In the evaluation of well‐being, it is not only important what people have in absolute terms, but also how this compares to reference points in relative terms. We explore the relevance of relative ...comparisons by testing the effect of people's self‐rated position on potential reference points for income and health on their subjective well‐being. We used Multiple Discrepancies Theory as a framework to identify seven potentially relevant reference points for income and health. A representative sample (N = 550) of the Netherlands assessed their income and health relative to these reference points. In addition, we elicited monthly household income, health status (EQ‐5D‐5L), and subjective well‐being (SWLS). In line with the literature, we found a negative convex relationship between subjective well‐being and age and a positive relationship with being employed, income, and health. For income, subjective well‐being was also associated with how current income compared to respondents' needs and progression over time, and for health especially with how current health compared to what they felt they deserved. Our findings suggest that income and health are important for subjective well‐being both in absolute and relative terms. We found negative effects on life satisfaction if some of the domain specific reference points were not met.
Wild and managed bees are essential for global food security and the maintenance of biodiversity. At present, the conservation of wild bees is hampered by a huge shortfall in knowledge about the ...trends and status of individual species mainly due to their large diversity and variation in life histories. In contrast, the managed Western honey bee
Apis mellifera
is one of the best studied and monitored insects in existence. Since similar drivers may be relevant for the decline of wild bees and losses of managed honey bees, this raises the possibility that monitoring of honey bees may help to detect threatened regions for wild bees, thereby fostering urgently required conservation measures. However, this possible relationship has not yet been explicitly tested for. Moreover, research currently focused on honey bees as a model species may yield important insights into wild insect susceptibility to stressors and vice versa. Here we use the bees of Europe as a model to show that managed honey bees are not suitable surrogates for detecting declines in wild bees. A direct comparison of the response of wild bees and honey bees to the same threats (nutritional deficiencies, parasites and pathogens, pesticides, and a changing climate) shows that, whilst some of their responses may be similar at the individual level, when considered at the reproductive level (individuals versus colonies), many of their responses diverge. These results reinforce the need for basic research into wild bee biology, the need for national monitoring schemes for wild bee populations, and the call for conservation actions tailored to the individual ecologies of wild bee species.
•The psycho-immune-neuroendocrine (PINE) network integrates biological pathways of major depressive disorder (MDD).•Negative feed-back loops in the PINE network may undergo feedback loop transitions ...(FLTs) to positive feedback loops with chronic stress.•Putative FLTs are identified within kynurenine, autonomic and endocrine systems, gut permeability and gut microbiome dysbiosis.•In progressing from health to disease the PINE network may exhibit early warning signs of critical transition.•Early warning signs may be detectable with proposed biomarkers, potentially predicting critical transition to MDD.
Biological pathways underlying major depressive disorder (MDD) can be viewed as systems biology networks. The psycho-immune-neuroendocrine (PINE) network comprises central nervous, immune, endocrine and autonomic systems, integrating biological mechanisms of MDD. Such networks exhibit recurrent motifs with specific functions, including positive and negative feedback loops, and are subject to critical transitions, influenced by feedback loop transitions (FLTs).
We aim to identify critical feedback loops and their FLTs, as well sentinel network nodes (SNNs), key network nodes that drive FLTs, within the PINE network. Examples of biomarkers are provided which may reflect early warning signs of impending critical transition to MDD.
Disruption of homeostatic feedback loops reflects the physiological transition to MDD. Putative FLTs are identified within hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic-parasympathetic axes, the kynurenine pathway, gut function and dysbiosis.
Progression from health to disease is driven by FLTs in the PINE network, which is likely to undergo changes characteristic of system instability. Biomarkers of system instability may effectively predict the critical transition to MDD.
The validity of the Brink-Axel hypothesis, which is especially important for numerous astrophysical calculations, is addressed for 116,120,124Sn below the neutron separation energy by means of three ...independent experimental methods. The γ -ray strength functions (GSFs) extracted from primary γ -decay spectra following charged-particle reactions with the Oslo method and with the shape method demonstrate excellent agreement with those deduced from forward-angle inelastic proton scattering at relativistic beam energies. In addition, the GSFs are shown to be independent of excitation energies and spins of the initial and final states. The results provide a critical test of the generalized Brink-Axel hypothesis in heavy nuclei, demonstrating its applicability in the energy region of the pygmy dipole resonance.
The psycho-immune-neuroendocrine (PINE) network is a regulatory network of interrelated physiological pathways that have been implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD). A model of disease ...progression for MDD is presented where the stable, healthy state of the PINE network (PINE physiome) undergoes progressive pathophysiological changes to an unstable but reversible pre-disease state (PINE pre-diseasome) with chronic stress. The PINE network may then undergo critical transition to a stable, possibly irreversible disease state of MDD (PINE pathome). Critical transition to disease is heralded by early warning signs which are detectible by biomarkers specific to the PINE network and may be used as a screening test for MDD. Critical transition to MDD may be different for each individual, as it is reliant on diathesis, which comprises genetic predisposition, intrauterine and developmental factors. Finally, we propose the PINE pre-disease state may form a “universal pre-disease state” for several non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and critical transition of the PINE network may lead to one of several frequently associated disease states (influenced by diathesis), supporting the existence of a common Chronic Illness Risk Network (CIRN). This may provide insight into both the puzzle of multifinality and the growing clinical challenge of multimorbidity.
•The psycho-immune-neuroendocrine (PINE) network can give rise to major depression.•The PINE network comprises autonomic, endocrine, immune and gut systems.•Chronic stress may drive critical transition of the PINE system to a stable ‘pathome’.•PINE transitions may promote different chronic diseases based on diathesis factors.•Reciprocal risk between diseases gives rise to a chronic illness risk network (CIRN).
Background
A novel treatment has been developed for erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) (a rare condition that leaves patients highly sensitive to light). To fully understand the burden of EPP and ...the benefit of treatment, a novel patient reported outcome (PRO) measure was developed called the EPP-QoL. This report describes work to support the validation of this measure.
Methods
Secondary analysis of trial data was undertaken. These analyses explored the underlying factor structure of the measure. This supported the deletion of some items. Further work then explored the reliability of these factors, their construct validity and estimates of meaningful change.
Results
The factor analyses indicated that the items could be summarised in terms of two factors. One of these was labelled EPP Symptoms and the other EPP Wellbeing, based on the items included in the domain. EPP Symptoms had evidence to support its reliability and validity. EPP Wellbeing had poor psychometric properties.
Conclusions
Based on the analysis it was recommended to drop the EPP Wellbeing domain (and associated items). EPP Symptoms, despite limitations in the development of items, showed evidence of validity. This work is consistent with the recommendations of a task force that provided recommendations regarding the development, modification and use of PROs in rare diseases.
Arsenic, a priority Superfund contaminant and carcinogen, is a legacy pollutant impacting aquatic ecosystems in urban lakes downwind of the former ASARCO copper smelter in Ruston, WA, now a Superfund ...site. We examined the mobility of arsenic from contaminated sediments and arsenic bioaccumulation in phytoplankton and zooplankton in lakes with varying mixing regimes. In lakes with strong seasonal thermal stratification, high aqueous arsenic concentrations were limited to anoxic bottom waters that formed during summer stratification, and arsenic concentrations were low in oxic surface waters. However, in weakly-stratified lakes, the entire water column, including the fully oxic surface waters, had elevated concentrations of arsenic (up to 30μgL−1) during the summer. We found enhanced trophic transfer of arsenic through the base of the aquatic food web in weakly-stratified lakes; plankton in these lakes accumulated up to an order of magnitude more arsenic on multiple sampling days than plankton in stratified lakes with similar levels of contamination. We posit that greater bioaccumulation in weakly-stratified lakes was due to elevated arsenic in oxic waters. Aquatic life primarily inhabits oxic waters and in the oxic water column of weakly-stratified lakes arsenic was speciated as arsenate, which is readily taken up by phytoplankton because of its structural similarities to phosphate. Our study indicates that mobilization of arsenic from lake sediments into overlying oxic water columns in weakly-stratified lakes leads to increased arsenic exposure and uptake at the base of the aquatic food web.
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•High concentrations of arsenate were observed in waters of weakly-stratified lakes.•Plankton accumulated up to 10× more arsenic than in stratified lakes.•Lake mixing status impacts arsenic transfer from sediments to the base of food web.
Human herpesviruses 6A and 6B (HHV-6A/6B) are ubiquitous pathogens that persist lifelong in latent form and can cause severe conditions upon reactivation. They are spread by community-acquired ...infection of free virus (acqHHV6A/6B) and by germline transmission of inherited chromosomally integrated HHV-6A/6B (iciHHV-6A/6B) in telomeres. We exploited a hypervariable region of the HHV-6B genome to investigate the relationship between acquired and inherited virus and revealed predominantly maternal transmission of acqHHV-6B in families. Remarkably, we demonstrate that some copies of acqHHV-6B in saliva from healthy adults gained a telomere, indicative of integration and latency, and that the frequency of viral genome excision from telomeres in iciHHV-6B carriers is surprisingly high and varies between tissues. In addition, newly formed short telomeres generated by partial viral genome release are frequently lengthened, particularly in telomerase-expressing pluripotent cells. Consequently, iciHHV-6B carriers are mosaic for different iciHHV-6B structures, including circular extra-chromosomal forms that have the potential to reactivate. Finally, we show transmission of an HHV-6B strain from an iciHHV-6B mother to her non-iciHHV-6B son. Altogether, we demonstrate that iciHHV-6B can readily transition between telomere-integrated and free virus forms.
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