Western Indian Ocean coral communities: bleaching responses and susceptibility to extinction

A field study of coral bleaching and coral communities was undertaken spanning 8 countries and ~35° of latitude in 2005. This was combined with studies in southern Kenya and northeast Madagascar in 1998 and Mauritius in 2004 to develop a synoptic analysis of coral community structure, bleaching response, susceptibility of the communities to bleaching, and the relative risk of extinctions in western Indian Ocean coral reefs. Cluster analysis identified 8 distinct coral communities among the 91 sites sampled, with 2 distinct communities in northern South Africa and central Mozambique, a third in the central atolls of the Maldives, and 5 less differentiated groups, in a swath from southern Kenya to Mauritius, including Tanzania, the granitic islands of the Seychelles, northeast Madagascar, and Réunion. Massive Porites, Pavona, and Pocillopora dominated the central and northern Indian Ocean sites and, from historical records, replaced dominance by Acropora and Montipora. From southern Kenya to Mauritius, coral communities were less disturbed, with Acropora and Montipora dominating, and a mix of subdominants including branching Porites, Fungia, Galaxea, massive Porites, Pocillopora, and Synarea. The survey identified an area from southernmost Kenya to Tanzania as having the least disturbed and highest diversity reefs, and as being a regional priority for management. Taxa vulnerable to future extinction based on their response to warm water, population density, and commonness include largely low-diversity genera with narrow environmental ranges, such as Gyrosmilia interrupta, Plesiastrea versipora, Plerogyra sinuosa, and Physogyra lichtensteini

Therapeutic drug monitoring-guided treatment versus standard dosing of voriconazole for invasive aspergillosis in haematological patients: a multicentre, prospective, cluster randomised, crossover clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is recommended based on retrospective data and limited prospective studies. This study aimed to investigate whether TDM-guided voriconazole treatment is superior to standard treatment for invasive aspergillosis. METHODS: A multicentre (n = 10), prospective, cluster randomised, crossover clinical trial was performed in haematological patients aged ≥18 years treated with voriconazole. All patients received standard voriconazole dose at the start of treatment. Blood/serum/plasma was periodically collected after treatment initiation of voriconazole and repeated during treatment in both groups. The TDM group had measured voriconazole concentrations reported back, with dose adjustments made as appropriate, while the non-TDM group had voriconazole concentrations measured only after study completion. The composite primary endpoint included response to treatment and voriconazole treatment discontinuation due to an adverse drug reaction related to voriconazole within 28 days after treatment initiation. RESULTS: In total, 189 patients were enrolled in the study. For the composite primary endpoint, 74 patients were included in the non-TDM group and 68 patients in the TDM group. Here, no significant difference was found between both groups (P = 0.678). However, more trough concentrations were found within the generally accepted range of 1-6 mg/L for the TDM group (74.0%) compared with the non-TDM group (64.0%) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this trial, TDM-guided dosing of voriconazole did not show improved treatment outcome compared with standard dosing. We believe that these findings should open up the discussion for an approach to voriconazole TDM that includes drug exposure, pathogen susceptibility and host defence. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov registration no. NCT00893555

Biosphere–atmosphere exchange of reactive nitrogen and greenhouse gases at the NitroEurope core flux measurement sites: Measurement strategy and first data sets

The NitroEurope project aims to improve understanding of the nitrogen (N) cycle at the continental scale and quantify the major fluxes of reactive N by a combination of reactive N measurements and modelling activities. As part of the overall measurement strategy, a network of 13 flux ‘super sites’ (Level-3) has been established, covering European forest, arable, grassland and wetland sites, with the objective of quantifying the N budget at a high spatial resolution and temporal frequency for 4.5 years, and to estimate greenhouse gas budgets (N2O, CH4 and CO2). These sites are supported by a network of low-cost flux measurements (Level-2, 9 sites) and a network to infer reactive N fluxes at 58 sites (Level-1), for comparison with carbon (C) flux measurements. Measurements at the Level-3 sites include high resolution N2O, NO (also CH4, CO2) fluxes, wet and dry N deposition, leaching of N and C and N transformations in plant, litter and soil. Results for the first 11 months (1.8.2006 to 30.6.2007) suggest that the grasslands are the largest source of N2O, that forests are the largest source of NO and sink of CH4 and that N deposition rates influence NO and N2O fluxes in nonagricultural ecosystems. The NO and N2O emission ratio is influenced by soil type and precipitation. First budgets of reactive N entering and leaving the ecosystem and of net greenhouse gas exchange are outlined. Further information on rates of denitrification to N2 and biological N2 fixation is required to complete the N budgets for some sites. The quantitative roles played by CO2, N2O and CH4 in defining net greenhouse gas exchange differ widely between ecosystems depending on the interactions of climate, soil type, land use and management