Binge flying: Behavioural addiction and climate change

Recent popular press suggests that ‘binge flying’ constitutes a new site of behavioural addiction. We theoretically appraise and empirically support this proposition through interviews with consumers in Norway and the United Kingdom conducted in 2009. Consistent findings from across two national contexts evidence a growing negative discourse towards frequent short-haul tourist air travel and illustrate strategies of guilt suppression and denial used to span a cognitive dissonance between the short-term personal benefits of tourism and the air travel’s associated long-term consequences for climate change. Tensions between tourism consumption and changing social norms towards acceptable flying practice exemplify how this social group is beginning to (re)frame what constitutes ‘excessive’ holiday flying, despite concomitantly continuing their own frequent air travels

Effect of the lysosomotropic agent chloroquine on mTORC1 activation and protein synthesis in human skeletal muscle

Background Previous work in HEK-293 cells demonstrated the importance of amino acid-induced mTORC1 translocation to the lysosomal surface for stimulating mTORC1 kinase activity and protein synthesis. This study tested the conservation of this amino acid sensing mechanism in human skeletal muscle by treating subjects with chloroquine—a lysosomotropic agent that induces in vitro and in vivo lysosome dysfunction. Methods mTORC1 signaling and muscle protein synthesis (MPS) were determined in vivo in a randomized controlled trial of 14 subjects (10 M, 4 F; 26 ± 4 year) that ingested 10 g of essential amino acids (EAA) after receiving 750 mg of chloroquine (CHQ, n = 7) or serving as controls (CON, n = 7; no chloroquine). Additionally, differentiated C2C12 cells were used to assess mTORC1 signaling and myotube protein synthesis (MyPS) in the presence and absence of leucine and the lysosomotropic agent chloroquine. Results mTORC1, S6K1, 4E-BP1 and rpS6 phosphorylation increased in both CON and CHQ 1 h post EAA ingestion (P \u3c 0.05). MPS increased similarly in both groups (CON, P = 0.06; CHQ, P \u3c 0.05). In contrast, in C2C12 cells, 1 mM leucine increased mTORC1 and S6K1 phosphorylation (P \u3c 0.05), which was inhibited by 2 mg/ml chloroquine. Chloroquine (2 mg/ml) was sufficient to disrupt mTORC1 signaling, and MyPS. Conclusions Chloroquine did not inhibit amino acid-induced activation of mTORC1 signaling and skeletal MPS in humans as it does in C2C12 muscle cells. Therefore, different in vivo experimental approaches are required for confirming the precise role of the lysosome and amino acid sensing in human skeletal muscle

Indochina birds

17 p. : map ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 17)."A brief account is given of the nature of the expedition and an itinerary is appended with coordinates. Comments are made on 13 forms of which three are new to Tonkin, two new to central Laos and four new to southern Laos. The validity of the race Pitta soror annamensis is also discussed"--P. 16

Evapotranspiration and water use efficiency in relation to climate and canopy nitrogen in U.S. forests

Understanding relations among forest carbon (C) uptake and water use is critical for predicting forest-climate interactions. Although the basic properties of tree-water relations have long been known, our understanding of broader-scale patterns is limited by several factors including (1) incomplete understanding of drivers of change in coupled C and water fluxes and water use efficiency (WUE), (2) difficulty in reconciling WUE estimates obtained at different scales, and (3) uncertainty in how evapotranspiration (ET) and WUE vary with other important resources such as nitrogen (N). To address these issues, we examined ET, gross primary production (GPP), and WUE at 11 AmeriFlux sites across North America. Our analysis spanned leaf and ecosystem scales and included foliar δ13C, δ18O, and %N measurements; eddy covariance estimates of GPP and ET; and remotely sensed estimates of canopy %N. We used flux data to derive ecosystem WUE (WUEe) and foliar δ13C to infer intrinsic WUE. We found that GPP, ET, and WUEe scaled with canopy %N, even when environmental variables were considered, and discuss the implications of these relationships for forest-atmosphere-climate interactions. We observed opposing patterns of WUE at leaf and ecosystem scales and examined uncertainties to help explain these opposing patterns. Nevertheless, significant relationship between C isotope-derived ci/ca and GPP indicates that δ13C can be an effective predictor of forest GPP. Finally, we show that incorporating species functional traits—wood anatomy, hydraulic strategy, and foliar %N—into a conceptual model improved the interpretation of Δ13C and δ18O vis-à-vis leaf to canopy water-carbon fluxes

Change in Blood Pressure Variability Among Treated Elderly Hypertensive Patients and Its Association With Mortality

