Bioactivity of biosilica obtained from North Atlantic deep-sea sponges

Demosponges are a well-known source of a plethora of bioactive compounds. In particular, they are able to form a skeleton by direct deposition of silica in a process catalysed by silicatein. Herein, we isolated biosilicas from five different Atlantic deep-sea sponges Geodia atlantica (GA), Geodia barretti (GB), Stelletta normani (SN), Axinella infundibuliformis (AI) and Phakellia ventilabrum (PV) to explore the bioactivity and osteogenic capacity of its silica-based materials. We chemically characterized the isolated biosilicas and evaluated them for their bioactivity to deposit Ca and P on their surface (by immersion in simulated body fluid, SBF). GB-, SN-, AI- and PV-based biosilicas did not generate a stable calcium phosphate (CaP) layer over time in the presence of SBF, however, the GA-derived one was able to form a CaP surface layer (at a Ca/P ratio of ~1.7, similar to the one observed for hydroxyapatite), that was stable during the 28 days of testing. In addition, no cytotoxicity towards L929 and SaOs2 cells was observed for the GA-based biosilica up to a concentration of 10 mg/mL. Overall, the GA-based biosilica presents the characteristics to be used in the development of biomaterials for bone tissue engineering (BTE).This research has been performed with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreements No. 679849 (SponGES) and No. 668983 (FORECAST). Funding from the European Regional Development Fund, through Atlantic Area Program, under the scope of BlueHuman project (EAPA_151/2016) is also acknowledged. JRX research was also supported by National Funds through FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of UIDB/04423/2020, UIDP/04423/2020, and CEECIND/00577/2018

Atrial fibrillation as a new prognosis factor in chronic patients after hospitalization: the CHRONIBERIA index

A collaborative project in different areas of Spain and Portugal was designed to find out the variables that influence the mortality after discharge and develop a prognostic model adapted to the current healthcare needs of chronic patients in an internal medicine ward. Inclusion criteria were being admitted to an Internal Medicine department and at least one chronic disease. Patients’ physical dependence was measured through Barthel index (BI). Pfeiffer test (PT) was used to establish cognitive status. We conducted logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models to analyze the influence of those variables on one-year mortality. We also developed an external validation once decided the variables included in the index. We enrolled 1406 patients. Mean age was 79.5 (SD = 11.5) and females were 56.5%. After the follow-up period, 514 patients (36.6%) died. Five variables were identified as significantly associated with 1 year mortality: age, being male, lower BI punctuation, neoplasia and atrial fibrillation. A model with such variables was created to estimate one-year mortality risk, leading to the CHRONIBERIA. A ROC curve was made to determine the reliability of this index when applied to the global sample. An AUC of 0.72 (0.7–0.75) was obtained. The external validation of the index was successful and showed an AUC of 0.73 (0.67–0.79). Atrial fibrillation along with an advanced age, being male, low BI score, or an active neoplasia in chronic patients could be critical to identify high risk multiple chronic conditions patients. Together, these variables constitute the new CHRONIBERIA index

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammals in Portugal: a data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications

Epidemiological and clinical insights into the enterovirus D68 upsurge in Europe 2021/22 and the emergence of novel B3-derived lineages, ENPEN multicentre study

International audienceEnterovirus D68 (EV-D68) infections are associated with severe respiratory disease and acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). The European Non-Polio Enterovirus Network (ENPEN) aimed to investigate the epidemiological and genetic characteristics of EV-D68 and its clinical impact during the fall-winter season of 2021/22. From 19 European countries, 58 institutes reported 10,481 (6.8%) EV-positive samples of which 1,004 (9.6%) were identified as EV-D68 (852 respiratory samples). Clinical data was reported for 969 cases. 78.9% of infections were reported in children (0-5 years); 37.9% of cases were hospitalised. Acute respiratory distress was commonly noted (93.1%) followed by fever (49.4%). Neurological problems were observed in 6.4% of cases with six reported with AFM. Phylodynamic/Nextstrain and phylogenetic analyses based on 694 sequences showed the emergence of two novel B3-derived lineages, with no regional clustering. In conclusion, we describe a large-scale EV-D68 European upsurge with severe clinical impact and the emergence of B3-derived lineages

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved