Finding patterns of atoll morphometrics at a range of spatial scales

Small Island Nations, often comprised of Atolls, are at considerable risk of climate change impacts from sea-level rise to coral acidification to increasing cyclone intensity; understanding how they will change in the coming century is vital for climate mitigation and resiliency. However, the morphology of atolls are not well quantified or summarized. In this work, we calculate modern atoll morphometrics on a global scale including 3,786 motu and 593 reef flats on 154 atolls. Temporal composites of Landsat imagery are created for 4 years (2015–2018), and are classified into motu, reef flat, open water/lagoon via unsupervised classification. Morphometrics, including widths, lengths, and area, are computed for each motu and reef flat of the atoll in Python, creating a database of atolls and their associated morphometrics. Consistency in automated processing of atoll morphometrics removes spatial and user bias, enabling a better understanding of geographic patterns of atoll area and other morphometrics. Distinct differences in the distribution of motu are seen on a regional scale in French Polynesia, while globally, wider reef flats and larger motu are found closest to the equator. Globally, there is a consistent reef flat width in front of large motu (>1 km length) of 184 ± 93 m (n = 724). Our atoll morphometric database creates a baseline of current atoll characteristics that can be expanded upon in the future and used for evaluating temporal changes to atoll islands

Genomic characterisation of Arachis porphyrocalyx (Valls & C.E. Simpson, 2005) (Leguminosae): Multiple origin of Arachis species with x = 9

The genus Arachis Linnaeus, 1753 comprises four species with x = 9, three belong to the section Arachis: Arachis praecox (Krapov. W.C. Greg. & Valls, 1994), Arachis palustris (Krapov. W.C. Greg. & Valls, 1994) and Arachis decora (Krapov. W.C. Greg. & Valls, 1994) and only one belongs to the section Erectoides: Arachis porphyrocalyx (Valls & C.E. Simpson, 2005). Recently, the x = 9 species of section Arachis have been assigned to G genome, the latest described so far. The genomic relationship of A. porphyrocalyx with these species is controversial. In the present work, we carried out a karyotypic characterisation of A. porphyrocalyx to evaluate its genomic structure and analyse the origin of all x = 9 Arachis species. Arachis porphyrocalyx showed a karyotype formula of 14m+4st, one pair of A chromosomes, satellited chromosomes type 8, one pair of 45S rDNA sites in the SAT chromosomes, one pair of 5S rDNA sites and pericentromeric C-DAPI+ bands in all chromosomes. Karyotype structure indicates that A. porphyrocalyx does not share the same genome type with the other three x = 9 species and neither with the remaining Erectoides species. Taking into account the geographic distribution, morphological and cytogenetic features, the origin of species with x = 9 of the genus Arachis cannot be unique; instead, they originated at least twice in the evolutionary history of the genus.Fil: Silvestri, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz, Alejandra Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Robledo Dobladez, Germán Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Valls, José Francisco M.. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Lavia, Graciela Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Instituto de Botánica del Nordeste; Argentin

Unraveling the ecological processes modulating the population structure of Escherichia coli in a highly polluted urban stream network

