Analizando la cinética de las remagnetizaciones por enterramiento. El caso de la Cuenca turbidítica de Jaca (Pirineos occidentales).

X Congreso Geológico de España, 5-7 Julio 2021, Vitoria - GasteizLas remagnetizaciones químicas regionales relacionadas con procesos de enterramiento y diagénesis son un proceso ampliamente extendido en cuñas orogénicas y cuencas sedimentarias. Este proceso conlleva la neoformación autigénica de minerales ferromagnéticos s.l. en relación con el aumento de temperatura asociado al enterramiento. Sin embargo, todavía no se conoce bien la cinética de estos procesos, debido en parte a que la mayoría de las remagnetizaciones de este tipo descritas en la literatura científica se produjeron durante supercrones magnéticos. Los materiales turbidíticos eocenos de la Cuenca de Jaca (Pirineos Occidentales) muestran una remagnetización química de doble polaridad, registrando varios crones a lo largo de la secuencia sedimentaria remagnetizada. Dentro del proyecto UKRIA4D (PID2019-104693GB-I00/CTA), se va a realizar un estudio multidisciplinar para relacionar temperatura de enterramiento, mineralogía magnética y edad de la remagnetización con la que evaluar de manera empírica las relaciones cinéticas entre los distintos factores

DNA Barcoding Bromeliaceae: Achievements and Pitfalls

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>DNA barcoding has been successfully established in animals as a tool for organismal identification and taxonomic clarification. Slower nucleotide substitution rates in plant genomes have made the selection of a DNA barcode for land plants a much more difficult task. The Plant Working Group of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recommended the two-marker combination <em>rbcL</em>/<em>matK</em> as a pragmatic solution to a complex trade-off between universality, sequence quality, discrimination, and cost.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>It is expected that a system based on any one, or a small number of plastid genes will fail within certain taxonomic groups with low amounts of plastid variation, while performing well in others. We tested the effectiveness of the proposed CBOL Plant Working Group barcoding <em>markers</em> for land plants in identifying 46 bromeliad species, a group rich in endemic species from the endangered Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest. Although we obtained high quality sequences with the suggested primers, species discrimination in our data set was only 43.48%. Addition of a third marker, <em>trnH–psbA</em>, did not show significant improvement. This species identification failure in Bromeliaceaecould also be seen in the analysis of the GenBank's <em>matK</em> data set. Bromeliaceae's sequence divergence was almost three times lower than the observed for Asteraceae and Orchidaceae. This low variation rate also resulted in poorly resolved tree topologies. Among the three Bromeliaceae subfamilies sampled, Tillandsioideae was the only one recovered as a monophyletic group with high bootstrap value (98.6%). Species paraphyly was a common feature in our sampling.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>Our results show that although DNA barcoding is an important tool for biodiversity assessment, it tends to fail in taxonomy complicated and recently diverged plant groups, such as Bromeliaceae. Additional research might be needed to develop markers capable to discriminate species in these complex botanical groups.</p> </div

Familial hypercholesterolaemia in children and adolescents from 48 countries: a cross-sectional study

Background: Approximately 450 000 children are born with familial hypercholesterolaemia worldwide every year, yet only 2·1% of adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia were diagnosed before age 18 years via current diagnostic approaches, which are derived from observations in adults. We aimed to characterise children and adolescents with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH) and understand current approaches to the identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia to inform future public health strategies. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed children and adolescents younger than 18 years with a clinical or genetic diagnosis of HeFH at the time of entry into the Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC) registry between Oct 1, 2015, and Jan 31, 2021. Data in the registry were collected from 55 regional or national registries in 48 countries. Diagnoses relying on self-reported history of familial hypercholesterolaemia and suspected secondary hypercholesterolaemia were excluded from the registry; people with untreated LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) of at least 13·0 mmol/L were excluded from this study. Data were assessed overall and by WHO region, World Bank country income status, age, diagnostic criteria, and index-case status. The main outcome of this study was to assess current identification and management of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia. Findings: Of 63 093 individuals in the FHSC registry, 11 848 (18·8%) were children or adolescents younger than 18 years with HeFH and were included in this study; 5756 (50·2%) of 11 476 included individuals were female and 5720 (49·8%) were male. Sex data were missing for 372 (3·1%) of 11 848 individuals. Median age at registry entry was 9·6 years (IQR 5·8-13·2). 10 099 (89·9%) of 11 235 included individuals had a final genetically confirmed diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia and 1136 (10·1%) had a clinical diagnosis. Genetically confirmed diagnosis data or clinical diagnosis data were missing for 613 (5·2%) of 11 848 individuals. Genetic diagnosis was more common in children and adolescents from high-income countries (9427 [92·4%] of 10 202) than in children and adolescents from non-high-income countries (199 [48·0%] of 415). 3414 (31·6%) of 10 804 children or adolescents were index cases. Familial-hypercholesterolaemia-related physical signs, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease were uncommon, but were more common in non-high-income countries. 7557 (72·4%) of 10 428 included children or adolescents were not taking lipid-lowering medication (LLM) and had a median LDL-C of 5·00 mmol/L (IQR 4·05-6·08). Compared with genetic diagnosis, the use of unadapted clinical criteria intended for use in adults and reliant on more extreme phenotypes could result in 50-75% of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia not being identified. Interpretation: Clinical characteristics observed in adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia are uncommon in children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia, hence detection in this age group relies on measurement of LDL-C and genetic confirmation. Where genetic testing is unavailable, increased availability and use of LDL-C measurements in the first few years of life could help reduce the current gap between prevalence and detection, enabling increased use of combination LLM to reach recommended LDL-C targets early in life

Maternal dietary patterns and acute leukemia in infants: results from a case control study in Mexico

BackgroundChildhood cancer is the leading cause of disease-related mortality among children aged 5–14 years in Mexico, with acute leukemia being the most common cancer among infants. Examining the overall dietary patterns allows for a comprehensive assessment of food and nutrient consumption, providing a more predictive measure of disease risk than individual foods or nutrients. This study aims to evaluate the association between maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and the risk of acute leukemia in Mexican infants.MethodsA hospital-based case–control study was conducted, comparing 109 confirmed acute leukemia cases with 152 age-matched controls. All participants (≤24 months) were identified at hospitals in Mexico City between 2010 and 2019. Data on a posteriori dietary patterns and other relevant variables were collected through structured interviews and dietary questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to estimate the association between maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and the risk of acute leukemia in infants.ResultsThe “Balanced &amp; Vegetable-Rich” pattern, characterized by a balanced consumption of various food groups and higher vegetable intake, exhibited a negative association with acute leukemia when compared to the “High Dairy &amp; Cereals” Pattern (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.29, 0.90). We observed that mothers who gave birth to girls and adhered to a healthy dietary pattern during pregnancy exhibited significantly lower odds of their children developing AL compared to those who gave birth to boys [OR = 0.32 (95% CI 0.11, 0.97)]. Our results underscore the significance of maternal nutrition as a modifiable factor in disease prevention and the importance of prenatal health education

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Identificação de compostos voláteis da cúrcuma empregando microextração por fase sólida e cromatografia gasosa acoplada à espectrometria de massas Identification of volatile compounds of turmeric using solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

Compostos voláteis da cúrcuma (Curcuma longa L.) cultivada no Brasil foram isolados por microextração por fase sólida. Os rizomas foram cozidos em solução de bicarbonato de sódio 0,1%, fatiados, secos e triturados. Visando estabelecer o sistema ideal para a microextração, fibras de polidimetilsiloxano de 100µm de espessura foram expostas ao headspace de frascos de 10mL. Estudou-se a influência das seguintes variáveis sobre o rendimento dos compostos voláteis obtidos: amostras em pó (0,1 a 1,0g) e em solução (40mg/L), diferentes temperaturas (40 a 70ºC) e tempos (2 a 20min) de partição. O efeito da temperatura (210 a 240ºC) e do tempo (3 e 5min) de dessorção também foi avaliado. As melhores condições para a partição dos compostos voláteis foram 0,1g do pó, 70ºC e 5min. A temperatura de 220ºC e o tempo de 5 minutos foram os de maior eficiência para a dessorção. A cromatografia gasosa foi conduzida em coluna capilar, detecção por ionização de chama e identificação por espectrometria de massas. A análise dos espectros de massas obtidos para os nove compostos voláteis predominantes indicou a presença de ar-curcúmeno, ar-turmerona, zingibereno, beta-sesquifelandreno, sabineno, 1,8-cineol e 1,4-terpineol.<br>Volatile compounds from turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) cultived in Brazil were isolated by solid phase microextraction. The rhizomes were cooked in 0.1% sodium bicarbonate solution, sliced, dried and ground. Polydimethyldiloxanes fibers (100 mm diameter) were exposed to the headspace of 10 mL flasks with the aim of establishing an ideal microextraction system. The influence of the following parameters on the volatile substances obtained was studied: powder samples (0.1 to 1.0 g) and dissolved samples (40 mg/L), different temperatures (40 to 70ºC) and partition periods (2 to 20 min). The effect of temperature (210 to 240ºC) and time (3 to 5 min) on desorption efficiency was also evaluated. Optimum conditions for the partition of the volatiles were 0.1 g of powder sample, 70ºC and 5 min. A temperature of 220ºC and a 5 min period were of better efficiency for desorption. Gas chromatography was performed using capillary column and flame ionization detector. The eluates were identified by mass spectrometry. The mass spectra obtained for the predominant volatile compounds indicated the presence of ar-curcumene, ar-tumerone, zingeberene, beta-sesquiphellandrene, sabinene, 1,8-cineol and 1,4-terpineol

The Muknal cave near Tulum, Mexico: An early-Holocene funeral site on the Yucatán peninsula

Here, we report on an incomplete human skeleton, soot patches related to anthropogenic fireplaces, and cut marks on the mandible of an extinct peccary, from the submerged Muknal cave southwest of Tulum on the Mexican Yucatán peninsula. The human individual, here named ‘Muknal Grandfather’, was identified as a male based on cranial parameters. The age at the time of death was estimated to be between 40 and 45 years. We propose that the human bones have been brought to the cave during the latest Pleistocene or early Holocene, but not later than 8600 14C yr BP (ca. 9600 cal BP), as a secondary burial of a partial skeleton. The peccary mandible was placed close to the burial site, possibly as part of the same ritual. The Muknal cave therefore served as a place for funeral rituals