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The breadth and depth of plant leaf metabolomes have been implicated in key interactions with plant enemies aboveground. In particular, divergence in plant species chemical composition-amongst neighbors, relatives, or both-is often suggested as a means of escape from insect herbivore enemies. Plants also experience strong pressure from enemies such as belowground pathogens; however, little work has been carried out to examine the evolutionary trajectories of species' specialized chemistries in both roots and leaves. Here, we examine the GCMS detectable phytochemistry (for simplicity, hereafter referred to as specialized volatile metabolites) of the tropical tree genus Protium , testing the hypothesis that phenotypic divergence will be weaker belowground compared to aboveground due to more limited dispersal by enemies. We found that, after controlling for differences in chemical richness, roots expressed less structurally diverse compounds than leaves, despite having higher numbers of specialized volatile metabolites, and that species' phylogenetic distance was only positively correlated with compound structural distance in roots, not leaves. Taken together, our results suggest that root specialized volatile metabolites exhibit significantly less phenotypic divergence than leaf specialized metabolites and may be under relaxed selection pressure from enemies belowground.

Textual data often describe events in time but frequently contain little information about their specific timing, whereas complementary structured data streams may have precise timestamps but may omit important contextual information. We investigate the problem in healthcare, where we produce clinician annotations of discharge summaries, with access to either unimodal (text) or multimodal (text and tabular) data, (i) to determine event interval timings and (ii) to train multimodal language models to locate those events in time. We find our annotation procedures, dashboard tools, and annotations result in high-quality timestamps. Specifically, the multimodal approach produces more precise timestamping, with uncertainties of the lower bound, upper bounds, and duration reduced by 42% (95% CI 34-51%), 36% (95% CI 28-44%), and 13% (95% CI 10-17%), respectively. In the classification version of our task, we find that, trained on our annotations, our multimodal BERT model outperforms unimodal BERT model and Llama-2 encoder-decoder models with improvements in F1 scores for upper (10% and 61%, respectively) and lower bounds (8% and 56%, respectively). The code for the annotation tool and the BERT model is available (link).

Andean roots can be used as an alternative to gluten-free food. The objective of this study was to enhance the technological and nutritional properties of Andean root flours to promote their industrial applicability. The water content and activity of the flour were lower than those required to prevent mold growth. The bulk density of the flour was comparable to that of wheat flour. The flour of Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. exhibited the lowest water absorption capacity of the tested samples. However, both this flour and Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruiz & Pavón showed a higher fat absorption capacity. The samples exhibited type-II isotherms, indicating that the flours were highly hygroscopic. The Guggenheim, Anderson, and de Boer GAB model showed a higher coefficient of determination in mathematical modeling. The chroma of T. tuberosum Ruiz & Pavón flour was higher than the other samples, which was related to total carotenoids and lycopene. Furthermore, I. batatas (L.) Lam. exhibited the highest phenol value., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Marta Igual reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/501100004233Polytechnic University of Valencia. Liliana Acurio reports financial support was provided by 10.13039/100016022Technical University of Ambato. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: Cervical cancer eradication is one of the main goals for 2030 by the World Health Organization, which can only be achieved with high vaccination rates against Human Papilloma Virus. In Colombia, more and better scientific evidence is required to increase confidence in vaccination. The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety profile of the quadrivalent vaccine against HPV in the risk of developing autoimmune, neurological, and hematological diseases in adolescent women in Colombia., Methods: We designed a cohort study based on national HPV vaccination records and incident diagnostic data for the diseases of special interest during 2012 and 2021. We included adolescent women between 9 and 19 years old and compared vaccinated and non-vaccinated cohorts using an Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (IPWT) method for each scenario disease and follow-up period (180 and 360 days)., Findings: The Odds Ratio (OR) of developing diseases of interest was estimated during two follow up periods, 180 and 360 days after the follow-up index date (Vaccination Day). The OR for developing rheumatoid arthritis was 4·4; CI95% (1·74 - 11·14), juvenile idiopathic arthritis was 2·76 IC95% (1·50 - 5·11), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura was 2·54 IC95% (1·28 - 5·02) and thyrotoxicosis was 2·86 IC95% (1·03 - 7·95), when comparing the vaccinated versus unvaccinated population. However, the temporal distribution of cases incident did not reveal a clear difference between the cohorts, since the rate of appearance of new cases has a constant linear behavior for the two groups., Interpretation: For rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and thyrotoxicosis; the application of the vaccine had an effect on the development of the disease. Nevertheless, our results should be interpreted with caution and be further studied, considering that the biological plausibility of the events occurred without a clear temporal pattern in relation to the exposure to the vaccine., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Andean roots, such as zanahoria blanca, achira, papa China, camote, oca, and mashua, contain high amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and fructo-oligosaccharides. This study aimed to demonstrate the possibility of obtaining healthy second-generation (2G) snacks (products obtained from the immediate expansion of the mixture at the exit of the extruder die) using these roots as raw materials. Corn grits were mixed with Andean root flour in a proportion of 80:20, and a Brabender laboratory extruder was used to obtain the 2G snacks. The addition of root flour increased the water content, water activity, sectional expansion index, hygroscopicity, bulk density, and water absorption index but decreased the porosity. However, all 2G snacks manufactured with Andean root flour showed better characteristics than did the control (made with corn grits) in texture (softer in the first bite and pleasant crispness) and optical properties (more intense and saturated colors). The developed snacks could be considered functional foods due to the high amount of carotenoids and phenolic compounds they exhibit after the addition of Andean root flours. The composition of raw roots, specifically the starch, fiber, and protein content, had the most impact on snack properties due to their gelatinization or denaturalization.

Increase in soil salinization due to climate change is a global phenomenon that can induce significant changes in plant growth, physiology, and chemistry, exacerbating growing threats to insect biodiversity. Insects that rely on plants are likely to be indirectly impacted by changes in soil salt content through changes in plant chemistry, yet few studies link changes in plant metabolism to impacts on higher trophic levels. Some salinity-mediated changes in specialized metabolites may be predictable due to highly conserved metabolic pathways shared between herbivore defense and stress resistance, but recent studies also suggest substantial variation across plant species and habitats. To date, most of the research on salinity and chemically mediated plant-insect interactions has focused on herbivores, particularly in agricultural systems. Published effects of salinity on pollinators and parasitoids are scarce. Future research will need to focus more on the role of plant chemistry to bridge the divide between studies of plant and insect responses to salinization., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The consumption of sausage worldwide increases every year; because of this increase, artisanal products have appeared and are intended to be perceived as natural and healthy. Obesity and cardiovascular diseases associated with consuming meat and meat derivatives have been estimated to be the leading cause of death in several countries. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional quality, lipid content, and presence of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, contributing to demonstrating the real nutritional value of artisanal sausages produced in Ecuador. Sausages from 10 factories in Ambato, Pelileo, and Píllaro, located in Tungurahua, Ecuador, were evaluated. The pH and acidity, color, proximal, sensory, microbiological, and lipid content were assessed. The pH and acidity showed a slight variation in all of the samples. Proximal analysis (moisture, protein, fat, and ash) established that the artisan sausages did not differ from the type of sausages reported in the literature. Microbiological analyses showed a good microbial quality, and there was no presence of Staphylococcus aureus , Enterobacteria , molds, or yeasts. The sensory attributes were similar for all of the sausages; the panelists did not notice any strange taste or odor. The lipid content showed that the artisanal sausages contained the highest percentage of palmitic, stearic, elaidic, and linolelaidic fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids were the most prevalent in all of the sausages collected from different locations. The results showed that the nutritional, microbiological, and sensory quality of the artisanal sausages did not show any parameter that would allow them to be classified as different or as having a better nutritional value.

Floral scent is crucial for attracting pollinators, especially in plants that bloom at night. However, chemical profiles of flowers from nocturnal plants with varied floral morphs are poorly documented, limiting our understanding of their pollination ecology. We investigated the floral scent in Guettarda scabra (L.) Vent. (Rubiaceae), a night-blooming species with short- and long-styled floral morphs, found in the threatened pine rocklands in south Florida, US. By using dynamic headspace sampling and GC-MS analysis, we characterized the chemical profiles of the floral scent in both morphs. Neutral red staining was also employed to determine the specific floral regions responsible for scent emission in G. scabra . The results revealed that G. scabra 's fragrance consists entirely of benzenoid and terpenoid compounds, with benzeneacetaldehyde and ( E )-β-ocimene as dominant components. There were no differences in the chemical profiles between the long- and short-styled flowers. Staining assays indicated that the corolla lobes, anthers, and stigma were the primary sources of the scent. These findings indicate that G. scabra 's floral scent is consistent with that of night-blooming plants pollinated by nocturnal hawkmoths, providing important insights into its chemical ecology and pollinator attraction. This study demonstrates how floral scent chemistry can validate predictions based on flower morphology in hawkmoth-pollinated plants.

Andean tubers and tuberous roots have nutritional and medicinal properties transferred through ancestral generations. In this study, we aim to promote cultivation and consumption by developing a snack based on these crops. Corn grits were thoroughly mixed with sweet potato, mashua, and three varieties of oca flour (white, yellow, and red) in an 80:20 ratio, and a single-screw laboratory extruder was utilized to produce third-generation (3G) dried pellets. Microwave expansion was studied, and the dried 3G pellets and expanded snacks were characterized. The microwave expansion curves of the dried 3G pellets were adjusted to the Page, logarithmic, and Midilli-Kucuk models. During the characterization, the influence of the raw material composition was observed in sectional expansion, water content, water activity, water absorption, water solubility, swelling, optical and textural properties, and bioactive compounds. According to global color variation (mixture vs. expanded and dried vs. expanded) and bioactive compound analysis, the mashua suffered little chemical change or nutritional loss during the process. The extrusion process was shown to be an ideal method for manufacturing snacks from Andean tuber flours., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: Passive immunotherapy has been evaluated as a therapeutic alternative for patients with COVID-19 disease. Equine polyclonal immunotherapy for COVID-19 (EPIC) showed adequate safety and potential efficacy in a clinical trial setting and obtained emergency use authorization in Argentina. We studied its utility in a real world setting with a larger population., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study at "Hospital de Campaña Escuela-Hogar" (HCEH) in Corrientes, Argentina, to assess safety and effectiveness of EPIC in hospitalized adults with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Primary endpoints were 28-days all-cause mortality and safety. Mortality and improvement in modified WHO clinical scale at 14 and 21 days were secondary endpoints. Potential confounder adjustment was made by logistic regression weighted by the inverse of the probability of receiving the treatment (IPTW) and doubly robust approach., Findings: Subsequent clinical records of 446 non-exposed (Controls) and 395 exposed (EPIC) patients admitted between November 2020 and April 2021 were analyzed. Median age was 58 years and 56.8% were males. Mortality at 28 days was 15.7% (EPIC) vs. 21.5% (Control). After IPTW adjustment the OR was 0.66 (95% CI: 0.46-0.96) P = 0.03. The effect was more evident in the subgroup who received two EPIC doses (complete treatment, n = 379), OR 0.58 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.85) P = 0.005. Overall and serious adverse events were not significantly different between groups., Conclusions: In this retrospective cohort study, EPIC showed adequate safety and effectiveness in the treatment of hospitalized patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 disease., Competing Interests: DHFS, FA, AAG, NAO, SNMP, LSN, FC, OIMI declare reimbursement for conduction of the observational study as investigators. EN, GL, WHB, DHG and LP report personal fees from Inmunova. SG and BK declare no competing interests. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Accumulating evidence suggests that herbivorous insects influence the local composition and richness of Neotropical plant species, particularly in species-rich genera. Species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and chemical diversity all influence the ability of insect herbivores to find and utilize their hosts. The relative impact of these components of diversity on species coexistence and plant-herbivore interactions is not well understood. We constructed 60 local communities of up to 13 species of Piper (Piperaceae) in native, mature forest at a lowland wet forest location in Costa Rica. The species composition of each community was chosen such that species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and GCMS-based chemical diversity were varied independently among communities. We predicted that chemical diversity would most strongly affect the communities across time, with smaller effects of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity. At 13 months after the experimental planting, we assessed survivorship of each cutting, measured total leaf area loss of the survivors, leaf area loss to generalist and specialist herbivorous insect species, and local extinction of species. Generalist and specialist herbivory decreased with increasing levels of species richness and phylogenetic diversity, respectively. Surprisingly, there was no independent effect of chemical diversity on any of the three measures of herbivore damage. Nevertheless, plots with a higher chemical and phylogenetic diversity showed decreased plant mortality and local species extinction. Overall, our results suggested that both chemical and phylogenetic similarity are important factors in the assembly and maintenance of tropical plant communities. The fact that chemical diversity influences plant mortality suggests that leaf herbivores, and possibly other plant natural enemies, could increase plant diversity via the selective mortality of similar chemotypes., (© 2022 The Ecological Society of America.)

Early inhabitants along the hyperarid coastal Atacama Desert in northern Chile developed resilience strategies over 12,000 years, allowing these communities to effectively adapt to this extreme environment, including the impact of giant earthquakes and tsunamis. Here, we provide geoarchaeological evidence revealing a major tsunamigenic earthquake that severely affected prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fisher communities ~3800 years ago, causing an exceptional social disruption reflected in contemporary changes in archaeological sites and triggering resilient strategies along these coasts. Together with tsunami modeling results, we suggest that this event resulted from a ~1000-km-long megathrust rupture along the subduction contact of the Nazca and South American plates, highlighting the possibility of M w ~9.5 tsunamigenic earthquakes in northern Chile, one of the major seismic gaps of the planet. This emphasizes the necessity to account for long temporal scales to better understand the variability, social effects, and human responses favoring resilience to socionatural disasters.

Primary intracranial smooth muscle tumors are rare. Most cases are related to Epstein-Barr virus proliferation in immunocompromised patients such as organ solid recipients. Only a few cases have been reported in pediatric patients. The clinical features are very variable depending mainly on the location and size of the smooth muscle tumor (SMT) and the pathogenesis is poorly understood. We describe two cases of intracranial SMT localized in the temporal lobe and associated with EBV in immunosuppressed children. A review of the literature associated with intracranial leiomyomas was also done., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In this study, edible packaging based on discarded green banana ( Musa acuminata AAA ) flour (whole banana and banana peel flours) was developed for food applications. Films were characterized in terms of film-forming ability, mechanical, barrier, thermal, microbiological, and sensory properties. The film forming solutions were studied for rheological properties. Two formulations were selected based on their film-forming ability: whole banana flour (2.5%), peel flour (1.5%) and glycerol (1.0 %, F-1.0 G or 1.5%, F-1.5 G). Adding 1.5% plasticizer, due to the hygroscopic effect, favored the water retention of the films, increasing the density, which also resulted in a decrease in lightness and transparency. Water activity shows no difference between the two formulations, which were water resistant for at least 25 h. DSC results showed a similar melting temperature (Tm) for both films, around 122 °C. Both films solutions showed a viscoelastic behavior in the frequency spectrum, being the elastic modulus greater in F-1.0 G film than F-1.5 G film at low frequency. F-1.0 G film was less firm, deformable and elastic, with a less compact structure and a rougher surface as confirmed by AFM, favoring a higher water vapor permeability with respect to F.1.5 G film. Microorganisms such as Enterobacteria and Staphylococcus aureus were not found in the films after a period of storage (1 year under ambient conditions). The F-1.0 G film with added spices (cumin, oregano, garlic, onion, pepper, and nutmeg) was tested for some food applications: as a snack (with or without heat treatment) and as a wrap for grilled chicken. The performance of the seasoned film during chilled storage of chicken breast was also studied. Sensory evaluation showed good overall acceptability of all applications. In addition, the chicken breast wrapped with the seasoned film registered lower counts (1-log cycle) than the control (covered with a polystyrene bag) and the film without spices. Green banana flour is a promising material to develop edible films for food applications.

Interactions between plants and leaf herbivores have long been implicated as the major driver of plant secondary metabolite diversity. However, other plant-animal interactions, such as those between fruits and frugivores, may also be involved in phytochemical diversification. Using 12 species of Piper , we conducted untargeted metabolomics and molecular networking with extracts of fruits and leaves. We evaluated organ-specific secondary metabolite composition and compared multiple dimensions of phytochemical diversity across organs, including richness, structural complexity, and variability across samples at multiple scales within and across species. Plant organ identity, species identity, and the interaction between the two all significantly influenced secondary metabolite composition. Leaves and fruit shared a majority of compounds, but fruits contained more unique compounds and had higher total estimated chemical richness. While the relative levels of chemical richness and structural complexity across organs varied substantially across species, fruit diversity exceeded leaf diversity in more species than the reverse. Furthermore, the variance in chemical composition across samples was higher for fruits than leaves. By documenting a broad pattern of high phytochemical diversity in fruits relative to leaves, this study lays groundwork for incorporating fruit into a comprehensive and integrative understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping secondary metabolite composition at the whole-plant level., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Schneider, Salazar, Hildreth, Helm and Whitehead.)

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) has changed our lives. The scientific community has been investigating re-purposed treatments to prevent disease progression in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients., Objective: To determine whether ivermectin treatment can prevent hospitalization in individuals with early COVID-19., Design, Setting and Participants: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted in non-hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 in Corrientes, Argentina. Patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive nasal swabs were contacted within 48 h by telephone to invite them to participate. The trial randomized 501 patients between August 19th 2020 and February 22nd 2021., Intervention: Patients were randomized to ivermectin (N = 250) or placebo (N = 251) arms in a staggered dose, according to the patient's weight, for 2 days., Main Outcomes and Measures: The efficacy of ivermectin to prevent hospitalizations was evaluated as primary outcome. We evaluated secondary outcomes in relationship to safety and other efficacy end points., Results: The mean age was 42 years (SD ± 15.5) and the median time since symptom onset to the inclusion was 4 days [interquartile range 3-6]. The primary outcome of hospitalization was met in 14/250 (5.6%) individuals in ivermectin group and 21/251 (8.4%) in placebo group (odds ratio 0.65; 95% confidence interval, 0.32-1.31; p = 0.227). Time to hospitalization was not statistically different between groups. The mean time from study enrollment to invasive mechanical ventilatory support (MVS) was 5.25 days (SD ± 1.71) in ivermectin group and 10 days (SD ± 2) in placebo group, (p = 0.019). There were no statistically significant differences in the other secondary outcomes including polymerase chain reaction test negativity and safety outcomes., Limitations: Low percentage of hospitalization events, dose of ivermectin and not including only high-risk population., Conclusion: Ivermectin had no significant effect on preventing hospitalization of patients with COVID-19. Patients who received ivermectin required invasive MVS earlier in their treatment. No significant differences were observed in any of the other secondary outcomes., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04529525 .

The purpose of this work was to obtain chorizos by partially fat replacing with banana flour (whole or peeled). These chorizos were formulated with 3% pork fat and 24% whole banana flour (BC) or banana peel flour (BPC). A third formulation of chorizo with 15% pork fat and 12% wheat flour (WC) was also produced for comparison. Cooking loss was 12.5% for the WC, while for the BC and BPC chorizos it was 7.2% and 6.9%, respectively. All three products had similar water, protein, and ash contents, whereas carbohydrate and fiber contents were the main changes in composition. The color of the three different formulations did not change markedly, but an increase in yellowness and chromaticity was observed in the BC chorizo , as well as a slight decrease in lightness and in the whiteness index in the BPC one. Textural properties declined from day 0; from day 3 onwards, they remained constant in all chorizos and properties, except for BC lot in cohesiveness. Mesophilic aerobic bacteria, as well as mold and yeast counts, were predominantly high in the WC during chilled storage. Moreover, the sensory analysis indicated high acceptability of the formulated with wheat or whole banana flour, although those with banana peel flour scored slightly lower. This study shows that incorporating banana flours into the formulation successfully reduced the incorporation of pork back-fat, resulting in excellent quality sensorial characteristics due to the technological parameters and sensory acceptance.

This study aimed to develop a fiber-enriched Frankfurter-type sausage by incorporating underutilized green banana flours as a meat extender, replacing wheat flour with banana flours (8%). A low-fat formulation substituting 12% pork fat with 24% banana peel flour was also studied. Sausages were stored at 4 °C/15 days. Cooking loss was low (5.6-4.1%) in all formulations and the substitution of wheat flour with banana flour did not modify moisture and protein composition, while carbohydrate, fiber, and ashes varied with the flour composition. In the low-fat sausages, fiber carbohydrate and ashes increased the most. Texture and color parameters were very similar for high-fat sausages throughout storage, although low-fat sausage showed higher hardness, while chewiness, L*, and whiteness tended to decrease. During the first week of storage, the microbial growth was scarce and then, an increase, except in the low-fat batch, in which growth remained constant. Enterobacteria and Staphylococcus aureus were not detected during storage. Sensory attributes throughout storage were very similar for all high-fat sausages; the odor in the formulations was defined as "different" but not unpleasant. The low-fat sausages, defined as a new product different from conventional sausages, were well accepted by the panelist. Banana flours are a suitable ingredient option to add nutritional value to Frankfurter-type sausages, which can be consumed by the wheat allergic population.

The Earth's surface dynamics provide essential information for guiding environmental and agricultural policies. Uncovered and unprotected surfaces experience several undesirable effects, which can affect soil ecosystem functions. We developed a technique to identify global bare surface areas and their dynamics based on multitemporal remote sensing images to aid the spatiotemporal evaluation of anthropic and natural phenomena. The bare Earth's surface and its changes were recognized by Landsat image processing over a time range of 30 years using the Google Earth Engine platform. Two additional products were obtained with a similar technique: a) Earth's bare surface frequency, which represents where and how many times a single pixel was detected as bare surface, based on Landsat series, and b) Earth's bare soil tendency, which represents the tendency of bare surface to increase or decrease. This technique enabled the retrieval of bare surfaces on 32% of Earth's total land area and on 95% of land when considering only agricultural areas. From a multitemporal perspective, the technique found a 2.8% increase in bare surfaces during the period on a global scale. However, the rate of soil exposure decreased by ~4.8% in the same period. The increase in bare surfaces shows that agricultural areas are increasing worldwide. The decreasing rate of soil exposure indicates that, unlike popular opinion, more soils have been covered due to the adoption of conservation agriculture practices, which may reduce soil degradation.

Intramyocardial bridges are a coronary circulation anomaly. They usually occur on the path of the anterior descending artery and are classified as superficial or deep. During a routine autopsy, we found—and report—an intramyocardial bridge in large part of the right coronary artery pathway, including the sinoatrial and posterior descending branch. The patient did not show signs of coronary insufficiency, and died from an acute respiratory failure caused by aspiration pneumonia. Due to the infrequency of cases of intramyocardial bridges of the right coronary artery without concomitant clinical symptoms or signs, we conducted a literature review in this regard.

Little is known about the mechanisms promoting or limiting the coexistence of functionally divergent species in hyperdiverse tropical tree genera. Density-dependent enemy attacks have been proposed to be a major driver for the local coexistence of chemically divergent congeneric species. At the same time, we expect local soil conditions to favor the coexistence of species sharing similar functional traits related to resource use strategies, while environmental heterogeneity would promote the diversity of these traits at both local and large spatial scales. To test how these traits mediate species coexistence, we used functional trait data for 29 species from the tree genus Protium (Burseraceae), collected in 19 plots (2 ha each) in the Peruvian Amazon. We characterized the presence-absence of 189 plant secondary metabolites (SM) for 27 of these species, and 14 functional traits associated with resource use strategies (RUT) for 16 species. Based on these data, we found that SM were significantly more dissimilar than null expectations for species co-occurring within plots, whereas RUT were significantly more similar. These results were consistent with the hypothesis that density-dependent enemy attacks contribute to the local coexistence of congeneric species displaying divergent chemical defenses, whereas local habitat conditions filter species with similar RUT. Using measurements of nine soil properties in each plot, we also found a significant turnover of RUT traits with increasing dissimilarity of soil texture and nutrient availabilities, providing support for the hypothesis that soil heterogeneity maintains functional diversity at larger spatial scales (from 500 m up to ca. 200 km) in Protium communities. Our study provides new evidence suggesting that density-dependent enemy attacks and soil heterogeneity both contribute to maintaining high species richness in diverse tropical forests.

Plant secondary metabolites play important ecological and evolutionary roles, most notably in the deterrence of natural enemies. The classical theory explaining the evolution of plant chemical diversity is that new defences arise through a pairwise co-evolutionary arms race between plants and their specialized natural enemies. However, plant species are bombarded by dozens of different herbivore taxa from disparate phylogenetic lineages that span a wide range of feeding strategies and have distinctive physiological constraints that interact differently with particular plant metabolites. How do plant defence chemicals evolve under such multiple and potentially contrasting selective pressures imposed by diverse herbivore communities? To tackle this question, we exhaustively characterized the chemical diversity and insect herbivore fauna from 31 sympatric species of Amazonian Protieae (Burseraceae) trees. Using a combination of phylogenetic, metabolomic and statistical learning tools, we show that secondary metabolites that were associated with repelling herbivores (1) were more frequent across the Protieae phylogeny and (2) were found in average higher abundance than other compounds. Our findings suggest that generalist herbivores can play an important role in shaping plant chemical diversity and support the hypothesis that chemical diversity can also arise from the cumulative outcome of multiple diffuse interactions.

To date there is no software that directly connects the linguistic analysis of a conversation to a network program. Networks programs are able to extract statistical information from data basis with information about systems of interacting elements. Language has also been conceived and studied as a complex system. However, most proposals do not analyze language according to linguistic theory, but use instead computational systems that should save time at the price of leaving aside many crucial aspects for linguistic theory. Some approaches to network studies on language do apply precise linguistic analyses, made by a linguist. The problem until now has been the lack of interface between the analysis of a sentence and its integration into the network that could be managed by a linguist and that could save the analysis of any language. Previous works have used old software that was not created for these purposes and that often produced problems with some idiosyncrasies of the target language. The desired interface should be able to deal with the syntactic peculiarities of a particular language, the options of linguistic theory preferred by the user and the preservation of morpho-syntactic information (lexical categories and syntactic relations between items). Netlang is the first program able to do that. Recently, a new kind of linguistic analysis has been developed, which is able to extract a complexity pattern from the speaker's linguistic production which is depicted as a network where words are inside nodes, and these nodes connect each other by means of edges or links (the information inside the edge can be syntactic, semantic, etc.). The Netlang software has become the bridge between rough linguistic data and the network program. Netlang has integrated and improved the functions of programs used in the past, namely the DGA annotator and two scripts (ToXML.pl and Xml2Pairs.py) used for transforming and pruning data. Netlang allows the researcher to make accurate linguistic analysis by means of syntactic dependency relations between words, while tracking record of the nature of such syntactic relationships (subject, object, etc). The Netlang software is presented as a new tool that solve many problems detected in the past. The most important improvement is that Netlang integrates three past applications into one program, and is able to produce a series of file formats that can be read by a network program. Through the Netlang software, the linguistic network analysis based on syntactic analyses, characterized for its low cost and the completely non-invasive procedure aims to evolve into a sufficiently fine grained tool for clinical diagnosis in potential cases of language disorders.

Community ecologists have strived to find mechanisms that mediate the assembly of natural communities. Recent evidence suggests that natural enemies could play an important role in the assembly of hyper-diverse tropical plant systems. Classic ecological theory predicts that in order for coexistence to occur, species differences must be maximized across biologically important niche dimensions. For plant-herbivore interactions, it has been recently suggested that, within a particular community, plant species that maximize the difference in chemical defense profiles compared to neighboring taxa will have a relative competitive advantage. Here we tested the hypothesis that plant chemical diversity can affect local community composition in the hyper-diverse genus Piper at a lowland wet forest location in Costa Rica. We first characterized the chemical composition of 27 of the most locally abundant species of Piper. We then tested whether species with different chemical compositions were more likely to coexist. Finally, we assessed the degree to which Piper phylogenetic relationships are related to differences in secondary chemical composition and community assembly. We found that, on average, co-occurring species were more likely to differ in chemical composition than expected by chance. Contrary to expectations, there was no phylogenetic signal for overall secondary chemical composition. In addition we found that species in local communities were, on average, more phylogenetically closely related than expected by chance, suggesting that functional traits other than those measured here also influence local assembly. We propose that selection by herbivores for divergent chemistries between closely related species facilitates the coexistence of a high diversity of congeneric taxa via apparent competition., (© 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.)

Fifty years ago, Ehrlich and Raven proposed that insect herbivores have driven much of plant speciation, particularly at tropical latitudes. There have been no explicit tests of their hypotheses. Indeed there were no proposed mechanisms either at the time or since by which herbivores might generate new plant species. Here we outline two main classes of mechanisms, prezygotic and postzygotic, with a number of scenarios in each by which herbivore-driven changes in host plant secondary chemistry might lead to new plant lineage production. The former apply mainly to a sympatric model of speciation while the latter apply to a parapatric or allopatric model. Our review suggests that the steps of each mechanism are known to occur individually in many different systems, but no scenario has been thoroughly investigated in any one system. Nevertheless, studies of Dalechampia and its herbivores and pollinators, and patterns of defense tradeoffs in trees on different soil types in the Peruvian Amazon provide evidence consistent with the original hypotheses of Ehrlich and Raven. For herbivores to drive sympatric speciation, our findings suggest that interactions with both their herbivores and their pollinators should be considered. In contrast, herbivores may drive speciation allopatrically without any influence by pollinators. Finally, there is evidence that these mechanisms are more likely to occur at low latitudes and thus more likely to produce new species in the tropics. The mechanisms we outline provide a predictive framework for further study of the general role that herbivores play in diversification of their host plants., (© 2016 by the Ecological Society of America.)

