RICORS2040 : The need for collaborative research in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a silent and poorly known killer. The current concept of CKD is relatively young and uptake by the public, physicians and health authorities is not widespread. Physicians still confuse CKD with chronic kidney insufficiency or failure. For the wider public and health authorities, CKD evokes kidney replacement therapy (KRT). In Spain, the prevalence of KRT is 0.13%. Thus health authorities may consider CKD a non-issue: very few persons eventually need KRT and, for those in whom kidneys fail, the problem is 'solved' by dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, KRT is the tip of the iceberg in the burden of CKD. The main burden of CKD is accelerated ageing and premature death. The cut-off points for kidney function and kidney damage indexes that define CKD also mark an increased risk for all-cause premature death. CKD is the most prevalent risk factor for lethal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the factor that most increases the risk of death in COVID-19, after old age. Men and women undergoing KRT still have an annual mortality that is 10- to 100-fold higher than similar-age peers, and life expectancy is shortened by ~40 years for young persons on dialysis and by 15 years for young persons with a functioning kidney graft. CKD is expected to become the fifth greatest global cause of death by 2040 and the second greatest cause of death in Spain before the end of the century, a time when one in four Spaniards will have CKD. However, by 2022, CKD will become the only top-15 global predicted cause of death that is not supported by a dedicated well-funded Centres for Biomedical Research (CIBER) network structure in Spain. Realizing the underestimation of the CKD burden of disease by health authorities, the Decade of the Kidney initiative for 2020-2030 was launched by the American Association of Kidney Patients and the European Kidney Health Alliance. Leading Spanish kidney researchers grouped in the kidney collaborative research network Red de Investigación Renal have now applied for the Redes de Investigación Cooperativa Orientadas a Resultados en Salud (RICORS) call for collaborative research in Spain with the support of the Spanish Society of Nephrology, Federación Nacional de Asociaciones para la Lucha Contra las Enfermedades del Riñón and ONT: RICORS2040 aims to prevent the dire predictions for the global 2040 burden of CKD from becoming true

Reproducibility in the absence of selective reporting : An illustration from large-scale brain asymmetry research

Altres ajuts: Max Planck Society (Germany).The problem of poor reproducibility of scientific findings has received much attention over recent years, in a variety of fields including psychology and neuroscience. The problem has been partly attributed to publication bias and unwanted practices such as p-hacking. Low statistical power in individual studies is also understood to be an important factor. In a recent multisite collaborative study, we mapped brain anatomical left-right asymmetries for regional measures of surface area and cortical thickness, in 99 MRI datasets from around the world, for a total of over 17,000 participants. In the present study, we revisited these hemispheric effects from the perspective of reproducibility. Within each dataset, we considered that an effect had been reproduced when it matched the meta-analytic effect from the 98 other datasets, in terms of effect direction and significance threshold. In this sense, the results within each dataset were viewed as coming from separate studies in an "ideal publishing environment," that is, free from selective reporting and p hacking. We found an average reproducibility rate of 63.2% (SD = 22.9%, min = 22.2%, max = 97.0%). As expected, reproducibility was higher for larger effects and in larger datasets. Reproducibility was not obviously related to the age of participants, scanner field strength, FreeSurfer software version, cortical regional measurement reliability, or regional size. These findings constitute an empirical illustration of reproducibility in the absence of publication bias or p hacking, when assessing realistic biological effects in heterogeneous neuroscience data, and given typically-used sample sizes

NEOTROPICAL XENARTHRANS: a data set of occurrence of xenarthran species in the Neotropics

Xenarthrans – anteaters, sloths, and armadillos – have essential functions for ecosystem maintenance, such as insect control and nutrient cycling, playing key roles as ecosystem engineers. Because of habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting pressure, and conflicts with 24 domestic dogs, these species have been threatened locally, regionally, or even across their full distribution ranges. The Neotropics harbor 21 species of armadillos, ten anteaters, and six sloths. Our dataset includes the families Chlamyphoridae (13), Dasypodidae (7), Myrmecophagidae (3), Bradypodidae (4), and Megalonychidae (2). We have no occurrence data on Dasypus pilosus (Dasypodidae). Regarding Cyclopedidae, until recently, only one species was recognized, but new genetic studies have revealed that the group is represented by seven species. In this data-paper, we compiled a total of 42,528 records of 31 species, represented by occurrence and quantitative data, totaling 24,847 unique georeferenced records. The geographic range is from the south of the USA, Mexico, and Caribbean countries at the northern portion of the Neotropics, to its austral distribution in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. Regarding anteaters, Myrmecophaga tridactyla has the most records (n=5,941), and Cyclopes sp. has the fewest (n=240). The armadillo species with the most data is Dasypus novemcinctus (n=11,588), and the least recorded for Calyptophractus retusus (n=33). With regards to sloth species, Bradypus variegatus has the most records (n=962), and Bradypus pygmaeus has the fewest (n=12). Our main objective with Neotropical Xenarthrans is to make occurrence and quantitative data available to facilitate more ecological research, particularly if we integrate the xenarthran data with other datasets of Neotropical Series which will become available very soon (i.e. Neotropical Carnivores, Neotropical Invasive Mammals, and Neotropical Hunters and Dogs). Therefore, studies on trophic cascades, hunting pressure, habitat loss, fragmentation effects, species invasion, and climate change effects will be possible with the Neotropical Xenarthrans dataset

Evanescent-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy applied to electrochemical ion transfer at liquid–liquid interfaces

Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy has been successfully applied to investigate liquid–liquid interfaces in an electrochemical environment. It has been demonstrated that this technique is very sensitive to detect changes in the concentration of species at the interface which absorb at the incident wavelength. Thus, we have shown that this technique can be employed to follow diverse processes at liquid–liquid interfaces involving concentration changes produced by the applied potential. In our contribution, we show for the first time a spectroscopic response of Evanescent Wave Ring-Down Spectroscopy directly originated by charging/discharging processes and ion transfer at the electrochemical double layer of a liquid–liquid interface. Keywords: Ring-down, Liquid–liquid, Total internal reflection, Evanescent wav

Complejo respiratorio bovino: evidencia de circulación viral múltiple en un establecimiento de cría

El complejo respiratorio bovino (CRB) es una de las principales causas de pérdidas productivas en rodeos de cría, tambo y engorde a corral. Los agentes infecciosos involucrados incluyen virus, bacterias y micoplasmas. Dentro de los agentes virales se encuentran el virus respiratorio sincicial bovino (bRSV), el virus parainfluenza 3 bovino (BPIV3), el herpesvirus bovino tipo 1 (BoHV1) y el virus de la diarrea viral bovina (BVDV). El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la circulación de los virus asociados al CRB en un rodeo de cría, durante el período posdestete, mediante un estudio serológico longitudinal. En forma complementaria, se describieron y compararon los hallazgos clínicos y hematológicos. Se seleccionaron 32 animales de 5 a 7 meses de edad, sin vacunación previa, y se evaluó diariamente la presencia de signos clínicos compatibles con CRB. Se extrajeron muestras de sangre los días 0 (destete), +14 y +25 (momento en que culminó el ensayo). No se detectaron animales con manifestación clínica de CRB y los parámetros hematológicos se encontraron dentro del rango de referencia. Al inicio de la experiencia, ningún animal presentaba anticuerpos (Ac) específicos para bRSV, mientras que para el resto de los agentes virales, el porcentaje de animales seropositivos fue variable: 53% (BVDV1a), 31% (BPIV3), 25% (BVDV2) y 13% (BoHV1). Al día +25 los porcentajes de seropositivos fueron los siguientes: 47% (BVDV1a), 50% (BPIV3), 19% (BVDV2), 25% (BoHV1) y 81% (bSRV). Los porcentajes de seroconversión para bRSV, BPIV3, BVDV1a y BoHV1 fueron 34%, 25%, 16% y 13%, respectivamente. Además, el 66% de los animales seroconvirtió a uno o más virus. Para BVDV2 y BVDV1b no se observó seroconversión. Estos resultados evidencian la circulación, e incluso en algunos casos la coinfección de los agentes virales involucrados en el CRB en e período posdestete. Resulta importante la realización de estudios virológicos complementarios que permitan identificar y caracterizar las cepas circulantes en esta etapa productiva, principalmente en relación con bSRV y PIV3, virus de los que se posee escasa información en nuestro medio

Microbial network, phylogenetic diversity and community membership in the active layer across a permafrost thaw gradient

Biogenic production and release of methane (CH4) from thawing permafrost has the potential to be a strong source of radiative forcing. We investigated changes in the active layer microbial community of three sites representative of distinct permafrost thaw stages at a palsa mire in northern Sweden. The palsa site (intact permafrost and low radiative forcing signature) had a phylogenetically clustered community dominated by Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria. The bog (thawing permafrost and low radiative forcing signature) had lower alpha diversity and midrange phylogenetic clustering, characteristic of ecosystem disturbance affecting habitat filtering. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens and Acidobacteria dominated the bog shifting from palsa-like to fen-like at the waterline. The fen (no underlying permafrost, high radiative forcing signature) had the highest alpha, beta and phylogenetic diversity, was dominated by Proteobacteria and Euryarchaeota and was significantly enriched in methanogens. The Mire microbial network was modular with module cores consisting of clusters of Acidobacteria, Euryarchaeota or Xanthomonodales. Loss of underlying permafrost with associated hydrological shifts correlated to changes in microbial composition, alpha, beta and phylogenetic diversity associated with a higher radiative forcing signature. These results support the complex role of microbial interactions in mediating carbon budget changes and climate feedback in response to climate forcing