1,611 research outputs found
Ornamental marine species culture in the coral triangle: seahorse demonstration project in the Spermonde Islands, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Ornamental marine species ('OMS') provide valuable income for developing nations in the Indo-Pacific Coral Triangle, from which most of the specimens are exported. OMS culture can help diversify livelihoods in the region, in support of management and conservation efforts to reduce destructive fishing and collection practices that threaten coral reef and seagrass ecosystems. Adoption of OMS culture depends on demonstrating its success as a livelihood, yet few studies of OMS culture exist in the region. We present a case study of a land-based culture project for an endangered seahorse (Hippocampus barbouri) in the Spermonde Islands, Sulawesi, Indonesia. The business model demonstrated that culturing can increase family income by seven times. A Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (SWOT) analysis indicated good collaboration among diverse stakeholders and opportunities for culturing non-endangered species and for offshoot projects, but complicated permitting was an issue as were threats of market flooding and production declines. The OMS international market is strong, Indonesian exporters expressed great interest in cultured product, and Indonesia is the largest exporting country for H. barbouri. Yet, a comparison of Indonesia ornamental marine fish exports to fish abundance in a single local market indicated that OMS culture cannot replace fishing livelihoods. Nevertheless, seahorse and other OMS culture can play a role in management and conservation by supplementing and diversifying the fishing and collecting livelihoods in the developing nations that provide the majority of the global OMS
Fasting Insulin Level Is Positively Associated With Incidence of Hypertension Among American Young Adults
OBJECTIVE Although hyperinsulinemia, a surrogate of insulin resistance, may play a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension (HTN), the longitudinal association between fasting insulin level and HTN development is still controversial. We examined the relation between fasting insulin and incidence of HTN in a large prospective cohort. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A prospective cohort of 3,413 Americans, aged 18?30 years, without HTN in 1985 (baseline) were enrolled. Six follow-ups were conducted in 1987, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2005. Fasting insulin and glucose levels were assessed by a radioimmunoassay and hexokinase method, respectively. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs of incident HTN (defined as the initiation of antihypertensive medication, systolic blood pressure ?140 mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure ?90 mmHg). RESULTS During the 20-year follow-up, 796 incident cases were identified. After adjustment for potential confounders, participants in the highest quartile of insulin levels had a significantly higher incidence of HTN (HR 1.85 [95% CI 1.42?2.40]; Ptrend \u3c 0.001) compared with those in the lowest quartile. The positive association persisted in each sex/ethnicity/weight status subgroup. A similar dose-response relation was observed when insulin-to-glucose ratio or homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance was used as exposure. CONCLUSIONS Fasting serum insulin levels or hyperinsulinemia in young adulthood was positively associated with incidence of HTN later in life for both men and women, African Americans and Caucasians, and those with normal weight and overweight. Our findings suggested that fasting insulin ascertainment may help clinicians identify those at high risk of HTN
Progress in Lunar Laser Ranging Tests of Relativistic Gravity
Analyses of laser ranges to the Moon provide increasingly stringent limits on
any violation of the Equivalence Principle (EP); they also enable several very
accurate tests of relativistic gravity. We report the results of our recent
analysis of Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) data giving an EP test of \Delta
(M_G/M_I)_{EP} =(-1.0 +/- 1.4) x 10^{-13}. This result yields a Strong
Equivalence Principle (SEP) test of \Delta (M_G/M_I)_{SEP} =(-2.0 +/- 2.0) x
10^{-13}. Also, the corresponding SEP violation parameter \eta is (4.4 +/- 4.5)
x 10^{-4}, where \eta=4\beta-\gamma-3 and both \beta and \gamma are
parametrized post-Newtonian (PPN) parameters. Using the recent Cassini result
for the parameter \gamma, PPN parameter \beta is determined to be \beta-1=(1.2
+/- 1.1) x 10^{-4}. The geodetic precession test, expressed as a relative
deviation from general relativity, is K_{gp}=-0.0019 +/- 0.0064. The search for
a time variation in the gravitational constant results in \dot G/G=(4 +/- 9) x
10^{-13} yr^{-1}, consequently there is no evidence for local (~1AU) scale
expansion of the solar system.Comment: 4 pages, revtex4, minor changes made for publicatio
Association of A1C with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association of A1C with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, coronary artery disease (CAD), and metabolic syndrome in Asian Indians with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited subjects from phase III of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES), an epidemiological study in a representative population of Chennai (formerly Madras) in South India, conducted between January 2003 and June 2004. Included were 1,644 subjects with NGT, i.e., fasting plasma glucose <100 mg/dl (5.6 mmol/l) and 2-h postload plasma glucose <140 mg/dl (7.8 mmol/l). A1C was measured using the Biorad Variant machine. Metabolic syndrome was defined based on modified Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD A1C value in the study cohort was 5.5 +/- 0.4%. A1C showed a significant association with BMI (beta = 0.017, P < 0.001), systolic (beta = 0.002, P = 0.028) and diastolic (beta = 0.202, P = 0.017) blood pressure, waist circumference (beta = 0.007, P < 0.001), serum cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), triglycerides (beta = 0.001, P < 0.001), LDL cholesterol (beta = 0.002, P < 0.001), fasting insulin (beta = 0.009, P < 0.001), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (beta = 0.047, P < 0.001) after adjusting for age and sex. Regression analysis showed that A1C had a strong association with metabolic syndrome that persisted after adjusting for age and sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.9 [95% CI 2.08-4.00]; P < 0.001). A1C also had a strong association with CAD (2.6 [1.23-5.63]; P = 0.01), but the significance was lost when adjusted for age and sex. CONCLUSIONS: There is a strong association of A1C with prevalent CVD risk factors in Asian-Indian subjects with NGT
Cocaine Use and Liver Disease are Associated with All-Cause Mortality in the Miami Adult Studies in HIV (MASH) Cohort
Dust enshrouded star-forming activity in Arp 299
We present mid-infrared spectro-imaging (5 - 16 microns) observations of the
infrared luminous interacting system Arp 299 (=Mrk171 =IC694+NGC3690) obtained
with the ISOCAM instrument aboard ISO. Our observations show that nearly 40% of
the total emission at 7 and 15 microns is diffuse, originating from the
interacting disks of the galaxies. Moreover, they indicate the presence of
large amounts of hot dust in the main infrared sources of the system and large
extinctions toward the nuclei. While the observed spectra have an overall
similar shape, mainly composed of Unidentified Infrared Bands (UIB) in the
short wavelength domain, a strong continuum at ~ 13 microns and a deep silicate
absorption band at 10 microns, their differences reveal the varying physical
conditions of each component. For each source, the spectral energy distribution
(SED) can be reproduced by a linear combination of a UIB "canonical" spectral
template and a hot dust continuum due to a 230-300 K black body, after
independently applying an extinction correction to both of them. We find that
the UIB extinction does not vary much throughout the system (A_V ~ 5 mag)
suggesting that most UIBs originate from less enshrouded regions. IC694 appears
to dominate the infrared emission of the system and our observations support
the interpretation of a deeply embedded nuclear starburst located behind an
absorption of about 40 mag. The central region of NGC3690 displays a hard
radiation field characterized by a [NeIII]/[NeII] ratio > 1.8. It also hosts a
strong continuum from 5 to 16 microns which can be explained as thermal
emission from a deeply embedded (A_V ~ 60 mag) compact source, consistent with
the mid-infrared signature of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), and in
agreement with recent X-ray findings.Comment: to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics - 12 page
The iron law of democratic socialism: British and Austrian influences on the young Karl Polanyi
This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A central thesis of Karl Polanyi's The great transformation concerns the tensions between capitalism and democracy: the former embodies the principle of inequality, while democracy represents that of equality. This paper explores the intellectual heritage of this thesis, in the ‘functional theory’ of G.D.H. Cole and Otto Bauer and in the writings of Eduard Bernstein. It scrutinizes Polanyi's relationship with Bernstein's ‘evolutionary socialism’ and charts his ‘double movement’ vis-à-vis Marxist philosophy: in the 1910s he reacted sharply against Marxism's deterministic excesses, but he then, in the 1920s, engaged in sympathetic dialogue with Austro-Marxist thinkers. The latter, like Bernstein, disavowed economic determinism and insisted upon the importance and autonomy of ethics. Yet they simultaneously predicted a law-like expansion of democracy from the political to the economic arena. Analysis of this contradiction provides the basis for a concluding discussion that reconsiders the deterministic threads in Polanyi's oeuvre. Whereas for some Polanyi scholars these attest to his residual attraction to Marxism, I argue that matters are more complex. While Polanyi did repudiate the more rigidly deterministic of currents in Marxist philosophy, those to which he was attracted, notably Bernstein's ‘revision’ and Austro-Marxism, incorporated a deterministic fatalism of their own, in respect of democratization. Herein lies a more convincing explanation of Polanyi's incomplete escape from a deterministic philosophy of history, as exemplified in his masterwork, The great transformation
Recommended from our members
Longitudinal association of body mass index with lung function: The CARDIA Study
Background: Lung function at the end of life depends on its peak and subsequent decline. Because obesity is epidemic in young adulthood, we quantified age-related changes in lung function relative to body mass index (BMI).
Methods: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study in 1985–86 (year 0) recruited 5,115 black and white men and women, aged 18–30. Spirometry testing was conducted at years 0, 2, 5 and 10. We estimated 10 year change in FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC according to baseline BMI and change in BMI within birth cohorts with initial average ages 20, 24, and 28 years, controlling for race, sex, smoking, asthma, physical activity, and alcohol consumption.
Measurements and Main Results: Participants with baseline BMI < 21.3 kg/m2 experienced 10 year increases of 71 ml in FVC and 60 ml in FEV1 and neither measure declined through age 38. In contrast, participants with baseline BMI ≥ 26.4 kg/m2 experienced 10 year decreases of 185 ml in FVC and 64 ml in FEV1. FEV1/FVC increased with increasing BMI. Weight gain was also associated with lung function. Those who gained the most weight over 10 years had the largest decrease in FVC, but FVC increased with weight gain in those initially thinnest. In contrast, FEV1 decreased with increasing weight gain in all participants, with maximum decline in obese individuals who gained the most weight during the study.
Conclusion: Among healthy young adults, increasing BMI in the initially thin participants was associated with increasing then stable lung function through age 38, but there were substantial lung function losses with higher and increasing fatness. These results suggest that the obesity epidemic threatens the lung health of the general population
PHANGS-MUSE: Detection and Bayesian classification of ~40000 ionised nebulae in nearby spiral galaxies
In this work, we present a new catalogue of >40000 ionised nebulae
distributed across the 19 galaxies observed by the PHANGS-MUSE survey. The
nebulae have been classified using a new model-comparison-based algorithm that
exploits the odds ratio principle to assign a probabilistic classification to
each nebula in the sample. The resulting catalogue is the largest catalogue
containing complete spectral and spatial information for a variety of ionised
nebulae available so far in the literature. We developed this new algorithm to
address some of the limitations of the traditional classification criteria,
such as their binarity, the sharpness of the involved limits, and the limited
amount of data they rely on for the classification. The analysis of the
catalogue shows that the algorithm performs well when selecting H II regions.
We can recover their luminosity function, and its properties are in line with
what is available in the literature. We also identify a rather significant
population of shock-ionised regions (mostly composed of supernova remnants), an
order of magnitude larger than any other homogeneous catalogue of supernova
remnants currently available in the literature. The number of supernova
remnants we identify per galaxy is in line with results in our Galaxy and other
very nearby sources. However, limitations in the source detection algorithm
result in an incomplete sample of planetary nebulae, even though their
classification seems robust. Finally, we demonstrate how applying a correction
for the contribution of the diffuse ionised gas to the nebulae's spectra is
essential to obtain a robust classification of the objects and how a correct
measurement of the extinction using DIG-corrected line fluxes prompts the use
of a higher theoretical Ha/Hb ratio (3.03) than what is commonly used when
recovering the E(B-V) via the Balmer decrement technique in massive
star-forming galaxies.Comment: 58 pages, 46 figures. Paper accepted for pubblications in A&A. The
catalogue will be available via the CDS or at the following link:
http://dx.doi.org/10.11570/23.000
Resolved low-J CO excitation at 190 parsec resolution across NGC 2903 and NGC 3627
The low- rotational transitions of CO are commonly used to trace
the distribution of molecular gas in galaxies. Their ratios are sensitive to
excitation and physical conditions in the molecular gas. Spatially resolved
studies of CO ratios are still sparse and affected by flux calibration
uncertainties, especially since most do not have high angular resolution or do
not have short-spacing information and hence miss any diffuse emission. We
compare the low- CO ratios across the disk of two massive, star-forming
spiral galaxies NGC2903 and NGC3627 to investigate whether and how local
environments drive excitation variations at GMC scales. We use Atacama Large
Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the three lowest- CO transitions at
a common angular resolution of 4 (190pc). We measure median line ratios of
, , and
across the full disk of NGC3627. We see clear CO
line ratio variation across the galaxy consistent with changes in temperature
and density of the molecular gas. In particular, toward the center, ,
, and increase by 35\%, 50\%, and 66\%, respectively compared
to their average disk values. The overall line ratio trends suggest that
CO(3-2) is more sensitive to changes in the excitation conditions than the two
lower- transitions. Furthermore, we find a similar radial trend in
NGC2903, albite a larger disk-wide average of . We conclude that the CO low- line
ratios vary across environments in such a way that they can trace changes in
the molecular gas conditions, with the main driver being changes in
temperature.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 16 figure
- …