Investigating patterns of deep sea coral and sponge diversity and abundance across multiple spatial scales in the Central Pacific

The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on the planet, comprising more than 90% of the volume that life can inhabit, yet it is the least explored biome in the world. The deep sea includes the benthos, which makes up 91.5 % of all the seafloor globally, and the water column deeper than 200 meters. It hosts a wealth of ecosystems including deep-sea vents, seamount coral gardens, abyssal plains, high-productivity whale falls, and life even in the deepest trenches. We now understand that all of these ecosystems host a variety of habitats, each with their own ecology and unique species. These ecosystems and habitats- and their associated biodiversity- provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, nutrient regeneration, microbial processes detoxification, fisheries provisioning, and many others. However, despite the uniqueness of these ecosystems and the importance of the services they provide, we still know far less about them than we do about their shallow water and terrestrial counterparts. In this dissertation, I contribute new insights about the patterns of biodiversity in the Pacific Ocean across a large geographic area, and across a wide range of depths. To that end, in Chapter 1, I have used one of the largest ocean exploration datasets to look for patterns of the abundance and diversity across the most common benthic invertebrate families found on Pacific seamounts: Anthozoa, Porifera, and Echinodermata across the Central and Western Pacific. In addition to quantifying the diversity and abundance of known taxa, I also documented patterns of as-of-yet unidentified taxa by region, depth, and deepwater feature (seamount shape). Building on patterns associated with seamount shape that were described in Chapter 2, I focused on the effect of seamount shape on the diversity and abundance of deep-sea coral communities in Chapter 3. The analysis presented in Chapter 3 provides strong support for the novel hypothesis that gross seamount morphology is a significant driver of community composition. In Chapter 4, I focused on a single seamount to investigate biodiversity and abundance of coral and sponge taxa on a finer spatial scale, examining the role of direction (N, S, E, W) on different flanks of a single equatorial seamount. This analysis yielded interesting consistent patterns of zonation on all sides of the seamount in terms of depth, but with differences in abundance patterns on each flank for individual taxa. Finally, in Chapter 5, I took a global perspective to investigate gaps in deepwater data, with the goal of determining what regions need further exploration to conclusively determine patterns of deep-sea biodiversity, which will be critical for determining the health of deepwater ecosystems under climate change conditions with increased exploitation pressure and cooccuring with increased conservation efforts. Merging Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) records with the largest collection of deep submergence dive records ever collected, I used proposed biogeographic provinces schema to identify areas with the least supporting data. Additionally, I coupled records from OBIS with climate change projections to identify the areas with the fewest number of biodiversity records that are likely to change the fastest under different IPCC projections. These areas of low number of records and high likelihood of change by the end of the century should become priority targets for future exploration. Taken together, this dissertation provides valuable insights and generates new hypotheses about patterns and drivers of deep-sea biodiversity, and puts forth recommendations for future research and exploration efforts

Disease-specific mortality burdens in a rural Gambian population using verbal autopsy, 1998-2007.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate and evaluate the cause-of-death structure and disease-specific mortality rates in a rural area of The Gambia as determined using the InterVA-4 model. DESIGN: Deaths and person-years of observation were determined by age group for the population of the Farafenni Health and Demographic Surveillance area from January 1998 to December 2007. Causes of death were determined by verbal autopsy (VA) using the InterVA-4 model and ICD-10 disease classification. Assigned causes of death were classified into six broad groups: infectious and parasitic diseases; cancers; other non-communicable diseases; neonatal; maternal; and external causes. Poisson regression was used to estimate age and disease-specific mortality rates, and likelihood ratio tests were used to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 3,203 deaths were recorded and VA administered for 2,275 (71%). All-age mortality declined from 15 per 1,000 person-years in 1998-2001 to 8 per 1,000 person-years in 2005-2007. Children aged 1-4 years registered the most marked (74%) decline from 27 to 7 per 1,000 person-years. Communicable diseases accounted for half (49.9%) of the deaths in all age groups, dominated by acute respiratory infections (ARI) (13.7%), malaria (12.9%) and pulmonary tuberculosis (10.2%). The leading causes of death among infants were ARI (5.59 per 1,000 person-years [95% CI: 4.38-7.15]) and malaria (4.11 per 1,000 person-years [95% CI: 3.09-5.47]). Mortality rates in children aged 1-4 years were 3.06 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 2.58-3.63) for malaria, and 1.05 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 0.79-1.41) for ARI. The HIV-related mortality rate in this age group was 1.17 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 0.89-1.54). Pulmonary tuberculosis and communicable diseases other than malaria, HIV/AIDS and ARI were the main killers of adults aged 15 years and over. Stroke-related mortality increased to become the leading cause of death among the elderly aged 60 years or more in 2005-2007. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality in the Farafenni HDSS area was dominated by communicable diseases. Malaria and ARI were the leading causes of death in the general population. In addition to these, diarrhoeal disease was a particularly important cause of death among children under 5 years of age, as was pulmonary tuberculosis among adults aged 15 years and above

Monitoring the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines into West Africa: design and implementation of a population-based surveillance system.