Background: Information is scarce regarding effects of antihypertensive medication on blood pressure variability (BPV) and associated clinical outcomes. We examined whether antihypertensive treatment changes BPV over time and whether such change (decline or increase) has any association with long-term mortality in an elderly hypertensive population. Methods and Results: We used data from a subset of participants in the Second Australian National Blood Pressure study (n=496) aged ≥65 years who had 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure recordings at study entry (baseline) and then after a median of 2 years while on treatment (follow-up). Weighted day-night systolic BPV was calculated for both baseline and follow-up as a weighted mean of daytime and nighttime blood pressure standard deviations. The annual rate of change in BPV over time was calculated from these BPV estimates. Furthermore, we classified both BPV estimates as high and low based on the baseline median BPV value and then classified BPV changes into stable: low BPV, stable: high BPV, decline: high to low, and increase: low to high. We observed an annual decline (mean±SD: −0.37±1.95; 95% CI, −0.54 to −0.19; P<0.001) in weighted day-night systolic BPV between baseline and follow-up. Having constant stable: high BPV was associated with an increase in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio: 3.03; 95% CI, 1.67–5.52) and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio: 3.70; 95% CI, 1.62–8.47) in relation to the stable: low BPV group over a median 8.6 years after the follow-up ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Similarly, higher risk was observed in the decline: high to low group. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that in elderly hypertensive patients, average BPV declined over 2 years of follow-up after initiation of antihypertensive therapy, and having higher BPV (regardless of any change) was associated with increased long-term mortality

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Evaluating the potential of photo-identification as a monitoring tool for flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)

1. Flapper skates (Dipturus intermedius) were once widespread in European shelf waters but are currently classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to historical overexploitation. Novel monitoring approaches are needed to assess the efficacy of management measures, such as dedicated marine protected areas, for the conservation of relict skate populations.2. Flapper skates possess distinctive dorsal spot patterns, which could potentially be used for individual recognition using photo‐identification (photo‐ID) approaches. This study assessed the potential of photo‐ID as a method for individual recognition of a relict population of skates within a dedicated marine protected area in western Scotland (UK), which has long been targeted by directed recreational angling. A collection of 486 photographs of 373 separate skate capture events from 2011 to 2016, taken with standard mobile phones and compact cameras, was studied using visual pairwise comparison methods to determine number of individuals and recapture rates.3. Results indicated that adult flapper skates were individually recognizable with a high degree of certainty through comparison of spot patterns, assuming appropriate lighting conditions. A total of 226 individuals were identified, of which 77 (34%) were recaptured at least once. The average recapture interval was 308 days (SE: 29.4 days), with the longest recapture interval to date being 4.4 years. Spot patterns among recaptured tagged or otherwise uniquely identifiable skates were found to remain stable over timescales of months to >1 year.4. Results indicate that photo‐ID, based on photographs sourced through citizen science approaches, can provide a low‐cost alternative means of monitoring flapper skate presence and distribution for the purposes of underpinning management decisions

Modeling and Analysis of the Molecular Basis of Pain in Sensory Neurons

Intracellular calcium dynamics are critical to cellular functions like pain transmission. Extracellular ATP plays an important role in modulating intracellular calcium levels by interacting with the P2 family of surface receptors. In this study, we developed a mechanistic mathematical model of ATP-induced P2 mediated calcium signaling in archetype sensory neurons. The model architecture, which described 90 species connected by 162 interactions, was formulated by aggregating disparate molecular modules from literature. Unlike previous models, only mass action kinetics were used to describe the rate of molecular interactions. Thus, the majority of the 252 unknown model parameters were either association, dissociation or catalytic rate constants. Model parameters were estimated from nine independent data sets taken from multiple laboratories. The training data consisted of both dynamic and steady-state measurements. However, because of the complexity of the calcium network, we were unable to estimate unique model parameters. Instead, we estimated a family or ensemble of probable parameter sets using a multi-objective thermal ensemble method. Each member of the ensemble met an error criterion and was located along or near the optimal trade-off surface between the individual training data sets. The model quantitatively reproduced experimental measurements from dorsal root ganglion neurons as a function of extracellular ATP forcing. Hypothesized architecture linking phosphoinositide regulation with P2X receptor activity explained the inhibition of P2X-mediated current flow by activated metabotropic P2Y receptors. Sensitivity analysis using individual and the whole system outputs suggested which molecular subsystems were most important following P2 activation. Taken together, modeling and analysis of ATP-induced P2 mediated calcium signaling generated qualitative insight into the critical interactions controlling ATP induced calcium dynamics. Understanding these critical interactions may prove useful for the design of the next generation of molecular pain management strategies