La colección de primates del Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Barcelona (España)

L'MCNB conserva un total de 309 exemplars de primats no humans. La col·lecció consta de 102 exemplars dissecats, 33 pells, 73 esquelets, 24 esquelets postcranials, vuit esquelets muntats, 54 cranis, tres animals sencers en alcohol i 31 mostres d'altres tipus (ossos o altres). Els darrers anys s'ha portat a terme una revisió completa i una reorganització de la col·lecció. Amb 39 gèneres, aquesta inclou una àmplia gamma de primats no humans. Conté mostres d'Àfrica, Àsia i Amèrica del Sud i Central, el 10,26% són estrepsirins, el 26,92% micos del Nou Món i el 62,18% micos del Vell Món. El Museu conserva algunes espècies en perill d'extinció o rares. En aquest treball es presenten els resultats de la revisió taxonòmica amb resultats actualitzats de les determinacions portades a terme, amb una llista completa de les mostres que inclou informació sobre l'edat, la classe i el tipus de mostra. Paraules clau: col·lecció de Ciències Naturals, primats, revisió.The Natural Science Museum of Barcelona (MCNB) houses a total of 309 specimens of non–human primates. The collection comprises 102 stuffed animals, 33 skins, 73 skeletons, 24 postcranial skeletons, eight mounted skeletons, 54 skulls, three whole animals in alcohol, and 31 other samples (bones and other). Over the last two years the collection has been completely reviewed and reorganized. The collection contains 39 genera and includes a wide range of extant non–human primates. It houses specimens from Africa, Asia and South and Central America, with 10.26% of samples being Strepsirrhines, 26.92% New World monkeys and 62.18% Old World monkeys. The Museum houses some endangered or rare species. In this work we present the contents of the recent review with new and pdated taxonomic attributions together with a complete list of samples that includes information on age, class and preservation status for each specimen. Key words: naturalistic collection, primates, review.El MCNB conserva un total de 309 ejemplares de primates no humanos. La colección consta de 102 ejemplares disecados, 33 pieles, 73 esqueletos, 24 esqueletos postcraneales, ocho esqueletos montados, 54 cráneos, tres animales enteros en alcohol, y 31 muestras de otro tipo (huesos y otros). En los últimos dos años se ha llevado a cabo una revisión completa y una reorganización de la colección. Con 39 géneros, la colección incluye una amplia gama de primates no humanos. Contiene muestras de África, Asia y América del Sur y Central, el 10,26% son estrepsirrinos, el 26,92% monos del Nuevo Mundo y el 62,18% del Viejo Mundo. El Museo alberga algunas especies en peligro de extinción o raras. En este trabajo se presentan los resultados de la revisión taxonómica con resultados actualizados de las determinaciones llevadas a cabo, con una lista completa de las muestras incluyendo información sobre la edad, la clase y el tipo de muestra. Palabras clave: colección de Ciencias Naturales, primates, revisión

Dietary betaine supplementation increases Fgf21 levels to improve glucose homeostasis and reduce hepatic lipid accumulation in mice

Identifying markers of human insulin resistance may permit development of new approaches for treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes. To this end, we analyzed the fasting plasma metabolome in metabolically characterized human volunteers across a spectrum of insulin resistance. We demonstrate that plasma betaine levels are reduced in insulin-resistant humans and correlate closely with insulin sensitivity. Moreover, betaine administration to mice with diet-induced obesity prevents the development of impaired glucose homeostasis, reduces hepatic lipid accumulation, increases white adipose oxidative capacity, and enhances whole-body energy expenditure. In parallel with these beneficial metabolic effects, betaine supplementation robustly increased hepatic and circulating fibroblast growth factor (Fgf)21 levels. Betaine administration failed to improve glucose homeostasis and liver fat content in Fgf21(-/-) mice, demonstrating that Fgf21 is necessary for betaine's beneficial effects. Together, these data indicate that dietary betaine increases Fgf21 levels to improve metabolic health in mice and suggest that betaine supplementation merits further investigation as a supplement for treatment or prevention of type 2 diabetes in humans

Early mobilisation in critically ill COVID-19 patients: a subanalysis of the ESICM-initiated UNITE-COVID observational study

