Report on AtlantOS fitness to MSFD needs

Assessment of impact of AtlantOS on North West Shelf state reanalyses

Reanalysis for MSFD

This report gives a brief summary of progress to date in Task 8.6 of AtlantOS. At the time of writing (September 2017) results are being written up in a paper for the peer-reviewed literature (Tinker et al., in prep.), expected to be submitted in Autumn 2017. To maintain the confidentiality of the peer review process only a brief summary of the results of the paper are presented here. The paper will be linked to this deliverable report as soon as it is published. In the mean time access to the paper while under review may be requested from the lead authors of this report at [email protected] and [email protected]

La cultura de la experiencia. La influencia de internet en la divulgación cultural: Balance de aspectos positivos y negativos

La cultura de la experiencia toma la historia de José María Castro Velasco, un habitual consumidor de cultura, para tratar un hito que marcaría el punto de inflexión en nuestra historia reciente: la aparición de internet y las consecuencias que ha traído en el mundo de la cultura. De su mano trataremos la democratización cultural, los nuevos espacios y vías de acceso. A su vez, la posible banalización del concepto y el perfil de los nuevos consumidores. Se trata de un relato profundamente humano en el que conoceremos la repercusión que ha tenido este cambio en nuestra rutina. En el transcurso del documental distintos profesionales del sector nos proporcionaran un punto de vista y una reflexión propia. De esta forma, estamos ante un trabajo transversal en que conoceremos como ha transformado este mundo, tanto desde el punto de vista del artista como del consumidor.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Periodism

Observing and modelling phytoplankton community structure in the North Sea

© Author(s) 2017. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Phytoplankton form the base of the marine food chain, and knowledge of phytoplankton community structure is fundamental when assessing marine biodiversity. Policy makers and other users require information on marine biodiversity and other aspects of the marine environment for the North Sea, a highly productive European shelf sea. This information must come from a combination of observations and models, but currently the coastal ocean is greatly under-sampled for phytoplankton data, and outputs of phytoplankton community structure from models are therefore not yet frequently validated. This study presents a novel set of in situ observations of phytoplankton community structure for the North Sea using accessory pigment analysis. The observations allow a good understanding of the patterns of surface phytoplankton biomass and community structure in the North Sea for the observed months of August 2010 and 2011. Two physical-biogeochemical ocean models, the biogeochemical components of which are different variants of the widely used European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM), were then validated against these and other observations. Both models were a good match for sea surface temperature observations, and a reasonable match for remotely sensed ocean colour observations. However, the two models displayed very different phytoplankton community structures, with one better matching the in situ observations than the other. Nonetheless, both models shared some similarities with the observations in terms of spatial features and inter-annual variability. An initial comparison of the formulations and parameterizations of the two models suggests that diversity between the parameter settings of model phytoplankton functional types, along with formulations which promote a greater sensitivity to changes in light and nutrients, is key to capturing the observed phytoplankton community structure. These findings will help inform future model development, which should be coupled with detailed validation studies, in order to help facilitate the wider application of marine biogeochemical modelling to user and policy needs

Disolucións

Titulación: Grao en Nutrición Humana e Dietética -- Materia: Química IIA materia Química II proporcionará ao estudante do Grao de Nutrición Humana e Dietética os principios xerais das reaccións químicas e do equilibrio químico, así como mecanismos, tipos de reaccións e as súas aplicacións prácticas á análise volumétrico, especialmente desde a perspectiva dos equilibrios en disolución que constitúen a base doutras metodoloxías de análise posteriores. A nivel xeral, é importante comprender o concepto de disolución xa que estamos cotianmente en contacto con disolucións: o leite, o vinagre, o aire, a auga do mar, etc; ter un modelo que nolas explique, permitiranos comprender o noso contorno, e predicir o seus comportamentos. Por outra banda, a nivel de titulación, debemos ter en conta que practicamente tódolos procesos biolóxicos teñen lugar en medio acuoso, polo que o estudo deste ítem será necesario para ter uns coñecementos básicos que lle permitirán unha maior compresión e asimilación doutras materias que forman parte do seu plan de estudos: Bioquímica, Bromatoloxía, Bioloxía, etc. Nesta unidade estudaranse as disolucións desde o punto de vista dun sistema material, facendo fincapé, para a súa identificación, en que son unha mestura homoxénea, cunhas propiedades particulares, e que se caracterizarán pola súa concentración. Ao formularse a interpretación das disolucións debemos centrarnos en explicar por que se producen e como se poden interpretar, buscando modelos e teorías que nos permitan ir máis alá do coñecemento de fenómenos perceptibles do proceso e nos xustifiquen o seu comportamento, polo que teremos que ter en conta cos sistemas materiais están constituídos por partículas, e que se producen interaccións entre estas partículas. Farase especial fincapé a como expresar a concentración das disolucións pois a experiencia indica que aínda que e un concepto traballado previamente, os alumnos chegan sen saber aplicalo correctamente, o que repercute na compresión e desenvolvemento posterior da materia.Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Servizo de Normalización Lingüístic

Equilibrios ácido-base

Titulación: Grao en Enxeñaría Industrial de Procesos -- Materia: Química AnalíticaNesta unidade repasaranse os fundamentos dos equilibrios ácidobase(tanto de ácidos e bases fortes como débiles), as súas constantes de equilibrio e os cálculos de concentracións para todas as especies participantes nos mesmos. Dentro da unidade tamén se tratará con especial detalle o concepto de disolucións reguladoras (preparación, cálculo de pH, mecanismos de regulación). Por último como aplicación práctica, a unidade centrarase no estudo das volumetrías ácido-base, as cales se usan en moitos campos da análise química. Ó analizar unha curva de valoración poderase aprender a deducir as cantidades dos compoñentes ácidos e básicos presentes nun equilibrio deste tipo. Nesta unidade tamén se aprenderá a predicir as curvas de valoración dependendo do tipo de ácido e bases empregados, podendo indagar as concentracións de todos os compoñentes da mestura, coñecer como funcionan os indicadores ácidobase e como elixir un indicador para unha valoración determinada.Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Servizo de Normalización Lingüístic

Integrating biogeochemistry and ecology into ocean data assimilation systems

Monitoring and predicting the biogeochemical state of the ocean and marine ecosystems is an important application of operational oceanography that needs to be expanded. The accurate depiction of the ocean's physical environment enabled by Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) systems, in both real-time and reanalysis modes, is already valuable for various for various applications, such as the fishing industry and fisheries management. However, most of these applications require accurate estimates of both physical and biogeochemical ocean conditions over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. In this paper, we discuss recent developments that enable coupling new biogeochemical models and assimilation components with the existing GODAE systems, and we examine the potential of such systems in several areas of interest: phytoplankton biomass monitoring in the open ocean, ocean carbon cycle monitoring and assessment, marine ecosystem management at seasonal and longer time scales, and downscaling in coastal areas. A number of key requirements and research priorities are then identified for the future, GODAE systems will need to improve their representation of physical variables that are not yet considered essential, such as upper-ocean vertical fluxes that are critically important to biological activity. Further, the observing systems will need to be expanded in terms of in situ platforms (with intensified deployments of sensors for O-2 and chlorophyll, and inclusion of new sensors for nutrients, zooplankton, micronekton biomass, and others), satellite missions (e.g., hyperspectral instruments for ocean color, lidar systems for mixed-layer depths, and wide-swath altimeters for coastal sea level), and improved methods to assimilate these new measurements

Analysis of hepatitis B virus preS1 variability and prevalence of the rs2296651 polymorphism in a Spanish population

Altres ajuts: Cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); and the Gilead Fellowship Program, No. GLD14-00296.To determine the variability/conservation of the domain of hepatitis B virus (HBV) preS1 region that interacts with sodium-taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (hereafter, NTCP-interacting domain) and the prevalence of the rs2296651 polymorphism (S267F, NTCP variant) in a Spanish population. Serum samples from 246 individuals were included and divided into 3 groups: patients with chronic HBV infection (CHB) (n = 41, 73% Caucasians), patients with resolved HBV infection (n = 100, 100% Caucasians) and an HBV-uninfected control group (n = 105, 100% Caucasians). Variability/conservation of the amino acid (aa) sequences of the NTCP-interacting domain, (aa 2-48 in viral genotype D) and a highly conserved preS1 domain associated with virion morphogenesis (aa 92-103 in viral genotype D) were analyzed by next-generation sequencing and compared in 18 CHB patients with viremia > 4 log IU/mL. The rs2296651 polymorphism was determined in all individuals in all 3 groups using an in-house real-time PCR melting curve analysis. The HBV preS1 NTCP-interacting domain showed a high degree of conservation among the examined viral genomes especially between aa 9 and 21 (in the genotype D consensus sequence). As compared with the virion morphogenesis domain, the NTCP-interacting domain had a smaller proportion of HBV genotype-unrelated changes comprising > 1% of the quasispecies (25.5% vs 31.8%), but a larger proportion of genotype-associated viral polymorphisms (34% vs 27.3%), according to consensus sequences from GenBank patterns of HBV genotypes A to H. Variation/conservation in both domains depended on viral genotype, with genotype C being the most highly conserved and genotype E the most variable (limited finding, only 2 genotype E included). Of note, proline residues were highly conserved in both domains, and serine residues showed changes only to threonine or tyrosine in the virion morphogenesis domain. The rs2296651 polymorphism was not detected in any participant. In our CHB population, the NTCP-interacting domain was highly conserved, particularly the proline residues and essential amino acids related with the NTCP interaction, and the prevalence of rs2296651 was low/null

Conservation and variability of hepatitis B core at different chronic hepatitis stages

Since it is currently not possible to eradicate hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection with existing treatments, research continues to uncover new therapeutic strategies. HBV core protein, encoded by the HBV core gene (HBC), intervenes in both structural and functional processes, and is a key protein in the HBV life cycle. For this reason, both the protein and the gene could be valuable targets for new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies. Moreover, alterations in the protein sequence could serve as potential markers of disease progression. To detect, by next-generation sequencing, HBC hyper-conserved regions that could potentially be prognostic factors and targets for new therapies. Thirty-eight of 45 patients with chronic HBV initially selected were included and grouped according to liver disease stage [chronic hepatitis B infection without liver damage (CHB, n = 16), liver cirrhosis (LC, n = 5), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, n = 17)]. HBV DNA was extracted from patients' plasma. A region between nucleotide (nt) 1863 and 2483, which includes HBC, was amplified and analyzed by next-generation sequencing (Illumina MiSeq platform). Sequences were genotyped by distance-based discriminant analysis. General and intergroup nt and amino acid (aa) conservation was determined by sliding window analysis. The presence of nt insertion and deletions and/or aa substitutions in the different groups was determined by aligning the sequences with genotype-specific consensus sequences. Three nt (nt 1900-1929, 2249-2284, 2364-2398) and 2 aa (aa 117-120, 159-167) hyper-conserved regions were shared by all the clinical groups. All groups showed a similar pattern of conservation, except for five nt regions (nt 1946-1992, 2060-2095, 2145-2175, 2230-2250, 2270-2293) and one aa region (aa 140-160), where CHB and LC, respectively, were less conserved (P < 0.05). Some group-specific conserved regions were also observed at both nt (2306-2334 in CHB and 1935-1976 and 2402-2435 in LC) and aa (between aa 98-103 in CHB and 28-30 and 51-54 in LC) levels. No differences in insertion and deletions frequencies were observed. An aa substitution (P79Q) was observed in the HCC group with a median (interquartile range) frequency of 15.82 (0-78.88) vs 0 (0-0) in the other groups (P < 0.05 vs CHB group). The differentially conserved HBC and HBV core protein regions and the P79Q substitution could be involved in disease progression. The hyper-conserved regions detected could be targets for future therapeutic and diagnostic strategies

Sophisticated viral quasispecies with a genotype-related pattern of mutations in the hepatitis B X gene of HBeAg-ve chronically infected patients

Haplotipos; Enfermedades infecciosas; MutaciónHaplotips; Enfermetats infeccioses; MutacióHaplotypes; Infectious diseases; MutationPatients with HBeAg-negative chronic infection (CI) have not been extensively studied because of low viremia. The HBx protein, encoded by HBX, has a key role in viral replication. Here, we analyzed the viral quasispecies at the 5′ end of HBX in CI patients and compared it with that of patients in other clinical stages. Fifty-eight HBeAg-negative patients were included: 16 CI, 19 chronic hepatitis B, 16 hepatocellular carcinoma and 6 liver cirrhosis. Quasispecies complexity and conservation were determined in the region between nucleotides 1255 and 1611. Amino acid changes detected were tested in vitro. CI patients showed higher complexity in terms of mutation frequency and nucleotide diversity and higher quasispecies conservation (p < 0.05). A genotype D-specific pattern of mutations (A12S/P33S/P46S/T36D-G) was identified in CI (median frequency, 81.7%), which determined a reduction in HBV DNA release of up to 1.5 log in vitro. CI patients showed a more complex and conserved viral quasispecies than the other groups. The genotype-specific pattern of mutations could partially explain the low viremia observed in these patients.This study was supported by grants from the Institute of Health Carlos III (grant PI15/00856 and PI18/01436) and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)