On the type species of Aubignyna and a description of A. hamblensis, a new microforaminifer from temperate shallow waters

The genus Aubignyna Margerel, 1970 (type A. mariei) was originally described from the upper Pliocene of NW France. Examination and re-illustration of topotypes of A. mariei Margerel, 1970, the holotype of Buccella planidorso Atkinson, 1969 (from the Recent of Cardigan Bay, Wales) and syntypes of Rotalia perlucida Heron-Allen and Earland, 1913 (from the Clare Island Survey, western Ireland) shows them to be conspecific. Consequently, the type-species of Aubignyna becomes R. perlucida, for which a lectotype is chosen. A new species of microforaminifera formally described here is assigned to Aubignyna and shown to occur in a wide range of intertidal - shallow subtidal, brackish - normal marine estuaries and lagoons in Europe and North America

Micropropagación de líneas clonales de alcachofa con espinas (Cynara scolymus L.)

The aim of the study was to evaluate the in vitro propagation ability of 10 clonal lines of thorny globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.). The study methodology comprised five stages of evaluation. The stages evaluated were initiation, multiplication, rooting, acclimatization, and transplant to the field. The study began with the initiation of dissected shoot tips of 10 clonal lines in test tubes containing the Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Best results were obtained when explants were cultured on an induction medium containing MS + naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) 1.0 mg l−1 + benzyl aminopurine (BA) 1.0 mg l−1, highlighting clonal lines L-250, L-132, and L-62. Because of high rates of vitrification and phenolization in the initial stage, clonal lines L-24, L-127, and L-142 were discarded from the study. Therefore, only seven clonal lines were included for evaluation in the multiplication stage. Once the microplants were obtained under laboratory condition in the culture medium, they were immediately transferred to a proliferation medium containing MS + BA 1.0 mg l−1. Only in three clonal lines (L-132, L-200, and L-250), a high multiplication rate (3.5 shoots/explant) was achieved with axillary bud formation. Of the seven clonal lines evaluated, clonal line L-250 achieved the highest rates in the variables shoot height (3.38 cm), number of leaves (13.4), and number of shoots/explant (4.4). In the rooting stage, clonal line L-250 obtained a significant improvement by transferring plantlets to direct acclimatization after 20 days of in vitro root induction in a medium containing MS + NAA 1.0 mg l−1. Similarly, in the acclimatization stage, the clonal line L-250 showed a significant result. Then, in the transplantation stage, the plants were transplanted to the field with 100% rooting; 30 days after the transplantation, the clonal line L-250 obtained 100% survival in the field than the control treatments (offspring from two locations were used – Mito and Alayo). As the rooting period is reduced by approximately 20 days by inducing direct root formation under greenhouse conditions, the micropropagation technique is optimized with the protocol used in this study

Efeitos da posição prona em pacientes com SARS-CoV-2 em uso da ventilação mecânica não-invasiva / Effects of prone position in SARS-CoV-2 patients on non-invasive mechanical ventilation

1 INTRODUÇÃOO posicionamento prono (PP) é considerado uma das estratégias de resgate de hipoxemia resistente mais efetivas para pacientes com síndrome do desconforto respiratório agudo (SDRA) de moderado a grave. Seus efeitos são pesquisados desde os anos 70, mostrando um incremento importante da oxigenação, principalmente por melhorar a relação ventilação-perfusão, reduzindo o espaço morto fisiológico. Por este motivo, a posição prona tem sido empregada nos pacientes com SDRA por coronavírus (GATTINONI et al, 2019).É estudado se os benefícios observados em pacientes em ventilação mecânica invasiva se repetem nos indivíduos com SDRA por coronavírus de leve a moderada, com PAO2/FiO2 >150 mmHg. 2 OBJETIVO Por meio de uma revisão integrativa, encontrar nas evidências os efeitos da PP na oxigenação e taxa de mortalidade em pacientes com infecção por coronavírus em ventilação mecânica não-invasiva (VNI). 3 MÉTODOConduzida a busca na MedLine, PubMed em Novembro/2020, utilizando as palavras-chave “Prone Position” e  “Coronavirus Infections” pertencentes ao vocabulário do MesH. O operador Booleano foi “AND”. A estratégia de busca aplicada foi: (Prone Position) AND (Coronavirus Infections). Os materiais encontrados foram triados primeiro por título, depois por resumo e então lido integralmente para a extração dos dados.Critérios de elegibilidade: Amostra composta por pacientes com infecção por coronavírus em VNI; Ter PP como intervenção; Ter como desfechos oxigenação e/ou taxa  de mortalidade; Artigos publicados após 2019. 4 RESULTADOSNa busca realizada na PubMed resultou em 108 artigos, após leitura de título e resumo, foram excluídos 99, restando 9 trabalhos para a análise de texto completo. Desses, 4 foram excluídos, 2 por se tratarem de carta ao editor, 1 por ser realizado em UTI e 1 por não atender aos desfechos oxigenação e/ou taxa de mortalidade.McNicholas et al 2020,  conclui em sua revisão que a posição prona não traz melhora efetiva na oxigenação. Já COPPO et al 2020 realizaram um estudo de coorte prospectivo, com pacientes diagnosticados com pneumonia por coronavírus, com idade entre 18–75 anos, em oxigenoterapia por VNI. Manteve-se a posição prona por pelo menos 3 horas, gasometrias foram coletados 10 min em prono e 1 hora depois de retornar para supino. Os autores encontraram um aumento considerável na oxigenação na manutenção do decúbito ventral, esse incremento se manteve após o retorno a supino, em metade dos pacientes.TABOADA et al 2020, testaram os efeitos do posicionamento prono por uma hora, em pacientes internados na enfermaria. Foram monitoradas a saturação periférica e oxigenação na gasometria. Metade dos indivíduos que pronaram aumentaram 2% na saturação, e 62% dos pacientes obtiveram aumento significativo no índice de oxigenação durante e após a pronação. Os autores concluem que a posição prona é segura, facilmente aplicada e eficaz para aumentar a oxigenação arterial e saturação em pacientes na enfermaria. Recomendam, ainda, a adoção da posição prona pelo menos 30 min 3x ao dia de acordo com a tolerância do paciente.WINEARLS et al 2020 realizaram um estudo retrospectivo, e observaram 24 pacientes em ventilação não invasiva (CPAP) foram pronados ou semipronados, de acordo com a tolerância, por em média 8h diárias. Dos 24 pacientes, 2 não suportaram por dor ou piora na oxigenação. Ambos os grupos obtiveram melhora importante na oxigenação, comparando pacientes que se mantiveram em supino, mas não observou-se diferença significativa entre os dois grupos. Já no estudo de coorte prospectivo de HALLIFAX, ROB, 2020 os resultados mostraram uma associação com uma menor taxa de mortalidade no grupo de prono, quando comparado com o semiprono. 5 CONCLUSÃOA posição prona, ou semiprona, é segura e eficaz para a melhora de oxigenação arterial em pacientes com pneumonia por coronavírus submetidos à VNI. Ainda não há evidências suficientes para relacionar a posição prona reduz a mortalidade

Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry in the Large Hadron Collider

The matter-antimatter asymmetry is one of the greatest challenges in the modern physics. The universe including this paper and even the reader him(her)self seems to be built up of ordinary matter only. Theoretically, the well-known Sakharov's conditions remain the solid framework explaining the circumstances that matter became dominant against the antimatter while the universe cools down and/or expands. On the other hand, the standard model for elementary particles apparently prevents at least two conditions out of them. In this work, we introduce a systematic study of the antiparticle-to-particle ratios measured in various $NN$ and $AA$ collisions over the last three decades. It is obvious that the available experimental facilities turn to be able to perform nuclear collisions, in which the matter-antimatter asymmetry raises from $\sim 0$ at AGS to $\sim 100$ at LHC. Assuming that the final state of hadronization in the nuclear collisions takes place along the freezeout line, which is defined by a constant entropy density, various antiparticle-to-particle ratios are studied in framework of the hadron resonance gas (HRG) model. Implementing modified phase space and distribution function in the grand-canonical ensemble and taking into account the experimental acceptance, the ratios of antiparticle-to-particle over the whole range of center-of-mass-energies are very well reproduced by the HRG model. Furthermore, the antiproton-to-proton ratios measured by ALICE in $pp$ collisions is also very well described by the HRG model. It is likely to conclude that the LHC heavy-ion program will produce the same particle ratios as the $pp$ program implying the dynamics and evolution of the system would not depend on the initial conditions. The ratios of bosons and baryons get very close to unity indicating that the matter-antimatter asymmetry nearly vanishes at LHC.Comment: 9 pages, 5 eps-figures, revtex4-styl

Seasonal and spatial variations of saltmarsh benthic foraminiferal communities from North Norfolk, England

Time series foraminiferal data were obtained from samples collected from three sites at Brancaster Overy Staithe, Burnham Overy Staithe and Thornham on the North Norfolk coast over a 1-year period. At each collection point, six environmental variables—temperature, chlorophyll, sand, mud, pH and salinity—were also measured. The principle aim of this study was to examine the benthic foraminiferal fauna in regard to the temporal variability of foraminiferal abundance, seasonal trend, dominant species, species diversity and the impact of environmental variables on the foraminiferal communities in the top 1 cm of sediment over a 1-year time series. The foraminiferal assemblages at the three sites were dominated by three species: Haynesina germanica, Ammonia sp. and Elphidium williamsoni. Foraminiferal species showed considerable seasonal and temporal fluctuation throughout the year at the three investigated sites. The foraminiferal assemblage at the three low marsh zones showed a maximum abundance in autumn between September and November and a minimum abundance observed between July and August. There were two separate peaks in the abundance of Ammonia sp. and E. williamsoni, one in spring and another in autumn. In contrast, H. germanica showed a single peak in its abundance in autumn. A generalized additive modelling approach was used to explain the variation in the observed foraminiferal abundance and to estimate the significant impact of each of the environmental variables on living foraminiferal assemblages, with taxa abundance as the dependent variable. When included in the model as predictors, most of the environmental variables contributed little in explaining the observed variation in foraminiferal species abundance. However, the hypotheses for differences amongst sites, salinity and pH were significant and explained most of the variability in species relative abundance

Response of Benthic Foraminifera to organic matter quantity and quality and bioavailable concentrations of metals in Aveiro Lagoon (Portugal)

This work analyses the distribution of living benthic foraminiferal assemblages of surface sediments in different intertidal areas of Ria de Aveiro (Portugal), a polihaline and anthropized coastal lagoon. The relationships among foraminiferal assemblages in association with environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, Eh and pH), grain size, the quantity and quality of organic matter (enrichment in carbohydrates, proteins and lipids), pollution caused by metals, and mineralogical data are studied in an attempt to identify indicators of adaptability to environmental stress. In particular, concentrations of selected metals in the surficial sediment are investigated to assess environmental pollution levels that are further synthetically parameterised by the Pollution Load Index (PLI). The PLI variations allowed the identification of five main polluted areas. Concentrations of metals were also analysed in three extracted phases to evaluate their possible mobility, bioavailability and toxicity in the surficial sediment. Polluted sediment in the form of both organic matter and metals can be found in the most confined zones. Whereas enrichment in organic matter and related biopolymers causes an increase in foraminifera density, pollution by metals leads to a decline in foraminiferal abundance and diversity in those zones. The first situation may be justified by the existence of opportunistic species (with high reproduction rate) that can live in low oxic conditions. The second is explained by the sensitivity of some species to pressure caused by metals. The quality of the organic matter found in these places and the option of a different food source should also explain the tolerance of several species to pollution caused by metals, despite their low reproductive rate in the most polluted areas. In this study, species that are sensitive and tolerant to organic matter and metal enrichment are identified, as is the differential sensitivity/tolerance of some species to metals enrichment.CNPq [401803/2010-4]; [PEst-OE/CTE/UI4035/2014]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research

Additive Pressures of Elevated Sea Surface Temperatures and Herbicides on Symbiont-Bearing Foraminifera

Elevated ocean temperatures and agrochemical pollution individually threaten inshore coral reefs, but these pressures are likely to occur simultaneously. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the combined effects of elevated temperature and the photosystem II (PSII) inhibiting herbicide diuron on several types of symbiotic algae (diatom, dinoflagellate or rhodophyte) of benthic foraminifera in hospite. Diuron was shown to evoke a direct effect on photosynthetic efficiency (reduced effective PSII quantum yield ΔF/F′m), while elevated temperatures (>30°C, only 2°C above current average summer temperatures) were observed to impact photosynthesis more indirectly by causing reductions in maximum PSII quantum yield (Fv/Fm), interpreted as photodamage. Additionally, elevated temperatures were shown to cause bleaching through loss of chlorophyll a in foraminifera hosting either diatoms or dinoflagellates. A significant linear correlation was found between reduced Fv/Fm and loss of chlorophyll a. In most cases, symbionts within foraminifera proved more sensitive to thermal stress in the presence of diuron (≥1 µg L−1). The mixture toxicity model of Independent Action (IA) described the combined effects of temperature and diuron on the photosystem of species hosting diatoms or dinoflagellates convincingly and in agreement with probabilistic statistics, so a response additive joint action can be assumed. We thus demonstrate that improving water quality can improve resilience of symbiotic phototrophs to projected increases in ocean temperatures. As IA described the observed combined effects from elevated temperature and diuron stress it may therefore be employed for prediction of untested mixtures and for assessing the efficacy of management measures