Bats and their vital ecosystem services: a global review RAMÍREZ‐FRÁNCEL, Leidy Azucena; GARCÍA‐HERRERA, Leidy Viviana; LOSADA‐PRADO, Sergio ...
Integrative zoology,
January 2022, 2022-Jan, 2022-01-00, 20220101, Letnik:
17, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Bats play crucial ecosystem services as seed dispersers, pollinators, controllers of insects, and nutrient recyclers. However, there has not been a thorough global review evaluating these roles in ...bats across all biogeographical regions of the world. We reviewed the literature published during the last two decades and identified 283 relevant studies: 78 dealt with the control of potential insect pests by bats, 80 related to the suppression of other arthropods, 60 on the dispersal of native or endemic seeds, 11 dealt with the dispersal of seeds of introduced plants, 29 on the pollination of native or endemic plants, 1 study on pollination of introduced plants, and 24 on the use of guano as fertilizer. Our literature search showed that queries combining the terms “seed dispersal,” “insectivorous bats,” “nectarivorous bats,” “use of guano,” and “ecosystem services” returned 577 studies, but half were experimental in nature. We found that the evaluation of ecosystem services by bats has been mostly conducted in the Neotropical and Palearctic regions. To detect differences across relevant studies, and to explain trends in the study of ecosystem services provided by bats, we performed generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) fitted with a Poisson distribution to analyze potential differences among sampling methods. We identified 409 bat species that provide ecosystem services, 752 insect species consumed by bats and 549 plant species either dispersed or pollinated by bats. Our review summarizes the importance of conserving bat populations and the ecological services they provide, which is especially important during the current pandemic.
Bats provide multiple and valuable ecosystem services. Prior reviews have not been exhaustive. Here, we evaluate the research and impact of regulating and provisioning services bats provide using an up‐to‐date comprehensive global review. We selected 283 experimental studies that had a clear research question or hypothesis. Key remarks:
1. Most studies have been conducted in the Neotropical and Palearctic regions, and in deserts and forests.
2. The most common methods to assess ecosystem services have been insect traps, fecal samples, mist nets, and acoustic monitoring.
3. To improve the evaluation of the services provided by bats, we need to use standardized methodologies to look at variations in diet at multiple spatial andtemporal scales.
4. We need to calculate and highlight the value of ecosystem services, foster additional environmental education programs with multiple stakeholders, and prioritize conservations needs to protect bats. These actions are urgent, especially as the pandemic continues in many areas of the world.
Suitably engineered molecular systems exhibiting triplet excited states with very long lifetimes are important for high‐end applications in nonlinear optics, photocatalysis, or biomedicine. We report ...the finding of an ultra‐long‐lived triplet state with a mean lifetime of 93 ms in an aqueous phase at room temperature, measured for a globular tridecafullerene with a highly compact glycodendrimeric structure. A series of three tridecafullerenes bearing different glycodendrons and spacers to the C60 units have been synthesized and characterized. UV/Vis spectra and DLS experiments confirm their aggregation in water. Steady‐state and time‐resolved fluorescence experiments suggest a different degree of inner solvation of the multifullerenes depending on their molecular design. Efficient quenching of the triplet states by O2 but not by waterborne azide anions has been observed. Molecular modelling reveals dissimilar access of the aqueous phase to the internal structure of the tridecafullerenes, differently shielded by the glycodendrimeric shell.
An unprecedented ultra‐long‐lived triplet excited state (93 ms in water at 25 °C) has been measured for a globular glycodendrimeric tridecafullerene. The photophysics of S1 and T1, T1 quenching by O2 and N3−, and molecular modelling provide unequivocal evidence of the role played by the molecular design of the spacers connecting the core–shell C60 units and the C60‐sugars on the degree of water solvation and its effect on this remarkable finding.
FFrancesco Petrarca (1304-1374) contribuyó de manera decisiva a la creación del concepto historiográfico de Edad Media, y a la consideración despectiva de estos siglos de la historia, en gran parte ...debido a su identificación con autores clásicos como Ennio, Cicerón y Tito Livio. El presente artículo centra la atención en las concepciones historiográficas que Petrarca revela en el poema en hexámetros titulado Africa, una obra insuficientemente estudiada pero que se revela fundamental a la hora de comprender tanto las tesis historiográficas del poeta toscano como la creación conceptual de la Edad Media oscura.
Smartwatch: Looking beyond what you see Buelga Suárez, Mauro; Rebolleda Sánchez, Alfonso; Pascual Izco, Marina ...
Journal of electrocardiology,
2023 Nov-Dec, 2023-11-00, 20231101, Letnik:
81
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The clinical utility of the Apple Inc.® smartwatch in scenarios beyond detecting atrial fibrillation has been debated. Although the device has the capability to record electrocardiograms (ECG) and ...detect arrhythmias, voltage limitations hinder its accuracy in measuring real voltage when recording precordial leads. This limitation poses challenges for its clinical use in diagnosing ischemia and screening cardiomyopathies. This review aims to analyze the ECG recording capacity of the Apple Watch, investigate the reasons for voltage limitations, and explore alternative approaches for its use in these clinical scenarios.
A comprehensive literature review was conducted to examine the ECG recording capacity of the Apple Watch and the limitations encountered when recording precordial leads. Data in CSV format files were analyzed to gain insights into the underlying causes of voltage limitations.
The Apple Watch demonstrates effectiveness in detecting cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation using photoplethysmography and ECG recording. However, voltage limitations during precordial lead recordings impede accurate voltage measurement, thereby limiting its clinical utility. Analysis of the data stored in the CSV files revealed that these voltage limitations are primarily attributed to the presentation format. Exploring alternative approaches for data processing could potentially overcome this challenge.
This review highlights the potential for addressing voltage limitations through alternative data processing approaches. Further research is necessary to identify suitable alternatives that enable the Apple Watch to be effectively utilized in these clinical scenarios.
Communication systems that work in jeopardized environments such as space are affected by soft errors that can cause malfunctions in the behavior of the circuits such as, for example, single event ...upsets (SEUs) or multiple bit upsets (MBUs). In order to avoid this erroneous functioning, this kind of systems are usually protected using redundant logic such as triple modular redundancy (TMR) or error correction codes (ECCs). After the implementation of the protected modules, the communication modules must be tested to assess the achieved reliability. These tests could be driven into accelerator facilities through ionization processes or they can be performed using fault injection tools based on software simulation such as the SEUs simulation tool (SST), or based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) emulation like the one described in this work. In this paper, a tutorial for the setup of a fault injection emulation platform based on the Xilinx soft error mitigation (SEM) intellectual property (IP) controller is depicted step by step, showing a complete cycle. To illustrate this procedure, an online repository with a complete project and a step-by-step guide is provided, using as device under test a classical communication component such as a finite impulse response (FIR) filter. Finally, the integration of the automatic configuration memory error-injection (ACME) tool to speed up the fault injection process is explained in detail at the end of the paper.
Bats in the family Phyllostomidae exhibit great diversity in skull size and morphology that reflects the degree of resource division and ecological overlap in the group. In particular, the subfamily ...Stenodermatinae has high morphological diversification associated with cranial and mandibular traits that are associated with the ability to consume the full range of available fruits (soft and hard).
We analyzed craniodental traits and their relationship to the bite force in 343 specimens distributed in seven species of stenodermatine bats with two foraging strategies: nomadic and sedentary frugivory. We evaluated 19 traits related to feeding and bite force in live animals by correcting bite force with body size.
We used a generalized linear model (GLM) and post hoc tests to determine possible relationships and differences between cranial traits, species, and sex. We also used Blomberg's K to measure the phylogenetic signal and phylogenetic generalized least‐squares (PGLS) to ensure the phylogenetic independence of the traits.
We found that smaller nomadic species, A. anderseni and A. phaeotis , have a similar bite force to the large species A. planirostris and A. lituratus; furthermore, P. helleri registered a bite force similar to that of the sedentary bat, S. giannae. Our study determined that all the features of the mandible and most of the traits of the skull have a low phylogenetic signal. Through the PGLS, we found that the diet and several cranial features (mandibular toothrow length, dentary length, braincase breadth, mastoid breadth, greatest length of skull, condylo‐incisive length, and condylo‐canine length) determined bite force performance among Stenodermatiane.
Our results reinforce that skull size is a determining factor in the bite force, but also emphasize the importance of its relationships with morphology, ecology, and phylogeny of the species, which gives us a better understanding of the evolutionary adaptions of this highly diverse Neotropical bat group.
