CONTRIBUTO DA CITOMETRIA DE FLUXO PARA O ESTUDO DOS RETICULÓCITOS

Os reticulócitos são eritrócitos jovens cuja presença no sangue periférico (SP) reflecte a actividade eritropoiética da medula óssea. Assim e apesar de, em determinadas situações de stress ou em diversas patologias hematológicas, se poderem encontrar no SP reticulócitos em diferentes estadios de maturação,pouco se sabe acerca deles. Este trabalho teve como objectivo caracterizar fenotipicamente as várias fases de maturação dos reticulócitos por citometria de fluxo (CF)

A lionfish (Pterois miles) invasion has begun in the Mediterranean Sea

Until now, few sightings of the alien lionfish Pterois miles have been reported in the Mediterranean and it was questionable whether the species could invade this region like it has in the western Atlantic. Here, we present evidence from divers and fishermen that lionfish have recently increased in abundance and within a year colonised almost the entire south eastern coast of Cyprus, likely due to sea surface warming. At least 23 different fish are reported of which 6 were removed. Groups of lionfish exhibiting mating behaviour have been noted for the first time in the Mediterranean. Managers need this information and should alert stakeholders to the potential ecological and socio-economic impacts that may arise from a lionfish invasion. Actions could involve incentives to engage divers and fishermen in lionfish removal programmes, as these have worked well at shallow depths in the Caribbean. Given that the Suez Canal has recently been widened and deepened, measures will need to be put in place to help prevent further invasion

Successful application of ancient DNA extraction and library construction protocols to museum wet collection specimens

Millions of scientific specimens are housed in museum collections, a large part of which are fluid preserved. The use of formaldehyde as fixative and subsequent storage in ethanol is especially common in ichthyology and herpetology. This type of preservation damages DNA and reduces the chance of successful retrieval of genetic data. We applied ancient DNA extraction and single stranded library construction protocols to a variety of vertebrate samples obtained from wet collections and of different ages. Our results show that almost all samples tested yielded endogenous DNA. Archival DNA extraction was successful across different tissue types as well as using small amounts of tissue. Conversion of archival DNA fragments into single-stranded libraries resulted in usable data even for samples with initially undetectable DNA amounts. Subsequent target capture approaches for mitochondrial DNA using homemade baits on a subset of 30 samples resulted in almost complete mitochondrial genome sequences in several instances. Thus, application of ancient DNA methodology makes wet collection specimens, including type material as well as rare, old or extinct species, accessible for genetic and genomic analyses. Our results, accompanied by detailed step-by-step protocols, are a large step forward to open the DNA archive of museum wet collections for scientific studies

Les estratègies de legitimació dels grups religiosos minoritaris

Al llarg de la història els grups dominants han utilitzat la seva posició privilegiada per estigmatitzar com a sectàries totes aquelles iniciatives religioses que poguessin qüestionar l'ordre social existent. En una societat pluralista, els grups poden desenvolupar estratègies de legitimació per fer front a aquest greuge que els deixa en una situació d'inferioritat per competir en el mercat religiós. La primera part del treball se centra justament en la descripció de les estratègies de legitimació que alguns d'aquests grups minoritaris elaboren a l'hora de presentar-se a la resta de la societat. La segona part pren, en canvi, un caire més analític. En aquest apartat es reafirma l'existència d'unes estratègies de legitimació característiques de cadascun dels grups religiosos i s'intenta assenyalar alguns dels factors que en determinen la forma i la capacitat d'incidència

Taula rodona: diàlegs entorn al patrimoni musealitzat a Girona

Taula rodona sobre el patrimoni musealitzat a Girona amb la participació de: Ramon Buxó Capdevila (Director del Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona), Carme Clusellas Pagès (Directora del Museu d'Art de Girona), David Iglésias Franch (arxiver del Centre de Recerca i Difusió de la Imatge de l'Ajuntament de Girona) i Sílvia Planas Marcé (Directora del Museu d'Història de Girona i del Museu d'Història dels Jueus