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

Detection and quantitative analysis of carbendazim herbicide on Ag nanoparticles via surface-enhanced Raman scattering

7 págs.; 4 figs.;Carbendazim (MBC) is a fungicide widely used in agriculture, and there are serious concerns regarding the health risks that could be caused by this fungicide. Here, we explore its ultrasensitive detection by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). First, to obtain maximum SERS signal, the adsorption of the target molecule onto metallic surface is essential. Therefore, we study the adsorption of the MBC onto the nanoparticle surface by SERS under different experimental conditions, such as different synthesis methods of nanoparticle, variable excitation wavelength, and fungicide concentration with the aim to detect MBC at low concentrations. Experiments are carried out with three kinds of colloidal nanoparticles: Ag and Au reduced by citrate and Ag reduced by hydroxylamine. However, mainly Ag colloids are highly efficient in the SERS detection of MBC. In addition, theoretical calculations of MBC Raman spectrum and that of the surface complex are used to help with the understanding the mechanisms responsible for the interaction between MBC and Ag. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy showed displacement to the red of the plasmon resonance of Ag colloid in the presence of MBC. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.This work is supported by CAPES, CNPq, FAPESP, POSMAT/UNESP,MINECO (project ref. FIS2014-52212-R, CTQ2012-31846) and Juntade Andalucía (FQM-5156 and 6778) for financial support.Peer Reviewe

Considerações estatísticas relativas a seis séries mensais de temperatura do ar da Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo Statistical considerations of six monthly air temperature series of the State of São Paulo, Brazil

O objetivo do trabalho foi detectar tendências e variações climáticas nas séries mensais de temperatura máxima (Tmax) e mínima (Tmin) do Estado de São Paulo. A fim de obter melhor adequação, entre a probabilidade de ocorrência dos erros estatísticos tipo I e II, foram utilizados métodos paramétricos (teste t, F e razão da verossimilhança) e não paramétricos (teste sazonal de Mann-Kendall e de Pettitt). As séries de Tmin das localidades de Campinas, Cordeirópolis, Ribeirão Preto e, especialmente Ubatuba, apresentam fortes indícios de tendências e variações climáticas nos últimos 60 anos. Nas séries de Monte Alegre do Sul e Pindorama tais indícios são observados de forma pouco significativa. As alterações de ordem climática observadas nas séries de Tmax são bastante inferiores às observadas nas séries de Tmin. Dentre todas as localidades analisadas, a de Ubatuba foi a que apresentou as tendências de elevação mais significativas nos dados de temperatura do ar. Os resultados também indicaram que no mês de Abril podem ser verificados, em todas as seis localidades, os indícios mais significativos de elevação nos valores mensais da Tmax e, em especial, da Tmin. Em contra partida, o mês de Setembro mostrou-se o menos sujeito a elevação nos valores dessas duas variáveis meteorológicas.<br>The aim of the work was to detect trends and climate variations in monthly maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) air temperature series of the State of São Paulo. In order to obtain a better balance between the probabilities associated with type I and II errors, parametric methods (tests t, F and the likelihood ratio test) and non-parametric methods (Seasonal Mann-Kendall test and Pettitt test) were used. In the series of Campinas-SP, Cordeirópolis-SP, Ribeirão Preto-SP and, especially Ubatuba-SP, strong evidences of climate trends and climate variations in the last 60 years were detected. In the Monte Alegre do Sul-SP and Pindorama-SP series such climate alterations were not observed. It was also observed that the significance level of climate changes in the Tmax series are lower than those observed in the Tmin series. In the Ubatuba-SP series the highest climate alteration level, among all analyzed Tmax and Tmin series was detected. It was observed that the April months were the most affected by climate changes. On the other hand, the September months were little affected by climate change, in all analyzed Tmax and Tmin series