How often do people visit the world's protected areas (PAs)? Despite PAs covering one-eighth of the land and being a major focus of nature-based recreation and tourism, we don't know. To address ...this, we compiled a globally-representative database of visits to PAs and built region-specific models predicting visit rates from PA size, local population size, remoteness, natural attractiveness, and national income. Applying these models to all but the very smallest of the world's terrestrial PAs suggests that together they receive roughly 8 billion (8 x 109) visits/y-of which more than 80% are in Europe and North America. Linking our region-specific visit estimates to valuation studies indicates that these visits generate approximately US $600 billion/y in direct in-country expenditure and US $250 billion/y in consumer surplus. These figures dwarf current, typically inadequate spending on conserving PAs. Thus, even without considering the many other ecosystem services that PAs provide to people, our findings underscore calls for greatly increased investment in their conservation.
The current epistemology of autism as a phenotype derives from the consistency of historical accounts and decades of work within the tradition of descriptive epidemiology, culminating in current ...categorical descriptions within DSM and ICD nosologies and the concept of "prototypical autism." The demonstrated high heritability of this phenotype has led to an essentialist theory of autism as a biological entity and the concerted search within the developmental brain and genetic science for discrete biological markers. This search has not revealed simple markers explaining autistic outcomes and has led to moves towards a more dimensional account. This article proposes an alternative transactional approach. It proposes to understand autistic states as an emergent property within a complex developmental system; as the neurodivergent brain, and mind and body, encounter their social and physical environment within early development. Key evidence in support of this approach comes from random allocation intervention trials based on such transactional development theory, both in the infancy pre-diagnostic prodrome and the early post-diagnostic period. In replicated evidence, these intervention trials show that a targeted alteration in the quality of social transactional environment available for the child leads to significant, predictable, and sustained alterations in the outcome dimensional autistic phenotype over time; and further, in one prodromal trial, to a significant reduction in later categorical classification status. The inference from this evidence is that the prototypical autistic phenotype is to a degree malleable with a changed experienced social environment and that it is emergent from its constituent traits. Such a transactional approach enlarges our notion of the phenotype and brings the study of autism within mainstream individual difference developmental science. It challenges essentialist views, for instance as to intrinsic autistic "social avoidance" or theory of mind empathy deficits, integrates dimensional and categorical perspectives, and is consistent with the lived experience of autistic people and their advocacy for improved understanding within a social model.
World governments have committed to halting human-induced extinctions and safeguarding important sites for biodiversity by 2020, but the financial costs of meeting these targets are largely unknown. ...We estimate the cost of reducing the extinction risk of all globally threatened bird species (by > 1 International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List category) to be U.S. $0.875 to $1.23 billion annually over the next decade, of which 12% is currently funded. Incorporating threatened nonavian species increases this total to U.S. $3.41 to $4.76 billion annually. We estimate that protecting and effectively managing all terrestrial sites of global avian conservation significance (11,731 Important Bird Areas) would cost U.S. $ 65.1 billion annually. Adding sites for other taxa increases this to U.S. $76.1 billion annually. Meeting these targets will require conservation funding to increase by at least an order of magnitude.
