Effect of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria on Salicornia ramosissima Seed Germination under Salinity, CO2 and Temperature Stress

In a scenario of climate change and growing population, halophyte root microbiota interactions may be a sustainable solution to improve alternative crop production while combating abiotic stress. In this work, seeds of the cash crop halophyte Salicornia ramosissima were inoculated with five different plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria consortia, isolated from the rhizosphere of five halophytes in southwestern Spain salt marshes. For the first time, we recorded seed germination response to three interactive abiotic stressors, CO2 (400 and 700 ppm), temperature (25 and 29 ℃) and salinity (171, 510 and 1030 mM NaCl), all of them related to climate change. Salinity played a decisive role, as no significant differences were registered between treatments at 171 mM NaCl and no germination took place at 1030 mM NaCl. At 510 mM NaCl, one rhizobacterial consortium improved seed parameters notably, increasing up to 114% germination percentage and 65% seedlings biomass. These first findings encourage us to think that cash crop halophytes like S. ramosissima and halophyte root microbiota may be valuable resources for human or animal feeding in a future climate reality.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2016-75550-R)Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU014/03987

Assessing Cognitive-Motor Integration in Middle-Aged Athletes: The Effects of Dementia Risk & Concussion

We investigated the relationship between dementia risk and concussion history in a physically active, middle-aged adult population (between the ages of 30 and 65). These participants either had one of the following: a family history of Alzheimer's disease, a history of concussion(s), both histories, or no histories. We know from previous work in our lab that those with dementia or concussion history performed poorly when asked to make skilled movements when having to think simultaneously (cognitive-motor integration, CMI). Here we conducted a cognitive-motor assessment on middle-aged recreational athletes (male and female) using a computer tablet-based task. Data collected included kinematics such as reaction and movement time, path length, accuracy, precision. We predicted that those who either have a concussion history and/or family history of dementia will perform poorly when compared to controls, and that this effect will be exacerbated in those individuals with both factors. On an exploratory basis, these data will provide insight into lifestyle factors that may affect cognitive-motor integration in middle-aged adults, an ability often important for functioning safely at work and sport. We found that those with both histories have impairments in movement pathlength when compared to those with only concussion history and no histories, suggesting an additive effect of both histories on CMI performance. But activity level does not seem to be protective with regards to CMI decline in those with brain health issues

Keas perform similarly to chimpanzees and elephants when solving collaborative tasks

Cooperation between individuals is one of the defining features of our species. While other animals, such as chimpanzees, elephants, coral trout and rooks also exhibit cooperative behaviours, it is not clear if they think about cooperation in the same way as humans do. In this study we presented the kea, a parrot endemic to New Zealand, with a series of tasks designed to assess cooperative cognition. We found that keas were capable of working together, even when they had to wait for their partner for up to 65 seconds. The keas also waited for a partner only when a partner was actually needed to gain food. This is the first demonstration that any non-human animal can wait for over a minute for a cooperative partner, and the first conclusive evidence that any bird species can successful track when a cooperative partner is required, and when not. The keas did not attend to whether their partner could actually access the apparatus themselves, which may have been due to issues with task demands, but one kea did show a clear preference for working together with other individuals, rather than alone. This preference has been shown to be present in humans but absent in chimpanzees. Together these results provide the first evidence that a bird species can perform at a similar level to chimpanzees and elephants across a range of collaborative tasks. This raises the possibility that aspects of the cooperative cognition seen in the primate lineage have evolved convergently in birds

Ferric carboxymaltose with or without erythropoietin for the prevention of red-cell transfusions in the perioperative period of osteoporotic hip fractures: a randomized contolled trial. The PAHFRAC-01 project

Background: Around one third to one half of patients with hip fractures require red-cell pack transfusion. The increasing incidence of hip fracture has also raised the need for this scarce resource. Additionally, red-cell pack transfusions are not without complications which may involve excessive morbidity and mortality. This makes it necessary to develop blood-saving strategies. Our objective was to assess safety, efficacy, and cost-effictveness of combined treatment of i.v. ferric carboxymaltose and erythropoietin (EPOFE arm) versus i.v. ferric carboxymaltose (FE arm) versus a placebo (PLACEBO arm) in reducing the percentage of patients who receive blood transfusions, as well as mortality in the perioperative period of hip fracture intervention. Methods/Design: Multicentric, phase III, randomized, controlled, double blinded, parallel groups clinical trial. Patients > 65 years admitted to hospital with a hip fracture will be eligible to participate. Patients will be treated with either a single dosage of i.v. ferric carboxymaltose of 1 g and subcutaneous erythropoietin (40.000 IU), or i.v. ferric carboxymaltose and subcutaneous placebo, or i.v. placebo and subcutaneous placebo. Follow-up will be performed until 60 days after discharge, assessing transfusion needs, morbidity, mortality, safety, costs, and health-related quality of life. Intention to treat, as well as per protocol, and incremental cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed. The number of recruited patients per arm is set at 102, a total of 306 patients. Discussion: We think that this trial will contribute to the knowledge about the safety and efficacy of ferric carboxymaltose with/without erythropoietin in preventing red-cell pack transfusions in patients with hip fracture. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01154491

National Institute of Mental Health Roundtable Discussion: Promissory Notes and Prevailing Norms in Social and Behavioral Sciences Research

Most workshops convened by the National Institute's of Health are devoted to the puzzle-solving activities of normal science, where the puzzles themselves and the strategies available for solving them are determined largely in advance by the shared paradigmatic assumptions, frameworks, and priorities of the scientific community's research paradigm. They are designed to facilitate what Thomas Kuhn referred to as elucidating topological detail within a map whose main outlines are available in advance. And apparently for good reason. Historical studies by Kuhn and others reveal that science moves fastest and penetrates most deeply when its practitioners work within well-defined and deeply ingrained traditions and employ the concepts, theories, methods, and tools of a shared paradigm. No paradigm is perfect and none is capable of identifying, let alone solving, all of the problems relevant to a given domain of inquiry. Thus, the essential day-to-day business of normal science is not to question the limits or adequacy of a given paradigm, but rather to exploit the presumed virtues for which it was adopted. As Kuhn cautioned in his discussion of paradigms, re-tooling, in science as in manufacture, as an extravagance to be reserved for the occasion that demands it. Well, as the marketing people say --- this is not your father's Oldsmobile. We are breaking with tradition today by stepping outside the map to initiate and pursue a long-overdue dialogue about paradigm reform and scientific retooling. Our warrant for prosecuting this agenda is a Kuhnian occasion that demands it--- is a protracted paradigm crisis, the neglect of which has hurt us terribly and the resolution of which will determine the viability and fate of the social and behavioral sciences in the 21st century. Since the details of the crisis are well know within and outside our ranks, a brief sketch of its main outlines will suffice as a framework for our dialogue today. They include, (a) widespread dissatisfaction with the meager theoretical progress and practical yield of more than a century of social and behavioral sciences research in many substantive domains, (b) long-neglected yet widely recognized deficiencies in the epistemological assumptions, discovery practices and justification standards of the dominant paradigm on which the social and behavioral sciences have relied --- and rely--- to conceptualize, interpret, and guide their empirical research, (c) a broadly based consensus among leading scholars and scientists about the need for fundamental paradigm reforms, and (d) institutional incentive structures that not only encourage and reinforce the status quo but discourage constructive reform efforts. Our objective for the next eight hours is to formulate strategies and recommendations for leveraging the resources and influence of the National Institute of Mental Health to foster a climate of constructive reforms where they are needed by freeing investigators in from the oppressive constraints of existing paradigms and facilitating, encouraging, and funding their retooling their effort

Ask a clearer question, get a better answer.

Many undergraduate students struggle to engage with higher order skills such as evaluation and synthesis in written assignments, either because they do not understand that these are the aim of written assessment or because these critical thinking skills require more effort than writing a descriptive essay. Here, we report that students who attended a freely available workshop, in which they were coached to pose a question in the title of their assignment and then use their essay to answer that question, obtained higher marks for their essay than those who did not attend. We demonstrate that this is not a result of latent academic ability amongst students who chose to attend our workshops and suggest this increase in marks was a result of greater engagement with ‘critical thinking’ skills, which are essential for upper 2:1 and 1st class grades. The tutoring method we used holds two particular advantages: First, we allow students to pick their own topics of interest, which increases ownership of learning, which is associated with motivation and engagement in ‘difficult’ tasks. Second, this method integrates the development of ‘inquisitiveness’ and critical thinking into subject specific learning, which is thought to be more productive than trying to develop these skills in isolation

"Test me and treat me" - attitudes to vitamin D deficiency and supplementation: a qualitative study

© 2015 BMJ Open, "Test me and treat me"-attitudes to vitamin D deficiency and supplementation: a qualitative study. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution Licens