Chlorpyrifos and persistent organic pollutants in feathers of the near threatened Olrog's Gull in southeastern Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

The use of bird feathers to assess environmental contamination has steadily increased in ecotoxicological monitoring programs over the past decade. The Olrog's Gull (Larus atlanticus) is a species endemic to the Atlantic coast of southern South America, constituting one of the three threatened gull species listed in the entire American continent. The aim of this study was to assess the exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and chlorpyrifos in the Near Threatened Olrog's Gull through the analysis of body feathers sampled at the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, the main wintering area of the species in Argentina, controlling for sex and age class. Chlorpyrifos showed the highest concentrations among all contaminants and groups of individuals (X¯ = 263 ng g−1), while among POPs the concentration of organochlorine pesticides was higher than polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, likely indicating the current use of these agricultural contaminant in the region. The highest values of total POP concentrations (males X¯ = 280 ng g−1, females X¯ = 301 ng g−1) were found in juvenile gulls, likely as a consequence of the incorporation of pollutants during the breeding season. Subadult and adult birds showed difference between sexes in the concentration of contaminants, with higher levels in males than females. The results highlight the need to include birds of different sex and age classes in order to better understand the variation in pollutants loads. The present study provides relevant information to improve the conservation status of the Olrog's Gull and new insights about the environmental health of the Mar Chiquita coastal lagoon, Argentina, a MAB-UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. However, there is a continued need for long-term monitoring programs focusing on this threatened species to understand the effects of pollutants on its population.Fil: Quadri Adrogué, Agustina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Seco Pon, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: García, Germán Oscar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Castano, Melina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Copello, Sofía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Favero, Marco. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Miglioranza, Karina Silvia Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentin

The Great Escape: The Role of Self-esteem and Self-related Cognition in Terror Management

Integrating terror management theory and objective self-awareness theory, we propose the existential escape hypothesis, which states that people with low self-esteem should be especially prone to escaping self-awareness as a distal response to thoughts of death. This is because they lack the means to bolster the self as a defense, and the propensity to bolster the self reduces the motivation to escape from self-awareness. Five studies supported this hypothesis. Individuals low, but not high, in self-esteem scored lower on a measure of private self-awareness (Study 1), showed less implicit self-activation (Studies 2 & 3), were more likely to choose to write about others than themselves (Study 4), and consumed more alcohol in a field study at a nightclub (Study 5) in response to mortality reminders. Implications for terror management theory (highlighting an additional route to defend against mortality awareness), self-regulation, physical health and well-being are discussed

Preface of the 31st Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems

This volume contains the proceedings of the 31st Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems (SEBD - Sistemi Evoluti per Basi di Dati), held in Galzinagno Terme (Padua, Italy) from 2 to 5 July 2023.</p

Preface of the 31st Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems

This volume contains the proceedings of the 31st Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems (SEBD - Sistemi Evoluti per Basi di Dati), held in Galzinagno Terme (Padua, Italy) from 2 to 5 July 2023.</p

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Optimization of static properties of Ti-6Al-4V obtained by Wire-Direct Energy Deposition via a multi-scale analysis of the microstructure

