Factors driving patterns and trends in strandings of small cetaceans

The incidence of cetacean strandings is expected to depend on a combination of factors, including the dis- tribution and abundance of the cetaceans, their prey, and causes of mortality (e.g. natural, fishery bycatch), as well as currents and winds which affect whether carcasses reach the shore. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns and trends in the numbers of strandings of three species of small cetacean in Galicia (NW Spain) and their relationships with meteoro- logical, oceanographic, prey abundance and fishing-related variables, aiming to disentangle the relationship that may exist between these factors, cetacean abundance and mor- tality off the coast. Strandings of 1166 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), 118 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and 90 harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) during 2000–2013 were analysed. Generalised additive and generalised additive-mixed model results showed that the variables which best explained the pattern of strandings of the three cetacean species were those related with local ocean meteorology (strength and direction of the North– South component of the winds and the number of days with South-West winds) and the winter North Atlantic Oscil- lation Index. There were no significant relationships with indices of fishing effort or landings. Only bottlenose dolphin showed possible fluctuations in local abundance over the study period. There was no evidence of long-term trends in number of strandings in any of the species and their abun- dances were, therefore, considered to have been relatively stable during the study period.Versión del editor2,01

Influences of polymorphic variants of DRD2 and SLC6A3 genes, and their combinations on smoking in Polish population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polymorphisms in dopaminergic genes may influence cigarette smoking by their potential impact on dopamine reward pathway function. <it>A1 </it>allele of <it>DRD2 </it>gene is associated with a reduced dopamine D2 receptor density, and it has been hypothesised that <it>A1 </it>carriers are more vulnerable to smoking. In turn, the 9-repeat allele of dopamine transporter gene (<it>SLC6A3</it>) has been associated with a substantial reduction in dopamine transporter, what might result in the higher level of dopamine in the synaptic cleft, and thereby protective role of this allele from smoking. In the present study we investigated whether polymorphic variants of <it>DRD2 </it>and <it>SLC6A3 </it>genes and their combinations are associated with the smoking habit in the Polish population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Genotyping for <it>Taq</it>I<it>A </it>polymorphism of <it>DRD2 </it>and <it>SLC6A3 </it>VNTR polymorphism was performed in 150 ever-smokers and 158 never-smokers. The association between the smoking status and smoking phenotypes (related to the number of cigarettes smoked daily and age of starting regular smoking), and genotype/genotype combinations was expressed by ORs together with 95% CI. Alpha level of 0.05, with Bonferroni correction whenever appropriate, was used for statistical significance.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At the used alpha levels no association between <it>DRD2 </it>and <it>SLC6A</it>3 genotypes and smoking status was found. However, <it>A1 </it>allele carriers reported longer abstinence periods on quitting attempts than non-carriers (p = 0.049). The ORs for heavier smoking were 0.38 (0.17-0.88), p = 0.023, and 0.39 (0.17-0.88), p = 0.021 in carriers compared to non-carriers of <it>A1 </it>or <it>*9 </it>allele, respectively, and the OR for this smoking phenotype was 8.68 (2.47-30.46), p = 0.0005 for the <it>A1</it>-/<it>9</it>- genotype combination, relatively to the <it>A1</it>+/<it>9</it>+. Carriers of <it>*9 </it>allele of <it>SLC6A3 </it>had over twice a lower risk to start smoking before the age of 20 years compared to non-carriers (sex-adjusted OR = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.22-0.89; p = 0.0017), and subjects with <it>A1-/9- </it>genotype combination had a higher risk for staring regular smoking before the age of 20 years in comparison to subjects with <it>A1+/9+ </it>genotype combination (sex-adjusted OR = 3.79; 95% CI:1.03-13.90; p = 0.003).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Polymorphic variants of <it>DRD2 </it>and <it>SLC6A3 </it>genes may influence some aspects of the smoking behavior, including age of starting regular smoking, the level of cigarette consumption, and periods of abstinence. Further large sample studies are needed to verify this hypothesis.</p

Rationality versus reality: the challenges of evidence-based decision making for health policy makers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Current healthcare systems have extended the evidence-based medicine (EBM) approach to health policy and delivery decisions, such as access-to-care, healthcare funding and health program continuance, through attempts to integrate valid and reliable evidence into the decision making process. These policy decisions have major impacts on society and have high personal and financial costs associated with those decisions. Decision models such as these function under a shared assumption of rational choice and utility maximization in the decision-making process.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We contend that health policy decision makers are generally unable to attain the basic goals of evidence-based decision making (EBDM) and evidence-based policy making (EBPM) because humans make decisions with their naturally limited, faulty, and biased decision-making processes. A cognitive information processing framework is presented to support this argument, and subtle cognitive processing mechanisms are introduced to support the focal thesis: health policy makers' decisions are influenced by the subjective manner in which they individually process decision-relevant information rather than on the objective merits of the evidence alone. As such, subsequent health policy decisions do not necessarily achieve the goals of evidence-based policy making, such as maximizing health outcomes for society based on valid and reliable research evidence.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>In this era of increasing adoption of evidence-based healthcare models, the rational choice, utility maximizing assumptions in EBDM and EBPM, must be critically evaluated to ensure effective and high-quality health policy decisions. The cognitive information processing framework presented here will aid health policy decision makers by identifying how their decisions might be subtly influenced by non-rational factors. In this paper, we identify some of the biases and potential intervention points and provide some initial suggestions about how the EBDM/EBPM process can be improved.</p

Relevance of genetic testing in the gene-targeted trial era: the Rostock Parkinson\u27s disease study

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024. Estimates of the spectrum and frequency of pathogenic variants in Parkinson’s disease (PD) in different populations are currently limited and biased. Furthermore, although therapeutic modification of several genetic targets has reached the clinical trial stage, a major obstacle in conducting these trials is that PD patients are largely unaware of their genetic status and, therefore, cannot be recruited. Expanding the number of investigated PD-related genes and including genes related to disorders with overlapping clinical features in large, well-phenotyped PD patient groups is a prerequisite for capturing the full variant spectrum underlying PD and for stratifying and prioritizing patients for gene-targeted clinical trials. The Rostock Parkinson’s disease (ROPAD) study is an observational clinical study aiming to determine the frequency and spectrum of genetic variants contributing to PD in a large international cohort. We investigated variants in 50 genes with either an established relevance for PD or possible phenotypic overlap in a group of 12 580 PD patients from 16 countries [62.3% male; 92.0% White; 27.0% positive family history (FH+), median age at onset (AAO) 59 years] using a next-generation sequencing panel. Altogether, in 1864 (14.8%) ROPAD participants (58.1% male; 91.0% White, 35.5% FH+, median AAO 55 years), a PD-relevant genetic test (PDGT) was positive based on GBA1 risk variants (10.4%) or pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in LRRK2 (2.9%), PRKN (0.9%), SNCA (0.2%) or PINK1 (0.1%) or a combination of two genetic findings in two genes (∼0.2%). Of note, the adjusted positive PDGT fraction, i.e. the fraction of positive PDGTs per country weighted by the fraction of the population of the world that they represent, was 14.5%. Positive PDGTs were identified in 19.9% of patients with an AAO ≤ 50 years, in 19.5% of patients with FH+ and in 26.9% with an AAO ≤ 50 years and FH+. In comparison to the idiopathic PD group (6846 patients with benign variants), the positive PDGT group had a significantly lower AAO (4 years, P = 9 7 10−34). The probability of a positive PDGT decreased by 3% with every additional AAO year (P = 1 7 10−35). Female patients were 22% more likely to have a positive PDGT (P = 3 7 10−4), and for individuals with FH+ this likelihood was 55% higher (P = 1 7 10−14). About 0.8% of the ROPAD participants had positive genetic testing findings in parkinsonism-, dystonia/dyskinesia- or dementia-related genes. In the emerging era of gene-targeted PD clinical trials, our finding that ∼15% of patients harbour potentially actionable genetic variants offers an important prospect to affected individuals and their families and underlines the need for genetic testing in PD patients. Thus, the insights from the ROPAD study allow for data-driven, differential genetic counselling across the spectrum of different AAOs and family histories and promote a possible policy change in the application of genetic testing as a routine part of patient evaluation and care in PD

Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review

In a meta-analysis, Julianne Holt-Lunstad and colleagues find that individuals' social relationships have as much influence on mortality risk as other well-established risk factors for mortality, such as smoking

Myelination is associated with processing speed in early childhood:preliminary insights

Processing speed is an important contributor to working memory performance and fluid intelligence in young children. Myelinated white matter plays a central role in brain messaging, and likely mediates processing speed, but little is known about the relationship between myelination and processing speed in young children. In the present study, processing speed was measured through inspection times, and myelin volume fraction (VFM) was quantified using a multicomponent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach in 2- to 5-years of age. Both inspection times and VFM were found to increase with age. Greater VFM in the right and left occipital lobes, the body of the corpus callosum, and the right cerebellum was significantly associated with shorter inspection times, after controlling for age. A hierarchical regression showed that VFM in the left occipital lobe predicted inspection times over and beyond the effects of age and the VFM in the other brain regions. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that myelin supports processing speed in early childhood

Scintillation light detection in the 6-m drift-length ProtoDUNE Dual Phase liquid argon TPC

DUNE is a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. ProtoDUNE Dual Phase (DP) is a 6  ×  6  ×  6 m 3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) that recorded cosmic-muon data at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. Charged particles propagating through the LArTPC produce ionization and scintillation light. The scintillation light signal in these detectors can provide the trigger for non-beam events. In addition, it adds precise timing capabilities and improves the calorimetry measurements. In ProtoDUNE-DP, scintillation and electroluminescence light produced by cosmic muons in the LArTPC is collected by photomultiplier tubes placed up to 7 m away from the ionizing track. In this paper, the ProtoDUNE-DP photon detection system performance is evaluated with a particular focus on the different wavelength shifters, such as PEN and TPB, and the use of Xe-doped LAr, considering its future use in giant LArTPCs. The scintillation light production and propagation processes are analyzed and a comparison of simulation to data is performed, improving understanding of the liquid argon properties

Separation of track- and shower-like energy deposits in ProtoDUNE-SP using a convolutional neural network

Liquid argon time projection chamber detector technology provides high spatial and calorimetric resolutions on the charged particles traversing liquid argon. As a result, the technology has been used in a number of recent neutrino experiments, and is the technology of choice for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). In order to perform high precision measurements of neutrinos in the detector, final state particles need to be effectively identified, and their energy accurately reconstructed. This article proposes an algorithm based on a convolutional neural network to perform the classification of energy deposits and reconstructed particles as track-like or arising from electromagnetic cascades. Results from testing the algorithm on data from ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype of the DUNE far detector, are presented. The network identifies track- and shower-like particles, as well as Michel electrons, with high efficiency. The performance of the algorithm is consistent between data and simulation