The impacts of exceptional rainfall on phosphorus mobilisation in a mountain agroforestry catchment (NE, Spain)

Erosion causes significant soil and nutrient losses that can reach streams and degrade habitats. Phosphorus (P) is among the nutrients of greatest concern for water pollution. Due to the increase in the number of storm events over the last decade, which could rise further under climate change scenarios, a more in-depth analysis of the effect of rainfall on the behaviour of P in fragile environments is needed. Little is known about the mobilisation and export of P in mountainous Mediterranean agroecosystems. To contribute to this knowledge, this research analysed the variability of P in the sediments of streambeds of different orders in an agroforestry area of the Northern Ebro Basin (Arag ' on, Spain) following an exceptional rainfall event; the implications of different land uses were also explored. Sediment composition was assessed before and after the rainfall event in three nested subcatchments and then related to soil properties. Phosphorus was mostly linked to the mineral fraction (mainly to silicates), while the links between P with clay and organic matter (P-clay, P-OM) were very weak. The P-OM links occurred only in the soils of forested areas. Agricultural lands, which are prone to erosion and had the highest P concentrations, contribute to P release. However, the streambeds and the lateral erosion of channel banks by floods triggered by the rainfall event should be considered as the main contributors to the export of P. The high intensity rainfall event led to 35% and 60% reductions in clay and OM, respectively, and to an enrichment of P in the sediments, the concentrations of which were lower in the headwaters than downstream. This means that the P in streambeds remains exposed in relatively high concentrations following extreme rainfall events with implications for the P cycle and water pollution.This research is part of the Project I+D+i PID2019-104857RB-I00, funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/

Remote sensing for monitoring the impacts of agroforestry practices and precipitation changes in particle size export trends

Recent land use changes, the absence of soil protection between crop periods, and extreme precipitation events have been highlighted as major influential factors in the fluctuations of sediment export in the last decades at the catchment scale worldwide. In this regard, soil erosion and fine-particle export are two of the major concerns of soil nutrient loss and water-quality decrease (e.g., increasing turbidity and vector of chemicals). However, while rainfall effects have been well-monitored, recent land use changes and management need additional approaches to evaluate their effect. In Mediterranean mountainous environments, in addition to forest management, agricultural practices during different cropland stages likely increase sediment and particle-bound chemicals in the drainage system. Moreover, most catchments lack instrumentalization. Thus, there is a gap in the knowledge on the processes influencing the sediment exported in ungauged catchments. To evaluate the processes involved, remote sensing and seasonal sampling of suspended sediments were examined for 5 years in a representative agroforestry system in three sub-catchments (SBCs) with different proportions of land uses. Temporal trends of NDVI, EVI, MSAVI, SAVI, and NDWI indices were analyzed for monitoring the vegetation status. With this information, we attempt to evaluate the soil response in terms of particle size export to land use change, vegetation status, and precipitation distribution in fine-grained sediment-reaching streams. Our findings not only highlight the significant effect of heavy precipitation events and vegetation cover on the grain-size fraction of the exported sediment but also reveal the existence of more complex factors influencing the export dynamics. A silt-increasing trend due to the increase of individual heavy precipitations from 2017 onward despite the total precipitation amount not increasing was detected. It is shown that indices such as NDVI and NDMI help detect small changes in vegetation cover, while EVI, SAVI, and MSAVI are more robust for detecting general patterns in large vegetated areas and preventing the appearance of artefacts in the data. Results from this study suggest that land use changes combined with short-scale changing trends of rainfall likely explain most of the possible effects observed in terms of sediment export changes.This research is part of the Project I+D+i PID 2019-104857RB-I00, funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/. This work represents a contribution to CSIC Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (PTI) Teledetección (PTI-TELEDETECT). The contribution of IL was partially supported by the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO, mandate 12V8622N)

Diastereoselective insertion of isocyanide into the alkyl metal bond of methylbenz[e]indenyl ansa-zirconocene complexes

Alkylation of ansa-zirconocene [Zr{(η5-C5H5)SiMe2(MBI)}Cl2] (MBI = η5-2-Me−C13H7) with MgRCl gave the dimethyl complex [Zr{(η5-C5H5)SiMe2(MBI)}Me2], but unresolvable mixtures containing mono-alkylated compounds were obtained when bulkier alkyls were used. However pure dialkyl complexes [Zr{(η5-C5H5)SiMe2(MBI)}R2] (R = CH2Ph, CH2SiMe3) were easily obtained using K(CH2Ph) and Li(CH2SiMe3) as alkylating agents. Diastereoselective insertion into the MBI-unprotected Zr−R bond was observed when all of these dialkyl complexes were treated with 2,6-xylyl isocyanide to give the iminoacyl compounds [Zr{(η5-C5H5)SiMe2(MBI)}R{CR[η2-N-(2,6-xylyl)]}] (R = Me, CH2Ph, CH2SiMe3). All of the new complexes were characterized by NMR spectroscopy and the X-ray molecular structures of the dibenzyl and the imino-benzyl compounds were determined. The catalytic activity for ethene polymerization and ethene/1-hexene copolymerization of the dichloro zirconocenes [Zr{(η5-C5H5)EMe2(MBI)}Cl2] (E = C, Si), activated with methylalumoxane (MAO), was measured.Repsol-YP

Malignant pilomatricoma with multiple bone metastases in a dog: Histological and immunohistochemical study

