Explore the vast range of titles available.

Fukui functions are related to electron densities, and their interpretation permits the determination of reactivity of atomic centres. However, negative values cannot be interpreted by an “electron density based” model and represent a phenomenon that has been little investigated and understood. Previous works in the literature suggest that they are related to nodes in the wave function. In our investigations we can relate negative values to nitro groups and their position on aromatic systems, as it is a moiety with HOMO electron densities close to “0” related to “electron attracting” groups. This work can help us understand and predict this phenomenon and the associated chemical reactivities. We also pay attention to the influence of the nitro group angle vs. the aromatic ring.

On a worldwide scale, food demand is increasing as a consequence of global population growth. This makes companies push their food supply chains’ limits with a consequent increase in generation of large amounts of untreated waste that are considered of no value to them. Biorefinery technologies offer a suitable alternative for obtaining high-value products by using unconventional raw materials, such as agro-industrial waste. Currently, most biorefineries aim to take advantage of specific residues (by either chemical, biotechnological, or physical treatments) provided by agro-industry in order to develop high-value products for either in-house use or for sale purposes. This article reviews the currently explored possibilities to apply biorefinery-known processes to banana agro-industrial waste in order to generate high-value products out of this residual biomass source. Firstly, the Central and Latin American context regarding biomass and banana residues is presented, followed by advantages of using banana residues as raw materials for the production of distinct biofuels, nanocellulose fibers, different bioplastics, and other high-value products Lastly, additional uses of banana biomass residues are presented, including energy generation and water treatment.

More than 500 servers are actively managed by the Windows infrastructure team on the CERN site. They run critical services for the laboratory, from controlling some of the accelerator systems to directory services, storage, and databases. Visibility of the state of these servers at all times is critical for smooth operation of their services. This paper describes the implementation of an open-source ecosystem based on icinga2, focused on how to monitor Windows-based services, and the technical choices and configurations that were made to transparently deploy and manage an opensource monitoring infrastructure in the organization.

Plants are associated with a complex microbiota that contributes to nutrient acquisition, plant growth, and plant defense. Nitrogen-fixing microbial associations are efficient and well characterized in legumes but are limited in cereals, including maize. We studied an indigenous landrace of maize grown in nitrogen-depleted soils in the Sierra Mixe region of Oaxaca, Mexico. This landrace is characterized by the extensive development of aerial roots that secrete a carbohydrate-rich mucilage. Analysis of the mucilage microbiota indicated that it was enriched in taxa for which many known species are diazotrophic, was enriched for homologs of genes encoding nitrogenase subunits, and harbored active nitrogenase activity as assessed by acetylene reduction and 15N2 incorporation assays. Field experiments in Sierra Mixe using 15N natural abundance or 15N-enrichment assessments over 5 years indicated that atmospheric nitrogen fixation contributed 29%-82% of the nitrogen nutrition of Sierra Mixe maize.

Exploring natural diversity for biological nitrogen fixation in maize and its progenitors is a promising approach to reducing our dependence on synthetic fertilizer and enhancing the sustainability of our cropping systems. We have shown previously that maize accessions from the Sierra Mixe can support a nitrogen-fixing community in the mucilage produced by their abundant aerial roots and obtain a significant fraction of their nitrogen from the air through these associations. In this study, we demonstrate that mucilage production depends on root cap and border cells sensing water, as observed in underground roots. The diameter of aerial roots correlates with the volume of mucilage produced and the nitrogenase activity supported by each root. Young aerial roots produce more mucilage than older ones, probably due to their root cap’s integrity and their ability to produce border cells. Transcriptome analysis on aerial roots at two different growth stages before and after mucilage production confirmed the expression of genes involved in polysaccharide synthesis and degradation. Genes related to nitrogen uptake and assimilation were up-regulated upon water exposure. Altogether, our findings suggest that in addition to the number of nodes with aerial roots reported previously, the diameter of aerial roots and abundance of border cells, polysaccharide synthesis and degradation, and nitrogen uptake are critical factors to ensure efficient nitrogen fixation in maize aerial roots.

Background:Endometrial cancer (EC) is the third most prevalent neoplasm among women in Spain and the most frequent malignancy of the female genital tract. The primary risk factors are associated with increased estrogen levels. The objective of our study is to determine the current specific progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with EC at the University Hospital of Puerto Real. Additionally, we aim to understand the independent role of specific factors in the risk of recurrence and mortality from EC through a multivariate analysis.Methods:A retrospective observational survival analysis of a case series was conducted. The study population included all women diagnosed and treated for EC in Spain between January 2010 and December 2021. The Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analysis were performed to evaluate survival based on patient age, tumor stage, histological type, and degree of differentiation, and to quantify survival probabilities for each factor.Results:A total of 324 patients were included. The PFS was 86.6% at 5 years and 81.1% at 10 years. The OS was 91.3% at 5 years and 84.8% at 10 years. The tumor-related mortality rate was 9.3% (N = 30) and the tumor recurrence rate was 5.6% (N = 18). The estimated median follow-up using the inverse Kaplan-Meier method was 4.33 years (95% confidence interval (95% CI): 3.72–4.94) for OS and 4.57 years (95% CI: 4.05–5.09) for PFS. The statistically significant factors affecting PFS and OS were age ≥60 years at diagnosis, advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (II–IV), non-endometrioid tumor, high tumor grade, and lymphovascular space invasion. Multivariate Cox regression analysis shows that being 60 years or older at the time of diagnosis, advanced FIGO stages, high tumor grade, and serous-papillary tumors are independent risk factors for recurrence or death in EC.Conclusions:Our study shows that being 60 years or older at the time of diagnosis, advanced FIGO stages (II–IV), non-endometrioid EC, higher histological tumor grade, and lymphovascular space invasion are associated with lower OS and PFS. Additionally, multivariate Cox analysis suggests that age ≥60 years at diagnosis, advanced FIGO stages, high tumor grade, and serous-papillary histological type are independent prognostic factors influencing survival and recurrence in EC. This study should serve as a foundation for further research, incorporating relevant aspects of the molecular biology of EC to refine patient prognosis.

As part of the Global Smart Drinking Goals campaign launched in 2018 in 6 “City Pilots” around the world, the Businesses That Care (BTC; Empresas Que se Cuidan in Spanish) prevention system was developed and implemented in Zacatecas, Mexico. BTC is a private business sector adaptation of the Communities That Care prevention system. BTC is designed to address underage alcohol use through a combination of a company-led prevention system, an adapted family-based prevention program with parents employed at participating companies, and environmental prevention strategies for company employees. BTC was designed to be congruent with other health and safety efforts in the region (e.g., media campaign, road safety, and school prevention efforts). This study presents the feasibility and adoption of the BTC system in Zacatecas. Process implementation measures indicated successful participant recruitment, retention, and adherence to intervention protocols. The first 4 stages of BTC implementation were completed within 14 months, with Stage 5 being interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. BTC Prevention Committee members, made up of employees from BTC participating companies, received 9 out of 10 BTC trainings/workshops during this time. Results provide evidence of the acceptability and feasibility for private companies to implement a prevention system approach for reducing youth alcohol use.

Over 8000 Windows PCs are actively used on the CERN site for tasks ranging from controlling the accelerator facilities to processing invoices. PCs are managed through CERN's Computer Management Framework and Group Policies, with configurations deployed based on machine sets and a lot of autonomy left to the end-users. While the generic central configuration works well for the majority of the users, a specific hardened PC configuration is now provided for users who require stronger resilience against external attacks. This paper describes the technical choices and configurations involved and discusses the effectiveness of the hardened PC approach.

Strongyloidiasis can be fatal in immunocompromised patients, but few epidemiological studies investigated the burden of this neglected tropical disease among these populations, particularly in low- and middle-income countries such as Bolivia. This study aimed to fill in this gap by estimating prevalence rate and risk factors associated with strongyloidiasis among patients at high risk of complications. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Santa Cruz (elevation 400 meters, tropical climate) and Cochabamba (elevation 2,500 meters, temperate climate), among patients with cancer, HIV infection and rheumatic or hematologic disease, using four coproparasitological techniques and one serological (ELISA) test. In total, 1,151 patients participated in this study, including individuals who were HIV-positive (30%) or with rheumatic (29%), oncologic (32%) or hematologic (9%) diseases. The serological and coproparasitological prevalence was 23.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.7-25.5; n = 265/1151) and 7.6% (95% CI, 6.2-9.3; n = 88/1151), respectively, with an estimated actual prevalence of 20.2% (95% CI, 17.9-22.5). Positive serology and positive coproparasitology were associated with younger age and lower education levels. There was no significant difference in prevalence between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz as defined by coproparasitology (6.4% vs. 8.9%; p = 0.11) or serology (24.0% vs. 22.0%; p = 0.4). Among 64 patients in Cochabamba who had never travelled to the tropical lowlands, 5 (7.8%) had a positive coproparasitology. Strongyloidiasis is widely prevalent in Bolivia among vulnerable patients at increased risk of life-threatening complications. Transmission of the parasite occurs both in tropical lowlands and temperate elevation (≥ 2,500 m). Control strategies to prevent transmission and complications of this serious parasitic disease should be urgently reinforced.

Today, an unprecedented understanding of the cancer genome, along with major breakthroughs in oncoimmunotherapy, and a resurgence of nucleic acid vaccines against cancer are being achieved. However, in most cases, the immune system response is still insufficient to react against cancer, especially in those tumors showing low mutational burden. One way to counteract tumor escape can be the induction of bacterial translocation, a phenomenon associated with autoimmune diseases which consists of a leakage in the colonic mucosa barrier, causing the access of gut bacteria to sterile body compartments such as blood. Certain commensal or live‐attenuated bacteria can be engineered in such a way as to contain nucleic acids coding for tumor neoantigens previously selected from individual tumor RNAseq data. Hypothetically, these modified bacteria, previously administered orally to a cancer patient, can be translocated by several compounds acting on colonic mucosa, thus releasing neoantigens in a systemic environment in the context of an acute inflammation. Several strategies for selecting neoantigens, suitable bacteria strains, genetic constructs, and translocation inducers to achieve tumor‐specific activations of CD4 and CD8 T‐cells are discussed in this hypothesis. A new tailored therapeutic approach is presented here consisting of the use of orally administered engineered bacteria containing tumor neoantigens which have been previously identified by sequencing tumor of an individual patient. The efficient systemic antigen presentation to the immune system is triggered by a bacterial translocation caused by inducing a controlled local inflammation in the gut mucosa.