Regulation of bistability in the std fimbrial operon of Salmonella enterica by DNA adenine methylation and transcription factors HdfR, StdE and StdF

Bistable expression of the Salmonella enterica std operon is controlled by an AND logic gate involving three transcriptional activators: the LysR-type factor HdfR and the StdE and StdF regulators encoded by the std operon itself. StdE activates transcription of the hdfR gene, and StdF activates std transcription together with HdfR. Binding of HdfR upstream of the std promoter is hindered by methylation of GATC sites located within the upstream activating sequence (UAS). Epigenetic control by Dam methylation thus antagonizes formation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and tilts the std switch toward the StdOFF state. In turn, HdfR binding hinders methylation of the UAS, permitting activation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and concomitant formation of StdON cells. Bistability is thus the outcome of competition between DNA adenine methylation and the StdE-StdF-HdfR activator loop.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [BIO2016–75235-P

Microclimate accounts for demographic, morphological and reproductive differentiation of two neighbour peripheral populations of the canopy-forming Fucus guiryi

Demography, reproductive ecology and thermal regime of Fucus guiryi from the Strait of Gibraltar was monitored between 2018-2019, at two populations ca. 7 km apart (Tarifa and Guadalmesí, South Spain). Due to its peripheral and southern range distribution, they are characterized by low population density and minimum length of reproductive individuals, shorter individuals, and higher individual bushiness in comparison to their northern counterparts. Significant interactions were detected among populations and sampling locations and related to local environmental conditions. Tarifa population had higher population density, cover, extent, and more aggregated individuals, while Guadalmesí had a patchier distribution. Outside the canopies of F. guiryi in Tarifa there is a plethora of biota growing on the numerous protruding rocks, leading to varying microhabitats, while at Guadalmesí, there is only barnacle-covered bare rock. Accordingly, specimens from Tarifa had greater mean and maximum individual lengths, a higher minimum length of reproductive individuals, a greater proportion of mature receptacles and higher individual bushiness. Thermal regime and wave exposure confirmed that F. guiryi from Guadalmesí is exposed to higher disruptive stress due to higher summer temperatures, which is less buffered due to its distribution. Between summer and fall 2018, high summer air temperatures, exceeding overall mean historical records, caused the breakage of apical fronds at Guadalmesí, disrupting the expected parallel seasonal dynamics. Thallus height declined towards the upper intertidal limits to a similar extent in both populations. Canopies of F. guiryi ameliorated understory microclimatic conditions, by reducing the temperature in 5-7ºC and surface irradiance by 10-16%. Demographic, morphological and reproduction-related variables from these populations consistently “fit in” the core to edge trends reported along Portuguese Iberian coasts.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Emotional Intelligence, Sense of Coherence, Engagement and Coping: A Cross-Sectional Study of University Students’ Health

11 páginasIt is important to consider university settings as sustainable environments that promote student well-being. Our aim in this study was to determine how the variables of engagement, emotional intelligence, sense of coherence, and coping influence the health of students at a Spanish university. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The instruments of measures administered were: The General Health Questionnaire, Trait Meta-Mood Scale, UterchWork Engagement Scale, sense of coherence and brief coping scale to 463 students. The results showed that better-perceived health was associated with higher scores for dedication, vigor, clarity, repair, sense of coherence, active coping, positive reframing, and humor. Conversely, poorer perceived health was associated with higher scores for attention, instrumental support, self-distraction, venting, religion, denial, self-blaming, emotional support, and behavioral disengagement. In addition, the variables analyzed presented di erences by sex. Our proposed predictive model of health and the associations between variables indicate the need to cultivate emotional skills, such as mood repair, a sense of coherence, and coping strategies, in order to promote student health. Facilitating students’ acquisition of knowledge and resources by analyzing these and other variables can contribute to individual well-being and help university students to cope with present and future academic challenges.S

SBAR Method for Improving Well-Being in the Internal Medicine Unit: Quasi-Experimental Research

SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) is a tool for standardizing and improving interprofessional communication. This study aims to explore the impact of SBAR in healthcare professionals’ wellbeing, through concepts such as job satisfaction, engagement, resilience, and job performance, in the internal medicine unit of a university hospital in the province of León (Spain). This is an observational, descriptive, longitudinal case study with a pre- and post-intervention approach. Questionnaires were distributed to a group of doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants before and after the implementation of the SBAR tool in the ward. The use of SBAR was monitored to ensure staff compliance. Data statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS program. Resilience levels increased significantly post-intervention. Job satisfaction and engagement levels remained neutral, slightly decreasing post-intervention. Besides’ being a useful tool to improve communication, SBAR was effective in improving resilience among staff. Several aspects related to hospital management may have had an impact on job satisfaction and engagement results.S

Multidimensional Indicators of the Quality of Life in the Countries of the EU. Changes in Weights

En los últimos años han proliferado los estudios empíricos de la calidad de vida a partir de diferentes indicadores. El objetivo de este trabajo es construir indicadores sintéticos que cuantifiquen la calidad de vida en los países de la UE-27, con los datos de EUROSTAT para el año 2020. Los indicadores individuales los agruparemos en 9 dimensiones utilizando la metodología de Mazziota-Pareto (IMP) y esas dimensiones las sintetizaremos en un indicador global suponiendo ponderaciones iguales. Para el cálculo de las ponderaciones proponemos un método basado en las correlaciones entre las dimensiones, resultando que las condiciones materiales tienen la ponderación más alta. Estas nuevas ponderaciones modifican los indicadores de calidad de vida de los países; sin embargo, no varían sustancialmente las posiciones de los países en la comparativa entre ellos.In recent years, empirical studies of quality of life based on different indicators have proliferated. The objective of this work is to build synthetic indicators that quantify the quality of life in the EU-27 countries, with EUROSTAT data for the year 2020. We will group the individual indicators into 9 dimensions using the Mazziota-Pareto (IMP) methodology and we will synthesize these dimensions in a global indicator assuming equal weightings. For the calculation of the weights, we propose a method based on the correlations between the dimensions, resulting in the material conditions having the highest weighting. These new weights modify the quality of life indicators of the countries; however, the positions of the countries in the comparison between them do not vary substantially

How can seasonality modulate thermal sensitivity in early stages of fucoids?: The colder, the better

In the face of ocean global change, determining critical thermal thresholds for marine organisms is a key aspect to predict the survival and persistence of populations, particularly those from rear-edge areas. Seasonal variability implies acclimation of adult individuals, which might result in shifting thermal sensitivities of their recruits. In this work, we aimed to investigate the influence of natural seasonal parental acclimation on the warming response of single- and few-celled stages of Fucus guiryi, a monoecious fucoid from the east Atlantic coast and Strait of Gibraltar, whose populations are iteroparous. To address this, we obtained embryos from fertile thalli collected in early summer, late summer, and winter. In the three replicate experiments under laboratory-controlled conditions, we followed growth, development, survival, and photosynthetic responses of embryos exposed to control (15ºC) and warming conditions (25ºC) for 3 weeks, and initial elemental composition was characterized. Our findings revealed that breeding from winter parents possessed broader thermal sensitivity and thrived better under warming conditions than those from summer specimens, where only 50% survived and experience 75% reductions in photosynthetic rates. Nevertheless, there was a significant gain in thermal resilience from early to late summer regarding survival at 25º C. This research highlighted that warmer winters would not potentially harm new recruits, while extreme temperature events in early summer might compromise the survival of the most sensitive early summer recruits, considering the RCP8.5 predictions for 2050. The influence of parental and provisioning effects and how this might be applied to ecological restoration is discussed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Stress, Emotional Intelligence and the Intention to Use Cannabis in Spanish Adolescents: Influence of COVID-19 Confinement

The disease brought about by the SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 coronavirus has had an unprecedented global impact. Confinement to control the outbreak may have mental health consequences for the most vulnerable in the population, including adolescents. This study aims to describe and analyze the relationships between the stress variables, Emotional Intelligence and the intention to use cannabis in healthy adolescents, before and after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic containment stage. A comparative correlational study was carried out with validated self-completed questionnaires through an online platform. The sample is made up of adolescents (n = 300) aged 13-17 from two different schools in Ponferrada (León, Spain). The analysis of correlation and differences between the groups indicate that confinement has had effects on the mental health of the adolescents, specifically on the emotional manifestations of stress. Furthermore, significant gender differences were found for stress values and Emotional Intelligence. However, no differences have been found for cannabis use intention.S

Leadership and contagion by COVID-19 among residence hall students: A social network analysis approach

University students have changed their behaviour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we describe the characteristics of PCR+ and PCR- nodes, analyse the structure, and relate the structure of student leaders to pandemic contagion as determined by PCR+ in 93 residential university students. Leadership comes from the male students of social science degrees who have PCR +, with an eigenvector centrality structure, β-centrality, and who are part of the bow-tie structure. There was a significant difference in β-centrality between leaders and non-leaders and in β-centrality between PCR+ and non-leaders. Leading nodes were part of the bow-tie structure. MR-QAP results show how residence and scientific branch were the most important factors in network formation. Therefore, university leaders should consider influential leaders, as they are vectors for disseminating both positive and negative outcomes.S

Resilience of a warm-temperate fucoid to a simulated marine heatwave: Exploring the interplay between life stages and tissues in relation to emersion.

Oral communication presented at Symposia 8 "Algal photosynthesis, carbon fixation and respiration"Marine heatwaves (MHW) represent one of the main climatic threats for seaweed assemblages, altering their functioning, structure, and ecosystem services. Experimental simulations allow to assess the potential impacts of MHWs, given the unpredictability of these events and frequently, the lack of responsive workflows to access the target population during these events. This study explored the ability of the warm-temperate intertidal fucoid Fucus guiryi to respond to a simulated MHW. We aimed to evaluate the intraspecific response of different life stages (adult/juvenile/recruit) and blade types (vegetative / fertile−receptacles) in response to emersion, and to ascertain whether previous moderate MHWs in the area might impact its recruitment. The experimental design accounted for daily thermal and emersion fluctuations considering the most intense registered MHW event and maximum air temperatures in the study area. Photophysiological evaluation revealed that receptacles were the most resilient tissue to the combined effects of heat and emersion, followed by canopy-protected embryos. Vegetative apices and plantlets exhibited marked declines in Fv/Fm, ETRmax and NPQmax close to the MHW peak, due to the additive stressors, while embryos were more affected by the end of the experiment. During the recovery and end phases, recruit density dropped by 50% in the MHW treatment, being 80% of extruded structures unfertilized egg packets, while in the control treatment recruitment was successful and up to 35-times higher. Fucus guiryi was able to recover from the MHW, but more intense and frequent events might affect their reproductive output and compromise its long-term survival.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Evidence for Involvement of the Salmonella enterica Z-Ring Assembly Factors ZapA and ZapB in Resistance to Bile

Genes annotated as ygfE and yiiU in the genome of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium encode proteins homologous to Escherichia coli cell division factors ZapA and ZapB, respectively. ZapA− and ZapB− mutants of S. enterica are bile-sensitive. The amount of zapB mRNA increases in the presence of a sublethal concentration of sodium deoxycholate (DOC) while zapA mRNA remains unaffected. Increased zapB mRNA level in the presence of DOC is not caused by upregulation of zapB transcription but by increased stability of zapB mRNA. This increase is suppressed by an hfq mutation, suggesting the involvement of a small regulatory RNA. We provide evidence that such sRNA is MicA. The ZapB protein is degraded in the presence of DOC, and degradation appears to involve the Lon protease. We propose that increased stability of zapB mRNA in the presence of DOC may counter degradation of bile-damaged ZapB, thereby providing sufficient level of functional ZapB protein to permit Z-ring assembly in the presence of bile.España , Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad BIO2016-75235-