Alex Maldonado | UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (original) (raw)
Papers by Alex Maldonado
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2010
Several studies have examined the factors associated with juvenile delinquency, but this literatu... more Several studies have examined the factors associated with juvenile delinquency, but this literature remains limited largely because it has not moved beyond traditional factors generally and because of the lack of research conducted on minority—especially Hispanic—youth. This study seeks to overcome these two limitations by using data from a longitudinal study of 2,491 Hispanic (Puerto Rican) youth ages 5–13 (48.5% female) socialized in two different cultural contexts, Bronx, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an effort to examine the relationship between parental suicidality and offspring delinquency. Results indicate that while traditional risk/protective factors and parental mental health issues relate to delinquency in expected ways, youths whose parents attempted suicide engaged in more frequent and varied delinquency over time. Implications for theory and future research are addressed.
Charged-particle production was studied in proton-proton collisions collected at the LHC with the... more Charged-particle production was studied in proton-proton collisions collected at the LHC with the ALICE detector at centre-of-mass energies 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |η| < 1.4. In the central region (|η| < 0.5), at 0.9 TeV, we measure charged-particle pseudorapidity density dN ch /dη = 3.02 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.08 −0.05 (syst.) for inelastic interactions, and dN ch /dη = 3.58 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.12 −0.12 (syst.) for nonsingle-diffractive interactions. At 2.36 TeV, we find dN ch /dη = 3.77 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.25 −0.12 (syst.) for inelastic, and dN ch /dη = 4.43 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.17 −0.12 (syst.) for non-single-diffractive collisions. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from the lower to higher energy is 24.7%±0.5%(stat.) +5.7 −2.8 %(syst.) for inelastic and 23.7% ± 0.5%(stat.) +4.6 −1.1 %(syst.) for non-single-diffractive interactions. This increase is consistent with that reported by the CMS collaboration for non-single-diffractive events and larger than that found by a number of commonly used models. The multiplicity distribution was measured in different pseudorapidity intervals and studied in terms of KNO variables at both energies. The results are compared to protonantiproton data and to model predictions. 6
Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction, 1995
Abstract Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-7) were transfected with the gene for the human α2C re... more Abstract Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-7) were transfected with the gene for the human α2C receptor (α2C4). Cells were grown in 96-well microtiter plates and cyclic AMP levels were measured by scintillation proximity assay, a modified radioimmunoassay ...
International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 1998
Genetics, 2006
We report a dense genetic linkage map of Heliconius erato, a neotropical butterfly that has under... more We report a dense genetic linkage map of Heliconius erato, a neotropical butterfly that has undergone a remarkable adaptive radiation in warningly colored mimetic wing patterns. Our study exploited natural variation segregating in a cross between H. erato etylus and H. himera to localize wing color pattern loci on a dense linkage map containing amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), microsatellites, and single-copy nuclear loci. We unambiguously identified all 20 autosomal linkage groups and the sex chromosome (Z). The map spanned a total of 1430 Haldane cM and linkage groups varied in size from 26.3 to 97.8 cM. The average distance between markers was 5.1 cM. Within this framework, we localized two major color pattern loci to narrow regions of the genome. The first gene, D, responsible for red/ orange elements, had a most likely placement in a 6.7-cM region flanked by two AFLP markers on the end of a large 87.5-cM linkage group. The second locus, Sd, affects the melanic pattern on the forewing and was found within a 6.3-cM interval between flanking AFLP loci. This study complements recent linkage analysis of H. erato's comimic, H. melpomene, and forms the basis for marker-assisted physical mapping and for studies into the comparative genetic architecture of wing-pattern mimicry in Heliconius.
On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), tw... more On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with the two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range |η|N ch/dη=3.10±0.13(stat.)±0.22(syst.) for all inelastic interactions, and dN ch/dη=3.51±0.15(stat.)±0.25(syst.) for non-single diffractive interactions. These results are consistent with previous measurements in proton–antiproton interactions at the same centre-of-mass energy at the CERN Sp \(\overline{\mathrm{p}}\) S collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase.
Revista Panamericana De Salud Publica-pan American Journal of Public Health, 2008
1 920 patients hospitalized in ICUs for an aggregate of 9 997 days acquired 249 DAIs, accounting ... more 1 920 patients hospitalized in ICUs for an aggregate of 9 997 days acquired 249 DAIs, accounting for a rate of 13.0% and 24.9 DAIs per 1 000 ICU-days. The ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rate was 31.3 per 1 000 ventilator-days; the central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CVC-BSI) rate was 7.7 cases per 1 000 catheter-days; and the rate for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) was 5.1 cases per 1 000 catheter-days. Extra mortality for VAP was 24.5% (RR 2.07, P < 0.001); for CVC-BSI the rate was 15.0% (RR 2.75, P = 0.028). Methicillinresistant strains accounted for 73.5% of all Staphylococcus aureus DAIs; 40.5% of the Enterobacteriaceae were resistant to ceftriaxone, 40.8% were resistant to ceftazidime, and 32.0% were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam. Sixty-five percent of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, 62.0% were resistant to ceftazidime, 29.4% were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam, and 36.1% were resistant to imipenem. Conclusions. The high rates of DAIs in the Peruvian hospitals in this study indicate the need for active infection control. Programs consisting of surveillance of DAIs and implementation of guidelines for infection prevention can ensure improved patient safety in the ICUs and throughout hospitals. ABSTRACT Key words Espichan MJ, et al. Device-associated infection rates and mortality in intensive care units of Peruvian hospitals: findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2008;24(1):16-24.
The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of virtual environments representing situation... more The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of virtual environments representing situations that are emotionally significant to subjects with eating disorders (ED). These environments may be applied with both evaluative and therapeutic aims and in simulation procedures to carry out a range of experimental studies. This paper is part of a wider research project analyzing the influence of the situation to which subjects are exposed on their performance on body image estimation tasks. Thirty female patients with eating disorders were exposed to six virtual environments: a living-room (neutral situation), a kitchen with highcalorie food, a kitchen with low-calorie food, a restaurant with high-calorie food, a restaurant with low-calorie food, and a swimming-pool. After exposure to each environment the STAI-S (a measurement of state anxiety) and the CDB (a measurement of depression) were administered to all subjects. The results show that virtual reality instruments are particularly useful for simulating everyday situations that may provoke emotional reactions such as anxiety and depression, in patients with ED. Virtual environments in which subjects are obliged to ingest high-calorie food provoke the highest levels of state anxiety and depression.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2009
Abeles. Temporally precise cortical firing patterns are associated with distinct action segments.... more Abeles. Temporally precise cortical firing patterns are associated with distinct action segments. . Despite many reports indicating the existence of precise firing sequences in cortical activity, serious objections have been raised regarding the statistics used to detect them and the relations of these sequences to behavior. We show that in behaving monkeys, pairs of spikes from different neurons tend to prefer certain time delays when measured in relation to a specific behavior. Single-unit activity was recorded from eight microelectrodes inserted into the motor and premotor cortices of two monkeys while they were performing continuous drawinglike hand movements. Repeated scribbling paths, termed drawing components, were extracted by data-mining techniques. The set of the least predictable relations between drawing components and pairs of neurons was determined and represented by one statistic termed the relations score. The chance probability of the relations score was evaluated by teetering the spike times: 1,000 surrogates were generated by randomly teetering the original time of each spike in a small window. In nine of 13 experimental days the precision was better than 12 ms and, in the best case, spike precision reached 0.5 ms.
Journal of Instrumentation, 2010
We have reinvestigated the stability and intracellular routing of mutant carboxypeptidase E in NI... more We have reinvestigated the stability and intracellular routing of mutant carboxypeptidase E in NIT3 cells, a pancreatic -cell line derived from the Cpe fat /Cpe fat mouse. Pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that this protein has a half-life of approximately 3 h in these cells and that up to 45% of the proCPE(202) can escape degradation by the proteosome. In double-label immunofluorescence microscopy, a portion of the mutant CPE did not colocalize with calnexin, an endoplasmic reticulum marker, but was found in prohormone convertase 2-containing secretory granules, demonstrating that it had escaped degradation and arrived at a post-Golgi compartment. The mutant CPE as well as prohormone convertase 2 were secreted into the medium in a stimulated manner by treatment with the physiological secretagogue, glucagon-like peptide-1, consistent with its presence in granules of the regulated secretory pathway. The presence of mutant carboxypeptidase E in granules supports a potential role for its involvement as a sorting/retention receptor in the trafficking of proinsulin to the regulated secretory pathway. (Endocrinology 144: 292-298, 2003)
Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, 2002
Abstract: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and proenkephalin (PE) are synthesized at the endoplasmic re... more Abstract: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and proenkephalin (PE) are synthesized at the endoplasmic reticulum and transported to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) where they are sorted and packaged into dense-core granules of the regulated secretory pathway (RSP). The mechanism of sorting POMC and PE to the RSP in neuroendocrine cells was investigated. Consensus sorting signals comprising two acidic residues and two hydrophobic residues exposed on the surface of N-POMC1-26 and N-PE1-32 were identified and shown to be sufficient and necessary for targeting POMC and PE to the RSP in PC12, Neuro2a, and AtT-20 cells. The acidic residues of these sorting signals bind specifically to basic residues on the sorting receptor membrane, carboxypeptidase E (CPE), to effect sorting to the RSP. Analysis of POMC and PE sorting in Neuro2a cells depleted of CPE by CPE antisense RNA, and Cpefat/fat mouse pituitary cells lacking CPE showed missorting of both these molecules to the constitutive pathway in vivo. Thus, POMC and PE are sorted to the RSP at the TGN by a mechanism involving the interaction of a specific sorting signal on these molecules with the sorting receptor, CPE.
Avian Pathology, 1994
Haemagglutination inhibition tests were used to study the prevalence of antibodies to avian param... more Haemagglutination inhibition tests were used to study the prevalence of antibodies to avian paramyxovirus (PMV) serotypes 1, 2 and 3 in wild and domestic birds in Andalusia (southern Spain). Tests were performed on 341 sera from layer hens drawn from 44 flocks, 198 from nine breeder hen flocks, 123 from five broiler chicken flocks, 329 from 47 turkey flocks, 51 from four pigeon flocks, 123 from five partridge flocks, 112 from five mixed domestic flocks and 361 sera from 24 wild species. The incidence PMV-1 antibodies was very low in wild species (1%), though higher in domestic birds (18%), due to the systematic vaccination of these species, particularly layer and breeder hens. The highest rate of infection for PMV-2 was found in domestic species (27%) and particularly in turkeys (47%). Among wild species, the house sparrow recorded the greatest prevalence of PMV-2 (69%). The PMV-3 infection rate was very low both in wild (6%) and domestic species; the figure of 15% recorded for the latter appears to be due to cross reacting PMV-1 vaccinal antibodies. The highest incidence in wild birds was recorded in the summer, whereas prevalence reached its maximum in domestic species in the winter.
Journal of Comparative Pathology, 2003
In studying the post-mortem diagnosis of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE) a "double-blind"... more In studying the post-mortem diagnosis of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE) a "double-blind" study was performed on 77 apparently healthy "finisher" pigs at the time of slaughter, to compare the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with those of (1) an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), (2) examination for gross proliferative lesions at slaughter, (3) histopathological study of sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin (HE), and (4) Warthin -Starry (WS) silver staining for intracellular bacteria. The IFA, with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 97% (positive "likelihood ratio" ¼ 30) and an agreement of 82% with PCR, is suggested as an alternative to the PCR in the post-mortem diagnosis of PPE. Histopathological examination was shown to be of little use as a principal diagnostic method, although it appeared to be effective in diagnosing infection by Lawsonia intracellularis in cases with proliferative-type lesions (positive likelihood ratio ¼ 29.6). Finally, the values obtained from an examination of gross lesions (k ¼ 0:075; positive likelihood ratio of 1.3) and WS staining (k ¼ 0:42; positive likelihood ratio of 5.3) demonstrated the lack of validity of these tests for the diagnosis of L. intracellularis infection.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1999
We have carried out an aetiological and pathological study of an outbreak of septicaemia caused b... more We have carried out an aetiological and pathological study of an outbreak of septicaemia caused by the O165 serogroup of Escherichia coli in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) which resulted in high mortality (90%). After treatment with amoxicilin in drinking water (200 mg/l), morbility and mortality rates dropped markedly. Microbiological studies showed that the organism responsible was an atypical E. coli strain, on the basis of the non-fermentation of lactose (ONPG-), which belonged to the O165 serogroup and was highly virulent for 1-day-old chickens.
Avian Pathology, 1994
The indirect ELISA was used to detect antibodies to influenzavirus A in the sera of wildfowl from... more The indirect ELISA was used to detect antibodies to influenzavirus A in the sera of wildfowl from the Donana National Park. Of the 712 birds examined, 44 (6.2%) were seropositive. Positive birds belonged to 10 of the 13 species studied. Infection rates varied widely: spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia, 32.2%), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos, 9.9%), gadwall (Anas strepera, 8.6%), red-crested pochard (Netta rufina, 8.1%), pochard (Aythya ferina, 6.4%), shoveler (Anas clypeata, 5%), great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus, 4.3%), avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta, 3.1%), grey heron (Ardea cinerea, 3.1%) and coot (Fulica atra, 0.8%). Although infection rates were not high, the wide range of avian species susceptible to influenzavirus A suggests circulation of the virus amongst wildfowl at Donana.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1994
A study was performed to determine the susceptibility of 59 S. suis strains, isolated from sick a... more A study was performed to determine the susceptibility of 59 S. suis strains, isolated from sick and healthy carrier swine, to a range of antimicrobial agents. The β-lactamic group proved more active both in Kirby-Bauer and MCI tests. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole emerged as an alternative drug in chemoprevention and treatment of S. suis infections.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1994
A seroepidemiological survey was carried out in the province of Badajoz (south-western Spain) in ... more A seroepidemiological survey was carried out in the province of Badajoz (south-western Spain) in order to determine the presence and spread of Leptospira interrogans. The 521 sera tested were drawn from breeding sows on 28 large farms (15 with fewer than 60 and 13 with over 60 breeders). Immunological testing was performed using the Martin-Pettit micro-agglutination technique. Pigs with titres equal to or greater than 1:100 were considered positive. Haemolysed and/or contaminated test sera were reprocessed following filter-paper treatment.A total of 10.56 % of pigs tested proved positive, 39.28 % of farms being affected. The following L. interrogans serovars were detected: pomona (6.53 %), castellonis (1.15 %), sejroe (1.15 %), grippotyphosa (0.96 %), australis (0.38 %), hebdomadis (0.19 %) and icterohaemorrhagiae (0.19 %).
Avian Pathology, 1990
Of 927 sera taken from poultry from 84 flocks, 33% proved seropositive. Sixty-three per cent of f... more Of 927 sera taken from poultry from 84 flocks, 33% proved seropositive. Sixty-three per cent of flocks were found to be seropositive to ELISA (almost all situated within areas where there were waterfowl). The comparable figures, using an HI test, were 16% and 47%, respectively. These data suggest that the influenza A viruses may be enzootic in this area. Of 331 wild birds tested, belonging to 18 species of nine families, 40% proved seropositive to ELISA. Notable high infection rates were found among Anatidae (43%), flamingoes (43%) and sparrows (31%); the latter species may play an important role in carrying the disease from its natural reservoirs to domestic farms. Antibody titres found in wild birds were considerably higher than those found in poultry.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2010
Several studies have examined the factors associated with juvenile delinquency, but this literatu... more Several studies have examined the factors associated with juvenile delinquency, but this literature remains limited largely because it has not moved beyond traditional factors generally and because of the lack of research conducted on minority—especially Hispanic—youth. This study seeks to overcome these two limitations by using data from a longitudinal study of 2,491 Hispanic (Puerto Rican) youth ages 5–13 (48.5% female) socialized in two different cultural contexts, Bronx, New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an effort to examine the relationship between parental suicidality and offspring delinquency. Results indicate that while traditional risk/protective factors and parental mental health issues relate to delinquency in expected ways, youths whose parents attempted suicide engaged in more frequent and varied delinquency over time. Implications for theory and future research are addressed.
