-C (β = -0.652 ± 0.195, P = 8.0 × 10-4), independently of body mass index. The effect allele frequency (EAF) of 8 of 12 (67%) SNPs differed significantly (P

Mexico has one of the highest prevalence of childhood obesity in the world. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for obesity have identified multiple single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in populations of European, East Asian, and African descent. The contribution of these loci to obesity in Mexican children is unclear. We assessed the transferability of 98 obesity loci in Mexican children and fine-mapped the association signals. The study included 405 and 390 Mexican children with normal weight and obesity. Participants were genotyped with a genome-wide dense SNP array designed for Latino populations, allowing for the analysis of GWAS index SNPs as well as fine-mapping SNPs, totaling 750 SNPs covering 98 loci. Two genetic risk scores (GRS) were constructed: a “discovery GRS” and a “best-associated GRS”, representing the number of effect alleles at the GWAS index SNPs and at the best-associated SNPs after fine-mapping for each subject. Seventeen obesity loci were significantly associated with obesity, and five had fine-mapping SNPs significantly better associated with obesity than their corresponding GWAS index SNPs in Mexican children. Six obesity-associated SNPs significantly departed from additive to dominant (N = 5) or recessive (N = 1) models, and a significant interaction was found between rs274609 (TNNI3K) and rs1010553 (ITIH4) on childhood obesity risk. The best-associated GRS was significantly more associated with childhood obesity (OR = 1.21 per additional risk allele [95%CI:1.17–1.25], P = 4.8 × 10−25) than the discovery GRS (OR = 1.05 per additional risk allele [95%CI:1.02–1.08], P = 8.0 × 10−4), and was also associated with waist-to-hip ratio, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and triglyceride levels, the association being mediated by obesity. An overall depletion of obesity risk alleles was observed in Mexican children with normal weight when compared to GWAS discovery populations. Our study indicates a partial transferability of GWAS obesity loci in Mexican children, and supports the pertinence of post-GWAS fine-mapping experiments in the admixed Mexican population.

Data fusion with on-vehicle sensor data improves GNSS positioning precision.Best precision improvements are achieved while using the system in urban areas.The system can be deployed with a low implementation cost in modern car vehicles.The system can be easily adapted to incorporate more on-vehicle sensors. Accurate car positioning on the Earth's surface is a requirement for many state-of-the-art automotive applications, but current low-cost Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers can suffer from poor precision and transient unavailability in urban areas. In this article, a real-time data fusion system of absolute and relative positioning data is proposed with the aim of increasing car positioning precision. To achieve this goal, a system based on the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) was employed to fuse absolute positioning data coming from a low-cost GNSS receiver with data coming from four wheel speed sensors, a lateral acceleration sensor, and a steering wheel angle sensor. The bicycle kinematic model and the Ackerman steering geometry were employed to particularize the EKF. The proposed system was evaluated through experimental tests. The results showed precision improvements of up to 50% in terms of the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), 50% in terms of the 95th-percentile of the distance error distribution, and 75% in terms of the maximum distance error, with respect to using a stand-alone, low-cost GNSS receiver. These results suggest that the proposed data fusion system for car vehicles can significantly reduce the positioning error with respect to the positioning error of a low-cost GNSS receiver. The best precision improvements of the system are expected to be achieved in urban areas, where tall buildings hinder the effectiveness of GNSS systems. The main contribution of this work is the proposal of a novel system that enables accurate car positioning during short GNSS signal outages. This advance could be integrated in larger expert and intelligent systems such as autonomous cars, helping to make self-driving easier and safer.

The cost of current flow rate measurement devices is quite high compared to the cost of low-end microphones. This circumstance, together with the fact that common agricultural sprayers have more than 50 nozzles, makes the use of current flow rate measurement devices cost-prohibitive. That considered, this article examines, by proposing one particular method, the feasibility of using microphones as flowmeters for nozzle tips in agricultural sprayers. The proposed method consists of the following stages: ( i ) acquisition of the digital acoustic data sequence, ( ii ) signal preprocessing, ( iii ) frequency domain transformation using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis, ( iv ) in-band power calculation, ( v ) power normalization, and ( vi ) regression or curve fitting. This method was assessed in an in-lab sprayer test bench employing 11 commercial nozzle tips at several operating flow rates within or close to those recommended by the manufacturers. The experimental results yielded, for all the tested nozzle tips, average absolute and relative Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values always below 0.08 liters per minute (lpm) and 5%, respectively, while the overall mean absolute and relative RMSE values were lower than 0.05 lpm and 2.5%. Furthermore, for each tested nozzle tip, the Maximum Absolute Error (MAE) was always bounded below 0.3 lpm, being the absolute error lower than 0.15 lpm for 95% of the time. The accuracies when employing a high-end microphone instead of a low-end one presented no statistically significant differences. These results provide strong evidence of the feasibility of accurately estimating the nozzle tip flow rate in real time based on acoustic signals. Moreover, no significant improvements are to be expected by using a high-end microphone instead of a low-end one. However, there are still some issues that should be tackled in order to enable the application of this method in real agricultural settings.