848 research outputs found
Trace elements and C and N isotope composition in two mushroom species from a mine-spill contaminated site
Fungi play a key role in the functioning of soil in terrestrial ecosystems, and in particular in the
remediation of degraded soils. The contribution of fungi to carbon and nutrient cycles, along with
their capability to mobilise soil trace elements, is well-known. However, the importance of life history
strategy for these functions has not yet been thoroughly studied. This study explored the soil-fungi
relationship of two wild edible fungi, the ectomycorrhizal Laccaria laccata and the saprotroph
Volvopluteus gloiocephalus. Fruiting bodies and surrounding soils in a mine-spill contaminated area
were analysed. Isotope analyses revealed Laccaria laccata fruiting bodies were 15N-enriched when
compared to Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, likely due to the transfer of 15N-depleted compounds to their
host plant. Moreover, Laccaria laccata fruiting bodies ÎŽ13C values were closer to host plant values than
surrounding soil, while Volvopluteus gloiocephalus matched the ÎŽ13C composition to that of the soil.
Fungal species presented high bioaccumulation and concentrations of Cd and Cu in their fruiting bodies.
Human consumption of these fruiting bodies may represent a toxicological risk due to their elevated Cd
concentrations
Future journalistsâ fight against disinformation: analysis of university training offers and challenges in the Spanish context
Disinformation has become a global problem affecting mass media, governments and citizens globally. Besides the loss of trust in the media and its weakening influence, exposure to all manner of messages on social media in recent years has paved the way for disinformation, which has become a considerable challenge for journalism. According to the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, Spain is one of the countries most concerned about this phenomenon (Edelman, 2022). However, is this concern shared by Spanish journalist associations? What training initiatives are being carried out for future journalists to counter the spread of disinformation? How should fact-checking be taught in university? This study aims to answer these questions by using a dual methodology. First, a review and analysis were undertaken on the different training initiatives for bachelorâs and university-specific masterâs degree students. Then, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with experts, including fact-checkers, experienced journalists and representatives of sectoral associations, to ascertain their views on fact-checking and disinformation. The main results show that Spanish universities offer few training fact-checking-related initiatives, particularly at bachelorâs degree level, although more and more university-specific degrees and masterâs degrees on this topic are becoming available. Furthermore, most interviewees view specialised training for the next generation of journalists as a key factor for fighting disinformation, and they provide guidelines to achieve this
Kinetics of oxygen consumption, a key factor in the changes of young wines composition
ProducciĂłn CientĂficaThe oxygen that a wine receives during the winemaking process defines its properties. The aim of this work was to evaluate the oxygen consumption capacity of wines and its influence on the modification of their composition. This preliminary work evaluated the changes after 3 months in the chemical composition of twenty-seven Spanish commercial red, white and rosĂ© wines after their air saturation and oxidation process at 35âŻÂ°C for 7 days. All the wines studied were high oxygen consumers, while the white and rosĂ© wines showed greater variability according to their chemical composition. Wines that consumed a lot of oxygen did so quickly or slowly, while wines that consumed little oxygen did so slowly. All the wines showed a significant decrease in ethyl esters of straight-chain fatty acids (50â58%), ethyl esters of branched-chain fatty acids (48â56%) and alcohol acetates (34â65%) content, and a significant increase in Strecker aldehydes (24%) because of oxygen consumption. This paper presents a preliminary approach to determine the oxidation tendency of different wines showing the importance of controlling the winemaking processes that can increase oxygen availability and of establishing the minimum appropriate level of free sulfur dioxide.Ministerio de Asuntos EconĂłmicos y TransformaciĂłn Digital (AGL2017-87373-C3-2-R
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Ectomycorrhizal fungal communities and their functional traits mediate plantâsoil interactions in trace element contaminated soils
