Monitoring of the colonization process at Tagoro submarine volcano, El Hierro Island (Spain), held during the first three years since its generation.

In October 2011, patches of pale-coloured water began appearing off the island’s southern coast, dead fish floated on the ocean surface, and locals noted a strong smell of sulphur in the air. These, it turned out, were the first signs of the first submarine volcanic eruption in the last 500 years of volcanology history of the Canary Islands at 1.8 km south of La Restinga village, some 400 metres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. In that moment, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) together with both Canary Universities and other research institutions began to monitor the event. The eruption continued until March the following year, leaving the cone of the volcano just 88 metres below the water’s surface. Nowadays, the submarine volcano is still active in a degasification phase with a release of heat, gases and metals that produce significant physical-chemical anomalies in the surrounding waters. The volcano-affected area has exhibited responses that are occurring globally, making El Hierro a unique natural laboratory where the main climate change stressors are acting simultaneously. The results emerging from this volcanic eruption will help to improve the scientific understanding of how future climate change may impact marine biota. On the other hand, we now have the perfect opportunity to find out how the colonization process evolves in a new submarine volcanic habitat, i.e. without any previous inhabiting form of life and in such a young substrate. After the eruption event, new basaltic lava material covered the major part of the sea bottom of “El Mar de Las Calmas”, a Marine Reserve, damaging all previous habitats and living organisms. During my internship I will study and establish the colonization process that took place from 03/2012 to 03/2014 at the submarine volcano, bearing in mind the species diversification among time and place and the physical-chemical and biological conditions that made that possible. In order to do this, underwater visual techniques and dredges were used during three cruises

Ética en la Investigación Biomédica

Debido al avance de la ciencia, las normas éticas han ido evolucionado, debido a excesos ocurridos en la historia, las normas éticas más aceptadas son la Declaración de Helsinki, Código de Núremberg, Reporte Belmont y las Pautas Éticas Internacionales para la Investigación Biomédica. Basados en los principios éticos (no maleficencia, justicia, autonomía y beneficencia), estas normas se plasmas en el proceso ético en investigación, la cual desarrolla el grado de riesgo, valor de la investigación, selección justa de participantes, balance riesgo beneficio favorable, revisión independiente y consentimiento informado. En el tiempo se han desarrollado cambios en la normatividad internacional, especificando consideraciones para experimentos con humanos, consentimiento libre e informado y los problemas de la publicación: plagio, fraude y autoplagio, así como los requerimientos de buena conducta científica

Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 infection induces an exacerbated inflammation driven by innate immunity components. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the defense against viral infections, for instance plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), have the capacity to produce vast amounts of interferon-alpha (IFN-α). In COVID-19 there is a deficit in DC numbers and IFN-α production, which has been associated with disease severity. In this work, we described that in addition to the DC deficiency, several DC activation and homing markers were altered in acute COVID-19 patients, which were associated with multiple inflammatory markers. Remarkably, previously hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients remained with decreased numbers of CD1c+ myeloid DCs and pDCs seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, the expression of DC markers such as CD86 and CD4 were only restored in previously nonhospitalized patients, while no restoration of integrin β7 and indoleamine 2,3-dyoxigenase (IDO) levels were observed. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the immunological sequelae of COVID-19

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Synopsis of Coordinated National Crop Wild Relative Seed Collecting Programs across Five Continents

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results. A total of 4587 unique seed samples from at least 355 CWR taxa were collected, conserved ex situ, safety duplicated in national and international genebanks, and made available through the Multilateral System (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Plant Treaty). Collections of CWR were made for all 28 targeted crops. Potato and eggplant were the most collected genepools, although the greatest number of primary genepool collections were made for rice. Overall, alfalfa, Bambara groundnut, grass pea and wheat were the genepools for which targets were best achieved. Several of the newly collected samples have already been used in pre-breeding programs to adapt crops to future challenges.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Crucial role of Antarctic virioplankton in organic primary aerosol production

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Open Science Conference (SCAR 2020), 3-7 August 2020During the winter season, sea-ice is a refuge of Antarctic microbial communities including phytoplankton, heterotrophic protists, bacteria and viruses. Then, along summer, due to sea ice melting, those microorganisms are released to the water and their metabolism and trophic interactions play a key role in the biogeochemical cycles in the ocean. Viral infections on microorganisms produce large quantities of dissolved and particulate organic matter (OM) including cell debris and other colloidal material. This OM may be incorporated in bubble-mediated spray production forming cooling marine aerosols and cloud layers potentially affecting climate. We therefore, tested experimentally the effect of viral lysis on bacteria, heterotrophic protists and phytoplankton, and their contribution to the production of aerosol precursors compounds during a field study carried out near the Antarctic peninsula in February 2019 using fixed and mobile platforms. We performed four experiments on melted sea ice incubated for 48-72 h in 60 L mesocosm (using two treatments: unamended natural viruses and viral addition) and subjected to still and bubbled periods. The generated aerosols were monitored by on-line and off-line aerosol techniques. Our results -systematically for all fourexperiments -showed that after viral addition the microbial mortality (rate of lysed cells/mL/ d) increased. Concurrently, the released organic C, N, P augmented and significantly correlate with the concentration of dissolved organic carbon measured in the sea ice samples. We discuss that our data support the crucial role of virus mediated lysis of microbes on sea-ice-ocean-atmosphere interactions, including aerosol particle productionPeer reviewe