Long-term decline of a winter-resident bird community in Puerto Rico

Despite concern expressed two decades ago, there has been little recent discussion about continuing declines of migrant bird populations. Monitoring efforts have been focused almost exclusively on the breeding grounds. We describe the long-term decline of a winter-resident bird population in Guánica Commonwealth Forest, Puerto Rico, one of the last remaining tracts of high-quality tropical dry forests in the Caribbean. The winter bird community has exhibited dramatic declines, with constant-effort mist netting now capturing about one-third as many birds as it did 20 years ago. Population estimates for the three most common species have declined dramatically, even though survival rates have remained constant, and other species are now virtually absent from a site where they once were fairly common. Although explanations for these declines are speculative, particularly because they involve multiple species, we argue that the strength and duration of these declines in well-preserved dry forest within a biosphere reserve should stimulate renewed discussion of migrant population trends and comparison with other recent monitoring activities.     

A Bayesian Approach for Modeling Cattle Movements in the United States: Scaling up a Partially Observed Network

Networks are rarely completely observed and prediction of unobserved edges is an important problem, especially in disease spread modeling where networks are used to represent the pattern of contacts. We focus on a partially observed cattle movement network in the U.S. and present a method for scaling up to a full network based on Bayesian inference, with the aim of informing epidemic disease spread models in the United States. The observed network is a 10% state stratified sample of Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspection that are required for interstate movement; describing approximately 20,000 movements from 47 of the contiguous states, with origins and destinations aggregated at the county level. We address how to scale up the 10% sample and predict unobserved intrastate movements based on observed movement distances. Edge prediction based on a distance kernel is not straightforward because the probability of movement does not always decline monotonically with distance due to underlying industry infrastructure. Hence, we propose a spatially explicit model where the probability of movement depends on distance, number of premises per county and historical imports of animals. Our model performs well in recapturing overall metrics of the observed network at the node level (U.S. counties), including degree centrality and betweenness; and performs better compared to randomized networks. Kernel generated movement networks also recapture observed global network metrics, including network size, transitivity, reciprocity, and assortativity better than randomized networks. In addition, predicted movements are similar to observed when aggregated at the state level (a broader geographic level relevant for policy) and are concentrated around states where key infrastructures, such as feedlots, are common. We conclude that the method generally performs well in predicting both coarse geographical patterns and network structure and is a promising method to generate full networks that incorporate the uncertainty of sampled and unobserved contacts.     

Novel Use of PIT Tags in Sea Cucumbers: Promising Results with the Commercial Species Cucumaria frondosa

The lack of a reliable and innocuous mark-recapture method has limited studies that would provide essential information for the management of commercial sea cucumbers. Tagging sea cucumbers is notoriously difficult because of their plastic nature and autolysis capacities. The markers that have so far been tested, mainly on or through the body wall, were either lost rapidly or had major drawbacks (e.g. suitable only for batch identification, requiring complex analysis, causing infections, necrosis, behavioural changes and mortality). The present study explored the efficacy of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags for individually marking sea cucumbers by assessing retention rates and long-term side effects of tags inserted in previously unstudied tissues/organs. Individuals of the species Cucumaria frondosa were tagged in the body wall, aquapharyngeal bulb and at the base of the oral tentacles. They were monitored closely for evidence of stress, infection, change in feeding and spawning behaviour and tag retention rate. Implanting the tag in an oral tentacle to reach the hydrovascular system of the aquapharyngeal bulb achieved the best retention rates in full-size individuals: from a maximum of 92% after 30 days to 68% at the end of the experimental period (300 days). Efficacy was lower in smaller individuals (84% after 30 d and 42% after 300 d). Following a slight increase in cloacal movements for 15 h post tagging, no side effect was noted in sea cucumbers tagged in the aquapharyngeal bulb via the tentacles. Feeding and spawning behaviours were not affected and no signs of infections or abnormal cell development in the vicinity of the tags were observed. This study indicates that marking sea cucumbers with 8.2 mm long PIT tags implanted via the oral tentacle is an effective technique, yielding relatively high retention rates over long periods without any detectable physiological or behavioural effects.     

Towards a Supertree of Arthropoda: A Species-Level Supertree of the Spiny,Slipper and Coral Lobsters (Decapoda: Achelata)

While supertrees have been built for many vertebrate groups (notably birds, mammals and dinosaurs), invertebrates have attracted relatively little attention. The paucity of supertrees of arthropods is particularly surprising given their economic and ecological importance, as well as their overwhelming contribution to biodiversity. The absence of comprehensive archives of machine-readable source trees, coupled with the need for software implementing repeatable protocols for managing them, has undoubtedly impeded progress. Here we present a supertree of Achelata (spiny, slipper and coral lobsters) as a proof of concept, constructed using new supertree specific software (the Supertree Toolkit; STK) and following a published protocol. We also introduce a new resource for archiving and managing published source trees. Our supertree of Achelata is synthesised from morphological and molecular source trees, and represents the most complete species-level tree of the group to date. Our findings are consistent with recent taxonomic treatments, confirming the validity of just two families: Palinuridae and Scyllaridae; Synaxidae were resolved within Palinuridae. Monophyletic Silentes and Stridentes lineages are recovered within Palinuridae, and all sub-families within Scyllaridae are found to be monophyletic with the exception of Ibacinae. We demonstrate the feasibility of building larger supertrees of arthropods, with the ultimate objective of building a complete species-level phylogeny for the entire phylum using a divide and conquer strategy.     

Central Coherence in Eating Disorders: A Synthesis of Studies Using the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test

BackgroundLarge variability in tests and differences in scoring systems used to study central coherence in eating disorders may lead to different interpretations, inconsistent findings and between study discrepancies. This study aimed to address inconsistencies by collating data from several studies from the same research group that used the Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (Rey Figure) in order to produce norms to provide benchmark data for future studies.MethodData was collated from 984 participants in total. Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, recovered Anorexia Nervosa, unaffected family members and healthy controls were compared using the Rey Figure.ResultsPoor global processing was observed across all current eating disorder sub-groups and in unaffected relatives. There was no difference in performance between recovered AN and HC groups.ConclusionsThis is the largest dataset reported in the literature and supports previous studies implicating poor global processing across eating disorders using the Rey Figure. It provides robust normative data useful for future studies.     

Defects in apoptosis increase memory CD8+ T cells following infection of Bim-/-Faslpr/lpr mice

During many infections, large numbers of effector CD8⁺ T cells are generated. After pathogen clearance, the majority of these cells undergo apoptosis, while the survivors differentiate into memory CD8⁺ T cells. Although loss of both Bim and Fas function dramatically increased antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells in the lymph nodes following acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection, it was unclear whether they were pardoned effector or true memory CD8⁺ T cells. In this study, we demonstrate they are bona fide memory T cells as characterized by surface marker expression, cytokine production, homeostatic proliferation, and ability to clear a secondary challenge of pathogen. Loss of both Bim and Fas also increased the number of virus-specific CD4⁺ T cells found in the lymph nodes compared to the parental genotypes or wildtype mice. These studies illustrate that decreasing apoptosis increases the number of memory T cells and therefore could increase the efficacy of vaccines.     

Extra-renal 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-1α-hydroxylase in human health and disease

Although ectopic expression of 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃-1α-hydroxylase (1α-OHase) has been recognized for many years, the precise function of this enzyme outside the kidney remains open to debate. Three specific aspects of extra-renal 1α-OHase have attracted most attention: (i) expression and regulation in non-classical tissues during normal physiology; (ii) effects on the immune system and inflammatory disease; (iii) expression and function in tumors. The most well-recognized manifestation of extra-renal 1α-OHase activity remains that found in some patients with granulomatous diseases where locally synthesized 1α,25(OH)₂D₃ has the potential to spill-over into the general circulation. However, immunohistochemistry and mRNA analyses suggest that 1α-OHase is also expressed by a variety of normal human tissues including the gastrointestinal tract, skin, vasculature and placenta. This has promoted the idea that autocrine/paracrine synthesis of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ contributes to normal physiology, particularly in mediating the potent effects of vitamin D on innate (macrophage) and acquired (dendritic cell) immunity. We have assessed the capacity for synthesis of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ in these cells and the functional significance of autocrine responses to 1α-hydroxylase. Data suggest that local synthesis of 1,25(OH)₂D₃ may be a preferred mode of response to antigenic challenge in many tissues.     

Salivary Oxytocin Concentrations in Males following Intranasal Administration of Oxytocin: A Double-Blind,Cross-Over Study

The use of intranasal oxytocin (OT) in research has become increasingly important over the past decade. Although researchers have acknowledged a need for further investigation of the physiological effects of intranasal administration, few studies have actually done so. In the present double-blind cross-over study we investigated the longevity of a single 24 IU dose of intranasal OT measured in saliva in 40 healthy adult males. Salivary OT concentrations were significantly higher in the OT condition, compared to placebo. This significant difference lasted until the end of testing, approximately 108 minutes after administration, and peaked at 30 minutes. Results showed significant individual differences in response to intranasal OT administration. To our knowledge this is the largest and first all-male within-subjects design study to demonstrate the impact of intranasal OT on salivary OT concentrations. The results are consistent with previous research in suggesting that salivary OT is a valid matrix for OT measurement. The results also suggest that the post-administration ‘wait-time’ prior to starting experimental tasks could be reduced to 30 minutes, from the 45 minutes typically used, thereby enabling testing during peak OT concentrations. Further research is needed to ascertain whether OT concentrations after intranasal administration follow similar patterns in females, and different age groups.     

Pathogenesis of human metapneumovirus lung infection in BALB/c mice and cotton rats

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a newly described member of the Paramyxoviridae family causing acute respiratory tract infections, especially in young children. We studied the pathogenesis of this viral infection in two experimental small animal models (BALB/c mice and cotton rats). Significant viral replication in the lungs of both animals was found following an intranasal challenge of 10(8) 50% tissue culture infectious doses (TCID50) and persisted for <2 and <3 weeks in the case of cotton rats and mice, respectively. Peak viral loads were found on day 5 postinfection in both mice (mean of 1.92 x 10(7) TCID50/g lung) and cotton rats (mean of 1.03 x 10(5) TCID50/g). Clinical symptoms consisting of breathing difficulties, ruffled fur, and weight loss were noted in mice only around the time of peak viral replication. Most significant pulmonary inflammatory changes and peak expression of macrophage inflammatory protein 1alpha, gamma interferon, and RANTES occurred at the time of maximal viral replication (day 5) in both models. Cellular infiltration occurred predominantly around and within alveoli and persisted for at least 21 days in mice, whereas it was more limited in time with more peribronchiolitis in cotton rats. Both animal models would be of great value in evaluating different therapeutic agents, as well as vaccine candidates against hMPV.