CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Leaf-Cutter Ant Engineered Nest Soil CO2 Dynamics in a Neotropical Rainforest

Leaf-cutter ants are one of the most conspicuous inhabitants of New World forests and plantations. They amaze visitors and worry farmers when thousands of them march in endless parades carrying leaf fragments to their massive underground nests, or when they go back in the opposite direction to collect more. However, rather than eating the hundreds of kilograms of vegetation they harvest each year, they shred them to create a substrate to feed a fungus that has been their fundamental diet for 50 Ma. They are indeed the first farmers on Earth’s natural history and, as any farmer, they have learned to optimize the conditions required by their gardens by engineering their surroundings. Here we present a series of studies designed to shed light on the effects of leaf-cutter ants on soil CO2 dynamics in Neotropical soils, an important part of the rainforest carbon cycle. We studied soil CO2 concentrations at different depths in several nonnest, nest, and abandoned nest soils for three years to understand the seasonal effects of the nest structure in soil CO2. In two selected locations, we monitored soil CO2 concentrations at high frequency (every 30 minutes) along with soil moisture and soil temperature to understand the effect of weather in the short-term, and how the nest presence impacts their dynamics. In addition, we measured soil surface CO2 efflux with closed chambers, and nest vent efflux with our own novel flow-through chambers, which we describe for the first time, that we equipped with thermocouples to monitor temperature gradients. We present statistical and conceptual models to account for differences in soil CO2 and to understand the fluid dynamics of CO2 in nests. Nest soils exhibited lower CO2 accumulation than nonnest soils for the same precipitation amounts. During wet periods, soil CO2 concentrations increased across all depths, but were significantly less in nest than in nonnest soils. Differences were nonsignificant during drier periods. In the short-term, precipitation events impacted soil CO2 concentration more than any other variable, and dramatically increased tortuosity, which leaded to the observed seasonal increases of soil CO2 concentration during wet periods. Surface efflux was equal across nest and nonnest plots (5 μmol CO2 m-2 s-1), suggesting that nest soils do not have enhanced surface emissions. However, vent efflux was substantially (103 to 105 times) greater and followed a diel pattern driven by free convection (warm and moist, less dense air rises out the nest more markedly at night). Episodic wind-forced convection events also provide supplemental ventilation during the day. Nest tunnel CO2 concentrations were less than in soil, suggesting CO2 efflux from the soil matrix into the nest. This is supported by the short-term diel pattern showed in nest soil CO2 concentration that did not occur in nonnest soils, except for a very dry period (El Niño, 2016). Thanks to the nest structure, the nest air is better ventilated than the soil, and CO2 produced in the soil matrix finds a faster way out of the soil through the nest tunnels. The diel pattern in nest vent CO2 efflux seems to regulate the diffusion of CO2 from the soil matrix by affecting the CO2 concentration gradient. These findings indicate that leaf-cutter ant nests provide alternative transport pathways to soil CO2 that increase total emissions and decrease soil CO2 concentrations, and have a lasting impact. We estimate average greenhouse gas emissions of about 78 kg CO2eq nest-1 yr 1. At the ecosystem level, leaf-cutter ant nests can account for 0.2% to 1% of the total forest soil emissions. However, balancing vegetation inputs and emissions, and considering their carbon cycle, these ant nests are a net carbon store in the soil that can persist for a decade or more

Underrepresented, understudied, underserved: Gaps and opportunities for advancing justice in disadvantaged communities

