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Este artículo contiene 18 páginas, 4 figuras., Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves (MHWs) and mass mortality events (MMEs) of marine organisms are one of their main ecological impacts. Here, we show that during the 2015–2019 period, the Mediterranean Sea has experienced exceptional thermal conditions resulting in the onset of five consecutive years of widespread MMEs across the basin. These MMEs affected thousands of kilometers of coastline from the surface to 45 m, across a range of marine habitats and taxa (50 taxa across 8 phyla). Significant relationships were found between the incidence of MMEs and the heat exposure associated with MHWs observed both at the surface and across depths. Our findings reveal that the Mediterranean Sea is experiencing an acceleration of the ecological impacts of MHWs which poses an unprecedented threat to its ecosystems' health and functioning. Overall, we show that increasing the resolution of empirical observation is critical to enhancing our ability to more effectively understand and manage the consequences of climate change., This paper was supported by Euromarine. Joaquim Garrabou acknowledges the funding by the “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” (CEX2019-000928-S), the MCIU/AEI/FEDER [HEATMED; RTI2018-095346-B-I00], Interreg-Med Programme MPA-Engage (1MED15_3.2_M2_337), the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Futuremares SEP-210597628). Nuria Teixido acknowledges the French National Research Agency (4Oceans-MOPGA grant, ANR-17-MPGA-0001) and internal funds from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. Gil Rilov was supported by the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection. Hocein Bazairi, Free Spinosa, and Vasilis Gerovasileiou acknowledge the funding by the MAVA Fondation (MedKeyHabitats I Project) and the European Commission (Ecap-MED II Project; projects implemented by UNEP/MAP-RAC/SPA). Alfonso Ramos was supported the CIESM “Tropical Signals,” Stelios Katsanevakis and Maria Sini were supported by the Project “Coastal Environment Observatory and Risk Management in Island Regions AEGIS+” (MIS 5047038), implemented within the Operational Programme “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (NSRF 2014–2020), co-financed by the Hellenic Government (Ministry of Development and Investments) and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund), Stelios Katsanevakis, Maria Sini and Vasilis Gerovasileiou acknowledge the support of the MARISCA Project, co-funded by 85% by the EEA GRANTS, 2009–2014, and 15% by the Public Investments Programme (PIP) of the Hellenic Republic. Ivan Guala and Daniele Grech thanks thank the support of the project “Pinna nobilis—ricerca per la sopravvivenza: un'iniziativa di Citizen Science per tracciare la mortalità di massa di Pinna nobilis in Sardegna” project and the L/7 grant (CUP 87G17000070002) funded by the Regione Autonoma Sardegna. Jean-Baptiste Ledoux was funded by an assistant researcher contract framework of the RD Unit—UID/Multi/04423/2019—Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research—financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through COMPETE2020—Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC). This research was supported by the Strategic Funding UIDB/04423/2020 and UIDP/04423/2020 through national funds provided by the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in the framework of the program PT2020. Bernat Hereu and Cristina Linares acknowledge the support of the long-term monitoring programme of the catalan Natural Parks, funded by the Departament de Territori i Sostenibilitat of the Generalitat de Catalunya. Cristina Linares acknowledges the support of the ICREA Academia programme. David Díaz acknowledges the support the research grant CTM2016-77027-R of the Programa Estatal de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad and Program of Marines Strategies of Spain funded by MITERD. Jamila Ben Soussi was partially funded by the Fondation Albert 2 Monaco (MIMOSA Project) and the Tropical Signals Program of CIESM. Giovanni Chimienti was supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (PON 2014–2020, AIM 1807508–1, Linea 1), by the Ente Parco Nazionale del Gargano (Research agreement with CoNISMa N. 21/2018), and by the National Geographic Society (Grant EC-176R-18). Nathaniel Bensoussan acknowledges financial support from the European Commission through the programme “Caroline Herschell” in the context of the action “Developing Downstream applications and services on BIO-PHYsical characterization of the seascape for COASTal management” (BIOPHYCOAST). Monica Montefalcone and Annalissa Azzola collected some of their data on MMEs in the frame of the project “Mare Caldo” funded by Greenpeace Italy. Núria Marbà acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministries of Economy and Competitiveness (CTM2012-32603, CGL2015-71809-P) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-095441-B-C21). Diego K. Kersting acknowledges support by the postdoctoral fellowship programme Beatriu de Pinós funded by the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government of Catalonia) and the Horizon 2020 programme of research and innovation of the European Union under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801370.

