Widespread but heterogeneous responses of Andean forests to climate change Título: Widespread but heterogeneous responses of Andean forests to climate change Ver

Resumen: El calentamiento global está obligando a muchas especies a cambiar sus distribuciones hacia arriba, causando cambios consecuentes en las composiciones de las especies que ocurren en lugares específicos. Esta predicción permanece en gran parte sin probar para los árboles tropicales. Aquí mostramos, utilizando una base de datos de casi 200 inventarios de parcelas forestales andinas repartidas en más de 33.5 ° de latitud (de 26.8 ° S a 7.1 ° N) y 3.000 m de elevación (de 360 ​​a 3,360 m sobre el...

Estimation of corrosive and scaling trend in drinking water systems in the city of Azogues, Ecuador Título: Estimation of corrosive and scaling trend in drinking water systems in the city of Azogues, Ecuador Ver

Resumen: La calidad del agua potable que fluye en una red de distribución puede poseer características corrosivas que pueden causar la degradación del material de las tuberías y accesorios. Este problema puede resultar en la reducción de la vida útil de las tuberías y crear un problema de salud pública importante. El acuerdo entre el análisis físico-químico de la calidad del agua y los estándares nacionales no es suficiente para confirmar el equilibrio de la calidad del agua en términos de corrosión. ...

Resultados preliminares del tratamiento con luz pulsada intensa regulada en el síndrome de ojo seco Título: Resultados preliminares del tratamiento con luz pulsada intensa regulada en el síndrome de ojo seco Ver

Resumen: Objetivo: Describir los resultados preliminares del empleo de luz pulsada intensa regulada (IRPL) en pacientes con síndrome de ojo seco por disfunción de las glándulas de Meibomio (DGM). Método: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo, longitudinal y prospectivo en 32 pacientes con diagnóstico de síndrome de ojo seco, en los cuales se aplicó tratamiento con IRPL, durante el periodo de abril a diciembre de 2017, en el Centro Oftalmológico Exiláser, Cuenca, Ecuador. Se realizaron 3 sesiones de trata...

Patrimonio cultural, museos y visitantes en la ciudad de Cuenca Título: Patrimonio cultural, museos y visitantes en la ciudad de Cuenca Ver

Resumen: El presente trabajo constituye una de las pocas investigaciones realizadas sobre los museos de la ciudad de Cuenca, pese a ser instituciones que preservan bienes patrimoniales y son atractivos turísticos. Por ello, se ha emprendido un programa de investigación que inicia con el estudio de la percepción de los visitantes locales, nacionales y extranjeros en seis museos de la ciudad de Cuenca. Las percepciones expresadas mediante comentarios escritos espontáneamente por los visitantes ecuat...

Contrasting stakeholders perceptions of pine plantations in the páramo ecosystem of Ecuador Título: Contrasting stakeholders perceptions of pine plantations in the páramo ecosystem of Ecuador Ver

Resumen: The páramo, a collection of Neotropical alpine ecosystems, plays a prominent role in ecosystem services (ESs), providing water supply and regulation, conservation of biodiversity, and carbon storage in soil. The establishment of pine plantations for carbon sequestration and wood production has recently raised questions concerning the possible impact on the páramo's ES. This study identifies the main stakeholders in this field and compares and contrasts their perceptions of the impact of pine ...

Paraneoplastic lympic-hypothalamic encephalitis in testicular mixed germinal cells tumor. Unpublished case report Título: Paraneoplastic lympic-hypothalamic encephalitis in testicular mixed germinal cells tumor. Unpublished case report Ver

Resumen: l síndrome paraneoplásico es una respuesta secundaria distante debido a la presencia de una neoplasia; Representa un reto en el diagnóstico de la enfermedad primaria. Las neoplasias de células germinales de testículo se clasifican en seminomatosos y no seminomatosos, y la presencia de un componente pluripotencial puede conducir a un tumor mixto raro que se asocia con trastornos hormonales e inmunológicos (síndromes paraneoplásicos). En este artículo presentamos el caso de un paciente de 17 añ...

Land use alters dominant water sources and flow paths in tropicalmontane catchments in East Africa Título: Land use alters dominant water sources and flow paths in tropicalmontane catchments in East Africa Ver

Resumen: Conversion of natural forest to other land uses could lead to significant changes in catchment hydrology, but the nature of these changes has been insufficiently investigated in tropical montane catchments, especially in Africa. To address this knowledge gap, we identified stream water sources and flow paths in three tropical montane sub-catchments (27–36 km 2 ) with different land use (natural forest, smallholder agriculture and commercial tea plantations) within a 1 021 km 2 catchment in th...

Changes in phytochemical composition, bioactivity and in vitro digestibility of guayusa leaves (Ilex guayusa Loes.) in different ripening stages Título: Changes in phytochemical composition, bioactivity and in vitro digestibility of guayusa leaves (Ilex guayusa Loes.) in different ripening stages Ver

Resumen: BACKGROUND: Guayusa (Ilex guayusa Loes.) leaves, native of the Ecuadorian Amazon, are popularly used for preparing teas. This study aimed to assess the influence of leaf age on the phenolic compounds and carotenoids and the bioactivity and digestibility (in vitro) of aqueous and hydroalcoholic leaf extracts. RESULTS: In total, 14 phenolic compounds were identified and quantified. Chlorogenic acid and quercetin-3-O-hexose were the main representatives of the hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonols...

Footprint analysis using a low cost photo-podoscope Título: Footprint analysis using a low cost photo-podoscope Ver

Resumen: Footprint analysis is usually performed using a rudimentary process or traditional podoscope. The footprint evaluation is performed without incorporation of the measured data within the patient medical record. In this work, the footprint analysis is performed using a photo-podoscope connected to a personal computer where image processing techniques allow accurate estimation of clinical indexes, as well as incorporation of demographic and clinical data within patient medical record, that can b...

Multiple mycotoxin exposure of infants and young children via breastfeeding and complementary/weaning foods consumption in Ecuadorian highlands Título: Multiple mycotoxin exposure of infants and young children via breastfeeding and complementary/weaning foods consumption in Ecuadorian highlands Ver

Resumen: The dietary exposure to mycotoxins in Ecuadorian children aged 0–23 months (320 rural and 603 urban) was evaluated based on the intake of breast milk and staple cereals used as complementary/weaning foods. A probabilistic distribution approach by first order Monte Carlo simulation was adopted to assess the locally occurring mycotoxins (aflatoxins M1 and B1 in breast milk, ochratoxin A and deoxynivalenol in wheat noodles and oat flakes, and HT-2 toxin in polished rice). Overall, exposure was m...

Ecohydrological disturbances associated with roads: current knowledge, research needs, and management concerns with reference to the tropics Título: Ecohydrological disturbances associated with roads: current knowledge, research needs, and management concerns with reference to the tropics Ver

Resumen: Las carreteras son una forma generalizada de perturbación con potencial para afectar negativamente los procesos ecohidrológicos. Algunos de los crecimientos más rápidos en las redes de carreteras se producen en los países en desarrollo, particularmente en los trópicos, donde las agendas políticas a menudo se centran en fortalecer la economía, mejorar la infraestructura y reforzar la seguridad nacional., lograr la autosuficiencia y aumentar el bienestar de los ciudadanos, a menudo a expensas d...

Data repository of mobile applications for people with disabilities in the area of communication and language using data mining techniques Título: Data repository of mobile applications for people with disabilities in the area of communication and language using data mining techniques Ver

Resumen: According to National Council of Disabilities (CONADIS) currently 425877 persons live in Ecuador with some form of disability. From this group, approximately 1.32% (5,621) people present language difficulties. However, although exist several technological developments, several Ecuadorian centers of special education/rehabilitation there is a lack of adequate support tools based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and intelligent systems. This situation becomes more complicated...

Integrated AC/DC transmission expansion planning model considering VSC-MTDC systems Título: Integrated AC/DC transmission expansion planning model considering VSC-MTDC systems Ver

Resumen: Significant technological advances in the electric sector have led to complexity increase and created new challenges to transmission expansion planners. On the one hand, the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources impacts the entire network. On the other hand, DC systems have become a favorable and viable option to link some of these sources of energy to the consumer centers. Thus, new models of the network equipment must be incorporated to the Transmission Expansion Planning (TEP)...

Biological impact assessment of sewage outfalls in the urbanized area of the Cuenca River basin (Ecuador) in two different seasons Título: Biological impact assessment of sewage outfalls in the urbanized area of the Cuenca River basin (Ecuador) in two different seasons Ver

Resumen: We evaluated the biological water quality in relation to chemicals discharged through sewage outfall during both dry and rainy season. The lowland area of the Cuenca River basin in the southern Andes of Ecuador, including the city of Cuenca, constituted the study area. To perform an integrated water quality assessment, data were collected of macroinvertebrates, physicochemical conditions and morphological characteristics in 43 sites in the Cuenca River and its tributaries. The Andean Biotic I...

Poincaré plot features from vibration signal for gearbox fault diagnosis Título: Poincaré plot features from vibration signal for gearbox fault diagnosis Ver

Resumen: This paper describes a method for fault diagnosis in gearboxes using features extracted from the Poincare plot of the vibration signal. Several features describing the geometrical shape of the Poincare plot are calculated and three of these features are selected for performing the classification of 10 types of faults recorded in the gearbox vibration signal dataset. A multi-class Error-Correcting Output Code Support Vector Machine is trained for performing the classification of faults. The cr...

Model-based analysis of the potential of macroinvertebrates as indicators for microbial pathogens in rivers Título: Model-based analysis of the potential of macroinvertebrates as indicators for microbial pathogens in rivers Ver

Resumen: The quality of water prior to its use for drinking, farming or recreational purposes must comply with several physicochemical and microbiological standards to safeguard society and the environment. In order to satisfy these standards, expensive analyses and highly trained personnel in laboratories are required. Whereas macroinvertebrates have been used as ecological indicators to review the health of aquatic ecosystems. In this research, the relationship between microbial pathogens and macrob...

The primary prevention of epilepsy: a report of the prevention task force of the international league against epilepsy Título: The primary prevention of epilepsy: a report of the prevention task force of the international league against epilepsy Ver

Resumen: Entre las causas de la epilepsia hay varias que se pueden prevenir en la actualidad. En esta revisión, resumimos la carga de salud pública de la epilepsia derivada de tales causas y sugerimos prioridades para la prevención primaria de la epilepsia. Realizamos una revisión sistemática de estudios epidemiológicos publicados de epilepsia de 4 categorías etiológicas evitables: lesiones perinatales, lesión cerebral traumática (TBI), infección del sistema nervioso central (SNC) y accidente cerebrov...

Therapeutic guidelines for Latin American lupus patients: methodology Título: Therapeutic guidelines for Latin American lupus patients: methodology Ver

Resumen: Modem medicine is in a continuous state of flux given the relentless development of new evidence: thus, it is quite difficult for clinicians to abreast of all advances as they happen

Design and analysis of performance of a forward converter with winding tertiary Título: Design and analysis of performance of a forward converter with winding tertiary Ver

Resumen: In this paper, the design and performance analysis of a Forward converter with third winding is presented. It establishes performance comparisons of simulation tools, analysis of losses and experimental measurements at different points of operation. It details a performance analysis obtaining the most important losses in the energy processing, operating in the continuous conduction mode (CCM), the nominal power of the prototype is 12 W. The converter has a voltage control system in order to m...