Los Pinos Research Articles

Abstract 5331: Biological assessment of the virus-like drug conjugate AU-011 to specifically target a breadth of human cancer types

Abstract Introduction: AU-011 is a virus-like drug conjugate based on a human papillomavirus (HPV) derived virus-like particle (VLP) conjugated to a light-activated cytotoxic payload (IRDye700DX) currently in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of primary choroidal melanoma. When activated by near-infrared light, AU-011 has a dual mechanism of action inducing rapid, tumor necrosis resulting in pro-immunogenic cell death and long-term anti-tumor immunity. HPV-derived VLPs bind a wide variety of tumor types via modified heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG) found on the tumor surface. This study explores the breadth of tumor types that could benefit from a targeted treatment intervention with AU-011 and surveys genes and biological pathways that are positively and negatively associated with this targeting. Methods: AU-011 binding, cytotoxicity and HSPG specificity was surveyed in 127 tumor cell lines representing breast, cervical, CNS (glioblastoma, astrocytoma), colon, esophageal, gastric, hematopoietic, lung, liver, melanoma (cutaneous or choroidal), oropharyngeal, ovarian, pancreas, prostate, renal, urothelial and skin cancers, and sarcomas (osteosarcomas, mesotheliomas, retinoblastomas). Publicly available gene expression data for 101 of these cell lines was cross-referenced to identify gene signatures that correlated (either positively or negatively) with AU-011 binding and cytotoxicity. Results: AU-011 activity was observed for every tumor type examined, with some variation across several of the types. HSPG-specific binding was well-conserved across all tumor types tested except for most cells of lymphoid origin which are known to have HSPG deficiency. Collectively the tumor-derived cell lines exhibiting average binding EC50s < 100 pM were ocular cancers (choroidal melanomas and retinoblastomas) and solid tumors including urothelial, bone, breast, cervical, CNS, colon, cutaneous melanoma, esophageal, gastric, liver, lung, skin, oropharyngeal, ovarian, and renal. Urothelial, bone, breast, cervical, CNS, esophageal, gastric, liver, lung, melanoma, skin, ovarian, renal and retinoblastoma all exhibited AU-011 mediated cytotoxicity with an average potency of < 100pM. Correlative gene expression analysis demonstrated a strong association between AU-011 activity and genes involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis/metabolism, and extracellular matrix interactions. Expression signatures for ribosomal activity and protein translation were negatively associated with AU-011 binding and activity. Conclusions: Collectively these data demonstrate the wide potential applicability of AU-011 to target a number of tumor types, particularly those derived from neural or epithelial lineages. Importantly, a large portion of these tumors are accessible making their AU-011 targeting clinically translatable. Citation Format: Rhonda C. Kines, Nathan R. Fons, Elisabet de los Pinos, John T. Schiller. Biological assessment of the virus-like drug conjugate AU-011 to specifically target a breadth of human cancer types [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5331.

Nuevas noticias sobre Alfonso de Pinos, un ensamblador oaxaqueño de la primera mitad del siglo XVIII

El texto aborda la vida de un carpintero oaxaqueño de la primera mitad del siglo XVIII llamado Alfonso de Pinos. A partir de nuevas noticias documentales, se reconstruye parte de su genealogía y se muestra cómo se entrelaza con la de Tomás de Sigüenza, uno de los doradores y ensambladores de Oaxaca más importantes de finales del siglo XVII y primeras décadas del XVIII. Se propone que el vínculo familiar entre ambos permitió el aprendizaje del oficio y las recomendaciones para laborar en algunos templos en dicha ciudad, pero sobre todo en la Catedral de Oaxaca.

Direct, continuous measurements of ultra-high sediment fluxes in a sandy gravel-bed ephemeral river

A dearth of field measurements exists from sandy gravel-bed rivers. Laboratory experiments suggest that sediment mixtures with a large sand component are particularly efficient at transporting bedload downstream. To evaluate transport processes in these environments, we constructed a sediment monitoring research facility with the ability to continuously monitor sediment fluxes. The Arroyo de los Pinos is a gravel-bed ephemeral channel with a large (>30%) sand component in New Mexico, USA. This field station incorporates direct measurements of bedload flux using Reid-type slot samplers with high quality measurements of suspended sediment, water depth, water velocity, and grain size. Measurements are collected at a stable cross section constructed for long-term, consistent monitoring.Instantaneous bedload flux is high compared to global averages, as high as 12 kg s−1 m−1. Suspended sediment is also high, peaking at 100,000 mg L−1, with evidence of clockwise hysteresis. The Pinos nondimensional bedload flux rates are similar to those in other ephemeral channels, but the high sand content allows equal mobility at relatively shallow water depths and high rates of bedload transport during hydrograph recession. Bedload flux responded hysteretically, higher at equal shear stresses during stage rise. This is likely caused by an inadequate use of the depth-slope product for calculation of bed shear, steeper friction slopes during the rising limb, or both.These first monitored sediment transporting flash flood events reveal a channel that is very active during short periods of time. On average, the Arroyo de los Pinos flows 12–24 h during 3–5 events every year. However, in these brief periods, the channel is hyper-efficient at transporting bedload and suspended sediment at rates that are orders of magnitude higher than perennial counterparts.

Level of Treatment Adherence in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Primary Care

Introduction: The glycemic control of type 2 diabetes is a very important challenge that requires a multidisciplinary group of specialists, an adequate psychosocial environment and family support and searching for better measures for the control and prevention of complications, which encourages the patient to improve his lifestyle. Method: The analysis was made with two primary care medical units, the Mutual Aid Group (GAM) from the Los Pinos Medical center, and the Chronic disease Specialized Medical Unit (UNEME EC), which provided integral care in the municipality of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas. A sample of 138 patients was obtained through a random sampling with 95% confidence and a margin of error of ±5. The recollection of data was made with the application of the questionnaire “Lifestyle and adherence to pharmacological treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes, which consists of four sections that evaluate 1) socio-demographic data; 2) anthropometric and clinical; Pharmacological adherence with Morisky’s 8-item questionnaire (MMSA-8); 3) Lifestyle: with the instrument to Measure Lifestyle in Diabetics (IMEVID). Results: 37.6% had an HbA1c lesser than 7%, A prevalence of 50.7% was obtained in patients adhering to the pharmacological treatment, and 39.8% patients with a favorable lifestyle. The association of the patients’ results with an adequate glycemic control demonstrated by an HbA1C lesser than 7% was obtained through Student’s T test in which these patients are related with a better score on questionnaires by IMEVID and MMAS-8. Conclusions: The units with integral care and multidisciplinary treatment are fundamental in the care of patients with type 2 diabetes; the use of questionnaires such as IMEVID or MMAS-8 is useful in the daily clinical practice.

Olmeca: híbrido de cacao para alto rendimiento

El objetivo del presente estudio es reportar las características morfológicas, de rendimiento y calidad del híbrido Olmeca. Este genotipo es producto del cruce de los progenitores RIM 76A X EET 400. El genotipo RIM 76 A es una selección clonal de un genotipo de cacao criollo de México y el genotipo EET 400 es una selección comercial clonal procedente del Ecuador. Sus frutos del clon Olmeca de hasta 20 cm con forma elíptica, ápice obtuso y de constricción basal débil. Cada fruto contiene un promedio de 40 semillas y la tonalidad de los cotiledones es púrpura obscura. Las evaluaciones del rendimiento del clon Olmeca después de 11 años de establecidas en las fincas el Morralero en el municipio de Comalcalco, los Pinos en el municipio de Cunduacán y en la Ostitán del municipio de Huimanguillo del estado de Tabasco, han mostrado promedios de 46 frutos por árbol libres de enfermedades y un promedio de índice de fruto de 16 en los años 2013 a 2016, esto indica que con este número de frutos se puede producir un kg de cacao seco. La resistencia a la moniliasis en campo es del orden de 86%. La cata de grano de cacao seco fermentado y pasta de cacao ha presentado notas a cocoa, fruto fresco, nueces, afrutado, dulce caramelo de malta y frutos secos. Estos atributos son en interés comercial para la explotación para la elaboración de chocolates de origen de la variedad, características que aún no son aprovechadas en México. Este híbrido ha sido registrado en el Catálogo Nacional de Variedades Vegetales del Servicio Nacional de Inspección y Certificación de Semillas con el número CAO-008-230218 y título de obtentor número 2270. La multiplicación de esta variedad es a través de la vía asexual por injerto, misma que está a disposición de los productores del sur de México en el CAEHUI-INIFAP, en Huimanguillo, Tabasco.

Year One of AMLO's Mexico

Year One of AMLO's Mexico Humberto Beck (bio), Carlos Bravo Regidor (bio), and Patrick Iber (bio) On a sunny morning last May on the grounds of Los Pinos, the old presidential residence now open to the public, Mexican citizens strolled past a line of cars, trucks, and armored vehicles. They gazed in the windows of a 1951 Volkswagen bug and posed for pictures in front of a Lamborghini Murciélago. The cars, which all belonged to the Mexican government (some were for official use, some had been seized from criminal organizations), were waiting for auction. "There can be no rich government and a poor people," Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) had repeated on the campaign trail. Now he was president, and this sale symbolized the new order. Proceeds were destined for some of the country's poorest municipalities. Even the government agency responsible for the auction would have a new name: the Instituto para Devolverle al Pueblo lo Robado (the Institute for Returning to the People What Was Stolen). As they waited to be sold, the vehicles picked up the dust and grime of Mexico City, which sits in a pollution-trapping valley at nearly 7,500 feet of elevation. Just the week prior, the city had virtually shut down for several days because of a pollution emergency, in which high temperatures, low rainfall, and ongoing fires added to the usual stew of exhaust and industrial effluent. In the grime on the window of a Corvette Stingray, someone scrawled a homophobic insult directed at the last president, Enrique Peña Nieto. A few days later, the vehicles were gone. The auction raised more than a million dollars in revenue. The sale was designed to demonstrate some of the new president's political ambitions. Few doubt AMLO's determination to transform his country. Even before taking office he had already envisioned his term in historic dimensions, labeling it the "Fourth Transformation" of Mexico, following independence from Spain, the liberal Reforma, and the Mexican Revolution. Though AMLO has never provided a precise definition of the Fourth Transformation, he invokes it to describe a revindication of national pride, a political project of aligning the presidency with the popular will, and the creation of a social movement that could to do away with the old party system, social inequality, and the economic status quo. [End Page 109] Click for larger view View full resolution AMLO boards a commerical flight in February 2019. (Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images) AMLO has moved quickly to make changes. Old offices and programs have been dismantled and new social policies put in place. Spending considered profligate has been scrapped and budgets redirected. New priorities have taken over the everyday work of government agencies. Elected with an absolute majority, his party, MORENA, is in firm control of Congress. And his popularity has remained reasonably high, even as criticism mounts: his approval rating has fallen from a post-election peak in the mid-eighties to somewhere in the high-sixties. AMLO is the fourth president—and the first from the left—elected since the end, in 2000, of seven decades of single-party control of the presidency by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Approximately one year into his term in office, his approval rating does not differ significantly from those of his more conservative predecessors at the same point. All of those presidencies—of Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón, and Enrique Peña Nieto—are considered failures. Indeed, their legacy of accumulated fiascos propelled AMLO to the presidency. Expectations have been high. But for his administration to succeed, AMLO will need to make life better for the majority of Mexicans. To do this, he'll need to reduce corruption, improve economic fairness, and provide safety and security. In each of these areas, however, there are reasons to be concerned about AMLO's ability to make significant progress. [End Page 110] ________ In his campaign for the presidency, AMLO took aim at the most emblematic infrastructure project of the previous administration, Mexico City's New International Airport. At the time, about 20 percent of the construction was already complete and 60 percent of the investment under contract. AMLO...

MALTRATO INFANTIL EN ESCOLARES DE QUINTO Y SEXTO GRADO


 
 
 El maltrato infantil se define como los abusos y la desatención de que son objeto los menores de 18 años, e incluye todos los tipos de maltrato físico o psicológico. Objetivo: Describir los tipos de maltrato en el ambiente escolar y familiar de los niños de quinto y sexto grado. Metodología: Estudio mixto con diseño transeccional narrativo, realizado en la escuela Guillermo Prieto Vélez de la Comunidad de Los Pinos, San Pedro Sula, en el período de febrero a marzo del 2014. El universo/muestra fue de 54 escolares de quinto y sexto grado y 25 padres de familia que se encontraban en sus casas al momento de recolectar la información. La técnica de recolección de datos fue mediante encuesta para las variables cuantitativas y entrevista para la información cualitativa. Resultados: En cuanto el maltrato intrafamiliar por negligencia, 14 niños (25.9%) no desayunan antes de ir a la escuela, y 20 (37%) no consumen merienda. 45 (83%) de los niños no consumen la cantidad de agua adecuada diariamente, 11 niños (20%) no reciben de sus padres el tiempo necesa- rio. Se encontró que 23 (42.6%) de los niños recibían maltrato de sus compañeros; golpes (43.5%), apodos (21.5%). Los escolares, narraron que son castigados por sus madres, abuela y padrastro, mediante faja, regaños, manotazos y otros; los padres refirieron que los castiga con faja y regaños. Conclusión: Se encontró que la mayoría de niños reciben maltrato intrafamiliar y escolar, siendo más común de tipo físico y emocional.
 Palabras clave
 Acoso escolar, Familia, Maltrato a los niños
 
 

Estrategias de adaptación de los padres en la crianza de niños con Síndrome de Down que acuden al Centro de Educación Básica Especial “Los Pinos” de San Juan de Lurigancho, 2017