The use of surgical meshes to reinforce damaged internal soft tissues has been instrumental for successful hernia surgery; a highly prevalent condition affecting yearly more than 20 million patients worldwide. Intraperitoneal adhesions between meshes and viscera are one of the most threatening complications, often implying reoperation or side effects such as chronic pain and bowel perforation. Despite recent advances in the optimization of mesh porous structure, incorporation of anti-adherent coatings or new approaches in the mesh fixation systems, clinicians and manufacturers are still pursuing an optimal material to improve the clinical outcomes at a cost-effective ratio. Here, bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a bio-based polymer, is evaluated as a soft tissue reinforcement material regarding mechanical properties and in vivo anti-adhesive performance. A double-layer BNC laminate proved sufficient to meet the standards of mechanical resistance for abdominal hernia reinforcement meshes. BNC-polypropylene (BNC-PP) composites incorporating a commercial mesh have also been prepared. The in vivo study of implanted BNC patches in a rabbit model demonstrated excellent anti-adherent characteristics of this natural nanofibrous polymer 21-days after implantation and the animals were asymptomatic after the surgery. BNC emerges as a novel and versatile hernioplasty biomaterial with outstanding mechanical and anti-adherent characteristics., Authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the RTI2018-096273-B-I00 project, the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S) and the Generalitat de Catalunya 2017SGR765 grant. Authors are also grateful for the PhD scholarships of I. A-S. (BE-2017-076734) and S. R-S. (BES-2016-077533) and the 2019LLAV00046 project. The ICMAB members participate in the CSIC Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy, SUSPLAST, and in the Aerogels COST ACTION (CA 18125). This work has been performed within the framework of the doctoral program in materials science of UAB (I. A-S. and S. R-S.). We acknowledge the support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI) to cover the publication fee.

Carrier-assisted cell transplantation offers new strategies to improve the clinical outcomes of cellular therapies. Bacterial nanocellulose (BC) is an emerging biopolymer that might be of great value in the development of animal-free, customizable, and temperature-stable novel cell carriers. Moreover, BC exhibits a myriad of modification possibilities to incorporate additional functionalities. Here, we have synthesized BC-titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites (BC/TiO2) to evaluate and compare the suitability of not only BC but also a model hybrid nanobiomaterial as cell transplantation supports. This work provides thorough information on the interactions between BC-based substrates and model human cells in terms of cell attachment, morphology, proliferation rate, and metabolic activity. Two methods to partially retrieve the adhered cells are also reported. Both BC and BC/TiO2 substrates are positively evaluated in terms of cytocompatibility and endotoxin content without detecting major differences between BC and BC nanocomposites. Lastly, the effective cryopreservation of cells-BC and cells-BC/TiO2 constructs, yielding high cell viability and intact cell carrier's characteristics after thawing, is demonstrated. Taken together, our results show that both BC and BC/TiO2 enable to integrate the processes of expansion and long-term storage of human cells in transportable, robust and easy to manipulate supports., Authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the RTI2018-096273–B-I00, project, the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496) and the PhD scholarships of I.A.S. (BE-2017-076734) and S.R.S. (BES-2016-077533). The Generalitat de Catalunya with the 2017SGR765 and the 2019LLAV00046 projects are also acknowledged. The authors also express their gratitude to the technical services of ICMAB (Nanoquim, AFM and TGA), UAB (cell culture and microscopy facilities), and ICN2 (electron microscopy). The authors participate in the CSIC Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy, SUSPLAST, in the Aerogels COST ACTION (CA 18125) and in the Research network NANOCARE from MICINN (RED2018-102469-T).

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is usually produced as films of randomly-organized highly pure cellulose nanofibers and its properties such as high water-holding capacity and porosity, tunable morphology, mechanical strength, and biocompatibility make it a unique material. As a result, BNC has attracted interest in the paper and food industry, biotechnology, photonics and optoelectronics. Ordered structures found in nature, as the reed leaf, and the potential properties appearing upon aligning polymers fibers (piezoelectricity, conductivity, optoelectronics, to name a few) inspired us to develop a straightforward method to achieve highly aligned BNC films (Herman’s order S-parameter of 0.85) benefiting from the natural bacteria biosynthesis and extrusion of the cellulosic fibers. We locally confined the bacteria at the bottom of a tube containing liquid culture media and statically incubated them for a few days. Due to the oxygen requirements of the bacteria and the water insolubility of BNC, cellulose nanofibers were synthesized in a single direction without entanglement, which allowed obtaining band-chain aligned BNC in the liquid phase. The obtained film is highly oriented within the total volume of the film, as shown by polarization-resolved second-harmonic generation signal (P-SHG) and Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS). Additionally, we proved an increase of hydrophilicity, suitable to tissue engineering scaffolds as human fibroblasts successfully adhered and grew on it. Finally, we evaluate the thermal conductivity by two independent approaches, i.e. using the well-known 3ω-method, as well as through a recently developed contactless thermoreflectance approach, confirming a thermal conductivity of 1.63 W/mK in the direction of the aligned fibers in contrast with 0.3 W/mK in the perpendicular direction. The 5-fold increase in thermal conductivity of BNC in the parallel direction forecasts the potential of BNC-based devices outperforming some other natural polymer and synthetic materials.

Correction for ‘PLGA protein nanocarriers with tailor-made fluorescence/MRI/PET imaging modalities’ by Yajie Zhang et al., Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 4988–5002, DOI: 10.1039/c9nr10620k.

Limbal stem cells (LSCs) are already used in cell‐based treatments for ocular surface disorders. Clinical translation of LSCs‐based therapies critically depends on the successful delivery, survival, and retention of these therapeutic cells to the desired region. Such a major bottleneck could be overcome by using an appropriate carrier to provide anchoring sites and structural support to LSC culture and transplantation. Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is an appealing, yet unexplored, candidate for this application because of its biocompatibility, animal‐free origin and mechanical stability. Here, BNC as a vehicle for human embryonic stem cells‐derived LSC (hESC‐LSC) are investigated. To enhance cell‐biomaterial interactions, a plasma activation followed by a Collagen IV and Laminin coating of the BNC substrates is implemented. This surface functionalization with human extracellular matrix proteins greatly improved the attachment and survival of hESC‐LSC without compromising the flexible, robust and semi‐transparent nature of the BNC. The surface characteristics of the BNC substrates are described and a preliminary ex vivo test in simulated transplantation scenarios is provided. Importantly, it is shown that hESC‐LSC retain their self‐renewal and stemness characteristics up to 21 days on BNC substrates. These results open the door for future research on hESC‐LSC/BNC constructs to treat severe ocular surface pathologies., This collaborative project was mainly funded with an european molecular biology organization short‐term fellowship (ref 8288) awarded to I.A.‐S. and the authors would like to express their gratitude to this institution. Researchers acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the RTI2018‐096273‐B‐I00 project, the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV‐2015‐0496 and CEX2019‐000917‐S) and the Ph.D. scholarship of I.A.‐S. (BE‐2017‐076734) as well as Academy of Finland (326760). The authors are also grateful to Generalitat de Catalunya for the 2017SGR765 and the 2019LLAV00046 projects. Authors also appreciate Miquel Anton for his assistance with photography, the AFM service of ICMAB, the electron microscopy facility of ICN2, and the optical microscope service of UAB. The ICMAB members (I.A.‐S., A.L., and A.R.) participate in the CSIC Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics toward a Circular Economy, SUSPLAST, MICINN: “Research Networks” nanoCARE, (RED2018‐102469‐T) and in the Aerogels COST ACTION (CA 18125). This work was conducted within the Material Science Doctoral Program of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (I.A.‐S.). The authors deeply thank the laboratory staff of Tampere University, especially Outi Melin and Hanna Pekkanen for the production, maintenance and differentiation of the hESCs and hESC‐LSC, and Juha Heikkilä for the help with the plasma equipment. The authors acknowledge the Biocenter Finland (BF) and Tampere Imaging Facility (TIF) for their service.

Designing theranostic nanocarriers with high protein payload and multimodality tracking without cross interferences between the different imaging probes and the delicate protein cargo is challenging. Here, chemical modifications of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to produce nanocapsules (NCs) that incorporate several imaging moieties are reported. The biocompatible and biodegradable PLGA-NCs can be endowed with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reporter, two fluorescence imaging probes (blue/NIR) and a positron emission tomography (PET) reporter. The modular integration of these imaging moieties into the shell of the NCs is successfully achieved without affecting the morphochemical properties of the nanocarrier or the protein loading capacity. In vivo biodistribution of the NCs is monitored by MRI, PET and NIRF and the results from different techniques are analyzed comparatively. The viabilities of two different human endothelial cells in vitro show no toxicity for NC concentration up to 100 μg mL−1 . The morbidity of mice for 2 weeks after systemic administration and the hepatic/pancreatic enzymes at the plasma level indicate their in vivo biosafety. In summary, the new theranostic PLGA nanoplatform presented here shows versatile in vitro/in vivo multimodal imaging capabilities, excellent biosafety and over 1 wt% protein loading., The Acciones Complementarias program from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (AC17/00004 grant) as part of the MAGBBRIS project (Euronanomed III 8th joint call), and the RETICS INVICTUS RD16/0019/0021 are acknowledged. The Miguel Servet program (CPII15/00003) and PFIS program (FI17/00073) from Fondo de Investigaciones SanitariasInstituto de Salud Carlos III and ERDF supported A. Rosell and A. G. research contracts. This work was also partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the grants PCIN-2017-090, RTI2018- 096273-B-I00, CTQ2017-87637-R, SAF2017-87670-R, SEV-2015- 0496 and MDM-2017-0720 and by the Generalitat de Catalunya grants (2017SGR765 & 2017SGR1427). Yajie Zhang is supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). FG and RAL are supported by the French national agency (ANR) through the grant ANR-17-ENM3-0005-01. The authors thank Dr Vanessa GómezVallejo, Dr Unai Cossío, Dr Xabier Rios and Zuriñe Baz for support in labelling and PET in vivo experimentation. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

