The European Portuguese version of the ASAS Health Index for Patients with Spondyloarthritis: Measurement properties

Objective: The Assessments of SpondyloArthritis international Society Health Index (ASAS HI), estimates the impact of Spondyloarthritis (SpA) on global functioning and health. This article assesses the construct validity, reliability and responsiveness of the Portuguese version of the ASAS HI. Patients And Methods: Patients fulfilling ASAS classification criteria for axial (axSpA) or peripheral SpA (pSpA) were included. Construct validity was assessed through Spearman’s correlation analysis with other health outcomes. Discriminant validity wastested comparing the ASAS HI across disease activity and functionalstates using the Kruskal–Wallistest. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s a, and test-retest reliability by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Responsiveness was evaluated by the standardized response mean (SRM) in patients with active disease who required therapy escalation. Results: Among the 91 patients included, 67% were male, mean (SD) age 47.2 (12.9) years, 63 patients with axSpA and 28 patients with pSpA. The hypothesis defined a priori to test construct validity were confirmed. The ASAS HI showed ability to discriminate between patients with different disease activity and functional states (p<0.001). Internal consistency (Cronbach’s a: 0.88) and test-retest reliability [ICC=0.76 (95%CI 0.09-0.91)] were good. Responsiveness was moderate\ud (SRM=-0.53). The smallest detectable change was 3.0. Conclusions: The Portuguese version of the ASAS HI is a comprehensible questionnaire that is valid, reliable and responsive. It can be used to assess the impact of SpA and its treatment on functioning and health, in clinical practice and for research purposes

Asas health index for patients with spondyloarthritis: translation into portuguese, validation, and reliability

Trabalho apresentado no Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2017), 14-17 junho de 2017, Madrid, EspanhaN/

Quantifying individual specialization using tracking data: a case study on two species of albatrosses.

Many predictive models of spatial and temporal distribution (e.g. in response to climate change or species introductions) assume that species have one environmental niche that applies to all individuals. However, there is growing evidence that individuals can have environmental preferences that are narrower than the species niche. Such individual specialization has mainly been studied in terms of dietary niches, but a recent increase in the availability of individual movement data opens the possibility of extending these analyses to specialisation in environmental preferences. Yet, no study to date on individual specialisation has considered the environmental niche in its multidimensionality. Here we propose a new method for quantifying individual specialisation in multiple dimensions simultaneously. We compare the hypervolumes in n-dimensional environmental niche space of each individual against that of the population, testing for significant differences against a null model. The same method can be applied to a 2-dimensional geographic space to test for site fidelity. We applied this method to test for individual environmental specialisation (across three dimensions: sea surface temperature, eddy kinetic energy, depth) and for site fidelity among satellite-tracked black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) and grey-headed albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma), during chick-rearing at South Georgia. We found evidence for site fidelity in both species and of environmental specialisation among individual grey-headed but not black-browed albatrosses. Specialisation can affect the resilience of populations affected by natural and anthropogenic changes in the environment, and hence has implications for population dynamics and conservation

Empirical phylogenies and species abundance distributions are consistent with preequilibrium dynamics of neutral community models with gene flow

Community characteristics reflect past ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Here, we investigate whether it is possible to obtain realistically shaped modeled communities-that is with phylogenetic trees and species abundance distributions shaped similarly to typical empirical bird and mammal communities-from neutral community models. To test the effect of gene flow, we contrasted two spatially explicit individual-based neutral models: one with protracted speciation, delayed by gene flow, and one with point mutation speciation, unaffected by gene flow. The former produced more realistic communities (shape of phylogenetic tree and species-abundance distribution), consistent with gene flow being a key process in macro-evolutionary dynamics. Earlier models struggled to capture the empirically observed branching tempo in phylogenetic trees, as measured by the gamma statistic. We show that the low gamma values typical of empirical trees can be obtained in models with protracted speciation, in preequilibrium communities developing from an initially abundant and widespread species. This was even more so in communities sampled incompletely, particularly if the unknown species are the youngest. Overall, our results demonstrate that the characteristics of empirical communities that we have studied can, to a large extent, be explained through a purely neutral model under preequilibrium conditions

Exploring intraspecific variation in migratory destinations to investigate the drivers of migration

International audienceVarious benefits (e.g. tracking of resources and of climate niche) and costs (e.g. distance travelled) are hypothesized to drive seasonal animal migrations. Until now, these potential factors have been investigated together at the species level, but migratory movements are made at the individual level, leading to intraspecific variability. Here, we use ringing/recovery data from 1308 individuals belonging to thirteen North American bird species to analyse patterns in intraspecific variability of migratory destinations in order to investigate which factors underpin bird migration and how individuals trade‐off among multiple factors. Our results suggest that migratory destinations have been shaped by access to resources (most important during the breeding season) and climatic niche tracking (during winter, mostly). However, the benefits of resource surpluses and climate niche tracking appear to be traded off against the cost of migratory distance, which seems to strongly constrain where individuals migrate

Mapping Global Diversity Patterns for Migratory Birds

<div><p>Nearly one in five bird species has separate breeding and overwintering distributions, and the regular migrations of these species cause a substantial seasonal redistribution of avian diversity across the world. However, despite its ecological importance, bird migration has been largely ignored in studies of global avian biodiversity, with few studies having addressed it from a macroecological perspective. Here, we analyse a dataset on the global distribution of the world’s birds in order to examine global spatial patterns in the diversity of migratory species, including: the seasonal variation in overall species diversity due to migration; the contribution of migratory birds to local bird diversity; and the distribution of narrow-range and threatened migratory birds. Our analyses reveal a striking asymmetry between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, evident in all of the patterns investigated. The highest migratory bird diversity was found in the Northern Hemisphere, with high inter-continental turnover in species composition between breeding and non-breeding seasons, and extensive regions (at high latitudes) where migratory birds constitute the majority of the local avifauna. Threatened migratory birds are concentrated mainly in Central and Southern Asia, whereas narrow-range migratory species are mainly found in Central America, the Himalayas and Patagonia. Overall, global patterns in the diversity of migratory birds indicate that bird migration is mainly a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon. The asymmetry between the Northern and Southern hemispheres could not have easily been predicted from the combined results of regional scale studies, highlighting the importance of a global perspective.</p></div

Example of the distribution of a migratory species (Black-capped Kingfisher <i>Halcyon pileata</i>).

<p>This figure is illustrating: (A) the complete distribution (in brown); (B) subdivision into breeding (red), resident (green) and non-breeding (blue) components; (C) July distribution (including breeding and resident components); (D) January distribution (including non-breeding and resident components); (E) non-permanent distribution (breeding and non-breeding components). Photo by JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons.</p