An eleven year-old mongrel dog was referred with a history of left forelimb lameness and an ulcerated mass on the neck. Histologically, the cutaneous neoplasm revealed cystic lobules composed of basaloid cells with abrupt transition to central keratotic material, containing pycnotic and shadow cells. Approximately 3 months after primary diagnosis, a lesion of the cortical bone on the left humerus was observed using X-ray. Samples obtained from the humerus were processed for histopathological examination and the neoplastic tissue was observed to be similar to the type identified in the neck. Based on these findings, the tumor was diagnosed as a malignant pilomatricoma (MP) with bone metastasis. MP is a rare skin tumor that originates from hair matrix cells. To date, only nine reports have been presented in dogs. In the present study, we discuss the cytological and histological patterns of MP, confirmed by immunohistochemistry using β catenin antibody

Low-order stabilized finite element for the full Biot formulation in soil mechanics at finite strain

This article presents a novel finite element formulation for the Biot equation using low-order elements. Additionally, an extra degree of freedom is introduced to treat the volumetric locking steaming from the effective response of the medium; its balance equation is also stabilized. The accuracy of the proposed formulation is demonstrated by means of numerical analyses.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Train-the-trainers in hand hygiene : a standardized approach to guide education in infection prevention and control

Background Harmonization in hand hygiene training for infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals is lacking. We describe a standardized approach to training, using a “Train-the-Trainers” (TTT) concept for IPC professionals and assess its impact on hand hygiene knowledge in six countries.Methods We developed a three-day simulation-based TTT course based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy. To evaluate its impact, we have performed a pre-and post-course knowledge questionnaire. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the results before and after training.Results Between June 2016 and January 2018 we conducted seven TTT courses in six countries: Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain and Thailand. A total of 305 IPC professionals completed the programme. Participants included nurses (n = 196; 64.2%), physicians (n = 53; 17.3%) and other health professionals (n = 56; 18.3%). In total, participants from more than 20 countries were trained. A significant (p < 0.05) improvement in knowledge between the pre- and post-TTT training phases was observed in all countries. Puebla (Mexico) had the highest improvement (22.3%; p < 0.001), followed by Malaysia (21.2%; p < 0.001), Jalisco (Mexico; 20.2%; p < 0.001), Thailand (18.8%; p < 0.001), South Africa (18.3%; p < 0.001), Iran (17.5%; p < 0.001) and Spain (9.7%; p = 0.047). Spain had the highest overall test scores, while Thailand had the lowest pre- and post-scores. Positive aspects reported included: unique learning environment, sharing experiences, hands-on practices on a secure environment and networking among IPC professionals. Sustainability was assessed through follow-up evaluations conducted in three original TTT course sites in Mexico (Jalisco and Puebla) and in Spain: improvement was sustained in the last follow-up phase when assessed 5 months, 1 year and 2 years after the first TTT course, respectively.Conclusions The TTT in hand hygiene model proved to be effective in enhancing participant’s knowledge, sharing experiences and networking. IPC professionals can use this reference training method worldwide to further disseminate knowledge to other health care workers.peer-reviewe

R--Parity Violating Signals for Chargino Production at LEP II

We study chargino pair production at LEP II in supersymmetric models with spontaneously broken R-parity. We perform signal and background analyses, showing that a large region of the parameter space of these models can be probed through chargino searches at LEP II. In particular, we determine the attainable limits on the chargino mass as a function of the magnitude of the effective bilinear R-parity violation parameter $\epsilon$, demonstrating that LEP II is able to unravel the existence of charginos with masses almost up to its kinematical limit even in the case of R-parity violation. This requires the study of several final state topologies since the usual MSSM chargino signature is recovered as $\epsilon \to 0$. Moreover, for sufficiently large $\epsilon$ values, for which the chargino decay mode $\chi^\pm \to \tau^\pm J$ dominates, we find through a dedicated Monte Carlo analysis that the $\chi^\pm$ mass bounds are again very close to the kinematic limit. Our results establish the robustness of the chargino mass limit, in the sense that it is basically model-independent. They also show that LEP II can establish the existence of spontaneous R-parity violation in a large region of parameter space should charginos be produced.Comment: improved analyses; 31 pages and 9 figures (included

The Rewiring of Ubiquitination Targets in a Pathogenic Yeast Promotes Metabolic Flexibility, Host Colonization and Virulence

Funding: This work was funded by the European Research Council [http://erc.europa.eu/], AJPB (STRIFE Advanced Grant; C-2009-AdG-249793). The work was also supported by: the Wellcome Trust [www.wellcome.ac.uk], AJPB (080088, 097377); the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council [www.bbsrc.ac.uk], AJPB (BB/F00513X/1, BB/K017365/1); the CNPq-Brazil [http://cnpq.br], GMA (Science without Borders fellowship 202976/2014-9); and the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research [www.nc3rs.org.uk], DMM (NC/K000306/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments We thank Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (Mycology Reference Laboratory, Bristol) for providing strains, and the Aberdeen Proteomics facility for the biotyping of S. cerevisiae clinical isolates, and to Euroscarf for providing S. cerevisiae strains and plasmids. We are grateful to our Microscopy Facility in the Institute of Medical Sciences for their expert help with the electron microscopy, and to our friends in the Aberdeen Fungal Group for insightful discussions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD