Notes on the Biology of \u3ci\u3eMelanocanthon Nigricornis\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Melanocanthon nigricornis was observed to break up, bundle up, roll away, and bury pieces of the cap of a gill mushroom growing in sandy prairie in Wisconsin. These beetles were also found on a dead lizard and one was observed to roll and bury mammalian carrion. This is the first report of any species in Melanocanthon rolling and burying pieces of fungus and carrion

Carrion Beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) of Wisconsin

The first comprehensive faunal survey of the carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) of Wisconsin is presented. Six genera and 14 species are recorded from the state, including a new state record, Heterosilpha ramosa (Say). Nicrophorus americanus Olivier was not recovered during this study. An annotated checklist includes species-specific geographical and temporal distributions, remarks on foods and habitat, and counties of specimen collections for each species

Decision-support framework for targeting investment towards climate-smart agriculture practices and programs. [O-2225-01]

Unprecedented impacts of climate change on agricultural systems around the world coupled with increasing food demand underlie the urgency of building a more productive, resilient, and low-emission agricultural development model - one that is climate-smart. Establishing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) systems requires investment in concrete on-farm practices and broader programs to establish implementation at scales that will transform systems to address food security and development goals in the face of climate change. The CSA Prioritization Framework (CSA-PF) was designed by scientists at CIAT and CCFAS to guide actors at multiple levels in their effort to identify best-bet CSA investment portfolios through scientific and participatory evaluation of the broad set of applicable practices for a given context. The CSA-PF is a CSA implementation planning and policy support tool aimed at governments, donors, non-governmental organizations, and local actors. The framework explicitly targets investments that diminish trade-offs between productivity increases, gains in adaptive capacity, and lowering emissions contributions from agriculture. Given the various needs of potential users and investment targets, the CS-PF can be adapted to stakeholders' needs and resources. It has been designed as a four phase process, but current pilots has varied this approach, adding additional analyses and decision taking points as needed. The first phase leads the main user of the prioritization process, in collaboration with a team of experts, to identify the objectives, scope of the study based on vulnerable areas and production systems key for food security, and the associated climatic and non-climatic challenges to be addressed through CSA interventions. The process then continues with the development of a long list of CSA practices applicable to the selected region(s) and production systems, and the identification of indicators to assess the practice's impacts on productivity, adaptation and mitigation. In Phase 2, stakeholders validate these results through participatory workshops and select a shorter list of CSA practices for further investigation based on the analyses from the first phase. An economic analysis, most often a cost-benefit analysis, is conducted in Phase 3 for the short-listed practices. A second workshop for data validation is held in Phase 4, where stakeholders discuss strategies to minimize trade-offs, to increase synergies between practices, and to minimize barriers to adoptions. The process results in the collaborative development of CSA investment portfolios. Through a comparative case study approach, this paper also illustrates the results from implementing the CSA-PF in Colombia, Guatemala, and Mali, where the prioritization objectives vary from strengthening current national agricultural and climate change policy (Guatemala), to articulating governmental and non-governmental actors around CSA actions (Mali), to scaling out CSA initiatives with local community groups (Colombia). Opportunities and challenges related to the different approaches to using the framework are discussed and recommendations for down-scaling the CSA-PF and establishing multi-level planning platforms are formulated, thus contributing to the wider goal of informing agriculture and climate change policy and decision-making. (Texte intégral

The cost-effectiveness of nivolumab monotherapy for the treatment of advanced melanoma patients in England