Escherichia coli dynamics in urban watersheds are affected by a complex balance among external inputs, niche modulation and genetic variability. To explore the ecological processes influencing E. coli spatial patterns, we analyzed its abundance and phylogenetic structure in water samples from a stream network with heterogeneous urban infrastructure and environmental conditions. Our results showed that environmental and infrastructure variables, such as macrophyte coverage, DIN and sewerage density, mostly explained E. coli abundance. Moreover, main generalist phylogroups A and B1 were found in high proportion, which, together with an observed negative relationship between E. coli abundance and phylogroup diversity, suggests that their dominance might be due to competitive exclusion. Lower frequency phylogroups were associated with sites of higher ecological disturbance, mainly involving simplified habitats, higher drainage infrastructure and septic tank density. In addition to the strong negative relationship between phylogroup diversity and dominance, the occurrence of these phylogroups would be associated with increased facilitated dispersal. Nutrients also contributed to explaining phylogroup distribution. Our study proposes the differential contribution of distinct ecological processes to the patterns of E. coli in an urban watershed, which is useful for the monitoring and management of fecal pollution.Fil: Saraceno, Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Gómez Lugo, Sebastian. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; ArgentinaFil: Ortiz, Nicolás. Provincia de Mendoza. Ministerio de Infraestructura y Vivienda. Secretaria de Obras Publicas. Instituto Nacional del Agua; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, Bárbara M.. Provincia de Mendoza. Ministerio de Infraestructura y Vivienda. Secretaria de Obras Publicas. Instituto Nacional del Agua; ArgentinaFil: Sabio y García, Carmen Alejandra. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Frankel, Nicolás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; ArgentinaFil: Graziano, Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Plasmodium species differentiation by non-expert on-line volunteers for remote malaria field diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Routine field diagnosis of malaria is a considerable challenge in rural and low resources endemic areas mainly due to lack of personnel, training and sample processing capacity. In addition, differential diagnosis of Plasmodium species has a high level of misdiagnosis. Real time remote microscopical diagnosis through on-line crowdsourcing platforms could be converted into an agile network to support diagnosis-based treatment and malaria control in low resources areas. This study explores whether accurate Plasmodium species identification-a critical step during the diagnosis protocol in order to choose the appropriate medication-is possible through the information provided by non-trained on-line volunteers. METHODS: 88 volunteers have performed a series of questionnaires over 110 images to differentiate species (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium knowlesi) and parasite staging from thin blood smear images digitalized with a smartphone camera adapted to the ocular of a conventional light microscope. Visual cues evaluated in the surveys include texture and colour, parasite shape and red blood size. RESULTS: On-line volunteers are able to discriminate Plasmodium species (P. falciparum, P. malariae, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. knowlesi) and stages in thin-blood smears according to visual cues observed on digitalized images of parasitized red blood cells. Friendly textual descriptions of the visual cues and specialized malaria terminology is key for volunteers learning and efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: On-line volunteers with short-training are able to differentiate malaria parasite species and parasite stages from digitalized thin smears based on simple visual cues (shape, size, texture and colour). While the accuracy of a single on-line expert is far from perfect, a single parasite classification obtained by combining the opinions of multiple on-line volunteers over the same smear, could improve accuracy and reliability of Plasmodium species identification in remote malaria diagnosis.M.L. holds a postdoctoral Fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FPDI-2013-16409). JMB thanks the support by MINECO through research Grants BIO2013-44565R and BIO2016-77430R. MP, SGC, DC and MLO work was supported by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (COOP-XVII-02), Madrid Regional Government (TOPUS S2013/MIT-3024), the European Regional Development Funds, Amazon Web Services and Fundación Renta CorporaciónS

Evo-devo models of tooth development and the origin of hominoid molar diversity

The detailed anatomical features that characterize fossil hominin molars figure prominently in the reconstruction of their taxonomy, phylogeny, and paleobiology. Despite the prominence of molar form in human origins research, the underlying developmental mechanisms generating the diversity of tooth crown features remain poorly understood. A model of tooth morphogenesis—the patterning cascade model (PCM)—provides a developmental framework to explore how and why the varying molar morphologies arose throughout human evolution. We generated virtual maps of the inner enamel epithelium—an indelibly preserved record of enamel knot arrangement—in 17 living and fossil hominoid species to investigate whether the PCM explains the expression of all major accessory cusps. We found that most of the variation and evolutionary changes in hominoid molar morphology followed the general developmental rule shared by all mammals, outlined by the PCM. Our results have implications for the accurate interpretation of molar crown configuration in hominoid systematics

Prescription for COVID-19 by non-medical professionals during the pandemic in Colombia: a cross-sectional study

Antecedentes: La pandemia de COVID-19 ha llevado a un aumento en el comportamiento de la automedicación (SM). Dada la liberación masiva de información engañosa durante la pandemia, algunas farmacias recomiendan medicamentos como la ivermectina, la azitromicina, la hidroxicloroquina, entre otros, que no son útiles para prevenir o tratar la COVID-19 y podrían exponer a los pacientes a efectos secundarios innecesarios e interacciones con otros medicamentos. La gente debe estar al tanto de los usos aprobados y no aprobados, y de los posibles efectos secundarios de estos medicamentos. Justificación: El objetivo de este estudio era conocer los medicamentos, incluidos los productos naturales y los medicamentos homeopáticos, ofrecidos por los establecimientos farmacéuticos colombianos para la prevención y el tratamiento de la COVID-19, así como la información proporcionada sobre el uso seguro del producto. Métodos: El estudio se realizó utilizando el método de compras misteriosas, recopilando datos a través de llamadas telefónicas a cada uno de los establecimientos por parte de una persona capacitada que fingía ser un paciente con síntomas de COVID-19. El estudio incluyó 482 establecimientos farmacéuticos de 16 departamentos colombianos. Resultados: De los 59 medicamentos sugeridos por las farmacias, los más recomendados fueron azitromicina, ivermectina, acetaminofén, ibuprofeno y aspirina. La dosis recomendada se indicó en el 85,5% (236) de los establecimientos farmacéuticos, y el 14,5% (40) de ellos reportó los efectos adversos más comunes del producto recomendado. Alrededor del 9,4 % (26) de los establecimientos informaron de posibles interacciones de los medicamentos y sustancias recomendados con alimentos, bebidas o suplementos. Conclusión: La mayoría de los establecimientos farmacéuticos incluidos en el estudio promovieron una automedicación inadecuada para la COVID-19 en Colombia durante la pandemia.Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the behavior of self-medication (SM). Given the massive release of misleading information during the pandemic, some pharmacies recommend drugs such as ivermectin, azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine among others, which are not useful for preventing or treating COVID-19 and could expose patients to unnecessary side effects and interactions with other medications. People should be aware of the approved and non-approved uses, and potential side effects of these drugs. Rationale: The aim of this study was to know the drugs, including natural products and homeopathic drugs, offered by Colombian pharmaceutical establishments for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, as well as the information provided on the safe use of the product. Methods: The study was done using the mystery shopping method, collecting data through telephone calls to each of the establishments by a trained individual pretending to be a patient with COVID-19 symptoms. The study included 482 pharmaceutical establishments from 16 Colombian departments. Results: Of 59 drugs suggested by pharmacies, the most recommended were azithromycin, ivermectin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and aspirin. The recommended dose was indicated in 85.5% (236) of the pharmaceutical establishments, and 14.5% (40) of them reported the most common adverse effects of the recommended product. About 9.4% (26) of the establishments reported possible interactions of the recommended drugs and substances with food, beverages, or supplements. Conclusion: The majority of the pharmaceutical establishments included in the study promoted inadequate self-medication for COVID-19 in Colombia during the pandemic.https://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0001402116https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=es&user=OW0mejcAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdatehttps://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/gruplac/jsp/visualiza/visualizagr.jsp?nro=00000000004151https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4835-9739Introducción, Materiales y Métodos, Resultados, Conclusiones, Bibliografía

Lectura y comprensión de textos en el nivel superior: un desafío compartido entre alumnos y docentes

La comprensión lectora se ha convertido, en las últimas décadas, en una preocupación de quienes tienen la responsabilidad de la educación superior. Así, en el ISFD “Santa María” (San Juan, Argentina) se desarrolló durante los años 2006-2007 la investigación denominada "La Comprensión Lectora en el Nivel Superior: un estudio exploratorio". El objetivo fue indagar los factores que inciden en la comprensión lectora de alumnos de nivel superior. La estrategia metodológica se enmarcó dentro del paradigma interpretativo mediante un abordaje predominantemente cualitativo, con alumnos de dicho Instituto de la cohorte 2005. Se desarrolló en dos etapas: una enfocada a descubrir categorías desde los datos, mediante técnicas de recolección de bajo nivel de preestructuración (entrevistas en profundidad); la otra profundiza y relaciona categorías específicas del abordaje de textos escritos, usando técnicas de obtención de datos más estructuradas (cuestionario semi-estructurado autoadministrado). En la primera etapa —año 2006— la investigación estuvo orientada a recuperar la perspectiva de los alumnos para descubrir factores facilitadores y obstaculizadores de la comprensión lectora en su trayectoria educativa. Mediante un estudio de casos se puso de manifiesto la diversidad e interrelación de factores que inciden en el problema. A modo de conclusión, encontramos que la dimensión afectiva, los condicionantes académicos y las disposiciones de los alumnos se articulan para dar lugar a una determinada forma de encarar la formación de nivel superior. La segunda etapa —año 2007— se centró específicamente en el trabajo con los textos, tanto del docente como de los alumnos. Como resultado de este estudio se puso de relieve la importancia de la mediación del docente para facilitar la comprensión del material de estudio

