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Bacterial cell division occurs through the formation of a protein ring (division ring) at the site of division, with FtsZ being its main component in most bacteria. FtsZ is the prokaryotic ortholog of eukaryotic tubulin; it shares GTPase activity properties and the ability to polymerize in vitro. To study the mechanism of action of FtsZ, we used molecular dynamics simulations of the behavior of the FtsZ dimer in the presence of GTP–Mg2+ and monovalent cations. The presence of a K+ ion at the GTP binding site allows the positioning of one water molecule that interacts with catalytic residues Asp235 and Asp238, which are also involved in the coordination sphere of K+. This arrangement might favor dimer stability and GTP hydrolysis. Contrary to this, Na+ destabilizes the dimer and does not allow the positioning of the catalytic water molecule. Protonation of the GTP gamma-phosphate, simulating low pH, excludes both monovalent cations and the catalytic water molecule from the GTP binding site and stabilizes the dimer. These molecular dynamics predictions were contrasted experimentally by analyzing the GTPase and polymerization activities of purified Methanococcus jannaschii and Escherichia coli FtsZ proteins in vitro. ; This study was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia through grants SAF2007-61926 (to P.G.-P.) and BIO2005-02194 (to M.V.); by CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, an initiative of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (to P.G.-P.); by the Comunidad de Madrid through grant S-BIO-0260/2006-COMBACT (to P. G-P., J. Mingorance, and M.V.); and by the European Union through grant FP7-223431 (EU "Divinocell" project; to P.G.-P. and M.V.). Financial support from the "Fundación Ramón Areces" to CBMSO is also acknowledged. J. Mingorance was a recipient of a Ramón y Cajal fellowship financed by the European Social Fund and the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. A.I.R. was a recipient of an I3P contract from the Spanish Council for Scientific Research.We also thank "Centro de Cálculo Científico" (CCCUAM) for computational support. Work at Biomol- Informatics SL was partially financed by the European Social Fund ; Peer reviewed

Background and aims To assess experts' preference for sarcopenia outcomes. Methods A discrete-choice experiment was conducted among 37 experts (medical doctors and researchers) from different countries around the world. In the survey, they were repetitively asked to choose which one of two hypothetical patients suffering from sarcopenia deserves the most a treatment. The two hypothetical patients differed in five pre-selected sarcopenia outcomes: quality of life, mobility, domestic activities, fatigue and falls. A mixed logit panel model was used to estimate the relative importance of each attribute. Results All sarcopenia outcomes were shown to be significant, and thus, important for experts. Overall, the most important sarcopenia outcome was falls (27%) followed by domestic activities and mobility (24%), quality of life (15%) and fatigue (10%). Discussion and conclusion Compared to patient's preferences, experts considered falls as a more important outcome of sarcopenia, while the outcomes fatigue and difficulties in domestic activities were considered as less important.

OBJECTIVES: In most European countries, patients seeking medication abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic are still required to attend healthcare settings in person. We assessed whether demand for self-managed medication abortion provided by online telemedicine increased following the emergence of COVID-19. METHODS: We examined 3915 requests for self-managed abortion to online telemedicine service Women on Web (WoW) between 1 January 2019 and 1 June 2020. We used regression discontinuity to compare request rates in eight European countries before and after they implemented lockdown measures to slow COVID-19 transmission. We examined the prevalence of COVID-19 infection, the degree of government-provided economic support, the severity of lockdown travel restrictions and the medication abortion service provision model in countries with and without significant changes in requests. RESULTS: Five countries showed significant increases in requests to WoW, ranging from 28% in Northern Ireland (97 requests vs 75.8 expected requests, p=0.001) to 139% in Portugal (34 requests vs 14.2 expected requests, p<0.001). Two countries showed no significant change in requests, and one country, Great Britain, showed an 88% decrease in requests (1 request vs 8.1 expected requests, p<0.001). Among countries with significant increases in requests, abortion services are provided mainly in person in hospitals or abortion is unavailable and international travel was prohibited during lockdown. By contrast, Great Britain implemented a fully remote no-test telemedicine service. CONCLUSION: These marked changes in requests for self-managed medication abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate demand for remote models of care, which could be fulfilled by expanding access to medication abortion by telemedicine.

