Flexibility in faithfulness of Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Branta b. bernicla to moulting sites

The distribution of Dark-bellied Brent Geese Branta b. bernicla moulting on the Taimyr Peninsula, in the Russian arctic, varies between years depending on whether the birds had a successful breeding season. Counts made of moulting flocks show that major shifts in numbers occur, particularly in non-breeding years, when in line with Salomonsen’s (1968) hypothesis a higher proportion of the population moults further north. For instance, the delta of the Lower Taimyr River in the northern part of the Taimyr Peninsula held 10-times more moulting Dark-bellied Brent Geese in 1989, a non-breeding year, than it did in the good 1990 breeding season. At a more local scale, in good breeding years family groups with small goslings tend to move away from breeding islands in the Pyasina Delta, western Taimyr, to avoid gosling predation by Taimyr Gulls Larus taimyrensis which nest in colonies on the same islands, whereas in poor breeding years adult geese concentrate on these same islands to moult and avoid the mainland sites used for moulting in good breeding years. Failed breeders have greater freedom than parent birds to choose where to moult as successful breeders remain with their goslings to protect and guide them to the safest nursery and moult areas. Re-captures of ringed Darkbellied Brent Geese at a moulting site in the Pyasina Delta found that, in poor breeding years, up to one-fifth the birds had moulted at the site previously, but that the majority of ringed birds known to be still alive were not site-faithful to their moulting grounds

The sleep EEG spectrum is a sexually dimorphic marker of general intelligence

The shape of the EEG spectrum in sleep relies on genetic and anatomical factors and forms an individual “EEG fingerprint”. Spectral components of EEG were shown to be connected to mental ability both in sleep and wakefulness. EEG sleep spindle correlates of intelligence, however, exhibit a sexual dimorphism, with a more pronounced association to intelligence in females than males. In a sample of 151 healthy individuals, we investigated how intelligence is related to spectral components of full-night sleep EEG, while controlling for the effects of age. A positive linear association between intelligence and REM anterior beta power was found in females but not males. Transient, spindle-like “REM beta tufts” are described in the EEG of healthy subjects, which may reflect the functioning of a recently described cingular-prefrontal emotion and motor regulation network. REM sleep frontal high delta power was a negative correlate of intelligence. NREM alpha and sigma spectral power correlations with intelligence did not unequivocally remain significant after multiple comparisons correction, but exhibited a similar sexual dimorphism. These results suggest that the neural oscillatory correlates of intelligence in sleep are sexually dimorphic, and they are not restricted to either sleep spindles or NREM sleep

Biomedical informatics and translational medicine

Biomedical informatics involves a core set of methodologies that can provide a foundation for crossing the "translational barriers" associated with translational medicine. To this end, the fundamental aspects of biomedical informatics (e.g., bioinformatics, imaging informatics, clinical informatics, and public health informatics) may be essential in helping improve the ability to bring basic research findings to the bedside, evaluate the efficacy of interventions across communities, and enable the assessment of the eventual impact of translational medicine innovations on health policies. Here, a brief description is provided for a selection of key biomedical informatics topics (Decision Support, Natural Language Processing, Standards, Information Retrieval, and Electronic Health Records) and their relevance to translational medicine. Based on contributions and advancements in each of these topic areas, the article proposes that biomedical informatics practitioners ("biomedical informaticians") can be essential members of translational medicine teams

Differential prognostic utility of adiposity measures in chronic kidney disease

Objective Adipose tissue contributes to adverse outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD), but there is uncertainty regarding the prognostic relevance of different adiposity measures. We analyzed the associations of neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI) with clinical outcomes in patients with mild to severe CKD. Methods The German Chronic Kidney Disease (GCKD) study is a prospective cohort study, which enrolled Caucasian adults with mild to severe CKD, defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): 30–60 mL/min/1.73 m2, or >60 mL/min/1.73 m2 in the presence of overt proteinuria. Associations of NC, WC and BMI with all-cause death, major cardiovascular events (MACE: a composite of non-fatal stroke, non-fatal myocardial infarction, peripheral artery disease intervention, and cardiovascular death), kidney failure (a composite of dialysis or transplantation) were analyzed using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models adjusted for confounders and the Akaike information criteria (AIC) were calculated. Models included sex interactions with adiposity measures. Results A total of 4537 participants (59% male) were included in the analysis. During a 6.5-year follow-up, 339 participants died, 510 experienced MACE, and 341 developed kidney failure. In fully adjusted models, NC was associated with all-cause death in women (HR 1.080 per cm; 95% CI 1.009–1.155), but not in men. Irrespective of sex, WC was associated with all-cause death (HR 1.014 per cm; 95% CI 1.005–1.038). NC and WC showed no association with MACE or kidney failure. BMI was not associated with any of the analyzed outcomes. Models of all-cause death including WC offered the best (lowest) AIC. Conclusion In Caucasian patients with mild to severe CKD, higher NC (in women) and WC were significantly associated with increased risk of death from any cause, but BMI was not

The costs of non-tariff barriers to trade: Evidence from New Zealand

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