The ecology of peace : preparing Colombia for new political and planetary climates

ABSTRACT: Colombia, one of the world’s most species-rich nations, is currently undergoing a profound social transition: the end of a decadeslong conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC. The peace agreement process will likely transform the country’s physical and socioeconomic landscapes at a time when humans are altering Earth’s atmosphere and climate in unprecedented ways. We discuss ways in which these transformative events will act in combination to shape the ecological and environmental future of Colombia. We also highlight the risks of creating perverse development incentives in these critical times, along with the potential benefits – for the country and the world – if Colombia can navigate through the peace process in a way that protects its own environment and ecosystems

Association of breast and gut microbiota dysbiosis and the risk of breast cancer: a case-control clinical study

We would like to thank M Luisa Puertas-Martin and Isabel Manzano-Jimenez, nurses at the Unit of Mammary Pathology, General Surgery Service, San Cecilio University Hospital (Granada), without whose enthusiasm the enrolment of participants in Granada would still be stalled. We are indebted to all the women taking part in the study.The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03885648, 03/25/2019. Retrospectively registered.Background Breast cancer ranks first in women, and is the second cause of death in this gender. In addition to genetics, the environment contributes to the development of the disease, although the factors involved are not well known. Among the latter is the influence of microorganisms and, therefore, attention is recently being paid to the mammary microbiota. We hypothesize that the risk of breast cancer could be associated with the composition and functionality of the mammary/gut microbiota, and that exposure to environmental contaminants (endocrine disruptors, EDCs) might contribute to alter these microbiota. Methods We describe a case-control clinical study that will be performed in women between 25 and 70 years of age. Cases will be women diagnosed and surgically intervened of breast cancer (stages I and II). Women with antecedents of cancer or advanced tumor stage (metastasis), or who have received antibiotic treatment within a period of 3 months prior to recruitment, or any neoadjuvant therapy, will be excluded. Controls will be women surgically intervened of breast augmentation or reduction. Women with oncological, gynecological or endocrine history, and those who have received antibiotic treatment within a period of 3 months prior to recruitment will also be excluded. Blood, urine, breast tissue and stool samples will be collected. Data regarding anthropometric, sociodemographic, reproductive history, tumor features and dietary habits will be gathered. Metabolomic studies will be carried out in stool and breast tissue samples. Metagenomic studies will also be performed in stool and breast tissue samples to ascertain the viral, fungal, bacterial and archaea populations of the microbiota. Quantitation of estrogens, estrogen metabolites and EDCs in samples of serum, urine and breast tissue will also be performed. Discussion: This is the first time that the contribution of bacteria, archaea, viruses and fungi together with their alteration by environmental contaminants to the risk of breast cancer will be evaluated in the same study. Results obtained could contribute to elucidate risk factors, improve the prognosis, as well as to propose novel intervention studies in this disease.This work is funded by grants PI-0538-2017 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain, to LF) and Biomedical Research Networking Center-CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP) of the Institute of Health Carlos III -supported by European Regional Development Fund/FEDER (FIS-PI16/01812) (to MFF)

An energy-efficient internet of things (IoT) architecture for preventive conservation of cultural heritage

[EN] Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can facilitate the preventive conservation of cultural heritage (CH) by enabling the management of data collected from electronic sensors. This work presents an IoT architecture for this purpose. Firstly, we discuss the requirements from the artwork standpoint, data acquisition, cloud processing and data visualization to the end user. The results presented in this work focuses on the most critical aspect of the architecture, which are the sensor nodes. We designed a solution based on LoRa and Sigfox technologies to produce the minimum impact in the artwork, achieving a lifespan of more than 10 years. The solution will be capable of scaling the processing and storage resources, deployed either in a public or on-premise cloud, embedding complex predictive models. This combination of technologies can cope with different types of cultural heritage environments.This work was partially funded by the Generalitat Valenciana project AICO/2016/058 and by the Plan Nacional de I+D, Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y TecnologiA (FEDER-CICYT) under the project HAR2013-47895-C2-1-P.Perles Ivars, A.; Pérez Marín, E.; Mercado Romero, R.; Segrelles Quilis, JD.; Blanquer Espert, I.; Zarzo Castelló, M.; García Diego, FJ. (2018). An energy-efficient internet of things (IoT) architecture for preventive conservation of cultural heritage. Future Generation Computer Systems. 81:566-581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2017.06.030S5665818

Phytoplankton dynamics in relation to seasonal variability and upwelling and relaxation patterns at the mouth of Ria de Aveiro (West Iberian Margin) over a four-year period

From June 2004 to December 2007, samples were weekly collected at a fixed station located at the mouth of Ria de Aveiro (West Iberian Margin). We examined the seasonal and inter-annual fluctuations in composition and community structure of the phytoplankton in relation to the main environmental drivers and assessed the influence of the oceano-graphic regime, namely changes in frequency and intensity of upwelling events, over the dynamics of the phytoplankton assemblage. The samples were consistently handled and a final subset of 136 OTUs (taxa with relative abundance > 0.01%) was subsequently submitted to various multivariate analyses. The phytoplankton assemblage showed significant changes at all temporal scales but with an overriding importance of seasonality over longer-(inter-annual) or shorter-term fluctuations (upwelling-related). Sea-surface temperature, salinity and maximum upwelling index were retrieved as the main driver of seasonal change. Seasonal signal was most evident in the fluctuations of chlorophyll a concentration and in the high turnover from the winter to spring phytoplankton assemblage. The seasonal cycle of production and succession was disturbed by upwelling events known to disrupt thermal stratification and induce changes in the phytoplankton assemblage. Our results indicate that both the frequency and intensity of physical forcing were important drivers of such variability, but the outcome in terms of species composition was highly dependent on the available local pool of species and the timing of those events in relation to the seasonal cycle. We conclude that duration, frequency and intensity of upwelling events, which vary seasonally and inter-annually, are paramount for maintaining long-term phytoplankton diversity likely by allowing unstable coexistence and incorporating species turnover at different scales. Our results contribute to the understanding of the complex mechanisms of coastal phytoplankton dynamics in relation to changing physical forcing which is fundamental to improve predictability of future prospects under climate change.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) [SFRH/BPD/ 94562/2013]; FEDER funds; national funds; CESAM [UID/AMB/50017]; FCT/MEC through national funds; FEDERinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Efecto de una cepa de Fusarium oxysporum y de diversas levaduras sobre la nutrición férrica de plantas de pepino y tomate

Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso Nacional de Ciencias Hortícolas, celebrado en Córdoba del 17 al 22 de octubre de 2021,El hierro (Fe) es un micronutriente esencial para las plantas. En suelos calizos se encuentra en su forma oxidada (Fe 3+), presentando baja solubilidad y disponibilidad para las plantas. Bajo deficiencia de Fe, las plantas dicotiledóneas inducen diversas respuestas fisiológicas y morfológicas en sus raíces para facilitar así su captación y paliar los efectos que produce su deficiencia. Existen evidencias de que determinados microorganismos rizosféricos, como los que provocan la Respuesta Sistémica Inducida (ISR), pueden facilitar la nutrición férrica de las plantas. El objetivo de este trabajo ha sido, por una parte, estudiar el efecto de la cepa no patogénica de Fusarium oxysporum (FO12), posiblemente inductora de ISR, sobre el crecimiento y clorosis de plantas de tomate (Solanum lycopersicum Mill.), y sobre la colonización de raíces de pepino (Cucumis sativus L.). Por otra parte, estudiar el efecto de determinadas levaduras (Debaryomyces hansenii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae y Hansenula polymorpha) sobre diversas respuestas a la deficiencia de Fe en plantas de pepino. Los experimentos con tomate se han desarrollado en suelo calizo y los de pepino en cultivo hidropónico. Los resultados obtenidos con FO12 han mostrado su capacidad para colonizar endofiticamente las raíces de pepino y su efecto promotor del crecimiento, la concentración de clorofila y de Fe (en hojas) en plantas de tomate. Las diferentes levaduras utilizadas han causado inducción de la capacidad reductora de Fe 3+, de la acidificación de la rizosfera, y de la proliferación de pelos radicales en la zona subapical de las raíces de pepino. Estos resultados sugieren que, tanto FO12 como las diferentes levaduras utilizadas, tienen potencial como biofertilizantes de Fe.Plan Propio de la Universidad de Córdoba y Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

Crecimiento y características metabólicas diferenciadas de bovinos de razas con alto engrasamiento en un sistema de producción español

La producción de carne de vacuno con grasa altamente infiltrada tiene gran valor en el mercado mundial, debido a su excelente calidad y características organolépticas. Este tipo de carne puede obtenerse en su máxima calidad, de la raza wagyu (de origen japonés), de su cruce con la raza angus (wangus) o de la raza angus en pureza o en cruces con otras razas europeas (cruce comercial). La raza wagyu y sus cruces han sido poco estudiadas en sistemas de producción europeos y, por tanto, es difícil saber su comportamiento productivo y su eficiencia económica, comparada con razas europeas. El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar el crecimiento y las características metabólicas (diferenciadas en wagyu; Piao da C. et al., 2015) de animales wagyu (WY), wangus (WN) y cruces comerciales (CC) en las primeras etapas de su crecimiento

Fases finales del crecimiento y características metabólicas en bovinos de raza Wagyu y cruzados con Angus (Wangus) en un sistema de producción español

La raza wagyu (WY) se caracteriza por dar lugar a una carne con un alto grado de infiltración, de alta calidad (Shahrai et al. 2020) y de alto interés en el mercado mundial. Carne más engrasada que la tradicional en bovino también se origina en animales de raza Angus, aunque ambas razas presentan ritmos de crecimientos y calidad de la carne diferenciadas (Radunz et al. 2009; Shahrai et al. 2020). El cruce de la raza Angus con Wagyu (wangus, WN) es, por lo tanto, de interés productivo. Sin embargo, hay pocos estudios sobre las características productivas de animales WY y WN en sistemas de producción españoles. Por tanto, el objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar el crecimiento y las características metabólicas de WY y WN en la fase final del engorde

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 5.0 GeV/$c$ is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161