It is difficult to imagine the concept of constitutionalism without the notion of deliberative democracy. Historically, written constitutions are the capstone of the ages-long struggle to limit arbitrary governmental action. James Madison said, "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government." We live in an era of constitution making. There are close to 200 national constitutions in existence today, and more than half have been written or re-written in the last quarter century. New nations and radically new regimes, seeking the democratic credentials that are often a condition for recognition by other nations and by international political, financial, aid, and trade organizations, make writing a constitution a priority. In 1787, the new United States of America was the originator and model of traditional constitution making by a hand-picked elite group, and of the constitution as marking a settlement of conflict and inaugurating a new regime of powers and rights. Mainstream scholarship has generally presented the American Constitution as the fixed outcome of a period of nation building. Admirers, offering this as an example to others, tend to want to duplicate its perceived virtues: constitution-making as an act of completion, the constitution as a final settlement or social contract in which basic political definitions, principles, and processes are agreed, as is a commitment to abide by them. Europeans have recently adopted a constitution for the European Union that is very different from the U.S. Constitution. The creation of a document which solidifies 25 countries as a political body has enormous ramifications for democracy across all civilizations. On the face of it, the proposed European Union constitution imitates the American federalist form. As I intend to show, its specific provisions move in an entirely different direction. The influences, by which the United States and the European Union have developed their constitutions, and therefore their democracies, are complex, but integral to understanding the political foundations on which these two polities rest. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the differences and similarities between the two political bodies and constitutions, discover what, if any, rights are given to citizens, how identity (or lack thereof) of citizens affects the policies and progression of a political unit, and to better identify the responsibility of politicians within these communities. I will explore the historical examples of successful and unsuccessful governments, what a democratically influenced constitution should look like, and what future steps the European Union and United States should take to cement these ideals into their unions.

Background World-wide aquaculture represents a very important sector capable of supplying huge amounts of animal protein. However its relevance has proportionally augmented its waste generation. In Europe, the geographical constitution of Galicia has prompted the instauration of many aquaculture-based systems along its coasts. Indeed aquaculture means a very relevant industry in Galicia, together with animal farming, agriculture and biotechnology. Scope and approach Over the last decade Europe legislation encourages the proper management of wastes (mostly reutilization and reducing strategies) and the sustainable use of natural resources. The application of circular bio-economy (reuse of wastes) represents a feasible model to protect human and animal health and the environment. To achieve a more efficient production system that complies with European regulations, aquaculture wastes and sub-products need to be re-utilised to increase their throughput. This approach will positively impact on their economical yield while reducing their generation and thus protecting health and environment. Key findings and conclusions Different applications have been considered for re-using aquaculture wastes and sub-products. One of the most efficient approaches is the establishment of models that allow the metabolic waste reduction, as the integrated multi-trophic aquaculture. For derived aquaculture sub-products, the most efficient process is recovering important biomolecules such as proteins (collagen, gelatine), polysaccharides (chitosan), lipids (omega 3) or pigments (astaxanthin or beta-carotene). Biomolecules can further be applied for human and animal consumption, food industry, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals. Due to the importance of this productive system in Galicia it is critical its update to include aquaculture into circular bio-economy. ; Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUG ; Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad | Ref. AGL2015–67039–C3–1–R ; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. RYC-2017-22891 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481B-2019/096 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A-2019/0228 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A -2019/295 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431B 2019/24 ; CYTED - AQUA-CIBUS | Ref. P317RT0003 ; Xunta de Galicia | Ref. IN852A 2018/58 ; European Commission | Ref. H2020, n. 888003 ; Interreg España - Portugal (POCTEP) | Ref. 0181_NANOEATERS_01_E ; Interreg España - Portugal (POCTEP) | Ref. 0377_IBERPHENOL_6_E

