Membranas nanoestructuradas, compuestas de capa fina y nanocompuestas para el tratamiento de aguas

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, leída el 06/11/2020. Tesis formato europeo (compendio de artículos)During last decades, population growth, climate change, natural disasters, uncontrolled urbanization, and pollution have left about one third of the world’s population without adequate access to drinking water. Water issue is expected to be more exacerbated in the coming decades, with water scarcity occurring globally and affecting even regions currently considered waterrich. Addressing this problem requires a great deal of adequate research to improve the efficiency of water use and wastewater treatment, as well as to mitigate the impacts of a wide variety of factors affecting water availability worldwide. Over the past twenty years, membrane filtration technology has become a significant separation methodology for drinking water production from saltwater (i.e. desalination) and wastewater (or groundwater), providing environmentally friendly and effective alternatives to conventional technologies. The main advantages of membrane filtration technology over conventional separation methods are its high removal capacity of particulates and microorganisms, very low thermal and chemical impact, flexibility of operation, modular design, moderate energy consumption and high cost effectiveness. The growth of the global membranes market is mainly the result of the impressive development of materials used for membrane fabrication and modification, improvements in membrane modules, and the progress of related systems, plants and equipment. However, the application of membranes in water treatment is limited by membrane fouling, which reduces water production rate, increases energy consumption, deteriorates membrane separation capability, and shortens membrane lifespan increasing, consequently, operation and maintenance costs. Particularly, organic and microbial fouling are the initial steps for biofilm formation, resulting in severe fouling problems in many environmental and engineered applications including membrane water filtration. Therefore, it is crucial the preparation of membranes with optimized surface properties, which induce a high fouling resistant capacity. This PhD thesis is focused on the preparation, characterization, modification and optimization of novel and advanced membranes with enhanced organic and microbial antifouling performance for the treatment, clearance and disinfection of different types of water as a sustainable way to increase drinking water availability and reduce water scarcity. First, an overview of the progress made during last few years on the preparation of novel membranes and their modification for water treatment by hydrostatic pressure and vapor pressure gradient membrane processes (i.e., microfiltration, MF; ultrafiltration, UF; nanofiltration, NF; reverse osmosis, RO; membrane distillation, MD and pervaporation, PV) is outlined in order to better understand the challenges and drawbacks that still need to be overcome for these membrane filtration technologies...Durante las últimas décadas, el crecimiento demográfico, el cambio climático, los desastres naturales, la urbanización descontrolada y la contaminación han dejado a aproximadamente un tercio de la población mundial sin acceso adecuado al agua potable. Se espera que el problema del agua se agrave aún más en las próximas décadas, habiendo escasez de agua en todo el mundo y afectando incluso a las regiones actualmente consideradas ricas en agua. Abordar este problema requiere una gran cantidad de investigación adecuada para mejorar la eficiencia del uso del agua y el tratamiento de aguas residuales, así como para mitigar los impactos de una amplia variedad de factores que afectan la disponibilidad del agua en todo el mundo. En los últimos veinte años, la tecnología de filtración por membrana se ha convertido en una metodología de separación significativa para la producción de agua potable a partir de agua salada (es decir desalinización) y aguas residuales (o aguas subterráneas), proporcionando alternativas ecológicas y efectivas respecto a las tecnologías convencionales. Las principales ventajas de la tecnología de filtración por membrana sobre los métodos de separación convencionales son su alta capacidad de eliminación de partículas y microorganismos, muy bajo impacto térmico y químico, flexibilidad de operación, diseño modular, consumo moderado de energía y alta rentabilidad. El crecimiento del mercado mundial de membranas es principalmente el resultado del impresionante progreso en los materiales utilizados para la fabricación y modificación de membranas, las mejoras en los módulos de membranas y la evolución de los sistemas, plantas y equipos relacionados. Sin embargo, la aplicación de membranas para el tratamiento de agua está limitada por el ensuciamiento de la membrana, lo que reduce la tasa de producción de agua, aumenta el consumo de energía, deteriora la capacidad de separación de la membrana y acorta la vida útil de la misma aumentando, en consecuencia, los gastos de operación y mantenimiento. Particularmente, el ensuciamiento orgánico y microbiano conforman las etapas iniciales para la formación de biopelículas, lo que da lugar a graves problemas de ensuciamiento en muchas aplicaciones ambientales y de ingeniería, incluida la filtración de agua por membrana. Por consiguiente, resulta crucial preparar membranas con propiedades superficiales optimizadas que induzcan una alta capacidad de resistencia al ensuciamiento. Esta tesis doctoral se centra en la preparación, caracterización, modificación y optimización de membranas novedosas y avanzadas con una eficiencia de anti-ensuciamiento “antifouling” orgánico y microbiano mejorada para el tratamiento, depuración y desinfección de diferentes tipos de agua como una forma sostenible de aumentar la disponibilidad de agua potable y reducir la escasez de agua. Primero, se ofrece una visión general del progreso realizado durante los últimos años en la preparación de nuevas membranas y su modificación para el tratamiento de agua mediante procesos de membrana con gradiente de presión hidrostática y presión de vapor (incluyendo microfiltración, MF; ultrafiltración, UF; nanofiltración, NF; ósmosis inversa, OI; destilación en membrana, DM y pervaporación, PV) con el objetivo de comprender mejor los desafíos y los inconvenientes que aún deben ser superados por estas tecnologías de filtración de membrana...Fac. de Ciencias FísicasTRUEunpu