Corneal trauma and ulcerations are leading causes of corneal blindness around the world. These lesions require attentive medical monitoring since improper healing or infection has serious consequences in vision and quality of life. Amniotic membrane grafts represent the common solution to treat severe corneal wounds. However, amniotic membrane's availability remains limited by the dependency on donor tissues, its high price and short shelf life. Consequently, there is an active quest for biomaterials to treat injured corneal tissues. Nanocellulose synthetized by bacteria (BNC) is an emergent biopolymer with vast clinical potential for skin tissue regeneration. BNC also exhibits appealing characteristics to act as an alternative corneal bandage such as; high liquid holding capacity, biocompatibility, flexibility, natural – but animal free-origin and a myriad of functionalization opportunities. Here, we present an initial study aiming at testing the suitability of BNC as corneal bandage regarding preclinical requirements and using amniotic membrane as a benchmark. Bacterial nanocellulose exhibits higher mechanical resistance to sutures and slightly longer stability under in vitro and ex vivo simulated physiological conditions than amniotic membrane. Additionally, bacterial nanocellulose offers good conformability to the shape of the eye globe and easy manipulation in medical settings. These excellent attributes accompanied by the facts that bacterial nanocellulose is stable at room temperature for long periods, can be heat-sterilized and is easy to produce, reinforce the potential of bacterial nanocellulose as a more accessible ocular surface bandage., Authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the RTI2018-096273-B-I00, project, the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496) and the PhD scholarship of I. A. S. (BE-2017-076734) and the Generalitat de Catalunya with the 2017SGR765 and the 2019LLAV00046 projects. Authors also thank María Jesús Sánchez-Guisadofor for her assistance with the endotoxin study. The ICMAB technical services (TGA and X-Ray) and Marcos Rosado from the ICN2 electron microscopy service are acknowledged. The ICMAB members (IAS, AL, AR) participate in the CSIC Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy, SUSPLAST and in the Aerogels COST ACTION (CA 18125). We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Industries, governments and consumers increasingly request sustainable resources and greener routes for the integration of advanced functional nanocomposites in products and devices. Among renewable biopolymers, cellulose deserves special consideration since it is the most abundant one. While inorganic nanoparticles add functional properties to a nanocomposite, a flexible and porous cellulosic support will facilitate the interaction of the nanoparticles with the surroundings, their handling and recycling. A significant challenge is to develop high strength, flexible nanobiocomposites controlling the nanoparticle properties, their volume fraction and their topographic distribution within the scaffold. A new concept is presented here for multifunctional laminates where layers consist of bacterial cellulose fibrils decorated by inorganic nanoparticles. Each layer can provide a specific function using a different nanoparticle. As model systems, we have selected two metals (Au, Ag) and two semiconductors (TiO2 and Fe2O3). Energy-efficient microwave-assisted synthetic routes have been used to in situ nucleate and grow the inorganic nanocrystals on the cellulose fibrils. Then, functionalized bacterial cellulose films can be arranged as laminates in a millefeuille construct simply by layering and drying the wet films at 60 °C. After drying, they perform as a single integrated and thicker film. Structural, functional and mechanical integrity of the laminates have been investigated. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to compute the surface adhesion energy between two cellulose fibrils and the results are discussed in light of the experimental peel-off data for the separation of the layers in the laminate., Authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the MAT2015-64442-R project, the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496) and the PhD scholarships of S. R. (BES-2016-077533) and I. A. (BE-2016-076734) and the Generalitat de Catalunya for the 2017SGR765 project. D. C. M. is supported by the European Union's horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 6655919. We thank CESGA Supercomputing center for technical support and computer time at the supercomputer Finisterrae II. The Wallenberg Wood Science Center is acknowledged for funding of KTH activities., We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

Correction for ‘Bacterial nanocellulose as a corneal bandage material: a comparison with amniotic membrane’ by Irene Anton-Sales et al., Biomater. Sci., 2020, 8, 2921–2930, DOI: 10.1039/D0BM00083C.