Trophic consequences of non-native pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus for native pond fishes

Introduced non-native fishes can cause considerable adverse impacts on freshwater ecosystems. The pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus, a North American centrarchid, is one of the most widely distributed non-native fishes in Europe, having established self-sustaining populations in at least 28 countries, including the U.K. where it is predicted to become invasive under warmer climate conditions. To predict the consequences of increased invasiveness, a field experiment was completed over a summer period using a Control comprising of an assemblage of native fishes of known starting abundance and a Treatment using the same assemblage but with elevated L. gibbosus densities. The trophic consequences of L. gibbosus invasion were assessed with stable isotope analysis and associated metrics including the isotopic niche, measured as standard ellipse area. The isotopic niches of native gudgeon Gobio gobio and roach Rutilus rutilus overlapped substantially with that of non-native L. gibbosus, and were also substantially reduced in size compared to ponds where L. gibbosus were absent. This suggests these native fishes shifted to a more specialized diet in L. gibbosus presence. Both of these native fishes also demonstrated a concomitant and significant reduction in their trophic position in L. gibbosus presence, with a significant decrease also evident in the somatic growth rate and body condition of G. gobio. Thus, there were marked changes detected in the isotopic ecology and growth rates of the native fish in the presence of non-native L. gibbosus. The implications of these results for present and future invaded pond communities are discussed

Production of phi mesons at mid-rapidity in sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

We present the first results of meson production in the K^+K^- decay channel from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV as measured at mid-rapidity by the PHENIX detector at RHIC. Precision resonance centroid and width values are extracted as a function of collision centrality. No significant variation from the PDG accepted values is observed. The transverse mass spectra are fitted with a linear exponential function for which the derived inverse slope parameter is seen to be constant as a function of centrality. These data are also fitted by a hydrodynamic model with the result that the freeze-out temperature and the expansion velocity values are consistent with the values previously derived from fitting single hadron inclusive data. As a function of transverse momentum the collisions scaled peripheral.to.central yield ratio RCP for the is comparable to that of pions rather than that of protons. This result lends support to theoretical models which distinguish between baryons and mesons instead of particle mass for explaining the anomalous proton yield.Comment: 326 authors, 24 pages text, 23 figures, 6 tables, RevTeX 4. To be submitted to Physical Review C as a regular article. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Pacific island regional preparedness for El Niño

The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle is often blamed for disasters in Pacific island communities. From a disaster risk reduction (DRR) perspective, the challenges with the El Niño part of the ENSO cycle, in particular, are more related to inadequate vulnerability reduction within development than to ENSO-induced hazard influences. This paper analyses this situation, filling in a conceptual and geographic gap in El Niño-related research, by reviewing El Niño-related preparedness (the conceptual gap) for Pacific islands (the geographic gap). Through exploring El Niño impacts on Pacific island communities alongside their vulnerabilities, resiliences, and preparedness with respect to El Niño, El Niño is seen as a constructed discourse rather than as a damaging phenomenon, leading to suggestions for El Niño preparedness as DRR as part of development. Yet the attention which El Niño garners might bring resources to the Pacific region and its development needs, albeit in the short term while El Niño lasts. Conversely, the attention given to El Niño could shift blame from underlying causes of vulnerability to a hazard-centric viewpoint. Instead of focusing on one hazard-influencing phenomenon, opportunities should be created for the Pacific region to tackle wider DRR and development concerns

Quantifying Missing Heritability at Known GWAS Loci

Recent work has shown that much of the missing heritability of complex traits can be resolved by estimates of heritability explained by all genotyped SNPs. However, it is currently unknown how much heritability is missing due to poor tagging or additional causal variants at known GWAS loci. Here, we use variance components to quantify the heritability explained by all SNPs at known GWAS loci in nine diseases from WTCCC1 and WTCCC2. After accounting for expectation, we observed all SNPs at known GWAS loci to explain 1.29 X more heritability than GWAS-associated SNPs on average (P = 3.3 X 10[superscript -5]). For some diseases, this increase was individually significant:2.07 X for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (P = 6.5 X 10 [superscript -9]) and for Crohn's Disease (CD) (P = 1.3 X 10[superscript -3]); all analyses of autoimmune diseases excluded the well-studied MHC region. Additionally, we found that GWAS loci from other related traits also explained significant heritability. The union of all autoimmune disease loci explained 7.15 X more MS heritability than known MS SNPs (P 20,000 Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) samples typed on ImmunoChip, with 2.37 X more heritability from all SNPs at GWAS loci (P = 2.3 X 10[superscript -6]) and more heritability from all autoimmune disease loci (P < 1 X 10[superscript -16]) compared to known RA SNPs (including those identified in this cohort). Our methods adjust for LD between SNPs, which can bias standard estimates of heritability from SNPs even if all causal variants are typed. By comparing adjusted estimates, we hypothesize that the genome-wide distribution of causal variants is enriched for low-frequency alleles, but that causal variants at known GWAS loci are skewed towards common alleles. These findings have important ramifications for fine-mapping study design and our understanding of complex disease architecture.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R03HG006731)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Fellowship F32GM106584

The quality of research synthesis in surgery: the case of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Improving Health and Building Human Capital Through an Effective Primary Care System

To improve population health, one must put emphasis on reducing health inequities and enhancing health protection and disease prevention, and early diagnosis and treatment of diseases by tackling the determinants of health at the downstream, midstream, and upstream levels. There is strong theoretical and empirical evidence for the association between strong national primary care systems and improved health indicators. The setting approach to promote health such as healthy schools, healthy cities also aims to address the determinants of health and build the capacity of individuals, families, and communities to create strong human and social capitals. The notion of human and social capitals begins to offer explanations why certain communities are unable to achieve better health than other communities with similar demography. In this paper, a review of studies conducted in different countries illustrate how a well-developed primary health care system would reduce all causes of mortalities, improve health status, reduce hospitalization, and be cost saving despite a disparity in socioeconomic conditions. The intervention strategy recommended in this paper is developing a model of comprehensive primary health care system by joining up different settings integrating the efforts of different parties within and outside the health sector. Different components of primary health care team would then work more closely with individuals and families and different healthy settings. This synergistic effect would help to strengthen human and social capital development. The model can then combine the efforts of upstream, midstream, and downstream approaches to improve population health and reduce health inequity. Otherwise, health would easily be jeopardized as a result of rapid urbanization

Polyamines Are Required for Virulence in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

Sensing and responding to environmental cues is a fundamental characteristic of bacterial physiology and virulence. Here we identify polyamines as novel environmental signals essential for virulence of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, a major intracellular pathogen and a model organism for studying typhoid fever. Central to its virulence are two major virulence loci Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 1 and 2 (SPI1 and SPI2). SPI1 promotes invasion of epithelial cells, whereas SPI2 enables S. Typhimurium to survive and proliferate within specialized compartments inside host cells. In this study, we show that an S. Typhimurium polyamine mutant is defective for invasion, intracellular survival, killing of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and systemic infection of the mouse model of typhoid fever. Virulence of the mutant could be restored by genetic complementation, and invasion and intracellular survival could, as well, be complemented by the addition of exogenous putrescine and spermidine to the bacterial cultures prior to infection. Interestingly, intracellular survival of the polyamine mutant was significantly enhanced above the wild type level by the addition of exogenous putrescine and spermidine to the bacterial cultures prior to infection, indicating that these polyamines function as an environmental signal that primes S. Typhimurium for intracellular survival. Accordingly, experiments addressed at elucidating the roles of these polyamines in infection revealed that expression of genes from both of the major virulence loci SPI1 and SPI2 responded to exogenous polyamines and was reduced in the polyamine mutant. Together our data demonstrate that putrescine and spermidine play a critical role in controlling virulence in S. Typhimurium most likely through stimulation of expression of essential virulence loci. Moreover, our data implicate these polyamines as key signals in S. Typhimurium virulence

Care management for Type 2 diabetes in the United States: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This systematic review and meta-analysis aims at assessing the composition and performance of care management models evaluated in the last decade and their impact on patient important outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A comprehensive literature search of electronic bibliographic databases was performed to identify care management trials in type 2 diabetes. Random effects meta-analysis was used when feasible to pool outcome measures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifty-two studies were eligible. Most commonly reported were surrogate outcomes (such as HbA1c and LDL), followed by process measures (clinic visit or testing frequency). Less frequently reported were quality of life, patient satisfaction, self-care, and healthcare utilization. Most care management modalities were carved out from primary care. Meta-analysis demonstrated a statistically significant but trivial reduction of HbA1c (weighted difference in means -0.21%, 95% confidence interval -0.40 to -0.03, p < .03) and LDL-cholesterol (weighted difference in means -3.38 mg/dL, 95% confidence interval -6.27 to -0.49, p < .02).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Most care management programs for patients with type 2 diabetes are 'carved-out', accomplish limited effects on metabolic outcomes, and have unknown effects on patient important outcomes. Comparative effectiveness research of different models of care management is needed to inform the design of medical homes for patients with chronic conditions.</p

Motor skill learning in the middle-aged: limited development of motor chunks and explicit sequence knowledge

The present study examined whether middle-aged participants, like young adults, learn movement patterns by preparing and executing integrated sequence representations (i.e., motor chunks) that eliminate the need for external guidance of individual movements. Twenty-four middle-aged participants (aged 55–62) practiced two fixed key press sequences, one including three and one including six key presses in the discrete sequence production task. Their performance was compared with that of 24 young adults (aged 18–28). In the middle-aged participants motor chunks as well as explicit sequence knowledge appeared to be less developed than in the young adults. This held especially with respect to the unstructured 6-key sequences in which most middle-aged did not develop independence of the key-specific stimuli and learning seems to have been based on associative learning. These results are in line with the notion that sequence learning involves several mechanisms and that aging affects the relative contribution of these mechanisms

A Fragment of the LG3 Peptide of Endorepellin Is Present in the Urine of Physically Active Mining Workers: A Potential Marker of Physical Activity

Biomarker analysis has been implemented in sports research in an attempt to monitor the effects of exertion and fatigue in athletes. This study proposed that while such biomarkers may be useful for monitoring injury risk in workers, proteomic approaches might also be utilised to identify novel exertion or injury markers. We found that urinary urea and cortisol levels were significantly elevated in mining workers following a 12 hour overnight shift. These levels failed to return to baseline over 24 h in the more active maintenance crew compared to truck drivers (operators) suggesting a lack of recovery between shifts. Use of a SELDI-TOF MS approach to detect novel exertion or injury markers revealed a spectral feature which was associated with workers in both work categories who were engaged in higher levels of physical activity. This feature was identified as the LG3 peptide, a C-terminal fragment of the anti-angiogenic/anti-tumourigenic protein endorepellin. This finding suggests that urinary LG3 peptide may be a biomarker of physical activity. It is also possible that the activity mediated release of LG3/endorepellin into the circulation may represent a biological mechanism for the known inverse association between physical activity and cancer risk/survival