Effects of abstinence on brain morphology in alcoholism: A MRI study

Chronic alcohol abuse leads to morphological changes of the brain. We investigated if these volumetric changes are reversible after a period of abstinence. For this reason 41 male and 15 female alcohol patients underwent MRI-scanning after in-patient detoxification (baseline) entering alcoholism treatment programs, and between 6 and 9 months later (follow-up), in a phase of convalescence. Additionally, 29 male and 16 female control subjects were examined. The MRI-scans were delineated and the resulting regions of interest, volumes of lateral ventricles and prefrontal lobes were expressed relatively to total brain volume. Compared to control subjects alcohol patients showed bilaterally decreased prefrontal lobes (11% reduction) and increased lateral ventricles (up to 42% enlargement). The extent of the ventricular increase was depending on patient’s additional psychiatric diagnosis, showing smaller lateral ventricles in patients with additional personality disorder. While at follow-up the size of prefrontal lobes remained unchanged, volumes of the lateral ventricles decreased (5–6% reduction) in alcohol patients with abstinence and improved drinking behavior, especially in patients that underwent only one detoxification. The extent of the ventricular enlargement correlated with the elevation of alcohol related laboratory measures (mean corpuscular volume, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase). In conclusion this study confirms the hypothesis that alcoholism causes brain damages that are partially reversible. It should be analyzed in further studies with larger sample sizes, if complete brain regeneration is possible maintaining abstinence over a longer period

Evidence for distinct coastal and offshore communities of bottlenose dolphins in the north east Atlantic.

Bottlenose dolphin stock structure in the northeast Atlantic remains poorly understood. However, fine scale photo-id data have shown that populations can comprise multiple overlapping social communities. These social communities form structural elements of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) [corrected] populations, reflecting specific ecological and behavioural adaptations to local habitats. We investigated the social structure of bottlenose dolphins in the waters of northwest Ireland and present evidence for distinct inshore and offshore social communities. Individuals of the inshore community had a coastal distribution restricted to waters within 3 km from shore. These animals exhibited a cohesive, fission-fusion social organisation, with repeated resightings within the research area, within a larger coastal home range. The offshore community comprised one or more distinct groups, found significantly further offshore (>4 km) than the inshore animals. In addition, dorsal fin scarring patterns differed significantly between inshore and offshore communities with individuals of the offshore community having more distinctly marked dorsal fins. Specifically, almost half of the individuals in the offshore community (48%) had characteristic stereotyped damage to the tip of the dorsal fin, rarely recorded in the inshore community (7%). We propose that this characteristic is likely due to interactions with pelagic fisheries. Social segregation and scarring differences found here indicate that the distinct communities are likely to be spatially and behaviourally segregated. Together with recent genetic evidence of distinct offshore and coastal population structures, this provides evidence for bottlenose dolphin inshore/offshore community differentiation in the northeast Atlantic. We recommend that social communities should be considered as fundamental units for the management and conservation of bottlenose dolphins and their habitat specialisations

Goal Priming in Dieters: Recent Insights and Applications

What are the psychological mechanisms that make dieting so challenging in our food-rich living environment? Social psychological research on goal priming provides a useful framework for answering this question, as well as implications for how to enhance dieting success. This review presents and discusses recent research which shows that attractive food cues prime the hedonic eating goal in dieters, and thus facilitate overeating. However, external cues priming the goal of weight control can be used to offset these effects and thus to facilitate dieting success, as is demonstrated in both field and laboratory experiments. In addition, recent strategies to prevent hedonic effects of attractive food, such as mindful attention, can facilitate self-regulation. These recent advances in our understanding of dieting behavior have theoretical and practical implications for how successful dieting can be facilitated, both by means of individual strategies, as well as by environmental changes

Do birds of a feather flock together? Comparing habitat preferences of piscivorous waterbirds in a lowland river catchment

Waterbirds can move into and exploit new areas of suitable habitat outside of their native range. One such example is the little egret (Egretta garzetta), a piscivorous bird which has colonised southern Britain within the last 30 years. Yet, habitat use by little egrets within Britain, and how such patterns of habitat exploitation compare with native piscivores, remains unknown. We examine overlap in habitat preferences within a river catchment between the little egret and two native species, the grey heron (Ardea cinerea) and great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). All species showed strong preferences for river habitat in all seasons, with other habitat types used as auxiliary feeding areas. Seasonal use of multiple habitat types is consistent with egret habitat use within its native range. We found strong egret preference for aquatic habitats, in particular freshwaters, compared with pasture and arable agricultural habitat. Egrets showed greater shared habitat preferences with herons, the native species to which egrets are most morphologically and functionally similar. This is the first study to quantify little egret habitat preferences outside of its native range

Gene expression profile of the skin in the 'hairpoor' (HrHp) mice by microarray analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The transcriptional cofactor, Hairless (HR), acts as one of the key regulators of hair follicle cycling; the loss of function mutations is the cause of the expression of the hairless phenotype in humans and mice. Recently, we reported a new <it>Hr </it>mutant mouse called 'Hairpoor' (<it>Hr^Hp</it>). These mutants harbor a gain of the function mutation, T403A, in the <it>Hr </it>gene. This confers the overexpression of HR and <it>Hr^Hp</it>is an animal model of Marie Unna hereditary hypotrichosis in humans. In the present study, the expression profile of <it>Hr^Hp/Hr^Hp</it>skin was investigated using microarray analysis to identify genes whose expression was affected by the overexpression of HR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 45,282 mouse probes, differential expressions in 43 (>2-fold), 306 (>1.5-fold), and 1861 genes (>1.2-fold) in skin from <it>Hr^Hp/Hr^Hp</it>mice were discovered and compared with skin from wild-type mice. Among the 1861 genes with a > 1.2-fold increase in expression, further analysis showed that the expression of eight genes known to have a close relationship with hair follicle development, ascertained by conducting real-time PCR on skin RNA produced during hair follicle morphogenesis (P0-P14), indicated that four genes, <it>Wif1</it>, <it>Casp14</it>, <it>Krt71</it>, and <it>Sfrp1</it>, showed a consistent expression pattern with respect to HR overexpression in vivo.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Wif1 </it>and <it>Casp14 </it>were found to be upregulated, whereas <it>Krt71 </it>and <it>Sfrp1 </it>were downregulated in cells overexpressing HR in transient transfection experiments on keratinocytes, suggesting that HR may transcriptionally regulate these genes. Further studies are required to understand the mechanism of this regulation by the HR cofactor.</p

Endotoxaemia in Haemodialysis: A Novel Factor in Erythropoetin Resistance?

Background/Objectives Translocated endotoxin derived from intestinal bacteria is a driver of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Severe endotoxaemia is an underappreciated, but characteristic finding in haemodialysis (HD) patients, and appears to be driven by acute repetitive dialysis induced circulatory stress. Resistance to erythropoietin (EPO) has been identified as a predictor of mortality risk, and associated with inflammation and malnutrition. This study aims to explore the potential link between previously unrecognised endotoxaemia and EPO Resistance Index (ERI) in HD patients. Methodology/Principal Findings 50 established HD patients were studied at a routine dialysis session. Data collection included weight, BMI, ultrafiltration volume, weekly EPO dose, and blood sampling pre and post HD. ERI was calculated as ratio of total weekly EPO dose to body weight (U/kg) to haemoglobin level (g/dL). Mean haemoglobin (Hb) was 11.3±1.3 g/dL with a median EPO dose of 10,000 [IQR 7,500–20,000] u/wk and ERI of 13.7 [IQR 6.9–23.3] ((U/Kg)/(g/dL)). Mean pre-HD serum ET levels were significantly elevated at 0.69±0.30 EU/ml. Natural logarithm (Ln) of ERI correlated to predialysis ET levels (r = 0.324, p = 0.03) with a trend towards association with hsCRP (r = 0.280, p = 0.07). Ln ERI correlated with ultrafiltration volume, a driver of circulatory stress (r = 0.295, p = 0.046), previously identified to be associated with increased intradialytic endotoxin translocation. Both serum ET and ultrafiltration volume corrected for body weight were independently associated with Ln ERI in multivariable analysis. Conclusions This study suggests that endotoxaemia is a significant factor in setting levels of EPO requirement. It raises the possibility that elevated EPO doses may in part merely be identifying patients subjected to significant circulatory stress and suffering the myriad of negative biological consequences arising from sustained systemic exposure to endotoxin

How contemporary bioclimatic and human controls change global fire regimes

Anthropogenically driven declines in tropical savannah burnt area have recently received attention due to their effect on trends in global burnt area. Large-scale trends in ecosystems where vegetation has adapted to infrequent fire, especially in cooler and wetter forested areas, are less well understood. Here, small changes in fire regimes can have a substantial impact on local biogeochemistry. To investigate trends in fire across a wide range of ecosystems, we used Bayesian inference to quantify four primary controls on burnt area: fuel continuity, fuel moisture, ignitions and anthropogenic suppression. We found that fuel continuity and moisture are the dominant limiting factors of burnt area globally. Suppression is most important in cropland areas, whereas savannahs and boreal forests are most sensitive to ignitions. We quantify fire regime shifts in areas with more than one, and often counteracting, trends in these controls. Forests are of particular concern, where we show average shifts in controls of 2.3–2.6% of their potential maximum per year, mainly driven by trends in fuel continuity and moisture. This study gives added importance to understanding long-term future changes in the controls on fire and the effect of fire trends on ecosystem function

Electromechanical analysis of an adaptive piezoelectric energy harvester controlled by two segmented electrodes with shunt circuit networks

This paper presents an adaptive power harvester using a shunted piezoelectric control system with segmented electrodes. This technique has spurred new capability for widening the three simultaneous resonance frequency peaks using only a single piezoelectric laminated beam where normally previous works only provide a single peak for the resonance at the first mode. The benefit of the proposed techniques is that it provides effective and robust broadband power generation for application in self-powered wireless sensor devices. The smart structure beam with proof mass offset is considered to have simultaneous combination between vibration-based power harvesting and shunt circuit control-based electrode segments. As a result, the system spurs new development of the two mathematical methods using electromechanical closed-boundary value techniques and Ritz method-based weak-form analytical approach. The two methods have been used for comparison giving accurate results. For different electrode lengths using certain parametric tuning and harvesting circuit systems, the technique enables the prediction of the power harvesting that can be further proved to identify the performance of the system using the effect of varying circuit parameters so as to visualize the frequency and time waveform responses