Prenatal exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors can affect development and induce irreversible abnormalities in both humans and wildlife. The northern part of Kibale National Park, a ...mid-altitude rainforest in western Uganda, is largely surrounded by industrial tea plantations and wildlife using this area (Sebitoli) must cope with proximity to human populations and their activities. The chimpanzees and baboons in this area raid crops (primarily maize) in neighboring gardens. Sixteen young individuals of the 66 chimpanzees monitored (25%) exhibit abnormalities including reduced nostrils, cleft lip, limb deformities, reproductive problems and hypopigmentation. Each pathology could have a congenital component, potentially exacerbated by environmental factors. In addition, at least six of 35 photographed baboons from a Sebitoli troop (17%) have similar severe nasal deformities. Our inquiries in villages and tea factories near Sebitoli revealed use of eight pesticides (glyphosate, cypermethrin, profenofos, mancozeb, metalaxyl, dimethoate, chlorpyrifos and 2,4-D amine). Chemical analysis of samples collected from 2014 to 2016 showed that mean levels of pesticides in fresh maize stems and seeds, soils, and river sediments in the vicinity of the chimpanzee territory exceed recommended limits. Notably, excess levels were found for total DDT and its metabolite pp′-DDE and for chlorpyrifos in fresh maize seeds and in fish from Sebitoli. Imidacloprid was detected in coated maize seeds planted at the edge the forest and in fish samples from the Sebitoli area, while no pesticides were detected in fish from central park areas. Since some of these pesticides are thyroid hormone disruptors, we postulate that excessive pesticide use in the Sebitoli area may contribute to facial dysplasia in chimpanzees and baboons through this endocrine pathway. Chimpanzees are considered as endangered by IUCN and besides their intrinsic value and status as closely related to humans, they have major economic value in Uganda via ecotourism. Identifying and limiting potential threats to their survival such be a conservation priority.
•Agricultural land expansion towards parks exposes wildlife to environmental pollution.•We studied the human-wildlife interface in Kibale National Park, Uganda.•Methods used were environmental chemistry, ethnological enquiries, and primatology.•Numerous chimpanzees and baboons display similar facial deformities and are exposed to agricultural pollutants.•We propose that the high levels of EDC pollution represent an underestimated threat to endangered chimpanzees.
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For the last two decades research has revealed an alarming association between short sleep duration and metabolic disorders. In tandem, the hormonal, behavioral, and genetic mechanisms underlying ...this relationship have been extensively investigated and reviewed. However, emerging evidence is revealing that excessive sleep duration has remarkably similar deleterious effects. Unfortunately, to date there has been little attention to what drives this connection. This narrative review therefore aims to summarize existing epidemiological findings, experimental work, and most importantly putative molecular and behavioral mechanisms connecting excessive sleep duration with both obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It will also address recent findings suggesting a worrisome bidirectional effect such that metabolic disorders create a positive feedback loop which further perpetuates excessive sleep.
Twenty years ago, we published an assessment of the threats facing primates and with the passing of two decades, we re‐evaluate identified threats, consider emerging pressures, identify exciting new ...avenues of research, and tackle how to change the system to rapidly advance primate and primate habitat conservation. Habitat destruction and hunting have increased, the danger of looming climate change is clearer, and there are emerging threats such as the sublethal effects of microplastics and pesticides. Despite these negative developments, protected areas are increasing, exciting new tools are now available, and the number of studies has grown exponentially. Many of the changes that need to occur to make rapid progress in primate conservation are in our purview to modify. We identify several dimensions indicating the time is right to make large advances; however, the question that remains is do we have the will to prevent widespread primate annihilation and extinction?
