Publications

ABSTRACT Restoration efforts are urgently needed for the conservation of coral reefs. Among emerging tools, the use of probiotics has shown promise in laboratory settings for improving coral resilience, but their validation under real‐world reef conditions remains limited. Here, we present the Coral Probiotics Village (CPV) as a novel and fully operational underwater research laboratory and a testing ground designed to support the in situ testing of microbial‐based coral restoration interventions. This manuscript describes the design, establishment, and scientific validation of the CPV, including continuous environmental monitoring, a summary of previously developed pilot trials of probiotic applications, and an integration of sensor networks, AI‐assisted reef monitoring, and autonomous technologies. We propose the CPV as a scalable model for integrated coral restoration science and suggest its replication as a tool to accelerate applied reef conservation efforts globally.

The management of coastal blue carbon ecosystems can contribute to mitigate anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. However, limited information on soil organic carbon (OC) decay rates in tidal marsh, mangrove and seagrass soils hinders their inclusion in climate strategies and carbon-crediting schemes. Here, we analyzed downcore OC trends in 3,733 soil cores from blue carbon ecosystems worldwide. A decrease in OC content with soil depth was measured in 63% of the cores, whereas stable and increasing trends were observed in 23% and 14% of the cores, respectively. Based on 75 profiles where OC decay could be modelled, the OC decay rate in blue carbon ecosystems was 0.024±0.002 yr-1 over the last 100 years and 0.007±0.0007 yr-1 over the last 1,000 years. This results in the stabilization of 9% and 0.1% of the soil OC inputs 100 and 1,000 yr after burial, respectively, showcasing the long residence time of OC in the sinks associated to blue carbon ecosystems. The models provided can inform baseline scenarios towards the implementation of carbon-crediting schemes.

Since the first alert launched by the World Health Organization (5 January, 2020), COVID-19 has been spreading out to over 180 countries and territories. As of June 18, 2020, in total, there are now over 8,400,000 cases and over 450,000 related deaths. This causes massive losses in the economy and jobs globally and confining about 58% of the global population. In this paper, we introduce SenWave, a novel sentimental analysis work using 105+ million collected tweets and Weibo messages to evaluate the global rise and falls of sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make a fine-grained analysis on the feeling when we face this global health crisis, we annotate 10K tweets in English and 10K tweets in Arabic in 10 categories, including optimistic, thankful, empathetic, pessimistic, anxious, sad, annoyed, denial, official report, and joking. We then utilize an integrated transformer framework, called simpletransformer, to conduct multi-label sentimental classification by fine-tuning the pre-trained language model on the labeled data. Meanwhile, in order for a more complete analysis, we also translate the annotated English tweets into different languages (Spanish, Italian, and French) to generated training data for building sentiment analysis models for these languages. SenWave thus reveals the sentiment of global conversation in six different languages on COVID-19 (covering English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic and Chinese), followed the spread of the epidemic. The conversation showed a remarkably similar pattern of rapid rise and slow decline over time across all nations, as well as on special topics like the herd immunity strategies, to which the global conversation reacts strongly negatively. Overall, SenWave shows that optimistic and positive sentiments increased over time, foretelling a desire to seek, together, a reset for an improved COVID-19 world.

Immobilization of marine invertebrates for research purposes has been commonly used and is often necessary to obtain high-quality findings. Despite these approaches being standard procedures, they can affect the specimens, and their responses as well. The effectiveness of magnesium chloride (MgCl 2 ) to “narcotize” marine invertebrates has been recognized since 1946. Here, we determine the concentration of MgCl 2 that immobilizes Cassiopea sp., at jellyfish stage, effectively and quickly, without causing mortality. The specimens were exposed to different concentrations of MgCl 2 , until the range was narrowed, and the most effective concentration was found (0.092M). In the final experiment, the jellyfish (~ 8.68 cm ± 1.70 SD of diameter) were exposed to a 0.092M MgCl 2 solution for 2 and 24 hours. Before, during, and after the exposure we monitored the following biological responses: (1) cessation of bell pulsations, (2) responsiveness to bell-tap stimulus, (3) photochemical efficiency, (4) bell pulsation, (5) recovery time, and (6) survival after 24 and 48 hours from exposure. Environmental conditions (pH and dissolved oxygen, d O 2 ) were monitored as well. Our findings indicate that, despite being an effective concentration for immobilization of Cassiopea sp. at jellyfish stage, their bell pulsations were significantly affected both after 2 and 24 hours when comparing the values measured in the “pre-incubation” and “immediate post-incubation” phases, whereas bell size was significantly affected only in the 24 hours incubation. In conclusion, we suggest that this concentration can be used to immobilize Cassiopea sp.at jellyfish stage for short-term analyses. However, the limitations related to the use of this chemical should be reported, as it could lead scientists to misleading conclusions.

