Prospect theory, mitigation and adaptation to climate change

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges in current environmental policy. Appropriate policies intended to stimulate efficient adaptation and mitigation should not exclusively rely on the assumption of the homo oeconomicus, but take advantage of well-researched alternative behavioural patterns. Prospect theory provides a number of climate-relevant insights, such as the notion that evaluations of outcomes are reference dependent, and the relevance of perceived certainty of outcomes. This paper systematically reviews what prospect theory can offer to analyse mitigation and adaptation. It is shown that accounting for reference dependence and certainty effects contributes to a better understanding of some well-known puzzles in the climate debate, including (but not limited to) the different uptake of mitigation and adaptation amongst individuals and nations, the role of technical vs. financial adaptation, and the apparent preference for hard protection measures in coastal adaptation. Finally, concrete possibilities for empirical research on these effects are proposed

Tomato TFT1 Is Required for PAMP-Triggered Immunity and Mutations that Prevent T3S Effector XopN from Binding to TFT1 Attenuate Xanthomonas Virulence

XopN is a type III effector protein from Xanthomonas campestris pathovar vesicatoria that suppresses PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in tomato. Previous work reported that XopN interacts with the tomato 14-3-3 isoform TFT1; however, TFT1's role in PTI and/or XopN virulence was not determined. Here we show that TFT1 functions in PTI and is a XopN virulence target. Virus-induced gene silencing of TFT1 mRNA in tomato leaves resulted in increased growth of Xcv ΔxopN and Xcv ΔhrpF demonstrating that TFT1 is required to inhibit Xcv multiplication. TFT1 expression was required for Xcv-induced accumulation of PTI5, GRAS4, WRKY28, and LRR22 mRNAs, four PTI marker genes in tomato. Deletion analysis revealed that the XopN C-terminal domain (amino acids 344–733) is sufficient to bind TFT1. Removal of amino acids 605–733 disrupts XopN binding to TFT1 in plant extracts and inhibits XopN-dependent virulence in tomato, demonstrating that these residues are necessary for the XopN/TFT1 interaction. Phos-tag gel analysis and mass spectrometry showed that XopN is phosphorylated in plant extracts at serine 688 in a putative 14-3-3 recognition motif. Mutation of S688 reduced XopN's phosphorylation state but was not sufficient to inhibit binding to TFT1 or reduce XopN virulence. Mutation of S688 and two leucines (L64,L65) in XopN, however, eliminated XopN binding to TFT1 in plant extracts and XopN virulence. L64 and L65 are required for XopN to bind TARK1, a tomato atypical receptor kinase required for PTI. This suggested that TFT1 binding to XopN's C-terminal domain might be stabilized via TARK1/XopN interaction. Pull-down and BiFC analyses show that XopN promotes TARK1/TFT1 complex formation in vitro and in planta by functioning as a molecular scaffold. This is the first report showing that a type III effector targets a host 14-3-3 involved in PTI to promote bacterial pathogenesis

The benefit of directly comparing autism and schizophrenia for revealing mechanisms of social cognitive impairment

Autism and schizophrenia share a history of diagnostic conflation that was not definitively resolved until the publication of the DSM-III in 1980. Though now recognized as heterogeneous disorders with distinct developmental trajectories and dissociative features, much of the early nosological confusion stemmed from apparent overlap in certain areas of social dysfunction. In more recent years, separate but substantial literatures have accumulated for autism and schizophrenia demonstrating that abnormalities in social cognition directly contribute to the characteristic social deficits of both disorders. The current paper argues that direct comparison of social cognitive impairment can highlight shared and divergent mechanisms underlying pathways to social dysfunction, a process that can provide significant clinical benefit by informing the development of tailored treatment efforts. Thus, while the history of diagnostic conflation between autism and schizophrenia may have originated in similarities in social dysfunction, the goal of direct comparisons is not to conflate them once again but rather to reveal distinctions that illuminate disorder-specific mechanisms and pathways that contribute to social cognitive impairment

Troponin T-release associates with cardiac radiation doses during adjuvant left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy

Background Adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) for left-sided breast cancer increases cardiac morbidity and mortality. For the heart, no safe radiation threshold has been established. Troponin T is a sensitive marker of myocardial damage. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of left-sided breast cancer RT on serum high sensitivity troponin T (hscTnT) levels and its association with cardiac radiation doses and echocardiographic parameters. Methods A total of 58 patients with an early stage, left-sided breast cancer or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who received adjuvant breast RT without prior chemotherapy were included in this prospective, non-randomized study. Serum samples were taken before, during and after RT. An increase of hscTnT >30 % was predefined as significant. A comprehensive 2D echocardiograph and electrocardiogram (ECG) were performed before and after RT. Dose-volume histograms (DVHs) were generated for different cardiac structures. Results The hscTnT increased during RT from baseline in 12/58 patients (21 %). Patients with increased hscTnT values (group A, N = 12) had significantly higher radiation doses for the whole heart (p = 0.02) and left ventricle (p = 0.03) than patients without hscTnT increase (group B, N = 46). For the left anterior descending artery (LAD), differences between groups A and B were found in volumes receiving 15 Gy (p = 0.03) and 20 Gy (p = 0.03) Furthermore, after RT, the interventricular septum thickened (p = 0.01), and the deceleration time was prolonged (p = 0.008) more in group A than in group B. Conclusions The increase in hscTnT level during adjuvant RT was positively associated with the cardiac radiation doses for the whole heart and LV in chemotherapy-naive breast cancer patients. Whether these acute subclinical changes increase the risk of excessive long-term cardiovascular morbidity or mortality, will be addressed in the follow-up of our patients.BioMed Central open acces

Defining Insurance Models within Climate Change European Policies

The paper outlines the role of insurance as a political economic tool that can be used to face the issue of climate change. The magnitude of potential loss, the adverse social and economic consequences for millions of people and considerable fiscal strain imposed on the government budget by weather disasters indicate that governments can benefit significantly from the use of insurance instrument that would seamlessly not only cover damage but also incentivate risk reduction behaviours. Looking at the diversity of existing insurance systems in European countries, natural hazards insurance is examined in terms of private and public involvement, taking into account the EU climate change policies framework. The paper analyses the economic efficiency of different insurance models in relation to the informational imperfections, i.e. adverse selection, moral hazard, and market imperfection, i.e. charity hazard and transaction costs. Moreover, the different models are considered for the way they likely affect incentives to address climate change seeking mechanism to facilitate the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, the adaptation to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and the development of climate risk financial management. Conclusive remarks are presented about the possible future development of an European insurance system to find an economic efficient response to natural hazards caused by climate change