Learning science towards a sustainable development

The learning of sciences can be very stimulating. One cannot say there exists a perfect pedagogical method but our experience proved that actually going through the situations makes it possible for the students to learn the concepts more effectively and efficiently. Concrete experiences help students acquire knowledge with more ease [1]. The objective of the project herein reported is to get the students to learn science and simultaneously awaken to the principles of sustainable development. In the context of the programs of various disciplines, the use of a general and globalizing theme will allow to integrate various areas of knowledge and contribute to better learning. As collateral objectives, this project also intends to promote the level of literacy of the students and consequently of the society they belong to [2]. The United Nations entitled 2003-2012, the Literacy decade. Scientific literacy is fundamental for the development of our societies and humanity. The project will be implemented in other schools, located in mountain regions, in different European countries, that will share our experiences and knowledge. A number of exchange visits of groups of teachers and students will be organized in order to enhance the sense of European citizenship among the participants in the project and there schools. Science fairs will be organized where the work developed will be presented to the community

FUSE Observations of the Magellanic Bridge Gas toward Two Early-Type Stars: Molecules, Physical Conditions, and Relative Abundance

We discuss FUSE observations of two early-type stars, DI1388 and DGIK975, in the low density and low metallicity gas of Magellanic Bridge (MB). Toward DI1388, the FUSE observations show molecular hydrogen, O VI, and numerous other atomic or ionic transitions in absorption, implying the presence of multiple gas phases in a complex arrangement. The relative abundance pattern in the MB is attributed to varying degrees of depletion onto dust similar to that of halo clouds. The N/O ratio is near solar, much higher than N/O in damped Ly-alpha systems, implying subsequent stellar processing to explain the origin of nitrogen in the MB. The diffuse molecular cloud in this direction has a low column density and low molecular fraction. H2 is observed in both the Magellanic Stream and the MB, yet massive stars form only in the MB, implying significantly different physical processes between them. In the MB some of the H2 could have been pulled out from the SMC via tidal interaction, but some also could have formed in situ in dense clouds where star formation might have taken place. Toward DGIK975, the presence of neutral, weakly and highly ionized species suggest that this sight line has also several complex gas phases. The highly ionized species of O VI, C IV, and Si IV toward both stars have very broad features, indicating that multiple components of hot gas at different velocities are present. Several sources (a combination of turbulent mixing layer, conductive heating, and cooling flows) may be contributing to the production of the highly ionized gas in the MB. Finally, this study has confirmed previous results that the high-velocity cloud HVC 291.5-41.2+80 is mainly ionized composed of weakly and highly ions. The high ion ratios are consistent with a radiatively cooling gas in a fountain flow model.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ (October 10, 2002). Added reference (Gibson et al. 2000

Lattice microstructure design for cathode electrodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

The electrode geometry is an essential parameter affecting the cycling performance of batteries. In this work, the effect of lattice geometry of the cathode electrode on battery performance was studied by theoretical simulations keeping its volume constant. It was observed that the variation of the lattice geometry improves the cycling performance when compared to conventional planar geometry. The improvement of the cycling performance in the lattice geometry is related to variations in the electrolyte current density. It was demonstrated that the lattice geometry allows to improve the discharge performance in lithium-ion batteries at higher discharge rates.511F-603F-4B30 | Francisco MirandaN/

Microbial food web components, bulk metabolism, and single-cell physiology of piconeuston in surface microlayers of high-altitude lakes

12 páginas, 4 tablas, 3 figuras.Sharp boundaries in the physical environment are usually associated with abrupt shifts in organism abundance, activity ,and diversity. Aquatic surface microlayers (SML) from a steep gradient between two contrasted environments, the atmosphere and surface waters, where they regulate the gas exchange between both environments. They usually harbor an abundant and active microbial life: the neuston. Few ecosystems are subjected to such a high UVR regime as high altitude lakes during summer. Here, we measured bulk estimates of heterotrophic activity, community structure and single-cell physiological properties by flow cytometry in 19 high-altitude remote Pyrenean lakes and compared the biological processes in the SML with those in the underlying surface waters. Phototrophic picoplankton (PPP) populations, were generally present in high abundances and in those lakes containing PPP populations with phycoerythrin (PE), total PPP abundance was higher at the SML .Heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) were also more abundant in the SML. Bacteria in the SML had lower leucine incorporation rates, lower percentages of “live” cells, and higher numbers of highly-respiring cells ,likely resulting in a lower growth efficiency. No simple and direct linea rrelationships could be found between microbial abundances or activities and environmental variables, but factor analysis revealed that, despite their physical proximity ,microbial life in SML and underlyingwaters was governed by different and independent processes. Overall, we demonstrate that piconeuston in high altitude lakes has specific features different from those of the picoplankton ,and that they are highly affected by potential stressful environmental factors, such as high UVR radiation.This work was supported by grants 2009SGR/1177 “Grup d’estructura i funcio de xarxes tròfiques microbianes planctòniques” and 2009SGR/361 “Grup d’Ecologia dels Canvis Ambientals, GECA” from Generalitat de Catalunya, AERBAC-2 178/2010 (to EOC) and EGALA 124/2010 (MF, LC) from the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente- Red de Parques Nacionales, and PIRENA CGL2009-13318 (EOC) and NITROPIR CGL2010-19373 (MF, LC) from MINECO. HS’s work was supported by CNPq and FAPESP (Process: 2014/ 14139-3).Peer reviewe

Nanoencapsulation of bovine lactoferrin for food and biopharmaceutical applications

Lactoferrin has for long captured the interest of many researchers as a natural compound with a wide variety of uses. Lactoferrin is a monomeric, iron-binding 80 kDa glycoprotein, and appears to be the subfraction of whey with the best documented antiviral, antimicrobial, anticancer and immune modulating/enhancing effects. It belongs to the family of transferrin proteins, and serves to control iron levels in body fluids by sequestering and solubilizing ferric iron. In the present research effort, production of lactoferrin derivatives (starting from a purified commercial extract), encompassing full stabilization of its three-dimensional structure, has been attempted via nanoencapsulation within lipid nanovesicles, integrating a multiple water-in-oil-in-water emulsion. Long-term storage of the multiple nanoemulsions produced did not lead to leaching of protein, thus proving the effectiveness of the encapsulation procedure. Furthermore, lactoferrin nanovesicle derivatives prepared under optimal conditions were successfully employed at lab-scale antimicrobial trials.Financial support from Fundacao Ensino e Cultura Fernando Pessoa (FECFP, Porto, Portugal) and from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal) as pluriannual funding, is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support to Victor M. Balcao, via an Invited Research Scientist fellowship (FAPESP Ref. No. 2011/51077-8) by Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil), is hereby gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Madalena Vieira (affiliated with the IBB) for technical help

Analyzing gene expression from marine microbial communities using environmental transcriptomics

Analogous to metagenomics, environmental transcriptomics (metatranscriptomics) retrieves and sequences environmental mRNAs from a microbial assemblage without prior knowledge of what genes the community might be expressing. Thus it provides the most unbiased perspective on community gene expression in situ. Environmental transcriptomics protocols are technically difficult since prokaryotic mRNAs generally lack the poly(A) tails that make isolation of eukaryotic messages relatively straightforward 1 and because of the relatively short half lives of mRNAs 2. In addition, mRNAs are much less abundant than rRNAs in total RNA extracts, thus an rRNA background often overwhelms mRNA signals. However, techniques for overcoming some of these difficulties have recently been developed. A procedure for analyzing environmental transcriptomes by creating clone libraries using random primers to reverse-transcribe and amplify environmental mRNAs was recently described was successful in two different natural environments, but results were biased by selection of the random primers used to initiate cDNA synthesis 3. Advances in linear amplification of mRNA obviate the need for random primers in the amplification step and make it possible to use less starting material decreasing the collection and processing time of samples and thereby minimizing RNA degradation 4.In vitro transcription methods for amplifying mRNA involve polyadenylating the mRNA and incorporating a T7 promoter onto the 3 end of the transcript. Amplified RNA (aRNA) can then be converted to double stranded cDNA using random hexamers and directly sequenced by pyrosequencing 5. A first use of this method at Station ALOHA demonstrated its utility for characterizing microbial community gene expression 6

Feasibility of a mobile-based system for unsupervised monitoring in Parkinson’s disease

© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Mobile health (mHealth) has emerged as a potential solution to providing valuable ecological information about the severity and burden of Parkinson's disease (PD) symptoms in real-life conditions. Objective: The objective of our study was to explore the feasibility and usability of an mHealth system for continuous and objective real-life measures of patients' health and functional mobility, in unsupervised settings. Methods: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PD, who were able to walk unassisted, and had an Android smartphone were included. Patients were asked to answer a daily survey, to perform three weekly active tests, and to perform a monthly in-person clinical assessment. Feasibility and usability were explored as primary and secondary outcomes. An exploratory analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between data from the mKinetikos app and clinical assessments. Results: Seventeen participants (85%) completed the study. Sixteen participants (94.1%) showed a medium-to-high level of compliance with the mKinetikos system. A 6-point drop in the total score of the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire was observed. Conclusions: Our results support the feasibility of the mKinetikos system for continuous and objective real-life measures of a patient's health and functional mobility. The observed correlations of mKinetikos metrics with clinical data seem to suggest that this mHealth solution is a promising tool to support clinical decisions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

B-cell leukemia transdifferentiation to macrophage involves reconfiguration of DNA methylation for long-range regulation

Altres ajuts: We thank CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya for institutional support. [...] BMJ is a Ramon y Cajal fellow (RYC-2016-19655). This work was supported by the Health Department PERIS-project no. SLT/002/16/00374 and [...]; and CIBERONC CB16/12/00312 and CB16/12/00489; [...]; the Cellex Foundation; and "la Caixa" Bank Foundation (LCF/PR/GN18/51140001). We thank Dr Thomas Graf for providing the transdifferentiation model.Altres ajuts: MEFP/FPU17-0242

Molecular characterization of dissolved organic matter linked to microbial (Bacteria and Archaea) diversity in the main water masses of the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean

The microbe-dissolved organic matter (DOM) interactions include microbial uptake and DOM reworking and release, affecting the composition of the heterogeneous DOM pool. In turns, this distinct DOM composition can select for microbial assemblages. We investigated the diversity of microbial (both Bacteria and Archaea) communities (combining Illumina tag sequencing of 16S rRNA gen -amplicon sequencing variants, ASVs- and metagenomics) and the chemodiversity of dissolved organic molecules (extracted by solid phase extraction and analyzed by Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry, FT-ICR-MS) in the Eastern North Atlantic Ocean off the Galician coast (43oN, 9o-15oW). Sampling ranged from 100 m to 5000 m, thereby encompassing a wide variety of water masses with contrasting origins and different aging. Applying diversity ecological metrics to both organic compounds and ASVs, we found that microbial diversity and richness were negatively correlated with DOM concentration and chemo-diversity. Besides, our results demonstrated the link between this trend and water mass aging, which enhances biosphere taxonomic diversity but reduces molecular variety. DOM diversity, decreasing along the water mass aging gradient, would likely reflect the persistence of the most refractory molecules, generated as by- product of the DOM degradation by microbes. In two PCoAs based on the metagenomic data, combined PCoA axis 1 and PCoA axis 2, explained the 80% and 20% of the microbial gene ́s structural variability among water masses. The oldest water masses, originated at high latitudes, such as NADW and LDW, were associated to higher abundance of genes involved in metabolism of aromatic compound. Intermediate waters such as ENACWst were related to sulphur/iron/phosphorous metabolism related genes. Surface waters were linked to genes involved in photosynthesis, autotrophy and cell division. Taken together, the observed increase of DOM homogenization along water mass aging was associated to differences in the functional diversity of microbial communities

Hepatitis B Virus Variants with Multiple Insertions and/or Deletions in the X Open Reading Frame 3 ' End: Common Members of Viral Quasispecies in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients

Hepatitis B virus; Insertions; Next-generation sequencingVirus de l'hepatitis B; Insercions; Seqüenciació de nova generacióVirus de la hepatitis B; Inserciones; Secuenciación de próxima generaciónDeletions in the 3′ end region of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) X open reading frame (HBX) may affect the core promoter (Cp) and have been frequently associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of variants with deletions and/or insertions (Indels) in this region in the quasispecies of 50 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients without HCC. We identified 103 different Indels in 47 (94%) patients, in a median of 3.4% of their reads (IQR, 1.3–8.4%), and 25% (IQR, 13.1–40.7%) of unique sequences identified in each quasispecies (haplotypes). Of those Indels, 101 (98.1%) caused 44 different altered stop codons, the most commonly observed were at positions 128, 129, 135, and 362 (putative position). Moreover, 39 (37.9%) Indels altered the TATA-like box (TA) sequences of Cp; the most commonly observed caused TA2 + TA3 fusion, creating a new putative canonical TATA box. Four (8%) patients developed negative clinical outcomes after a median follow-up of 9.4 (8.7–12) years. In conclusion, we observed variants with Indels in the HBX 3′ end in the vast majority of our CHB patients, some of them encoding alternative versions of HBx with potential functional roles, and/or alterations in the regulation of transcription.This research was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), grant number PI18/01436; PI19/00301; and by the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial (CDTI) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Business, grant number IDI-20200297. The APC was funded by the grant PI18/01436