Peste des Petits Ruminants at the Wildlife–Livestock Interface in the Northern Albertine Rift and Nile Basin, East Africa

In the recent past, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) emerged in East Africa causing outbreaks in small livestock across different countries, with evidences of spillover to wildlife. In order to understand better PPR at the wildlife–livestock interface, we investigated patterns of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) exposure, disease outbreaks, and viral sequences in the northern Albertine Rift. PPRV antibodies indicated a widespread exposure in apparently healthy wildlife from South Sudan (2013) and Uganda (2015, 2017). African buffaloes and Uganda kobs <1-year-old from Queen Elizabeth National Park (2015) had antibodies against PPRV N-antigen and local serosurvey captured a subsequent spread of PPRV in livestock. Outbreaks with PPR-like syndrome in sheep and goats were recorded around the Greater Virunga Landscape in Kasese (2016), Kisoro and Kabale (2017) from western Uganda, and in North Kivu (2017) from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This landscape would not be considered typical for PPR persistence as it is a mixed forest–savannah ecosystem with mostly sedentary livestock. PPRV sequences from DRC (2017) were identical to strains from Burundi (2018) and confirmed a transboundary spread of PPRV. Our results indicate an epidemiological linkage between epizootic cycles in livestock and exposure in wildlife, denoting the importance of PPR surveillance on wild artiodactyls for both conservation and eradication programs

Spatial and temporal facies evolution of a Lower Jurassic carbonate platform, NW Tethyan margin (Mallorca, Spain)

The variety of depositional facies of a Lower Jurassic carbonate platform has been investigated on the island of Mallorca along a transect comprising six stratigraphic profiles. Twenty-nine facies and sub-facies have been recognized, grouped into seven facies associations, ranging in depositional environment from supratidal/terrestrial and peritidal to outer platform. Spatial and temporal (2D) facies distribution along the transect reflects the evolution of the carbonate platform with time showing different facies associations, from a broad peritidal platform (stage 1) to a muddy open platform (stage 2), and finally to a peritidal to outer carbonate platform (stage 3). Stage 1 (early Sinemurian to earliest late Sinemurian) corresponds to a nearly-flat peritidal-shallow subtidal epicontinental platform with facies belts that shifted far and fast over the whole study area. The evolution from stage 1 to stage 2 (late Sinemurian) represents a rapid flooding of the epicontinental shallow platform, with more open-marine conditions, and the onset of differential subsidence. During stage 3 (latest Sinemurian), peritidal and shallow-platform environments preferentially developed to the northeast (Llevant Mountains domain) with a rapid transition to middle-outer platform environments toward the northwest (Tramuntana Range domain). Stages 1 and 3 present facies associations typical of Bahamian-type carbonates, whereas stage 2 represents the demise of the Bahamian-type carbonate factory and proliferation of muddy substrates with suspension-feeders. The described platform evolution responded to the interplay between the initial extensional tectonic phases related to Early Jurassic Tethyan rifting, contemporaneous environmental perturbations, and progressive platform flooding related to the Late Triassic–Early Jurassic worldwide marine transgression and associated accommodation changes

Does working memory training have to be adaptive?

This study tested the common assumption that, to be most effective, working memory (WM) training should be adaptive (i.e., task difficulty is adjusted to individual performance). Indirect evidence for this assumption stems from studies comparing adaptive training to a condition in which tasks are practiced on the easiest level of difficulty only [cf. Klingberg (Trends Cogn Sci 14:317-324, 2010)], thereby, however, confounding adaptivity and exposure to varying task difficulty. For a more direct test of this hypothesis, we randomly assigned 130 young adults to one of the three WM training procedures (adaptive, randomized, or self-selected change in training task difficulty) or to an active control group. Despite large performance increases in the trained WM tasks, we observed neither transfer to untrained structurally dissimilar WM tasks nor far transfer to reasoning. Surprisingly, neither training nor transfer effects were modulated by training procedure, indicating that exposure to varying levels of task difficulty is sufficient for inducing training gains

Cerebral Blood Flow during Rest Associates with General Intelligence and Creativity

Recently, much scientific attention has been focused on resting brain activity and its investigation through such methods as the analysis of functional connectivity during rest (the temporal correlation of brain activities in different regions). However, investigation of the magnitude of brain activity during rest has focused on the relative decrease of brain activity during a task, rather than on the absolute resting brain activity. It is thus necessary to investigate the association between cognitive factors and measures of absolute resting brain activity, such as cerebral blood flow (CBF), during rest (rest-CBF). In this study, we examined this association using multiple regression analyses. Rest-CBF was the dependent variable and the independent variables included two essential components of cognitive functions, psychometric general intelligence and creativity. CBF was measured using arterial spin labeling and there were three analyses for rest-CBF; namely mean gray matter rest-CBF, mean white matter rest-CBF, and regional rest-CBF. The results showed that mean gray and white matter rest-CBF were significantly and positively correlated with individual psychometric intelligence. Furthermore, mean white matter rest-CBF was significantly and positively correlated with creativity. After correcting the effect of mean gray matter rest-CBF the significant and positive correlation between regional rest-CBF in the perisylvian anatomical cluster that includes the left superior temporal gyrus and insula and individual psychometric intelligence was found. Also, regional rest-CBF in the precuneus was significantly and negatively correlated with individual creativity. Significance of these results of regional rest-CBF did not change when the effect of regional gray matter density was corrected. The findings showed mean and regional rest-CBF in healthy young subjects to be correlated with cognitive functions. The findings also suggest that, even in young cognitively intact subjects, resting brain activity (possibly underlain by default cognitive activity or metabolic demand from developed brain structures) is associated with cognitive functions

Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of CDK9 drives neutrophil apoptosis to resolve inflammation in zebrafish in vivo

Neutrophilic inflammation is tightly regulated and subsequently resolves to limit tissue damage and promote repair. When the timely resolution of inflammation is dysregulated, tissue damage and disease results. One key control mechanism is neutrophil apoptosis, followed by apoptotic cell clearance by phagocytes such as macrophages. Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor drugs induce neutrophil apoptosis in vitro and promote resolution of inflammation in rodent models. Here we present the first in vivo evidence, using pharmacological and genetic approaches, that CDK9 is involved in the resolution of neutrophil-dependent inflammation. Using live cell imaging in zebrafish with labelled neutrophils and macrophages, we show that pharmacological inhibition, morpholino-mediated knockdown and CRISPR/cas9-mediated knockout of CDK9 enhances inflammation resolution by reducing neutrophil numbers via induction of apoptosis after tailfin injury. Importantly, knockdown of the negative regulator La-related protein 7 (LaRP7) increased neutrophilic inflammation. Our data show that CDK9 is a possible target for controlling resolution of inflammation

Intraspecific Variation in Pinus Pinaster PSII Photochemical Efficiency in Response to Winter Stress and Freezing Temperatures

As part of a program to select maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) genotypes for resistance to low winter temperatures, we examined variation in photosystem II activity by chlorophyll fluorescence. Populations and families within populations from contrasting climates were tested during two consecutive winters through two progeny trials, one located at a continental and xeric site and one at a mesic site with Atlantic influence. We also obtained the LT50, or the temperature that causes 50% damage, by controlled freezing and the subsequent analysis of chlorophyll fluorescence in needles and stems that were collected from populations at the continental trial site

Basal ganglia correlates of fatigue in young adults

Although the prevalence of chronic fatigue is approximately 20% in healthy individuals, there are no studies of brain structure that elucidate the neural correlates of fatigue outside of clinical subjects. We hypothesized that fatigue without evidence of disease might be related to changes in the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex and be implicated in fatigue with disease. We aimed to identify the white matter structures of fatigue in young subjects without disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Healthy young adults (n = 883; 489 males and 394 females) were recruited. As expected, the degrees of fatigue and motivation were associated with larger mean diffusivity (MD) in the right putamen, pallidus and caudate. Furthermore, the degree of physical activity was associated with a larger MD only in the right putamen. Accordingly, motivation was the best candidate for widespread basal ganglia, whereas physical activity might be the best candidate for the putamen. A plausible mechanism of fatigue may involve abnormal function of the motor system, as well as areas of the dopaminergic system in the basal ganglia that are associated with motivation and reward

Whole Brain Size and General Mental Ability: A Review

We review the literature on the relation between whole brain size and general mental ability (GMA) both within and between species. Among humans, in 28 samples using brain imaging techniques, the mean brain size/GMA correlation is 0.40 (N = 1,389; p < 10−10); in 59 samples using external head size measures it is 0.20 (N = 63,405; p < 10−10). In 6 samples using the method of correlated vectors to distill g, the general factor of mental ability, the mean r is 0.63. We also describe the brain size/GMA correlations with age, socioeconomic position, sex, and ancestral population groups, which also provide information about brain–behavior relationships. Finally, we examine brain size and mental ability from an evolutionary and behavior genetic perspective

Data Descriptor : A European Multi Lake Survey dataset of environmental variables, phytoplankton pigments and cyanotoxins

Under ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic activity, which continuously challenge ecosystem resilience, an in-depth understanding of ecological processes is urgently needed. Lakes, as providers of numerous ecosystem services, face multiple stressors that threaten their functioning. Harmful cyanobacterial blooms are a persistent problem resulting from nutrient pollution and climate-change induced stressors, like poor transparency, increased water temperature and enhanced stratification. Consistency in data collection and analysis methods is necessary to achieve fully comparable datasets and for statistical validity, avoiding issues linked to disparate data sources. The European Multi Lake Survey (EMLS) in summer 2015 was an initiative among scientists from 27 countries to collect and analyse lake physical, chemical and biological variables in a fully standardized manner. This database includes in-situ lake variables along with nutrient, pigment and cyanotoxin data of 369 lakes in Europe, which were centrally analysed in dedicated laboratories. Publishing the EMLS methods and dataset might inspire similar initiatives to study across large geographic areas that will contribute to better understanding lake responses in a changing environment.Peer reviewe