Objetivo: Describir las estrategias de adaptación de los padres en la crianza de niños con Síndrome de Down que acuden al Centro de Educación Básica Especial “Los Pinos” de San Juan de Lurigancho, 2017. Materiales y Métodos: El estudio fue observacional, de nivel descriptivo, de diseño no experimental. La muestra estuvo constituida por 38 padres de familia. Resultados: En relación a la estrategia del área afectiva, el 55.3 % manifestaron que se vincularon con otros padres que tienen hijos con síndrome de Down, mientras que el 18.4% refirieron que buscaron apoyo espiritual, 13.2% padres se informaron sobre el síndrome de Down y con mismo porcentaje de 13.2% corresponde a los padres que buscaron apoyo emocional. En las estrategias de área de la salud, 81.6% de padres afirman que sus hijos actualmente reciben terapias, y el 18.4% que no recibe terapias. Referente a los niños con SD que reciben terapias el 71% opta por la terapia de lenguaje, el 29% por la terapia de lenguaje junto con la psicomotriz. En cuanto a la estrategia del área social, el 76.3% de padres manifestaron que sí tuvieron el apoyo de su familia, y el 23.7% refieren que no tuvieron apoyo familiar. Dentro del grupo de padres que tuvieron apoyo familiar el 44.8% menciono que tuvieron aceptación de su persona y de su hijo, y el 13.8% refieren que los familiares ayudaron a cuidar al niño. Y n la estrategia del área educativa, en el inicio de la vida escolar del niño con SD se evidencia que el 73.7% de los padres optaron que sus hijos inicien su vida escolar en un colegio de educación especial, y en menor porcentaje 26,3% corresponde a los padres que optaron por el colegio de educación regular. Conclusión: Los niños se integran en las actividades ordinarias dentro del entorno social y familiar. Se ha de resaltar la conducta favorable frente a las actividades del entorno. Inicialmente los padres muestran cierto grado de preocupación debido a la dificultad para asimilar la situación respecto al estado de sus hijos.

Ambivalent Neighbor: Mexico and Guatemala's 'Ten Years of Spring,' 1944–1954

Ambivalent Neighbor:Mexico and Guatemala's 'Ten Years of Spring,' 1944–1954 Jürgen BuchenauiD Scholarly discussion of the Cold War in Latin America has long focused on the loud repercussions of international conflict rather than on the more subtle ways in which Latin Americans came to terms with global politics. Latin Americanists began by analyzing U.S. plots to thwart progressive and socialist Latin American governments as supposed beach-heads of Soviet-style Communism in the Western Hemisphere, particularly Guatemala (1951-1954), Cuba (since 1959), Chile (1970-1973), and Nicaragua (1979-1991).1 They then assessed the role of U.S. corporations and Latin American elites in fomenting an anti-Communist, pan-American ideology. Only recently, however, have everyday forms of engagement with the Cold War attracted our attention. In Mexico as in Guatemala, and in Brazil as in Cuba, the specters of Soviet influence and U.S. intervention helped shape political discourses that legitimized brutal repression of dissent and delegitimized popular protest movements.2 This article analyzes one type of such more subtle engagement with the Cold War: the position of the Mexican state vis-à-vis the explosive clash between Guatemala's so-called "Ten Years of Spring," an experiment in social democracy (1944-1954) and U.S. anti-Communism. Just as Renata Keller has shown with regard to Mexico's posture toward revolutionary Cuba, the Mexican government defended the abstract principle of national sovereignty in Guatemala—the right of each nation to choose its own form of government without outside interference. This posture gave the governing elite an opportunity to polish its nationalist credentials and thus camouflage the anti-Communism of a ruling party, the Partido de la Revolución Institucional (PRI)—a party had reduced to mere lip service the revolutionary ideas it supposedly embodied. At the same time, the Mexican government did not do much to assist a Guatemalan experiment modeled in many ways after its own blueprint, the Constitution of 1917, even though the "Ten Years of Spring" broke a long chain of dictators in cahoots with foreign-owned coffee and banana interests. This chain included strongmen such as Rafael Carrera and Justo Rufino Barrios in the nineteenth century as well as Manuel Estrada Cabrera and Jorge Ubico in the twentieth. The Mexican government also refrained from any moves that would have jeopardized its relationship with the United States.3 Notwithstanding genuine initial sympathies with the democratically elected Guatemalan government, the anti-interventionist [End Page 458] rhetoric of the Mexican government sought to legitimize a pro-U.S. position in the Cold War. Aside from defending the national interest—an interest best served by the absence of U.S. military action in the circum-Caribbean—Mexican foreign policy in the Cold War thus served an important purpose in building and preserving a nationalist political culture crucial to the ruling party. It therefore does not fit neatly into neo-realist conceptions of foreign-policy formulations.4 In the process, Guatemala's experiment in social democracy did not get the help from Mexico that its government would have desired. Focused on a decade that coincided with the beginning of the so-called Mexican miracle, this analysis challenges one of the few remaining holdovers from the old "Revolution to Evolution" paradigm:5 the idea that the Mexican government translated economic growth and political stability into an independent international posture. As this article will demonstrate, the government pursued a feeble balancing act between popular support for Latin American revolutions and ex-President Lázaro Cárdenas on one side, and U.S. pressure and the conservative business elite on the other. It also sought to mediate conflict between rivaling factions within the Mexican governing elite. An analysis of Cold War-era foreign policy therefore decenters the Mexican intellectual Enrique Krauzés formulation of the "imperial presidency." It also reveals the agency of a number of key political and economic pressure groups.6 Rather than the decision of one man in the presidential residence of Los Pinos, the making of Mexican foreign policy was the result of a compromise. The Formulation of Mexican Foreign Policy in the Cold War Era As the Cold War divided regions and people...

Oral pathology patterns in late farmers of the Central Andes: A comparative perspective between coastal and highland populations

Aiming at future comparisons with earlier hunter-gatherers or transitional populations, this paper intends to characterize and describe the oral pathology pattern of late agriculturalists from Central Andes dating to the Late Intermediate Period (LIP) and Inca periods (1000–1532 CE), and identify differences and/or similarities between coastal and highland populations. Although the botanical inventories of the LIP suggest carbohydrate-rich diets and similar components, it has been hypothesized that coastal and highland populations had, nevertheless, substantially different oral pathology patterns. We evaluated 14 indicators of oral pathology from Los Pinos (n=200) and Armatambo (n=25) sites in the Central Coast and two chronological phases from Laguna de los Cóndores site (LC-Inca, n=23; and LC-LIP, n=55), in the Peruvian northern highlands. The results showed a recurrent pattern of oral pathologies characterized by cervical caries (above 30%), extra-occlusal caries (above 60%), high rates of gross-gross caries, high frequency of ante mortem tooth loss, and signals of periodontal disease among these four populations. The diets of the coast were slightly more abrasive than those of the highlands. Oral pathology patterns were compatible with a slightly more cariogenic diet in the coast than in the highlands. In all four populations, those patterns were modulated by other common factors such as consumption of fermented drinks (maize beer – chicha) and the coca leaf chewing habit.

Desarrollando cambios en nuestra lectura del mundo: Una propuesta pedagógica desde la investigación acción participativa

This paper presents the results of a research conducted with the group Women of Theater from Alajuelita. The research intended to answer the question of how to develop changes in our reading of the world. The goal of our study was the co-researchers’ raising awareness process leading them, from themselves, and by means of the abovementioned group, to read, interpret and reconstruct the environment in order to yield transformations in their lives and community. Through reflection, the process was investigated on the basis of the pedagogical practices of Augusto Boal´s Theater of Oppressed (Boal, 1980), as they were applied at the theater workshop together with the group of Women of Theather, at the library of the Educative Center Los Pinos in Alajuelita. The main elements of the implemented methodology respond to the Participative Action Research (PAR), where the dialectical participative relationship and the collective discussion make it possible the creation of learning. We used audio recordings as data collection tools, which were later systematized for their analysis. The paradigmatic position assumed was inspired by an approach related to the concept of complexity. This concept proposes a holistic view of reality, life, and, so, of pedagogy. According to such a view, we all are one, and the multiplicity is interconnected with each one of its parts, in continuous entropy. Under this approach, where the world is a system of systems interconnected among themselves, the main finding was to perceive pedagogy as an instrument for humanization, a magical object capable of valuing diversity and transforming our thoughts, life styles and values, and, in consequence, our reading of the world. We considered that such an important finding might help to develop changes in human beings and might inspire us to assume an ecological perspective towards relationships. Such a perspective might give rise to deep transformations in our social, political and economic structures.

Optimizing regulatory requirements to aid in the implementation of compensatory mitigation

Optimizing regulatory requirements to aid in the implementation of compensatory mitigation

Speech of the President of the United Mexican States, Enrique Peña Nieto 26 June 2014, Los Pinos, Mexico City

Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you. I would like to greet and thank Dr Benedito Braga, President of the World Water Council, for his speech, and to cordially welcome him and all members of the World Water Council for participating in this meeting. I hope that the work you have been carrying out enables the shaping of better policies to ensure water resources provide increased sustainability of the global development, and above all, to ensure water supply for the population worldwide. Mexico is your home, and all are welcome: Secretary of the Environment, Director General of the Conagua, and those who organised and conducted this meeting. Ladies and Gentlemen: We all know water is essential for life; is a vital resource, but it is also a basic factor for the development and welfare of humanity, food production, hygiene and public health, the viability of human settlements, including energy generation; and companies' operations rely on water availability. And it is precisely that as a result of its many uses, it is an increasingly scarce natural resource. It is increasingly difficult and costly to have water in sufficient quantity and quality. The days of easy and plentiful water are over. This is true in Mexico and worldwide. The authorities responsible for water extraction, supply, sewerage and treatment will operate in ever more complex scenarios, due to overexploitation and pollution of water sources, population growth and, of course, climate change. Given this reality, sustainable water management is already a priority that goes beyond … Thank you very much. Good afternoon to all of you. I would like to greet and thank Dr Benedito Braga, President of the World Water Council, for his speech, and to cordially welcome him and all members of the World Water Council for participating in this meeting. I hope that the work you have been carrying out enables the shaping of better policies to ensure water resources provide increased sustainability of the global development, and above all, to ensure water supply for the population worldwide. Mexico is your home, and all are welcome: Secretary of the Environment, Director General of the Conagua, and those who organised and conducted this meeting. Ladies and Gentlemen: We all know water is essential for life; is a vital resource, but it is also a basic factor for the development and welfare of humanity, food production, hygiene and public health, the viability of human settlements, including energy generation; and companies' operations rely on water availability. And it is precisely that as a result of its many uses, it is an increasingly scarce natural resource. It is increasingly difficult and costly to have water in sufficient quantity and quality. The days of easy and plentiful water are over. This is true in Mexico and worldwide. The authorities responsible for water extraction, supply, sewerage and treatment will operate in ever more complex scenarios, due to overexploitation and pollution of water sources, population growth and, of course, climate change. Given this reality, sustainable water management is already a priority that goes beyond …

Message from the Director General of the National Water Commission, David Korenfeld, during the closing event of the 52nd World Water Council Board of Governors Meeting, held at the official residence of Los Pinos, Mexico City, 26 June 2014

President of the United Mexican States, Enrique Pena Nieto: President of the World Water Council, Benedito Braga, members of the World Water Council Board of Governors: Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources: Media Representatives: Ladies and Gentlemen: Water is a cohesive element that contributes to the peace and integral development of our nations. Today, 60 representatives from institutions and organisations from different countries met, all with common challenges and a clear objective: finding solutions for the water challenges of our time. This is why it is important to acknowledge the work done during this 52nd World Water Council Board of Governors Meeting, where seven major water … President of the United Mexican States, Enrique Pena Nieto: President of the World Water Council, Benedito Braga, members of the World Water Council Board of Governors: Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources: Media Representatives: Ladies and Gentlemen: Water is a cohesive element that contributes to the peace and integral development of our nations. Today, 60 representatives from institutions and organisations from different countries met, all with common challenges and a clear objective: finding solutions for the water challenges of our time. This is why it is important to acknowledge the work done during this 52nd World Water Council Board of Governors Meeting, where seven major water …

Abstract 1770: Viral-based nanoparticles: a new therapeutic approach for anticancer therapy

Abstract One of the hurdles to effective cancer treatment is tumor specific targeting of drugs. We have observed, both in vitro and in vivo, that Human papillomavirus-derived nanoparticles (HPV-NPs) have an innate tropism for tumors. HPV's primary attachment factors in infection are heparan-sulfated proteoglycans (HSPG) and as tumors often upregulate HSPGs at the extracellular matrix, this may be a contributing factor for HPV's tumor tropic nature. Here we present data to support the use of HPV-NPs in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma and uveal melanoma with α-particle emitting radiation (227Th) and photodynamic therapy (PDT), respectively. We first explored in vivo tumor targeting using HPV-NPs delivering a plasmid expressing the luciferase gene. Luciferase signal was detected in SKOV-3 tumor bearing, but not control animals, and this signal was only present in tumor tissue as revealed by ex vivo imaging. This finding prompted us to explore the therapeutic effect of delivering 227Th. The agent AU-010 was constructed by conjugation of a chelator to the HPV-NPs. Th-227 was then used to radiolabel the conjugated HPV-NPs. Animals were injected with SKOV-3 tumor cells, and 10 days following implant, treatment was initiated with three weekly administrations of either AU-010 (100 nCi), free chelated-227Th (100 nCi), unlabeled HPV-NPs or saline. HPV-NP targeting of 227Th to tumors provided a significant survival advantage over the control arms, demonstrating the therapeutic potential of HPV-NPs. Currently, follow-up experiments are evaluating optimized chelators in additional animal models. We next explored the use of HPV-NPs in photodynamic therapy with the development of AU-011. AU-011 is an HPV-NP conjugated to ≈500 molecules of infrared dye, IR700 (LiCor), and when irradiated with 690 nm near-infrared light generates reactive oxygen species that are specifically and immediately lethal to dye bound cells. This technology was initially validated using Trastuzumab as a targeting agent (Mitsunaga et al, Nat Med 17(12):1685-91, 2011). We compared the cell binding activity of AU-011 and Trastuzumab-IR700 on SKOV-3 ovarian cancer cells in vitro and observed a higher binding capacity of AU-011. We next compared the killing activity of the two agents. Trastuzumab-IR700 was found to have an IC50 value of 1.6 nM when activated with 32 J of 690 nm light. By comparison, AU-011 was found to have an IC50 value of 5.6 pM when activated with 16 J of 690 nm light. Thus, AU-011 appeared to be considerably more potent than Trastuzumab-IR700. Finally, we extended these observations to a panel of uveal melanoma cell lines. We chose uveal melanoma because PDT with 690 nm light is FDA approved and used regularly in the ophthalmic clinic. When applied on the melanoma cell lines, AU-011 was found to show high cell binding and potent cell killing. Currently, proof-of-concept in vivo studies of AU-011 in uveal melanoma are underway, paving the way to clinical development for this indication. Citation Format: Rhonda Kines, Debaditya Bhattacharya, John R. MacDougall, Diane Milenic, Martin W. Brechbiel, Elisabet de los Pinos, John T. Schiller. Viral-based nanoparticles: a new therapeutic approach for anticancer therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1770. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1770

Continuous monitoring of bedload discharge in a small, steep sandy channel

This paper reports on bedload flux and texture monitored in a natural, steep, sandy ephemeral channel draining a small gullied sandy watershed, the Barranca de los Pinos (1.32 ha), Spain. Bedload flux was continuously monitored with two independent Reid-type slot samplers; bedload texture was determined from the sediment collected in the samplers. Channel morphology was surveyed with a high spatial resolution with a Terrestrial Laser Scanner. The monitored instantaneous bedload fluxes are among the highest measured in natural rivers, characterized by high temporal and spatial variability related to the presence of bedforms, shallow bars and sand sheets, and to the reworking of the dry bed between and at the end of individual flow events. The grain size distribution of the bedload indicates equal mobility; but bedload texture fluctuates, depicting the transport of coarser bar surfaces and of finer-grained anabranch surfaces as well as of the overall bed subsurface.

Environmental Drivers of Streamflow Change in the Upper Rio Grande

The purpose of this study was to assess changes in streamflow in the Upper Rio Grande (URG) basin, as it exits the San Luis Valley (SLV) at the Lobatos gauge station, in relation to changes in local environmental drivers. Irrigation-dependent agriculture accounts for more than 85% of surface and ground water withdrawals in the SLV. Inflows of the Rio Grande and the Conejos and Los Pinos rivers were aggregated into a single inflow into the SLV. Streamflow data were taken from gauges above all major diversions. Results of the analysis indicated annual streamflow at Lobatos declined by 400 hm3 after 1924, coinciding with increases in surface water extractions. Additional reductions of about 50 hm3 in annual streamflow, not accounted for by inflow reductions during the period 1925–1964, coincided with increases in groundwater extractions. In contrast, an increase of 12.5 hm3 in annual streamflow occurred during 1965–2007. The increases coincided with several changes, but were primarily related to extreme peak flow years during the period 1985–1987 and increased water deliveries in compliance with the Rio Grande Compact.

Geodynamic processes on sandy slope gullies in central Spain field observations, methods and measurements in a singular system

Gullies developed on sandy lithologies are scarce and few studies have been reported on these landscapes. This paper presents an approach to study such singular landforms. The studied gullies appear on the slopes of a group of mesas and cuestas of Upper Cretaceous sediments located in the Northern piedmont of the Guadarrama Mountains, Spain. Landforms of these gullied areas were catalogued, characterized and quantified with reconnaissance methods, providing information about the most active geomorphic processes. These are being monitored in a 1.32 ha representative gullied catchment, the Barranca de los Pinos. In its high gradient slopes, where mass movements occur, high resolution topographical surveys are being carried out by Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). On low gradient slopes, runoff and rain splash are being monitored in micro plots; and in the main channel, sediment transport and water discharge are being measured. This ensemble of methods, some of them novel, is providing patterns of sediment movement within the gully system, and a hypothesis of high activity rates has been confirmed. High gradient sand slopes without carbonate caprock erode fourfold compared to the capped slopes. In the low gradient slopes, those ungullied produce more runoff while exposed sands yield more sediment; sands covered by litter produce the least runoff and sediment. Notably, this catchment yields mainly bedload. © 2011 Lavoisier SAS. All rights reserved

Memories of a world crisis

Santa Cruz de los Pinos is a small town like most others in the Cuban countryside. But half a century ago it was the epicenter of the 1962 Missile Crisis. During that time it served as a Soviet base for middle-range nuclear missiles, and the US air reconnaissance photos of it were spread through media all around the world. The crisis was solved through negotiations without Cuban involvement, and as a result of this neglect the Missile Crisis has been an under-communicated part of history in Cuba. A Swedish—Cuban research project has now investigated what kinds of memories of the crisis remain today at the former missile base — in the ground as well as in people’s minds. Digging in the ground has proved to be an effective way to start a remembering process and to help disarm a politically loaded history and uncover stories other than those dominating ‘big history’.

The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900 (review)

126Southwestern Historical QuarterlyJuly Despite their reluctance to serve in the Department of New Mexico, all evidence indicates that Wallen and Evans carried out their duties competently. Indeed, both men produced detailed reports that provide an interesting portrait of life at frontier military outposts. Because of the nature of the inspectors' duties, the reports document the true conditions at the forts and obviously make no attempt to hide any problems. The documents note the inspectors' concerns with specific officers and soldiers, discipline, equipment and supplies, living conditions , payroll information, and include the inspectors' suggestions for improvements . The reports published in this volume pertain to Forts Marcy, Union, Craig, Sumner, West, McRae, and Stanton, and posts at Albuquerque, Los Pinos, and Mesilla in New Mexico Territory; Fort Garland in Colorado Territory; and Franklin, Texas. The book is comprised of thirteen chapters, most of which include an inspector 's report for one fort or post. Each chapter begins with a brief history of the installation in question, and illustrations include maps and several hand-drawn diagrams of the forts. Thompson's endnotes reflect extensive research in National Archives records and select published sources. The book will appeal to individuals interested in the Civil War period in the Trans-Mississippi West, particularly the Far West, and those interested in first-hand accounts of daily life at nineteenth-century frontier military posts. East Central UniversityBradley R. Clampitt The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-içoo. By Mike Cox. (New York: Forge, 2008. Pp. 492. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780312873868, $25.95 cloth.) Mike Cox, storyteller and author of the entertaining and anecdotal Texas Ranger Tales and Texas Ranger Tales II, delivers a likewise readable but much more broadly historical perspective of the legendary frontier law enforcement agency from its beginnings and throughout the nineteenth century. While doing so, Cox considers the tangle of myth and fact—"as closely interwoven as a fine horsehair quirt" (15)—and concludes that it is difficult to separate the two strands from one another. He does confront the revisionist historians who have relentlessly attacked the Ranger lore of late, admitting that there were certainly acts committed above the law but that those instances were "rare and often exaggerated," and that in the final accounting the Rangers managed against great odds to keep the peace on a dangerous frontier. Cox divides his treatise into two large sections, the early period (1821-1873) of the Rangers as Indian fighters, and the later period (1874-1900) as peace officers with increasing responsibilities to track and capture criminals and fugitives across Texas. The Rangers were the only agency given authority to cross county lines in their pursuits of the lawless and, as the Indian threat subsided following Reconstruction, their response to the needs of civil and state agencies increased. During the formative period of Texas's history from Anglo colonization 20ogBook Reviews127 through the era of the Republic, the Texas Rangers evolved through several stages of incubation. There is a contingent of early Texas historians who continue to debate exacdy when and where and who the "first" Texas Rangers may have been—some suggest 1823, 1836, or 1846 or even 1874; here Cox is refreshingly able to include all of them in the narrative without having to decide on one or the other as the "real" date. And it is forgivable for Cox to quote extensively from Wilbarger's old-fashioned Indian Depredations in Texas early on; Wilbarger's book is, after all, good storytelling if not the best of accurate, objective history (where Indians and Mexicans were considered the intruders). In 1874 the Texas legislature created what became known as the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers. Its broader responsibilities necessitated a larger force of men who were well organized and vested with nearly unimpeachable authority to enforce the law as they saw fit. A budget leveled at a remarkable (for that period) $300,000 provided die material support for a more permanent agency than had existed heretofore. Cox enthralls the reader with a dashing narrative through late nineteenthcentury Texas expansion, as MajorJohn B. Jones—who still does not have a biography worthy of his exploits—and the Frontier Battalion...