Key features of a succesful invasive macroalgae: the case of asparagopsis taxiformis in Alboran Sea

Asparagopsis taxiformis (Bonnemaisoniales, Rhodophyta) is considered one of the most invasive seaweeds in the Mediterranean, and is included in the spanish checklist of invasive species. Recorded for first time in Southern Spain nearly twenty years ago, we are now ready to highlight its key features to have become a successful invader in Alboran Sea. Genetic studies showed that only one lineage of this species complex, is invasive in Alboran Sea, the lineage 2, which exhibits a wide physiological plasticity, exhibited in a wide thermal adaptation of performances of photosynthetic parameters like Pmax and α. Furthermore, the species is able to inhabit from shallow subtidal up to depths over -30m, due to its low Ic. The species exhibits a trigenetic life-cycle, with an invasive gametophyte dominating the host community, and a free-living tetrasporophyte (Falkenbergia phase) being the dispersal one. The gametophyte is present all the year round, and exhibits a high recruitment and vegetative growth capacity, which support more than 90% of the community biomass. Furthermore, sexual reproduction was perfomed during the whole year, except in winter months, accounting in summer months with more than 50% of the population with reproductive structures. Minimum size for reproduction was low (4-6 cm), considering the maximal size observed for the species in the study site (30 cm). Statistical anaylisis has shown no relationship of reproduction with environmental factors, such as nutrients or temperatura. These features, together with some other more, become A. taxiformis in an invasive species already well settled in Alboran Sea.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Nutrients and temperature affect growth and photosynthesis of invasive seaweed Rugulopteryx okamurae.

Since Rugulopteryx okamurae was identified in 2016 on Spanish coasts, it is producing massive proliferations causing a homogenization on the marine ecosystem and economic impacts. In order to achieve an efficient management of the invasive species, the knowledge of basic aspects of its biology, such as the role of environmental factors on its growth and photosynthetic activity is essential. In this context, the objective of the present work was to determine the combined effects of nutrients and temperature of growth and photosynthesis of three seasonally observed morphotypes of R. okamurae, under controlled laboratory conditions. Wild thalli of R. okamurae cultivated for 21 days under four combinations of nutrients concentration (NO3- and PO43-) and temperature (15, 19 and 23 °C). Relative growth rates and photosynthetic parameters estimated from oxygen evolution measurements were determined. The results show that nutrient and temperature are factors that could influence on growth and photosynthesis of the invasive species with differences among morphotypes. These results can be related to the observed seasonal variations of the production of R. okamurae and natural cyclic fluctuations of nutrients, which will allow us to identify the vulnerability windows of this species.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Efecto de la temperatura y la irradiancia sobre el crecimiento, la propagación vegetativa y la actividad fotosintética del alga invasora Rugulopteryx okamurae (Dictyotales, Ochrophyta).

Ayuda Plan propio de Investigación de la Universidad de Málaga. Proyecto Rugulopteryx. Fundación Biodiversidad. MITECO.The invasive algae Rugulopteryx okamurae (Dictyotales, Ochrophyta) is producing recently important blooms in southern Spain, affecting biodiversity, fishing industry and tourism. For this reason, it is essential to identify the factors that determine the high invasiveness. In this context, the objective of this study focuses on determining the effect of temperature and irradiance on growth, vegetative propagation and photosynthetic activity of R. okamurae. Apical and interdichotomous fragments of thallus were cultivated under different temperatures (14 and 22 °C) and irradiances (35 and 70 µmol photons m-2 s-1) under controlled laboratory conditions. The effects of these treatments were studied on the relative growth rate, propagules proliferation and the photosynthetic activity expressed as fluorescence of chlorophyll a. Results show that the growth capacity of the thallus depends on the presence or not of the apical cells in the thallus, and that their presence, determines the potential of the thallus for vegetative propagation. Moreover, it has been observed that conditions of low temperature and irradiance favour the propagation capacity of the species, as well as its photosynthetic activity. These results are of great interest to understand the invasive behaviour of the species, since they allow us to identify, on the one hand, the breakdown of thallus as a propagation mechanism of the species that favours the recruitment of new clone individuals, and, on the other hand, to determine that this capacity is active in the annual thermal range of the invaded region.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Consumption of medicinal plants and herbal medicines by children and adolescents with chronic conditions: a survey in a tertiary-care outpatient clinic

