Assessing forest availability for wood supply in Europe

The quantification of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) is essential for decision-making with regard to the maintenance and enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle. The provision of harmonized forest statistics is necessary for the development of forest associated policies and to support decision-making. Based on the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data from 13 European countries, we quantify and compare the areas and aboveground dry biomass (AGB) of FAWS and forest not available for wood supply (FNAWS) according to national and reference definitions by determining the restrictions and associated thresholds considered at country level to classify forests as FAWS or FNAWS. FAWS represent between 75 and 95 % of forest area and AGB for most of the countries in this study. Economic restrictions are the main factor limiting the availability of forests for wood supply, accounting for 67 % of the total FNAWS area and 56 % of the total FNAWS AGB, followed by environmental restrictions. Profitability, slope and accessibility as economic restrictions, and protected areas as environmental restrictions are the factors most frequently considered to distinguish between FAWS and FNAWS. With respect to the area of FNAWS associated with each type of restriction, an overlap among the restrictions of 13.7 % was identified. For most countries, the differences in the FNAWS areas and AGB estimates between national and reference definitions ranged from 0 to 5 %. These results highlight the applicability and reliability of a FAWS reference definition for most of the European countries studied, thereby facilitating a consistent approach to assess forests available for supply for the purpose of international reportinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patient-reported symptom burden of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 1A: findings from an observational digital lifestyle study

Objectives: This study aims to explore the impact of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A) and its treatment on patients in European (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and US real-world practice. Methods: Adults with CMT1A (n = 937) were recruited to an ongoing observational study exploring the impact of CMT. Data were collected via CMT&Me, an app through which participants completed patient-reported outcome measures. Results: Symptoms ranked with highest importance were weakness in the extremities, difficulty in walking, and fatigue. Almost half of participants experienced a worsening of symptom severity since diagnosis. Anxiety and depression were each reported by over one-third of participants. Use of rehabilitative interventions, medications, and orthotics/walking aids was high. Conclusions: Patient-reported burden of CMT1A is high, influenced by difficulties in using limbs, fatigue, pain, and impaired quality of life. Burden severity appears to differ across the population, possibly driven by differences in rehabilitative and prescription-based interventions, and country-specific health care variability

Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system

Pathogens possess the ability to adapt and survive in some host species but not in others-an ecological trait known as host tropism. Transmitted through ticks and carried mainly by mammals and birds, the Lyme disease (LD) bacterium is a well-suited model to study such tropism. Three main causative agents of LD, Borrelia burgdorferi, B. afzelii, and B. garinii, vary in host ranges through mechanisms eluding characterization. By feeding ticks infected with different Borrelia species, utilizing feeding chambers and live mice and quail, we found species-level differences in bacterial transmission. These differences localize on the tick blood meal, and specifically complement, a defense in vertebrate blood, and a polymorphic bacterial protein, CspA, which inactivates complement by binding to a host complement inhibitor, Factor H (FH). CspA selectively confers bacterial transmission to vertebrates that produce FH capable of allele-specific recognition. CspA is the only member of the Pfam54 gene family to exhibit host-specific FH-binding. Phylogenetic analyses revealed convergent evolution as the driver of such uniqueness, and that FH-binding likely emerged during the last glacial maximum. Our results identify a determinant of host tropism in Lyme disease infection, thus defining an evolutionary mechanism that shapes host-pathogen associations

Host tropism determination by convergent evolution of immunological evasion in the Lyme disease system [preprint]

Microparasites selectively adapt in some hosts, known as host tropism. Transmitted through ticks and carried mainly by mammals and birds, the Lyme disease (LD) bacterium is a well-suited model to study such tropism. LD bacteria species vary in host ranges through mechanisms eluding characterization. By feeding ticks infected with different LD bacteria species, utilizing feeding chambers and live mice and quail, we found species-level differences of bacterial transmission. These differences localize on the tick blood meal, and complement, a defense in vertebrate blood, and a bacterial polymorphic protein, CspA, which inactivates complement by binding to a host complement inhibitor, FH. CspA selectively confers bacterial transmission to vertebrates that produce FH capable of allele-specific recognition. Phylogenetic analyses revealed convergent evolution as the driver of such findings, which likely emerged during the last glacial maximum. Our results identify LD bacterial determinants of host tropism, defining an evolutionary mechanism that shapes host-microparasite associations

O Modelo EaD e Estilos de Aprendizagem: Um Estudo de Caso no Colégio Pedro II

In order to achieve effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, educational researchers have identified different learning styles and how people process new knowledge according to their own perceptions. Among the learning styles, the study focused on the channels of human expression called modalities, identified by three learning styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic, synthesized by the acronym VAK. This paper presents a research study at Colégio Pedro II in Rio de Janeiro, more specifically, in the Teaching Visual Arts certification course offered at a distance, with the purpose of reflecting on the diversity in learning of distance education students and its relation with the didactic material offered. The study starts from the hypothesis that if the teaching models and teaching materials in distance education do not include the different learning styles, there may be some delay and disinterest in the assimilation of content. In order to explore the learning styles and get more familiar with the problem, researchers applied the experiment to identify the student profile by the VAK model. Keywords: Distance education. Learning styles. Student profile. VAK model. Technology.Com o intuito de melhorar a eficácia do processo de ensino-aprendizagem, pesquisadores em educação têm identificado diferentes estilos de aprendizagem e como as pessoas processam novos conhecimentos, de acordo com as percepções de cada um. Dentre os estilos de aprendizagem, dialogamos neste estudo com canais da expressão humana chamados de modalidades, identificados por três estilos de aprendizagem: visual, auditivo e cinestésico, sintetizados pela sigla VAC. O presente trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa aplicada no Colégio Pedro II no Rio de Janeiro, mais especificamente no curso de Especialização no Ensino de Artes Visuais na modalidade a distância, com o propósito de refletir sobre a diversidade de aprendizagem dos alunos na Educação a Distância e sua relação com o material didático oferecido. Este estudo partirá da hipótese de que se os modelos de ensino e materiais didáticos na EaD não contemplam os diferentes estilos de aprendizagem, pode ocorrer alguma defasagem e desinteresse na assimilação do conteúdo. Para explorar os estilos de aprendizagem, será proporcionada, através desta pesquisa, maior familiaridade do problema, com base no experimento de identificar o perfil dos alunos pelo método VAC.  Palavras-chave: Educação a distância. Estilos de aprendizagem. VAC. tecnologia

Upper limb rehabilitation interventions using virtual reality for people with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review

Background Research on Virtual Reality (VR) based motor rehabilitation for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) is rapidly growing in popularity, although few studies have focused on the upper limb (UL). The aims of this review were to investigate the effect of VR interventions on UL function in people with MS and determine if the type of VR intervention influences intervention effect. Method Five databases (IEEE Xplore, MEDLINE, ProQuest Central (Health & Medical Collection), Science Direct and Web of Science Core Collection) were searched using keywords that relating to MS, VR and UL. Results Ten articles were included, six randomised controlled trials, three cohort studies and one pilot observational study. Both commercial and custom VR technologies were used in interventions, along with combination approaches using robotics, electrical stimulation and occupational therapy. Using the Nine Hole Peg Test, two studies found significant improvements within groups, one found that VR was more effective than another gaming approach. Significant improvements in other UL measures were in the Fugl-Meyer Assessment for the proximal arm; handgrip; perceived strength; Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test; Wolf Motor Function Test; active range of motion and trajectory measures after VR intervention. There were conflicting results regarding if VR was more effective than conventional approaches. Conclusion There is therefore some evidence that VR is effective in improving motor function in the UL, however, there is no clear consensus on which VR based approaches are the most effective, or the optimum intervention duration and intensity. Moreover, as many of the studies had non-immersive approaches it is hard to determine how effective immersion based approaches maybe in such specific context

Prospects for microwave plasma synthesized N-graphene in secondary electron emission mitigation applications

PTDC/NAN-MAT/30565/2017 D01-284/2019 (INFRAMAT) IBB BASE 2020-2023 UID/FIS/00068/2019.The ability to change the secondary electron emission properties of nitrogen-doped graphene (N-graphene) has been demonstrated. To this end, a novel microwave plasma-enabled scalable route for continuous and controllable fabrication of free-standing N-graphene sheets was developed. High-quality N-graphene with prescribed structural qualities was produced at a rate of 0.5 mg/min by tailoring the high energy density plasma environment. Up to 8% of nitrogen doping levels were achieved while keeping the oxygen content at residual amounts ( 1%). The synthesis is accomplished via a single step, at atmospheric conditions, using ethanol/methane and ammonia/methylamine as carbon and nitrogen precursors. The type and level of doping is affected by the position where the N-precursor is injected in the plasma environment and by the type of precursors used. Importantly, N atoms incorporated predominantly in pyridinic/pyrrolic functional groups alter the performance of the collective electronic oscillations, i.e. plasmons, of graphene. For the first time it has been demonstrated that the synergistic effect between the electronic structure changes and the reduction of graphene $-plasmons caused by N doping, along with the peculiar “crumpled” morphology, leads to sub-unitary (textless 1) secondary electron yields. N-graphene can be considered as a prospective low secondary electron emission and plasmonic material.publishersversionpublishe