Resources for Teaching about the Americas

Humans have used and coexisted with cacti in arid regions of North and South America for thousands of years. Species of the family Cactaceae possess physiological adaptations to arid and semi-arid climates that have allowed them to be used as a resource throughout the year by traditional peoples. The objective of this review is to present information on the uses and management of species of Cactaceae in the various regions of the Americas. This review provides information relevant to conservation policies regarding this important resource for local populations in semi-arid regions. To fully understand how management can influence cacti conservation, a knowledge gap regarding the traditional management of cacti needs to be addressed.

Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) spent most of their career in Seville where their paths mostly overlapped in the mid-seventeenth century. Both competed for the growing number of commissions from local religious orders, parish churches and private patrons. Zurbarán’s sharp figures against dark backgrounds were preferred during the first half of the seventeenth century whereas Murillo’s lighter soft compositions became increasingly popular in the second half. Whereas Zurbarán and Murillo competed at a local level, Zurbarán was recorded as having been much more active on a global scale, exporting over 200 paintings to Latin America from Seville, one of Europe’s main ports to the Americas. This article will for the first time develop a comparative approach considering both artists’ presence in the Spanish viceroyalties. There have been several studies on Zurbarán’s presence in Latin America, especially by Zurbarán specialist Benito Navarrete Prieto, and an increasing number of scholars considering Murillo’s American presence. Navarrete Prieto has focused on Zurbarán’s workshop paintings destined to the Americas and their print sources. There has also been some work on the documents related to Zurbarán’s painting shipments overseas which will be discussed later. Whereas there are several studies on Zurbarán’s presence in the Americas since the viceregal period, most work on Murillo focuses on paintings by his circle, the circulation of copies and his influence on Latin American artists. This study will focus on both artists’ presence in the Spanish viceroyalties considering documentary and written evidence of their involvement with the Americas, how their families facilitated these transactions, existing and lost paintings by them in Latin America which provenance dates to the colonial period, their presence in Lima’s Convent of Buena Muerte and finally how they perceived the Americas.

AUSTRALIA – Second-Generation Diagnostic Achieves 98% Accuracy in Detecting Early Stage Ovarian Cancers AUSTRALIA – New Center Brings Australian and Chinese Researchers Together to Fight Infectious Diseases AUSTRALIA – Co-developing New Treatment Guidelines for Melanoma AUSTRALIA – Australia Leads World's First Global Effort to Improve Genetic Disorders Diagnosis CHINA – China Bans Illegal Food Additives to Reinforce Food Safety Control CHINA – China Steps Up Tighter Inspection in Food Safety CHINA – WHO and China to Do More for Chinese with Hearing Impairment CHINA – First TCM Drug for Arrhythmia CHINA – First Human-Human Transmission of Tick-Borne Disease Reported in China CHINA – Bird Flu Found in Chickens in Eastern China CHINA – First Bird Flu Death Reported for 2009, No Bird-flu Outbreak HONG KONG – Hong Kong Alerts New Bird Flu Outbreak INDIA – India Also Confirmed Bird Flu Incidence INDIA – India Plans 20 More Biotech Parks for Life Sciences Research KOREA – An Economic Share in Medical Tourism Market JAPAN – Brain Tissues Made from Stem Cells NEW ZEALAND – Newly Merged Research Institute Leverage Greater Synergy NEW ZEALAND – Kiwi's Green Plastic Well-Acclaimed in International Awards NEW ZEALAND – Sea Sponge Indigenous to NZ Could Reduce Chemo Side Effects PHILIPPINES – Ebola-Reston Virus Jumped Species SINGAPORE – Human Sewage, the Potential Source of Clean Energy SINGAPORE – No More Heart-stopping Incidents for Heart Patients SINGAPORE – China Milk Products Get All-Clear from Singapore SINGAPORE – Discovery of New Properties in Imidazolium Salts Yield Multi Applications SINGAPORE – S'pore Ranked World's Most Prolific for Eye Research Per Capita SINGAPORE – Outdoor Sun Reduces Incidence of Myopia in Children TAIWAN – University Hospital in Taiwan Collaborates with Neuralstem VIETNAM – Return of Bird Flu, Vietnam Runs High Risk of Human Infection VIETNAM – Conjoined Twins Successfully Separated VIETNAM – Rise in Off-Season Dengue Fever Cases NORTH AMERICA – Epilepsy Drugs Prescription to Carry Suicide Risk Warning NORTH AMERICA – U.S. Doctors Succeeded Near-total Face Transplant NORTH AMERICA – Vaccinating Pacific Girls against Cervical Cancer NORTH AMERICA – Manipulating Love and Emotions by Spray EUROPE – Cambridge Pips Oxford in Research EUROPE – Adapting Car Manufacturing Technology to Produce Synthetic Bone Implants EUROPE – Dioxin-tainted Irish Pork Products Recalled

Plasmodium vivax is the most prevalent malaria parasite on the American continent. It generates a global burden of 80-100 million cases annually and represents a tremendous public health problem, particularly in the American and Asian continents. A malaria vaccine would be considered the most cost-effective measure against this vector-borne disease and it would contribute to a reduction in malaria cases and to eventual eradication. Although significant progress has been achieved in the search for Plasmodium falciparum antigens that could be used in a vaccine, limited progress has been made in the search for P. vivax components that might be eligible for vaccine development. This is primarily due to the lack of in vitro cultures to serve as an antigen source and to inadequate funding. While the most advanced P. falciparum vaccine candidate is currently being tested in Phase III trials in Africa, the most advanced P. vivax candidates have only advanced to Phase I trials. Herein, we describe the overall strategy and progress in P. vivax vaccine research, from antigen discovery to preclinical and clinical development and we discuss the regional potential of Latin America to develop a comprehensive platform for vaccine development.

Mineralogical, Chemical, and Isotopic (Sr, Pb) Composition of Atmospheric Mineral Dusts in an Ombrotrophic Peat Bog, Southern South America

A sustainable neurosurgery workforce depends on robust training pipelines, but the size and distribution of the global neurosurgery trainee workforce has not been described. The objective of this study was to identify the types of training programs that exist in the global neurosurgery workforce, the support that trainees receive, the diversity of trainee experiences, and the accreditation processes that exist to regulate training programs. This study was a subanalysis of a cross-sectional survey administered online in all 193 countries and 26 territories, independent states, and disputed regions as defined by the World Bank and United Nations. Participants were identified through neurosurgery society leadership, the personal contacts of the coauthors, and bibliometric and search engine searches. Population-weighted statistics were constructed and segregated by country income level and WHO regions. Data were obtained for 187 countries (96.9%) and 25 additional territories, states, and disputed regions (96.2%). There were an estimated 1261 training programs and 10,546 trainees within the regions sampled, representing a global pooled density of 0.14 neurosurgery trainees per 100,000 people and a median national density of 0.06 trainees per 100,000 people. There was a higher density in high-income countries (HICs; 0.48 trainees per 100,000 people) compared with upper-middle-income countries (0.09 per 100,000), lower-middle-income countries (0.06 per 100,000), and low-income countries (LICs; 0.07 per 100,000). The WHO European (0.36 per 100,000) and Americas (0.27 per 100,000) regions had the highest trainee densities, while the Southeast Asia (0.04 per 100,000) and African (0.05 per 100,000) regions had the lowest densities. Among countries with training programs, LICs had the poorest availability of subspecialty training and resources such as cadaver laboratories and conference stipends for trainees. Training program accreditation processes were more common in HICs (81.8%) than in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs; 69.2%) with training programs. The authors estimate that there are at least 1261 neurosurgery training programs with 10,546 total trainees worldwide. The density of neurosurgery trainees was disproportionately higher in HICs than LMICs, and the WHO European and Americas regions had the highest trainee densities. The trainee workforce in LICs had the poorest access to subspecialty training and advanced resources.

Several types of seismological data, including surface wave group and phase velocities, travel times from large explosions, and teleseismic travel time anomalies, have indicated that there are significant regional variations in the upper few hundred kilometers of the mantle beneath continental areas. Body wave travel times and amplitudes from large chemical and nuclear explosions are used in this study to delineate the details of these variations beneath North America. As a preliminary step in this study, theoretical P wave travel times, apparent velocities, and amplitudes have been calculated for a number of proposed upper mantle models, those of Gutenberg, Jeffreys, Lehman, and Lukk and Nersesov. These quantities have been calculated for both P and S waves for model CIT11GB, which is derived from surface wave dispersion data. First arrival times for all the models except that of Lukk and Nersesov are in close agreement, but the travel time curves for later arrivals are both qualitatively and quantitatively very different. For model CIT11GB, there are two large, overlapping regions of triplication of the travel time curve, produced by regions of rapid velocity increase near depths of 400 and 600 km. Throughout the distance range from 10 to 40 degrees, the later arrivals produced by these discontinuities have larger amplitudes than the first arrivals. The amplitudes of body waves, in fact, are extremely sensitive to small variations in the velocity structure, and provide a powerful tool for studying structural details. Most of eastern North America, including the Canadian Shield has a Pn velocity of about 8.1 km/sec, with a nearly abrupt increase in compressional velocity by ~ 0.3 km/sec near at a depth varying regionally between 60 and 90 km. Variations in the structure of this part of the mantle are significant even within the Canadian Shield. The low-velocity zone is a minor feature in eastern North America and is subject to pronounced regional variations. It is 30 to 50 km thick, and occurs somewhere in the depth range from 80 to 160 km. The velocity decrease is less than 0.2 km/sec. Consideration of the absolute amplitudes indicates that the attenuation due to anelasticity is negligible for 2 hz waves in the upper 200 km along the southeastern and southwestern margins of the Canadian Shield. For compressional waves the average Q for this region is > 3000. The amplitudes also indicate that the velocity gradient is at least 2 x 10-3 both above and below the low-velocity zone, implying that the temperature gradient is < 4.8°C/km if the regions are chemically homogeneous. In western North America, the low-velocity zone is a pronounced feature, extending to the base of the crust and having minimum velocities of 7.7 to 7.8 km/sec. Beneath the Colorado Plateau and Southern Rocky Mountains provinces, there is a rapid velocity increase of about 0.3 km/sec, similar to that observed in eastern North America, but near a depth of 100 km. Complicated travel time curves observed on profiles with stations in both eastern and western North America can be explained in detail by a model taking into account the lateral variations in the structure of the low-velocity zone. These variations involve primarily the velocity within the zone and the depth to the top of the zone; the depth to the bottom is, for both regions, between 140 and 160 km. The depth to the transition zone near 400 km also varies regionally, by about 30-40 km. These differences imply variations of 250 °C in the temperature or 6 % in the iron content of the mantle, if the phase transformation of olivine to the spinel structure is assumed responsible. The structural variations at this depth are not correlated with those at shallower depths, and follow no obvious simple pattern. The computer programs used in this study are described in the Appendices. The program TTINV (Appendix IV) fits spherically symmetric earth models to observed travel time data. The method, described in Appendix III, resembles conventional least-square fitting, using partial derivatives of the travel time with respect to the model parameters to perturb an initial model. The usual ill-conditioned nature of least-squares techniques is avoided by a technique which minimizes both the travel time residuals and the model perturbations. Spherically symmetric earth models, however, have been found inadequate to explain most of the observed travel times in this study. TVT4, a computer program that performs ray theory calculations for a laterally inhomogeneous earth model, is described in Appendix II. Appendix I gives a derivation of seismic ray theory for an arbitrarily inhomogeneous earth model.

According to the records of the FIFA World Cup champion's lists, the top roles were played and led by turns by Europe and South America for hundreds of years. Therefore, in this research, in order to provide the evidence of reference for promoting the soccer level in Asia, we collected, analyzed and compared the 184 soccer players in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. There were a half of these 184 soccer players from four teams in Europe, and there also were 92 soccer players from four teams in South America. In this study, the first main purpose was to analyze the homogeneities of athletics ability of the soccer players between in Europe and South America by their age, height, weight, and BMI. And the second main purpose, we tried to find the evidence of the homogeneities of the soccer player's athletics ability in Europe and South America by analyzing age, height, weight, and BMI of the Goalkeeper, Forward, Midfielder, and Defender. Though the statistical methods, t-test and two-way ANOVA, we found that the difference of height and weight from the soccer players between in Europe and South America would affect their athletics ability in soccer (P-value＜0.05). But the homogeneities for age and BMI from the soccer players between in Europe and South America would explain the same characters from the top level soccer teams of the FIFA World Cup(P-value＞0.05). The more detail results and conclusions would be displayed later in this paper. From those results and conclusions, we expected that it was enough to provide the information for promoting the soccer player's athletics ability in Asia, and for evaluating the soccer players to organize a team by coaches, or as the reference for the related researches.

Electoral democracy has shown remarkable resilience in Latin America, but the quality and depth of democracy in the region remain at risk. The real threat to democratic government in Latin America is not a reverse wave that would return the region to military rule, but rather the gradual erosion of democratic institutions. The myopic focus on elections is partly to blame for the fragility of Latin America’s democratic scaffolding. Competitive elections have masked the fact that other essential components of democracy have not taken root. Like the narrow focus on elections, the perception of Latin America as a monolithic entity has impeded a careful review of democracy in the region. The quality of democracy varies greatly across Latin America. The variation in the position of Latin American democracies along the democratic spectrum reflects the fact that the countries of the region face different challenges. The range of obstacles to democratic consolidation includes a weak rule of law, discredited political party systems, persistent inequality and poverty, social exclusion, and mounting violence and crime. To ensure that citizen dissatisfaction does not undermine the legitimacy of democratic government, policymakers must address these challenges.

Munroa is a morphologically heterogeneous American genus of grasses, including five species with disjunct distribution in North and South America. Dasyochloa is a monotypic grass genus, common in western North America, with a controversial taxonomic position, because it has been alternatively included in Erioneuron, Koeleria, Triodia , and Uralepis . We evaluated the relationship of Dasyochloa with Munroa using a phylogenetic analysis of qualitative and quantitative morphological data. Dasyochloa was not supported as an independent genus from Munroa , as Dasyochloa and Munroa species formed a monophyletic group defined by seven synapomorphies. On this basis, we transfer Dasyochloa to Munroa , and propose the new combination M. pulchella together with the emended diagnosis of Munroa .

The joint meeting X International Congress of the Mexican Hydrogen Society (MHS) and IV International Congress of Rational and Efficient Use of Energy, was held in Toluca, Mexico, September 27 to October 1, 2010. This was an opportunity for the MHS to host scientific partners that promote the advancement to the hydrogen economy in North and South America. The meeting brought together over 250 delegates from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, USA, Canada, France, Spain and Venezuela. Besides hydrogen technologies, which were the main subject at the event, the meeting included other important topics such as renewables, biomass and biofuels. The joint meeting included 130 oral presentation and short communications. The technical poster session included 25 works presented by MSc and PhD students. The plenary lectures were delivered by Prof. Jeffrey A. Serfass (USA), General Manager of the Partnership for Advancing the Transition to Hydrogen – PATH; Prof. Juan Carlos Bolcich (Argentina), President of Argentinean Hydrogen Association, Member of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy; Prof. Suilma Marisela Fernandez Valverde (Mexico), Founder of the Mexican Hydrogen Society, Member of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy; Prof. Odon de Buen Rodriguez (Mexico), expert in areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and environmental issues; Prof. Electo Eduardo Silva Lora (Brazil), Coordinator of the Universidade Federal de Itajuba (UNIFEI); Prof. Ernestina Torres Reyes (Mexico), President of the Mexican National Association of Solar Energy, Prof. Edgar Rene Rangel German (Colombia), Member of the Colombian National Hydrocarbons Commission. . This issue of the Journal of New Materials for Electrochemical Systems is a compilation of selected papers presented at the meeting. The MHS deeply thanks all authors and reviewers for making this work possible. We also extend special thanks to Prof. O. Savadogo for his important support to MHS throughout these years. The XI Congress of the MHS will take place in Cuernavaca, Mexico, September 21 to 23, 2011. Also, we wish to announce that the joint meeting 9th International Symposium on New Materials and Nano-Materials for Electrochemical Systems and XII International Congress of the Mexican Hydrogen Society will be held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, on July 2012. We look forward to seeing you at MHS events (www.smh2.mx).

Worldwide, how common are psychotic experiences (PEs)? To assess the frequency of six discrete PEs in 31,261 community-living adults in 18 countries in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the South Pacific, trained lay interviewers used a validated, structured clinical interview. People with evidence of a psychotic disorder were excluded. Assessed PEs included auditory or visual hallucinatory experiences (HEs) …

Regional Variation in Procedural and Clinical Outcomes Among Patients With ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction With Cardiogenic Shock

ABSTRACT. As news has become a hot topic that has an impact on a large part of society, it is important for all of us to understand and understand the role of journalism in the midst of this urgent situation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the credibility (believability, accuracy, bias, completeness) of the news coverage of corona virus patients in the online media Voice of America (VOA) Indonesia. The author chooses the Voice of America (Indonesia) media which is considered credible in reporting because it reports on the development of the corona virus every day. This study uses a quantitative research method with a content analysis approach through data collection techniques by coding a statement or writing in order to obtain certain characteristics or characteristics through the category construct. The theory used is the Metzger & Flanagin credibility theory. The object of research is the credibility of reporting on the corona virus in the January 2020- March 2020 edition of the Voice of America online media. The subjects coded are journalists, journalism lecturers and journalism students. The results of the study show that the online media Voice of America in its coverage of corona virus patients in Indonesia is quite credible in its reporting. Beliefability credibility 90% opinitative and 80% transparency. accuracy title 100% correct, fill 90% according. In addition, VOA media has applied bias and completeness dimensions, each of which is 90%. Keywords: news credibility, online media, Voice of America

Alexander von Humboldt and the botanist Aime Bonpland’s trip to South America, made between 1799 and 1804, stood as an indisputable standard in the history of science in a broader sense because it had consequences in almost all areas of knowledge. After the revision of Humboldt’s relationship with Portugal, I have explored one aspect that was left behind: his friendship with the Baron of Eschwege, architect of Pena’s palace and park in Sintra. In view of this, I have deepened the study of the relationship between some Humboldt’s texts written during his trip to South America and a new idea of landscape in vogue in the Old Continent, that of sublime landscapes of which Pena Park is a unique example. Key-words Alexander von Humboldt, Eschwege, South America, Portugal, Landscape, Sublime