The impact of Rapido trawling for scallops, Pecten jacobaeus (L.), on the benthos of the Gulf of Venice

Rapido trawls are used to catch sole around the coast of Italy and to catch scallops in the northern Adriatic Sea but little is known about the environmental impact of this gear. Benthic surveys of a commercial scallop ground using a towed underwater television (UWTV) sledge revealed an expansive area of level, sandy sediment at 25 m characterized by high population densities of scallops (2.82 m-2 Aequipecten opercularis but fewer Pecten jacobaeus) together with ophiuroids, sponges, and the bivalve Atrina fragilis. Rapido trawls were filmed in action for the first time, providing information on the selectivity and efficiency of the gear together with its impact on the substratum and on the benthos. The trawls worked efficiently on smooth sand with ca. 44% catch rate for Pecten jacobaeus, of which 90% were >7 cm in shell height. Most organisms in the path of the trawl passed under or through the net; on average by-catch species only formed 19% of total catch by weight. Of the 78 taxa caught, lethal mechanical damage varied from 50% in soft-bodied organisms such as tunicates. A marked plot surveyed using towed UWTV before, then 1 and 15 h after fishing by Rapido trawl showed clear tracks of disturbed sediment along the trawl path where infaunal burrow openings had been erased. Abundant, motile organisms such as Aequipecten showed no change in abundance along these tracks although scavengers such as Inachus aggregated to feed on damaged organisms. There were significant decreases in the abundance of slow-moving/sessile benthos such as Pecten, Holothuria, and Atrina. Juvenile pectinids were abundant on the shells of Atrina. The introduction of a scheme of areas closed to trawling would protect highly susceptible organisms such as Atrina and enhance the chances of scallop recruitment to adjacent areas of commercial exploitation

Human monoclonal islet specific autoantibodies share features of islet cell and 64 kDa antibodies

The first human monoclonal islet cell antibodies of the IgG class (MICA 1-6) obtained from an individual with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus were cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies selected by the indirect immunofluorescence test on pancreas sections. Surprisingly, they all recognized the 64 kDa autoantigen glutamate decarboxylase. In this study we investigated which typical features of cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies are represented by these monoclonals. We show by double immunofluorescence testing that MICA 1-6 stain pancreatic beta cells which is in agreement with the beta-cell specific expression of glutamate decarboxylase. In contrast an islet-reactive IgM monoclonal antibody obtained from a pre-diabetic individual stained all islet cells but lacked the tissue specificity of MICA 1-6 and must therefore be considered as a polyreactive IgM-antibody. We further demonstrate that MICA 1-6 revealed typical features of epitope sensitivity to biochemical treatment of the target tissue which has been demonstrated for islet cell antibodies, and which has been used to argue for a lipid rather than a protein nature of target antigens. Our results provide direct evidence that the epitopes recognized by the MICA are destroyed by methanol/chloroform treatment but reveal a high stability to Pronase digestion compared to proinsulin epitopes. Conformational protein epitopes in glutamate decarboxylase therefore show a sensitivity to biochemical treatment of sections such as ganglioside epitopes. MICA 1-6 share typical features of islet cell and 64 kDa antibodies and reveal that glutamate decarboxylase-reactive islet cell antibodies represent a subgroup of islet cell antibodies present in islet cell antibody-positive sera

Shoulder pain due to cervical radiculopathy: an underestimated long-term complication of herpes zoster virus reactivation?

Purpose To evaluate if herpes zoster virus (HZV) reactivation may be considered in the aetiology of cervical radiculopathy. Methods The study group was composed of 110 patients (52 M-58F;mean age ± SD:46.5 ± 6.12; range:40-73) with a clinical diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy. Patients with signs of chronic damage on neurophysiological studies were submitted to an X-ray and to an MRI of the cervical spine in order to clarify the cause of the cervical radiculopathy and were investigated for a possible reactivation of HZV; HZV reactivation was considered as “recent” or “antique” if it occurs within or after 24 months from the onset of symptoms, respectively. Data were submitted to statistics. Results Thirty-eight patients (34,5%,16 M-22F) had a history of HZV reactivation: four (2 M-2F) were “recent” and 34 (14 M-20F) were “antique”. In 68 of 110 participants (61,8%,30 M-38F), pathological signs on X-ray and/or MRI of the cervical spine appeared; in the remaining 42 (38,2%,22 M-20F) X-ray and MRI resulted as negative. Among patients with HZV reactivation, seven (18,4%) had a “positive” X-ray-MRI while in 31 (81,6%) the instrumental exams were considered as negative. The prevalence of “antique” HZV reactivations was statistically greater in the group of patients with no pathological signs on X-ray/MRI of the cervical spine with respect to the group with a pathological instrumental exam (p < 0.01). Conclusions It may be useful to investigate the presence of a positive history of HZV reactivation and to consider it as a long-term complication of a cervical root inflammation especially in patients in which X-ray and MRI of the cervical spine did not show pathological findings

