During menopause, women undergo a series of physiological changes that include a redistribution of fat tissue. This study was designed to investigate the effect of adding 10 g of cocoa-rich chocolate to the habitual diet of postmenopausal women daily on body composition. We conducted a 6-month, two-arm randomised, controlled trial. Postmenopausal women (57·2 (sd 3·6) years, n 132) were recruited in primary care clinics. Participants in the control group (CG) did not receive any intervention. Those of the intervention group (IG) received 10 g daily of 99 % cocoa chocolate in addition to their habitual diet for 6 months. This quantity comprises 247 kJ (59 kcal) and 65·4 mg of polyphenols. The primary outcomes were the between-group differences in body composition variables, measured by impendancemetry at the end of the study. The main effect of the intervention showed a favourable reduction in the IG with respect to the CG in body fat mass (–0·63 kg (95 % CI –1·15, –0·11), P = 0·019; Cohen’s d = –0·450) and body fat percentage (–0·79 % (95 % CI –1·31, –0·26), P = 0·004; Cohen’s d = –0·539). A non-significant decrease was also observed in BMI (–0·20 kg/m2 (95 % CI –0·44, 0·03), P = 0·092; Cohen’s d = –0·345). Both the body fat mass and the body fat percentage showed a decrease in the IG for the three body segments analysed (trunk, arms and legs). Daily addition of 10 g of cocoa-rich chocolate to the habitual diet of postmenopausal women reduces their body fat mass and body fat percentage without modifying their weight.

Darwin's frogs Rhinoderma darwinii and Rhinoderma rufum are the only known species of amphibians in which males brood their offspring in their vocal sacs. We propose these frogs as flagship species for the conservation of the Austral temperate forests of Chile and Argentina. This recommendation forms part of the vision of the Binational Conservation Strategy for Darwin's Frogs, which was launched in 2018. The strategy is a conservation initiative led by the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, which in 2017 convened 30 governmental, non-profit and private organizations from Chile, Argentina and elsewhere. Darwin's frogs are iconic examples of the global amphibian conservation crisis: R. rufum is categorized as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) on the IUCN Red List, and R. darwinii as Endangered. Here we articulate the conservation planning process that led to the development of the conservation strategy for these species and present its main findings and recommendations. Using an evidence-based approach, the Binational Conservation Strategy for Darwin's Frogs contains a comprehensive status review of Rhinoderma spp., including critical threat analyses, and proposes 39 prioritized conservation actions. Its goal is that by 2028, key information gaps on Rhinoderma spp. will be filled, the main threats to these species will be reduced, and financial, legal and societal support will have been achieved. The strategy is a multi-disciplinary, transnational endeavour aimed at ensuring the long-term viability of these unique frogs and their particular habitat.

This study aims to explore whether the implicit processing of emotional symbols related to patriotic feeling may exert some effects on attention. Here, we have conducted an experiment using two interrelated tasks. First, we use flags with different meanings to participants for measuring the strength of the emotional attentional blink (EAB) within a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm. Then, we use a “congruency judgments” subjective test, where we confront participants to judge the affinity between pairs of politician leaders and flags of different sign for community participants, while recording two physiological measures (Heart Rate Variance and Galvanic Skin Response) to evaluate the variations elicited by that confrontation. Results on the EAB task show a significant emotion induced blindness for emotional stimuli representing Catalan and Spanish patriotism (α = .05), while the effect does not appear for the stimulus representing neutral patriotism. The interaction “Flags x Patriotism” was significant, F(1, 51) = 4.62; p = .036; ηp2 = .083. Results on the second task show that measures derived from electrophysiological records are sensitive to patriotic feeling, both being complementary. In addition, by using measures of congruence, the “Leaders x Flags” interaction was significant, F(3.682, 125.204) = 53.55; p < .001; ηp2 = .612. Finally, a multiple linear regression model for each emotional inductor was verified for the Catalan case, using the EAB effect as criteria, R2Adjusted = .79; p < .001. Some theoretical and methodological aspects derived of this exploratory study are discussed.

Breast-feeding is the ideal nutrition for a newborn’s integral necessities. It seems crucial therefore to know its composition in order to provide suitable infant formula when required. Of these, polyamines (with lactation and the microbiota being its intestinal source) are involved in the development of gut epithelium and immunity. Safety concerns limit human intervention studies. Therefore, we studied the amounts of polyamines supplied by breast milk (varying among mothers) or infant formula feeding, up to day 30 postpartum, in the faeces of newborns. Independent samples (68) of breast milk from fifty-nine healthy Caucasian woman (day 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 15 and 30 postpartum) who had natural deliveries after week 38, same-day faeces of newborns when available (eighty-one from breast milk and fifty-five from infant formula fed) and six infant formulas were collected and the polyamine content was determined by HPLC. In breast milk, polyamines and isoamylamine (a primary amine), with inter-individual variations, increased over time (with a higher content of spermidine; no other amines were present). Overall, they were much higher than in infant formula. By the 2nd week after birth, polyamines, cadaverine and tyramine, but not isoamylamine, were higher in the faeces of those fed infant formula compared with those fed breast milk. Cadaverine and tyramine could be used to predict the feeding type used for newborns. The differences in the content may be related to distinct colonisation of amine-producing bacteria, which can be established by polyamines. Further studies are required to determine the clinical utility of these findings.

The uses of natural selection argument in politics have been constant since Charles Darwin’s times. They have also been varied. The readings of Darwin’s theory range from the most radically individualist views, as in orthodox socio-Darwinism, to the most communitarian, as in Peter Kropotkin’s and other socialist perspectives. This essay argues that such diverse, contradictory, and sometimes even outrageous political derivations from Darwin’s theory may be partially explained by some incompleteness and ambivalences underlying Darwin’s concepts. “Natural selection,” “struggle for existence,” and “survival of the fittest” are open concepts and may suggest some hierarchical and segregationist interpretations. Circumstantially, Darwin accepted social “checks,” such as discouraging marriage of “lower” individuals to prevent them from reproducing, in a vein of Malthusian politics. This makes Darwin’s theory of selection by struggle collide with his theory of social instincts, by which he explains the origins of morality. It also favors reading Darwin’s On the Origin of Species or The Descent of Man from opposite, mostly ideological perspectives. Darwin’s position is ambivalent, although hardly unreasonable. The recognition he makes of social instincts, as well as the use of the concept of artificial selection, entails accepting the role of human consciousness, by which social evolution cannot be reduced to natural evolution, as socio-Darwinians did next and as some neo-Darwinists seem to repeat. On these grounds, this essay argues the inadequacy of the conventional model of natural selection for understanding politics. If we want to describe politics in Darwin’s language, artificial rather than natural selection would be the concept that performs better for explaining the courses of politics in real society.

Polyphenols are a wide family of phytochemicals present in diverse foods. They might play a role in cancer development and progression. In vivo and in vitro studies have suggested beneficial properties and potential mechanisms. We aimed to evaluate the association between total and main classes of polyphenol intake and breast cancer (BC) risk in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra project – a prospective Mediterranean cohort study. We included 10 713 middle-aged, Spanish female university graduates. Polyphenol intake was derived from a semi-quantitative FFQ and matching food consumption data from the Phenol-Explorer database. Women with self-reported BC were asked to return a copy of their medical report for confirmation purposes; death certificates were used for fatal cases. Cox models were fitted to estimate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI for the association between tertiles (T) of polyphenol intake and BC. After 10·3 years of median follow-up, 168 probable incident BC cases were identified, out of which 100 were confirmed. We found no association between polyphenol intake and the overall BC risk. Nevertheless, we observed a significant inverse association between total polyphenol intake and BC risk for postmenopausal women, either for probable or only for confirmed cases (HRT3 v. T1 0·31 (95 % CI 0·13, 0·77; Ptrend=0·010)). Also, phenolic acid intake was inversely associated with postmenopausal BC. In summary, we observed no significant association between total polyphenol intake and BC risk. Despite a low number of incident BC cases in our cohort, higher total polyphenol intake was associated with a lower risk of postmenopausal BC.

The aim of this piece of research was to study the existence of clusters based on anger, empathy and cortisol and testosterone measures associated with aggressive behavior in school-aged children. The sample group comprised 139 eight-year-old children (80 boys and 59 girls). Aggressive behavior was measured using the Direct and Indirect Aggression Scale. Both psychological and biological variables were used to determine psychobiological profiles. The psychological variables considered were trait anger, measured using the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory for Children and Adolescents, and empathy, measured using the Empathy Quotient-Child Version. Testosterone and cortisol concentrations were measured through saliva samples and analyzed using an ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). A Cluster Analysis revealed three clusters which were clearly different as regards their psychological and biological characteristics. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the cluster characterized by having higher anger levels, lower empathy levels and higher testosterone and cortisol levels was more aggressive than the other two (p < .0001, η2 = .19). The results indicate that studying psychological and biological variables together may help establish differentiated aggression patterns among children.

Between the years of 30 b.c. to a.d. 80, during the Late Formative period, the site of Izapa was flooded by lahars associated with an explosive eruption of the San Antonio volcano (part of the Tacaná Volcanic Complex). Computer simulations suggest that hot pyroclastic flows did not impact Izapa directly, but did impact the region considerably, filling and clogging the Cahuacan and Mixcun rivers with hot debris. The material was quickly saturated by heavy rains and, as the water from the rivers overtopped the obstruction, remobilized in the form of a hot mixture of mud and water known as a lahar (or flood of volcanic origin), which flowed down through the piedmont zone along the Cahuacan, Mixcun-Suchiate, and Izapa rivers. At Izapa, the flood took the form of a 6-m catastrophic wave of mud and water that likely destroyed crops and caused many causalities, surrounding the architectural mounds at Izapa with a muddy landscape. The floods also dramatically affected the rivers downstream, undoubtedly wreaking serious damage to the transport and trade of goods along the coast.

We consider three point positive masses moving on ${{S}^{2}}$ and ${{H}^{2}}$ . An Eulerian-relative equilibrium is a relative equilibrium where the three masses are on the same geodesic. In this paper we analyze the spectral stability of these kind of orbits where the mass at the middle is arbitrary and the masses at the ends are equal and located at the same distance from the central mass. For the case of ${{S}^{2}}$ , we found a positive measure set in the set of parameters where the relative equilibria are spectrally stable, and we give a complete classification of the spectral stability of these solutions, in the sense that, except on an algebraic curve in the space of parameters, we can determine if the corresponding relative equilibrium is spectrally stable or unstable. On ${{H}^{2}}$ , in the elliptic case, we prove that generically all Eulerian-relative equilibria are unstable; in the particular degenerate case when the two equal masses are negligible, we get that the corresponding solutions are spectrally stable. For the hyperbolic case we consider the system where the mass in the middle is negligible; in this case the Eulerian-relative equilibria are unstable.

This paper is focused on explaining the radiation test in temperature performed on the Engineering and Qualification Model of the Medium Gain Antenna Radiofrequency (MGA-RFA) Assembly of ESA's BepiColombo mission. The goal of this program is to observe and study Mercury and its surroundings in a very demanding environment in terms of temperature and radiation. The MGA is an X-band two-axis steerable horn, which provides bidirectional communications between spacecraft and Earth as backup of the High Gain Antenna and also operates as primary communication link at several mission stages or conditions. The paper presents the measurement set-up for the qualification campaign of the antenna, where it was necessary to characterize the antenna in a representative thermal environment, and the results obtained from this test. Results of test up to 150°C show how gain and radiation pattern shapes are slightly affected by thermal stress, but without jeopardizing mission requirements. In addition, by analyzing correlation of this test with RF analysis in the same thermal conditions, it becomes possible to accurately extrapolate the MGA-RFA behavior up to temperatures of more than 500°C. This fact allowed the successful space qualification of this model.