Combined zinc and nitrogen fertilization in different bread wheat genotypes grown under mediterranean conditions

The combined application of nitrogen (N) and zinc (Zn) appears to be a promising agronomic strategy for the biofortification with Zn. To evaluate such efficiency, a field experiment was conducted in south-eastern Portugal under Zn-deficient soil. Four advanced breeding lines and two commercial varieties of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were fertilized with five treatments: i) control, ii) two foliar Zn applications, iii) one foliar Zn+N application, iv) soil and two foliar Zn applications, and v) soil and one foliar Zn+N application. Grain Zn content varied greatly across treatments and INIAV-1 and the commercial varieties were the most interesting cultivars in all the treatments. Grain Zn concentrations higher than the target level of 38 mg Zn kg−1 were obtained only when two foliar Zn applications were applied, alone or in combination with soil Zn applications, and grain Zn bioavailability also was more adequate (phytate:Zn ratios similar to 15). Soil Zn application resulted in grain yield increases between 7–10%, which virtually offset the extra application cost. The combined soil and two foliar treatment could be a good option for biofortifying bread wheat under Zn-deficient soils

Climate-resilient and regenerative futures for Latin America and the Caribbean

Few events have had an impact as the global crisis caused by COVID-19. However, prior to the pandemic, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries already had severe problems in terms of inequality, environmental degradation, and dysfunctional political systems. Added to this are the growing challenges that climate change poses for this highly vulnerable region. This historic turning point represents a new call to consider future studies to re-imagine and reinvent alternative futures for the LAC region. For this paper, we conducted an in-depth qualitative futures study to identify how Latin American and Caribbean countries could build long-term resilience, focusing on adaptability to climate change risks, considering existing sustainable development challenges and the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic, environmental, and social aspects. This study's findings provide recommendations for policymakers and decision-makers to achieve sustainable futures for LAC. Finally, it reflects on the value of collective action for a future-proof region

The importance of plasma apolipoprotein E concentration in addition to its common polymorphism on inter-individual variation in lipid levels: results from Apo Europe

The ApoEurope group, collaborating centres, and their associated investigators: Portugal: Unidade de Química Clínica, Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Lisboa: Maria do Carmo Martins, Maria Odete Rodrigues, Maria Isabel Albergaria, Maria Liseta AlpendreInterindividual variation in the concentration of plasma lipids which are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) risk is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. This study investigates the effects of apoE genotype and plasma concentration on cholesterol and triglycerides (TG) levels in subjects from five countries: Finland, France, Northern Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Age and sex significantly influenced serum cholesterol, TG and apoE concentrations. The age effect differs in males and females. The allele frequencies of the apoE gene, one of the most widely studied CAD susceptibility genes, were determined: the epsilon2 allele frequency and the apoE concentration showed a north-south increasing gradient while the epsilon4 allele frequency showed the reverse. ApoE plays an important role in lipid metabolism. Total cholesterol and TG concentrations were significantly dependent on apoE genotype in both sexes. These differences in lipids between genotypes were more pronounced when plasma apoE concentrations were taken into account

Self-Assembled Monolayer of Cr7Ni Molecular Nanomagnets by Sublimation

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Tractography passes the test: Results from the diffusion-simulated connectivity (disco) challenge.

Estimating structural connectivity from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is a challenging task, partly due to the presence of false-positive connections and the misestimation of connection weights. Building on previous efforts, the MICCAI-CDMRI Diffusion-Simulated Connectivity (DiSCo) challenge was carried out to evaluate state-of-the-art connectivity methods using novel large-scale numerical phantoms. The diffusion signal for the phantoms was obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. The results of the challenge suggest that methods selected by the 14 teams participating in the challenge can provide high correlations between estimated and ground-truth connectivity weights, in complex numerical environments. Additionally, the methods used by the participating teams were able to accurately identify the binary connectivity of the numerical dataset. However, specific false positive and false negative connections were consistently estimated across all methods. Although the challenge dataset doesn't capture the complexity of a real brain, it provided unique data with known macrostructure and microstructure ground-truth properties to facilitate the development of connectivity estimation methods

International longitudinal registry of patients with atrial fibrillation and treated with rivaroxaban: RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting (RIVER)

Background Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment. Methods and results Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines). Conclusions The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world

Southern African Large Telescope Spectroscopy of BL Lacs for the CTA project

In the last two decades, very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy has reached maturity: over 200 sources have been detected, both Galactic and extragalactic, by ground-based experiments. At present, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) make up about 40% of the more than 200 sources detected at very high energies with ground-based telescopes, the majority of which are blazars, i.e. their jets are closely aligned with the line of sight to Earth and three quarters of which are classified as high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects. One challenge to studies of the cosmological evolution of BL Lacs is the difficulty of obtaining redshifts from their nearly featureless, continuum-dominated spectra. It is expected that a significant fraction of the AGN to be detected with the future Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory will have no spectroscopic redshifts, compromising the reliability of BL Lac population studies, particularly of their cosmic evolution. We started an effort in 2019 to measure the redshifts of a large fraction of the AGN that are likely to be detected with CTA, using the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). In this contribution, we present two results from an on-going SALT program focused on the determination of BL Lac object redshifts that will be relevant for the CTA observatory

Amazon tree dominance across forest strata

The forests of Amazonia are among the most biodiverse plant communities on Earth. Given the immediate threats posed by climate and land-use change, an improved understanding of how this extraordinary biodiversity is spatially organized is urgently required to develop effective conservation strategies. Most Amazonian tree species are extremely rare but a few are common across the region. Indeed, just 227 ‘hyperdominant’ species account for >50% of all individuals >10 cm diameter at 1.3 m in height. Yet, the degree to which the phenomenon of hyperdominance is sensitive to tree size, the extent to which the composition of dominant species changes with size class and how evolutionary history constrains tree hyperdominance, all remain unknown. Here, we use a large floristic dataset to show that, while hyperdominance is a universal phenomenon across forest strata, different species dominate the forest understory, midstory and canopy. We further find that, although species belonging to a range of phylogenetically dispersed lineages have become hyperdominant in small size classes, hyperdominants in large size classes are restricted to a few lineages. Our results demonstrate that it is essential to consider all forest strata to understand regional patterns of dominance and composition in Amazonia. More generally, through the lens of 654 hyperdominant species, we outline a tractable pathway for understanding the functioning of half of Amazonian forests across vertical strata and geographical locations

The ferrimagnetic compounds CoM[M′(EDTA)]2⋅4H2O(M,M′=Co,Ni) : Magnetic characterization of CoCo[Ni(EDTA)2]⋅4H2O

We report on the magnetic properties of the ordered bimetallic compound CoCo(NiEDTA)2⋅4H2O (abbreviated as [CoCoNi]). The structure consists of ordered bimetallic layers formed by alternating octahedral sites of Co and Ni(II); tetrahedral Co sites connect different Co‐Ni layers. We discuss the low‐dimensional ferrimagnetic behavior of this compound in terms of a model that assumes three spin sublattices exchange coupled by an Ising interaction