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BackgroundCOVID-19 has led to significant global mortality, with Peru being among the countries most affected. While pre-existing comorbidities have been linked to most cases, the exact distribution of fatalities within the country remains unclear. We aimed to assess deaths attributed to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across various regions and provinces in Peru.MethodsAn observational georeferencing study was designed. Peru faced four waves of COVID-19 over three years, with variable impacts across its three regions (Coast, Highlands, and Jungle). Deaths related to cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure (HF), arrhythmia, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), strokes, and acute coronary syndrome, were examined as primary variables. The study period spanned pre-pandemic years (2017–2019) and pandemic years (2020–2021), utilizing death data from the National Death Information System (SINADEF). The georeferencing analysis was conducted using ArcGIS v10.3.ResultsA total of 28,197 deaths were recorded during the study period, with significant increases during the pandemic (2020–2021). Cardiovascular deaths were disproportionately higher during the pandemic, totaling 19,376 compared to 8,821 in the pre-pandemic period (p

Abstract The evolution of sexual dimorphism (SD) is driven by intricate interplays between sexual and natural selection. When it comes to SD variation within populations, however, environmental factors play a major role. Sexually selected traits are expected to be strongly dependent on individual body condition, which is influenced by the local environment that individuals experience. As a consequence, the degree of SD may also depend on resource availability. Here, we investigated the potential drivers of SD expression at two sexually dimorphic morphometric traits, body size (snout vent length) and head shape (head geometric morphometrics), in the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus). We assessed the existence of condition- and context-dependent SD across ten islands of the Aeolian archipelago (southern Italy), at within- and among-population scales. We observed strong geographical variation of SD among islands, and tested three potential SD predictors related to resource availability (individual body condition, ecosystem productivity, temperature). Body condition and ecosystem productivity were the main drivers of body size SD variation, and body condition was also the main driver for head shape SD. Our results highlight that the expression of SD in the Italian wall lizard is both condition- and context-dependent. These results are congruent at within- and among-populations scales highlighting that spatial multi-scale analysis represents a useful approach to understand patterns of SD expression.

Interactions between amphibians and arthropods encompass a wide range of ecological relationships, predominantly characterized by predator–prey dynamics, with adult amphibians as the predators. In some instances, the roles are reversed. This study focuses on the potential predator-prey relationship between the spectacled salamander (Salamandrina perspicillata) and the centipede Scolopendra cingulata in Central Italy. Building upon previous research on chemical cue perception in amphibians, we investigated potential olfactory cue-mediated avoidance behaviours exhibited by S. perspicillata towards the potential predator S. cingulata through field observations and manipulative experiments. In a natural site, we estimated the degree of negative co-occurrence between the study species under shelters and found an avoidance pattern between S. perspicillata and S. cingulata in refuges. However, when the study species were forced to choose between sharing or not sharing a given shelter, through a manipulative experiment, the avoidance pattern was not confirmed. Potential determinants contributing to the avoidance pattern observed in nature are discussed. Our exploratory results represent a good example of how what often appears to be a strong observation-based pattern in natural settings needs to be carefully scrutinized. Hypotheses testing through experiments in controlled environments remains a valuable approach to exclude potentially misleading processes.

El desarrollo de la resonancia magnética ha producido nuevos tipos de imágenes que pueden ser de utilidad en pacientes con manifestaciones visuales. Las imágenes estructurales potenciadas en T1 pueden ser procesadas, mediante diferentes tipos de software, para la obtención de nuevas imágenes que permiten separar distintas estructuras (segmentación), realizar estudios volumétricos cerebrales (volumetría) y medir el grosor de la corteza en distintas áreas, independiente de la complejidad de la superficie cerebral (espesor cortical). Además es posible “deformar” los cerebros para realizar estudios comparativos con poblaciones normales (normalización). Las imágenes de difusión muestran la movilidad de las moléculas de agua al interior del cerebro, información que utilizamos para reconstruir los tractos neuronales principales (tractografía) y para dimensionar indirectamente la conectividad de distintas áreas (difusión multidireccional). Mediante resonancia magnética funcional es posible localizar las áreas elocuentes cerebrales (resonancia magnética funcional convencional) o representar la conexión funcional de un área cerebral específica (resonancia magnética resting state).