Abstract Conducting conservation research and establishing protected areas (PAs) based on research results are critical to biodiversity conservation. However, the effect of research and PAs on ...conservation of threatened species has rarely been evaluated simultaneously. We collected data on PAs from 2000 for 2021 and determined the number of publications on global primates (published from 1950 to 2021) to assess the effect of PAs, research, and biological and socioeconomic factors on the current International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered status and change in status. We used the MCMCglmm package to conduct a phylogenetic comparative analysis to control the phylogenetic relationship of primate species. The status of 24.6% (82 of 333) of species assessed at least twice declined. Only the black lion tamarin ( Leontopithecus chrysopygus ) had an improved status. Species with status declines mostly occurred on the south coast of West Africa and in Madagascar. PAs covered 22.1% of each species’ range. Forest loss in PAs (5.5%) was significantly lower than forest loss within 5 km outside PAs (13.8%), suggesting PAs effectively mitigated forest loss. Both the median number of total publications and conservation publications on critically endangered species were higher than those of other categories. Models showed that PA coverage and number of publications or conservation‐focused publications were not related to current status or change in status over time. A decline in status was not related to creation of PAs or increase of research since the last assessment. Our results suggest that current PAs and research are not reversing the extinction crisis of global primates. Doing more conservation‐oriented research, strengthening management of current PAs, and expanding PAs will be needed to protect primates globally.
Efectos de la cobertura e investigación de áreas protegidas sobre el estado de conservación de los primates a nivel mundial Resumen La investigación para la conservación y la creación de áreas protegidas (AP) con base en sus resultados son de suma importancia para conservar la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, pocas veces se ha analizado de forma simultánea el efecto de la investigación y las AP sobre la conservación de especies amenazadas. Recolectamos datos sobre las AP entre el 2000 y el 2021 y determinamos el número de artículos sobre primates publicados entre 1950 y 2021 para evaluar el efecto de las AP, la investigación y los factores biológicos y socioeconómicos sobre el estado actual de en peligro y de cambio de estatus de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. Usamos el paquete MCMCglmm para realizar un estudio filogenético comparativo para analizar la relación filogenética del estado de las especies y del cambio de estatus de primates. El estatus del 24.6% (82 de 333) de las especies analizadas declinó al menos dos veces. Solamente el tití leoncito ( Leontopithecus chrysopygus ) tuvo una mejoraría en su estado. Las especies con declinación en su estado se ubicaron principalmente en la costa sur del Oeste de África y en Madagascar. Las AP cubrieron el 22.1% de la distribución de cada especie. La pérdida de bosques en las AP (5.5%) fue mucho menor que la pérdida dentro de los primeros 5 km fuera de las AP (13.8%), lo que sugiere que las AP mitigan eficientemente la pérdida de bosque. Tanto el número medio de publicaciones totales como el de publicaciones sobre la conservación de especies en peligro crítico fue mayor que aquellos de cualquier otra categoría. Los modelos mostraron que la cobertura de AP y el número de publicaciones o de publicaciones enfocadas en la conservación no estaban relacionados con el estado actual o el cambio de estado. La declinación del estado no estuvo relacionada con la creación de AP o el incremento en la investigación desde nuestro último análisis. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la investigación y las AP actuales no están revirtiendo la crisis mundial de extinción de primates. Para proteger a los primates se necesitará realizar más investigación orientada a la conservación, fortalecer el manejo actual de las AP, así como expandirlas.
保护地和科学研究对全球灵长类保护状况改变的影响 进行保护研究和基于研究结果建立保护地对生物多样性保护至关重要。然而, 研究和保护地对濒危物种保护的效果很少被同时评估。我们收集了2000‐2021年的保护地数据以及1950‐2021年全球灵长类的研究数量以评估保护地、研究、生物因素和社会经济因素对当前IUCN濒危状态和濒危状态改变的影响。我们使用了MCMCglmm包来进行系统发育比较分析以控制灵长类的系统发育关系。至少有两次评级的物种中的24.6%(333个物种中的82种)濒危等级恶化。只有黑狮面狨( Leontopithecus chrysopygus )的濒危等级好转。濒危等级恶化的物种主要集中在西非南海岸和马达加斯加。保护地覆盖了每个物种适宜分布区的22.1%。保护地内的森林丧失率(5.5%)显著低于保护地周边5公里缓冲区的森林丧失率(13.8%), 这表明保护地可以有效减缓森林丧失。极危物种的文章数和保护文章数的中位数都高于其它濒危等级的物种。模型结果显示保护地覆盖率、文章数或者保护文章数都和当前的濒危状态或濒危状态的改变无关。物种濒危等级的恶化与最后一次评级后的保护地建立以及研究数量增加无关。我们的结果表明现在的保护地和科学研究没有扭转全球灵长类的灭绝危机。需要进行更多保护导向的研究, 加强对现有保护地的管理以及扩大保护地的面积来保护全球灵长类。
Quantifying local people's perceptions to climate change, and their assessments of which changes matter, is fundamental to addressing the dual challenge of land conservation and poverty alleviation ...in densely populated tropical regions To develop appropriate policies and responses, it will be important not only to anticipate the nature of expected changes, but also how they are perceived, interpreted and adapted to by local residents. The Albertine Rift region in East Africa is one of the world's most threatened biodiversity hotspots due to dense smallholder agriculture, high levels of land and resource pressures, and habitat loss and conversion. Results of three separate household surveys conducted in the vicinity of Kibale National Park during the late 2000s indicate that farmers are concerned with variable precipitation. Many survey respondents reported that conditions are drier and rainfall timing is becoming less predictable. Analysis of daily rainfall data for the climate normal period 1981 to 2010 indicates that total rainfall both within and across seasons has not changed significantly, although the timing and transitions of seasons has been highly variable. Results of rainfall data analysis also indicate significant changes in the intra-seasonal rainfall distribution, including longer dry periods within rainy seasons, which may contribute to the perceived decrease in rainfall and can compromise food security. Our results highlight the need for fine-scale climate information to assist agro-ecological communities in developing effective adaptive management.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
One of the most challenging problems facing modern medicine is how to deliver a given drug to a specific target at the exclusion of other regions. For example, a variety of compounds have ...beneficial effects within the central nervous system (CNS), but unwanted side effects in the periphery. For such compounds, traditional oral or intravenous drug delivery fails to provide benefit without cost. However, intranasal delivery is emerging as a noninvasive option for delivering drugs to the CNS with minimal peripheral exposure. Additionally, this method facilitates the delivery of large and/or charged therapeutics, which fail to effectively cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Thus, for a variety of growth factors, hormones, neuropeptides and therapeutics including insulin, oxytocin, orexin, and even stem cells, intranasal delivery is emerging as an efficient method of administration, and represents a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of diseases with CNS involvement, such as obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, depression, anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, seizures, drug addiction, eating disorders, and stroke.
Fruiting, flowering, and leaf set patterns influence many aspects of tropical forest communities, but there are few long-term studies examining potential drivers of these patterns, particularly in ...Africa. We evaluated a 15-year dataset of tree phenology in Kibale National Park, Uganda, to identify abiotic predictors of fruit phenological patterns and discuss our findings in light of climate change. We quantified fruiting for 326 trees from 43 species and evaluated these patterns in relation to solar radiance, rainfall, and monthly temperature. We used time-lagged variables based on seasonality in linear regression models to assess the effect of abiotic variables on the proportion of fruiting trees. Annual fruiting varied over 3.8-fold, and inter-annual variation in fruiting is associated with the extent of fruiting in the peak period, not variation in time of fruit set. While temperature and rainfall showed positive effects on fruiting, solar radiance in the two-year period encompassing a given year and the previous year was the strongest predictor of fruiting. As solar irradiance was the strongest predictor of fruiting, the projected increase in rainfall associated with climate change, and coincident increase in cloud cover suggest that climate change will lead to a decrease in fruiting. ENSO in the prior 24-month period was also significantly associated with annual ripe fruit production, and ENSO is also affected by climate change. Predicting changes in phenology demands understanding inter-annual variation in fruit dynamics in light of potential abiotic drivers, patterns that will only emerge with long-term data.
Local residents' changing perceptions of benefits and problems from living next to a protected area in western Uganda are assessed by comparing household survey data from 2006, 2009, and 2012. ...Findings are contextualized and supported by long-term data sources for tourism, protected area-based employment, tourism revenue sharing, resource access agreements, and problem animal abundance. We found decreasing perceived benefit and increasing perceived problems associated with the protected area over time, with both trends dominated by increased human-wildlife conflict due to recovering elephant numbers. Proportions of households claiming benefit from specific conservation strategies were increasing, but not enough to offset crop raiding. Ecosystem services mitigated perceptions of problems. As human and animal populations rise, wildlife authorities in Sub-Saharan Africa will be challenged to balance perceptions and adapt policies to ensure the continued existence of protected areas. Understanding the dynamic nature of local people's perceptions provides a tool to adapt protected area management plans, prioritize conservation resources, and engage local communities to support protected areas.
•Percentage of households claiming benefit decreased over time.•Percentage claiming problems increased over time with elephant abundance.•Benefit influenced by employment, tourism, revenue sharing and resource access.•Improving benefits overshadowed by crop raiding problems.•Wildlife conflict dominated but problem mitigated by ecosystem service benefit.
With open‐access publishing authors often pay an article processing charge and subsequently their article is freely available online. These charges are beyond the reach of most African academics. ...Thus, the trend towards open‐access publishing will shift the business model from a pay‐wall model, where access to literature is limited, to a pay‐to‐publish one, where African scholars cannot afford to publish. We explore the costs of publishing and the ability of African scholars to afford to publish via open access in top journals. Three‐quarters of the 40 top ecology journals required payment for open‐access publishing (average cost $3150). Paying such fees is a hardship for African scholars as grant funding is not available and it is not feasible to pay the fees themselves as salaries are low. We encourage funders and publishers to facilitate an equitable publishing model that allows African scholars to make their research available through open‐access publishing.
Open‐access publishing is a business model where authors pay an article processing charge and subsequently, their article is made freely available online, but these charges are beyond the reach of most African academics. We explored the costs of publishing in 40 top ecology journals and the ability of African scholars to afford to publish their work as open access and found that three‐quarters of journals required payment for open‐access publishing and the average cost in 2019 was $3150; an amount far greater than what African researchers can typically find from grant money or pay themselves. We encourage funders and publishers to facilitate a more equitable publishing model to allow African scholars to make their research available through open‐access publishing.
Research in animals and humans has associated Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with decreased cerebrospinal fluid levels of insulin in combination with decreased insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance) in ...the brain. This phenomenon is accompanied by attenuated receptor expression of insulin and insulin-like growth factor, enhanced serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1, and impaired transport of insulin across the blood-brain barrier. Moreover, clinical trials have demonstrated that intranasal insulin improves both memory performance and metabolic integrity of the brain in patients suffering from AD or its prodrome, mild cognitive impairment. These results, in conjunction with the finding that insulin mitigates hippocampal synapse vulnerability to beta amyloid, a peptide thought to be causative in the development of AD, provide a strong rationale for hypothesizing that pharmacological strategies bolstering brain insulin signaling, such as intranasal administration of insulin, could have significant potential in the treatment and prevention of AD. With this view in mind, the review at hand will present molecular mechanisms potentially underlying the memory-enhancing and neuroprotective effects of intranasal insulin. Then, we will discuss the results of intranasal insulin studies that have demonstrated that enhancing brain insulin signaling improves memory and learning processes in both cognitively healthy and impaired humans. Finally, we will provide an overview of neuroimaging studies indicating that disturbances in insulin metabolism—such as insulin resistance in obesity, type 2 diabetes and AD—and altered brain responses to insulin are linked to decreased cerebral volume and especially to hippocampal atrophy.
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