The global EPTO database: Worldwide occurrences of aquatic insects

Motivation: Aquatic insects comprise 64% of freshwater animal diversity and are widely used as bioindicators to assess water quality impairment and freshwater ecosystem health, as well as to test ecological hypotheses. Despite their importance, a comprehensive, global database of aquatic insect occurrences for mapping freshwater biodiversity in macroecological studies and applied freshwater research is missing. We aim to fill this gap and present the Global EPTO Database, which includes worldwide geo-referenced aquatic insect occurrence records for four major taxa groups: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata (EPTO). Main type of variables contained: A total of 8,368,467 occurrence records globally, of which 8,319,689 (99%) are publicly available. The records are attributed to the corresponding drainage basin and sub-catchment based on the Hydrography90m dataset and are accompanied by the elevation value, the freshwater ecoregion and the protection status of their location. Spatial location and grain: The database covers the global extent, with 86% of the observation records having coordinates with at least four decimal digits (11.1 m precision at the equator) in the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) coordinate reference system. Time period and grain: Sampling years span from 1951 to 2021. Ninety-nine percent of the records have information on the year of the observation, 95% on the year and month, while 94% have a complete date. In the case of seven sub-datasets, exact dates can be retrieved upon communication with the data contributors.Major taxa and level of measurement: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata, standardized at the genus taxonomic level. We provide species names for 7,727,980 (93%) records without further taxonomic verification. Software format: The entire tab-separated value (.csv) database can be downloaded and visualized at https://glowa bio.org/proje ct/epto_datab ase/. Fifty individual datasets are also available at https://fred.igb-berlin. de, while six datasets have restricted access. For the latter, we share metadata and the contact details of the authors

The effects of dietary oregano essential oil and alpha-tocopheryl acetate on lipid oxidation in raw and cooked turkey during refrigerated storage

The effects of dietary oregano essential oil and alpha-tocopheryl acetate supplementation on the susceptibility of raw and cooked turkey breast and thigh meat to lipid oxidation during refrigerated storage for 9 days were examined. Thirty 12-week-old turkeys were divided into five groups and fed a basal diet containing 30 mg alpha-tocopheryl acetate kg(-1) feed as control, or basal diet plus 200 mg alpha-tocopheryl acetate kg(-1), or basal diet plus 100 mg oregano oil kg(-1), or basal diet plus 200 mg oregano oil kg(-1), or basal diet plus 100 mg oregano oil and 100 mg alpha-tocopheryl acetate kg(-1), for 4 weeks prior to slaughter. Lipid oxidation was assessed by monitoring malondialdehyde formation in raw and cooked meat at 0, 3, 6 and 9 days of refrigerated storage, through use of a third-order derivative spectrophotornetric method. Results showed that all dietary treatments significantly (P<0.05) increased the stability of both raw and cooked turkey meat to lipid oxidation compared with the control. Oregano oil at 200 mg kg(-1) was significantly (P<0.05) more effective in delaying lipid, oxidation compared to the level of 100 mg kg(-1), equivalent to alpha-tocopheryl acetate at 200 mg kg(-1), but inferior (P<0.05) to oregano oil plus alpha-tocopheryl acetate at 100 mg kg(-1) each, which in turn was superior (P<0.05) to all dietary treatments, indicating a synergistic effect. Thigh muscle was more susceptible to oxidation compared with breast muscle in all treatments, although it contained alpha-tocopherol at significantly (P<0.05) higher levels. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Antioxidant activity of dietary oregano essential oil and alpha-tocopheryl acetate supplementation in long-term frozen stored turkey meat

The effects of dietary oregano essential oil and alpha-tocopheryl acetate supplementation on the oxidative stability of long-term frozen stored turkey meat were investigated. Thirty 12-week-old turkeys, randomly divided into five groups, were given a basal diet or a basal diet supplemented with 200 mg of alpha-tocopheryl acetate kg(-1), or 100 or 200 mg of oregano oil kg(-1), or 100 mg of oregano oil plus 100 mg of alpha-tocopheryl acetate kg(-1) for 4 weeks prior to slaughter. Lipid oxidation in breast and thigh meat was assessed after 1, 3, 6, and 9 months of frozen storage at -20 degreesC prior to or following 7 days of refrigerated storage at 4 degreesC. Results showed that oregano oil increased the oxidative stability of breast and thigh meat during the frozen storage. Dietary oregano oil at the inclusion level of 200 mg kg(-1) feed was significantly (p < 0.05) more effective in delaying lipid oxidation compared to the level of 100 mg kg(-1), but equivalent to dietary cc-tocopheryl acetate supplementation at 200 mg kg(-1), which in turn was inferior to dietary supplementation of 100 mg kg(-1) oregano essential oil plus 100 mg kg(-1) alpha-tocopheryl acetate that was significantly (p < 0.05) superior to all other treatments. Thigh meat was more susceptible to oxidation than breast meat, although the former contained alpha-tocopherol at markedly higher levels. Mean alpha-tocopherol levels in breast and thigh meat from all treatments decreased during the frozen storage, the decrease being sharper between 1 and 3 months of frozen storage for breast and between 3 and 6 months for thigh meat. Oregano oil supplementation increased (p < 0.05) the retention of alpha-tocopherol in meat, the increase being positively correlated with the supplementation level. However, the retention of a-tocopherol in meat could only partly elucidate the antioxidant activity exhibited by dietary oregano oil supplementation

The mediating effect of parents&apos; educational status on the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and childhood obesity: The PANACEA study

