International ocean institute - kids : targeting awareness on the sea with the younger generations

The Internet revolution has led to the proliferation of accessible web-based educational resources. The International Ocean Institute (IOI), initiated through its operational center at the University of Malta, has funded the IOI-KIDS project, the institute’s flagship educational activity targeting awareness and knowledge- sharing about the sea with younger generations. The IOI was founded in 1972 and is an International NGO, with centers in 25 different countries and special consultative status within the United Nations. Some of the key missions of the IOI are to disseminate information, share and transfer knowledge and experience, and instill, within the younger generations, a greater interest in the sea. To further spread the legacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), IOI organizes the Pacem in Maribus (PIM) conferences. At the 32nd PIM conference in Malta in November 2007, the emerging Malta Declaration called for youth to help protect the marine environment, to move beyond the narrow circles of ocean professionals and stakeholders to broader audiences, whose knowledge and understanding are key to the support of sound ocean policy, and to change perceptions and heighten appreciation for the oceans and its importance to our lives and future, especially among the young (Drago 2008a).peer-reviewe

Crossroads at sea: Escalating conflict in a marine protected area in Malta

This article illustrates how the creation of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Malta is failing to adequately include stakeholders in the configuration of conservation targets and measures, leaving local fishers increasingly disempowered. Through a series of interviews and long-term participatory observation, it has been found that the leaders who represent local fishers are failing to communicate the MPA process to their community. Instead, they are using their position in the MPA negotiations to subjugate and silence the fishing community in general and trammel netters in particular. Moreover, in their support for the MPA, these community leaders reproduce the state's conservation discourse to pressure authorities to ban trammel net fishing, with whom they tend to be in competition. It is concluded that the state's narrow focus on ecology, the tight deadlines set out in the EU Habitats Directive, and the misrepresentation of the fishers, has characterised the process of creating this MPA. If artisanal livelihoods are not protected by conservation policies, fishers may regard conservation as a threat to their way of life, and resist policy measures. This compromises conversation efforts and can make the enforcement of the MPAs more expensive. This paper recommends a revision of the community consultation policies of the MPA to allow broader and more representative participation from the local community by encouraging engagement throughout the process as part of a consensual approach to effective marine conservation

The first record of the Sargocentron genus from the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean) - who will unravel the current conundrum?

The squirrelfish genus, Sargocentron, is reported for the first time from Maltese coastal waters within the Central Mediterranean. The record is based on two individuals caught at two different coastal locations in the Maltese Islands within the space of a few days of each other, through the same fishing technique (trammel nets). In view of the impossibility to collect meristic, morphometric and molecular data from the recorded individuals, and due to the close similarity between a number of Sargocentron congeners, the exact taxonomic identity of the captured individuals could not be conclusively confirmed, although the livery on the two caught individuals resulted to be consistent with that of S. rubrum and S. hastatum.peer-reviewe

FWO: Revive, renew and re-launch!

AKTEA is the European network of women in fisheries and its main objective is to lobby at European Union level for women rights in fisheries. It was established in 2006 by fisherwomen organisations from different European countries who collectively volunteered to take this movement forward. For several years AKTEA was unable to organise its annual meeting due to lack of financial resources, amongst other reasons. In February 2020, however, the network was able to meet thanks to the partnership collaboration established with Low Impact Fishers in Europe (LIFE) and the financial support provided by the MAVA foundation

Role of phosphorylation of Thr17 residue of phospholamban in mechanical recovery during hypercapnic acidosis

Objectives: To assess the time course of phosphorylation of phospholamban residues, the underlying mechanisms determining these phosphorylations, and their functional impact on the mechanical recovery during acidosis. Methods: Langendorff perfused rat hearts were submitted to 30 min of hypercapnic acidosis. Contractility, relaxation, and phosphorylation of phospholamban residues, immunodetected by specific antibodies, were determined. Results: Acidosis produced a mechanical impairment followed by a spontaneous recovery, most of which occurred within the first 3 min of acidosis (early recovery). During this period, contractility and relaxation recovered by 67±9% and 77±11%, respectively, from its maximal depression, together with an increase in the Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-dependent phosphorylation of Thr17. The CaMKII inhibitor KN-93, at 1, 5 and 10 μM, decreased Thr17 phosphorylation to basal levels and produced a similar impairment of the early relaxation recovery (50%). However, only 5 and 10 μM KN-93 inhibited the early contractile recovery and completely blunted the late mechanical recovery. Inhibition of the reverse mode of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger by KB-R7943 decreased Thr17 phosphorylation but accelerated the early contractile recovery. Conclusions: CaMKII-dependent Thr17 phosphorylation significantly increased at the beginning of acidosis, is responsible for 50% of the early relaxation recovery, and is linked to the activation of the reverse Na+/Ca2+ mode. The early contractile recovery and the late mechanical recovery are dependent on CaMKII but independent of the phosphorylation of the Thr17 residue of phospholamban. The reverse Na+/Ca2+ mode has an additional negative effect that opposes the early mechanical recovery.Facultad de Ciencias MédicasCentro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculare

Role of phosphorylation of Thr17 residue of phospholamban in mechanical recovery during hypercapnic acidosis

Objectives: To assess the time course of phosphorylation of phospholamban residues, the underlying mechanisms determining these phosphorylations, and their functional impact on the mechanical recovery during acidosis. Methods: Langendorff perfused rat hearts were submitted to 30 min of hypercapnic acidosis. Contractility, relaxation, and phosphorylation of phospholamban residues, immunodetected by specific antibodies, were determined. Results: Acidosis produced a mechanical impairment followed by a spontaneous recovery, most of which occurred within the first 3 min of acidosis (early recovery). During this period, contractility and relaxation recovered by 67±9% and 77±11%, respectively, from its maximal depression, together with an increase in the Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII)-dependent phosphorylation of Thr17. The CaMKII inhibitor KN-93, at 1, 5 and 10 μM, decreased Thr17 phosphorylation to basal levels and produced a similar impairment of the early relaxation recovery (50%). However, only 5 and 10 μM KN-93 inhibited the early contractile recovery and completely blunted the late mechanical recovery. Inhibition of the reverse mode of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger by KB-R7943 decreased Thr17 phosphorylation but accelerated the early contractile recovery. Conclusions: CaMKII-dependent Thr17 phosphorylation significantly increased at the beginning of acidosis, is responsible for 50% of the early relaxation recovery, and is linked to the activation of the reverse Na+/Ca2+ mode. The early contractile recovery and the late mechanical recovery are dependent on CaMKII but independent of the phosphorylation of the Thr17 residue of phospholamban. The reverse Na+/Ca2+ mode has an additional negative effect that opposes the early mechanical recovery.Facultad de Ciencias MédicasCentro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculare

Small-scale fisheries access to fishing opportunities in the European Union:Is the Common Fisheries Policy the right step to SDG14b?

The profile of small-scale fisheries has been raised through a dedicated target within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG14b) that calls for the provision of ‘access of small-scale artisanal fishers to marine resources and markets’. By focusing on access to fisheries resources in the context of European Union, in this article we demonstrate that the potential for small-scale fishing sectors to benefit from fishing opportunities remains low due to different mechanisms at play including legislative gaps in the Common Fisheries Policy, and long-existing local structures somewhat favouring the status quo of distributive injustice. Consequently, those without access to capital and authority are faced by marginalizing allocation systems, impacting the overall resilience of fishing communities. Achieving SDG14b requires an overhaul in the promulgation of policies emanating from the present nested governance systems

Mechanisms involved in the acidosis enhancement of the isoproterenol-induced phosphorylation of phospholamban in the intact heart

Previous experiments have shown that acidosis enhances isoproterenol-induced phospholamban (PHL) phosphorylation (Mundina-Weilenmann, C., Vittone, L., Cingolani, H. E., Orchard, C. H. (1996) Am. J. Physiol. 270, C107-C114). In the present experiments, performed in isolated Langendorff perfused rat hearts, phosphorylation site-specific antibodies to PHL combined with the quantitative measurement of 32P incorporation into PHL were used as experimental tools to gain further insight into the mechanism involved in this effect. At all isoproterenol concentrations tested (3-300 nM), phosphorylation of Thr17 of PHL was significantly higher at pHo 6.80 than at pHo 7.40, without significant changes in Ser16 phosphorylation. This increase in Thr17 phosphorylation was associated with an enhancement of the isoproterenol-induced relaxant effect. In the absence of isoproterenol, the increase in [Ca]o at pHo 6.80 (but not at pHo 7.40) evoked an increase in PHL phosphorylation that was exclusively due to an increase in Thr17 phosphorylation and that was also associated with a significant relaxant effect. This effect and the phosphorylation of Thr17 evoked by acidosis were both offset by the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitor KN-62. In the presence of isoproterenol, either the increase in [Ca]o or the addition of a 1 microM concentration of the phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid was able to mimic the increase in isoproterenol-induced Thr17 phosphorylation produced by acidosis. In contrast, these two interventions have opposite effects on phosphorylation of Ser16. Whereas the increase in [Ca]o significantly decreased phosphorylation of Ser16, the addition of okadaic acid significantly increased the phosphorylation of this residue. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that the increase in phospholamban phosphorylation produced by acidosis in the presence of isoproterenol is the consequence of two different mechanisms triggered by acidosis: an increase in [Ca2+]i and an inhibition of phosphatases.Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculare

Participación del retículo sarcoplasmático (RS) y la proteína quinasa dependiente de Ca²⁺ y calmodulina (CaMKII) en las arritmias miocárdicas de reperfusión

La reperfusión que sigue a un período de isquemia, predispone a la aparición de arritmias. Los mecanismos que las originan aún no están aclarados y estudiarlos es el objetivo de este trabajo.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

La enseñanza de la Fisiología en la Argentina

Objetivo: Realizar un diagnóstico de la enseñanza de la Fisiología en las cátedras de las facultades o escuelas de salud de la Argentina: analizar el cuerpo docente y las actividades de cada cátedra.Facultad de Ciencias Médica