Phenotypic plasticity to warming in coral reef fishes: the importance of sex and exposure timing within and between generations

Rachel Spinks explored the capacity for coral reef fishes to persist in a warming ocean. She discovered that when and how long a fish was exposed to elevated temperature, in addition to sex, influenced its performance and that of the next generation. This will improve predictions of global warming impacts

Comparing Early Enteral Nutrition among Medical, Burn, Surgical/Trauma, and Neurocritical Intensive Care Units and its Effect on Length of Stay

ABSTRACT Comparing Early Enteral Nutrition AmONG Medical, Burn, Surgical/Trauma, and Neurocritical Intensive Care Units and its Effect on Length of Stay By Kelsey Spinks Background: Current research supports that early enteral nutrition (EEN), or enteral nutrition delivered within 48 hours of admission, may reduce infection, incidence of pneumonia, mortality, and time that critical care patients spend on the ventilator. EEN may also decrease intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay. With one day in the ICU costing an estimated $14,462, length of stay becomes a financial concern for hospitals that care for uninsured or underinsured patients. Most studies that examine the effect of EEN on length of stay lump all critical care patients into one group or will only examine one ICU population at a time. Objective: To examine the effect of EEN on length of stay for critical care patients in four adult intensive care units to include: burn, neurocritical, medical, and surgical/trauma ICUs in a large urban teaching hospital. Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for patients admitted between September 2012 and February 2014 in each of the four adult ICUs. Statistical analyses for nonparametric data were conducted using SPSS 21. Sample Description: The median age of the 89 patients was 55 years. The median BMI was 28. There were 61 males and 28 females. In the surgical/trauma ICU, the median age was 48 years, BMI was 25, and there were 15 males and 8 females. In the medical ICU, the median age was 57 years, BMI was 32, and there were 17 males and 6 females. In the burn ICU, the median age was 40 years, BMI was 28, and there were 14 males and 5 females. In the neurocritical ICU, the median age was 62 years, BMI was 27, and there were 15 males and 9 females. Results: There was a significant but weak positive correlation between the time to initiation of enteral nutrition (EN) and ICU length of stay in the surgical ICU (p=0.04), medical ICU (p=0.03) and neurocritical ICU (p=0.04). A significant difference (p=0.03) was found in ICU length of stay between the medical ICU patients who were fed early (within 48 hours of admission) versus those who were fed late (after 48 hours of admission). Patients fed late had a longer ICU length of stay than those who were fed early. There was a significantly earlier time in the initiation of EN (p\u3c0.001) between the units who have an RD rounding daily (burn and neurocritical) and the units that did not (surgical and medical). Conclusions: EEN is significantly associated with shorter ICU lengths of stay in surgical, medical, and neurocritical populations. Even if EEN does not decrease length of stay in a particular population, it could still be beneficial for other patient outcomes, like reduced mortality, lower incidence of pneumonia, and shorter time spent on the ventilator. The ICU dietitian plays an important role in advocating for EEN in those patients who are medically ready for it. In terms of best practice, critical care RDs have a valuable opportunity to establish their niche as the nutrition expert on the interdisciplinary care team by incorporating medical rounds in to their daily practice

Brain Potentials Reflect Behavioral Differences in True and False Recognition

People often falsely recognize nonstudied lures that are semantically similar to previously studied words. Behavioral research suggests that such false recognition is based on high semantic overlap between studied items and lures that yield a feeling of familiarity, whereas true recognition is more often associated with the recollection of details. Despite this behavioral evidence for differences between true and false recognition, research measuring brain activity (PET, fMRI, ERP) has not clearly differentiated corresponding differences in brain activity. A median split was used to separate subjects into Good and Poor performers based on their discrimination of studied targets from similar lures. Only Good performers showed late (1000-1500 msec), right frontal event-related brain potentials (ERPs) that were more positive for targets and lures compared with new items. The right frontal differences are interpreted as reflecting postretrieval evaluation processes that were more likely to be engaged by Good than Poor performers. Both Good and Poor performers showed a parietal ERP old/new effect (400-800 msec), but only Poor performers showed a parietal old/lure difference. These results are consistent with the view that the parietal and frontal ERP old/new effects reflect dissociable processes related to recollection.Psycholog

Characterization of organic matter in the Torridonian using Raman spectroscopy

We gratefully acknowledge two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Earth System Evolution and Early Life: a Celebration of the Work of Martin Brasier. ed. / A. T. Brasier; D. McIlroy; N. McLoughlin. 978-1-78620-279-6Peer reviewedPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprintPostprin

Parents exposed to warming produce offspring lower in weight and condition

The parental environment can alter offspring phenotypes via the transfer of non-genetic information. Parental effects may be viewed as an extension of (within-generation) phenotypic plasticity. Smaller size, poorer physical condition, and skewed sex ratios are common responses of organisms to global warming, yet whether parental effects alleviate, exacerbate, or have no impact on these responses has not been widely tested. Further, the relative non-genetic influence of mothers and fathers and ontogenetic timing of parental exposure to warming on offspring phenotypes is poorly understood. Here, we tested how maternal, paternal, and biparental exposure of a coral reef fish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) to elevated temperature (+1.5°C) at different ontogenetic stages (development vs reproduction) influences offspring length, weight, condition, and sex. Fish were reared across two generations in present-day and projected ocean warming in a full factorial design. As expected, offspring of parents exposed to present-day control temperature that were reared in warmer water were shorter than their siblings reared in control temperature; however, within-generation plasticity allowed maintenance of weight, resulting in a higher body condition. Parental exposure to warming, irrespective of ontogenetic timing and sex, resulted in decreased weight and condition in all offspring rearing temperatures. By contrast, offspring sex ratios were not strongly influenced by their rearing temperature or that of their parents. Together, our results reveal that phenotypic plasticity may help coral reef fishes maintain performance in a warm ocean within a generation, but could exacerbate the negative effects of warming between generations, regardless of when mothers and fathers are exposed to warming. Alternatively, the multigenerational impact on offspring weight and condition may be a necessary cost to adapt metabolism to increasing temperatures. This research highlights the importance of examining phenotypic plasticity within and between generations across a range of traits to accurately predict how organisms will respond to climate change

Reducing the SPS Machine Impedance

The SPS as LHC Injector project has been working for some time to prepare the SPS for its role as final injector for the LHC. This included major work related to injection, acceleration, extraction and beam instrumentation for the LHC beams [1]. Measurements carried out with the high brightness LHC beam showed that a major improvement of the machine impedance would also be necessary [2]. In addition to removing all lepton related components (once LEP operation ended in 2000), the decision was made to shield the vacuum system pumping port cavities. These accidental cavities had been identified as having characteristic frequencies in the 1-1.5GHz range. Since the SPS vacuum system contains roughly 1000 of these cavities, they constitute a major fraction of the machine impedance. As removal of the ports and associated bellows is not possible, transition shields (PPS) had to be designed to insert within the pumping port cavities

Proton acceleration by irradiation of isolated spheres with an intense laser pulse

We report on experiments irradiating isolated plastic spheres with a peak laser intensity of 2-3 x 10(20) W cm(-2). With a laser focal spot size of 10 mu m full width half maximum (FWHM) the sphere diameter was varied between 520 nm and 19.3 mu m. Maximum proton energies of similar to 25 MeV are achieved for targets matching the focal spot size of 10 mu m in diameter or being slightly smaller. For smaller spheres the kinetic energy distributions of protons become nonmonotonic, indicating a change in the accelerating mechanism from ambipolar expansion towards a regime dominated by effects caused by Coulomb repulsion of ions. The energy conversion efficiency from laser energy to proton kinetic energy is optimized when the target diameter matches the laser focal spot size with efficiencies reaching the percent level. The change of proton acceleration efficiency with target size can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional overlap of subfocus targets with the laser. Reported experimental observations are in line with 3D3V particle in cell simulations. They make use of well-defined targets and point out pathways for future applications and experiments.DFG via the Cluster of Excellence Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) Transregio SFB TR18NNSA DE-NA0002008Super-MUC pr48meIvo CermakCGC Instruments in design and realization of the Paul trap systemIMPRS-APSLMUexcellent Junior Research FundDAAD|ToIFEEuropean Union's Horizon research and innovation programme 633053Physic

Industrial work placement in higher education: a study of civil engineering student engagement

For civil engineering undergraduates, the opportunity to spend a period of time in formal industrial work placement provides an invaluable learning experience. This paper reviews student engagement with short-term industrial placement and provides analysis of questionnaires (n=174) returned by undergraduates studying civil engineering at four Higher Education Institutes (HEI’s) in the West of Scotland. The data captures industrial placement statistics, employability skill-sets and presents brief testimonies from students. Whilst the journey to becoming a professional civil engineer is undoubtedly enhanced by short-term placement clear opportunities exist for HEI’s to affect and change existing pedagogical discourse. Commentary is likely to resonate beyond civil engineering and serve as a timely reminder of the need to re-invigorate academia / industry curriculum partnerships