¿Existe un sesgo en la participación y visibilidad de las mujeres en ecología? Una comparación entre los congresos ibérico y suizo

Women are still under-represented in science and technology because there is a bias in the different evaluation processes from the admission of oral communications at conferences to the access to more qualified positions. In this study, we compared the participation and visibility of female ecologists in the IV Iberian Ecological Conference (CIE4) with the Annual Swiss Conference on Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, Biogeography and Conservation (Biology16) where a method of blind evaluation was applied. In both conferences, and after active selection by conference committees, male delegates presented proportionately more regular oral contributions than female ones, although these differences were marginally significant. In the Biology16, this bias was due to lower female applicants for oral contributions, and in the CIE4, to a lower selection rate of female oral contributions. In the CIE4, the higher male presence in oral contributions was consistent with male greater visibility, whereas female visibility was higher in the Biology16. This different visibility was caused by contrasting selection for invited speakers; being male researches preferentially invited at the CIE4, but female ones at the Biology16. Implementing a blind review system of contributions and active policies to promote the participation of women as invited speakers may reduce the differences in visibility and could contribute in the medium term to eliminate the bias against women in the selection of oral contributions at the Iberian conferences

The architectural research, the architectural design and the environmental conditioning of the project to adapt the main fl oor of the Charles V Palace in Granada

El Palacio de Carlos V, situado en el Conjunto Monumental de la Alhambra de Granada, a pesar de su apariencia de edifi cio concluido de acuerdo a un proyecto, el de Pedro Machuca, no llegó a ser ejecutado en su totalidad. Constituye un claro ejemplo de lo que la historiografía moderna denominaría como edifi cio sujeto a “larga duración”. Su planta principal acoge en la actualidad el Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada. Tras el proyecto de terminación del Palacio realizado por Torres Balbás en 1928, la idea de instalar dicho museo se produce en la década de 1940, con un proyecto realizado por F. Prieto Moreno e inaugurado en 1958. En el año 2000 se redacta el Proyecto de Adecuación de la Planta Principal del Palacio de Carlos V. Ese proyecto está ya ejecutado, aunque el proyecto museográfi co tiene previsto su fi nalización en 2007. El citado proyecto de adecuación aborda, desde la investigación arquitectónica, el acondicionamiento ambiental de las salas del palacio, especialmente el lumínico, el higrotérmico y el de calidad del aire, así como la inclusión de las instalaciones necesarias acordes al uso expositivo, que garanticen principalmente la contemplación visual de las obras expuestas, las condiciones de conservación de esas obras, el confort de los visitantes y la efi ciencia energética. El artículo expone el modo respetuoso en el que este proyecto de adecuación da respuesta a estos objetivos.The Charles V Palace is located in the Complex of Monuments of the Alhambra in Granada; despite the fact that it appears to be a fi nished building according to the design by Pedro Machuca, actually it was never completed. It is a clear example of what modern history writers would term a “longduration” building. Its main floor currently houses the Fine Arts Museum of Granada. The proposal to install this museum here was put forward in the 1940s, after the palace was completed in 1928 by Torres Balbás. The project was implemented by F. Prieto Moreno and the museum was opened in 1958. In 2000, the project to adapt the main floor of the Charles V Palace was drawn up. This project has already been implemented, although the museum project is expected to be completed in 2007. Based on architectural research, the abovementioned project includes environmental conditioning of the palace rooms, especially light, hygrothermal and air quality conditioning, as well as the installations required for exposition purposes, which mainly guarantee the visual observation of the works of art on display, conservation conditions of these works, visitors’ comfort and energy efficiency. This article details the respectful way in which this adaptation project is meeting those objectives

ODZ1 allows glioblastoma to sustain invasiveness through a Myc-dependent transcriptional upregulation of RhoA

