Climate adaptation, transitions, and socially innovative action-research approaches

Climate change may be a game-changer for scientific research by promoting a science that is grounded in linking the production of knowledge and societal action in a transition toward more sustainable development pathways. Here, we discuss participatory action-research (PAR) as a way of thinking and leading investigations that may promote incremental and transformative changes in the context of climate change adaptation research. Our exploration is addressed in the Portuguese context, where PAR and sustainable transition studies are still marginal, and adaptation processes are a recent topic on political agendas. We describe the characteristics of PAR and use two studies of adaptation to illustrate how research and practice co-evolve through interactive cycles. The two studies are works in progress, rather than completed PAR processes. Climate change adaptation is an ongoing and long-term process. Moreover, in Portugal, as in many regions of the world, climate change adaptation is a fairly new topic. Thus, both case studies are now initiating a long-term process of change and adaptation. The completion of one research cycle is a realistic expectation that we have achieved in the two case study experiences. In our discussion of the case studies, we consider how these experiences provide insights into the role of PAR for long-term regime changes. We conclude by pointing to the societal needs addressed by PAR, as a pragmatically oriented and context-specific research design. The approach can be complementary to other frameworks in sustainable transition studies such as transition management. Being more pragmatically oriented, PAR cycles may influence incrementally transformative changes that can be guided by transition management’s long-term design for governing sustainable transitions

Collective renewable energy prosumers and the promises of the energy union: Taking stock

A key strategy in the European Union’s ambition to establish an ‘Energy Union’ that is not just clean, but also fair, consists of empowering citizens to actively interact with the energy market as self-consumers or prosumers. Although renewable energy sources (RES) prosumerism has been growing for at least a decade, two new EU directives are intended to legitimise and facilitate its expansion. However, little is known about the full range of prosumers against which to measure policy effectiveness. We carried out a documentary study and an online survey in nine EU countries to shed light on the demographics, use of technology, organisation, financing, and motivation as well as perceived hindering and facilitating factors for collective prosumers. We identified several internal and external obstacles to the successful mainstreaming of RES prosumerism, among them a mismatch of policies with the needs of different RES prosumer types, potential organisational weaknesses as well as slow progress in essential reforms such as decentralising energy infrastructures. Our baseline results offer recommendations for the transposition of EU directives into national legislations and suggest avenues for future research in the fields of social, governance, policy, technology, and business models

Biocompatible hybrids based on nanographene oxide covalently linked to glycolporphyrins: synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation

The major limitation in the development of hybrids based on graphene oxide (GO) and porphyrins is their dispersibility and stability in aqueous systems due to the hydrophobic character induced by porphyrins. Most of the previous approaches reported the direct functionalization of GO with polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains followed by the self-assembly of porphyrins by π-π interactions. Here, new hybrids were prepared using porphyrins previously functionalized with different number/types of glycol branches to be covalently attached through esterification to the carboxyl groups of GO sheets of nanometric dimensions. The number of the glycol chains and its relative position in the porphyrin core showed to be fundamental to improve the hybrids dispersion and stability in aqueous solutions. The best performing hybrids were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared, UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The in vitro biocompatibility assessment of these hybrids was conducted using human Saos-2 cells. Their effects on cell proliferation and viability, the generation of reactive oxygen species as well as the cell morphology after cell uptake were analysed. The results demonstrate the biocompatibility of these hybrid nanomaterials with human Saos-2 cells, which is very promising for future application in biomedicine namely in cancer therapy.publishe

Phagosomal removal of fungal melanin reprograms macrophage metabolism to promote antifungal immunity

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01- 0145-FEDER-000013), the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (SFRH/BD/136814/2018 to S.M.G., SFRH/BD/141127/2018 to C.D.O., PD/BD/137680/2018 to D.A., IF/00474/2014 to N.S.O., IF/01390/2014 to E.T., IF/00959/2014 to S.C., IF/00021/2014 to R.S., PTDC/SAU-SER/29635/2017 and CEECIND/04601/2017 to C.C., and CEECIND/03628/2017 to A.C.), the Institut Mérieux (Mérieux Research Grant 2017 to C.C.), and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID Research Grant 2017 to A.C.). M.G.N. was supported by a Spinoza grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. A.A.B. was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Collaborative Research Center/Transregio TR124 FungiNet (project A1). G.D.B. was funded by the Wellcome Trust (102705), the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mechanisms and role of microRNA deregulation in cancer onset and progression

MicroRNAs are key regulators of various fundamental biological processes and, although representing only a small portion of the genome, they regulate a much larger population of target genes. Mature microRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded RNA molecules of 20–23 nucleotide (nt) length that control gene expression in many cellular processes. These molecules typically reduce the stability of mRNAs, including those of genes that mediate processes in tumorigenesis, such as inflammation, cell cycle regulation, stress response, differentiation, apoptosis and invasion. MicroRNA targeting is mostly achieved through specific base-pairing interactions between the 5′ end (‘seed’ region) of the miRNA and sites within coding and untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs; target sites in the 3′ UTR diminish mRNA stability. Since miRNAs frequently target hundreds of mRNAs, miRNA regulatory pathways are complex. Calin and Croce were the first to demonstrate a connection between microRNAs and increased risk of developing cancer, and meanwhile the role of microRNAs in carcinogenesis has definitively been evidenced. It needs to be considered that the complex mechanism of gene regulation by microRNAs is profoundly influenced by variation in gene sequence (polymorphisms) of the target sites. Thus, individual variability could cause patients to present differential risks regarding several diseases. Aiming to provide a critical overview of miRNA dysregulation in cancer, this article reviews the growing number of studies that have shown the importance of these small molecules and how these microRNAs can affect or be affected by genetic and epigenetic mechanisms

A Novel Diagnostic Target in the Hepatitis C Virus Genome

Christian Drosten and colleagues develop, validate, and make openly available a prototype hepatitis C virus assay based on the conserved 3' X-tail element, with potential for clinical use in developing countries