Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans

The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals’ movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyze a global dataset of ∼2.8 million locations from >2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared with more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal microhabitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise, and declining oxygen content

Effect of early and current Helicobacter pylori infection on the risk of anaemia in 6.5-year-old Ethiopian children

Background: Epidemiological and clinical studies in high income countries have suggested that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) may cause anaemia, but evidence is lacking from low income countries.We examined associations between H. pylori infection in early childhood and anaemia at the age of 6.5 years in an Ethiopian birth cohort. Methods: In 2011/12, 856 children (85.1 % of the 1006 original singletons in a population-based birth cohort) were followed up at age six and half. An interviewer-led questionnaire administered to mothers provided information on demographic and lifestyle variables. Haemoglobin level and red cell indices were examined using an automated haematological analyzer (Cell Dyn 1800, Abbott, USA), and stool samples analyzed for H. pylori antigen. The independent effects of H. pylori infection (measured at age 3.5 and 6.5 years) on anaemia, haemoglobin level, and red cell indices (measured at age 6.5 years) were determined using multiple logistic and linear regression. Results: The prevalence of anemia was 34.8 % (257/739), and the mean (SD) haemoglobin concentration was 11.8 (1.1) gm/dl. Current H. pylori infection at age 6.5 years was positively, though not significantly related to prevalence of anaemia (adjusted OR, 95 % CI, 1.15; 0.69, 1.93, p = 0.59). Any H. pylori infection up to age 6.5 years was significantly associated with an increased risk of anaemia at age 6.5 (adjusted OR, 95 % CI, 1.68; 1.22, 2.32, p = 0.01). A significant reduction in haemoglobin concentration and red cell indices was also observed among children who had any H. pylori infection up to age 6.5 (Hb adjusted β = −0.19, 95 % CI, −0.35 to −0.03, p = 0.01; MCV adjusted β = −2.22, 95 % CI, −3.43 to −1.01, p = 0.01; MCH adjusted β = −0.63, 95 % CI, −1.15 to - 0.12, p = 0.01; and MCHC adjusted β = −0.67, 95 % CI, −1.21 to −0.14, p = 0.01), respectively. Conclusion: This study provides further evidence from a low income country that any H. pylori infection up to age 6.5 is associated with higher prevalence of anaemia, and reduction of haemoglobin level and red cell indices at age 6.5

Oxidative discolouration in whole-head and cut lettuce: biochemical and environmental influences on a complex phenotype and potential breeding strategies to improve shelf-life

Lettuce discolouration is a key post-harvest trait. The major enzyme controlling oxidative discolouration has long been considered to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) however, levels of PPO and subsequent development of discolouration symptoms have not always correlated. The predominance of a latent state of the enzyme in plant tissues combined with substrate activation and contemporaneous suicide inactivation mechanisms are considered as potential explanations for this phenomenon. Leaf tissue physical properties have been associated with subsequent discolouration and these may be influenced by variation in nutrient availability, especially excess nitrogen and head maturity at harvest. Mild calcium and irrigation stress has also been associated with a reduction in subsequent discolouration, although excess irrigation has been linked to increased discolouration potentially through leaf physical properties. These environmental factors, including high temperature and UV light intensities, often have impacts on levels of phenolic compounds linking the environmental responses to the biochemistry of the PPO pathway. Breeding strategies targeting the PALand PPOpathway biochemistry and environmental response genes are discussed as a more cost-effective method of mitigating oxidative discolouration then either modified atmosphere packaging or post-harvest treatments, although current understanding of the biochemistry means that such programs are likely to be limited in nature and it is likely that they will need to be deployed alongside other methods for the foreseeable future

Overhauling ocean spatial planning to improve marine megafauna conservation

Tracking data have led to evidence-based conservation of marine megafauna, but a disconnect remains between the many 1000s of individual animals that have been tracked and the use of these data in conservation and management actions. Furthermore, the focus of most conservation efforts is within Exclusive Economic Zones despite the ability of these species to move 1000s of kilometers across multiple national jurisdictions. To assist the goal of the United Nations General Assembly’s recent effort to negotiate a global treaty to conserve biodiversity on the high seas, we propose the development of a new frontier in dynamic marine spatial management. We argue that a global approach combining tracked movements of marine megafauna and human activities at-sea, and using existing and emerging technologies (e.g., through new tracking devices and big data approaches) can be applied to deliver near real-time diagnostics on existing risks and threats to mitigate global risks for marine megafauna. With technology developments over the next decade expected to catalyze the potential to survey marine animals and human activities in ever more detail and at global scales, the development of dynamic predictive tools based on near real-time tracking and environmental data will become crucial to address increasing risks. Such global tools for dynamic spatial and temporal management will, however, require extensive synoptic data updates and will be dependent on a shift to a culture of data sharing and open access. We propose a global mechanism to store and make such data available in near real-time, enabling a holistic view of space use by marine megafauna and humans that would significantly accelerate efforts to mitigate impacts and improve conservation and management of marine megafauna

Iron status and Helicobacter pylori infection in symptomatic children: an international multi-centered study

Objective:Iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) are global major public health problems, particularly in developing countries. Whilst an association between H. pylori infection and ID/IDA has been proposed in the literature, currently there is no consensus. We studied the effects of H. pylori infection on ID/IDA in a cohort of children undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for upper abdominal pain in two developing and one developed country.Methods:In total 311 children (mean age 10.7±3.2 years) from Latin America - Belo Horizonte/Brazil (n = 125), Santiago/Chile (n = 105) - and London/UK (n = 81), were studied. Gastric and duodenal biopsies were obtained for evaluation of histology and H. pylori status and blood samples for parameters of ID/IDA.Results:The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 27.7% being significantly higher (p<0.001) in Latin America (35%) than in UK (7%). Multiple linear regression models revealed H. pylori infection as a significant predictor of low ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations in children from Latin-America. A negative correlation was observed between MCV (r = -0.26; p = 0.01) and MCH (r = -0.27; p = 0.01) values and the degree of antral chronic inflammation, and between MCH and the degree of corpus chronic (r = -0.29, p = 0.008) and active (r = -0.27, p = 0.002) inflammation.Conclusions:This study demonstrates that H. pylori infection in children influences the serum ferritin and haemoglobin concentrations, markers of early depletion of iron stores and anaemia respectively

Tsetse GmmSRPN10 has anti-complement activity and is important for successful establishment of trypanosome infections in the fly midgut

The complement cascade in mammalian blood can damage the alimentary tract of haematophagous arthropods. As such, these animals have evolved their own repertoire of complement-inactivating factors, which are inadvertently exploited by blood-borne pathogens to escape complement lysis. Unlike the bloodstream stages, the procyclic (insect) stage of Trypanosoma brucei is highly susceptible to complement killing, which is puzzling considering that a tsetse takes a bloodmeal every 2–4 days. In this study, we identified four tsetse (Glossina morsitans morsitans) serine protease inhibitors (serpins) from a midgut expressed sequence tag (EST) library (GmmSRPN3, GmmSRPN5, GmmSRPN9 and GmmSRPN10) and investigated their role in modulating the establishment of a T. brucei infection in the midgut. Although not having evolved in a common blood-feeding ancestor, all four serpins have an active site sharing remarkable homology with the human complement C1-inhibitor serpin, SerpinG1. RNAi knockdown of individual GmmSRPN9 and GmmSRPN10 genes resulted in a significant decreased rate of infection by procyclic form T. brucei. Furthermore, recombinant GmmSRPN10 was both able to inhibit the activity of human complement-cascade serine proteases, C1s and Factor D, and to protect the in vitro killing of procyclic trypanosomes when incubated with complement-activated human serum. Thus, the secretion of serpins, which may be part of a bloodmeal complement inactivation system in tsetse, is used by procyclic trypanosomes to evade an influx of fresh trypanolytic complement with each bloodmeal. This highlights another facet of the complicated relationship between T. brucei and its tsetse vector, where the parasite takes advantage of tsetse physiology to further its chances of propagation and transmission