Effects of Land Crabs on Leaf Litter Distributions and Accumulations in a Mainland Tropical Rain Forest 1

The effect of the fossorial land crab Gecarcinus quadratus (Gecarcinidae) on patterns of accumulation and distribution of leaf litter was studied for two years in the coastal primary forests of Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park. Within this mainland forest, G, quadratus achieve densities up to 6 crabs/m 2 in populations extending along the Park's Pacific coastline and inland for ca 600 m. Crabs selectively forage for fallen leaf litter and relocate what they collect to burrow chambers that extend from 15 to 150 cm deep ( N = 44), averaging (±SE) 48.9 ± 3.0 cm. Preference trials suggested that leaf choice by crabs may be species-specific. Excavated crab burrows revealed maximum leaf collections of 11.75 g dry mass– 2.5 times more leaf litter than collected by square-meter leaf fall traps over several seven-day sampling periods. Additionally, experimental crab exclosures (25 m 2 ) were established using a repeated measures randomized block design to test for changes in leaf litter as a function of reduced crab density. Exclosures accumulated significantly more (5.6 ± 3.9 times) leaf litter than did control treatments during the wet, but not the dry, seasons over this two-year study. Such extensive litter relocation by land crabs may affect profiles of soil organic carbon, rooting, and seedling distributions.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73250/1/j.1744-7429.2003.tb00590.x.pd

Ethical leadership in an age of evaluation: implications for whole—school well-being

The evaluation and inspection of many public services, including education, has become increasingly common in most countries in the developed world (McNamara & O’Hara, 2004; MacBeath & McGlynn, 2002). There are various reasons why this may be the case. It can be argued that it is, on the one hand, part of the movement towards low trust policies derived from the ideology of neo-liberalism which seeks to apply the values of the market to the public sector. On the other hand, it can be argued that increased evaluation is a necessary and defensible component of democratic accountability, responsibility and transparency (O’Neill, 2002). The research reported here sets out to explore the idea of a personal vision or core of ethics as being central to educational leadership, through in-depth interviews with a number of school leaders. The chapter begins by briefly placing educational leadership in the modern context, characterised by the paradox of apparently greater decentralisation of responsibility to schools being in fact coupled with a further centralisation of actual power and greatly increased surveillance of performance (Neave, 1998). Relevant developments internationally, and then specifically in the context of Ireland, are described. It is suggested that in Ireland the modern educational context may indeed be creating difficult ethical and moral dilemmas for leaders to face. To see if this is so in practice, five in-depth interviews with school principals are reported. The evidence arising from these interviews indicates that school leaders do feel guided by a strong moral or ethical compass

Investigating the role of the interleukin-23/-17A axis in rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. IL-23 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine proposed to be central to the development of autoimmune disease. We investigated whether IL-23, together with the downstream mediator IL-17A, was present and functional in RA in humans

Safety, immunogenicity, and reactogenicity of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines given as fourth-dose boosters following two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or BNT162b2 and a third dose of BNT162b2 (COV-BOOST): a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised trial

