New records of land snails inhabiting leaf litter from the Maltese Islands (Mollusca : Gastropoda : Pulmonata)

Five species of land snails inhabiting leaf litter are recorded. Four of the five species are new records for the Maltese Islands while the fifth species has not previously been included in literature dealing with the Maltese malacofauna. Information about distribution and freq- uency is also given.peer-reviewe

Geochelone robusta (Adams 1877) : an insular giant?

Giant size is probably plesiomorphic among insular giant tortoises, that is they are probably descended from a giant tortoise ancestor that reached the island overland or by making a sea-crossing. Geochelone robusta is unlikely to have evolved giant size in Malta as most of the known fossil European species of Geochelone were giant tortoises and the ancestor of G. robusta is thus likely to have been a giant tortoise. This species was a palaeotropical relict, that is a survival from the time, earlier on during the Tertiary, when the climate of the region was warmer. Geochelone robusta survh:ed the cold stages of the pleistocene and Quaternary because the climate in Malta during the very coldest stages did not include prolonged, severe frosts.peer-reviewe

Land snails from Comino (Mollusca : Gastropoda)

A list of 23 species of land mollusca collected from the islet of Comino is given. Information about distribution and status is also given.peer-reviewe

The effect of underwater massage during hot water immersion on acute cardiovascular and mood responses

Purpose: There is emerging evidence that demonstrates the health benefits of hot water immersion including improvements to cardiovascular health and reductions in stress and anxiety. Many commercially available hot tubs offer underwater massage systems which purport to enhance many benefits of hot water immersion, however, these claims have yet to be studied. Methods: Twenty participants (4 females) completed three, 30-minute sessions of hot-water immersion (beginning at 39°C) in a crossover randomized design: with air massage (Air Jet), water massage (Hydro Jet) or no massage (Control). Cardiovascular responses comprising; heart rate, blood pressure and superficial femoral artery blood flow and shear rate were measured. State trait anxiety, basic affect, and salivary cortisol were recorded before and after each trial. Data were analysed using a mixed effects model.Results: Post immersion, heart rate increased (Δ31bpm, P &lt; 0.001, d = 1.38), mean arterial blood pressure decreased (Δ16 mmHg, P&lt;0.001, d = −0.66), with no difference between conditions. Blood flow and mean shear rate increased following immersion (P &lt; 0.001, Δ362 ml/min, d = 1.20 and Δ108 s−1, d = 1.00), but these increases were blunted in the Air Jet condition (P &lt; 0.001,Δ171 ml/min, d = 0.43 and Δ52 s−1, d = 0.52). Anxiety and salivary cortisol were reduced (P = 0.003, d = −0.20, P = 0.014, d = −0.11), but did not vary between conditions. Enjoyment did not vary between conditions.Conclusion: These data demonstrate positive acute responses to hot water immersion on markers of cardiovascular function, anxiety, and stress. There was no additional benefit of water-based massage, while air-basedmassage blunted some positive vascular responses due to lower heat conservation of the water. <br/

Post-exercise hot or cold water immersion does not alter perception of effort or neuroendocrine responses during subsequent moderate-intensity exercise

Post-exercise hot (HWI) and cold (CWI) water immersion are popular strategies used by athletes in a range of sporting contexts, such as enhancing recovery or adaptation. However, prolonged heating bouts increase neuroendocrine responses that are associated with perceptions of fatigue. Fourteen endurance-trained runners performed three trials consisting of two 45-min runs at 95% lactate threshold on a treadmill separated by 6 h of recovery. Following the first run, participants completed one of HWI (30 min, 40°C), CWI (15 min, 14°C) or control (CON, 30 min rest in ambient conditions) in a randomised order. Perceived effort and recovery were measured using ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and the Acute Recovery and Stress Scale (ARSS), whilst physiological responses including venous concentrations of a range of neuroendocrine markers, superficial femoral blood flow, heart rate and rectal temperature were measured. Exercise increased neuroendocrine responses of interleukin-6, adrenaline and noradrenaline (all P &lt; 0.001). Additionally, perceptions of overall recovery (P &lt; 0.001), mental performance capacity (P = 0.02), physical performance capability (P = 0.01) and emotional balance (P = 0.03) were reduced prior to the second run. However, there was no effect of condition on these variables (P &gt; 0.05), nor RPE (P = 0.68), despite differences in rectal temperature, superficial femoral blood flow following the first run, and participants’ expected recovery prior to the intervention (all P &lt; 0.001). Therefore, athletes may engage in post-exercise hot or cold-water immersion without negatively impacting moderate-intensity training sessions performed later the same day.</p

Modeling Fine-Scale Cetaceans’ Distributions in Oceanic Islands : Madeira Archipelago as a Case Study

Species distributional estimates are an essential tool to improve and implement effective conservation and management measures. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate distributional estimates remains a challenge in many cases, especially when looking at the marine environment, mainly due to the species mobility and habitat dynamism. Ecosystems surrounding oceanic islands are highly dynamic and constitute a key actor on pelagic habitats, congregating biodiversity in their vicinity. The main objective of this study was to obtain accurate fine-scale spatio-temporal distributional estimates of cetaceans in oceanic islands, such as the Madeira archipelago, using a long-term opportunistically collected dataset. Ecological Niche Models (ENM) were built using cetacean occurrence data collected on-board commercial whale watching activities and environmental data from 2003 to 2018 for 10 species with a diverse range of habitat associations. Models were built using two different datasets of environmental variables with different temporal and spatial resolutions for comparison purposes. State-of-the-art techniques were used to iterate, build and evaluate the MAXENT models constructed. Models built using the long-term opportunistic dataset successfully described distribution patterns throughout the study area for the species considered. Final models were used to produce spatial grids of species average and standard deviation suitability monthly estimates. Results provide the first fine-scale (both in the temporal and spatial dimension) cetacean distributional estimates for the Madeira archipelago and reveal seasonal/annual distributional patterns, thus providing novel insights on species ecology and quantitative data to implement better dynamic management actions.This study was supported by: (i) INTERTAGUA, MAC2/1.1.a/385 funded by MAC INTERREG 2014-2020, (ii) Oceanic Observatory of Madeira throughout the project M142001-0145-FEDER-000001-OOM, and (iii) Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the strategic project UID/MAR/04292/2020 granted to MARE UI&I. AD and FA have grants funded by ARDITI-Madeira's Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation, throughout the project M1420-09-5369-FSE000002. RF was partially supported by a FCT doctoral grant (SFRH/BD/147225/2019).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Editorial:Cross adaptation and cross tolerance in human health and disease

Human physiological responses to heat, cold, hypoxia, microgravity, hyperbaria, hypobaria and fasting are well studied in isolation. However, in the natural world these stressors are often combined or experienced sequentially (Tipton, 2012). Studies examining human responses to these more realistic, yet relatively complex, circumstances remain sparse, but could provide important insights into an emerging area within human physiology: cross-adaptation (Figure 1)(Lunt et al., 2010; Gibson et al., 2017). Much of the current state of knowledge involves data demonstrating benefits of exercising in hot conditions, prior to performance in hypoxia (Gibson et al., 2015; Heled et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2014a, 2014b, 2016; Salgado et al., 2017; White et al., 2016), with cold to hypoxia (Lunt et al., 2010), hypoxia to heat (Sotiridis et al., 2018), combined stressors (Neal et al., 2017; Takeno et al., 2001), and more mechanistic (signalling) data from animal models exposed to substantive volumes of stress (Maloyan & Horowitz, 2002, 2005). The role of nutrient availability and the nutrient-exercise interactions which drive phenotypic adaptations to skeletal muscle exposed to a multitude of stressors is also a growing field of interest (Hawley, Lundby, Cotter, & Burke, 2018). This research topic includes publications which address both clinical and exercise-centric aspects allied to Cross-adaptation and Cross-tolerance in Human Health and Disease

Post exercise hot water immersion and hot water immersion in isolation enhance vascular, blood marker, and perceptual responses when compared to exercise alone

Exercise and passive heating induce some similar vascular hemodynamic, circulating blood marker, and perceptual responses. However, it remains unknown whether post exercise hot water immersion can synergise exercise derived responses and if they differ from hot water immersion alone. This study investigated the acute responses to post moderate-intensity exercise hot water immersion (EX+HWI) when compared to exercise (EX+REST) and hot water immersion (HWI+HWI) alone. Sixteen physically inactive middle-aged adults (nine males and seven females) completed a randomized cross-over counterbalanced design. Each condition consisted of two 30-min bouts separated by 10 min of rest. Cycling was set at a power output equivalent to 50% V̇o2 peak. Water temperature was controlled at 40°C up to the mid sternum with arms not submerged. Venous blood samples and artery ultrasound scans were assessed at 0 (baseline), 30 (immediately post stressor one), 70 (immediately post stressor two), and 100 min (recovery). Additional physiological and perceptual measures were assessed at 10-min intervals. Brachial and superficial femoral artery shear rates were higher after EX+HWI and HWI+HWI when compared with EX+REST (p &lt; 0.001). Plasma nitrite was higher immediately following EX+HWI and HWI+HWI than EX+REST (p &lt; 0.01). Serum interleukin-6 was higher immediately after EX+HWI compared to EX+REST (p = 0.046). Serum cortisol was lower at 30 min in the HWI+HWI condition in contrast to EX+REST (p = 0.026). EX+HWI and HWI+HWI were more enjoyable than EX+REST (p &lt; 0.05). Irrespective of whether hot water immersion proceeded exercise or heating, hot water immersion enhanced vascular and blood marker responses, while also being more enjoyable than exercise alone

Cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of depression in people with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Depression is a common symptom in people with multiple sclerosis. We systematically reviewed published controlled trials on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for the treatment of depression in people with multiple sclerosis. Methods: Publications were identified using MEDLINE, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to June/July 2013. We combined thesaurus and free-text terms which were synonyms of the concepts multiple sclerosis, depression and cognitive behavioural therapy. We included published controlled trials which compared individual, group CBT, conducted face-to-face or remotely, to no CBT. Two reviewers extracted data to calculate standardized mean differences (SMD) for self-reported symptoms of depression and weighted mean differences (WMD) for the Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29), with 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs). We investigated statistical heterogeneity using I2. Results: Seven eligible studies (n = 433) were identified, which evaluated the effect on depression of CBT delivered individually (3 studies), in a group (3 studies) and by computer (1 study). The summary effect (SMD -0.61, 95% CI -0.96 to -0.26, p=0.0006) was reduced (SMD -0.46, 95% CI -0.75 to -0.17, p=0.002) when an outlying study was removed in a sensitivity analysis to examine statistical heterogeneity. Three studies (n=213) observed a direction of effect using the MSIS-29 which was not statistically significant (WMD -4.36, 95% CI -9.33 to 0.62, p=0.09). There was no between-subgroup heterogeneity (I2=0). Conclusions: CBT can be an effective treatment for depression in MS. Further research should explore optimal durations and modalities of treatment for patients with different characteristics