Más vale malo conocido: elementos de juicio sobre los costos de ingreso que encaran los bancos extranjeros

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) Las diferencias institucionales y jurídicas entre los países hacen aumentar los costos de entrada y reducen la capacidad de los bancos de expandirse en el exterior. Empleamos datos de la banca extranjera bilateral de 176 países para calcular un modelo de gravedad que explique la actividad bancaria bilateral, además de variables estándar, mediante diferencias jurídicas e institucionales. Hallamos que la banca foránea se ve afectada negativamente por diferencias absolutas del marco legal y de las instituciones básicas entre los países de origen y receptores. Por ejemplo, las diferencias en el origen legal reducen la participación bilateral en el sistema bancario en casi 11%. Además, no hallamos elementos de juicio sólidos que sugieran una asimetría en la adaptación a entornos institucionales o jurídicos mejores o peores.

Empirical evidence for fast temperature-dependent body size evolution in rotifers

Organisms tend to decrease in size with increasing temperature by phenotypic plasticity (the temperature-size rule; ectotherms) and/or genetically (Bergmann's rule; all organisms). In this study, the evolutionary response of body size to temperature was examined in the cyclically parthenogenetic rotifer Brachionus plicatilis. Our aim was to investigate whether this species, already known to decrease in size with increasing temperature by phenotypic plasticity, presents a similar pattern at the genetic level. We exposed a multiclonal mixture of B. plicatilis to experimental evolution at low and high temperature and monitored body size weekly. Within a month, we observed a smaller size at higher temperature, as compared to body size at lower temperature. The pattern was consistent for the size of both mature females and eggs; rotifers kept at high temperature evolved to be on average 14% (after 2 weeks) and 3% (after 3 weeks) smaller than the ones kept at low temperature (10 and 5% in the case of eggs, respectively). We therefore found that B. plicatilis is genetically programmed to adjust its body size-toenvironmental temperature

Perception costs of reproduction can magnify sexual selection

We outline two avenues for future research:(1) in model organisms (for example, D. melanogaster), manipulating perception costs in males of varying quality and subsequently testing whether this results in an increase or decrease of male fitness variance; and (2) comparing short-term (that is, no perception costs) versus long-term estimations of male fitness variance in single cohorts via meta-analysis or ad hoc behavioural experiments

Better the Devil that You Know: Evidence on Entry Costs Faced by Foreign Banks

Institutional and legal differences between countries increase entry costs and reduce the ability of banks to expand abroad. We use bilateral foreign banking data for 176 countries to estimate a gravity model in which bilateral cross-border banking activity is explained, in addition to standard variables, by legal and institutional differences. We find that foreign banking is negatively affected by absolute differences in the legal setup and in basic institutions between source and host countries. Differences in the legal origin, for example, reduce bilateral participation in the banking system by nearly 11 percent. Additionally we do not find strong evidence suggesting asymmetries in adapting to better or worse institutional/legal environments

The Effect of Physical Activity and High Body Mass Index on Health-Related Quality of Life in Individuals with Metabolic Syndrome

[EN] The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the level of physical activity (PA) and the degree of obesity with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals with metabolic syndrome (MetS) who participated in the Predimed-Plus study. A total of 6875 subjects between 55 and 75 years of age with MetS were selected and randomized in 23 Spanish centers. Subjects were classified according to categories of body mass index (BMI). PA was measured with the validated Registre Gironi del Cor (REGICOR) questionnaire and subjects were classified according to their PA level (light, moderate, vigorous) and the HRQoL was measured with the validated short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire. By using the ANOVA model, we found a positive and statistically significant association between the level of PA and the HRQoL (aggregated physical and mental dimensions p < 0.001), but a negative association with higher BMI in aggregated physical dimensions p < 0.001. Furthermore, women obtained lower scores compared with men, more five points in all fields of SF-36. Therefore, it is essential to promote PA and body weight control from primary care consultations to improve HRQoL, paying special attention to the differences that sex incurs.SIThe Predimed-Plus trial was supported by the Spanish government’s official funding agency for biomedical research, ISCIII, through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (three coordinated FIS projects led by Jordi Salas-Salvadó and Josep Vidal, including the following projects: PI13/00673, PI13/00492, PI13/00272, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI13/00233, PI13/02184, PI13/00728, PI13/01090, PI13/01056, PI14/01722, PI14/0147, PI14/00636, PI14/00972, PI14/00618, PI14/00696, PI14/01206, PI14/01919, PI14/00853, PI14/01374, PI16/00473, PI16/00662, PI16/01873, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI16/00533, PI16/00381, PI16/00366, PI16/01522, PI16/01120, PI17/00764, PI17/01183, PI17/00855, PI17/01347, PI17/00525, PI17/01827, PI17/00532, PI17/00215, PI17/01441, PI17/00508, PI17/01732, PI17/00926, PI19/00957, PI19/00386, PI19/00309, PI19/01032, PI19/00576, PI19/00017, PI19/01226, PI19/00781, PI19/01560, PI19/01,332), the Special Action Project entitled: Implementación y evaluación de una intervención intensiva sobre la actividad física Cohorte PREDIMED-PLUS grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó, the European Research Council (Advanced Research Grant 2013–2018; 340918) grant to Miguel Ángel Martínez-Gonzalez, the Recercaixa grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó (2013ACUP00194), grants from the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (PI0458/2013; PS0358/2016; PI0137/2018), the PROMETEO/2017/017 grant from the Generalitat Valenciana, the SEMERGEN grant and FEDER funds (CB06/03 and CB12/03), Olga Castaner is funded by the JR17/00,022 grant, ISCIII. Christopher Papandreou is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship granted by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia (PERIS 2016–2020 Incorporació de Científics i Tecnòlegs, SLT002/0016/00,428). María Rosa Bernal-Lopez was supported by “Miguel Servet Type I” program (CP15/00028) from the ISCIII-Madrid (Spain), cofinanced by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-FEDER, Ignacio M.Giménez-Alba is supported by a FPU predoctoral contract (reference FPU18/01703) from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spain