Abstract The Red Sea is characterized by its high seawater temperature and salinity, and the resilience of its coastal ecosystems to global warming is of growing interest. This high salinity and temperature might also render the Red Sea a favorable ecosystem for calcification and therefore resistant to ocean acidification. However, there is a lack of survey data on the CO 2 system of Red Sea coastal ecosystems. A 1‐year survey of the CO 2 system was performed in a seagrass lagoon, a mangrove forest, and a coral reef in the central Red Sea, including fortnight seawater sampling and high‐frequency pH T monitoring. In the coral reef, the CO 2 system mean and variability over the measurement period are within the range of other world's reefs with pH T , dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), total alkalinity (TA), p CO 2, and Ω arag of 8.016±0.077, 2061±58 μmol/kg, 2415±34 μmol/kg, 461±39 μatm, and 3.9±0.4, respectively. Here, comparisons with an offshore site highlight dominance of calcification and photosynthesis in summer‐autumn, and dissolution and heterotrophy in winter‐spring. In the seagrass meadow, the pH T , DIC, TA, p CO 2 , and Ω arag were 8.00±0.09, 1986±68 μmol/kg, 2352±49 μmol/kg, 411±66 μatm, and 4.0±0.3, respectively. The seagrass meadow TA and DIC were consistently lower than offshore water. The mangrove forest showed the highest amplitudes of variation, with pH T , DIC, TA, p CO 2 , and Ω arag , were 7.95±0.26, 2069±132 μmol/kg, 2438±91 μmol/kg, 493±178 μatm, and 4.1±0.6, respectively. We highlight the need for more research on sources and sinks of DIC and TA in coastal ecosystems.

Objetivos: El presente estudio describe las características clínicas y epidemiológicas de las pacientes con cáncer de mama a quienes se les aplicó la técnica del ganglio centinela en el Servicio de Seno y Tejidos Blandos del Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INC), en 10 años de experiencia.Métodos:Serie de casos de pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer de mama temprano en estadios 0-IIB (T3N0M0), a quienes se les realizó la técnica. A partir de registros de los servicios de Patología, Medicina Nuclear y Cirugía de Seno y Tejidos Blandos del INC, se realizó la captura de datos aplicando un cuestionario previamente elaborado. Resultados: Se tomaron en cuenta 289 casos; las técnicas usadas incluyeron: radio coloides (Tecnecio 99) en 256 casos; colorante, en 5; y ambas técnicas, en los 28 restantes. El ganglio centinela fue identificado en 283 casos, con una tasa de detección del 98,0%. En carcinoma invasor, el tamaño tumoral promedio fue 2,2 cm (DE 1,1). En promedio, fueron resecados 1,5 ganglios (0,99 DE); de estos casos, 85 (30%) fueron metastásicos. Hubo 24 eventos adversos; el más común fue la formación de seroma. La media de seguimiento fue de 647 días (DE 693 días); el porcentaje de pacientes libres de enfermedad al seguimiento, del 94,4%; hubo recaída axilar en 1 paciente.Conclusiones: Según los autores de la experiencia descrita, la técnica de ganglio centinela es segura, pues permite una estadificación adecuada de la axila. Las características tumorales del ganglio centinela en la población objeto de estudio guardan similitud con las reportadas en la literatura mundial.

The dynamics of mesoscale eddies of the Leeuwin Current off Western Australia (WA) are critical for regional fisheries. We spent a month documenting the dynamics of a large mesoscale eddy accelerating off WA as it formed. The vortex trapped coastal organisms including fish larvae and plankton, and impacted nutrient fluxes and primary productivity. Eddies have been shown to transport a substantial fraction of the heat and momentum flux of the Leeuwin Current, and may be crucial transporters of productive coastal water into the open ocean. Here we hypothesize that they may transport particulte carbon, and possibly dissolved and/or volatile organic carbon, up to 1000 m below the surface, contributing substantially to vertical fluxes in the ocean.