Future observational and modelling needs identified on the basis of the existing shelf data

NOWESP has compiled a vast quantity of existing data from the North-West European Shelf. Such a focused task is without precedence. It is now highly recommended that one, or a few national and international data centres or agencies should be chosen and properly supported by the EU, where all available observational data, including the NOWESP data, are collected, stored, regularly updated by the providers of the data, and made available to the researchers. International agreement must be reached on the quality control procedures and quality standards for data to be stored in these data bases. Proper arrangements should be made to preserve the economic value of the data for their "owners" without compromising use of the data by researchers or duplicating data collecting efforts. The continental shelf data needed are concentration fields of temperature, salinity, nutrients, suspended matter and chlorophyll, which can be called "climatological" fields. For this purpose at least one monthly survey on the whole European shelf is needed at least during five years, with a proper spatial resolution e.g. 1 degree by 1 degree, and at least in those areas where climatological data are now totally lacking. From the modelling point of view an alternative would be the availability of data from sufficiently representative fixed stations on the shelf, with weekly sampling for several years

Captive-born collared peccary (Pecari tajacu, Tayassuidae) fails to discriminate between predator and non-predator models

Captive animals may lose the ability to recognize their natural predators, making conservation programs more susceptible to failure if such animals are released into the wild. Collared peccaries are American tayassuids that are vulnerable to local extinction in certain areas, and conservation programs are being conducted. Captive-born peccaries are intended for release into the wild in Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil. In this study, we tested the ability of two groups of captive-born collared peccaries to recognize their predators and if they were habituated to humans. Recognition tests were performed using models of predators (canids and felids) and non-predators animals, as well as control objects, such as a plastic chair; a human was also presented to the peccaries, and tested as a separate stimulus. Anti-predator defensive responses such as fleeing and threatening displayswere not observed in response to predator models. Predator detection behaviors both from visual and olfactory cues were displayed, although they were not specifically targeted at predator models. These results indicate that collared peccaries were unable to recognize model predators. Habituation effects, particularly on anti-predator behaviors, were observed both with a 1-h model presentation and across testing days. Behavioral responses to humans did not differ from those to other models. Thus, if these animals were to be released into the wild, they should undergo anti-predator training sessions to enhance their chances of survival

Propagation of Tau aggregates.

Since 2009, evidence has accumulated to suggest that Tau aggregates form first in a small number of brain cells, from where they propagate to other regions, resulting in neurodegeneration and disease. Propagation of Tau aggregates is often called prion-like, which refers to the capacity of an assembled protein to induce the same abnormal conformation in a protein of the same kind, initiating a self-amplifying cascade. In addition, prion-like encompasses the release of protein aggregates from brain cells and their uptake by neighbouring cells. In mice, the intracerebral injection of Tau inclusions induced the ordered assembly of monomeric Tau, followed by its spreading to distant brain regions. Short fibrils constituted the major species of seed-competent Tau. The existence of several human Tauopathies with distinct fibril morphologies has led to the suggestion that different molecular conformers (or strains) of aggregated Tau exist

Comprehensive assessment of frailty for elderly high-risk patients undergoing cardiac surgery

Objective: Cardiosurgical operative risk can be assessed using the logistic European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation (EuroSCORE) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score. Factors other than medical diagnoses and laboratory values such as the 'biological age' are not included in these scores. The aim of the study was to evaluate an additional assessment of frailty in routine cardiac surgical practice. Methods: 'The comprehensive assessment of frailty' test was applied to 400 patients >/=74 years who were admitted to our centre between September 2008 and January 2010. For comparison, the STS score and the EuroSCORE were calculated. The primary end point was the correlation of Frailty score to 30-day mortality. A total of 206 female and 194 male patients were included. Results: Median Frailty score was 11 [7,15]. Median of logistic EuroSCORE was 8.5% [5.8%; 13.9%]. Median of STS score was 3.3% [2.1%; 5.1%]. There were low-to-moderate albeit significant correlations of Frailty score with STS score and EuroSCORE (p<0.05). There was also a significant correlation between Frailty score and observed 30-day mortality (p<0.05). Patients received isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (n=90), isolated valve surgery (n=128), trans-catheter valve implantation (n=59) or combined procedures (n=123). Conclusions: The comprehensive assessment of frailty is an additional tool to evaluate elderly patients adequately before cardiac surgical interventions. The Frailty score combines characteristics of the Fried criteria [1], of patient phenotype, of his physical performance and laboratory results. Further analysis on a larger patient population is warranted. A combination of the new Frailty score and the traditional scoring systems may facilitate a more accurate risk scoring in elderly high-risk patients scheduled for conventional cardiac surgery or trans-catheter aortic valve replacement

One-year follow-up of patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery assessed with the Comprehensive Assessment of Frailty test and its simplified form

Assessment of perioperative risk of elderly patients in cardiac surgery is demanding. Most of the commonly used cardiac surgery risk scores over-or underestimate individual risk. Therefore, we recently developed a 'frailty score', the comprehensive assessment of frailty (CAF) score that showed a good prediction of 30-day mortality. The aim of the study was to evaluate the ability of the new score predicting one-year outcome. CAF was preoperatively applied to 400 patients ≥ 74 years that were admitted to cardiac surgery between September 2008 and January 2010. For 213 of these patients one-year follow-up was assessed by telephone interview until April 2010. One hundred and ten male and 103 female patients were included. Twenty-five percent underwent isolated coronary revascularization, 35% isolated valve procedures and 26% underwent combined procedures. One-year mortality was 12.2%. Patients who died within one year had a median frailty score of 16 [5;33] compared to 11 [3;33] to the one-year survivors (P=0.001). A new, easily applicable score ('Frailty predicts death One yeaR after Elective Cardiac Surgery Test') was built out of the basic score and showed a promising ability to predict one-year mortality. CAF is a new additional tool to assess prognosis of elderly patients before cardiac surgical interventions. The 'CAF' score facilitates prediction of mid-term outcome of high-risk elderly patients