Quantifying the Detrimental Impacts of Land-Use and Management Change on European Forest Bird Populations

The ecological impacts of changing forest management practices in Europe are poorly understood despite European forests being highly managed. Furthermore, the effects of potential drivers of forest biodiversity decline are rarely considered in concert, thus limiting effective conservation or sustainable forest management. We present a trait-based framework that we use to assess the detrimental impact of multiple land-use and management changes in forests on bird populations across Europe. Major changes to forest habitats occurring in recent decades, and their impact on resource availability for birds were identified. Risk associated with these changes for 52 species of forest birds, defined as the proportion of each species' key resources detrimentally affected through changes in abundance and/or availability, was quantified and compared to their pan-European population growth rates between 1980 and 2009. Relationships between risk and population growth were found to be significantly negative, indicating that resource loss in European forests is an important driver of decline for both resident and migrant birds. Our results demonstrate that coarse quantification of resource use and ecological change can be valuable in understanding causes of biodiversity decline, and thus in informing conservation strategy and policy. Such an approach has good potential to be extended for predictive use in assessing the impact of possible future changes to forest management and to develop more precise indicators of forest health

Relation of gallbladder function and Helicobacter pylori infection to gastric mucosa inflammation in patients with symptomatic cholecystolithiasis

Background. Inflammatory alterations of the gastric mucosa are commonly caused by Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection in patients with symptomatic gallstone disease. However, the additional pathogenetic role of an impaired gallbladder function leading to an increased alkaline duodenogastric reflux is controversially discussed. Aim:To investigate the relation of gallbladder function and Hp infection to gastric mucosa inflammation in patients with symptomatic gallstones prior to cholecystectomy. Patients: Seventy-three patients with symptomatic gallstones were studied by endoscopy and Hp testing. Methods: Gastritis classification was performed according to the updated Sydney System and gallbladder function was determined by total lipid concentration of gallbladder bile collected during mainly laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Results: Fifteen patients revealed no, 39 patients mild, and 19 moderate to marked gastritis. No significant differences for bile salts, phospholipids, cholesterol, or total lipids in gallbladder bile were found between these three groups of patients. However, while only 1 out of 54 (< 2%) patients with mild or no gastritis was found histologically positive for Hp, this infection could be detected in 14 (74%) out of 19 patients with moderate to marked gastritis. Conclusion: Moderate to marked gastric mucosa inflammation in gallstone patients is mainly caused by Hp infection, whereas gallbladder function is not related to the degree of gastritis. Thus, an increased alkaline duodenogastric reflux in gallstone patients seems to be of limited pathophysiological relevance. Copyright (c) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Identification and Filtering of Uncharacteristic Noise in the CMS Hadron Calorimeter

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Performance of CMS hadron calorimeter timing and synchronization using test beam, cosmic ray, and LHC beam data

This paper discusses the design and performance of the time measurement technique and of the synchronization systems of the CMS hadron calorimeter. Time measurement performance results are presented from test beam data taken in the years 2004 and 2006. For hadronic showers of energy greater than 100 GeV, the timing resolution is measured to be about 1.2 ns. Time synchronization and out-of-time background rejection results are presented from the Cosmic Run At Four Tesla and LHC beam runs taken in the Autumn of 2008. The inter-channel synchronization is measured to be within ±2 ns

GABA Expression and Regulation by Sensory Experience in the Developing Visual System

The developing retinotectal system of the Xenopus laevis tadpole is a model of choice for studying visual experience-dependent circuit maturation in the intact animal. The neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has been shown to play a critical role in the formation of sensory circuits in this preparation, however a comprehensive neuroanatomical study of GABAergic cell distribution in the developing tadpole has not been conducted. We report a detailed description of the spatial expression of GABA immunoreactivity in the Xenopus laevis tadpole brain at two key developmental stages: stage 40/42 around the onset of retinotectal innervation and stage 47 when the retinotectal circuit supports visually-guided behavior. During this period, GABAergic neurons within specific brain structures appeared to redistribute from clusters of neuronal somata to a sparser, more uniform distribution. Furthermore, we found that GABA levels were regulated by recent sensory experience. Both ELISA measurements of GABA concentration and quantitative analysis of GABA immunoreactivity in tissue sections from the optic tectum show that GABA increased in response to a 4 hr period of enhanced visual stimulation in stage 47 tadpoles. These observations reveal a remarkable degree of adaptability of GABAergic neurons in the developing brain, consistent with their key contributions to circuit development and function

Functional impairment of systemic scleroderma patients with digital ulcerations: results from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: Digital ulcers (DUs) are frequent manifestations of systemic scleroderma (SSc). This study assessed functional limitations due to DUs among patients enrolled in the Digital Ulcer Outcome (DUO) Registry, an international, multicentre, observational registry of SSc patients with DU disease. METHODS: Patients completed at enrolment a DU-specific functional assessment questionnaire with a 1-month recall period, measuring impairment in work and daily activities, and hours of help needed from others. Physician-reported clinical parameters were used to describe the population. For patients who completed at least part of the questionnaire, descriptive analyses were performed for overall results, and stratified by number of DUs at enrolment. RESULTS: This study included 2327 patients who completed at least part of the questionnaire. For patients with 0, 1–2, and ≥3 DUs at enrolment, mean overall work impairment during the prior month among employed/self-employed patients was 28%, 42%, and 48%, respectively. Across all included patients, ability to perform daily activities was impaired on average by 35%, 54%, and 63%, respectively. Patients required a mean of 2.0, 8.7, and 8.8 hours of paid help and 17.0, 35.9, and 63.7 hours of unpaid help, respectively, due to DUs in the prior month. Patients with DUs had more complications and medication use than patients with no DUs. CONCLUSIONS: With increasing number of DUs, SSc patients reported more impairment in work and daily activities and required more support from others

Two-particle azimuthal correlations in photonuclear ultraperipheral Pb plus Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV with ATLAS

Two-particle long-range azimuthal correlations are measured in photonuclear collisions using 1.7 nb − 1 of 5.02 TeV Pb + Pb collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Candidate events are selected using a dedicated high-multiplicity photonuclear event trigger, a combination of information from the zero-degree calorimeters and forward calorimeters, and from pseudorapidity gaps constructed using calorimeter energy clusters and charged-particle tracks. Distributions of event properties are compared between data and Monte Carlo simulations of photonuclear processes. Two-particle correlation functions are formed using charged-particle tracks in the selected events, and a template-fitting method is employed to subtract the nonflow contribution to the correlation. Significant nonzero values of the second- and third-order flow coefficients are observed and presented as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and transverse momentum. The results are compared with flow coefficients obtained in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions in similar multiplicity ranges, and with theoretical expectations. The unique initial conditions present in this measurement provide a new way to probe the origin of the collective signatures previously observed only in hadronic collision