Are Coyotes “Natural”? Differences in Perceptions of Coyotes Among Urban and Suburban Park Users

By 2050 more than 65% of humans are expected to live in urban and suburban areas. This shift has gained the attention of conservation scientists and managers with more focus directed on conflict and coexistence between wildlife and urbanized populations. One species that is increasingly prominent in urban and suburban environments is the coyote (Canis latrans). Coyotes have established themselves as a keystone predator with a regulating effect on prey populations, thus playing an important role in the functioning of the urban ecosystem. However, research has shown that negative perceptions of coyotes are common and contribute to support for eradication-focused management strategies, such as broad-scale trapping or culling, which are expensive and largely ineffective. To better understand coyote acceptance and non-acceptance we conducted a comparative study of park users residing in two counties in the New York metropolitan area: a suburban county, where coyotes are already established, and an urban county, where coyotes have only recently begun to arrive. Our findings suggest that urban respondents have lower levels of coyote acceptance and higher preference for coyote removal than suburban respondents. We tested multiple predictor variables to determine which was the strongest driver of desire for removal: perception of threat to humans and pets, perception of coyote “naturalness” in the environment, and appropriateness of expressed reaction to a hypothetical coyote encounter. We found that perception of coyote “naturalness” was the strongest predictor of whether people felt that coyotes belonged in the region and thus should not be removed. Our results suggest that wildlife coexistence strategies could benefit from messages that instill in residents a sense that their local area is a place where coyotes and other wild animals belong

Border Effects in House Prices

This article estimates the effect of the Dutch–German border on house prices. We argue that the difference between house prices at the border indicates the willingness to pay to stay in a country compared to living across the border. After a change in the tax rules in 2001, migration from the Netherlands to Germany increased substantially and the gradient of Dutch house price towards the German border steepened. Combining a German and Dutch real estate dataset and using different estimation strategies, we find that asking prices of comparable housing drop by about 16% when one crosses the Dutch–German border

What builds resilience? Sociodemographic and social correlates in the population-based LIFE-adult-study

Resilience is closely related to mental health and well-being. Identifying risk groups with lower resilience and the variables associated with resilience informs preventive approaches. Previous research on resilience patterns in the general population is heterogeneous, and comprehensive large-scale studies are needed. The aim of our study is to examine sociodemographic and social correlates of resilience in a large population-based sample. We examined 4795 participants from the LIFE-Adult-Study. Assessments included resilience (RS-11), social support (ESSI), and social network (LSNS), as well as the sociodemographic variables age, gender, marital status, education, and occupation. The association of resilience with sociodemographic and social correlates was examined using linear regression analyses. Higher resilience was associated with female gender, married marital status, high education, and full-time occupation. Social support and social network were positively associated with resilience. Our results implicate that resilience is related to various sociodemographic variables. Social variables seem to be particularly important for resilience. We identified risk groups with lower resilience, which should be given special attention by public health policies, especially in times of crisis. Reducing loneliness and promoting social connectedness may be promising ways to build resilience in the general population

Enhanced Expression of Janus Kinase–Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription Pathway Members in Human Diabetic Nephropathy

OBJECTIVE—Glomerular mesangial expansion and podocyte loss are important early features of diabetic nephropathy, whereas tubulointerstitial injury and fibrosis are critical for progression of diabetic nephropathy to kidney failure. Therefore, we analyzed the expression of genes in glomeruli and tubulointerstitium in kidney biopsies from diabetic nephropathy patients to identify pathways that may be activated in humans but not in murine models of diabetic nephropathy that fail to progress to glomerulosclerosis, tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and kidney failure

Gene expression analysis in human osteoblasts exposed to dexamethasone identifies altered developmental pathways as putative drivers of osteoporosis

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis, a disease of decreased bone mineral density represents a significant and growing burden in the western world. Aging population structure and therapeutic use of glucocorticoids have contributed in no small way to the increase in the incidence of this disease. Despite substantial investigative efforts over the last number of years the exact molecular mechanism underpinning the initiation and progression of osteoporosis remain to be elucidated. This has meant that no significant advances in therapeutic strategies have emerged, with joint replacement surgery being the mainstay of treatment. METHODS: In this study we have used an integrated genomics profiling and computational biology based strategy to identify the key osteoblast genes and gene clusters whose expression is altered in response to dexamethasone exposure. Primary human osteoblasts were exposed to dexamethasone in vitro and microarray based transcriptome profiling completed. RESULTS: These studies identified approximately 500 osteoblast genes whose expression was altered. Functional characterization of the transcriptome identified developmental networks as being reactivated with 106 development associated genes found to be differentially regulated. Pathway reconstruction revealed coordinate alteration of members of the WNT signaling pathway, including frizzled-2, frizzled-7, DKK1 and WNT5B, whose differential expression in this setting was confirmed by real time PCR. CONCLUSION: The WNT pathway is a key regulator of skeletogenesis as well as differentiation of bone cells. Reactivation of this pathway may lead to altered osteoblast activity resulting in decreased bone mineral density, the pathological hallmark of osteoporosis. The data herein lend weight to the hypothesis that alterations in developmental pathways drive the initiation and progression of osteoporosis

