Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 pandemic on the morbidity and mortality of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients in Valencia, Spain.

Background And Purpose: The purpose was to describe the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, hospitalization for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and related death and to assess the impact of the pandemic in the survival of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients.

Methods: The risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalization for COVID-19 and related death was assessed in ALS patients alive between March 2020 and July 2022. To evaluate its impact in the overall survival of ALS patients, the survival of patients who died before and during the pandemic was compared.

Predicting the spatial distribution of wintering golden eagles to inform full annual cycle conservation in western North America.

Wildlife conservation strategies focused on one season or population segment may fail to adequately protect populations, especially when a species' habitat preferences vary among seasons, age-classes, geographic regions, or other factors. Conservation of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) is an example of such a complex scenario, in which the distribution, habitat use, and migratory strategies of this species of conservation concern vary by age-class, reproductive status, region, and season. Nonetheless, research aimed at mapping priority use areas to inform management of golden eagles in western North America has typically focused on territory-holding adults during the breeding period, largely to the exclusion of other seasons and life-history groups.

Student survey after ten years of continuous blended teaching of echocardiography.

Objective: To analyse the impact of 10 years of blended echocardiography teaching.

Methods And Results: A questionnaire was emailed to all medical doctors who graduated from the blended learning diploma in echocardiography developed by the University of Chile and taught by a team from Chile and Spain. One hundred and forty of the 210 students who graduated from the program between 2011 and 2020 completed the questionnaire: 53.

The seasonal threat of lead exposure in bald eagles.

Bald eagles often scavenge hunting remains embedded with lead bullet fragments, which debilitate and kill many eagles. Measuring blood lead concentrations (BLC) in free-flying bald eagles and those received by rehabilitators allows researchers to both actively and opportunistically monitor exposure. From 2012 to 2022, we captured 62 free-flying bald eagles and measured their BLC following the big-game hunting season in Montana, USA, which occurs from late October through late November.

Resilience of temperate peatland vegetation communities to wildfire depends upon burn severity and pre-fire species composition.

Peatland ecosystems are of global conservation and environmental importance storing globally significant amounts of ancient carbon, regulating regional temperatures and hydrological regimes, and supporting unique biodiversity. Livestock grazing, land-use change, drainage, nutrient and acid deposition, and wildfire threaten the composition and function of many peatlands including those in the uplands of the United Kingdom. Presently, little is known about either the short- or long-term effects of wildfires within these systems in the UK.

Integrating data types to estimate spatial patterns of avian migration across the Western Hemisphere.

For many avian species, spatial migration patterns remain largely undescribed, especially across hemispheric extents. Recent advancements in tracking technologies and high-resolution species distribution models (i.e.

Demographic implications of lead poisoning for eagles across North America.

Lead poisoning occurs worldwide in populations of predatory birds, but exposure rates and population impacts are known only from regional studies. We evaluated the lead exposure of 1210 bald and golden eagles from 38 US states across North America, including 620 live eagles. We detected unexpectedly high frequencies of lead poisoning of eagles, both chronic (46 to 47% of bald and golden eagles, as measured in bone) and acute (27 to 33% of bald eagles and 7 to 35% of golden eagles, as measured in liver, blood, and feathers).

Age-specific survival rates, causes of death, and allowable take of golden eagles in the western United States.

In the United States, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act prohibits take of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) unless authorized by permit, and stipulates that all permitted take must be sustainable. Golden eagles are unintentionally killed in conjunction with many lawful activities (e.g.

[The uncertainties of statistical "significance"].

Statistical inference was introduced by Fisher and Neyman-Pearson more than 90 years ago to define the probability that the difference in results between several groups is due to randomness or is a real, "significant" difference. The usual procedure is to test the probability (P) against the null hypothesis that there is no real difference except because of the inevitable sampling variability. If this probability is high we accept the null hypothesis and infer that there is no real difference, but if P is low (P < 0.

Effectiveness of mechanical thinning and prescribed burning on fire behavior in Pinus nigra forests in NE Spain.

Fuel treatments can mitigate present and future impacts of climate change by reducing fire intensity and severity. In recent years, Pinus nigra forests in the Mediterranean basin have been dramatically affected by the new risk of highly intense and extreme fires and its distribution area has been reduced. New tools are necessary for assessing the management of these forests so they can adapt to the challenges to come.

[Ventricular contractility: Physiology and clinical projection].

The contractile state of the heart is the result of myocardial contractility, the intrinsic mechanism that regulates the force and the shortening of the ventricle and determines the ventricular ejection volume. However, the ejection volume is also modulated by ventricular preload (diastolic ventricular volume) and afterload (resistance to ejection). Accordingly, a decrease in contractility may be masked by changes in preload or afterload, maintaining a normal ejection volume and delaying the diagnosis of myocardial damage.

Lead and mercury in fall migrant golden eagles from western North America.

Lead exposure from ingestion of bullet fragments is a serious environmental hazard to eagles. We determined blood lead levels (BLL) in 178 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) captured during fall migration along a major North American flyway. These eagles spent the breeding season distributed over a large range and are the best currently available representation of free flying golden eagles on the continent.

