SNAPSHOT USA 2019: a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August-24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1,509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the United States. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as will future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication

Global impression of perceived difficulties in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Reliability and validity of a new instrument assessing perceived difficulties from a patient, parent and physician perspective over the day

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a brief scale developed to assess the degree of difficulties in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The Global Impression of Perceived Difficulties (GIPD) scale reflects overall impairment, psychosocial functioning and Quality of Life (QoL) as rated by patient, parents and physician at various times of the day.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In two open-label studies, ADHD-patients aged 6–17 years were treated with atomoxetine (target-dose 0.5–1.2 mg/kg/day). ADHD-related difficulties were assessed up to week 24 using the GIPD. Data from both studies were combined to validate the scale.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 421 patients received atomoxetine. GIPD scores improved over time. All three GIPD-versions (patient, parent, physician) were internally consistent; all items showed at least moderate item-total correlation. The scale showed good test-retest reliability over a two-week period from all three perspectives. Good convergent and discriminant validity was shown.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>GIPD is an internally consistent, reliable and valid measure to assess difficulties in children with ADHD at various times of the day and can be used as indicator for psychosocial impairment and QoL. The scale is sensitive to treatment-related change.</p

Impaired dermal wound healing in discoidin domain receptor 2-deficient mice associated with defective extracellular matrix remodeling

Background The wounding response relies on tightly regulated crosstalk between recruited fibroblasts and the collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM). Discoidin domain receptor 2 (DDR2) is a tyrosine kinase receptor for fibrillar collagen expressed during pathologic scarring, for example wound healing, arthritis and cancer. We have previously shown that DDR2 phosphorylation drives key wounding responses in skin fibroblasts including proliferation, chemotactic migration and secretion of both metalloproteinases and fibrillar collagen. In this study we compared healing of cutaneous wounds in DDR2+/+ and DDR2-/- mice and analyzed specific fibroblast responses. Results Cutaneous wound healing was significantly delayed in DDR2-/- mice compared with DDR2+/+ animals. Reduced α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) expression and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) activity in the DDR2-/- wound extracts indicated defective recruitment of skin fibroblasts. DDR2-/- wounds showed decreased tensile strength during healing, which correlated with a significant reduction in collagen content and defective collagen crosslinking. Non-wounded skin in DDR2-/- mice expressed less mRNA of the crosslinking enzymes lysyl oxidase (LOX), lysyl hydroxylase1 (LH1) and matricellular 'secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine' (SPARC; also known as osteonectin). Skin fibroblasts isolated from DDR2-/- mice displayed altered mRNA expression of a cluster of collagens, proteoglycans, integrins and MMPs that have been previously correlated with DDR2 expression, and reduced LOX, LH1 and SPARC mRNA levels and proteins. Stable reconstitution of wild-type DDR2 by retroviral infection restored LOX, LH1 and SPARC mRNA and protein levels in DDR2-/- fibroblasts. Contraction of collagen gels was reduced in DDR2-/- fibroblasts, accompanied by significantly reduced phosphorylated SrcY418. Inhibition of either LOX activity by β-aminoproprionitrile or MMP activity by N-[(2R)-2-(hydroxamido carbonylmethyl)-4-methylpentanoyl]-l-tryptophan methylamide (GM6001) reduced collagen gel contraction by skin fibroblasts after DDR2 induction with soluble collagen type I. Conclusions DDR2 contributes to skin fibroblast responses during tissue injury. Defective synthesis of collagen type I, crosslinking molecules and MMP2 predispose DDR2-/- mice to defective dermal wounding

Mechanisms of Risk and Resilience in Military Families: Theoretical and Empirical Basis of a Family-Focused Resilience Enhancement Program

Recent studies have confirmed that repeated wartime deployment of a parent exacts a toll on military children and families and that the quality and functionality of familial relations is linked to force preservation and readiness. As a result, family-centered care has increasingly become a priority across the military health system. FOCUS (Families OverComing Under Stress), a family-centered, resilience-enhancing program developed by a team at UCLA and Harvard Schools of Medicine, is a primary initiative in this movement. In a large-scale implementation project initiated by the Bureau of Navy Medicine, FOCUS has been delivered to thousands of Navy, Marine, Navy Special Warfare, Army, and Air Force families since 2008. This article describes the theoretical and empirical foundation and rationale for FOCUS, which is rooted in a broad conception of family resilience. We review the literature on family resilience, noting that an important next step in building a clinically useful theory of family resilience is to move beyond developing broad “shopping lists” of risk indicators by proposing specific mechanisms of risk and resilience. Based on the literature, we propose five primary risk mechanisms for military families and common negative “chain reaction” pathways through which they undermine the resilience of families contending with wartime deployments and parental injury. In addition, we propose specific mechanisms that mobilize and enhance resilience in military families and that comprise central features of the FOCUS Program. We describe these resilience-enhancing mechanisms in detail, followed by a discussion of the ways in which evaluation data from the program’s first 2 years of operation supports the proposed model and the specified mechanisms of action