A current controversy is whether patients with sepsis progress to an immunosuppressed state. We hypothesized that reactivation of latent viruses occurred with prolonged sepsis thereby providing ...evidence of clinically-relevant immunosuppression and potentially providing a means to serially-monitor patients' immune status. Secondly, if viral loads are markedly elevated, they may contribute to morbidity and mortality. This study determined if reactivation of herpesviruses, polyomaviruses, and the anellovirus TTV occurred in sepsis and correlated with severity. Serial whole blood and plasma samples from 560 critically-ill septic, 161 critically-ill non-septic, and 164 healthy age-matched patients were analyzed by quantitative-polymerase-chain-reaction for cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr (EBV), herpes-simplex (HSV), human herpes virus-6 (HHV-6), and TTV. Polyomaviruses BK and JC were quantitated in urine. Detectable virus was analyzed with respect to secondary fungal and opportunistic bacterial infections, ICU duration, severity of illness, and survival. Patients with protracted sepsis had markedly increased frequency of detectable virus. Cumulative viral DNA detection rates in blood were: CMV (24.2%), EBV (53.2%), HSV (14.1%), HHV-6 (10.4%), and TTV (77.5%). 42.7% of septic patients had presence of two or more viruses. The 50% detection rate for herpesviruses was 5-8 days after sepsis onset. A small subgroup of septic patients had markedly elevated viral loads (>104-106 DNA copies/ml blood) for CMV, EBV, and HSV. Excluding TTV, DNAemia was uncommon in critically-ill non-septic patients and in age-matched healthy controls. Compared to septic patients without DNAemia, septic patients with viremia had increased fungal and opportunistic bacterial infections. Patients with detectable CMV in plasma had higher 90-day mortality compared to CMV-negative patients; p<0.05. Reactivation of latent viruses is common with prolonged sepsis, with frequencies similar to those occurring in transplant patients on immunosuppressive therapy and consistent with development of an immunosuppressive state. Whether reactivated latent viruses contribute to morbidity and mortality in sepsis remains unknown.
Background
There has been recent systematic review of key evidence in psychosocial intervention in autism but little review of biological treatments.
Methods
We analyse the current literature from ...the perspective of intervention and mechanism targets across social and biological development.
Results
The overall quality of trials evidence in autism intervention remains relatively low, despite some recent progress. Many treatments in common use have little or no evidence base. This is very concerning in such an important disorder. A variety of psychosocial interventions can show effect to improve some short‐term effects on children's immediate dyadic social interactions, for instance with caregivers. But showing true effectiveness in this developmental disorder requires generalisation of such effects into wider social contexts, on autism symptoms and in long‐term progress in development. Only a few interventions so far have begun to show this. A number of early phase interventions on biological targets have shown real promise, but none has yet progressed to larger scale effectiveness trials on behavioural or symptom outcomes.
Conclusions
There has been enough progress in psychosocial intervention research now to be able to begin to identify some evidence‐based practice in autism treatment. To consolidate and improve outcomes, the next phase of intervention research needs improved trial design, and an iterative approach building on success. It may also include the testing of potential synergies between promising biological and psychosocial interventions.
Read the Commentary on this article at doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12905
Under most circumstances heart rate (
f
H) is correlated with the rate of oxygen consumption (
V
˙
o
2
) and hence the rate of energy expenditure or metabolic rate (MR). For over 60
years this simple ...principle has underpinned the use of heart rate to estimate metabolic rate in a range of animal species and to answer questions about their physiology, behaviour and ecology. The heart rate method can be applied both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative approach is a two-stage process where firstly
f
H and MR are measured simultaneously under controlled conditions and a predictive calibration relationship derived. Secondly, measurements of heart rate are made and converted to estimates of MR using the calibration relationship. The qualitative approach jumps directly to the second stage, comparing estimates of
f
H under different circumstances and drawing conclusions about MR under the assumption that a relationship exists. This review describes the range of studies which have adopted either the quantitative or qualitative approach to estimating the MR of birds, mammals and reptiles. Studies have tended to focus on species, states and questions which are hard to measure, control or define using other techniques. For example, species studied include large, wide-ranging species such as ungulates, marine predators, and domestic livestock while research questions have concerned behaviours such as flight, diving and the effects of stress. In particular, the qualitative approach has applied to circumstances and/or species where it may be hard or impossible to derive a calibration relationship for practical reasons. The calibration process itself can be complex and a number of factors such as body mass, activity state and stress levels can affect the relationship between
f
H and
V
˙
o
2
. I recommend that a quantitative approach be adopted wherever possible but that this may entail deriving a calibration relationship which is practical and applicable, rather than the most accurate possible. I conclude with a series of recommendations for the application and development of this method.
Severe sepsis is characterized by an initial hyper-inflammatory response that may progress to an immune-suppressed state associated with increased susceptibility to nosocomial infection. Analysis of ...samples obtained from patients who died of sepsis has identified expression of specific inhibitory receptors expressed on lymphocytes that are associated with cell exhaustion. The objective of this study was to prospectively determine the pattern of expression of these receptors and immune cell function in patients with acute sepsis.
