#stillhungry : who is hungry, for how long, and why?

The #stillhungry report draws on two years of detailed statistical data from West Cheshire Foodbank, part of the UK-wide Trussell Trust Foodbank Network, and makes several recommendations for practical ways in which the need for the foodbank could be reduced

Life history evolution, reproduction, and the origins of sex‐dependent aging and longevity

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136319/1/nyas13302.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136319/2/nyas13302_am.pd

Perceived threats of infanticide reduce maternal allocation during lactation and lead to elevated oxidative damage in offspring

Maternal investment is costly to the mother but essential to offspring survival in altrical species. Infanticide by novel males results in loss of maternal investment, and maternal strategies have evolved to mitigate these losses. One such maternal strategy, the Bruce effect, involves spontaneous abortion by females of some mammal species when exposed to a novel male during pregnancy.In mice, the Bruce effect only occurs during early pregnancy, but we have previously found that female mice exposed to a novel male’s scent in late pregnancy weaned smaller offspring. Here, we replicate that manipulation to resolve the cause of the reduced weaning weight and subsequent effects on offspring fitness.Females exposed to an unfamiliar male’s scent in late pregnancy spent significantly less time nursing their pups during lactation, suggesting that reduced maternal allocation contributes to slower offspring growth. The offspring with a reduced weaning weight exhibited catch‐up growth and reached a normal weight at adulthood. These offspring, however, were found to bear oxidative damage in adulthood, revealing long‐term effects on offspring condition.We conclude that female mice strategically alter their investment in lactation in relation to the likelihood of infanticide, but that this results in long‐term fitness costs to their offspring.A plain language summary is available for this article.Plain Language SummaryPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145500/1/fec13146_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145500/2/fec13146.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145500/3/fec13146-sup-0001-Summary.pd

Does slow and steady win the race? Investigating feedback processes in giant molecular clouds

We investigate the effects of gradual heating on the evolution of turbulent molecular clouds of mass $2\times 10^6$ M$_\odot$ and virial parameters ranging between $0.7-1.2$. This gradual heating represents the energy output from processes such as winds from massive stars or feedback from High Mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), contrasting the impulsive energy injection from supernovae (SNe). For stars with a mass high enough that their lifetime is shorter than the life of the cloud, we include a SN feedback prescription. Including both effects, we investigate the interplay between slow and fast forms of feedback and their effectiveness at triggering/suppressing star formation. We find that SN feedback can carve low density chimneys in the gas, offering a path of least resistance for the energy to escape. Once this occurs the more stable, but less energetic, gradual feedback is able to keep the chimneys open. By funneling the hot destructive gas away from the centre of the cloud, chimneys can have a positive effect on both the efficiency and duration of star formation. Moreover, the critical factor is the number of high mass stars and SNe (and any subsequent HMXBs) active within the free-fall time of each cloud. This can vary from cloud to cloud due to the stochasticity of SN delay times and in HMXB formation. However, the defining factor in our simulations is the efficiency of the cooling, which can alter the Jeans mass required for sink particle formation, along with the number of massive stars in the cloud.Comment: 35 pages, 46 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Management and drivers of change of pollinating insects and pollination services. National Pollinator Strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England, Evidence statements and Summary of Evidence

These Evidence Statements provide up-to-date information on what is known (and not known) about the status, values, drivers of change, and responses to management of UK insect pollinators (as was September 2018). This document has been produced to inform the development of England pollinator policy, and provide insight into the evidence that underpins policy decision-making. This document sits alongside a more detailed Summary of Evidence (Annex I) document written by pollinator experts. For information on the development of the statements, and confidence ratings assigned to them, please see section ?Generation of the statements? below. Citations for these statements are contained in the Summary of Evidence document

Teashirt 1 (Tshz1) is essential for the development, survival and function of hypoglossal and phrenic motor neurons in mouse

