A river classification scheme to assess macroinvertebrate sensitivity to water abstraction pressures

The concept of environmental flows has been developed to manage human alteration of river flow regimes, as effective management requires an understanding of the ecological consequences of flow alteration. This study explores the concept of macroinvertebrate sensitivity to river flow alteration to establish robust quantitative relationships between biological indicators and hydrological pressures. Existing environmental flow classifications used by the environmental regulator for English rivers were tested using multilevel regression modelling. Results showed a weak relationship between the current abstraction sensitivity classification and macroinvertebrate response to flow pressure. An alternative approach, based on physically‐derived river types, was a better predictor of macroinvertebrate response. Intermediate sized lowland streams displayed the best model fit, while upland rivers exhibited poor model performance. A better understanding of the ecological response to flow variation in different river types could help water resource managers develop improved ecologically appropriate flow regimes, which support the integrity of river ecosystems

Social interactions through the eyes of macaques and humans

Group-living primates frequently interact with each other to maintain social bonds as well as to compete for valuable resources. Observing such social interactions between group members provides individuals with essential information (e.g. on the fighting ability or altruistic attitude of group companions) to guide their social tactics and choice of social partners. This process requires individuals to selectively attend to the most informative content within a social scene. It is unclear how non-human primates allocate attention to social interactions in different contexts, and whether they share similar patterns of social attention to humans. Here we compared the gaze behaviour of rhesus macaques and humans when free-viewing the same set of naturalistic images. The images contained positive or negative social interactions between two conspecifics of different phylogenetic distance from the observer; i.e. affiliation or aggression exchanged by two humans, rhesus macaques, Barbary macaques, baboons or lions. Monkeys directed a variable amount of gaze at the two conspecific individuals in the images according to their roles in the interaction (i.e. giver or receiver of affiliation/aggression). Their gaze distribution to non-conspecific individuals was systematically varied according to the viewed species and the nature of interactions, suggesting a contribution of both prior experience and innate bias in guiding social attention. Furthermore, the monkeys’ gaze behavior was qualitatively similar to that of humans, especially when viewing negative interactions. Detailed analysis revealed that both species directed more gaze at the face than the body region when inspecting individuals, and attended more to the body region in negative than in positive social interactions. Our study suggests that monkeys and humans share a similar pattern of role-sensitive, species- and context-dependent social attention, implying a homologous cognitive mechanism of social attention between rhesus macaques and humans

Eikonal methods applied to gravitational scattering amplitudes

We apply factorization and eikonal methods from gauge theories to scattering amplitudes in gravity. We hypothesize that these amplitudes factor into an IR-divergent soft function and an IR-finite hard function, with the former given by the expectation value of a product of gravitational Wilson line operators. Using this approach, we show that the IR-divergent part of the n-graviton scattering amplitude is given by the exponential of the one-loop IR divergence, as originally discovered by Weinberg, with no additional subleading IR-divergent contributions in dimensional regularization.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures; v2: title change and minor rewording (published version); v3: typos corrected in eqs.(3.2),(4.1

Quantum Gravity in Everyday Life: General Relativity as an Effective Field Theory

This article is meant as a summary and introduction to the ideas of effective field theory as applied to gravitational systems. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Effective Field Theories 3. Low-Energy Quantum Gravity 4. Explicit Quantum Calculations 5. ConclusionsComment: 56 pages, 2 figures, JHEP style, Invited review to appear in Living Reviews of Relativit

Deep diversification of an AAV capsid protein by machine learning.

Modern experimental technologies can assay large numbers of biological sequences, but engineered protein libraries rarely exceed the sequence diversity of natural protein families. Machine learning (ML) models trained directly on experimental data without biophysical modeling provide one route to accessing the full potential diversity of engineered proteins. Here we apply deep learning to design highly diverse adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) capsid protein variants that remain viable for packaging of a DNA payload. Focusing on a 28-amino acid segment, we generated 201,426 variants of the AAV2 wild-type (WT) sequence yielding 110,689 viable engineered capsids, 57,348 of which surpass the average diversity of natural AAV serotype sequences, with 12-29 mutations across this region. Even when trained on limited data, deep neural network models accurately predict capsid viability across diverse variants. This approach unlocks vast areas of functional but previously unreachable sequence space, with many potential applications for the generation of improved viral vectors and protein therapeutics

Grooming Up the Hierarchy: The Exchange of Grooming and Rank-Related Benefits in a New World Primate

Seyfarth's model assumes that female primates derive rank-related benefits from higher-ranking females in exchange for grooming. As a consequence, the model predicts females prefer high-ranking females as grooming partners and compete for the opportunity to groom them. Therefore, allogrooming is expected to be directed up the dominance hierarchy and to occur more often between females with adjacent ranks. Although data from Old World primates generally support the model, studies on the relation between grooming and dominance rank in the New World genus Cebus have found conflicting results, showing considerable variability across groups and species. In this study, we investigated the pattern of grooming in wild tufted capuchin females (Cebus apella nigritus) in Iguazú National Park, Argentina by testing both the assumption (i.e., that females gain rank-related return benefits from grooming) and predictions (i.e., that females direct grooming up the dominance hierarchy and the majority of grooming occurs between females with adjacent ranks) of Seyfarth's model. Study subjects were 9 adult females belonging to a single group. Results showed that grooming was given in return for tolerance during naturally occurring feeding, a benefit that higher-ranking females can more easily grant. Female grooming was directed up the hierarchy and was given more often to partners with similar rank. These findings provide supporting evidence for both the assumption and predictions of Seyfarth's model and represent, more generally, the first evidence of reciprocal behavioural interchanges driven by rank-related benefits in New World female primates

Key Concepts for Estimating the Burden of Surgical Conditions and the Unmet Need for Surgical Care

Background: Surgical care is emerging as a crucial issue in global public health. Methodology is needed to assess the impact of surgical care from a public health perspective. Methods: A consensus opinion of a group of surgeons, anesthesiologists, and public health experts was established regarding the methodology for estimating the burden of surgical conditions and the unmet need for surgical care. Results: For purposes of analysis, we define surgical conditions as any disease state requiring the expertise of a surgically trained provider. Abnormalities resulting from a surgical condition or its treatment are termed surgical sequelae. Surgical care is defined as any measure that reduces the rates of physical disability or premature death associated with a surgical condition. To measure the burden of surgical conditions and unmet need for surgical care we propose using cumulative disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) curves generated from age-specific population-based data. This conceptual framework is based on the premise that surgically associated disability and death is determined by the incidence of surgical conditions and the quantity and quality of surgical care. The burden of surgical conditions is defined as the total disability and premature deaths that would occur in a population should there be no surgical care; the unmet need for surgical care is defined as the potentially treatable disability and premature deaths due to surgical conditions. Burden of surgical conditions should be expressed as DALYs and unmet need as potential DALYs avertable. Conclusions: Methodology is described for estimating the burden of surgical conditions and unmet need for surgical care. Using this approach it will be feasible to estimate the global burden of surgical conditions and help clarify where surgery fits among other global health priorities. These methods need to be validated using population-based data

Adherence to yoga and exercise interventions in a 6-month clinical trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To determine factors that predict adherence to a mind-body intervention in a randomized trial.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>We analyzed adherence data from a 3-arm trial involving 135 generally healthy seniors 65–85 years of age randomized to a 6-month intervention consisting of: an Iyengar yoga class with home practice, an exercise class with home practice, or a wait-list control group. Outcome measures included cognitive function, mood, fatigue, anxiety, health-related quality of life, and physical measures. Adherence to the intervention was obtained by class attendance and biweekly home practice logs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The drop-out rate was 13%. Among the completers of the two active interventions, average yoga class attendance was 77% and home practice occurred 64% of all days. Average exercise class attendance was 69% and home exercise occurred 54% of all days. There were no clear effects of adherence on the significant study outcomes (quality of life and physical measures). Class attendance was significantly correlated with baseline measures of depression, fatigue, and physical components of health-related quality of life. Significant differences in baseline measures were also found between study completers and drop-outs in the active interventions. Adherence was not related to age, gender, or education level.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Healthy seniors have good attendance at classes with a physically active intervention. Home practice takes place over half of the time. Decreased adherence to a potentially beneficial intervention has the potential to decrease the effect of the intervention in a clinical trial because subjects who might sustain the greatest benefit will receive a lower dose of the intervention and subjects with higher adherence rates may be functioning closer to maximum ability before the intervention. Strategies to maximize adherence among subjects at greater risk for low adherence will be important for future trials, especially complementary treatments requiring greater effort than simple pill-taking.</p

Efficacy and safety of telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 7 days in community-acquired pneumonia: an open-label, multicenter study

BACKGROUND: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Telithromycin (a new ketolide) has shown good in vitro activity against the key causative pathogens of CAP, including S pneumoniae resistant to penicillin and/or macrolides. METHODS: The efficacy and safety of telithromycin 800 mg orally once daily for 7 days in the treatment of CAP were assessed in an open-label, multicenter study of 442 adults. RESULTS: Of 149 microbiologically evaluable patients, 57 (9 bacteremic) had Streptococcus pneumoniae. Of the 57 S pneumoniae pathogens isolated in these patients, 9 (2 bacteremic) were penicillin- or erythromycin-resistant; all 57 were susceptible to telithromycin and were eradicated. Other pathogens and their eradication rates were: Haemophilus influenzae (96%), Moraxella catarrhalis (100%), Staphylococcus aureus (80%), and Legionella spp. (100%). The overall bacteriologic eradication rate was 91.9%. Of the 357 clinically evaluable patients, clinical cure was achieved in 332 (93%). In the 430 patients evaluable for safety, the most common drug-related adverse events were diarrhea (8.1%) and nausea (5.8%). CONCLUSION: Telithromycin 800 mg once daily for 7 days is an effective and well-tolerated oral monotherapy and offers a new treatment option for CAP patients, including those with resistant S pneumoniae