Metabolome and water status phenotyping of Arabidopsis under abiotic stress cues reveals new insight into ESK1 function

Metabolomic investigation of the freezing-tolerant Arabidopsis mutant esk1 revealed large alterations in polar metabolite content in roots and shoots. Stress metabolic markers were found to be among the most significant metabolic markers associated with the mutation, but also compounds related to growth regulation or nutrition. The metabolic phenotype of esk1 was also compared to that of wild type (WT) under various environmental constraints, namely cold, salinity and dehydration. The mutant was shown to express constitutively a subset of metabolic responses which fits with the core of stress metabolic responses in the WT. But remarkably, the most specific metabolic responses to cold acclimation were not phenocopied by esk1 mutation and remained fully inducible in the mutant at low temperature. Under salt stress, esk1 accumulated lower amounts of Na⁺ in leaves than the WT, and under dehydration stress its metabolic profile and osmotic potential were only slightly impacted. These phenotypes are consistent with the hypothesis of an altered water status in esk1 , which actually exhibited basic lower water content (WC) and transpiration rate (TR) than the WT. Taken together, the results suggest that ESK1 does not function as a specific cold acclimation gene, but could rather be involved in water homeostasis.     

Modelling intraspecific resting egg shape variation in a freshwater fairy shrimp Tanymastix stagnalis (L., 1758) (Crustacea, Branchiopoda)

The shape of the resting eggs of a large branchiopod crustacean, the Anostraca Tanymastix stagnalis , is represented very accurately by analytical expressions. The occurrence of atypical shape of some T. stagnalis eggs may be viewed as a simple change of the analytical expression describing the usual egg shape. Their unusual shape may be explained by a higher embryo volume within an envelope of a given size. Biological implications are briefly discussed and hypothesized in an evolutionary point of view.  © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2007, 90 , 55–60.     

Better survival after transcatheter aortic valve replacement by process improvements

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to assess the effects on procedural, 30-day, and 1‑year all-cause mortality by a newly introduced quality improvement strategy in patients after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).MethodsIn October 2015, a coherent set of quality improving interventions with respect to patient geriatric screening, general diagnostic examination and safety of the procedure was implemented at a single centre in the Netherlands. Patients undergoing TAVR in 2013–2018 were included for retrospective analysis. Mortality was assessed in the pre-quality improvement strategy cohort (January 2013 to October 2015; cohort A) and in the post-quality improvement strategy cohort (November 2015 to December 2018; cohort B). Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the influence of patient and procedural characteristics on the results of the quality improvement strategy in terms of procedural, 30-day, and 1‑year all-cause mortality.ResultsIn total, 806 patients were analysed with 274 patients in cohort A and 532 patients in cohort B. After introduction of the quality improvement strategy, procedural (4.4% to 1.3%, p < 0.01), 30-day (8.4% to 2.7%, p < 0.01) and 1‑year (16.4% to 8.5%, p < 0.01) all-cause mortality significantly decreased. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the quality improvement strategy also significantly reduced 30-day (odds ratio [OR] 0.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.09–0.42) and 1‑year (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.24–0.61) all-cause mortality if corrected for patient characteristics.ConclusionStructural meetings on evaluation of outcomes highlight potential areas for improvement and subsequent outcome-based quality improvement initiatives can result in lower procedural, 30-day, and 1‑year all-cause mortality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12471-020-01526-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Functional diversity decreases with temperature in high elevation ant fauna

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Climate as a driver of population variability in breeding Gentoo Penguins Pygoscelis papua at the Falkland Islands

Detecting and predicting how populations respond to environmental variability are eminent challenges in conservation research and management. This is particularly true for wildlife populations at high latitudes, many of which demonstrate changes in population dynamics associated with global warming. The Falkland Islands (Southwest Atlantic) hold one of the largest Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua populations in the world, representing c. 34% of the global population. The numbers of breeding Gentoo Penguins at the Falkland Islands have shown a high degree of inter‐annual variability since monitoring commenced in 1990. However, proximate causes of annual variability in breeding numbers have not been explored. Here we examine 21 years of Gentoo Penguin breeding surveys from the Falkland Islands and assess whether inter‐annual variability in the number of breeding pairs were correlated with proxies of environmental variability. There was a positive correlation between the number of breeding pairs and a broad‐scale climatic variation index, the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). In turn, the SOI was significantly correlated with spring sea surface temperature anomalies, indicating a more immediate atmospherically forced response to El Niño Southern Oscillation variability in the Southwest Atlantic than previously reported. However, we also describe a non‐linear response to environmental variability that may highlight foraging plasticity and/or the complexity of regional ecosystem interactions that operate across a range of different scales.     

Personality and body condition have additive effects on motivation to feed in Zebra Finches Taeniopygia guttata

Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the adaptive evolution of personality, defined as inter‐individual differences in behaviour that are consistent over time and across situations. For instance, the ‘pace‐of‐life syndrome’ hypothesis suggests that personality evolved as a behavioural correlate of life‐history trajectories that vary within populations. Thus, proactivity, corresponding to higher exploratory tendencies or higher boldness levels, has been linked to higher productivity or mortality rates. However, the extent to which proactivity is associated with a higher motivation to forage remains poorly understood. Moreover, although personality and its effects on foraging behaviour are usually considered to be independent of any motivational or nutritional state, few studies so far have challenged this. Here we show that personality traits, both individually or combined using a principal component analysis, and body condition have additive effects on latency to feed following food deprivation in the Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata, with personality accounting for 41% and body condition for about 20% of the total variation in latency to feed. In accordance with the pace‐of‐life syndrome hypothesis, latency to feed was negatively related to the degree of proactivity and positively related to body condition. Thus, proactive individuals and individuals in poorer condition were quicker to start feeding after a period of food deprivation. The absence of a significant interaction between personality and body condition further suggests that the effect of personality was independent of body condition. We discuss the relevance of our results in relation to the different factors influencing foraging in birds. Moreover, we place our results within a life‐history framework by emphasizing the correlated evolution of life‐history traits and personality.     

Suicidal process,suicidal communication and psychosocial situation of young suicide attempters in a rural Vietnamese community

The study aimed to explore the suicidal process, suicidal communication and psychosocial situation of young suicide attempters in a rural community in Hanoi, Vietnam. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, in a community setting, with 19 suicide attempters aged 15-24 who had been consecutively hospitalized in an intensive care unit. In 12 of 19 cases, the first pressing, distinct and constant suicidal thoughts appeared less than one day before the suicide attempt in question. However, distress and mild, fleeting suicidal thoughts had been present up to six months before the suicide attempt in 16 cases. Five respondents had a suicide plan one to three days before attempting suicide. Altogether, 13 engaged in some form of suicidal communication before their attempt. This communication was, however, difficult for outsiders to interpret. Twelve of the respondents were victims of regular physical abuse and 16 had suffered psychological violence for at least one year before attempting suicide. Eighteen of the respondents used pesticides or raticides in their suicide attempts. None sought advice or consultation in the community despite long-standing psychosocial problems. The strategy of reducing the availability of suicide means (e.g., pesticides or raticides) in Asian countries should be complemented with a long-term suicide-preventive strategy that targets school dropouts and domestic violence, and promotes coping abilities and communication about psychological and social problems as well as recognition of signs of distress and suicidal communication.