Humans often cooperate in public goods games and situations ranging from family issues to global warming. However, evolutionary game theory predicts that the temptation to forgo the public good ...mostly wins over collective cooperative action, and this is often also seen in economic experiments. Here we show how social diversity provides an escape from this apparent paradox. Up to now, individuals have been treated as equivalent in all respects, in sharp contrast with real-life situations, where diversity is ubiquitous. We introduce social diversity by means of heterogeneous graphs and show that cooperation is promoted by the diversity associated with the number and size of the public goods game in which each individual participates and with the individual contribution to each such game. When social ties follow a scale-free distribution, cooperation is enhanced whenever all individuals are expected to contribute a fixed amount irrespective of the plethora of public goods games in which they engage. Our results may help to explain the emergence of cooperation in the absence of mechanisms based on individual reputation and punishment. Combining social diversity with reputation and punishment will provide instrumental clues on the self-organization of social communities and their economical implications.
Chronic respiratory diseases represent a significant burden of disease globally, with high morbidity and mortality. Individuals living with these conditions, as well as their families, face ...considerable physical, emotional and social challenges. Palliative care might be a valuable approach to address their complex needs, but evidence to prove this is still scarce.
This systematic review aimed to study the effectiveness of palliative care interventions in health-related outcomes (quality of life, symptom control, symptom burden, psychological well-being, advance care planning, use of health services, and survival) in chronic respiratory patients.
Pubmed, Cochrane and Web of Science were searched for trials published in the last 10 years, comparing palliative care interventions to usual care, in patients with chronic respiratory diseases. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed.
Eight studies were included, seven randomized controlled trials and one cluster-controlled trial; the former with moderate risk of bias and the latter with high risk of bias. Findings revealed that palliative interventions improve breathlessness control and advance care planning. There were no significant differences for the other outcomes.
Palliative care appears to have a beneficial effect on breathlessness, one of the most distressing symptoms in patients suffering from chronic respiratory diseases and allows for advanced care planning. Additional research, with more robust trials, is needed to draw further conclusions about other health-related outcomes.
•Palliative care interventions help addressing patients' multidimensional needs.•This systematic review included one cluster and seven randomized controlled trials.•Palliative care, versus usual care, increases patients' breathlessness control.•Palliative care, versus usual care, allows for advance planning of patient care.
•Egg white peptides are identified as main GLP-1 secretagogues.•CCK is released in response to peptides and free amino acids but not proteins.•Two hydrophobic negatively charged peptides were found ...to trigger CCK release.•The highest GLP-1 response was found with a hydrophobic positively charged peptide.
The effect of dietary protein on the induction of intestinal hormones is recognised. However, little is known about the nature of the digestion products involved in this intestinal signalling. Our aim was to characterise egg white protein digestion products and study their ability to induce CCK and GLP-1 release in enteroendocrine STC-1 cells. Intestinal digests triggered GLP-1 release at a higher rate than gastric digests. Peptides, but not free amino acids, showed a potent GLP-1 secretagogue effect, while proteins only had a modest effect. CCK was released in response to peptides and free amino acids but not proteins. Two hydrophobic negatively charged peptides triggered CCK release, while the highest GLP-1 response was found with a hydrophobic positively charged peptide, pointing to the involvement of different receptors or active sites. Identifying peptide sequences and receptors involved in hormonal secretion could open up new ways to control food intake and glucose metabolism.
Current rising temperatures are threatening biodiversity. It is therefore crucial to understand how climate change impacts male and female fertility and whether evolutionary responses can help in ...coping with heat stress. We use experimental evolution to study male and female fertility during the real-time evolution of two historically differentiated populations of Drosophila subobscura under different thermal selection regimes for 23 generations. We aim to (a) tease apart sex-specific differences in fertility after exposure to warming conditions during development, (b) test whether thermal selection can enhance fertility under thermal stress, and (c) address the role of historically distinct genetic backgrounds. Contrary to expectations, heat stress during development had a higher negative impact on female fertility than on male fertility. We did not find clear evidence for enhanced fertility in males or females evolving under warming conditions. Population history had a clear impact on fertility response under thermal stress, particularly in males with those from lower latitude presenting better performance than their higher latitude counterparts. We show that the impact of thermal stress on fertility varies between traits, sexes, and genetic backgrounds. Incorporating these several levels of variation is crucial for a deeper understanding of how fertility evolves under climate change.
Estudar a qualidade do jornalismo em Portugal manifesta-se como relevante perante uma paisagem empresarial em crise financeira e redações cada vez mais pequenas com condições de trabalho precárias. ...Neste contexto, como é que os jornalistas portugueses de televisão e de rádio avaliam a qualidade do jornalismo praticado em Portugal e as condições que têm para o produzir? Através de entrevistas semiestruturadas a 11 jornalistas de rádio e de televisão em Portugal, procuramos responder a duas perguntas de investigação: (a) como é que os jornalistas de televisão e de rádio definem o jornalismo de qualidade?; e (b) como é que os jornalistas de televisão e de rádio avaliam a qualidade do jornalismo produzido em Portugal?Os entrevistados destacam a importância de seguir as regras deontológicas da profissão, de manter o rigor e a isenção e também outros tipos de características mais formais como, por exemplo, a qualidade da escrita ou a capacidade de cativar a audiência. Quanto às condições necessárias para praticar bom jornalismo, sobressai a importância do tempo e da estabilidade laboral, sobre as quais os entrevistados concordam estarem em escassez. Embora não sejam unânimes na sua avaliação da qualidade do jornalismo televisivo e radiofónico em Portugal — mesmo os mais positivos têm críticas a fazer —, a maior parte dos jornalistas entrevistados considera que as suas condições de trabalho para produzir bom jornalismo ficam aquém do desejado.
Recent years have shown that traditional regulatory techniques alone are not effective in achieving behaviour change in important fields such as environmental sustainability. Governments all over the ...world have been progressively including behaviourally informed considerations in policy and law making with the aim of improving the acceptance and impact of sustainability-oriented measures. This led to the arrival of alternative regulatory tools, such as nudges. The effectiveness of nudges for environmental sustainability (green nudges) has been widely reported, but the practical and ethical implications are still largely neglected by academic research. In this contribution, “nudges” are conceptually distinguished from “boosts” and their ethics are briefly explained. The analysis is made in light of European and US American academic literature.
Adaptation to increasingly warmer environments may be critical to avoid extinction. Whether and how these adaptive responses can arise is under debate. Though several studies have tackled ...evolutionary responses under different thermal selective regimes, very few have specifically addressed the underlying patterns of thermal adaptation under scenarios of progressive warming conditions. Also, considering how much past history affects such evolutionary response is critical. Here, we report a long-term experimental evolution study addressing the adaptive response of Drosophila subobscura populations with distinct biogeographical history to two thermal regimes. Our results showed clear differences between the historically differentiated populations, with adaptation to the warming conditions only evident in the low latitude populations. Furthermore, this adaptation was only detected after more than 30 generations of thermal evolution. Our findings show some evolutionary potential of Drosophila populations to respond to a warming environment, but the response was slow and population specific, emphasizing limitations to the ability of ectotherms to adapt to rapid thermal shifts.
Determining SARS-CoV-2 viral infectivity is crucial for patient clinical assessment and isolation decisions. We assessed subgenomic RNA (sgRNA) as a surrogate marker of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in ...SARS-CoV-2-positive reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) respiratory samples (
= 105) in comparison with viral culture as the reference standard for virus replication. sgRNA and viral isolation results were concordant in 99/105 cases (94%), indicating highly significant agreement between the two techniques (Cohen's kappa coefficient 0.88, 95% confidence interval CI 0.78 to 0.97,
< 0.001). sgRNA RT-PCR showed a sensitivity of 97% and a positive predictive value of 94% to detect replication-competent virus, further supporting sgRNA as a surrogate marker of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. sgRNA RT-PCR is an accurate, rapid, and affordable technique that can overcome culture and cycle threshold (
) value limitations and be routinely implemented in hospital laboratories to detect viral infectivity, which is essential for optimizing patient monitoring, the efficacy of treatments/vaccines, and work reincorporation policies, as well as for safely shortening isolation precautions.
Abstract
Background
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) provides a highly variable cycle threshold (Ct) value that ...cannot distinguish viral infectivity. Subgenomic ribonucleic acid (sgRNA) has been used to monitor active replication. Given the importance of long RT-PCR positivity and the need for work reincorporation and discontinuing isolation, we studied the functionality of normalized viral loads (NVLs) for patient monitoring and sgRNA for viral infectivity detection.
Methods
The NVLs measured through the Nucleocapsid and RNA-dependent-RNA-polymerase genes and sgRNA RT-PCRs were performed in 2 consecutive swabs from 84 healthcare workers.
Results
The NVLs provided similar and accurate quantities of both genes of SARS-CoV-2 at 2 different timepoints of infection, overcoming Ct-value and swab collection variability. Among SARS-CoV-2-positive samples, 51.19% were sgRNA-positive in the 1st RT-PCR and 5.95% in the 2nd RT-PCR. All sgRNA-positive samples had >4 log10 RNA copies/1000 cells, whereas samples with ≤1 log10 NVLs were sgRNA-negative. Although NVLs were positive until 29 days after symptom onset, 84.1% of sgRNA-positive samples were from the first 7 days, which correlated with viral culture viability. Multivariate analyses showed that sgRNA, NVLs, and days of symptoms were significantly associated (P < .001).
Conclusions
The NVLs and sgRNA are 2 rapid accessible techniques that could be easily implemented in routine hospital practice providing a useful proxy for viral infectivity and
coronavirus disease 2019 patient follow-up.
SARS-CoV-2 normalized viral loads and sgRNA detection are 2 rapid accessible tools that overcome Ct value and respiratory sample collection variability. They could be easily implemented in routine hospital practice providing a useful proxy for infectivity and COVID-19 patient follow-up.
Decades of research have disclosed a plethora of alterations in protein glycosylation that decisively impact in all stages of disease and ultimately contribute to more aggressive cell phenotypes. The ...biosynthesis of cancer-associated glycans and its reflection in the glycoproteome is driven by microenvironmental cues and these events act synergistically toward disease evolution. Such intricate crosstalk provides the molecular foundations for the activation of relevant oncogenic pathways and leads to functional alterations driving invasion and disease dissemination. However, it also provides an important source of relevant glyco(neo)epitopes holding tremendous potential for clinical intervention. Therefore, we highlight the transversal nature of glycans throughout the currently accepted cancer hallmarks, with emphasis on the crosstalk between glycans and the tumor microenvironment stromal components. Focus is also set on the pressing need to include glycans and glycoconjugates in comprehensive panomics models envisaging molecular-based precision medicine capable of improving patient care. We foresee that this may provide the necessary rationale for more comprehensive studies and molecular-based intervention.
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