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Investigation of the microbial community in the female reproductive tract with the use of sequencing techniques has revealed that endometrial samples obtained through a transvaginal catheter are dominated by Lactobacillus species. Dysbiotic changes in the endometrial microbiota may be associated with implantation failure or early spontaneous abortion in patients who undergo assisted reproductive technology treatment. Whether or not there is an endometrial microbiota in early pregnancy is unknown. Herein we describe, the human endometrial microbiota in a patient who subsequently had an 8th week spontaneous clinical miscarriage with euploid embryos in the next cycle and, for the first time, during a successful pregnancy in which the endometrial fluid was sampled at 4 weeks of gestation. The microbial profile found on the endometrial sample before the spontaneous abortion had higher bacterial diversity and lower Lactobacillus abundance than the endometrial fluid from the healthy pregnancy. Functional metagenomics detected different Lactobacillus species between the 2 samples. Lactobacillus crispatus was present in the endometrium before the spontaneous abortion, as were other bacteria involved in dysbiosis, which had an unstable functional pattern characterized by transposases and insertion elements. Lactobacillus iners was the most prevalent microbe found in the endometrium during early pregnancy; its presence was associated with defense mechanisms and basal functions. These novel observations prompt future investigations to understand the potential implications of microbiology on healthy and pathologic human pregnancy.

17 Pags.- 2 Tabls.- 5 figs. The definitive version is available at: https://ojs.openagrar.de/index.php/VITIS/index. Copyright (c) 2019 The Author(s). The editor's version is an open access work (Platform & workflow by OJS/PKP) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License., Climate, edaphic and physiographic parameters influence wine quality. In this study, we evaluated if climate and sediment connectivity had an effect on the grapevine yield (GY) and wine quality of three ancient (more than 100 years old) vineyards, with 'Garnacha Tinta' variety, during three agronomic years (October 2015 - September 2018). The three rain-fed vineyards are managed using the head-pruned system and named VA (1233 vines), VB (1584 vines) and VS (897 vines). They are located in the Spanish Pyrenees, with oceanic Mediterranean climate, have the same soil type (Haplic Cambisol) and the soil is ploughed to prevent weeds. GY ranged from 380 to 2646 kg·ha–1, and from 0.08 to 0.60 kg·vine–1. The annual production significantly correlated with the total annual rainfall (positive), and with the air temperature during the growing period (negative). A frozen spell and intense rainfall events in spring explained the lower GY observed in 2017 and 2018, respectively. We observed a good correlation between GY (kg·ha-1) in 2018 and wine parameters such as pH (r = 0.992), titratable acidity (r = -0.862), malic acid (r = 0.979), and potassium (r = 0.998). Annual runoff and sediment connectivity was estimated at each field (and its upslope drainage area) using the aggregated index of connectivity (AIC) at high spatial resolution (1 m of cell size). The lowest connectivity was found in VB, whereas VA and VS presented moderate and high values of connectivity, respectively. AIC correlated very well and negatively with GY (kg·ha-1, r = -0.955; and kg·vine-1, r = -0.972). Higher connectivity – intense overland flow dynamic – favoured lower yield. We concluded that the climate parameters mainly explained the temporal changes of GY, whereas distinct overland flow connectivity clearly influenced the spatial variations of GY under the same climatic conditions., This study was funded by the Government of Aragon and the European Commission (FEADER) through the project “Recuperación y puesta en valor de variedades de vid antiguas de montaña (Tierra de Biescas - Huesca)” (Ref. GCP-2018-0008-00) and by the Government of Aragon (Group A09_17R).

© 2016 American Chemical Society. In the ocean, complex interactions between natural and anthropogenic radionuclides, seawater, and diverse marine biota provide a unique window through which to examine ecosystem and trophic transfer mechanisms in cases of accidental dissemination. The nature of interaction between radionuclides, the marine environment, and marine species is therefore essential for better understanding transfer mechanisms from the hydrosphere to the biosphere. Although data pertaining to the rate of global transfer are often available, little is known regarding the mechanism of environmental transport and uptake of heavy radionuclides by marine species. Among marine species, sponges are immobile active filter feeders and have been identified as hyperaccumulators of several heavy metals. We have selected the Mediterranean sponge Aplysina cavernicola as a model species for this study. Actinide elements are not the only source of radioactive release in cases of civilian nuclear events; however, their physicochemical transfer mechanisms to marine species remain largely unknown. We have targeted europium(III) as a representative of the trivalent actinides such as americium or curium. To unravel biological uptake mechanisms of europium in A. cavernicola, we have combined radiometric (γ) measurements with spectroscopic (time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, TRLIFS, and X-ray absorption near-edge structure, XANES) and imaging (transmission electron microscopy, TEM, and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, STXM) techniques. We have observed that the colloids of NaEu(CO3)2·nH2O formed in seawater are taken up by A. cavernicola with no evidence that lethal dose has been reached in our working conditions. Spectroscopic results suggest that there is no change of speciation during uptake. Finally, TEM and STXM images recorded at different locations across a sponge cross section, together with differential cell separation, indicate the presence of europium particles (around 200 nm) mainly located in the skeleton and toward the outer surface of the sponge.

Countries from Central and Eastern Europe have undergone a process of transition from communism to markets economies. The economic convergence, in terms of income, that these countries have achieved in recent years has been one of the cornerstones in the economic integration with Western Europe. In this paper we aim to analyze the degree of co-movement of unemployment rates in a sample of Central and Eastern European transition economies, and the role of German as the 'locomotive' in this process. We intend to test two hypotheses; first, is it possible to identify common patterns that are possibly linked to the economic convergence process in the unemployment rates cycles for this group of countries? And, second, is it possible to identify one of the main economic fundamentals that has acted as an attractor towards economic convergence? By means of nonlinear logistic smooth transition autoregressions and co-movement analysis we found that the German business cycle has acted as a common factor affecting the cyclical behavior of the unemployment rates in these countries.\ud