Growth rate, evolutionary entropy and ageing across the tree of life.

The growth rate of a population serves as a measure of its Darwinian fitness, while its sensitivity indicates the intensity of selection. Generally, the sensitivity of r decreases with age, resulting in an expected increase in population mortality over time. However, this does not hold true for many populations, especially those exhibiting negative senescence. Both evolutionary entropy and its sensitivity serve as complementary measures for assessing fitness and the intensity of selection. The sensitivity of entropy is typically a convex function of age, implying stronger selection pressures in younger and older age groups. We show that the sensitivity functions of entropy exhibit a greater range of behaviours compared to those of the growth rate alone. This strongly suggests that evolutionary entropy offers an extremely valuable measure for capturing the diversity in aging patterns within populations, complementing what can be captured by the growth rate alone.

A multiple criteria approach for building a pandemic impact assessment composite indicator: The case of COVID-19 in Portugal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major damage and disruption to social, economic, and health systems (among others). In addition, it has posed unprecedented challenges to public health and policy/decision-makers who have been responsible for designing and implementing measures to mitigate its strong negative impact. The Portuguese health authorities have used decision analysis techniques to assess the impact of the pandemic and implemented measures for counties, regions, or across the entire country. These decision tools have been subject to some criticism and many stakeholders requested novel approaches. In particular, those which considered the dynamic changes in the pandemic's behaviour due to new virus variants and vaccines. A multidisciplinary team formed by researchers from the COVID-19 Committee of Instituto Superior Técnico at the University of Lisbon (CCIST analyst team) and physicians from the Crisis Office of the Portuguese Medical Association (GCOM expert team) collaborated to create a new tool to help politicians and decision-makers to fight the pandemic. This paper presents the main steps that led to the building of a pandemic impact assessment composite indicator applied to the specific case of COVID-19 in Portugal. A multiple criteria approach based on an additive multi-attribute value theory aggregation model was used to build the pandemic assessment composite indicator. The parameters of the additive model were devised based on an interactive socio-technical and co-constructive process between the CCIST and GCOM team members. The deck of cards method was the adopted technical tool to assist in the assessment the value functions as well as in the assessment of the criteria weights. The final tool was presented at a press conference and had a powerful impact on the Portuguese media and on the main health decision-making stakeholders in the country. In this paper, a completed mathematical and graphical description of this tool is presented.

Evaluating fishermen's conservation attitudes and local ecological knowledge of the European sardine (Sardina pilchardus), Peniche, Portugal.

BACKGROUND: European sardines are an important fishing resource in the North Atlantic. Recognized for its great commercial and economic value in southern Europe, this resource currently has low stock indices. From this perspective, fishers' local ecological knowledge (LEK) is appreciated as an auxiliary tool in the management of sardines in this region. Our goal is to evaluate the LEK and attitudes towards the conservation of Sardina pilchardus in the typical fishing village of Peniche, Portugal. METHODS: From June to September 2016, we carried out 87 semi-structured interviews. The four main points of the interviews were interviewee profile, fishing structure, fishermen's LEK and attitudes towards sardine conservation. The interviews were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed using a 3-point Likert scale. An LEK index and an attitude index were generated. Comparison analyses and correlations were made between the indices and variables of the interviewee profile and the fishing structure. RESULTS: The mean LEK index was 0.55 and was classified as moderate. The attitudes index in relation to conservation was 0.76 and was classified as positive. This index had a positive and significant correlation with the LEK index and a significant negative correlation with the fishermen's age. When the LEK index was compared with the educational level, significant differences were observed only between class A and class C. The result showed that the differences in the attitudes index were statistically significant when the three educational classes were compared. CONCLUSIONS: The fishermen of Peniche in Portugal present moderate informal knowledge about the biology and ecology of sardines. Attitudes towards conservation were predominantly positive. Fishermen with greater LEK, with a higher educational level and at a younger age presented more positive attitudes in relation to environmental conservation issues in the present case of the sardine population. The LEK is not necessarily related to the educational level of the fishermen. We suggest environmental education programs for the communities that depend on this resource. The use of LEK and fishermen's perceptions can help in the management of the European sardine fishery in Portugal.

Huygens synchronization of two clocks.

The synchronization of two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall was first observed by Huygens during the XVII century. This type of synchronization is observed in other areas, and is fundamentally different from the problem of two clocks hanging from a moveable base. We present a model explaining the phase opposition synchronization of two pendulum clocks in those conditions. The predicted behaviour is observed experimentally, validating the model.

[Atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (agus) which entity?]. / Atipias glandulares de significado indeterminado (agus) que entidade?

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and evolution of the atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS) without associated lesions identified on cervical Pap smear. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study concerning 33.923 cervicovaginal smears performed in the Cytopathology Department of the Coimbra University Hospital (H.U.C.) between January 1995 an December 1997. AGUS diagnosis, isolated or associated with other lesions, was made in 716 cases. Four hundred fourty-four of them were refered to patiens of the H.U.C. Ginecology Department. One hundred seventy-seven cases were classified as AGUS alone; 62 related to the Ginecology Department where follow-up was performed within a period from 3 to 36 months. This study concerns exclusively AGUS patients without associated lesions (N=62). RESULTS: Sixty two cases of isolated AGUS were studied; the incidence was 0,52% and the average age 44,7 ±11,7 [19-75] years old. Follow-up, performed between 3 and 36 months, revealed: isolated cervical smears (N=9), cervical smears and endocervical curettage (N=15), cervical smears with colposcopy and directed biopsy and/or endocervical curettage (N=11), cervical smears and colposcopy (N=19). Total histerectomy was performed in 8 cases by other reasons. Cervical smears were normal in 91,2 % of the cases (N=62). Histologic examination of surgical samples refering to total histerectomy, cervix biopsies was normal in 14 cases (38,9%), revealed cronic cervicitis in 14 cases, LSIL in 7 cases and endocervical polyps in one case. CONCLUSION: In spite of the reduced data of the study, the results point to no need to an agressive therapeutical approach at AGUS diagnosis in Pap smears.