BUSCADOR RECOLECTA

To investigate the safety and immunogenicity of a modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector expressing HIV-1 antigens from clade B (MVA-B), a phase-I, doubled-blind placebo-controlled trial was performed., Peer reviewed

Attenuated poxvirus vectors expressing human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) antigens are considered promising HIV/AIDS vaccine candidates. Here, we describe the nature of T cell immune responses induced in healthy volunteers participating in a phase I clinical trial in Spain after intramuscular administration of three doses of the recombinant MVA-B-expressing monomeric gp120 and the fused Gag-Pol-Nef (GPN) polyprotein of clade B. The majority (92.3%) of the volunteers immunized had a positive specific T cell response at any time postvaccination as detected by gamma interferon (IFN-γ) intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assay. The CD4(+) T cell responses were predominantly Env directed, whereas the CD8(+) T cell responses were similarly distributed against Env, Gag, and GPN. The proportion of responders after two doses of MVA-B was similar to that obtained after the third dose of MVA-B vaccination, and the responses were sustained (84.6% at week 48). Vaccine-induced CD8(+) T cells to HIV-1 antigens after 1 year were polyfunctional and distributed mainly within the effector memory (TEM) and terminally differentiated effector memory (TEMRA) T cell populations. Antivector T cell responses were mostly induced by CD8(+) T cells, highly polyfunctional, and of TEMRA phenotype. These findings demonstrate that the poxvirus MVA-B vaccine candidate given alone is highly immunogenic, inducing broad, polyfunctional, and long-lasting CD4 and CD8 T cell responses to HIV-1 antigens, with preference for TEM. Thus, on the basis of the immune profile of MVA-B in humans, this immunogen can be considered a promising HIV/AIDS vaccine candidate., Peer reviewed

Entrevista de radio en el programa "Españoles en la Mar" de Radio Nacional de España relativa a los logros alcanzados en la reproducción del mero en cautividad, 30 de Octubre de 2014

Controlling sex ratios is esential for the aquaculture industry especially in those species with sex dimorfism for relevant poductive traits

8 programes especials del programa "Fora d'hores" de Ràdio 4 produït pel "Laboratori de Produccions Sonores de Ficció i Entreteniment" de la Llicenciatura de Comunicació Audiovisual de la UAB, Emesos entre el juny i el setembre de 2011

Esta base de datos contiene la densidad de las microalgas encontradas en 30 lagunas costeras de la costa pacífica de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en tres periodos de su año hidrológico: comienzo de las lluvias (junio 2010), plena inundación (septiembre 2010) y sequía (enero 2011). La recolección fue subsuperficial. En esta matriz de datos las filas son las diferentes especies encontradas y las columnas la muestra (laguna y fecha). Información geográfica y limnológica de las lagunas se puede encontrar en Sasa et al. (2015: Limnetica vol 34).

Esta matriz de datos contiene: a) el biovolumen de las especies encontradas en el punto llamado Molemocho del humedal de Las Tablas de Daimiel desde 1996 a 2002 muestreado mensualmente y b) el área de inundación del humedal en esos años. Los métodos de toma de muestras y observación, clasificación, recuento y cálculo del biovolumen, así como más información sobre el humedal se pueden encontrar, entre otras publicaciones en Rojo et al. 2012 (Trade-offs in plankton species richness arising from drought: insights from long-term data of a National Park wetland (central Spain). Biodversity and Consrvation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0307-1). La información de a) está ordenada en filas (cada especie) y columnas (cada fecha). Las unidades son micras cúbicas por mililitro. La información de b) se encuentra como dos filas últimas (rótulo de fecha y hectáreas de inundación) siendo las columnas de nuevo la fecha de la obtención del dato. El formato es CVS.

Esta base de datos contiene los valores de 24 variables (geográficas y limnológicas) de 30 lagunas costeras de la costa pacífica de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en tres periodos de su año hidrológico: comienzo de las lluvias (junio 2010), plena inundación (septiembre 2010) y sequía (enero 2011). En esta matriz de datos las filas son los cuerpos de agua muestreados y las columnas las variables. Cada periodo hidrológico muestreado se presenta en una hoja aparte. Descripción de estas lagunas basada en esta y en otra información se puede encontrar en Sasa et al. (2015: Limnetica vol 34).

Arabidopsis_data_279accessions_8jan14, The role that different life-history traits may have in the process of adaptation caused by divergent selection can be assessed by using extensive collections of geographically-explicit populations. This is because adaptive phenotypic variation shifts gradually across space as a result of the geographic patterns of variation in environmental selective pressures. Hence, large-scale experiments are needed to identify relevant adaptive life-history traits as well as their relationships with putative selective agents. We conducted a field experiment with 279 geo-referenced accessions of the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana collected across a native region of its distribution range, the Iberian Peninsula. We quantified variation in life-history traits throughout the entire life cycle. We built a geographic information system to generate an environmental data set encompassing climate, vegetation and soil data. We analysed the spatial autocorrelation patterns of environmental variables and life-history traits, as well as the relationship between environmental and phenotypic data. Almost all environmental variables were significantly spatially autocorrelated. By contrast, only two life-history traits, seed weight and flowering time, exhibited significant spatial autocorrelation. Flowering time, and to a lower extent seed weight, were the life-history traits with the highest significant correlation coefficients with environmental factors, in particular with annual mean temperature. In general, individual fitness was higher for accessions with more vigorous seed germination, higher recruitment and later flowering times. Variation in flowering time mediated by temperature appears to be the main life-history trait by which A. thaliana adjusts its life history to the varying Iberian environmental conditions. The use of extensive geographically-explicit data sets obtained from field experiments represents a powerful approach to unravel adaptive patterns of variation. In a context of current global warming, geographically-explicit approaches, evaluating the match between organisms and the environments where they live, may contribute to better assess and predict the consequences of global warming., Peer reviewed

Data from: Matrix composition and patch edges influence plant-herbivore interactions in marine landscapes Ecological data from seagrass meadows located in the NW Mediterranean Sea. herbivory_seascape.zip, The functioning of ecosystems can be strongly driven by landscape attributes. Despite its importance, however, our understanding of how landscape influences ecosystem function derives mostly from species richness and abundance patterns, with few studies assessing how these relate to actual functional rates. We examined the influence of landscape attributes on the rates of herbivory in seagrass meadows, where herbivory has been identified as a key process structuring these relatively simple systems. The study was conducted in three representative Posidonia oceanica meadows. The principal herbivores in these meadows are the fish Sarpa salpa and the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, and we hypothesised that differences in their interaction with landscape attributes would significantly influence herbivory rates. We measured herbivore abundance, herbivory rates, primary production and plant quality (C:N) in seagrass patches embedded either in rock or in sand (matrix attribute), in patches either near or far from a rocky reef (distance attribute) and at the edges and interior of meadows. Our results show that matrix and meadow edges significantly affected the actual levels of herbivory. Herbivory rates were higher in seagrass patches embedded in a rocky matrix compared to those on sand, and herbivory at the centre of seagrass meadows was higher than at the edges. In contrast, patch distance to rocky reefs did not affect herbivory. Neither herbivore abundance nor food quality explained the patterns across different landscape attributes. This suggests that variation in herbivory across the landscape may be related much more to behavioural differences between species in their evaluation of risk, movement, and food preference in relation to the landscape structure. Our results indicate that richness and abundance patterns may mask critical interactions between landscape attributes and species responses, which result in considerable heterogeneity in the way key functional processes like herbivory are distributed across the ecosystem mosaic., Peer reviewed