Experimental energy performance assessment of a solar desiccant cooling system in Southern Europe climates

Solar desiccant cooling systems, SDEC, could be an effective alternative to conventional cooling systems, which mainly depend on electrical energy. The main objective of this work was to determine experimentally the seasonal coefficient of performance, SCOP, of a SDEC system composed of a desiccant wheel, an indirect evaporative cooler and a thermal solar system, to control indoor conditions in a research lab room. The dependence of coefficient of performance on outdoor air conditions and percentage of renewable energy used by the SDEC system were also analysed. Experimental tests were carried out for six weeks during spring and summer seasons in Martos, Spain. The experimental results showed that the SDEC system independently adjusted the temperature and humidity of the supply air. 75% of the energy consumed by this air handling system comes from renewable sources. A seasonal coefficient of performance of the SDEC system of 2 was obtained for the period analysed. It is shown that the higher the outdoor temperature, the higher instantaneous COPs is. These results suggest that the use of SDEC systems in hot climates, such as southern European climates, could contribute to achieve the EU's energy goals within the frame of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings

A novel monopartite begomovirus infecting sweet potato in Brazil.

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A novel East African monopartite begomovirus-betasatellite complex that infects Vernonia amygdalina

The complete genomes of a monopartite begomovirus (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae) and an associated betasatellite found infecting Vernonia amygdalina Delile (family Compositae) in Uganda were cloned and sequenced. Begomoviruses isolated from two samples showed the highest nucleotide sequence identity (73.1% and 73.2%) to an isolate of the monopartite begomovirus tomato leaf curl Vietnam virus, and betasatellites from the same samples exhibited the highest nucleotide sequence identity (67.1% and 68.2%) to vernonia yellow vein Fujian betasatellite. Following the current taxonomic criteria for begomovirus species demarcation, the isolates sequenced here represent a novel begomovirus species. Based on symptoms observed in the field, we propose the name vernonia crinkle virus (VeCrV) for this novel begomovirus and vernonia crinkle betasatellite (VeCrB) for the associated betasatellite. This is the first report of a monopartite begomovirus-betasatellite complex from Uganda

Desmodium mottle virus, the first legumovirus (genus Begomovirus) from East Africa

A novel bipartite legumovirus (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae), that naturally infects the wild leguminous plant Desmodium sp. in Uganda, was molecularly characterized and named Desmodium mottle virus. The highest nucleotide identities for DNA-A, obtained from two field-collected samples, were 79.9% and 80.1% with the legumovirus, soybean mild mottle virus. DNA-B had the highest nucleotide identities (65.4% and 66.4%) with a typical non-legumovirus Old World begomovirus, African cassava mosaic virus. This is the first report of a legumovirus in East Africa and extends the known diversity of begomoviruses found infecting wild plants in this continent

Evolutionary origins of metabolic reprogramming in cancer

Metabolic changes that facilitate tumor growth are one of the hallmarks of cancer. These changes are not specific to tumors but also take place during the physiological growth of tissues. Indeed, the cellular and tissue mechanisms present in the tumor have their physiological counterpart in the repair of tissue lesions and wound healing. These molecular mechanisms have been acquired during metazoan evolution, first to eliminate the infection of the tissue injury, then to enter an effective regenerative phase. Cancer itself could be considered a phenomenon of antagonistic pleiotropy of the genes involved in effective tissue repair. Cancer and tissue repair are complex traits that share many intermediate phenotypes at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, and all of these are integrated within a Systems Biology structure. Complex traits are influenced by a multitude of common genes, each with a weak effect. This polygenic component of complex traits is mainly unknown and so makes up part of the missing heritability. Here, we try to integrate these different perspectives from the point of view of the metabolic changes observed in cancer.This work was supported in JPL’s lab by Grant PID2020-118527RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011039; Grant PDC2021-121735-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011039 and by the “European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR.”, the Regional Government of Castile and León (CSI234P18 and CSI144P20). SCLl was the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal research contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and was supported by grant RTI2018-094130-B-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011039 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe.” RCC and AJN are funded by fellowships from the Spanish Regional Government of Castile and León. NGS is a recipient of an FPU fellowship (MINECO/FEDER). MJPB is funded by grant PID2020-118527RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011039. J.C. is partially supported by grant GRS2139/A/20 (Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León) and by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/00587 and PI21/01207), co-financed by FEDER funds, and by the “Programa de Intensificación” of the ISCIII, grant number INT20/00074. We thank Phil Mason for English language support

Recommendations of the Spanish Antibiogram Committee (COESANT) for selecting antimicrobial agents and concentrations for in vitro susceptibility studies using automated systems

Automated antimicrobial susceptibility testing devices are widely implemented in clinical microbiology laboratories in Spain, mainly using EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) breakpoints. In 2007, a group of experts published recommendations for including antimicrobial agents and selecting concentrations in these systems. Under the patronage of the Spanish Antibiogram Committee (Comité Español del Antibiograma, COESANT) and the Study Group on Mechanisms of Action and Resistance to Antimicrobial Agents (GEMARA) from the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC), and aligned with the Spanish National Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance (PRAN), a group of experts have updated this document. The main modifications from the previous version comprise the inclusion of new antimicrobial agents, adaptation of the ranges of concentrations to cover the EUCAST breakpoints and epidemiological cut-off values (ECOFFs), and the inference of new resistance mechanisms. This proposal should be considered by different manufacturers and users when designing new panels or cards. In addition, recommendations for selective reporting are also included. With this approach, the implementation of EUCAST breakpoints will be easier, increasing the quality of antimicrobial susceptibility testing data and their microbiological interpretation. It will also benefit epidemiological surveillance studies as well as the clinical use of antimicrobials aligned with antimicrobial stewardship programs

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

The Spread of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus from the Middle East to the World

The ongoing global spread of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV; Genus Begomovirus, Family Geminiviridae) represents a serious looming threat to tomato production in all temperate parts of the world. Whereas determining where and when TYLCV movements have occurred could help curtail its spread and prevent future movements of related viruses, determining the consequences of past TYLCV movements could reveal the ecological and economic risks associated with similar viral invasions. Towards this end we applied Bayesian phylogeographic inference and recombination analyses to available TYLCV sequences (including those of 15 new Iranian full TYLCV genomes) and reconstructed a plausible history of TYLCV's diversification and movements throughout the world. In agreement with historical accounts, our results suggest that the first TYLCVs most probably arose somewhere in the Middle East between the 1930s and 1950s (with 95% highest probability density intervals 1905–1972) and that the global spread of TYLCV only began in the 1980s after the evolution of the TYLCV-Mld and -IL strains. Despite the global distribution of TYLCV we found no convincing evidence anywhere other than the Middle East and the Western Mediterranean of epidemiologically relevant TYLCV variants arising through recombination. Although the region around Iran is both the center of present day TYLCV diversity and the site of the most intensive ongoing TYLCV evolution, the evidence indicates that the region is epidemiologically isolated, which suggests that novel TYLCV variants found there are probably not direct global threats. We instead identify the Mediterranean basin as the main launch-pad of global TYLCV movements