Reconciling Deep Calibration and Demographic History: Bayesian Inference of Post Glacial Colonization Patterns in Carcinus aestuarii (Nardo, 1847) and C. maenas (Linnaeus, 1758)

A precise inference of past demographic histories including dating of demographic events using Bayesian methods can only be achieved with the use of appropriate molecular rates and evolutionary models. Using a set of 596 mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) sequences of two sister species of European green crabs of the genus Carcinus (C. maenas and C. aestuarii), our study shows how chronologies of past evolutionary events change significantly with the application of revised molecular rates that incorporate biogeographic events for calibration and appropriate demographic priors. A clear signal of demographic expansion was found for both species, dated between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, which places the expansions events in a time frame following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). In the case of C. aestuarii, a population expansion was only inferred for the Adriatic-Ionian, suggestive of a colonization event following the flooding of the Adriatic Sea (18,000 years ago). For C. maenas, the demographic expansion inferred for the continental populations of West and North Europe might result from a northward recolonization from a southern refugium when the ice sheet retreated after the LGM. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of using adequate calibrations and demographic priors in order to avoid considerable overestimates of evolutionary time scales

The implications of cohesive shore platform erosion for coastal management.

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Medication Education of Acutely Hospitalized Older Patients

OBJECTIVES: To determine the amount of time spent providing medication education to older patients, the impact of medication education on patients’ knowledge and satisfaction, and barriers to providing medication education. DESIGN: Telephone survey of patients within 48 hours of hospital discharge and direct survey of physicians and pharmacists. SETTING: Internal medicine ward in a tertiary care teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients 65 years of age and over regularly taking at least one medication. MEASUREMENTS: Patient demographics, medication use, time spent receiving or providing medication education, and satisfaction scores. MAIN RESULTS: Forty-seven respondents with a mean age of 77.1 years reported that physicians spent a mean of 10.5 minutes (range, 0–60 minutes) and pharmacists spent a mean of 5.3 minutes (range, 0–40 minutes) providing medication education. Fifty-one percent reported receiving no education from either physician or pharmacist, and only 30% reported receiving written medication instructions. Respondents were generally quite satisfied with their education. Physicians identified one or more barriers to providing education 51% of the time and pharmacists 80%. Lack of time was the most common barrier (18%) identified by physicians, but pharmacists cited lack of notification of discharge plans (41%) and lack of time (39%) as the main barriers. Respondents made many medication errors and knew little about their medications. CONCLUSIONS: Although older hospitalized patients received little medication education or written information and made many medication errors with and without medication education, approximately one half of physicians perceived no barriers to providing education