Background Some high-income countries have deployed fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the clinical need, effectiveness, timing, and dose of a fourth dose remain uncertain. We aimed to investigate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of fourth-dose boosters against COVID-19.Methods The COV-BOOST trial is a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised controlled trial of seven COVID-19 vaccines given as third-dose boosters at 18 sites in the UK. This sub-study enrolled participants who had received BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) as their third dose in COV-BOOST and randomly assigned them (1:1) to receive a fourth dose of either BNT162b2 (30 µg in 0·30 mL; full dose) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna; 50 µg in 0·25 mL; half dose) via intramuscular injection into the upper arm. The computer-generated randomisation list was created by the study statisticians with random block sizes of two or four. Participants and all study staff not delivering the vaccines were masked to treatment allocation. The coprimary outcomes were safety and reactogenicity, and immunogenicity (antispike protein IgG titres by ELISA and cellular immune response by ELISpot). We compared immunogenicity at 28 days after the third dose versus 14 days after the fourth dose and at day 0 versus day 14 relative to the fourth dose. Safety and reactogenicity were assessed in the per-protocol population, which comprised all participants who received a fourth-dose booster regardless of their SARS-CoV-2 serostatus. Immunogenicity was primarily analysed in a modified intention-to-treat population comprising seronegative participants who had received a fourth-dose booster and had available endpoint data. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, 73765130, and is ongoing.Findings Between Jan 11 and Jan 25, 2022, 166 participants were screened, randomly assigned, and received either full-dose BNT162b2 (n=83) or half-dose mRNA-1273 (n=83) as a fourth dose. The median age of these participants was 70·1 years (IQR 51·6–77·5) and 86 (52%) of 166 participants were female and 80 (48%) were male. The median interval between the third and fourth doses was 208·5 days (IQR 203·3–214·8). Pain was the most common local solicited adverse event and fatigue was the most common systemic solicited adverse event after BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 booster doses. None of three serious adverse events reported after a fourth dose with BNT162b2 were related to the study vaccine. In the BNT162b2 group, geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration at day 28 after the third dose was 23 325 ELISA laboratory units (ELU)/mL (95% CI 20 030–27 162), which increased to 37 460 ELU/mL (31 996–43 857) at day 14 after the fourth dose, representing a significant fold change (geometric mean 1·59, 95% CI 1·41–1·78). There was a significant increase in geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration from 28 days after the third dose (25 317 ELU/mL, 95% CI 20 996–30 528) to 14 days after a fourth dose of mRNA-1273 (54 936 ELU/mL, 46 826–64 452), with a geometric mean fold change of 2·19 (1·90–2·52). The fold changes in anti-spike protein IgG titres from before (day 0) to after (day 14) the fourth dose were 12·19 (95% CI 10·37–14·32) and 15·90 (12·92–19·58) in the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 groups, respectively. T-cell responses were also boosted after the fourth dose (eg, the fold changes for the wild-type variant from before to after the fourth dose were 7·32 [95% CI 3·24–16·54] in the BNT162b2 group and 6·22 [3·90–9·92] in the mRNA-1273 group).Interpretation Fourth-dose COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccines are well tolerated and boost cellular and humoral immunity. Peak responses after the fourth dose were similar to, and possibly better than, peak responses after the third dose

Food utilisation and digestive ability of aquatic and semi-terrestrial crayfishes, Cherax destructor and Engaeus sericatus (Astacidae, Parastacidae)

Both Engaeus sericatus and Cherax destructor are omnivorous crayfishes consuming a variety of food items. Materials identified in the faeces of both E. sericatus and C. destructor consisted of mainly plant material with minor amounts of arthropod animals, algae and fungi. The morphology of the gastric mill of C. destructor suggests that it is mainly involved in crushing of food material while the gastric mill of E. sericatus appears to be better suited to cutting of food material. Given this, the gastric mill of E. sericatus may be better able to cut the cellulose and hemicellulose fibres associated with fibrous plant material. In contrast, the gastric mill of C. destructor appears to be more efficient in grinding soft materials such as animal protein and algae. Both species accumulated high amounts of lipids in their midgut glands (about 60% of the dry mass) which were dominated by triacylglycerols (81&ndash;82% of total lipids). The dominating fatty acids were 16:0, 16:1(n-7), 18:1(n-9), 18:2(n-6), and 18:3(n-3). The two latter fatty acids can only be synthesised by plants, and are thus indicative of the consumption of terrestrial plants by the crayfishes. The similarity analysis of the fatty acid patterns showed three distinct clusters of plants and each of the crayfish species. The complement of digestive enzymes, proteinases, total cellulase, endo-&beta;-1,4-glucanase, &beta;-glucosidase, laminarinase and xylanase within midgut gland suggests that both C. destructor and E. sericatus are capable of hydrolysing a variety of substrates associated with an omnivorous diet. Higher activities of total cellulase, endo-&beta;-1,4-glucanase and &beta;-glucosidase indicate that E. sericatus is better able to hydrolyse cellulose within plant material than C. destructor. In contrast to E. sericatus, higher total protease and N-acetyl-&beta;-d-glucosaminidase activity in the midgut gland of C. destructor suggests that this species is better able to digest animal materials in the form of arthropods. Differences in total cellulase and gastric mill morphology suggest that E. sericatus is more efficient at digesting plant material than C. destructor. However, the contents of faecal pellets and the fatty acid compositions seem to indicate that both species opportunistically feed on the most abundant and easily accessible food items.<br /

