El desarrollo sostenible: nuevos retos para la contabilidad y la gestión

La ‘Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible’ de la ONU insta a todos los sectores de la sociedad a trabajar en torno al concepto de sostenibilidad. Esta motivación es lo suficientemente fuerte para estimular la reflexión y el debate entre la comunidad científica y los profesionales. Este documento tiene como objetivo hacer una breve revisión de la literatura más reciente sobre el desarrollo sostenible, especificando los roles de la contabilidad y de la gestión. Los resultados muestran que el desarrollo sostenible y la creación de valor ambiental, financiero y humano requieren sólidos principios éticos y de responsabilidad social corporativa.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Post-weaning Exposure to High-Fat Diet Induces Kidney Lipid Accumulation and Function Impairment in Adult Rats

Aim: We investigated the kidney morphofunctional consequences of high-fat diet intake since post-weaning in adult rats.Main Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: ND (normal diet; n = 10) and HD (high-fat diet; n = 10). The high-fat diet was introduced post-weaned and animals were followed for 8 weeks.Key Findings: HD group did not change body weight gain even though food consumption has decreased with no changes in caloric consumption. The HD group showed glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was decreased in vivo (ND: 2.8 ± 1.01; HD: 1.1 ± 0.14 ml/min) and in the isolated perfusion method (34% of decrease). Renal histological analysis showed a retraction in glomeruli and an increase in kidney lipid deposition (ND: 1.5 ± 0.17 HD: 5.9 ± 0.06%). Furthermore, the high-fat diet consumption increased the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 (ND: 1,276 ± 203; HD: 1,982 ± 47 pg/mL/mg) and IL-1b (ND: 97 ± 12 HD: 133 ± 5 pg/mL/mg) without changing anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.Significance: Our study provides evidence that high-fat diet consumption leads to renal lipid accumulation, increases inflammatory cytokines, induces glomeruli retraction, and renal dysfunction. These damages observed in the kidney could be associated with an increased risk to advanced CKD in adulthood suggesting that reduction of high-fat ingestion during an early period of life can prevent metabolic disturbances and renal lipotoxicity

Sex differences in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and its roles in hypertension, cardiovascular, and kidney diseases

Cardiovascular disease is a pathology that exhibits well-researched biological sex differences, making it possible for physicians to tailor preventative and therapeutic approaches for various diseases. Hypertension, which is defined as blood pressure greater than 130/80 mmHg, is the primary risk factor for developing coronary artery disease, stroke, and renal failure. Approximately 48% of American men and 43% of American women suffer from hypertension. Epidemiological data suggests that during reproductive years, women have much lower rates of hypertension than men. However, this protective effect disappears after the onset of menopause. Treatment-resistant hypertension affects approximately 10.3 million US adults and is unable to be controlled even after implementing ≥3 antihypertensives with complementary mechanisms. This indicates that other mechanisms responsible for modulating blood pressure are still unclear. Understanding the differences in genetic and hormonal mechanisms that lead to hypertension would allow for sex-specific treatment and an opportunity to improve patient outcomes. Therefore, this invited review will review and discuss recent advances in studying the sex-specific physiological mechanisms that affect the renin-angiotensin system and contribute to blood pressure control. It will also discuss research on sex differences in hypertension management, treatment, and outcomes

Consumption, nicotine dependence and motivation for smoke cessation during early stages of COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic may have changed smoking habits. For the smoking population, information regarding smoking habits and the pandemic could potentially aid COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Our study aimed to analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on tobacco consumption, nicotine dependence levels, and motivation for smoking cessation. We also collected information from smokers regarding their awareness of the consequences of tobacco use and the increased risks smokers have for severe complications from COVID-19. Methods: In the survey for this observational cross-sectional study, 122 smokers responded to an online form. The participants provided general data about their smoking history, their smoking habits in the months of April and May 2020, and the effect of the pandemic on their smoking habits. They also completed a Fagerström test and were measured by the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale. Results:When compared to pre-pandemic levels, the majority of smokers reported increased tobacco consumption of between 1 and 10 cigarettes per day (37.7%). Their motivation to quit smoking (59.8%) and desire to smoke (53.2%) were unchanged by the pandemic. Most participants demonstrated an awareness of the increased risks smokers have for severe COVID-19-related complications (p Conclusions: Most smokers are well aware of their increased risks for severe COVID- 19-related complications. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, most smokers reported increased cigarette consumption. In addition, motivation to quit and desire to smoke were unchanged for the majority of smokers

HFE variants and the expression of iron-related proteins in breast cancer-associated lymphocytes and macrophages

Disponível em: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5264664/The association of HFE (High Iron FE) major variants with breast cancer risk and behavior has been a matter of discussion for a long time. However, their impact on the expression of iron-related proteins in the breast cancer tissue has never been addressed. In the present study, hepcidin, ferroportin 1, transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), and ferritin expressions, as well as tissue iron deposition were evaluated in a collection of samples from breast cancers patients and analyzed according to the patients’ HFE genotype. Within the group of patients with invasive carcinoma, those carrying the p.Cys282Tyr variant in heterozygosity presented a higher expression of hepcidin in lymphocytes and macrophages than wild-type or p.His63Asp carriers. An increased expression of TfR1 was also observed in all the cell types analyzed but only in p.Cys282Tyr/p.His63Asp compound heterozygous patients. A differential impact of the two HFE variants was further noticed with the observation of a significantly higher percentage of p.Cys282Tyr heterozygous patients presenting tissue iron deposition in comparison to p.His63Asp heterozygous. In the present cohort, no significant associations were found between HFE variants and classical clinicopathological markers of breast cancer behavior and prognosis. Although limited by a low sampling size, our results provide a new possible explanation for the previously reported impact of HFE major variants on breast cancer progression, i.e., not by influencing systemic iron homeostasis but rather by differentially modulating the local cellular expression of iron-related proteins and tissue iron deposition.OM is a recipient of the PhD grant SFRH/BD/2011/78184 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). The authors also acknowledge financial support from ICBAS/AI&NSUMIB and by national funds through FCT and Ministério da Educação e Ciência (MEC) and when applicable co-funded by FEDER funds within the partnership agreement PT2020 related with the research unit number 4293.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016