Search results

Abstract. This work investigates recent changes in precipitation patterns manifested in long annual and monthly precipitation time series recorded in Portugal. The dataset comprises records from 14 meteorological stations scattered over mainland Portugal and the Portuguese North Atlantic Islands of Madeira and Azores; some of the time series date back to the 19th century. The data were tested for trends using the Mann-Kendall non-parametric test and Sen's non-parametric method, searching both for full monotonic trends over the record period and for partial trends. Results provide no evidence for rejecting the null hypothesis of no trend in annual precipitation, when a monotonic linear model was used. Nevertheless, the analyses of 50 years' moving averages showed an increase over time, in the recent past, for many of the series in mainland Portugal and the Islands. For the longest time series this behaviour was preceded by a decrease over time. The analyses of partial trends in the time series suggested a sequence of alternately decreasing and increasing trends in annual and monthly precipitation, which are sometimes statistically significant. The trend changing points were identified.

Protected areas (PAs) are the main strategy to conserve natural values and reduce biodiversity loss. However, with increasing global food requirements, using land for protecting landscapes and species is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Here, we argue that framing PAs as spatial assets provides an ideal platform for generating investment and increasing their political/cultural resilience. Specifically, we define and characterize PAs in terms of their biophysical, human, infrastructure, institutional and cultural assets, making explicit the forms of value they create and for whom, and identifying types of investment needed to generate value in the medium and long term. These assets can be protected, managed and/or invested in to generate (monetizable and non-monetizable) forms of value. They can also be at risk from a variety of factors. Building on contemporary conservation policy, our asset framework provides an innovative approach to the development and management of PAs in the 21st Century.

Formaldehyde (FA) is a commonly used chemical in anatomy and pathology laboratories as a tissue preservative and fixative. Because of its sensitising properties, irritating effects and cancer implication, FA accounts probably for the most important chemical-exposure hazard concerning this professional group. Evidence for genotoxic effects and carcinogenic properties in humans is insufficient and conflicting, particularly in regard to the ability of inhaled FA to induce toxicity on other cells besides first contact tissues, such as buccal and nasal cells. To evaluate the effects of exposure to FA in human peripheral blood lymphocytes, a group of 84 anatomy pathology laboratory workers exposed occupationally to FA and 87 control subjects were tested for chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and DNA damage (comet assay). The level of exposure to FA in the workplace air was evaluated. The association between genotoxicity biomarkers and polymorphic genes of xenobiotic-metabolising and DNA repair enzymes were also assessed. The estimated mean level of FA exposure was 0.38±0.03 ppm. All cytogenetic endpoints assessed by CAs test and comet assay % tail DNA (%TDNA) were significantly higher in FA-exposed workers compared with controls. Regarding the effect of susceptibility biomarkers, results suggest that polymorphisms in CYP2E1 and GSTP1 metabolic genes, as well as, XRCC1 and PARP1 polymorphic genes involved in DNA repair pathways are associated with higher genetic damage in FA-exposed subjects. Data obtained in this study show a potential health risk situation of anatomy pathology laboratory workers exposed to FA (0.38 ppm). Implementation of security and hygiene measures may be crucial to decrease risk. The obtained information may also provide new important data to be used by health care programs and by governmental agencies responsible for occupational health and safety.

E-cadherin is a central molecule in the process of gastric carcinogenesis and its posttranslational modifications by N-glycosylation have been described to induce a deleterious effect on cell adhesion associated with tumor cell invasion. However, the role that site-specific glycosylation of E-cadherin has in its defective function in gastric cancer cells needs to be determined. Using transgenic mice models and human clinical samples, we demonstrated that N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V (GnT-V)-mediated glycosylation causes an abnormal pattern of E-cadherin expression in the gastric mucosa. In vitro models further indicated that, among the four potential N-glycosylation sites of E-cadherin, Asn-554 is the key site that is selectively modified with ß1,6 GlcNAc-branched N-glycans catalyzed by GnT-V. This aberrant glycan modification on this specific asparagine site of E-cadherin was demonstrated to affect its critical functions in gastric cancer cells by affecting E-cadherin cellular localization, cis-dimer formation, molecular assembly and stability of the adherens junctions and cell-cell aggregation, which was further observed in human gastric carcinomas. Interestingly, manipulating this site-specific glycosylation, by preventing Asn-554 from receiving the deleterious branched structures, either by a mutation or by silencing GnT-V, resulted in a protective effect on E-cadherin, precluding its functional dysregulation and contributing to tumor suppression. ; IPATIMUP integrates the I3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. This work is funded by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors—COMPETE— and National Funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, under the projects: PTDC/CVT/111358/2009; EXPL/BIM-MEC/0149/2012; and PTDC/BBB-EBI/0786/2012. SC (SFRH/BD/77386/2011), AMD (SFRH/BI/52380/2013) BiotechHealth Doctoral Programme, and SSP (SFRH/BPD/63094/2009) thank FCT and the Luso-American Foundation (FLAD) for funding. JMS acknowledges FCT (UID/EEA/50009/2013). DK acknowledges support by the Max Planck Society and European Union (Seventh Framework Programme 'Glycoproteomics', grant number PCIG09-GA-2011-293847. CAR and DK acknowledge GastricGlycoExplorer project, grant number 316929). We thank Ola Soderberg and Gaëlle Cane (Department of Genetics and Pathology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden) for providing the Streptavidin PLA probe and to Márcia Pereira and Sara Campos for the support in PLA technique and statistical analyses.

Terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems are connected via multiple biophysical and ecological processes. Identifying and quantifying links among ecosystems is necessary for the uptake of integrated conservation actions across realms. Such actions are particularly important for species using habitats in more than one realm during their daily or life cycle. We reviewed information on the habitats of 2,408 species of European conservation concern and found that 30% of the species use habitats in multiple realms. Transportation and service corridors, which fragment species habitats, were identified as the most important threat impacting ~70% of the species. We examined information on 1,567 European Union (EU) conservation projects, funded over the past 25 years, to assess the adequacy of efforts towards the conservation of "multi-realm" species at a continental scale. We discovered that less than a third of "multi-realm" species benefited from projects that included conservation actions across multiple realms. To achieve the EU's conservation target of halting biodiversity loss by 2020 and effectively protect multi-realm species, integrated conservation efforts across realms should be reinforced by: 1) recognizing the need for integrated management at a policy level, 2) revising conservation funding priorities across realms, and 3) implementing integrated land-freshwater-sea conservation planning and management.