AMSA Conference Indigenous Workshop Summary

This report summarises a two-day Indigenous Workshop at the 2022 Australian Marine Sciences Association Conference. The workshop was the seventh to be supported by the National Environmental Science Program and the most significant to date in terms of Indigenous leadership and attendance. Indigenous participants from 45 language groups joined others from government, research and non-profit agencies. Indigenous organisations expressed a clear desire to work with government and research agencies to enable effective co-development of research, and to establish a nationally coordinated approach to Indigenous-led research and monitoring. The two-day Indigenous workshop brought together Indigenous leaders and community members from across the nation. This was a rare occasion for Indigenous Australians to come together and provide input into two important focal areas. 1. Collaborate and strategise on the research priorities, opportunities and constraints for Indigenous participation and leadership in environmental research in Australia’s marine and coastal regions. 2. Discuss the need for a National Indigenous Environmental Research Network (NIERN)

Recombination rate and selection strength in HIV intra-patient evolution

The evolutionary dynamics of HIV during the chronic phase of infection is driven by the host immune response and by selective pressures exerted through drug treatment. To understand and model the evolution of HIV quantitatively, the parameters governing genetic diversification and the strength of selection need to be known. While mutation rates can be measured in single replication cycles, the relevant effective recombination rate depends on the probability of coinfection of a cell with more than one virus and can only be inferred from population data. However, most population genetic estimators for recombination rates assume absence of selection and are hence of limited applicability to HIV, since positive and purifying selection are important in HIV evolution. Here, we estimate the rate of recombination and the distribution of selection coefficients from time-resolved sequence data tracking the evolution of HIV within single patients. By examining temporal changes in the genetic composition of the population, we estimate the effective recombination to be r=1.4e-5 recombinations per site and generation. Furthermore, we provide evidence that selection coefficients of at least 15% of the observed non-synonymous polymorphisms exceed 0.8% per generation. These results provide a basis for a more detailed understanding of the evolution of HIV. A particularly interesting case is evolution in response to drug treatment, where recombination can facilitate the rapid acquisition of multiple resistance mutations. With the methods developed here, more precise and more detailed studies will be possible, as soon as data with higher time resolution and greater sample sizes is available.Comment: to appear in PLoS Computational Biolog

Childhood traumatic experiences and mental health problems in sexually offending and non-sexually offending juveniles

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between a history of childhood abuse and mental health problems in juveniles who sexually offended (JSOs) over and above general offending behavior. METHODS: A sample of 44 JSOs incarcerated in two juvenile detention centers in the Netherlands between May 2008 and March 2014 were examined for childhood abuse history (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form) and mental health problems (Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Version 2). Furthermore, the connection between childhood abuse and mental health problems in JSOs was compared to a sample of 44 propensity score matched juveniles who offended non-sexually (non-JSOs). RESULTS: In JSOs, sexual abuse was related to anger problems, suicidal ideation, and thought disturbance. These associations were significantly stronger in JSOs than in non-JSOs. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the relationship between childhood abuse and both internalizing and externalizing mental health problems is of more salience for understanding sexual offending than non-sexual offending, and should, therefore, be an important focus in the assessment and treatment of JSOs

Iron isotope systematics in estuaries : the case of North River, Massachusetts (USA)

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 73 (2009): 4045-4059, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.04.026.Recent studies have suggested that rivers may present an isotopically light Fe source to the oceans. Since the input of dissolved iron from river water is generally controlled by flocculation processes that occur during estuarine mixing, it is important to investigate potential fractionation of Fe-isotopes during this process. In this study, we investigate the influence of the flocculation of Fe-rich colloids on the iron isotope composition of pristine estuarine waters and suspended particles. The samples were collected along a salinity gradient from the fresh water to the ocean in the North River estuary (MA, USA). Estuarine samples were filtered at 0.22 μm and the iron isotope composition of the two fractions (dissolved and particles) were analyzed using high resolution MC-ICP-MS after chemical purification. Dissolved iron results show positive δ56Fe values (with an average of 0.43 ± 0.04 ‰) relative to the IRMM-14 standard and do not display any relationships with salinity or with percentage of colloid flocculation. The iron isotopic composition of the particles suspended in fresh water is characterized by more negative δ56Fe values than for dissolved Fe and correlate with the percentage of Fe flocculation. Particulate δ56Fe values vary from -0.09‰ at no flocculation to ~ 0.1‰ at the flocculation maximum, which reflect mixing effects between river-borne particles, lithogenic particles derived from coastal seawaters and newly precipitated colloids. Since the process of flocculation produces minimal Fe-isotope fractionation in the dissolved Fe pool, we suggest that the pristine iron isotope composition of fresh water is preserved during estuarine mixing and that the value of the global riverine source into the ocean can be identified from the fresh water values. However, this study also suggests that δ56Fe composition of rivers can also be characterized by more positive δ56Fe values (up to 0.3 per mil) relative to the crust than previously reported. In order to improve our current understanding of the oceanic iron isotope cycling, further work is now required to determine the processes controlling the fractionation of Fe isotopes during continental run-off.This study was supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE 0550066) to O. Rouxel and Edward Sholkovitz

Mechanisms controlling dissolved iron distribution in the North Pacific : a model study

