Hermaphrodite life history and the maintenance of partial selfing in experimental populations of Caenorhabditis elegans

Classic population genetics theory predicts that mixed reproductive systems, where self reproduction (selfing) and outcrossing co-exist, should not be as common as they are in nature. One means of reconciling theory with observations is to recognize that sexual conflict between males and hermaphrodites and/or constraints in the allocation of resources towards sex functions in hermaphrodites can balance the fitness components of selfing and outcrossing.PhD fellowship from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT; SFRH/BD/36726/2007); National Science Foundation - Funding (DEB-1120417

Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis presenting with total insomnia--a case report

Fatal insomnia (FI) is the first diagnosis to be considered by most neurologists when approaching a patient presenting with total insomnia followed by personality and cognitive changes, disturbance of alertness, autonomic hyperactivation and movement abnormalities. We report the case of a 30 year-old male patient who presented with total insomnia followed by episodes of psychomotor restlessness resembling anxiety attacks. Twenty days later, he developed refractory convulsive status epilepticus with admission to Intensive Care Unit. He progressed to a state of reduced alertness and responsiveness, presenting periods of agitation with abnormal dyskinetic movements, periods of autonomic instability and central hypoventilation. Workup revealed antibodies against N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR). Immunotherapy treatment led to a very significant improvement with the patient presenting only slight frontal lobe dysfunction after one year of recovery. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of a patient with anti-NMDAR encephalitis first presenting with total insomnia. Our aim is to alert that anti-NMDAR encephalitis must be considered in the differential diagnosis of FI, especially in sporadic cases. Distinguishing the two conditions is very important as, contrarily to the fatal disclosure of FI, anti-NMDAR encephalitis is potentially reversible with adequate treatment even after severe and prolonged disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Targeting energy savings? Better on primary than final energy and less on intensity metrics

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGA eficiencia enerxética é un tema crítico nas políticas públicas, xa que é a clave para desvincular o crecemento económico e o uso da enerxía. Estes obxectivos están a ser aínda máis relevantes para abordar a crise enerxética e os novos escenarios xeopolíticos da guerra de Ucraína. Aínda que varios traballos analizaron os obxectivos de eficiencia enerxética, este traballo céntrase nos obxectivos de aforro enerxético, que representan a principal métrica de eficiencia para a Unión Europea. Este traballo enche un baleiro na literatura ao analizar os impactos económicos e ambientais da consecución de obxectivos de eficiencia enerxética mediante unha política fiscal enerxética, simulada por un modelo de equilibrio xeral computable híbrido con gran detalle tecnolóxico. Defínense seis escenarios para o aforro enerxético no consumo dos produtos enerxéticos, utilizando Portugal como caso de estudo. Os resultados relevantes para os responsables políticos dos escenarios simulados inclúen: (i) acadar obxectivos de aforro enerxético por medios alternativos, é dicir, dirixidos ao consumo de enerxía primaria ou final, proporcionar impactos heteroxéneos na eficiencia do sistema enerxético e no PIB, e algúns inesperados e indesexables nos impactos ambientais; (ii) unha fiscalidade relativamente máis baixa de todos os produtos enerxéticos produce impactos máis grandes e máis distorsionadores na xeración de electricidade que impostos máis elevados só sobre os combustibles fósiles (un resultado contraintuitivo), (iii) as políticas destinadas a reducir a enerxía primaria en lugar da enerxía final proporcionan os mellores resultados (maiores aumentos da eficiencia do sistema enerxético con impactos económicos máis suaves), o que vai en contra do principio da directiva europea sobre impostos enerxéticos pola que deben gravarse os produtos finais, independentemente dos insumos utilizados na súa produción e (iv) e os obxectivos non deben elaborarse en base a indicadores de intensidade enerxética. Polo tanto, móstrase que o tamaño dos impactos no balance entre as preocupacións económicas e ambientais depende do foco no aforro enerxético: de onde (consumo de enerxía primaria ou final) e a que (fósiles ou todos os produtos enerxéticos) sexa aplicado.Energy efficiency is a critical issue in public policies, as it is the key to decoupling economic growth and energy use. These objectives are becoming even more relevant to addressing the energy crisis and the new geopolitical scenarios delivered by the Ukraine war. Although several papers have analyzed energy efficiency goals, this paper focuses on energy savings targets, which represent the main efficiency metric for the European Union. This paper fills a gap in literature by analyzing the economic and environmental impacts of attaining energy efficiency targets through an energy fiscal policy, simulated by a hybrid computable general equilibrium model with technological detail. Six scenarios are defined for energy savings in primary/final energy consumption of fossil-fueled/all energy products, using Portugal as a case study. Relevant insights for policy makers from the simulated scenarios include: (i) achieving energy saving targets by alternative means, i.e., directed at primary or final energy consumption, provide heterogeneous impacts on the efficiency of the energy system and GDP, and some unexpected and undesirable outcomes concerning environmental impacts; (ii) a relatively lower taxation of all energy products deliver larger and more distorting impacts on electricity generation than higher taxes on fossil fuels only (a counterintuitive result), (iii) policies aiming to reduce primary energy instead of final energy provide the best outcomes (further increases in the efficiency of the energy system with smoother economic impacts), thereby pointing against the European Energy Taxation directive principle that taxation should be levied on final products, regardless of inputs used in their production and (iv) and targets should not be set up based on energy intensity indicators. Hence, it is shown that the size of the trade-off between economic and environmental concerns depends on where (primary or final energy consumption) and what (fossil or all energy products) energy savings are targeted.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. UIDB/05037/2020Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. UIDP/05037/2020Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia | Ref. UID/04085/2020Ministerio de Ciencia y Educación | Ref. PID2019-106677GB-I00Xunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC2017/063Universidade de Vigo/CISU

Evaluating hydrological and socio-economic impacts of green/blue space projects for storm water management = Evaluation des effets hydrologiques et socioéconomiques des espaces verts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie

FR: Les régions et villes européennes doivent faire face à des nombreuses questions liées à l'eau :gestion des eaux pluviales, qualité de l'eau, impact des sécheresses sur les milieux aquatiques. Pourrépondre durablement à ces questions, il est évident que l'eau doit être intégrée dans ledéveloppement urbain et dans les politiques d'aménagement du territoire. L'objectif général du projetpour la coopération interrégionale Aqua-Add (Mieux intégrer l'eau dans les projets urbains) est dedéployer le potentiel de l'eau dans les paysages urbains (potentiel économique, social etenvironnemental). Dans ce contexte, l'approche hydrologique et un modèle hédonique des prix sontintégrés et appliqués afin de vérifier les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des différentessolutions pour la gestion des eaux de pluie, et de faciliter le débat avec les acteurs de l'aménagement.L'objectif de cette étude est d'évaluer les effets hydrologiques et socio-économiques des espacesverts/bleus pour la gestion des eaux de pluie dans les villes moyennes. Nous présentons et étudionsici plus particulièrement l'étude de cas de Imperia (Italie)European regions and cities face important challenges related to water management, includingstorage, discharge, quality and periodic stress. To address these challenges, it is evident that watermust become an integral part of urban planning policies and their implementation. The internationalco-operation project Aqua-Add (Deploying the added value of water in local and regionaldevelopment) aims to deploy the potential of 'water' (economically, socially and environmentally) inurbanized landscapes and to improve the implementation of water measures in local and regionalurban planning. In this framework, hydrologic and hedonic-pricing simulation modelling approachesare integrated and applied in order to demonstrate the potential environmental, social and economicimpacts of different water management scenarios as well as to facilitate more informed decisionmaking across stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to assess the hydrological as well as socioeconomic implications of green/blue space projects for storm water management in medium-sizedcities. In particular, the case study of Imperia (Italy) is here presented and discussed

Towards evolutionary predictions:Current promises and challenges

Evolution has traditionally been a historical and descriptive science, and predicting future evolutionary processes has long been considered impossible. However, evolutionary predictions are increasingly being developed and used in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology and conservation biology. Evolutionary predictions may be used for different purposes, such as to prepare for the future, to try and change the course of evolution or to determine how well we understand evolutionary processes. Similarly, the exact aspect of the evolved population that we want to predict may also differ. For example, we could try to predict which genotype will dominate, the fitness of the population or the extinction probability of a population. In addition, there are many uses of evolutionary predictions that may not always be recognized as such. The main goal of this review is to increase awareness of methods and data in different research fields by showing the breadth of situations in which evolutionary predictions are made. We describe how diverse evolutionary predictions share a common structure described by the predictive scope, time scale and precision. Then, by using examples ranging from SARS-CoV2 and influenza to CRISPR-based gene drives and sustainable product formation in biotechnology, we discuss the methods for predicting evolution, the factors that affect predictability and how predictions can be used to prevent evolution in undesirable directions or to promote beneficial evolution (i.e. evolutionary control). We hope that this review will stimulate collaboration between fields by establishing a common language for evolutionary predictions

Role of Pleiotropy in the Evolution of a Cryptic Developmental Variation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Using vulval phenotypes in Caenorhabditis elegans, the authors show that cryptic genetic variation can evolve through selection for pleiotropic effects that alter fitness, and identify a cryptic variant that has conferred enhanced fitness on domesticated worms under laboratory conditions

Purging Deleterious Mutations under Self Fertilization: Paradoxical Recovery in Fitness with Increasing Mutation Rate in Caenorhabditis elegans

Background: The accumulation of deleterious mutations can drastically reduce population mean fitness. Self-fertilization is thought to be an effective means of purging deleterious mutations. However, widespread linkage disequilibrium generated and maintained by self-fertilization is predicted to reduce the efficacy of purging when mutations are present at multiple loci. Methodology/Principal Findings: We tested the ability of self-fertilizing populations to purge deleterious mutations at multiple loci by exposing obligately self-fertilizing populations of Caenorhabditis elegans to a range of elevated mutation rates and found that mutations accumulated, as evidenced by a reduction in mean fitness, in each population. Therefore, purging in obligate selfing populations is overwhelmed by an increase in mutation rate. Surprisingly, we also found that obligate and predominantly self-fertilizing populations exposed to very high mutation rates exhibited consistently greater fitness than those subject to lesser increases in mutation rate, which contradicts the assumption that increases in mutation rate are negatively correlated with fitness. The high levels of genetic linkage inherent in self-fertilization could drive this fitness increase. Conclusions: Compensatory mutations can be more frequent under high mutation rates and may alleviate a portion of the fitness lost due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations through epistatic interactions with deleterious mutations. Th

Acesso a Tratamento Endovascular para Acidente Vascular Cerebral Isquémico em Portugal

Introduction: Since the publication of endovascular treatment trials and European Stroke Guidelines, Portugal has re-organized stroke healthcare. The nine centers performing endovascular treatment are not equally distributed within the country, which may lead to differential access to endovascular treatment. Our main aim was to perform a descriptive analysis of the main treatment metrics regarding endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal and its administrative districts. Material and methods: A retrospective national multicentric cohort study was conducted, including all ischemic stroke patients treated with endovascular treatment in mainland Portugal over two years (July 2015 to June 2017). All endovascular treatment centers contributed to an anonymized database. Demographic, stroke-related and procedure-related variables were collected. Crude endovascular treatment rates were calculated per 100 000 inhabitants for mainland Portugal, and each district and endovascular treatment standardized ratios (indirect age-sex standardization) were also calculated. Patient time metrics were computed as the median time between stroke onset, first-door, and puncture. Results: A total of 1625 endovascular treatment procedures were registered. The endovascular treatment rate was 8.27/100 000 inhabitants/year. We found regional heterogeneity in endovascular treatment rates (1.58 to 16.53/100 000/year), with higher rates in districts closer to endovascular treatment centers. When analyzed by district, the median time from stroke onset to puncture ranged from 212 to 432 minutes, reflecting regional heterogeneity. Discussion: Overall endovascular treatment rates and procedural times in Portugal are comparable to other international registries. We found geographic heterogeneity, with lower endovascular treatment rates and longer onset-to-puncture time in southern and inner regions. Conclusion: The overall national rate of EVT in the first two years after the organization of EVT-capable centers is one of the highest among European countries, however, significant regional disparities were documented. Moreover, stroke-onset-to-first-door times and in-hospital procedural times in the EVT centers were comparable to those reported in the randomized controlled trials performed in high-volume tertiary hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio