PII: S0921-8009(99)00008-7

EDITORIAL The ecology of ecosystem services: introduction to the special issue Throughout history, humankind has enjoyed a love-hate relationship with Nature, praising its bounty, fearing catastrophe, or challenging and conquering wilderness and sea. Regardless of our sense of distance from Nature, humans are nonetheless one species out of millions of others on Earth, one with an exceptional ability to harness a vast spectrum of energy sources, materials, and organisms for our welfare. As we exit the second millennium, we enter a world in which our impacts on the environment no longer can be ignored on global scales. In the coming century, our species, numbering roughly 10 -12 billion, will be squeezing many natural resources to and in excess of their limits. We will also continue to affect profoundly biogeochemical and hydrological processes that occur at scales ranging from microbial to global-atmospheric. How did we get here? By doing what all organisms do: we use resources to survive and we reproduce successfully. As highly social creatures, we have been effective at organizing and developing infrastructure and mores that sequester resources and protect us from the environmental adversities of weather, disease, starvation, etc. The development of civilization and culture has blinded many to the fact that humans are irrevocably tied to the natural world, a blindness exacerbated during the fossil-fuel era. Many societies have become philosophically and mentally 'disembedded' from the biophysical milieu (see Borgströ m-Hansson and Wackernagel, this issue), despite the fact that socio-economic development ultimately depends on the dynamic capacity of ecosystems to support it. Although ecologists and other environmental scientists have long understood the strong coupling between humans and the rest of Nature, many choose to ignore this relationship and instead derive knowledge about the natural world by studying 'pristine' situations. Today, increasing numbers of these scientists are re-examining the Man-Nature links and attempting to make these clear to the public as well as to their colleagues. For example, Wilson (1992) drew attention to the importance of biodiversity, and to the emerging crisis of massive species extinction due to human alterations of ecosystems. Today, few people question the human dominance of the plane

Risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in patients with epilepsy and users of antiepileptic drugs

Aims: A few studies suggested that epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs with sodium channel-blocking properties were independently associated with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, these findings have not yet been replicated. Methods: Using Danish registries, we conducted a nested case–control study in a cohort of individuals between 1 June 2001 and 31 December 2015. Cases were defined as OHCA from presumed cardiac causes, and were matched with non-OHCA-controls based on sex, and age on the date of OHCA. Exposure of interest was epilepsy or antiepileptic drug use. To study the association between individual antiepileptic drug use and the rate of OHCA, we compared each antiepileptic drug with valproic acid. Cox regression with time-dependent covariates was conducted to calculate hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: We identified 35 195 OHCA-cases and 351 950 matched non-OHCA controls. Epilepsy (cases: 3.58%, controls: 1.60%) was associated with increased rate of OHCA compared with the general population (HR: 1.76, 95%CI: 1.64–1.88) when common OHCA risk factors were taken into account. When we studied antiepileptic drug use, we found that 2 antiepileptic drugs without sodium channel blockage, clonazepam (HR: 1.88, 95%CI: 1.45–2.44) and pregabalin (HR: 1.33, 95%CI: 1.05–1.69), were associated with OHCA, whereas none of the antiepileptic drugs with sodium channel blockage were associated with OHCA. Conclusion: Epilepsy is associated with increased rate of OHCA. Our findings do not support a possible association between antiepileptic drugs with sodium channel-blocking properties and OHCA

Risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in patients with rheumatoid arthritis:a nationwide study

AIM: Inflammatory cytokines in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) directly affect cardiac electrophysiology by inhibiting cardiac potassium currents, leading to delay of cardiac repolarisation and QT-prolongation. This may result in lethal arrhythmias. We studied whether RA increases the rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the general population. METHODS: We conducted a nested case–control in a cohort of individuals between 1 June 2001 and 31 December 2015. Cases were OHCA patients from presumed cardiac causes, and were matched with non-OHCA-controls based on age, sex and OHCA date. Cox-regression with time-dependent covariates was conducted to assess the association between RA and OHCA by calculating the HR and 95% CI. Stratified analyses were performed according to sex and presence of cardiovascular diseases. Also, the association between OHCA and use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in patients with RA was studied. RESULTS: We included 35 195 OHCA cases of whom 512 (1.45%) had RA, and 351 950 non-OHCA controls of whom 3867 (1.10%) had RA. We found that RA was associated with increased rate of OHCA after adjustment for cardiovascular comorbidities and use of QT-prolonging drugs (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.34). Stratification by sex revealed that increased OHCA rate occurred in women (HR: 1.32, 95% CI: 1.16 to 1.50) but not in men (HR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.97 to 1.28; P value interaction=0.046). OHCA rate of RA was not further increased in patients with cardiovascular disease. Finally, in patients with RA, use of NSAIDs was not associated with OHCA. CONCLUSION: In the general population, RA is associated with increased rate of OHCA in women but not in men

Condylar Growth in Rhesus Monkeys

Growth of the mandibular condyle was studied in four rhesus monkeys of different ages. Indexes of 3H-thymidine labeling indicated high premitotic activity, which decreased with age, in the interniediate zone of cartilage and the zone of erosion and bone formation. Premitotic uptake in the articular zone was independent of age.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67121/2/10.1177_00220345690480061401.pd

Temporal variation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest occurrence in individuals with or without diabetes

Objective: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurrence has been shown to exhibit a circadian rhythm, following the circadian rhythm of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) occurrence. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with changes in circadian rhythm. We aimed to compare the temporal variation of OHCA occurrence over the day and week between OHCA patients with DM and those without.Methods: In two population-based OHCA registries (Amsterdam Resuscitation Studies [ARREST] 2010-2016, n = 4163, and Danish Cardiac Arrest Registry [DANCAR], 2010-2014, n = 12,734), adults (≥18y) with presumed cardiac cause of OHCA and available medical history were included. Single and double cosinor analysis was performed to model circadian variation of OHCA occurrence. Stratified analysis of circadian variation was performed in patients with AMI as immediate cause of OHCA.Results: DM patients (22.8% in ARREST, 24.2% in DANCAR) were older and more frequently had cardiovascular risk factors or previous cardiovascular disease. Both cohorts showed 24 h-rhythmicity, with significant amplitudes in single and double cosinor functions (P-range &lt; 0.001). In both registries, a morning peak (10:00-11:00) and an evening peak (20:00-21:00) was observed in both DM and non-DM patients. No septadian variation was observed in either DM or non-DM patients (P-range 0.13-84).Conclusions: In these two population-based OHCA registries, we observed a similar circadian rhythm of OHCA occurrence in DM and non-DM patients.</p