Estimating illegal fishing from enforcement officers

While illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a premier issue facing ocean sustainability, characterizing it is challenging due to its clandestine nature. Using Chile as an example, researchers present a structured process leveraging existing capacity, fisheries officers, that provides a monitoring tool to produce transparent and stand-alone estimates on the level, structure, and characteristics of illegal fishing

Allee effects in ants

Summary 1. Allee effects occur when the aggregation of individuals result in mutually beneficial intraspecific interactions whereby individual fitness, or per capita growth rate, increases with the number of individuals. Allee effects are common in social species due to their cooperative behaviours, such as breeding, feeding or defence. Allee effects have important implications for many aspects of basic and applied ecology. Over the past decades, the study of Allee effects has influenced population dynamics, community ecology, endangered species management and invasion biology. 2. Despite the fact that cooperation is the basis of their social structure, Allee effects have received little attention among eusocial insects. Extreme cooperation is common, and reproductive specialization of individuals occurs due to division of labour. These life-history traits suggest that the potential contribution of each caste to reproduction and survival may be differential and nonadditive. 3. We studied Allee effects in the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). In this species, many queens and workers are present in colonies, which allowed us to explore the differential effects of castes on the presence of Allee effects. In the laboratory, we measured brood production and individual survival in experimental colonies that differed in the initial numbers of queens and workers. 4. Our results highlight the differential effect of queens and workers on survival and productivity. We found three positive density-dependent relationships indicative of component Allee effects at the colony level: both workers and queens had a positive effect on the productivity of the other caste, and queens had a positive effect on worker survivorship. 5. Our experimental results suggest a potential positive feedback between worker and queen abundance, which may have contributed to the evolution of large colony sizes. Our study provides the first evidence of Allee effects in eusocial insects and highlights the need to consider castes separately in population dynamics. Division of labour and differential reproductive rates are factors that should be integrated into the study of Allee effects

Experiencia internacional de capacitación profesionales sanitarios en competencias digitales

Este Proyecto surge en la Estancia Internacional de la Cátedra de la UNESCO-ICDE 2021 como continuidad al Proyecto de la Estancia 2019-2021. Experiencia internacional de capacitación de profesionales sanitarios en competencias digitales.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Reducing Nitrogen Dosage in Triticum durum Plants with Urea-Doped Nanofertilizers

Nanotechnology is emerging as a very promising tool towards more efficient and sustainable practices in agriculture. In this work, we propose the use of non-toxic calcium phosphate nanoparticles doped with urea (U-ACP) for the fertilization of Triticum durum plants. U-ACP nanoparticles present very similar morphology, structure, and composition than the amorphous precursor of bone mineral, but contain a considerable amount of nitrogen as adsorbed urea (up to ca. 6 wt % urea). Tests on Triticum durum plants indicated that yields and quality of the crops treated with the nanoparticles at reduced nitrogen dosages (by 40%) were unaltered in comparison to positive control plants, which were given the minimum N dosages to obtain the highest values of yield and quality in fields. In addition, optical microscopy inspections showed that Alizarin Red S stained nanoparticles were able to penetrate through the epidermis of the roots or the stomata of the leaves. We observed that the uptake through the roots occurs much faster than through the leaves (1 h vs. 2 days, respectively). Our results highlight the potential of engineering nanoparticles to provide a considerable efficiency of nitrogen uptake by durum wheat and open the door to design more sustainable practices for the fertilization of wheat in fields.This research was funded by Fondazione CARIPLO (project no. 2016-0648: Romancing the stone: size-controlled HYdroxyaPATItes for sustainable Agriculture–HYPATIA) and the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU/AEI/FEDER) with the Projects NanoSmart (RYC-2016-21042) and NanoVIT (RTI-2018-095794-A-C22). GBRR also acknowledges the Spanish MICINN for her postdoctoral contract within the Juan de la Cierva Program (JdC-2017)

Validation of the spanish version of the multiple sclerosis international quality of life (musiqol) questionnaire

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Multiple Sclerosis International Quality Of Life (MusiQoL) questionnaire, a 31-item, multidimensional, self-administrated questionnaire that is available in 14 languages including Spanish, has been validated using a large international sample. We investigated the validity and reliability of the Spanish version of MusiQoL in Spain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Consecutive patients with different types and severities of multiple sclerosis (MS) were recruited from 22 centres across Spain. All patients completed the MusiQoL questionnaire, the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) health survey, and a symptoms checklist at baseline and 21 days later. External validity, internal consistency, reliability and reproducibility were tested.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 224 Spanish patients were evaluated. Dimensions of MusiQoL generally demonstrated a high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.70-0.92 for all but two MusiQoL domain scores). External validity testing revealed that the MusiQoL index score correlated significantly with all SF-36 dimension scores (Pearson's correlation: 0.46-0.76), reproducibility was satisfactory (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.60-0.91), acceptability was high, and the time taken to complete the 31-item questionnaire was reasonable (mean [standard deviation]: 9.8 [11.8] minutes).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Spanish version of the MusiQoL questionnaire appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for measuring quality of life in patients with MS in Spain and constitutes a useful instrument to measure health-related quality of life in the clinical setting.</p

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

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis

[Purpose]: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. [Methods]: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years,65 to 80 years,and ≥ 80 years.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was calculated to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the CCI to predict mortality risk. [Results]: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327 < 65 years;1291 65-80 years;502 ≥ 80 years) were enrolled.Fever and heart failure were the most common presentations of IE, with no differences among age groups.Patients ≥80 years who underwent surgery were significantly lower compared with other age groups (14.3%,65 years; 20.5%,65-79 years; 31.3%,≥80 years). In-hospital mortality was lower in the <65-year group (20.3%,<65 years;30.1%,65-79 years;34.7%,≥80 years;p < 0.001) as well as 1-year mortality (3.2%, <65 years; 5.5%, 65-80 years;7.6%,≥80 years; p = 0.003).Independent predictors of mortality were age ≥ 80 years (hazard ratio [HR]:2.78;95% confidence interval [CI]:2.32–3.34), CCI ≥ 3 (HR:1.62; 95% CI:1.39–1.88),and non-performed surgery (HR:1.64;95% CI:11.16–1.58).When the three age groups were compared,the AUROC curve for CCI was significantly larger for patients aged <65 years(p < 0.001) for both in-hospital and 1-year mortality. [Conclusion]: There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age ≥ 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI),and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in the <65-year group

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Tratamientos psicológicos empíricamente apoyados para adultos: Una revisión selectiva

Antecedentes: los tratamientos psicológicos han mostrado su eficacia, efectividad y eficiencia para el abordaje de los trastornos mentales; no obstante, considerando el conocimiento científico generado en los últimos años, no se dispone de trabajos de actualización en español sobre cuáles son los tratamientos psicológicos con respaldo empírico. El objetivo fue realizar una revisión selectiva de los principales tratamientos psicológicos empíricamente apoyados para el abordaje de trastornos mentales en personas adultas. Método: se recogen niveles de evidencia y grados de recomendación en función de los criterios propuestos por el Sistema Nacional de Salud de España (en las Guías de Práctica Clínica) para diferentes trastornos psicológicos. Resultados: los resultados sugieren que los tratamientos psicológicos disponen de apoyo empírico para el abordaje de un amplio elenco de trastornos psicológicos. El grado de apoyo empírico oscila de bajo a alto en función del trastorno psicológico analizado. La revisión sugiere que ciertos campos de intervención necesitan una mayor investigación. Conclusiones: a partir de esta revisión selectiva, los profesionales de la psicología podrán disponer de información rigurosa y actualizada que les permita tomar decisiones informadas a la hora de implementar aquellos procedimientos psicoterapéuticos empíricamente fundamentados en función de las características de las personas que demandan ayuda. Background: Psychological treatments have shown their efficacy, effectiveness, and efficiency in dealing with mental disorders. However, considering the scientific knowledge generated in recent years, in the Spanish context, there are no updating studies about empirically supported psychological treatments. The main goal was to carry out a selective review of the main empirically supported psychological treatments for mental disorders in adults. Method: Levels of evidence and degrees of recommendation were collected based on the criteria proposed by the Spanish National Health System (Clinical Practice Guidelines) for different psychological disorders. Results: The results indicate that psychological treatments have empirical support for the approach to a wide range of psychological disorders. These levels of empirical evidence gathered range from low to high depending on the psychological disorder analysed. The review indicates the existence of certain fields of intervention that need further investigation. Conclusions: Based on this selective review, psychology professionals will be able to have rigorous, up-to-date information that allows them to make informed decisions when implementing empirically based psychotherapeutic procedures based on the characteristics of the people who require help