Problematic video game play and ADHD traits in an adult population

This study examined the relationship between problematic video game play (PVGP), video game usage, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits in an adult population. A sample of 205 healthy adult volunteers completed the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS), a video game usage questionnaire, and the Problem Video Game Playing Test (PVGT). A significant positive correlation was found between the ASRS and the PVGT. More specifically, inattention symptoms and time spent playing video games were the best predictors of PVGP. No relationship was found between frequency and duration of play and ADHD traits. Hyperactivity symptoms were not associated with PVGP. Our results suggest that there is a positive relationship between ADHD traits and problematic video game play. In particular, adults with higher level of self-reported inattention symptoms could be at higher risk of PVGP

Trimaximal neutrino mixing from vacuum alignment in A4 and S4 models

Recent T2K results indicate a sizeable reactor angle theta_13 which would rule out exact tri-bimaximal lepton mixing. We study the vacuum alignment of the Altarelli-Feruglio A4 family symmetry model including additional flavons in the 1' and 1" representations and show that it leads to trimaximal mixing in which the second column of the lepton mixing matrix consists of the column vector (1,1,1)^T/sqrt{3}, with a potentially large reactor angle. In order to limit the reactor angle and control the higher order corrections, we propose a renormalisable S4 model in which the 1' and 1" flavons of A4 are unified into a doublet of S4 which is spontaneously broken to A4 by a flavon which enters the neutrino sector at higher order. We study the vacuum alignment in the S4 model and show that it predicts accurate trimaximal mixing with approximate tri-bimaximal mixing, leading to a new mixing sum rule testable in future neutrino experiments. Both A4 and S4 models preserve form dominance and hence predict zero leptogenesis, up to renormalisation group corrections.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, version to be published in JHE

Simulated Marine Heat Wave Alters Abundance and Structure of Vibrio Populations Associated with the Pacific Oyster Resulting in a Mass Mortality Event

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Marine heat waves are predicted to become more frequent and intense due to anthropogenically induced climate change, which will impact global production of seafood. Links between rising seawater temperature and disease have been documented for many aquaculture species, including the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. The oyster harbours a diverse microbial community that may act as a source of opportunistic pathogens during temperature stress. We rapidly raised the seawater temperature from 20 °C to 25 °C resulting in an oyster mortality rate of 77.4%. Under the same temperature conditions and with the addition of antibiotics, the mortality rate was only 4.3%, strongly indicating a role for bacteria in temperature-induced mortality. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealed a change in the oyster microbiome when the temperature was increased to 25 °C, with a notable increase in the proportion of Vibrio sequences. This pattern was confirmed by qPCR, which revealed heat stress increased the abundance of Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio fortis by 324-fold and 10-fold, respectively. Our findings indicate that heat stress-induced mortality of C. gigas coincides with an increase in the abundance of putative bacterial pathogens in the oyster microbiome and highlights the negative consequences of marine heat waves on food production from aquaculture

A New High Throughput Sequencing Assay for Characterizing the Diversity of Natural Vibrio Communities and Its Application to a Pacific Oyster Mortality Event

© Copyright © 2019 King, Siboni, Kahlke, Green, Labbate and Seymour. The Vibrio genus is notable for including several pathogens of marine animals and humans, yet characterization of Vibrio diversity using routine 16S rRNA sequencing methods is often constrained by poor resolution beyond the genus level. Here, a new high throughput sequencing approach targeting the heat shock protein (hsp60) as a phylogenetic marker was developed to more precisely discriminate members of the Vibrio genus in environmental samples. The utility of this new assay was tested using mock communities constructed from known dilutions of Vibrio isolates. Relative to standard and Vibrio-specific 16S rRNA sequencing assays, the hsp60 assay delivered high levels of fidelity with the mock community composition at the species level, including discrimination of species within the Vibrio harveyi clade. This assay was subsequently applied to characterize Vibrio community composition in seawater and delivered substantially improved taxonomic resolution of Vibrio species compared to 16S rRNA analysis. Finally, this assay was applied to examine patterns in the Vibrio community within oysters during a Pacific oyster mortality event. In these oysters, the hsp60 assay identified species-level Vibrio community shifts prior to disease onset, pinpointing V. harveyi as a putative pathogen. Given that shifts in the Vibrio community can precede, cause, and follow disease onset in numerous marine organisms, there is a need for an accurate high throughput assay for defining Vibrio community composition in natural samples. This Vibrio-centric hsp60 sequencing assay offers the potential for precise high throughput characterization of Vibrio diversity, providing an enhanced platform for dissecting Vibrio dynamics in the environment

Apomixis and hybridization drives reticulate evolution and phyletic differentiation in sorbus l.: Implications for conservation

This is the final version. Available from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this record. Hybridization and polyploidy are major forces in the evolution of plant diversity and the study of these processes is of particular interest to understand how novel taxa are formed and how they maintain genetic integrity. Sorbus is an example of a genus where active diversification and speciation are ongoing and, as such, represents an ideal model to investigate the roles of hybridization, polyploidy and apomixis in a reticulate evolutionary process. To elucidate breeding systems and evolutionary origins of a complex of closely related Sorbus taxa, we assessed genotypic diversity and population structure within and among taxa, combining data from nuclear DNA microsatellite markers and flow cytometry. Clonal analysis and low genotypic diversity within the polyploid taxa suggest apomixis is obligate. However, genetic variation has led to groups of ‘clone-mates’ within apomictic taxa that strongly suggest mutation is responsible for the genotypic diversity of these apomictic lineages. In addition, microsatellite profiles and site demographics suggest hybridization events among apomictic polyploid Sorbus may have contributed to the extant diversity of recognized taxa in this region. This research demonstrates that both macro- and micro-evolutionary processes are active within this reticulate Sorbus complex. Conservation measures should be aimed at maintaining this process and should therefore be prioritized for those areas of Sorbus species richness where the potential for interspecific gene flow is greatest.Whitley Wildlife Conservation TrustNational Botanic Garden of Wale

Movement demands of elite rugby league players during Australian National Rugby League and European Super League matches

This is the authors' PDF version as accepted for publication of an article published in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance© 2014. The definitive version is available at http://journals.humankinetics.com/ijsppThis study compared the movement demands of players competing in matches from the elite Australian and European rugby league competitions

Induction of fibroblast senescence generates a non-fibrogenic myofibroblast phenotype that differentially impacts on cancer prognosis

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) remain a poorly characterized, heterogeneous cell population. Here we characterized two previously described tumor-promoting CAF sub-types, smooth muscle actin (SMA)-positive myofibroblasts and senescent fibroblasts, identifying a novel link between the two

Nitrogen forms affect root structure and water uptake in the hybrid poplar

The study analyses the effects of two different forms of nitrogen fertilisation (nitrate and ammonium) on root structure and water uptake of two hybrid poplar (Populus maximowiczii x P. balsamifera) clones in a field experiment. Water uptake was studied using sap flow gauges on individual proximal roots and coarse root structure was examined by excavating 18 whole-root systems. Finer roots were scanned and analyzed for architecture. Nitrogen forms did not affect coarse-root system development, but had a significant effect on fine-root development. Nitrate-treated trees presented higher fine:coarse root ratios and higher specific root lengths than control or ammonium treated trees. These allocation differences affected the water uptake capacity of the plants as reflected by the higher sapflow rate in the nitrate treatment. The diameter of proximal roots at the tree base predicted well the total root biomass and length. The diameter of smaller lateral roots also predicted the lateral root mass, length, surface area and the number of tips. The effect of nitrogen fertilisation on the fine root structure translated into an effect on the functioning of the fine roots forming a link between form (architecture) and function (water uptake)

Collective Animal Behavior from Bayesian Estimation and Probability Matching

Animals living in groups make movement decisions that depend, among other factors, on social interactions with other group members. Our present understanding of social rules in animal collectives is based on empirical fits to observations and we lack first-principles approaches that allow their derivation. Here we show that patterns of collective decisions can be derived from the basic ability of animals to make probabilistic estimations in the presence of uncertainty. We build a decision-making model with two stages: Bayesian estimation and probabilistic matching.
In the first stage, each animal makes a Bayesian estimation of which behavior is best to perform taking into account personal information about the environment and social information collected by observing the behaviors of other animals. In the probability matching stage, each animal chooses a behavior with a probability given by the Bayesian estimation that this behavior is the most appropriate one. This model derives very simple rules of interaction in animal collectives that depend only on two types of reliability parameters, one that each animal assigns to the other animals and another given by the quality of the non-social information. We test our model by obtaining theoretically a rich set of observed collective patterns of decisions in three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, a shoaling fish species. The quantitative link shown between probabilistic estimation and collective rules of behavior allows a better contact with other fields such as foraging, mate selection, neurobiology and psychology, and gives predictions for experiments directly testing the relationship between estimation and collective behavior

Mental health in the commercial fishing industry: Modern uncertainties and traditional risks

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Commercial fishers face a range of stressors that impact physical and mental health. However, there is limited research on the level of mental ill-health among fishers and on the nature of stressors that contribute to their psychological distress. This paper focuses on the experiences of commercial wild-catch fishers and analyses the results of an Australian national survey conducted in 2017 (n = 872) (Appendix S1). We first assess underlying themes in perceived stressors, identifying three distinct categories termed ‘traditional risks’, ‘modern uncertainties’ and ‘future concerns’. Second, we assess the level of self-reported psychological distress, demonstrating higher occurrence of high to very high psychological distress among commercial fishers in comparison with the national population. Third, we examine the relationship between different groups of stressors and psychological distress, finding that stronger perceptions of both ‘traditional risks’ and ‘modern uncertainties’ are associated with greater levels of psychological distress among fishers. Third, recognizing diversity within the industry, we examine differences in these relationships among skippers and crew (work role), and inshore versus offshore fishers (fishing location). Our analysis demonstrates that ‘traditional risks’ and ‘modern uncertainties’ differentially impact on fisher mental health and depend on the individual's role in the industry and their fishing location. The findings suggest that changes to factors associated with modern uncertainty stressors—including government management techniques, red tape, media representation and political support—could significantly improve mental health in the commercial fishing sector.Fisheries Research and Development Corporatio