A Standardized Ecosystem Classification for the Coordination and Design of Long-term Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring in Arctic-Subarctic Biomes

A Canadian Arctic-Subarctic Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (CASBEC) is proposed as a standardized classification approach for Subarctic and Arctic terrestrial ecosystems across Canada and potentially throughout the circumpolar area. The CASBEC is grounded in long-standing terrestrial ecosystem classification theory and builds on concepts developed for ecosystems in British Columbia, Quebec, and Yukon. The fundamental classification unit of the CASBEC, the plant association, is compatible with the lower-level classifications of the Arctic Vegetation Classification (AVC), the Canadian National Vegetation Classification (CNVC), and the United States National Vegetation Classification (USNVC) and is used to generate a classification and nomenclature for Arctic and Subarctic terrestrial ecological communities. The use of a multi-scalar ecosystem framework, such as that developed by the British Columbia Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification, provides an ecological context to use classified plant associations to delineate and define climatically equivalent regional scale climate units (biogeoclimatic subzones) and ecologically equivalent local-scale site units within biogeoclimatic subzones. A standardized framework and taxonomy of ecosystem classification for Subarctic and Arctic terrestrial ecological communities will facilitate the planning, coordination, and applicability of terrestrial ecological monitoring and research. The CASBEC classification and high-resolution ecosystem mapping are being used to develop an effective experimental design, to select ecosite types for long-term monitoring, and to extrapolate results to landscape scales in the Experimental and Reference Area of the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS) in Cambridge Bay. Widespread adoption of the CASBEC could provide a spatial and functionally scalable framework and a common language for interpreting, integrating, coordinating, and communicating Arctic and Subarctic monitoring, research, and land management activities across the Canadian North and around the circumpolar area.Une classification biogéoclimatique arctique et subarctique canadienne (Canadian Arctic-Subarctic Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification, ou CASBEC) est proposée en tant que méthode de classification standardisée pour les écosystèmes terrestres arctiques et subarctiques pancanadiens, et peut-être même pour les écosystèmes de la région circumpolaire. CASBEC s’appuie sur une théorie de classification des écosystèmes terrestres de longue date et sur des concepts mis au point pour les écosystèmes de la Colombie-Britannique, du Québec et du Yukon. L’unité de classification fondamentale de CASBEC, soit l’association végétale, est compatible avec les classifications de niveau inférieur de la classification de la végétation de l’Arctique (Arctic Vegetation Classification, ou AVC), de la Classification nationale de la végétation du Canada (CNVC) et de la classification nationale de la végétation des États-Unis (USNVC). Elle permet de produire une classification et une nomenclature pour les communautés écologiques terrestres arctiques et subarctiques. Le recours à un cadre écosystémique multiscalaire, comme celui élaboré par la classification écosystémique biogéoclimatique de la Colombie-Britannique, fournit un contexte écologique permettant d’utiliser les associations végétales classifiées pour délimiter et définir les unités climatiques régionales à l’échelle climatiquement équivalentes (sous-zones biogéoclimatiques) et les unités écologiquement équivalentes de sites d’envergure locale à l’intérieur des sous-zones biogéoclimatiques. La mise en place d’une taxonomie et d’un cadre standardisés de classification des écosystèmes des communautés écologiques terrestres arctiques et subarctiques facilitera la planification, la coordination et l’applicabilité des travaux de surveillance et de recherche écologique terrestre. La classification CASBEC et la cartographie des écosystèmes en haute résolution sont employées pour mettre au point une conception expérimentale efficace, pour sélectionner des types d’écosites à des fins de surveillance à long terme ainsi que pour extrapoler les résultats à l’échelle des paysages dans la zone d’expérimentation et de référence de la Station canadienne de recherche dans l’Extrême-Arctique (SCREA) à Cambridge Bay. L’adoption de CASBEC à grande échelle pourrait fournir un cadre spatial et fonctionnellement extensible de même qu’un langage commun pour interpréter, intégrer, coordonner et communiquer les activités de surveillance, de recherche et de gestion des terres arctiques et subarctiques à la grandeur du Nord canadien et de l’ensemble de la région circumpolaire

Acute Effects of Postpartal Subcutaneous Injection of Glucagon and/or Oral Administration of Glycerol on Blood Metabolites and Hormones and Liver Lipids and Glycogen of Holstein Dairy Cows Induced with Fatty Liver Disease

The effects of subcutaneous injection of glucagon and/or oral administration of glycerol on blood metabolites and hormones of Holstein dairy cows induced with fatty liver disease was studied. Twenty multiparous cows were fed a dry cow ration supplemented with 6 kg of cracked corn during the dry period to increase the likelihood of fatty liver disease development. Cows with a body condition score of ≥ 3.5 points (1-5 scale) were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups--saline, glucagon, glucagon plus glycerol, and glycerol. Following treatment, serial blood samples were collected to determine the effect of glucagon and/or glycerol on blood composition. Glucagon injection alone increased postpartal plasma glucose, insulin, glucagon, and plasma urea nitrogen and decreased plasma nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA). Glucagon plus glycerol treatment increased and sustained postpartal plasma glucose, insulin and decreased postpartal plasma NEFA. Administration of glycerol alone increased plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) and decreased plasma NEFA during the postpartal period. Early postpartal treatment of cows with glucagon and/or glycerol increased plasma glucose and decreased plasma NEFA. This response would suggest that these treatments with glucagon and/or glycerol would decrease the likelihood of fatty liver disease in dairy cows

Eukaryotic genome size databases

Three independent databases of eukaryotic genome size information have been launched or re-released in updated form since 2005: the Plant DNA C-values Database (), the Animal Genome Size Database () and the Fungal Genome Size Database (). In total, these databases provide freely accessible genome size data for >10 000 species of eukaryotes assembled from more than 50 years' worth of literature. Such data are of significant importance to the genomics and broader scientific community as fundamental features of genome structure, for genomics-based comparative biodiversity studies, and as direct estimators of the cost of complete sequencing programs

Novel Approaches to Visualization and Data Mining Reveals Diagnostic Information in the Low Amplitude Region of Serum Mass Spectra from Ovarian Cancer Patients

The ability to identify patterns of diagnostic signatures in proteomic data generated by high throughput mass spectrometry (MS) based serum analysis has recently generated much excitement and interest from the scientific community. These data sets can be very large, with high-resolution MS instrumentation producing 1-2 million data points per sample. Approaches to analyze mass spectral data using unsupervised and supervised data mining operations would greatly benefit from tools that effectively allow for data reduction without losing important diagnostic information. In the past, investigators have proposed approaches where data reduction is performed by a priori peak picking and alignment/warping/smoothing components using rule-based signal-to-noise measurements. Unfortunately, while this type of system has been employed for gene microarray analysis, it is unclear whether it will be effective in the analysis of mass spectral data, which unlike microarray data, is comprised of continuous measurement operations. Moreover, it is unclear where true signal begins and noise ends. Therefore, we have developed an approach to MS data analysis using new types of data visualization and mining operations in which data reduction is accomplished by culling via the intensity of the peaks themselves instead of by location. Applying this new analysis method on a large study set of high resolution mass spectra from healthy and ovarian cancer patients, shows that all of the diagnostic information is contained within the very lowest amplitude regions of the mass spectra. This region can then be selected and studied to identify the exact location and amplitude of the diagnostic biomarkers

In search of the authentic nation: landscape and national identity in Canada and Switzerland

While the study of nationalism and national identity has flourished in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to the conditions under which natural environments acquire significance in definitions of nationhood. This article examines the identity-forming role of landscape depictions in two polyethnic nation-states: Canada and Switzerland. Two types of geographical national identity are identified. The first – what we call the ‘nationalisation of nature’– portrays zarticular landscapes as expressions of national authenticity. The second pattern – what we refer to as the ‘naturalisation of the nation’– rests upon a notion of geographical determinism that depicts specific landscapes as forces capable of determining national identity. The authors offer two reasons why the second pattern came to prevail in the cases under consideration: (1) the affinity between wild landscape and the Romantic ideal of pure, rugged nature, and (2) a divergence between the nationalist ideal of ethnic homogeneity and the polyethnic composition of the two societies under consideration

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R): A Scale to Assist the Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults: An International Validation Study

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) is a valid and reliable instrument to assist the diagnosis of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The 80-question scale was administered to 779 subjects (201 ASD and 578 comparisons). All ASD subjects met inclusion criteria: DSM-IV-TR, ADI/ADOS diagnoses and standardized IQ testing. Mean scores for each of the questions and total mean ASD vs. the comparison groups’ scores were significantly different (p < .0001). Concurrent validity with Constantino Social Responsiveness Scale-Adult = 95.59%. Sensitivity = 97%, specificity = 100%, test–retest reliability r = .987. Cronbach alpha coefficients for the subscales and 4 derived factors were good. We conclude that the RAADS-R is a useful adjunct diagnostic tool for adults with ASD

The relation between acute changes in the systemic inflammatory response and circulating thiamine and magnesium concentrations after elective knee arthroplasty

Thiamine diphosphate (TDP) and magnesium are co-factors for key enzymes in human intermediary metabolism. However, their role in the systemic inflammatory response (SIR) is not clear. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the relation between acute changes in the SIR and thiamine and magnesium dependent enzyme activity in patients undergoing elective knee arthroplasty (a standard reproducible surgical injury in apparently healthy individuals). Patients (n = 35) who underwent elective total knee arthroplasty had venous blood samples collected pre- and post-operatively for 3 days, for measurement of whole blood TDP, serum and erythrocyte magnesium, erythrocyte transketolase activity (ETKA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glucose and lactate concentrations. Pre-operatively, TDP concentrations, erythrocyte magnesium concentrations, ETKA and plasma glucose were within normal limits for all patients. In contrast, 5 patients (14%) had low serum magnesium concentrations (&lt; 0.75 mmol/L). On post-operative day1, both TDP concentrations (p &lt; 0.001) and basal ETKA (p &lt; 0.05) increased and serum magnesium concentrations decreased (p &lt; 0.001). Erythrocyte magnesium concentrations correlated with serum magnesium concentrations (rs = 0.338, p &lt; 0.05) and remained constant during SIR. Post-operatively 14 patients (40%) had low serum magnesium concentrations. On day1 serum magnesium concentrations were directly associated with LDH (p &lt; 0.05), WCC (p &lt; 0.05) and neutrophils (p &lt; 0.01). Whole blood TDP and basal ETKA increased while serum magnesium concentrations decreased, indicating increased requirement for thiamine and magnesium dependent enzyme activity during SIR. Therefore, thiamine and magnesium represent potentially modifiable therapeutic targets that may modulate the host inflammatory response. Erythrocyte magnesium concentrations are likely to be reliable measures of status, whereas serum magnesium concentrations and whole blood TDP may not. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03554668