Objectives. Medicinal plants and herbal medicines are widely used worldwide. However, patients with chronic health conditions or their caregivers do not often disclose these practices to their healthcare providers, leading to potentially severe interactions with current treatments, especially in children. We aimed to describe the prevalence of the use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines by children and adolescents with chronic health conditions and whether their physicians were informed about it. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey on parents and caregivers of children and adolescents with chronic health conditions seen at a university, tertiary-care pediatric outpatient clinic. The common names of the plants cited by respondents were reviewed and Latin names of the species were provided whenever possible. Results. From 20,213 text messages sent in May and June 2021, 521 valid responses were obtained. The prevalence of the use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines was 34.6%, most without a medical prescription (self-medication), and few physicians (4.0%) were aware of it. The five most used species were: Mentha spicata L. (mint), Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (fennel), “cidreira” (a common name possibly corresponding to Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, Melissa officinalis L. or Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Br. ex Britton & Wilson, P.), Matricaria chamomilla L. (German chamomile), and Plectranthus barbatus Andrews (boldo). Conclusions. The prevalence of the use of medicinal plants and herbal medicines by children and adolescents with chronic health conditions in a tertiary-care outpatient clinic was 34.6%, and only a few physicians were aware of it.Objetivos. Plantas medicinais e seus derivados são amplamente utilizados no mundo todo. Entretanto, pacientes com condições crônicas de saúde ou seus cuidadores frequentemente não informam essas práticas para seus profissionais de saúde, levando a interações potencialmente graves com os demais tratamentos, especialmente em crianças. Nós objetivamos descrever a prevalência do uso de plantas medicinais e derivados por crianças e adolescentes com condições crônicas de saúde, e se seus médicos foram informados sobre isto. Métodos. Levantamento eletrônico transversal junto a pais e cuidadores de crianças e adolescentes com condições crônicas de saúde atendidos em um serviço ambulatorial pediátrico universitário terciário. Os nomes comuns das plantas citadas pelos participantes foram revisados e os nomes latinos das espécies foram identificados, sempre que possível. Resultados. De 20.213 mensagens de texto enviadas em maio e junho de 2021, 521 respostas válidas foram obtidas. A prevalência de utilização de plantas medicinais e derivados foi de 34,6%, sendo a maioria sem prescrição médica (automedicação), e poucos médicos (4,0%) estavam cientes disto. As cinco plantas mais comumente utilizadas foram: Mentha spicata L. (hortelã), Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (funcho), “cidreira” (possivelmente correspondendo a Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, Melissa officinalis L. ou Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Br. ex Britton & Wilson, P.), Matricaria chamomilla L. (camomila) e Plectranthus barbatus Andrews (boldo nacional). Conclusões. A prevalência de uso de plantas medicinais e derivados por crianças e adolescentes com condições crônicas de saúde em um serviço ambulatorial pediátrico terciário foi de 34,6%, com grande potencial para interações, e somente poucos médicos estavam cientes disto

Assessment of Portuguese firefighters’ lifestyle: results from an online survey

Firefighters are an occupational group exposed to multiple agents, such as heat, fatigue, noise and chemical substances. Exposure to these agents can have a severe impact on their health. In addition, lifestyle behaviors may also affect their health and well-being. As such, the aim of this study was to assess health-related lifestyle behaviors in Portuguese firefighters. Data was obtained via an online survey using an adapted version of the FANTASTIC Lifestyle Assessment Inventory that included questions on relationships with family and friends, physical activity, nutrition, tobacco and alcohol consumption, sleep and stress, career and shifts. The access link to the survey was disseminated through collaboration with the National School of Firefighters. Data was collected between April 24th and May 27th 2021. From the 861 participating firefighters, the majority were men and had less than 40 years old. Around half were married and were firefighters for more than ten years. The majority referred to have people to talk about important things and to give and receive affection. Regarding physical activity the majority did not practice physical activity in the professional context. Only a quarter reported to have healthy eating habits and the majority reported the consumption of high-calorie foods and to be exceeding their ideal weight. More than a third reported smoking and around 16% reported driving motor vehicles after consuming alcohol. Around 40% reported to consume more than 3 caffeine drinks per day. Around a tenth reported to almost never have good quality sleep and only around 78% reported to have difficulties sleeping. About 43% didn’t have capacity to manage stress in their day to day life and about 57% were not able to relax in their free time. Around 40% reported not being happy with their work and a third reported to do periodic medical exams.This work was developed within the project “Leadership process and firefighters occupational health: Development of an intervention program” funded by Foundation for Science and Technology (PCIF/SSO/0054/2018).N/

