DIET OF OILBIRDS (STEATORNIS CARIPENSIS) IN CUEVA DE LOS GUÁCHAROS NATIONAL PARK (COLOMBIA): TEMPORAL VARIATION IN FRUIT CONSUMPTION, DISPERSAL, AND SEED MORPHOLOGY

Abstract  ∙ Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis) are specialized nocturnal frugivores that inhabit Neotropical forests and have the potential to play key ecological roles as seed dispersers. In this study, we focused on type and quantity of seeds dispersed by a population of Oilbirds in Cueva de Los Guácharos National Park (Colombia). We assessed temporal variation in diet composition, fruit nutrient composition and measured seed morphology. To do this, we used 5–10 seed traps in a cave from 2011 to 2016, conducting a 5‐day census 1–4 times each year. In 2015, we performed a census in all 12 months to document within year variation. We found seeds of 52 species (including 17 named species, 12 identified just to family, and 23 morphospecies). We found a clear dominance of Arecaceae and Lauraceae families. Intra‐annual variation in species richness reflects the fact that more biomass and higher seed numbers are deposited in the cave in periods of nesting (January–June), as well as during seasonal fruiting patterns in the region. Data on fruit contents from published literature indicated that oilbird diet includes a high representation of lipid‐rich fruits. Consumed seed size varied enormously (range: 0.01–5.99 g dry mass), the largest seeds being up to 29 mm wide and 54 mm long. Regurgitated seeds showed a negative allometric relationship between width and length. Overall, we found a diverse diet and that Oilbirds provide efficient seed dispersal in terms of seed quantity; however, many aspects of dispersal quality remain to be determined. Resumen ∙ Dieta de los Guácharos (Steatornis caripensis) en el parque nacional Cueva de Los Guácharos (Colombia): variación temporal en la cantidad de la dispersión y morfología de semillas Los guácharos (Steatornis caripensis) son aves nocturnas frugívoras especializadas que habitan bosques neotropicales y que tienen el potencial de desempeñar roles ecológicos claves como dispersoras de semillas. En este trabajo, estudiamos la dieta y la cantidad de semillas dispersadas por una población de guácharos en el Parque Nacional Natural Cueva de los Guácharos (Colombia). Para ello, evaluamos la variación temporal, comparamos la composición de lípidos y medimos la morfología de las semillas. De 2011 a 2016 dispusimos 5–10 trampas de semillas en la cueva principal del parque y llevamos a cabo censos de usualmente 5 días, 1–4 veces cada año. Adicionalmente, en 2015 hicimos censos mensuales durante todo el año. En la dieta de los guácharos encontramos semillas de 52 especies de plantas (incluyendo 17 especies, 12 taxones identificados hasta familia y 23 morfoespecies), en las cuales se reflejó una clara dominancia de las familias Arecaceae y Lauraceae. La variación intranual en la riqueza de especies de las semillas depositadas en la cueva mostró que en los periodos de anidación de los guácharos (enero a junio) se presentó el mayor número de semillas y la mayor biomasa, además una alta riqueza de especies en el primer semestre es coherente con los patrones de fructificación en la región. La dieta del guácharo incluyó una alta representación de frutos ricos en lípidos, lo cual fue inferido de la literatura publicada. Los tamaños de las semillas dispersadas variaron enormemente (peso seco entre 0.01 y 5.99 g), siendo las semillas más grandes de 29 mm de ancho y 54 mm de largo. Las semillas que fueron dispersadas mostraron una relación alométrica negativa entre el ancho y el largo. Aunque, nosotros reportamos que los guácharos tienen una dieta diversa y proveen una eficiente dispersión de semillas en términos de la cantidad, aún deben determinarse muchos aspectos de la calidad de la dispersión

BLOC-2 targets recycling endosomal tubules to melanosomes for cargo delivery.

Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a group of disorders characterized by the malformation of lysosome-related organelles, such as pigment cell melanosomes. Three of nine characterized HPS subtypes result from mutations in subunits of BLOC-2, a protein complex with no known molecular function. In this paper, we exploit melanocytes from mouse HPS models to place BLOC-2 within a cargo transport pathway from recycling endosomal domains to maturing melanosomes. In BLOC-2-deficient melanocytes, the melanosomal protein TYRP1 was largely depleted from pigment granules and underwent accelerated recycling from endosomes to the plasma membrane and to the Golgi. By live-cell imaging, recycling endosomal tubules of wild-type melanocytes made frequent and prolonged contacts with maturing melanosomes; in contrast, tubules from BLOC-2-deficient cells were shorter in length and made fewer, more transient contacts with melanosomes. These results support a model in which BLOC-2 functions to direct recycling endosomal tubular transport intermediates to maturing melanosomes and thereby promote cargo delivery and optimal pigmentation

Transmisión domiciliaria de SARS-CoV-2: revisión sistemática y metaanálisis

Background: Public health policies for decreasing the incidence, transmission, and mortality of COVID-19 focus on extradomiciliary measures and neglect transmission within the home. We aimed to estimate the rate of secondary home attack of SARS-CoV-2. Material and Methods: We conducted a systematic review of observational studies that evaluated home transmission of SARS-CoV-2 published between December 2019 and September 1, 2021 in Medline, Scopus, LILACS, and Google Scholar databases. The definition of household contact referred to any person living in the same house as the index patient.  The risk of bias was assessed with a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa tool. A meta-analysis was performed with a random-effects model to calculate the household attack rate, subanalysis with sociodemographic, epidemiological variables, and comorbidities, as well as meta-regression. Results: Of 4491 studies found, 44 were included in the analysis. The overall household secondary attack rate was 27.7% (95%CI: 23% - 32.7%). Furthermore, it was higher when the index case was symptomatic (28.3%, 95%CI: 8.1% - 54.7%) or the contact was an older adult (42.3%, 95%CI: 32% - 52.9%). Likewise, the rate was higher when the household contacts had diabetes mellitus (57.4%, 95%CI: 45.2% - 69.3%) and arterial hypertension (51.1%, 95%CI: 38% - 64.1%). Conclusions: The SARS-CoV-2 household secondary attack rate was 27.7%, being higher when there was an adult index case, older adult contact and contact with diabetes mellitus or hypertension.Introducción: Las políticas de salud pública para la disminución de la incidencia, transmisión y mortalidad de la COVID-19 se enfocan en medidas extradomiciliarias y descuidan el contagio dentro del hogar. El objetivo fue estimar la tasa de ataque secundario domiciliario de SARS-CoV-2. Material y Métodos: Se realizó una revisión sistemática de estudios observacionales que evaluaron la transmisión domiciliaria de SARS-CoV-2 publicados entre diciembre de 2019 y el 1 setiembre de 2021 en las bases de datos Medline, Scopus, LILACS y Google Scholar. La definición de contacto domiciliario se refirió a toda persona que habitaba la misma vivienda que el paciente índice.  El riesgo de sesgo fue evaluado con una versión modificada de la escala Newcastle-Ottawa. Se realizó un metaanálisis con un modelo de efectos aleatorios para calcular la tasa de ataque domiciliaria, subanálisis con variables sociodemográficas, epidemiológicas y comorbilidades, así como metaregresión. Resultados: De 4491 estudios encontrados, 44 fueron incluidos en el análisis. La tasa de ataque secundario domiciliario general fue de 27.7% (IC95%: 23% - 32.7%). Además, fue mayor cuando el caso índice era sintomático (28.3%, IC95%: 8.1% - 54.7%) o el contacto era adulto mayor (42.3%, IC95%: 32% - 52.9%). Asimismo, la tasa fue mayor cuando los contactos domiciliarios presentaban diabetes mellitus (57.4%, IC95%: 45.2% - 69.3%) e hipertensión arterial (51.1%, IC95%: 38% - 64.1%). Conclusiones: La tasa de ataque secundario domiciliario de SARS-CoV-2 fue de 27.7%, siendo mayor al tener un caso índice adulto, contacto adulto mayor y contacto con diabetes mellitus o hipertensión arterial

Cytotoxicity, chemical stability, and surface properties of ferroelectric ceramics for biomaterials

© 2017 The American Ceramic Society Surface chemistry and topo-physical properties determine the interactions of biomaterials with their physiological environment. Ferroelectrics hold great promise as the next generation of scaffolds for tissue repair since they feature tunable surface electrical charges, piezoelectricity, and sensing capabilities. We investigate the topography, wettability, chemical stability, and cytotoxicity in salient ferroelectric systems such as (1−x) (Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3–xBaTiO3, (1−x)Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3−x(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3, and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 to test their suitability as biomaterials. The lead-free ferroelectrics promote in vitro cell viability and proliferation to a considerably high extent. 0.94 mol % (Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3–0.06 mol% BaTiO3 showed the greatest potential leading to a cell viability of (149 ± 30)% and DNA synthesis of (299 ± 85)% in comparison to the reference. Lead leaching from Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 negatively affected the cultured cells. Wettability and chemical stability are key factors that determine the cytotoxicity of ferroelectrics. These variables have to be considered in the design of novel electroactive scaffolds based on ferroelectric ceramics

Genetic, environmental and stochastic factors in monozygotic twin discordance with a focus on epigenetic differences

PMCID: PMC3566971This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Ultracool dwarf benchmarks with \emph{Gaia} primaries

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.We explore the potential of \emph{Gaia} for the field of benchmark ultracool/brown dwarf companions, and present the results of an initial search for metal-rich/metal-poor systems. A simulated population of resolved ultracool dwarf companions to \emph{Gaia} primary stars is generated and assessed. Of order $\sim$24,000 companions should be identifiable outside of the Galactic plane ($|b| > 10\,$deg) with large-scale ground- and space-based surveys including late M, L, T, and Y types. Our simulated companion parameter space covers $0.02 \le M/M_{\odot} \le 0.1$, $0.1 \le {\rm age/Gyr} \le 14$, and $-2.5 \le {\rm [Fe/H]} \le 0.5$, with systems required to have a false alarm probability $$0.6\, kau}\,Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Spanish Burnout Inventory Among Professionals Across 17 Countries and Regions

Studies on the prevalence of burnout in professionals in service organizations who work in direct contact with the clients or users of the organization have concluded that burnout is a serious health disorder that has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A significant advantage of the Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI) over other instruments is that it provides a broader conceptualization of burnout by including feelings of guilt as a dimension of burnout to explain its development. However, the measurement invariance of the SBI across countries has not been investigated. The purpose of this study was to test the measurement invariance of the SBI among professionals across 17 countries and regions in Europe, Latin America, and Asia, and in different languages. All the countries showed a good fit to the four-factor model, except the Indian sample, which was excluded from the measurement invariance study. Using the alignment method, it was possible to verify the scalar measurement invariance of the four SBI factors across 15 countries and one Spanish region (16 samples). The comparison of estimated latent means indicates that France is the country with the lowest scores on the Enthusiasm factor and the highest scores on the negative factors (Exhaustion, Indolence, and Guilt). In contrast, the Andean countries, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, show the highest latent means on the Enthusiasm factor and the lowest means on the negative factors. These results support the validity of the SBI in the countries and regions in Europe and Latin America included in this study