This report provides a descriptive analysis of the African swine fever (ASF) Genotype II epidemic in the affected Member States in the EU and two neighbouring countries for the period from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021. ASF continued to spread in wild boar in the EU, it entered Germany in September 2020, while Belgium became free from ASF in October 2020. No ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs nor cases in wild boar have been reported in Greece since February 2020. In the Baltic States, overall, there has been a declining trend in proportions of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive samples from wild boar carcasses in the last few years. In the other countries, the proportions of PCR-positive wild boar carcasses remained high, indicating continuing spread of the disease. A systematic literature review revealed that the risk factors most frequently significantly associated with ASF in domestic pigs were pig density, low levels of biosecurity and socio-economic factors. For wild boar, most significant risk factors were related to habitat, socio-economic factors and wild boar management. The effectiveness of different control options in the so-named white zones, areas where wild boar densities have been drastically reduced to avoid further spread of ASF after a new introduction, was assessed with a stochastic model. Important findings were that establishing a white zone is much more challenging when the area of ASF incursion is adjacent to an area where limited control measures are in place. Very stringent wild boar population reduction measures in the white zone are key to success. The white zone needs to be far enough away from the affected core area so that the population can be reduced in time before the disease arrives and the timing of this will depend on the wild boar density and the required population reduction target in the white zone. Finally, establishing a proactive white zone along the demarcation line of an affected area requires higher culling efforts, but has a higher chance of success to stop ...

This report provides a descriptive analysis of the African swine fever (ASF) Genotype II epidemic in the affected Member States in the EU and two neighbouring countries for the period from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021. ASF continued to spread in wild boar in the EU, it entered Germany in September 2020, while Belgium became free from ASF in October 2020. No ASF outbreaks in domestic pigs nor cases in wild boar have been reported in Greece since February 2020. In the Baltic States, overall, there has been a declining trend in proportions of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐positive samples from wild boar carcasses in the last few years. In the other countries, the proportions of PCR‐positive wild boar carcasses remained high, indicating continuing spread of the disease. A systematic literature review revealed that the risk factors most frequently significantly associated with ASF in domestic pigs were pig density, low levels of biosecurity and socio‐economic factors. For wild boar, most significant risk factors were related to habitat, socio‐economic factors and wild boar management. The effectiveness of different control options in the so‐named white zones, areas where wild boar densities have been drastically reduced to avoid further spread of ASF after a new introduction, was assessed with a stochastic model. Important findings were that establishing a white zone is much more challenging when the area of ASF incursion is adjacent to an area where limited control measures are in place. Very stringent wild boar population reduction measures in the white zone are key to success. The white zone needs to be far enough away from the affected core area so that the population can be reduced in time before the disease arrives and the timing of this will depend on the wild boar density and the required population reduction target in the white zone. Finally, establishing a proactive white zone along the demarcation line of an affected area requires higher culling efforts, but has a higher chance of success to stop ...

After a quiz to show the importance or respiratory health, I present the evolution of Breathing Games, from our first hackathon in Montreal in 2014 to the game jam held in Montreal, Geneva, Paris and Besançon. The three main games developed (two for children with asthma, one multiplayer where people can recount their experience by creating a game level) and controllers are then shortly presented. The evolution of perspective, from the self-management of disease to reflecting on social and political barriers to health is briefly mentioned. I then discuss common problems in organizing hackathons (information overload, waste of resources, loss of motivation), and illustrate it with the multiplication of unfinished open-source ventilation machines where one single modular design would in fact be needed. I present numbers of the covid hackathons held between March and June 2020, which mobilized 150000 people. The workforce mobilized for the five biggest events equaled 1568 full time employees… who developed 5771 competing, redundant projects instead of building on the collective wisdom. Finally, I present today's action to build health as commons, showing that solidarity-driven medical innovation is up to 99% cheaper. I propose a method to host large-scale events to empower citizens in building democratic, plural solutions within days. A six steps model to host such events is sketched. ; Editable version: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tkmt9QE1ObqXhC051CAXJ_Tmwur5NKd1UmGad2bbrqg/edit

