Economic mapping and assessment of Cymodocea nodosa meadows as nursery grounds for commercially important fish species. A case study in the Canary Islands

Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows provide several socio-economically ecosystem services, including nurseries for numerous species of commercial interest. These seagrasses are experiencing a worldwide decline, with global loss rates approaching 5% per year, mainly related to coastal human activities. Cymodocea nodosa, the predominant seagrass in the Canary Archipelago (Spain), is also exposed to these threats, which could lead to habitat loss or even local disappearance. In this case study, we estimated the potential economic value of Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadows for local fisheries at an archipelago scale. Habitat suitability maps were constructed using MAXENT 3.4.1, a software for modelling species distributions by applying a maximum entropy machine-learning method, from a set of environmental variables and presence and background records extracted from historical cartographies. This model allows characterising and assessing the C. nodosa habitat suitability, overcoming the implicit complexity derived from seasonal changes in this species highly dynamic meadows and using it as a first step for the mapping and assessment of ecosystem services. In a second step, value transfer methodologies were used, along with published economic valuations of commercially-interesting fish species related to C. nodosa meadows. We estimate that the potential monetary value of these species can add up to more than 3 million euros per year for the entire Archipelago. The simplicity of the proposed methodology facilitates its repeatability in other similar regions, using freely available data and hence, being suitable for data-scarce scenarios.En prens

Herbivory drives kelp recruits into ‘hiding’ in a warm ocean climate

Assessing effects of herbivory across broad gradients of varying ocean climate conditions and over small spatial scales is crucial for understand- ing its influence on primary producers. Effects of her- bivory on the distribution and abundance of kelp re- cruits were examined experimentally at two regions under contrasting ocean climate. Specifically, the abundance and survivorship of kelp recruits and the abundance of macro-herbivores were compared be- tween a ‘cool’ and a ‘warm’ region in northern and central Portugal, respectively. In each region, the abundance of kelp recruits and the intensity of grazing were compared between habitats of different topography within reefs (open reef vs. crevices). Com- pared to the ‘warm’ region, the abundance of kelp re- cruits was 3.9 times greater in the ‘cool’ region, where 85% of recruits were found in open reef habitats. In contrast, 87% of recruits in the ‘warm’ region were re- stricted to crevices. The ‘warm’ region had 140 times greater abundances of sea urchins, 45 times more herbivorous fish and 4.1 times more grazing marks on kelp recruits than the ‘cool’ region. Grazing assays showed ca. 50 times higher rates of kelp biomass con- sumption, mainly by fishes, and zero survivorship of kelp recruits in the ‘warm’ relative to the ‘cool’ region. This study suggests both temperature and herbivores affect abundances of kelp recruits across latitudes, and demonstrates how herbivores affect their distri- bution at local scales, driving kelp recruits into ‘hiding’ in crevices under intense herbivory. Conse- quently, where net recruitment success is compro- mised by herbivory, the persistence of kelps will be contingent on availability of topographical refuges

VIPR: A probabilistic algorithm for analysis of microbial detection microarrays

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>All infectious disease oriented clinical diagnostic assays in use today focus on detecting the presence of a single, well defined target agent or a set of agents. In recent years, microarray-based diagnostics have been developed that greatly facilitate the highly parallel detection of multiple microbes that may be present in a given clinical specimen. While several algorithms have been described for interpretation of diagnostic microarrays, none of the existing approaches is capable of incorporating training data generated from positive control samples to improve performance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To specifically address this issue we have developed a novel interpretive algorithm, VIPR (<b>V</b>iral <b>I</b>dentification using a <b>PR</b>obabilistic algorithm), which uses Bayesian inference to capitalize on empirical training data to optimize detection sensitivity. To illustrate this approach, we have focused on the detection of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever (HF) using a custom HF-virus microarray. VIPR was used to analyze 110 empirical microarray hybridizations generated from 33 distinct virus species. An accuracy of 94% was achieved as measured by leave-one-out cross validation. <it>Conclusions</it></p> <p>VIPR outperformed previously described algorithms for this dataset. The VIPR algorithm has potential to be broadly applicable to clinical diagnostic settings, wherein positive controls are typically readily available for generation of training data.</p

Relationship between serum prolactin levels and protein composition of breast secretions in nonlactating women

En esta interesante se describe la relación entre los niveles séricos de prolactina (PRL) basales y tras estimulación con hormona liberadora de tirotropina (TRH), y la composición proteica de la secreción del pezón en 54 mujeres premenopáusicas y no lactantes durante la fase lútea de su ciclo menstrual. Las mujeres incluidas en este estudio se clasificaron en cuatro grupos teniendo en cuenta la presencia o ausencia de patología mamaria y el patrón proteico de sus secreciones mamarias. Los fluidos mamarios tipo I contenían Zn-α2-glicoproteina, apolipoproteina D y la proteína 15 de la enfermedad macroquistica mamaria; mientras que los fluidos tipo II se caracterizaron por la presencia de algunas proteínas de la leche como la lactoferrina, lisozima y α-lactoalbumina. Los niveles basales de PRL, progesterona, LH, FSH, T3 y T4 estuvieron dentro de rangos normales y no se identificó ninguna diferencia entre los grupos de mujeres incluidas en el estudio. Sin embargo, después de una prueba de estimulación con TRH si se objetivaron diferencias entre los grupos. En ausencia de patología mamaria, el aumento de PRL fue significativamente superior en mujeres con secreciones tipo II frente a las que tenían secreción tipo I (64 ± 6.8 µg/L vs. 7 ± 3.9 µg/L, p<0.02). De manera similar, cuando se consideraron las concentraciones de PRL en pacientes con enfermedad mamaria benigna, aquellas con fluidos mamarios tipo II tuvieron un aumento de la PRL significativamente superior en comparación con las que tenían fluidos a las que les faltaban estas proteínas (77.1 ± 6.2 µg/L vs. 58.8 ± 5.1 µg/L; P<0.05). Estos resultados muestran que la presencia de proteínas de la leche en la secreción del pezón de mujeres no lactantes se asocia con un incremento de la PRL en el suero tras la estimulación con TRH. Con ello, se abre la posibilidad de utilizar este análisis como un procedimiento no invasivo para el estudio en el efecto putativo de la PRL en el desarrollo de enfermedades mamarias benignas y malignas.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, Plan Nacional de I

Climate-driven regime shift of a temperate marine ecosystem.

Ecosystem reconfigurations arising from climate-driven changes in species distributions are expected to have profound ecological, social, and economic implications. Here we reveal a rapid climate-driven regime shift of Australian temperate reef communities, which lost their defining kelp forests and became dominated by persistent seaweed turfs. After decades of ocean warming, extreme marine heat waves forced a 100-kilometer range contraction of extensive kelp forests and saw temperate species replaced by seaweeds, invertebrates, corals, and fishes characteristic of subtropical and tropical waters. This community-wide tropicalization fundamentally altered key ecological processes, suppressing the recovery of kelp forests

MRI Surveillance and Breast Cancer Mortality in Women With <i>BRCA1</i> and <i>BRCA2</i> Sequence Variations

Importance: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) surveillance is offered to women with a pathogenic variant in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene who face a high lifetime risk of breast cancer. Surveillance with MRI is effective in downstaging breast cancers, but the association of MRI surveillance with mortality risk has not been well defined. Objective: To compare breast cancer mortality rates in women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 sequence variation who entered an MRI surveillance program with those who did not. Design, Setting, and Participants: Women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 sequence variation were identified from 59 participating centers in 11 countries. Participants completed a baseline questionnaire between 1995 and 2015 and a follow-up questionnaire every 2 years to document screening histories, incident cancers, and vital status. Women who had breast cancer, a screening MRI examination, or bilateral mastectomy prior to enrollment were excluded. Participants were followed up from age 30 years (or the date of the baseline questionnaire, whichever was later) until age 75 years, the last follow-up, or death from breast cancer. Data were analyzed from January 1 to July 31, 2023. Exposures: Entrance into an MRI surveillance program. Main Outcomes and Measures: Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for breast cancer mortality associated with MRI surveillance compared with no MRI surveillance using a time-dependent analysis. Results: A total of 2488 women (mean [range] age at study entry 41.2 [30-69] years), with a sequence variation in the BRCA1 (n = 2004) or BRCA2 (n = 484) genes were included in the analysis. Of these participants, 1756 (70.6%) had at least 1 screening MRI examination and 732 women (29.4%) did not. After a mean follow-up of 9.2 years, 344 women (13.8%) developed breast cancer and 35 women (1.4%) died of breast cancer. The age-adjusted HRs for breast cancer mortality associated with entering an MRI surveillance program were 0.20 (95% CI, 0.10-0.43; P  Conclusion and Relevance: Results of this cohort study suggest that among women with a BRCA1 sequence variation, MRI surveillance was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer mortality compared with no MRI surveillance. Further studies of women with BRCA2 sequence variations are needed to ascertain these women obtain the same benefits associated with MRI surveillance.</p

Recent trend reversal for declining European seagrass meadows

Seagrass meadows, key ecosystems supporting fisheries, carbon sequestration and coastal protection, are globally threatened. In Europe, loss and recovery of seagrasses are reported, but the changes in extent and density at the continental scale remain unclear. Here we collate assessments of changes from 1869 to 2016 and show that 1/3 of European seagrass area was lost due to disease, deteriorated water quality, and coastal development, with losses peaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, loss rates slowed down for most of the species and fastgrowing species recovered in some locations, making the net rate of change in seagrass area experience a reversal in the 2000s, while density metrics improved or remained stable in most sites. Our results demonstrate that decline is not the generalised state among seagrasses nowadays in Europe, in contrast with global assessments, and that deceleration and reversal of declining trends is possible, expectingly bringing back the services they provide

Using Genome and Transcriptome Data From African-Ancestry Female Participants To Identify Putative Breast Cancer Susceptibility Genes

African-ancestry (AA) participants are underrepresented in genetics research. Here, we conducted a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) in AA female participants to identify putative breast cancer susceptibility genes. We built genetic models to predict levels of gene expression, exon junction, and 3\u27 UTR alternative polyadenylation using genomic and transcriptomic data generated in normal breast tissues from 150 AA participants and then used these models to perform association analyses using genomic data from 18,034 cases and 22,104 controls. At Bonferroni-corrected P \u3c 0.05, we identified six genes associated with breast cancer risk, including four genes not previously reported (CTD-3080P12.3, EN1, LINC01956 and NUP210L). Most of these genes showed a stronger association with risk of estrogen-receptor (ER) negative or triple-negative than ER-positive breast cancer. We also replicated the associations with 29 genes reported in previous TWAS at P \u3c 0.05 (one-sided), providing further support for an association of these genes with breast cancer risk. Our study sheds new light on the genetic basis of breast cancer and highlights the value of conducting research in AA populations

Regresión de las algas marinas en las Islas Canarias y en la costa atlántica de la Península Ibérica por efecto del cambio climático

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