Indicators of the Status of and Trends in Global Biological, Linguistic and Biocultural Diversity

Biodiversity is in global decline and around 19% of the world's vertebrate species are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List (Baillie et al. 2010; IUCN 2013). Linguistic diversity is also in decline and it is believed that as many as 90% of the world's 7,000 languages are threatened with extinction this century (Krauss 1992; Nettle and Romaine 2000). It has also been noted that there is a strong similarity in the distributions of terrestrial species diversity and linguistic diversity at the global scale, with the greatest richness found in the humid tropics and the lowest richness in the cold temperate zones (Mace and Pagel 1995; Sutherland 2003; Gavin et al. 2013). The term biocultural diversity has come into use to describe the collective diversity of species, languages and cultures around the world and their ongoing declines (Maffi 2001b; Harmon 2002). One of the papers presented here develops the first national index of biocultural diversity, which confirms the pattern of greatest richness in the tropics, particularly in Southeast Asia (Loh and Harmon 2005). However, measures of the state of biological, linguistic and biocultural diversity based on richness alone simply record the number of species or languages present and ignore underlying trends in abundance or populations of species or speakers of languages. Extinction risk has been the most widely-used measure of the status of both species and languages, but indicators based on time-series population data offer an alternative and more responsive measure of status and trends. The other papers presented here describe the development of Living Planet Index (Loh et al. 2005; Collen et al. 2009), an indicator which aggregates trends in populations of several thousand vertebrate species worldwide and shows an overall decline of about 30% over four decades since 1970, and the Index of Linguistic Diversity (Harmon and Loh 2010; Loh and Harmon 2014), a closely-related indicator based on trends in speaker numbers of around a thousand languages worldwide, and which also shows a decline of about 30% over the same period. At the regional level, the respective trends diverge. For biodiversity, there was a greater rate of decline in the tropics compared with temperate regions, whereas for linguistic diversity, there was a far higher rate of decline in the Americas, Australia and the Pacific compared with Africa, Asia and Europe. An analysis of the threat status of 1,500 languages using the IUCN Red List criteria reveals that 27% languages are threatened with extinction and confirms the regional pattern in the status of languages apparent in the Index of Linguistic Diversity. The differing regional patterns between the declines in languages and species reflect differences in the proximate drivers of diversity loss, where habitat loss or degradation are the major causes of species population declines (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005), while linguistic diversity is lost primarily through language shift, a process whereby a politically, socially or economically dominant language displaces local or indigenous languages either as a result of colonialization, industrialization or migration (Nettle 1999)

THE ICE HOCKEY SLAP SHOT, ELITE VERSUS RECREATIONAL

Stationary ice hockey slap shots performed by five elite and five recreational players were compared. Each hockey player performed 5 shots. Three-dimensional kinematics of the stick and upper body were recorded using an electromagnetic tracking device, the Ultratrak®, (Polhemus Inc., Burlington, VT, USA). Joint centers were calculated using the sphere fitting method. Elite players shot significantly faster than recreational players (29.14 ± 1.39 m/s and 26.46 ± 0.66 m/s). Velocity due to translation movement was greater for recreational players compared to novice players (13.14 m/s and 908 m/s). Investigation in maximal angular velocities of the body movement sequences indicated that elite players' maximal velocities moved from the core to the extremities where as recreational players exhibited no such pattern. The results of this study suggested that there are differences in technique when performing the stationary slap shot which may contribute to the increased performance of the ice hockey slap shot

Amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide optoelectronic oscillator systems.

We demonstrate a free-running 3-GHz slab-coupled optical waveguide (SCOW) optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) with low phase-noise (-120 dBc/Hz at 1-kHz offset) and ultra-low sidemode spurs. These sidemodes are indistinguishable from noise on a spectrum analyzer measurement (88 dB down from carrier). The SCOW-OEO uses high-power low-noise SCOW components in a single-loop cavity employing 1.5-km delay. The noise properties of our SCOW external-cavity laser (SCOWECL) and SCOW photodiode (SCOWPD) are characterized and shown to be suitable for generation of high spectral purity microwave tones. Through comparisons made with SCOW-OEO topologies employing amplification, we observe the sidemode levels to be degraded by any amplifiers (optical or RF) introduced within the OEO cavity

Low-noise RF-amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide coupled optoelectronic oscillators: physics and operation

We demonstrate a 10-GHz RF-amplifier-free slab-coupled optical waveguide coupled optoelectronic oscillator (SCOW-COEO) system operating with low phase-noise (-115 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz offset) and large sidemode suppression (70 dB measurement-limited). The optical pulses generated by the SCOW-COEO exhibit 26.8-ps pulse width (post compression) with a corresponding spectral bandwidth of 0.25 nm (1.8X transform-limited). We also investigate the mechanisms that limit the performance of the COEO. Our measurements indicate that degradation in the quality factor (Q) of the optical cavity significantly impacts COEO phase-noise through increases in the optical amplifier relative intensity noise (RIN)

LNK suppresses interferon signaling in melanoma.

LNK (SH2B3) is a key negative regulator of JAK-STAT signaling which has been extensively studied in malignant hematopoietic diseases. We found that LNK is significantly elevated in cutaneous melanoma; this elevation is correlated with hyperactive signaling of the RAS-RAF-MEK pathway. Elevated LNK enhances cell growth and survival in adverse conditions. Forced expression of LNK inhibits signaling by interferon-STAT1 and suppresses interferon (IFN) induced cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis. In contrast, silencing LNK expression by either shRNA or CRISPR-Cas9 potentiates the killing effect of IFN. The IFN-LNK signaling is tightly regulated by a negative feedback mechanism; melanoma cells exposed to IFN upregulate expression of LNK to prevent overactivation of this signaling pathway. Our study reveals an unappreciated function of LNK in melanoma and highlights the critical role of the IFN-STAT1-LNK signaling axis in this potentially devastating disease. LNK may be further explored as a potential therapeutic target for melanoma immunotherapy

RAPID REPORTS Population and social conditions. Pupils and students in the Community in 1990/91. 1993.9

<div><p>It is known that the macronutrient content of a meal has different impacts on the postprandial satiety and appetite hormonal responses. Whether obesity interacts with such nutrient-dependent responses is not well characterized. We examined the postprandial appetite and satiety hormonal responses after a high-protein (HP), high-carbohydrate (HC), or high-fat (HF) mixed meal. This was a randomized cross-over study of 9 lean insulin-sensitive (mean±SEM HOMA-IR 0.83±0.10) and 9 obese insulin-resistant (HOMA-IR 4.34±0.41) young (age 21–40 years), normoglycaemic Chinese men. We measured fasting and postprandial plasma concentration of glucose, insulin, active glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), total peptide-YY (PYY), and acyl-ghrelin in response to HP, HF, or HC meals. Overall postprandial plasma insulin response was more robust in the lean compared to obese subjects. The postprandial GLP-1 response after HF or HP meal was higher than HC meal in both lean and obese subjects. In obese subjects, HF meal induced higher response in postprandial PYY compared to HC meal. HP and HF meals also suppressed ghrelin greater compared to HC meal in the obese than lean subjects. In conclusion, a high-protein or high-fat meal induces a more favorable postprandial satiety and appetite hormonal response than a high-carbohydrate meal in obese insulin-resistant subjects.</p></div