Wildlife Diversity and Relative Abundance Among a Variety of Adjacent Protected Areas in the Northern Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica

Protected areas are intended to achieve the long-term conservation of nature, but not all such areas are equal in their effectiveness because of their varying regulation of human activities. In Costa Rica, we assessed mammal and bird species presence and relative abundance in three protected areas in the northern Talamanca Mountains. In this humid tropical forest area, we placed camera traps in an adjacent national park, forest reserve, and indigenous territories, each with a different mix of human activities. In 10,120 trap nights, we obtained 6181 independent photos of mostly mammals (34 species other than humans) and birds (34 species). Species with greater abundance or only occurrence in the national park were mammals and birds commonly hunted outside of the park, large carnivores rarely documented in other areas, and poachers. Species found more often outside of the park were medium-sized mammals, some birds, and domestic mammals. We conclude that even in the same ecological area, varying regulations related to type of protected area have significant effects on some mammal and bird species abundances and occurrences, and thus need to be considered when assessing the overall effectiveness of protection as a conservation strategy

Review of the occurrence and management of <i>Sotalia</i> bycatch in Central and South American coastal and riverine fisheries: priorities for immediate action

Despite the fact that cetacean bycatch has been acknowledged as the “greatest immediate and well documented threat to the survival of cetacean species and populations… …progress at reducing the scale and conservation impact of cetacean bycatch has been slow, sporadic, and limited to a few specific fisheries or circumstances “. In this paper, we 1) Review the occurrence of Sotalia bycatch all along its distribution area, 2) Examine how the problem has been addressed in some areas and 3) Outline some priority actions for conservation of the genus regarding management of bycatch issues. A recent review of cetacean bycatch in the Wider Caribbean Region indicates that mortality of Sotalia in fisheries-related operations with gillnets occurs in Colombia, French Guyana, Honduras, Surinam and Venezuela. Bycatch is also reported in Brazil, Nicaragua and Peru. Some mitigative measures including a ban on fisheries in protected areas, monitoring programs and field surveys for evaluation of bycatch have been made or are planned in Costa Rica and Venezuela. In Brazil, bycatch of Sotalia has been widely documented in coastal areas and also in the Amazon River Basin. In this country, an official action plan for the conservation of aquatic mammals includes specific recommendations to evaluate the impact of bycatch and to develop mitigative measures. According to recent statistics, most of cetacean bycatch worldwide occurs in gillnet fisheries. A precautionary approach suggests that – to protect Sotalia and other cetacean populations-these fisheries should be either regulated, monitored, limited or -in some instances – banned, taking into account that creative solutions should be provided by means of collaborative efforts between resource managers, fishermen, scientists and interested parties. On the other side, because of the socioeconomic aspects involved in such a decision, appropriate alternatives and/or incentives as well as local characteristics of some fisheries must be properly considered

Polymorphism in TGFB1 is associated with worse non-relapse mortality and overall survival after stem cell transplantation with unrelated donors.

Transforming growth factor beta-1, encoded by the TGFB1 gene, is a cytokine that plays a central role in many physiological and pathogenic processes. We have sequenced TGFB1 regulatory region and assigned allelic genotypes in a large cohort of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients and donors. In this study, we analyzed 522 unrelated donor-patient pairs and examined the combined effect of all the common polymorphisms in this genomic region. In univariate analysis, we found that patients carrying a specific allele, 'p001', showed significantly reduced overall survival (5-year overall survival 30.7% for p001/ p001 patients vs. 41.6% others; P=0.032) and increased non-relapse mortality (1-year nonrelapse mortality: 39.0% vs. 25.4%; P=0.039) after transplantation. In multivariate analysis, the presence of a p001/ p001 genotype in patients was confirmed as an independent factor for reduced overall survival [hazard ratio=1.53 (1.04-2.24); P=0.031], and increased non-relapse mortality [hazard ratio=1.73 (1.06-2.83); P=0.030]. In functional experiments we found a trend towards a higher percentage of surface transforming growth factor beta-1-positive regulatory T cells after activation when the cells had a p001 allele (P=0.07). Higher or lower production of transforming growth factor beta-1 in the inflammatory context of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation may influence the development of complications in these patients. Findings indicate that TGFB1 genotype could potentially be of use as a prognostic factor in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation risk assessment algorithms

Encapsulation of gold nanostructures and oil-in-water nanocarriers in microgels with biomedical potential

Indexación: Scopus.Funding: This research was funded by FONDECYT 1161450, 1150744, 11130494 and 1170929, FONDEQUIP EQM160157, EQM170111, CONICYT-FONDAP 15130011, and CONICYT PhD Scholarship 21141137.Here we report the incorporation of gold nanostructures (nanospheres or nanorods, functionalized with carboxylate-end PEG) and curcumin oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions (CurNem) into alginate microgels using the dripping technique. While gold nanostructures are promising nanomaterials for photothermal therapy applications, CurNem possess important pharmacological activities as reported here. In this sense, we evaluated the effect of CurNem on cell viability of both cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines (AGS and HEK293T, respectively), demonstrating preferential toxicity in cancer cells and safety for the non-cancerous cells. After incorporating gold nanostructures and CurNem together into the microgels, microstructures with diameters of 220 and 540 µm were obtained. When stimulating microgels with a laser, the plasmon effect promoted a significant rise in the temperature of the medium; the temperature increase was higher for those containing gold nanorods (11–12 ◦ C) than nanospheres (1–2 ◦ C). Interestingly, the incorporation of both nanosystems in the microgels maintains the photothermal properties of the gold nanostructures unmodified and retains with high efficiency the curcumin nanocarriers. We conclude that these results will be of interest to design hydrogel formulations with therapeutic applications. © 2018 by the authors.https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/23/5/120

Unparticle physics and neutrino phenomenology

We have constrained unparticle interactions with neutrinos and electrons using available data on neutrino-electron elastic scattering and the four CERN LEP experiments data on mono photon production. We have found that, for neutrino-electron elastic scattering, the MUNU experiment gives better constraints than previous reported limits in the region d>1.5. The results are compared with the current astrophysical limits, pointing out the cases where these limits may or may not apply. We also discuss the sensitivity of future experiments to unparticle physics. In particular, we show that the measurement of coherent reactor neutrino scattering off nuclei could provide a good sensitivity to the couplings of unparticle interaction with neutrinos and quarks. We also discuss the case of future neutrino-electron experiments as well as the International Linear Collider.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes, final versio

Policládidos (Platyhelminthes: "Turbellaria") del Atlántico Tropical Occidental

El phylum Platyhelminthes es considerado una ramificación ancestral dentro de los phyla bilaterales (Hyman 1951). A éste pertenecen gusanos acelomados y dorsoventralmente aplanados que carecen de sistemas circulatorio y respiratorio (Hyman 1951). Aunque Ehlers (1986) define las siguientes apomorfías para el taxón: a) ausencia de mitosis en células somáticas, por ejemplo: las células somáticas se diferencian a partir de blastómeros o células totipotenciales en estado post-embriónico; y b) células multiciliadas, donde los cilios carecen de centriolo accesorio, la monofilia del grupo no ha podido ser establecida con seguridad hasta el momento. Tradicionalmente, los platelmintos han sido divididos en gusanos de vida libre Turbellaria y los grupos parásitos Trematoda, Monogenea y Cestoda. Pero hasta la fecha ninguna apomorfia ha sido encontrada para definir los Turbellaria; se ha demostrado que caracteres como vida libre y cuerpo cubierto por epidermis multiciliada no representan características para el taxón. El término Turbellaria actualmente es usado en una manera descriptiva. Dentro de los turbelarios dos grupos pueden ser reconocidos: microturbelarios y macroturbelarios, sin embargo estas designaciones no tienen valor sistemático y sólo son usados para describir la talla

Trematodes: una revisión a la importancia de Fasciola hepática

Fasciola hepática es un trematode de la subclase Digenea, que tiene una extensa distribución mundial llegando a estar presente en todos los continentes e infectando a una gran cantidad de mamíferos, inclusive al hombre. Produce una enfermedad conocida como fasciolasis y su principal fuente de transmisión es el consumo de alimentos contaminados con heces, en especial los pastos. Para realizar su ciclo biológico este parásito necesita de un hospedador intermediario, el cual es un molusco de la familia Lymnaeidae. El hígado es el órgano principal donde se presentan las lesiones; las manifestaciones clínicas suelen ser inespecíficas y varían de acuerdo a la fase de la enfermedad, que puede ser aguda, crónica o latente. El diagnóstico puede realizarse mediante varios métodos, como parasitológicos (a partir de técnicas de flotación o sedimentación), inmunológicos (utilizando pruebas de ELISA) e interpretación de los hallazgos anatomopa- tológicos (en la necropsia). En cuanto a la epidemiología de esta parasitosis, desde 1980 el número de casos de animales infectados ha crecido significativamente. En muchos países fue considerada como una enfermedad enzoótica de los bovinos, provocando grandes pérdidas económicas para la industria pecuaria y alimenticia, debido al decomiso de las canales y su alta mortalidad, al convertirse en una patología de gran importancia en el área de veterinaria. Su prevención se enfoca principalmente en el control de los hospedadores intermediarios y -en segundo lugar- en la administración de fármacos a los animales. En las zonas endémicas es necesario realizar una intervención sanitaria inmediata. La presente revisión abarcará aspectos relevantes acerca de la infección causada por Fasciola hepática

Female emancipation in a male dominant, sexually dimorphic primate under natural conditions

In most group-living animals, a dominance hierarchy reduces the costs of competition for limited resources. Dominance ranks may reflect prior attributes, such as body size, related to fighting ability or reflect the history of self-reinforcing effects of winning and losing a conflict (the winner-loser effect), or both. As to prior attributes, in sexually dimorphic species, where males are larger than females, males are assumed to be dominant over females. As to the winner-loser effect, the computational model DomWorld has shown that despite the female’s lower initial fighting ability, females achieve some degree of dominance of females over males. In the model, this degree of female dominance increases with the proportion of males in a group. This increase was supposed to emerge from the higher fraction of fights of males among themselves. These correlations were confirmed in despotic macaques, vervet monkeys, and in humans. Here, we first investigate this hypothesis in DomWorld and next in long-term data of 9,300 observation hours on six wild groups of robust capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus; S. nigritus, and S. xanthosternos) in three Brazilian sites. We test whether both the proportion of males and degree of female dominance over males are indeed associated with a higher relative frequency of aggression among males and a higher relative frequency of aggression of females to males. We confirm these correlations in DomWorld. Next, we confirm in empirical data of capuchin monkeys that with the proportion of males in the group there is indeed an increase in female dominance over males, and in the relative frequency of both male-male aggression and aggression of females to males and that the female dominance index is significantly positively associated with male male aggression. Our results reveal that adult sex ratio influences the power relation between the sexes beyond predictions from socioecological models.</p

Renewed diversification following Miocene landscape turnover in a Neotropical butterfly radiation

International audienceAim: The landscape of the Neotropical region has undergone dynamic evolution throughout the Miocene, with the extensive Pebas wetland occupying western Amazonia between 23 and c. 10 Ma and the continuous uplift of the Andes mountains. The complex interaction between the Andes and Amazonia probably influenced the trajectory of Neotropical biodiversity, but evidence from time‐calibrated phylogenies of groups that diversified during this period is lacking. We investigate the role of these landscape transformations in the dynamics of diversification in the Neotropical region using a 26‐Myr‐old endemic butterfly radiation.Location: Neotropics.Time period: Oligocene to present.Major taxa studied: Ithomiini butterflies.Methods: We generated one of the most comprehensive time‐calibrated molecular phylogenies of a large clade of Neotropical insects, the butterfly tribe Ithomiini, comprising 340 species (87% of extant species) and spanning 26 Myr of diversification. We applied a large array of birth–death models and historical biogeography estimations to assess the dynamics of diversification and biotic interchanges, especially at the Amazonia–Andes interface.Results: Our results suggest that the Amazonian Pebas wetland system played a major role in the timing and geography of diversification of Ithomiini, by constraining dispersal and diversification in the Amazon basin until c. 10 Ma. During the Pebas wetland period, Ithomiini diversification mostly took place in the Andes, where terrestrial habitats were not affected. An explosion of interchanges with Amazonia and with the Northern Andes accompanied the demise of the Pebas system (11–8 Ma) and was followed by local diversification in those areas, which led to a substantial renewal of diversification.Main conclusions: Many studies on Neotropical diversity have focused only on the Andes, whereas we show that it is the waxing and waning of the Pebas mega‐wetland, interacting with Andean uplift, that determined the timing and patterns of regional interchanges and diversification in Ithomiini

Influence of short and long term processes on SAR11 communities in open ocean and coastal systems

SAR11 bacteria dominate the surface ocean and are major players in converting fixed carbon back to atmospheric carbon dioxide. The SAR11 clade is comprised of niche-specialized ecotypes that display distinctive spatiotemporal transitions. We analyzed SAR11 ecotype seasonality in two long-term 16S rRNA amplicon time series representing different North Atlantic regimes: the Sargasso Sea (subtropical ocean-gyre; BATS) and the temperate coastal Western English Channel (WEC). Using phylogenetically resolved amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), we evaluated seasonal environmental constraints on SAR11 ecotype periodicity. Despite large differences in temperature and nutrient availability between the two sites, at both SAR11 succession was defined by summer and winter clusters of ASVs. The summer cluster was dominated by ecotype Ia.3 in both sites. Winter clusters were dominated by ecotypes Ib and IIa.A at BATS and Ia.1 and IIa.B at WEC. A 2-year weekly analysis within the WEC time series showed that the response of SAR11 communities to short-term environmental fluctuations was variable. In 2016, community shifts were abrupt and synchronized to environmental shifts. However, in 2015, changes were gradual and decoupled from environmental fluctuations, likely due to increased mixing from strong winds. We demonstrate that interannual weather variability disturb the pace of SAR11 seasonal progression