Barcoding rotifer biodiversity in Mediterranean ponds using diapausing egg banks

The biodiversity of Mediterranean freshwater bodies is among the most threatened worldwide; therefore, its accurate estimation is an urgent issue. However, traditional methods are likely to underestimate freshwater zooplankton biodiversity due to its high species seasonality and cryptic diversity. We test the value of applying DNA barcoding to diapausing egg banks, in combination with the creation of a reference collection of DNA barcodes using adult individual samples, to characterize rotifer communities. We use monogonont rotifers from two lakes in Doñana National Park and one from Ruidera Natural Park in Spain as models to create a reference collection of DNA barcodes for taxonomically diagnosed adult individuals sampled from the water column, to compare with the sequences obtained from individual eggs from the diapausing egg banks. We apply two different approaches to carry out DNA taxonomy analyses, the generalized mixed Yule coalescent method (GMYC) and the Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD), to the obtained sequences and to publicly available rotifer sequences. We obtained a total of 210 new rotifer COI sequences from all three locations (151 diapausing eggs and 59 adults). Both GMYC and ABGD generated the same 35 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), revealing four potential cryptic species. Most sequences obtained from diapausing eggs (85%) clustered with sequences obtained from morphologically diagnosed adults. Our approach, based on a single sediment sample, retrieved estimates of rotifer biodiversity higher than or similar to those of previous studies based on a number of seasonal samples. This study shows that DNA barcoding of diapausing egg banks is an effective aid to characterize rotifer diversity in Mediterranean freshwater bodies

Fifteen species in one: deciphering the Brachionus plicatilis species complex (Rotifera, Monogononta) through DNA taxonomy

Understanding patterns and processes in biological diversity is a critical task given current and rapid environmental change. Such knowledge is even more essential when the taxa under consideration are important ecological and evolutionary models. One of these cases is the monogonont rotifer cryptic species complex Brachionus plicatilis, which is by far the most extensively studied group of rotifers, is widely used in aquaculture, and is known to host a large amount of unresolved diversity. Here we collate a dataset of previously available and newly generated sequences of COI and ITS1 for 1273 isolates of the B. plicatilis complex and apply three approaches in DNA taxonomy (i.e. ABGD, PTP, and GMYC) to identify and provide support for the existence of 15 species within the complex. We used these results to explore phylogenetic signal in morphometric and ecological traits, and to understand correlation among the traits using phylogenetic comparative models. Our results support niche conservatism for some traits (e.g. body length) and phylogenetic plasticity for others (e.g. genome size)

Adopting a High-Polyphenolic Diet Is Associated with an Improved Glucose Profile: Prospective Analysis within the PREDIMED-Plus Trial

Previous studies suggested that dietary polyphenols could reduce the incidence and complications of type-2 diabetes (T2D); although the evidence is still limited and inconsistent. This work analyzes whether changing to a diet with a higher polyphenolic content is associated with an improved glucose profile. At baseline, and at 1 year of follow-up visits, 5921 participants (mean age 65.0 ± 4.9, 48.2% women) who had overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome filled out a validated 143-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), from which polyphenol intakes were calculated. Energy-adjusted total polyphenols and subclasses were categorized in tertiles of changes. Linear mixed-effect models with random intercepts (the recruitment centers) were used to assess associations between changes in polyphenol subclasses intake and 1-year plasma glucose or glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels. Increments in total polyphenol intake and some classes were inversely associated with better glucose levels and HbA1c after one year of follow-up. These associations were modified when the analyses were run considering diabetes status separately. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the relationship between changes in the intake of all polyphenolic groups and T2D-related parameters in a senior population with T2D or at high-risk of developing T2

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality