Mechanisms of Psychological Distress following War in the Former Yugoslavia: The Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This study was funded by a grant from the European Commission, contract number INCO-CT-2004-509176. AN was supported by a Clinical Early Career Research Fellowship (113295) and a Project Grant (104288

Marine microbial community dynamics and responses to ocean acidification

Marine microbes, including both eukaryotes and prokaryotes, are the basal components of marine food webs and play a fundamental role in global biogeochemical cycling. Marine phytoplankton are responsible for approximately 50% of Earth’s primary production, while heterotrophic bacteria and archaea modulate carbon and nutrient cycling in the marine environment. The structure and function of marine microbial communities are closely coupled. Consequently, understanding the factors which govern the distribution of marine microbes through space and time has key implications for food webs and biogeochemical cycling. The development of high-throughput sequencing technologies has revolutionised marine microbial ecology by facilitating the profiling of microbial communities in high taxonomic resolution. In this thesis high-throughput sequencing of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes was used to achieve two major aims. The first aim was to investigate the ecological processes which underpin microbial community assembly in the marine environment. The second aim was to investigate the responses of marine microbial communities to near- future ocean acidification. Two studies were performed towards the first aim of this thesis. In the first study, the microbial biogeography of the South Pacific Gyre was characterised across three depths at 22 stations along a 2,000 km longitudinal transect of the region. Microbial community composition was homogenous across horizontal spatial scales in the surface waters of the South Pacific Gyre, but varied significantly between surface waters and the deep chlorophyll maximum. A null model approach was used to unveil the ecological processes driving microbial community assembly in the region. Microbial communities in the surface waters were assembled primarily through the deterministic process of homogeneous selection, indicating that selection pressures were sufficient to overwhelm the influence of dispersal effects and ecological drift across vast horizontal spatial distances in the region. Dispersal limitation was comparatively more influential in the assembly of microbial communities between the surface waters and the deep chlorophyll maximum, indicating that stochastic processes play a significant role in microbial community assembly between these contiguous water masses. In the second study, the bacterioplankton and protist biogeography of the Southland Front system was characterised in surface waters at 24 stations spanning four water masses. Both bacterioplankton and protist communities displayed significant structuring according to water mass, although this effect was most pronounced in bacterioplankton communities. A null model approach revealed that bacterioplankton communities were primarily assembled through homogeneous selection, while protist communities were primarily assembled through dispersal limitation and ecological drift across the Southland Front system. These findings highlight that distinct ecological processes can underpin the assembly of co- occurring bacterioplankton and protist communities, and that hydrographic features such as oceanic fronts play an important role in structuring both bacterioplankton and protist communities. Two studies were conducted towards the second aim of this thesis. In the first study, the effect of ocean acidification and warming on bacterioplankton communities was investigated at the fringe and ultra-oligotrophic centre of the South Pacific Gyre using trace-metal clean deckboard incubation experiments. Bacterioplankton community composition and function were resistant to ocean acidification alone, and combined with warming, at the fringe of the South Pacific Gyre. Subtle but significant responses of bacterioplankton community composition to ocean acidification were observed at the ultra- oligotrophic centre of the South Pacific Gyre. These results suggest that bacterioplankton community responses to ocean acidification may be modulated by nutrient regimes. Nonetheless, the findings of this study did not diverge substantially from the narrative that bacterioplankton communities are resistant to near-future acidification. In the second study, the effect of ocean acidification on both prokaryotic and eukaryotic biofilm communities was investigated at the Shikine-Jima CO2 seep system in Japan. The composition of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities was profoundly affected by ocean acidification through early successional stages, though these responses were not associated with shifts in community diversity or evenness. Notably, the relative abundance of the nuisance algae Prymnesium sp. and Biddulphia biddulphiana were enhanced under high CO2 conditions. These findings suggest that benthic biofilm communities may be vulnerable to near-future ocean acidification, and that changes in biofilm community composition may contribute to the reorganisation of coastal ecosystem observed at CO2 seeps globally. In its entirety, this thesis significantly contributes to our understanding of the spatial dynamics of marine microbial communities by revealing the highly deterministic nature of bacterioplankton community assembly in the coastal waters and central gyre of the South Pacific Ocean. Furthermore, the findings of this thesis highlight the dominance of stochastic processes in structuring marine protist communities across short spatial scales, which may contribute to challenges in correlating abiotic environmental variables with marine protist community composition through space. The resistance of bacterioplankton communities to ocean acidification at the fringe of the South Pacific Gyre, and subtle responses to ocean acidification at the ultra-oligotrophic centre of the South Pacific Gyre broadly support the notion that bacterioplankton communities are resilient to near-future ocean acidification. In contrast, the composition of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic biofilm communities was profoundly affected by ocean acidification, leading to the proliferation of harmful algae with potentially severe consequences for coastal marine environments