Understanding the role of diversity in ecosystem processes and species interactions is a central goal of ecology. For plant-herbivore interactions, it has been hypothesized that when plant species diversity is reduced, loss of plant biomass to herbivores increases. Although long-standing, this hypothesis has received mixed support. Increasing plant chemical diversity with increasing plant taxonomic diversity is likely to be important for plant-herbivore interactions at the community level, but the role of chemical diversity is unexplored. Here we assess the effect of volatile chemical diversity on patterns of herbivore damage in naturally occurring patches of Piper (Piperaceae) shrubs in a Costa Rican lowland wet forest. Volatile chemical diversity negatively affected total, specialist, and generalist herbivore damage. Furthermore, there were differences between the effects of high-volatility and low-volatility chemical diversity on herbivore damage. High-volatility diversity reduced specialist herbivory, while low-volatility diversity reduced generalist herbivory. Our data suggest that, although increased plant diversity is expected to reduce average herbivore damage, this pattern is likely mediated by the diversity of defensive compounds and general classes of anti-herbivore traits, as well as the degree of specialization of the herbivores attacking those plants.

The nervous system is responsible for the communication between the organism and its environment. This task is possible by the presence of the myelin sheath, which is a double membrane formed by about 75% lipids and 25% proteins. The sulfatide represents one of the main lipids of the myelin band; its degradation is catabolized by the enzyme Arylsulfatase A (ARSA), to generated galactosylceramide. Mutations affecting ARSA function lead to the neurodegenerative disease Metachromatic Leukodystrophy. This disease is characterized by accumulation of sulfatide within the band of myelin affecting its functionality. The biochemical consequences of ARSA deficiency are not well understood yet. In this paper, we used an in-silico systems-biology approach to model the biochemical consequences of ARSA deficiency within a general human metabolic network (Recon2) and a glia cellular model. We expected that ARSA deficiency mainly affected the glycosphingolipid pathways. However, the results suggest that mitochondrial metabolism and amino acid transport were the main reactions affected within both cellular models. In the glia cell model, it was highlighted the high number of affected reactions of neurotransmitters metabolism, while only a reduced effect was observed in reactions involved in glycosphingolipids metabolism. We hypothesize that ARSA deficiency might lead to metabolic consequences that not only compromise the myelin band or the glycosphingolipids metabolism but also the overall metabolic function of the nervous system. Furthermore, these results offer the bases for the design of in-vitro and in-vivo experiments that allow generating new knowledge of MLD pathophysiology and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Background: Femoroacetabular impingement is increasingly recognized as a cause of hip pain but its incidence after an innominate osteotomy for the correction of acetabular dysplasia has not been determined. This information would be essential for the orthopaedic surgeon because it has the potential to produce a poor outcome in the long term when trying to balance acetabular instability and overcorrection., Questions/purposes: The purposes of our study were (1) to determine the frequency with which clinically relevant femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) occurs after an innominate osteotomy for the treatment of acetabular dysplasia; (2) to determine risk factors for the development of FAI; and (3) to compare postoperative radiographic and clinical outcomes in patients having undergone an innominate osteotomy for the correction of acetabular dysplasia both with and without FAI., Methods: This was a retrospective review of 154 hips (132 patients) that had undergone an innominate osteotomy for acetabular dysplasia and were evaluated at a minimum followup of 10 years (mean = 12 years). Mean age at the time of surgery was 3 years, 114 hips had a concomitant open reduction, and 54 hips also had femoral shortening. One hundred eight hips had a Salter osteotomy and 46 had a Pemberton osteotomy. Radiographs were analyzed to determine the lateral center-edge angle (CE angle) and the presence of a crossover sign. The diagnosis of FAI was established when the CE angle was greater than 40°, there was a positive crossover sign, and the patient had groin pain when flexing the hip less than 90°. Comparisons between nonparametric variables were performed with a Mann-Whitney's U test. Categorical variables were compared with a chi-square test. Change in acetabular index (correction) was dichotomized considering 20° of correction as the cutoff point. Association is presented as odds ratio (95% confidence interval), and logistic regression was performed., Results: According to our criteria, 18 of 154 hips had FAI (12%). Of the 18 patients with FAI, 10 had undergone a Pemberton osteotomy (10 of 46 [22%]) and eight a Salter osteotomy (eight of 108 [7%]). A change in the postoperative acetabular index greater than 20° was associated with a greater likelihood of developing FAI. The mean postoperative acetabular index was lower for the group with FAI, for whom it was 20°, compared with the group without FAI, for whom it was 27° (p = 0.04). The mean Iowa Hip Score for the group with FAI was 85, whereas for those without FAI, it was 93 (p = 0.03)., Conclusions: FAI is not common after an innominate osteotomy for the treatment of acetabular dysplasia; however, overcorrection is related to a higher incidence. When FAI is present, it can affect the outcome. Overcorrection should be avoided when performing an innominate osteotomy for the treatment of acetabular dysplasia because it can create iatrogenic FAI and have an adverse effect on outcome., Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study.

Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) is a group of lysosomal storage diseases (LSD), characterized by the deficiency of a lysosomal enzyme responsible for the degradation of glycosaminoglycans (GAG). This deficiency leads to the lysosomal accumulation of partially degraded GAG. Nevertheless, deficiency of a single lysosomal enzyme has been associated with impairment in other cell mechanism, such as apoptosis and redox balance. Although GAG analysis represents the main biomarker for MPS diagnosis, it has several limitations that can lead to a misdiagnosis, whereby the identification of new biomarkers represents an important issue for MPS. In this study, we used a system biology approach, through the use of a genome-scale human metabolic reconstruction to understand the effect of metabolism alterations in cell homeostasis and to identify potential new biomarkers in MPS. In-silico MPS models were generated by silencing of MPS-related enzymes, and were analyzed through a flux balance and variability analysis. We found that MPS models used approximately 2286 reactions to satisfy the objective function. Impaired reactions were mainly involved in cellular respiration, mitochondrial process, amino acid and lipid metabolism, and ion exchange. Metabolic changes were similar for MPS I and II, and MPS III A to C; while the remaining MPS showed unique metabolic profiles. Eight and thirteen potential high-confidence biomarkers were identified for MPS IVB and VII, respectively, which were associated with the secondary pathologic process of LSD. In vivo evaluation of predicted intermediate confidence biomarkers (β-hexosaminidase and β-glucoronidase) for MPS IVA and VI correlated with the in-silico prediction. These results show the potential of a computational human metabolic reconstruction to understand the molecular mechanisms this group of diseases, which can be used to identify new biomarkers for MPS., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Directed dispersal occurs when seeds are differentially deposited to sites where offspring survivorship is higher than at randomly chosen sites. Traditionally, characteristics of the dispersal target sites that could increase survivorship of the dispersed plants are thought to be intrinsic to the sites. If directed dispersal is constant over extended periods of time, however, it is likely that nonrandom patterns of dispersal could modify the ecological characteristics of the target site in ways that could increase survivorship and fitness of the dispersed plants. Here we report patterns of Piper diversity (richness, equitability, and similarity) and Piper folivory within plots near natural or artificial roosts of Carollia perspicillata vs. similar plots without bat roosts. Plots with bat roosts, both natural and artificial, had significantly higher Piper species diversity. Additionally, we found that plots with a higher Piper species diversity showed less specialist folivory, higher generalist folivory, and lower total herbivore leaf damage than plots with low Piper diversity. Finally, plots with bat roosts also showed less specialist folivory, lower generalist folivory, and lower total folivory when compared to plots without roosts. We propose that long-lasting nonrandom patterns of seed dispersal can change the local ecological characteristics of target sites via changes in plant diversity, and that these changes are likely to reduce the local rates of folivory and, therefore, increase seed and adult plant survivorship.

Increases in species diversity and density from higher to lower latitudes are well documented. Nevertheless, the consequences of these changes in diversity for structuring ecological communities and influencing biotic evolution are largely unknown. It is widely believed that this increase in species diversity is associated with increased intensity of ecological interactions closer to the equator. For plant-herbivore interactions in particular, the predictions are that, at lower latitudes, plants will be attacked by more individual herbivores, more herbivore species, and more specialized herbivores and, therefore, will suffer greater damage. We used a large-scale latitudinal transect from Mexico to Bolivia to quantify changes in leaf damage, diversity, and abundance of lepidopteran larvae on two widely distributed host species of the genus Piper (Piperaceae). We show that both density and species richness of herbivores were highest at the equator and decreased with increasing latitude, both northward and southward. Contrary to expectation, however, this increase in herbivore diversity was attributable to the addition of generalist not specialist species. Finally, and again contrary to expectation, the increase in herbivore density with decreasing latitude did not produce a corresponding damage gradient. We propose that the lack of a latitudinal concordance between increases in herbivore density and diversity with decreasing latitude, and the resulting herbivore damage, supports the hypothesis of better plant antiherbivore defenses at lower latitudes. Furthermore, the changes in the relative abundance of generalist vs. specialist species suggest that the nature of the selective pressure is intrinsically different between higher and lower latitudes.

Introduction: Information concerning to triatomine diversity and some eco-epidemiologic aspects on Margarita Island has been recorded only from two of the five counties on the island. Knowledge about species habitat and their natural infection is essential to establish the risk for Chagas disease in endemic areas., Objective: The distribution of triatomine insect fauna and its infection with Trypanosoma cruzi was described in order to establish and to stratify the risk of Chagas disease transmission., Material and Methods: Each of the 5 counties on Margarita Island were surveyed for triatomid insects inside and outside each dwelling. In the extradomicilary area, searches were conducted in the palms and bird nests located within forests and in pastures near domiciles. Infection with T. cruzi was determined amplifying by PCR the DNA extracted from triatomine feces., Results: Five species of Reduviidae were recovered among the 1,154 triatomines captured in the 5 counties. Triatoma maculata and Rhodnius pallescens showed high infection rates within dwellings and as well as in the peridomestic areas in Mompós and Talaigua Nuevo. On the palm trees, only R. pallescens and Eratyrus cuspidatus were found infected, and only in San Fernando and Margarita. In Cicuco, only R. pallescens was infected. Presence of Triatoma dimidiata was also ascertained., Conclusion: Infected triatomines were present in houses and on palm trees in all counties on the island. These observations indicate a potential risk of Chagas across the entire island; furthermore the presence of T. dimidiata, a very efficient Chagas vector, emphasizes the need to establish its epidemiological status on the island.