Cooperative game theory and its application to natural, environmental, and water resource issues : 1. basic theory

Game theory provides useful insights into the way parties that share a scarce resource may plan their use of the resource under different situations. This review provides a brief and self-contained introduction to the theory of cooperative games. It can be used to get acquainted with the basics of cooperative games. Its goal is also to provide a basic introduction to this theory, in connection with a couple of surveys that analyze its use in the context of environmental problems and models. The main models (bargaining games, transfer utility, and non-transfer utility games) and issues and solutions are considered: bargaining solutions, single-value solutions like the Shapley value and the nucleolus, and multi-value solutions such as the core. The cooperative game theory (CGT) models that are reviewed in this paper favor solutions that include all possible players and ignore the strategic stages leading to coalition building. They focus on the possible results of the cooperation by answering questions such as: Which coalitions can be formed? And how can the coalitional gains be divided to secure a sustainable agreement? An important aspect associated with the solution concepts of CGT is the equitable and fair sharing of the cooperation gains.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Livestock&Animal Husbandry,Education for the Knowledge Economy,Education for Development (superceded)

Cooperative game theory and its application to natural, environmental, and water resource issues : 2. application to natural and environmental resources

This paper provides a review of various applications of cooperative game theory (CGT) to issues of natural and environmental resources. With an increase in the level of competition over environmental and natural resources, the incidents of disputes have been at the center of allocation agreements. The paper reviews the cases of common pool resources such as fisheries and forests, and cases of environmental pollution such as acid rain, flow, and stock pollution. In addition to providing examples of cooperative solutions to allocation problems, the conclusion from this review suggests that cooperation over scarce environmental and natural resources is possible under a variety of physical conditions and institutional arrangements. CGT applications to international fishery disputes are especially useful in that they have been making headway in policy-related agreements among states and regions of the world. Forest applications are more local in nature, but of great relevance in solving disputes among communities and various levels of governments.Environmental Economics&Policies,Fisheries&Aquaculture,Common Property Resource Development,Economic Theory&Research,Ecosystems and Natural Habitats

Ibuprofen and Lipoic Acid Diamide as Co-Drug with Neuroprotective Activity: Pharmacological Properties and Effects in β-Amyloid (1–40) Infused Alzheimer's Disease Rat Model

Both oxidative stress and inflammation are elevated in brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, but their pathogenic significance still remains unclear. Current evidence support the hypothesis that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and antioxidant therapy might protect against the development of Alzheimer's disease, and ibuprofen has the strongest epidemiological support. In the present work our attention was focused on (R)-α-lipoic acid considered as a potential neuroprotective agent in Alzheimer's disease therapy. In particular, we investigated a new co-drug (1) obtained by joining (R)-α-lipoic acid and ibuprofen via a diamide bond, for evaluating its potential to antagonize the deleterious structural and cognitive effects of β-amyloid (1–40) in an infused Alzheimer's disease rat model. Our results indicated that infusion of β-amyloid (1–40) impairs memory performance through a progressive cognitive deterioration; however, ibuprofen and co-drug 1 seemed to protect against behavioural detriment induced by simultaneous administration of β-amyloid (1–40) protein. The obtained data were supported by the histochemical findings of the present study: β-amyloid protein was less expressed in 1-treated than in ibuprofen and (R)-α-lipoic acid alone-treated cerebral cortex. Taken together, the present findings suggest that co-drug 1 treatment may protect against the cognitive dysfunction induced by intracerebroventricular infusion of β-amyloid (1–40) in rats. Thus, co-drug 1 could prove useful as a tool for controlling Alzheimer's disease-induced cerebral amyloid deposits and behavioural deterioration

Methane emissions offset atmospheric carbon dioxide uptake in coastal macroalgae, mixed vegetation and sediment ecosystems

Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).Coastal ecosystems can efficiently remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and are thus promoted for nature-based climate change mitigation. Natural methane (CH4) emissions from these ecosystems may counterbalance atmospheric CO2 uptake. Still, knowledge of mechanisms sustaining such CH4 emissions and their contribution to net radiative forcing remains scarce for globally prevalent macroalgae, mixed vegetation, and surrounding depositional sediment habitats. Here we show that these habitats emit CH4 in the range of 0.1 – 2.9 mg CH4 m−2 d−1 to the atmosphere, revealing in situ CH4 emissions from macroalgae that were sustained by divergent methanogenic archaea in anoxic microsites. Over an annual cycle, CO2-equivalent CH4 emissions offset 28 and 35% of the carbon sink capacity attributed to atmospheric CO2 uptake in the macroalgae and mixed vegetation habitats, respectively, and augment net CO2 release of unvegetated sediments by 57%. Accounting for CH4 alongside CO2 sea-air fluxes and identifying the mechanisms controlling these emissions is crucial to constrain the potential of coastal ecosystems as net atmospheric carbon sinks and develop informed climate mitigation strategies.Peer reviewe

Cortical and Subcortical Network Dysfunction in a Female Patient With NEXMIF Encephalopathy

The developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEE) are the most severe group of epilepsies. Recently, NEXMIF mutations have been shown to cause a DEE in females, characterized by myoclonic–atonic epilepsy and recurrent nonconvulsive status. Here we used advanced neuroimaging techniques in a patient with a novel NEXMIF de novo mutation presenting with recurrent absence status with eyelid myoclonia, to reveal brain structural and functional changes that can bring the clinical phenotype to alteration within specific brain networks. Indeed, the alterations found in the patient involved the visual pericalcarine cortex and the middle frontal gyrus, regions that have been demonstrated to be a core feature in epilepsy phenotypes with visual sensitivity and eyelid myoclonia with absences

Musculoskeletal Features without Ataxia Associated with a Novel de novo Mutation in KCNA1 Impairing the Voltage Sensitivity of Kv1.1 Channel

The KCNA1 gene encodes the subunit of the voltage-gated Kv1.1 potassium channel that critically regulates neuronal excitability in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Mutations in KCNA1 have been classically associated with episodic ataxia type 1 (EA1), a movement disorder triggered by physical and emotional stress. Additional features variably reported in recent years include epilepsy, myokymia, migraine, paroxysmal dyskinesia, hyperthermia, hypomagnesemia, and cataplexy. Interestingly, a few individuals with neuromyotonia, either isolated or associated with skeletal deformities, have been reported carrying variants in the S2–S3 transmembrane segments of Kv1.1 channels in the absence of any other symptoms. Here, we have identified by whole-exome sequencing a novel de novo variant, T268K, in KCNA1 in a boy displaying recurrent episodes of neuromyotonia, muscle hypertrophy, and skeletal deformities. Through functional analysis in heterologous cells and structural modeling, we show that the mutation, located at the extracellular end of the S3 helix, causes deleterious effects, disrupting Kv1.1 function by altering the voltage dependence of activation and kinetics of deactivation, likely due to abnormal interactions with the voltage sensor in the S4 segment. Our study supports previous evidence suggesting that specific residues within the S2 and S3 segments of Kv1.1 result in a distinctive phenotype with predominant musculoskeletal presentation

Muscle Research and Gene Ontology: New standards for improved data integration.

BACKGROUND: The Gene Ontology Project provides structured controlled vocabularies for molecular biology that can be used for the functional annotation of genes and gene products. In a collaboration between the Gene Ontology (GO) Consortium and the muscle biology community, we have made large-scale additions to the GO biological process and cellular component ontologies. The main focus of this ontology development work concerns skeletal muscle, with specific consideration given to the processes of muscle contraction, plasticity, development, and regeneration, and to the sarcomere and membrane-delimited compartments. Our aims were to update the existing structure to reflect current knowledge, and to resolve, in an accommodating manner, the ambiguity in the language used by the community. RESULTS: The updated muscle terminologies have been incorporated into the GO. There are now 159 new terms covering critical research areas, and 57 existing terms have been improved and reorganized to follow their usage in muscle literature. CONCLUSION: The revised GO structure should improve the interpretation of data from high-throughput (e.g. microarray and proteomic) experiments in the area of muscle science and muscle disease. We actively encourage community feedback on, and gene product annotation with these new terms. Please visit the Muscle Community Annotation Wiki http://wiki.geneontology.org/index.php/Muscle_Biology