(1) Background: In the current healthcare environment, there is a large proportion of female staff of childbearing age, so, according to existing conflicting studies, the teratogenic effects that ...inhalational anesthetics may have on exposed pregnant workers should be assessed. This investigation aims to analyze the teratogenic effects of inhalational anesthetics in conditions of actual use, determining any association with spontaneous abortion or congenital malformations. (2) Methods: A systematic review was carried out according to the PRISMA statement based on PICO (problem of interest-intervention to be considered-intervention compared-outcome) (Do inhalational anesthetics have teratogenic effects in current clinical practice?). The level of evidence of the selected articles was evaluated using the SIGN scale. The databases used were PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, Google academic and Opengrey. Primary studies conducted in professionals exposed to inhalational anesthetics that evaluate spontaneous abortions or congenital malformations, conducted in any country and language and published within the last ten years were selected. (3) Results: Of the 541 studies identified, 6 met all inclusion criteria in answering the research question. Since many methodological differences were found in estimating exposure to inhalational anesthetics, a qualitative systematic review was performed. The selected studies have a retrospective cohort design and mostly present a low level of evidence and a low grade of recommendation. Studies with the highest level of evidence do not find an association between the use of inhalational anesthetics and the occurrence of miscarriage or congenital malformations. (4) Conclusions: The administration of inhalational anesthetics, especially with gas extraction systems (scavenging systems) and the adequate ventilation of operating rooms, is not associated with the occurrence of spontaneous abortions or congenital malformations.
(1) Background: The informed consent form must contain all the relevant information about the procedure to be performed to guarantee the patient's freedom to choose. (2) Objective: To analyze the ...formal quality of, and compliance with informed consent forms in critical care and surgical areas in a county hospital in Spain. (3) Methods: The formal quality of informed consent forms in critical care and surgical areas from the hospital were analyzed, following the established formal quality criteria for informed consent forms. The compliance with specific criteria for each of the operated patients during the period of study was also evaluated. (4) Results: The formal quality of 224 informed consent forms was analyzed from 8 disciplines observing a median of non-compliances of 4 with a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5, with the most breaches being in verifying the delivery of a copy to the patient and showing contraindications. The compliance of 376 documents from 188 operated patients were assessed, highlighting that the non-complied items were: the personalized risks and complete identification of the patient and the physician. A significant association was found between disciplines analyzed and the identification of the physician and personalized risks, with anesthesia and critical care showing the best compliance. (4) Conclusions: The informed consent forms in critical care and surgical areas were shown to have a deficient formal quality and an inadequate compliance. These deficiencies should be corrected to improve the information received by the patients and to guarantee their freedom to choose. As nurses have a responsibility to ensure that patients are adequately informed about both nursing interventions and care, as well as the surgical treatments they receive, consideration should be given to the possibility of nursing professionals taking the lead in obtaining informed consent.
In Neotropical bats, studies on bite force have focused mainly on differences in trophic ecology, and little is known about whether factors other than body size generate interspecific differences in ...bite force amongst insectivorous bats and, consequently, in their diets. We tested if bite force is related to skull morphology and also to diet in an assemblage of Neotropical insectivorous bats from tropical dry forests in the inter-Andean central valley in Colombia. It is predicted that the preference of prey types among insectivorous species is based on bite force and cranial characteristics. We also evaluated whether skull morphology varies depending on the species and sex. Cranial measurements and correlations between morphological variation and bite force were examined for 10 insectivorous bat species. We calculated the size-independent mechanical advantage for the mandibular (jaw) lever system. In all species, bite force increased with length of the skull and the jaw more than other cranial measurements. Obligate insectivorous species were morphologically different from the omnivorous Noctilio albiventris, which feeds primarily on insects, but also consumes fish and fruits. Our results show that bite force and skull morphology are closely linked to diets in Neotropical insectivorous bats and, consequently, these traits are key to the interactions within the assemblage and with their prey.
El presente artículo analiza las medidas adoptadas por el ordenamiento jurídico español a efectos de prevenir y sancionar el extendido e inapropiado uso del empleo público temporal para la cobertura ...de puestos de trabajo de carácter permanente y el consiguiente fraude a la obligación legal de recurrir, como regla general, al empleo indefinido. Se examina una situación de gran actualidad en la que, a las últimas sentencias del Tribunal Supremo, se añaden inminentes pronunciamientos del Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea, que podrían obligar a un cambio jurisprudencial en los fallos nacionales.
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