This study shows a simplified approach for calculating emissions associated with forest fires in Mexico, based on different satellite observation products: the biomass, burnt area, emission factors, and burning efficiency. Biomass loads were based on a Mexican biomass map, updated with the net primary productivity products. The burning efficiency was estimated from a Random Forest Regression (RFR) model, which considered the fuel, weather and topographical conditions. The burned areas were the downloaded Maryland University MCD64c6 product. The emission factors were obtained from well-known estimations, corrected by a dedicated US Forest Service and Mexican campaign. The uncertainty was estimated from an integrative method. Our method was applied to a four-year period, 2011–2014, in three Mexican ecoregions. The total burned in the study region was 12,898 km² (about 4% of the area), producing 67.5 (±20) Tg of CO₂. Discrepancies of the land cover maps were found to be the main cause of a low correlation between our estimations and the Global Emission Database (GFED). The emissions were clearly associated to precipitation patterns. They mainly affected dry and tropical forests (almost 50% of all emissions). Six priority areas were identified, where prevention or mitigation measures must be implemented.

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that has been associated with the loss of orexinergic neurons from the lateral hypothalamic area. This loss leads to dysregulated sleep and cataplexy attacks. Therapeutic options are currently limited to symptom management with pharmacotherapy and nonpharmacological approaches. Nonetheless, cell replacement therapy could offer relief, and research in the field has yielded positive results for other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. Thus, we propose that orexin cell rich grafts could help improve narcoleptic symptoms in the orexin/ataxin-3 mouse model of narcolepsy. For this purpose, we isolated EGFP + cells from either orexin/EGFP or CAG-EGFP mice with the use of a flow cytometer and grafted them into the pedunculopontine and laterodorsal tegmentum nuclei (PPT/LDDT) of orexin/ataxin-3 mice. Our results show that even small orexinergic grafts can reduce the severity of behavioral arrests, with a median reduction of 30.31% in episode duration, 51.35% for number of events and 69.73% in time spent in the behavioral arrest state and help with sleep fragmentation measured in number of bouts per behavioral state. Surprisingly, control grafts made from cerebellar tissue also reduced behavioral arrest severity, but to a lesser degree. Although still at a very early stage, these results show that there is potential in cell grafts for improving aspects of the narcoleptic phenotype and further research could help elucidate realistic expectations of an orexin cell replacement therapy for narcolepsy.

La crisis socioecosistémica documentada por la comunidad científica genera preocupaciones fundamentadas; atenderla es un reto nacional y global. La política internacional propone los Objetivos del Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), el Pacto Mundial (PACT) y la participación de sectores productivos en el marco de la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (RSE). México, además de incorporar estas propuestas, es un país con avances importantes en materia de información ambiental que debe aprovechar. El presente trabajo se desarrolla en el marco del proyecto Integralidad Gamma, que utiliza herramientas teóricas, científicas y tecnológicas para reconocer el valor de los ecosistemas y medir su estado funcional (integridad); resalta el papel fundamental de la vinculación institucional y la necesidad de formar capacidades mediante la educación superior, la responsabilidad social universitaria (RSU) y el enfoque STEM. El objetivo es generar condiciones y vínculos interinstitucionales para propiciar sinergias que hagan frente a la crisis y acercarse a una sociedad más sustentable.