Objectives: To investigate the potential mediating effect of parental education on the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and obesity, in 10-12 years old children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was performed among 1,125 (529 male) children in Greece. Children and their parents completed standardized questionnaires, which evaluated parents&apos; educational level and dietary habits. Body mass index was calculated and children were classified as normal, overweight or obese (IOTF classification). Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed using the KIDMED score. Results: 27.7% of the children were overweight and 6.3% were obese; 12.3% of children reported high adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Multi-adjusted analysis, stratified by parental education, revealed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with children&apos;s obesity status only in families in which at least one parent was of higher educational level (stratum-specific adjusted odds ratio: 0.41; 95% CI 0.17-0.98), but not those in which both parents were of low educational level. Conclusions: Parental education status seems to play a mediating role in the beneficial effect of Mediterranean diet on children&apos;s obesity status. © 2012 Swiss School of Public Health

The association between pulse wave velocity and peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Aims Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common diabetic complication, affecting up to half of the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Increased aortic stiffness, measured with the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), has been associated with incidence of cardiovascular disease independently of traditional risk factors. Previous data showed associations between risk factors for macroangiopathy and DPN in diabetes. However, the association between PWV and DPN is not well known. In this study we examined the association between PWV and presence as well as severity of DPN in subjects with T2DM. Material and methods A total of 381 patients with T2DM were recruited. Participants were classified as having DPN and not having DPN. PWV was measured at the carotid-femoral segment with a non-invasive method using applanation tonometry. DPN was assessed by determination of the Neuropathy Symptom Score (NSS) and the Neuropathy Disability Score (NDS). Results A hundred and seven participants (28.1%) had DPN. Patients with DPN were significantly more often male and older, had longer diabetes duration, higher height, larger waist circumference, higher systolic arterial blood pressure (SBP) and higher PWV (all P &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, participants with DPN were treated more often with statins and had lower low density lipoprotein cholesterol; in addition, they were treated more often with antiplatelets, b-blockers and insulin than those without DPN. Univariative logistic regression analysis demonstrated that presence of DPN was significantly associated with age, male gender, longer diabetes duration, height, waist circumference, SBP, PWV, dyslipidemia, HbA1c, retinopathy, nephropathy and peripheral arterial disease. Multivariate logistic regression analysis, after adjustment for age, gender, waist circumference, SBP, nephropathy and use of b-blockers, demonstrated that the odds [OR (95% confidence intervals)] of peripheral neuropathy were associated significantly and independently only with diabetes duration [1.044 (1.009–1.081), P = 0.013], height [1.075 (1.041–1.110), P &lt; 0.001], HbA1c [1.468 (1.164–1.851), P &lt; 0.001], PWV [1.174 (1.054–1.309), P = 0.004], dyslipidemia [1.941 (1.015–3.713), P = 0.045], retinopathy [4.426 (2.217–8.837), P &lt; 0.001] and peripheral arterial disease [4.658 (2.264–9.584), P &lt; 0.001]. In addition, multivariate linear regression analysis, after controlling for age, gender, diabetes duration, SBP, HbA1c and nephropathy, demonstrated that an increased NDS was significantly and independently associated with height [standardized regression coefficient (beta = 0.229, P &lt; 0.001)], PWV (beta = 0.197, P &lt; 0.001), retinopathy (beta = 0.268, P &lt; 0.001) and peripheral arterial disease (beta = 0.374, P &lt; 0.001). Conclusion Increased PWV is associated strongly and independently not only with the presence but also with the severity of DPN in patients with T2DM, irrespective of known risk factors. © 2017 Elsevier Inc

The effect of repeated follicular aspiration on the onset of puberty and growth rate of winter- or autumn-born lambs

The effects of follicular aspiration for oocyte retrieval on the attainment of puberty and growth rate were studied in winter-born (9 treated and 6 control) and autumn-born (5 treated and 5 control) ewe lambs. In the treated animals (i.e. in which follicular aspiration was performed after ovarian stimulation), laparoscopic oocyte pick-up (OPU) was performed at the age of 12-13, 16-17 and 20-21 weeks. From the 8th until the 57th week of age, serum progesterone concentration was determined in blood samples collected at weekly or bi-weekly intervals. Serum oestradiol concentration was measured in blood samples collected prior to each FSH administration at OPU, and 2 and 24 h thereafter. All lambs were weighed at birth, the 6th and 8th week of age and thereafter at monthly intervals until the 34th (winter-born) or 52nd (autumn-born) week of age. Radiographic images of the right antebrachium and completion of skeletal maturation (radius) were used to assess the growth rate. Serum oestradiol concentration increased in response to FSH administration, but decreased to normal basal values 24h after OPU. Autumn-born ewe lambs attained puberty at a later stage, compared to the winter-born animals. In most OPU-treated winter-born lambs, the first luteal phase was of short duration. This was not observed ill winter-born controls, nor in any of the autumn-born lambs. No differences were detected regarding the age at the onset of puberty between treated and control animals. From the 13th to the 26th week of age, winter-born treated lambs were lighter than the controls (27.3 +/- 1.6 vs 34.3 +/- 1.9 kg at 26 weeks of age, respectively). From the 16th to 34th week of age, radius length differed between the treated and control winter-born lambs, but not between autumn-born lambs. Ossification of the radial growth plate was not complete until the 34th (winter-born labs) or the 52nd (autumn-born lambs) week of age. It is postulated that repeated OPU can be safely applied to prepubertal lambs. with no consequences on the time to onset of puberty, whilst the growth rate of donor animals is also not affected. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved