RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Estimación de la biomasa arbórea de Eucalyptus globulus y Pinus pinaster en Galicia

En este trabajo se ha caracterizado la acumulación de biomasa arbórea en masas adultas de Eucalyptus globulus y Pinus pinaster en Galicia. Diferentes intereses industriales, energéticos y ambientales han motivado que en los últimos años el análisis de las distintas posibilidades de aprovechamiento de la biomasa forestal esté adquiriendo un creciente protagonismo, por lo que la cuantificación de la biomasa arbórea de estos sistemas forestales constituye un primer paso fundamental e ineludible. La estimación de la biomasa arbórea se basa en el empleo de un sistema de ecuaciones que relacionan el peso de cada fracción arbórea con variables de árbol sencillas de medir en campo. El ajuste de este sistema de ecuaciones se ha realizado de forma simultánea empleando datos procedentes de un muestreo destructivo de 75 eucaliptos y 125 pinos seleccionados en 12 masas adultas. En las masas de eucalipto, los valores de acumulación de biomasa arbórea variaron entre 142 y 426 Mg ha-1. Estos valores oscilaron entre 203 y 438 Mg ha-1 para las masas de pino. Los porcentajes registrados de biomasa de madera, corteza y copa, con respecto al total de biomasa aérea fueron 82; 7 y 11?% para eucalipto y 68; 11 y 21?% para pino.This study provides information about the above-ground biomass of pure and even-aged stands of Eucalyptus globulus and Pinus pinaster in Galicia. In recent years, there has been considerable interest in evaluating biomass of forest ecosystems due to their importance role as energy and raw materials sources. A total of 75 eucalypt and 125 maritime pine trees were subjectively selected in 12 different stands. The trees were destructively sampled to develop biomass prediction equations of tree components. The estimation of the above-ground biomass was based on a system of equations relating the weight of each tree component with tree and stand variables. All the equations were fitted simultaneously using Seemingly Unrelated regression. The above-ground biomass of eucalypt stands ranged from 142 to 426 Mg ha-1. These values ranged from 203 to 438 Mg ha-1 inmaritime pine stands. The biomass percentages obtained for stem wood, stem bark and crown were 82; 7 and 11?% for eucalypts stands and 68; 11 and 21?% for maritime pine stands