Obese mothers’ offspring develop obesity and metabolic alterations in adulthood. Poor postnatal dietary patterns also contribute to obesity and its comorbidities. We aimed to determine whether in obese mothers’ offspring an adverse postnatal environment, such as high-fat diet (HFD) consumption (second hit) exacerbates body fat accumulation, metabolic alterations and adipocyte size distribution. Female Wistar rats ate chow (C-5 %-fat) or HFD (maternal obesity (MO)-25 %-fat) from weaning until the end of lactation. Male offspring were weaned on either control (C/C and MO/C, maternal diet/offspring diet) or HFD (C/HF and MO/HF) diet. At 110 postnatal days, offspring were killed. Fat depots were excised to estimate adiposity index (AI). Serum glucose, triglyceride, leptin, insulin, insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), corticosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were determined. Adipocyte size distribution was evaluated in retroperitoneal fat. Body weight was similar in C/C and MO/C but higher in C/HF and MO/HF. AI, leptin, insulin and HOMA-IR were higher in MO/C and C/HF v. C/C but lower than MO/HF. Glucose increased in MO/HF v. MO/C. C/HF and MO/C had higher triglyceride and corticosterone than C/C, but lower corticosterone than MO/HF. DHEA and the DHEA/corticosterone ratio were lower in C/HF and MO/C v. C/C, but higher than MO/HF. Small adipocyte proportion decreased while large adipocyte proportions increased in MO/C and C/HF v. C/C and exacerbated in MO/HF v. C/HF. Postnatal consumption of a HFD by the offspring of obese mothers exacerbates body fat accumulation as well as the decrease of small and the increase of large adipocytes, which leads to larger metabolic abnormalities.

Sharing information between different countries is key for developing sustainable solutions to environmental change. Coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico are suffering significant environmental and human-related threats. Working across national boundaries, this research project brings together scientists, specialists and local communities from Cuba and the USA. While important advances have been made in strengthening collaborations, important obstacles remain in terms of international policy constraints, different institutional and academic cultures and technology. Overcoming these limitations is essential to formulating a comprehensive understanding of the challenges that coastal socioecological systems are facing now and into the future.

We present our recent experience with a 6-month-old infant with a personal history of short bowel syndrome that presented with fever, cyanosis, and cardiogenic shock secondary to severe pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure without pulmonary thromboembolism. He did not present signs of toxin-mediated disease or Kawasaki disease. He was finally diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. If this presentation is confirmed in future research, the severe cardiovascular impairment in children with COVID-19 could be also attributable to the primary pulmonary infection, not only to a multisystem inflammatory syndrome but also in children without heart disease.

Mesoamerica is the world's third largest biodiversity hotspot and has c. 4,000 wildlife species protected under CITES. Despite the high biodiversity in the region, there is limited global attention, data and funding for conservation. The continued exploitation of wildlife species for the trade requires a more proactive approach to address emerging trends, and low-cost and effective solutions to prevent species decline. Over a 5-month period in 2017, we used expert-driven horizon scanning, facilitated online, to identify emerging trends of the illegal wildlife trade in Mesoamerica. We found that the main emerging trends included digital and technological advancements, greater regional access to the global community, developments in trafficking techniques and growing demand for certain species. Our findings demonstrate that horizon scanning can be used as a tool for identifying emerging trends of illegal wildlife trade in data-poor contexts. We recommend that horizon scanning is used regularly for systematic monitoring of trends and to prioritize resources for immediate and emerging trends in illegal wildlife trade.

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 Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) is widely validated and used as a screening tool for bipolar disorder. However, there is no BSDS validated version for its use in Mexican population. The aim of the present study was to examine the BSDS diagnostic capacity, and to evaluate its criterion validity and internal consistency for its use in Mexican psychiatric patients. We recruited 200 patients who attended the psychiatric outpatient service of a Mental Health Specialized Hospital and were screened for bipolar disorder using BSDS. To determine the cut-off point, sensitivity and specificity, we used the SCID–I diagnosis as the gold standard in 100 participants with bipolar disorder and 100 with major depression. Internal consistency according to Cronbach’s coefficient alpha was .81. The area under ROC curve for the overall discriminability of BSDS against the criterion of SCID–I for bipolar disorder was .90. Finally, a cut-off value of 12 reached the most stable sensitivity and specificity, with predictive powers higher than .80. In conclusion, the properties of the scale including internal consistency, sensitivity and specificity, make of BSDS a valuable instrument for screening bipolar disorder in Mexican psychiatric population.