After a quiz to show the importance or respiratory health, I present the evolution of Breathing Games, from our first hackathon in Montreal in 2014 to the game jam held in Montreal, Geneva, Paris and Besançon. The three main games developed (two for children with asthma, one multiplayer where people can recount their experience by creating a game level) and controllers are then shortly presented. The evolution of perspective, from the self-management of disease to reflecting on social and political barriers to health is briefly mentioned. I then discuss common problems in organizing hackathons (information overload, waste of resources, loss of motivation), and illustrate it with the multiplication of unfinished open-source ventilation machines where one single modular design would in fact be needed. I present numbers of the covid hackathons held between March and June 2020, which mobilized 150000 people. The workforce mobilized for the five biggest events equaled 1568 full time employees… who developed 5771 competing, redundant projects instead of building on the collective wisdom. Finally, I present today's action to build health as commons, showing that solidarity-driven medical innovation is up to 99% cheaper. I propose a method to host large-scale events to empower citizens in building democratic, plural solutions within days. A six steps model to host such events is sketched. Editable .odp file included.

Peer reviewed ; [EN] The Spanish Welfare State incorporates elements of both Bismarckian and Beveridgean traditions, and can be labelled as a via media with respect to other systems of social protection in advanced democracies. It also represents a middle way of de-commodification and gendering, and of universal and means-tested access to services and benefits. This article analyses the main features of the Mediterranean welfare regime, and concentrates in the development of the programmes of social assistance and social services in Spain. The rationale implicit in the process of federalisation in Spain, and that of the territorial subsidiarity in the European Union, favours the participation of sub-state layers of government in the running of social policies according to criteria of efficiency and of democratic accountability. ; [ES] El Estado de bienestar español incorpora elementos de las tradiciones "bismarckiana" y "beveridgeana", y cabe ser considerado como una "vía media" respecto a otros regímenes de protección social de las democracias avanzadas. Ha alcanzado, asimismo, un nivel intermedio de desmercantilización (de-commodification) y de acceso universal y por comprobación de medios (means testing) a prestaciones y servicios sociales. El artículo analiza a grandes rasgos las características del régimen mediterráneo del bienestar, y se concentra en un análisis puntual del desarrollo de los programas de asistencia social y servicios sociales en España. La lógica implícita en la federalización autonómica, así como el principio de subsidiariedad territorial de la Unión Europea, auspician una mayor participación de los niveles regionales y locales en la provisión de políticas sociales, los cuales pueden optimizar los criterios de eficiencia y exigencia democrática.

Priorities in addressing research gaps and challenges should follow the order of im­por­tance, which in itself would be a matter of defining goals and metrics of importance, e.g. the extent, impact and likelihood of occurrence. For improving assessments of cli­mate change impacts on agriculture for achieving food security and other sustainable develop­ment goals across the European continent, the most important research gaps and challen­ges appear to be the agreement on goals with a wide range of stakeholders from policy, science, producers and society, better reflection of political and societal prefer­ences in the modelling process, and the reflection of economic decisions in farm manage­ment within models. These and other challenges could be approached in phase 3 of MACSUR.

The present research study reports the use of Toulmin's Argument Pattern (TAP) approach as a tool for tracing the quality of argumentation in science teaching and exploring its effective application in enhancing students' cognitive knowledge. The study is part of the European Student Parliaments project which aims at strengthening the dialogue between students and scientists throughout Europe. The context of simulated parliament procedures provides the ground for the teaching and learning of argumentation in an authentic context. In addition, it provides a structured frame for the informed and guided implementation of argumentation methodologies in science teaching. To address the research objectives analytical tools for evaluating the quality of argumentation and students' cognitive enhancement were developed based on TAP. The research findings show that there was significant improvement in the quality of students' argumentation and cognitive development regarding their critical approach to scientific concepts. Keywords: Argumentation, EUSP, TAP ; The oral presentation and the poster presentation are also provided.

