Adaptability of great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo in a coastal environment demonstrated by their exploitation of introduced prey species and use of artificial breeding sites

An analysis of the contents of regurgitations of great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo chicks at two coastal colonies in South Africa, one on an offhore island (St Croix) and the other at a saltworks in an estuary (Swartkops), revealed that the diet was dominated by introduced freshwater and estuarine fish. Most other prey species were indigenous euryhaline fish, and from the size ranges of the estuary-dependent species it was clear that they had been obtained in estuaries. Great cormorants in this coastal environment have learned to exploit introduced fish species, but use offshore islands as safe breeding sites, unless suitably safe artificial sites are created near their preferred foraging areas.Keywords: chick regurgitations, diet, St Croix Island, Swartkops RiverAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2002, 24: 317–32

Ectoplasm with an Edge

The construction of supersymmetric invariant actions on a spacetime manifold with a boundary is carried out using the "ectoplasm" formalism for the construction of closed forms in superspace. Non-trivial actions are obtained from the pull-backs to the bosonic bodies of closed but non-exact forms in superspace; finding supersymmetric invariants thus becomes a cohomology problem. For a spacetime with a boundary, the appropriate mathematical language changes to relative cohomology, which we use to give a general formulation of off-shell supersymmetric invariants in the presence of boundaries. We also relate this construction to the superembedding formalism for the construction of brane actions, and we give examples with bulk spacetimes of dimension 3, 4 and 5. The closed superform in the 5D example needs to be constructed as a Chern-Simons type of invariant, obtained from a closed 6-form displaying Weil triviality.Comment: 25 page

Increased placental expression of cannabinoid receptor 1 in preeclampsia

BackgroundThe endocannabinoid system plays a key role in female reproduction, including implantation, decidualization and placentation. In the present study, we aimed to analyze cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), CB2 and fatty acid amid hydrolase (FAAH) expressions and localization in normal and preeclamptic placenta, in order to determine whether placental endocannabinoid expression pattern differs between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia.MethodsEighteen preeclamptic patients and 18 normotensive, healthy pregnant women with uncomplicated pregnancies were involved in our case inverted question markcontrol study. We determined CB1, CB2 and FAAH expressions by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry in placental samples collected directly after Cesarean section.ResultsCB1 expression semi-quantified by Western blotting was significantly higher in preeclamptic placenta, and these findings were confirmed by immunohistochemistry. CB1 immunoreactivity was markedly stronger in syncytiotrophoblasts, the mesenchymal core, decidua, villous capillary endothelial and smooth muscle cells, as well as in the amnion in preeclamptic samples compared to normal pregnancies. However, we did not find significant differences between preeclamptic and normal placenta in terms of CB2 and FAAH expressions and immunoreactivity.ConclusionsWe observed markedly higher expression of CB1 protein in preeclamptic placental tissue. Increased CB1 expression might cause abnormal decidualization and impair trophoblast invasion, thus being involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Nevertheless, we did not find significant differences between preeclamptic and normal placental tissue regarding CB2 and FAAH expressions. While the detailed pathogenesis of preeclampsia is still unclear, the endocannabinoid system could play a role in the development of the disease

Validity and reliability of the VOAA-DDD to assess spontaneous hand use with a video observation tool in children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy

Contains fulltext : 80999.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: In 2003 new computer software, the VOAA (Video Observations Aarts and Aarts), was designed to score and evaluate two important aspects of spontaneous upper limb use, i.e. overall duration and frequency of specific behaviours. The aim of this study was to investigate the test-retest, interrater and intrarater reliability and the construct validity of a new module, the VOAA-DDD, to determine developmental disregard in children with spastic unilateral cerebral palsy (CP). METHODS: A test-retest design with three raters for reliability and a two-group design for construct validity were used. Subjects were a total of 20 children with spastic unilateral CP equally divided in two age groups (2.5-5 and 5-8 years), and 56 healthy children of the same age groups. Overall duration and frequency of specific behaviours of the affected arm and hand were assessed during a task demanding ('stringing beads') and a task stimulating ('decorating a muffin') the use of both hands. Reliability was estimated by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Construct validity was assessed by comparing children with CP to healthy children. RESULTS: All ICCs exceeded 0.87. In contrast with healthy children, children with CP used their affected hand less during the 'muffin' task compared to the 'beads' task. Of the children with CP, 90% in the age group of 2.5-5 years and 50% in the age group of 5-8 years showed values exceeding the extreme values of healthy controls, respectively, indicating developmental disregard. CONCLUSION: The VOAA-DDD is a reliable and valid instrument to assess spontaneous use of the affected arm and hand in order to determine developmental disregard in children with spastic unilateral CP

An Assessment of Mobile Predator Populations along Shallow and Mesophotic Depth Gradients in the Hawaiian Archipelago.

Large-bodied coral reef roving predators (sharks, jacks, snappers) are largely considered to be depleted around human population centers. In the Hawaiian Archipelago, supporting evidence is primarily derived from underwater visual censuses in shallow waters (=30?m). However, while many roving predators are present or potentially more abundant in deeper strata (30-100?m+), distributional information remains sparse. To partially fill that knowledge gap, we conducted surveys in the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and populated Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) from 2012-2014 using baited remote underwater stereo-video. Surveys between 0-100?m found considerable roving predator community dissimilarities between regions, marked conspicuous changes in species abundances with increasing depth, and largely corroborated patterns documented during shallow water underwater visual censuses, with up to an order of magnitude more jacks and five times more sharks sampled in the NWHI compared to the MHI. Additionally, several species were significantly more abundant and larger in mesophotic versus shallow depths, which remains particularly suggestive of deep-water refugia effects in the MHI. Stereo-video extends the depth range of current roving predator surveys in a more robust manner than was previously available, and appears to be well-suited for large-scale roving predator work in the Hawaiian Archipelago

A physical activity intervention to improve the quality of life of patients with a stoma: a feasibility study

Background We hypothesise that a physical activity (PA) intervention will improve the quality of life (QoL) of people with a stoma. A feasibility study of the intervention and trial parameters is necessary to inform a future main trial. Methods Participants received a weekly PA consultation by telephone, video conferencing, or face-to-face for 12 weeks with a PA instructor who prescribed physical activities and supported participants by addressing stoma-related concerns and using behaviour change techniques. A feasibility study of the intervention and trial parameters was conducted in three UK sites using mixed methods. Results The number of eligible patients consenting to the study was 30 out of 174 (17%). Most participants were female (73%); 73% had an ileostomy and 27% a colostomy; mean time since diagnosis was 6 months. A total of 18 (64%) participants completed pre- (baseline) and post-intervention (follow-up) measures. Results show an improvement on all scales measuring QoL and disease-specific fatigue. The median PA consultation rate per participant was eight sessions. Participants reported completing 75% or more of the prescribed PA each week. Eight stoma-related themes were identified from qualitative interviews: fear of hernia, bending down, fatigue, pain, prolapse, surgical wounds, stoma appliance, and stigma. The intervention appeared to address these issues. Conclusion This feasibility study demonstrated that a novel manualised PA intervention for people with a stoma is safe, feasible, and acceptable, and shows promise for improving outcomes. However, difficulties with recruitment will need to be carefully considered to ensure the success of future studies in this area

Clusters of galaxies : observational properties of the diffuse radio emission

Clusters of galaxies, as the largest virialized systems in the Universe, are ideal laboratories to study the formation and evolution of cosmic structures...(abridged)... Most of the detailed knowledge of galaxy clusters has been obtained in recent years from the study of ICM through X-ray Astronomy. At the same time, radio observations have proved that the ICM is mixed with non-thermal components, i.e. highly relativistic particles and large-scale magnetic fields, detected through their synchrotron emission. The knowledge of the properties of these non-thermal ICM components has increased significantly, owing to sensitive radio images and to the development of theoretical models. Diffuse synchrotron radio emission in the central and peripheral cluster regions has been found in many clusters. Moreover large-scale magnetic fields appear to be present in all galaxy clusters, as derived from Rotation Measure (RM) studies. Non-thermal components are linked to the cluster X-ray properties, and to the cluster evolutionary stage, and are crucial for a comprehensive physical description of the intracluster medium. They play an important role in the cluster formation and evolution. We review here the observational properties of diffuse non-thermal sources detected in galaxy clusters: halos, relics and mini-halos. We discuss their classification and properties. We report published results up to date and obtain and discuss statistical properties. We present the properties of large-scale magnetic fields in clusters and in even larger structures: filaments connecting galaxy clusters. We summarize the current models of the origin of these cluster components, and outline the improvements that are expected in this area from future developments thanks to the new generation of radio telescopes.Comment: Accepted for the publication in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 58 pages, 26 figure

f(R) theories

Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations, and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom

Self Assessment in Insects: Honeybee Queens Know Their Own Strength

Contests mediate access to reproductive opportunities in almost all species of animals. An important aspect of the evolution of contests is the reduction of the costs incurred during intra-specific encounters to a minimum. However, escalated fights are commonly lethal in some species like the honeybee, Apis mellifera. By experimentally reducing honeybee queens' fighting abilities, we demonstrate that they refrain from engaging in lethal contests that typically characterize their reproductive dominance behavior and coexist peacefully within a colony. This suggests that weak queens exploit an alternative reproductive strategy and provides an explanation for rare occurrences of queen cohabitation in nature. Our results further indicate that self-assessment, but not mutual assessment of fighting ability occurs prior to and during the agonistic encounters