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011): G03005, doi:10.1029/2010JG001541.Mechanisms controlling the dissolved iron distribution in the North Pacific are investigated using the Biogeochemical Elemental Cycling (BEC) model with a resolution of approximately 1° in latitude and longitude and 60 vertical levels. The model is able to reproduce the general distribution of iron as revealed in available field data: surface concentrations are generally below 0.2 nM; concentrations increase with depth; and values in the lower pycnocline are especially high in the northwestern Pacific and off the coast of California. Sensitivity experiments changing scavenging regimes and external iron sources indicate that lateral transport of sedimentary iron from continental margins into the open ocean causes the high concentrations in these regions. This offshore penetration only appears under a scavenging regime where iron has a relatively long residence time at high concentrations, namely, the order of years. Sedimentary iron is intensively supplied around continental margins, resulting in locally high concentrations; the residence time with respect to scavenging determines the horizontal scale of elevated iron concentrations. Budget analysis for iron reveals the processes by which sedimentary iron is transported to the open ocean. Horizontal mixing transports sedimentary iron from the boundary into alongshore currents, which then carry high iron concentrations into the open ocean in regions where the alongshore currents separate from the coast, most prominently in the northwestern Pacific and off of California.This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (EF‐0424599)

Left ventricular blood flow kinetic energy is associated with the six-minute walk test and left ventricular remodelling post valvular intervention in aortic stenosis

Background: Left ventricular (LV) kinetic energy (KE) assessment by four-dimensional flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (4D flow CMR) may offer incremental value over routine assessment in aortic stenosis (AS). The main objective of this study is to investigate the LV KE in patients with AS before and after the valve intervention. In addition, this study aimed to investigate if LV KE offers incremental value for its association to the six-minute walk test (6MWT) or LV remodelling post-intervention. Methods: We recruited 18 patients with severe AS. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography for mean pressure gradient (mPG), CMR including 4D flow and 6MWT. Patients were invited for post-valve intervention follow-up CMR at 3 months and twelve patients returned for follow-up CMR. KE assessment of LV blood flow and the components (direct, delayed, retained and residual) were carried out for all cases. LV KE parameters were normalised to LV end-diastolic volume (LVEDV). Results: For LV blood flow KE assessment, the metrics including time delay (TD) for peak E-wave from base to mid-ventricle (14±48 vs. 2.5±9.75 ms, P=0.04), direct (4.91±5.07 vs. 1.86±1.72 µJ, P=0.01) and delayed (2.46±3.13 vs. 1.38±1.15 µJ, P=0.03) components of LV blood flow demonstrated a significant change between pre- and post-valve intervention. Only LV KEiEDV (r=−0.53, P<0.01), diastolic KEiEDV (r=−0.53, P<0.01) and Ewave KEiEDV (r=−0.38, P=0.04) demonstrated association to the 6MWT. However, Pre-operative LV KEiEDV (r=0.67, P=0.02) demonstrated association to LV remodelling post valve intervention. Conclusions: LV blood flow KE is associated with 6MWT and LV remodelling in patients with AS. LV KE assessment provides incremental value over routine LV function and pressure gradient (PG) assessment in AS

A new, large-bodied omnivorous bat (Noctilionoidea: Mystacinidae) reveals lost morphological and ecological diversity since the Miocene in New Zealand

A new genus and species of fossil bat is described from New Zealand's only pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic terrestrial fauna, the early Miocene St Bathans Fauna of Central Otago, South Island. Bayesian total evidence phylogenetic analysis places this new Southern Hemisphere taxon among the burrowing bats (mystacinids) of New Zealand and Australia, although its lower dentition also resembles Africa's endemic sucker-footed bats (myzopodids). As the first new bat genus to be added to New Zealand's fauna in more than 150 years, it provides new insight into the original diversity of chiropterans in Australasia. It also underscores the significant decline in morphological diversity that has taken place in the highly distinctive, semi-terrestrial bat family Mystacinidae since the Miocene. This bat was relatively large, with an estimated body mass of ~40 g, and its dentition suggests it had an omnivorous diet. Its striking dental autapomorphies, including development of a large hypocone, signal a shift of diet compared with other mystacinids, and may provide evidence of an adaptive radiation in feeding strategy in this group of noctilionoid bats

The Early Royal Society and Visual Culture

Recent studies have fruitfully examined the intersection between early modern science and visual culture by elucidating the functions of images in shaping and disseminating scientific knowledge. Given its rich archival sources, it is possible to extend this line of research in the case of the Royal Society to an examination of attitudes towards images as artefacts –manufactured objects worth commissioning, collecting and studying. Drawing on existing scholarship and material from the Royal Society Archives, I discuss Fellows’ interests in prints, drawings, varnishes, colorants, images made out of unusual materials, and methods of identifying the painter from a painting. Knowledge of production processes of images was important to members of the Royal Society, not only as connoisseurs and collectors, but also as those interested in a Baconian mastery of material processes, including a “history of trades”. Their antiquarian interests led to discussion of painters’ styles, and they gradually developed a visual memorial to an institution through portraits and other visual records.AH/M001938/1 (AHRC

Role for miR-204 in human pulmonary arterial hypertension

Reduced miR-204 expression facilitates the excessive proliferation and apoptosis resistance of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells characteristic of human pulmonary arterial hypertension