Dealing with Hurricanes: Coastal Community Adaptation to Socioeconomic and Environmental pressures in Yaguajay, Central Cuba

Hurricanes can cause extensive long-term damage to small-scale fisheries. Yet, information is scarce on how these communities are impacted by extreme events in the Caribbean as in other parts of the world. Focusing on an artisanal fishery in Yaguajay, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, this presentation discusses how local fishermen have perceived and responded to the different damages brought about by Hurricane Irma in September 2017 and inundations associated with Storm Alberto in May 2018. Combining discussions and short interviews carried out pre and post-hurricane, this study identifies major environmental impacts and matching responses. In addition, the article sheds light on the evolution of small-scale fishing communities in Cuba and their current organization. Results show that extensive biodiversity loss in terms of mangrove coverage, changes in salinity, and the quality of coastal environments has affected capture composition and sizes. As a consequence of these changes, fishermen are adjusting their effort and fishing intensity to match perturbations. Findings underscore the need to identify the synergistic relations that may exist between prior environmental degradation and different extreme events such as drought, hurricanes, and excessive precipitation. The interrelation of these factors may result in compounded aggravated impacts that may unfold over longer temporal scales and not just as a one-time event. Authors conclude by underscoring the importance of including the study of extreme events in fishery management plans to develop efficient restoration and mitigation options that can foster the development of hurricane resistant communities

Transcriptional activity analysis of promoter region of human PAX9 gene under retinoic acid, dexamethasone and ergocalciferol treatment in MCF-7 and MDPC23 cells

Orientador: Sergio Roberto Peres LineTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de PiracicabaResumo: O gene PAX9, pertencente à família Pax, é amplamente expresso em vários tecidos craniofaciais durante o desenvolvimento. Sabe-se que mutações neste gene em humanos causam fenótipo de oligodontia, afetando os dentes molares e segundos pré-molares. Grande variedade de agentes fisiológicos e farmacológicos externos podem ter impacto relevante na regulação da atividade transcricional de genes modulando fatores de transcrição. A presente tese focaliza o estudo da região 5'do gene PAX9 humano e tem como objetivo analisar a influência da dexametasona, ácido retinóico e ergocalciferol (vitamina D2) na atividade transcricional de sua região promotora, utilizando construções em vetor plasmideano que dirige a transcrição do gene da luciferase de vagalume (Photinus pyralis, pGL3 basic vector). Para ensaios de transcrição, foram amplificados através de ensaios com transcriptase reversa, transcritos do gene PAX9 de células mamárias de adenocarcinoma MCF-7 e células odontoblastóides de camundongo MDPC23. Estes transcritos foram quantificados através de PCR quantitativo. Fragmentos da região promotora do gene PAX9 humano de 1198pb (-1106 - +92), 843pb (-751- +92) e 691bp (-1106 - +92 com deleção de 507pb nos sítios -645 e -138) foram recombinados com vetor de expressão pGL3Basic e denominados PAX9-pGL3B1, PAX9-pGL3B2 e PAX9-pGL3B3, respectivamente. As contruções foram transfectadas em cultura de células mamárias de adenocarcinoma MCF-7 e células odontoblastóides de camundongo MDPC23. Todas as placas de cultura foram submetidas à ação de três drogas: dexametasona (DEX), ácido retinóico (RE) e ergocalciferol (VITD2). Após lise das células, os níveis relativos de expressão da proteína luciferase foram analisados com o uso do kit Dual-Glo Luciferase em luminômetro. Os resultados referentes às células mamárias de adenocarcinoma MCF-7 mostraram que: 1) Altas concentrações de ácido retinóico aumentaram a síntese de RNA mensageiro transcrito. 2) Fragmentos do promotor PAX9 de 1198pb (PAX9-pGL3B1) e 843pb (PAX9-pGL3B2) foram ativados na presença de ácido retinóico mas suas transcrições desestimuladas na presença da dexametasona e ergocalciferol. 3) A atividade da luciferase na construção PAX9-pGL3B2 foi mais fraca que outras duas construções, indicando que a sequência -1106 and -751 ou 355pb era importante para a atividade transcricional. 4) Fragmento do promotor clivado nos sítios -645 e -138 com deleção de 507pb (PAX9-pGL3B3) foi ativado negativamente somente na presença do ergocaciferol, enquanto que com a dexametasona e ácido retinóico o mesmo não foi afetado. Quanto às células odontoblastóides de camundongo MDPC23, os resultados mostraram que: 1) Todas as concentrações de ergocalciferol influenciaram positivamente a síntese de RNA mensageiro transcrito. 2) A atividade promotora das construções PAX9-pGL3B1 e PAX9-pGL3B2 foi aumentada com baixa concentração de dexametasona e ergocaciferol enquanto que alta concentração diminuiu esta atividade. 3) Na construção PAX9-pGL3B3, todas concentrações de ergocaciferol influenciaram a transcrição do promotor negativamente, enquanto que com a dexametasona e ácido retinóico, a mesma não foi afetada. Concluímos que as drogas dexametasona, ácido retinóico e ergocalciferol podem modular a expressão do gene PAX9. A região de 507pb deletada do promotor do gene PAX9 humano pode conter sítios de ligação para receptores do ácido retinóico e dexametasona.Abstract: PAX9, member of the family homeobox, has important functions in embryogenesis and it is widely expressed in various craniofacial tissues during development. PAX9 mutations in human families cause autosomal dominant oligodontia, characterized by the absence of permanent molars and pre-molars. A great variety of physiological or pharmacological environmental factors may have impact on downstream signaling cascades and transcriptional regulation of gene modulating transcription factors. This work focused on the analysis on the 5'-flanking region of the PAX9 gene studying the influence of retinoic acid, dexamethasone and vitamin D on the expression of PAX9 by expression constructs that carry the reporter gene luciferase (Photinus pyralis, pGL3 basic vector). In the present study, we have PCR amplified cDNAs encoding mouse Pax9 from Mouse Odontoblast Cell-Like-23 (MDPC23) and PAX9 from Human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and quantified by Quantitative PCR. We examined the transcriptional activity of human PAX9 promoter from constructions: 1) PAX9-pGL3B1 construct clone PAX9 gene promoter 1198bp from -1106 upstream to +92 downstream of translation start site (ATG). 2) PAX9-pGL3B2 construct clone PAX9 gene promoter 843bp from -751 upstream of translation start site (ATG) to +92 downstream of translation start site (ATG). 3) PAX9-pGLB3 construct clone PAX9 gene promoter 691bp from -1106 upstream of translation start site (ATG) to +92 downstream of translation start site (ATG) using deletion of 507bp in restriction sites (-645 and -138) of ApaI enzyme. These constructions were transfected into Mouse Odontoblast Cell-Like-23 (MDPC23) and PAX9 from Human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7). Cell cultures were all submitted to selective regulation of tree drugs: dexamethasone (DEX), retinoic acid (RE) and ergocalciferol (VITD2). Relative luciferase expression units were obtained by dual luciferase assay kit. The results in Human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) showed that retinoic acid and dexamethasone influenced negatively the expression of PAX9 promoter. PAX9-pGL3B1 and PAX9-pGL3B2 promoter was inhibited under the treatment of dexamethasone and ergocalciferol. Retinoic acid and dexamethasone did not altered PAX9-pGL3B3 (-1106 to +92, 507bp deleted with ApaI digest) behavior. Luciferase activity in plasmid PAX9-pGL3B2 was always weaker than the other two constructions indicating that sequence present between -1106 and -751 or 355bb were important for the transcriptional activity of PAX9 promoter. The results in Mouse Odontoblast Cell-Like-23 (MDPC23) showed that it PAX9-pGL3B1 and PAX9-pGL3B2 promoter activity was increased by the treatment of lower concentration of dexamethasone and ergocalciferol, whereas higher concentration of the same drugs decreased this activity. The effect of the retinoic acid in the luciferase activity of PAX9-pGL3B1 has the same pattern but for the PAX9-pGL3B2, all concentrations increased the promoter activity. For the PAX9-pGL3B3 construction, concentrations of ergocalciferol had a statistically significance decreasing the activity of the promoter and no effect of the activity was observed in the dexamethasone and retinoic acid treatment. In conclusion, dexamethasone, retinoic acid and ergocalciferol may bind to PAX9 gene promoter and up or down-regulate PAX9 transcriptional activity. A 507bp region (-645 and -138) within PAX9 promoter may harbor biding sites for dexamethasone and retinoic acid since none of concentrations of these reagents influenced changes in promoter activity.DoutoradoHistologia e EmbriologiaDoutor em Biologia Buco-Denta

Joint action in a cooperative precision task: Nested processes of intrapersonal and interpersonal coordination

The authors determined the effects of changes in task demands on interpersonal and intrapersonal coordination. Participants performed a joint task in which one participant held a stick to which a circle was attached at the top (holding role), while the other held a pointer through the circle without touching its borders (pointing role). Experiment 1 investigated whether interpersonal and intrapersonal coordination varied depending on task difficulty. Results showed that interpersonal and intrapersonal coordination increased in degree and stability with increments in task difficulty. Experiment 2 explored the effects of individual constraints by increasing the balance demands of the task (one or both members of the pair stood in a less stable tandem stance). Results showed that interpersonal coordination increased in degree and stability as joint task demands increased and that coupling strength varied depending on joint and individual task constraints. In all, results suggest that interpersonal and intrapersonal coordination are affected by the nature of the task performed and the constraints it places on joint and individual performance

So You Think You Can Jump? Perception of Self and Others’ Maximum Jumping Capabilities

The success of our interactions with others depends on cognitive abilities, such as the abilities to perceive, anticipate, and understand other people’s actions (Ramenzoni, Riley, Shockley, and Davis, 2008). However, personality traits often times dictate a person’s success and expected reward in social contexts. Two experiments investigated people’s ability to estimate both their own and other people’s jumping capability and how estimates changed depending on people’s levels of social anxiety. Estimates were obtained for an horizontal jumping extent using the method of limits and participants’ social anxiety level was assessed using two surveys: the Social Interaction Self-Statement Test (SISST; a self-report scale that assesses social anxiety) and the Brief Social Phobia Scale (BSPS; assesses fear or avoidance of various social phobia situations) (Davidson et al., 1991). Experiment 1 showed that participants could accurately estimate the maximum extent they can jump, that their estimations were more accurate from the fixed compared to the preferred starting location, and that participant’s estimations were not affected by their level of social anxiety. Experiment 2 extended the findings of Experiment 1 by asking participants to provide estimations for a female and a male model in addition to themselves. Results showed that participants viewed estimating for themselves and estimating for other people as similar perception tasks, however only estimations provided for other people were related with the perceiver’s social anxiety. In addition, results showed that participants underestimated both the male and female model’s jumping ability, but they underestimated significantly more the male than the female model. Though, the ratios did not vary in accuracy depending on the perceiver’s gender, the participants’ estimations were correlated with the perceiver’s level of social anxiety, such that people exhibiting higher levels of social anxiety estimated that the male and female models could do less than did participants scoring low on the social anxiety measures. This is the first study to explore how we perceive affordances for other people within a social context. It found a weak correlation between social anxiety and how we perceive what other’s can do towards us. It remains for future studies to explore whether this effect is amplified by changes in state anxiety and whether they generalize to the perception of other action-scaled affordances, especially those that would not encroach on the perceiver’s personal space. Overall, the results obtained here open a promising new avenue for the investigation of how our social make-up shapes our perception of the world around us and the people we interact within it

El uso de información socioecológica en la resolución de razonamientos en incertidumbre

Esta investigación propone evaluar la relevancia de la información socioecológica en el razonamiento probabilístico. En un primer lugar, analiza cómo los seres humanos producen un tipo de inferencias frecuentes y cotidianas: aquellas que buscan resolver la incertidumbre de un mundo complejo e impredecible. Para ello, considera críticamente cómo los modelos tradicionales buscan explicar estas competencias cognitivas y su desempeño mediante reglas formales (Cálculo de Probabilidad) sin tener en cuenta el contexto ecológico. En un segundo lugar, la investigación presenta un acercamiento ecológico evolutivo al efecto de conjunción. Este problema, que fuera presentado por Tversky y Kahneman, refiere a uno de los principios más simples y elementales del cálculo de probabilidad: la probabilidad de una conjunción-la coocurrencia de dos eventos-no puede ser mayor que la de cada una de sus constituyentes por separado. El efecto de conjunción acontece porque la regla formal para resolver la coocurrencia de eventos no es utilizada en las inferencias probabilísticas cotidianas. En contraposición a la perspectiva tradicional, la investigación propone considerar cómo otras estrategias de solución son alcanzadas apelando a inferencias inteligentes basadas en criterios socioecológicos y evolutivos. Es por ello que, a través de estudios experimentales adaptados a un entorno local, se pone a prueba la hipótesis de la relevancia de estrategias socioecológicas en tareas probabilísticas. Los resultados obtenidos permiten respaldar esta hipótesis y señalan la importancia de los criterios socioecológicos en la explicación y el estudio de los procesos cognitivos humanos.Asociación de Antropología Biológica de la República Argentina (AABRA

Taboos, food avoidances, and diseases: Local epistemologies of health among Coastal Endenese in Eastern Indonesia

To advance interventions targeting malnutrition among small-scale fishing societies, knowledge on the role played by taboos and dietary avoidances on the consumption of fish related products becomes crucial. The article builds upon ethnographic fieldwork (participant observation, focus groups and interviews), dietary questionnaires (n: 112), and archival research among Coastal Endenese in Eastern Indonesia to understand the role played by taboos and dietary preferences in regulating intake of marine products. Moving beyond binary notions of “good” and “bad” when considering the food-system implications of taboos, it explores how local beliefs about illness and food shape dietary practices that can have concrete consequences for an individual's health. Endenese consider fish as having originated from terrestrial creatures, creating a continuous cycle of movement from land to sea and back. Within this cosmology, food is seen as a medium that can bring about healthy outcomes but also disease. Results emphasize the need to understand taboos and food avoidances within the larger cosmological and religious system but also underscore the changing nature of dietary preferences and values due to market integration processes which may have long-term repercussions on health. This information is key to the design of culturally sensitive dietary strategies and alternative livelihoods approaches that seek to minimize poverty

El uso de información socioecológica en la resolución de razonamientos en incertidumbre

Esta investigación propone evaluar la relevancia de la información socioecológica en el razonamiento probabilístico. En un primer lugar, analiza cómo los seres humanos producen un tipo de inferencias frecuentes y cotidianas: aquellas que buscan resolver la incertidumbre de un mundo complejo e impredecible. Para ello, considera críticamente cómo los modelos tradicionales buscan explicar estas competencias cognitivas y su desempeño mediante reglas formales (Cálculo de Probabilidad) sin tener en cuenta el contexto ecológico. En un segundo lugar, la investigación presenta un acercamiento ecológico evolutivo al efecto de conjunción. Este problema, que fuera presentado por Tversky y Kahneman, refiere a uno de los principios más simples y elementales del cálculo de probabilidad: la probabilidad de una conjunción-la coocurrencia de dos eventos-no puede ser mayor que la de cada una de sus constituyentes por separado. El efecto de conjunción acontece porque la regla formal para resolver la coocurrencia de eventos no es utilizada en las inferencias probabilísticas cotidianas. En contraposición a la perspectiva tradicional, la investigación propone considerar cómo otras estrategias de solución son alcanzadas apelando a inferencias inteligentes basadas en criterios socioecológicos y evolutivos. Es por ello que, a través de estudios experimentales adaptados a un entorno local, se pone a prueba la hipótesis de la relevancia de estrategias socioecológicas en tareas probabilísticas. Los resultados obtenidos permiten respaldar esta hipótesis y señalan la importancia de los criterios socioecológicos en la explicación y el estudio de los procesos cognitivos humanos.Asociación de Antropología Biológica de la República Argentina (AABRA

Interpersonal Synergies

We present the perspective that interpersonal movement coordination results from establishing interpersonal synergies. Interpersonal synergies are higher-order control systems formed by coupling movement system degrees of freedom of two (or more) actors. Characteristic features of synergies identified in studies of intrapersonal coordination – dimensional compression and reciprocal compensation – are revealed in studies of interpersonal coordination that applied the uncontrolled manifold approach and principal component analysis to interpersonal movement tasks. Broader implications of the interpersonal synergy approach for movement science include an expanded notion of mechanism and an emphasis on interaction-dominant dynamics