The political economy of competitiveness and social mobility

Social mobility has become a mainstream political and media issue in recent years in the United Kingdom. This article suggests that part of the reason for this is that it can serve as a mechanism to discuss policy concerns that appear to be about social justice without questioning important aspects of neo-liberal political economy. The article charts the policy rhetoric on social mobility under both New Labour and the current Coalition Government. It is argued first that under New Labour the apparent commitment to social mobility was in fact subsumed beneath the pursuit of neo-liberal competitiveness, albeit imperfectly realised in policy. Second, the article suggests that under the Coalition Government the commitment to raising levels of social mobility has been retained and the recently published Strategy for Social Mobility promises that social mobility is what the Coalition means when it argues that the austerity programme is balanced with ‘fairness’. Third, however, the Strategy makes clear that the Coalition define social mobility in narrower terms than the previous government. It is argued here that in narrowing the definition the connection with the idea of competitiveness, while still clearly desirable for the Coalition, is weakened. Fourth, a brief analysis of the Coalition's main policy announcements provides little evidence to suggest that even the narrow definition set out in the Strategy is being seriously pursued. Fifth, the international comparative evidence suggests that any strategy aimed at genuinely raising the level of social mobility would need to give much more serious consideration to narrowing levels of inequality. Finally, it is concluded that when considered in the light of the arguments above, the Strategy for Social Mobility – and therefore ‘Fairness’ itself – is merely a discursive legitimation of the wider political economy programme of austerity

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

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

Abilities to explicitly and implicitly infer intentions from actions in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Previous research suggests that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) might be associated with impairments on implicit but not explicit mentalizing tasks. However, such comparisons are made difficult by the heterogeneity of stimuli and the techniques used to measure mentalizing capabilities. We tested the abilities of 34 individuals (17 with ASD) to derive intentions from others’ actions during both explicit and implicit tasks and tracked their eye-movements. Adults with ASD displayed explicit but not implicit mentalizing deficits. Adults with ASD displayed typical fixation patterns during both implicit and explicit tasks. These results illustrate an explicit mentalizing deficit in adults with ASD, which cannot be attributed to differences in fixation patterns

Juvenile king scallop, Pecten maximus, is potentially tolerant to low levels of ocean acidification when food is unrestricted.

The decline in ocean water pH and changes in carbonate saturation states through anthropogenically mediated increases in atmospheric CO2 levels may pose a hazard to marine organisms. This may be particularly acute for those species reliant on calcareous structures like shells and exoskeletons. This is of particular concern in the case of valuable commercially exploited species such as the king scallop, Pecten maximus. In this study we investigated the effects on oxygen consumption, clearance rates and cellular turnover in juvenile P. maximus following 3 months laboratory exposure to four pCO2 treatments (290, 380, 750 and 1140 µatm). None of the exposure levels were found to have significant effect on the clearance rates, respiration rates, condition index or cellular turnover (RNA: DNA) of individuals. While it is clear that some life stages of marine bivalves appear susceptible to future levels of ocean acidification, particularly under food limiting conditions, the results from this study suggest that where food is in abundance, bivalves like juvenile P. maximus may display a tolerance to limited changes in seawater chemistry

Prevalence and genetic diversity of Avipoxvirus in house sparrows in Spain

Avipoxvirus (APV) is a fairly common virus affecting birds that causes morbidity and mortality in wild and captive birds. We studied the prevalence of pox-like lesions and genetic diversity of APV in house sparrows (Passer domesticus) in natural, agricultural and urban areas in southern Spain in 2013 and 2014 and in central Spain for 8 months (2012±2013). Overall, 3.2% of 2,341 house sparrows visually examined in southern Spain had cutaneous lesions consistent with avian pox. A similar prevalence (3%) was found in 338 birds from central Spain. Prevalence was higher in hatch-year birds than in adults. We did not detect any clear spatial or temporal patterns of APV distribution. Molecular analyses of poxvirus-like lesions revealed that 63% of the samples were positive. Molecular and phylogenetic analyses of 29 DNA sequences from the fpv167 gene, detected two strains belonging to the canarypox clade (subclades B1 and B2) previously found in Spain. One of them appears predominant in Iberia and North Africa and shares 70% similarity to fowlpox and canarypox virus. This APV strain has been identified in a limited number of species in the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco and Hungary. The second one has a global distribution and has been found in numerous wild bird species around the world. To our knowledge, this represents the largest study of avian poxvirus disease in the broadly distributed house sparrow and strongly supports the findings that Avipox prevalence in this species in South and central Spain is moderate and the genetic diversity low.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project CGL2010-15734/BOS), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project CGL2013-41642-P/BOS) and the Innovation and Development Agency of Andalusia (Spain) (P11-RNM-7038). Grants were awarded to JMP (Juan de la Cierva- JCI-2012-11868) and MAJM (FPIBES-2011-047609), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness; RAJW (CEI-PICATA2012), CEI Campus of International Excellence; MM (FPU12/0568), Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. RAJW was supported by the Craaford Foundation (grant 20160971) during the writing of this publication. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript