Activación del Código de Intoxicación Aguda Grave (CODITOX) desde la perspectiva hospitalaria

Background and objectives. Clinical care protocols, such as CODITOX for severe acute poisonings, attempt to codify and coordinate care processes to prevent delays in situations where timing is a key factor. This study aimed to measure the degree of adherence to CODITOX and compare patterns of activation of the protocol over time. Methods. Noninterventional, retrospective, analytical study of CODITOX activations in 2012. We compared poisonings attended according to the CODITOX protocol to those attended without CODITOX activation in the emergency department's resuscitation unit. Results. Out of 90 poisoning cases, 12 were attended following the CODITOX (group A). In 36 cases (group B), patients were not attended according to protocol even though they presented with criteria that should have activated it; in the remaining 42 cases, criteria for activating the protocol were not present and it was not used. Complications developed in 75% of group-A cases and 28% of group-B cases (P=.006). In group A, 41.7% of the patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (25% in group B); mortality was 4.4% and there were no significant between-group differences. The times between arrival and administration of charcoal and between arrival and administration of an antidote tended to be shorter in group A, but again the between-group differences were not statistically significant and did not affect duration of hospital stay. Conclusions. The CODITOX protocol is not used in all cases that meet the activation criteria. Although the cases treated according to protocol were more serious, no clinical, therapeutic, or outcome differences could be identified between patients treated or not treated according to the CODITOX. The protocol-treated patients developed more complications, however

Cambio climático y diversidad de la flora vascular en las montañas tabulares de Guayana

Una de las posibles consecuencias del calentamiento global es la extinción de especies de alta montaña por migración ascendente de las condiciones ambientales y pérdida de hábitat, fenómeno que, por el momento, ha sido considerado únicamente en montañas templadas y boreales. Este trabajo analiza la misma situación en montañas tropicales y estima el grado de amenaza de la flora vascular de las cimas de las montañas neotropicales de Guayana, al norte de Sudamérica. Del estudio basado en una muestra de 83 especies, entre aproximadamente el 8 y el 33% de las mismas se encuentran en peligro de extinguirse debido a la desaparición de su hábitat. La mayoría de estas especies son endémicas de Guayana, por lo que su desaparición afectaría a la biodiversidad global.Among the potential consequences of the projected global warming on high-mountain environments is biodiversity loss by upward migration of environmental conditions and the consequent habitat vanishing for upland species. So far, such effect has been considered only for temperate and boreal mountain ranges. Here, the same situation is analysed on the neotropical Guayana mountains, in northern South America. A preliminary appraisal based on 83 species of vascular plants shows that 8-33% of them are threatened of extinction by habitat loss. Most are endemic, hence their disappearance would affect global biodiversity

Past vegetation dynamics to infer holocene climate changes in Tenerife and La Gomera, Canary Islands

Oceanic islands in the low latitudes, as the Canary Islands, are generally considered to have been well buffered from the climate change of the Quaternary period. However, questions remain about whether past climatic changes on Atlantic islands are synchronic with those occurring in Africa and the Mediterranean coast or if the climate remained stable during the Holocene. Here we used fossil pollen and charcoal time series on Tenerife and La Gomera in order to: 1) provide the first inter-island picture of vegetation dynamics through the last 9600 years of this important biodiverse region of Europe; 2) detect the vegetation sensitivity, mainly tree communities, to past climatic changes; and, 3) provide evidences for human-induced changes at this potentially highly informative point. Preliminary analyses suggest very little climate change for the period 4000 years to present, but this requires confirmation by reference to additional coring sites. In La Gomera, we found strong evidences of a shift towards drier conditions at around 5500 years ago. The general vegetation pattern observed was a decrease in hygrophilous trees (Canarian palm and willow) and an expansion of Morella-Erica woody heath. Our results provide the first evidence to suggest that the general Northern Africa and Mediterranean shift towards drier conditions may be traced in the Canary Islands

14,000 years of climatic and anthropogenic change in the Afromontane forest of São Tomé Island, Gulf of Guinea

São Tomé (Gulf of Guinea, Central Africa) is a 854 km2 tropical island that had a pivotal role in early European colonial expansion through the Atlantic between the 15th and 16th centuries. Historical sources suggest that native vegetation has been heavily impacted since human arrival (1470 CE) due to monoculture economies and the introduction of mammals and plants, some of which now have established wild populations. The Afromontane forest of São Tomé, located above 800 m.a.sl., is particularly rich in endemic plant species and has remained relatively unaffected by direct human impacts. Here, we explore how environmental change influenced this forest through the study of a sedimentary sequence from the volcanic crater of Lagoa Amélia (1340 m a.s.l.), a palustrine system located at the boundary between submontane (800–1400 m a.s.l.) and mist forest (above 1400 m a.s.l.). We used fossil pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, sedimentology and charcoal to determine forest dynamics from the Late Pleistocene to the present. From 14,000 to 12,500 cal yr BP the forest was dominated by taxa from higher altitudes, adapted to cooler and drier climates (e.g. Afrocarpus mannii trees and Psychotria nubicola). After 12,500 cal yr BP, a potential uphill migration was identified by an increase in taxa like the trees Symphonia globulifera and Craterispermum cerinanthum. From 11,200 cal yr BP through the rest of the Holocene taxa from lower altitudes became dominant (e.g. Prunus africana, Polyscias, and Sabicea), except at c. 8500 cal yr BP when rapid cooling led to forest opening. Charcoal showed that fires were frequent during the Late Pleistocene (14,000 to 11,200 cal yr BP), becoming rare during the Holocene until anthropogenic fires started at c. 220 cal yr BP. Other recent anthropogenic impacts detected in Lagoa Amélia included the appearance of pollen of introduced plant species (e.g., Cestrum), and the increase in pollen of economically important species (Elaeis guineensis, Zea mays) and in fungal spores related to introduced herbivores. Our results reveal that climate changed the altitudinal distribution of the Afromontane forest in São Tomé during the Late Pleistocene, as observed on the African continent, and that this ecosystem was also strongly impacted by human arrival, through fire, farming, and introduced species.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antiguos bosques de las Islas Canarias: métodos y técnicas para la reconstrucción de la vegetación

La Paleoecología es el estudio de las relaciones entre los organismos del pasado y los ambientes en los que vivían, mediante el análisis de fósiles y de los sedimentos en los que dichos fósiles se han preservado (Birks y Birks, 1980). Los fósiles son restos de organismos del pasado o indicadores de su actividad que se preservan con el paso del tiempo. Los fósiles de origen vegetal, en particular, se utilizan para reconstruir la vegetación del pasado y para determinarla influencia que los factores geológicos, climáticos, bióticos o antrópicos han tenido sobre las comunidades vegetales a lo largo del tiempo. Existen numerosos tipos de restos vegetales que pueden encontrarse en secuencias sedimentarias y que sirven para identificar las especies vegetales que habitaban en una determinada zona en el pasado. De acuerdo con su tamaño podemos diferenciar los macrofósiles vegetales, es decir aquellos que pueden ser identificados bajo la lupa (hojas, flores, frutos, semillas, maderas, carbones, etc.) y los microfósiles vegetales (granos de polen, esporas de helechos y briófitos, fitolitos, diatomeas, etc.), cuyo tamaño es tan pequeño que necesitan ser observados al microscopio. Otros fósiles de origen vegetal se pueden utilizar como indicadores de incendios ocurridos en el pasado (carbones, esporas de hongos asociadas a materiales quemados), o indicadores que proliferan como resultado de las actividades humanas,por ejemplo con la eutrofización de lagos (algas), la presencia de herbívoros domésticos (esporas fúngicas), o el incremento de incendios (carbones), además de indicadores de cambios en las propiedades físico-químicas de los lagos como resultado de cambios climáticos (diatomeas, algas)(Smol et al., 2001). Junto con los indicadores fósiles se suelen utilizar otros indicadores paleoambientales que implican el estudio de la propiedades físicas y químicas de los sedimentos. Los análisis geoquímicos indican procesos de erosión, alternancia de periodos húmedos y secos, o variaciones en los niveles de ciertos elementos químicos que a su vez pueden relacionarse con la contaminación antrópica. Las medidas de la susceptibilidad magnética detectan variabilidad en los procesos erosivos, y pueden asociarse a modificaciones de la cobertura vegetal o a determinados fenómenos climáticos. Otra propiedad de los sedimentos es la proporción de isótopos estables, que puede usarse como indicador de la temperatura del pasado, la aridez, y la concentración de CO2 atmosférico (Anderson et al., 2007). Por último, es esencial proveer de un marco temporal a las secuencias que contienen los fósiles para poder interpretar los procesos ambientales de forma ordenada en el tiempo. Para ello se aplican diferentes métodos de datación (datación radiométrica, paleomagnetismo, termoluminiscencia, o bioestratigrafía), dependiendo del material y del periodo de edad aproximado que se pretenda datar. La técnica más utilizada para el Holoceno (los últimos 11500 años de historia de La Tierra) es la datación por radiocarbono, basada en la tasa de descomposición radiactiva del carbono-14 (14C)que se encuentra en todos los organismos vivos (Roberts, 1998), y que se puede aplicar sobre materiales diversos (madera, carbones, semillas, huesos, dientes, conchas, fibras vegetales, etc.

Climate change and human impact in Macaronesia

Past climate dynamics have helped shape the endemic ecosystems of Macaronesia. However, these insular ecosystems have since been modified following the arrival of human settlers, who had to adapt to the new environments and resources

Cultural drivers of reforestation in tropical forest groves of the Western Ghats of India

Sacred forest groves in the Western Ghats of India are small fragments of tropical forest that have received protection due to religious beliefs and cultural practices. These forest fragments are an example of community-based conservation and they serve as refugia for many forest-dwelling species in otherwise highly anthropogenic tropical forest-agriculture landscapes of the Indian Western Ghats. Many of these sacred forest groves are considered ancient woodlands, but there is very little information on their origins. For instance: How old are these sacred groves? Are they relics of forest that was once continuous or are they patches of regenerated vegetation? How do changes in the surrounding landscape influence the vegetation in these groves? Based on palaeoecological reconstruction in two such sacred forest groves, we determined the age of these forest fragments. Both reconstructions indicate transition from non-forest open landscape to tree-covered landscape at these sites. These finding from two sacred groves challenge the common perception that sacred forest groves are remnants of once-continuous forest; instead, some sacred groves such as those studied might be regenerated forest patches that are approximately 400 years old. This further raises a number of questions about the drivers of reforestation in these groves. What were the social and cultural circumstances which led to the recovery of forest within these patches? How did land tenure influence forest recovery? What role did religious beliefs play in forest restoration? Using Wallace’s (1956) framework of ‘cultural revitalization’ and based on historical literature and palaeoecological analysis of the two sacred groves, this paper examines the drivers of reforestation in the Western Ghats of India. It suggests various social, ecological and economic drivers of such revitalization, recognizing strong linkages between the ‘social’ and the ‘ecological’ within the social–ecological system of sacred forest groves. This example of reforestation suggests that contemporary restoration of forests needs to operate at a landscape scale and look at restoration as a social–ecological intervention in forest management

Exploring the Ecological History of a Tropical Agroforestry Landscape Using Fossil Pollen and Charcoal Analysis from Four Sites in Western Ghats, India

Contrary to expectations, some human-modified landscapes are considered to sustain both human activities and biodiversity over the long-term. Agroforestry systems are among these landscapes where crops are planted under native shade trees. In this context, ancient agroforestry systems can provide insight into how farmers managed the landscape over time. Such insight can help to quantify the extent to which tropical forests (especially habitat-specialist trees) are responding to local and landscape-level management. Here, we extracted fossil pollen (indicator of past vegetation changes) and macroscopic charcoal (indicator of biomass burning) from four forest hollows’ sedimentary sequences in an ancient agroforestry system in Western Ghats, India. We used a mixed-modelling approach and a principal components analysis (PCA) to determine past trajectories of forest change and species composition dynamics for the last 900 years. In addition, we reconstructed the long-term forest canopy dynamics and examined the persistence of habitat-specialist trees over time. Our results show that the four sites diverged to a surprising degree in both taxa composition and dynamics. However, despite these differences, forest has persisted over 900 years under agricultural activities within agroforestry systems. This long-term analysis highlights the importance of different land-use legacies as a framework to increase the effectiveness of management across tropical agricultural lands

The influence of natural fire and cultural practices on island ecosystems: insights from a 4800 year record from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands

Aim: Long-term ecological data provide a stepped frame of island ecosystem transformation after successive waves of human colonization, essential to determine conservation and management baselines. However, the timing and ecological impact of initial human settlement on many islands is still poorly known. Here we report analyses from a 4800-year sedimentary sequence from Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), with the goal of disentangling forest responses to natural fire from early human pressure on the island.Location: La Calderilla, a volcanic maar caldera at 1770 m a.s.l. on Gran Canaria.Taxon: plants and fungi.Methods: A core from the caldera infill was analysed for sediment properties, pollen, micro- and macrocharcoal, with radiocarbon and biochronology dating. Fossil data were statistically zoned and interpreted with the help of cross-correlation and ordination analyses. Surface samples and a pollen–vegetation training set were used as modern analogues for vegetation reconstruction.Results: Before human settlement (4800–2000 cal. yr BP), pine (Pinus canariensis) pollen dominated. Extensive dry pine forests characterised the highlands, although with temporary declining phases, followed by prompt (sub-centennial scale) recovery. Towards 2280 cal. yr BP there was a shift to open vegetation, marked by an increase in coprophilous spores. Coincidental with independent evidence of human settlement in the pine belt (2000–470 cal. yr BP) there was a decline of pine and a peak in charcoal. Following historic settlement (470–0 cal. yr BP), pollen producers from anthropogenic habitats, secondary vegetation and coprophilous fungi increased in abundance, reflecting higher pressure of animal husbandry and farming. Modern moss polsters reflect extensive reforestation since 1950 CE (Common Era).Main conclusions: From 4800 cal. yr BP, the pristine vegetation covering the Gran Canaria highlands was a mosaic of dry pine forests and open vegetation. The pine forests sustained intense fires, which may well have promoted habitat diversity. Human interference was initiated around 2280 cal. yr BP probably by recurrent cultural firing and animal husbandry, triggering a steady trend of forest withdrawal and expansion of grasses and scrubs, until the final disappearance of the pine forest locally in the 20th century. Grasslands were found to be of ancient cultural origin in the summit areas of Gran Canaria, although they underwent an expansion after the Castilian Conquest

The Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration (SPIN) cohort : A data set for biomarker discovery and validation in neurodegenerative disorders

Altres ajuts: The SPIN cohort has received funding from CIBERNED; Instituto de Salud Carlos III; jointly funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), Unión Europea, "Una manera de hacer Europa"; Generalitat de Catalunya; Fundació "La Marató TV3" Fundació Bancària Obra Social La Caixa; Fundación BBVA; Fundación Española para el Fomento de la Investigación de la Esclerosis Lateral Amiotrófica (FUNDELA); Global Brain Health Institute; Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down; and Fundació Víctor Grífols i Lucas. These funding sources had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.The SPIN (Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration) cohort is a multimodal biomarker platform designed for neurodegenerative disease research following an integrative approach. Participants of the SPIN cohort provide informed consent to donate blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples, receive detailed neurological and neuropsychological evaluations, and undergo a structural 3T brain MRI scan. A subset also undergoes other functional or imaging studies (video-polysomnogram, 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, amyloid PET, Tau PET). Participants are followed annually for a minimum of 4 years, with repeated cerebrospinal fluid collection and imaging studies performed every other year, and brain donation is encouraged. The integration of clinical, neuropsychological, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and neuropathological information and the harmonization of protocols under the same umbrella allows the discovery and validation of key biomarkers across several neurodegenerative diseases. We describe our particular 10-year experience and how different research projects were unified under an umbrella biomarker program, which might be of help to other research teams pursuing similar approaches