鸟类鸣声与个体适合度关系的研究进展

鸣声蕴藏着丰富的生物学信息,是鸟类间信息交流最主要的方式之一。本文综述了鸟类鸣声行为与包括个体状态(体征、激素水平和健康状况)、社会等级及繁殖(性选择和成效)在内的个体适合度关系的研究进展。文章总结发现,鸟类的鸣声水平与单一体征参数关系的研究结果不稳定,鸣声可能受个体内部的多种激素调控,并与个体的社会等级有直接关系。雌雄个体鸣声均与繁殖有一定相关性,但双亲鸣声行为策略存在差异。鸣声对繁殖适合度的影响受到其他因素如物种、婚配制度等因素的影响。鸟类鸣声代表的生物学信息是个体身体质量的综合体现,与鸟类个体适合度的关系较为复杂。为解释鸣声所代表的生物学信息,需要从适合度的多个角度(社会等级、身体状况和繁殖情况等)来考虑多种鸣声参数。     

A five‐step risk management process for geriatric dental practice during SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) is an RNA virus that causes coronavirus infection (COVID‐19). COVID‐19 is a highly contagious disease transmitted through respiratory droplets, saliva and other contact routes. Within 10 months of its outbreak, SARS‐CoV‐2 has infected more than 23 million people around the world. Evidence suggests that older adults are the most vulnerable to infection and have an increased risk of mortality. Reduced immunity and underlying medical conditions make them risk‐prone and vulnerable to critical care. Older adults affected with the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus present with distinct clinical manifestations necessitating specific treatment needs and management protocols. While it is crucial to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus (2019‐nCoV), the role of oral healthcare workers in addressing the specific needs of ageing adult patients by adopting specific guidelines and appropriate infection control protocols is timely. This paper aims to develop specific guidelines and protocols for the dental management of geriatric patients during the COVID‐19 pandemic.     

Dysregulation of metallothionein and zinc aggravates periodontal diseases

BackgroundPeriodontitis (PD) is a multifaceted inflammatory disease connected to bacterial infection that results in the destruction of tooth supporting structures and eventually tooth loss. Given their involvement in infection and inflammation, both metallothionein (MT) and zinc (Zn) might play vital roles in the development and progression of PD. More specifically, both MT and Zn are heavily involved in regulating immune functions, controlling bacterial infection, balancing inflammatory responses, and reducing oxidative stress, all of which are associated with the pathogenesis of PD.ObjectiveThis review paper will explore the physiological functions of MT and Zn and hypothesise how dysregulation could negatively affect periodontal health, leading to PD.FindingsBacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from periodontal pathogens, namely P. gingivalis initiates the acute phase response, thus upregulating the expression of MT which leads to the subsequent deficiency of Zn, a hallmark of periodontal disease. This deficiency leads to ineffective NETosis, increases the permeability of the gingival epithelium, and disrupts the humoral immune response, collectively contributing to PD. In addition, the presence of LPS in Zn deficient conditions favours M1 macrophage polarisation and maturation of dendritic cells, and also inhibits the anti-inflammatory activity of regulatory T cells. Collectively, these observations could theoretically give rise to the chronic inflammation seen in PD.ConclusionA disrupted MT and Zn homeostasis is expected to exert an adverse impact on periodontal health and contribute to the development and progression of PD.     

雄安新区河流健康评价

雄安新区地理环境敏感,生态环境较为脆弱,研究新区河流健康对维护区域水生态平衡,实施京津冀协同发展战略及疏解北京非首都功能具有重要意义。以雄安新区4条河流为研究对象,基于高分二号遥感影像、地理信息数据和实测数据,构建由水文水资源、河流水质、河流底泥、河流生物、河流生境和社会服务构成的河流健康评价指标体系,并用主客观赋值法得到各指标的综合权重,进而计算河流的综合健康指数,以此对河流健康情况进行评价。结果表明不同河流的准则层指标的健康指数和河流综合健康指数存在差异性,其中白沟引河综合健康指数为0.640,处于健康状态;府河的综合健康指数为0.484,处于亚健康状态;瀑河和孝义河均处于病态,综合健康指数为0.269和0.228。总体表现同一河流不同河段以及不同河流存在明显的空间异质性,府河和白沟引河的健康状态明显好于孝义河和瀑河,同时除孝义河不同采样点的健康情况没有差别,府河、瀑河和白沟引河三条河流不同采样点之间的健康状况存在一定的差别,河流入淀处健康状况普遍比中游健康状况好。这为后期生态需水及其整个新区的生态功能提升提供了参考依据。     

绿色基础设施的生态及社会功能研究进展

随着城市化进程的加快,城市硬化地表不断挤占透水表面,使得绿色基础设施规模不断下降、破碎化程度逐渐加大,严重影响了绿色基础设施服务功能的有效发挥。绿色基础设施的发展经历了早期萌芽、初步形成和快速发展三个阶段,主要在宏观尺度研究区域生态安全,中观尺度促进城市可持续发展,微观尺度解决社区生态环境问题。目前绿色基础设施的研究内容集中在其生态功能和社会功能两个方面,主要关注调蓄降雨径流、消减非点源污染、调节区域微气候、居民健康与福祉和空间布局公平性。而供需结构的合理配置也是决定绿色基础设施服务水平的关键因素。未来的研究应加强与相关学科的交叉融合,完善绿色基础设施功能的测度与评估方法,将绿色基础设施建设与实际规划相结合,以期为区域可持续发展和国家生态文明建设提供支撑与保障。     

膳食脂肪、肠道微生物与宿主健康的研究进展

作为三大主要营养物质之一,膳食脂肪为人体提供能量和营养。膳食脂肪摄入不当会破坏肠道微生物的稳态,影响宿主的代谢状况,增加慢性疾病发生的风险。建立疾病动物模型是研究肠道微生物与宿主健康的重要手段。文中综述了膳食脂质的数量和种类、肠道微生物和宿主代谢之间的相互作用及其可能的作用机制,阐述了基于不同的疾病动物模型,膳食脂质影响肠道微生物的结构和功能,以及对宿主代谢的调节,为深入了解膳食脂质、肠道微生态和宿主健康三者之间的关系提供了依据。     

Exploiting nonsystematic covariate monitoring to broaden the scope of evidence about the causal effects of adaptive treatment strategies

In studies based on electronic health records (EHR), the frequency of covariate monitoring can vary by covariate type, across patients, and over time, which can limit the generalizability of inferences about the effects of adaptive treatment strategies. In addition, monitoring is a health intervention in itself with costs and benefits, and stakeholders may be interested in the effect of monitoring when adopting adaptive treatment strategies. This paper demonstrates how to exploit nonsystematic covariate monitoring in EHR‐based studies to both improve the generalizability of causal inferences and to evaluate the health impact of monitoring when evaluating adaptive treatment strategies. Using a real world, EHR‐based, comparative effectiveness research (CER) study of patients with type II diabetes mellitus, we illustrate how the evaluation of joint dynamic treatment and static monitoring interventions can improve CER evidence and describe two alternate estimation approaches based on inverse probability weighting (IPW). First, we demonstrate the poor performance of the standard estimator of the effects of joint treatment‐monitoring interventions, due to a large decrease in data support and concerns over finite‐sample bias from near‐violations of the positivity assumption (PA) for the monitoring process. Second, we detail an alternate IPW estimator using a no direct effect assumption. We demonstrate that this estimator can improve efficiency but at the potential cost of increase in bias from violations of the PA for the treatment process.     

Distribution of Competition Potential Between Native Ungulates and Free-Roaming Equids on Western Rangelands

Free-roaming equids (i.e., feral horses [Equus caballus] and burros [Equus asinus]) are widely distributed and locally abundant across the rangelands of the western United States. The 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act (WFRHBA) gave the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and United States Forest Service (USFS) the legal authority to manage these animals on designated public lands. To fulfill this responsibility, federal agencies established an Appropriate Management Level (AML), defined as the number of horses or burros that can be sustained on a given management unit under prevailing environmental conditions and land uses. Although the WFRHBA specifies that feral equids must be managed in ecological balance with other land uses, including conservation of native wildlife, population control measures such as gathers, contraception, and adoptions have failed to keep pace with intrinsic growth rates. Over 80% of federally managed herds currently exceed prescribed population levels, making the potential for competition between native ungulates and feral equids a growing concern among state wildlife agencies. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), elk (Cervus canadensis), and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are of ecological and economic value to the states where they occur, and all exhibit some degree of distributional, habitat, or dietary overlap with horses or burros. Notwithstanding the scale of the problem, to date there have been no range-wide assessments of competition potential among native and feral ungulates for space, forage, or water. To address this need, we compiled demographic, jurisdictional, and species occurrence data collected from 2010–2019 by federal and state agencies. We used these data to map the distributions of 4 native ungulate species across federal equid management units (FEMUS) in 10 western states (n = 174). We then made within-state rankings of the 50 units that were ≥2 times over AML and encompassed ≥3 native ungulates. Collectively, FEMUs covered approximately 225,000 km², representing 18% of all BLM and USFS lands in affected states. Each FEMU supported ≥1 native ungulate and 14% contained all 4. The degree of overlap between native and feral species varied by state, ranging from <1% for mule deer in Montana, to 40% for bighorn sheep in Nevada. Oregon had the largest proportion of units that supported all 4 native ungulates (58%), whereas Montana and New Mexico had the fewest equids, but all populations were over target densities. Despite the perception that the problem of equid abundance is limited to the Great Basin states, high intrinsic growth rates and social constraints on management practices suggest all affected states should monitor range conditions and native ungulate demography in areas where forage and water resources are limited and expanding equid populations are a concern. © 2021 The Wildlife Society.