LOCATION OF A MIXALCO PRODUCTION FACILITY WITH RESPECT TO ECONOMIC VIABILITY

Monte-Carlo simulation modeling is used to perform a feasibility study of alternative locations for a MixAlco production facility. Net present value distributions will be ranked within feasible risk aversion boundaries. If MixAlco is a profitable investment, it would have a major impact on the fuel oxygenate and gasoline markets.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders compared with diagnosis-specific protocols for anxiety disorders a randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Transdiagnostic interventions have been developed to address barriers to the dissemination of evidence-based psychological treatments, but only a few preliminary studies have compared these approaches with existing evidence-based psychological treatments. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP) is at least as efficacious as single-disorder protocols (SDPs) in the treatment of anxiety disorders. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: From June 23, 2011, to March 5, 2015, a total of 223 patients at an outpatient treatment center with a principal diagnosis of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or social anxiety disorder were randomly assigned by principal diagnosis to the UP, an SDP, or a waitlist control condition. Patients received up to 16 sessions of the UP or an SDP for 16 to 21 weeks. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, after treatment, and at 6-month follow-up. Analysis in this equivalence trial was based on intention to treat. INTERVENTIONS: The UP or SDPs. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Blinded evaluations of principal diagnosis clinical severity rating were used to evaluate an a priori hypothesis of equivalence between the UP and SDPs. RESULTS: Among the 223 patients (124 women and 99 men; mean [SD] age, 31.1 [11.0] years), 88 were randomized to receive the UP, 91 to receive an SDP, and 44 to the waitlist control condition. Patients were more likely to complete treatment with the UP than with SDPs (odds ratio, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.44-6.74). Both the UP (Cohen d, −0.93; 95% CI, −1.29 to −0.57) and SDPs (Cohen d, −1.08; 95% CI, −1.43 to −0.73) were superior to the waitlist control condition at acute outcome. Reductions in clinical severity rating from baseline to the end of treatment (β, 0.25; 95% CI, −0.26 to 0.75) and from baseline to the 6-month follow-up (β, 0.16; 95% CI, −0.39 to 0.70) indicated statistical equivalence between the UP and SDPs. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The UP produces symptom reduction equivalent to criterion standard evidence-based psychological treatments for anxiety disorders with less attrition. Thus, it may be possible to use 1 protocol instead of multiple SDPs to more efficiently treat the most commonly occurring anxiety and depressive disorders.This study was funded by grant R01 MH090053 from the National Institute of Mental Health. (R01 MH090053 - National Institute of Mental Health)First author draf

Screening for Atrial Fibrillation: Improving Efficiency of Manual Review of Handheld Electrocardiograms †.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common irregular heart rhythm associated with a five-fold increase in stroke risk. It is often not recognised as it can occur intermittently and without symptoms. A promising approach to detect AF is to use a handheld electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor for screening. However, the ECG recordings must be manually reviewed, which is time-consuming and costly. Our aims were to: (i) evaluate the manual review workload; and (ii) evaluate strategies to reduce the workload. In total, 2141 older adults were asked to record their ECG four times per day for 1-4 weeks in the SAFER (Screening for Atrial Fibrillation with ECG to Reduce stroke) Feasibility Study, producing 162,515 recordings. Patients with AF were identified by: (i) an algorithm classifying recordings based on signal quality (high or low) and heart rhythm; (ii) a nurse reviewing recordings to correct algorithm misclassifications; and (iii) two cardiologists independently reviewing recordings from patients with any evidence of rhythm abnormality. It was estimated that 30,165 reviews were required (20,155 by the nurse, and 5005 by each cardiologist). The total number of reviews could be reduced to 24,561 if low-quality recordings were excluded from review; 18,573 by only reviewing ECGs falling under certain pathological classifications; and 18,144 by only reviewing ECGs displaying an irregularly irregular rhythm for the entire recording. The number of AF patients identified would not fall considerably: from 54 to 54, 54 and 53, respectively. In conclusion, simple approaches may help feasibly reduce the manual workload by 38.4% whilst still identifying the same number of patients with undiagnosed, clinically relevant AF

Causes and consequences of tool shape variation in New Caledonian crows

This study was funded through a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship (BB/G023913/2; C.R.), studentships from JASSO (S.S.; L12126010025) and BBSRC/University of St Andrews (B.C.K.), and a JSPS overseas research fellowship (S.S.; H28/1018).Hominins have been making tools for over three million years [1], yet the earliest known hooked tools appeared as recently as 90,000 years ago [2]. Hook innovation is likely to have boosted our ancestors’ hunting and fishing efficiency [3], marking a major transition in human technological evolution. The New Caledonian crow is the only non-human animal known to craft hooks in the wild [4 ; 5]. Crows manufacture hooked stick tools in a multi-stage process, involving the detachment of a branch from suitable vegetation; “sculpting” of a terminal hook from the nodal joint; and often additional adjustments, such as length trimming, shaft bending, and bark stripping [4; 6 ; 7]. Although tools made by a given population share key design features [4; 6 ; 8], they vary appreciably in overall shape and hook dimensions. Using wild-caught, temporarily captive crows, we experimentally investigated causes and consequences of variation in hook-tool morphology. We found that bird age, manufacture method, and raw-material properties influenced tool morphology, and that hook geometry in turn affected crows’ foraging efficiency. Specifically, hook depth varied with both detachment technique and plant rigidity, and deeper hooks enabled faster prey extraction in the provided tasks. Older crows manufactured tools of distinctive shape, with pronounced shaft curvature and hooks of intermediate depth. Future work should explore the interactive effects of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on tool production and deployment. Our study provides a quantitative assessment of the drivers and functional significance of tool shape variation in a non-human animal, affording valuable comparative insights into early hominin tool crafting [9].PostprintPeer reviewe

Preliminary observations of tool-processing behaviour in Hawaiian crows Corvus hawaiiensis

This project was funded through a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship (BB/G023913/2 to C.R.), and a PhD studentship by the BBSRC and the University of St Andrews (to B.K.). Funding for the ‘Alalā conservation breeding programme was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, State of Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Moore Family Foundation, several anonymous donors, and San Diego Zoo Global.Very few animal species habitually make and use foraging tools. We recently discovered that the Hawaiian crow is a highly skilled, natural tool user. Most captive adults in our experiment spontaneously used sticks to access out-of-reach food from a range of extraction tasks, exhibiting a surprising degree of dexterity. Moreover, many birds modified tools before or during deployment, and some even manufactured tools from raw materials. In this invited addendum article, we describe and discuss these observations in more detail. Our preliminary data, and comparisons with the better-studied New Caledonian crow, suggest that the Hawaiian crow has extensive tool-modification and manufacture abilities. To chart the full extent of the species’ natural tool-making repertoire, we have started conducting dedicated experiments where subjects are given access to suitable raw materials for tool manufacture, but not ready-to-use tools.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

DNA barcoding identifies cryptic animal tool materials

Funding: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (Grants BB/G023913/1 and BB/G023913/2 to C.R., and studentship to B.C.K.), the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews (studentships to M.P.S. and B.C.K.), and the Leverhulme Trust (Grant RPG-2015-273 to P.M.H.).Some animals fashion tools or constructions out of plant materials to aid foraging, reproduction, self-maintenance, or protection. Their choice of raw materials can affect the structure and properties of the resulting artifacts, with considerable fitness consequences. Documenting animals’ material preferences is challenging, however, as manufacture behavior is often difficult to observe directly, and materials may be processed so heavily that they lack identifying features. Here, we use DNA barcoding to identify, from just a few recovered tool specimens, the plant species New Caledonian crows (Corvus moneduloides) use for crafting elaborate hooked stick tools in one of our long-term study populations. The method succeeded where extensive fieldwork using an array of conventional approaches—including targeted observations, camera traps, radio-tracking, bird-mounted video cameras, and behavioral experiments with wild and temporarily captive subjects—had failed. We believe that DNA barcoding will prove useful for investigating many other tool and construction behaviors, helping to unlock significant research potential across a wide range of study systems.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Evaluation of Glutaminase Expression in Prostate Adenocarcinoma and Correlation with Clinicopathologic Parameters

High Glutaminase (GLS1) expression may have prognostic implications in colorectal and breast cancers; however, high quality data for expression in prostate cancer (PCa) are lacking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of GLS1 expression in PCa and correlated expression levels with clinicopathologic parameters. This study was conducted in two phases: an exploratory cohort analyzing RNA-Seq data for GLS1 from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data portal (246 PCa samples) and a GLS1 immunohistochemical protein expression cohort utilizing a tissue microarray (TMA) (154 PCa samples; 41 benign samples) for correlation with clinicopathologic parameters. In the TCGA cohort, GLS1 mRNA expression did not show a statistically significant difference in disease-free survival (DFS) but did show a small significant difference in overall survival (OS). In the TMA cohort, there was no correlation between GLS1 expression and stage, Gleason score, DFS and OS. GLS1 expression did not significantly correlate with the clinical outcomes measured; however, GLS1 expression was higher in PCa cells compared to benign epithelium. Future studies are warranted to evaluate expression levels in greater numbers of high-grade and advanced PCa samples to investigate whether there is a rational basis for GLS1 targeted therapy in a subset of patients with prostate cancer

High fidelity: extra-pair fertilisations in eight Charadrius plover species are not associated with parental relatedness or social mating system

Extra-pair paternity is a common reproductive strategy in many bird species. However, it remains unclear why extra-pair paternity occurs and why it varies among species and populations. Plovers (Charadrius spp.) exhibit considerable variation in reproductive behaviour and ecology, making them excellent models to investigate the evolution of social and genetic mating systems. We investigated inter- and intra-specific patterns of extra-pair parentage and evaluated three major hypotheses explaining extra-pair paternity using a comparative approach based on the microsatellite genotypes of 2049 individuals from 510 plover families sampled from twelve populations that constituted eight species. Extra-pair paternity rates were very low (0 to 4.1% of chicks per population). No evidence was found in support of the sexual conflict or genetic compatibility hypotheses, and there was no seasonal pattern of extra-pair paternity (EPP). The low prevalence of EPP is consistent with a number of alternative hypotheses, including the parental investment hypothesis, which suggests that high contribution to care by males restricts female plovers from engaging in extra-pair copulations. Further studies are needed to critically test the importance of this hypothesis for mate choice in plovers

Discovery of species-wide tool use in the Hawaiian crow

Funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK (BBSRC; grant BB/G023913/2 to C.R., and studentship to B.C.K.), the University of St Andrews (C.R.), JASSO (S.S.), and the Royal Society of London (M.B.M.). Funding for thecaptive ‘Alala propagation programme was provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Moore Family Foundation, Marisla Foundation, several anonymous donors, and San Diego Zoo Global.Only a handful of bird species are known to use foraging tools in the wild1. Amongst them, the New Caledonian crow (Corvus moneduloides) stands out with its sophisticated tool-making skills2, 3. Despite considerable speculation, the evolutionary origins of this species’ remarkable tool behaviour remain largely unknown, not least because no naturally tool-using congeners have yet been identified that would enable informative comparisons4. Here we show that another tropical corvid, the ‘Alalā (C. hawaiiensis; Hawaiian crow), is a highly dexterous tool user. Although the ‘Alalā became extinct in the wild in the early 2000s, and currently survives only in captivity5, at least two lines of evidence suggest that tool use is part of the species’ natural behavioural repertoire: juveniles develop functional tool use without training, or social input from adults; and proficient tool use is a species-wide capacity. ‘Alalā and New Caledonian crows evolved in similar environments on remote tropical islands, yet are only distantly related6, suggesting that their technical abilities arose convergently. This supports the idea that avian foraging tool use is facilitated by ecological conditions typical of islands, such as reduced competition for embedded prey and low predation risk4, 7. Our discovery creates exciting opportunities for comparative research on multiple tool-using and non-tool-using corvid species. Such work will in turn pave the way for replicated cross-taxonomic comparisons with the primate lineage, enabling valuable insights into the evolutionary origins of tool-using behaviour.PostprintPeer reviewe