Helminth species of Neotropical bats are poorly known. In Mexico, few studies have been conducted on helminths of bats, especially in regions such as the Yucatan Peninsula where Chiroptera is the mammalian order with the greatest number of species. In this study, we characterized morphologically and molecularly the helminth species of bats and explored their infection levels and parasite–host interactions in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. One hundred and sixty-three bats (representing 21 species) were captured between 2017 and 2022 in 15 sites throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. Conventional morphological techniques and molecular tools were used with the 28S gene to identify the collected helminths. Host–parasite network analyses were carried out to explore interactions by focusing on the level of host species. Helminths were found in 44 (26.9%) bats of 12 species. Twenty helminth taxa were recorded (7 trematodes, 3 cestodes and 10 nematodes), including 4 new host records for the Americas. Prevalence and mean intensity of infection values ranged from 7.1 to 100% and from 1 to 56, respectively. Molecular analyses confirmed the identity of some helminths at species and genus levels; however, some sequences did not correspond to any of the species available on GenBank. The parasite–host network suggests that most of the helminths recorded in bats were host-specific. The highest helminth richness was found in insectivorous bats. This study increases our knowledge of helminths parasitizing Neotropical bats, adding new records and nucleotide sequences.

The burden of depression is increasing worldwide, specifically in older adults. Unhealthy dietary patterns may partly explain this phenomenon. In the Spanish PREDIMED-Plus study, we explored (1) the cross-sectional association between the adherence to the Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS), an a priori-defined high-quality food pattern, and the prevalence of depressive symptoms at baseline (cross-sectional analysis) and (2) the prospective association of baseline PDQS with changes in depressive symptomatology after 2 years of follow-up. After exclusions, we assessed 6612 participants in the cross-sectional analysis and 5523 participants in the prospective analysis. An energy-adjusted high-quality dietary score (PDQS) was assessed using a validated FFQ. The cross-sectional association between PDQS and the prevalence of depression or presence of depressive symptoms and the prospective changes in depressive symptoms were evaluated through multivariable regression models (logistic and linear models and mixed linear-effects models). PDQS was inversely associated with depressive status in the cross-sectional analysis. Participants in the highest quintile of PDQS (Q5) showed a significantly reduced odds of depression prevalence as compared to participants in the lowest quartile of PDQS (Q1) (OR (95 %) CI = 0·82 (0·68, 0·98))). The baseline prevalence of depression decreased across PDQS quintiles (Pfor trend = 0·015). A statistically significant association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms after 2-years follow-up was found (β (95 %) CI = −0·67 z-score (–1·17, −0·18). A higher PDQS was cross-sectionally related to a lower depressive status. Nevertheless, the null finding in our prospective analysis raises the possibility of reverse causality. Further prospective investigation is required to ascertain the association between PDQS and changes in depressive symptoms along time.

Women suffer different forms of violence, both explicit and covert, due to gender asymmetry. This study analyzes the relationship between the internalization of norms assigned to the female gender understood as a form of covert social violence and the presence of anxiety and depression. 286 women were evaluated with the Inventory of Concealed Social Violence (IVISEM) to measure the internalization of gender norms, the Inventory of Situations and Responses to Anxiety (ISRA), to measure anxiety, and the Three-Dimensional Depression Questionnaire (CTD) to measure depression. In addition, the possible influence of some variables such as maternity, age and marital status on the internalization of norms and on the presence of emotional alterations is discussed. The findings showed the relationship between IVISEM factors and the seven health indicators measured. Age appeared as a modulating variable in relation to cognitive anxiety and depression and marital status is related to all depression factors. The results show that women's internalization of gender norms can be understood as hidden social violence, since it was associated with high scores in anxiety and depression.

This work presents the synthesis and characterization of a pearylated polysiloxane material (PAP) from a polycondensation reaction, followed by functionalization with HClSO3 by an electrophilic substitution reaction. According to the characterization techniques applied, a sulfonated pearylated polysiloxane was also obtained, (SPAP). The purpose of this sulfonated material is to obtain an ionomer able to be applied in hydrogen fuel cells of the proton exchange membrane kind (PEMFC). The reaction to produce the polysiloxane precursor was carried out with the commercial reagents: PhSiCl3, Ph2SiCl2 and Ph3SiCl in anhydrous THF at 75 °C and the SPAP material was obtained by sulfonation of the precursor with chlorosulfonic acid. PAP and SPAP were characterized by 1H, NMR for liquids, 29Si NMR for solids, IR-ATR, SEM, and cyclic voltammetry. The NMR 29Si spectra show that PAP and PAPS contain crosslinking regions due to PhSiCl3, growing chain zones due to Ph2SiCl2 and polymer termination zones due to Ph3SiCl, obtaining a mixture of siloxanes. The analysis by cyclic voltammetry indicates that by integrating the area under the curve of the adsorption peaks of H2, a value of 0.062 mC/cm2 is obtained, a value close to the commercial ionomer of Nafion®.

Slope deposits in semiarid regions are known to be very sensitive environments, especially those that occurred during the minor fluctuations of the late Holocene. In this paper we analyse Holocene colluvium genesis, composition, and paleoenvironmental meaning through the study of slope deposits in NE Spain. Two cumulative slope stages are described during this period. In the study area, both slope accumulations are superimposed and this has enabled an excellent preservation of the aggregative sequence and the paleosols corresponding to stabilisation stages. 14C and TL dating, as well as archaeological remains, provide considerable chronological precision for this sequence. The origin of the accumulation of the lower unit is placed around 4295–4083 cal yr BP/2346–2134 cal yr BC (late Chalcolithic) and it developed until the Iron Age in a cooler and wetter climate (Cold Iron Age). Under favourable conditions, a soil A-horizon was formed on top of this unit. A new slope accumulation was formed during the Little Ice Age. Within the slope two morphogenetic periods ending with A-horizons are distinguished and related with two main cold–wet climatic events. The study of these slopes provides a great amount of data for the paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological reconstruction of the late Holocene in NE Spain.

Salamanca lies on the right bank of the river Tormes, a tributary of the Douro, on the northern sub-plateau of the Iberian peninsula (fig. 1). Although hardly mentioned in Roman historical sources, it is a reference point for work on Roman territory because the surveyor Frontinus (De Agrorum Qualitate [ed. Thulin 1971] 1–2) used Salmantica (in Lusitania) and Palantia (in Citerior) to exemplify ager per extremitatem mensura comprehensus, the system of land organization characteristic of stipendiary cities. Frontinus was writing in Flavian times, but the creation of ager mensura comprehensus in Lusitania occurred in the Augustan period, as is confirmed by remarkable epigraphic documentation. In N Lusitania, a total of 11 boundary-stones (termini Augustales) are known, nine from the reign of Augustus (and two of these provide explicit reference to Salmantica) and two from that of Claudius. The dates provided by Augustus’ tribunicia potestas allow us to date the surveying operations delimiting the urban territories to between A.D. 4–5 (the inscriptions from Peroviseu and Ul) and A.D. 5–6 (the inscriptions from Sao Salvador, Ledesma, Ciudad Rodrigo, and the new one from Jarandilla de la Vera). The Augustan ager mensura comprehensus may have conditioned the model of the subsequent rural settlement by creating a framework for territorial occupation being organized around the villa from the Flavian period on. The villa would dominate the rural countryside, until it disappeared around the first decades of the 5th c. as part of a process that can be associated with the breaking down of imperial authority and the arrival of the Germanic peoples in the year 409. Almost nothing is known about Salamanca’s territory during the Islamic occupation until the first official repopulation took place under the king of Leon, Ramiro II, in 939–49. The lack of attested settlements in the Douro valley between the 8th and 10th c. is a key question for the organization of the border area between the Islamic state of Al-Andalus and the kingdom of Leon, but scholars generally reject the thesis formulated in 1966 by C. Sánchez Albornoz, which tended to present the lands of the Douro valley as practically depopulated.

The purpose of this work was to study the relationship between self-focused attention and mindfulness in participants prone to hallucinations and others who were not. A sample of 318 healthy participants, students at the universities of Sevilla and Almería, was given the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale-revised (LSHS-R, Bentall & Slade, 1985). Based on this sample, two groups were formed: participants with high (n = 55) and low proneness (n = 28) to hallucinations. Participants with a score higher than a standard deviation from the mean in the LSHS-R were included in the high proneness group, participants with a score lower than a standard deviation from the mean in the LSHR-R were included in the second one. All participants were also given the Self-Absorption Scale (SAS, McKenzie & Hoyle, 2008) and the Southampton Mindfulness Questionnaire (SMQ, Chadwick et al., 2008). The results showed that participants with high hallucination proneness had significantly higher levels of public (t(80) = 6.81, p < .001) and private (t(77) = 7.39, p < .001) self-focused attention and lower levels of mindfulness (t(81) = -4.56, p < .001) than participants in the group with low hallucination proneness. A correlational analysis showed a negative association between self-focused attention (private and public) and mindfulness (r = -0.23, p < .001; r = -0.38, p < .001 respectively). Finally, mindfulness was found to partly mediate between self-focused attention and hallucination proneness. The importance of self-focused attention and mindfulness in understanding the etiology of hallucinations discussed and suggest some approaches to their treatment.

The Cuban Twin Registry is a nation-wide, prospective, population-based twin registry comprising all zygosity types and ages. It was initiated in 2004 to study genetic and environmental contributions to complex diseases with high morbidity and mortality in the Cuban population. The database contains extensive information from 55,400 twin pairs enrolled in the period 2004–2006. Additionally, 2,600 new multiple births have been included from 2007 to date. In the past 4 years, more than 130 studies have been carried out using the registry with a classical genetic epidemiological approach in which concordance rates for monozygotic and dizygotic twins and heritability of various disease traits were estimated. This article summarizes the history, registry's methodology, recent research findings, and future directions of work.

Acanthocephalans have evolved a hooked proboscis and some taxa have trunk spines to attach to their definitive hosts. These structures are generated before being used, thus a key question is how investment in attachment could optimally be allocated through the ontogeny. The number and arrangement of hooks and spines are never modified in the definitive host, but it is unclear whether these structures grow during adult development. A comparison of the size of trunk spines between cystacanths and adults of Corynosoma cetaceum and C. australe indicated that spines grow in both species, but only in females, which also had significantly larger spines than males. This sexual dimorphism did not result from pure allometry because the body of females was smaller, and did not grow more than that of males. However, having a longer lifespan, females would need to withstand the extreme flow conditions prevailing in marine mammals for longer, inducing different investment and development schedules for spines. Patterns of spine growth also differed between species: fore-trunk spines grew in both species, but hind-trunk spines did only in C. cetaceum. In conclusion, investment strategies on attachment may differ, not only between congeneric species of acanthocephalan, but also between sexes of the same species.

EURECA (European Underground Rare Event Calorimeter Array) is an astro-particle physics facility aiming to directly detect galactic dark matter. The Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane has been selected as host laboratory. The EURECA collaboration unites CRESST, EDELWEISS and the Spanish-French experiment ROSEBUD, thus concentrating and focussing effort on cryogenic detector research in Europe into a single facility. EURECA will use a target mass of up to one ton, enough to explore WIMP – nucleon scalar scattering cross sections in the region of 10-9 – 10-10 picobarn. A major advantage of EURECA is the planned use of more than just one target material (multi target experiment for WIMP identification).

Plant KRP proteins are cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase subunit (Cdk) inhibitors that share a limited homology with mammalian p27Kip1 proteins. Several KRPs have been reported in maize (Zea mays L.), of which Zeama;KRP1 was studied during maize germination. Expression of the Zeama;KRP1 gene did not vary during the 24 h germination period. A homologous antibody raised against the 13 kDa carboxy end of the Zeama;KRP1 polypeptide, a sequence containing the cyclin/Cdk inhibitory domain, indicated the existence of a 22 kDa protein in maize embryonic axes, the amount of which also remained unchanged during germination. Neither abscisic acid nor cytokinins modified the amount of protein. The purified Zeama;KRP1 polypeptide inhibited the kinase activity associated with Zeama;PCNA and Zeama;CycD2;1, and also the kinase activity in p13Suc1-pulled-down complexes. However, there were differences in the inhibition pattern during germination. Whereas kinase activity in proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) or CycD2;1 immunoprecipitates was strongly inhibited mainly during early germination, that in p13Suc1-pulled-down complexes was mainly inhibited at late times, suggesting that each protein complex is composed of different cyclins and/or Cdks.

ApoA-IV is a protein constituent of HDL particles; the gene coding for it is a member of the ApoA-I–ApoC-III–ApoA-IV cluster. To investigate the effects of the quantity and the degree of saturation of dietary lipid on the long-term response of this Apo, and on the hypothetical coordinated regulation of the cluster in vivo, pigs were fed isoenergetic, cholesterol-free, low-lipid or lipid-enriched diets (containing either extra olive oil (rich in MUFA) or sunflower oil (rich in n−6 PUFA)) for 42 d. In animals fed on the control diet, ApoA-IV was mainly associated with plasma lipoproteins. An increase in plasma ApoA-IV concentration, mainly in the lipoprotein-free fraction, was induced by the lipid-enriched diets, independent of the degree of saturation of the fatty acids involved. The latter diets also led to increases in hepatic ApoA-I, ApoA-IV and ApoC-III mRNA levels, more so with the sunflower oil-rich diet. The present results show that porcine plasma ApoA-IV levels and their association with lipoproteins are very sensitive to increases in dietary lipids, independent of the degree of fatty acid saturation. Furthermore, hepatic expression of RNA appears to be coordinated along with that of the other members of the gene cluster.

The elderly population undergoes a series of physiological and sociological changes common to old age with a high probability of suffering degenerative illness and malnutrition. A dessert rich in phenolic compounds has been designed by using concentrated juices of grape, cherry, blackberry, blackcurrant and raspberry with the aim of it being used as a complementary food in adulthood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the intake of this dessert (a jar of 200 g daily for a period of 2 weeks), with an antioxidant activity equivalent to ten servings of fruits and vegetables, on several markers of oxidative and antioxidant status in DNA and plasma in a group of elderly individuals. Non-smoking institutionalised elderly subjects were recruited from a pool of volunteers in an old-age home in Murcia (Spain). Twenty-two subjects (six men and sixteen women) participated in the study. The study was designed as a randomised intervention trial with a period of 2 weeks. At days 1 and 15, blood samples were collected to analyse total antioxidant capacity, biochemical parameters, antioxidant vitamins, LDL peroxidation, and DNA damage in peripheral blood lymphocytes. The conclusion of the present study is that a 2-week intervention with our dessert enriched with natural polyphenol compounds in elderly individuals does not give enough time to find changes in the antioxidant and oxidative status. Also, the view that the marked antioxidant ability of polyphenols in vitro does not translate to analogous effects in vivo was confirmed. Moreover, a highly oxidative stress status during ageing was confirmed, together with the need to perform follow-up nutritional studies to improve this situation.

A Banach space X is said to be an {\cal M}-space if every continuous multilinear form on X is weakly sequentially continuous. We study in this paper the stability properties of the class of {\cal M}-spaces.

We give a sufficient condition for normal structure more general than the well known ɛ0(X) < 1. Moreover we obtain sufficient conditions for the fixed point property for some B-convex Banach spaces.