Constructed pine log piles facilitate plant establishment in mining drylands.

Ecological facilitation, though accepted as a main mechanism of plant community assembly, is just starting to be utilized in restoration programmes. Constructing nurse objects that mimic the effect of natural nurse species can be an option to trigger plant nucleation processes in disturbed stressful ecosystems. We hypothesized that arranged log piles might imitate plant facilitation by alleviating abiotic stress and expanding the regeneration niche of beneficiary species, eventually promoting plant establishment, fitness and diversity. With this aim, within a pilot restoration programme in abandoned mining structures in SE Spain where climatic and edaphic stresses concur, we constructed 133 pine log piles from natural wastes generated by local silvicultural activities. We monitored 51 of them plus their adjacent open areas for 15 months, measuring soil temperature, radiation and humidity. We recorded natural seedling establishment, plant nutritional status and heavy metal accumulation. We further performed a seed sowing experiment to investigate how log piles affect plant taxonomic and functional diversity based on 11 establishment and phytostabilization traits. Pine log piles significantly softened microclimatic conditions and accelerated plant establishment in unfertile and metal-polluted mining substrates, simultaneously capturing water, providing shade and pine seeds. Plant communities that naturally established beneath the piles were 15 times denser and five times taxonomically more diverse than those in open areas, despite being skewed towards pine recruitment. Experimental communities sown under log piles were also 1.4 times functionally more diverse, as theory predicts for relaxed abiotic conditions. Log piles improved seedling nutritional status, in terms of P and K content, at the cost of increased metal accumulation. At the landscape scale, nurse objects triggered plant establishment promoting taxonomic and functional diversity in extremely stressful environments. This study exemplifies how soft restoration tools can be based on mechanisms that are widely accepted in the ecological theory.

La ostomía como causa de incapacidad laboral / Ostomy as a cause for work disability

Es conocido que un elevado número de personas portadoras de una ostomía, independientemente de la profesión que vinieran realizando antes de la cirugía, se les incapacita legalmente para continuar realizando su actividad laboral. A raíz de la experiencia de las enfermeras especialistas en el cuidado de pacientes ostomizados, surge la duda de si quizá haya casos en los que hay personas que son aptas y capaces de seguir desarrollando su labor, una vez que su estado de salud lo permita. Se presenta el caso de un paciente de 40 años de edad, buzo profesional, diagnosticado de adenocarcinoma de colon, tratado quirúrgicamente con una amputación abdominoperineal y con una colostomía permanente, que fue tratado posteriormente con quimioterapia y radioterapia. El deseo del buzo devolver a realizar su labor profesional, junto con el consejo y apoyo de la enfermera estomaterapeuta y otros colaboradores de otros servicios del hospital, hicieron posible la planificación de una estrategia para poder conseguir revertir esta situación y así volver a desempeñar su profesión. Desde entonces esta persona lleva a cabo una vida normal irrigándose y utilizando obturador, realizando inmersiones submarinas de carácter deportivo con botella de oxígeno hasta 40metros, sin presentar complicaciones o limitaciones que puedan impedir que desarrolle su actividad profesional adecuadamente

It is a fact that a high number of persons with ostomy, regardless of their profession before surgery, become legally disabled to continue with their work activity. Based on the experience of nurses specialized in care for ostomized patients, doubts have arisen about those potential cases in which persons are able to continue conducting their activity, once their health status allows them to. We present the case of a 40-year-old patient, who is a professional Scuba diver, diagnosed with colon adenocarcinoma, surgically treated with abdominoperineal resection and permanent colostomy, who was subsequently treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The willingness by the Scuba diver to engage again in his professional work, together with the advice and support by the stoma therapist nurse and collaboration from staff in other hospital units, made it possible to plan a strategy in order to reverse this situation, so that he could go back to his profession. Since then, this person leads a normal life, irrigating himself and using a shutter, conducting submarine immersions of sports nature with an oxygen bottle up to 40 metres, without showing complications or limitations which might prevent him from conducting his professional activity adequately

Burning fire-prone Mediterranean shrublands: immediate changes in soil microbial community structure and ecosystem functions.

Wildfires subject soil microbes to extreme temperatures and modify their physical and chemical habitat. This might immediately alter their community structure and ecosystem functions. We burned a fire-prone shrubland under controlled conditions to investigate (1) the fire-induced changes in the community structure of soil archaea, bacteria and fungi by analysing 16S or 18S rRNA gene amplicons separated through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; (2) the physical and chemical variables determining the immediate shifts in the microbial community structure; and (3) the microbial drivers of the change in ecosystem functions related to biogeochemical cycling. Prokaryotes and eukaryotes were structured by the local environment in pre-fire soils. Fire caused a significant shift in the microbial community structure, biomass C, respiration and soil hydrolases. One-day changes in bacterial and fungal community structure correlated to the rise in total organic C and NO(3)(-)-N caused by the combustion of plant residues. In the following week, bacterial communities shifted further forced by desiccation and increasing concentrations of macronutrients. Shifts in archaeal community structure were unrelated to any of the 18 environmental variables measured. Fire-induced changes in the community structure of bacteria, rather than archaea or fungi, were correlated to the enhanced microbial biomass, CO(2) production and hydrolysis of C and P organics. This is the first report on the combined effects of fire on the three biological domains in soils. We concluded that immediately after fire the biogeochemical cycling in Mediterranean shrublands becomes less conservative through the increased microbial biomass, activity and changes in the bacterial community structure.

Effect of biowaste sludge maturation on the diversity of thermophilic bacteria and archaea in an anaerobic reactor.

Prokaryotic diversity was investigated near the inlet and outlet of a plug-flow reactor. After analyzing 800 clones, 50 bacterial and 3 archaeal phylogenetic groups were defined. Clostridia (>92%) dominated among bacteria and Methanoculleus (>90%) among archaea. Significant changes in pH and volatile fatty acids did not invoke a major shift in the phylogenetic groups. We suggest that the environmental filter imposed by the saline conditions (20 g liter(-1)) selected a stable community of halotolerant and halophilic prokaryotes.

Microbial community structure at different depths in disturbed and undisturbed semiarid Mediterranean forest soils.

Metabolic abilities and micrfiobial community structure were investigated through three semiarid Mediterranean soils of SE Spain. The soils were (1) a Typic Calcixerept under an adult pine plantation (PP), growing on abandoned agricultural terraces; (2) a Typic Calcixeroll under a native pinewood (NP); and (3) a Typic Haploxerept covered with a grass steppe (GS). PP and NP were similar as regards their genesis, but the former used to be tilled. NP and GS were undisturbed and supported natural and seminatural vegetation, respectively. Seven samples in 10-cm depth increments were taken in triplicate along each soil profile. Community-level physiological profiles based on sole-C-source use were determined to characterize the metabolic abilities. A 16S rDNA polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis was performed to investigate the microbial genetic structure. Plant cover and land-use history were major determinants of microbial community structure. Microbial communities residing in soils under a native pinewood, the most diverse and stable plant cover, were the most complex both metabolically and genetically. The microbial community structure distinctly changed with depth, related to the quantity and quality of total organic carbon. Both undisturbed soils showed falling gradients of metabolic and genetic complexity, which were invariably of a greater magnitude in the mature woodland than in the grass steppe. In the planted pinewood, however, the substrate-use diversity increased with depth, apparently a response to the depleted metabolic abilities within its upper layer (0-30 cm). Tilling and plant cover removal might be responsible for such a perturbation. In the same profile, molecular fingerprint patterns of the topsoil layer (0-10 cm) indicated a disturbed genetic structure that might underlie the loss of metabolic abilities. However, the genetic structure of the deeper layers of the planted and native pinewoods was not dissimilar, revealing that equivalent genetic resources perform different environmental functions under changing soil scenarios.

Elevated thrombotic activity after myocardial infarction: A 2-year follow-up study.

This study examines the evolution of the thrombotic activity in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) treated with aspirin (200 mg/day) for 2 years after MI. Plasma samples of 10 patients were collected at 7, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 360 and 720 days. In all the samples we measured fibrinogen (Fg), high molecular weight Fg (HMW-Fg), fibrinopeptide A (FPA), prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2), beta-thromboglobulin (beta-TG), von Willebrand factor (vWF), tissue factor (TF) and TF pathway inhibitor (TFPI). The plasma Fg, HMW-Fg, FPA, F1+2, beta-TG and vWF levels were significantly elevated in the patients at the beginning of the study as compared to the normal group. The 95% confidence intervals were Fg 277-333 mg/dl, HMW-Fg 200-244 mg/dl, FPA 5.3-16.5 ng/ml, F1+2 1.4-1.8 nmol/l, beta-TG 110-118 IU/ml and vWF 139-195%. At thirty days Fg and HMW-Fg returned to normal levels, whereas the increase in FPA and F1+2 levels persisted throughout the study. At 120 and 150 days, respectively, beta-TG and vWF returned to normal levels. The increase in thrombin generation and activity pointed to a persistent hypercoagulable state 2 years after MI. Plasma levels of TF and TFPI showed no statistically significant variations with respect to the normal values over the 2-year period studied. In conclusion, these results suggest a persistent generation and activity of thrombin and cellular activation in these patients after MI.