The inclusion of socially irresponsible companies in sustainable stock indices

[EN] Social rating agencies implement complex filters to identify the companies with the best sustainable and social performance and help investors select the companies for their sustainable portfolios. This study analysed whether companies that are defined as ethical, sustainable and socially responsible by those agencies actually deserve this label. More specifically, the inclusion in the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World of companies that have been involved in controversies according to the Thomson Reuters Eikon database was studied. The results show that the inclusion of irresponsible companies in the DJSI Index is a fact. This outcome is in line with previous studies that criticise the methodologies applied by social rating agencies and those which outline the similarity of sustainable and conventional portfolios. The results may explain the contradictory conclusions regarding the performance of sustainable and conventional mutual funds in numerous studiesArribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, MD.; García García, F.; Morales-Bañuelos, PB. (2019). The inclusion of socially irresponsible companies in sustainable stock indices. Sustainability. 11(7):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11072047S114117OU, Y.-C. (2016). USING A HYBRID DECISION-MAKING MODEL TO EVALUATE THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PERFORMANCE OF HIGH-TECH LISTED COMPANIES. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 17(3), 331-346. doi:10.3846/16111699.2015.1110713Halkos, G., & Skouloudis, A. (2017). Revisiting the relationship between corporate social responsibility and national culture. Management Decision, 55(3), 595-613. doi:10.1108/md-12-2016-0868Halkos, G., & Skouloudis, A. (2016). National CSR and institutional conditions: An exploratory study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 139, 1150-1156. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.07.047Skouloudis, A., & Evangelinos, K. (2011). A research design for mapping national CSR terrains. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 19(2), 130-143. doi:10.1080/13504509.2011.606338ACHIM, M.-V., BORLEA, S.-N., & MARE, C. (2015). CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FOR THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 17(3), 458-474. doi:10.3846/16111699.2013.834841JERÓNIMO SILVESTRE, W., ANTUNES, P., & LEAL FILHO, W. (2016). THE CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY TYPOLOGY: ANALYSING SUSTAINABILITY DRIVERS AND FOSTERING SUSTAINABILITY AT ENTERPRISES. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 24(2), 513-533. doi:10.3846/20294913.2016.1213199Rodriguez-Fernandez, M. (2016). Social responsibility and financial performance: The role of good corporate governance. BRQ Business Research Quarterly, 19(2), 137-151. doi:10.1016/j.brq.2015.08.001Tebini, H., M’Zali, B., Lang, P., & Perez-Gladish, B. (2015). The Economic Impact of Environmentally Responsible Practices. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23(5), 333-344. doi:10.1002/csr.1383Gherghina, Ş. C., & Vintilă, G. (2016). Exploring the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Policies on Firm Value: the Case of Listed Companies in Romania. Economics & Sociology, 9(1), 23-42. doi:10.14254/2071-789x.2016/9-1/2Li, S., Ngniatedema, T., & Chen, F. (2017). Understanding the Impact of Green Initiatives and Green Performance on Financial Performance in the US. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(6), 776-790. doi:10.1002/bse.1948Jankalová, M., & Jankal, R. (2017). The assessment of corporate social responsibility: approaches analysis. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 4(4), 441-459. doi:10.9770/jesi.2017.4.4(4)García-Melón, M., Pérez-Gladish, B., Gómez-Navarro, T., & Mendez-Rodriguez, P. (2016). Assessing mutual funds’ corporate social responsibility: a multistakeholder-AHP based methodology. Annals of Operations Research, 244(2), 475-503. doi:10.1007/s10479-016-2132-5Miralles-Quirós, M. del M., & Miralles-Quirós, J. L. (2015). Improving Diversification Opportunities for Socially Responsible Investors. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(2), 339-351. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2691-4Schwartz, M. S. (2003). Journal of Business Ethics, 43(3), 195-213. doi:10.1023/a:1022933912939Hellsten, S., & Mallin, C. (2006). Are ‘Ethical’ or ‘Socially Responsible’ Investments Socially Responsible? Journal of Business Ethics, 66(4), 393-406. doi:10.1007/s10551-006-0001-xChatterji, A., & Levine, D. (2006). Breaking down the Wall of Codes: Evaluating Non-Financial Performance Measurement. California Management Review, 48(2), 29-51. doi:10.2307/41166337Renneboog, L., Ter Horst, J., & Zhang, C. (2008). Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior. Journal of Banking & Finance, 32(9), 1723-1742. doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2007.12.039Capelle-Blancard, G., & Monjon, S. (2012). Trends in the literature on socially responsible investment: looking for the keys under the lamppost. Business Ethics: A European Review, 21(3), 239-250. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2012.01658.xTrinks, P. J., & Scholtens, B. (2015). The Opportunity Cost of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing. Journal of Business Ethics, 140(2), 193-208. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2684-3Nainggolan, Y., How, J., & Verhoeven, P. (2015). Ethical Screening and Financial Performance: The Case of Islamic Equity Funds. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(1), 83-99. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2529-5Lesser, K., Rößle, F., & Walkshäusl, C. (2016). Socially responsible, green, and faith-based investment strategies: Screening activity matters! Finance Research Letters, 16, 171-178. doi:10.1016/j.frl.2015.11.001Von Wallis, M., & Klein, C. (2014). Ethical requirement and financial interest: a literature review on socially responsible investing. Business Research, 8(1), 61-98. doi:10.1007/s40685-014-0015-7Girerd-Potin, I., Jimenez-Garcès, S., & Louvet, P. (2013). Which Dimensions of Social Responsibility Concern Financial Investors? Journal of Business Ethics, 121(4), 559-576. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1731-1Bertrand, P., & Lapointe, V. (2015). How performance of risk-based strategies is modified by socially responsible investment universe? International Review of Financial Analysis, 38, 175-190. doi:10.1016/j.irfa.2014.11.009Lean, H. H., Ang, W. R., & Smyth, R. (2015). Performance and performance persistence of socially responsible investment funds in Europe and North America. The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 34, 254-266. doi:10.1016/j.najef.2015.09.011Lyn, E. O., & Zychowicz, E. J. (2010). The Impact of Faith-Based Screens on Investment Performance. The Journal of Investing, 19(3), 136-143. doi:10.3905/joi.2010.19.3.136Xiao, Y., Faff, R., Gharghori, P., & Min, B.-K. (2015). The Financial Performance of Socially Responsible Investments: Insights from the Intertemporal CAPM. Journal of Business Ethics, 146(2), 353-364. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2894-8Reddy, K., Mirza, N., Naqvi, B., & Fu, M. (2017). Comparative risk adjusted performance of Islamic, socially responsible and conventional funds: Evidence from United Kingdom. Economic Modelling, 66, 233-243. doi:10.1016/j.econmod.2017.07.007Muñoz, F., Vargas, M., & Marco, I. (2013). Environmental Mutual Funds: Financial Performance and Managerial Abilities. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(4), 551-569. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1893-xVan Duuren, E., Plantinga, A., & Scholtens, B. (2015). ESG Integration and the Investment Management Process: Fundamental Investing Reinvented. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(3), 525-533. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2610-8Ibikunle, G., & Steffen, T. (2015). European Green Mutual Fund Performance: A Comparative Analysis with their Conventional and Black Peers. Journal of Business Ethics, 145(2), 337-355. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2850-7Revelli, C., & Viviani, J.-L. (2014). Financial performance of socially responsible investing (SRI): what have we learned? A meta-analysis. Business Ethics: A European Review, 24(2), 158-185. doi:10.1111/beer.12076Renneboog, L., Ter Horst, J., & Zhang, C. (2011). Is ethical money financially smart? Nonfinancial attributes and money flows of socially responsible investment funds. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 20(4), 562-588. doi:10.1016/j.jfi.2010.12.003Humphrey, J. E., Warren, G. J., & Boon, J. (2015). What is Different about Socially Responsible Funds? A Holdings-Based Analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(2), 263-277. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2583-7Charlo, M. J., Moya, I., & Muñoz, A. M. (2017). Sustainable Development in Spanish Listed Companies: A Strategic Approach. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(3), 222-234. doi:10.1002/csr.1403Charlo, M. J., Moya, I., & Muñoz, A. M. (2013). Sustainable Development and Corporate Financial Performance: A Study Based on the FTSE4Good IBEX Index. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(4), 277-288. doi:10.1002/bse.1824Windolph, S. E. (2011). Assessing Corporate Sustainability Through Ratings: Challenges and Their Causes. Journal of Environmental Sustainability, 1(1), 1-22. doi:10.14448/jes.01.0005Searcy, C., & Elkhawas, D. (2012). Corporate sustainability ratings: an investigation into how corporations use the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Journal of Cleaner Production, 35, 79-92. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.05.022Ziegler, A., & Schröder, M. (2010). What determines the inclusion in a sustainability stock index? Ecological Economics, 69(4), 848-856. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.10.009Utz, S., & Wimmer, M. (2014). Are they any good at all? A financial and ethical analysis of socially responsible mutual funds. Journal of Asset Management, 15(1), 72-82. doi:10.1057/jam.2014.8Gangi, F., & Varrone, N. (2018). Screening activities by socially responsible funds: A matter of agency? Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, 842-855. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.06.228Verheyden, T., & De Moor, L. (2014). The Use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to Define and Evaluate Socially Responsible Investments. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2382813Lamata, M. T., Liern, V., & Pérez-Gladish, B. (2016). Doing good by doing well: a MCDM framework for evaluating corporate social responsibility attractiveness. Annals of Operations Research, 267(1-2), 249-266. doi:10.1007/s10479-016-2271-8Escrig-Olmedo, E., Muñoz-Torres, M. J., Fernández-Izquierdo, M. Á., & Rivera-Lirio, J. M. (2015). Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance: A Methodology for Sustainable Development. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(2), 142-162. doi:10.1002/bse.1904Montiel, I., & Delgado-Ceballos, J. (2014). Defining and Measuring Corporate Sustainability. Organization & Environment, 27(2), 113-139. doi:10.1177/1086026614526413Pérez-Gladish, B., Méndez, P., & M’Zali, B. (2012). Ranking Socially Responsible Mutual Funds. International Journal of Energy Optimization and Engineering, 1(2), 59-84. doi:10.4018/ijeoe.2012040104García‐Martínez, G., Guijarro, F., & Poyatos, J. A. (2017). Measuring the social responsibility of European companies: a goal programming approach. International Transactions in Operational Research, 26(3), 1074-1095. doi:10.1111/itor.12438Cervelló-Royo, R., Guijarro, F., & Martinez-Gomez, V. (2017). Social Performance considered within the global performance of Microfinance Institutions: a new approach. Operational Research, 19(3), 737-755. doi:10.1007/s12351-017-0360-3Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. Methodologyhttps://www.sustainability-indices.com/Balcilar, M., Demirer, R., & Gupta, R. (2017). Do Sustainable Stocks Offer Diversification Benefits for Conventional Portfolios? An Empirical Analysis of Risk Spillovers and Dynamic Correlations. Sustainability, 9(10), 1799. doi:10.3390/su9101799Measuring “Intangibles”https://www.robecosam.com/csa/csa-resources/csa-methodology.htmlThomson Reuters ESG Scoreshttps://www.refinitiv.com/content/dam/marketing/en_us/documents/methodology/esg-scores-methodology.pdfAouadi, A., & Marsat, S. (2016). Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(4), 1027-1047. doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3213-

La Poesía del Desapego en el Volver a Casa, De Yadira Hernández-Picó

Coincidiendo con el aniversario del paso del huracán María por Puerto Rico, el pasado 20 de septiembre de 2018 se inauguró el proyecto Volver a casa: crónica visual del Huracán María en las Indieras, el cual narra visualmente la experiencia de su creadora, la fotoperiodista Yadira Hernández- Picó, al regresar a su hogar en Maricao tras el embate de aquel terrible fenómeno

Análisis de la Comunicación de las ONG´s de ámbito local

El análisis de la comunicación de las ONG´s de ámbito local que se presenta a continuación permite repasar los conceptos y líneas básicas de la comunicación y el Marketing social a través de diferentes autores y obras. Asimismo, se ha realizado un estudio de la situación actual de la comunicación en varias organizaciones, así como un análisis del comportamiento de la sociedad civil frente a las mismas, lo cual ha permitido establecer las pautas de cómo una ONG debe de realizar un buen plan de comunicación teniendo en cuenta los recursos con los que se dispone. El presente trabajo dibuja las líneas de actuación que una ONG debe tener en cuenta a la hora de trasmitir un mensaje de una forma eficiente, adecuada a las herramientas de comunicación disponibles en la organización, los objetivos marcados y el publico objetivo al que se quiere llegar.Departamento de dirección y economía de la empresaMáster en Cooperación Internacional para el Desarroll

The mitochondrial genome of Iberobaenia (Coleoptera: Iberobaeniidae): first rearrangement of protein-coding genes in the beetles

International audienceThe complete mitochondrial genome of the recently discovered beetle family Iberobaeniidae is described and compared with known coleopteran mitogenomes. The mitochondrial sequence was obtained by shotgun metagenomic sequencing using the Illumina Miseq technology and resulted in an average coverage of 130 × and a minimum coverage of 35×. The mitochondrial genome of Iberobaeniidae includes 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs genes, and 1 putative control region, and showed a unique rearrangement of protein-coding genes. This is the first rearrangement affecting the relative position of protein-coding and ribosomal genes reported for the order Coleoptera

The limited spatial scale of dispersal in soil arthropods revealed with whole‐community haplotype‐level metabarcoding

Soil arthropod communities are highly diverse and critical for ecosystem functioning. However, our knowledge of spatial structure and the underlying processes of community assembly are scarce, hampered by limited empirical data on species diversity and turnover. We implement a high‐throughput sequencing approach to generate comparative data for thousands of arthropods at three hierarchical levels: genetic, species and supra‐specific lineages. A joint analysis of the spatial arrangement across these levels can reveal the predominant processes driving the variation in biological assemblages at the local scale. This multihierarchical approach was performed using haplotype‐level COI metabarcoding of entire communities of mites, springtails and beetles from three Iberian mountain regions. Tens of thousands of specimens were extracted from deep and superficial soil layers and produced comparative phylogeographic data for >1,000 codistributed species and nearly 3,000 haplotypes. Local assemblage composition differed greatly between grasslands and forests and, within each habitat, showed strong spatial structure and high endemicity. Distance decay was high at all levels, even at the scale of a few kilometres or less. The local distance decay patterns were self‐similar for the haplotypes and higher hierarchical entities, and this fractal structure was similar in all regions, suggesting that uniform processes of limited dispersal determine local‐scale community assembly. Our results from whole‐community metabarcoding provide insight into how dispersal limitations constrain mesofauna community structure within local spatial settings over evolutionary timescales. If generalized across wider areas, the high turnover and endemicity in the soil locally may indicate extremely high richness globally, challenging our current estimations of total arthropod diversity on Earth.This research was funded by Newton International Program, UK, to PA and the NHM Biodiversity Initiative to APV. PA was supported by postdoctoral grants from the Royal Society (Newton International Program, UK) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Spain) within the Juan de la Cierva Formación Program. CA was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Spain; CGL2015‐74178‐JIN MINECO/FEDER, UE).Peer reviewe

Utilización de objetos de aprendizaje en asignaturas heterogéneas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Resultados y valoración de la experiencia.

Durante el curso 2007/08 un grupo de profesores de distintas Escuelas de la UPM ha participado en un proyecto coordinado cuyo objetivo principal el la generación y adaptación de materiales didácticos para transformar de forma progresiva la docencia a formato semi-presencial o completamente a distancia. Como recursos educativos se han utilizado los Objetos de Aprendizaje. La novedad de las asignaturas implicadas, no sólo por su temática, sino en otros aspectos de gran importancia práctica como la diferenca en número y procedencia de los alumnos que las cursan, nivel en el Plan de Estudos , etc. En este trabajo se describe la experiencia y se muestran algunos de los materiales proparados. También se presentan los resultados académicos alcanzados por los alumnos y la valoración cualitativa que hacen los estudiantes respecto a disponer de objetos digitales de aprendizaje

Características clínicas de la infección SARS-CoV-2 en pacientes hospitalizados en UCI pediátrica en una clínica privada en Lima, Perú

El presente estudio, es una serie de 32 casos de pacientes pediátricos que fueron hospitalizados en la Unidad de Cuidado Intensivos Pediátrica de la Clínica Internacional y cuyos diagnósticos de ingreso incluyeron los términos “COVID-19” o“SARS-CoV-2”. Se dividió a los casos de acuerdo con la edad de los pacientes y de acuerdo al diagnóstico de alta como MIS-C o EK como grupo A y otros diagnósticos relacionados a COVID-19, como el grupo B. 19 (59.4%) de los pacientes incluidos fueron dados de alta con diagnóstico de MIS-C o EK, los 13 (40.6%) restantes fuerondados de alta con otros diagnósticos relacionados a COVID-19 no MIS-C. El 53% (n=17) de los pacientes fueron hombres. Los síntomas reportados con mayor frecuencia por los pacientes fueron fiebre (81.25%, n=26), síntomas respiratorios (68.8%, n=22), y síntomas gastrointestinales (56.3%, n=18). En el grupo 1 se evidenció una ligera predominancia por elsexo masculino de 68.42% (p=0.036). Asimismo, en este grupo se evidenció una menor frecuencia de comorbilidades en comparación al grupo 2 (43.11% vs 84.6%, p=0.016).The present study is a series of 32 cases of pediatric patients who were hospitalized in the pediatric ICU of the International Clinic and whose admission diagnoses included the terms "COVID-19" or "SARS-CoV-2". The cases were divided according to the age of the patients and according to the discharge diagnosis such as MIS-C or EK as group A and other diagnoses related to COVID-19, as group B. 19 (59.4%) of the included patients were discharged with a diagnosis of MIS-C or KD, the remaining 13 (40.6%) were discharged with other, non-MIS-C, COVID-19-related diagnoses. 53% (n=17) of the patients were men. The symptoms most frequently reported by patients were fever (81.25%, n=26), respiratory symptoms (68.8%, n=22), and gastrointestinal symptoms (56.3%, n=18). In group 1 there was evidence of a slight predominance by the male sex of 68.42% (p=0.036). Likewise, in this group there was a lower frequency of comorbidities compared to group 2 (43.11% vs 84.6%, p=0.016)

Coming of age for COI metabarcoding of whole organism community DNA: towards bioinformatic harmonisation

Metabarcoding of DNA extracted from community samples of whole organisms (whole organism community DNA, wocDNA) is increasingly being applied to terrestrial, marine and freshwater metazoan communities to provide rapid, accurate and high resolution data for novel molecular ecology research. The growth of this field has been accompanied by considerable development that builds on microbial metabarcoding methods to develop appropriate and efficient sampling and laboratory protocols for whole organism metazoan communities. However, considerably less attention has focused on ensuring bioinformatic methods are adapted and applied comprehensively in wocDNA metabarcoding. In this study we examined over 600 papers and identified 111 studies that performed COI metabarcoding of wocDNA. We then systematically reviewed the bioinformatic methods employed by these papers to identify the state-of-the-art. Our results show that the increasing use of wocDNA COI metabarcoding for metazoan diversity is characterised by a clear absence of bioinformatic harmonisation, and the temporal trends show little change in this situation. The reviewed literature showed (i) high heterogeneity across pipelines, tasks and tools used, (ii) limited or no adaptation of bioinformatic procedures to the nature of the COI fragment, and (iii) a worrying underreporting of tasks, software and parameters. Based upon these findings we propose a set of recommendations that we think the metabarcoding community should consider to ensure that bioinformatic methods are appropriate, comprehensive and comparable. We believe that adhering to these recommendations will improve the long-term integrative potential of wocDNA COI metabarcoding for biodiversity science