The impact of a web-based lifestyle educational program (‘Living Better’) Reintervention on hypertensive overweight or obese patients

‘Living Better’, a self-administered web-based intervention, designed to facilitate lifestyle changes, has already shown positive short-and medium-term health benefits in patients with an obesity–hypertension phenotype. The objectives of this study were: (1) to examine the long-term (3-year) evolution of a group of hypertensive overweight or obese patients who had already followed the ‘Living Better’ program; (2) to analyze the effects of completing this program a second time (reintervention) during the COVID-19 pandemic. A quasi-experimental design was used. We recruited 29 individuals from the 105 who had participated in our first study. We assessed and compared their systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), body mass index (BMI), eating behavior, and physical activity (PA) level (reported as METs-min/week), at Time 0 (first intervention follow-up), Time 1 (before the reintervention), and Time 2 (post-reintervention). Our results showed significant improvements between Time 1 and Time 2 in SBP (-4.7 (-8.7 to -0.7); p = 0.017), DBP (-3.5 (-6.2 to -0.8); p = 0.009), BMI (-0.7 (-1.0 to -0.4); p 0.24). Implementation of the ‘Living Better’ program maintained positive long-term (3-year) health benefits in patients with an obesity–hypertension phenotype. Moreover, a reintervention with this program during the COVID-19 pandemic produced significant improvements in blood pressure, BMI, eating behavior, and PA. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Bats in the anthropogenic matrix: Challenges and opportunities for the conservation of chiroptera and their ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes

Intensification in land-use and farming practices has had largely negative effects on bats, leading to population declines and concomitant losses of ecosystem services. Current trends in land-use change suggest that agricultural areas will further expand, while production systems may either experience further intensification (particularly in developing nations) or become more environmentally friendly (especially in Europe). In this chapter, we review the existing literature on how agricultural management affects the bat assemblages and the behavior of individual bat species, as well as the literature on provision of ecosystem services by bats (pest insect suppression and pollination) in agricultural systems. Bats show highly variable responses to habitat conversion, with no significant change in species richness or measures of activity or abundance. In contrast, intensification within agricultural systems (i.e., increased agrochemical inputs, reduction of natural structuring elements such as hedges, woods, and marshes) had more consistently negative effects on abundance and species richness. Agroforestry systems appear to mitigate negative consequences of habitat conversion and intensification, often having higher abundances and activity levels than natural areas. Across biomes, bats play key roles in limiting populations of arthropods by consuming various agricultural pests. In tropical areas, bats are key pollinators of several commercial fruit species. However, these substantial benefits may go unrecognized by farmers, who sometimes associate bats with ecosystem disservices such as crop raiding. Given the importance of bats for global food production, future agricultural management should focus on “wildlife-friendly” farming practices that allow more bats to exploit and persist in the anthropogenic matrix so as to enhance provision of ecosystem services. Pressing research topics include (1) a better understanding of how local-level versus landscape-level management practices interact to structure bat assemblages, (2) the effects of new pesticide classes and GM crops on bat populations, and (3) how increased documentation and valuation of the ecosystem services provided by bats could improve attitudes of producers toward their conservation

Effectiveness of the Natura 2000 Network for the conservation of cave‐dwelling bats in a Mediterranean region

The Natura 2000 Network represents the greatest step forward yet in conservation in Europe, although its effectiveness is sometimes questioned, especially in M editerranean regions. Bats are protected by the H abitat D irective and the presence of certain species is a prerequisite before S pecial A reas C onservation (SAC sites) can be included as such in the N atura 2000 N etwork. However, the effectiveness of SAC sites as regards the protection they offer to bats, especially cave‐dwelling species, remains to be evaluated. We assess the effectiveness of the SAC system for protecting the roosts of six species of cave‐dwelling bats and for protecting suitable and optimal habitats, using ecological niche models. Gap analyses indicate that c. 60% of roosts are protected by SAC sites, with values ranging from 45.8% for M iniopterus schreibersii to 72.2% for R hinolophus hipposideros . The protection offered to suitable and optimal habitats was found to be much lower in general, with values of below 40% in all cases. Our results emphasize the potential value of non‐natural caves (e.g. mines and buildings) for the conservation of bat populations, and the importance of assessing the efficiency of protected areas by considering distribution models that incorporate different types of information (e.g. roosts and use habitat) concerning species occurrence

Signaling in the tomato immunity against fusarium oxysporum

New strategies of control need to be developed with the aim of economic and environmental sustainability in plant and crop protection. Metabolomics is an excellent platform for both understanding the complex plant–pathogen interactions and unraveling new chemical control strategies. GC-MS-based metabolomics, along with a phytohormone analysis of a compatible and incompatible interaction between tomato plants and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, revealed the specific volatile chemical composition and the plant signals associated with them. The susceptible tomato plants were characterized by the over-emission of methyl-and ethyl-salicylate as well as some fatty acid derivatives, along with an activation of salicylic acid and abscisic acid signaling. In contrast, terpenoids, benzenoids, and 2-ethylhexanoic acid were differentially emitted by plants undergoing an incompatible interaction, together with the activation of the jasmonic acid (JA) pathway. In accordance with this response, a higher expression of several genes participating in the biosynthesis of these volatiles, such as MTS1, TomloxC, TomloxD, and AOS, as well as JAZ7, a JA marker gene, was found to be induced by the fungus in these resistant plants. The characterized metabolome of the immune tomato plants could lead to the development of new resistance inducers against Fusarium wilt treatment

Bat ecology and conservation in semi-arid and arid landscapes:a global systematic review

©2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Accepted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Mammal Review.1. Semi-arid and arid landscapes (dry-lands) cover 41% of the Earth’s land surface over five continents. These areas are home to 55% of mammal spe cies. Bats have the second highest species richness among mammals, and, although many species are adapted to arid conditions, they are particularly sensitive in these habitats and require conservation priority. 2. Information on bats in arid and semi-arid landscapes is scattered, patchy and focused on small-scale studies; therefore, we undertook a systematic re view using the PRISMA protocol to identify the current knowledge status, detect knowledge gaps and propose future research priorities. 3. We analysed 346 published articles and evaluated 40 topics within five topic categories (taxa studied, methodologies used, biology, ecology and conserva tion). The most commonly studied topic categories were ecology and biology. However, we found a gap in the topic category conservation (including topics such as conservation status and roost conservation). Our network analysis of topics within the categories showed that most ecology papers were focused on distribution, species richness and habitat use. 4. When we analysed keywords, we found that phylogeny, taxonomy and dis tribution demonstrated relatively high presence. Moreover, comparison of the percentage of studies conducted in dry-lands and the percentage of land surface area covered by dry-lands in the continents revealed that dry-lands in Africa and Australia were especially under-represented. Our review shows that knowledge of bats in semi-arid and arid landscapes is biased towards new records of the distribution of species, as well as covering systematic/ taxonomic and morphological aspects of bat biology 5. We suggest that research on conservation measures and guidelines to protect the bat species found in semi-arid and arid landscapes should be prioritised, together with the sharing of knowledge with local practitioners and the de velopment of citizen science programme

Neuromuscular-skeletal constraints in the coordination of prono-supination Factores neuro-músculo-esquéleticos en la coordinación de movimientos de pronosupinación

Objective: To examine how changes in the position of the axis of rotation of the forearm alter both stability of unimanual coordination and activation patterns of muscles that contribute to pronation and supination of the forearm. Participants: 15 participants generated pronation and supination movements of the forearm in time with a metronome (frequencies from 1.75 Hz to 3.5 Hz). Methods: All the subjects were required to coordinate either maximum pronation or maximum supination with each beat of the metronome. Kinematic data (angular displacement) of the forearm were recorded. The axis of rotation was either coincident with the long axis of the forearm, above this axis, or below this axis. The time of onset of every pattern change was calculated to determine the stability of each mode of coordination. In 4 participants the electromyographic activity of pronator teres, brachial biceps, flexor carpi radialis and extensor carpi radialis and kinematic data of the forearm were recorded and synchronised. Results: The stability of the pronate-on the-beat pattern was greatest when the axis of rotation of the movement was below the long axis of the forearm. In contrast, the stability of the supinate-on-the-beat pattern was greatest when the axis of rotation of the movement was above the long axis of the forearm. The relative dominance of the pronation and supination phases of forearm rotation co-varies with the degree of engagement of flexor carpi radialis and extensor carpi radialis longus. Conclusion: The relative stability of pronate-on-the-beat and supinate-on-the beat patterns are contingent upon mechanical context. Changes in mechanical context alter the activation patterns of muscles that contribute to pronation and supination of the forearm, particularly flexor carpi radialis