An Economic Assessment of the Amenity Benefits Associated with Alternative Coastal Protection Options

Current government guidelines for the appraisal of coastal defence projects in the UK do not require that non-market amenity benefits to be considered . However, a new option in coastal defence, namely multi-purpose reefs, provides an opportunity to integrate coastal defence with significant amenity provision. This paper reports the findings of a choice experiment study that evaluated the amenity benefits of four alternative coastal defence systems currently being considered for Borth in west Wales. The results indicate that traditional coastal defence options such as timber and rock groynes do not generate amenity benefits, while a multipurpose reef would generate significant benefits in terms of improvements in the visual appeal of the beach, safer swimming opportunities and improved surfing conditions. Importantly, these benefits were found to be significant for all members of the local community and not just surf ers. Based on our findings, we recommend that guidelines for the appraisal of coastal defence projects should be amended to incorporate non-market amenity benefits.Choice experiments, amenity value, coastal defence, multi-purpose reef, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q26, Q51, Q58,

Mature Peripheral RPE Cells Have an Intrinsic Capacity to Proliferate; A Potential Regulatory Mechanism for Age-Related Cell Loss

Mammalian peripheral retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) cells proliferate throughout life, while central cells are senescent. It is thought that some peripheral cells migrate centrally to correct age-related central RPE loss.We ask whether this proliferative capacity is intrinsic to such cells and whether cells located centrally produce diffusible signals imposing senescence upon the former once migrated. We also ask whether there are regional differences in expression patterns of key genes involved in these features between the centre and the periphery in vivo and in vitro. Low density RPE cultures obtained from adult mice revealed significantly greater levels of proliferation when derived from peripheral compared to central tissue, but this significance declined with increasing culture density. Further, exposure to centrally conditioned media had no influence on proliferation in peripheral RPE cell cultures at the concentrations examined. Central cells expressed significantly higher levels of E-Cadherin revealing a tighter cell adhesion than in the peripheral regions. Fluorescence-labelled staining for E-Cadherin, F-actin and ZO-1 in vivo revealed different patterns with significantly increased expression on central RPE cells than those in the periphery or differences in junctional morphology. A range of other genes were investigated both in vivo and in vitro associated with RPE proliferation in order to identify gene expression differences between the centre and the periphery. Specifically, the cell cycle inhibitor p27(Kip1) was significantly elevated in central senescent regions in vivo and mTOR, associated with RPE cell senescence, was significantly elevated in the centre in comparison to the periphery.These data show that the proliferative capacity of peripheral RPE cells is intrinsic and cell-autonomous in adult mice. These differences between centre and periphery are reflected in distinct patterns in junctional markers. The regional proliferation differences may be inversely dependent to cell-cell contact

Trajectories of maternal symptoms of anxiety and depression. A 13-year longitudinal study of a population-based sample

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is a lack of population-based studies of developmental trajectories following mothers throughout the whole child-rearing phase and there are few longitudinal studies focusing on both symptoms of depression and anxiety. The aim of the current study is to identify latent trajectory groups based on counts of symptoms of anxiety and depression among mothers throughout the child-rearing phase and the relations of the latent groups to maternal socio-demographic variables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data is from a prospective, longitudinal study of nearly 1000 families in Norway followed from when the index children were 18 months until they were 14.5 years old (the TOPP study). The study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify latent groups of mothers with distinct trajectories across time of symptom counts. Latent group differences on socio-demographic variables were tested with one-way ANOVAs, chi-square tests and exact tests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Six trajectories based on maternal scores from six waves of data collection of symptoms of anxiety and depression were identified; a 'No symptoms' group with mothers without symptoms; a 'Low' group with mothers reporting low symptom levels; a 'Moderate-low' group with mothers reporting moderately low symptom levels; a 'Moderate' group with mothers with moderate symptoms; a 'High-chronic' group with mothers with overall high symptom levels; and a 'Low-rising' group with mothers starting with a low symptom level that increased over time. The mothers in the High-chronic symptom group differed from the other mothers on several socio-demographic variables. They were significantly younger than the mothers in the Low group comprising the oldest mothers. The mothers in the High-chronic group had significantly lower education, were less likely to have paid work and were less likely to be living with a partner than the mothers in the other groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study shows socio-demographic differences between mothers classified into six trajectory groups based on symptoms of anxiety and depression covering 13 years of the child-rearing period. Specific socio-demographic risk factors characterised mothers in the High-chronic symptom group. Identifying subgroups with enduring problems might inform more targeted preventive efforts.</p

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

An Economic Assessment of the Amenity Benefits Associated with Alternative Coastal Protection Options

Current government guidelines for the appraisal of coastal defence projects in the UK do not require that non-market amenity benefits to be considered . However, a new option in coastal defence, namely multi-purpose reefs, provides an opportunity to integrate coastal defence with significant amenity provision. This paper reports the findings of a choice experiment study that evaluated the amenity benefits of four alternative coastal defence systems currently being considered for Borth in west Wales. The results indicate that traditional coastal defence options such as timber and rock groynes do not generate amenity benefits, while a multipurpose reef would generate significant benefits in terms of improvements in the visual appeal of the beach, safer swimming opportunities and improved surfing conditions. Importantly, these benefits were found to be significant for all members of the local community and not just surf ers. Based on our findings, we recommend that guidelines for the appraisal of coastal defence projects should be amended to incorporate non-market amenity benefits

An updated description of the Australian dingo (Canis dingo Meyer, 1793)

A sound understanding of the taxonomy of threatened species is essential for setting conservation priorities and the development of management strategies. Hybridization is a threat to species conservation because it compromises the integrity of unique evolutionary lineages and can impair the ability of conservation managers to identify threatened taxa and achieve conservation targets. Australia’s largest land predator, the dingo Canis dingo, is a controversial taxon that is threatened by hybridization. Since their arrival <5000 yBP (years Before Present) dingoes have been subject to isolation, leading to them becoming a unique canid. However, the dingo’s taxonomic status is clouded by hybridization with modern domesticated dogs and confusion about how to distinguish ‘pure’ dingoes from dingo-dog hybrids. Confusion exists because there is no description or series of original specimens against which the identities of putative hybrid and ‘pure’ dingoes can be assessed. Current methods to classify dingoes have poor discriminatory abilities because natural variation within dingoes is poorly understood, and it is unknown if hybridization may have altered the genome of post- 19th century reference specimens. Here we provide a description of the dingo based on pre-20th century specimens that are unlikely to have been influenced by hybridization. The dingo differs from the domestic dog by relatively larger palatal width, relatively longer rostrum, relatively shorter skull height and relatively wider top ridge of skull. A sample of 19th century dingo skins we examined suggests that there was considerable variability in the colour of dingoes and included various combinations of yellow, white, ginger and darker variations from tan to black. Although it remains difficult to provide consistent and clear diagnostic features, our study places morphological limits on what can be considered a dingo

Response to Allen ‘An alternative hypothesis to the conclusion of Colman et al. (2014)’

We respond to the criticisms of Allen regarding Colman et al., examining the differences in forest mammal assemblages between areas where dingoes were controlled and not controlled in southeastern Australia. Allen contends that Colman et al. did not show any evidence of dingo control in 'Treatment' sites; the positive relationship between dingo activity and small mammal abundance observed by Colman et al. was likely a product of bottom-up responses, and not due to indirect effects of dingo removal; and demonstrating trophic cascades resulting from top-predator control is only possible through manipulative experiments. In our response, we explain why we disagree with each of Allen's criticisms

Lethal control of an apex predator has unintended cascading effects on forest mammal assemblages

Disruption to species-interaction networks caused by irruptions of herbivores and mesopredators following extirpation of apex predators is a global driver of ecosystem reorganization and biodiversity loss. Most studies of apex predators' ecological roles focus on effects arising from their interactions with herbivores or mesopredators in isolation, but rarely consider how the effects of herbivores and mesopredators interact. Here, we provide evidence that multiple cascade pathways induced by lethal control of an apex predator, the dingo, drive unintended shifts in forest ecosystem structure. We compared mammal assemblages and understorey structure at seven sites in southern Australia. Each site comprised an area where dingoes were poisoned and an area without control. The effects of dingo control on mammals scaled with body size. Activity of herbivorous macropods, arboreal mammals and a mesopredator, the red fox, were greater, but understorey vegetation sparser and abundances of small mammals lower, where dingoes were controlled. Structural equation modelling suggested that both predation by foxes and depletion of understorey vegetation by macropods were related to small mammal decline at poisoned sites. Our study suggests that apex predators' suppressive effects on herbivores and mesopredators occur simultaneously and should be considered in tandem in order to appreciate the extent of apex predators' indirect effects