System analysis of the bio-based economy in Colombia:A bottom-up energy system model and scenario analysis

The transition to a sustainable bio-based economy is perceived as a valid path towards low carbon development for emerging economies that have rich biomass resources. In the case of Colombia, the role of biomass has been tackled through qualitative roadmaps and regional climate policy assessments. However, neither of these approaches have systematically addressed the complexity of the bio-based economy in the wider context of emission mitigation and energy and chemicals supply. In response to this limitation, we extended a bottom-up energy system optimization model by adding a comprehensive database of novel bio-based value chains. We included advanced road and aviation biofuels, (bio)chemicals, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), and integrated biorefinery configurations. A scenario analysis was conducted for the period 2015–2050, which reflected uncertainties in capacity for technological learning, climate policy ambitions, and land availability for energy crops. Our results indicate that biomass can play an important, even if variable, role in supplying 315–760 PJ/y of modern bio-based products. In pursuit of a deep decarbonization trajectory, the largescale mobilization of biomass resources can reduce the cost of the energy system by up to 11 billion $/y, the marginal abatement cost by 62%, and the potential reliance on imports of oil and chemicals in the future. The mitigation potential of BECCS can reach 24–29% of the cumulative avoided emissions between 2015 and 2050. The proposed system analysis framework can provide detailed quantitative information on the role of biomass in low carbon development of emerging economies

The Effect of ADAMTS13 on Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) can potentially cure malignant blood disorders and benign conditions such as haemoglobinopathies and immunologic diseases. However, allo-HSCT is associated with significant complications. The most common and debilitating among them is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). In GVHD, donor-derived T cells mount an alloimmune response against the recipient. The alloimmune response involves several steps, including recognition of recipient antigens, activation and proliferation of T cells in secondary lymphoid organs, and homing into GVHD-targeted organs. Adhesion molecules on T cells and endothelial cells mediate homing of T cells into lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues. In this study, we showed that Von Willebrand factor (VWF), an adhesion molecule secreted by activated endothelial cells, plays an important role in mouse models of GVHD. We investigated the effect of the VWF-cleaving protease ADAMTS13 on GVHD. We found that ADAMTS13 reduced the severity of GVHD after bone marrow transplantation from C57BL6 donor to BALB/C recipient mice. A recombinant VWF-A2 domain peptide also reduced GVHD in mice. We showed that ADAMTS13 and recombinant VWF-A2 reduced the binding of T cells to endothelial cells and VWF in vitro, and reduced the number of T cells in lymph nodes, Peyer\u27s patches and GVHD-targeted organs in vivo. We identified LFA-1 (αLβ2) as the binding site of VWF on T cells. Our results showed that blocking T-cell homing by ADAMTS13 or VWF-A2 peptide reduced the severity of the GVHD after allo-HSCT, a potentially novel method for treating and preventing GVHD

Partnerships between private landowners and conservationists to protect one of the most evolutionarily distinct amphibians

Wildlife conservation on private land is an important and growing approach to protecting biodiversity and can help contribute to the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30 by 30 target. In 2018, a Chilean non-profit conservation organisation launched a pioneering land conservation programme aiming to build long-term partnerships with private landowners to protect critical habitat for threatened amphibians in Chilean Patagonia. Here, we describe a new locality record of the microendemic and Endangered Barrio’s frog (Insuetophrynus acarpicus) found at a site that joined this programme in 2020. The Barrio’s frog is ranked No. 10 in the list of evolutionary distinct, globally endangered amphibians. Unfortunately, as evidenced by our systematic literature search, most aspects of the species’ natural history and ecology remain unknown, limiting our ability to provide actionable science to inform its conservation. The newly described Barrio’s frog population represents the eighth known locality of this species and one of only three occurring within a protected area. Habitat quality assessments indicated optimal conditions for most of the measured habitat parameters in the high-gradient stream where the species was found. This case study highlights that long-term partnerships between private landowners and conservationists can be used as an effective tool to protect the habitat of highly threatened amphibians

Identifying potential areas of expansion for the endangered brown bear (Ursus arctos) population in the cantabrian mountains (NW Spain)

Many large carnivore populations are expanding into human-modified landscapes and the subsequent increase in coexistence between humans and large carnivores may intensify various types of conflicts. A proactive management approach is critical to successful mitigation of such conflicts. The Cantabrian Mountains in Northern Spain are home to the last remaining native brown bear (Ursus arctos) population of the Iberian Peninsula, which is also amongst the most severely threatened European populations, with an important core group residing in the province of Asturias. There are indications that this small population is demographically expanding its range. The identification of the potential areas of brown bear range expansion is crucial to facilitate proactive conservation and management strategies towards promoting a further recovery of this small and isolated population. Here, we used a presence-only based maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach to model habitat suitability and identify the areas in the Asturian portion of the Cantabrian Mountains that are likely to be occupied in the future by this endangered brown bear population following its range expansion. We used different spatial scales to identify brown bear range suitability according to different environmental, topographic, climatic and human impact variables. Our models mainly show that: (1) 4977 km2 are still available as suitable areas for bear range expansion, which represents nearly half of the territory of Asturias; (2) most of the suitable areas in the western part of the province are already occupied (77% of identified areas, 2820 km2), 41.4% of them occurring inside protected areas, which leaves relatively limited good areas for further expansion in this part of the province, although there might be more suitable areas in surrounding provinces; and (3) in the eastern sector of the Asturian Cantabrian Mountains, 62% (2155 km2) of the land was classified as suitable, and this part of the province hosts 44.3% of the total area identified as suitable areas for range expansion. Our results further highlight the importance of increasing: (a) the connectivity between the currently occupied western part of Asturias and the areas of potential range expansion in the eastern parts of the province; and (b) the protection of the eastern sector of the Cantabrian Mountains, where most of the future population expansion may be expected.S1 Fig. Brown bear occurrence data and location of the study area in Europe. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s001S2 Fig. Evaluation metrics for 130 candidate models containing different levels of complexity defined by a range of five feature type combinations including linear (L), quadratic (Q), product (P), threshold (T) and hinge (H) features, each evaluated over a range of regularization multipliers ranging from 0 to 10, for (a) the coarse and (b) fine scales of the distribution of the Cantabrian brown bear in Asturias. Evaluation metrics include delta AICc, which is the difference in AICc (Akaikes Information Criterion corrected for small sample sizes, calculated as the sum of the log transformed raw output penalized by the number of model parameters), AUC test, which is the AUC (area Under the receiving operator characteristics Curve) score for the testing data set, AUC diff, which is the difference in AUC scores between the training and testing data sets, and OR min, which is a threshold dependent statistic corresponds to the proportion of testing localities that have MaxEnt output values lower than the value associated with the training locality with the lowest value. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s002S3 Fig. Jacknife evaluations of variable contributions to the (a) coarse and (b) fine scale models. The variables with the highest gain when used in isolation are slope for the coarse scale (a) and forest cover foir the fine scale model (b). These variables therefore seem to have provided the most useful information by themselves for each scale. The variables that decreased the gain most when omitted, and thus possessed the greatest amount of information not present in the other variables, were slope for the coarse scale (a) and population density for the fine scale model (b). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s003S4 Fig. Output of the coarse scale model with a 5 x 5 km resolution. The map presents a clog-log transformation of the raw MaxEnt output, which can be interpreted as a probability of brown bear range occurrence. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s004S5 Fig. Schematic examples of incremental range expansion (a) out of an initial core area as well as (b) a patchy range expansion were no area is occupied two consecutive years, their nestedness values as well as the association matrices used to calculate nestedness. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s005S6 Fig. Associations between predicted suitability estimated from the coarse scale model each of the included environmental predictors. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s006S7 Fig. Associations between predicted suitability estimated from the fine scale model each of the included environmental predictors. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s007S1 Table. Description, source and original format of the 25 environmental variables initially developed for the construction of the models. Variables marked with * are the ones not correlated and ultimately used in the modelling. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s008S2 Table. Variable contribution to the construction of the coarse and fine scale models. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s009S3 Table. Centre coordinates of the 5 x 5 km grids classed as bear home range used as bear occurrence data in the coarse scale model. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s010S4 Table. Centre coordinates of the 1 x 1 km grids that contained a bear observation used as bear occurrence data in the fine scale model. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209972.s011The Gobierno del Principado de Asturias (with FEDER co-financing); the Spanish Ministry of Economy Industry and Competitiveness ((MINECO); the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU) as well as Ramon & Cajal research contracts from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.http://www.plosone.org/pm2020Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog

Detección molecular de Toxoplasma gondii en carnes para consumo humano en Ibagué, Colombia

Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite with great zoonotic potential. It can infect a broad range of warm-blooded hosts (including livestock) and causes significant losses in the industry. In humans, it has been described as a pathogen in immunosuppressed people, it affects the fetus development in congenital infections, and is associated with various behavioral disorders in healthy people. Humans can acquire T. gondii by consuming undercooked, contaminated meat.Objective: To determine T. gondii positivity (currently unknown) in meat for human consumption (i.e., beef, chicken, and pork) in the city of Ibague, Colombia.Materials and methods: We used conventional nested PCR and the T. gondii B1 gene sequence as amplification target. We collected samples of meat (N=186) sold in the urban area of Ibagué (62 beef, 62 chicken, and 62 pork samples) and determined the T. gondii positivity percentage for each type of meat.Results: The study found an average of 18.8% positivity for all meat samples, pork having the highest percentage (22.5%; 14/62), followed by beef (19.3%; 12/62) and chicken (14.5%; 9/62). The best-amplified products were sequenced by macrogen and aligned with the B1 gene sequences in GenBank, thereby confirming their identity.Conclusions: This is the first study of T. gondii prevalence in meat for human consumption carried out in the city of Ibagué and the department of Tolima. All three types of meat sampled represent a risk for local human infectionIntroducción. Toxoplasma gondii es un parásito con gran potencial zoonótico que puede infectar un amplio rango de huéspedes de sangre caliente, incluidos los animales del sector pecuario, lo que causa pérdidas a la industria. En el humano, es patógeno en personas inmunosuprimidas y afecta el desarrollo del feto en infecciones congénitas. Además, se asocia con diversos trastornos del comportamiento en personas sanas. El humano puede adquirir T. gondii al consumir carnes contaminadas mal cocidas.Objetivo. Determinar la positividad de T. gondii en carnes de consumo humano (res, pollo y cerdo) en Ibagué, Colombia.Materiales y métodos. Se utilizó la PCR convencional anidada y la secuencia del gen B1 de T. gondii como blanco de amplificación. Se tomaron 186 muestras de carne comercializada en la zona urbana de Ibagué (62 de res, 62 de pollo y 62 de cerdo) y se obtuvo el porcentaje de positividad en cada tipo de carne evaluada.Resultados. Se encontró un porcentaje de positividad de 18,8 % en las muestras, siendo la carne de cerdo la del mayor porcentaje (22,5 %; 14/62), seguida por las muestras de carne de res (19,3 %; 12/62) y de pollo (14,5 %; 9/62). Los mejores productos amplificados fueron secuenciados en Macrogen, y alineados con las secuencias del gen B1 depositadas en el GenBank, con lo que se confirmó su identidad.Conclusiones. Este es el primer estudio sobre prevalencia de T. gondii en carnes para consumo humano en Ibagué y el departamento del Tolima. Se demostró que los tres tipos de carne representan un riesgo para la infección en humanos a nivel local

Engineered Cord Blood Megakaryocytes Evade Killing by Allogeneic T-Cells for Refractory Thrombocytopenia

The current global platelet supply is often insufficient to meet all the transfusion needs of patients, in particular for those with alloimmune thrombocytopenia. To address this issue, we have developed a strategy employing a combination of approaches to achieve more efficient production of functional megakaryocytes (MKs) and platelets collected from cord blood (CB)-derived CD34+ hematopoietic cells. This strategy is based on ex-vivo expansion and differentiation of MKs in the presence of bone marrow niche-mimicking mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), together with two other key components: (1) To enhance MK polyploidization, we used the potent pharmacological Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, KD045, resulting in liberation of increased numbers of functional platelets both in-vitro and in-vivo; (2) To evade HLA class I T-cell-driven killing of these expanded MKs, we employed CRISPR-Cas9-mediated β-2 microglobulin (β2M) gene knockout (KO). We found that coculturing with MSCs and MK-lineage-specific cytokines significantly increased MK expansion. This was further increased by ROCK inhibition, which induced MK polyploidization and platelet production. Additionally, ex-vivo treatment of MKs with KD045 resulted in significantly higher levels of engraftment and donor chimerism in a mouse model of thrombocytopenia. Finally, β2M KO allowed MKs to evade killing by allogeneic T-cells. Overall, our approaches offer a novel, readily translatable roadmap for producing adult donor-independent platelet products for a variety of clinical indications

Oceanographic processes and products around the Iberian margin: a new multidisciplinary approach

Our understanding of the role of bottom currents and associated oceanographic processes (e.g, overflows, barotropic tidal currents) including intermittent processes (e.g, vertical eddies, deep sea storms, horizontal vortices, internal waves and tsunamis) is rapidly evolving. Many deep-water processes remain poorly understood due to limited direct observations, but may generate significant depositional and erosional features on both short-and long-term time scales. This paper describes these oceanographic processes and examines their potential role in the sedimentary features around the Iberian margin. The paper explores the implications of the processes studied, given their secondary role relative to other factors such as mass-transport and turbiditic processes. An integrated interpretation of these oceanographic processes requires an understanding of contourites, sea-floor features, their spatial and temporal evolution, and the near-bottom flows that form them. Given their complex, three-dimensional and temporally-variable nature, integration of these processes into sedimentary, oceanographic and climatological frameworks will require a multidisciplinary approach that includes Geology, Physical Oceanography, Paleoceanography and Benthic Biology. This approach will synthesize oceanographic data, seafloor morphology, sediments and seismic images to improve our knowledge of permanent and intermittent processes around Iberia, and evaluate their conceptual and regional role in the sedimentary evolution of the margin. © 2015, Instituto Geologico y Minero de Espana. All rights reservedEl conocimiento del papel de las corrientes de fondo y los procesos oceanográficos asociados (overflows, corrientes de marea barotrópicas, etc), incluyendo procesos intermitentes (eddies, tormentas profundas, ondas internas, tsunamis, etc), está evolucionando rápidamente. Muchos de estos procesos son poco conocidos, en parte debido a que las observaciones directas son limitadas, si bien pueden generar importantes rasgos deposicionales y/o erosivos a escalas temporales de corto o largo periodo. Este artículo describe dichos procesos oceanográficos y examina su influencia en la presencia de rasgos sedimentarios alrededor del margen Ibérico. El trabajo discute las implicaciones de dichos procesos y el papel secundario que juegan en relación a otros factores tales como los procesos de transporte gravitacionales en masa y los turbidíticos. Para un mejor conocimiento de la sedimentación marina profunda, y en concreto de los sistemas contorníticos, se requiere de una interpretación de estos procesos oceanográficos, cuál es su evolución espacial y temporal, cómo afectan a las corrientes de fondo y cómo se ven afectados por la topografía submarina. Sin embargo, dada su complejidad y su variable naturaleza tridimensional y temporal, es necesario que estos procesos se integren en un marco sedimentológico, oceanográfico y climatológico con un enfoque multidisciplinar que incluyan la Geología, la Oceanografía Física, la Paleoceanografía y la Biología bentónica. Esta integración requiere de una mayor compilación de datos oceanográficos, de un mejor conocimiento de la morfología del fondo marino, y de una mejor caracterización de los sedimentos en ambientes profundos. Todo ello permitirá mejorar nuestro conocimiento de los procesos permanentes e intermitentes alrededor de Iberia y evaluar su verdadero efecto en la evolución sedimentaria delos márgenes continentales que le rodeanPostprint0,000

La profesión del diseño. Expresiones y experiencias

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de MéxicoEl mundo de las profesiones está cambiando rápidamente en las última tres décadas, no existe profesión alguna que permanezca estática ante el impacto del desarrollo tecnológico. En el caso de la profesión del diseño se ha trastocado su concepción, fundamento y acción ante el advenimiento de la era digital. El desarrollo tecnológico de la era digital ha provocado una disrupción en la industria y en los servicios, estamos ante la cuarta revolución industrial y de servicios (4.0 RIS), que demanda un nuevo diseñador con cualidades renovadas preparado para el manejo de nuevas tecnologías y de nuevos materiales con ideas innovadoras y creativas que responda a una visión sustentable, aplicable y funcional de los objetos, productos, sistemas y procesos. Frente a la emergencia de ecosistemas industriales y de servicios emergentes la profesión de diseño se coloca como la profesión del futuro. Esto exige conocer la realidad actual de ésta profesión para pensar en el futuro mediato; con este espíritu, nace la obra que el lector tiene en sus manos: La profesión del diseño, expresiones y experiencias. Estamos ciertos que hoy existe una convivencia de paradigmas de las revoluciones industriales, diseños basados en tecnologías manuales, mecánicas, automáticas y digitales. Cada tecnología trae consigo su marco interpretativo teórico, contextual e histórico, riqueza que se muestra, en esta dirección, en las páginas de este libro. En este libro participan diseñadores industriales y gráficos –y uno que otro invitado no diseñador- que nos comparten de forma apasionada sus expresiones y experiencias que van desde la preocupación con miras al futuro del 2030 hasta propuesta de una formación creativa para el diseñador a través del desarrollo del Jugendgarten. También, se presenta la dimensión simbólica del diseño arquitectónico a través de sus formas geométricas y sus rituales sagrados. No se olvidan las dimensiones del desarrollo humano y de las expresiones posmodernas del diseño; así como, de las miradas antropológica, sociocultural, de identidad y de género. Sin duda alguna, se muestra tres momentos históricos del diseño: artesanal, industrial y digital.La profesión del diseño, expresiones y experiencias, es un libro orgánico con la participación de especialistas en diseño que comparten sus puntos de vista y sus experiencias. Brinda un profundo análisis de la situación que guarda el diseño en los contextos social, industrial, empresarial y académico. Una de las conclusiones relevantes es que la profesión del diseño es una profesión del futuro porque la acción de diseñar es inherente a la transformación del mundo en la cuarta revolución industrial resultado de la evolución científica y tecnológica. Sus coordinadores, estudiosos de la temática, gozan del prestigio en la comunidad científica, son integrantes del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, la Dra. Ana María Reyes Fabela (Nivel I) y el Dr. René Pedroza Flores (Nivel II); además, este último, es integrante de la Academia Mexicana de la Ciencia (Máximo órgano de la comunidad de científicos en México)

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum