Ancient DNA Reveals the Earliest Evidence of Sheep Flocks During the Late Fourth and Third Millennia BC in Southern Iberia.

The Spanish Merino is the most significant sheep breed globally due to its economic and cultural importance in human history. It has also had a substantial influence on the development of other Merino and Merino-derived breeds. Historical sources indicate that crossbreeding to produce finer, higher-quality wool was already taking place in the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the Roman era.

Metalloenzymes play major roles to achieve high-rate nitrogen removal in N-damo communities: Lessons from metaproteomics.

Nitrite-driven anaerobic methane oxidation (N-damo) is a promising biological process to achieve carbon-neutral wastewater treatment solutions, aligned with the sustainable development goals. Here, the enzymatic activities in a membrane bioreactor highly enriched in N-damo bacteria operated at high nitrogen removal rates were investigated. Metaproteomic analyses, with a special focus on metalloenzymes, revealed the complete enzymatic route of N-damo including their unique nitric oxide dismutases.

How efficiently does a metabolically enhanced system with denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidizing microorganisms remove antibiotics?

In this work, the novel N-damo (Nitrite dependent anaerobic methane oxidation) process was investigated at high biomass activities for its potential to remove simultaneously nitrite and methane, as well as selected antibiotics commonly found in sewage in trace amounts. For this purpose, two MBRs were operated at three high nitrite loading rates (NLRs), namely 76 ± 9.9, 161.

Cometabolic removal of organic micropollutants by enriched nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidizing cultures.

The innovative and recently discovered n-damo process, based on anaerobic methane oxidation with nitrite, was developed in a membrane-based bioreactor and evaluated in terms of organic micropollutants (OMPs) removal. The main singularity of this study consisted in the evaluation of organic micropollutants (OMPs) removal in the biological reactor. A strategy consisting on progressively increasing the nitrogen loading rate in order to increase the specific denitrification activity was followed to check if the selected OMPs were co-metabolically biotransformed.

Reaching Consensus in Polarized Moral Debates.

The group polarization phenomenon is a widespread human bias with no apparent geographical or cultural boundaries [1]. Although the conditions that breed extremism have been extensively studied [2-5], comparably little research has examined how to depolarize attitudes in people who already embrace extreme beliefs. Previous studies have shown that deliberating groups may shift toward more moderate opinions [6], but why deliberation is sometimes effective although other times it fails at eliciting consensus remains largely unknown.

Fate of pharmaceuticals in soil after application of STPs products: Influence of physicochemical properties and modelling approach.

Depurated effluents can be employed as reclaimed water for irrigation in regions with low precipitations, while nutrients-rich biosolids are usually applied as fertilizer for agricultural purposes. However, both practices may result in the accumulation of micropollutants in the soil compartment, the contamination of groundwater, and/or their biotransfer to different living organisms until they finally may reach human receptors. The fate and transport of seven pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) with different physicochemical properties was analysed for these scenarios employing two different models: the buckets model and the HYDRUS-1D software package.

A massive experiment on choice blindness in political decisions: Confidence, confabulation, and unconscious detection of self-deception.

We implemented a Choice Blindness Paradigm containing political statements in Argentina to reveal the existence of categorical ranges of introspective reports, identified by confidence and agreement levels, separating easy from very hard to manipulate decisions. CBP was implemented in both live and web-based forms. Importantly, and contrary to what was observed in Sweden, we did not observe changes in voting intentions.

Arithmetic on Your Phone: A Large Scale Investigation of Simple Additions and Multiplications.

We present the results of a gamified mobile device arithmetic application which allowed us to collect vast amount of data in simple arithmetic operations. Our results confirm and replicate, on a large sample, six of the main principles derived in a long tradition of investigation: size effect, tie effect, size-tie interaction effect, five-effect, RTs and error rates correlation effect, and most common error effect. Our dataset allowed us to perform a robust analysis of order effects for each individual problem, for which there is controversy both in experimental findings and in the predictions of theoretical models.

Characterization and biological abatement of diffuse methane emissions and odour in an innovative wastewater treatment plant.

An innovative and patented process for medium-high strength sewage which comprises an anaerobic step followed by a hybrid anoxic-aerobic chamber and a final ultrafiltration stage was characterized in terms of methane fugitive emissions as well as odours. The operation at ambient temperature implies higher methane content in the liquid anaerobic effluent, which finally causes concentrations around 0.01-2.

An analysis of two styles of arm action in the vertical countermovement jump.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of two arm swing techniques, the simultaneous arm swing and the early arm swing, on vertical countermovement jump performance and on the contribution of the arms to vertical movement at the centre of mass (CM) during the propulsion phase. Participants were 28 athletes practicing sports in which the vertical jump constitutes a basic ability. Ground reaction forces were recorded by a force platform and the sagittal plane motion was recorded by a video camera.

A hierarchical model of normal and abnormal personality up to seven factors.

Despite general support for dimensional models of personality disorder, it is currently unclear which, and how many, dimensions a taxonomy of this kind should include. In an attempt to obtain an empirically-based, comprehensive, and usable structure of personality, three instruments - The Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R), the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+(PDQ-4+), and the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ) - were administered to 960 outpatients and their scales factor-analyzed following a bass ackwards approach. The resulting hierarchical structure was interpretable and replicable across gender and methods up to seven factors.

Electroconvulsive therapy and clozapine in adolescents with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: is it a safe and effective combination?

Objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the combination of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and clozapine compared to ECT with other antipsychotics or benzodiazepines in a sample of adolescents diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Methods: Data regarding 28 adolescent subjects aged 13 to 18 with diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorders according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision and treated with ECT were retrospectively collected. Twelve subjects were also treated with clozapine and 16 with other antipsychotics or benzodiazepines during ECT course and follow-up.

Two-year follow-up of cognitive functions in schizophrenia spectrum disorders of adolescent patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to investigate the long-term cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in a sample of adolescent patients in whom schizophrenia spectrum disorders were diagnosed.

Methods: The sample was composed of nine adolescent subjects in whom schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder was diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria on whom ECT was conducted (ECT group) and nine adolescent subjects matched by age, socioeconomic status, and diagnostic and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score at baseline on whom ECT was not conducted (NECT group). Clinical and neuropsychological assessments were carried out at baseline before ECT treatment and at 2-year follow-up.

Clinical experience using electroconvulsive therapy in adolescents with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in adolescent patients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD).

Methods: All patients diagnosed with SSD who received ECT in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Department in a general hospital in Barcelona, Spain, from January, 2003, to December, 2007, were identified retrospectively. As part of the usual evaluation protocol, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scales were administered before ECT, after the acute ECT phase (CGI), and at 6 months from baseline.

Aerobic granulation with industrial wastewater in sequencing batch reactors.

Granular sludge formation was promoted in two laboratory scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs), R1 and R2 fed with industrial wastewater produced in a laboratory for analysis of dairy products. Both reactors were operated under similar conditions during most of the experimental period. However, an anoxic phase between 10 and 30 min was included at the beginning of every cycle of operation of R1, but not in R2.

Advanced monitoring and supervision of biological treatment of complex dairy effluents in a full-scale plant.

The operation of a wastewater treatment plant treating effluents from a dairy laboratory was monitored by an advanced system. This plant comprises a 12 m(3) anaerobic filter (AF) reactor and a 28 m(3) sequential batch reactor (SBR) coupled in series and is equipped with the following on-line measurement devices: biogas flow meter, feed and recycling flow meters, temperature sensor, dissolved oxygen analyzer, and redox meter. Other parameters such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile fatty acids (VFA), etc.

Anaerobic filter reactor performance for the treatment of complex dairy wastewater at industrial scale.

The wastewaters discharged by raw milk quality control laboratories are more complex than the ones commonly generated by dairy factories because of the presence of certain chemicals such as sodium azide or chloramphenicol, which are used for preserving milk before analysis. The treatment of these effluents has been carried out in a full-scale plant comprising a 12 m(3) anaerobic filter (AF) reactor and a 28 m(3) sequential batch reactor (SBR). After more than 2 years of operation, a successful anaerobic treatment of these effluents was achieved, without fat removal prior to the anaerobic reactor.

Paratuberculosis in free-ranging fallow deer in Spain.

Paratuberculosis was diagnosed in a population of approximately 1,000 free-ranging fallow deer (Dama dama) sampled from 1997-98 in the Regional Hunting Reserve of El Sueve (Asturias, Spain). Five of eight animals observed with diarrhea were diagnosed as having paratuberculosis on the basis of gross lesions at postmortem examination and histopathology. In two deer, Mycobacterium avium subsp.