Increasing disturbance demands new policies to conserve intact forest

Ongoing controversy over logging the ancient Białowieża Forest in Poland symbolizes a global problem for policies and management of the increasing proportion of the earth's intact forest that is subject to postdisturbance logging. We review the extent of, and motivations for, postdisturbance logging in protected and unprotected forests globally. An unprecedented level of logging in protected areas and other places where green‐tree harvest would not normally occur is driven by economic interests and a desire for pest control. To avoid failure of global initiatives dedicated to reducing the loss of species, five key policy reforms are necessary: (1) salvage logging must be banned from protected areas; (2) forest planning should address altered disturbance regimes for all intact forests to ensure that significant areas remain undisturbed by logging; (3) new kinds of integrated analyses are needed to assess the potential economic benefits of salvage logging against its ecological, economic, and social costs; (4) global and regional maps of natural disturbance regimes should be created to guide better spatiotemporal planning of protected areas and undisturbed forests outside reserves; and (5) improved education and communication programs are needed to correct widely held misconceptions about natural disturbances.We thank the Bavarian Forest National Park administration for funding the travel costs of RN and DL in support of this manuscript. ABL acknowledges support from grants P12-RNM-2705 and FJCI- 2015–23687

Opioid-blunted cortisol response to stress is associated with increased negative mood and wanting of social reward

Animal research suggests a central role of the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) system in regulating affiliative behaviors and in mediating the stress-buffering function of social contact. However, the neurochemistry of stress-related social contact seeking in humans is still poorly understood. In a randomized, double-blind, between-subjects design, healthy female volunteers (N = 80) received either 10 mg of the µ-opioid agonist morphine sulfate, or a placebo. Following a standardized psychosocial stress induction, participants engaged in a social reward task, in which the motivation to obtain skin-to-skin social touch and the hedonic reactions elicited by such touch were assessed. Morphine prevented the increase of salivary cortisol typically observed following acute stress exposure. Notably, this altered HPA axis responsivity was associated with increased negative affect in response to psychosocial stress, and with enhanced subjective wanting of highly rewarding social contact. These findings provide novel evidence on the effect of exogenous opioids administration on the reactions to psychosocial stress and point to a state-dependent regulation of social motivation

Correlation Functions of Conserved Currents in N = 2 Superconformal Theory

Using a manifestly supersymmetric formalism, we determine the general structure of two- and three- point functions of the supercurrent and the flavour current of N = 2 superconformal field theories. We also express them in terms of N = 1 superfields and compare to the generic N = 1 correlation functions. A general discussion of the N = 2 supercurrent superfield and the multiplet of anomalies and their definition as derivatives with respect to the supergravity prepotentials is also included.Comment: 43 pages, latex, no figures, v.2: section 4.2 extende

Quantum-gravity-motivated Lorentz-symmetry tests with laser interferometers

We consider the implications for laser interferometry of the quantum-gravity-motivated modifications in the laws of particle propagation, which are presently being considered in attempts to explain puzzling observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We show that there are interferometric setups in which the Planck-scale effect on propagation leads to a characteristic signature. A naive estimate is encouraging with respect to the possibility of achieving Planck-scale sensitivity, but we also point out some severe technological challenges which would have to be overcome in order to achieve this sensitivity.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Functional determinants for general self-adjoint extensions of Laplace-type operators resulting from the generalized cone

In this article we consider the zeta regularized determinant of Laplace-type operators on the generalized cone. For {\it arbitrary} self-adjoint extensions of a matrix of singular ordinary differential operators modelled on the generalized cone, a closed expression for the determinant is given. The result involves a determinant of an endomorphism of a finite-dimensional vector space, the endomorphism encoding the self-adjoint extension chosen. For particular examples, like the Friedrich's extension, the answer is easily extracted from the general result. In combination with \cite{BKD}, a closed expression for the determinant of an arbitrary self-adjoint extension of the full Laplace-type operator on the generalized cone can be obtained.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures; to appear in Manuscripta Mathematic

Unusual multisystemic involvement and a novel BAG3 mutation revealed by NGS screening in a large cohort of myofibrillar myopathies

Myofibrillar myopathies (MFM) are a group of phenotypically and genetically heterogeneous neuromuscular disorders, which are characterized by protein aggregations in muscle fibres and can be associated with multisystemic involvement.Methods We screened a large cohort of 38 index patients with MFM for mutations in the nine thus far known causative genes using Sanger and next generation sequencing (NGS). We studied the clinical and histopathological characteristics in 38 index patients and five additional relatives (n = 43) and particularly focused on the associated multisystemic symptoms.Results We identified 14 heterozygous mutations (diagnostic yield of 37%), among them the novel p.Pro209Gln mutation in the BAG3 gene, which was associated with onset in adulthood, a mild phenotype and an axonal sensorimotor polyneuropathy, in the absence of giant axons at the nerve biopsy. We revealed several novel clinical phenotypes and unusual multisystemic presentations with previously described mutations: hearing impairment with a FLNC mutation, dysphonia with a mutation in DES and the first patient with a FLNC mutation presenting respiratory insufficiency as the initial symptom. Moreover, we described for the first time respiratory insufficiency occurring in a patient with the p.Gly154Ser mutation in CRYAB. Interestingly, we detected a polyneuropathy in 28% of the MFM patients, including a BAG3 and a MYOT case, and hearing impairment in 13%, including one patient with a FLNC mutation and two with mutations in the DES gene. In four index patients with a mutation in one of the MFM genes, typical histological findings were only identified at the ultrastructural level (29%).Conclusions We conclude that extraskeletal symptoms frequently occur in MFM, particularly cardiac and respiratory involvement, polyneuropathy and/or deafness. BAG3 mutations should be considered even in cases with a mild phenotype or an adult onset. We identified a genetic defect in one of the known genes in less than half of the MFM patients, indicating that more causative genes are still to be found. Next generation sequencing techniques should be helpful in achieving this aim

Inter- versus intramodal integration in sensorimotor synchronization: a combined behavioral and magnetoencephalographic study

Although the temporal occurrence of the pacing signal is predictable in sensorimotor synchronization tasks, normal subjects perform on-the-beat-tapping to an isochronous auditory metronome with an anticipatory error. This error originates from an intermodal task, that is, subjects have to bring information from the auditory and tactile modality to coincide. The aim of the present study was to illuminate whether the synchronization error is a finding specific to an intermodal timing task and whether the underlying cortical mechanisms are modality-specific or supramodal. We collected behavioral data and cortical evoked responses by magneto-encephalography (MEG) during performance of cross- and unimodal tapping-tasks. As expected, subjects showed negative asynchrony in performing an auditorily paced tapping task. However, no asynchrony emerged during tactile pacing, neither during pacing at the opposite finger nor at the toe. Analysis of cortical signals resulted in a three dipole model best explaining tap-contingent activity in all three conditions. The temporal behavior of the sources was similar between the conditions and, thus, modality independent. The localization of the two earlier activated sources was modality-independent as well whereas location of the third source varied with modality. In the auditory pacing condition it was localized in contralateral primary somatosensory cortex, during tactile pacing it was localized in contralateral posterior parietal cortex. In previous studies with auditory pacing the functional role of this third source was contradictory: A special temporal coupling pattern argued for involvement of the source in evaluating the temporal distance between tap and click whereas subsequent data gave no evidence for such an interpretation. Present data shed new light on this question by demonstrating differences between modalities in the localization of the third source with similar temporal behavior

Arthropod communities in fungal fruitbodies are weakly structured by climate and biogeography across European beech forests

Aim The tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius is a pivotal wood decomposer in European beech Fagus sylvatica forests. The fungus, however, has regionally declined due to centuries of logging. To unravel biogeographical drivers of arthropod communities associated with this fungus, we investigated how space, climate and habitat amount structure alpha and beta diversity of arthropod communities in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius. Location Temperate zone of Europe. Taxon Arthropods. Methods We reared arthropods from fruitbodies sampled from 61 sites throughout the range of European beech and identified 13 orders taxonomically or by metabarcoding. We estimated the total number of species occurring in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius in European beech forests using the Chao2 estimator and determined the relative importance of space, climate and habitat amount by hierarchical partitioning for alpha diversity and generalized dissimilarity models for beta diversity. A subset of fungi samples was sequenced for identification of the fungus’ genetic structure. Results The total number of arthropod species occurring in fruitbodies of F. fomentarius across European beech forests was estimated to be 600. Alpha diversity increased with increasing fruitbody biomass; it decreased with increasing longitude, temperature and latitude. Beta diversity was mainly composed by turnover. Patterns of beta diversity were only weakly linked to space and the overall explanatory power was low. We could distinguish two genotypes of F. fomentarius, which showed no spatial structuring. Main conclusion Fomes fomentarius hosts a large number of arthropods in European beech forests. The low biogeographical and climatic structure of the communities suggests that fruitbodies represent a habitat that offers similar conditions across large gradients of climate and space, but are characterized by high local variability in community composition and colonized by species with high dispersal ability. For European beech forests, retention of trees with F. fomentarius and promoting its recolonization where it had declined seems a promising conservation strategy

Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions

The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter, the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table

Study of e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 process using initial state radiation with BABAR

The process e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma has been studied at a center-of-mass energy near the Y(4S) resonance using a 89.3 fb-1 data sample collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II collider. From the measured 3pi mass spectrum we have obtained the products of branching fractions for the omega and phi mesons, B(omega --> e+e-)B(omega --> 3pi)=(6.70 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27)10-5 and B(phi --> e+e-)B(phi --> 3pi)=(4.30 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.21)10-5, and evaluated the e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 cross section for the e+e- center-of-mass energy range 1.05 to 3.00 GeV. About 900 e+e- --> J/psi gamma --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma events have been selected and the branching fraction B(J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0)=(2.18 +/- 0.19)% has been measured.Comment: 21 pages, 37 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev.