FLOWER DAMAGE IN CONTRASTING HABITATS 503

Reproductive consequences of fl ower damage in two contrasting habitats: The case of Viola portalesia (Violaceae) ABSTRACT The indirect impact of fl ower herbivory on plant reproduction depends on the pollination environment, particularly on the presence or absence of pollinator species with the ability to discriminate damaged from undamaged fl owers. The change in pollinator assemblages, due to habitat modifi cation, may modify the impact of fl ower herbivory on plant reproductive success. In this work, we evaluate the effect of fl ower herbivory on the seed production of Viola portalesia (Gay) in two contrasting environments, a native and low-disturbed habitat and an extensively transformed habitat characterized by Pinus radiata plantations. Even though the two habitats differed substantially in the composition of pollinator assemblages and visitation rate, the fl ower damage performed on different petals had no impact on seed production neither within nor between habitats, indicating that change in pollinator assemblages have no indirect reproductive impact via discrimination of damaged fl owers. There was a strong habitat effect, however, for seed production, being higher in the pine plantation than in the native habitat. Seed production on a per fl ower basis increased at a higher rate with the number of fl owers in the pine plantation, which suggests a numerical response of pollinators to changes in food availability in this habitat. Key words: fl ower herbivory, habitat loss, Maulino forest, Pinus radiata, pollination. RESUMEN El impacto indirecto de la herbivoría fl oral sobre la reproducción de las plantas puede depender del ambiente de polinización, particularmente de la presencia o ausencia de especies de polinizadores con capacidad de discriminar entre las fl ores dañadas y no dañadas. El cambio en el ensamble de polinizadores, debido a la modifi cación del hábitat, puede alterar el impacto de la herbivoría fl oral sobre el éxito reproductivo de las plantas. En este trabajo, se evaluó el efecto de la herbivoría fl oral sobre la producción de semillas de Viola portalesia (Gay) en dos ambientes contrastantes, un hábitat nativo, con bajos niveles de perturbación y otro hábitat altamente intervenido por plantaciones de Pinus radiata. Aún cuando los dos hábitats difi rieron substancialmente en la composición del ensamble de polinizadores y tasas de visitas, el daño fl oral realizado sobre los diferentes pétalos no tuvo efectos sobre la producción de semillas ni dentro ni entre hábitats, indicando que el cambio en el ensamble de polinizadores no tiene impacto reproductivo a través de la discriminación de fl ores dañadas. Se observó, sin embargo, un fuerte efecto del hábitat sobre la producción de semillas siendo ésta mayor en la plantación de pino que en el hábitat nativo. La producción de semillas por fl or relativa al número de fl ores aumentó a una mayor tasa en la plantación de pino, lo cual sugiere una respuesta numérica de los polinizadores a cambios en la disponibilidad de alimento en este hábitat. Palabras clave: bosque Maulino, herbivoría fl oral, pérdida de hábitat, Pinus radiata, polinización

Especies vegetales utilizadas en la elaboración de Artesanías por los Indígenas Coreguaje de Caquetá)

El uso de las plantas por parte de las comunidades es una de las estrategias para mantener unida la cultura y la relación con el entorno. La etnia Coreguaje en el Caquetá se encuentra reportada para el municipio de Milán. Dentro de los usos dados a las plantas por parte de los Coreguaje, se encuentra el artesanal, constituyendo uno de los aspectos de mayor relevancia en la economía de la comunidad. En el presente documento se hace alusión a 29 especies de plantas usadas en la artesanía por parte de los Coreguaje y se presentan además los tipos de elementos elaborados con ellas. Un alto porcentaje de las especies usadas en la artesanía por los Coreguaje es de origen introducido, lo que denota un intercambio de material vegetal con otros grupos étnicos, producto de la penetración cultural y de la reducción de las poblaciones de especies nativas

Evaluation of processed and ultra-processed foods: An analysis before the implementation of front-of-package labeling in Peru

Objective. The objective of the current study was to evaluate critical nutrients of industrialized foods and compare them with the technical parameters established in the Peruvian regulations, in its two stages of implementation, referring to front-of-package labeling before the beginning of its validity in June 2019. Methods. Cross-sectional study in which the critical nutrients of sodium, total sugar, saturated fat and transfat were analyzed from data declared in the nutritional labels of 511 processed and ultra-processed foods that were part of the products purchased for the consumption of 88 families of students from one private university in Lima. The technical parameters used to evaluate the critical nutrients are those established in the Regulation of Law 30021. All analyses were carried out with Excel and SPSS version 21, Student’s t-statistics and McNemar’s test were used. Results. 79 processed foods and 432 ultra-processed foods were analyzed. Of the total processed and ultra-processed products evaluated, it was found that for sodium 14.3% and 37.2% respectively exceeded the parameters in the first and second stages established in the regulations; for sugar 54.2% and 62.6%; while for saturated fats 52.8% and 59.5%, respectively. Solid foods are those that will have the greatest changes in front labeling between the first and second stages of implementation, unlike liquids that without changing the composition of their products, their front labeling would not vary significantly. Conclusions. The saturated fat present in solid products (processed and ultra-processed), exceeds the parameters in both stages of implementation in most products. Of the foods compared, regardless of type and category, the critical nutrient sugar was the one that was highly present in most of the products evaluated for the first and second stages of implementation.Revisión por pare

Estudio exploratorio sobre conocimientos y frecuencia de consumo de productos procesados y ultraprocesados en estudiantes universitarios de Perú

Background: The promotion of a healthy diet should take place at all levels, including the university community. The main objective was to explore the knowledge and frequency of consumption of processed and ultra-processed products in students of a private university in Lima-Peru. Methods: Cross-sectional, exploratory study, where a structured questionnaire was applied that collected information on 398 university students of both sexes, residents in Metropolitan Lima during the period from April to June 2019. Results: Of the total number of respondents, 50.8% study a career in Health Sciences. Most of the participants claimed to recognize a processed product (75.9%), however, only 43.4% of them gave valid examples. Regarding the term ultra-processed, only 18.1% claimed to have heard them and most of them confirmed with examples. Regarding the frequency of consumption, it was evidenced that bakery products (77.6%), cheeses (64.4%), cookies (56%), yogurts and sugary milk drinks (54.3%) and snacks (52.5%) were the most consumed in the week prior to the study. Regarding the frontal labeling, it was evidenced that 40.7% of the participants affirmed that they knew them. It was found that the main factor that influenced the dissemination of the existence of octagons (50%) was through the food industry who has already been implementing front labeling on their products that are sold for consumption. Conclusions: University students show insufficient knowledge about the differences between processed and ultraprocessed products, as well as a high frequency of consumption of these products, especially ultra-processed ones.Revisión por pare

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

Divergent Regulatory Pathways Control A and S Motility in Myxococcus xanthus through FrzE, a CheA-CheY Fusion Protein

Myxococcus xanthus moves on solid surfaces by using two gliding motility systems, A motility for individual-cell movement and S motility for coordinated group movements. The frz genes encode chemotaxis homologues that control the cellular reversal frequency of both motility systems. One of the components of the core Frz signal transduction pathway, FrzE, is homologous to both CheA and CheY from the enteric bacteria and is therefore a novel CheA-CheY fusion protein. In this study, we investigated the role of this fusion protein, in particular, the CheY domain (FrzE(CheY)). FrzE(CheY) retains all of the highly conserved residues of the CheY superfamily of response regulators, including Asp709, analogous to phosphoaccepting Asp57 of Escherichia coli CheY. While in-frame deletion of the entire frzE gene caused both motility systems to show a hyporeversal phenotype, in-frame deletion of the FrzE(CheY) domain resulted in divergent phenotypes for the two motility systems: hyperreversals of the A-motility system and hyporeversals of the S-motility system. To further investigate the role of FrzE(CheY) in A and S motility, point mutations were constructed such that the putative phosphoaccepting residue, Asp709, was changed from D to A (and was therefore never subject to phosphorylation) or E (possibly mimicking constitutive phosphorylation). The D709A mutant showed hyperreversals for both motilities, while the D709E mutant showed hyperreversals for A motility and hyporeversal for S motility. These results show that the FrzE(CheY) domain plays a critical signaling role in coordinating A and S motility. On the basis of the phenotypic analyses of the frzE mutants generated in this study, a model is proposed for the divergent signal transduction through FrzE in controlling and coordinating A and S motility in M. xanthus