Exercise preconditioning of myocardial infarct size in dogs is triggered by calcium.

We showed that exercise induces early and late myocardial preconditioning in dogs and that these effects are mediated through nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate reduced form (NADPH) oxidase activation. As the intracoronary administration of calcium induces preconditioning and exercise enhances the calcium inflow to the cell, we studied if this effect of exercise triggers exercise preconditioning independently of its hemodynamic effects. We analyzed in 81 dogs the effect of blocking sarcolemmal L-type Ca channels with a low dose of verapamil on early and late preconditioning by exercise, and in other 50 dogs, we studied the effect of verapamil on NADPH oxidase activation in early exercise preconditioning.

Vanishing clams on an Iberian beach: local consequences and global implications of accelerating loss of shells to tourism.

Multi-decadal increase in shell removal by tourists, a process that may accelerate degradation of natural habitats, was quantified via two series of monthly surveys, conducted thirty years apart (1978-1981 and 2008-2010) in one small embayment on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Over the last three decades, the local tourist arrivals have increased almost three-fold (2.74), while the area has remained unaffected by urban encroachment and commercial fisheries.

Deciphering the binding between Nupr1 and MSL1 and their DNA-repairing activity.

The stress protein Nupr1 is a highly basic, multifunctional, intrinsically disordered protein (IDP). MSL1 is a histone acetyl transferase-associated protein, known to intervene in the dosage compensation complex (DCC). In this work, we show that both Nupr1 and MSL1 proteins were recruited and formed a complex into the nucleus in response to DNA-damage, which was essential for cell survival in reply to cisplatin damage.

The HIV-1 capsid protein as a drug target: recent advances and future prospects.

HIV-1, the agent responsible for AIDS, belongs to the retrovirus family. Assembly of the immature HIV-1 capsid occurs through the controlled polymerization of the Gag polyprotein, which is transported to the plasma membrane of infected cells, where morphogenesis of the immature, non-infectious virion occurs. Moreover, the mature capsid of HIV-1 is formed by the assembly of copies of the capsid protein (CA), which results, among other proteins, from cleavage of Gag.

The histidine-phosphocarrier protein of the phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system of Bacillus sphaericus self-associates.

The phosphotransferase system (PTS) is involved in the use of carbon sources in bacteria. Bacillus sphaericus, a bacterium with the ability to produce insecticidal proteins, is unable to use hexoses and pentoses as the sole carbon source, but it has ptsHI genes encoding the two general proteins of the PTS: enzyme I (EI) and the histidine phosphocarrier (HPr). In this work, we describe the biophysical and structural properties of HPr from B.

Diagnostic analysis of veterinary dried blood spots for toxic heavy metals exposure.

Dried blood spots (DBS) on filter paper have been used in human medicine since the 1960s, predominantly for screening in-borne metabolic disorders and more recently, for toxicology. Despite its 50-year existence, this technology has not been adopted by veterinarians for routine diagnoses and research. We have validated a novel DBS analytical procedure for the routine measurement of toxic heavy metals using 50 µL of whole blood on a single DBS by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).

Peptides as inhibitors of the first phosphorylation step of the Streptomyces coelicolor phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system.

The phosphotransferase system (PTS) controls the use of sugars in bacteria. The PTS is ubiquitous in bacteria, but it does not occur in plants and animals; it modulates catabolite repression, intermediate metabolism, gene expression, and chemotaxis. Its uniqueness and pleiotropic function make the PTS an attractive target for new antibacterial drugs.

Stability and binding of the phosphorylated species of the N-terminal domain of enzyme I and the histidine phosphocarrier protein from the Streptomyces coelicolor phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system.

The phosphotransferase system (PTS) is involved in the use of carbon sources in bacteria. It is formed by two general proteins: enzyme I (EI) and the histidine phosphocarrier (HPr), and various sugar-specific permeases. EI is formed by two domains, with the N-terminal domain (EIN) being responsible for the binding to HPr.

Non-canonical residues of the marginally stable monomeric ubiquitin conjugase from goldfish are involved in binding to the C terminus of Ring 1B.

E2 ubiquitin conjugases are ~20kDa enzymes involved in ubiquitination processes in eukaryotes. The E2s are responsible for the transference of ubiquitin (Ub) to E3 enzymes, which finally transfer Ub to diverse target proteins, labelling them for degradation, localization and regulation. Although their functions are relatively well-characterized, their conformational stabilities are poorly known.

Drilling predation on serpulid polychaetes (Ditrupa arietina) from the pliocene of the Cope Basin, Murcia Region, Southeastern Spain.

We report quantitative analyses of drilling predation on the free-living, tube-dwelling serpulid polychaete Ditrupa arietina from the Cope Cabo marine succession (Pliocene, Spain). Tubes of D. arietina are abundant in the sampled units: 9 bulk samples from 5 horizons yielded ~5925 specimens of D.