Routine use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in developing countries is expected to lead to a significant reduction in childhood deaths. However, PCVs have been associated with replacement disease with non-vaccine serotypes. We established a population-based surveillance system to document the direct and indirect impact of PCVs on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and radiological pneumonia in those aged 2 months and older in The Gambia, and to monitor changes in serotype-specific IPD. Here we describe how this surveillance system was set up and is being operated as a partnership between the Medical Research Council Unit and the Gambian Government. This surveillance system is expected to provide crucial information for immunisation policy and serves as a potential model for those introducing routine PCV vaccination in diverse settings

Etiology of severe childhood pneumonia in the Gambia, West Africa, determined by conventional and molecular microbiological analyses of lung and pleural aspirate samples.

Molecular analyses of lung aspirates from Gambian children with severe pneumonia detected pathogens more frequently than did culture and showed a predominance of bacteria, principally Streptococcus pneumoniae, >75% being of serotypes covered by current pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Multiple pathogens were detected frequently, notably Haemophilus influenzae (mostly nontypeable) together with S. pneumoniae

Lipoxin A4 Stimulates Calcium-Activated Chloride Currents and Increases Airway Surface Liquid Height in Normal and Cystic Fibrosis Airway Epithelia

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease characterised by a deficit in epithelial Cl− secretion which in the lung leads to airway dehydration and a reduced Airway Surface Liquid (ASL) height. The endogenous lipoxin LXA4 is a member of the newly identified eicosanoids playing a key role in ending the inflammatory process. Levels of LXA4 are reported to be decreased in the airways of patients with CF. We have previously shown that in normal human bronchial epithelial cells, LXA4 produced a rapid and transient increase in intracellular Ca2+. We have investigated, the effect of LXA4 on Cl− secretion and the functional consequences on ASL generation in bronchial epithelial cells obtained from CF and non-CF patient biopsies and in bronchial epithelial cell lines. We found that LXA4 stimulated a rapid intracellular Ca2+ increase in all of the different CF bronchial epithelial cells tested. In non-CF and CF bronchial epithelia, LXA4 stimulated whole-cell Cl− currents which were inhibited by NPPB (calcium-activated Cl− channel inhibitor), BAPTA-AM (chelator of intracellular Ca2+) but not by CFTRinh-172 (CFTR inhibitor). We found, using confocal imaging, that LXA4 increased the ASL height in non-CF and in CF airway bronchial epithelia. The LXA4 effect on ASL height was sensitive to bumetanide, an inhibitor of transepithelial Cl− secretion. The LXA4 stimulation of intracellular Ca2+, whole-cell Cl− currents, conductances and ASL height were inhibited by Boc-2, a specific antagonist of the ALX/FPR2 receptor. Our results provide, for the first time, evidence for a novel role of LXA4 in the stimulation of intracellular Ca2+ signalling leading to Ca2+-activated Cl− secretion and enhanced ASL height in non-CF and CF bronchial epithelia

Negative parental responses to coming out and family functioning in a sample of lesbian and gay young adults

Parental responses to youths' coming out (CO) are crucial to the subsequent adjustment of children and family. The present study investigated the negative parental reaction to the disclosure of same-sex attraction and the differences between maternal and paternal responses, as reported by their homosexual daughters and sons. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale, PPRS), age at coming out, gender, parental political orientation, and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, FACES IV), were assessed in 164 Italian gay and lesbian young adults. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. The paired sample t-test was used to compare mothers and fathers' scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the disclosure. The analysis showed that a negative reaction to coming out was predicted by parents' right-wing political conservatism, strong religious beliefs, and higher scores in the scales Rigid and Enmeshed. Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressful situation and a strong belief in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields

Comparison of embedded and added motor imagery training in patients after stroke: Results of a randomised controlled pilot trial

Copyright @ 2012 Schuster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Motor imagery (MI) when combined with physiotherapy can offer functional benefits after stroke. Two MI integration strategies exist: added and embedded MI. Both approaches were compared when learning a complex motor task (MT): ‘Going down, laying on the floor, and getting up again’. Methods: Outpatients after first stroke participated in a single-blinded, randomised controlled trial with MI embedded into physiotherapy (EG1), MI added to physiotherapy (EG2), and a control group (CG). All groups participated in six physiotherapy sessions. Primary study outcome was time (sec) to perform the motor task at pre and post-intervention. Secondary outcomes: level of help needed, stages of MT-completion, independence, balance, fear of falling (FOF), MI ability. Data were collected four times: twice during one week baseline phase (BL, T0), following the two week intervention (T1), after a two week follow-up (FU). Analysis of variance was performed. Results: Thirty nine outpatients were included (12 females, age: 63.4 ± 10 years; time since stroke: 3.5 ± 2 years; 29 with an ischemic event). All were able to complete the motor task using the standardised 7-step procedure and reduced FOF at T0, T1, and FU. Times to perform the MT at baseline were 44.2 ± 22s, 64.6 ± 50s, and 118.3 ± 93s for EG1 (N = 13), EG2 (N = 12), and CG (N = 14). All groups showed significant improvement in time to complete the MT (p < 0.001) and degree of help needed to perform the task: minimal assistance to supervision (CG) and independent performance (EG1+2). No between group differences were found. Only EG1 demonstrated changes in MI ability over time with the visual indicator increasing from T0 to T1 and decreasing from T1 to FU. The kinaesthetic indicator increased from T1 to FU. Patients indicated to value the MI training and continued using MI for other difficult-to-perform tasks. Conclusions: Embedded or added MI training combined with physiotherapy seem to be feasible and benefi-cial to learn the MT with emphasis on getting up independently. Based on their baseline level CG had the highest potential to improve outcomes. A patient study with 35 patients per group could give a conclusive answer of a superior MI integration strategy.The research project was partially funded by the Gottfried und Julia Bangerter-Rhyner Foundation

Gay, Mostly Gay, or Bisexual Leaning Gay? An Exploratory Study Distinguishing Gay Sexual Orientations Among Young Men

This exploratory study assessed physiological, behavioral, and self-report measures of sexual and romantic indicators of sexual orientation identities among young men (mean age = 21.9 years) with predominant same-sex sexual and romantic interests: those who described themselves as bisexual leaning gay (n = 11), mostly gay (n = 17), and gay (n = 47). Although they were not significantly distinguishable based on physiological (pupil dilation) responses to nude stimuli, on behavioral and self-report measures a descending linear trend toward the less preferred sex (female) was significant regarding sexual attraction, fantasy, genital contact, infatuation, romantic relationship, sex appeal, and gazing time to the porn stimuli. Results supported a continuum of sexuality with distinct subgroups only for the self-report measure of sexual attraction. The other behavioral and self-report measures followed the same trend but did not significantly differ between the bisexual leaning gay and mostly gay groups, likely the result of small sample size. Results suggest that romantic indicators are as good as sexual measures in assessing sexual orientation and that a succession of logically following groups from bisexual leaning gay, mostly gay, to gay. Whether these three groups are discrete or overlapping needs further research

Subanesthetic ketamine treatment promotes abnormal interactions between neural subsystems and alters the properties of functional brain networks

Acute treatment with subanesthetic ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptor antagonist, is widely utilized as a translational model for schizophrenia. However, how acute NMDA receptor blockade impacts on brain functioning at a systems level, to elicit translationally relevant symptomatology and behavioral deficits, has not yet been determined. Here, for the first time, we apply established and recently validated topological measures from network science to brain imaging data gained from ketamine-treated mice to elucidate how acute NMDA receptor blockade impacts on the properties of functional brain networks. We show that the effects of acute ketamine treatment on the global properties of these networks are divergent from those widely reported in schizophrenia. Where acute NMDA receptor blockade promotes hyperconnectivity in functional brain networks, pronounced dysconnectivity is found in schizophrenia. We also show that acute ketamine treatment increases the connectivity and importance of prefrontal and thalamic brain regions in brain networks, a finding also divergent to alterations seen in schizophrenia. In addition, we characterize how ketamine impacts on bipartite functional interactions between neural subsystems. A key feature includes the enhancement of prefrontal cortex (PFC)-neuromodulatory subsystem connectivity in ketamine-treated animals, a finding consistent with the known effects of ketamine on PFC neurotransmitter levels. Overall, our data suggest that, at a systems level, acute ketamine-induced alterations in brain network connectivity do not parallel those seen in chronic schizophrenia. Hence, the mechanisms through which acute ketamine treatment induces translationally relevant symptomatology may differ from those in chronic schizophrenia. Future effort should therefore be dedicated to resolve the conflicting observations between this putative translational model and schizophrenia

Strong Ultraviolet Pulse From a Newborn Type Ia Supernova

Type Ia supernovae are destructive explosions of carbon oxygen white dwarfs. Although they are used empirically to measure cosmological distances, the nature of their progenitors remains mysterious, One of the leading progenitor models, called the single degenerate channel, hypothesizes that a white dwarf accretes matter from a companion star and the resulting increase in its central pressure and temperature ignites thermonuclear explosion. Here we report observations of strong but declining ultraviolet emission from a Type Ia supernova within four days of its explosion. This emission is consistent with theoretical expectations of collision between material ejected by the supernova and a companion star, and therefore provides evidence that some Type Ia supernovae arise from the single degenerate channel.Comment: Accepted for publication on the 21 May 2015 issue of Natur