Long-term survival remains low for most patients with glioblastoma (GBM), which reveals the need for markers of disease outcome and novel therapeutic targets. We describe that ODZ1 (also known as TENM1), a type II transmembrane protein involved in fetal brain development, plays a crucial role in the invasion of GBM cells. Differentiation of glioblastoma stem-like cells drives the nuclear translocation of an intracellular fragment of ODZ1 through proteolytic cleavage by signal peptide peptidase-like 2a. The intracellular fragment of ODZ1 promotes cytoskeletal remodelling of GBM cells and invasion of the surrounding environment both in vitro and in vivo. Absence of ODZ1 by gene deletion or downregulation of ODZ1 by small interfering RNAs drastically reduces the invasive capacity of GBM cells. This activity is mediated by an ODZ1-triggered transcriptional pathway, through the E-box binding Myc protein, that promotes the expression and activation of Ras homolog family member A (RhoA) and subsequent activation of Rho-associated, coiled-coil containing protein kinase (ROCK). Overexpression of ODZ1 in GBM cells reduced survival of xenografted mice. Consistently, analysis of 122 GBM tumour samples revealed that the number of ODZ1-positive cells inversely correlated with overall and progression-free survival. Our findings establish a novel marker of invading GBM cells and consequently a potential marker of disease progression and a therapeutic target in GBM

Pre-dispersal predation effect on seed packaging strategies and seed viability.

An increased understanding of intraspecific seed packaging (i.e. seed size/number strategy) variation across different environments may improve current knowledge of the ecological forces that drive seed evolution in plants. In particular, pre-dispersal seed predation may influence seed packaging strategies, triggering a reduction of the resources allocated to undamaged seeds within the preyed fruits. Assessing plant reactions to pre-dispersal seed predation is crucial to a better understanding of predation effects, but the response of plants to arthropod attacks remains unexplored. We have assessed the effect of cone predation on the size and viability of undamaged seeds in populations of Juniperus thurifera with contrasting seed packaging strategies, namely, North African populations with single-large-seeded cones and South European populations with multi-small-seeded cones. Our results show that the incidence of predation was lower on the single-large-seeded African cones than on the multi-small-seeded European ones. Seeds from non-preyed cones were also larger and had a higher germination success than uneaten seeds from preyed cones, but only in populations with multi-seeded cones and in cones attacked by Trisetacus sp., suggesting a differential plastic response to predation. It is possible that pre-dispersal seed predation has been a strong selective pressure in European populations with high cone predation rates, being a process which maintains multi-small-seeded cones and empty seeds as a strategy to save some seeds from predation. Conversely, pre-dispersal predation might not have a strong effect in the African populations with single-large-seeded cones characterized by seed germination and filling rates higher than those in the European populations. Our results indicate that differences in pre-dispersal seed predators and predation levels may affect both selection on and intraspecific variation in seed packaging

La investigación arquitectónica, el proyecto de arquitectura y el acondicionamiento ambiental en el proyecto de adecuación de la planta principal del Palacio de Carlos V de Granada

Informes de la Construcción, Vol 59, No 507 (2007), p. 5-19El Palacio de Carlos V, situado en el Conjunto Monumental de la Alhambra de Granada, a pesar de su apariencia de edifi cio concluido de acuerdo a un proyecto, el de Pedro Machuca, no llegrá a ser ejecutado en su totalidad. Constituye un claro ejemplo de lo que la historiografía moderna denominará como edificio sujeto a larga duració. Su planta principal acoge en la actualidad el Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada. Tras el proyecto de terminación del Palacio realizado por Torres Balbás en 1928, la idea de instalar dicho museo se produce en la década de 1940, con un proyecto realizado por F. Prieto Moreno e inaugurado en 1958. En el año 2000 se redacta el Proyecto de Adecuación de la Planta Principal del Palacio de Carlos V. Ese proyecto está ya ejecutado, aunque el proyecto museográfico tiene previsto su finalización en 2007. El citado proyecto de adecuación aborda, desde la investigación arquitectónica, el acondicionamiento ambiental de las salas del palacio, especialmente el lumínico, el higrotérmico y el de calidad del aire, así como la inclusión de las instalaciones necesarias acordes al uso expositivo, que garanticen principalmente la contemplación visual de las obras expuestas, las condiciones de conservación de esas obras, el confort de los visitantes y la eficiencia energética. El artículo expone el modo respetuoso en el que este proyecto de adecuación da respuesta a estos objetivos