Coccolithophore Relief: An Art and Science Interrogation of Ocean Acidification

Organisms that remove carbon from the world’s carbon cycle are becoming ever more important as we try to constrain our carbon emissions to slow climate change. Marine phytoplankton, like coccolithophores, are responsible for 50 percent of global carbon fixation. Through photosynthesis, which also produces oxygen as a by-product, they fix carbon dioxide throughout their lives in the surface waters of the ocean. Even in their death, they help remove carbon from the system. Coccolithophores make armoured plates (coccoliths, hereafter referred to as ‘liths’) from calcium carbonate, which together form a sort of external skeleton for each organism. When they die, they sink and join bottom sediments, in effect exporting and burying carbon in deep-sea sediments.We decided to share the story of coccolithophores, including their important environmental role and their sensitivity to ocean acidification, with the public. We intentionally developed a project involving social arts practice to help people reflect on the importance of these small things. This included the beauty of the tiny liths that make up the  coccolithophore’s amour, the importance of each little lith to collectively make a healthy organism (that in turn has an important global role), and the effect of our individual small actions contributing to climate change. Engaging communities in social arts practice, by involving hands-on making with cognitive activity, gives time and space for such criticalreflection.5 Joining key features of the scientific narrative with congruent aspects of the art-making can serve to reinforce understanding and potential behaviour change

Testing the cognitive-behavioural maintenance models across DSM-5 bulimic-type eating disorder diagnostic groups: A multi-centre study

The original cognitive-behavioural (CB) model of bulimia nervosa, which provided the basis for the widely used CB therapy, proposed that specific dysfunctional cognitions and behaviours maintain the disorder. However, amongst treatment completers, only 40–50 % have a full and lasting response. The enhanced CB model (CB-E), upon which the enhanced version of the CB treatment was based, extended the original approach by including four additional maintenance factors. This study evaluated and compared both CB models in a large clinical treatment seeking sample (N = 679), applying both DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria for bulimic-type eating disorders. Application of the DSM-5 criteria reduced the number of cases of DSM-IV bulimic-type eating disorders not otherwise specified to 29.6 %. Structural equation modelling analysis indicated that (a) although both models provided a good fit to the data, the CB-E model accounted for a greater proportion of variance in eating-disordered behaviours than the original one, (b) interpersonal problems, clinical perfectionism and low self-esteem were indirectly associated with dietary restraint through over-evaluation of shape and weight, (c) interpersonal problems and mood intolerance were directly linked to binge eating, whereas restraint only indirectly affected binge eating through mood intolerance, suggesting that factors other than restraint may play a more critical role in the maintenance of binge eating. In terms of strength of the associations, differences across DSM-5 bulimic-type eating disorder diagnostic groups were not observed. The results are discussed with reference to theory and research, including neurobiological findings and recent hypotheses

The Pioneer Anomaly

Radio-metric Doppler tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft from heliocentric distances of 20-70 AU has consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted frequency drift uniformly changing with a rate of ~6 x 10^{-9} Hz/s. Ultimately, the drift was interpreted as a constant sunward deceleration of each particular spacecraft at the level of a_P = (8.74 +/- 1.33) x 10^{-10} m/s^2. This apparent violation of the Newton's gravitational inverse-square law has become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly remains unexplained. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of the physical properties of the anomaly and the conditions that led to its detection and characterization. We review various mechanisms proposed to explain the anomaly and discuss the current state of efforts to determine its nature. A comprehensive new investigation of the anomalous behavior of the two Pioneers has begun recently. The new efforts rely on the much-extended set of radio-metric Doppler data for both spacecraft in conjunction with the newly available complete record of their telemetry files and a large archive of original project documentation. As the new study is yet to report its findings, this review provides the necessary background for the new results to appear in the near future. In particular, we provide a significant amount of information on the design, operations and behavior of the two Pioneers during their entire missions, including descriptions of various data formats and techniques used for their navigation and radio-science data analysis. As most of this information was recovered relatively recently, it was not used in the previous studies of the Pioneer anomaly, but it is critical for the new investigation.Comment: 165 pages, 40 figures, 16 tables; accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativit

Production of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) are a diverse class of metabolites that exhibit a broad range of pharmacological activities and are synthesized through plant biosynthetic pathways comprised of complex enzyme activities and regulatory strategies. We have engineered yeast to produce the key intermediate reticuline and downstream BIA metabolites from a commercially available substrate. An enzyme tuning strategy was implemented that identified activity differences between variants from different plants and determined optimal expression levels. By synthesizing both stereoisomer forms of reticuline and integrating enzyme activities from three plant sources and humans, we demonstrated the synthesis of metabolites in the sanguinarine/berberine and morphinan branches. We also demonstrated that a human P450 enzyme exhibits a novel activity in the conversion of (R)-reticuline to the morphinan alkaloid salutaridine. Our engineered microbial hosts offer access to a rich group of BIA molecules and associated activities that will be further expanded through synthetic chemistry and biology approaches

A systematic review of patient reported factors associated with uptake and completion of cardiovascular lifestyle behaviour change

Background: Healthy lifestyles are an important facet of cardiovascular risk management. Unfortunately many individuals fail to engage with lifestyle change programmes. There are many factors that patients report as influencing their decisions about initiating lifestyle change. This is challenging for health care professionals who may lack the skills and time to address a broad range of barriers to lifestyle behaviour. Guidance on which factors to focus on during lifestyle consultations may assist healthcare professionals to hone their skills and knowledge leading to more productive patient interactions with ultimately better uptake of lifestyle behaviour change support. The aim of our study was to clarify which influences reported by patients predict uptake and completion of formal lifestyle change programmes. Methods: A systematic narrative review of quantitative observational studies reporting factors (influences) associated with uptake and completion of lifestyle behaviour change programmes. Quantitative observational studies involving patients at high risk of cardiovascular events were identified through electronic searching and screened against pre-defined selection criteria. Factors were extracted and organised into an existing qualitative framework. Results: 374 factors were extracted from 32 studies. Factors most consistently associated with uptake of lifestyle change related to support from family and friends, transport and other costs, and beliefs about the causes of illness and lifestyle change. Depression and anxiety also appear to influence uptake as well as completion. Many factors show inconsistent patterns with respect to uptake and completion of lifestyle change programmes. Conclusion: There are a small number of factors that consistently appear to influence uptake and completion of cardiovascular lifestyle behaviour change. These factors could be considered during patient consultations to promote a tailored approach to decision making about the most suitable type and level lifestyle behaviour change support

Effects of conversion of native cerrado vegetation to pasture on soil hydro-physical properties, evapotranspiration and streamflow on the Amazonian agricultural frontier

Understanding the impacts of land-use change on landscape-hydrological dynamics is one of the main challenges in the Northern Brazilian Cerrado biome, where the Amazon agricultural frontier is located. Motivated by the gap in literature assessing these impacts, we characterized the soil hydro-physical properties and quantified surface water fluxes from catchments under contrasting land-use in this region. We used data from field measurements in two headwater micro-catchments with similar physical characteristics and different land use, i.e. cerrado sensu stricto vegetation and pasture for extensive cattle ranching. We determined hydraulic and physical properties of the soils, applied ground-based remote sensing techniques to estimate evapotranspiration, and monitored streamflow from October 2012 to September 2014. Our results show significant differences in soil hydro-physical properties between the catchments, with greater bulk density and smaller total porosity in the pasture catchment. We found that evapotranspiration is smaller in the pasture (639 ± 31% mm yr-1) than in the cerrado catchment (1,004 ± 24% mm yr-1), and that streamflow from the pasture catchment is greater with runoff coefficients of 0.40 for the pasture and 0.27 for the cerrado catchment. Overall, our results confirm that conversion of cerrado vegetation to pasture causes soil hydro-physical properties deterioration, reduction in evapotranspiration reduction, and increased streamflow

Search for First Harmonic Modulation in the Right Ascension Distribution of Cosmic Rays Detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present the results of searches for dipolar-type anisotropies in different energy ranges above $2.5\times 10^{17}$ eV with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, reporting on both the phase and the amplitude measurements of the first harmonic modulation in the right-ascension distribution. Upper limits on the amplitudes are obtained, which provide the most stringent bounds at present, being below 2% at 99% $C.L.$ for EeV energies. We also compare our results to those of previous experiments as well as with some theoretical expectations.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure