Voices of a Natural Prison: Tourism Development and Fisheries Management among the Political Ghosts of Pisagua, Chile

Caught between the sea and one of the world’s driest deserts, Pisagua’s coastal desert landscape is being transformed by the ways people utilize its natural isolation and rich protected waters. Periodically, these waters are altered by El Niño events. As distinct stakeholders -- fishermen, political activists, government planners, tourists and developers -- appropriate the site, their competing voices and identities alter the patterns of resource use. The most consistent resident group is a small number of fishermen, who have been willing to forego modern infrastructure to live in Pisagua’s harsh natural, political, and economic isolation. Because of this isolation, three separate national administrations have utilized the town as a political prison. The fishermen visualize political ghosts roaming the wooden ruins of this once thriving nitrate port. Developers today, however, aim to sanitize local political history in order to create a tourist “paradise”, and are being aided by a government plan to incorporate Pisagua into the core Chilean economy. Political activists, who use Pisagua as a pilgrimage site to indemnify the horrors of the past, protest this plan as one of political sacrilege. The plan also has concrete ramifications for the fishing families of Pisagua, who not only struggle with scarcity during major El Niño events, but now face encroaching tourism as globalization encompasses their space. The resident grassroots community leader has proffered additions to the plan that directly benefit the community. He is a former political activist with visions of a community-based “paradise” that would incorporate the marginal voices of the fishermen. We discuss his role as part of an approach which views identity and livelihood as practical and essential elements of any economically viable management plan. We examine shifting identity roles in light of the Pisagua plans, and frame our discussion within the context of three overlapping climate changes: economic, political, and environmental. This lays the foundation for a suggested adaptive management strategy that serves the economic needs of Pisagua through a recognition of the importance of stakeholder identity and livelihood. Key words: Pisagua, Chile, political ecology, ethnography, space and place, identity, livelihood, environment, El Niño, climate change, political activism, pilgrim, globalization, fisheries, migration, tourism, MPA, co-management

Integrins Have Cell-Type-Specific Roles in the Development of Motor Neuron Connectivity

Formation of the nervous system requires a complex series of events including proper extension and guidance of neuronal axons and dendrites. Here we investigate the requirement for integrins, a class of transmembrane cell adhesion receptors, in regulating these processes across classes of C. elegans motor neurons. We show alpha integrin/ina-1 is expressed by both GABAergic and cholinergic motor neurons. Despite this, our analysis of hypomorphic ina-1(gm144) mutants indicates preferential involvement of alpha integrin/ina-1 in GABAergic commissural development, without obvious involvement in cholinergic commissural development. The defects in GABAergic commissures of ina-1(gm144) mutants included both premature termination and guidance errors and were reversed by expression of wild type ina-1 under control of the native ina-1 promoter. Our results also show that alpha integrin/ina-1 is important for proper outgrowth and guidance of commissures from both embryonic and post-embryonic born GABAergic motor neurons, indicating an ongoing requirement for integrin through two phases of GABAergic neuron development. Our findings provide insights into neuron-specific roles for integrin that would not be predicted based solely upon expression analysis

Neurexin Directs Partner-Specific Synaptic Connectivity in \u3cem\u3eC. elegans\u3c/em\u3e

In neural circuits, individual neurons often make projections onto multiple postsynaptic partners. Here, we investigate molecular mechanisms by which these divergent connections are generated, using dyadic synapses in C. elegans as a model. We report that C. elegans nrx-1/neurexin directs divergent connectivity through differential actions at synapses with partnering neurons and muscles. We show that cholinergic outputs onto neurons are, unexpectedly, located at previously undefined spine-like protrusions from GABAergic dendrites. Both these spine-like features and cholinergic receptor clustering are strikingly disrupted in the absence of nrx-1. Excitatory transmission onto GABAergic neurons, but not neuromuscular transmission, is also disrupted. Our data indicate that NRX-1 located at presynaptic sites specifically directs postsynaptic development in GABAergic neurons. Our findings provide evidence that individual neurons can direct differential patterns of connectivity with their post-synaptic partners through partner-specific utilization of synaptic organizers, offering a novel view into molecular control of divergent connectivity

Neurexin directs partner-specific synaptic connectivity in C. elegans

In neural circuits, individual neurons often make projections onto multiple postsynaptic partners. Here, we investigate molecular mechanisms by which these divergent connections are generated, using dyadic synapses in C. elegans as a model. We report that C. elegans nrx-1/neurexin directs divergent connectivity through differential actions at synapses with partnering neurons and muscles. We show that cholinergic outputs onto neurons are, unexpectedly, located at previously undefined spine-like protrusions from GABAergic dendrites. Both these spine-like features and cholinergic receptor clustering are strikingly disrupted in the absence of nrx-1. Excitatory transmission onto GABAergic neurons, but not neuromuscular transmission, is also disrupted. Our data indicate that NRX-1 located at presynaptic sites specifically directs postsynaptic development in GABAergic neurons. Our findings provide evidence that individual neurons can direct differential patterns of connectivity with their post-synaptic partners through partner-specific utilization of synaptic organizers, offering a novel view into molecular control of divergent connectivity

A conserved neuropeptide system links head and body motor circuits to enable adaptive behavior

