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

Información Investigador: Fariñas García, Mario Ramón

Resumen Curricular Mario Fariñas es Lic. en Biología (UCV) con estudios en el Postgrado de Estadística Aplicada y Computación (FACES-ULA), con una Maestría y un Doctorado de Tercer Ciclo en Ecología, y un Doctorado de Estado en Ciencias (USTL, Montpellier). Profesor Titular Jubilado adscrito al ICAE, Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Ecológicas, de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Los Andes (ULA) en Mérida, Venezuela. Investigador reconocido desde 1996, por el Sistema de Promoción del Investigador del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (PPI), y por el Programa de Estimulo al Investigador (PEI) de la ULA. Autor de artículos y capítulos de libros referidos a Ecología de: sabanas, páramos, Selvas Nubladas y Cardonales; Morfometría Multivariante de plantas y animales. Estudios sobre la estructura, la diversidad y la complejidad de la vegetación en sabanas , páramos y selvas tropicales. Ha dictado cursos de Análisis Multivariante en varios postgrados nacionales así como en Argentina, Colombia y Cuba.Doctorado1543II - 2005; I - 200388 - 2005; 54 - 2003; 22 - 2001Ecología de Comunidades Vegetales, Ecología Cuantitativa, Biometría, Complejidad de la Vegetación. Análisis Multivariante, Modelado Estadístico.Julio de 2007Lic. en Biología+58 274 2401255;+58 274 2441575Facultad de [email protected]

Análisis de la vegetación de páramo: ordenamiento, clasificación y correlación con factores edáficos-climáticos

Publicado en: Actas del IV Simposium Internacional de Ecología Tropical, Panamá. Tomo I: [email protected]

Agricultural activities, management and conservation of natural resources of Central and South American savannas

Neotropical savannas are diversified systems, especially those of the Brazilian Cerrado, with a vascular flora exceeding 7,000 species, 45 % of these being endemic, which makes it the richest tropical savanna in the world. This biodiversity is threatened by the expansion of the agricultural frontiers, and the invasive African grasses. The savanna’s soils are fragile, have low fertility, and high Al toxicity; nevertheless, in the savannas only the subsistence agriculture and the extensive cattle rising on low quality native grasses were practiced; but there was a quick monocropping expansion, of grains and grasses, with improved agricultural methods, government subsidies, and strong investments in fertilizers and machinery, especially in Brazil and Venezuela. Savannas became the world’s most productive agricultural frontiers. These systems showed productivity loss and soil degradation, due to inadequate farming techniques, giving way to soybean-corn rotation systems with minimum tillage but a high use of herbicides. Savanna-adapted species were selected: cereals, grains, forage, and crop/livestock-integrated systems with conservationist farming were implanted. The result was a soil improvement, higher meat and milk agricultural production, and a stabilization of the agricultural expansion. There is an agreement to deepen and popularize the results of the research. Governments and NGOs are taking actions to expand the protected areas, but the world food scarcity and the run towards biofuels could generate a new agricultural [email protected]

Páramos

Publicado en: Aguilera, Manuel O., Azócar, Aura, González, E. (Eds). Biodiversidad en Venezuela. Ediciones Fundación Polar, Venezuela, pp. [email protected]

La vegetación del páramo de Mucubají. Análisis de ordenamiento y su interpretación ecológica

Publicado en: Monasterio, M. (Ed). Estudios Ecológicos en los Páramos Andinos. Editorial de la Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, pp. [email protected]@ula.v

Compared ecology of Hypericum Laricifolium Juss. and H. Juniperinum Kunth in the fluvioglacial valley of páramo Mucubají. Merida, Venezuela

Hypericum laricifolium e Hypericum juniperinum son dos arbustos esclerófilos muy abundantes en hábitats parameros. Ambas especies suelen observarse coexistiendo, pero H.juniperinum parece ocupar microhábitats más húmedos que H.laricifolium. En el presente trabajo caracterizamos el microhábitat y las asociaciones interespecíficas de ambas especies, en el valle fluvioglacial de Mucubají, investigando su relaciones con factores ambientales, mediante Perfiles Ecológicos, así como su asociación con otras especies, mediante Tablas de Contingencia de 2x2. Los Perfiles Ecológicos de H. laricifolium y H. juniperinum muestran que ambas especies ocupan preferencialmente hábitats contrastantes. H. laricifolium es más frecuente de lo esperado en las laderas de las morrenas, donde hay suelos poco profundos, texturas gruesas, y buen drenaje, mientras que H. juniperinum es más frecuente de lo esperado en el fondo del valle, con materiales finos, pendiente menor y suelos más profundos y húmedos. H. laricifolium se puede designar como una especie indicadora de condiciones de buen drenaje, principalmente de morrena, mientras que H.juniperinum se puede calificar como una especie indicadora de condiciones mediocres de drenaje. Ambas especies presentan una asociación estadística negativa altamente significativa. Concluimos que aunque, en el páramo de Mucubají, H. laricifolium e H. juniperinum parecieran estar juntos, en realidad, están segregados [email protected] laricifolium and Hypericum juniperinum are two very abundant sclerophile shrubs in páramo habitats. Both species usually are observed coexisting, but H. juniperinum seems to occupy more humid microhabitas than H. laricifolium. The objective of our work were to characterize the microhabitat and the interspecific association of both species, in the fluvioglacial valley of Mucubají. The relations species-environmental factors was analyzed by means of Ecological Profiles, and the association with other species, by means of contingency tables of 2x2. The Ecological Profiles of H. laricifolium and H. juniperinum show that both species are more frequent than expected in opposite habitats. H. laricifolium is more frequent in slopes of moraines, where soils are sandy, shallow and with good drainage, whereas H. juniperinum is more frequent, than expected, in the valley bottom, with thin soil materials, lower slope and more humid conditions. H. laricifolium can be designated as an indicator species of good drainage conditions, mainly from moraines, whereas H. juniperinum can be described as an indicator specie of low drainage conditions. A negative statistical association, highly significant, is shown by both Hypericum species. We concluded that although, in páramo Mucubají, H. laricifolium and H. juniperinum seemed to be growing together, in fact, they are spatially segregated

Temporal changes in the structure of a Trachypogon savanna protected for 25 years

Publicado en: Acta Oecologica 12(2): 237-247.237-24

Changes in tree density and species composition in a protected Trachypogon savanna

Publicado en: Ecology 64: 447-453447-45

Efectos de la supresión del fuego y el pastoreo sobre la composición de una Sabana de Trachypogon en los Llanos del Orinoco

Publicado en: La Capacidad Bioproductiva de Sabanas, Centro Internacional de Ecología Tropical, Caracas. En San José, J. J., Montes, R. (Eds). pp. 513-545.513-54