This paper presents a prototype of a portable and modular electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system for breast tumor detection. The proposed system uses MATLAB to generate three-dimensional representations of breast tissue. The modular architecture of the system allows for flexible customization and scalability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Among bariatric techniques, sleeve gastrectomy (SG) stands out owing to its efficiency. The role of the stomach as a secretory organ of many substances, such as gastrin, related to insulin secretion is well known. Gastrin induces insulin release in isolated pancreatic islets, limiting somatostatin-14 intraislet release, and has been associated with blood glucose level improvement in diabetic models after SG.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relative importance of allochthonous and autochthonous carbon (C) as sources of energy for tropical stream food webs remains an open question. Allochthonous C might be the main energy source for small and shaded forest streams, while autochthonous C is more likely to fuel food webs draining land uses with less dense vegetation. We studied food webs in cloud forest streams draining watersheds with forests, coffee plantations, and pastures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood webs are complex ecological networks that reveal species interactions and energy flow in ecosystems. Prevailing ecological knowledge on forested streams suggests that their food webs are based on allochthonous carbon, driven by a constant supply of organic matter from adjacent vegetation and limited primary production due to low light conditions. Extreme climatic disturbances can disrupt these natural ecosystem dynamics by altering resource availability, which leads to changes in food web structure and functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Land use is a major factor determining stream water physicochemistry. However, most streams move from one land use type to another as they drain their watersheds. Here, we studied three land use scenarios in a tropical cloud forest zone in Mexico.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNowadays, Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) still captivate large interest because of multiple advantages offered in numerous domains, explicitly assisting people with motor disabilities in communicating with the surrounding environment. However, challenges of portability, instantaneous processing time, and accurate data processing remain for numerous BCI system setups. This work implements an embedded multi-tasks classifier based on motor imagery using the EEGNet network integrated into the NVIDIA Jetson TX2 card.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRunning waters contribute substantially to global carbon fluxes through decomposition of terrestrial plant litter by aquatic microorganisms and detritivores. Diversity of this litter may influence instream decomposition globally in ways that are not yet understood. We investigated latitudinal differences in decomposition of litter mixtures of low and high functional diversity in 40 streams on 6 continents and spanning 113° of latitude.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe species Chironomus sp. "Florida" has several qualities that make it a potential aquatic laboratory model to be used in Puerto Rico. Its use as such, however, requires a rearing protocol and life cycle description not previously reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Conservation of tropical freshwater fauna requires a solid understanding of species biodiversity patterns. We provide an up to date annotated list of Odonata of Puerto Rico, which is based on current reports. The list is complemented with notes on the geographic and altitudinal distribution of this order on the island.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hydrological impacts on aquatic biota have been assessed in numerous empirical studies. Aquatic insects are severely affected by population declines and consequent diversity loss. However, many uncertainties remain regarding the effects of hydrology on insect production and the consequences of energy transfer to the terrestrial ecosystem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: In the last decades, different criteria have been developed for detecting inappropriate prescription in older patients. In Spain, translations and adaptations of international lists are available but it would be necessary a national list which could cope with the peculiarities of our health system, existing pharmaceutical market, and prescription habits. We propose in this project the creation of a Spanish potentially inappropriate drugs list which could be applicable in our clinical scenario.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndocrinol Diabetes Nutr (Engl Ed)
November 2019
Aim: To evaluate in the elderly diabetic patient the probability of improving the frailty after performing strength exercises with an elastic band and aerobic exercise.
Methods: Prospective study of diabetic patients older than 70 years, with Barthel >80 points and Global Deterioration Scale -Functional Assessment Staging <3 points. Strength exercises with an elastic band 3 days a week and walk 30min a day 5 days a week were recommended.
Nutrient inputs to surface waters are particularly varied in urban areas, due to multiple nutrient sources and complex hydrologic pathways. Because of their close proximity to coastal waters, nutrient delivery from many urban areas can have profound impacts on coastal ecology. Relatively little is known about the temporal and spatial variability in stoichiometry of inorganic nutrients such as dissolved silica, nitrogen, and phosphorus (Si, N, and P) and dissolved organic matter in tropical urban environments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding how environmental variables influence the distribution and density of organisms over relatively long temporal scales is a central question in ecology given increased climatic variability (e.g., precipitation, ENSO events).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant litter represents a major basal resource in streams, where its decomposition is partly regulated by litter traits. Litter-trait variation may determine the latitudinal gradient in decomposition in streams, which is mainly microbial in the tropics and detritivore-mediated at high latitudes. However, this hypothesis remains untested, as we lack information on large-scale trait variation for riparian litter.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe taxonomic knowledge about immature stages of the insect order Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) is rather limited in tropical America. Here, the larvae of Epigomphus jannyae Belle, 1993 and E. tumefactus Calvert, 1903 are described, figured, and compared with other described congeners.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCritical evaluation of terminology use in ecology is important to avoid using jargon that helps little to facilitate communication. Here we reply to Monge-Najera’s comment on the use of the terms ensemble and assemblage, we argue for the use of the words ensamble and ensamblaje in Spanish. In addition, both terms have a proper place in ecology and we provide a case for their use in proper ecological context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWeb-spinning spiders that inhabit stream channels are considered specialists of aquatic ecosystems and are major consumers of emerging aquatic insects, while other spider taxa are more commonly found in riparian forests and as a result may consume more terrestrial insects. To determine if there was a difference in spider taxa abundance between riverine web-spinning spider assemblages within the stream channel and the assemblages 10 m into the riparian forest, we compared abundances for all web-spinning spiders along a headwater stream in El Yunque National Forest in northeast Puerto Rico. By using a nonmetric dimensional scaling (NMDS) abundance analysis we were able to see a clear separation of the two spider assemblages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe perlid genus Anacroneuria is the most widely distributed stonefly occurring in the Neotropics. Regional studies of this genus were made early in the last century, whereas local taxonomic and distributional studies have recently increased. In this study, we provide new Central American records for four species of Anacroneuria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe antitumor activity of CD4(+) T cells is increasingly acknowledged in both humans and mice. The involved mechanisms have been mostly studied using transplanted tumor mouse systems. In these models, many tumor cells die at the time of implantation leading to the release of Ag in an inflammatory context contrasting with the slow and nondestructive growth of early-stage human tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquatic macroinvertebrates are involved in numerous processes within aquatic ecosystems. They often have important effects on ecosystem processes such as primary production (via grazing), detritus breakdown, and nutrient mineralization and downstream spiraling. The functional feeding groups (FFG) classification was developed as a tool to facilitate the incorporation of macroinvertebrates in studies of aquatic ecosystems.
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