Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Acute mountain sickness.

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is a clinical syndrome occurring in otherwise healthy normal individuals who ascend rapidly to high altitude. Symptoms develop over a period ofa few hours or days. The usual symptoms include headache, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, unsteadiness of gait, undue dyspnoea on moderate exertion and interrupted sleep. AMS is unrelated to physical fitness, sex or age except that young children over two years of age are unduly susceptible. One of the striking features ofAMS is the wide variation in individual susceptibility which is to some extent consistent. Some subjects never experience symptoms at any altitude while others have repeated attacks on ascending to quite modest altitudes. Rapid ascent to altitudes of 2500 to 3000m will produce symptoms in some subjects while after ascent over 23 days to 5000m most subjects will be affected, some to a marked degree. In general, the more rapid the ascent, the higher the altitude reached and the greater the physical exertion involved, the more severe AMS will be. Ifthe subjects stay at the altitude reached there is a tendency for acclimatization to occur and symptoms to remit over 1-7 days

Resistance to renal denervation therapy — Identification of underlying mechanisms by analysis of differential DNA methylation

Background: Factors causing resistance to renal denervation (RDN) for treatment of arterial hypertension are not known. In the current study, we sought to determine mechanisms involved in responsiveness to renal denervation therapy in patients with difficult-to-control and resistant hypertension. Methods and results: We evaluated the differential CpG methylation of genes in blood samples isolated from patients of a recently described cohort of responders or non-responders to renal denervation using microarray technique and measured protein levels of identified downstream effectors in blood samples of these patients by ELISA. Our analysis revealed up to 6103 methylation sites differing significantly between non-responders and responders to renal denervation therapy. Software based analysis showed several of these loci to be relevant for arterial hypertension and sympathetic nervous activity. Particularly, genes involved in glutamate synthesis, degradation and glutamate signaling pathways were differently methylated between both groups. For instance, genes for glutamate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 central to glutamate metabolism, genes for ionotropic (AMPA, NMDA) and metabotropic glutamate receptors as well as glutamate transporters revealed significant differences in methylation correlating with responsiveness to RDN. To underline their potential relevance for responsiveness to RDN, we measured plasma protein levels of norepinephrine, a downstream effector of the glutamate receptor pathway, which were significantly lower in non-responders to RDN. Conclusions: The present study describes novel molecular targets potentially contributing to reduction of blood pressure after RDN in some patients. Identifying patients with a high responsiveness to RDN could contribute to an individualized therapy in drug resistant hypertension

Resistance to renal denervation therapy — Identification of underlying mechanisms by analysis of differential DNA methylation

Factors causing resistance to renal denervation (RDN) for treatment of arterial hypertension are not known. In the current study, we sought to determine mechanisms involved in responsiveness to renal denervation therapy in patients with difficult-to-control and resistant hypertension. We evaluated the differential CpG methylation of genes in blood samples isolated from patients of a recently described cohort of responders or non-responders to renal denervation using microarray technique and measured protein levels of identified downstream effectors in blood samples of these patients by ELISA. Our analysis revealed up to 6103 methylation sites differing significantly between non-responders and responders to renal denervation therapy. Software based analysis showed several of these loci to be relevant for arterial hypertension and sympathetic nervous activity. Particularly, genes involved in glutamate synthesis, degradation and glutamate signaling pathways were differently methylated between both groups. For instance, genes for glutamate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 central to glutamate metabolism, genes for ionotropic (AMPA, NMDA) and metabotropic glutamate receptors as well as glutamate transporters revealed significant differences in methylation correlating with responsiveness to RDN. To underline their potential relevance for responsiveness to RDN, we measured plasma protein levels of norepinephrine, a downstream effector of the glutamate receptor pathway, which were significantly lower in non-responders to RDN. The present study describes novel molecular targets potentially contributing to reduction of blood pressure after RDN in some patients. Identifying patients with a high responsiveness to RDN could contribute to an individualized therapy in drug resistant hypertension

Global rise in emerging alien species results from increased accessibility of new source pools

Our ability to predict the identity of future invasive alien species is largely based upon knowledge of prior invasion history. Emerging alien species—those never encountered as aliens before—therefore pose a significant challenge to biosecurity interventions worldwide. Understanding their temporal trends, origins, and the drivers of their spread is pivotal to improving prevention and risk assessment tools. Here, we use a database of 45,984 first records of 16,019 established alien species to investigate the temporal dynamics of occurrences of emerging alien species worldwide. Even after many centuries of invasions the rate of emergence of new alien species is still high: One-quarter of first records during 2000–2005 were of species that had not been previously recorded anywhere as alien, though with large variation across taxa. Model results show that the high proportion of emerging alien species cannot be solely explained by increases in well-known drivers such as the amount of imported commodities from historically important source regions. Instead, these dynamics reflect the incorporation of new regions into the pool of potential alien species, likely as a consequence of expanding trade networks and environmental change. This process compensates for the depletion of the historically important source species pool through successive invasions. We estimate that 1–16% of all species on Earth, depending on the taxonomic group, qualify as potential alien species. These results suggest that there remains a high proportion of emerging alien species we have yet to encounter, with future impacts that are difficult to predict

New ischaemic brain lesions on MRI after stenting or endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis: a substudy of the International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS).

BACKGROUND: The International Carotid Stenting Study (ICSS) of stenting and endarterectomy for symptomatic carotid stenosis found a higher incidence of stroke within 30 days of stenting compared with endarterectomy. We aimed to compare the rate of ischaemic brain injury detectable on MRI between the two groups. METHODS: Patients with recently symptomatic carotid artery stenosis enrolled in ICSS were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive carotid artery stenting or endarterectomy. Of 50 centres in ICSS, seven took part in the MRI substudy. The protocol specified that MRI was done 1-7 days before treatment, 1-3 days after treatment (post-treatment scan), and 27-33 days after treatment. Scans were analysed by two or three investigators who were masked to treatment. The primary endpoint was the presence of at least one new ischaemic brain lesion on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) on the post-treatment scan. Analysis was per protocol. This is a substudy of a registered trial, ISRCTN 25337470. FINDINGS: 231 patients (124 in the stenting group and 107 in the endarterectomy group) had MRI before and after treatment. 62 (50%) of 124 patients in the stenting group and 18 (17%) of 107 patients in the endarterectomy group had at least one new DWI lesion detected on post-treatment scans done a median of 1 day after treatment (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 5.21, 95% CI 2.78-9.79; p<0.0001). At 1 month, there were changes on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequences in 28 (33%) of 86 patients in the stenting group and six (8%) of 75 in the endarterectomy group (adjusted OR 5.93, 95% CI 2.25-15.62; p=0.0003). In patients treated at a centre with a policy of using cerebral protection devices, 37 (73%) of 51 in the stenting group and eight (17%) of 46 in the endarterectomy group had at least one new DWI lesion on post-treatment scans (adjusted OR 12.20, 95% CI 4.53-32.84), whereas in those treated at a centre with a policy of unprotected stenting, 25 (34%) of 73 patients in the stenting group and ten (16%) of 61 in the endarterectomy group had new lesions on DWI (adjusted OR 2.70, 1.16-6.24; interaction p=0.019). INTERPRETATION: About three times more patients in the stenting group than in the endarterectomy group had new ischaemic lesions on DWI on post-treatment scans. The difference in clinical stroke risk in ICSS is therefore unlikely to have been caused by ascertainment bias. Protection devices did not seem to be effective in preventing cerebral ischaemia during stenting. DWI might serve as a surrogate outcome measure in future trials of carotid interventions. FUNDING: UK Medical Research Council, the Stroke Association, Sanofi-Synthélabo, European Union, Netherlands Heart Foundation, and Mach-Gaensslen Foundation