Twenty-four patients with severe sepsis were enrolled within 24 hours of the onset of sepsis, as were 12 age-matched healthy controls. Peripheral blood was obtained at enrollment and again seven days later. Immune cell subsets and receptor expression were extensively characterized by quantitative flow cytometry. Lymphocyte function was assayed by stimulated cytokine secretion and proliferation assays. Results were also correlated to clinical outcome.
At the onset of severe sepsis, patients had decreased circulating innate and adaptive immune cells and elevated lymphocyte expression of receptors associated with cell activation compared to controls. Samples analyzed seven days later demonstrated increased expression of the inhibitory receptors CTLA4, TIM-3 and LAG-3 on T lymphocytes accompanied by decreased expression of the IL-7 receptor. Functional assays revealed impaired secretion of interferon γ following stimulation in vitro, which was reversible by incubation overnight in fresh media. Impaired secretion of IFNγ correlated with death or development of secondary infection.
Lymphocytes from patients with acute sepsis upregulate expression of receptors associated with cell exhaustion, which may contribute to the immune suppressed state that occurs in protracted disease. Therapy that reverses T cell exhaustion may restore immune function in immunocompromised patients and improve survival in sepsis.
Consumption of globally traded agricultural commodities like soy and palm oil is one of the primary causes of deforestation and biodiversity loss in some of the world’s most species-rich ecosystems. ...However, the complexity of global supply chains has confounded efforts to reduce impacts. Companies and governments with sustainability commitments struggle to understand their own sourcing patterns,while the activities of more unscrupulous actors are conveniently masked by the opacity of global trade. We combine state-of-the-art material flow, economic trade, and biodiversity impact models to produce an innovative approach for understanding the impacts of trade on biodiversity loss and the roles of remote markets and actors.We do this for the production of soy in the Brazilian Cerrado, home to more than 5% of the worlds species. Distinct sourcing patterns of consumer countries and trading companies result in substantially different impacts on endemic species. Connections between individual buyers and specific hot spots explain the disproportionate impacts of some actors on endemic species and individual threatened species, such as the particular impact of European Union consumers on the recent habitat losses for the iconic giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla). In making these linkages explicit, our approach enables commodity buyers and investors to target their efforts much more closely to improve the sustainability of their supply chains in their sourcing regions while also transforming our ability to monitor the impact of such commitments over time.
•The Drosophila central complex contains neurons that track the fly’s angular heading.•Anatomical projection patterns for many central complex neurons are known.•This anatomy suggests how specific ...neuron classes contribute to building a heading signal.•The heading computations proposed for flies resemble computational models in rats.
A network of a few hundred neurons in the Drosophila central complex carries an estimate of the fly's heading in the world, akin to the mammalian head-direction system. Here we describe how anatomically defined neuronal classes in this network are poised to implement specific sub-processes for building and updating this population-level heading signal. The computations we describe in the fly central complex strongly resemble those posited to exist in the mammalian brain, in computational models for building head-direction signals. By linking circuit anatomy to navigational physiology, the Drosophila central complex should provide a detailed example of how a heading signal is built.
The evolution of the placenta Roberts, R Michael; Green, Jonathan A; Schulz, Laura C
Reproduction,
11/2016, Volume:
152, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The very apt definition of a placenta is coined by Mossman, namely apposition or fusion of the fetal membranes to the uterine mucosa for physiological exchange. As such, it is a specialized organ ...whose purpose is to provide continuing support to the developing young. By this definition, placentas have evolved within every vertebrate class other than birds. They have evolved on multiple occasions, often within quite narrow taxonomic groups. As the placenta and the maternal system associate more intimately, such that the conceptus relies extensively on maternal support, the relationship leads to increased conflict that drives adaptive changes on both sides. The story of vertebrate placentation, therefore, is one of convergent evolution at both the macromolecular and molecular levels. In this short review, we first describe the emergence of placental-like structures in nonmammalian vertebrates and then transition to mammals themselves. We close the review by discussing the mechanisms that might have favored diversity and hence evolution of the morphology and physiology of the placentas of eutherian mammals.
PDF