Dans un contexte aéronautique où la réduction des coûts et de l’empreinte environnementale est un facteur décisif, la fabrication additive est intéressante pour des pièces fabriquées à partir de matériaux à forte valeur ajoutée tels que les alliages de titane, comme c’est le cas du Ti-6Al-4V. Ces dernières années, les procédés de déposition directe de fil sont particulièrement intéressantes pour les industriels car ils permettent de réaliser des pièces métalliques plus grandes et plus rapidement qu’avec d’autres techniques. La fabrication en série d’éléments à l’échelle d’un composant d’avion comme le mât moteur peut notamment être envisagée via ce type de procédé. Néanmoins, cette fabrication additive à grande échelle, et en particulier la technique EBAM utilisant un faisceau d’électrons comme source d’énergie, implique des épaisseurs de couches et des tailles de bains de fusion qui génèrent des histoires thermiques complexes. Ces conditions thermiques conduisent à des microstructures et/ou textures singulières par rapport aux technologies traditionnelles qui auront un impact direct sur les propriétés mécaniques. Le but principal de cette thèse est donc de déterminer les conditions de fabrication optimales au regard des propriétés statiques. Pour cela, l’identification des principales caractéristiques microstructurales a été réalisée à la fois à l’échelle macroscopique mais aussi microscopique pour mieux comprendre les caractéristiques générales des composants en Ti-6Al-4V obtenus par la technique EBAM. Les aspects les plus remarquables sont la formation des gros grains &#946; colonnaires traversant plusieurs couches mais surtout la présence des nombreuses lignes perpendiculaires au substrat. Au voisinage de ces lignes, nommées comme lignes thermiques, un changement de la morphologie et de la taille des lamelles &#945; a lieu en raison de différentes histoires thermiques engendrées lors de la déposition des différents couches. Une étude de la possible influence de ce gradient microstructural sur la répartition de la déformation plastique en lien avec la microstructure a été réalisée. Une localisation de la déformation avec des grandes bandes de glissement est observée juste en dessous de ces lignes thermiques, là où une microstructure basketweave «épaisse » est présente. Une fois que les principales caractéristiques microstructurales ont été identifiées, une étude de l’influence de certains paramètres opératoires clés (temps d’interpasse, courant du FE, vitesse de débit de fil et vitesse d’avance) sur différents aspects (histoire thermique, macro/microstructure, composition chimique) a été réalisée. Une approche quantitative multi-échelle a alors été effectuée dans le but de comprendre leur influence sur les propriétés finales. Nous avons ainsi pu identifier une méthode permettant d’optimiser les propriétés statiques. Pour finir, nous avons proposé un traitement thermique de recuit &#946; comme alternative possible pour améliorer les propriétés mécaniques.Additive manufacturing is of great interest to the aerospace industry in a context of competition to reduce costs and environmental footprint. It is especially attractive for parts made with high value-added materials such as titanium alloys, as is the case of the Ti-6Al-4V. Nowadays, Wire-Direct Energy Deposition processes are receiving particular attention from the industry as they can produce larger metallic parts more quickly than other technologies, making possible the serial production of aircraft components such as the pylon. However, these large-scale additive manufacturing technologies, and in particular the EBAM technique that uses an electron beam as energy source, involve layer thicknesses and melt pool sizes that generate complex thermal histories. These thermal conditions lead at the same time to singular microstructure and/or textures compared to traditional technologies, which would have a direct impact on mechanical properties. Therefore, the main goal of this Ph.D. thesis is to determine the optimal manufacturing conditions regarding the static properties. For this purpose, the identification of the main microstructural characteristics is carried out both at the macrostructure and microstructure scale to better understand the general characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V components obtained by the EBAM technique. The most remarkable aspects are the formation of large columnar &#946; grains crossing several layers and especially the presence of parallel lines perpendicular to the substrate. In the vicinity of these lines, called layer bands, a change in the morphology and size of &#945; lamellae occurs due to different thermal histories generated during the deposition of different layers. A study of the possible influence of this microstructural gradient on the distribution of plastic deformation in relation to the microstructure is performed. A deformation localization with large slip bands is observed just below these layer bands, where a “coarse” basketweave microstructure is present. Once the main characteristics are known, a study of the influence of some key operating parameters (interpass time, beam current, wire feed speed, and travel speed) on different aspects (thermal history, macro/microstructure, chemical composition) is carried out through a complete quantitative analysis with the aim of understanding their influence on the final properties and thus being able to design a guide for the optimization of the static properties. Finally, a &#946; annealing heat treatment has been finally proposed as a possible alternative for the improvement of the mechanical properties

Western Amazon SL

This study is for data that was collected for the Western Amazon Sentinel Landscape

Reliability of 2D:4D measurements using a direct method suitable for clinical settings

The second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) indicates androgen exposure during early development. Numerous methods are used in the assessment of 2D:4D, however, some are not reliable enough and others are difficult to perform in large epidemiological studies. We assessed the reliability of 2D:4D using a direct method with a caliper, and compared it with a computer-assisted analysis on scanned images. Both methods were moderately correlated, but the scan method produced slightly lower 2D:4D. The main source of variation was differences between subjects (real variation). Reliability was higher among men and among younger participants. All reliability coefficients were higher than 0.8 when three repeated measurements were averaged. Our results suggest that reliability is influenced by participants’ characteristics. Digit ratios determined directly with calipers are reliable when repeated measurements are averaged. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved