Behaviour and spatial ecology of resident brown trout in Langsett reservoir and its tributaries with impassable weirs

Anthropogenic alterations to river systems, such as the construction of dams and weirs, have significantly impacted fish populations globally by reducing connectivity to key life stage habitats. Langsett Reservoir, situated in south Yorkshire, holds a small population of resident brown trout (Salmo trutta L.), and is fed by two headwater tributaries that have large impassable weirs. Fish passage throughout freshwater systems is one aspect linked to water bodies failing to achieve good ecological potential (GEP), which includes the Little Don and Thickwoods Brook tributaries.In this study, acoustic telemetry together with Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) telemetry was used to understand the migratory behaviour and spatial ecology of the resident brown trout in Langsett reservoir. Nine brown trout (fork length 252 – 357mm) were tagged in the reservoir with V9AP accelerometer/ pressure tags and PIT tags to monitor movement around the reservoir and approaches to the weirs, with a focus on spawning behaviours.The tagged brown trout primarily occupied the littoral zones of the reservoir and demonstrated a diurnal pattern in depth use, occupying depths <1 metre during the night and greater depths during daylight hours (mean daytime depth: 3 metres). Home range sizes differed throughout the study period with the largest recorded in October, November and December, reducing in January – March before increasing again in April and May.The weirs prevented any upstream movement of brown trout from the reservoir into the tributaries, 100% of the tagged brown trout were detected on one of the two lower PIT antenna (Little Don and Thickwoods Brook) during November and December with no upstream detections. Five (55%) of the tagged brown trout were detected approaching both weirs. The resident population of brown trout in Langsett Reservoir is thus isolated from the available spawning habitat located upstream in the tributaries. It is likely that this has a negative impact on recruitment to the population in both the tributaries and the reservoir.The results have highlighted that Langsett reservoir may be acting as an ecological trap. Recommendations made relate to mitigating the effects of the weirs present, ideally through the complete removal of the weir structures. Alternatively, the installation of a fish pass is recommended to allow passage between the reservoir and upstream reaches reducing the impact of the barriers and increase recruitment for the Langsett population as a whole

An experimental test of deviant modeling

Objectives: Test the effect of deviant peer modeling on theft as conditioned by verbal support for theft and number of deviant models. Methods: Two related randomized experiments in which participants were given a chance to steal a gift card (ostensibly worth $15) from the table in front of them. Each experiment had a control group, a verbal prompting group in which confederate(s) endorsed stealing, a behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) committed theft, and a verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) did both. The first experiment used one confederate; the second experiment used two. The pooled sample consisted of 335 undergraduate students. Results: Participants in the verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group were most likely to steal followed by the behavioral modeling group. Interestingly, behavioral modeling was only influential when two confederates were present. There were no thefts in either the control or verbal prompting groups regardless of the number of confederates. Conclusions: Behavioral modeling appears to be the key mechanism, though verbal support can strengthen the effect of behavioral modeling.UW/SSHRC Seed Gran

Musculoskeletal injury epidemiology in law enforcement and firefighter recruits during physical training: a systematic review

Objectives: Report the injury epidemiology of law enforcement and firefighter recruits. Design: A systematic epidemiological review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines was completed. Data sources: Five online databases were searched from database inception to 5 May 2021. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies: Prospective and retrospective studies that reported data on musculoskeletal injuries sustained by law enforcement or firefighter recruits were included. We reported on all components of injury where data were available. All injury incidence rates were calculated as per 1000 training days (Poisson 95% CI) to allow comparisons between studies. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Quality Assessment Checklist for Prevalence Studies. Results: No studies reporting firefighter recruits were identified. Eight published studies that reported on injuries to law enforcement recruits were identified. The studies were all low quality, and the credibility of the evidence was assessed as very low. Seven studies reported medical attention injuries, and one study reported the number of medical withdrawals from a recruit training programme. The prevalence of law enforcement recruits with medical attention injuries ranged from 13.7% to 24.5%. The overall medical attention injury incidence rate for law enforcement recruits ranged from 1.67 injuries per 1000 training days (Poisson 95% CI 1.00 to 2.34 injuries per 1000 training days) to 4.24 injuries per 1000 training days (Poisson 95% CI 2.97 to 5.51 injuries per 1000 training days). Conclusion: This review reported the prevalence and incidence rates for musculoskeletal injuries in law enforcement officers. However, the credibility of the evidence is very low

A randomized trial testing deviant modeling, peer gender, and theft: replication and extension

This study was funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.Objectives: Replicate previous experimental findings on the causal effect of deviant peer modeling and assess whether the gender of peer models is an important determinant of theft. Methods: A randomized control trial (n=329 university students) in which participants were randomly placed into one of four deviant peer modeling groups (control, verbal prompting, behavioral modeling, verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling) and one of three confederate gender similarity groups (same gender, different gender, mixed gender) (4x3 factorial design, equal randomization). The outcome was theft of a gift card. Each session included two confederates and a single participant. This feature reduced measurement error over more common approaches where groups of participants take part in the study at the same time and in which uncontrolled interactions and/or threshold effects may act as confounders. Results: Participants were more likely to steal when exposed to confederates who behaviorally modeled theft (15.1% stole) or offered verbal support for theft and modeled it (11.1%) compared to controls (2.5%) or when confederates only talked about stealing (1.2%) (p=.001). Participants exposed to same gender peers (7.3%) were as likely to steal as those exposed to different gender peers (5.5%) or mixed gender peers (9.9%) (p=.464). Conclusions: Behavioral modeling was found to be an important determinant of theft. This replicated previous research in the area and offers arguably the strongest support to date for the influence of deviant peer modeling. Peer gender, however, was not found to be an important etiological component of theft. External validity is a limitation.Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canad

Disparate Central and Peripheral Effects of Circulating IGF-1 Deficiency on Tissue Mitochondrial Function

© 2019, The Author(s). Age-related decline in circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 is associated with reduced cognitive function, neuronal aging, and neurodegeneration. Decreased mitochondrial function along with increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and accumulation of damaged macromolecules are hallmarks of cellular aging. Based on numerous studies indicating pleiotropic effects of IGF-1 during aging, we compared the central and peripheral effects of circulating IGF-1 deficiency on tissue mitochondrial function using an inducible liver IGF-1 knockout (LID). Circulating levels of IGF-1 (~ 75%) were depleted in adult male Igf1f/f mice via AAV-mediated knockdown of hepatic IGF-1 at 5 months of age. Cognitive function was evaluated at 18 months using the radial arm water maze and glucose and insulin tolerance assessed. Mitochondrial function was analyzed in hippocampus, muscle, and visceral fat tissues using high-resolution respirometry O2K as well as redox status and oxidative stress in the cortex. Peripherally, IGF-1 deficiency did not significantly impact muscle mass or mitochondrial function. Aged LID mice were insulin resistant and exhibited ~ 60% less adipose tissue but increased fat mitochondrial respiration (20%). The effects on fat metabolism were attributed to increases in growth hormone. Centrally, IGF-1 deficiency impaired hippocampal-dependent spatial acquisition as well as reversal learning in male mice. Hippocampal mitochondrial OXPHOS coupling efficiency and cortex ATP levels (~ 50%) were decreased and hippocampal oxidative stress (protein carbonylation and F2-isoprostanes) was increased. These data suggest that IGF-1 is critical for regulating mitochondrial function, redox status, and spatial learning in the central nervous system but has limited impact on peripheral (liver and muscle) metabolism with age. Therefore, IGF-1 deficiency with age may increase sensitivity to damage in the brain and propensity for cognitive deficits. Targeting mitochondrial function in the brain may be an avenue for therapy of age-related impairment of cognitive function. Regulation of mitochondrial function and redox status by IGF-1 is essential to maintain brain function and coordinate hippocampal-dependent spatial learning. While a decline in IGF-1 in the periphery may be beneficial to avert cancer progression, diminished central IGF-1 signaling may mediate, in part, age-related cognitive dysfunction and cognitive pathologies potentially by decreasing mitochondrial function

An open reproducible framework for the study of the iterated prisoner's dilemma

The Axelrod library is an open source Python package that allows for reproducible game theoretic research into the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. This area of research began in the 1980s but suffers from a lack of documentation and test code. The goal of the library is to provide such a resource, with facilities for the design of new strategies and interactions between them, as well as conducting tournaments and ecological simulations for populations of strategies. With a growing collection of 139 strategies, the library is a also a platform for an original tournament that, in itself, is of interest to the game theoretic community. This paper describes the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, the Axelrod library and its development, and insights gained from some novel research.Comment: 11 pages, Journal of Open Research Software 4.1 (2016

The Potential Impact of Nuclear Conflict on Ocean Acidification

We demonstrate that the global cooling resulting from a range of nuclear conflict scenarios would temporarily increase the pH in the surface ocean by up to 0.06 units over a 5-year period, briefly alleviating the decline in pH associated with ocean acidification. Conversely, the global cooling dissolves atmospheric carbon into the upper ocean, driving a 0.1 to 0.3 unit decrease in the aragonite saturation state (Ωarag) that persists for ∼10 years. The peak anomaly in pH occurs 2 years post conflict, while the Ωarag anomaly peaks 4- to 5-years post conflict. The decrease in Ωarag would exacerbate a primary threat of ocean acidification: the inability of marine calcifying organisms to maintain their shells/skeletons in a corrosive environment. Our results are based on sensitivity simulations conducted with a state-of-the-art Earth system model integrated under various black carbon (soot) external forcings. Our findings suggest that regional nuclear conflict may have ramifications for global ocean acidification

Structural and Functional Changes across the Visual Cortex of a Patient with Visual Form Agnosia

Loss of shape recognition in visual-form agnosia occurs without equivalent losses in the use of vision to guide actions, providing support for the hypothesis of two visual systems (for “perception” and “action”). The human individual DF received a toxic exposure to carbon monoxide some years ago, which resulted in a persisting visual-form agnosia that has been extensively characterized at the behavioral level.We conducted a detailed high-resolution MRI study of DF’s cortex, combining structural andfunctional measurements.We present the first accurate quantification of the changes in thickness across DF’s occipital cortex, finding the most substantial loss in the lateral occipital cortex (LOC). There are reduced white matter connections between LOC and other areas. Functional measures show pockets of activity that survive within structurally damaged areas. The topographic mapping of visual areas showed that ordered retinotopic maps were evident for DF in the ventral portions of visual cortical areas V1, V2, V3, and hV4. Although V1 shows evidence of topographic order in its dorsal portion, such maps could not befound inthe dorsal parts of V2 and V3. We concludethat it is not possibleto understandfully the deficits in object perception in visual-form agnosia without the exploitation of both structural and functional measurements. Our results also highlight for DF the cortical routes through which visual information is able to pass to support her well-documented abilities to use visual information to guide actions

The potential impact of nuclear conflict on ocean acidification

We demonstrate that the global cooling resulting from a range of nuclear conflict scenarios would temporarily increase the pH in the surface ocean by up to 0.06 units over a 5‐year period, briefly alleviating the decline in pH associated with ocean acidification. Conversely, the global cooling dissolves atmospheric carbon into the upper ocean, driving a 0.1 to 0.3 unit decrease in the aragonite saturation state ( &Omega;arag) that persists for &sim;10 years. The peak anomaly in pH occurs 2 years post conflict, while the &Omega;arag anomaly peaks 4‐ to 5‐years post conflict. The decrease in &Omega;arag would exacerbate a primary threat of ocean acidification: the inability of marine calcifying organisms to maintain their shells/skeletons in a corrosive environment. Our results are based on sensitivity simulations conducted with a state‐of‐the‐art Earth system model integrated under various black carbon (soot) external forcings. Our findings suggest that regional nuclear conflict may have ramifications for global ocean acidification. Key Points Nuclear conflict has the potential to increase surface ocean pH and decrease aragonite saturation state The decrease in saturation state would exacerbate shell dissolution from anthropogenic ocean acidification A regional nuclear conflict may have far‐reaching effects on global ocean carbonate chemistry</p

Biological Misinterpretation of Transcriptional Signatures in Tumor Samples Can Unknowingly Undermine Mechanistic Understanding and Faithful Alignment with Preclinical Data

PURPOSE Precise mechanism-based gene expression signatures (GES) have been developed in appropriate in vitro and in vivo model systems, to identify important cancer-related signaling processes. However, some GESs originally developed to represent specific disease processes, primarily with an epithelial cell focus, are being applied to heterogeneous tumor samples where the expression of the genes in the signature may no longer be epithelial-specific. Therefore, unknowingly, even small changes in tumor stroma percentage can directly influence GESs, undermining the intended mechanistic signaling. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Using colorectal cancer as an exemplar, we deployed numerous orthogonal profiling methodologies, including laser capture microdissection, flow cytometry, bulk and multiregional biopsy clinical samples, single-cell RNA sequencing and finally spatial transcriptomics, to perform a comprehensive assessment of the potential for the most widely used GESs to be influenced, or confounded, by stromal content in tumor tissue. To complement this work, we generated a freely-available resource, ConfoundR; https://confoundr.qub.ac.uk/, that enables users to test the extent of stromal influence on an unlimited number of the genes/signatures simultaneously across colorectal, breast, pancreatic, ovarian and prostate cancer datasets. RESULTS Findings presented here demonstrate the clear potential for misinterpretation of the meaning of GESs, due to widespread stromal influences, which in-turn can undermine faithful alignment between clinical samples and preclinical data/models, particularly cell lines and organoids, or tumor models not fully recapitulating the stromal and immune microenvironment. CONCLUSIONS Efforts to faithfully align preclinical models of disease using phenotypically-designed GESs must ensure that the signatures themselves remain representative of the same biology when applied to clinical samples