A Molecular Signature of Proteinuria in Glomerulonephritis

Proteinuria is the most important predictor of outcome in glomerulonephritis and experimental data suggest that the tubular cell response to proteinuria is an important determinant of progressive fibrosis in the kidney. However, it is unclear whether proteinuria is a marker of disease severity or has a direct effect on tubular cells in the kidneys of patients with glomerulonephritis. Accordingly we studied an in vitro model of proteinuria, and identified 231 “albumin-regulated genes” differentially expressed by primary human kidney tubular epithelial cells exposed to albumin. We translated these findings to human disease by studying mRNA levels of these genes in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of kidney biopsies from patients with IgA nephropathy using microarrays. Biopsies from patients with IgAN (n = 25) could be distinguished from those of control subjects (n = 6) based solely upon the expression of these 231 “albumin-regulated genes.” The expression of an 11-transcript subset related to the degree of proteinuria, and this 11-mRNA subset was also sufficient to distinguish biopsies of subjects with IgAN from control biopsies. We tested if these findings could be extrapolated to other proteinuric diseases beyond IgAN and found that all forms of primary glomerulonephritis (n = 33) can be distinguished from controls (n = 21) based solely on the expression levels of these 11 genes derived from our in vitro proteinuria model. Pathway analysis suggests common regulatory elements shared by these 11 transcripts. In conclusion, we have identified an albumin-regulated 11-gene signature shared between all forms of primary glomerulonephritis. Our findings support the hypothesis that albuminuria may directly promote injury in the tubulo-interstitial compartment of the kidney in patients with glomerulonephritis

Scheitern der sozialen Wohnungspolitik: Wie bezahlbaren Wohnraum schaffen?

Wohnen wird – zumindest in einigen Städten – zum Luxusgut, bezahlbarer Wohnraum zur Mangelware. Die Wohnungsbaupolitik muss drastisch verändert werden. Sollte der soziale Wohnungsbau ausgebaut, die Mietpreisbremse verschärft werden oder – im Gegenteil – auf beides weitgehend verzichtet werden? Sollten stattdessen die Bauvorschriften gelockert und das Wohngeld reformiert und ausgebaut werden? Friedrich Breyer, Universität Konstanz, stellt das Gutachten des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Energie zur derzeit herrschenden Wohnungspolitik vor. Demnach sind die zuletzt beschlossenen Maßnahmen nicht geeignet, die diagnostizierte »Wohnungsnot« nachhaltig und sozial zu beseitigen. Sinnvoller wäre es, in Ballungsgebieten mehr Bauland auszuweisen und den Haushalten, denen es an Kaufkraft fehlt, durch ein Wohngeld zu ermöglichen, sich eine Wohnung zur Marktmiete zu leisten. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Ministerin für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Wohnungsbau des Landes Baden-Württemberg, fasst die Wohnungsbaupolitik des Landes Baden-Württemberg zusammen, die unter anderem aus der Förderung des sozialen Wohnraums und der Förderung des frei finanzierten Wohnungsbaus besteht. Matthias Wrede, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, sieht eine soziale Wohnungspolitik in einer Sicherung der Grundversorgung, einer effizienteren Nutzung der Flächen und einer Reduktion der Transaktionen. Hohe Mieten betreffen, nach Harald Simons, empirica, weniger als die Hälfte der regionalen Wohnungsmärkte in Deutschland. Hohe Mieten an einem Ort seien Folge der niedrigen Mieten an anderen Orten und umgekehrt. Ursache davon sei das »Schwarmverhalten«. Die Differenz zwischen Schwarmstädten und ausblutenden Regionen könnte vermindert werden, wenn es gelänge, die Abwanderung junger Menschen in die Schwarmstädte abzuschwächen. Nach Ansicht von Lars Vandrei, ifo Niederlassung Dresden, kann die Mietpreisbremse Preisanstiege zwar zumindest in der kurzen und mittleren Frist verringern. Damit werde aber kein bezahlbarer Wohnraum geschaffen, sondern lediglich vorhandener Wohnraum für einige Mieter bezahlbarer gemacht. Ohne eine tatsächliche Angebotsausweitung dürften von der Regelung vor allem relativ gutverdienende Nachfrager profitieren. Theresia Theurl, Universität Münster, unterstreicht die Bedeutung der Wohnungsgenossenschaften für die Beschaffung bezahlbaren Wohnraums. Ralph Henger, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, sieht die Lösung des Wohnungsnotproblems bei der Ausweitung des Angebots und dem richtigen Mix flankierender Maßnahmen. Vor allem die Städte und Gemeinden in den Ballungszentren müssten hierbei einen Politikwechsel vollziehen. Das zentrale Problem sei das fehlende Angebot an Flächen zur Bebauung in den wachsenden Städten und Gemeinden. Konstantin Kholodilin, DIW, Berlin, und Sebastian Kohl, Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Köln, zeigen, dass Mietregulierungen nicht zwangsläufig zum Ende der Neubautätigkeit führen müssen und dass eine Deregulierung des Mietmarkts nicht unbedingt die Neubautätigkeit stimuliert.Friedrich Breyer: Das Wohnungsgutachten des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats beim BMWi und seine Folgen Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut: Vorschriften entschlacken, sozialen Wohnungsbau fördern, Flächenpotentiale aktivieren - Baden-Württemberg bekämpft den Wohnraummangel Matthias Wrede: Soziale Wohnungspolitik: Grundversorgung sichern, Land effizienter nutzen und Transaktionskosten reduzieren Harald Simons: Sicherung der Wohnraumversorgung in Deutschland Lars Vandrei: Preisregulierung in der sozialen Wohnungspolitik - die schädliche Wirkung der Mietpreisbremse Theresia Theurl: Bezahlbaren Wohnraum schaffen: Wohnungsgenossenschaften leisten ihren Beitrag Ralph Henger: Wachsende Großstädte: Mehr Bevölkerung verlangt auch mehr Wohnungsbau Konstantin Kholodilin und Sebastian Kohl: Sind Mietregulierungen das Ende der Neubautätigkeit? Ein historisch-vergleichender Blic