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The wMel strain of Wolbachia has been successfully introduced into Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and has been shown to reduce the transmission of dengue and other Aedes-borne viruses. Here we report the entomological results from phased, large-scale releases of Wolbachia infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes throughout three contiguous cities located in the Aburrá Valley, Colombia. Local wMel Wolbachia-infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes were generated and then released in an initial release pilot area in 2015-2016, which resulted in the establishment of Wolbachia in the local mosquito populations. Subsequent large-scale releases, mainly involving vehicle-based releases of adult mosquitoes along publicly accessible roads and streets, were undertaken across 29 comunas throughout Bello, Medellín and Itagüí Colombia between 2017-2022. In 9 comunas these were supplemented by egg releases that were undertaken by staff or community members. By the most recent monitoring, Wolbachia was found to be stable and established at consistent levels in local mosquito populations (>60% prevalence) in the majority (67%) of areas. These results, from the largest contiguous releases of wMel Wolbachia mosquitoes to date, highlight the operational feasibility of implementing the method in large urban settings. Based on results from previous studies, we expect that Wolbachia establishment will be sustained long term. Ongoing monitoring will confirm Wolbachia persistence in local mosquito populations and track its establishment in the remaining areas.

Due to the environmental impact of using fossil fuels, alternatives for the generation of biofuels are being studied. An option for this problem is to obtain biodiesel from recycled vegetable oil. Studies show that basic homogeneous catalysis has advantages such as speed over other types of catalysis. However, most of these studies are conducted with unused or little-used oils. Therefore, this study aims to obtain biodiesel from recycled vegetable oil collected from municipal oil collection centers by transesterification applying NaOH or KOH as catalysts. The used oil was filtered, washed, and dried to remove impurities. The transesterification reaction catalyzed with NaOH and KOH was carried out; each catalyst was tested at two concentrations: 0.5% and 1% w/w. All reactions were carried out at 55 °C, 350 rpm, methanol, and alcohol/oil ratio of 6/1 for 1.5 h. The best yield was found with the KOH with a concentration of 0.5%. The biodiesel obtained presented the following properties: density of 0.8807 g/mL, a viscosity of 4.694 mm2/s, an acid number of 0.355 mg KOH/g, and corrosion 1a, a calorific value of 39,726 J/g, and a FAME of 93%.

Age-related neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are characterized by deposits of protein aggregates, or amyloid, in various regions of the brain. Historically, aggregation of a single protein was observed to be correlated with these different pathologies: tau in AD and α-synuclein (αS) in PD. However, there is increasing evidence that the pathologies of these two diseases overlap, and the individual proteins may even promote each other’s aggregation. Both tau and αS are intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), lacking stable secondary and tertiary structure under physiological conditions. In this study we used a combination of biochemical and biophysical techniques to interrogate the interaction of tau with both soluble and fibrillar αS. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) was used to assess the interactions of specific domains of fluorescently labeled tau with full length and C-terminally truncated αS in both monomer and fibrillar forms. We found that full-length tau as well as individual tau domains interact with monomer αS weakly, but this interaction is much more pronounced with αS aggregates. αS aggregates also mildly slow the rate of tau aggregation, although not the final degree of aggregation. Our findings suggest that co-occurrence of tau and αS in disease are more likely to occur through monomer-fiber binding interactions, rather than monomer-monomer or co-aggregation.

The small neuronal protein α-synuclein (αS) is found in pre-synaptic terminals and plays a role in vesicle recycling and neurotransmission. Fibrillar aggregates of αS are the hallmark of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. In both health and disease, interactions with lipids influence αS’s structure and function, prompting much study of the effects of lipids on αS aggregation. A comprehensive collection (126 examples) of aggregation rate data for various αS/lipid combinations was presented, including combinations of lipid variations and mutations or post-translational modifications of αS. These data were interpreted in terms of lipid structure to identify general trends. These tabulated data serve as a resource for the community to help in the interpretation of aggregation experiments with lipids and to be potentially used as inputs for computational models of lipid effects on aggregation.

Cancer patients experience several symptoms throughout their illness and the treatments they receive. While this pathology represents a worldwide health problem, knowing the symptom prevalence in oncology patients remains a challenge; validated tools to obtain this information are essential. Furthermore, this prevalence information would help health professionals to establish appropriate treatments. The objective of this study was to ascertain the symptom prevalence in cancer patients from Spain and Colombia to improve future approaches. The frequency, severity, and distress of 32 symptoms from a validated scale experienced by cancer patients from Spain and Colombia were measured. Two hundred and forty-six patients (49.7%) who attended the Day University Hospital of Salamanca (Spain) and two hundred and forty-nine outpatients (50.3%) of the San Diego Cancer Center (Colombia) between 2016 and 2019 participated in the study. All patients filled in the Assessment Scale only once. Four hundred and ninety-five patients (333 women (67.3%) and 162 men (32.7%)) completed the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (Spanish version). The most frequent symptom for both samples (Spanish and Colombian) was “lack of energy” (38.4% and 13.7%, respectively). The most severe symptoms for the Spanish and Colombian samples were “problems with sexual interest or activity” (38.4%) and “dry mouth” (13.7%), respectively, and both samples agreed on the most distressing symptom: “hair loss” (Spanish, 38%; Colombian, 10.1%). The Spanish version of the MSAS has proven to be a valid and reliable tool in Spanish-speaking countries to obtain the most prevalent, severe, and distressing symptoms in Spanish and Colombian oncology patients. The prevalence of symptoms was demonstrated to be similar across both countries, and the results will help to design and adapt treatments for cancer patients, targeting these symptoms to reduce or avoid them and thus improving their quality of life.

[...]the most critical voices on behalf of equitably mitigating climate change and resisting and reversing environmental degradation are left out of decision-making processes (Faber & McCarthy, 2001; Jenkins et al., 2018). According to a report from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, from 2007 to 2009 only 15% of environmental grant dollars were dedicated to marginalized communities, and only 11°% were classified as \"social justice\" grants (Hansen, 2012). [...]co-optation leads to more support for environmental projects deemed by funders to be nonconfrontational to polluting industries, and thus typically favors the advocacy work of mainstream environmental organizations or service-oriented activities of community-based groups (Harrison, 2016; Kohl-Arenas, 2015; Jenkins et al., 2018, McCarthy, 2004). [...]funders can become better partners, leverage more resources, and address misalignment patterns that hinder EJ movement building and impact at the grassroots.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011642.].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011642.].

Alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) evolve to maximise fitness by favouring alternative phenotypes when high variance in relative fitness occurs amongst individuals. In the damselfly Hetaerina vulnerata males occur as either territorial or nonterritorial, depending on whether males acquire and defend an area to which females are attracted for copulation. Territorial males are usually larger, more pigmented and more successful in obtaining copulations than nonterritorial males. Several studies further suggest that territorial males are in overall better condition than nonterritorial ones. Other studies have investigated whether wing pigmentation, a sexual trait in damselflies, scales hyperallometrically with body size, and asked whether this pattern is related to fitness—nonetheless, a clear answer to this question remains elusive. Here we investigate whether i) territorial and nonterritorial males differed in body size and wing pigmentation; ii) body size, wing pigmentation and/or male status (male ART) predicted male mating success; and iii) the allometry of wing pigmentation in territorial and nonterritorial males, and amongst mated and unmated males. We first found that territorial and nonterritorial males did not differ in body size. Second, contrary to what occurs in other damselflies, territorial and nonterritorial males exhibited similar amounts of wing pigmentation. Third, only territory tenure, but not body size or wing pigmentation, predicted male mating success. Finally, with the exception of the relationship exhibited by mated males, which exhibited isometry, wing pigmentation was hyperallometric in all groups of males tested. The latter result suggests that hyperallometry of the sexual trait in this damselfly may not be selectively advantageous.