The relationship between mean nest size and mean canopy cover.

<p>Circle dots: the log10 mean nest size and mean canopy cover of 34 colonies; grey error bar: 1 SE, four points without error bars are colonies containing only one nest; dashed line: <i>y</i> = 0.0149<i>x</i>+4.0423, <i>F</i> ratio = 11.10, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.26, model fitted by linear regression for the relationship between mean nest size and mean canopy cover; solid line: <i>y</i> = 0.0097<i>x</i>+4.0282, from the fixed effects of the linear mixed-effect model, which includes colony identity as a random effect. Full analyses are showed in results.</p

The relationships between canopy cover and six local temperature parameters for 33 colonies.

<p>Solid line of each graph shows the significant model fitted by linear regression. (a) the mean of temperature: <i>y</i> = –0.03<i>x</i>+14.24, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.43. (b) the standard deviation (SD) of temperature: <i>y</i> = –0.04<i>x</i>+7.38, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.46. (c) the mean of daily maximum temperature: <i>y</i> = –0.09<i>x</i>+27.39, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.34. (d) the SD of daily maximum temperature: not significant. (e) the mean of daily minimum temperature: <i>y</i> = 0.03<i>x</i>+5.67, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.46. (f) the SD of daily minimum temperature: <i>y</i> = –0.03<i>x</i>+3.66, <i>P</i><0.001, <i>r²</i> = 0.69.</p

The relationships of colony size and nest size to possible related factors in our study.

<p>Arrows illustrate the possible direction of causality. Solid arrow, hollow arrow and hollow arrow with a cross indicate the significant, the borderline significant and the non-significant relationships respectively. Plus and minus signs indicate the relationships as positive and negative respectively.</p

The relationship between number of nests per colony and nest size.

<p>Nest size tends to decrease as number of nests per colony increases (Linear mixed effect model, fixed effect: t = –2.03, <i>P</i> = 0.051, model AIC = 462.33). Boxplot width is proportional to the square root of number of nests.</p

The relationship between number of nests and total colony size.

<p>Kruskal-Wallis’ test, <i>χ</i>² = 10.15, <i>P</i><0.01.</p

Correlations and partial correlations between canopy cover, total colony size and six local temperature parameters (the mean and the standard deviation of hourly temperature, Temp_Mean and Temp_SD; the mean and the standard deviation of daily maximum and minimum temperature, Max_Mean, Max_SD, min_Mean, and min_SD).

!<p><i>P</i> = 0.08, *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01, ^#Partial correlation between total colony size and canopy cover with the effects of local temperature parameters removed, n = 33.</p><p>Correlations and partial correlations between canopy cover, total colony size and six local temperature parameters (the mean and the standard deviation of hourly temperature, Temp_Mean and Temp_SD; the mean and the standard deviation of daily maximum and minimum temperature, Max_Mean, Max_SD, min_Mean, and min_SD).</p

The trend between total colony size and mean canopy cover of 34 colonies.

<p>Linear regression, solid line: <i>y</i> = 0.0117<i>x</i>+4.8727, <i>F</i> ratio = 3.67, <i>P</i> = 0.06, <i>r²</i> = 0.10.</p

Depression in Parkinson's disease: A case-control study

<div><p>Background</p><p>To evaluate the association between Parkinson’s disease (PD) prognosis and the patient’s onset of depression.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A total of 353 patients with newly-diagnosed PD and a history of depression were enrolled. On the basis of the onset of depression before or after PD diagnosis, we divided participants into PD patients with pre- or post-diagnostic depression. Cox’s regression analysis was used to detect risks between the onset of depression and outcomes (including death, accidental injury, dementia, and aspiration pneumonia). The association between the onset of depression and levodopa equivalent dosage (LED) and cumulative equivalent dosage of antidepressants were assessed.</p><p>Results</p><p>PD patients with post-diagnostic depression were associated with significantly higher risks of dementia (adjusted HR = 2·01, <i>p</i> = 0·015), and were older (58·5 ± 17·7 vs. 53·7 ± 18·6, <i>p</i> = 0·020) at the time of PD diagnosis than PD patients with pre-diagnostic depression. The higher incident rate of accidental injury was also noted in PD patients with post-diagnostic depression (48·1 vs. 31·3/1000 person-years, HR = 1·60, <i>p</i> = 0·041), but no statistical significance was observed in the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (HR = 1·52, <i>p</i> = 0·069). Otherwise, mortality, motor condition and severity of depression revealed no significant difference between PD patients with pre-diagnostic and post-diagnostic depression.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>PD patients with post-diagnostic depression had higher incidence of dementia, implying different onset time of depression could be associated with different subtypes and spreading routes which should be examined in follow-up studies.</p></div

Risk of Premotor Symptoms in Patients with Newly Diagnosed PD: A Nationwide, Population-Based, Case-Control Study in Taiwan

<div><p>Background</p><p>To evaluate the risk of premotor symptoms, namely rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD), constipation, and depression among patients with newly diagnosed Parkinson disease (PD).</p><p>Methods</p><p>A total of 705 PD patients and 2,820 control subjects were selected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients were traced back for a maximum of 14 years to determine the diagnoses of RBD, depression, and constipation. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk of premotor symptoms for PD. Moreover, subgroup analyses were performed by dividing the patients into a middle-age onset group (≤ 64 years) and an old-age onset group (≥ 65 years). The associations between these premotor symptoms and age of PD onset were further examined.</p><p>Results</p><p>An association was found between a history of premotor symptoms and newly diagnosed PD in which a high occurrence of premotor symptoms was identified in PD patients as compared to selected controls (4.3% vs. 1.2% for RBD, 40.4% vs. 24.0% for constipation, and 13.0% vs. 5.1% for depression). The strength of this association remained statistically significant after adjustment for potential confounders (3.69 fold risk for RBD, 2.36 for constipation, and 2.82 for depression, all p < 0.0001). The average interval between premotor symptoms and PD ranged from 4.5 to 6.2 years. RBD and depression carried higher risks for PD in the middle-age onset group than in the old-age onset group (7.20- vs. 2.24-fold risk for RBD, 6.06 vs. 1.40 for depression).</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The prevalence of premotor symptoms was higher among the PD patients than in the controls. Premotor symptoms appeared to be associated with a higher risk for PD in subjects with an earlier age of onset.</p></div

Levodopa equivalent dosage in PD patients with and without premotor symptoms.

<p>Levodopa equivalent dosage in PD patients with and without premotor symptoms.</p