Trophic interactions are often deduced from body size differences, assuming that predators prefer prey smaller than themselves because larger prey are more difficult to subdue. This has mainly been ...confirmed in aquatic ecosystems, but rarely in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in arthropods.
Our goal was to validate whether body size ratios can predict trophic interactions in a terrestrial, plant‐associated arthropod community and whether predator hunting strategy and prey taxonomy could explain additional variation.
We conducted feeding trials with arthropods from marram grass in coastal dunes to test whether two individuals, of the same or different species, would predate each other. From the trial results, we constructed one of the most complete, empirically derived food webs for terrestrial arthropods associated with a single plant species. We contrasted this empirical food web with a theoretical web based on body size ratios, activity period, microhabitat, and expert knowledge.
In our feeding trials, predator–prey interactions were indeed largely size‐based. Moreover, the theoretical and empirically based food webs converged well for both predator and prey species. However, predator hunting strategy, and especially prey taxonomy improved predictions of predation. Well‐defended taxa, such as hard‐bodied beetles, were less frequently consumed than expected based on their body size. For instance, a beetle of average size (measuring 4 mm) is 38% less vulnerable than another average arthropod with the same length.
Body size ratios predict trophic interactions among plant‐associated arthropods fairly well. However, traits such as hunting strategy and anti‐predator defences can explain why certain trophic interactions do not adhere to size‐based rules. Feeding trials can generate insights into multiple traits underlying real‐life trophic interactions among arthropods.
This study is one of the first to investigate trophic interactions in a natural aboveground arthropod community. An accurate depiction of natural food web structure and ecosystem functioning is especially vital to predict the future destabilizing effects of the rapid decline in arthropod numbers.
U ovom pilot-istraživanju istražili smo kratkoročne učinke prirodnog protoka na kakvoću vode na šest postaja smještenih duž dva urbana potoka - Blizneca (B) i Velikog potoka (VP) - koji protječu kroz ...Zagreb, glavni grad Hrvatske. Potoci izviru unutar Parka prirode Medvednica (gornji tok) i teku duž rastućeg urbanog gradijenta, kroz središnji dio Zagreba (srednji i donji tok). Svaki drugi dan tijekom dva tjedna u listopadu 2017. mjereni su sljedeći fizičko-kemijski parametri za vodu: protok, temperatura vode i koncentracija kisika, konduktivitet, pH, kemijska potrošnja kisika (KPKKMnO4) i koncentracija hranjivih soli (nitrita, nitrata, ortofosfata) u vodi. Najvarijabilniji parametri tijekom dva tjedna bile su koncentracije hranjivih soli. Bliznec je općenito pokazao značajno više vrijednosti protoka i koncentracije kisika u odnosu na Veliki potok, koji je imao značajno više vrijednosti KPKKMnO4 i koncentracije nitrita. Srednji i donji dijelovi toka oba potoka imali su značajno više temperature te koncentracije nitrita i nitrata u odnosu na gornji tok. Nekoliko fizičko-kemijskih parametara (protok, koncentracije nitrita, nitrata i ortofosfata, konduktivitet i KPKKMnO4) pokazali su veliku podudarnost vremenskih trendova između dva potoka, između tri dijela toka i između šest postaja, što je i dokazano relativno visokim koeficijentom (τ > 0.60) koji ukazuje na vremensko podudaranje parametara. To je nadalje ukazalo da se okolišni uvjeti (kakvoća vode) duž naših potoka ujednačeno mijenjaju u prostoru i vremenu. Podaci su također ukazali na značajne promjene mjerenih fizikalno-kemijskih parametara nakon nevremena (razdoblja povišenog protoka vode). Nadalje, korelacijskom analizom je utvrđeno da konduktivitet značajno ovisi o protoku. Rezultati ovog pilot-istraživanja pokazuju da su urbani potoci vrlo dinamični ekosustavi koji pokazuju povećanu osjetljivost na promjene u okolišu, kao što su antropogeni utjecaji i lokalni vremenski uvjeti. Predlažemo da se u okviru ekoloških studija i pri upravljanju okolišem unutar urbanih zona uzme u obzir značajna ekološka varijabilnost urbanih vodotoka.
