An unusual interplay among disorder, Kondo-effect and spin-glass behavior in the Kondo lattices, Ce2_2Au1−x_{1-x}Cox_xSi3_3

We report the results of magnetic measurements for the solid solution Ce$_2$Au$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si$_3$. The results reveal that this solid solution is characterized by a magnetic phase diagram (plot of magnetic transition temperature versus $x$) unusual for Kondo lattices. In particular, the spin-glass freezing induced by disorder is observed only for the compositions at the weak coupling limit; as one approaches the quantum critical point by a gradual replacement of Au by Co, this disorder effect is surprisingly suppressed in favor of long range antiferro-magnetic ordering in contrast to expectations. This unusual interplay between disorder, spin-glass freezing and the Kondo-effect calls for further refinement of theories on competition between magnetism and the Kondo effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Incidence of Surgical Site Infection in Patients who Underwent Surgery at Hospital Pasteur (Montevideo), July-August 2017

Martina Bañales: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Diego Castro: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Sabrina Della Mea: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Isabel Larre Borges: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Josefina Mora: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Manuel Soneira: Estudiante de Medicina, Ciclo de Metodología Científica II, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. La contribución en la realización del trabajo fue equivalente a la de los demás estudiantes.-- Alejandra Liz: Docente supervisor. Clínica Quirúrgica 1, Hospital Pasteur, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay. Contacto: [email protected] infecciones del sitio quirúrgico (ISQ) son una complicación frecuente en cirugía general. Generan múltiples problemas para el paciente y aumentan los costos en salud. Existe una carencia de datos a nivel nacional sobre dicha patología. El objetivo general del estudio fue determinar la incidencia de infecciones tipo I y II de la clasificación del Centers for Disease Control and Prevention en pacientes postoperatorios de cirugía abdominal y vascular periférica internados en el Hospital Pasteur, entre julio y agosto de 2017. Los objetivos específicos fueron identificar los factores de riesgo, determinar los gérmenes más prevalentes, frecuencia de tratamiento con drenaje o antibioticoterapia y el tiempo medio entre la cirugía y el diagnóstico de ISQ. Se realizó un estudio observacional longitudinal prospectivo que incluyó a 99 pacientes. Se analizaron los datos utilizando regresión logística simple y múltiple mediante el software “R project”. La incidencia de infecciones fue de 11,11%. Diabetes mellitus (D.M.), estadía en CTI e institucionalización fueron factores de riesgo. La cirugía sucia se vinculó en forma liminal con la aparición de ISQ; la cirugía laparoscópica fue un factor protector. El microorganismo predominante fue E. Coli (42,85%), seguido de cultivos polimicrobianos (28,57%), Klebsiella Pneumoniae (14,28%) y Bacilos Gram Negativos no especificados (14,28%). En 36,6% de los pacientes infectados se administraron antibióticos, mientras que el 81,81% requirió drenaje. El tiempo medio entre la cirugía y la infección fue de 15,45 días. Se concluye que estos resultados deben ser considerados para la realización de investigaciones más exhaustivas y elaboración de protocolos pre y perioperatorios.Surgical site infections (SSI) are a common postoperative complication in general surgery, aff ecting patients prognosis and increasing health care costs. There is a lack of national data about this compli cation. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of type I and II infections according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifi cation, in patients admitted in Hospital Pasteur who underwent abdominal or peripheral vascular surgery between July and August 2017. The specific objectives were to identify risk factors, determine most prevalent germs, treatment strategies applied (drainage or antibiotics) and delay between surgery and diagnosis of infection. A longitudinal, ob servational and prospective study was performed including 99 patients. Multiple and simple logistic regression models were used to analyze the data with R Project software. The incidence of surgical site infections was 11,11%. Diabetes Mellitus, ICU stay and institutionalization were significant risk factors. Dirty surgical wounds showed a liminal association with SSI. Laparoscopic surgery was a protective factor. E. Coli was the main germ found (42,85%), followed by polymicrobial isolation (28,57%), Klebsiella Pneumoniae (14,28%) and Gram-Negative Bacilli (14,28%). Antibiotics were administered in 36,36% of infected patients, while drainage was required in 81,81%. The mean time between surgery and infection diagnosis was 15,45 days. It is concluded that the results may provide orientation for further investigation and elaboration of pre and perioperative protocols

Assessment of impacts on ecosystem services provided by geodiversity in highly urbanised areas: a case study of the Taubaté Basin, Brazil

This work presents a method to identify, to evaluate and to quantify the losses of the offer of ecosystem services provided by geodiversity, using as a case study the Taubaté Basin region, a highly urbanized portion of southeastern São Paulo State, Brazil. Our method considers not only the qualitative analysis of the abiotic as- pects, but also the historical and cultural context, in which the geodiversity elements are crucial for local economy development. The method is based on: i) Qualitative evaluation and definition of six Essential Geodiversity Variables (EGVs), used as the basis for the identification of 53 ecosystem services distributed into four functions: regulating, supporting, provisioning, and cultural; ii) Definition of land use categories based on two land use maps elaborated in order to compare the transformation occurred in the region between 1986 and 2016; iii) Quantification and evaluation of the impacts on the offer of ecosystem services caused by land use transformations occurred in region in a 30–year gap. The results showed that anthropogenic action is the main factor that alter the availability of local services, with emphasis on the supply of water, soils and mineral resources, and its potentially influence on the quality of life of certain species. We reinforce the view that public policies on land management and planning should consider the ecosystem assessment, as it provides evidence to propose actions to mitigate impacts and for environmental compensation, favoring the sustainable use of re- sources by society.The authors would like to thank CAPES for the Academic Mobility Program PDSE Scholarship / Process Nr. 88,881.135227 / 2016–01 and for the PhD research scholarship in Brazil awarded to the first author

Integrating ecosystem services into conservation strategies for freshwater and marine habitats: a review

Over the last two decades, there has been increasing public and political recognition of society's dependency upon natural habitat complexity and ecological processes to sustain provision of crucial ecosystem services, ranging from supplying potable water through to climate regulation. How has the ecosystem-services perspective been integrated into strategies for aquatic habitat conservation? Literature on conservation of diverse freshwater and marine habitats was reviewed to assess the extent to which past and current strategies specifically targeted ecosystem services, and considered ecosystem functions, potential trade-offs and social issues when formulating protection measures for conserving aquatic habitats. Surprisingly few published examples exist where comprehensive assessment of ecosystem services supported development of conservation plans. Seldom were aquatic habitat conservation objectives framed in terms of balancing trade-offs, assessing social values and evaluating suites of ecosystem services under different strategies. Time frames for achieving these objectives were also rarely specified. There was no evidence for fundamental differences between marine and freshwater habitats with respect to their ecosystem services that should be considered when setting targets for their conservation. When an ecosystem-service perspective is used for setting objectives in aquatic habitat conservation, the following actions are recommended: (1) explicitly listing and evaluating full suites of ecosystem services to be conserved; (2) identifying current and future potential trade-offs arising from conservation; (3) specifying time frames within which particular strategies might protect or enhance desired services; and (4) predicting how different proposed strategies might affect each ecosystem function, service flow and public benefit. This approach will help ensure that less-apparent ecosystem services (e.g. regulating, supporting) and their associated ecosystem functions receive adequate recognition and protection in aquatic conservation of freshwater and marine habitats. However, conservation objectives should not focus solely on protecting or enhancing ecosystem services but complement current strategies targeting biodiversity and other conservation goals.Peer Reviewe

MEDEAS: a new modeling framework integrating global biophysical and socioeconomic constraints

Producción CientíficaA diversity of integrated assessment models (IAMs) coexists due to the different approaches developed to deal with the complex interactions, high uncertainties and knowledge gaps within the environment and human societies. This paper describes the open-source MEDEAS modeling framework, which has been developed with the aim of informing decision-making to achieve the transition to sustainable energy systems with a focus on biophysical, economic, social and technological restrictions and tackling some of the limitations identified in the current IAMs. MEDEAS models include the following relevant characteristics: representation of biophysical constraints to energy availability; modeling of the mineral and energy investments for the energy transition, allowing a dynamic assessment of the potential mineral scarcities and computation of the net energy available to society; consistent representation of climate change damages with climate assessments by natural scientists; integration of detailed sectoral economic structure (input–output analysis) within a system dynamics approach; energy shifts driven by physical scarcity; and a rich set of socioeconomic and environmental impact indicators. The potentialities and novel insights that this framework brings are illustrated by the simulation of four variants of current trends with the MEDEAS-world model: the consideration of alternative plausible assumptions and methods, combined with the feedback-rich structure of the model, reveal dynamics and implications absent in classical models. Our results suggest that the continuation of current trends will drive significant biophysical scarcities and impacts which will most likely derive in regionalization (priority to security concerns and trade barriers), conflict, and ultimately, a severe global crisis which may lead to the collapse of our modern civilization. Despite depicting a much more worrying future than conventional projections of current trends, we however believe it is a more realistic counterfactual scenario that will allow the design of improved alternative sustainable pathways in future work.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project CO2017-85110-R)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project JCI-2016–28833)MEDEAS project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant agree-ment no. 691287.LOCOMOTION project, funded by the EuropeanUnion’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeunder grant agreement no. 82110