Physical illness in patients with severe mental disorders. II. Barriers to care, monitoring and treatment guidelines, plus recommendations at the system and individual level

Physical disorders are, compared to the general population, more prevalentin people with severe mental illness (SMI). Although this excess morbidityand mortality is largely due to modifiable lifestyle risk factors, the screeningand assessment of physical health aspects remains poor, even in developedcountries. Moreover, specific patient, provider, treatment and system factorsact as barriers to the recognition and to the management of physical diseasesin people with SMI. Psychiatrists can play a pivotal role in the improvementof the physical health of these patients by expanding their task from clinicalpsychiatric care to the monitoring and treatment of crucial physical parameters.At a system level, actions are not easy to realize, especially for developingcountries. However, at an individual level, even simple and very basic monitoringand treatment actions, undertaken by the treating clinician, can already improvethe problem of suboptimal medical care in this population. Adhering to monitoringand treatment guidelines will result in a substantial enhancement of physicalhealth outcomes. Furthermore, psychiatrists can help educate and motivatepeople with SMI to address their suboptimal lifestyle, including smoking,unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. The adoption of the recommendations presentedin this paper across health care systems throughout the world will contributeto a significant improvement in the medical and related psychiatric healthoutcomes of patients with SMI.     

Do abandoned nests of leaf‐cutting ants enhance plant recruitment in the Atlantic Forest?

The role played by abandoned nests of leaf‐cutting ants (Atta spp.) as a small‐scale disturbance regime that affects plant recruitment, species coexistence and forest regeneration remains poorly investigated. Here we examine whether abandoned nests of Atta cephalotes serve as regeneration niches and operate as particular plant recruitment habitats, favouring forest regeneration after ant activities cease and leading to the establishment of taxonomically/ecologically distinct plant assemblages. Soil properties, canopy openness, light availability and regenerating plant assemblages were evaluated across 18 nests and adjacent control plots in a large remnant of Atlantic Forest in north‐east Brazil from December 2004 to December 2005. Surprisingly, nests and control plots exhibited very similar light environments irrespective of nest age, but nest soils exhibited substantial reductions in carbon content (1.45 ± 0.24 vs. 1.79 ± 0.13%) and organic matter (2.50 ± 0.41 vs. 3.08 ± 0.23%), and proved to be much more resistant to penetration (30.57 ± 6.08 vs. 39.48 ± 7.53 mm). Functional signature of regenerating plant assemblages exhibited little variation across both habitat types, as they were dominated by pioneer, small‐seeded and vertebrate‐dispersed species. However, abandoned nests exhibited less dense, impoverished and more homogeneous regenerating plant assemblages at local and landscape scale; they clearly lacked nest‐dependent plant species and represented floristic subsets of the flora inhabiting the undisturbed forest. This recruitment bottleneck was transient in the long term because nest‐related effects ameliorated in older nests. Our results suggest that, unlike treefall gaps, abandoned nests represent temporary (relatively long‐lasting) islands of unsuitable substrate that reduce plant recruitment, retard forest regeneration, and fail in providing a special regeneration niche able to promote species coexistence and plant diversity.     

Foliar resistance to simulated extreme temperature events in contrasting plant functional and chorological types

We analysed leaf resistance of 41 Angiosperms belonging to a wide range of plant functional (PFTs) and chorological types (PCTs) to simulated frost and high‐temperature extreme events (EE). Leaf resistance was estimated as percentage of membrane electrolyte leakage under heating and freezing treatments in the lab. Leaf resistance to heating or freezing was not significantly correlated with the main resource‐use characteristics that defined PFTs, such as leaf specific area, toughness, N concentration or thickness. Leaf resistance to heating differed among PFTs (graminoids and bromeliads were the more resistant groups), but not among PCTs. In contrast, leaf resistance to freezing significantly differed among PCTs. Along a steep regional climatic gradient, climate variables (annual mean temperature, mean minimum temperature, mean maximum temperature and number of frost‐free months) at the locations where the given species were most abundant were also significantly correlated with freezing resistance. Species from colder habitats both at the sub‐continental and regional scales showed the highest leaf resistance to freezing. Our work indicates that leaf resistance to climatic EE and resource‐use strategy (assessed in previous studies) represent two different, partially decoupled axes of plant specialisation. It also suggests that changes in the frequency of very low temperature events might have regional‐scale impacts on vegetation, whereas changes in the frequency of very high temperature events might have more influence at the local scale.     

Burkholderia species are ancient symbionts of legumes

Burkholderia has only recently been recognized as a potential nitrogen-fixing symbiont of legumes, but we find that the origins of symbiosis in Burkholderia are much deeper than previously suspected. We sampled 143 symbionts from 47 native species of Mimosa across 1800 km in central Brazil and found that 98% were Burkholderia . Gene sequences defined seven distinct and divergent species complexes within the genus Burkholderia . The symbiosis-related genes formed deep Burkholderia -specific clades, each specific to a species complex, implying that these genes diverged over a long period within Burkholderia without substantial horizontal gene transfer between species complexes.     

Does leaf quality mediate the stimulation of leaf breakdown by phosphorus in Neotropical streams?

1. Lowland tropical streams have a chemically diverse detrital resource base, where leaf quality could potentially alter the effect of high nutrient concentrations on leaf breakdown. This has important implications given the extent and magnitude of anthropogenic nutrient loading to the environment. 2. Here, we examine if leaf quality (as determined by concentrations of cellulose, lignin and tannins) mediates the effects of high ambient phosphorus (P) concentration on leaf breakdown in streams of lowland Costa Rica. We hypothesised that P would have a stronger effect on microbial and insect processing of high‐ than of low‐quality leaves. 3. We selected three species that represented extremes of quality as measured in leaves of eight common riparian species. Species selected were, from high‐ to low‐quality: Trema integerrima > Castilla elastica > Zygia longifolia. We incubated single‐species leaf packs in five streams that had natural differences in ambient P concentration (10–140 μg soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) L^?1), because of variable inputs of solute‐rich groundwater and also in a stream that was experimentally enriched with P (approximately 200 μg SRP L^?1). 4. The breakdown rate of all three species varied among the six streams: T. integerrima (k‐values range: 0.0451–0.129 day^?1); C. elastica (k‐values range: 0.0064–0.021 day^?1); and Z. longifolia (k‐values range: 0.002–0.008 day^?1). Both ambient P concentration and flow velocity had significant effects on the breakdown rate of the three species. 5. Results supported our initial hypothesis that litter quality mediates the effect of high ambient P concentration on leaf processing by microbes and insects. The response of microbial respiration, fungal biomass and invertebrate density to high ambient P concentration was greater in Trema (high quality) than in Castilla or Zygia (low quality). Variation in flow velocity, however, confounded our ability to determine the magnitude of stimulation of breakdown rate by P. 6. Cellulose and lignin appeared to be the most important factors in determining the magnitude of P‐stimulation. Surprisingly, leaf secondary compounds did not have an effect. This contradicts predictions made by other researchers, regarding the key role of plant secondary compounds in affecting leaf breakdown in tropical streams.