The Evolution of Extracellular Matrix

We present a perspective on the molecular evolution of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in metazoa that draws on research publications and data from sequenced genomes and expressed sequence tag libraries. ECM components do not function in isolation, and the biological ECM system or “adhesome” also depends on posttranslational processing enzymes, cell surface receptors, and extracellular proteases. We focus principally on the adhesome of internal tissues and discuss its origins at the dawn of the metazoa and the expansion of complexity that occurred in the chordate lineage. The analyses demonstrate very high conservation of a core adhesome that apparently evolved in a major wave of innovation in conjunction with the origin of metazoa. Integrin, CD36, and certain domains predate the metazoa, and some ECM-related proteins are identified in choanoflagellates as predicted sequences. Modern deuterostomes and vertebrates have many novelties and elaborations of ECM as a result of domain shuffling, domain innovations and gene family expansions. Knowledge of the evolution of metazoan ECM is important for understanding how it is built as a system, its roles in normal tissues and disease processes, and has relevance for tissue engineering, the development of artificial organs, and the goals of synthetic biology

Health-related quality-of-life measures for long-term follow-up in children after major trauma

Objective: Our objective was to review measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL) for long-term follow up in children after major trauma and to determine the measures that are suitable for a large age range, reliable and valid, and cover a substantial amount of the domains of functioning using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods: The Medline and EMBASE databases were searched in all years up to October 2007 for generic HRQL measures suitable for children aged 5-18 years old and validated in English or Dutch. Measures were reviewed with respect to the age range for which the measure was suitable and reliability, validity, and content related to the ICF. Results: The search resulted in 1,235 hits and 21 related articles. Seventy-nine papers met the inclusion criteria, describing in total 14 measures: Child Health and Illness Profile Adolescent and Child Edition (CHIP-AE/CE), Child Health Questionnaire Child and Parent Forms (CHQCF87/PF50/PF28), DISABKIDS, Functional Status II (FS II)(R), Health Utilities Index Mark 2 (HUI 2), KIDSCREEN 52/27, KINDL, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), TNO Institute of Prevention and Health and the Leiden University Hospital (TNO-AZL), TNO-AZL Children’s Quality Of Life (TACQOL), and Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Research Version (YQOL-R). Measures that were suitable for a large age range were CHQ-PF50/PF28, DISABKIDS, FS II(R), HUI 2, KIDSCREEN, PedsQL, and TACQOL. All measures had moderate to good psychometric properties, except for CHQ-PF50/PF28, KINDL, and TACQOL, which had either low internal consistency or bad test-retest reliability. The measures that covered more than six chapters of the ICF domains were CHIP-AE/CE, CHQ-CF87/PF50, DISABKIDS, KIDSCREEN-52, PedsQL, and TACQOL. Conclusions: DISABKIDS, KIDSCREEN 52, and Peds-QL are suitable for long-term follow-up measurement of HRQL in children after major trauma. They cover a large age range, have good psychometric properties, and cover the ICF substantially

SNAPSHOT USA 2019 : a coordinated national camera trap survey of the United States

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the United States. For our first annual survey, we compiled data across all 50 states during a 14-week period (17 August - 24 November of 2019). We sampled wildlife at 1509 camera trap sites from 110 camera trap arrays covering 12 different ecoregions across four development zones. This effort resulted in 166,036 unique detections of 83 species of mammals and 17 species of birds. All images were processed through the Smithsonian's eMammal camera trap data repository and included an expert review phase to ensure taxonomic accuracy of data, resulting in each picture being reviewed at least twice. The results represent a timely and standardized camera trap survey of the USA. All of the 2019 survey data are made available herein. We are currently repeating surveys in fall 2020, opening up the opportunity to other institutions and cooperators to expand coverage of all the urban-wild gradients and ecophysiographic regions of the country. Future data will be available as the database is updated at eMammal.si.edu/snapshot-usa, as well as future data paper submissions. These data will be useful for local and macroecological research including the examination of community assembly, effects of environmental and anthropogenic landscape variables, effects of fragmentation and extinction debt dynamics, as well as species-specific population dynamics and conservation action plans. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this paper when using the data for publication.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mammal responses to global changes in human activity vary by trophic group and landscape

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human–wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence.Peer reviewe