When is it Safe to Return to Driving after Spinal Surgery?

Study Design Prospective study. Objective Surgeons' recommendations for a safe return to driving following cervical and lumbar surgery vary and are based on empirical data. Driver reaction time (DRT) is an objective measure of the ability to drive safely. There are limited data about the effect of cervical and lumbar surgery on DRT. The purpose of our study was to use the DRT to determine when the patients undergoing a spinal surgery may safely return to driving. Methods We tested 37 patients' DRT using computer software. Twenty-three patients (mean 50.5 ± 17.7 years) received lumbar surgery, and 14 patients had cervical surgery (mean 56.7 ± 10.9 years). Patients were compared with 14 healthy male controls (mean 32 ± 5.19 years). The patients having cervical surgery were subdivided into the anterior versus posterior approach and myelopathic versus nonmyelopathic groups. Patients having lumbar spinal surgery were subdivided by decompression versus fusion with or without decompression and single-level versus multilevel surgery. The patients were tested preoperatively and at 2 to 3, 6, and 12 weeks following the surgery. The use of opioids was noted. Results Overall, the patients having cervical and lumbar surgery showed no significant differences between pre- and postoperative DRT (cervical p = 0.49, lumbar p = 0.196). Only the patients having single-level procedures had a significant improvement from a preoperative DRT of 0.951 seconds (standard deviation 0.255) to 0.794 seconds (standard deviation 0.152) at 2 to 3 weeks (p = 0.012). None of the other subgroups had a difference in the DRT. Conclusions Based on these findings, it may be acceptable to allow patients having a single-level lumbar fusion who are not taking opioids to return to driving as early as 2 weeks following the spinal surgery

Regional implementation of a pediatric cardiology chest pain guideline using SCAMPs methodology

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Chest pain is a complaint for which children are frequently evaluated. Cardiac causes are rarely found despite expenditure of considerable time and resources. We describe validation throughout New England of a clinical guideline for cost-effective evaluation of pediatric patients first seen by a cardiologist for chest pain using a unique methodology termed the Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans (SCAMPs). METHODS: A total of 1016 ambulatory patients, ages 7 to 21 years initially seen for chest pain at Boston Children\u27s Hospital (BCH) or the New England Congenital Cardiology Association (NECCA) practices, were evaluated by using a SCAMPs chest pain guideline. Findings were analyzed for diagnostic elements, patterns of care, and compliance with the guideline. Results from the NECCA practices were compared with those of Boston Children\u27s Hospital, a regional core academic center. RESULTS: Two patients had chest pain due to a cardiac etiology, 1 with pericarditis and 1 with an anomalous coronary artery origin. Testing performed outside of guideline recommendations demonstrated only incidental findings. Patients returning for persistent symptoms did not have cardiac disease. The pattern of care for the NECCA practices and BCH differed minimally. CONCLUSIONS: By using SCAMPs methodology, we have demonstrated that chest pain in children is rarely caused by heart disease and can be evaluated in the ambulatory setting efficiently and effectively using minimal resources. The methodology can be implemented regionally across a wide range of clinical practice settings and its approach can overcome a number of barriers that often limit clinical practice guideline implementation