Gabor's holography: seven decades influencing optics [Invited].

Dennis Gabor's seminal idea of a simple all-optical setup aimed at reconstructing the object wavefront stored on a photographic plate gave birth a little over seven decades ago to the field of holography. In 1971 Gabor obtained the Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention. Still, the road in the early days after his two first papers on the subject was one full of obstacles, so his scientific and engineering contemporaries put his idea to rest for more than 10 years, until the invention of the laser. This fact made his holographic concept take off to new and unsuspected applications. This invited review paper is a homage to Dennis Gabor's 50th anniversary of his Nobel Prize accolade. For this purpose, the review departs from the typical common route, i.e., those written following a timeline fashion, and instead is written with the intent to cover only a few of the holography applications in optics while scanning the electromagnetic spectrum. In doing this, the authors are aware that other invited papers for this special issue will tackle other subjects not dealt with in this review non-timeline paper.

Evaluation of process involved in the production of aromatic compounds in Gram-negative bacteria isolated from vanilla (Vanilla planifolia ex. Andrews) beans.

AIM: The present investigation was aimed at isolating and identifying bacterial strains from cured vanilla beans. Additionally, the study focused on evaluating bacterial processes pertaining to the aromatic compounds production (ACP). METHODS AND RESULTS: Three bacteria were isolated from Vanilla planifolia beans, previously subjected to the curing process. According to morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA analysis, the strains were identified as Citrobacter sp., Enterobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The polygalacturonase activity (PGA) was determined using the drop, cup-plate and DNS methods. Aromatic compounds production was analysed by cup-plate method using FA as substrate and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (ppm), the functional groups of vanillic acid (VA) were identified by FT-IR and the aromatic compounds (AC) resistance was determined and reported as minimum inhibitory concentration. Citrobacter sp., Enterobacter sp. and Pseudomonas showed PGA (70·31 ± 364, 76·07 ± 12·47 and 51 ± 10·92 U ml-1 respectively), were producers of VA (3·23 ± 0·49, 324 ± 41 and 265·99 ± 11·61 ppm respectively) and were resistant to AC. CONCLUSIONS: The Gram-negative bacteria isolated from V. planifolia beans were responsible for ACP. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This is the first evidence for the role of Gram-negative bacterial isolates from cured Mexican V. planifolia beans in the process related to ACP.

The Role of Pathogenic E. coli in Fresh Vegetables: Behavior, Contamination Factors, and Preventive Measures.

Many raw vegetables, such as tomato, chili, onion, lettuce, arugula, spinach, and cilantro, are incorporated into fresh dishes including ready-to-eat salads and sauces. The consumption of these foods confers a high nutritional value to the human diet. However, the number of foodborne outbreaks associated with fresh produce has been increasing, with Escherichia coli being the most common pathogen associated with them. In humans, pathogenic E. coli strains cause diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, and other indications. Vegetables can be contaminated with E. coli at any point from pre- to postharvest. This bacterium is able to survive in many environmental conditions due to a variety of mechanisms, such as adhesion to surfaces and internalization in fresh products, thereby limiting the usefulness of conventional processing and chemical sanitizing methods used by the food industry. The aim of this review is to provide a general description of the behavior and importance of pathogenic E. coli in ready-to-eat vegetable dishes. This information can contribute to the development of effective control measures for enhancing food safety.

Transmission out-of-plane interferometer to study thermal distributions in liquids.

An optical setup that does not need in-line alignment of the object illumination and camera sensor, or requires a reflection mirror after the sample, is introduced to observe the optical phase in a heating liquid. This system uses an out-of-plane transmission digital holographic interferometer that uniformly adds speckle to the image holograms by means of a neutral phase screen. The way in which the liquid is illuminated allows having a variable magnification of the observed area of the sample. As a proof of principle, a thermal time-dependent distribution experiment is presented, whose resulting optical phase readily depicts the temperature-time-varying distribution in the liquid.

Short communication. Characterization of chloroplast region rrn16-rrn23S from the tropical timber tree Cedrela odorata L. and de novo construction of a transplastomic expression vector suitable for Meliaceae trees and other economically important crops.

The forest tree Spanish cedar (Cedrela odorata L.) is well-known for its high-value timber; however, this species is attacked by the shoot borer (Hypsipyla grandella) during its early years of development, resulting in branched stems and making the plants useless for high-quality wood production. The generation of resistant varieties expressing entomotoxic proteins may be an alternative to pesticide treatments. The use of plastid transformation rather than nuclear transformation should be used because it reduces the risk of transgene dissemination by pollen. Chloroplast transformation vectors require an expression cassette flanked by homologous plastid sequences to drive plastome recombination. Thus, C. odorata plastome sequences are a prerequisite. The rrn16-rrn23 plastome region was selected, cloned, and characterized. When the sequence identity among the rrn16-rrn23 regions from C. odorata and Nicotiana tabacum was compared, 3 inDels of 240, 104, and 39 bp were found that might severely affect transformation efficiency. Using this region, a new transformation vector was developed using pUC19 as a backbone by inserting the rrn16-trnI and trnA-rrn23 sequences from C. odorata and adding 2 independent expression cassettes into the trnI-trnA intergenic region, conferring spectinomycin resistance, the ability to express the gfp reporter gene, and a site that can be used to express any other gene of interest.

Pattern-wavelength coarsening from topological dynamics in silicon nanofoams.

We report the experimental observation of a submicron cellular structure on the surface of silicon targets eroded by an ion plasma. Analysis by atomic force microscopy allows us to assess the time evolution and show that the system can be described quantitatively by the convective Cahn-Hilliard equation, found in the study of domain coarsening for a large class of driven systems. The space-filling trait of the ensuing pattern relates it to evolving foams. Through this connection, we are actually able to derive the coarsening law for the pattern wavelength from the nontrivial topological dynamics of the cellular structure. Thus, the study of the topological properties of patterns in nonvariational spatially extended systems emerges as complementary to morphological approaches to their challenging coarsening properties.

Compatibility of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana with flufenoxuron and azadirachtin against Tetranychus urticae.

Laboratory studies were developed to evaluate the compatibility of flufenoxuron and azadirachtin with Beauveria bassiana against Tetranychus urticae larvae along with the required Probit analysis of the involved chemicals on all of the life stages of this mite. Flufenoxuron displayed parallel regression lines for the mortality of eggs, deutonymphs and adults. Larvae and protonymphs were the most susceptible life stages. Protonymphs were 35 times more sensitive than eggs and adults. Azadirachtin gave equal mortality on proto- and deutonymphs. The response of eggs and adults was equivalent when treated with azadirachtin. The regression lines for proto- and deutonymphs were parallel to those of adults and eggs yet three times more sensitive. The effects of separate combinations of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana at its LC(20) with flufenoxuron and azadirachtin at their corresponding LC(40) were evaluated on mite larvae. The application of flufenoxuron with B. bassiana revealed a clear synergy. While the combination of azadirachtin and B. bassiana had an additive effect. These combinations with B. bassiana could improve mite control by contributing to a decline in the likelihood of resistance so often described in the literature.

Recombinant small ruminant lentivirus subtype B1 in goats and sheep of imported breeds in Mexico.

Nucleotide sequences of small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLVs) were determined in sheep and goats, including progeny of imported animals, on a farm in Mexico. On the basis of gag-pol, pol, env and LTR sequences, SRLVs were assigned to the B1 subgroup, which comprises caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV)-like prototype sequences mainly from goats. In comparison with CAEV-like env sequences of American and French origin, two putative recombination events were identified within the V3-V4 and V4-V5 regions of the env gene of a full length SRLV sequence (FESC-752) derived from a goat on the farm.

CD11c as a transcriptional biomarker to predict response to anti-TNF monotherapy with adalimumab in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

We performed transcription profiling using monocytes to identify predictive markers of response to anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Several potential predictors of response were identified, including CD11c. Validation in samples from independent cohorts (total of n = 27 patients) using reverse transcription-PCR confirmed increased expression of CD11c in responders to adalimumab (100% sensitivity; 91.7% specificity, power 99.6%; alpha = 0.01). Pretherapy CD11c levels significantly correlated with the response criteria as defined by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) (r = 0.656, P < 0.0001). However, CD11c was neither predictive of response to methotrexate (MTX) alone (n = 34) nor to MTX in combination with adalimumab (n = 16). Clinical responders revealed a reset to a normal expression pattern of resident/inflammatory monocyte markers, which was absent in nonresponders. Therefore, an analysis of key cell types identifies potentially predictive biomarkers that may help to restrict the use of adalimumab to therapy responders. Larger studies, including studies of monotherapy with other drugs, are now needed to confirm and validate the specificity of CD11c for anti-TNF biologics.

Antibody-based diagnosis of small ruminant lentivirus infection in seminal fluid.

Antibody-based diagnosis of small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLVs) has been efficiently achieved using serum and milk, but not semen, for which polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been proposed as a confirmatory technique. This work, involving 296 ovine (Ovis aries) and caprine (Capra hircus) semen donors, investigates whether seminal fluid (SF) can be reliably used in antibody-based SRLV diagnosis. First, a gold standard was established to assess the infection status and determine the sensitivity and specificity of three commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in serum testing using Western blot and PCR as confirmatory tests. For SF testing, both gold standard and serum testing results were used as reference. The performance of SF testing was affected not only by the ELISA assay sensitivity (related to antigen spectrum) compared with that of the gold standard (as it occurred in serum testing) but also by SF sample quality and SF working dilution. Nonturbid SF samples, commonly collected in artificial insemination centers (AICs), were required. Compared with serum, SF testing had a decreased sensitivity in two of the ELISA assays (with original serum working dilutions

Inmovilización de un politraumatizado: técnica y material / No disponible

«El 43% de las lesiones medulares en España se producenpor accidentes de tráfico (1).» Ante este titular deprensa, nosotros como sanitarios lo que pensamos en primerlugar es cómo ayudar en la prevención de estos, peroademás hemos de analizar y mejorar lainmovilización/movilización de pacientes politraumatizados/polifracturados.Como objetivo general nos planteamos poner en conocimientode los profesionales de la emergencia, además delos últimos anexos aparecidos al respecto en la prevenciónde lesiones medulares, la mejora en la calidad de nuestrotrabajo para disminuir ese porcentaje que se producen poruna mala praxis. Consideramos necesario una reducciónen las lesiones que ocurren después del accidente inicial,durante el transporte y que se estima están entre el 3-25 %.Como objetivos específicos decidimos plasmar de formadetallada, todos y cada uno de los sistemas existentes pararecogida y transporte adecuado de pacientes, tanto adultoscomo pediátricos en la emergencia extrahospitalaria. Porqué no dar a conocer las últimas estadísticas existentes enlesión medular o los casos nuevos que aparecen cada año olas diferentes zonas de la columna que en mayor medida seven afectadas.Para finalizar recalcamos la importancia de una correctainmovilización/movilización para evitar y no agravarestas lesiones u otras que pudieran aparecer a posteriori.Tanto el material como las técnicas, en gran parte, son conocidas por los profesionales pero decidimos analizartodo esto desde otro prisma e incluir la parte de pediatría(AU)

«43% of spinal injuries occurring in Spain by trafficaccidents (1).» Faced with this headline news, we ashealth care what we think first is how to help preventthem, but we also analyze and improve the immobilization/mobilization patient-polytraumatized/ multiple trauma.As a general objective to us to inform professionals ofthe emergency, the latest addition to annexes in thisregard appeared in preventing spinal cord injuries, improvingthe quality of our work to reduce that percentage to beproduced by a malpractice.We consider necessary a reductionin injuries that occur after the initial accident, duringtransport and are estimated to be between 3-25%.As we reflect specific objectives in detail each of theexisting systems for proper collection and transport ofpatients, both adult and pediatric emergency extrahospital.Why not give the latest statistics released in spinal cordinjury and new cases appear every year or for differentareas of the spine most affected?In conclusion we stress the importance of proper immobilization/mobilization to prevent and not aggravate theinjury or that might appear later. Both the material andtechniques, mainly, are known to professionals but wedecided to examine this from another perspective andinclude the part of pediatrics(AU)

[Effect of combination therapy with hypothermia, magnesium and tirilazad in an experimental model of diffuse cerebral ischemia]. / Efecto de la hipotermia combinada con magnesio y tirilazad en un modelo experimental de isquemia cerebral difusa*

OBJECTIVE: To determine the grade of neuroprotection of combined treatment with moderate hypothermia, tirilazad and magnesium sulfate. Cerebral ischemia is one of the problems of great interest at present, with limited therapeutic measures. Hypothermia, one of the more efficient measures, together with neuroprotector pharmaceuticals, could be a valid alternative. DESIGN: Experimental study with a control group and two levels of application of therapeutic measures. CONTEXT: Experimental laboratory of the Medicine Faculty. PARTICIPANTS AND METHOD: Twenty-eight Wistar rats underwent global cerebral ischemia of 10 minutes duration by the combination of bilateral carotid clamping and controlled hypotension (mean arterial pressure: 45 mmHg). Three groups were used: group I, normothermia maintenance; group II, moderate hypothermia (32-33 degrees C) for 2 hours; group III, hypothermia and administration of tirilazad mesylate and magnesium sulfate during the reperfusion and two hours after ischemia. The animals were sacrificed at 7 days and, after processing the tissue, the neurons preserved in layer CA1 of the hippocampus were counted. RESULTS: There is a significantly greater neuronal preservation in group III with regard to group I (55.4 +/- 5.1 versus 38.7 +/- 8.8, p < 0.0001). If we compare groups II and III, significant differences are only obtained on the right side and in the hippocampus considered globally, favoring the group with hypothermia and drugs. When groups I and II are compared there are no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Association of moderate hypothermia, magnesium sulfate and tirilazad mesylate in the experimental model of transitory global ischemia used is confirmed as an effective neuroprotector measure, surpassing the degree of neuronal preservation of hypothermia alone.

Análisis de los recursos de afrontamiento ante el estrés en dos muestras comunitarias de mayores / Analysis of the resources for coping with stress in two elderly-community samples

En esta investigación se analizan aspectos relativos al estrés en 84 personas mayores procedentes de la comunidad, divididos en dos grupos de 42 sujetos. El estudio se centró en la valoración en el último año de los sucesos experimentados por los mayores, lo que consideraron que más les ayudó a seguir adelante, el significado de las situaciones y los recursos de afrontamiento. Los resultados mostraron que los sucesos más destacados se relacionaron con la familia (positivos) y las enfermedades y discapacidad (negativos). Los mayores exhibieron una gran variedad en los recursos de afrontamiento, más de tipo pasivo (como la resignación) y no aquéllos centrados en la emoción ni los considerados ineficaces (escape u hostilidad interpersonal). El número y tipo de situaciones desagradables no se asoció con los niveles de la sintomatología estudiada. Sin embargo, los mayores que no mencionaron sucesos agradables mostraron síntomas depresivos, menor bienestar, menor satisfacción y mayor aprensión. Parece, por tanto, más útil analizar la presencia de sucesos agradables porque actúan como factores protectores sin distinguir entre el tipo y el significado del suceso. Los mayores que consideraron que nada les ayudaba a seguir adelante presentaron mapleyores puntuaciones en depresión. Por último, las estrategias de afrontamiento del tipo resignarse, esperar, o de dejar pasar, no tienen las consecuencias psicopatológicas supuestas; tal vez las estrategias más activas no son siempre las más favorables porque exigen mucho del anciano o porque representan un modo defensivo de actuar

In this research aspects relative to stress in 84 aged people coming from the community are analyzed, divided in two groups of 42 subjects. The study was centred in the last year valuation of the events experienced by the aged ones, which they considered that more it helped them to follow ahead, the meaning of situations and the resources of coping. The results showed that the most outstanding events were related to the family (positive events) and the diseases and disability (negative events). The elderly exhibited a great variety in the resources of coping, more than passive type (like resignation). They didn’t exhibite those centred in emotion neither the ineffective considered ones (escapes or interpersonal hostility). The number and type of negative situations were not associated with levels of the assessed symptomatology. Nevertheless, the elderly who did not mention pleasant events showed depressive symptoms, minor well-being and satisfaction and greater apprehension. So it seems more useful to analyze the presence of pleasant events because they act like protective factors without distinguishing between the type and the meaning of the event. The elderly who considered that nothing helped them to follow ahead displayed greater scores in depression. Finally, the strategies of coping like to resigning themselves, hoping, or letting pass, do not have the supposed psychopathologic consequences; perhaps the most active strategies are not always most advantageous because they demand a lot of the aged or because they represent a defensive way to act

La jubilación, una nueva etapa. Papel de Enfermería como agente educador en la preparación a la jubilación / Retirement, a new step. Role of nursing care as educating agent preparing for retirement

La jubilación constituye uno de los acontecimientos más importantes de la vida que da un significado social a la vejez. La decisión de retirarse del trabajo está determinada por factores de tipo individual tales como la situación económica, el estado de salud, las actitudes ante el trabajo y la jubilación, y por otro lado por factores de características sociales-regulación de empleo, condiciones laborales, valores socio laborales... Con todo, ocurre que aquel individuo que se jubila experimentará inevitables cambios físicos, psíquicos y sociales para los cuales se hace necesaria una preparación al proceso de jubilación. Nuestro estudio realiza el análisis de un grupo de trabajadores pertenecientes a la red de hospitales del Excelentísimo Cabildo Insular de Tenerife que nos permite determinar el grado de conocimientos, opiniones y actitudes frente a la nueva etapa con el objetivo final de diseñar un programa de preparación a la jubilación específico para la muestra. Este trabajo de investigación se llevó a cabo por las autoras como parte de los estudios de Máster en Gerontología Social durante el año 1999 (AU)

Biological activities of crude plant extracts from Vitex trifolia L. (Verbenaceae).

Biological assays of Vitex trifolia L. organic extracts have shown relevant activities. Hexanic and dichloromethanic (DCM) extracts, when prepared from stems and foliage, have proved to be very toxic against several cancer cell lines in culture (SQC-1 UISO, OVCAR-5, HCT-15 COLADCAR, and KB). Also, an important antifeeding activity against the insect pest Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was recorded. The hexanic extract from leaves completely inhibited the growth of the fungal plant pathogen Fusarium sp. within the first 2 days of the experiment, but dropped significantly at day 6 (15% inhibition). The potential of V. trifolia for several uses is discussed.

Increasing consumer satisfaction. One social service and public health initiative shows how social marketing can increase consumer satisfaction.

The key to a successful social marketing approach to health care is continually listening to consumers' feedback and being willing to change the health product or service according to their needs and preferences. This approach can increase the likelihood of consumers being satisfied with, and continuing to utilize or provide the particular health service.

Analysis of bcl-2 in sporadic breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The bcl-2 gene encodes a protein that blocks apoptosis and might help to promote tumor development. It is expressed in a high percentage of breast tumors and is associated with good prognostic features. However, the mechanisms that regulate bcl-2 expression in breast carcinoma are unknown. Moreover, immunohistochemical detection of bcl-2 is related inversely to p53 expression. This notwithstanding, the immunohistochemical detection of p53 does not always correlate with the detection of p53 gene mutations. The authors studied the molecular organization of bcl-2 as well as the methylation status of its CpG island and analyzed the correlation between bcl-2 expression and p53 gene mutations. METHODS: The molecular organization of the bcl-2 gene and the methylation pattern of its CpG island were analyzed by Southern blot analysis. In addition, immunohistochemical analysis of bcl-2 and p53 protein expression was performed. Finally, the presence of mutations at exons 5-9 of the p53 gene were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and single-strand conformation polymorphism. RESULTS: No molecular abnormality was found at the bcl-2 locus in cases of sporadic breast carcinoma. Moreover, loss of heterozygosity analysis failed to detect any allelic loss in the study cases. It also was found that the bcl-2 CpG island was demethylated in all cases. These results point to a lack of correlation between bcl-2 protein expression and the presence of p53 gene mutations. CONCLUSIONS: The level of bcl-2 expression in breast carcinoma is not associated with any somatic abnormality or epigenetic change at the bcl-2 locus. Conversely, although bcl-2 expression is related inversely to p53 protein expression, the analysis of p53 mutations (limited to exons 5-9) failed to demonstrate any relationship between p53 mutations and bcl-2 protein expression.

[Primary pulmonary nodular amyloidosis]. / Amiloidosis nodular primaria pulmonar.

Localized nodular pulmonary amyloidosis is a very rare condition. We report the case of a man with an upper left lobe mass measuring 8 cm and a nodule measuring 3 cm at the same site. Both were detected by chance in radiologic images. Neoplasia was suspected and diagnosis was made by thoracotomy and lung biopsy. After two years of follow-up, the patient remains asymptomatic and the radiologic images are stable, with no clinical or analytical evidence of systemic amyloidosis or dysproteinemia.