THE NEST, EGGS, AND NESTLING OF COOPMANS’S ELAENIA Elaenia brachyptera (TYRANNIDAE)

 We provide the first descriptions of the nest, eggs, and nestling of Coopmans’s Elaenia Elaenia brachyptera  from the foothills of northeastern Ecuador. We describe 7 active nests, 10 eggs, and 1 mid-aged nestling. Nests are open cups, woven of flexible, pale fibers and rootlets, externally decorated with various loosely-arranged materials. They are placed in small saplings within flat, rocky, river floodplains. Nest placement and architecture make nests difficult to distinguish from naturally accumulated materials left behind by periodic flooding. Clutch size ranged from 1–2 eggs and we estimate incubation to last 15–16 days. Eggs are typical of the genus, buffy to creamy white with small cinnamon and lavender spots and blotches concentrated at the larger end. We also provide a comprehensive review of published literature on the nests, eggs, and breeding ecology for the genus Elaenia, including studies on 30 of the 46 currently recognized taxa.Proporcionamos las primeras descripciones del nido, huevos y pichón de la Elenia de Coopmans Elaenia brachyptera provenientes de las estribaciones del noreste de Ecuador. Describimos 7 nidos activos, 10 huevos y un polluelo de mediana edad. Los nidos son tazas abiertas, tejidas de fibras y raicillas pálidas y flexibles, decoradas externamente con varios materiales, organizados flojamente. Los nidos se ubicaron en pequeños retoños dentro de llanuras aluviales planas y rocosas. La colocación y la arquitectura del nido hacen que sea difícil diferenciarlos de materiales acumulados de forma natural por las inundaciones periódicas. El tamaño de puesta varió de 1–2 huevos y estimamos que el periodo de incubación duró 15–16 días. Los huevos son típicos del género, blanco-cremosos con pequeñas manchas canela y púrpura pálido (lavanda) concentradas en el extremo más grande. Proporcionamos también una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura publicada sobre los nidos, huevos o ecología reproductiva del género Elaenia, lo cual incluye estudios sobre 30 de los 46 taxones actualmente reconocidos

BREEDING BEHAVIOR OF THE GRAY-BREASTED FLYCATCHER (LATHROTRICCUS GRISEIPECTUS) IN SOUTHWESTERN ECUADOR

Abstract ∙ Little is known about the nesting behavior of the Gray-breasted Flycatcher (Lathrotriccus griseipectus), a species listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. In order to add fundamental information on the life history of this species, we recorded parental behavior at a nest in February–March 2010 in the Jorupe Reserve in southwestern Ecuador. Recordings were made on a tripod-mounted video camera and took place during part of the incubation and nestling stages. Both adults provisioned nestlings. We recorded 7.1 feeds per nestling-hour, with the highest average provisioning rates occurring from 12:00–13:00 h. Nestlings produced an average of 0.8 fecal sacs per nestling-hour. Nestlings fledged in quick succession shortly before 12:00 h on nestling-day 14.Resumen ∙ El cuidado parental del Mosquero Pechigrís (Lathrotriccus griseipectus) en el suroeste del Ecuador La biología reproductiva del Mosquero Pechigrís (Lathrotriccus griseipectus), una especie catalogada como “Vulnerable” por la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, es poco conocida. Con el fin de añadir datos básicos sobre la historia de vida del Mosquero Pechigrís, utilizamos una cámara de video para realizar observaciones de un nido ubicado en la Reserva Jorupe en el suroeste de Ecuador, entre febrero y marzo de 2010. Las grabaciones tuvieron lugar durante parte de las etapas de incubación y polluelo. Ambos adultos aprovisionaron polluelos. Registramos 7.1 alimentaciones de polluelo por hora, siendo las tasas de aprovisionamiento más altas de 12:00–13:00 h. Los polluelos produjeron un promedio de 0.8 sacos fecales por hora y polluelo. Los polluelos emplumaron en rápida sucesión poco antes del mediodía 14 días luego de la eclosión

Understanding Evolutionary Impacts of Seasonality: An Introduction to the Symposium

Seasonality is a critically important aspect of environmental variability, and strongly shapes all aspects of life for organisms living in highly seasonal environments. Seasonality has played a key role in generating biodiversity, and has driven the evolution of extreme physiological adaptations and behaviors such as migration and hibernation. Fluctuating selection pressures on survival and fecundity between summer and winter provide a complex selective landscape, which can be met by a combination of three outcomes of adaptive evolution: genetic polymorphism, phenotypic plasticity, and bet-hedging. Here, we have identified four important research questions with the goal of advancing our understanding of evolutionary impacts of seasonality. First, we ask how characteristics of environments and species will determine which adaptive response occurs. Relevant characteristics include costs and limits of plasticity, predictability, and reliability of cues, and grain of environmental variation relative to generation time. A second important question is how phenological shifts will amplify or ameliorate selection on physiological hardiness. Shifts in phenology can preserve the thermal niche despite shifts in climate, but may fail to completely conserve the niche or may even expose life stages to conditions that cause mortality. Considering distinct environmental sensitivities of life history stages will be key to refining models that forecast susceptibility to climate change. Third, we must identify critical physiological phenotypes that underlie seasonal adaptation and work toward understanding the genetic architectures of these responses. These architectures are key for predicting evolutionary responses. Pleiotropic genes that regulate multiple responses to changing seasons may facilitate coordination among functionally related traits, or conversely may constrain the expression of optimal phenotypes. Finally, we must advance our understanding of how changes in seasonal fluctuations are impacting ecological interaction networks. We should move beyond simple dyadic interactions, such as predator prey dynamics, and understand how these interactions scale up to affect ecological interaction networks. As global climate change alters many aspects of seasonal variability, including extreme events and changes in mean conditions, organisms must respond appropriately or go extinct. The outcome of adaptation to seasonality will determine responses to climate change

Estimated discharge of microplastics via urban stormwater during individual rain events

Urban stormwater runoff is an important pathway for the introduction of microplastics and other anthropogenic pollutants into aquatic environments. Highly variable concentrations of microplastics have been reported globally in runoff, but knowledge of key factors within urban environments contributing to this variability remains limited. Furthermore, few studies to date have quantitatively assessed the release of microplastics to receiving waters via runoff. The objectives of this study were to assess the influence of different catchment characteristics on the type and amount of microplastics in runoff and to provide an estimate of the quantity of microplastics discharged during rain events. Stormwater samples were collected during both dry periods (baseflow) and rain events from 15 locations throughout the city of Calgary, Canada’s fourth largest city. These catchments ranged in size and contained different types of predominant land use. Microplastics were found in all samples, with total concentrations ranging from 0.7 to 200.4 pcs/L (mean = 31.9 pcs/L). Fibers were the most prevalent morphology identified (47.7 ± 33.0%), and the greatest percentage of microplastics were found in the 125–250 µm size range (26.6 ± 22.9%) followed by the 37–125 µm size range (24.0 ± 22.3%). Particles were predominantly black (33.5 ± 33.8%), transparent (22.6 ± 31.3%), or blue (16.0 ± 21.6%). Total concentrations, dominant morphologies, and size distributions of microplastics differed between rain events and baseflow, with smaller particles and higher concentrations being found during rain events. Concentrations did not differ significantly amongst catchments with different land use types, but concentrations were positively correlated with maximum runoff flow rate, catchment size, and the percentage of impervious surface area within a catchment. Combining microplastic concentrations with hydrograph data collected during rain events, we estimated that individual outfalls discharged between 1.9 million to 9.6 billion microplastics to receiving waters per rain event. These results provide further evidence that urban stormwater runoff is a significant pathway for the introduction of microplastics into aquatic environments and suggests that mitigation strategies for microplastic pollution should focus on larger urbanized catchments

From recommendation to action: psychosocial factors influencing physician intention to use Health Technology Assessment (HTA) recommendations

BACKGROUND: Evaluating the impact of recommendations based upon health technology assessment (HTA) represents a challenge for both HTA agencies and healthcare policy-makers. Using a psychosocial theoretical framework, this study aimed at exploring the factors affecting physician intention to adopt HTA recommendations. The selected recommendations were prioritisation systems for patients on waiting lists for two surgical procedures: hip and knee replacement and cataract surgery. METHODS: Determinants of physician intention to use HTA recommendations for patient prioritisation were assessed by a questionnaire based upon the Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour. A total of 96 physicians from two medical specialties (ophthalmology and orthopaedic surgery) responded to the questionnaire (response rate 44.2%). A multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to assess differences between medical specialties on the set of theoretical variables. Given the main effect difference between specialties, two regression models were tested separately to assess the psychosocial determinants of physician intention to use HTA recommendations for the prioritisation of patients on waiting lists for surgical procedures. RESULTS: Factors influencing physician intention to use HTA recommendations differ between groups of specialists. Intention to use the prioritisation system for patients on waiting lists for cataract surgery among ophthalmologists was related to attitude towards the behaviour, social norms, as well as personal normative beliefs. Intention to use HTA recommendations for patient prioritisation for hip and knee replacement among orthopaedic surgeons was explained by: perception of conditions that facilitated the realisation of the behaviour, personal normative beliefs, and habit of using HTA recommendations in clinical work. CONCLUSION: This study offers a model to assess factors influencing the intention to adopt recommendations from health technology assessment into professional practice. Results identify determinant factors that should be considered in the elaboration of strategies to support the implementation of evidence-based practice, with respect to emerging health technologies and modalities of practice. However, it is important to emphasise that behavioural determinants of evidence-based practice vary according to the specific technology considered. Evidence-based implementation of HTA recommendations, as well as other evidence-based practices, should build on a theoretical understanding of the complex forces that shape the practice of healthcare professionals

Ablation of PGC-1β Results in Defective Mitochondrial Activity, Thermogenesis, Hepatic Function, and Cardiac Performance

The transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1β (PGC-1β) has been implicated in important metabolic processes. A mouse lacking PGC-1β (PGC1βKO) was generated and phenotyped using physiological, molecular, and bioinformatic approaches. PGC1βKO mice are generally viable and metabolically healthy. Using systems biology, we identified a general defect in the expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function and, specifically, the electron transport chain. This defect correlated with reduced mitochondrial volume fraction in soleus muscle and heart, but not brown adipose tissue (BAT). Under ambient temperature conditions, PGC-1β ablation was partially compensated by up-regulation of PGC-1α in BAT and white adipose tissue (WAT) that lead to increased thermogenesis, reduced body weight, and reduced fat mass. Despite their decreased fat mass, PGC1βKO mice had hypertrophic adipocytes in WAT. The thermogenic role of PGC-1β was identified in thermoneutral and cold-adapted conditions by inadequate responses to norepinephrine injection. Furthermore, PGC1βKO hearts showed a blunted chronotropic response to dobutamine stimulation, and isolated soleus muscle fibres from PGC1βKO mice have impaired mitochondrial function. Lack of PGC-1β also impaired hepatic lipid metabolism in response to acute high fat dietary loads, resulting in hepatic steatosis and reduced lipoprotein-associated triglyceride and cholesterol content. Altogether, our data suggest that PGC-1β plays a general role in controlling basal mitochondrial function and also participates in tissue-specific adaptive responses during metabolic stress

Post-intervention Status in Patients With Refractory Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab During REGAIN and Its Open-Label Extension

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether eculizumab helps patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) achieve the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) post-intervention status of minimal manifestations (MM), we assessed patients' status throughout REGAIN (Safety and Efficacy of Eculizumab in AChR+ Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis) and its open-label extension. METHODS: Patients who completed the REGAIN randomized controlled trial and continued into the open-label extension were included in this tertiary endpoint analysis. Patients were assessed for the MGFA post-intervention status of improved, unchanged, worse, MM, and pharmacologic remission at defined time points during REGAIN and through week 130 of the open-label study. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed REGAIN and continued into the open-label study (eculizumab/eculizumab: 56; placebo/eculizumab: 61). At week 26 of REGAIN, more eculizumab-treated patients than placebo-treated patients achieved a status of improved (60.7% vs 41.7%) or MM (25.0% vs 13.3%; common OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). After 130 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 88.0% of patients achieved improved status and 57.3% of patients achieved MM status. The safety profile of eculizumab was consistent with its known profile and no new safety signals were detected. CONCLUSION: Eculizumab led to rapid and sustained achievement of MM in patients with AChR+ refractory gMG. These findings support the use of eculizumab in this previously difficult-to-treat patient population. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: REGAIN, NCT01997229; REGAIN open-label extension, NCT02301624. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that, after 26 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 25.0% of adults with AChR+ refractory gMG achieved MM, compared with 13.3% who received placebo

Impact of Optimized Breastfeeding on the Costs of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Extremely Low Birthweight Infants

To estimate risk of NEC for ELBW infants as a function of preterm formula and maternal milk (MM) intake and calculate the impact of suboptimal feeding on NEC incidence and costs