Atherosclerosis is one of the most common causes of death in developed countries. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory process that results in the development of complex lesions or plaques that protrude into the arterial lumen. Plaque rupture and thrombosis result in the acute clinical complications of myocardial infarction and stroke. Although certain risk factors (dyslipidemias, diabetes, hypertension) and humoral markers of plaque vulnerability (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, -10 and -18, CD-40L) have been identified, a highly sensitive and specific biomarker or protein profile, which could provide information on the stability/vulnerability of atherosclerotic lesions, remains to be identified. Recently, we have described a novel strategy consisting in the proteomic analysis of proteins released by normal and atherosclerotic arterial walls in culture. This method enables harvesting of proteins that are only secreted by pathological or normal arterial walls. By focusing only on the secreted proteins found in the tissue culture media, there is an intended bias toward those molecules that would have a higher probability of later being found in plasma. Using this approach, we have shown that carotid atherosclerotic plaques cultured in vitro are able to secrete proteins, and also that a differential pattern of protein secretion of normal arteries vs pathological ones has been observed. In this chapter, the proteomic analysis of the human atheroma plaque secretome is described.

Equatorial Guinea has a new network of protected areas, but only Monte Alen National Park has any effective protection. As a contribution to the knowledge of this area, a survey of primate populations was carried out during a 7‐month period in 1994. The results showed that there is a high primate diversity (15–16 distinct species) in Monte Alen. The three most commonly sighted monkey species were Cercopithecus nictitans (35.9–40.8 per cent of sightings), Cercopithecus cephus (28.9–43.5 per cent) and Cercopithecus pogonias (17.4–22.4 per cent). Mean distance covered to find any group of these guenons varied from 1.1km in open primary forest to 2.7km in dense primary forest. Gorilla nests were more abundant in secondary forest near villages (5.15 nests/km), while chimpanzee nests were mostly found in primary forest (5.35 nests/km). Hunting pressure appears to be low but shifting agriculture has a significant impact on the conservation of the area. The degree of threat varies between species. Alternatives for better management of the area, such as educational programmes and sustainable use of natural resources, are suggested.

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Blind deconvolution is presented in the underwater acoustic channel context, by time-frequency processing. The acoustic propagation environment was modelled as a multipath propagation channel. For noiseless simulated data, source signature estimation was performed by a model-based method. The channel estimate was obtained via a time-frequency formulation of the conventional matched-filter. Simulations used a ray-tracing physical model, initiated with at-sea recorded environmental data, in order to produce realistic underwater channel conditions. The quality of the estimates was 0.793 for the source signal, and close to 1 for the resolved amplitudes and time-delays of the impulse response. Time-frequency processing has proved to overcome the typical ill-conditioning of single sensor deterministic deconvolution techniques.

nervous system disorder among those 2 (50%) as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and 2 (50%) as Bell's palsy. ConclusionsWe have found cerebrovascular disease, encephalopathy and peripheral nervous system disorder as presentation of COVID-19 in our study. Further nationwide study is needed to quantify the association and disease burden.