The Portland Hills fault forms a strong northwest trending lineament along the east side of the Tualatin Mountains. An en echelon lineament follows North Scappoose Creek, Alder Creek, and the ...Clatskanie River along the same trend, through Columbia County, Oregon. The possibility that this lineament follows a fault or fault zone was investigated in this study. Geophysical methods were used, with seismic refraction, magnetic and gravity lines run perpendicular to the lineament. The seismic refraction models indicate the near surface basalt is broken in many places, with 15 - 30 meters (50 - 100 feet) vertical displacement, down to the west, at Bunker Hill along the Alder Creek fault. Gravity models required a faulted zone approximately two kilometers wide across the lineament. The proposed fault zone is more clearly defined in the south, becoming more diffuse and branching in the northern part of the study area. The Bouguer gravity values from this study distort the -40 milligal contour farther to the northwest than is shown on the Complete Bouguer Gravity Anomaly Map of Oregon {Berg and Thiruvathukal, 1967b). The existence of sharp topographic features and the geophysical evidence indicate fault activity along the zone.
Summary
Material stocks are an important part of the social metabolism. Owing to long service lifetimes of stocks, they not only shape resource flows during construction, but also during use, ...maintenance, and at the end of their useful lifetime. This makes them an important topic for sustainable development.
In this work, a model of stocks and flows for nonmetallic minerals in residential buildings, roads, and railways in the EU25, from 2004 to 2009 is presented. The changing material composition of the stock is modeled using a typology of 72 residential buildings, four road and two railway types, throughout the EU25. This allows for estimating the amounts of materials in in‐use stocks of residential buildings and transportation networks, as well as input and output flows. We compare the magnitude of material demands for expansion versus those for maintenance of existing stock. Then, recycling potentials are quantitatively explored by comparing the magnitude of estimated input, waste, and recycling flows from 2004 to 2009 and in a business‐as‐usual scenario for 2020. Thereby, we assess the potential impacts of the European Waste Framework Directive, which strives for a significant increase in recycling.
We find that in the EU25, consisting of highly industrialized countries, a large share of material inputs are directed at maintaining existing stocks. Proper management of existing transportation networks and residential buildings is therefore crucial for the future size of flows of nonmetallic minerals.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a pandemic. Global health ...care now faces unprecedented challenges with widespread and rapid human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and high morbidity and mortality with COVID-19 worldwide. Across the world, medical care is hampered by a critical shortage of not only hand sanitizers, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and hospital beds, but also impediments to the blood supply. Blood donation centers in many areas around the globe have mostly closed. Donors, practicing social distancing, some either with illness or undergoing self-quarantine, are quickly diminishing. Drastic public health initiatives have focused on containment and "flattening the curve" while invaluable resources are being depleted. In some countries, the point has been reached at which the demand for such resources, including donor blood, outstrips the supply. Questions as to the safety of blood persist. Although it does not appear very likely that the virus can be transmitted through allogeneic blood transfusion, this still remains to be fully determined. As options dwindle, we must enact regional and national shortage plans worldwide and more vitally disseminate the knowledge of and immediately implement patient blood management (PBM). PBM is an evidence-based bundle of care to optimize medical and surgical patient outcomes by clinically managing and preserving a patient's own blood. This multinational and diverse group of authors issue this "Call to Action" underscoring "The Essential Role of Patient Blood Management in the Management of Pandemics" and urging all stakeholders and providers to implement the practical and commonsense principles of PBM and its multiprofessional and multimodality approaches.
The aim of this analysis was to assess the effectiveness of a juvenile outpatient weight management program during the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, which was implemented digitally during the ...initial lockdown and thereafter under strict hygiene rules (e.g., adapted exercise sessions). Changes in body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI SDS), physical fitness, media consumption, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and social self-concept of 28 children and adolescents were compared to data of 30 participants before the pandemic. Adjusted mean changes from baseline to follow-up in BMI SDS (M = -0.07 ± 0.30), relative physical fitness (M = 0.0 ± 0.3 W/kg), media use (M = 0.5 ± 2.6 hours/day), HRQOL (M = -1.6 ± 15.3), and social self-concept (M = -3.8 ± 13.2) during the pandemic were not significantly different from those of the pre-pandemic participants (all p > 0.05). Therefore, the results suggest that an adjusted approach to weight management, which combined digital and adapted in-person components to meet hygiene requirements during the pandemic, was as effective as the pre-pandemic program. It could thus be a potential solution to ensure continuity of care for vulnerable children with obesity during the pandemic and the associated restrictions.
Recent studies have successfully demonstrated the use of deep-learning algorithms for dermatologist-level classification of suspicious lesions by the use of excessive proprietary image databases and ...limited numbers of dermatologists. For the first time, the performance of a deep-learning algorithm trained by open-source images exclusively is compared to a large number of dermatologists covering all levels within the clinical hierarchy.
We used methods from enhanced deep learning to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) with 12,378 open-source dermoscopic images. We used 100 images to compare the performance of the CNN to that of the 157 dermatologists from 12 university hospitals in Germany. Outperformance of dermatologists by the deep neural network was measured in terms of sensitivity, specificity and receiver operating characteristics.
The mean sensitivity and specificity achieved by the dermatologists with dermoscopic images was 74.1% (range 40.0%–100%) and 60% (range 21.3%–91.3%), respectively. At a mean sensitivity of 74.1%, the CNN exhibited a mean specificity of 86.5% (range 70.8%–91.3%). At a mean specificity of 60%, a mean sensitivity of 87.5% (range 80%–95%) was achieved by our algorithm. Among the dermatologists, the chief physicians showed the highest mean specificity of 69.2% at a mean sensitivity of 73.3%. With the same high specificity of 69.2%, the CNN had a mean sensitivity of 84.5%.
A CNN trained by open-source images exclusively outperformed 136 of the 157 dermatologists and all the different levels of experience (from junior to chief physicians) in terms of average specificity and sensitivity.
•A convolutional neural network (CNN) received enhanced training with 12,378 open-source dermoscopic images.•In a head-to-head comparison, the CNN outperformed 136 of 157 participating dermatologists.•The CNN was capable to outperform dermatologists of all hierarchical subgroups (from junior to chief physicians) in dermoscopic melanoma image classification.
This longitudinal study analyzes data from the Children’s Health Interventional Trial (CHILT) III, an 11-month juvenile multicomponent weight management program. The objective is to identify ...predictors of changes in body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS), so as to further enable the advancement of existing interventions with sustained impact. This study’s sample consists of 237 children and adolescents with obesity (8–17 years, 54% girls) participating in the CHILT III program between 2003 and 2021. Anthropometrics, demographics, relative cardiovascular endurance (W/kg), and psychosocial health (i.e., physical self-concept and self-worth) were assessed at program entry (
t
1
), end (
t
2
), and one-year follow-up (
t
3
;
n
= 83). From
t
1
to
t
2
, the mean BMI-SDS was reduced by −0.16 ± 0.26 units (
p
< 0.001). Media use and cardiovascular endurance at baseline and improvements in endurance and self-worth over the course of the program predicted changes in BMI-SDS (adj.
R
2
= 0.22,
p
< 0.001). From
t
2
to
t
3
, mean BMI-SDS increased (
M
=
0.09
±
0.29
,
p
= 0.005). Changes in BMI-SDS from
t
2
to
t
3
were associated with parental education, improvements in cardiovascular endurance and physical self-concept, and BMI-SDS, media use, physical self-concept, and endurance level at program end (adj.
R
2
= 0.39,
p
< 0.001).
Conclusions
: This study highlights the need for comprehensive, sustainable weight management approaches, in order to sustain the initial treatment benefits. In this context, improvements in cardiovascular endurance and psychosocial health could be essential strategies to pursue in practice, as they significantly predicted reductions in BMI-SDS – both pre- to post-intervention and at follow-up.
Trial registration
: DRKS00026785; date of registration: 13.10.202, retrospectively registered.
What is Known:
•
Childhood obesity is associated with the onset of noncommunicable diseases, many of which are likely to carry into adulthood. Thus, effective weight management strategies for affected children and their families are vital. However, achieving lasting positive health outcomes with multidisciplinary weight management programs remains challenging.
What is New:
•
According to this study, short- and longer-term BMI-SDS reductions are associated to cardiovascular endurance and psychosocial health. These factors should therefore be given even greater consideration in weight management strategies, as they may be important not only in themselves but also for long-term weight loss (maintenance).
Adult onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare inflammatory disorder that classically presents with high spiking fevers, evanescent rash, and arthritis. The diagnosis is one of exclusion and can be ...further complicated by atypical presentations, particularly in elderly patients in whom AOSD is very rare.
A case of AOSD in a 73-year-old woman with a non-classic presentation, leading to delayed diagnosis and management, is presented along with a review of the English literature for AOSD cases in elderly people over 70 years of age. Thirty nine case reports and series were identified and the current case was added, totaling 42 individual cases. Significant findings included a four-times higher prevalence in females, a higher prevalence of macrophage activation syndrome despite lower mortality, the presence of pruritic rash in almost one fifth of the cases, and high prevalence of delayed diagnosis.
AOSD in the elderly may vary from the classic criteria described in the medical literature and may lead to delayed diagnosis and management. Further evaluation and better characterization of AOSD in the elderly remains an area of interest.
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