Extended amygdala-parabrachial circuits alter threat assessment and regulate feeding

An animal\u27s evolutionary success depends on the ability to seek and consume foods while avoiding environmental threats. However, how evolutionarily conserved threat detection circuits modulate feeding is unknown. In mammals, feeding and threat assessment are strongly influenced by the parabrachial nucleus (PBN), a structure that responds to threats and inhibits feeding. Here, we report that the PBN receives dense inputs from two discrete neuronal populations in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an extended amygdala structure that encodes affective information. Using a series of complementary approaches, we identify opposing BNST-PBN circuits that modulate neuropeptide-expressing PBN neurons to control feeding and affective states. These previously unrecognized neural circuits thus serve as potential nodes of neural circuitry critical for the integration of threat information with the intrinsic drive to feed

Does discussion lead to opinion change within Political Science students? A pedagogical exercise of deliberative democracy

While the model of deliberative democracy gives a crucial role to dialog, empirical evidence has not yet established if discussion helps to reach a better understanding of political issues and, above all, if individuals are prepared to change their views. It is still unclear when the deliberative model, and more specifically discussion, could be usefully employed as a teaching tool, to improve students’ knowledge. This article presents an exercise performed within the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the LUISS University of Rome. Students were asked to discuss in the classroom the issues related to the course, and to cast a vote on selected issues before and after deliberation. Although our sample is not representative, we have gathered evidence from the same population on a rather large number of issues. Students changed their view in 24.6% of cases, and they agreed that discussion increased their understanding, while those with strong ex-ante views resulted more reluctant to change their opinions because of discussion. The analysis also showed the presence of individuals that are more likely to be permeable to discussion while others that are more likely to be impermeable

Landscape-scale benefits of protected areas for tropical biodiversity

We are indebted to numerous local communities, PA and government agency staff, research assistants, and other partners for supporting the field data collection. Research permissions were granted by appropriate forestry and conservation government departments in each country. Special thanks is given to the Sarawak State Government, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Forest Department Sarawak, Sabah Biodiversity Centre, the Danum Valley Management Committee, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), the Smithsonian Institute and the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) network, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, and Ronglarp Sukmasuang. Support was provided by the United Nations Development Programme, NASA grants NNL15AA03C and 80NSSC21K0189, National Geographic Society’s Committee for the Research and Exploration award #9384–13, the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award DECRA #DE210101440, the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the Darwin Initiative, Liebniz-IZW, and the Universities of Aberdeen, British Columbia, Montana, and Queensland.Peer reviewedPostprin

Challenges of mainstreaming green infrastructure in built environment professions

© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Green infrastructure (GI) has been identified as a promising approach to help cities adapt to climate change through the provision of multiple ecosystem services. However, GI contributions to urban resilience will not be realized until it is more fully mainstreamed in the built environment and design professions. Here, we interrogate five key challenges for the effective implementation of GI: (1) design standards; (2) regulatory pathways; (3) socio-economic considerations; (4) financeability; and (5) innovation. Methods include a literature review, case studies, and interviews with resilience managers. We propose a people-centred and context-dependent approach to advance effective implementation of GI in urban planning. We highlight two underlying currents that run across all of the challenges–(1) the role of political will as a pre-condition for tackling all challenges holistically; and (2) the role of stakeholder engagement in achieving public support, harnessing funding, and maintaining and monitoring GI in the long term. Highlights: • The effective implementation of GI is context-specific and should adhere to the basic principles of appropriate technology. • Continuous community engagement is needed to ensure the inclusivity and multi-functionality of GI. • Challenges to successful GI are intersectional and therefore cannot be addressed singly in isolation

Barriers to dispersal of rainforest butterflies in tropical agricultural landscapes

Fragmentation of natural habitats can be detrimental for species if individuals fail to cross habitat boundaries to reach new locations, thereby reducing functional connectivity. Connectivity is crucial for species shifting their ranges under climate change, making it important to understand factors that might prevent movement through human‐modified landscapes. In tropical regions, rain forests are being fragmented by agricultural expansion, potentially isolating populations of highly diverse forest‐dependent species. The likelihood of crossing habitat boundaries is an important determinant of species dispersal through fragmented landscapes, and so we examined movement across rain forest‐oil palm plantation boundaries on Borneo by using relatively mobile nymphalid butterflies as our model study taxon. We marked 1666 individuals from 65 species, and 19 percent (100/527) of recaptured individuals crossed the boundary. Boundary crossing was relatively frequent in some species, and net movement of individuals was from forest into plantation. However, boundary crossing from forest into plantation was detected in less than 50 percent (12/28) of recaptured species and was dominated by small‐sized butterfly species whose larval host plants occurred within plantations. Thus, while oil palm plantations may be relatively permeable to some species, they may act as barriers to the movement of forest‐dependent species (i.e., species that require rain forest habitat to breed), highlighting the importance of maintaining forest connectivity for conserving rain forest species

The impact of donor policies in Europe: a steady increase, but not everywhere

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transplantable organs are scarce everywhere. Therefore, countries have developed policies to support the efficient use of potential donors. Nevertheless, the shortage of organs remains. Were these policies in vain? The aim of this study is to assess the impact of donor policies on donor procurement in 10 Western European countries from 1995 to 2005.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>To assess the impact of the donor policies we studied the conversion of potential donors into effectuated donors. 80% of the donors died from CVAs or a (traffic) accident. We considered these mortality rates to be a good proxy for potential donors. Here we call the conversion of potential donors into actual donors 'the donor efficiency rate by proxy'.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mortality rates for CVA and (traffic) accidents have decreased in the countries under study. At the same time, in most countries the donor efficiency rates have steadily increased. The variance in donor efficiency rates between countries has also increased from 1995 to 2005. Four countries introduced a new consent system or changed their existing system, without (visible) long-term effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The overall increase in donor efficiency means that the efforts to improve donor policies have paid off. However, substantial differences between countries were found. The success of donor policies in terms of the number of absolute donors is blurred by the success of policies on traffic safety and CVA treatment. It remains unclear which specific policy measures are responsible for the increase in donor efficiency rates. This increase is not related to having a presumed consent system. Furthermore, an analysis of countries that introduced a new consent system or changed their system showed no effect on donor efficiency.</p

Cholera Toxin Regulates a Signaling Pathway Critical for the Expansion of Neural Stem Cell Cultures from the Fetal and Adult Rodent Brains

Background: New mechanisms that regulate neural stem cell (NSC) expansion will contribute to improved assay systems and the emerging regenerative approach that targets endogenous stem cells. Expanding knowledge on the control of stem cell self renewal will also lead to new approaches for targeting the stem cell population of cancers. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we show that Cholera toxin regulates two recently characterized NSC markers, the Tie2 receptor and the transcription factor Hes3, and promotes the expansion of NSCs in culture. Cholera toxin increases immunoreactivity for the Tie2 receptor and rapidly induces the nuclear localization of Hes3. This is followed by powerful cultured NSC expansion and induction of proliferation both in the presence and absence of mitogen. Conclusions/Significance: Our data suggest a new cell biological mechanism that regulates the self renewal and differentiation properties of stem cells, providing a new logic to manipulate NSCs in the context of regenerative disease and cancer

Electoral Volatility, Political Sophistication, Trust and Efficacy

In this article we investigate voter volatility and analyze the causes and motives of switching vote intentions. We test two main sets of variables linked to volatility in literature; political sophistication and ‘political (dis)satisfaction’. Results show that voters with low levels of political efficacy tend to switch more often, both within a campaign and between elections. In the analysis we differentiate between campaign volatility and inter-election volatility and by doing so show that the dynamics of a campaign have a profound impact on volatility. The campaign period is when the lowly sophisticated switch their vote intention. Those with higher levels of interest in politics have switched their intention before the campaign has started. The data for this analysis are from the three wave PartiRep Belgian Election Study (2009)

Camtrap DP: an open standard for the FAIR exchange and archiving of camera trap data

Camera trapping has revolutionized wildlife ecology and conservation by providing automated data acquisition, leading to the accumulation of massive amounts of camera trap data worldwide. Although management and processing of camera trap-derived Big Data are becoming increasingly solvable with the help of scalable cyber-infrastructures, harmonization and exchange of the data remain limited, hindering its full potential. There is currently no widely accepted standard for exchanging camera trap data. The only existing proposal, “Camera Trap Metadata Standard” (CTMS), has several technical shortcomings and limited adoption. We present a new data exchange format, the Camera Trap Data Package (Camtrap DP), designed to allow users to easily exchange, harmonize and archive camera trap data at local to global scales. Camtrap DP structures camera trap data in a simple yet flexible data model consisting of three tables (Deployments, Media and Observations) that supports a wide range of camera deployment designs, classification techniques (e.g., human and AI, media-based and event-based) and analytical use cases, from compiling species occurrence data through distribution, occupancy and activity modeling to density estimation. The format further achieves interoperability by building upon existing standards, Frictionless Data Package in particular, which is supported by a suite of open software tools to read and validate data. Camtrap DP is the consensus of a long, in-depth, consultation and outreach process with standard and software developers, the main existing camera trap data management platforms, major players in the field of camera trapping and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG), Camtrap DP has been developed openly, collaboratively and with version control from the start. We encourage camera trapping users and developers to join the discussion and contribute to the further development and adoption of this standard. Biodiversity data, camera traps, data exchange, data sharing, information standardspublishedVersio