Background: Nivolumab was the first programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor to demonstrate long-term survival benefit in a clinical trial setting for advanced melanoma patients. Objective: To evaluate the cost effectiveness of nivolumab monotherapy for the treatment of advanced melanoma patients in England. Methods: A Markov state-transition model was developed to estimate the lifetime costs and benefits of nivolumab versus ipilimumab and dacarbazine for BRAF mutation-negative patients and versus ipilimumab, dabrafenib, and vemurafenib for BRAF mutation-positive patients. Covariate-adjusted parametric curves for time to progression, pre-progression survival, and post-progression survival were fitted based on patient-level data from two trials and long-term ipilimumab survival data. Indirect treatment comparisons between nivolumab, ipilimumab, and dacarbazine were informed by these covariate-adjusted parametric curves, controlling for differences in patient characteristics. Kaplan–Meier data from the literature were digitised and used to fit progression-free and overall survival curves for dabrafenib and vemurafenib. Patient utilities and resource use data were based on trial data or the literature. Patients are assumed to receive nivolumab until there is no further clinical benefit, assumed to be the first of progressive disease, unacceptable toxicity, or 2 years of treatment. Results: Nivolumab is the most cost-effective treatment option in BRAF mutation-negative and mutation-positive patients, with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of £24,483 and £17,362 per quality-adjusted life year, respectively. The model results are most sensitive to assumptions regarding treatment duration for nivolumab and the parameters of the fitted parametric survival curves. Conclusions: Nivolumab is a cost-effective treatment for advanced melanoma patients in England

The EGIM, modular though generic addresses the requirements of the EMSO platforms

The EGIM (EMSO Generic Instrument Module ) is designed to consistently and continuously measure parameters of interest for most major science areas covered by EMSO. This research infrastructure provides accurate records on marine environmental changes from distributed regional nodes around Europe. The system can deliver data that can support the Global Ocean Observing System –Essential Ocean Variables concept, as well as the Marine Strategy Framework Directive towards evaluating environmentalstatus. The EGIM is flexible for adaptation according to site and disciplinespecific requirements. Inter - operability and capacity of future evolution of the system are key aspects of the modularity. The EGIM is able to operate on any EMSO node type: mooring line, sea bed station, cabled or non - cabled and surface buoy to monitor environmental parameters over a wide depth range. Operating modes, power requirements, mechanical design can adapt to the various EMSO node configurations. In addition to sensors already included in the EGIM prototype (temperature, conductivity, pressure, dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity, currents and passive acoustics) the EGIMcan host up to five additional sensors such as chl -a, pCO 2, pH, seismic and photographic/video images ornew sensors. The EGIM provides all the sensor hosting services required ,for instance power distribution, positioning , and protection against bio -fouling . Within EMSO , the EGIM aimsto have a number of ocean locations where the same set of core variables are measured homogeneously: using the same hardware, same sensor references, same qualification methods, same calibration methods, same data format and access and the same maintenance procedures. It’s compact and modular nature allows for flexible deploymentscenarios that include being able to accommodate new instruments such for Essential Ocean Variables and other needs as theirtechnology readiness levels improve.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Intentional injury and violence in Cape Town, South Africa: An epidemiological analysis of trauma admissions data

This is the final version of the article. Available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record.Background: Injury is a truly global health issue that has enormous societal and economic consequences in all countries. Interpersonal violence is now widely recognized as important global public health issues that can be addressed through evidence based interventions. In South Africa, as in many low- and middle-income countries, a lack of ongoing, systematic injury surveillance has limited the ability to characterize the burden of violence-related injury and to develop prevention programs. Objective: To describe the profile of trauma presenting to the trauma centre of Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa – relating to interpersonal violence, using data collected from a newly implemented surveillance system. Particular emphasis was placed on temporal aspects of injury epidemiology, as well as age and sex differentiation. Design: Data were collected prospectively using a standardized trauma admissions form for all patients presenting to the trauma center. An epidemiological analysis was conducted on 16 months of data collected from June 2010 to October 2011. Results: 8445 patients were included in the analysis, in which the majority were violence-related. Specifically, 35% of records included violent trauma and, of those, 75% of victims were male. There was a clear temporal pattern: a greater proportion of intentional injuries occur during the night, while unintentional injury peaks late in the afternoon. Fully 2/3 of all intentional trauma is inflicted on the weekends as is 60% of unintentional trauma. Where alcohol was recorded in the record, 72% of cases involved intentional injury. Sex was again a key factor as over 80% of all records involving alcohol or substance abuse were associated with males. The findings highlighted the association between violence, young males, substance use, and weekends.This study was partly funded by a GEOIDE grant (SSII-54)

Fear of dying and inflammation following acute coronary syndrome

Aims Many patients are afraid of dying during acute coronary syndrome (ACS), but the origins and biological correlates of these emotional responses are poorly understood. This study evaluated the prevalence of fear of dying, associations with inflammatory responses during ACS, and later heart rate variability (HRV) and cortisol secretion. Methods and results Two hundred and eight patients admitted with clinically verified ACS rated their fear of dying on interview in hospital. Plasma tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α was recorded on admission, and HRV and salivary cortisol were assessed 3 weeks later. Intense distress and fear of dying was experienced by 21.7%, with moderate levels in 66.1% patients. Fear of dying was more common in younger, lower socioeconomic status, and unmarried patients. It was positively associated with plasma TNFα on admission after controlling for sociodemographic factors, clinical risk, and pain intensity (adjusted odds = 4.67, 95% C.I. 1.66-12.65). TNFα was associated with reduced HRV 3 weeks later, adjusting for clinical and sociodemographic factors and medication (P = 0.019), while fear of dying was associated with reduced cortisol output (P = 0.004). Conclusions Intense distress and fear of dying and heightened inflammation may be related manifestations of an acute biobehavioural response to severe cardiac injury, and have implications for prognostically significant biological risk processe

Methane from UV-irradiated carbonaceous chondrites under simulated Martian conditions

A UV photolytic process was studied for the production of methane from carbonaceous chondrites under simulated Martian conditions. Methane evolution rates from carbonaceous chondrites were found to be positively correlated to temperature (−80 to 20°C) and the concentration of carbon in the chondrites (0.2 to 1.69 wt%); and decreased over time with Murchison samples exposed to Martian conditions. The amount of evolved methane (EM) per unit of UV energy was 7.9 × 10−13 mol J−1 for UV irradiation of Murchison (1.69 wt%) samples tested under Martian conditions (6.9 mbar and 20°C). Using a previously described Mars UV model (Moores et al., 2007), and the EM given above, an annual interplanetary dust particle (IDP) accreted mass of 2.4 × 105 kg carbon per year yields methane abundances between 2.2 to 11 ppbv for model scenarios in which 20 to 100% of the accreted carbon is converted to methane, respectively. The UV/CH4 model for accreted IDPs can explain a portion of the globally averaged methane abundance on Mars, but cannot easily explain seasonal, temporal, diurnal, or plume fluctuations of methane. Several impact processes were modeled to determine if periodic emplacement of organics from carbonaceous bolides could be invoked to explain the occurrence of methane plumes produced by the UV/CH4process. Modeling of surface impacts of high-density bolides, single airbursts of low-density bolides, and multiple airbursts of a cascading breakup of a low-density rubble-pile comet were all unable to reproduce a methane plume of 45 ppbv, as reported by Mumma et al

Neuropathic pain clinical trials:factors associated with decreases in estimated drug efficacy

Multiple recent pharmacological clinical trials in neuropathic pain have failed to show beneficial effect of drugs with previously demonstrated efficacy, and estimates of drug efficacy seems to have decreased with accumulation of newer trials. However, this has not been systematically assessed. Here, we analyze time-dependent changes in estimated treatment effect size in pharmacological trials together with factors that may contribute to decreases in estimated effect size. This study is a secondary analysis of data from a previous published NeuPSIG systematic review and meta-analysis, updated to include studies published up till March 2017. We included double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials examining the effect of drugs for which we had made strong or weak recommendations for use in neuropathic pain in the previously published review. As the primary outcome, we used an aggregated number needed to treat for 50% pain reduction (alternatively 30% pain reduction or moderate pain relief). Analyses involved 128 trials. Number needed to treat values increased from around 2 to 4 in trials published between 1982 and 1999 to much higher (less effective) values in studies published from 2010 onwards. Several factors that changed over time, such as larger study size, longer study duration, and more studies reporting 50% or 30% pain reduction, correlated with the decrease in estimated drug effect sizes. This suggests that issues related to the design, outcomes, and reporting have contributed to changes in the estimation of treatment effects. These factors are important to consider in design and interpretation of individual study data and in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.</p