Spatial analysis of phylogenetic community structure: New version of a classical method

The increasing availability of phylogenetic information facilitates the use of evolutionary methods in community ecology to reveal the importance of evolution in the species assembly process. However, while several methods have been applied to a wide range of communities across different spatial scales with the purpose of detecting non-random phylogenetic patterns, the spatial aspects of phylogenetic community structure have received far less attention. Accordingly, the question for this study is: can point pattern analysis be used for revealing the phylogenetic structure of multi-species assemblages? We introduce a new individual-centered procedure for analyzing the scale-dependent phylogenetic structure of multi-species point patterns based on digitized field data. The method uses nested circular plots with increasing radii drawn around each individual plant and calculates the mean phylogenetic distance between the focal individual and all individuals located in the circular ring delimited by two successive radii. This scale-dependent value is then averaged over all individuals of the same species and the observed mean is compared to a null expectation with permutation procedures. The method detects particular radius values at which the point pattern of a single species exhibits maximum deviation from the expectation towards either phylogenetic aggregation or segregation. Its performance is illustrated using data from a grassland community in Hungary and simulated point patterns. The proposed method can be extended to virtually any distance function for species pairs, such as functional distances

Interactive Decision Support for Risk Management: a Qualitative Evaluation in Cancer Genetic Counselling Sessions

Genetic counselling for inherited susceptibility to cancer involves communication of a significant amount of information about possible consequences of different interventions. This study explores counsellors' attitudes to computer software designed to aid this process. Eight genetic counsellors used the software with actors playing patients. Clinicians' rating of expected patient satisfaction, content, accuracy, timeliness, format, overall value, ease of use, effect on the patient–provider relationship and effect on clinician's performance were evaluated via qualitative and quantitative analysis of interviews, training tasks and questionnaires. Most counsellors found the software effective. Concerns related to possible impact on consultation dynamics and content. Participants suggested countering these through appropriate new counselling skills and selective use of the computer. The REACT software could provide effective support for genetic risk management counselling

Identifying the science and technology dimensions of emerging public policy issues through horizon scanning

Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security.Public policy requires public support, which in turn implies a need to enable the public not just to understand policy but also to be engaged in its development. Where complex science and technology issues are involved in policy making, this takes time, so it is important to identify emerging issues of this type and prepare engagement plans. In our horizon scanning exercise, we used a modified Delphi technique [1]. A wide group of people with interests in the science and policy interface (drawn from policy makers, policy adviser, practitioners, the private sector and academics) elicited a long list of emergent policy issues in which science and technology would feature strongly and which would also necessitate public engagement as policies are developed. This was then refined to a short list of top priorities for policy makers. Thirty issues were identified within broad areas of business and technology; energy and environment; government, politics and education; health, healthcare, population and aging; information, communication, infrastructure and transport; and public safety and national security

The 28 November 2020 Landslide, Tsunami, and Outburst Flood – A Hazard Cascade Associated With Rapid Deglaciation at Elliot Creek, British Columbia, Canada

We describe and model the evolution of a recent landslide, tsunami, outburst flood, and sediment plume in the southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada. On November 28, 2020, about 18 million m3 of rock descended 1,000 m from a steep valley wall and traveled across the toe of a glacier before entering a 0.6 km2 glacier lake and producing >100-m high run-up. Water overtopped the lake outlet and scoured a 10-km long channel before depositing debris on a 2-km2 fan below the lake outlet. Floodwater, organic debris, and fine sediment entered a fjord where it produced a 60+km long sediment plume and altered turbidity, water temperature, and water chemistry for weeks. The outburst flood destroyed forest and salmon spawning habitat. Physically based models of the landslide, tsunami, and flood provide real-time simulations of the event and can improve understanding of similar hazard cascades and the risk they pose

A study protocol to characterise pathophysiological and molecular markers of rheumatic heart disease and degenerative aortic stenosis using multiparametric cardiovascular imaging and multiomics techniques

INTRODUCTION: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD), degenerative aortic stenosis (AS), and congenital valve diseases are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. Many knowledge gaps remain in understanding disease mechanisms, stratifying phenotypes, and prognostication. Therefore, we aimed to characterise patients through clinical profiling, imaging, histology, and molecular biomarkers to improve our understanding of the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and prognosis of RHD and AS. METHODS: In this cross-sectional, case–controlled study, we plan to recruit RHD and AS patients and compare them to matched controls. Living participants will undergo clinical assessment, echocardiography, CMR and blood sampling for circulatory biomarker analyses. Tissue samples will be obtained from patients undergoing valve replacement, while healthy tissues will be obtained from cadavers. Immunohistology, proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptome analyses will be used to analyse circulatory- and tissue-specific biomarkers. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses will be used for hypothesis testing and identification of important biomarkers. In summary, this study aims to delineate the pathophysiology of RHD and degenerative AS using multiparametric CMR imaging. In addition to discover novel biomarkers and explore the pathomechanisms associated with RHD and AS through high-throughput profiling of the tissue and blood proteome and metabolome and provide a proof of concept of the suitability of using cadaveric tissues as controls for cardiovascular disease studies

Decision tools in health care: focus on the problem, not the solution

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews or randomised-controlled trials usually help to establish the effectiveness of drugs and other health technologies, but are rarely sufficient by themselves to ensure actual clinical use of the technology. The process from innovation to routine clinical use is complex. Numerous computerised decision support systems (DSS) have been developed, but many fail to be taken up into actual use. Some developers construct technologically advanced systems with little relevance to the real world. Others did not determine whether a clinical need exists. With NHS investing £5 billion in computer systems, also occurring in other countries, there is an urgent need to shift from a technology-driven approach to one that identifies and employs the most cost-effective method to manage knowledge, regardless of the technology. The generic term, 'decision tool' (DT), is therefore suggested to demonstrate that these aids, which seem different technically, are conceptually the same from a clinical viewpoint. DISCUSSION: Many computerised DSSs failed for various reasons, for example, they were not based on best available knowledge; there was insufficient emphasis on their need for high quality clinical data; their development was technology-led; or evaluation methods were misapplied. We argue that DSSs and other computer-based, paper-based and even mechanical decision aids are members of a wider family of decision tools. A DT is an active knowledge resource that uses patient data to generate case specific advice, which supports decision making about individual patients by health professionals, the patients themselves or others concerned about them. The identification of DTs as a consistent and important category of health technology should encourage the sharing of lessons between DT developers and users and reduce the frequency of decision tool projects focusing only on technology. The focus of evaluation should become more clinical, with the impact of computer-based DTs being evaluated against other computer, paper- or mechanical tools, to identify the most cost effective tool for each clinical problem. SUMMARY: We suggested the generic term 'decision tool' to demonstrate that decision-making aids, such as computerised DSSs, paper algorithms, and reminders are conceptually the same, so the methods to evaluate them should be the same

Theatre and time ecology: deceleration in Stifters Dinge

This article explores the production of ‘time ecology’ in two works of postdramatic theatre: Heiner Goebbels’ Stifters Dinge (2007) and Philippe Quesne’s L’Effet de Serge (2007). By focusing on the practice of deceleration, it argues that theatre’s ecological potential resides not so much in its ability to represent the world, but rather in its capacity for producing new types of temporal experience that purposefully seek to break with modernity’s regime of historicity and the accelerated rhythms that it has given rise to. Importantly, my concern with deceleration is not an argument for slowness per se; on the contrary, I am interested in highlighting the presence of multiple and interpenetrating timescales and rhythms. As well as exposing the full extent of theatre’s temporal potential, such a concern with postdramatic ‘chronographies’ offers an implicit critique of dramatic theatre’s extant practices of eco-dramaturgy that, all too often, attempt to construct a linear narrative which is invested in conventional sequential models of temporality (beginning, middle, end)

Endothelial microparticles prevent lipid-induced endothelial damage via Akt/eNOS signaling and reduced oxidative stress.

Endothelial microparticles (EMPs) are endothelium-derived submicron vesicles that are released in response to diverse stimuli and are elevated in cardiovascular disease, which is correlated with risk factors. This study investigates the effect of EMPs on endothelial cell function and dysfunction in a model of free fatty acid (FFA) palmitate-induced oxidative stress. EMPs were generated from TNF-α-stimulated HUVECs and quantified by using flow cytometry. HUVECs were treated with and without palmitate in the presence or absence of EMPs. EMPs were found to carry functional eNOS and to protect against oxidative stress by positively regulating eNOS/Akt signaling, which restored NO production, increased superoxide dismutase and catalase, and suppressed NADPH oxidase and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, with the involvement of NF-erythroid 2-related factor 2 and heme oxygenase-1. Conversely, under normal conditions, EMPs reduced NO release and increased ROS and redox-sensitive marker expression. In addition, functional assays using EMP-treated mouse aortic rings that were performed under homeostatic conditions demonstrated a decline in endothelium-dependent vasodilatation, but restored the functional response under lipid-induced oxidative stress. These data indicate that EMPs harbor functional eNOS and potentially play a role in the feedback loop of damage and repair during homeostasis, but are also effective in protecting against FFA-induced oxidative stress; thus, EMP function is reflected by the microenvironment.-Mahmoud, A. M., Wilkinson, F. L., McCarthy, E. M., Moreno-Martinez, D., Langford-Smith, A., Romero, M., Duarte, J., Alexander, M. Y. Endothelial microparticles prevent lipid-induced endothelial damage via Akt/eNOS signaling and reduced oxidative stress

Identifying chondroprotective diet-derived bioactives and investigating their synergism

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a multifactorial disease and nutrition is a modifiable factor that may contribute to disease onset or progression. A detailed understanding of mechanisms through which diet-derived bioactive molecules function and interact in OA is needed. We profiled 96 diet-derived, mainly plant-based bioactives using an in vitro model in chondrocytes, selecting four candidates for further study. We aimed to determine synergistic interactions between bioactives that affected the expression of key genes in OA. Selected bioactives, sulforaphane, apigenin, isoliquiritigenin and luteolin, inhibited one or more interleukin-1-induced metalloproteinases implicated in OA (MMP1, MMP13, ADAMTS4, ADAMTS5). Isoliquiritigenin and luteolin showed reactive oxygen species scavenging activity in chondrocytes whereas sulforaphane had no effect and apigenin showed only a weak trend. Sulforaphane inhibited the IL-1/NFκB and Wnt3a/TCF/Lef pathways and increased TGFβ/Smad2/3 and BMP6/Smad1/5/8 signalling. Apigenin showed potent inhibition of the IL-1/NFκB and TGFβ/Smad2/3 pathways, whereas luteolin showed only weak inhibition of the IL-1/NFκB pathway. All four bioactives inhibited cytokine-induced aggrecan loss from cartilage tissue explants. The combination of sulforaphane and isoliquiritigenin was synergistic for inhibiting MMP13 gene expression in chondrocytes. We conclude that dietary-derived bioactives may be important modulators of cartilage homeostasis and synergistic relationships between bioactives may have an anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective role