Läänemere idaosa litoraali kalakoosluste varieeruvus ja selle põhjused

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneLitoraalialad on vee-elustikule oluliseks sigimis-, kasvu- ja toitumisalaks. Muutlike abiootiliste ja biootiliste keskkonnategurite koosmõjul varieerub litoraalialade kalakoosluste liigiline koosseis väga suurel määral nii ajas kui ka ruumis. Käesoleva töö eesmärkideks oli välja selgitada: 1) Läänemere litoraali asustavate kalaliikide ööpäevaringseid ja aastasiseseid käitumismustreid; 2) litoraali kalastiku sesoonse toitumisökoloogia eripärad meritindi näitel; 3) anadroomsete kalade (lõhe ja meriforell) noorjärkude alternatiivseid rändestrateegiaid jõgede ja Läänemere litoraalialade vahel. Selgus, et: 1) Läänemere litoraali asustavate kalaliikide ööpäevaringne käitumine on seni kirjeldatust oluliselt mitmetahulisem. Seega, mingi konkreetse litoraali piirkonna ööpäevas muutuva liigilise koosseisu täielikuks kirjeldamiseks on vajalik proovipüükide tegemine nii hommikul, keskpäeval, õhtul kui ka öösel; 2) Läänemere idaosa litoraaliala asustava meritindi toitumiskäitumine erineb avamere elupaikades kirjeldatust; 3) Läänemere riimveelised litoraalialad võivad olla seni arvatust olulisemaks kasvualaks alternatiivseid rändestrateegiaid kasutavatele lõhilaste noorjärkudele; 4) läbi riimvee vooluveekogu vahetavad noorkalad võivad osaliselt olla ka anadroomsete lõhilaste populatsioonides esinevate „eksijate“ varem kirjeldamata tekkemehhanismiks; 5) Läänemere litoraali asustavatel kalaliikidel võib esineda nii piirkonnaspetsiifilisi ööpäevaringseid toitumisrändeid (meritint) kui ka elukäigumustreid (lõhe, meriforell).The shallow littoral is an important reproduction, nursery, and foraging area to coastal marine biota. Due to variability in abiotic and biotic environmental parameters, near-shore fish communities of the Baltic Sea are highly variable. Thus, the occurrence and abundance of fish species may be spatially and temporally highly variable. The objectives of the present thesis were to: 1) assess diel variations in the composition of the fish assemblage in the surf-zone of the non-tidal Baltic Sea; 2) estimate the predatory role of European smelt in a littoral habitat by describing seasonal variation of prey composition; 3) investigate whether littoral zone of the Baltic Sea also function as a habitat for early out-migrating Atlantic salmon and anadromous brown trout (ABT) fry and parr. The main results and conclusions are the following: 1) fine-scale variations in littoral fish assemblages are more complex and may take place within shorter time frame than previously known; 2) European smelt inhabiting littoral areas of the Baltic Sea occupy different ecological niche than smelt in offshore areas; 3) alternative migrations of juvenile salmonids between freshwater and brackish environments indicate that the shallow littoral zone of the Baltic Sea may play a significant role as a permanent or provisional nursery area to these species; 4) the phenomenon of stream shifting through the marine environment may constitute at least one possible mechanism behind the straying behaviour documented during the spawning runs of Atlantic salmon and ABT in the Baltic Sea basin; 5) some coastal fish species inhabiting the Baltic Sea might show sub-basin specific behaviour in terms of their regular diel movements and alternative life history pattern

Area-level poverty and preterm birth risk: A population-based multilevel analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Preterm birth is a complex disease with etiologic influences from a variety of social, environmental, hormonal, genetic, and other factors. The purpose of this study was to utilize a large population-based birth registry to estimate the independent effect of county-level poverty on preterm birth risk. To accomplish this, we used a multilevel logistic regression approach to account for multiple co-existent individual-level variables and county-level poverty rate.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Population-based study utilizing Missouri's birth certificate database (1989–1997). We conducted a multilevel logistic regression analysis to estimate the effect of county-level poverty on PTB risk. Of 634,994 births nested within 115 counties in Missouri, two levels were considered. Individual-level variables included demographics factors, prenatal care, health-related behavioral risk factors, and medical risk factors. The area-level variable included the percentage of the population within each county living below the poverty line (US census data, 1990). Counties were divided into quartiles of poverty; the first quartile (lowest rate of poverty) was the reference group.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PTB < 35 weeks occurred in 24,490 pregnancies (3.9%). The rate of PTB < 35 weeks was 2.8% in counties within the lowest quartile of poverty and increased through the 4^thquartile (4.9%), p < 0.0001. High county-level poverty was significantly associated with PTB risk. PTB risk (< 35 weeks) was increased for women who resided in counties within the highest quartile of poverty, adjusted odds ratio (_adjOR) 1.18 (95% CI 1.03, 1.35), with a similar effect at earlier gestational ages (< 32 weeks), _adjOR 1.27 (95% CI 1.06, 1.52).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Women residing in socioeconomically deprived areas are at increased risk of preterm birth, above other underlying risk factors. Although the risk increase is modest, it affects a large number of pregnancies.</p

A population-based study of race-specific risk for placental abruption

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Efforts to elucidate risk factors for placental abruption are imperative due to the severity of complications it produces for both mother and fetus, and its contribution to preterm birth. Ethnicity-based differences in risk of placental abruption and preterm birth have been reported. We tested the hypotheses that race, after adjusting for other factors, is associated with the risk of placental abruption at specific gestational ages, and that there is a greater contribution of placental abruption to the increased risk of preterm birth in Black mothers, compared to White mothers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a population-based cohort study using the Missouri Department of Health's maternally-linked database of all births in Missouri (1989–1997) to assess racial effects on placental abruption and the contribution of placental abruption to preterm birth, at different gestational age categories (n = 664,303).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 108,806 births to Black mothers and 555,497 births to White mothers, 1.02% (95% CI 0.96–1.08) of Black births were complicated by placental abruption, compared to 0.71% (95% CI 0.69–0.73) of White births (aOR 1.32, 95% CI 1.22–1.43). The magnitude of risk of placental abruption for Black mothers, compared to White mothers, increased with younger gestational age categories. The risk of placental abruption resulting in term and extreme preterm births (< 28 weeks) was higher for Black mothers (aOR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02–1.29 and aOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.58–2.48, respectively). Compared to White women delivering in the same gestational age category, there were a significantly higher proportion of placental abruption in Black mothers who delivered at term, and a significantly lower proportion of placental abruption in Black mothers who delivered in all preterm categories (p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Black women have an increased risk of placental abruption compared to White women, even when controlling for known coexisting risk factors. This risk increase is greatest at the earliest preterm gestational ages when outcomes are the poorest. The relative contribution of placental abruption to term births was greater in Black women, whereas the relative contribution of placental abruption to preterm birth was greater in White women.</p

Primate-specific evolution of noncoding element insertion into PLA2G4C and human preterm birth

Background The onset of birth in humans, like other apes, differs from non-primate mammals in its endocrine physiology. We hypothesize that higher primate-specific gene evolution may lead to these differences and target genes involved in human preterm birth, an area of global health significance. Methods We performed a comparative genomics screen of highly conserved noncoding elements and identified PLA2G4C, a phospholipase A isoform involved in prostaglandin biosynthesis as human accelerated. To examine whether this gene demonstrating primate-specific evolution was associated with birth timing, we genotyped and analyzed 8 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PLA2G4C in US Hispanic (n = 73 preterm, 292 control), US White (n = 147 preterm, 157 control) and US Black (n = 79 preterm, 166 control) mothers. Results Detailed structural and phylogenic analysis of PLA2G4C suggested a short genomic element within the gene duplicated from a paralogous highly conserved element on chromosome 1 specifically in primates. SNPs rs8110925 and rs2307276 in US Hispanics and rs11564620 in US Whites were significant after correcting for multiple tests (p < 0.006). Additionally, rs11564620 (Thr360Pro) was associated with increased metabolite levels of the prostaglandin thromboxane in healthy individuals (p = 0.02), suggesting this variant may affect PLA2G4C activity. Conclusions Our findings suggest that variation in PLA2G4C may influence preterm birth risk by increasing levels of prostaglandins, which are known to regulate labor.Children’s Discovery InstituteMarch of Dimes Birth Defects FoundationNational Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (grant T32 GM081739)Washington University (Saint Louis, Mo.) (Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowship for Women in Graduate Study)Sigrid Jusélius FoundationSigne and Anne Gyllenberg FoundationAcademy of FinlandVanderbilt University (Turner-Hazinski grant award

An Evolutionary Genomic Approach to Identify Genes Involved in Human Birth Timing

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The Combined Influence of Maternal Medical Conditions on the Risk of Primary Cesarean Delivery

Background Common maternal medical comorbidities such as hypertensive disorders, diabetes, tobacco use, and extremes of maternal age, body mass index, and gestational weight gain are known individually to influence the rate of cesarean delivery. Numerous studies have estimated the risk of individual conditions on cesarean delivery