Phosphorylation disrupts long-distance electron transport in cytochrome c

It has been recently shown that electron transfer between mitochondrial cytochrome c and the cytochrome c1 subunit of the cytochrome bc1 can proceed at long-distance through the aqueous solution. Cytochrome c is thought to adjust its activity by changing the affinity for its partners via Tyr48 phosphorylation, but it is unknown how it impacts the nanoscopic environment, interaction forces, and long-range electron transfer. Here, we constrain the orientation and separation between cytochrome c1 and cytochrome c or the phosphomimetic Y48pCMF cytochrome c, and deploy an array of single-molecule, bulk, and computational methods to investigate the molecular mechanism of electron transfer regulation by cytochrome c phosphorylation. We demonstrate that phosphorylation impairs long-range electron transfer, shortens the long-distance charge conduit between the partners, strengthens their interaction, and departs it from equilibrium. These results unveil a nanoscopic view of the interaction between redox protein partners in electron transport chains and its mechanisms of regulation

Beneficial effects of melatonin in the ovarian transport medium on in vitro embryo production of Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Reproductive Biotechnology in Wildlife.[Simple Summary]: The development of in vitro embryo production (IVP) in wild species, such as Iberian red deer, can become a daunting challenge since prolonged ovary transport times to the laboratory are often unavoidable. This may have detrimental effects on the quality and developmental capacity of oocytes. We evaluated the effect of supplementing the ovary transport medium with the antioxidant melatonin and observed an increased level of oocyte intracellular reduced glutathione content. Moreover, melatonin enhanced cleavage and blastocyst rates and had a positive effect on embryo quality in terms of the expression of essential embryo development-related genes. In conclusion, the addition of melatonin to the ovary storage medium could mitigate the negative impacts that long transport times may have on oocyte developmental competence and quality of the resulting blastocysts in Iberian red deer.A major limiting factor for the development of in vitro embryo production (IVP) in wild species, such as Iberian red deer, compared to livestock animals is the poor availability and limited access to biological material. Thus, the use of post-mortem ovaries from slaughtered animals represent a source of oocytes for the large scale production of embryos needed for research and to improve the efficiency of IVP. However, these oocytes are not as developmentally competent as their in vivo counterparts. Moreover, oocytes are usually obtained from ovaries that have been transported for long distances, which may also affect their quality. In order to overcome the issues associated with prolonged storage times of post-mortem material, in this study we examined the effect of melatonin supplementation to the ovary transport medium on oocyte quality, embryo yield, and blastocyst quality in Iberian red deer. When necessary, sheep was used as an experimental model due to the large number of samples required for analysis of oocyte quality parameters. Oocytes were in vitro matured and assessed for early apoptosis; DNA fragmentation; reactive oxygen species (ROS); reduced glutathione (GSH) content, mitochondrial membrane potential, and distribution; and relative abundance of mRNA transcript levels. After in vitro fertilization, embryo rates and blastocyst quality were also investigated. The results revealed that melatonin treatment significantly increased intracellular level of GSH in sheep oocytes. Moreover, the percentage of cleavage and blastocyst yield in red deer was greater compared to the Control group and there was lower abundance of oxidative stress- and apoptosis-related SHC1, TP53, and AKR1B1 mRNA transcripts in blastocysts for the Melatonin group. In conclusion, the supplementation of melatonin to the ovary storage medium had a positive effect on the developmental competence and quality of resulting blastocysts in Iberian red deer.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2017-89017-R) and Regional Government (SBPLY/17/180501/000500). M.I.-C. and A.M.-M. were supported by a Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness scholarship. P.P.-F. and D.-A.M.-C. were supported by a University of Castilla-La Mancha scholarship.Peer reviewe