ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PROMOTES ZOOPLANKTON NETWORK COMPLEXITY IN MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL LAGOONS

Ecological recovery following restoration is typically evaluated using metrics based on species diversity and composition. However, increasing evidence suggests the success of long-term ecological recovery is better evaluated when more complex attributes such as biotic interaction networks are targeted. For example, at the beginning the influence of nearby habitats can promote colonization leading to similar communities in restored or newly created lagoons, but communities often diverge from surrounding water bodies at later successional stages. These changes have been attributed to the effect of biotic interactions, but few studies have tested this assumption. Here, we analyse the zooplankton community of a Mediterranean coastal wetland subjected to a restoration process that involved the creation of new lagoons. We analysed community dissimilarity patterns and used mixed graphical models to infer interaction networks from abundance data. Increasing differences in the community structure between new and old lagoons were detected from the second year after their creation. The overall interaction network was more complex in new than in old lagoons. Interestingly, the network structure in old lagoons increased its complexity three years after restoration. We show how the inclusion of interaction networks for the monitoring of ecosystem recovery reflects unique facets of community complexity, otherwise overlooked when targeting diversity metrics alone

Impact of the 'comunicat' methodology on the improvement of the 'effective oral communication' student outcome of the students of the master in food safety and quality management

During academic course 2017-2018 the Comunica't methodology was created to help students to selflearn all the skills needed to master the areas of domain of the general student outcome "effective oral communication". After two academic years of implementation, the goal of this work is to analyse the degree of contribution of this methodology to development of the 'Effective Oral Communication" students' outcome of students that followed the methodology during the subject Audits of Food Safety and Quality Systems, belonging to the Master in Food Safety and Quality Management. To this end, at the beginning of the subject, students were asked to present a topic related to the subject and evaluated with respect to the six areas in which the project has defined the development of the outcome following a rubric. Then the methodology was presented, and at the end of the teaching period the procedure was repeated. Finally, marks obtained before and after the learning intervention were compared. Results showed that the methodology contributed in a great extent to improve the ordering of ideas in the presentation, the non-verbal communication and the design of the slides. Therefore, although there are fields where the methodology contributed to a lower percentage, it can be concluded that the methodology is very effective in improving effective oral communication student outcome

Ecosystem functioning of Mediterranean confined coastal lagoons: ecosystem metabolism, main drivers and phytoplankton community

Confined coastal lagoons are shallow and dynamic water bodies that play an important ecological role. Considering the severe degradation they have been facing in the last years, understanding the functioning of these habitats for their proper management and conservation is essential. Nowadays, one of the most important descriptors of ecosystem functioning is the metabolism, the use of which has increased with the application of the free dissolved oxygen (DO) technique and the development of more affordable and reliable sensors. Quantifying metabolic rates as well as identifying the factors that contribute to their temporal and spatial variation are very important in assessing these ecosystems behaviour and their response to future changes. Thus, the aim of the thesis was to estimate the ecosystem metabolism of a set of Mediterranean confined coastal lagoons in La Pletera salt marsh identifying the main drivers of its variation and its application to study phytoplanktonLes llacunes costaneres mediterrànies de tipus confinat són cossos d’aigua poc profunds i dinàmics, amb un paper ecològic molt important. Davant la regressió que han patit durant els darrers anys, entendre el funcionament d’aquests habitats per una correcta gestió i conservació esdevé fonamental. Avui dia, un dels descriptors més importants del funcionament ecosistèmic és el metabolisme, l’ús del qual s’ha incrementat amb l’aplicació de la tècnica de l’oxigen lliure i el desenvolupament de sensors cada cop més assequibles i fiables. La quantificació de les taxes metabòliques i la identificació dels factors que contribueixen a la seua variació temporal i espacial són molt importants per avaluar el comportament dels ecosistemes i la seua resposta a futurs canvis. Així, l’objectiu d’aquesta tesi va ser estimar el metabolisme ecosistèmic d’un conjunt de llacunes costaneres mediterrànies confinades a la maresma de la Pletera, identificar els seus principals factors de variació i la seua aplicació per estudiar el fitoplànctonPrograma de Doctorat en Ciència i Tecnologia de l'Aigu

Ecological restoration promotes zooplankton network complexity in Mediterranean coastal lagoons

Ecological recovery following restoration is typically evaluated using metrics based on species diversity and composition. However, increasing evidence suggests the success of long-term ecological recovery increases when more complex attributes such as biotic interaction networks are targeted. In created lagoons, the influence of nearby habitats can generate early similarities in the community structure, but communities often diverge from surrounding water bodies at later successional stages. These changes have been attributed to the effect of biotic interactions, but few studies have tested this assumption. Here, we analyze the zooplankton community recovery after the creation of new lagoons in a Mediterranean coastal wetland using beta diversity approaches and mixed graphical models to infer interaction networks from abundance data. Increasing differences in the community structure between new and old lagoons were detected the second year after their creation. The overall interaction network was more complex in new than in old lagoons. Interestingly, the network structure in old lagoons increased its complexity during the third and fourth years after restoration. The creation of new lagoons with overall milder environmental conditions contributed to a greater differentiation of the zooplankton community structure between new and old lagoons. Moreover, our results suggest that the creation of a heterogeneous and more connected landscape can increase the interaction network in newly created and pre-existing habitats, even if environmental conditions remain unchanged. We show how the inclusion of interaction networks for the monitoring of ecosystem recovery reflects unique facets of community complexity, otherwise overlooked when targeting diversity metrics alone

Ecosystem metabolism dynamics and environmental drivers in Mediterranean confined coastal lagoons

Aquatic metabolism is an important descriptor of ecosystem functioning. The metabolism of ponds and confined coastal lagoons has been poorly studied in comparison to other aquatic systems, in which the metabolic dynamics are better understood. In this study, we described the ecosystem metabolism of two confined Mediterranean coastal lagoons located in La Pletera salt marsh (NE Iberian Peninsula), which is dominated by flooding-confinement patterns. We estimated the metabolic rates by applying Bayesian models to three years of high-frequency open water oxygen data. Our aim was to test if nutrients and other environmental variables (the temperature, conductivity, light and water level) that registered as important drivers of metabolism in the literature were the primary drivers of metabolic variation in confined coastal water bodies. We observed clear seasonal patterns in the metabolic rates, with extremely high oxygen variability during the summer season ranging from supersaturation (saturations > 200% were recorded) to anoxia (<5%). Despite the high rates of production registered during the summer, periods of anoxia could prevail for several days during that season. Thus, although the aerobic production and respiration were quite balanced in the lagoons during the study period, these lagoons are probably more heterotrophic since their anaerobic respiration has not been estimated. Because the studied lagoons are rich in nutrients, we expected a low response in the metabolic rates to nutrient increases, since the physiological response of primary producers to nutrient loading is usually low in nutrient-saturated ecosystems; our results supported this hypothesis. The temperature was the primary driver, highlighting the importance of seasonality in these highly productive ecosystems. Our results also showed an uncoupling between the metabolic rates, which were higher in the summer, and the standardized ones, after removing the temperature and irradiance effects, which were higher in the winter and negatively related to the conductivity. This finding suggests that potential productivity (standardized rates) is more sensitive to winter inputs and, in contrast, the actual productivity is more related to summer concentration processes due to confinement

Analysis of personality traits in patients with hodgkin lymphoma

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a highly-curable malignancy mostly affecting young people. As far as we know, there is no published study that has analyzed personality profiles in HL nor their potential role in lymphomagenesis, natural history, or response to treatment. We aim to explore the personality traits of HL patients, as well as the prevalence of mental disorders and suicide ideas. We retrospectively identified all alive HL patients from three centers (Son Espases and Son Llatzer University Hospitals and Hospital del Mar of Barcelona) for using NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form. Patients with HL showed significantly higher neuroticism scores and lower conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness. Considering maladaptive personality traits, HL patients showed higher levels of detachment and psychoticism. All of these translated into the fact that HL patients showed more than double the prevalence of mental illnesses (41%) and more than triple the prevalence of suicidal ideation or attempts than the general population (15 and 6%, respectively). An exploratory analysis of biomarkers associated with HL personality traits showed that higher scores of neuroticism correlated with more elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and red cell distribution width (RDW), suggesting a potential link between neuroticism and proinflammatory activity in HL

Evolution over Time of Ventilatory Management and Outcome of Patients with Neurologic Disease∗

OBJECTIVES: To describe the changes in ventilator management over time in patients with neurologic disease at ICU admission and to estimate factors associated with 28-day hospital mortality. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of three prospective, observational, multicenter studies. SETTING: Cohort studies conducted in 2004, 2010, and 2016. PATIENTS: Adult patients who received mechanical ventilation for more than 12 hours. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among the 20,929 patients enrolled, we included 4,152 (20%) mechanically ventilated patients due to different neurologic diseases. Hemorrhagic stroke and brain trauma were the most common pathologies associated with the need for mechanical ventilation. Although volume-cycled ventilation remained the preferred ventilation mode, there was a significant (p &lt; 0.001) increment in the use of pressure support ventilation. The proportion of patients receiving a protective lung ventilation strategy was increased over time: 47% in 2004, 63% in 2010, and 65% in 2016 (p &lt; 0.001), as well as the duration of protective ventilation strategies: 406 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2004, 523 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2010, and 585 days per 1,000 mechanical ventilation days in 2016 (p &lt; 0.001). There were no differences in the length of stay in the ICU, mortality in the ICU, and mortality in hospital from 2004 to 2016. Independent risk factors for 28-day mortality were age greater than 75 years, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II greater than 50, the occurrence of organ dysfunction within first 48 hours after brain injury, and specific neurologic diseases such as hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and brain trauma. CONCLUSIONS: More lung-protective ventilatory strategies have been implemented over years in neurologic patients with no effect on pulmonary complications or on survival. We found several prognostic factors on mortality such as advanced age, the severity of the disease, organ dysfunctions, and the etiology of neurologic disease