Neuromodulators promote adaptive behaviors that are often complex and involve concerted activity changes across circuits that are often not physically connected. It is not well understood how neuromodulatory systems accomplish these tasks. Here, we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans NLP-12 neuropeptide system shapes responses to food availability by modulating the activity of head and body wall motor neurons through alternate G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, CKR-1 and CKR-2. We show ckr-2 deletion reduces body bend depth during movement under basal conditions. We demonstrate CKR-1 is a functional NLP-12 receptor and define its expression in the nervous system. In contrast to basal locomotion, biased CKR-1 GPCR stimulation of head motor neurons promotes turning during local searching. Deletion of ckr-1 reduces head neuron activity and diminishes turning while specific ckr-1 overexpression or head neuron activation promote turning. Thus, our studies suggest locomotor responses to changing food availability are regulated through conditional NLP-12 stimulation of head or body wall motor circuits

A Conserved Neuropeptide System Links Head and Body Motor Circuits to Enable Adaptive Behavior

Neuromodulators promote adaptive behaviors that are often complex and involve concerted activity changes across circuits that are often not physically connected. It is not well understood how neuromodulatory systems accomplish these tasks. Here, we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans NLP-12 neuropeptide system shapes responses to food availability by modulating the activity of head and body wall motor neurons through alternate G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, CKR-1 and CKR-2. We show ckr-2 deletion reduces body bend depth during movement under basal conditions. We demonstrate CKR-1 is a functional NLP-12 receptor and define its expression in the nervous system. In contrast to basal locomotion, biased CKR-1 GPCR stimulation of head motor neurons promotes turning during local searching. Deletion of ckr-1 reduces head neuron activity and diminishes turning while specific ckr-1 overexpression or head neuron activation promote turning. Thus, our studies suggest locomotor responses to changing food availability are regulated through conditional NLP-12 stimulation of head or body wall motor circuits

Microbial rRNA sequencing analysis of evaporative cooler indoor environments located in the Great Basin Desert region of the United States

Recent studies conducted in the Great Basin Desert region of the United States have shown that skin test reactivity to fungal and dust mite allergens are increased in children with asthma or allergy living in homes with evaporative coolers (EC). The objective of this study was to determine if the increased humidity previously reported in EC homes leads to varying microbial populations compared to homes with air conditioners (AC). Children with physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis living in EC or AC environments were recruited into the study. Air samples were collected from the child's bedroom for genomic DNA extraction and metagenomic analysis of bacteria and fungi using the Illumina MiSeq sequencing platform. The analysis of bacterial populations revealed no major differences between EC and AC sampling environments. The fungal populations observed in EC homes differed from AC homes. The most prevalent species discovered in AC environments belonged to the genera Cryptococcus (20%) and Aspergillus (20%). In contrast, the most common fungi identified in EC homes belonged to the order Pleosporales and included Alternaria alternata (32%) and Phoma spp. (22%). The variations in fungal populations provide preliminary evidence of the microbial burden children may be exposed to within EC environments in this region

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Worldwide comparison of survival from childhood leukaemia for 1995–2009, by subtype, age, and sex (CONCORD-2): a population-based study of individual data for 89 828 children from 198 registries in 53 countries

Background Global inequalities in access to health care are reflected in differences in cancer survival. The CONCORD programme was designed to assess worldwide differences and trends in population-based cancer survival. In this population-based study, we aimed to estimate survival inequalities globally for several subtypes of childhood leukaemia. Methods Cancer registries participating in CONCORD were asked to submit tumour registrations for all children aged 0-14 years who were diagnosed with leukaemia between Jan 1, 1995, and Dec 31, 2009, and followed up until Dec 31, 2009. Haematological malignancies were defined by morphology codes in the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, third revision. We excluded data from registries from which the data were judged to be less reliable, or included only lymphomas, and data from countries in which data for fewer than ten children were available for analysis. We also excluded records because of a missing date of birth, diagnosis, or last known vital status. We estimated 5-year net survival (ie, the probability of surviving at least 5 years after diagnosis, after controlling for deaths from other causes [background mortality]) for children by calendar period of diagnosis (1995-99, 2000-04, and 2005-09), sex, and age at diagnosis (< 1, 1-4, 5-9, and 10-14 years, inclusive) using appropriate life tables. We estimated age-standardised net survival for international comparison of survival trends for precursor-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Findings We analysed data from 89 828 children from 198 registries in 53 countries. During 1995-99, 5-year agestandardised net survival for all lymphoid leukaemias combined ranged from 10.6% (95% CI 3.1-18.2) in the Chinese registries to 86.8% (81.6-92.0) in Austria. International differences in 5-year survival for childhood leukaemia were still large as recently as 2005-09, when age-standardised survival for lymphoid leukaemias ranged from 52.4% (95% CI 42.8-61.9) in Cali, Colombia, to 91.6% (89.5-93.6) in the German registries, and for AML ranged from 33.3% (18.9-47.7) in Bulgaria to 78.2% (72.0-84.3) in German registries. Survival from precursor-cell ALL was very close to that of all lymphoid leukaemias combined, with similar variation. In most countries, survival from AML improved more than survival from ALL between 2000-04 and 2005-09. Survival for each type of leukaemia varied markedly with age: survival was highest for children aged 1-4 and 5-9 years, and lowest for infants (younger than 1 year). There was no systematic difference in survival between boys and girls. Interpretation Global inequalities in survival from childhood leukaemia have narrowed with time but remain very wide for both ALL and AML. These results provide useful information for health policy makers on the effectiveness of health-care systems and for cancer policy makers to reduce inequalities in childhood survival