Global mesozooplankton communities show lower connectivity in deep oceanic layers

Mesozooplankton is a key component of the ocean, regulating global processes such as the carbon pump, and ensuring energy transfer from lower to higher trophic levels. Yet, knowledge on mesozooplankton diversity, distribution and connectivity at global scale is still fragmented. To fill this gap, we applied DNA metabarcoding to mesozooplankton samples collected during the Malaspina-2010 circumnavigation expedition across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans from the surface to bathypelagic depths. We highlight the still scarce knowledge on global mesozooplankton diversity and identify the Indian Ocean and the deep sea as the oceanic regions with the highest proportion of hidden diversity. We report no consistent alpha-diversity patterns for mesozooplankton at a global scale, neither across vertical nor horizontal gradients. However, beta-diversity analysis suggests horizontal and vertical structuring of mesozooplankton communities mostly attributed to turnover and reveals an increase in mesozooplankton beta-diversity with depth, indicating reduced connectivity at deeper layers. Additionally, we identify a water mass type-mediated structuring of mesozooplankton bathypelagic communities instead of an oceanic basin-mediated as observed at upper layers. This suggests limited dispersal at deep ocean layers, most likely due to weaker currents and lower mixing of water mass types, thus reinforcing the importance of oceanic currents and barriers to dispersal in shaping global plankton communities

Genetic connectivity and hybridization with its siter species challenge the current management paradigm of white anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius)

Understanding the inter and intraspecific dynamics of fish populations is essential to promote effective management and conservation actions and to predict adaptation to changing conditions. This is possible through the analysis of thousands of genetic markers, which has proven useful to resolve connectivity among populations. Here, we have tackled this issue in the white anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius), which inhabits the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea and coexists with its morphologically almost identical sister species, the black anglerfish (L. budegassa). Our genetic analyses based on 16,000 SNP markers and 700 samples reveal that i) the white anglerfish from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean are genetically isolated, but that no differentiation can be observed within the later, and that ii) black and white anglerfish naturally hybridize, resulting in a population of about 20% of, most likely sterile, hybrids in some areas. These findings challenge the current paradigm of white anglerfish management, which considers three independent management units within the North East Atlantic and assumes that all mature fish have reproductive potential. Additionally, the northwards distribution of both species, likely due to temperature raises, calls for further monitoring of the abundance and distribution of hybrids to anticipate the effects of climate change in the interactions between both species and their potential resilience

UV-Casting on methacrylated PCL for the production of a peripheral nerve implant containing an array of porous aligned microchannels

Peripheral nerves are basic communication structures guiding motor and sensory information from the central nervous system to receptor units. Severed peripheral nerve injuries represent a large clinical problem with relevant challenges to successful synthetic nerve repair scaffolds as substitutes to autologous nerve grafting. Numerous studies reported the use of hollow tubes made of synthetic polymers sutured between severed nerve stumps to promote nerve regeneration while providing protection for external factors, such as scar tissue formation and inflammation. Few approaches have described the potential use of a lumen structure comprised of microchannels or microfibers to provide axon growth avoiding misdirection and fostering proper healing. Here, we report the use of a 3D porous microchannel-based structure made of a photocurable methacrylated polycaprolactone, whose mechanical properties are comparable to native nerves. The neuro-regenerative properties of the polymer were assessed in vitro, prior to the implantation of the 3D porous structure, in a 6-mm rat sciatic nerve gap injury. The manufactured implants were biocompatible and able to be resorbed by the host’s body at a suitable rate, allowing the complete healing of the nerve. The innovative design of the highly porous structure with the axon guiding microchannels, along with the observation of myelinated axons and Schwann cells in the in vivo tests, led to a significant progress towards the standardized use of synthetic 3D multichannel-based structures in peripheral nerve surgery

Intrinsic Structural Disorder Confers Cellular Viability on Oncogenic Fusion Proteins

Chromosomal translocations, which often generate chimeric proteins by fusing segments of two distinct genes, represent the single major genetic aberration leading to cancer. We suggest that the unifying theme of these events is a high level of intrinsic structural disorder, enabling fusion proteins to evade cellular surveillance mechanisms that eliminate misfolded proteins. Predictions in 406 translocation-related human proteins show that they are significantly enriched in disorder (43.3% vs. 20.7% in all human proteins), they have fewer Pfam domains, and their translocation breakpoints tend to avoid domain splitting. The vicinity of the breakpoint is significantly more disordered than the rest of these already highly disordered fusion proteins. In the unlikely event of domain splitting in fusion it usually spares much of the domain or splits at locations where the newly exposed hydrophobic surface area approximates that of an intact domain. The mechanisms of action of fusion proteins suggest that in most cases their structural disorder is also essential to the acquired oncogenic function, enabling the long-range structural communication of remote binding and/or catalytic elements. In this respect, there are three major mechanisms that contribute to generating an oncogenic signal: (i) a phosphorylation site and a tyrosine-kinase domain are fused, and structural disorder of the intervening region enables intramolecular phosphorylation (e.g., BCR-ABL); (ii) a dimerisation domain fuses with a tyrosine kinase domain and disorder enables the two subunits within the homodimer to engage in permanent intermolecular phosphorylations (e.g., TFG-ALK); (iii) the fusion of a DNA-binding element to a transactivator domain results in an aberrant transcription factor that causes severe misregulation of transcription (e.g. EWS-ATF). Our findings also suggest novel strategies of intervention against the ensuing neoplastic transformations

