Exploring Functionalized Magnetic Hydrogel Polyvinyl Alcohol and Chitosan Electrospun Nanofibers.

Nanofibrous materials present interesting characteristics, such as higher area/mass ratio and reactivity. These properties have been exploited in different applications, such as drug-controlled release and site-specific targeting of biomolecules for several disease treatments, including cancer. The main goal of this study was to develop magnetized nanofiber systems of lysozyme (Lys) for biological applications.

Catalogue of type specimens deposited in the Herpetology Collection of the Natural History Museum Gustavo Orcés V. at Escuela Politécnica Nacional (Ecuador).

Background: The Herpetology Collection of the Natural History Museum Gustavo Orcés V. at Escuela Politécnica Nacional (MEPN-H) in Quito maintains more than sixteen thousand curated specimens and it comprises Ecuador ´s second largest collection of herps.

New Information: The Collection contains 193 type specimens: 14 holotypes, 34 paratopotypes and 145 paratypes, which correspond to 10 families, 17 genera and 32 species.

Reading and comprehension: phoniatric assessment in students with reading difficulties.

Introduction: Reading is a highly refined skill that encompasses two main components: decoding graphic symbols and understanding the written message. These aspects generally develop together, but reading comprehension is a much more complex process, sustained not only by the identification of written words and vocabulary but also by language systems, such as syntax and general knowledge. Although there is a well-established technique for performing the phoniatric assessment, there is no common use of tests that assess reading comprehension or the association of this information with other assessment data.

Malaria determining risk factors at the household level in two rural villages of mainland Equatorial Guinea.

Background: After the introduction of an artemisinin-based combination therapy, the reduction of prevalence of malaria infections has shown a remarkable progress during the last decade. However due to the lack of a consistent malaria control programme and socioeconomic inequalities, Plasmodium infection is still one of the major cause of disease in Equatorial Guinea, namely in the rural communities. This study explored the associated risk factors of malaria transmission at the microeconomic level (households) in two rural villages of mainland Equatorial Guinea.

Triosephosphate isomerase gene promoter variation: -5G/A and -8G/A polymorphisms in clinical malaria groups in two African populations.

TPI1 promoter polymorphisms occur in high prevalence in individuals from African origin. Malaria-patients from Angola and Mozambique were screened for the TPI1 gene promoter variants rs1800200A>G, (-5G>A), rs1800201G>A, (-8G>A), rs1800202T>G, (-24T>G), and for the intron 5 polymorphism rs2071069G>A, (2262G>A). -5G>A and -8G>A variants occur in 47% and 53% in Angola and Mozambique, respectively while -24T>G was monomorphic for the wild-type T allele.

The mechanism of sound production in túngara frogs and its role in sexual selection and speciation.

Sexual communication can evolve in response to sexual selection, and it can also cause behavioral reproductive isolation between populations and thus drive speciation. Anurans are an excellent system to investigate these links between behavior and evolution because we have detailed knowledge of how neural mechanisms generate behavioral preferences for calls and how these preferences then generate selection on call variation. But we know far less about the physical mechanisms of call production, especially how different laryngeal morphologies generate call variation.

Built environments and obesity in disadvantaged populations.

In the United States, health disparities in obesity and obesity-related illnesses have been the subject of growing concern. To better understand how obesity-related health disparities might relate to obesogenic built environments, the authors conducted a systematic review of the published scientific literature, screening for studies with relevance to disadvantaged individuals or areas, identified by low socioeconomic status, black race, or Hispanic ethnicity. A search for related terms in publication databases and topically related resources yielded 45 studies published between January 1995 and January 2009 with at least 100 participants or area residents that provided information on 1) the built environment correlates of obesity or related health behaviors within one or more disadvantaged groups or 2) the relative exposure these groups had to potentially obesogenic built environment characteristics.