The pace of life under artificial selection : personality, energy expenditure, and longevity are correlated in domestic dogs

The domestic dog has undergone extensive artificial selection resulting in an extreme diversity in body size, personality, life‐history, and metabolic traits among breeds. Here we tested whether proactive personalities (high levels of activity, boldness, and aggression) are related to a fast “pace of life” (high rates of growth, mortality, and energy expenditure). Data from the literature provide preliminary evidence that artificial selection on dogs (through domestication) generated variations in personality traits that are correlated with life histories and metabolism. We found that obedient (or docile, shy) breeds live longer than disobedient (or bold) ones and that aggressive breeds have higher energy needs than unaggressive ones. These correlations could result from either human preference for particular trait combinations or, more likely, correlated responses to artificial selection on personality. Our results suggest the existence of a general pace‐of‐life syndrome arising from the coevolution of personality, metabolic, and life‐history traits

Law and Politics in Judicial Oversight of Federal Administrative Agencies

Administrative agencies play a substantial role in the formulation and implementation of national policy Central to this role is their exercise of discretion. A normative consensus exists that such discretion should be constrained by administrative deference to the rule of law. The courts of appeals are expected to insure that such discretion is constrained. The analysis reported below examines how effectively they fulfill that expectation The findings suggest that agency success is related to political considerations, with agencies being successful when their decisions are consistent with the policy preferences of the judges. However, variables that captured elements of the legal model were also related to success. Taken together, it appears that the appeals courts respond to both legal concerns and political preferences. Thus, the courts appear to fulfill the expectation that they will constrain the worst abuses of discretion by imposing the rule of law

Directly Measured Denitrification Reveals Oyster Aquaculture and Restored Oyster Reefs Remove Nitrogen at Comparable High Rates

Coastal systems are increasingly impacted by over-enrichment of nutrients, which has cascading effects for ecosystem functioning. Oyster restoration and aquaculture are both hypothesized to mitigate excessive nitrogen (N) loads via benthic denitrification. The degree to which these management activities perform similar functions for removing N, however, has not been extensively examined in New England, a place where nutrient runoff is high and increasing oyster (Crassostrea virginica) restoration and aquaculture activity is taking place. Here, we use a novel in situ methodology to directly measure net N2 and O2 fluxes across the sediment-water interface in a shallow (~1 m) coastal pond in southern Rhode Island. We collected data seasonally during 2013 and 2014 at restored oyster reefs, oyster aquaculture, oyster cultch (shell), and bare sediment. Restored oyster reefs and aquaculture had the highest mean (±SE) denitrification rates, 581.9 (±164.2) and 346 (±168.6) μmol N2−N m−2 h−1, respectively, and are among the highest recorded for oyster-dominated environments. Denitrification rates at sites with oyster cultch were 60.9 (±44.3) μmol N2−N m−2 h−1, which is substantially less than the sites with active oysters but still more than 50% higher than denitrification rates measured in bare sediment (24.4 ± 10.1 μmol N2–N m−2 h−1). The increase in denitrification rates at treatments, however, varied by season and the greatest rates for restored reefs were in the fall. Overall, the greatest aggregate denitrification rates occurred in the fall. Sediment oxygen demand (SOD) followed similar patterns but with greater overall rates in the summer, and displayed a strong linear relationship with denitrification (R2 = 0.93). Our results demonstrate that habitats associated with live oysters have higher net denitrification rates and that oyster reef restoration and oyster aquaculture may provide similar benefits to the ecosystem in terms of N removal. However, gas fluxes may also be affected where three-dimensional structure is introduced via oyster shell cultch and this appears to be seasonally-dependent. These data will be important for managers as they incorporate oysters into nutrient reduction strategies and consider system-level trade-offs in services provided by oyster reef restoration and aquaculture activities

Directly Measured Denitrification Reveals Oyster Aquaculture and Restored Oyster Reefs Remove Nitrogen at Comparable High Rates

Coastal systems are increasingly impacted by over-enrichment of nutrients, which has cascading effects for ecosystem functioning. Oyster restoration and aquaculture are both hypothesized to mitigate excessive nitrogen (N) loads via benthic denitrification. The degree to which these management activities perform similar functions for removing N, however, has not been extensively examined in New England, a place where nutrient runoff is high and increasing oyster (Crassostrea virginica) restoration and aquaculture activity is taking place. Here, we use a novel in situ methodology to directly measure net N2 and O2 fluxes across the sediment-water interface in a shallow (~1 m) coastal pond in southern Rhode Island. We collected data seasonally during 2013 and 2014 at restored oyster reefs, oyster aquaculture, oyster cultch (shell), and bare sediment. Restored oyster reefs and aquaculture had the highest mean (±SE) denitrification rates, 581.9 (±164.2) and 346 (±168.6) μmol N2−N m−2 h−1, respectively, and are among the highest recorded for oyster-dominated environments. Denitrification rates at sites with oyster cultch were 60.9 (±44.3) μmol N2−N m−2 h−1, which is substantially less than the sites with active oysters but still more than 50% higher than denitrification rates measured in bare sediment (24.4 ± 10.1 μmol N2–N m−2 h−1). The increase in denitrification rates at treatments, however, varied by season and the greatest rates for restored reefs were in the fall. Overall, the greatest aggregate denitrification rates occurred in the fall. Sediment oxygen demand (SOD) followed similar patterns but with greater overall rates in the summer, and displayed a strong linear relationship with denitrification (R2 = 0.93). Our results demonstrate that habitats associated with live oysters have higher net denitrification rates and that oyster reef restoration and oyster aquaculture may provide similar benefits to the ecosystem in terms of N removal. However, gas fluxes may also be affected where three-dimensional structure is introduced via oyster shell cultch and this appears to be seasonally-dependent. These data will be important for managers as they incorporate oysters into nutrient reduction strategies and consider system-level trade-offs in services provided by oyster reef restoration and aquaculture activities

Genetic variation in CADM2 as a link between psychological traits and obesity

CADM2 has been associated with a range of behavioural and metabolic traits, including physical activity, risk-taking, educational attainment, alcohol and cannabis use and obesity. Here, we set out to determine whether CADM2 contributes to mechanisms shared between mental and physical health disorders. We assessed genetic variants in the CADM2 locus for association with phenotypes in the UK Biobank, IMPROVE, PROCARDIS and SCARFSHEEP studies, before performing meta-analyses. A wide range of metabolic phenotypes were meta-analysed. Psychological phenotypes analysed in UK Biobank only were major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, neuroticism, mood instability and risk-taking behaviour. In UK Biobank, four, 88 and 172 genetic variants were significantly (p &lt;1 x 10(-5)) associated with neuroticism, mood instability and risk-taking respectively. In meta-analyses of 4 cohorts, we identified 362, 63 and 11 genetic variants significantly (p &lt;1 x 10(-5)) associated with BMI, SBP and CRP respectively. Genetic effects on BMI, CRP and risk-taking were all positively correlated, and were consistently inversely correlated with genetic effects on SBP, mood instability and neuroticism. Conditional analyses suggested an overlap in the signals for physical and psychological traits. Many significant variants had genotype-specific effects on CADM2 expression levels in adult brain and adipose tissues. CADM2 variants influence a wide range of both psychological and metabolic traits, suggesting common biological mechanisms across phenotypes via regulation of CADM2 expression levels in adipose tissue. Functional studies of CADM2 are required to fully understand mechanisms connecting mental and physical health conditions.</p

The overlap of genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia and cardiometabolic disease can be used to identify metabolically different groups of individuals

Understanding why individuals with severe mental illness (Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder) have increased risk of cardiometabolic disease (including obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease), and identifying those at highest risk of cardiometabolic disease are important priority areas for researchers. For individuals with European ancestry we explored whether genetic variation could identify sub-groups with different metabolic profiles. Loci associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder from previous genome-wide association studies and loci that were also implicated in cardiometabolic processes and diseases were selected. In the IMPROVE study (a high cardiovascular risk sample) and UK Biobank (general population sample) multidimensional scaling was applied to genetic variants implicated in both psychiatric and cardiometabolic disorders. Visual inspection of the resulting plots used to identify distinct clusters. Differences between these clusters were assessed using chi-squared and Kruskall-Wallis tests. In IMPROVE, genetic loci associated with both schizophrenia and cardiometabolic disease (but not bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder) identified three groups of individuals with distinct metabolic profiles. This grouping was replicated within UK Biobank, with somewhat less distinction between metabolic profiles. This work focused on individuals of European ancestry and is unlikely</p

Identification of marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas for penguins around the South Shetland Islands and South Orkney Islands

Aim: To provide a method of analysing penguin tracking data to identify priority at-sea areas for seabird conservation (marine IBAs), based on pre-existing approaches for flying seabirds but revised according to the specific ecology of Pygoscelis penguin species. Location: Waters around the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland and South Orkney Archipelagos (FAO Subareas 48.1 and 48.2) Methods: We made key improvements to the pre-existing protocol for identifying marine IBAs that include refining the track interpolation method, and revision of parameters for the kernel analysis (smoothing factor and utilization distribution) using sensitivity tests. We applied the revised method to 24 datasets of tracking data on penguins (three species, seven colonies and three different breeding stages – incubation, brood and crèche). Results: We identified 5 new marine IBAs for seabirds in the study area, estimated to hold ca. 600,000 adult penguins. Main conclusions: The results demonstrate the efficacy of a new method for the designation of a network of marine IBAs in Antarctic waters for penguins based on tracking data, which can contribute to an evidence-based, precautionary, management framework for krill fisheries

An analysis of gene expression in PTSD implicates genes involved in the glucocorticoid receptor pathway and neural responses to stress

We examined the association between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and gene expression using whole blood samples from a cohort of trauma-exposed white non-Hispanic male veterans (115 cases and 28 controls). 10,264 probes of genes and gene transcripts were analyzed. We found 41 that were differentially expressed in PTSD cases versus controls (multiple-testing corrected p<0.05). The most significant was DSCAM, a neurological gene expressed widely in the developing brain and in the amygdala and hippocampus of the adult brain. We then examined the 41 differentially expressed genes in a meta-analysis using two replication cohorts and found significant associations with PTSD for 7 of the 41 (p<0.05), one of which (ATP6AP1L) survived multiple-testing correction. There was also broad evidence of overlap across the discovery and replication samples for the entire set of genes implicated in the discovery data based on the direction of effect and an enrichment of p<0.05 significant probes beyond what would be expected under the null. Finally, we found that the set of differentially expressed genes from the discovery sample was enriched for genes responsive to glucocorticoid signaling with most showing reduced expression in PTSD cases compared to controls

Children with Reading Disability Show Brain Differences in Effective Connectivity for Visual, but Not Auditory Word Comprehension

Background: Previous literature suggests that those with reading disability (RD) have more pronounced deficits during semantic processing in reading as compared to listening comprehension. This discrepancy has been supported by recent neuroimaging studies showing abnormal activity in RD during semantic processing in the visual but not in the auditory modality. Whether effective connectivity between brain regions in RD could also show this pattern of discrepancy has not been investigated. Methodology/Principal Findings: Children (8- to 14-year-olds) were given a semantic task in the visual and auditory modality that required an association judgment as to whether two sequentially presented words were associated. Effective connectivity was investigated using Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) was used separately for each modality to find a winning family of DCM models separately for typically developing (TD) and RD children. BMS yielded the same winning family with modulatory effects on bottom-up connections from the input regions to middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and inferior frontal gyrus(IFG) with inconclusive evidence regarding top-down modulations. Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) was thus conducted across models in this winning family and compared across groups. The bottom-up effect from the fusiform gyrus (FG) to MTG rather than the top-down effect from IFG to MTG was stronger in TD compared to RD for the visual modality. The stronge