Effectiveness of a strategy that uses educational games to implement clinical practice guidelines among Spanish residents of family and community medicine (e-EDUCAGUIA project):A clinical trial by clusters

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias FIS Grant Number PI11/0477 ISCIII.-REDISSEC Proyecto RD12/0001/0012 AND FEDER Funding.Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been developed with the aim of helping health professionals, patients, and caregivers make decisions about their health care, using the best available evidence. In many cases, incorporation of these recommendations into clinical practice also implies a need for changes in routine clinical practice. Using educational games as a strategy for implementing recommendations among health professionals has been demonstrated to be effective in some studies; however, evidence is still scarce. The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a teaching strategy for the implementation of CPGs using educational games (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) to improve knowledge and skills related to clinical decision-making by residents in family medicine. The primary objective will be evaluated at 1 and 6months after the intervention. The secondary objectives are to identify barriers and facilitators for the use of guidelines by residents of family medicine and to describe the educational strategies used by Spanish teaching units of family and community medicine to encourage implementation of CPGs. Methods/design: We propose a multicenter clinical trial with randomized allocation by clusters of family and community medicine teaching units in Spain. The sample size will be 394 residents (197 in each group), with the teaching units as the randomization unit and the residents comprising the analysis unit. For the intervention, both groups will receive an initial 1-h session on clinical practice guideline use and the usual dissemination strategy by e-mail. The intervention group (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) strategy will consist of educational games with hypothetical clinical scenarios in a virtual environment. The primary outcome will be the score obtained by the residents on evaluation questionnaires for each clinical practice guideline. Other included variables will be the sociodemographic and training variables of the residents and the teaching unit characteristics. The statistical analysis will consist of a descriptive analysis of variables and a baseline comparison of both groups. For the primary outcome analysis, an average score comparison of hypothetical scenario questionnaires between the EDUCAGUIA intervention group and the control group will be performed at 1 and 6months post-intervention, using 95% confidence intervals. A linear multilevel regression will be used to adjust the model. Discussion: The identification of effective teaching strategies will facilitate the incorporation of available knowledge into clinical practice that could eventually improve patient outcomes. The inclusion of information technologies as teaching tools permits greater learning autonomy and allows deeper instructor participation in the monitoring and supervision of residents. The long-term impact of this strategy is unknown; however, because it is aimed at professionals undergoing training and it addresses prevalent health problems, a small effect can be of great relevance. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02210442.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Quality control by Infrared Thermography of the infusion manufacturing process of composite automotive specimens

Abstract (Arial, 9pt, bold) In this study the main defects appearing in composite manufacturing by infusion process are investigated to develop specific quality control routines. The technology employed to analyze this process and carry out quality controls is infrared thermography which, due to the special configuration of infusion manufacturing, allows an on-line monitoring of the whole process. This study was conducted at laboratory level with different composite materials, determining the thermal behaviour of the zones undergoing anomalies. This way a complete procedure for anticipating defect initialization and stopping the manufacturing process in early stages was defined, enabling repair actions and saving time and costs

Effect of superelastic shape memory alloy wires on the impact behaviour of carbon fiber reinforced in situ polymerized poly(butylene terephthalate) composites

Low-velocity impact properties of shape memory alloy (SMA) wires and carbon fi ber reinforced poly (butylene terephthalate) obtained by resin transfer molding were characterized. At the subcritical regime the dissipated energy is not affected by the presence of the wires. However SMA has a positive effect on the maximum absorbed energy, since the maximum allowable load is higher. The contribution of the SMA wires to the higher impact performance of the hybrid composite is suggested to be due to their energy absorbing capability, and also to the high reversible force that acts as a healing force.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Effect of superelastic shape memory alloy wires on the impact behaviour of carbon fiber reinforced in situ polymerized poly(butylene terephthalate) composites

Low-velocity impact properties of shape memory alloy (SMA) wires and carbon fi ber reinforced poly (butylene terephthalate) obtained by resin transfer molding were characterized. At the subcritical regime the dissipated energy is not affected by the presence of the wires. However SMA has a positive effect on the maximum absorbed energy, since the maximum allowable load is higher. The contribution of the SMA wires to the higher impact performance of the hybrid composite is suggested to be due to their energy absorbing capability, and also to the high reversible force that acts as a healing force.Peer Reviewe