La interpretación geomorfológica en la cartografía de peligro de inundación

La interpretación geomorfológica de los procesos fluviales resulta fundamental para la elaboración de cartografía de peligro de inundación. Los ríos se comportan de una manera dinámica y pueden variar su topografía de una crecida a otra. Por ello, una cartografía de peligrosidad, excesivamente dependiente de modelos hidráulicos e hidrológicos, puede resultar ineficaz y quedarse obsoleta tras un suceso de alta energía. Conocer los elementos de geomorfología fluvial, así como sus procesos asociados permite una previsión a más largo plazo y una aproximación más realista al riesgo. En este trabajo se presentan ejemplos de interpretación geomorfológica de formas y procesos fluviales, en clave de peligro de inundación. Se han seleccionado tres cuencas de diferentes entornos morfoclimáticos que, a distintas escalas, permiten ilustrar algunos puntos donde la geomorfología propicia un determinado proceso y, en consecuencia, condiciona el tipo de peligro de la zona. La interpretación geomorfológica se ha llevado a cabo mediante trabajo de campo, de laboratorio y a partir de imágenes de satélite (RADARSAT e Ikonos)

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

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

Diversity in melon flesh color: tools for genetic analysis

One of the processes that occur during melon fruit ripening is β-carotene accumulation, providing the characteristic orange flesh color of most of the cantalupensis cultivars. However, flesh color is one of the most variable traits in this species, and cultivars with dark to light orange, salmon, white, green or even yellow flesh also exist. The content in carotenoid compounds was measured in 90 different genotypes representing the diversity of the species. Total carotenoids were extracted from frozen melon fruit flesh and individual carotenoids were then separated by HPLC and quantified. The most abundant carotenoid was β-carotene. As it was expected, the orange colour of the fruit flesh from most cantalupensis coincided with the highest levels of β-carotene. Interestingly some Italian and French landraces had higher β-carotene amounts than commercial cultivars. Also significant amounts of other carotenoids, such as lutein and β-cryptoxanthin were found in these and other exotic accessions, belonging to the ameri and conomon groups. ß-caroten and ß-cryptoxanthin show provitamin A activity, and lutein plays a role in preventing macular degeneration. Therefore, this germplasm collection, comprising such variable accessions in caroteinoids content, represents a valuable reservoir to add nutritional value to the melon commercial cultivars. Most of the analyzed genotypes were resequenced recently and the population structure has been studied. SNPs in many genes involved in the carotenoids metabolic pathway are available today and further related studies can be performe

Signaling in the tomato immunity against fusarium oxysporum

New strategies of control need to be developed with the aim of economic and environmental sustainability in plant and crop protection. Metabolomics is an excellent platform for both understanding the complex plant–pathogen interactions and unraveling new chemical control strategies. GC-MS-based metabolomics, along with a phytohormone analysis of a compatible and incompatible interaction between tomato plants and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, revealed the specific volatile chemical composition and the plant signals associated with them. The susceptible tomato plants were characterized by the over-emission of methyl-and ethyl-salicylate as well as some fatty acid derivatives, along with an activation of salicylic acid and abscisic acid signaling. In contrast, terpenoids, benzenoids, and 2-ethylhexanoic acid were differentially emitted by plants undergoing an incompatible interaction, together with the activation of the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway. In accordance with this response, a higher expression of several genes participating in the biosynthesis of these volatiles, such as MTS1, TomloxC, TomloxD, and AOS, as well as JAZ7, a JA marker gene, was found to be induced by the fungus in these resistant plants. The characterized metabolome of the immune tomato plants could lead to the development of new resistance inducers against Fusarium wilt treatment

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates from Spanish Children: Occurrence in Faecal Samples, Antimicrobial Resistance, Virulence, and Molecular Typing

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major opportunistic human pathogen, responsible for nosocomial infections and infections in patients with impaired immune systems. Little data exist about the faecal colonisation by P. aeruginosa isolates in healthy humans. The occurrence, antimicrobial resistance phenotype, virulence genotype, and genetic lineages of P. aeruginosa from faecal samples of children from two different Spanish regions were characterised. Seventy-two P. aeruginosa were isolated from 1,443 faecal samples. Low antimicrobial resistance levels were detected: ceftazidime (8%), cefepime (7%), aztreonam (7%), gentamicin (3%), ciprofloxacin (1%), and imipenem (1%); susceptibility to meropenem, amikacin, tobramycin, levofloxacin, and colistin. Four multidrug-resistant strains were found. Important differences were detected between both geographical regions. Forty-one sequence types were detected among the 48 tested strains. Virulence and quorum sensing genes were analysed and 13 virulotypes were detected, being 26 exoU-positive strains. Alteration in protein OprD showed eight different patterns. The unique imipenem-resistant strain showed a premature stop codon in OprD. Intestinal colonisation by P. aeruginosa, mainly by international clones (as ST244, ST253, and ST274), is an important factor for the systemic infections development and the environmental dissemination. Periodic active surveillance is useful to identify these community human reservoirs and to control the evolution of antibiotic resistance and virulence activity. © 2018 Lidia Ruiz-Roldán et al

Salicylic Acid Biosynthesis and Metabolism

Salicylic acid (SA) has been shown to regulate various aspects of growth and development; it also serves as a critical signal for activating disease resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana and other plant species. This review surveys the mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis and metabolism of this critical plant hormone. While a complete biosynthetic route has yet to be established, stressed Arabidopsis appear to synthesize SA primarily via an isochorismate-utilizing pathway in the chloroplast. A distinct pathway utilizing phenylalanine as the substrate also may contribute to SA accumulation, although to a much lesser extent. Once synthesized, free SA levels can be regulated by a variety of chemical modifications. Many of these modifications inactivate SA; however, some confer novel properties that may aid in long distance SA transport or the activation of stress responses complementary to those induced by free SA. In addition, a number of factors that directly or indirectly regulate the expression of SA biosynthetic genes or that influence the rate of SA catabolism have been identified. An integrated model, encompassing current knowledge of SA metabolism in Arabidopsis, as well as the influence other plant hormones exert on SA metabolism, is presented