Simulating river flow to the Baltic Sea from climate simulations over the past millennium

The aim of this study was to reconstruct river flow to the Baltic Sea using data from different periods during the past thousand years. A hydrological model coupled to simulations from climate models was used to estimate river flow. A "millennium" simulation of past climate from the ECHO-G coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate model provided climatological inputs. Results from this global model were downscaled with the RCA3 regional climate model over northern Europe. Temperature and precipitation from the downscaled simulation results were then used in the HBV hydrological model to simulate river flows to the Baltic Sea for the periods 1000-1199 and 1551-1929. These were compared with observations for the period 1921-2002. A general conclusion from this work is that although climate has varied during the past millennium, variability in annual river flow to the Baltic Sea does not appear more pronounced in recent years than during the previous millennium, or vice versa

Pan-european assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of stressors on the health of bees

As part of the activities foreseen by the POSHBEE project, we performed experiments to verify the toxicokinetics of three pesticides (the insecticide sulfoxaflor, the fungicide azoxystrobin and the herbicide glyphosate) in the bodies of social bees (Apis mellifera and Bombus terrestris) and solitary bees (Osmia bicornis). For each species all castes and sexes were studied. Based on the results from dose-response assays, sublethal doses were used to treat individuals, which were exposed to the chosen pesticides orally and by contact. Bees were then sampled at multiple time points post- exposure, to capture the breakdown of the active ingredients in the bodies of the organisms. Results of the chemical analyses on bee samples were used for the evaluation of the dynamics of the oral and contact acute exposure in the three species. Overall, the active ingredients sulfoxaflor, azoxystrobin and glyphosate degrade in all species, sex or caste. Nevertheless, there were some exceptions: in honey bee workers, glyphosate administered topically and azoxystrobin administered via the oral route seemed to remain stable in the bees’ bodies even 10 days after exposure (11% and 13% of degradation rate, respectively). We also observed a low degradation of sulfoxaflor following topical exposure in bumble bee queens (26% of degradation rate) and in Osmia bee females (22% of degradation rate). In bumble bees exposed topically to glyphosate degradation was lower than 50% for all sexes and castes. These results deserve further attention by researchers to understand the destiny of these molecules in the bee body and their effects therein.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation actio

Hur påverkas VD:s ersättningsnivå av styrelsens egenskaper?

Resultat: Studiens resultat påvisar att det finns tydliga samband mellan styrelsens egenskaper och VD:s ersättningsnivå. VD- ersättningen har ett positivt samband med styrelsens storlek, kvinnliga styrelseledamöter, styrelseledamöternas ersättning, arbetstagarrepresentanter och andelen beroende styrelseledamöter gentemot större aktieägare. Ett negativt samband konstateras mellan variabeln utländska ledamöter och VD-ersättning. Dessa samband medför att det finns skäl till att i större utsträckning, inkludera Small Cap-bolag och styrelsens roll i den svenska ersättningsdebatten.Empiri: Studien baseras på 103 företag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Small Cap år 2013. Information hämtas i första hand från bolagens årsredovisningar.Teoretiska perspektiv: Studiens teoretiska grund utgörs främst av agentteorin, managerial power-teorin och resursberoendeteorin. Dessa teorier kompletteras med tidigare forskning inom området.Metod: I studien tillämpas en kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv forskningsansats. I en tvärsnittsstudie studeras inkluderade variabler med hjälp av en multipel linjär regressionsanalys.Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka huruvida det föreligger några samband mellan styrelsens egenskaper och VD:ns ersättningsnivå, samt hur dessa eventuella samband ter sig

Intra-specific variation in sensitivity of <i>Bombus terrestris</i> and <i>Osmia bicornis</i> to three pesticides

There is growing evidence that pesticides may be among the causes of worldwide bee declines, which has resulted in repeated calls for their increased scrutiny in regulatory assessments. One recurring concern is that the current frameworks may be biased towards assessing risks to the honey bee. This paradigm requires extrapolating toxicity information across bee species. Most research effort has therefore focused on quantifying differences in sensitivity across species. However, our understanding of how responses to pesticides may vary within a species is still very poor. Here we take the first steps towards filling this knowledge gap by comparing acute, lethal hazards in sexes and castes of the eusocial bee Bombus terrestris and in sexes of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis after oral and contact exposure to the pesticides sulfoxaflor, Amistar (azoxystrobin) and glyphosate. We show that sensitivity towards pesticides varies significantly both within and across species. Bee weight was a meaningful predictor of pesticide susceptibility. However, weight could not fully explain the observed differences, which suggests the existence of unexplored mechanisms regulating pesticide sensitivity across bee sexes and castes. Our data show that intra-specific responses are an overlooked yet important aspect of the risk assessment of pesticides in bees

Pan-european assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of stressors on the health of bees

Within the PoshBee Project, we have worked out precise protocols for testing the toxicological endpoints and metabolisation rate of agrochemicals on and in bees. Three agrochemical classes (insecticides, fungicides and herbicides) were tested on three bee groups (honey bees, bumble bees and solitary mason bees). The specific protocols, different for each combination of the pesticide class and bee group, were designed based on the existing toxicity testing methods and modified according to the specificities of the different bee groups, their castes and the different exotoxicological features of the compounds. Sulfoxaflor, Azoxystrobin, and Glyphosate were used respectively as examples of the three pesticide classes. Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris and Osmia bicornis were chosen as the examples of the three bee groups. The protocols for honey bees and bumble bees were designed based on the official existing guidelines edited by OECD. Nevertheless, given that the OECD guidelines provide recommendations to fit with most agrochemicals, many of the parameters are defined with low precision in order to be flexible and adapt to different categories of molecules. While OECD has no guidelines for testing solitary bees, we used information from the unpublished ring test protocols for Osmia bicornis by the ICPPR non- Apis working group.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action

Pan-european assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of stressors on the health of bees

Inter-individual differences in pesticide sensitivity may trigger variability in the risk posed by pesticides. Therefore, to better inform pesticide risk assessment for bees, we studied the variability of responses to several pesticides based on endogenous (developmental stage, genetic background, caste) and exogenous factors (pesticide co-exposure). We mainly investigated the toxicity of the insecticide sulfoxaflor, the fungicide azoxystrobin and the herbicide glyphosate. We first used LD50 tests to determine the acute oral and contact toxicity of these pesticides across the different bee species, developmental stages (larva vs adult in honey bees), castes (honey bee and bumble bee workers, queens and drones), and genetic backgrounds (honey bee subspecies). We then considered the risks posed by chronic and sublethal exposures to pesticides by implementing behavioural and reproductive endpoints in the screening of pesticide toxicity. Data showed that azoxystrobin and glyphosate under the test conditions were mildly toxic to bees. However, a large variability in bee sensitivity to sulfoxaflor was found, especially across species and individuals of different castes or sex. This variability is therefore important to consider for increasing the safety margin of the risk posed by insecticides in bees. Several effects induced by sublethal concentrations or doses of pesticides are also described, such as the occurrence of a Non-Monotonic Dose-Response (NMDR) and delayed effects in honey bees, impairment of reproductive performances in bumble bees, and a decreased longevity of Osmia adult females (although no effects were found on larval development). Finally, an interaction between pesticides was found when exposure was by contact, but not under oral exposure. In conclusion, the range of effects described here provides very useful insights for better understanding the toxicity of pesticides and therefore the risks they might pose to bees.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action

Pan-european assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of stressors on the health of bees

Within the PoshBee Project we have tested three bee species – honey bees Apis mellifera, bumble bees Bombus terrestris and solitary bees Osmia bicornis – for their sensitivity to pesticides and analysed the clearance of pesticides from bees. For each species, all castes and sexes were studied. We synthesised the mortality data (LD50 or results of limit tests) with the toxicokinetic patterns and analysed this against the background of inter- and intraspecific variation in life-histories of the tested bees. The clearance of sulfoxaflor is relatively similar across all bee species tested and in females after contact treatment it tends to be retained. The toxicity increases over time independently of the clearance from the body. The clearance of azoxystrobin was rapid in Osmia and bumble bees, as well as in honey bee queens, but in honey bee workers there was very little clearance. Similar to sulfoxaflor the toxicity increased over time, although the residues were detected at very low levels. Glyphosate tended to be retained in bumble bees after contact treatment but cleared rapidly after oral treatment. For Osmia bees only in males after contact treatment was the glyphosate almost lost. The toxicity of a pesticide is dependent on the exact dosage, but also the exposure route and time, as well as the speed of detoxification and clearance from a body. The assessment for the hazard that a less toxic pesticide might pose, can be largely dependent on the exposure route. The effects of pesticide toxicity can increase even after the molecules have been cleared out of the body.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action.Prepared under contract from the European Commission; Grant agreement No. 773921; EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation action

An original phylogenetic approach identified mitochondrial haplogroup T1a1 as inversely associated with breast cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers

Introduction: Individuals carrying pathogenic mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have a high lifetime risk of breast cancer. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in DNA double-strand break repair, DNA alterations that can be caused by exposure to reactive oxygen species, a main source of which are mitochondria. Mitochondrial genome variations affect electron transport chain efficiency and reactive oxygen species production. Individuals with different mitochondrial haplogroups differ in their metabolism and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Variability in mitochondrial genetic background can alter reactive oxygen species production, leading to cancer risk. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that mitochondrial haplogroups modify breast cancer risk in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Methods: We genotyped 22,214 (11,421 affected, 10,793 unaffected) mutation carriers belonging to the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 for 129 mitochondrial polymorphisms using the iCOGS array. Haplogroup inference and association detection were performed using a phylogenetic approach. ALTree was applied to explore the reference mitochondrial evolutionary tree and detect subclades enriched in affected or unaffected individuals. Results: We discovered that subclade T1a1 was depleted in affected BRCA2 mutation carriers compared with the rest of clade T (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.55; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.34 to 0.88; P = 0.01). Compared with the most frequent haplogroup in the general population (that is, H and T clades), the T1a1 haplogroup has a HR of 0.62 (95% CI, 0.40 to 0.95; P = 0.03). We also identified three potential susceptibility loci, including G13708A/rs28359178, which has demonstrated an inverse association with familial breast cancer risk. Conclusions: This study illustrates how original approaches such as the phylogeny-based method we used can empower classical molecular epidemiological studies aimed at identifying association or risk modification effects.Peer reviewe