Plataforma de especificação de testes de aceitação via interface do utilizador

Trabalho de projecto de mestrado, Informática, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2015Num processo de engenharia de testes de software, os chamados testes de aceitação tem como objetivo a validação de uma aplicação de software em relação aos requisitos do cliente. A execução destes testes envolve tipicamente a interação de um utilizador experiente com a aplicação em causa, por exemplo, através de ações ou validações sobre a interface da mesma. Este dissertação descreve a criação de um sistema para a automatização de testes de aceitação sobre o Tripoint, um software para operadores turísticos e afins desenvolvido pela empresa TFV–Sistemas Informáticos, S.A. Atualmente, os testes de aceitação do Tripoint são levados a cabo pela equipa de helpdesk da empresa, processo esse que decorre com morosidade e baixo nível de automação. Estas deficiências tornam-se particularmente críticas num contexto de lançamento frequente de novas versões do Tripoint que ocorrem a cada 2 semanas, em média. A ideia base do sistema de testes que propomos passa pela gravação da execução de um teste feito por um utilizador e a sua posterior reprodução automática. Durante a fase de gravação, pretende-se que o sistema registe as ações do utilizador sobre a interface gráfica do Tripoint e ainda asserções sobre o resultado dos testes configuradas pelo utilizador. A gravação produz a especificação de um caso de teste. Na fase de reprodução um teste deste tipo poderá ser executado sem intervenção humana, mediante injeção das ações sobre o interface gráfica e validação das asserções de teste. Para a concretização deste projeto foram encontradas técnicas que permitissem a captura e reprodução de ações sob uma aplicação em ambiente Windows, bem como foi desenvolvida uma interface para o utilizador para facilitar a gravação e execução dos casos de teste.Acceptance test are a software testing process engineering aimed at validating a software application against end-user requirements. The execution of these tests typically involve the interaction of a domain expert with the application under test, for exemple, through actions or validations on the same interface. This thesis describes a system for automated acceptance testing for Tripoint, called ARITEx, a software aplication for touristic and related enterprises by TFV–Sistemas Informáticos, S.A. Currently, Tripoint acceptance tests are conducted by the company's helpdesk team, resulting in a process that is slow, unrigorous and a low automates degree process. These disadvantages become particularly critical given that new versions of tripping are released frequently, every two weeks. The basic idea of ARITEx is to record the execution of a test, and replay it later automatically. During the recording phase, the system records user-interface actions and user-specified test assertions, leading up to the recording of a test specification. During replay, a recorded test is automatically executed without human intervention through the injection of actions on the GUI and validation of test assertions. For the realization of this project were found techniques that enable the capture and playback of shares in an application in Windows environment as well as an interface was developed for the user to facilitate the recording and execution of test cases

Doxycycline and Zinc Loaded Silica-Nanofibrous Polymers as Biomaterials for Bone Regeneration

The authors are grateful to Antonio L. Medina-Castillo (NanoMyP-University of Granada Spin-Off enterprise) for the scientific and technical support at experimental membranes’ designing and fabrication and to Gertrudis Gomez Villaescusa (University of Granada) for technical assistance at the laboratory.Themain target of bone tissue engineeringis to design biomaterials that support bone regeneration and vascularization. Nanostructured membranes of (MMA)1-co-(HEMA)1/(MA)3-co-(HEA)2 loaded with 5% wt of SiO2-nanoparticles (HOOC-Si-Membrane) were doped with zinc (Zn-HOOC-Si-Membrane) or doxycycline (Dox-HOOC-Si-Membrane). Critical bone defects were effectuated on six New Zealand-bred rabbit skulls and covered with the membranes. After six weeks, the bone architecture was evaluated with micro computed tomography. Three histological analyses were utilized to analyse bone regeneration, including von Kossa silver nitrate, toluidine blue and fluorescence. All membrane-treated defects exhibited higher number of osteocytes and bone perimeter than the control group without the membrane. Zn-HOOC-Si-Membranes induced higher new bone and osteoid area than those treated with HOOC-Si-Membranes, and control group, respectively. Zn-HOOC-Si-Membranes and Dox-HOOC-Si-Membranes attained the lowest ratio M1 macrophages/M2 macrophages. Dox-HOOC-Si-Membranes caused the lowest number of osteoclasts, and bone density. At the trabecular new bone, Zn-HOOC-Si-Membranes produced the highest angiogenesis, bone thickness, connectivity, junctions and branches. Zn-HOOC-Si-Membranes enhanced biological activity, attained a balanced remodeling, and achieved the greatest regenerative efficiency after osteogenesis and angiogenesis assessments. The bone-integrated Zn-HOOC-Si-Membranes can be considered as bioactive modulators provoking a M2 macrophages (pro-healing cells) increase, being a potential biomaterial for promoting bone repair.Ministry of Economy and CompetitivenessEuropean Union (EU) MINECO/FEDER MAT2017-85999