There is an increasing consensus that microbial communities have an important role in mediating ecosystem processes. Trait-based ecology predicts that the impact of the microbial communities on ecosystem functions will be mediated by the expression of their traits at community level. The link between the response of microbial community traits to environmental conditions and its effect on plant functioning is a gap in most current microbial ecology studies. In this study, we analyzed functional traits of ectomycorrhizal fungal species in order to understand the importance of their community assembly for the soilâplant relationships in holm oak trees (Quercus ilex subsp. ballota) growing in a gradient of exposure to anthropogenic trace element (TE) contamination after a metalliferous tailings spill. Particularly, we addressed how the ectomycorrhizal composition and morphological traits at community level mediate plant response to TE contamination and its capacity for phytoremediation. Ectomycorrhizal fungal taxonomy and functional diversity explained a high proportion of variance of tree functional traits, both in roots and leaves. Trees where ectomycorrhizal fungal communities were dominated by the abundant taxa Hebeloma cavipes and Thelephora terrestris showed a conservative root economics spectrum, while trees colonized by rare taxa presented a resource acquisition strategy. Conservative roots presented ectomycorrhizal functional traits characterized by high rhizomorphs formation and low melanization which may be driven by resource limitation. Soil-to-root transfer of TEs was explained substantially by the ectomycorrhizal fungal species composition, with the highest transfer found in trees whose roots were colonized by Hebeloma cavipes. Leaf phosphorus was related to ectomycorrhizal species composition, specifically higher leaf phosphorus was related to the root colonization by Thelephora terrestris. These findings support that ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition and their functional traits mediate plant performance in metal-contaminated soils, and have a high influence on plant capacity for phytoremediation of contaminants. The study also corroborates the overall effects of ectomycorrhizal fungi on ecosystem functioning through their mediation over the plant economics spectrum
Functional diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities is reduced by trace element contamination
10 pĂĄginas.-- 2 figuras.-- 3 tablas.-- 105 referencias.-- Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.03.021Trait-based approaches are useful tools to explain ecological assembly rules and ecosystem functioning. However, their use for soil microbiota has not been explored in depth yet. We explored trait-based functional changes of ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities associated with holm oak (Quercus ilex subsp. ballota) in a trace element contaminated area.
We found a variation in ECM fungal species composition determined by soil C, Ca and trace elements; however, taxonomic diversity was not dependant on contamination level. Mean trait values of ECM fungal communities showed less rhizomorph and emanating hyphae production when increasing contamination, and the community converged towards species developing rhizomorphs less frequently. We suggest that trace elements in soils acted as the main environmental filter of trait diversity of ECM fungal communities. The effect of soil nutrients, i.e. soil C, affected the community mean trait values of emanating hyphae but did not cause a convergence in its distribution.
In summary, we found a reduction in the functional diversity of ECM fungal communities due to trace element contamination with potential to affect ecosystem functioning. This finding supports the potential of trait-based approaches to assess changes in the functional diversity of soil microbial communities.This work was supported by European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007â2013) [grant number 603498 - RECARE]; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number CGL2014-52858-R - RESTECO]; Spanish National Research Programme - European Union (Feder) [grant number CGL2015-69118-C2-2-P - COEXMED-II]. During manuscript preparation, ALG was supported by European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Individual Fellowship [grant number 708530 - DISPMIC]. MTD is thankful the University of Sevilla for a postdoctoral fellowship (V Plan Propio de InvestigaciĂłn).Peer reviewe
Providing choice increases children's vegetable intake
This work has been partially supported by the pre-doctoral fellowship of Junta de AndalucĂa, grant HUM-02763 (Junta de AndalucĂa, Spain) and PSI2011-23702; PSI2012-31641 (MINECO, Spain).One hundred and fifty children between 4 and 6 years old were studied to examine the
effect of providing them with a choice of vegetables on their vegetable consumption.