Charged-particle production was studied in proton-proton collisions collected at the LHC with the... more Charged-particle production was studied in proton-proton collisions collected at the LHC with the ALICE detector at centre-of-mass energies 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |η| < 1.4. In the central region (|η| < 0.5), at 0.9 TeV, we measure charged-particle pseudorapidity density dN ch /dη = 3.02 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.08 −0.05 (syst.) for inelastic interactions, and dN ch /dη = 3.58 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.12 −0.12 (syst.) for nonsingle-diffractive interactions. At 2.36 TeV, we find dN ch /dη = 3.77 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.25 −0.12 (syst.) for inelastic, and dN ch /dη = 4.43 ± 0.01(stat.) +0.17 −0.12 (syst.) for non-single-diffractive collisions. The relative increase in charged-particle multiplicity from the lower to higher energy is 24.7%±0.5%(stat.) +5.7 −2.8 %(syst.) for inelastic and 23.7% ± 0.5%(stat.) +4.6 −1.1 %(syst.) for non-single-diffractive interactions. This increase is consistent with that reported by the CMS collaboration for non-single-diffractive events and larger than that found by a number of commonly used models. The multiplicity distribution was measured in different pseudorapidity intervals and studied in terms of KNO variables at both energies. The results are compared to protonantiproton data and to model predictions. 6
Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction, 1995
Abstract Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-7) were transfected with the gene for the human α2C re... more Abstract Human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-7) were transfected with the gene for the human α2C receptor (α2C4). Cells were grown in 96-well microtiter plates and cyclic AMP levels were measured by scintillation proximity assay, a modified radioimmunoassay ...
International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, 1998
Genetics, 2006
We report a dense genetic linkage map of Heliconius erato, a neotropical butterfly that has under... more We report a dense genetic linkage map of Heliconius erato, a neotropical butterfly that has undergone a remarkable adaptive radiation in warningly colored mimetic wing patterns. Our study exploited natural variation segregating in a cross between H. erato etylus and H. himera to localize wing color pattern loci on a dense linkage map containing amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLP), microsatellites, and single-copy nuclear loci. We unambiguously identified all 20 autosomal linkage groups and the sex chromosome (Z). The map spanned a total of 1430 Haldane cM and linkage groups varied in size from 26.3 to 97.8 cM. The average distance between markers was 5.1 cM. Within this framework, we localized two major color pattern loci to narrow regions of the genome. The first gene, D, responsible for red/ orange elements, had a most likely placement in a 6.7-cM region flanked by two AFLP markers on the end of a large 87.5-cM linkage group. The second locus, Sd, affects the melanic pattern on the forewing and was found within a 6.3-cM interval between flanking AFLP loci. This study complements recent linkage analysis of H. erato's comimic, H. melpomene, and forms the basis for marker-assisted physical mapping and for studies into the comparative genetic architecture of wing-pattern mimicry in Heliconius.
On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), tw... more On 23rd November 2009, during the early commissioning of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), two counter-rotating proton bunches were circulated for the first time concurrently in the machine, at the LHC injection energy of 450 GeV per beam. Although the proton intensity was very low, with only one pilot bunch per beam, and no systematic attempt was made to optimize the collision optics, all LHC experiments reported a number of collision candidates. In the ALICE experiment, the collision region was centred very well in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and 284 events were recorded in coincidence with the two passing proton bunches. The events were immediately reconstructed and analyzed both online and offline. We have used these events to measure the pseudorapidity density of charged primary particles in the central region. In the range |η|N ch/dη=3.10±0.13(stat.)±0.22(syst.) for all inelastic interactions, and dN ch/dη=3.51±0.15(stat.)±0.25(syst.) for non-single diffractive interactions. These results are consistent with previous measurements in proton–antiproton interactions at the same centre-of-mass energy at the CERN Sp \(\overline{\mathrm{p}}\) S collider. They also illustrate the excellent functioning and rapid progress of the LHC accelerator, and of both the hardware and software of the ALICE experiment, in this early start-up phase.
Revista Panamericana De Salud Publica-pan American Journal of Public Health, 2008
1 920 patients hospitalized in ICUs for an aggregate of 9 997 days acquired 249 DAIs, accounting ... more 1 920 patients hospitalized in ICUs for an aggregate of 9 997 days acquired 249 DAIs, accounting for a rate of 13.0% and 24.9 DAIs per 1 000 ICU-days. The ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rate was 31.3 per 1 000 ventilator-days; the central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CVC-BSI) rate was 7.7 cases per 1 000 catheter-days; and the rate for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) was 5.1 cases per 1 000 catheter-days. Extra mortality for VAP was 24.5% (RR 2.07, P < 0.001); for CVC-BSI the rate was 15.0% (RR 2.75, P = 0.028). Methicillinresistant strains accounted for 73.5% of all Staphylococcus aureus DAIs; 40.5% of the Enterobacteriaceae were resistant to ceftriaxone, 40.8% were resistant to ceftazidime, and 32.0% were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam. Sixty-five percent of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, 62.0% were resistant to ceftazidime, 29.4% were resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam, and 36.1% were resistant to imipenem. Conclusions. The high rates of DAIs in the Peruvian hospitals in this study indicate the need for active infection control. Programs consisting of surveillance of DAIs and implementation of guidelines for infection prevention can ensure improved patient safety in the ICUs and throughout hospitals. ABSTRACT Key words Espichan MJ, et al. Device-associated infection rates and mortality in intensive care units of Peruvian hospitals: findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2008;24(1):16-24.
The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of virtual environments representing situation... more The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of virtual environments representing situations that are emotionally significant to subjects with eating disorders (ED). These environments may be applied with both evaluative and therapeutic aims and in simulation procedures to carry out a range of experimental studies. This paper is part of a wider research project analyzing the influence of the situation to which subjects are exposed on their performance on body image estimation tasks. Thirty female patients with eating disorders were exposed to six virtual environments: a living-room (neutral situation), a kitchen with highcalorie food, a kitchen with low-calorie food, a restaurant with high-calorie food, a restaurant with low-calorie food, and a swimming-pool. After exposure to each environment the STAI-S (a measurement of state anxiety) and the CDB (a measurement of depression) were administered to all subjects. The results show that virtual reality instruments are particularly useful for simulating everyday situations that may provoke emotional reactions such as anxiety and depression, in patients with ED. Virtual environments in which subjects are obliged to ingest high-calorie food provoke the highest levels of state anxiety and depression.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2009
Abeles. Temporally precise cortical firing patterns are associated with distinct action segments.... more Abeles. Temporally precise cortical firing patterns are associated with distinct action segments. . Despite many reports indicating the existence of precise firing sequences in cortical activity, serious objections have been raised regarding the statistics used to detect them and the relations of these sequences to behavior. We show that in behaving monkeys, pairs of spikes from different neurons tend to prefer certain time delays when measured in relation to a specific behavior. Single-unit activity was recorded from eight microelectrodes inserted into the motor and premotor cortices of two monkeys while they were performing continuous drawinglike hand movements. Repeated scribbling paths, termed drawing components, were extracted by data-mining techniques. The set of the least predictable relations between drawing components and pairs of neurons was determined and represented by one statistic termed the relations score. The chance probability of the relations score was evaluated by teetering the spike times: 1,000 surrogates were generated by randomly teetering the original time of each spike in a small window. In nine of 13 experimental days the precision was better than 12 ms and, in the best case, spike precision reached 0.5 ms.
Journal of Instrumentation, 2010
We have reinvestigated the stability and intracellular routing of mutant carboxypeptidase E in NI... more We have reinvestigated the stability and intracellular routing of mutant carboxypeptidase E in NIT3 cells, a pancreatic -cell line derived from the Cpe fat /Cpe fat mouse. Pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that this protein has a half-life of approximately 3 h in these cells and that up to 45% of the proCPE(202) can escape degradation by the proteosome. In double-label immunofluorescence microscopy, a portion of the mutant CPE did not colocalize with calnexin, an endoplasmic reticulum marker, but was found in prohormone convertase 2-containing secretory granules, demonstrating that it had escaped degradation and arrived at a post-Golgi compartment. The mutant CPE as well as prohormone convertase 2 were secreted into the medium in a stimulated manner by treatment with the physiological secretagogue, glucagon-like peptide-1, consistent with its presence in granules of the regulated secretory pathway. The presence of mutant carboxypeptidase E in granules supports a potential role for its involvement as a sorting/retention receptor in the trafficking of proinsulin to the regulated secretory pathway. (Endocrinology 144: 292-298, 2003)
Annals of The New York Academy of Sciences, 2002
Abstract: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and proenkephalin (PE) are synthesized at the endoplasmic re... more Abstract: Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and proenkephalin (PE) are synthesized at the endoplasmic reticulum and transported to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) where they are sorted and packaged into dense-core granules of the regulated secretory pathway (RSP). The mechanism of sorting POMC and PE to the RSP in neuroendocrine cells was investigated. Consensus sorting signals comprising two acidic residues and two hydrophobic residues exposed on the surface of N-POMC1-26 and N-PE1-32 were identified and shown to be sufficient and necessary for targeting POMC and PE to the RSP in PC12, Neuro2a, and AtT-20 cells. The acidic residues of these sorting signals bind specifically to basic residues on the sorting receptor membrane, carboxypeptidase E (CPE), to effect sorting to the RSP. Analysis of POMC and PE sorting in Neuro2a cells depleted of CPE by CPE antisense RNA, and Cpefat/fat mouse pituitary cells lacking CPE showed missorting of both these molecules to the constitutive pathway in vivo. Thus, POMC and PE are sorted to the RSP at the TGN by a mechanism involving the interaction of a specific sorting signal on these molecules with the sorting receptor, CPE.
Avian Pathology, 1994
Haemagglutination inhibition tests were used to study the prevalence of antibodies to avian param... more Haemagglutination inhibition tests were used to study the prevalence of antibodies to avian paramyxovirus (PMV) serotypes 1, 2 and 3 in wild and domestic birds in Andalusia (southern Spain). Tests were performed on 341 sera from layer hens drawn from 44 flocks, 198 from nine breeder hen flocks, 123 from five broiler chicken flocks, 329 from 47 turkey flocks, 51 from four pigeon flocks, 123 from five partridge flocks, 112 from five mixed domestic flocks and 361 sera from 24 wild species. The incidence PMV-1 antibodies was very low in wild species (1%), though higher in domestic birds (18%), due to the systematic vaccination of these species, particularly layer and breeder hens. The highest rate of infection for PMV-2 was found in domestic species (27%) and particularly in turkeys (47%). Among wild species, the house sparrow recorded the greatest prevalence of PMV-2 (69%). The PMV-3 infection rate was very low both in wild (6%) and domestic species; the figure of 15% recorded for the latter appears to be due to cross reacting PMV-1 vaccinal antibodies. The highest incidence in wild birds was recorded in the summer, whereas prevalence reached its maximum in domestic species in the winter.