Desiccation tolerance of eggplant pollen

A alta demanda por sementes híbridas tem estimulado pesquisas que asseguram a oferta destas, como é o caso da manipulação de grãos de pólen. Assim, em estudo conduzido na Embrapa Hortaliças, no ano de 2006, objetivou-se determinar a tolerância à dessecação dos grãos de pólen berinjela 'Ciça'. Para isso foi utilizado pólen fresco (testemunha) e pólen seco em recipiente de alumínio fechado com 300 gramas de sílica gel e em dessecador, ambos por períodos de 24 e 48 horas em ambiente de laboratório. Os respectivos grãos de pólen foram os polinizadores da linhagem feminina. Foi avaliado o pegamento de fruto, a produção e a qualidade fisiológica de sementes através de: massa de 100 sementes, teste de primeira contagem, germinação, emergência de plântulas e envelhecimento acelerado. Concluiu-se que grãos de pólen toleram dessecação até 4,7% de umidade e com teores de água entre 4,7% a 47,2% proporcionam boa produção de sementes sem afetar sua qualidade fisiológica.The high demand for hybrid seeds has stimulated research to assure their supply and this includes pollen grain manipulation. The object of a study at the Embrapa Vegetable Institute in 2006 was to determine the tolerance of eggplant pollen grains of the 'Cica' variety to desiccation. Fresh pollen (control) and dry pollen were placed in closed aluminum containers with silica-gel and also in a laboratory desiccator for 24 and 48 hours. The pollen grains were used to pollinate female plants and the fruit set, production and physiological seed quality were measured from the first count test of a 100 seeds, including germination, seedling emergence and accelerated ageing. The results demonstrated that pollen tolerates desiccation up to 4.7% moisture content. Pollen grains with moisture content ranging between 4.7% and 47.2% gave good seed production without any affect on their physiological quality

Warming modifies the seasonal photophysiology and productivity of Arctic macroalgae

Warming is affecting Kongsfjorden ecosystem with special intensity due to the influence of oceanic currents altered by Global Change. The effects of this stressor on the ecophysiology of Arctic seaweeds have been widely investigated, but mostly restricted to summer. However, Arctic coastal ecosystems experience strong seasonal changes in environmental light conditions from 24-hours of darkness in winter to 24-hours of light in summer, which likely alter the photosynthetic performance of macroalgae. In order to understand how increasing temperature will affect Kongsfjorden ecosystem dynamics it is crucial to analyze the effect of seasonal photoperiod on the responses of Arctic seaweeds to warming. Thus, we carried out experiments in September (fall equinox), March (spring equinox) and August (24h of light) to compare the photophysiological responses of common seaweed species of Kongsfjorden after acclimation to continuous light and 12:12 light:darkness at 4ºC, as well as the responses to increased temperature (8ºC) at the corresponding seasonal photoperiod. Due to 24-hours light stress in summer, macroalgae generally showed reduced photosynthetic capacity when compared to the equinoxes. Additionally, higher photoinhibition along with higher respiration rates were induced when seaweeds were exposed to continuous light in the equinoxes, whereas macroalgae exposed to 12:12 light/dark cycles in summer showed no changes in the photosynthetic capacities and respiratory rates. The increase in temperature frequently enhanced 14CO2 fixation and respiration rates, while growth rates were mostly unaltered, but season-specific and species-specific effects were observed. These results are highly valuable for constructing primary productivity models of the macrophytobenthos for the whole fjord, which can serve to make accurate predictions of productivity and ecosystem functioning in near-future scenarios.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech