Bioeconomic Modeling of Hunting in a Spatially Structured System With Two Prey Species

Although it is well-known and documented that subsistence hunting in the tropics typically takes place in systems characterized by multiple prey species, and that are spatially structured, as hunting effort decreases with the distance from settlements and transportation routes, bioeconomic harvest models tend to be single-species and non-spatial. This paper presents a bioeconomic model that incorporates transport costs and handling costs, as well as two prey species, which interact by being hunted together. In particular, it focuses on how different parameters, corresponding to variability in ecological, socio-economic, and technological characteristics, affect two key dependent variables related to the distance from settlements, or transportation routes, namely (a) the extinction distance, i.e., the distance up to which one of the species, in some cases, becomes extirpated due to excessive hunting, and (b) the no-harvest distance, i.e., the distance beyond which no hunting takes place and the species in question persists at natural levels of abundance. Model results indicate, among other things, that the extinction distance and the no-harvest distance are piecewise smooth functions, which abruptly change slope at certain parameter values

Dynamics of human skin temperatures in interaction with different indoor conditions

Aalto University MIDE projec

Inflammatory Stratification in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome Reveals Novel Immune Cell Alterations in Patients’ Minor Salivary Glands

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Erythropoietin (EPO) increases myelin gene expression in CG4 oligodendrocyte cells through the classical EPO receptor

Erythropoietin (EPO) has protective effects in neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases, including in animal models of multiple sclerosis, where EPO decreases disease severity. EPO also promotes neurogenesis and is protective in models of toxic demyelination. In this study, we asked whether EPO could promote neurorepair by also inducing remyelination. In addition, we investigated whether the effect of EPO could be mediated by the classical erythropoietic EPO receptor (EPOR), since it is still questioned if EPOR is functional in non-hematopoietic cells. Using CG4 cells, a line of rat oligodendrocyte precursor cells, we found that EPO increases the expression of myelin genes (myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) and myelin basic protein (MBP)). EPO had no effect in wild-type CG4 cells, which do not express EPOR, whereas it increased MOG and MBP expression in cells engineered to overexpress EPOR (CG4-EPOR). This was reflected in a marked increase in MOG protein levels, as detected by western blot. In these cells, EPO induced by 10-fold the early growth response gene 2 (Egr2), which is required for peripheral myelination. However, Egr2 silencing with a siRNA did not reverse the effect of EPO, indicating that EPO acts through other pathways. In conclusion, EPO induces the expression of myelin genes in oligodendrocytes and this effect requires the presence of EPOR. This study demonstrates that EPOR can mediate neuroreparative effects

Biomarkers and prediction of myocardial triglyceride content in non-diabetic men

Background and aims: Lipid oversupply to cardiomyocytes or decreased utilization of lipids leads to cardiac steatosis. We aimed to examine the role of different circulating metabolic biomarkers as predictors of myocardial triglyceride (TG) content in non-diabetic men. Methods and results: Myocardial and hepatic TG contents were measured with 1.5 T magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy, and LV function, visceral adipose tissue (VAT), abdominal subcutaneous tissue (SAT), epicardial and pericardial fat by MR imaging in 76 non-diabetic men. Serum concentration of circulating metabolic biomarkers [adiponectin, leptin, adipocyte-fatty acid binding protein 4 (A-FABP 4), resistin, and lipocalin-2] including beta-hydroxybuturate (beta-OHB) were measured. Subjects were stratified by tertiles of myocardial TG into low, moderate, and high myocardial TG content groups. Concentrations of beta-OHB were lower (p = 0.003) and serum levels of A-FABP 4 were higher (p <0.001) in the group with high myocardial TG content compared with the group with low myocardial TG content. beta-OHB was negatively correlated with myocardial TG content (r = -0.316, p = 0.006), whereas A-FABP 4 was not correlated with myocardial TG content (r = 0.192, p = 0.103). In multivariable analyses beta-OHB and plasma glucose levels were the best predictors of myocardial TG content independently of VAT and hepatic TG content. The model explained 58.8% of the variance in myocardial TG content. Conclusion: Our data showed that beta-OHB and fasting glucose were the best predictors of myocardial TG content in non-diabetic men. These data suggest that hyperglycemia and alterations in lipid oxidation may be associated with cardiac steatosis in humans. (C) 2015 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Health benefit for the child and promotion of the common good were the two most important reasons for participation in the FinIP vaccine trial

Background and aims: The Finnish Invasive Pneumococcal disease (FinIP) vaccine trial was a nationwide cluster-randomised double-blind trial designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in vaccinated children and indirect effects in unvaccinated populations. Together with the parallel carriage/AOM trial, over 47,000 children were enrolled, 52% of the initial target. We conducted a questionnaire study to find out which factors affected parents’ decision on their child’s study participation. Methods: A questionnaire designed to evaluate parents’ attitudes to vaccine trial participation in general and the FinIP trial in particular was mailed after the trial enrolment period had ended to parents of randomly selected children: 1,484 who participated in the trial and 1,485 who did not participate. Results: Altogether 1,438 parents (48%) responded to the questionnaire. The response rate was higher among FinIP participants (65%, 965/1,484) than among FinIP non-participants (32%, 473/1,485). The two most important reasons for giving consent to the FinIP trial were the potential benefit of immunisation against pneumococcal diseases (75% of consenters) and the promotion of the common good and public health (11%). The reasons reported as most important for declining consent were suspicions of vaccine safety (36%) and the double-blind trial design (12%). Up to 65% of the non-consenters declared that drug and vaccine trials should not be conducted in children at all. Conclusions: The expected health benefit for the child was by far the most important reason for consenting to the vaccine trial. Safety concern was the main reason for decline. Importance and necessity of clinical drug and vaccine trials among children and the rationale of the blinded studies should be thoroughly explained to the public. This may increase participation in future vaccine trials

A 334-year coral record of surface temperature and salinity variability in the greater Agulhas Current region

The Agulhas Current (AC) off the southern tip of Africa is one of the strongest western boundary currents and a crucial choke point of inter-ocean heat and salt exchange between the Indian Ocean and the southern Atlantic Ocean. However, large uncertainties remain concerning the sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) variability in the AC region and their driving mechanisms over longer timescales, due to only short observational datasets being available and the highly dynamic nature of the region. Here, we present an annual coral skeletal Sr/Ca composite record paired with an established composite oxygen isotope record from Ifaty and Tulear reefs in southwestern Madagascar to obtain a 334-year (1661-1995) reconstruction of δ18Oseawater changes related to surface salinity variability in the wider Agulhas Current region. Our new annual δ18Oseawater composite record from Ifaty traces surface salinity of the southern Mozambique Channel and AC core region from the SODA reanalysis between 1958 and 1995. δ18Oseawater appears to be mainly driven by large-scale wind forcing in the southern Indian Ocean on interannual to decadal timescales. The δ18Oseawater and SST at Ifaty show characteristic interannual variability of between 2 and 4 years and interdecadal variability of 8 to 16 years, coherent with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) records. Lagged correlations with the multivariate ENSO index reveals a 1-2-year lag of δ18Oseawater and salinity at Ifaty and the AC region, suggesting that propagation of anomalies by ocean Rossby waves may contribute to salinity changes in the wider southwestern Indian Ocean. The δ18Oseawater and SST reconstructions at Ifaty reveal the highest interannual variability during the Little Ice Age, especially around 1700 CE, which is in agreement with other Indo-Pacific coral studies. Our study demonstrates the huge potential to unlock past interannual and decadal changes in surface ocean hydrology and ocean transport dynamics from coral δ18Oseawater beyond the short instrumental record