Obesity--a risk factor for diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes?

The aim of the study was to investigate whether obesity, independently or associated with other risk factors, increases the risk for the diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic persons. Data of 156 diabetic persons that have consecutively attended the Outpatient Department in the Vuk Vrhovac Institute in Zagreb during two months period were studied. According to their body mass index (BMI) they were divided into three groups: group 1 (BMI < or = 25; n = 49), group 2 (BMI 26-29.9; n = 52) and group 3 (BMI > or = 30; n = 55). The three groups did not differ in age, duration of diabetes, treatment, cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. With increase in BMI, we observed a significant deterioration of HbA1c and a significant increase in LDL-cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Statistical analyses shown that the prevalence of retinopathy increased significantly with higher body weight (gr. 1: 40.8%, gr. 2: 63.4%, gr. 3: 63.6%;p < 0.05), but also with correlation to quality of metabolic control (HbA1c) and systolic blood pressure. Therefore, obesity may be, because of its significant correlation to quality of metabolic control (HbA1c) and systolic blood pressure, considered as risk factor for diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic persons.     

How well can we predict coronary heart disease? Findings in the United Kingdom Heart Disease Prevention Project.

The probability of myocardial infarction developing over five years in a group of middle aged men was predicted with knowledge of their ages, blood pressures, cholesterol concentrations, and smoking habits as recorded in an initial screening examination. Although the top 15% of the risk distribution predicted 115 (32%) of the subsequent cases of myocardial infarction, there was a considerable overlap in predicted risk between those subjects who did and those who did not go on to develop a myocardial infarction. Of the subjects in the top 15% of risk, only 72 (7%) of those initially free of coronary heart disease and 43 (22%) of those initially with coronary heart disease actually developed a myocardial infarction over the subsequent five years. Thus, although a group of subjects at high risk can be identified, among whom will be a high proportion of potential victims of heart attack, many subjects will be wrongly classified. These findings may explain part of the difficulty in persuading patients of the potential benefits of reducing risks and highlight the need for research to improve the prediction of the development of coronary heart disease.     

How can we bring together empiricists and modellers in functional biodiversity research?

Improving our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and our capacity to inform ecosystem management requires an integrated framework for functional biodiversity research (FBR). However, adequate integration among empirical approaches (monitoring and experimental) and modelling has rarely been achieved in FBR. We offer an appraisal of the issues involved and chart a course towards enhanced integration. A major element of this path is the joint orientation towards the continuous refinement of a theoretical framework for FBR that links theory testing and generalization with applied research oriented towards the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. We further emphasize existing decision-making frameworks as suitable instruments to practically merge these different aims of FBR and bring them into application. This integrated framework requires joint research planning, and should improve communication and stimulate collaboration between modellers and empiricists, thereby overcoming existing reservations and prejudices. The implementation of this integrative research agenda for FBR requires an adaptation in most national and international funding schemes in order to accommodate such joint teams and their more complex structures and data needs.     

How can we improve tracking of transplanted tissue in the United States?

Currently an estimated two million tissues are distributed for transplantation annually. With increasing use of recovered tissue, clusters of transplant-transmitted infection have shown the difficulty of tracking tissues from an infected donor to the recipient. The challenge of tissue tracking to multiple transplant recipients was illustrated in a recent investigation of transmission of hepatitis C virus infection from a donor of organs and tissues. When a tissue bank issued a recall of the donated tissue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was notified to assist public health authorities; the mean time to locate and notify the physicians who had transplanted the tissue was 13 days, while the mean time to notify, inform, and test the patients was 29 days. Lack of common coding and nomenclature was one of the key challenges in tracking tissue to the recipient. Some changes that could improve timeliness in the event of a recall includes: (1) standardized tissue nomenclature and coding through unique donor identifiers; (2) tissue traceability requirements using systems similar to that used for blood products; (3) a surveillance system for adverse events that provides feedback at the provider level.     

Carbon budgets in batch and continuous cultures: How can we understand natural physiology of marine phytoplankton?

Monitoring of respiratory and organic losses from carbon assimilationfor the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana shows very slight (about5%) total carbon losses in continuous culture. Although correlationbetween batch and continuous culture cellular chemistry wasless than ideal, batch culture exponential phase cells showedcarbon metabolism similar to that for the continuous culture.In both cases, growth rates were in excess of 1.5 divisionsd^–1 and total carbon losses in the batch exponential phasewere similar (<10%) to those in the continuous culture. Estimatesof growth rates from C-14 uptake and particulate carbon matchedthose from changes in cell numbers in the batch culture andthat from the dilution rate in the continuous culture. In batchculture, immediately after starting the culture and in stationaryphase, carbon losses from respiration, organic excretion, andcellular degradation were large (>50%). To understand phytoplanktonphysiology in nature, it is necessary to find what effects growthrate and population density have on carbon losses and to ascertainwhether or not steady state conditions really pertain to theocean.     

How accurately can we detect Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection?

Mycobacteria have thwarted detection by scientists for centuries. Mycobacterium paratuberculosis is one of the most fastidious of the Mycobacteriaceae, and has been implicated in both animal and human diseases. In domestic livestock, M. paratuberculosis has been associated with Johne's disease, which given its increasing incidence, is currently a cause for concern, due to the potential for M. paratuberculosis to enter our food chain. In addition, a tenuous link has been reported between M. paratuberculosis and Crohn's disease, however evidence to support this link is hampered by the lack of accurate methodologies for detection of M. paratuberculosis in humans. This review compares the sensitivity and specificity of traditional and more recent techniques to the culture and molecular detection of M. paratuberculosis. While serology and culture are popular choices for the livestock industry they have not produced useful data for human infection. Although the advent of molecular biology has enabled faster diagnosis of M. paratuberculosis in human infection, there is currently no gold standard such as culture on which to validate these findings. Even with DNA/RNA detection methods, there is the ever present issue of the genetic relatedness of M. paratuberculosis to other mycobacteria of the Mycobacterium avium complex, some of which also infect humans with very different pathological outcomes. Recent developments in this field include more rapid methods of M. paratuberculosis culture as well as the development of more accurate and sensitive PCR assays. The application of these techniques should offer a greater insight as to the role of M. paratuberculosis in human gastrointestinal diseases.     

Benefits of aggregation in woodlice: a factor in the terrestrialization process?

In the animal kingdom, living in group is driven by a tradeoff between the costs and the benefits of this way of life. This review focuses especially on the benefits of aggregation and crowding in woodlice (Crustacea: Isopoda: Oniscidea). Indeed, woodlice are well known to live in groups. Their aggregation behavior, as described in the early works of Allee, is regarded as a mechanism to prevent desiccation to which woodlice are extremely sensitive. However, it is now clear that there are additional benefits to aggregation in woodlice. Hence, this review addresses not only the limitation of water loss as the main factor explaining aggregation patterns, but also alternative explanations as reduction of oxygen consumption, increase in body growth, biotic stimuli for reproduction, better access to mates, possible shared defenses against predators, promotion of coprophagy as a secondary food source, sheltering behavior and the acquisition of internal symbionts. In addition, we place woodlice in the context of a terrestrialization process and propose that woodlice—the only suborder of Crustacea almost entirely composed of strictly terrestrial species—are a model taxon for studying the evolution of sociality through the transition from water to land. Further, we discuss other ultimate causes of aggregation preserved in terrestrial isopods in light of those explained in aquatic isopods and under the concept of exaptation. This knowledge could help understand, in this and other taxa, how the spatial closeness between conspecifics may promote the colonization of new environments and nonphysiological responses to climatic constraints.     

Linking science and practice in ecological research and management: How can we do it better?

Summary In conservation management, ensuring that the most appropriate research is conducted and results are actually put into practice is a complex and challenging process. While there are success stories, many hurdles can reduce the likelihood of appropriate research being initiated and its findings communicated and implemented. This article describes the ideal research–management cycle, summarizes the major factors that impede it and draws on the experiences of the authors to provide a series of examples of successful approaches to help keep the cycle going. We consider that the major impediments to a functioning research–management cycle relate to a lack of collaboration, poor communication, inappropriate funding and political timelines, change inertia and a lack of capacity. Although addressing structural difficulties such as matching funding timelines to those required for ecological research is a fundamental challenge, we can make incremental improvements to the way in which we operate that will improve the chances that research is both useful and used. The principles underpinning our success stories are (i) strategic development of capacity, (ii) increased breadth and depth of collaborations between researchers and managers and (iii) improved communications. Participants in the research–management cycle must seek to involve stakeholders through all project stages from project conception, to implementation, evaluation and knowledge updating. Finally, we should only see the first iteration of the research process as complete when new knowledge is applied operationally with monitoring and ongoing evaluation in place.