Journal of Comparative Pathology, 2003
In studying the post-mortem diagnosis of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE) a "double-blind"... more In studying the post-mortem diagnosis of porcine proliferative enteropathy (PPE) a "double-blind" study was performed on 77 apparently healthy "finisher" pigs at the time of slaughter, to compare the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique with those of (1) an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), (2) examination for gross proliferative lesions at slaughter, (3) histopathological study of sections stained with haematoxylin and eosin (HE), and (4) Warthin -Starry (WS) silver staining for intracellular bacteria. The IFA, with a sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 97% (positive "likelihood ratio" ¼ 30) and an agreement of 82% with PCR, is suggested as an alternative to the PCR in the post-mortem diagnosis of PPE. Histopathological examination was shown to be of little use as a principal diagnostic method, although it appeared to be effective in diagnosing infection by Lawsonia intracellularis in cases with proliferative-type lesions (positive likelihood ratio ¼ 29.6). Finally, the values obtained from an examination of gross lesions (k ¼ 0:075; positive likelihood ratio of 1.3) and WS staining (k ¼ 0:42; positive likelihood ratio of 5.3) demonstrated the lack of validity of these tests for the diagnosis of L. intracellularis infection.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1999
We have carried out an aetiological and pathological study of an outbreak of septicaemia caused b... more We have carried out an aetiological and pathological study of an outbreak of septicaemia caused by the O165 serogroup of Escherichia coli in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) which resulted in high mortality (90%). After treatment with amoxicilin in drinking water (200 mg/l), morbility and mortality rates dropped markedly. Microbiological studies showed that the organism responsible was an atypical E. coli strain, on the basis of the non-fermentation of lactose (ONPG-), which belonged to the O165 serogroup and was highly virulent for 1-day-old chickens.
Avian Pathology, 1994
The indirect ELISA was used to detect antibodies to influenzavirus A in the sera of wildfowl from... more The indirect ELISA was used to detect antibodies to influenzavirus A in the sera of wildfowl from the Donana National Park. Of the 712 birds examined, 44 (6.2%) were seropositive. Positive birds belonged to 10 of the 13 species studied. Infection rates varied widely: spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia, 32.2%), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos, 9.9%), gadwall (Anas strepera, 8.6%), red-crested pochard (Netta rufina, 8.1%), pochard (Aythya ferina, 6.4%), shoveler (Anas clypeata, 5%), great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus, 4.3%), avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta, 3.1%), grey heron (Ardea cinerea, 3.1%) and coot (Fulica atra, 0.8%). Although infection rates were not high, the wide range of avian species susceptible to influenzavirus A suggests circulation of the virus amongst wildfowl at Donana.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1994
A study was performed to determine the susceptibility of 59 S. suis strains, isolated from sick a... more A study was performed to determine the susceptibility of 59 S. suis strains, isolated from sick and healthy carrier swine, to a range of antimicrobial agents. The β-lactamic group proved more active both in Kirby-Bauer and MCI tests. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole emerged as an alternative drug in chemoprevention and treatment of S. suis infections.
Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series B-infectious Diseases and Veterinary Public Health, 1994
A seroepidemiological survey was carried out in the province of Badajoz (south-western Spain) in ... more A seroepidemiological survey was carried out in the province of Badajoz (south-western Spain) in order to determine the presence and spread of Leptospira interrogans. The 521 sera tested were drawn from breeding sows on 28 large farms (15 with fewer than 60 and 13 with over 60 breeders). Immunological testing was performed using the Martin-Pettit micro-agglutination technique. Pigs with titres equal to or greater than 1:100 were considered positive. Haemolysed and/or contaminated test sera were reprocessed following filter-paper treatment.A total of 10.56 % of pigs tested proved positive, 39.28 % of farms being affected. The following L. interrogans serovars were detected: pomona (6.53 %), castellonis (1.15 %), sejroe (1.15 %), grippotyphosa (0.96 %), australis (0.38 %), hebdomadis (0.19 %) and icterohaemorrhagiae (0.19 %).
Avian Pathology, 1990
Of 927 sera taken from poultry from 84 flocks, 33% proved seropositive. Sixty-three per cent of f... more Of 927 sera taken from poultry from 84 flocks, 33% proved seropositive. Sixty-three per cent of flocks were found to be seropositive to ELISA (almost all situated within areas where there were waterfowl). The comparable figures, using an HI test, were 16% and 47%, respectively. These data suggest that the influenza A viruses may be enzootic in this area. Of 331 wild birds tested, belonging to 18 species of nine families, 40% proved seropositive to ELISA. Notable high infection rates were found among Anatidae (43%), flamingoes (43%) and sparrows (31%); the latter species may play an important role in carrying the disease from its natural reservoirs to domestic farms. Antibody titres found in wild birds were considerably higher than those found in poultry.