Evaluación del estado de la población de cabra montés de los montes de Toledo: relaciones con el ciervo

[EN]: Iberian wild goat subsp. Capra pyrenaica victoriae inhabits fewer and smaller areas than subs. C. p. hispanica reason why the former is considered as Vulnerable by IUCN. Therefore studies aimed to assess the status of C. p. victoriae are very valuables. We studied the habitat use, parasite excretion rates and diet quality of the Montes de Toledo's C. p. victoriae population. The red deer is a potential competitor of the Iberian wild goat and subsequently was included in this study. Our results showed that both species had a good population status (good corporal condition, high quality diet and suitable population density). According to the indicators considered in this study we do not expect that red deer suppose a relevant risk for the viability of the Iberian wild goat population. The implications of the results to Iberian wild goat management are deeper discussed.[ES]: La Capra pyrenaica victoriae presenta pocas poblaciones y éstas ocupan áreas reducidas, siendo considerada por ello por la IUCN como vulnerable. Son necesarios, por tanto, estudios locales encaminados a evaluar el estado de dichas poblaciones. En este trabajo estudiamos la población presente en los Montes de Toledo a través del análisis del uso que hace del hábitat, del nivel de parasitación y de la calidad de su dieta. El ciervo fue también incluido en este esquema de monitorización por ser un potencial competidor para la cabra montés. Los resultados indican que ambas especies presentan un adecuado estado poblacional (buena condición corporal, dieta de elevada calidad y valores de densidad razonables). Según los indicadores considerados no sería esperable que el ciervo supusiera un riesgo relevante para la viabilidad de la población de cabra montés. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados para la gestión cinegética de la cabra montés.Este trabajo ha sido promovido y financiado por el Parque Nacional de Cabañeros (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales) en el marco del convenio de colaboración 8.06/5.46.3324. P. Acevedo disfruta de un contrato dentro del programa Juan de la Cierva – Fondo Social Europeo.Peer Reviewe

Seasonal changes in a sandy beach fish assemblage at Canto Grande, Santa Catarina, South Brazil

Copyright © 2004 Coastal Education and Research Foundation (CERF).Neste trabalho realizaramse amostragens, com uma rede de praia, de modo a estudar a comunidade de peixes de substrato arenoso na enseada de Canto Grande, Santa Catarina, Brasil. As amostragens realizaramse em intervalos de 3 horas durante períodos de 24 h, numa base bimensal, entre Abril de 1996 e Fevereiro de 1997. Verificouse existir uma variação sazonal no número de espécies, densidade de peixes e biomassa, tendo os valores mais elevados ocorrido em Fevereiro (38 espécies, 257.6 peixes 1000 mˉ², 2286.4 g 1000 mˉ²). Recolheuse um total de 67 espécies, pertencentes a 56 géneros e a 33 famílias, sendo a comunidade dominada por sete espécies pertencentes a três famílias: Atherinella brasiliensis (Atherinidae); Brevoortia pectinata, Harengula clupeola e Sardinella brasiliensis (Clupeidae); Anchoviella lepidontostole, Cetengraulis edentulus e Lycengraulis grossidens (Engraulidae). Tanto a diversidade de espécies (H′) como a equitabilidade (J′) foram médias a elevadas ao longo do ano devido à baixa dominância. A maior mudança na estrutura da comunidade ocorreu entre os meses de Inverno (Julho e Agosto) e as outras estações. Nenhuma das espécies dominantes pode ser classificada como residente. Os principais predadores foram Pomatomus saltator (Inverno) e Trichiurus lepturus (Verão). A maior parte das espécies observadas foram ou peixes juvenis ou espécies pelágicas de pequeno tamanho e fortemente gregárias.ABSTRACT: A shallow-water fish assemblage, over a soft, sandy bottom, at Canto Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, was sampled with a beach seine. Sampling was undertaken at 3 h intervals over 24 h on a bimonthly basis between April 1996 and February 1997. There was a seasonal variation in the number of species, density of fishes and biomass with the highest values in February (38 species, 257.6 fish 1000 mˉ², 2286.4 g 1000 mˉ²). A total of 67 species, belonging to 56 genera and 33 families were collected and the assemblage was dominated by seven species belonging to three families: Atherinella brasiliensis (Atherinidae); Brevoortia pectinata, Harengula clupeola and Sardinella brasiliensis (Clupeidae); Anchoviella lepidontostole, Cetengraulis edentulus and Lycengraulis grossidens (Engraulidae). Species diversity (H′) and equitability (J′) were medium to high throughout the year due to the low dominance. The largest change in the assemblage structure occurred between winter months (July and August) and the other seasons. None of the dominant species can be classified as a resident. Main predators were Pomatomus saltator (winter) and Trichiurus lepturus (summer). Most of the species observed were either juvenile fish or small pelagic and strongly gregarious species

Perceptions of Public Officers Towards the Effects of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services: A Case-Study From Northern Portugal

ASV was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain) through the 2018 Juan de la Cierva-Formación program (contract reference FJC2018-038131-I) and the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology through Stimulus of Scientific Employment, Individual support (reference 2020.01175.CEECIND). JRV was supported as a post-doc researcher at ICETA CIBIO/InBIO by the national funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, DL57/2016/ICETA/EEC2018/13. CC-S was supported by the “Contrato-Programa” UIDP/04050/2020 funded by national funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia I.P.We thank Cristiana Manuela Barros and Manuela Alves for their help on the organization of the workshops.All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.How institutional stakeholders perceive the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES) under distinct contexts determines which planning actions are deemed priority or not. Public officers play a crucial role in social-ecological management and decision-making processes, but there is a paucity of research exploring their perceptions on ES supply and demand under a changing climate. We address this gap through an exploratory study that analyses the views of public officers on the potential impacts of climate-change related drivers on multiple ES in a major administrative region from Portugal (EU NUTS 3). We combined qualitative spatial data from participatory maps and semi-quantitative answers from questionnaire-based surveys with 22 officers from public institutions contributing to territorial planning. Contrary to other similar studies, public officers shared a common view on the importance of ES. This view aligns with scientific projections on how a changing climate is expected to influence ES in the region over the next decade. In agreement with other observations in Mediterranean regions, the most perceivably valued ES concerned tangible socio-economic benefits (e.g., periurban agriculture and wine production). Surprisingly, despite the region's potential for cultural ES, and considering the impacts that climate change may hold on them, recreation and tourism did not seem to be embedded in the officers' views. We explore the implications of our findings for territorial planning and social-ecological adaptation, considering that the way stakeholders manage the territory in response to climate change depends on the extent to which they are aware and expect to experience climatic consequences in the future.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Spain) FJC2018-038131IPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology 2020.01175.CEECIND- DL57/2016/ICETA/EEC2018/13Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia I.P. UIDP/04050/202

A soft computing approach to kidney diseases evaluation

Kidney renal failure means that one’s kidney have unexpectedly stopped functioning, i.e., once chronic disease is exposed, the presence or degree of kidney dysfunction and its progression must be assessed, and the underlying syndrome has to be diagnosed. Although the patient’s history and physical examination may denote good practice, some key information has to be obtained from valuation of the glomerular filtration rate, and the analysis of serum biomarkers. Indeed, chronic kidney sickness depicts anomalous kidney function and/or its makeup, i.e., there is evidence that treatment may avoid or delay its progression, either by reducing and prevent the development of some associated complications, namely hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular complications. Acute kidney injury appears abruptly, with a rapid deterioration of the renal function, but is often reversible if it is recognized early and treated promptly. In both situations, i.e., acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease, an early intervention can significantly improve the prognosis.The assessment of these pathologies is therefore mandatory, although it is hard to do it with traditional methodologies and existing tools for problem solving. Hence, in this work, we will focus on the development of a hybrid decision support system, in terms of its knowledge representation and reasoning procedures based on Logic Programming, that will allow one to consider incomplete, unknown, and even contradictory information, complemented with an approach to computing centered on Artificial Neural Networks, in order to weigh the Degree-of-Confidence that one has on such a happening. The present study involved 558 patients with an age average of 51.7 years and the chronic kidney disease was observed in 175 cases. The dataset comprise twenty four variables, grouped into five main categories. The proposed model showed a good performance in the diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, since the sensitivity and the specificity exhibited values range between 93.1 and 94.9 and 91.9–94.2 %, respectively

Human phenylalanine hydroxylase as the case study

Funding Information: Authors acknowledge Sofarimex, Indústria Química e Farmacêutica SA, Portugal, for all the support concerning freeze-drying studies. This work was supported by FEDER and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. through iMED.ULisboa (Projects UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020), iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020, UIDP/04462/2020) and LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020) and research project PTDC/EBB-BIO/101237/2008 and research grant SFRH/BD/47946/2008 (to Paulo R. Lino). This work has also received funding from the National PKU Alliance, USA. The authors would like to thank Luís Miguel Ramos and Cátia Nascimento who contributed to the exploratory research that culminated in the work herein presented. Funding Information: Authors acknowledge Sofarimex, Indústria Química e Farmacêutica SA, Portugal, for all the support concerning freeze-drying studies. This work was supported by FEDER and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. through iMED.ULisboa (Projects UIDB/04138/2020 and UIDP/04138/2020), iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020, UIDP/04462/2020) and LS4FUTURE Associated Laboratory (LA/P/0087/2020) and research project PTDC/EBB-BIO/101237/2008 and research grant SFRH/BD/47946/2008 (to Paulo R. Lino). This work has also received funding from the National PKU Alliance, USA. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)The structural maintenance of therapeutic proteins during formulation and/or storage is a critical aspect, particularly for multi-domain and/or multimeric proteins which usually exhibit intrinsic structural dynamics leading to aggregation with concomitant loss-of-function. Protein freeze-drying is a widely used technique to preserve protein structure and function during storage. To minimize chemical/physical stresses occurring during this process, protein stabilizers are usually included, their effect being strongly dependent on the target protein. Therefore, they should be screened for on a time-consuming case-by-case basis. Herein, differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) and isothermal denaturation fluorimetry (ITDF) were employed to screen, among different classes of freeze-drying additives, for the most effective stabilizer of the model protein human phenylalanine hydroxylase (hPAH). Correlation studies among retrieved DSF and ITDF parameters with recovered enzyme amount and activity indicated ITDF as the most appropriate screening method. Biochemical and biophysical characterization of hPAH freeze-dried with ITDF-selected stabilizers and a long-term storage study (12 months, 5 ± 3 °C) showed that the selected compounds prevented protein aggregation and preserved hPAH structural and functional properties throughout time storage. Our results provide a solid basis towards the choice of ITDF as a high-throughput screening step for the identification of protein freeze-drying protectors.publishersversionpublishe

Topographyc shadow influence on optical image acquired by satellite in the southern hemisphere

During image acquisition, is usually chosen scenes with a lesser cloud cover to avoid loss of spectral information. However, when training samples are collected for image classification, the user finds shadowed areas. Such situation is similar to the presence of clouds since spectral information of these classes is the same in all optical bands of the sensor. This fact becomes more pronounced in mountainous relief areas due to shadow projection on the terrain, which can vary among all seasons during the solar year. With the goal to obtain images with a lower presence of shadow, it was simulated, under the same relief conditions, shading variation in function of latitude (0° to 40° S). Solar radiation models were processed for the days and times passages of the Landsat TM and ETM+ satellite on the Southern Hemisphere. It was verified that over 30° S and 40° S latitudes, a loss of shading area varying between 27% to 91 % and that images should be preferentially taken between October and February. For latitudes comprising 0° and 10° S, the loss was considered negligible, when we set a 10% threshold of loss in the total valid area in an image. According to the amount of radiation in a terrain, South and West areas received less direct solar radiation over the year for all analyzed latitudes in the modeling

Structure of full-length wild-type human phenylalanine hydroxylase by small angle X-ray scattering reveals substrate-induced conformational stability

Human phenylalanine hydroxylase (hPAH) hydroxylates l-phenylalanine (l-Phe) to l-tyrosine, a precursor for neurotransmitter biosynthesis. Phenylketonuria (PKU), caused by mutations in PAH that impair PAH function, leads to neurological impairment when untreated. Understanding the hPAH structural and regulatory properties is essential to outline PKU pathophysiological mechanisms. Each hPAH monomer comprises an N-terminal regulatory, a central catalytic and a C-terminal oligomerisation domain. To maintain physiological l-Phe levels, hPAH employs complex regulatory mechanisms. Resting PAH adopts an auto-inhibited conformation where regulatory domains block access to the active site. l-Phe-mediated allosteric activation induces a repositioning of the regulatory domains. Since a structure of activated wild-type hPAH is lacking, we addressed hPAH l-Phe-mediated conformational changes and report the first solution structure of the allosterically activated state. Our solution structures obtained by small-angle X-ray scattering support a tetramer with distorted P222 symmetry, where catalytic and oligomerisation domains form a core from which regulatory domains protrude, positioning themselves close to the active site entrance in the absence of l-Phe. Binding of l-Phe induces a large movement and dimerisation of regulatory domains, exposing the active site. Activated hPAH is more resistant to proteolytic cleavage and thermal denaturation, suggesting that the association of regulatory domains stabilises hPAH.publishe

Purification of immunoglobulin Y from egg yolk using thermoresponsive aqueous micellar two-phase systems comprising ionic liquids

Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) represents an important class of antibodies, being present in egg yolk, with relevant medical applications and involving non-invasive methods of extraction. However, due to the complexity of egg yolk, the purification levels required for use in most medical applications demands the application of multi-step and cost-intensive techniques. Therefore, it is of upmost importance to develop a biocompatible and cost-effective downstream process to purify IgY from egg yolk. In this work, IgY was purified from the egg yolk water-soluble protein fraction (WSPF) by the application of thermoresponsive aqueous micellar two-phase systems (AMTPS) composed of the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-114 and surface-active ionic liquids (SAILs) as co-surfactants. The best thermoresponsive systems allowed, in a single step, to recover IgY in the surfactant-poor phase with a purity level of 69%, and up to 73% if consecutive extraction cycles are performed, while maintaining the structural integrity of the antibodies. Considering these results, a downstream process was designed and proposed, consisting of four main steps: (i) recovery of the WSPF; (ii) purification of IgY by applying AMTPS; (iii) isolation of the IgY from the main solvents using an ultrafiltration step; (iv) recycling of the AMTPS phase-forming components by precipitating the contaminant proteins.publishe

The progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science

Interdisciplinarity is needed to gain knowledge of the ecology of invasive species and invaded ecosystems, and of the human dimensions of biological invasions. We combine a quantitative literature review with a qualitative historical narrative to document the progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science since 1950. Our review shows that 92.4% of interdisciplinary publications (out of 9192) focus on ecological questions, 4.4% on social ones, and 3.2% on social–ecological ones. The emergence of invasion science out of ecology might explain why interdisciplinarity has remained mostly within the natural sciences. Nevertheless, invasion science is attracting social–ecological collaborations to understand ecological challenges, and to develop novel approaches to address new ideas, concepts, and invasion-related questions between scholars and stakeholders. We discuss ways to reframe invasion science as a field centred on interlinked social–ecological dynamics to bring science, governance and society together in a common effort to deal with invasions

Banana peel and grape stalk: potential of valorization through the evaluation of chemical composition and physical-chemical properties

CHISA 2008 - 18th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering (CD-ROM of Full Texts)Bioconversion of food processing residues (agr o-based industrial residues) in valuable products has been receiving an increasing attention in the last years. In fact, the main problem experienced by agro-based industries in several c ountries is the management of their residues. As a consequence, many research centers and government departments are preparing scientific strategies in order to develop biotechnological processes capable of transforming these residues in new bio-products or as sources of other chemicals. Most of these agro-industrial residues are lignocellulosic materials constituted basically of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. In particular, banana production is one of the main economic resources of several regions in many countries, an important crop in the tropical and sub- tropical regions and one of the most consumed fruits in the world. Grapes are other of the world’s largest fruit crops, mainly grown for direct consumption, grape juice and wine- making processes. These agricultural/industrial activities generate large amounts of residues such as banana fruit peel and grape stalk. Taking in consideration these facts, it is fundamental to know their chemical composition and physical-chemical properties, in order to evaluate perspectives of applications and improvement of procedures towards an efficient utilization of these residues. For this reason, following hydrolysis, the residues obtained were analyzed by HPLC, FTIR, TGA and DSC. Preliminary results indicate the attractiveness of these materials for further applications due to their chemical composition and physical-chemical properties: glucan and xylan contents of banana peel are 23.2 ± 0.2% and 18.9 ± 0.5%, respectively, while grape stalk contains 26.5 ± 1.5% and 16.8 ± 0.4%, respectively. These results are in agreement with those obtained with some other agro-industrial residues. These approaches offer several advantages, since the several fractions obtained from the hydrolysis of these annually produced materials can be applied as raw-materials to reduce the existence of environmentally hazardous situations and/or to increase the supply of energy or chemicals produced from renewable resourcesFCT(Portugal), FAPESP(Brazil) and CAPES/GRICES(Brazil/Portugal)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio