Evaluating Bayesian stable isotope mixing models of wild animal diet and the effects of trophic discrimination factors and informative priors

Funding information University of Exeter; CONICYT, Grant/ Award Number: 3190800; ERC, Grant/ Award Number: 310820Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Associations between abundances of free-roaming gamebirds and common buzzards Buteo buteo are not driven by consumption of gamebirds in the buzzard breeding season

Releasing gamebirds in large numbers for sport shooting may directly or indirectly influence the abundance, distribution and population dynamics of native wildlife. The abundances of generalist predators have been positively associated with the abundance of gamebirds. These relationships have implications for prey populations, with the potential for indirect impacts of gamebird releases on wider biodiversity. To understand the basis of these associations, we investigated variation in territory size, prey provisioning to chicks, and breeding success of common buzzards Buteo buteo, and associations with variation in the abundances of free- roaming gamebirds, primarily pheasants Phasianus colchicus, and of rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus and field voles Microtus agrestis, as important prey for buzzards. The relative abundance of game-birds, but not those of rabbits or voles, was weakly but positively correlated with our index of buzzard territory size. Gamebirds were rarely brought to the nest. Rabbits and voles, and not gamebirds, were provisioned to chicks in proportion to their relative abundance. The number of buzzard chicks increased with provisioning rates of rabbits, in terms of both provisioning frequency and biomass, but not with provisioning rates for gamebirds or voles. Associations between the abundances of buzzards and gamebirds may not be a consequence of the greater availability of gamebirds as prey during the buzzard breeding season. Instead, the association may arise either from habitat or predator management leading to higher densities of alternative prey (in this instance, rabbits), or from greater availability of gamebirds as prey or carrion during the autumn and winter shooting season. The interactions between gamebird releases and associated practices of predator control and shooting itself require better understanding to more effectively intervene in any one aspect of this complex social-ecological system

Sociodemographic Factors Associated with AIDS Knowledge in a Random Sample of University Students

A telephone survey was used to assess knowledge of the transmission, prevalence, and infectivity of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and the safety of casual contact among 214 randomly selected university students. Males were more knowledgeable than females overall (odds ratio [OR], men/women = 4.8). Although most students understood the dangers of unprotected sex and intravenous needle sharing, up to 30% believed some kinds of casual contact (e.g., shared eating utensils) can transmit AIDS. Older students (≥ 23 yrs) were more knowledgeable than those 17 to 19 years old about the safety of casual contact (OR = 3.8). Students are in need of education programs that stress the ways AIDS is not transmitted. Since most students identified newspapers and television as their main sources of information, these may be effective vehicles for education efforts.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73095/1/j.1525-1446.1991.tb00654.x.pd

Effects of arformoterol twice daily, tiotropium once daily, and their combination in patients with COPD

Current guidelines support using in combination more than one class of long-acting bronchodilator for COPD patients whose symptoms are not controlled by mono-therapy. This 2-week, multi-center (34 sites), randomized, modified-blind, parallel group study evaluated the efficacy and safety of concomitant treatment with nebulized arformoterol (the formoterol(R,R)-isomer) BID and tiotropium DPI QD. COPD patients (mean FEV(1) 1.37L, 45.4% predicted) were randomized to receive mono-therapy (either arformoterol 15microg BID [n=76] or tiotropium 18microg QD [n=80]), or combined therapy (sequential dosing of arformoterol 15microg BID and tiotropium 18microg QD [n=78]). Changes in pulmonary function, dyspnea, and rescue levalbuterol use were evaluated, as were safety outcomes. Mean FEV(1)AUC(0-24) (the primary endpoint) improved similarly from baseline for arformoterol (0.10L) and tiotropium (0.08L) treatment groups and greater for the combined therapy group (0.22L; all p-values <0.005). Peak FEV(1), peak FVC, 24-h trough FEV(1), and inspiratory capacity also improved similarly for the mono-therapies and greatest for the combined therapy. Dyspnea (mean transition dyspnea index) improved similarly for arformoterol (+2.3) and tiotropium (+1.8) and greatest with combined therapy (+3.1; p-values <0.05). Levalbuterol use decreased for all treatment groups (range -1.8 to -2.5 actuations/day). All treatments had similar frequency of adverse events. In this study, the combination of nebulized arformoterol 15microg BID plus tiotropium 18microg DPI QD was the most effective in improving pulmonary function and disease symptoms. Mono-therapy improvement with arformoterol or tiotropium was similar. All three treatments were well tolerated

Acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 promotes acetate utilization and maintains cancer cell growth under metabolic stress

A functional genomics study revealed that the activity of acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2) contributes to cancer cell growth under low-oxygen and lipid-depleted conditions. Comparative metabolomics and lipidomics demonstrated that acetate is used as a nutritional source by cancer cells in an ACSS2-dependent manner, and supplied a significant fraction of the carbon within the fatty acid and phospholipid pools. ACSS2 expression is upregulated under metabolically stressed conditions and ACSS2 silencing reduced the growth of tumor xenografts. ACSS2 exhibits copy-number gain in human breast tumors, and ACSS2 expression correlates with disease progression. These results signify a critical role for acetate consumption in the production of lipid biomass within the harsh tumor microenvironment

History of clinical transplantation

How transplantation came to be a clinical discipline can be pieced together by perusing two volumes of reminiscences collected by Paul I. Terasaki in 1991-1992 from many of the persons who were directly involved. One volume was devoted to the discovery of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), with particular reference to the human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) that are widely used today for tissue matching.1 The other focused on milestones in the development of clinical transplantation.2 All the contributions described in both volumes can be traced back in one way or other to the demonstration in the mid-1940s by Peter Brian Medawar that the rejection of allografts is an immunological phenomenon.3,4 © 2008 Springer New York