Defining ecologically relevant scales for spatial protection with long-term data on an endangered seabird and local prey availability

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Human activities are important drivers of marine ecosystem functioning. However, separating the synergistic effects of fishing and environmental variability on the prey base of nontarget predators is difficult, often because prey availability estimates on appropriate scales are lacking. Understandi ng how prey abundance at different spatial scales links to population change can help integrate the needs of nontarget predators into fisheries management by defining ecologically relevant areas for spatial protection. We investigated the local population response (number of breeders) of the Bank Cormorant (Phalacrocorax neglectus), a range-restricted endangered seabird, to the availability of its prey, the heavily fished west coast rock lobster (Jasus lalandii). Using Bayesian state-space modeled cormorant counts at 3 colonies, 22 years of fisheries-independent data on local lobster abundance, and generalized additive modeling, we determined the spatial scale pertinent to these relationships in areas with different lobster availability. Cormorant numbers responded positively to lobster availability in the regions with intermediate and high abundance but not where regime shifts and fishing pressure had depleted lobster stocks. The relationships were strongest when lobsters 20–30 km offshore of the colony were considered, a distance greater than the Bank Cormorant's foraging range when breeding, and may have been influenced by prey availability for nonbreeding birds, prey switching, or prey ecology. Our results highlight the importance of considering the scale of ecological relationships in marine spatial planning and suggest that designing spatial protection around focal species can benefit marine predators across their full life cycle. We propose the precautionary implementation of small-scale marine protected areas, followed by robust assessment and adaptive-management, to confirm population-level benefits for the cormorants, their prey, and the wider ecosystem, without negative impacts on local fisheries.The National Research Foundation (NRF) SEAChange Grant 79735 and an incentive grant to R.J.M.C., Leiden Conservation Foundation, Claude Leon Foundation, and our institutions provided funding

Cytosolic Sequestration of Prep1 Influences Early Stages of T Cell Development

Objective: Prep1 and Pbx2 are the main homeodomain DNA-binding proteins of the TALE (three amino acid loop extension) family expressed in the thymus. We previously reported reduced Pbx2 expression and defective thymocyte maturation in Prep1 hypomorphic mice. To further investigate the role of this homeodomain DNA-binding protein in T cell development, we generated transgenic mice expressing the N-terminal fragment of Pbx1 (Pbx1NT) under the control of the Lck proximal promoter. Principal Findings: Pbx1NT causes Prep1 cytosolic sequestration, abolishes Prep1-dependent DNA-binding activity and results in reduced Pbx2 expression in developing thymocytes. Transgenic thymi reveal increased numbers of CD4 2 CD8 2 CD44 2 (DN3 and DN4) thymocytes, due to a higher frequency of DN2 and DN4 Pbx1NT thymocytes in the S phase. Transgenic thymocytes however do not accumulate at later stages, as revealed by a normal representation of CD4/CD8 double positive and single positive thymocytes, due to a higher rate of apoptotic cell death of DN4 Pbx1NT thymocytes. Conclusion: The results obtained by genetic (Prep1 hypomorphic) and functional (Pbx1NT transgenic) inactivation of Prep

Physicians' explanatory behaviours and legal liability in decided medical malpractice litigation cases in Japan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A physician's duty to provide an adequate explanation to the patient is derived from the doctrine of informed consent and the physician's duty of disclosure. However, findings are extremely limited with respect to physicians' specific explanatory behaviours and what might be regarded as a breach of the physicians' duty to explain in an actual medical setting. This study sought to identify physicians' explanatory behaviours that may be related to the physicians' legal liability.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analysed legal decisions of medical malpractice cases between 1990 and 2009 in which the pivotal issue was the physician's duty to explain (366 cases). To identify factors related to the breach of the physician's duty to explain, an analysis was undertaken based on acknowledged breaches with regard to the physician's duty to explain to the patient according to court decisions. Additionally, to identify predictors of physicians' behaviours in breach of the duty to explain, logistic regression analysis was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When the physician's explanation was given before treatment or surgery (<it>p </it>= 0.006), when it was relevant or specific (<it>p </it>= 0.000), and when the patient's consent was obtained (<it>p </it>= 0.002), the explanation was less likely to be deemed inadequate or a breach of the physician's duty to explain. Patient factors related to physicians' legally problematic explanations were patient age and gender. One physician factor was related to legally problematic physician explanations, namely the number of physicians involved in the patient's treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings may be useful in improving physician-patient communication in the medical setting.</p

How and When Socially Entrepreneurial Nonprofit Organizations Benefit From Adopting Social Alliance Management Routines to Manage Social Alliances?

Social alliance is defined as the collaboration between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Building on the insights derived from the resource-based theory, we develop a conceptual framework to explain how socially entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations (SENPOs) can improve their social alliance performance by adopting strategic alliance management routines. We test our framework using the data collected from 203 UK-based SENPOs in the context of cause-related marketing campaign-derived social alliances. Our results confirm a positive relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. We also find that relational mechanisms, such as mutual trust, relational embeddedness, and relational commitment, mediate the relationship between social alliance management routines and social alliance performance. Moreover, our findings suggest that different types of social alliance motivation can influence the impact of social alliance management routines on different types of the relational mechanisms. In general, we demonstrate that SENPOs can benefit from adopting social alliance management routines and, in addition, highlight how and when the social alliance management routines–social alliance performance relationship might be shaped. Our study offers important academic and managerial implications, and points out future research directions

Behavioural observations of the common octopus Octopus vulgaris in Baía dos Tigres, southern Angola

The common octopus Octopus vulgaris (Cuvier 1797) is a shallow-water cephalopod species that inhabits coastal rocky areas or reefs. It is the most studied and widely distributed species in its genus. This species has a short lifespan and a rapid growth rate of over 5% of body weight per day (García and Valverde 2006, Ibáñez and Keyl 2010). It is semelparous, with females laying large strings of eggs that they attach to the substrata in their dens (Hernández- García et al. 2002). There is a paucity of information on the preferred habitat and behaviour of O. vulgaris in its natural environment (Anderson 1997, Meisel et al. 2006). The species has been classified as highly mobile, yet resident individuals may exhibit high levels of territoriality. Its mobility allows it to move efficiently between a wide range of suitable habitats (Katsanevakis and Verriopoulos 2004). Octopus make use of both tactile and visual senses to forage, feed and seek suitable shelter (Forsythe and Hanlon 1997, Carvalho and Sousa Reis 2003, Rodríguez-Rúa et al. 2005). They are active feeders that seek out prey such as crustaceans, sessile molluscs and small fish (Forsythe and Hanlon 1997, Boyle and Rodhouse 2005), as well as their smaller conspecifics (Ibáñez and Keyl 2010). The majority of behavioural ecology studies on octopus have been on captive individuals. However, the activity patterns (Mather 1988), foraging strategies and aspects of the movement behaviour (Mather and O’Dor 1991) of juvenile O. vulgaris in the wild were described for an exploited population in Bermuda. Because intertidal octopus stocks are exploited by recreational, subsistence and artisanal fisheries (e.g. Oosthuizen and Smale 2003, Sauer et al. 2011), there are few opportunities to study the behavioural ecology of unexploited populations. An opportunity arose to study various behavioural patterns in an unexploited population in Baía dos Tigres, a large (~200 km2) coastal embayment situated on an isolated stretch of the southern Angolan coast (Figure 1). This study provides information on the population size structure, aspects of the movement behaviour, activity patterns and foraging strategies of O. vulgaris in this largely unstudied coastal embayment

Strange Attractors in Dissipative Nambu Mechanics : Classical and Quantum Aspects

We extend the framework of Nambu-Hamiltonian Mechanics to include dissipation in $R^{3}$ phase space. We demonstrate that it accommodates the phase space dynamics of low dimensional dissipative systems such as the much studied Lorenz and R\"{o}ssler Strange attractors, as well as the more recent constructions of Chen and Leipnik-Newton. The rotational, volume preserving part of the flow preserves in time a family of two intersecting surfaces, the so called {\em Nambu Hamiltonians}. They foliate the entire phase space and are, in turn, deformed in time by Dissipation which represents their irrotational part of the flow. It is given by the gradient of a scalar function and is responsible for the emergence of the Strange Attractors. Based on our recent work on Quantum Nambu Mechanics, we provide an explicit quantization of the Lorenz attractor through the introduction of Non-commutative phase space coordinates as Hermitian $N \times N$ matrices in $R^{3}$. They satisfy the commutation relations induced by one of the two Nambu Hamiltonians, the second one generating a unique time evolution. Dissipation is incorporated quantum mechanically in a self-consistent way having the correct classical limit without the introduction of external degrees of freedom. Due to its volume phase space contraction it violates the quantum commutation relations. We demonstrate that the Heisenberg-Nambu evolution equations for the Quantum Lorenz system give rise to an attracting ellipsoid in the $3 N^{2}$ dimensional phase space.Comment: 35 pages, 4 figures, LaTe

Survey of the general public's attitudes toward advance directives in Japan: How to respect patients' preferences

BACKGROUND: Japanese people have become increasingly interested in the expression and enhancement of their individual autonomy in medical decisions made regarding medical treatment at and toward the end of life. However, while many Western countries have implemented legislation that deals with patient autonomy in the case of terminal illness, no such legislation exists in Japan. The rationale for this research is based on the need to investigate patient's preferences regarding treatment at the end of life in order to re-evaluate advance directives policy and practice. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey with 418 members of the general middle-aged and senior adults (aged between 40 and 65) in Tokyo, Japan. Respondents were asked about their attitudes toward advance directives, and preferences toward treatment options. RESULTS: Over 60% of respondents agreed that it is better to express their wishes regarding advance directives (treatment preferences in writing, appointment of proxy for care decision making, appointment of legal administrator of property, stating preferences regarding disposal of one's property and funeral arrangements) but less than 10% of them had already done so. About 60% of respondents in this study preferred to indicate treatment preferences in broad rather than concrete terms. Over 80% would like to decide treatment preferences in consultation with others (22.2% with their proxy, 11.0% with the doctor, and 47.8% with both their proxy and the doctor). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that many Japanese people indicate an interest in undertaking advance directives. This study found that there is a range of preferences regarding how advance directives are undertaken, thus it is important to recognize that any processes put into place should allow flexibility in order to best respect patients' wishes and autonomy

Tryptophan and Non-Tryptophan Fluorescence of the Eye Lens Proteins Provides Diagnostics of Cataract at the Molecular Level

The chemical nature of the non-tryptophan (non-Trp) fluorescence of porcine and human eye lens proteins was identified by Mass Spectrometry (MS) and Fluorescence Steady-State and Lifetime spectroscopy as post-translational modifications (PTM) of Trp and Arg amino acid residues. Fluorescence intensity profiles measured along the optical axis of human eye lenses with age-related nuclear cataract showed increasing concentration of fluorescent PTM towards the lens centre in accord with the increased optical density in the lens nucleolus. Significant differences between fluorescence lifetimes of “free” Trp derivatives hydroxytryptophan (OH-Trp), N-formylkynurenine (NFK), kynurenine (Kyn), hydroxykynurenine (OH-Kyn) and their residues were observed. Notably, the lifetime constants of these residues in a model peptide were considerably greater than those of their “free” counterparts. Fluorescence of Trp, its derivatives and argpyrimidine (ArgP) can be excited at the red edge of the Trp absorption band which allows normalisation of the emission spectra of these PTMs to the fluorescence intensity of Trp, to determine semi-quantitatively their concentration. We show that the cumulative fraction of OH-Trp, NFK and ArgP emission dominates the total fluorescence spectrum in both emulsified post-surgical human cataract protein samples, as well as in whole lenses and that this correlates strongly with cataract grade and age

Phosphoinositide-binding interface proteins involved in shaping cell membranes

The mechanism by which cell and cell membrane shapes are created has long been a subject of great interest. Among the phosphoinositide-binding proteins, a group of proteins that can change the shape of membranes, in addition to the phosphoinositide-binding ability, has been found. These proteins, which contain membrane-deforming domains such as the BAR, EFC/F-BAR, and the IMD/I-BAR domains, led to inward-invaginated tubes or outward protrusions of the membrane, resulting in a variety of membrane shapes. Furthermore, these proteins not only bind to phosphoinositide, but also to the N-WASP/WAVE complex and the actin polymerization machinery, which generates a driving force to shape the membranes

A systematic review of the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers for prevention of illness-related absenteeism in elementary school children

BACKGROUND: Absenteeism due to communicable illness is a major problem encountered by North American elementary school children. Although handwashing is a proven infection control measure, barriers exist in the school environment, which hinder compliance to this routine. Currently, alternative hand hygiene techniques are being considered, and one such technique is the use of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizers. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer interventions in the elementary school setting. MEDLINE, EMBASE, Biological Abstract, CINAHL, HealthSTAR and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register were searched for both randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. Absenteeism due to communicable illness was the primary outcome variable. RESULTS: Six eligible studies, two of which were randomized, were identified (5 published studies, 1 published abstract). The quality of reporting was low. Due to a large amount of heterogeneity and low quality of reporting, no pooled estimates were calculated. There was a significant difference reported in favor of the intervention in all 5 published studies. CONCLUSIONS: The available evidence for the effectiveness of antimicrobial rinse-free hand sanitizer in the school environment is of low quality. The results suggest that the strength of the benefit should be interpreted with caution. Given the potential to reduce student absenteeism, teacher absenteeism, school operating costs, healthcare costs and parental absenteeism, a well-designed and analyzed trial is needed to optimize this hand hygiene technique