Offering vegetable choice was expected to increase the childrenâs vegetable intake due
to increased personal autonomy. The option for the children to choose the vegetables to
ingest was varied across three different conditions. Within the discrete choice condition
(DCC), children could choose the target vegetable at the beginning of the meal; within
the continued discrete choice plus variety condition (CDCP), children were exposed to a
variety of vegetables (zucchini and green beans), so that they could choose the target
vegetable whenever they made a bite during the whole meal. Within the no-choice
condition (NCC), children were alternately exposed to only one kind of vegetable, so that
no choice possibility was provided. The choice conditions (CDCP and DCC) were
associated with higher vegetable intake, in comparison to the no-choice control
condition (NCC). No significant differences were found between the DCC and the CDCP
regarding participantsâ total vegetable intake. These results demonstrate the enhancing
effect of providing choice to increase vegetable intake in young children. A higher degree
of personal control and consequent level of intrinsic motivation is hypothesized to
underlie the effect of choice availability.Junta de AndalucĂa, grant HUM-02763PSI2011-23702; PSI2012-31641 (MINECO, Spain
Angiotensin II type 2 receptor as a novel activator of brown adipose tissue in obesity
The angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R) exerts vasorelaxant, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. In obesity, its activation counterbalances the adverse cardiovascular effects of angiotensin II mediated by the AT1R. Preliminary results indicate that it also promotes brown adipocyte differentiation in vitro. Our hypothesis is that AT2R activation could increase BAT mass and activity in obesity. Five-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were fed a standard or a high-fat (HF) diet for 6 weeks. Half of the animals were treated with compound 21 (C21), a selective AT2R agonist, (1 mg/kg/day) in the drinking water. Electron transport chain (ETC), oxidative phosphorylation, and UCP1 proteins were measured in the interscapular BAT (iBAT) and thoracic perivascular adipose tissue (tPVAT) as well as inflammatory and oxidative parameters. Differentiation and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in the presence of C21 was tested in brown preadipocytes. In vitro, C21-differentiated brown adipocytes showed an AT2R-dependent increase of differentiation markers (Ucp1, Cidea, Pparg) and increased basal and H+ leak-linked OCR. In vivo, HF-C21 mice showed increased iBAT mass compared to HF animals. Both their iBAT and tPVAT showed higher protein levels of the ETC protein complexes and UCP1, together with a reduction of inflammatory and oxidative markers. The activation of the AT2R increases BAT mass, mitochondrial activity, and reduces markers of tissue inflammation and oxidative stress in obesity. Therefore, insulin reduction and better vascular responses are achieved. Thus, the activation of the protective arm of the reninâangiotensin system arises as a promising tool in the treatment of obesity15 pĂĄgina
What format of treatment do patients with emotional disorders prefer and why? Implications for public mental health settings and policies
Objective
We analyzed the preference of three psychological intervention formatsâindividual, group,
and onlineâin a sample of 267 patients with a primary diagnosis of emotional disorder in
Spanish public mental health settings.
Method
We studied patientsâ preferences considering sociodemographic characteristics, diagnoses,
history of psychological treatments, number of sessions, and satisfaction with past
interventions.
Results
Most participants (85.4%) preferred psychological treatment in an individual format, 14.2%
in group, and 0.4% online. When comparing the people who chose individual and group
treatment, no demographic or clinical differences were found. The arguments against group
format were the lack of privacy and expression difficulties. Regarding online format, these
included being considered impersonal and ineffective.
Conclusion
The rejection of group and online psychotherapy formats allows us to define the actions we
should carry out in public mental health settings to improve the acceptance of more costeffective therapy formats
Diseño y puesta en marcha del curso MOOC: âDiversidad afectivo-sexual y por identidad de gĂ©nero en la Universidadâ
Memoria ID-125. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovaciĂłn docente, curso 2019-2020
Acquired and Innate Immunity Impairment and Severe Disseminated Mycobacterium genavense Infection in a Patient With a NF-ÎșB1 Deficiency
Background: NF-ÎșB1 is a master regulator of both acquired and innate responses. NFKB1 loss-of-function mutations elicit a wide clinical phenotype with asymptomatic individuals at one end of the spectrum and patients with common variable immunodeficiency, combined immunodeficiency or autoinflammation at the other. Impairment of acquired and innate immunity and disseminated Mycobacterium genavense infection expands the clinical and immunological phenotype of NF-ÎșB1 deficiency.Objective: Functional and molecular characterization of a patient with a novel phenotype of NF-ÎșB1 deficiency.Methods: Circulating T, B, dendritic cell subsets and innate or unconventional T-cells were quantified. The cytokine production in stimulated whole blood samples was assessed and molecular characterization by next generation sequencing and gene expression assays were also performed.Results: We report a patient presenting with features of combined immunodeficiency (CID) and disseminated Mycobacterium genavense infection. Sequencing of genomic DNA identified a novel synonymous mutation (c.705G > A) in NFKB1 gene which resulted in exon 8 skipping and haploinsufficiency of the NF-ÎșB1 subunit p50. The susceptibility to atypical mycobacterial infection has not been previously reported and may be the result of a dendritic cell deficiency. A selective deficiency of circulating follicular helper T (cTFH) cells responsible for mediating the differentiation of naive B cells into memory and plasma cells was also present in the patient. It could affect the maturation of innate or unconventional T cells where NF-ÎșB1 could also be involved.Conclusion: These findings showed that the role of NF-ÎșB1 in humans could be critical for the development of acquired and innate immunity and further highlights the role of human T cells in anti-mycobacterial immunity
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