Background Early mobilisation (EM) is an intervention that may improve the outcome of critically ill patients. There is limited data on EM in COVID-19 patients and its use during the first pandemic wave. Methods This is a pre-planned subanalysis of the ESICM UNITE-COVID, an international multicenter observational study involving critically ill COVID-19 patients in the ICU between February 15th and May 15th, 2020. We analysed variables associated with the initiation of EM (within 72 h of ICU admission) and explored the impact of EM on mortality, ICU and hospital length of stay, as well as discharge location. Statistical analyses were done using (generalised) linear mixed-effect models and ANOVAs. Results Mobilisation data from 4190 patients from 280 ICUs in 45 countries were analysed. 1114 (26.6%) of these patients received mobilisation within 72 h after ICU admission; 3076 (73.4%) did not. In our analysis of factors associated with EM, mechanical ventilation at admission (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.25, 0.35; p = 0.001), higher age (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98, 1.00; p ≤ 0.001), pre-existing asthma (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.73, 0.98; p = 0.028), and pre-existing kidney disease (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.71, 0.99; p = 0.036) were negatively associated with the initiation of EM. EM was associated with a higher chance of being discharged home (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.08, 1.58; p = 0.007) but was not associated with length of stay in ICU (adj. difference 0.91 days; 95% CI − 0.47, 1.37, p = 0.34) and hospital (adj. difference 1.4 days; 95% CI − 0.62, 2.35, p = 0.24) or mortality (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.7, 1.09, p = 0.24) when adjusted for covariates. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that a quarter of COVID-19 patients received EM. There was no association found between EM in COVID-19 patients' ICU and hospital length of stay or mortality. However, EM in COVID-19 patients was associated with increased odds of being discharged home rather than to a care facility. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04836065 (retrospectively registered April 8th 2021)

New molecular challenges in animal conservation

The contribution of genetics to wildlife conservation has been stressed often forgetting the existing theoretical and empirical limitations in the use of genetic information to solve ecological and demographic problems. The possibilities of molecular analyses are extensive and the automation of procedures is increasing the efficiency and reducing the cost of molecular technology. With large amounts of molecular data already available, the interest is switching towards the analysis of these data and the interpretation of genetic variability within and across species from a functional perspective. The understanding of the link between genetic variation and fitness or survival is essential in conservation biology and this understanding needs the combination of molecular data with non-molecular (e.g. physiological, behavioural and ecological) data. Progress in this promising field will depend on the trust and collaboration between molecular and field biologists

Warming and CO2 Enhance Arctic Heterotrophic Microbial Activity

Ocean acidification and warming are two main consequences of climate change that can directly affect biological and ecosystem processes in marine habitats. The Arctic Ocean is the region of the world experiencing climate change at the steepest rate compared with other latitudes. Since marine planktonic microorganisms play a key role in the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean it is crucial to simultaneously evaluate the effect of warming and increasing CO2 on marine microbial communities. In 20 L experimental microcosms filled with water from a high-Arctic fjord (Svalbard), we examined changes in phototrophic and heterotrophic microbial abundances and processes [bacterial production (BP) and mortality], and viral activity (lytic and lysogenic) in relation to warming and elevated CO2. The summer microbial plankton community living at 1.4◦C in situ temperature, was exposed to increased CO2 concentrations (135–2,318 µatm) in three controlled temperature treatments (1, 6, and 10◦C) at the UNIS installations in Longyearbyen (Svalbard), in summer 2010. Results showed that chlorophyll a concentration decreased at increasing temperatures, while BP significantly increased with pCO2 at 6 and 10◦C. Lytic viral production was not affected by changes in pCO2 and temperature, while lysogeny increased significantly at increasing levels of pCO2, especially at 10◦C (R 2 = 0.858, p = 0.02). Moreover, protistan grazing rates showed a positive interaction between pCO2 and temperature. The averaged percentage of bacteria grazed per day was higher (19.56 ± 2.77% d−1 ) than the averaged percentage of lysed bacteria by virus (7.18 ± 1.50% d−1 ) for all treatments. Furthermore, the relationship among microbial abundances and processes showed that BP was significantly related to phototrophic pico/nanoflagellate abundance in the 1 ◦C and the 6◦C treatments, and BP triggered viral activity, mainly lysogeny at 6 and 10◦C, while bacterial mortality rates was significantly related to bacterial abundances at 6 ◦C. Consequently, our experimental results suggested that future increases in water temperature and pCO2 in Arctic waters will produce a decrease of phytoplankton biomass, enhancement of BP and changes in the carbon fluxes within the microbial food web. All these heterotrophic processes will contribute to weakening the CO2 sink capacity of the Arctic plankton community

Evaluating the potential of LiDAR data for fire damage assessment: A radiative transfer model approach

Providing accurate information on fire effects is critical to understanding post-fire ecological processes and to design appropriate land management strategies. Multispectral imagery from optical passive sensors is commonly used to estimate fire damage, yet this type of data is only sensitive to the effects in the upper canopy. This paper evaluates the sensitivity of full waveform LiDAR data to estimate the severity of wildfires using a 3D radiative transfer model approach. The approach represents the first attempt to evaluate the effect of different fire impacts, i.e. changes in vegetation structure as well as soil and leaf color, on the LiDAR signal. The FLIGHT 3D radiative transfer model was employed to simulate full waveform data for 10 plots representative of Mediterranean ecosystems along with a wide range of post-fire scenarios characterized by different severity levels, as defined by the composite burn index (CBI). A new metric is proposed, the waveform area relative change (WARC), which provides a comprehensive severity assessment considering all strata and accounting for changes in structure and leaf and soil color. It showed a strong correlation with CBI values (Spearman's Rho = 0.9 ± 0.02), outperforming the relative change of LiDAR metrics commonly applied for vegetation modeling, such as the relative height of energy quantiles (Spearman's Rho = 0.56 ± 0.07, for the relative change of RH60, the second strongest correlation). Logarithmic models fitted for each plot based on the WARC yielded very good performance with R2 (± standard deviation) and RMSE (± standard deviation) of 0.8 (± 0.05) and 0.22 (± 0.03), respectively. LiDAR metrics were evaluated over the King Fire, California, U.S., for which pre- and post-fire discrete return airborne LiDAR data were available. Pseudo-waveforms were computed after radiometric normalization of the intensity data. The WARC showed again the strongest correlation with field measures of GeoCBI values (Spearman's Rho = 0.91), closely followed by the relative change of RH40 (Spearman's Rho = 0.89). The logarithmic model fitted using WARC offered an R2 of 0.78 and a RMSE of 0.37. The accurate results obtained for the King Fire, with very different vegetation characteristics compared to our simulated data, demonstrate the robustness of the new metric proposed and its generalization capabilities to estimate the severity of fires.Peer reviewe

Dietary betaine supplementation increases Fgf21 levels to improve glucose homeostasis and reduce hepatic lipid accumulation in mice

Identifying markers of human insulin resistance may permit development of new approaches for treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes. To this end, we analyzed the fasting plasma metabolome in metabolically characterized human volunteers across a spectrum of insulin resistance. We demonstrate that plasma betaine levels are reduced in insulin-resistant humans and correlate closely with insulin sensitivity. Moreover, betaine administration to mice with diet-induced obesity prevents the development of impaired glucose homeostasis, reduces hepatic lipid accumulation, increases white adipose oxidative capacity, and enhances whole-body energy expenditure. In parallel with these beneficial metabolic effects, betaine supplementation robustly increased hepatic and circulating fibroblast growth factor (Fgf)21 levels. Betaine administration failed to improve glucose homeostasis and liver fat content in Fgf21(-/-) mice, demonstrating that Fgf21 is necessary for betaine's beneficial effects. Together, these data indicate that dietary betaine increases Fgf21 levels to improve metabolic health in mice and suggest that betaine supplementation merits further investigation as a supplement for treatment or prevention of type 2 diabetes in humans

Dietary betaine supplementation increases Fgf21 levels to improve glucose homeostasis and reduce hepatic lipid accumulation in mice

Identifying markers of human insulin resistance may permit development of new approaches for treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes. To this end, we analyzed the fasting plasma metabolome in metabolically characterized human volunteers across a spectrum of insulin resistance. We demonstrate that plasma betaine levels are reduced in insulin-resistant humans and correlate closely with insulin sensitivity. Moreover, betaine administration to mice with diet-induced obesity prevents the development of impaired glucose homeostasis, reduces hepatic lipid accumulation, increases white adipose oxidative capacity, and enhances whole-body energy expenditure. In parallel with these beneficial metabolic effects, betaine supplementation robustly increased hepatic and circulating fibroblast growth factor (Fgf)21 levels. Betaine administration failed to improve glucose homeostasis and liver fat content in Fgf21(-/-) mice, demonstrating that Fgf21 is necessary for betaine's beneficial effects. Together, these data indicate that dietary betaine increases Fgf21 levels to improve metabolic health in mice and suggest that betaine supplementation merits further investigation as a supplement for treatment or prevention of type 2 diabetes in humans