Insect conservation on islands: setting the scene and defining the needs

The putative peculiarities of island insects and the factors important in their conservation are noted. Endemism and speciation lessons from island insects have contributed significantly to wider understanding of aspects of insect diversification. The twin complexes of threats to island insects involve (1) internal processes, essentially habitat changes by human activity, and their consequences and (2) externally-imposed effects from alien invasive species, both of these operating in environments that may lack much of the buffer capability present in larger continental areas or in richer communities. Many island insects now persist only in small inaccessible remnant habitats, and protecting these is a key theme in planning insect conservation on islands. The possible effects of climate change may be severe, particularly on ‘low islands’ such as many coral cays.     

Exotic Pine Plantations in Victoria, Australia: A Threat to Epigaeic Beetle (Coleoptera) Assemblages?

Ground-dwelling invertebrates were sampled by pitfall traps over a 14 week period in parent eucalypt forest and three stages of exotic Pinus radiata plantations established after forest clearance in central Victoria. The four treatments each yielded numerous beetle morphospecies, and the assemblages corresponded only partially with the understorey vegetation. More than 200 beetle morphospecies were captured during this short survey, with 30 found in all four treatments; few morphospecies were abundant (only five with >100 individuals in a total of 3382 beetles). Each treatment had unique morphospecies, but all were rich, with the lowest diversity being 91 morphospecies (young pines). These data confirm that beetle diversity can remain substantial in exotic softwood plantations, but considerable care is needed to interpret this apparent diversity in relation to forest management and the effect of replacement of native forests by exotic taxa.     

Fluorescent analogues of quinoline reveal amine ligand loss from cis and trans platinum(II) complexes in cancer cells

Analogues of cytotoxic cis and trans dichloridoplatinum(II) complexes with one ammonia and one aromatic amine (cis- and trans-[PtCl₂(aromatic amine)(NH₃)]) were synthesised in which the aromatic group was replaced by the fluorescent ligand 7-azaindole (1). Coordination resulted in almost complete quenching of the fluorescence and the ligand had a effect on the biological activities of the cis and trans isomers similar to that previously reported for aromatic amines as is exemplified by them having similar cytotoxicities (IC₅₀ 3.6(5) and 6.0(19) μM, respectively). Observation of fluorescence following treatment of the cis complex with cysteine, glutathione, or methionine suggests labilisation and subsequent loss of the putative non-leaving group ligands. No such effect was observed for the trans complex which does not experience trans labilisation. Two-photon excitation of cells that had been treated with the complexes gave rise to observable fluorescence, suggesting ligand displacement for both complexes. The fluorescence appears to be localised in the lysosomes or late endosomes. These complexes are excellent models of analogues of cytotoxic cis and trans complexes with aromatic amine ligands and can be used to study the metabolism of the non-leaving group positions.     

The Severity of Pandemic H1N1 Influenza in the United States,from April to July 2009: A Bayesian Analysis

Background

Accurate measures of the severity of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza (pH1N1) are needed to assess the likely impact of an anticipated resurgence in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Severity has been difficult to measure because jurisdictions with large numbers of deaths and other severe outcomes have had too many cases to assess the total number with confidence. Also, detection of severe cases may be more likely, resulting in overestimation of the severity of an average case. We sought to estimate the probabilities that symptomatic infection would lead to hospitalization, ICU admission, and death by combining data from multiple sources.

Methods and Findings

We used complementary data from two US cities: Milwaukee attempted to identify cases of medically attended infection whether or not they required hospitalization, while New York City focused on the identification of hospitalizations, intensive care admission or mechanical ventilation (hereafter, ICU), and deaths. New York data were used to estimate numerators for ICU and death, and two sources of data—medically attended cases in Milwaukee or self-reported influenza-like illness (ILI) in New York—were used to estimate ratios of symptomatic cases to hospitalizations. Combining these data with estimates of the fraction detected for each level of severity, we estimated the proportion of symptomatic patients who died (symptomatic case-fatality ratio, sCFR), required ICU (sCIR), and required hospitalization (sCHR), overall and by age category. Evidence, prior information, and associated uncertainty were analyzed in a Bayesian evidence synthesis framework. Using medically attended cases and estimates of the proportion of symptomatic cases medically attended, we estimated an sCFR of 0.048% (95% credible interval [CI] 0.026%–0.096%), sCIR of 0.239% (0.134%–0.458%), and sCHR of 1.44% (0.83%–2.64%). Using self-reported ILI, we obtained estimates approximately 7–9× lower. sCFR and sCIR appear to be highest in persons aged 18 y and older, and lowest in children aged 5–17 y. sCHR appears to be lowest in persons aged 5–17; our data were too sparse to allow us to determine the group in which it was the highest.

Conclusions

These estimates suggest that an autumn–winter pandemic wave of pH1N1 with comparable severity per case could lead to a number of deaths in the range from considerably below that associated with seasonal influenza to slightly higher, but with the greatest impact in children aged 0–4 and adults 18–64. These estimates of impact depend on assumptions about total incidence of infection and would be larger if incidence of symptomatic infection were higher or shifted toward adults, if viral virulence increased, or if suboptimal treatment resulted from stress on the health care system; numbers would decrease if the total proportion of the population symptomatically infected were lower than assumed. Please see later in the article for the Editors'' Summary     

ACUTE EFFECTS OF A RESISTED DYNAMIC WARM-UP PROTOCOL ON JUMPING PERFORMANCE

This study aimed to investigate the kinematic and kinetic changes when resistance is applied in horizontal and vertical directions, produced by using different percentages of body weight, caused by jumping movements during a dynamic warm-up. The group of subjects consisted of 35 voluntary male athletes (19 basketball and 16 volleyball players; age: 23.4 ± 1.4 years, training experience: 9.6 ± 2.7 years; height: 177.2 ± 5.7 cm, body weight: 69.9 ± 6.9 kg) studying Physical Education, who had a jump training background and who were training for 2 hours, on 4 days in a week. A dynamic warm-up protocol containing seven specific resistance movements with specific resistance corresponding to different percentages of body weight (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%) was applied randomly on non consecutive days. Effects of different warm-up protocols were assessed by pre-/post- exercise changes in jump height in the countermovement jump (CMJ) and the squat jump (SJ) measured using a force platform and changes in hip and knee joint angles at the end of the eccentric phase measured using a video camera. A significant increase in jump height was observed in the dynamic resistance warm-up conducted with different percentages of body weight (p < 0.05). On the other hand, no significant difference in different percentages of body weight states was observed (p > 0.05). In jump movements before and after the warm-up, while no significant difference between the vertical ground reaction forces applied by athletes was observed (p > 0.05), in some cases of resistance, a significant reduction was observed in hip and knee joint angles (p < 0.05). The dynamic resistance warm-up method was found to cause changes in the kinematics of jumping movements, as well as an increase in jump height values. As a result, dynamic warm-up exercises could be applicable in cases of resistance corresponding to 6-10% of body weight applied in horizontal and vertical directions in order to increase the jump performance acutely.     

A Risk Function for Behavioral Disruption of Blainville’s Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) from Mid-Frequency Active Sonar

There is increasing concern about the potential effects of noise pollution on marine life in the world’s oceans. For marine mammals, anthropogenic sounds may cause behavioral disruption, and this can be quantified using a risk function that relates sound exposure to a measured behavioral response. Beaked whales are a taxon of deep diving whales that may be particularly susceptible to naval sonar as the species has been associated with sonar-related mass stranding events. Here we derive the first empirical risk function for Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) by combining in situ data from passive acoustic monitoring of animal vocalizations and navy sonar operations with precise ship tracks and sound field modeling. The hydrophone array at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center, Bahamas, was used to locate vocalizing groups of Blainville’s beaked whales and identify sonar transmissions before, during, and after Mid-Frequency Active (MFA) sonar operations. Sonar transmission times and source levels were combined with ship tracks using a sound propagation model to estimate the received level (RL) at each hydrophone. A generalized additive model was fitted to data to model the presence or absence of the start of foraging dives in 30-minute periods as a function of the corresponding sonar RL at the hydrophone closest to the center of each group. This model was then used to construct a risk function that can be used to estimate the probability of a behavioral change (cessation of foraging) the individual members of a Blainville’s beaked whale population might experience as a function of sonar RL. The function predicts a 0.5 probability of disturbance at a RL of 150dBrms re µPa (CI: 144 to 155) This is 15dB lower than the level used historically by the US Navy in their risk assessments but 10 dB higher than the current 140 dB step-function.     

Prediction of Cardiovascular Events in Statin-Treated Stable Coronary Patients of the Treating to New Targets Randomized Controlled Trial by Lipid and Non-Lipid Biomarkers

Several plasma non-lipid biomarkers have been shown to predict major cardiovascular events (MCVEs) in population studies. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between lipid and non-lipid biomarkers levels achieved during statin therapy and the incidence of MCVEs in patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD). We conducted a substudy of the TNT (Treating to New Targets) study, which was a randomized trial that compared the efficacy of high (80 mg) versus low (10 mg) dose atorvastatin for the secondary prevention of CHD. Fasting plasma levels of standard lipids and of 18 non-lipid biomarkers were obtained after an 8-week run-in period on atorvastatin 10 mg in 157 patients who experienced MCVEs during the 4.9 years of study follow-up and in 1349 controls. MCVE was defined as CHD death, nonfatal, non-procedure-related myocardial infarction, resuscitated cardiac arrest, and fatal or nonfatal stroke. After adjusting for age, sex and treatment arm, plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), insulin, neopterin, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)], and the soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) were predictive of recurrent MCVEs (P≤0.02 for each doubling of plasma concentration). However, no significant association was observed between the risk of recurrent MCVEs and plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, adiponectin, cystatin C, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, matrix metalloproteinase-9, myeloperoxidase, osteopontin, soluble CD40 ligand, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, or soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1. After further adjustment for diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and BMI, the relationship between hsCRP, insulin and MCVE were no longer significant, while the relationship between Lp(a), neopterin, NT-proBNP and sRAGE and MCVE remained statistically significant. In conclusion, in patients with CHD treated with atorvastatin, plasma levels of Lp(a), neopterin, NT-proBNP, and sRAGE are associated with the risk of recurrent MCVEs.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00327691","term_id":"NCT00327691"}}NCT00327691.     

Non-equivalent Ligand Selectivity of Agonist Sites in (α4β2)2α4 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: A KEY DETERMINANT OF AGONIST EFFICACY*

The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the most abundant nAChR type in the brain, and this receptor type exists in alternate (α4β2)₂α4 and (α4β2)₂β2 forms, which are activated by agonists with strikingly differing efficacies. Recent breakthroughs have identified an additional operational agonist binding site in the (α4β2)₂α4 nAChR that is responsible for the signature sensitivity of this receptor to activation by agonists, yet the structural mechanisms determining agonist efficacy at this receptor type are not yet fully understood. In this study, we characterized the ligand selectivity of the individual agonist sites of the (α4β2)₂α4 nAChR to determine whether differences in agonist selectivity influence agonist efficacy. Applying the substituted cysteine accessibility method to individual agonist sites in concatenated (α4β2)₂α4 receptors, we determined the agonist selectivity of the agonist sites of the (α4β2)₂α4 receptor. We show that (a) accessibility of substituted cysteines to covalent modification by methanesulfonate reagent depends on the agonist site at which the modification occurs and (b) that agonists such as sazetidine-A and TC-2559 are excluded from the site at the α4/α4 interface. Given that additional binding to the agonist site in the α4/α4 interface increases acetylcholine efficacy and that agonists excluded from the agonist site at the α4/α4 interface behave as partial agonists, we conclude that the ability to engage all agonist sites in (α4β2)₂α4 nAChRs is a key determinant of agonist efficacy. The findings add another level of complexity to the structural mechanisms that govern agonist efficacy in heteromeric nAChRs and related ligand-gated ion channels.