A common approach in scientific research and policy is a commitment to develop projects or legislation trying to improve problems experienced by low-income and rural communities; however, lack of interaction with community members during the process tends to produce unsatisfactory results. We visited disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley of California and interviewed local stakeholders (community members and leaders, policy advocates, attorneys, and educators). Then we analyzed a corpus related to disadvantaged communities from a pool of California-related publications containing 154,000 scientific papers, 2.6 million newspaper articles, and 11,000 state legislation bills from 2017 to 2020 to estimate the frequency and quality of disadvantaged community representation. Here we present our findings describing the biases and gaps of knowledge by scientific papers, California newspaper articles, and legislation bills with respect to disadvantaged communities in California, and we suggest opportunities for scientists, media communicators, and policymakers to amplify the voices of these stakeholders. In all corpus categories, disadvantaged communities are underrepresented: about one in four Californians live in disadvantaged communities, but only one in 2000 news articles and scientific papers cover them. The concerns and priorities of disadvantaged communities do not match the public perspective of them depicted by the corpus. Developing effective policies requires addressing place-specific nuances and co-occurrence of structural inequities in partnership with local stakeholders. Holistic coverage in newspapers and community-based approaches are necessary platforms to increase awareness and sensibility about disadvantaged communities, helping tailor policy solutions, and building the political leverage needed to implement them

Managing aquifer recharge to overcome overdraft in the lower American river, California, USA

Frequent and prolonged droughts challenge groundwater sustainability in California but managing aquifer recharge can help to partially offset groundwater overdraft. Here, we use managed aquifer recharge (MAR) to examine potential benefits of adding an artificial recharge facility downstream from California’s Lower American River Basin, in part to prepare for drought. We use a statewide hydroeconomic model, CALVIN, which integrates hydrology, the economics of water scarcity cost and operations, environmental flow requirements, and other operational constraints, and allocates water monthly to minimize total scarcity and operating costs. This study considers a recharge facility with unconstrained and constrained flows. The results show that adding a recharge facility increases groundwater storage, reduces groundwater overdraft, and increases hydropower without substantially impacting environmental flows. Further, artificial recharge adds economic benefits by (1) reducing the combined costs of water shortage and surface water storage and (2) by increasing hydropower revenue. This study provides a benchmark tool to evaluate the economic feasibility and water supply reliability impacts of artificial recharge in California

Welcome to the Atta world: A framework for understanding the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem functions

1. Leaf‐cutter ants are a prominent feature in Neotropical ecosystems, but a comprehensive assessment of their effects on ecosystem functions is lacking. We reviewed the literature and used our own recent findings to identify knowledge gaps and develop a framework to quantify the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem processes. 2. Leaf‐cutter ants disturb the soil structure during nest excavation changing soil aeration and temperature. They mix relatively nutrient‐poor soil from deeper layers with the upper organic‐rich layers increasing the heterogeneity of carbon and nutrients within nest soils. 3. Leaf‐cutter ants account for about 25% of all herbivory in Neotropical forest ecosystems, moving 10%-15% of leaves in their foraging range to their nests. Fungal symbionts transform the fresh, nutrient‐rich vegetative material to produce hyphal nodules to feed the ants. Organic material from roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhances carbon and nutrient turnover in nest soils and creates biogeochemical hot spots. Breakdown of organic matter, microbial and ant respiration, and nest waste material decomposition result in increased CO2, CH4, and N2O production, but the build‐up of gases and heat within the nest is mitigated by the tunnel network ventilation system. Nest ventilation dynamics are challenging to measure without bias, and improved sensor systems would likely solve this problem. 4. Canopy gaps above leaf‐cutter ant nests change the light, wind and temperature regimes, which affects ecosystem processes. Nests differ in density and size depending on colony age, forest type and disturbance level and change over time resulting in spatial and temporal changes of ecosystem processes. These characteristics remain a challenge to evaluate rapidly and non‐destructively. 5. Addressing the knowledge gaps identified in this synthesis will bring insights into physical and biological processes driving biogeochemical cycles at the nest and ecosystem scale and will improve our understanding of ecosystem biogeochemical heterogeneity and larger scale ecological phenomena.National Science Foundation/[DEB-1442568]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DEB-1442537]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DEB-1442622]/NSF/Estados UnidosUniversidad de Costa Rica/[801-B4-527]/UCR/Costa RicaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Docencia::Salud::Facultad de Medicina::Escuela de MedicinaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Biología Celular y Molecular (CIBCM)UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Estructuras Microscópicas (CIEMIC