The EU's Green Deal proposal and Farm to Fork strategy explicitly call for both demand and supply measures to reduce food system emissions. While research clearly illustrates the importance of dietary transitions, impacts of potential supply-side measures are not well understood in relation to competitiveness concerns and leakage effects. This study assesses trade and GHG emission impacts of two supply-side mitigation strategies in the EU (plus UK and Switzerland), against a 2050 baseline featuring healthy/sustainable diets adopted by European consumers. To capture potential leakage effects arising from changing external trade flows, two supply-side strategies (intensification and extensification) are assessed against three trade policy regimes, resulting in six scenarios formulated with detailed inputs from the EUCalc model and simulated with a purported-designed CGE model. Our results show that intensification, while improving the EU+2's external trade balance, does not reduce its emissions, compared to the baseline. In contrast, extensification leads to a substantial emission abatement that augments reductions from the assumed dietary transition embodied in the baseline, resulting in a combined 31.1% of agricultural emission reduction in EU+2 during 2014-2050. However, this is at the expense of worsening agrifood trade balance amounting to US$25 billion, and significant carbon leakages at 48%, implying that half of the EU+2's emission reduction are cancelled out by rising emissions elsewhere. Furthermore, implementing the EU+2's prospective regional trade agreements leads to increased EU emissions; however, a border carbon adjustment by the EU+2 can improve its trade balance and partially shifting mitigation burdens to other countries, but ultimately only marginally reduce global emissions (and carbon leakage). Finally, different trade and emission effects are identified between the crop and livestock sectors, pointing to the desirability of a mixed agriculture system with intensified livestock sector and extensified crop agriculture in EU+2 that balances emission reduction goals and competitiveness concerns.

This paper investigates the impacts of economic indicators and the Internet penetration rate, as well as people's ICT skills based on the Percentage of Individuals who booked travel and holiday accommodation over the Internet as the main variable under study. Recent data on member states in the European Union (EU28) are analyzed, including data on the three official EU candidate countries: Turkey, the FYR of Macedonia and Serbia. The research focuses on the position of the above mentioned EU candidates, considered part of South East Europe (SEE) and the Western Balkans (WB). The main variable under study and four variables making a statistically significant impact on the main variable are explored. High positive correlations between pairs of the variables for 30 countries were found. Multiple linear regression modelling using the OLS estimators resulted in several acceptable models. Most hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods resulted in clear grouping of the SEE countries (Turkey, the FYR of Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania) into the same clusters. Other more developed SEE countries in terms of the analyzed variables and utilizing specific clustering techniques joined other EU countries in different combination setups.

This article examines the conceptual substance of the European Union's (EU's) support to civil society in the Mediterranean, a vital part of its renewed policy of democracy promotion since the so-called 'Arab spring'. Grounded in a field study of two EU-financed projects in Tunisia, the article discusses the normative understandings of civil society and democracy-building that are being promoted by the EU. It then assesses to what extent these understandings are adhered to on the ground, by the Tunisian actors in charge of implementing the EU-policy. It appears that the EU's enthusiasm for a 'broad', developmental agenda of democracy promotion is waning, as it frames the democratizing role of civil society primarily in a political vein. While the local actors abide by the EU's liberal normativity, they challenge the political framings that condition the European model. In Tunisia, democracy-building is perceived as a bridgehead to prosperity and equitable development. As a result, the local civil society projects privilege socio-economic areas of activity, in a consensus-based and depoliticized framework – in other words, a 'developmental' approach to democracy-building. The article postulates that this discrepancy arises from the inadequacy of the EU's political approach to the fragile context of a fledgling democracy.