Stable Isotopic Evidence for Methane Seeps in Neoproterozoic Postglacial Cap Carbonates

The Earth's most severe glaciations are thought to have occurred about 600 million years ago, in the late Neoproterozoic era. A puzzling feature of glacial deposits from this interval is that they are overlain by 1–5-m-thick 'cap carbonates' (particulate deep-water marine carbonate rocks) associated with a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion. Cap carbonates have been controversially ascribed to the aftermath of almost complete shutdown of the ocean ecosystems for millions of years during such ice ages—the 'snowball Earth' hypothesis. Conversely, it has also been suggested that these carbonate rocks were the result of destabilization of methane hydrates during deglaciation and concomitant flooding of continental shelves and interior basins. The most compelling criticism of the latter 'methane hydrate' hypothesis has been the apparent lack of extreme isotopic variation in cap carbonates inferred locally to be associated with methane seeps. Here we report carbon isotopic and petrographic data from a Neoproterozoic postglacial cap carbonate in south China that provide direct evidence for methane-influenced processes during deglaciation. This evidence lends strong support to the hypothesis that methane hydrate destabilization contributed to the enigmatic cap carbonate deposition and strongly negative carbon isotopic anomalies following Neoproterozoic ice ages. This explanation requires less extreme environmental disturbance than that implied by the snowball Earth hypothesis

Loneliness, social support and cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress

Self-reported or explicit loneliness and social support have been inconsistently associated with cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress. The present study aimed to adapt an implicit measure of loneliness, and use it alongside the measures of explicit loneliness and social support, to investigate their correlations with CVR to laboratory stress. Twenty-five female volunteers aged between 18 and 39 years completed self-reported measures of loneliness and social support, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) of loneliness. The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) reactivity indices were measured in response to psychosocial stress induced in the laboratory. Functional support indices of social support were significantly correlated with CVR reactivity to stress. Interestingly, implicit, but not explicit, loneliness was significantly correlated with DBP reactivity after one of the stressors. No associations were found between structural support and CVR indices. Results are discussed in terms of validity of implicit versus explicit measures and possible factors that affect physiological outcomes

Engendering harm: a critique of sex selection for 'family balancing'

The most benign rationale for sex-selection is deemed to be “family balancing.” On this view, provided the sex-distribution of an existing offspring group is “unbalanced,” one may legitimately use reproductive technologies to select the sex of the next child. I present four novel concerns with granting “family balancing” as a justification for sex-selection: (a) families or family subsets should not be subject to medicalization; (b) sex selection for “family balancing” entrenches heteronormativity, inflicting harm in at least three specific ways; (c) the logic of affirmative action is appropriated; (d) the moral mandate of reproductive autonomy is misused. I conclude that the harms caused by “family balancing” are sufficiently substantive to over-ride any claim arising from a supposed right to sex selection as an instantiation of procreative autonomy

The relationship between depressive symptoms, health service consumption, and prognosis after acute myocardial infarction: a prospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of cardiovascular health services is greater among patients with depressive symptoms than among patients without. However, the extent to which such associations between depressive symptoms and health service utilization are attributable to variations in comorbidity and prognostic disease severity is unknown. This paper explores the relationship between depressive symptoms, health service cardiovascular consumption, and prognosis following acute myocardial infarction (AMI).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study design was a prospective cohort study with follow-up telephone interviews of 1,941 patients 30 days following AMI discharged from 53 hospitals across Ontario, Canada between December 1999 and February, 2003. Outcome measures were post discharge use of cardiac and non-cardiac health care services. The service utilization outcomes were adjusted for age, sex, income, comorbidity, two validated measures of prognosis (cardiac functional capacity and risk adjustment severity index), cardiac procedures (CABG or PTCA) and drugs prescribed at discharge.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Depressive symptoms were associated with a 24% (Adjusted RR:1.24; 95% CI:1.19–1.30, P < 0.001), 9% (Adjusted RR:1.09; 95% CI:1.02–1.16, P = 0.007) and 43% (Adjusted RR: 1.43; 95% CI:1.34–1.52, P < 0.001) increase in total, cardiac, and non-cardiac hospitalization days post-AMI respectively, after adjusting for baseline patient and hospital characteristics. Depressive-associated increases in cardiac health service consumption were significantly more pronounced among patients of lower than higher cardiac risk severity. Depressive symptoms were not associated with increased mortality after adjusting for baseline patient characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Depressive symptoms are associated with significantly higher cardiac and non-cardiac health service consumption following AMI despite adjustments for comorbidity and prognostic severity. The disproportionately higher cardiac health service consumption among lower-risk AMI depressive patients may suggest that health seeking behaviors are mediated by psychosocial factors more so than by objective measures of cardiovascular risk or necessity.</p

Monoterpene Variation Mediated Attack Preference Evolution of the Bark Beetle Dendroctonus valens

Several studies suggest that some bark beetle like to attack large trees. The invasive red turpentine beetle (RTB), Dendroctonus valens LeConte, one of the most destructive forest pests in China, is known to exhibit this behavior. Our previous study demonstrated that RTBs preferred to attack large-diameter trees (diameter at breast height, DBH ≥30 cm) over small-diameter trees (DBH ≤10 cm) in the field. In the current study, we studied the attacking behavior and the underlying mechanisms in the laboratory. Behavioral assays showed that RTBs preferred the bark of large-DBH trees and had a higher attack rate on the bolts of these trees. Y-tube assays showed that RTBs preferred the volatiles released by large-DBH trees to those released by small-DBH trees. Subsequent analysis revealed that both large- and small-DBH trees had the same composition of monoterpenes, but the concentration of each component differed; thus it appeared that the concentrations acted as cues for RTBs to locate the right-sized host which was confirmed by further behavioral assays. Moreover, large-DBH pine trees provided more spacious habitat and contained more nutrients, such as nitrogen, than did small-DBH pine trees, which benefited RTBs' fecundity and larval development. RTBs seem to have evolved mechanisms to locate those large hosts that will allow them to maximize their fitness. Monoterpene variation mediated attack preference implies the potential for the management of RTB

The relationship between depressive symptoms, health service consumption, and prognosis after acute myocardial infarction: a prospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The use of cardiovascular health services is greater among patients with depressive symptoms than among patients without. However, the extent to which such associations between depressive symptoms and health service utilization are attributable to variations in comorbidity and prognostic disease severity is unknown. This paper explores the relationship between depressive symptoms, health service cardiovascular consumption, and prognosis following acute myocardial infarction (AMI).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study design was a prospective cohort study with follow-up telephone interviews of 1,941 patients 30 days following AMI discharged from 53 hospitals across Ontario, Canada between December 1999 and February, 2003. Outcome measures were post discharge use of cardiac and non-cardiac health care services. The service utilization outcomes were adjusted for age, sex, income, comorbidity, two validated measures of prognosis (cardiac functional capacity and risk adjustment severity index), cardiac procedures (CABG or PTCA) and drugs prescribed at discharge.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Depressive symptoms were associated with a 24% (Adjusted RR:1.24; 95% CI:1.19–1.30, P < 0.001), 9% (Adjusted RR:1.09; 95% CI:1.02–1.16, P = 0.007) and 43% (Adjusted RR: 1.43; 95% CI:1.34–1.52, P < 0.001) increase in total, cardiac, and non-cardiac hospitalization days post-AMI respectively, after adjusting for baseline patient and hospital characteristics. Depressive-associated increases in cardiac health service consumption were significantly more pronounced among patients of lower than higher cardiac risk severity. Depressive symptoms were not associated with increased mortality after adjusting for baseline patient characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Depressive symptoms are associated with significantly higher cardiac and non-cardiac health service consumption following AMI despite adjustments for comorbidity and prognostic severity. The disproportionately higher cardiac health service consumption among lower-risk AMI depressive patients may suggest that health seeking behaviors are mediated by psychosocial factors more so than by objective measures of cardiovascular risk or necessity.</p

Flexible Working in the UK and its Impact on Couples' Time Coordination

The ability to combine work with quality time together as a family is at the heart of the concept of work-life balance. Using previously unexploited data on couples work schedules we investigate the effect of flexible working on couples coordination of their daily work schedules in the UK. We consider three distinct dimensions of flexible working: flexibility of daily start and finish times (flexitime), flexibility of work times over the year (annualized hours), and generalized control of working hours. We show that having flexitime at work increases a couples amount of coordination of their daily work schedules by a half to one hour, which is double the margin of adjustment enjoyed by couples with no flexitime. The impact is driven by couples with children. In contrast to flexitime, the other two forms of flexible working do not seem to increase synchronous time. Our results suggest that having flexitime plays an important role in relaxing the work scheduling constraints faced by families with young children, and that effective flexible working time arrangements are those that increase the workers and not the employers flexibility

Improving the effectiveness of psychological interventions for depression and anxiety in the cardiac rehabilitation pathway using group-based metacognitive therapy (PATHWAY Group MCT) : study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are prevalent among cardiac rehabilitation patients but pharmacological and psychological treatments have limited effectiveness in this group. Furthermore, psychological interventions have not been systematically integrated into cardiac rehabilitation services despite being a strategic priority for the UK National Health Service. A promising new treatment, metacognitive therapy, may be well-suited to the needs of cardiac rehabilitation patients and has the potential to improve outcomes. It is based on the metacognitive model, which proposes that a thinking style dominated by rumination, worry and threat monitoring maintains emotional distress. Metacognitive therapy is highly effective at reducing this thinking style and alleviating anxiety and depression in mental health settings. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of group-based metacognitive therapy for cardiac rehabilitation patients with elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms. METHODS/DESIGN: The PATHWAY Group-MCT trial is a multicentre, two-arm, single-blind, randomised controlled trial comparing the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of group-based metacognitive therapy plus usual cardiac rehabilitation to usual cardiac rehabilitation alone. Cardiac rehabilitation patients (target sample n = 332) with elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms will be recruited across five UK National Health Service Trusts. Participants randomised to the intervention arm will receive six weekly sessions of group-based metacognitive therapy delivered by either cardiac rehabilitation professionals or research nurses. The intervention and control groups will both be offered the usual cardiac rehabilitation programme within their Trust. The primary outcome is severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms at 4-month follow-up measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale total score. Secondary outcomes are severity of anxiety/depression at 12-month follow-up, health-related quality of life, severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms and strength of metacognitive beliefs at 4- and 12-month follow-up. Qualitative interviews will help to develop an account of barriers and enablers to the effectiveness of the intervention. DISCUSSION: This trial will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of group-based metacognitive therapy in alleviating anxiety and depression in cardiac rehabilitation patients. The therapy, if effective, offers the potential to improve psychological wellbeing and quality of life in this large group of patients. TRIAL REGISTRATION: UK Clinical Trials Gateway, ISRCTN74643496 , Registered on 8 April 2015