Feeding and breathing are essential motor functions and rely on the activity of hypoglossal and phrenic motor neurons that innervate the tongue and diaphragm, respectively. Little is known about the genetic programs that control the development of these neuronal subtypes. The transcription factor Tshz1 is strongly and persistently expressed in developing hypoglossal and phrenic motor neurons. We used conditional mutation of Tshz1 in the progenitor zone of motor neurons (Tshz1(MNΔ)) to show that Tshz1 is essential for survival and function of hypoglossal and phrenic motor neurons. Hypoglossal and phrenic motor neurons are born in correct numbers, but many die between embryonic day 13.5 and 14.5 in Tshz1(MNΔ) mutant mice. In addition, innervation and electrophysiological properties of phrenic and hypoglossal motor neurons are altered. Severe feeding and breathing problems accompany this developmental deficit. Although motor neuron survival can be rescued by elimination of the pro-apoptotic factor Bax, innervation, feeding and breathing defects persist in Bax(-/-); Tshz1(MNΔ) mutants. We conclude that Tshz1 is an essential transcription factor for the development and physiological function of phrenic and hypoglossal motor neurons

Macroeconometric Modelling with a Global Perspective

This paper provides a synthesis and further development of a global modelling approach introduced in Pesaran, Schuermann and Weiner (2004), where country specific models in the form of VARX* structures are estimated relating a vector of domestic variables to their foreign counterparts and then consistently combined to form a Global VAR (GVAR). It is shown that VARX* models can be derived as the solution to a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model where over-identifying long-run theoretical relations can be tested and imposed if acceptable. Similarly, short-run over-identifying theoretical restrictions can be tested and imposed if accepted. The assumption of the weak exogeneity of the foreign variables for the long-run parameters can be tested, where foreign variables can be interpreted as proxies for global factors. Rather than using deviations from ad hoc statistical trends, the equilibrium values of the variables reflecting the long-run theory embodied in the model can be calculated

English indices of deprivation 2010 : technical report

The English indices of deprivation 2010 is the third release in a series of statistics produced to measure multiple forms of deprivation at the small spatial scale. It updates the indices of deprivation 2007 and 2004, retaining broadly the same methodology, domains and indicators. This report outlines the conceptualisation underpinning the model of multiple deprivation used and describes the indicators and domains that make up the indices

Direct characterisation of tuneable few-femtosecond dispersive-wave pulses in the deep UV

Dispersive wave emission (DWE) in gas-filled hollow-core dielectric waveguides is a promising source of tuneable coherent and broadband radiation, but so far the generation of few-femtosecond pulses using this technique has not been demonstrated. Using in-vacuum frequency-resolved optical gating, we directly characterise tuneable 3fs pulses in the deep ultraviolet generated via DWE. Through numerical simulations, we identify that the use of a pressure gradient in the waveguide is critical for the generation of short pulses.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Effects of Exercise Training on Neuromuscular Junction Morphology and Pre- to Post-Synaptic Coupling in Young and Aged Rats

The objective of this study was to determine whether pre- to post-synaptic coupling of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) could be maintained in the face of significant morphological remodeling brought about by exercise training, and whether aging altered this capacity. Eighteen young adult (8 mo) and eighteen aged (24 mo) Fischer 344 rats were randomly assigned to either endurance trained (treadmill running) or untrained control conditions resulting in four groups (N = 9 / group). After the 10-week intervention rats were euthanized and hindlimb muscles were surgically removed, quickly frozen at approximate resting length and stored at - 85 degrees C. The plantaris and EDL muscles were selected for study as they have different functions (ankle extensor and ankle flexor, respectively) but both are similarly and overwhelmingly comprised of fast-twitch myofibers. NMJs were stained with immunofluorescent procedures and images were collected with confocal microscopy. Each variable of interest was analyzed with a 2-way ANOVA with main effects of age and endurance training; in all cases significance was set at P \u3c = 0.05. Results showed that no main effects of aging were detected in NMJs of either the plantaris or the EDL. Similarly, endurance training failed to alter any synaptic parameters of EDL muscles. The same exercise stimulus in the plantaris however, resulted in significant pre- and post-synaptic remodeling, but without altering pre- to post-synaptic coupling of the NMJs. Myofiber profiles of the same plantaris and EDL muscles were also analyzed. Unlike NMJs, myofibers displayed significant age-related atrophy in both the plantaris and EDL muscles. Overall, these results confirm that despite significant training-induced reconfiguration of NMJs, pre- to post-synaptic coupling remains intact underscoring the importance of maintaining proper apposition of neurotransmitter release and binding sites so that effective nerve to muscle communication is assured. (C) 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved