Uneven frequency of Vibrio alginolyticus-group isolates among different populations of Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)

The presence of Vibrio isolates was investigated in cloacal swabs from the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhyncus cristatus). Such unique iguana is endemic to the Galápagos Archipelago, it is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (2009), and is strictly protected by CITES and Ecuador laws. Our results revealed an uneven isolation frequency of vibrios from animals living in different settings: maximal among the Santa Fe population, scarce at Bahía Tortuga but practically absent in the samples from Puerto Ayora and Plaza Sur. A 16S sequencing confirmed that the isolates belonged to the genus Vibrio, placing them within the V. alginolyticus group; the biochemical identification was, indeed, consistent with V. alginolyticus features. The reason of the observed discrepancy is not clear, but could be either linked to a higher pollution in the inhabited or more touristic places or to differential influence of chemical and physical parameters at a local scale. As V. alginolyticus is an opportunistic pathogen for man and it is known to cause disease in sea-living animals, the ability of these vibrios to enter and persist to a certain extent in the marine iguana gut should be regarded as a risk for health of both the animals and the human personnel involved in monitoring activities

Emancipation under the great recession in Spain.

ABSTRACT: In this paper we document the behavior of emancipation over one of the biggest boom–bust cycles experienced by the Spanish economy. In principle, the economic difficulties faced by the Spanish youth during the last recession would have hampered a normal emancipation pace. However, we find that the proportion living away from parents among those aged 18–40 has not decreased but increased from 44 % during the boom (2005–2008) to 46 % during the bust (2009–2013). A simple decomposition reveals that this is mainly driven by the substantial rise in the emancipation rate among the full-time employed workers during the bust. To explain this change we discuss several factors such as macroeconomic conditions, rental subsidy policy, higher labor mobility, selection bias, reverse causation, timelag in adjustment and secular trend.MEC(IP: María Paz Espinosa Alejos, UPV

Development and validation of Videogame Addiction Scale for Children (VASC)

The aim of the present study was to develop a valid and reliable Videogame Addiction Scale for Children (VASC). The data were derived from 780 children who completed the Videogame Addiction Scale (405 girls and 375 boys; 48.1% ranging in age from 9 to 12 years). The sample was randomly split into two different sub-samples (sample 1, n=400; sample 2, n= 380). Sample 1 was used to perform exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to define the factorial structure of VASC. As a result of EFA, a four-factor structure comprising 21 items was obtained and explained 55% of the total variance (the four factors being "self-control," "reward/reinforcement", "problems," and "involvement"). The internal consistency reliability of VASC has found 0.89. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to confirm the factorial structure obtained by EFA in the remaining half of sample (n= 390). The obtained fit indices from the CFA confirmed the structure of the EFA. The 21-item VASC has good psychometric properties that can be used among Turkish schoolchildren populations

Kidney dysfunction and related cardiovascular risk factors among patients with type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Kidney dysfunction is a strong predictor of end-stage renal disease and cardiovascular (CV) events. The main goal was to study the clinical correlates of diabetic kidney disease in a large cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) attending 236 Diabetes Clinics in Italy. METHODS: Clinical data of 120 903 patients were extracted from electronic medical records by means of an ad hoc-developed software. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and increased urinary albumin excretion were considered. Factors associated with the presence of albuminuria only, GFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) only or both conditions were evaluated through multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 66.6 \ub1 11.0 years, 58.1% were male and mean duration of diabetes was 11.1 \ub1 9.4 years. The frequency of albuminuria, low GFR and both albuminuria and low GFR was 36.0, 23.5 and 12.2%, respectively. Glycaemic control was related to albuminuria more than to low GFR, while systolic and pulse pressure showed a trend towards higher values in patients with normal kidney function compared with those with both albuminuria and low GFR. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that age and duration of disease influenced both features of kidney dysfunction. Male gender was associated with an increased risk of albuminuria. Higher systolic blood pressure levels were associated with albuminuria, with a 4% increased risk of simultaneously having albuminuria and low GFR for each 5 mmHg increase. CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of patients with T2DM, reduced GFR and increased albuminuria showed, at least in part, different clinical correlates. A worse CV risk profile is associated with albuminuria more than with isolated low GFR

Sharing vocabularies: towards horizontal alignment of values-driven business functions

This paper highlights the emergence of different ‘vocabularies’ that describe various values-driven business functions within large organisations and argues for improved horizontal alignment between them. We investigate two established functions that have long-standing organisational histories: Ethics and Compliance (E&C) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). By drawing upon research on organisational alignment, we explain both the need for and the potential benefit of greater alignment between these values-driven functions. We then examine the structural and socio-cultural dimensions of organisational systems through which E&C and CSR horizontal alignment can be coordinated to improve synergies, address tensions, and generate insight to inform future research and practice in the field of Business and Society. The paper concludes with research questions that can inform future scholarly research and a practical model to guide organizations’ efforts towards inter-functional, horizontal alignment of values-driven organizational practice

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Dynamics of multiple insecticide resistance in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae in a rice growing area in South-Western Burkina Faso

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insecticide resistance of the main malaria vector, <it>Anopheles gambiae</it>, has been reported in south-western Burkina Faso, West Africa. Cross-resistance to DDT and pyrethroids was conferred by alterations at site of action in the sodium channel, the Leu-Phe <it>kdr </it>mutation; resistance to organophosphates and carbamates resulted from a single point mutation in the oxyanion hole of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme designed as <it>ace-1</it>^<it>R</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An entomological survey was carried out during the rainy season of 2005 at Vallée du Kou, a rice growing area in south-western Burkina Faso. At the Vallée du Kou, both insecticide resistance mechanisms have been previously described in the M and S molecular forms of <it>An. gambiae</it>. This survey aimed i) to update the temporal dynamics and the circumsporozoite infection rate of the two molecular forms M and S of <it>An. gambiae </it>ii) to update the frequency of the Leu-Phe <it>kdr </it>mutation within these forms and finally iii) to investigate the occurrence of the <it>ace-1</it>^{<it>R </it>}mutation.</p> <p>Mosquitoes collected by indoor residual collection and by human landing catches were counted and morphologically identified. Species and molecular forms of <it>An. gambiae</it>, <it>ace-1</it>^{<it>R </it>}and Leu-Phe <it>kdr </it>mutations were determined using PCR techniques. The presence of the circumsporozoite protein of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>was determined using ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>Anopheles gambiae </it>populations were dominated by the M form. However the S form occurred in relative important proportion towards the end of the rainy season with a maximum peak in October at 51%. Sporozoite rates were similar in both forms. The frequency of the Leu-Phe <it>kdr </it>mutation in the S form reached a fixation level while it is still spreading in the M form. Furthermore, the <it>ace</it>-<it>1</it>^{<it>R </it>}mutation prevailed predominately in the S form and has just started spreading in the M form. The two mutations occurred concomitantly both in M and S populations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results showed that the Vallée du Kou, a rice growing area formerly occupied mainly by M susceptible populations, is progressively colonized by S resistant populations living in sympatry with the former. As a result, the distribution pattern of insecticide resistance mutations shows the occurrence of both resistance mechanisms concomitantly in the same populations. The impact of multiple resistance mechanisms in M and S populations of <it>An. gambiae </it>on vector control measures against malaria transmission, such as insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), in this area is discussed.</p