Regulating human interventions in Colombian coastal areas: Implications for the environmental licensing procedure in middle-income countries

Although anthropogenic impacts could be assessed in any environment, coastal areas pose a particular challenge because of their special nature as the interface between land and sea. Therefore, this study evaluates the environmental regulatory framework for coastal interventions in Colombia, as an archetype of medium income countries (MICs), to derive implications for the environmental licensing procedure (ELP). The methods comprised two simultaneous pathways: a. An inventory of human interventions at the large scale area of the Colombian Caribbean Coast, with an estimation of the overall environmental impact; b. An analysis of the ELP in Colombia during the last 25 years. The study evidences several weaknesses, such as a consistent reduction in the number of works and activities covered in each new legislative. Moreover, the Colombian ELP currently regulates only four of the ten types of interventions with greater effect in its coastal zones. The discussions highlight some policy implications for the ELP in MICs, mainly based on how the impact of a type of intervention can be magnified in proportion to its frequency of occurrence, and the need to articulate instruments of environmental management and territorial planning. At last, the need to evolve the impact assessment of human interventions from environmental factors toward socio-natural processes is evidenced and further addressed, by the introduction of a susceptibility approach inspired on geomorphological processes. Overall, this study highlights important gaps of the Colombian ELP for coastal environments, which entails valuable lessons for MICs

Low energy magnetic excitations of the Mn_{12}-acetate spin cluster observed by neutron scattering

We performed high resolution diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering measurements of Mn_{12}-acetate. Using a very high energy resolution, we could separate the energy levels corresponding to the splitting of the lowest S multiplet. Data were analyzed within a single spin model (S=10 ground state), using a spin Hamiltonian with parameters up to 4^{th} order. The non regular spacing of the transition energies unambiguously shows the presence of high order terms in the anisotropy (D= -0.457(2) cm^{-1}, B_4^0 = -2.33(4) 10^{-5}cm^{-1}). The relative intensity of the lowest energy peaks is very sensitive to the small transverse term, supposed to be mainly responsible for quantum tunneling. This allows an accurate determination of this term in zero magnetic field (B_4^4 = \pm 3.0(5) 10^{-5} cm^{-1}). The neutron results are discussed in view of recent experiments and theories.Comment: 4 pages ? 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Lette

scRNA-Seq reveals distinct stem cell populations that drive hair cell regeneration after loss of Fgf and Notch signaling.

Loss of sensory hair cells leads to deafness and balance deficiencies. In contrast to mammalian hair cells, zebrafish ear and lateral line hair cells regenerate from poorly characterized support cells. Equally ill-defined is the gene regulatory network underlying the progression of support cells to differentiated hair cells. scRNA-Seq of lateral line organs uncovered five different support cell types, including quiescent and activated stem cells. Ordering of support cells along a developmental trajectory identified self-renewing cells and genes required for hair cell differentiation. scRNA-Seq analyses of fgf3 mutants, in which hair cell regeneration is increased, demonstrates that Fgf and Notch signaling inhibit proliferation of support cells in parallel by inhibiting Wnt signaling. Our scRNA-Seq analyses set the foundation for mechanistic studies of sensory organ regeneration and is crucial for identifying factors to trigger hair cell production in mammals. The data is searchable and publicly accessible via a web-based interface

Mendelian Randomization Analysis of the Relationship Between Native American Ancestry and Gallbladder Cancer Risk

Background A strong association between the proportion of Native American ancestry and the risk of gallbladder cancer (GBC) has been reported in observational studies. Chileans show the highest incidence of GBC worldwide, and the Mapuche are the largest Native American people in Chile. We set out to investigate the causal association between Native American Mapuche ancestry and GBC risk, and the possible mediating effects of gallstone disease and body mass index (BMI) on this association. Methods Markers of Mapuche ancestry were selected based on the informativeness for assignment measure and then used as instrumental variables in two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) analyses and complementary sensitivity analyses. Result We found evidence of a causal effect of Mapuche ancestry on GBC risk (inverse variance-weighted (IVW) risk increase of 0.8% for every 1% increase in Mapuche ancestry proportion, 95% CI 0.4% to 1.2%, p = 6.6×10-5). Mapuche ancestry was also causally linked to gallstone disease (IVW risk increase of 3.6% per 1% increase in Mapuche proportion, 95% CI 3.1% to 4.0%, p = 1.0×10-59), suggesting a mediating effect of gallstones in the relationship between Mapuche ancestry and GBC. In contrast, the proportion of Mapuche ancestry showed a negative causal effect on BMI (IVW estimate -0.006 kg/m2 per 1% increase in Mapuche proportion, 95% CI -0.009 to -0.003, p = 4.4×10-5). Conclusions The results presented here may have significant implications for GBC prevention and are important for future admixture mapping studies. Given that the association between Mapuche ancestry and GBC risk previously noted in observational studies appears to be causal, primary and secondary prevention strategies that take into account the individual proportion of Mapuche ancestry could be particularly efficient

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

A rat model for muscle regeneration in the soft palate

Contains fulltext : 118436.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Children with a cleft in the soft palate have difficulties with speech, swallowing, and sucking. Despite successful surgical repositioning of the muscles, optimal function is often not achieved. Scar formation and defective regeneration may hamper the functional recovery of the muscles after cleft palate repair. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the anatomy and histology of the soft palate in rats, and to establish an in vivo model for muscle regeneration after surgical injury. METHODS: Fourteen adult male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into four groups. Groups 1 (n = 4) and 2 (n = 2) were used to investigate the anatomy and histology of the soft palate, respectively. Group 3 (n = 6) was used for surgical wounding of the soft palate, and group 4 (n = 2) was used as unwounded control group. The wounds (1 mm) were evaluated by (immuno)histochemistry (AZAN staining, Pax7, MyoD, MyoG, MyHC, and ASMA) after 7 days. RESULTS: The present study shows that the anatomy and histology of the soft palate muscles of the rat is largely comparable with that in humans. All wounds showed clinical evidence of healing after 7 days. AZAN staining demonstrated extensive collagen deposition in the wound area, and initial regeneration of muscle fibers and salivary glands. Proliferating and differentiating satellite cells were identified in the wound area by antibody staining. CONCLUSIONS: This model is the first, suitable for studying muscle regeneration in the rat soft palate, and allows the development of novel adjuvant strategies to promote muscle regeneration after cleft palate surgery

Pregnancy-specific responses to COVID-19 revealed by high-throughput proteomics of human plasma

Gomez-Lopez et al. profile the plasma proteome of pregnant and non-pregnant COVID-19 patients and controls. Shared and pregnancy-specific proteomic changes are identified in COVID-19 patients compared to controls, with the proteome accurately identifying COVID-19 patients, even when asymptomatic