| |
 | Posted by admin |
|
|
|
The Institute of Natural Resources and Agricultural Biology of Salamanca (IRNAS) years investigating the parasite Schistosoma bovis, Which affects cattle and sheep. This worm causes only mild conditions and can go even unnoticed, but a study has revealed that affects 25% of the herds of fighting bulls in the province of Salamanca.
IRNAS scientist (belonging to CSIC), Eduardo de la Torre DiCYT Escudero explained that one of the most important issues to the attention of scientists is that the parasite is able to survive “contact with the blood of the host without being eliminated “. In particular, in the veins of the gut and must develop defensive mechanisms without affecting the vascular system of the animal.
However, what causes damage to the host organism is the worm, but rather that deposited eggs, which can be accommodated in certain tissues and cause liver damage and damage to the intestine, with minor problems such as diarrhea that in cases can lead to very serious even in the animal’s death, although it is very rare.
The interest of scientists IRNAS focuses on identifying mechanisms that allow the parasite to survive in the bloodstream of the animal without being attacked by your immune system. Identify the key proteins in this process would help to find a vaccine that could also benefit humans and other species of schistosomes that cause serious diseases to people in Africa, Asia and South America.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
An investigation involving the University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) concludes that the traditional Mediterranean irrigation have suffered a significant loss of cultural and ecological treasure, especially after the modernization of irrigation networks that articulate these views.
The starting point is the recent research and intensive processing of traditional irrigation in the Mediterranean world and its impact on the degradation of valuable landscapes from the point of view of production, heritage and identity. The research addresses the relationship between water and landscape in the gardens, as well as treatment of heritage values in public performances.
“It is imperative that water policy and projects for the modernization of irrigation infrastructure, are designed on the principle of multifunctionality of irrigation, assumed that economic efficiency should not be the only parameter to evaluate public decisions. It has to keep in mind the cultural, ecological heritage and even the water distribution networks, “says the professor UC3M, Santiago Fernández Muñoz, author of the study with the professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Rafael Mata.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
Hematologic tumors such as leukemias, myelomas and lymphomas, which account for 10% of cancer could be from the 2016 additional treatment with chemotherapy. This treatment would be based on the patient injection of cells called killer cells or NK cells, the English “natural killer”, which would cause rejection of the tumor.
The research group Aragonese “Apoptosis, immunity and cancer,” excellence recognized by the Department of Science, Technology and the University of the Government of Aragon, is coordinating a project for a new treatment for hematologic malignancies. Within five years people with leukemia, lymphoma Milomir and could have an effective weapon against them.
Hematological tumors account for 10% of all cancers. Since 2016 this group of experts could get additional treatment with chemotherapy. This treatment would be based on the patient injection of cells called killer cells or NK cells, the English “natural killer”, which would cause rejection of the tumor.
A week ago it was announced that Alberto Anel, a member of the research group of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Zaragoza and Ricardo Ibarra, director of the Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon (INA), had been selected to manage two projects Europe, with total funding of 3 million euros, within call of the Programme for the Development of Southwest Europe (sudo).
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
According to an article published in Science, the digitization of more than five million books from Google can become a powerful tool to quantitatively analyze cultural trends, use of lexical, grammatical changes, censorship, or fame on different characters.
When a space satellite manages to construct a map of the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background, he does as a tool to investigate the past of the Universe. If a neuroscientist design a new histological technique that allows you to draw a connectomics and map the neural wiring of the human brain, it does not looking for pretty pictures but also as a new research tool. And when geneticists start to accumulate as genomes of the orangutan, dog, Homo sapiens or the fruit fly, the used as a tool to find similarities, differences, or unexpected data that shed light on our evolutionary history, physical characteristics, or clues to cure diseases.
In a bold analogy with genomics, Harvard researchers believe that the digitization of 500,000 million words in more than five million books by Google, become a kind of “digital fossil record of human culture,” a tool quantitative analysis in the hands of linguists, historians and sociologists see the birth allows a new discipline called culturomica, the first results start to arrive in the coming months.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
CSIC scientists have developed a method to generate varieties of cucurbits (which includes species such as melon, cucumber, watermelon or pumpkins) were resistant to several viral diseases. The method is based on the silencing of a gene characteristic of the plant, so as not to add anything outside their own species, which reduces the chance that has unexpected repercussions.
Prevent a virus from replicating within an organism and prevent its infection is a study strategy in combating diseases especially virulent or for which no vaccine exists, such as HIV. Something similar can be done with plants, in order to obtain varieties resistant to viral diseases for which no treatment.
This is what has made the CSIC researchers at the Centre for Soil Science and Applied Biology Segura (CEBAS). Scientists have developed a method to generate varieties of cucurbits (which includes species such as melon, cucumber, watermelon or pumpkins) were resistant to several viral diseases that affect them.
The method is based on inducing the silencing of a gene in plants that the virus needs to replicate. This gene encodes a protein that the virus uses to their advantage to multiply in the plant cells. Protein is a necessary piece to work the machinery of virus replication: If there because the protein-encoding gene that is silenced, the virus can lead to infection.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
Wind turbines in places like agricultural fields of Central America can provide greater benefits than just electricity generation. The giant spinning blades that generate renewable energy could also help the corn and soybean stays cooler and dry, helping them fend off fungi and improve their ability to extract air and soil carbon dioxide they need to grow.
The team of Gene Takle, an expert in agricultural meteorology Ames Laboratory, U.S., presented the preliminary results of a research program aimed at studying the interaction of wind turbines surrounding crops.
Takle and his partner Julie Lundquist, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, have completed the first phase of its investigation, and are sure that wind turbines produce significant effects on the microclimate of plantations nearby.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
The radiata pine is a species of pine Californian home by rapid growth that is profitable for timber or pulp. Introduced in the Cantabrian Arc, from Asturias to the Basque Country, especially in the northern slopes of the mountains, there are plantations in the region of El Bierzo (Leon) and Merindades (Burgos). A doctoral thesis at the University of Leon has approached the study of existing operations and has studied the conditions for creating new plantations in the region of Leon, to offer an alternative to sustainable rural development.
The research of Eva Sevillano, led by Professor Manso Alfonso Fernandez, Department of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, addressed the forest uses this type of pine, increasingly used by the timber industry as a whole, in remote parts of the planet between themselves as New Zealand, USA, Chile and Spain, but with similar climatic conditions. Scientists discussed the productivity of existing plantations in El Bierzo, dating from the 70′s of last century, laid the groundwork for analyzing the feasibility of future operations in the region and discussed other aspects of this type of forestry.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
El Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) has launched through a cooperative project with Algeria, the first program of conservation and genetic improvement of maize Algeria. This species is dying out in the country, is of scientific interest for his alleged resistance to adverse conditions (heat, drought) and disease.
In Algeria, the corn is vanishing. It is grown in small plots in the oases, and scientific interest because it has undergone a major process of adaptation and diversification over several centuries, as well as their likely resistance to adverse conditions, such as heat or drought, and various diseases .
Now researchers at the CSIC are exploring the viability of the Algerian maize and maize in Spain Spanish North African country. The test results of maize varieties Algerian Zaragoza Pontevedra and show a good performance and acceptable production results, which can lead to exchange of plant genetic resources between the two countries.
The project, entitled “Structuring of the variability of the Algerian corn to form a Core Collection”, is funded by the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and Development (AECI). It began in 2010 and continue in a second phase during 2011.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
A group of researchers from the Department of Geography at the University of Valladolid, belonging to the World Renowned Research Group Rural directed by Professor Fernando Miller, has done extensive work on agricultural landscapes of Spain would soon see the light, as it will published by the Ministry of Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs. The work, as Miller explains, “is not an atlas to use, as well as images and cartograms also includes a detailed study on the historical development and changes of land and rural society since the second half of the twentieth century, produced especially during this period by the passage of a predominantly agrarian society to an industrial and services. “
In fact, he adds, the change has been so dramatic at this stage that has happened in Spain is 15 per cent of agricultural workforce to 4.5 percent today. The landscape of Spain. Characterization, evolution and classification, Is one of the most complete works published to date on the changes experienced in the field of our country and through an evolutionary analysis, a diagnosis which may see something unquestionable, the depopulation of rural areas.
“It presents a comprehensive study of territory of elements and physical and human factors, arising from the occupation, exploitation and spatial organization of societies throughout history have shaped him, according to their skills, their interests and expertise, “says Fernando Molinero.
The work is part of a project awarded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, which partly meets the requirement of the European Landscape Convention and requires signatory countries to define and delimit the territorial units for the management of the landscape. The research is led by the University of Valladolid, in collaboration with Barcelona, and which also involved the universities of Seville, Alicante, La Laguna (Tenerife) and Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla.
Click to continue »
| |
| Posted by admin |
|
|
|
Biofuels from algae appear as a promising alternative to fossil fuels. However, some problems remain to be overcome: the feasibility for productivity, downstream processes (harvesting, extraction of components) … The main obstacle to their development, as we mentioned in a previous report [1], is the economic viability of the process for obtaining them.
In late June 2010, the Obama administration announced funding of $ 24 million for research on the subject. This money has benefited three research groups working on the production of biofuels from algae: Algal Biofuels Consortium on Sustainable in Arizona, the Consortium for Algal Biofuels Commercialization in California and Cellana, Consortium LLC in Hawaii. In this context, researchers at Montana State University (MSU) have identified a compound having the ability to increase production considerably algal oil precursor in the synthesis of biodiesel: sodium bicarbonate.
Click to continue »