Fitness benefits and costs of floral advertising traits: insights from rayed and rayless phenotypes of Anacyclus (Asteraceae)

Premise of the Study: Ray flowers commonly observed in daisies’ flowering heads are a well-known example of advertising structures for enhancing pollinator attraction. Despite this, ray loss has occurred in multiple lineages, which still rely on pollinators, suggesting that rayless phenotypes could also be adaptive for animal-pollination. Here, we investigate the benefits and costs of these specialized floral advertising structures by comparing rayed and rayless phenotypes in two hybridizing closely related species. Methods: We assessed the advantages and costs of ray production in terms of floral visitor's attraction, pollen limitation, and female reproductive success using the broad natural variation on ray size and number at the contact zone of A. clavatus (rayed) and A. valentinus (rayless). In addition, we experimentally explored the effect of rays under controlled neighborhoods and the effect of ray removal on fruit production. Key Results: In sympatry, rayed phenotypes attracted significantly more visitors than rayless plants, in which seed production was pollen limited. However, rayed phenotypes did not show higher fruit set or seed production than rayless phenotypes. Fruit set and seed production benefited from denser neighborhood displays and larger individual floral displays, respectively. The removal of ray florets did not appear to enable resource reallocation to fruit production. Conclusions: Rayless heads compensated their lower visitation rate by means of a higher number of flowers per head achieving similar fecundity levels to rayed plants. The larger size of rayless heads might thus indicate an inflorescence-level trade-off between attraction and fertility.This research was supported by the project “Evolution in Anacyclus L. (Anthemideae, Compositae): Analysis of the A. clavatus (Desf.) Pers. and A. valentinus L. contact zone,” cofunded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (Plan Nacional de I+D+I, CGL2010‐18039) and the European Regional Development Fund. SC and AAf were supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (Starting Grant IF/01267/2013 and SFRH/BD/108451/2015, respectively), RT and AAg were supported by the Ministry of Education, Spain (BVA 2010‐0375 for R.T.; BES‐2011‐048197 for AAg)

Accuracy of the estimated prevalence of obesity from self reported height and weight in an adult Scottish population

STUDY OBJECTIVE—To determine whether self reported heights and weights from Scottish adults can provide an accurate assessment of obesity prevalence in the population.
DESIGN—Standardised clinic measurements of weight and height were compared against self reported values on a postal questionnaire in the fourth Scottish MONICA cross sectional study.
SETTING—A sex and five year age band stratified random population sample drawn from general practitioner registers in north Glasgow in 1995. Response rate 63% for men and 62% for women.
PARTICIPANTS—A total of 865 men and 971 women aged between 25 and 64( )years.
RESULTS—Men and women under-reported their weight by a mean (SD) of 0.63 (3.45) kg and 0.95 (2.64) kg respectively, and their height by a mean (SD) of 1.3 (2.50) cm and 1.7 (2.37) cm respectively. Estimated body mass index, BMI (kg/m(2)) varied from true (measured) BMI by +0.19 (1.40) for men and by +0.17 (1.34) for women. The only age/sex group in which BMI was under-estimated from self reports (mean 0.2) was the 55-64 year old women. Prediction equations that explained 90% (men) and 88% (women) of the difference between self reported and measured height included age and self reported weight. The equivalent prediction equations for weight explained 93% of the difference between self reported and measured weight for men and included smoking and diabetic status, while for women 96% of the variance was explained with no further variables being significant. Sensitivity and specificity for determining clinical obesity (BMI⩾30) were 83% and 96% respectively for men, and 89% and 97% for women.
CONCLUSIONS—This Scottish population was unique in the under-reporting of height as well as weight, which resulted in BMI estimates with low error. These data suggest that self reported weights and heights would be satisfactory for the monitoring of obesity prevalence in Scotland.


Keywords: obesity measurement; obesity prevalence; self report