Orden Cingulata Superina, Mariella; Abba, Agustin Manuel; Vizcaíno, Sergio Fabián Describe el estado de conservación de todos los armadillos (Cingulata) a nivel nacional, siguiendo las categorías y criterios de la UICN.

La escena trágica de la representación política: Sobre las relaciones entre teatro trágico y representación política en el siglo XVII inglés y francés Arbuet Osuna, Camila María Este escrito espiga las complejas relaciones entre teatro trágico y representación política que se dieron en Inglaterra y Francia durante el siglo XVII. Dichas relaciones develaran formaciones en la subjetividad y en la política moderna que trascienden hasta nuestros días. En medio una crisis absoluta (política, religiosa, cultural) estas sociedades tuvieron escritores que pensaron todo otra vez, poniendo bajo la lupa de la duda los supestos existenciales de siglos enteros. Entre sangrientas tensiones la literatura logró exhibir aquellos tópicos que atravesaban los conflictos de estas mentalidades. Allí la tragedia, con Shakespeare, Racine y Corneille, expuso las problemáticas de la escena política en su máxima expresión, capturando las modificaciones de yo; los antiguos mitos y su resignificaciones; la transformación maquiaveliana del vicio en virtud (y viceversa); el juego de espejos que supone la representación. Augurando de este modo una moral alternativa que emergerá en la nueva puja de poder entre Estado, Iglesia y Ciencia. Sintetizando, el trabajo explora tanto las repercusiones de la metáfora del teatro en la política como la formación de un nuevo imaginario social.

Conservación poscosecha de raíces de Pachyrhizus ahipa Mugridge, Alicia; Sisterna, Marina Noemí; Garcia, Maria Alejandra; Viña, Sonia Zulma La porción comestible de las denominadas hortalizas pesadas incluye varias estructuras botánicas: raíces y tallos modificados (tubérculos, bulbos, rizomas). Las raíces y tubérculos (R&T) comerciales incluyen: - Hortalizas cultivadas y utilizadas en casi todo el mundo: papa, cebolla. - Hortalizas de zonas tropicales y subtropicales: batata, mandioca. - Cultivos de relativamente menor difusión, entre los que se incluyen las raíces y tubérculos andinos (Oxalis tuberosa oca-, por ejemplo), y especies tales como Eleocharis dulcis (castaña de agua), entre otras. En términos generales, a excepción de la papa y algunas otras especies, las raíces y tubérculos se cultivan en zonas más cálidas y tienen un período de crecimiento relativamente largo. Son fuentes de carbohidratos en la ingesta; constituyen órganos de almacenamiento y por tal motivo, presentan, en general, baja tasa respiratoria. Pueden continuar su crecimiento luego de cosechados (ej.: brotado). Es frecuente que sean almacenados por períodos relativamente largos. Sin embargo, ciertas raíces y tubérculos son productos muy perecederos y, en consecuencia, las pérdidas poscosecha pueden ser considerables; por lo tanto requieren técnicas especializadas de manipulación, almacenamiento y conservación, para reducir al mínimo las pérdidas, prolongar la duración de los productos y mantener su calidad. Pueden sufrir deterioro rápido luego de ser cosechados, debiendo procesarse en un lapso breve después de su recolección. La ocurrencia del deterioro está directamente asociada a los daños mecánicos que se producen en los órganos vegetales durante la cosecha. En condiciones precarias de almacenamiento también es alta la incidencia de insectos y de enfermedades.

Biopolymers Used as Cryoprotectants in Food Freezing Zaritzky, Noemi Elisabet Living cells, biological materials (plant and animal tissues) and food derived from them contain a large proportion of water. Water is a very important component in foods affecting quality attributes and shelf-life stability. Freezing involves lowering the temperature of a system below its initial freezing point, converting water to ice by elimination of the latent heat associated to thechange of phase. During freezing water is removed from the food matrix by forming ice crystals. Consequently, the concentration of the dissolved substances in the unfrozen regions increases, lowering the water activity (aw) of the product. Freezing is considered a very efficient method for long-term food preservation not only because the effect of low temperatures on chemical reactions and microbial growth, but also due to the decrease of water activity (Fennema et al. 1973; Zaritzky 2000, 2006). Freezing inhibits the growth of deteriorative and pathogenic microorganisms, and retards biochemical and enzymatic reactions that would otherwise occur in unfrozen food. Although the physico-chemical reactions slow down at low temperatures, they continue during frozen storage conditions. In this chapter, the basic principles of freezing and the effect of hydrocolloids as cryoprotectants in frozen food systems are discussed.

The Group Life Cycle and Demography of Brown Capuchin Monkeys (Cebus [apella] nigritus) in Iguazú National Park, Argentina Janson, Charles H.; Baldovino, María Celia; Di Bitetti, Mario Santiago This study reports demographic and social changes across 20 years in a population of brown capuchin monkeys living in Iguazú National Park in northeastern Argentina.  Three sets of results emerge that are critical to understanding the evolution of social behavior in this population.  First, patterns of age-related mortality clearly highlight certain periods of increased mortality (post-natal 6 months, onset of reproduction, late senescence) and near-perfect survival (2-6 year-old juveniles, young adult females).  Second, tracking the migrations and rank-related reproductive strategies of males helps to uncover the causes and consequences of long male reproductive tenures that average 5 years.  Finally, observations of relatively rare male takeovers of the alpha breeding position reveal a predictable sequence of stages in a group’s life cycle that tie together female fecundity, infanticide, group size, and kinship-based group fissions.  These coordinated aspects of demography and kinship in different stages set the context for understanding differences between groups in social structure and organization.

Effect of Copper and Zinc Addition to Peat Casing on A. Blazei Murrill Production González Matute, Ramiro; Figlas, Norma Débora; Curvetto, Nestor Raul The use of peat, as a casing material, in the Agaricus spp. mushroom industry is a common practice. Sphagnum peat moss is the most employed, often mixed with other peat types or materials such as charcoal, and amended with calcium carbonate (pH adjustment) and water (ca. 75 %), and applied on top of the mushroom colonized substrate bed to retain water on the growing beds and to promote mushroom fruit body formation. Agaricus blazei Murrill is an edible mushroom highly appreciated in the medicinal worldwide market, mainly for its immune stimulating effects. It is also known as an efficient metal accumulator; particularly, copper and zinc can be absorbed by its mycelium and assimilated into metal organic compounds, which are accumulated into the mushroom carpophores, then resulting in a metal bioavailable source with a potential use as dietary supplements. Copper and zinc are essential to human health, based on their role in metalloenzymes and as cofactors of a large number of enzymes. Lack or deficiency of these metals may cause certain illnesses or physiological disorders, while the excess can be highly toxic. The aims of this study were to evaluate the possibility to obtain Agaricus blazei fruit bodies enriched with copper or zinc, following the addition of the salt solutions of these oligoelements into the peat moss during the casing preparation or when watering the casing bed, thus challenging their growing mycelia with different doses (100 ppm or 200 ppm Cu2+ or Zn2+), and to evaluate the mycelium growth, mushroom productivity and metal bioavailability from these enriched mushrooms.

Carboxymethylcellulose–montmorillonite nanocomposite films activated with murta (Ugni molinae Turcz) leaves extract Quilaqueo Gutiérrez, Marcela; Echeverría, Ignacio; Ihl, Mónica; Bifani, Valerio; Mauri, Adriana Noemi The functionality of nanocomposite films based on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and montmorillonite (MMT) activated with murta (Ugni molinae Turcz) leaves extract was studied. Films were prepared by casting from film-forming dispersions containing CMC, glycerol (used as plasticizer) and different concentrations of MMT, using water or murta extract as solvent. The addition of MMT increased the tensile strength and the elasticity modulus of the films, and decreased their permeabilities to water vapor, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Besides the antioxidants properties provided to the films, the addition of murta leaves extract changed the gas permeability in different forms according to the MMT content, and plasticized the nanocomposite matrix.

Heat treatment to modify the structural and physical properties of chitosan-based films Rivero, Sandra G. M.; Garcia, Maria Alejandra; Pinotti, Adriana Noemi This work was focused on studying the changes undergone by heat-treated chitosan films with and without tannic acid addition by monitoring both microstructure and physical properties. Once the films were submitted to different heat treatments, they exhibited higher barrier properties as well as lower water uptake, solubility, and moisture content. These results were also confirmed through X-ray patterns, which changed from the hydrated to the anhydrous conformation, sharper FTIR peaks specifically associated with water, and shift of Tg toward higher temperatures determined by DMA. Moreover, the modifications caused by the curing process at a molecular scale were observed at a structural level by using a TEM technique. FTIR evaluation granted new insights into the interactions between tannic acid and chitosan molecules, before and after the heat curing, especially due to the occurrence of new peaks and changes in the wavenumber region 1550−1750 cm−1.

New Silver Nanosensor for Nickel Traces. Part II: Urinary Nickel Determination Associated to Smoking Addiction Talio, María Carolina; Luconi, Marta Olga; Fernandez, Liliana Patricia A new fluorescence silver nanosensor assisted by surfactant has been recently synthesized and applied to ultra trace nickel determination. The methodology was validated by the standard addition method and satisfactorily applied to nickel determination in urine without previous treatment, coming from subjects with different smoking addiction levels and second hand smokers. Within-day precision was better than 0.011 CV. The reproducibility (between-days precision) was also evaluated over 3 days by performing six determinations each day with a CV of 0.025. The proposed methodology represents a promising approach in the area of biological monitoring due to its low operation cost, simplicity of instrumentation, high sampling speed and non-polluting solvents. Obtained results of urinary nickel concentration were successfully correlated with the tobacco addiction.

Multicomponent click synthesis of potentially biologically active triazoles catalysed by copper nanoparticles on activated carbon in water Alonso, Francisco; Moglie, Yanina Fernanda; Radivoy, Gabriel Eduardo; Yus, Miguel A variety of potentially biologically active 1,2,3-triazoles, derived from (-)-menthol, lactic acid, D-glucose, oestrone, cholesterol, and phenacetin, have been synthesised through the multicomponent alkyne-azide 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition catalysed by copper nanoparticles on activated carbon in neat water.

Automated on-line dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on a sequential injection system Andruch, Vasil; Acebal, Carolina Cecilia; Škrlíková, Jana; Sklenářová, Hana; Solich, Petr; Balogh, Ioseph S.; Billes, Ferenc; Kocúrová, Lívia A novel approach for sequential injection-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (SI-DLLME) has been suggested. The method is based on the aspiration and mixing of a sample and all required aqueous reagents in the holding coil of an SIA system, delivering it into a conical tube and adding in a mixture of extraction solvent, auxiliary solvent and disperser solvent at high flow rate, resulting in the formation of a cloudy state and the extraction of an analyte. The mixture of extraction and auxiliary solvent is immiscible with water and has a density significantly higher than that of water; consequently, the resulting fine droplets in the mixture, which contain the extracted analyte, are self-sedimented in a short time at the bottom of conical tube. Thus, no centrifugation and no use of a microcolumn are required for separation of the extraction phase. Afterwards, the extracted analyte is aspirated and transferred to a micro-volume Z-flow cell, and the absorbance is measured.The performance of the suggested approach is demonstrated by the SI-DLLME of thiocyanate ions in the form of ion associate with dimethylindocarbocyanine reagent, followed by spectrophotometric detection. A mixture of amyl acetate (as extraction solvent), tetrachloromethane (as auxiliary solvent) and acetonitrile (as disperser solvent) was selected for the DLLME procedure. The appropriate experimental conditions for conventional DLLME and automated SI-DLLME were investigated. The analytical performance of both these procedures was compared. The absorbance of the colored extracts at wavelength 555nm obeys Beer's law in the range of 3.13-28.2 for conventional DLLME and 0.29-5.81mgL-1 of SCN for SI-DLLME, and the limit of detection, calculated from a blank test based on 3s, is 0.110 for conventional DLLME and 0.017mgL-1 for SI-DLLME.

Boundary value problems for anisotropic plates with internal line hinges Grossi, Ricardo Oscar This paper deals with the formulation of an analytical model for the dynamic behaviour of anisotropic plates, with an arbitrary located interal line hinge with elastics supports and piecewise-smooth boundaries elastically restrainded against rotation and translation among other complicating effects. The equations of motion and its associated boundary and transition conditions are derived using Hamilton?s principle. By introducing an adequate change of variables, the energies which correspond to the different elastic restraints, are handled in a general framework. The concept of transition conditions and the determination of the analytical expressions are presented. Analytical examples are worked out to illustrate the range of applications of the developed analytical model. One of the essential features of this work is to demonstrate how the commonly formal derivations, used in the applications of the calculus of variations, can be made rigorous.

José Martí y la Guerra Necesaria Gallegos, Claudio Antonio Estas breves líneas que se encuentran a continuación representan una primera aproximación al sentido de la guerra que desarrolla José Martí en base a sus escritos y accionar en el campo de batalla.

Decreases in Fire Spread Probability with Forest Age Promotes Alternative Community States, Reduced Resilience to Climate Variability and Large Fire Regime Shifts Kitzberger, Thomas; Aráoz, Ezequiel; Gowda, Juan Janakiram Haridas; Mermoz, Mónica Alicia; Morales, Juan Manuel The generalization that plant communities increase in flammability as they age and invariably lead to resilient self-organized landscape mosaics is being increasingly challenged. Plant communities often exhibit rapidly saturating or even hump-shaped age-flammability trajectories and landscapes often display strong non-linear behaviors, abrupt shifts, and self-reinforcing alternative community states. This plethora of fire-landscape interactions calls for a more general model that considers alternative age-flammability rules. We simulated landscape dynamics assuming communities that (1) increase in flammability with age and (2) gain flammability up to a certain age followed by a slight and moderate loss to a constant value. Simulations were run under combinations of ignition frequency and interannual climatic variability. Age-increasing fire probability promoted high resilience to changes in ignition frequency and climatic variability whereas humpbacked-shaped age-flammability led to strong non-linear behaviors. Moderate (20%) reductions in mature compared to peak flammability produced the least resilient behaviors. The relatively non-flammable mature forest matrix intersected by young flammable patches is prone to break up and disintegrate with slight increases in ignition/climate variability causing large-scale shifts in the fire regime because large fires were able to sweep through the more continuous young/flammable landscape. Contrary to the dominant perception, fire suppression in landscapes with positive feedbacks may effectively reduce fire occurrence by allowing less flammable later stage communities composed of longer lived, obligate seeders to replace earlier stages of light demanding, often more flammable resprouters. Conversely, increases in anthropogenic ignitions, a common global trend of many forested regions may, in synergism with increased climate variability, induce abrupt shifts, and large-scale forest degradation.

Comparative toxicity of nanostructured alumina and a commercial inert dust for Sitophilus oryzae (L.) and Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) at varying ambient humidity levels Stadler, Teodoro; Buteler, Micaela; Weaver, David K.; Sofie, Stephen The widespread concern for environmental and human health has raised the need for new reduced-risk control strategies and the search for new chemical classes of pesticides. Recently, a novel type of particulate material, nanostructured alumina (NSA) has been found to induce mortality in insects exposed to wheat treated with NSA dust. Preliminary studies have shown insecticidal activity of NSA particles on two insect species, Sitophilus oryzae (L.), and Rhyzopertha dominica, (F.), major pests of stored grain. We investigated the toxicity of NSA and Protect-It ® diatomaceous earth (DE) using dry dust applications at three different relative ambient humidity levels. Results showed that NSA was more effective in killing S.oryzae than Protect-It ® and was equally toxic to R.dominica. Treatment with both products also reduced progeny production. In addition, R.dominica was less susceptible to inert dusts than S.oryzae. Our results suggest that NSA might prove a good alternative or complement to DE based products, and encourage further testing with other insect pests and systems, plus experiments on delivery options to further enhance NSA products.

Determinants of the DNA binding specificity of class I and class II TCP transcription factors Viola, Ivana Lorena; Reinheimer, Renata; Ripoll, Rodrigo; Uberti Manassero, Nora Graciela; Gonzalez, Daniel Hector TCP proteins constitute a family of plant transcription factors with more than 20 members in angiosperms. They can be divided in two classes based on sequence homology and the presence of an insertion within the basic region of the TCPDNA binding and dimerization domain. Here, we describe binding site selection studies with the class I protein TCP16, showing that its DNA binding preferences are similar to those of class II proteins. Through sequence comparison and the analysis of mutants and chimeras of TCP16, TCP20 (class I), and TCP4 (class II), we established that the identity of residue 11 of the class I TCP domain or the equivalent residue 15 of the class II domain, whether it is Gly or Asp, determines a preference for a class I or a class II sequence, respectively. Footprinting analysis indicated that specific DNA contacts related to these preferences are established with one of the strands of DNA. The dimerization motif also influences the selectivity of the proteins toward class I and class II sequences and determines a requirement of an extended basic region in proteins with Asp-15. We postulate that differences in orientation of base-contacting residues brought about by the presence of either Gly or Asp are responsible for the binding site preferences of TCP proteins. Expression of repressor forms of TCP16 with Asp-11 or Gly-11 differently affects leaf development. TCP16-like proteins with Asp-11 in the TCP domain arose in rosids and may be related to developmental characteristics of this lineage of eudicots.

Dairy products modified in their lactose content Perotti, Maria Cristina; Wolf, Irma Veronica; Vénica, Claudia Inés; Bergamini, Carina Viviana Lactose intolerance is a problem suffered by a large part of the world population. The simplest solution is to remove (partially or completely) dairy products from diet. However, a more convenient alternative from the nutritional viewpoint would be to replace the intake of regular dairy products by others in which the lactose content has been modified. In effect, the dairy products with reduced-lactose and lactose-free contents are examples of added-value products, whose production is targeted to a specific group of consumers. The increased manufacture of these dairy products is driven by the increasing knowledge we have on the lactose intolerance problem. There are different technological methods to modify the lactose content in dairy products, such as enzymatic hydrolysis, ultrafiltration and chromatography. The lactose hydrolysis using β-galactosidases is the strategy most widely used in the industry, making it possible to obtain products with low lactose levels. A wide range of this type of products such as milks, creams, ice-creams and fermented milks, are commercially available around the world. In Latin America, which records a very high incidence of deficient-lactase individuals, there are delactosed products available such as fluid and powder milks and some fermented milks. The consumption of fermented dairy products has undergone a rapid increase in Argentina, where the yogurt is the most popular product. In this context, we are working on different aspects on the production of lactose-hydrolyzed yogurt, as this product is still not available in the Argentinean market. The purpose of this contribution is to review the current knowledge on the lactose intolerance problem and the reducedlactose dairy products, with special emphasis on the applied technological processes. Preliminary results obtained by our research group are also included.

Systematic screening for novel, serologically reactive Hepatitis e Virus epitopes Ostermann Porcel, María Victoria; Vizoso Pinto, María Guadalupe; Haase, Rudolf; Nitschko, Hans; Jaeger, Simone; Sander, Michaela; Motz, Manfred; Mohn, Ulrich; Baiker, Armin Background: The National Institutes of Health classified Hepatitis E as an emerging disease since Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) is the major cause of acute hepatitis in developing countries. Interestingly, an increasing number of sporadic cases of HEV infections are described in industrialized countries as zoonosis from domestic livestock. Despite the increasing relevance of this pathogen in clinical virology, commercial antibody assays are mainly based on fragments of HEV open reading frame (ORF) 2 and ORF3. The largest ORF1 (poly-)protein, however, is not part of current testing formats. Methods. From a synthesized full length HEV genotype 1 cDNA-bank we constructed a complete HEV gene library consisting of 15 respective HEV ORF domains. After bacterial expression and purification of nine recombinant HEV proteins under denaturating conditions serum profiling experiments using 55 sera from patients with known infection status were performed in microarray format. SPSS software assessed the antigenic potential of these nine ORF domains in comparison to seven commercial HEV antigens (genotype 1 and 3) by performing receiver operator characteristics, logistic regression and correlation analysis. Results: HEV antigens produced with our method for serum profiling experiments exhibit the same quality and characteristics as commercial antigens. Serum profiling experiments detected Y, V and X domains as ORF1-antigens with potentially comparable diagnostic significance as the well established epitopes of ORF2 and ORF3. However no obvious additional increase in sensitivity or specificity was achieved in diagnostic testing as revealed by bioinformatic analysis. Additionally we found that the C-terminal domain of the potential transmembrane protein ORF3 is responsible for IgG and IgM seroreactivity. Data suggest that there might be a genotype specific seroreactivity of homologous ORF2-antigens. Conclusions: The diagnostic value of identified ORF1 epitopes might not necessarily improve sensitivity and specificity, but broaden the overall quality of existing test systems. ORF2 and ORF3-antigens are still commonly used in diagnostic assays and possibly hold the potential to serologically differentiate between genotype 1 and 3 infections. Our systematic approach is a suitable method to investigate HEV domains for their serologic antigenicity. Epitope screening of native viral domains could be a preferable tool in developing new serologic test components.

Electronic excited states of protonated aromatic molecules: Protonated Fluorene Alata, Ivan; Broquier, Michel; Dedonder, Claude; Jouvet, Christophe; Marceca, Ernesto José The photo-fragmentation spectrum of protonated fluorene has been recorded in the visible spectral region, evidencing an absorption that appears largely red shifted in comparison to that of the neutral molecule fluorene. The spectrum shows two different vibrational progressions, separated by 0.19 eV. As in the case of protonated linear polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), comparison of the measured spectra with ab initio calculations allows to associate the observed absorption shift with the charge transfer character of the excited state. The spectra can be properly simulated by geometry optimization of the ground and excited states, followed by Franck Condon analysis. The two vibrational bands progressions observed are assigned, with relatively good confidence, to the existence of two different conformers. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vascular hyporeactivity to angiotensin II and noradrenaline in a rabbit model of obesity Jerez, Susana Josefina; Scachi, Fabricio; Sierra, Liliana; Karbiner, María Sofía; Peral, Maria de Los Angeles This study was conducted to explore the vascular reactivity of angiotensin II and noradrenaline and their relationship with endothelial function in rabbits fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The animals were fed either an HFD or regular chow [control diet (CD)]. After 12 weeks, the rabbits fed the HFD showed higher blood pressure, body weight, and insulin levels. Glucose tolerance was impaired and positively related to blood pressure. An endothelium-independent decrease of the sensitivity to angiotensin II [pD 2 endothelium-intact aortic rings (E+) in CD: 8.02 ± 0.07 vs. HFD: 7.60 ± 0.01; pD 2 endothelium-removed aortic rings (E-) in CD: 8.16 ± 0.11 vs. HFD: 7.83 ± 0.16] and noradrenaline (pD 2 E+ in CD: 6.36 ± 0.06 vs. HFD: 5.29 ± 0.06; pD 2 E- in CD: 6.11 ± 0.08 vs. HFD: 5.80 ± 0.08) was found. Noradrenaline desensitized the angiotensin II response (pD 2 with noradrenaline pretreatment in E+: 7.03 ± 0.16; in E-: 7.10 ± 0.02), but angiotensin II did not change the noradrenaline response. Acetylcholine maximal relaxation and basal nitric oxide (NO) release were comparable in both diet groups. The efficacy of angiotensin II (R max CD: 4604 ± 574 mg vs. HFD: 3251 ± 533 mg) and noradrenaline (R max CD: 11,675 ± 804 mg vs. HFD: 7975 ± 960 mg) was reduced in E+. L-N G-nitroarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) recovered the efficacy of noradrenaline (R max L-NAME: 12,015 ± 317 mg). In contrast, L-NAME had no effect on the angiotensin II response. Noradrenaline enhanced NO levels, but angiotensin II did not. Therefore, NO was associated with hyporeactivity to noradrenaline. The resting potential was more negative in E+, and the endothelium diminished the angiotensin II-induced depolarization. These findings demonstrated that the crosstalk and the endothelium may induce hyporeactivity to angiotensin II and noradrenaline as a mechanism to compensate the increase in the blood pressure in HFD-induced obesity.