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Exercise training is a well-known non-pharmacological strategy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Despite the established phenotypic knowledge, the molecular signature of exercise-induced cardiac remodeling remains poorly characterized. The great majority of studies dedicated to this topic use conventional reductionist methods, which only allow analyzing individual protein candidates. Nowadays, several methodologies based on mass spectrometry are available and have been successfully applied for the characterization of heart proteome, representing an attractive approach for the wide characterization of the complex molecular networks that underlie exercise-induced cardiac remodeling. Still, few studies have used these methodologies to understand the impact of exercise training on the remodeling of cardiac proteome. The present study analyzes the few available data obtained from mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic studies assessing the impact of distinct types of exercise training on the protein profile of heart (left ventricle and isolated mitochondria) and the potential cross-tolerance between exercise training and diseases as myocardial infarction and obesity. Network analysis was performed with bioinformatics to integrate data from distinct research papers, based on distinct exercise training protocols, animal models and methodological approaches applied in the characterization of heart proteome. The analysis revealed that exercise training confers a unique proteome signature characterized by the up-regulation of lipid and organic metabolic processes, vasculogenesis and tissue regeneration. Data retrieved from this analysis also suggested that cardiac mitochondrial proteome is highly dynamic in response to exercise training due, in part, to the action of specific kinases as PKA and PKG. Regarding to the type of exercise, treadmill training seems to have a greater effect on the modulation of cardiac proteome than swimming. Data from the present review will certainly open new perspectives on cardiac proteomics and will help to envisage future studies targeting the identification of the regulatory mechanisms underlying cardiac adaptive and maladaptive remodeling.

This work assessed the Blue Carbon (C) stock in the seagrass meadows (Zostera noltei) of Ria de Aveiro coastal lagoon (Portugal), and evaluated its spatio-temporal trend over the 2003–2005 to 2013–2014 period. Zostera noltei spatial distribution, restricted to intertidal areas in 2014, was mapped by remote sensing using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and aerial photography. Zostera noltei biomass was also monitored in situ over a year and its Blue C stock was estimated. By 2014, intertidal meadows covered an area of 226 ± 4 ha and their Blue C stock ranged from 227 ± 6 to 453 ± 13 Mg C. Overall, Ria de Aveiro Z. noltei intertidal meadows increased in extent over the 2003–2005 to 2013–2014 period, corroborating the recent declining trend reversal observed in Europe and contrary to the global decline trend. This spatio-temporal shift might be related to a natural adjustment of the intertidal meadows to past human intervention in Ria de Aveiro, namely large-scale dredging activities, particularly in the 1996–1998 period, combined with the more accurate assessment performed in 2014 using the UAV. This recovery contributes to the effective increase of the Blue C stock in Ria de Aveiro and, ultimately, to supporting climate regulation and improving ecosystem health. However, major dredging activities are foreseen in the system’s management plan, which can again endanger the recovery trend of Z. noltei intertidal meadows in Ria de Aveiro.

The concept of water observatories is extended to create a highly versatile tool for both the daily and the long-term management of estuarine ecosystems. Coastal observatories are evolving from simple data repositories to include forecasts, scenarios' analyses and indicators, integrated in web platforms that provide multiple products and services. In a context of climate change (CC) and growing anthropogenic pressures, the assessment of the ecological health implies that the biogeochemical status is adequately quantified and incorporated in the coastal management decision-making procedure. This quantification requires accurate models for hydrodynamics and ecology that account for all relevant processes at the right scales. These models must be applied in forecast mode for emergency purposes and in hindcast mode to explore multiple scenarios as part of the CC adaptation strategy, creating a complex, vast amount of information to be shared with the coastal managers. A web-based portal supported by a comprehensive modeling and forecasting framework and materialized along the main water quality/biogeochemistry themes, from data to indicators, is developed and demonstrated in two distinct yet complex coastal systems: the Tagus estuary and the Ria Formosa lagoon. The paper starts with the requirements analysis from both ecological and computer science perspectives and then presents the overall multi-layered architecture of the framework and its key software components. The observatory portal implementation and demonstration explore its usefulness for coastal management.

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Growing evidence suggests that a range of reversible protein post-translational modifications such as acetylation regulates mitochondria signalling, impacting cellular homeostasis. However, the extent of this type of regulation in the control of mitochondria functionality is just beginning to be discovered, aided by the availability of high-resolution mass spectrometers and bioinformatic tools. Data mining from literature on protein acetylation profiling focused on mitochondria isolated from tissues retrieved more than 1395 distinct proteins, corresponding to more than 4858 acetylation sites. ClueGo analysis of identified proteins highlighted oxidative phosphorylation, tricarboxylic acid cycle, fatty acid oxidation and amino acid metabolism as the biological processes more prone to regulation through acetylation. This review also examines the physiological relevance of protein acetylation on the molecular pathways harbored in mitochondria under distinct pathophysiological conditions as caloric restriction and alcohol-induced liver damage. This integrative perspective will certainly help to envisage future studies targeting the regulation of mitochondrial functionality.

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