Gene expression differs in susceptible and resistant amphibians exposed to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

Chytridiomycosis, the disease caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has devastated global amphibian biodiversity. Nevertheless, some hosts avoid disease after Bd exposure even as others experience near-complete extirpation. It remains unclear whether the amphibian adaptive immune system plays a role in Bd defence. Here, we describe gene expression in two host species-one susceptible to chytridiomycosis and one resistant-following exposure to two Bd isolates that differ in virulence. Susceptible wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) had high infection loads and mortality when exposed to the more virulent Bd isolate but lower infection loads and no fatal disease when exposed to the less virulent isolate. Resistant American bullfrogs (R. catesbeiana) had high survival across treatments and rapidly cleared Bd infection or avoided infection entirely. We found widespread upregulation of adaptive immune genes and downregulation of important metabolic and cellular maintenance components in wood frogs after Bd exposure, whereas American bullfrogs showed little gene expression change and no evidence of an adaptive immune response. Wood frog responses suggest that adaptive immune defences may be ineffective against virulent Bd isolates that can cause rapid physiological dysfunction. By contrast, American bullfrogs exhibited robust resistance to Bd that is likely attributable, at least in part, to their continued upkeep of metabolic and skin integrity pathways as well as greater antimicrobial peptide expression compared to wood frogs, regardless of exposure. Greater understanding of these defences will ultimately help conservationists manage chytridiomycosis

Evaluation of knowledge level of adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease: Effectiveness of a structured CHD education program in adolescents

BackgroundAdolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) constitute a growing population of individuals for whom a well-planned and well-executed “transition process” is essential. Transition program should include education about medical conditions and promote skills in decision-making and self-care. To improve their level of health related knowledge, a structured education program was implemented in a transition CHD program. This study aimed 1/to evaluate level of knowledge of adolescents who received structured CHD education as compared to adults who did not, 2/to evaluate whether patients who received structured education improve their knowledge.Methods and results42 adolescents (16±2years old, 21 girls) were included in a structured CHD education program and were compared to 22 adults (33±7, 6 women) with CHD who have never followed education program. Knowledge in adolescents was assessed before and after the educational program using questionnaire exploring specific issues related to CHD. A same questionnaire was used in non-educated adult patients. The mean total knowledge score in the educated adolescent group was significantly higher as compared to the non-educated adult with CHD (score=15.6/20±3.6 vs. 12.5±4.5, P<0.01). Provision of structured CHD education and female sex were determinant of higher levels of knowledge. A significant improvement of knowledge was observed in adolescents group after CHD education program (range of increase was 23 to 44%). This result was not influenced by age, sex, education level, socio-economic status of parents and disease complexity, and persists at 10months mean follow-up.ConclusionA structured education program was associated with a higher level of knowledge, above all in male CHD patients. Education at transition period has a significant impact on the adolescent knowledge. Structured education program should improve adult CHD understanding of their heart condition, and could prevent potential complications

An objective-based prioritization approach to support trophic complexity through ecological restoration species mixes

Reassembling ecological communities and rebuilding habitats through active restoration treatments require curating the selection of plant species to use in seeding and planting mixes. Ideally, these mixes should be assembled based on attributes that support ecosystem function and services, promote plant and animal species interactions and ecological networks in restoration while balancing project constraints. Despite these critical considerations, it is common for species mixes to be selected opportunistically. Reframing the selection of seed mixes for restoration around ecological objectives is essential for success but accessible methods and tools are needed to support this effort. We developed a framework to optimize species seed mixes based on prioritizing plant species attributes to best support different objectives for ecosystem functions, services and trophic relationships such as pollination, seed dispersal and herbivory. We compared results to approaches where plant species are selected to represent plant taxonomic richness, dominant species and at random. We tested our framework in European alpine grasslands by identifying 176 plant species characteristic of the species pool, and identified 163 associated attributes affiliated to trophic relationships, ecosystem functions and services. In all cases, trophic relationships, ecosystem functions and services can be captured more efficiently through objective-based prioritization using the functional identity of plant species. Solutions (plant species lists) can be compared quantitatively, in terms of costs, species or objectives. We confirm that a random draw of plant species from the regional plant species pool cannot be assumed to support other trophic groups and ecosystem functions and services. Synthesis and Applications. Our framework is presented as a proof-of-concept to help restoration practitioners better apply quantitative decision support to plant species selection to efficiently meet ecological restoration outcomes. Our approach may be tailored to any restoration initiative, habitat or restoration targets where seeding or planting mixes will be applied in active treatments. As global priority and resources are increasingly placed into restoration, this approach could be advanced to help make efficient decisions for many stages of the restoration process

Coupling slot-waveguide cavities for large-scale quantum optical devices

By offering effective modal volumes significantly less than a cubic wavelength, slot-waveguide cavities offer a new in-road into strong atom-photon coupling in the visible regime. Here we explore two-dimensional arrays of coupled slot cavities which underpin designs for novel quantum emulators and polaritonic quantum phase transition devices. Specifically, we investigate the lateral coupling characteristics of diamond-air and GaP-air slot waveguides using numerically-assisted coupled-mode theory, and the longitudinal coupling properties via distributed Bragg reflectors using mode-propagation simulations. We find that slot-waveguide cavities in the Fabry-Perot arrangement can be coupled and effectively treated with a tight-binding description, and are a suitable platform for realizing Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard physics.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitte

Observational Study Design in Veterinary Pathology, Part 1: Study Design

Observational studies are the basis for much of our knowledge of veterinary pathology and are highly relevant to the daily practice of pathology. However, recommendations for conducting pathology-based observational studies are not readily available. In part 1 of this series, we offer advice on planning and conducting an observational study with examples from the veterinary pathology literature. Investigators should recognize the importance of creativity, insight, and innovation in devising studies that solve problems and fill important gaps in knowledge. Studies should focus on specific and testable hypotheses, questions, or objectives. The methodology is developed to support these goals. We consider the merits and limitations of different types of analytic and descriptive studies, as well as of prospective vs retrospective enrollment. Investigators should define clear inclusion and exclusion criteria and select adequate numbers of study subjects, including careful selection of the most appropriate controls. Studies of causality must consider the temporal relationships between variables and the advantages of measuring incident cases rather than prevalent cases. Investigators must consider unique aspects of studies based on archived laboratory case material and take particular care to consider and mitigate the potential for selection bias and information bias. We close by discussing approaches to adding value and impact to observational studies. Part 2 of the series focuses on methodology and validation of methods

Linking changes in species composition and biomass in a globally distributed grassland experiment

Global change drivers, such as anthropogenic nutrient inputs, are increasing globally. Nutrient deposition simultaneously alters plant biodiversity, species composition and ecosystem processes like aboveground biomass production. These changes are underpinned by species extinction, colonisation and shifting relative abundance. Here, we use the Price equation to quantify and link the contributions of species that are lost, gained or that persist to change in aboveground biomass in 59 experimental grassland sites. Under ambient (control) conditions, compositional and biomass turnover was high, and losses (i.e. local extinctions) were balanced by gains (i.e. colonisation). Under fertilisation, the decline in species richness resulted from increased species loss and decreases in species gained. Biomass increase under fertilisation resulted mostly from species that persist and to a lesser extent from species gained. Drivers of ecological change can interact relatively independently with diversity, composition and ecosystem processes and functions such as aboveground biomass due to the individual contributions of species lost, gained or persisting.EEA Santa CruzFil: Ladouceur, Emma. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Ladouceur, Emma. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. Department of Physiological Diversity; AlemaniaFil: Ladouceur, Emma. University of Leipzig. Department of Biology; AlemaniaFil: Ladouceur, Emma. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Institute of Computer Science; AlemaniaFil: Blowes, Shane A. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Blowes, Shane A. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Institute of Computer Science; AlemaniaFil: Chase, Jonathan M. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Chase, Jonathan M. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Institute of Computer Science; AlemaniaFil: Clark, Adam T. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Clark, Adam T. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. Department of Physiological Diversity; AlemaniaFil: Clark, Adam T. Karl-Franzens University of Graz. Institute of Biology; Austria.Fil: Garbowski, Magda. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Garbowski, Magda. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. Department of Physiological Diversity; AlemaniaFil: Alberti, Juan. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Laboratorio de Ecología. Mar del Plata; Argentina.Fil: Alberti, Juan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Arnillas, Carlos Alberto. University of Toronto. Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences; Canadá.Fil: Bakker, Jonathan D. University of Washington. School of Environmental and Forest Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Barrio, Isabel C. Agricultural University of Iceland. Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences; IslandiaFil: Bharath, Siddharth. Atria University; India.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santa Cruz; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral; Argentina.Fil: Peri, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Harpole, Stanley. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv); AlemaniaFil: Harpole, Stanley. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ. Department of Physiological Diversity; AlemaniaMartin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Institute of Computer Science; Alemani

Intensity Distribution of Modes in Surface Corrugated Waveguides

Exact calculations of transmission and reflection coefficients in surface randomly corrugated optical waveguides are presented. As the length of the corrugated part of the waveguide increases, there is a strong preference to forward coupling through the lowest mode. An oscillating behavior of the enhanced backscattering as a function of the wavelength is predicted. Although the transport is strongly non isotropic, the analysis of the probability distributions of the transmitted waves confirms in this configuration distributions predicted by Random Matrix Theory for volume disorder

Observational Study Design in Veterinary Pathology, Part 2: Methodology

Observational studies are a basis for much of our knowledge of veterinary pathology, yet considerations for conducting pathology-based observational studies are not readily available. In part 1 of this series, we offered advice on planning and carrying out an observational study. Part 2 of the series focuses on methodology. Our general recommendations are to consider using already-validated methods, published guidelines, data from primary sources, and quantitative analyses. We discuss 3 common methods in pathology research—histopathologic scoring, immunohistochemistry, and polymerase chain reaction—to illustrate principles of method validation. Some aspects of quality control include use of clear objective grading criteria, validation of key reagents, assessing sample quality, determining specificity and sensitivity, use of technical and biologic negative and positive controls, blinding of investigators, approaches to minimizing operator-dependent variation, measuring technical variation, and consistency in analysis of the different study groups. We close by discussing approaches to increasing the rigor of observational studies by corroborating results with complementary methods, using sufficiently large numbers of study subjects, consideration of the data in light of similar published studies, replicating the results in a second study population, and critical analysis of the study findings

Reliability, Validity, and Cut Scores of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) for Chinese

We examined the reliability, validity, and classification accuracy of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) when adopted for use in Chinese. The DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling served as the standard against which the classification accuracy of the SOGS was tested. A total of 283 Chinese adults in the community and 94 Chinese treatment-seeking gamblers were recruited. The internal reliability of the SOGS was satisfactory for the general sample and acceptable for the gambling sample. The SOGS was correlated with the DSM-IV criteria items as well as psychosocial and gambling-related problems. Relative to the DSM-IV criteria, the SOGS tended to overestimate the number of pathological gamblers in both samples. In general, we were relatively confident that individuals were not pathological gamblers if the SOGS scores were between 0 and 4 and were pathological gamblers if the SOGS were between 11 and 20. There was about 50–50 chance of being pathological gamblers if the SOGS scores were between 8 and 10. However, the probability of individuals being pathological gamblers was about 0.30 if the SOGS scores were between 5 and 7. We proposed a SOGS cut score of 8 to screen for probable pathological gambling in Chinese societies