Towards improved socio-economic assessments of ocean acidification’s impacts

Ocean acidification is increasingly recognized as a component of global change that could have a wide range of impacts on marine organisms, the ecosystems they live in, and the goods and services they provide humankind. Assessment of these potential socio-economic impacts requires integrated efforts between biologists, chemists, oceanographers, economists and social scientists. But because ocean acidification is a new research area, significant knowledge gaps are preventing economists from estimating its welfare impacts. For instance, economic data on the impact of ocean acidification on significant markets such as fisheries, aquaculture and tourism are very limited (if not non-existent), and non-market valuation studies on this topic are not yet available. Our paper summarizes the current understanding of future OA impacts and sets out what further information is required for economists to assess socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification. Our aim is to provide clear directions for multidisciplinary collaborative research

Genomics Reveals the Worldwide Distribution of Multidrug-Resistant Serotype 6E Pneumococci.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.The pneumococcus is a leading pathogen infecting children and adults. Safe, effective vaccines exist, and they work by inducing antibodies to the polysaccharide capsule (unique for each serotype) that surrounds the cell; however, current vaccines are limited by the fact that only a few of the nearly 100 antigenically distinct serotypes are included in the formulations. Within the serotypes, serogroup 6 pneumococci are a frequent cause of serious disease and common colonizers of the nasopharynx in children. Serotype 6E was first reported in 2004 but was thought to be rare; however, we and others have detected serotype 6E among recent pneumococcal collections. Therefore, we analyzed a diverse data set of ∼1,000 serogroup 6 genomes, assessed the prevalence and distribution of serotype 6E, analyzed the genetic diversity among serogroup 6 pneumococci, and investigated whether pneumococcal conjugate vaccine-induced serotype 6A and 6B antibodies mediate the killing of serotype 6E pneumococci. We found that 43% of all genomes were of serotype 6E, and they were recovered worldwide from healthy children and patients of all ages with pneumococcal disease. Four genetic lineages, three of which were multidrug resistant, described ∼90% of the serotype 6E pneumococci. Serological assays demonstrated that vaccine-induced serotype 6B antibodies were able to elicit killing of serotype 6E pneumococci. We also revealed three major genetic clusters of serotype 6A capsular sequences, discovered a new hybrid 6C/6E serotype, and identified 44 examples of serotype switching. Therefore, while vaccines appear to offer protection against serotype 6E, genetic variants may reduce vaccine efficacy in the longer term because of the emergence of serotypes that can evade vaccine-induced immunity

Exposure of mediterranean countries to ocean acidification

This study examines the potential effects of ocean acidification on countries and fisheries of the Mediterranean Sea. The implications for seafood security and supply are evaluated by examining the sensitivity of the Mediterranean to ocean acidification at chemical, biological, and macro-economic levels. The limited information available on impacts of ocean acidification on harvested (industrial, recreational, and artisanal fishing) and cultured species (aquaculture) prevents any biological impact assessment. However, it appears that non-developed nations around the Mediterranean, particularly those for which fisheries are increasing, yet rely heavily on artisanal fleets, are most greatly exposed to socioeconomic consequences from ocean acidification. © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Ctenophore population recruits entirely through larval reproduction in the central Baltic Sea

The comb jelly Mertensia ovum, widely distributed in Arctic regions, has recently been discovered in the northern Baltic Sea. We show that M. ovum also exists in the central Baltic but that the population consists solely of small-sized larvae (less than 1.6 mm). Despite the absence of adults, eggs were abundant. Experiments revealed that the larvae were reproductively active. Egg production and anticipated mortality rates suggest a self-sustaining population. This is the first account of a ctenophore population entirely recruiting through larval reproduction (paedogenesis). We hypothesize that early reproduction is favoured over growth to compensate for high predation pressure

Компенсационное корнеизвлекающее устройство

Материалы науч.-техн. конф. (науч. чтения, посвященные Павлу Осиповичу Сухому)[1-3 июля 1998 г., г. Гомель]. Том II. - Гомель, 1998

Automated Risk Identification of Myocardial Infarction Using Relative Frequency Band Coefficient (RFBC) Features from ECG

Various structural and functional changes associated with ischemic (myocardial infarcted) heart cause amplitude and spectral changes in signals obtained at different leads of ECG. In order to capture these changes, Relative Frequency Band Coefficient (RFBC) features from 12-lead ECG have been proposed and used for automated identification of myocardial infarction risk. RFBC features reduces the effect of subject variabilty in body composition on the amplitude dependent features. The proposed method is evaluated on ECG data from PTB diagnostic database using support vector machine as classifier. The promising result suggests that the proposed RFBC features may be used in the screening and clinical decision support system for myocardial infarction

Report of the CCQM-K130 : Nitrogen mass fraction measurements in glycine

Mass fraction of nitrogen is very important pointer because the results of these measurements are often used for determination of protein mass fraction that is an important indicator of the quality of the vast majority of food products and raw materials, in particular dry milk powder. Proteins-enzymes catalyze chemical reactions, protein along with fats and carbohydrates is one of the indicators characterizing the energy value of food, so its definition is mandatory for all food products. The aim of this key comparison CCQM-K130 and pilot study P166 is to support National Measurement Institutes (NMIs) and Designated Institutes (DIs) to demonstrate the validity of the procedures the employed for determination of nitrogen mass fraction in glycine. The study material for this key comparison and pilot study has been selected to be representative as one of the aminoacid – the simplest part of the protein. Glycine is an amino acid, single acid that does not have any isomers (melting point –290 °C; specific heat of evaporation − 528,6 J/kg; specific melting heat − 981,1 J/kg; pKa − 2,34, molar mass - 75,07 g/mol, density - 1,607 g/cm3). Ural Scientific Research Institute for Metrology (UNIIM) acted as the coordinating laboratory of this comparison and pilot study. Eight NMIs participated in this key comparison and two NMIs participated in Pilot study. The results of Pilot study are excluded from the Report B.Fil: Medvedevskikh, Maria. Ural Scientific Research Institute for Metrology (UNIIM); RusiaFil: Jury, Bessonov. Ural Scientific Research Institute for Metrology (UNIIM); RusiaFil: Krasheninina, Maria. Ural Scientific Research Institute for Metrology (UNIIM); RusiaFil: Acco Garcia, Steve Ali. (INACAL); PerúFil: Haraldsson, Conny. SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden; SueciaFil: Rodriguez, M. Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (INTI); ArgentinaFil: Rodriguez, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (INTI); ArgentinaFil: Salvo, Karino. Laboratorio Tecnológico del Uruguay (LATU); UruguayFil: Gavrilkin, Vladimir. (UkrCSM); UcraniaFil: Kulik, Sergey. (UkrCSM); UcraniaFil: Samuel, Laly. (MSL); Nueva ZelandaFil: do Rego, Eliane C. P. Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMetro); BrasilFil: Wollinger, Wagner. Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMetro); BrasilFil: Monteiro, Tânia M. Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMetro); BrasilFil: de Carvalho, Lucas J. Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Qualidade e Tecnologia (INMetro); Brasi

Genomic Analyses of >3,100 Nasopharyngeal Pneumococci Revealed Significant Differences Between Pneumococci Recovered in Four Different Geographical Regions.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked DownloadUnderstanding the structure of a bacterial population is essential in order to understand bacterial evolution. Estimating the core genome (those genes common to all, or nearly all, strains of a species) is a key component of such analyses. The size and composition of the core genome varies by dataset, but we hypothesized that the variation between different collections of the same bacterial species would be minimal. To investigate this, we analyzed the genome sequences of 3,118 pneumococci recovered from healthy individuals in Reykjavik (Iceland), Southampton (United Kingdom), Boston (United States), and Maela (Thailand). The analyses revealed a "supercore" genome (genes shared by all 3,118 pneumococci) of 558 genes, although an additional 354 core genes were shared by pneumococci from Reykjavik, Southampton, and Boston. Overall, the size and composition of the core and pan-genomes among pneumococci recovered in Reykjavik, Southampton, and Boston were similar. Maela pneumococci were distinctly different in that they had a smaller core genome and larger pan-genome. The pan-genome of Maela pneumococci contained several >25 Kb sequence regions (flanked by pneumococcal genes) that were homologous to genomic regions found in other bacterial species. Overall, our work revealed that some subsets of the global pneumococcal population are highly heterogeneous, and our hypothesis was rejected. This is an important finding in terms of understanding genetic variation among pneumococci and is also an essential point of consideration before generalizing the findings from a single dataset to the wider pneumococcal population.Wellcome Trust Biomedical Research Fund award Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship University of Oxford John Fell Fund award Wellcome Trust Eimskipa University Fund GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA Landspitali University Hospital Research Fun