Suchergebnisse

International legislation forms a cornerstone of conservation, yet its efficacy is rarely quantified. We assess whether species listed on Annex I of the European Union (EU) Birds Directive, for which EU Member States are obliged to implement special conservation measures, differ systematically in their short-term (2001-2012) or long-term (1980-2012) population trends from those of non-Annex I species. In both periods, Annex I species had more positive trends than non-Annex I species, particularly in countries that joined the EU earlier. There were additional signatures of climate change and life history strategy in the trends of species in one or both periods. Within Annex I species, long-distance migrants fared significantly worse than other species, suggesting that enhanced protection on the breeding grounds alone may be insufficient for these species. We conclude that the EU's conservation legislation has had a demonstrably positive impact on target species, even during a period in which climate change has significantly affected populations.

16 pags., 13 figs., 2 tabs. ; Abstract: A self-consistent data set, with all the necessary inputs for Monte Carlo simulations of electron transport through gaseous tetrahydrofuran (THF) in the energy range 1–100 eV, has been critically compiled in this study. Accurate measurements of total electron scattering cross sections (TCSs) from THF have been obtained, and considered as reference values to validate the self-consistency of the proposed data set. Monte Carlo simulations of the magnetically confined electron transport through a gas cell containing THF for different beam energies (3, 10 and 70 eV) and pressures (2.5 and 5.0 mTorr) have also been performed by using a novel code developed in Madrid. In order to probe the accuracy of the proposed data set, the simulated results have been compared with the corresponding experimental data, the latter obtained with the same experimental configuration where the TCSs have been measured. Graphic Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] ; This study has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Project PID2019-104727RB-C21) and CSIC (Project LINKA20085). Some financial support from the Australian Research Council (DP180101655) is also acknowledged. AGA and LA thank MICIU and the local CAM government, respectively, for their corresponding grants within the "Garant´ıa Juvenil" programmes. AIL and PLV acknowledge the the Portuguese National Funding Agency (FCT) through research Grants CEFITEC (UIDB/00068/2020) and PTDC/FIS-AQM/31281/2017. JdeU acknowledges the support of Project PAPIIT-UNAM IN118520.

While much is known about the risk factors for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in herds located in high incidence areas, the drivers of bTB spread in areas of emerging endemicity are less well established. Epidemiological analysis and intensive social research identified natural and social risk factors that may prevent or encourage the spread of disease. These were investigated using a case–control study design to survey farmers in areas defined as recently having become endemic for bTB (from or after 2006). Telephone surveys were conducted for 113 farms with a recent history of a bTB incident where their officially tuberculosis free status had been withdrawn (OTFW) (cases) and 224 controls with no history of a bTB incident, matched on location, production type and the rate of endemic bTB spread. Farmers were questioned about a range of farm management strategies, farm characteristics, herd health, wildlife and biosecurity measures with a focus on farmer attitudes and behaviours such as farmers' perception of endemicity and feelings of control, openness and social cohesion. Data generated in the telephone surveys was supplemented with existing herd-level data and analysed using conditional logistic regression. Overall, herd size (OR 1.07), purchasing an animal at a cattle market compared to purchasing outside of markets (OR 2.6), the number of contiguous bTB incidents (2.30) and the number of inconclusive reactors detected in the 2 years prior to the case incident (OR 1.95) significantly increased the odds of a bTB incident. Beef herds using a field parcel more than 3.2 km away from the main farm and dairy herds reporting Johne's disease in the previous 12 months were 3.0 and 4.7 times more likely to have a recent history of a bTB incident, respectively. Beef herds reporting maize growing near, but not on, their farm were less likely to be case herds. Operating a closed farm in the two years prior to the case breakdown did not reduce the odds of a bTB incident. Farmers that had recently experienced a bTB incident were more likely to have implemented badger biosecurity in the previous year, but no more likely than control farms to have implemented cattle biosecurity. Case farmers felt significantly less likely to be influenced by government, vets or other farmers compared to those with no history of bTB. This suggests that alternative methods of engaging with farmers who have recently had a breakdown may need to be developed.

AbstractStudies of alcoholism etiology often focus on genetic or psy-chosocial approaches, but not both. Greater understanding of the etiology of alcohol, tobacco and other addictions will come from integration of these research traditions. A research approach is outlined to test three models for the etiology of addictions — behavioral undercontrol, pharmacologic vulnerability, negative affect regulation — addressing key questions including (i) mediators of genetic effects, (ii) genotype-environment correlation effects, (iii) genotype x environment interaction effects, (iv) the developmental unfolding of genetic and environmental effects, (v) subtyping including identification of distinct trajectories of substance involvement, (vi) identification of individual genes that contribute to risk, and (vii) the consequences of excessive use. By using coordinated research designs, including prospective assessment of adolescent twins and their siblings and parents; of adult substance dependent and control twins and their MZ and DZ cotwins, the spouses of these pairs, and their adolescent offspring; and of regular families; by selecting for gene-mapping approaches sibships screened for extreme concordance or discordance on quantitative indices of substance use; and by using experimental (drug challenge) as well as survey approaches, a number of key questions concerning addiction etiology can be addressed. We discuss complementary strengths and weaknesses of different sampling strategies, as well as methods to implement such an integrated approach illustrated for the study of alcoholism etiology. A coordinated program of twin and family studies will allow a comprehensive dissection of the interplay of genetic and environmental risk-factors in the etiology of alcoholism and other addictions.

10 pags., 3 figs., 4 tabs. ; We present angle-integrated and angle-differential cross sections for electron-impact excitation of the (5s25p)P1/22→(5s26s)S1/22 transition in atomic indium. Experimental data for six incident electron energies between 10 and 100 eV are compared with predictions from semirelativistic and fully relativistic B-spline R-matrix calculations, as well as a fully relativistic convergent close-coupling model. Agreement between our measured and calculated data is, with a few exceptions, found to be typically very good. Additionally, the agreement between the present theoretical predictions is generally excellent, with the remaining small deviations being associated with the slightly different, although still very accurate, descriptions of the target structure. Agreement between the present results and an earlier relativistic distorted-wave computation [T. Das, R. Srivastava, and A. D. Stauffer, Phys. Lett. A 375, 568 (2011)PYLAAG0375-960110.1016/j.physleta.2010.12.037] was, however, found to be marginal, particularly at 10 and 20 eV. ; The work of K.R.H., O.Z., and K.B. was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grants No. OAC1834740 and No. PHY-1803844, and by the XSEDE supercomputer allocation Grant No. PHY-090031. The (D)BSR calculations were carried out on Stampede2 at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. The work of D.V.F. and I.B. was supported by the Australian Research Council and resources provided by the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre with funding from the Australian Government and the Government of Western Australia. F.B. and G.G. acknowledge partial financial support from the Spanish Ministry MICIU (Project No. PID2019-104727RB-C21) and CSIC (Project No. LINKA20085). This work was also financially supported, in part, by the Australian Research Council (Project No. DP180101655), the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, and the Institute of Physics (Belgrade).

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe polygenic disorder triggered by environmental factors. Many polymorphic genes, particularly the genetic determinants of hypodopaminergia (low dopamine function), associate with a predisposition to PTSD as well as Substance Use Disorder. Support from the National Institutes of Health for neuroimaging research and molecular, genetic applied technologies have improved understanding of brain reward circuitry functions have inspired the development of new innovative approaches to their early diagnosis and treatment of some PTSD symptomatology and addiction. This review presents psychosocial and genetic evidence that vulnerability or resilience to PTSD can theoretically be impacted by dopamine regulation. From a neuroscience perspective dopamine is widely accepted as a major neurotransmitter. Questions about how to modulate dopamine clinically in order to treat and prevent PTSD and other types of reward deficiency disorders remain. Identification of genetic variations associated with the relevant genotype-phenotype relationships can be characterized using the Genetic Addiction Risk Score (GARS®) and psychosocial tools. Development of an advanced genetic panel is under study and will be based on a new array of genes linked to PTSD. However, for now, the recommendation is that enlistees for military duty be given the opportunity to voluntarily pre-test for risk of PTSD with GARS, before exposure to environmental triggers, or upon return from deployment as part of PTSD management. Dopamine homeostasis may be achieved via customization of neuronutrient supplementation "Precision Behavioral Management" (PBM™) based on GARS test values, and other pro-dopamine regulation interventions like exercise, mindfulness, biosensor tracking, and meditation.

Funding Information: This work was supported by the Institute for Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation (IITP) funded by the Korean government (Nos. 2017-0-00451; 2017-0-01779; 2019-0-00079; 2019-0-01371; and 2021-0-02068), the University and University Hospital of Liège, Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S-FNRS), the Italian Ministry of Health, GR-2016–02361494 (to S.C.), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) (to M.M.), European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement (No. 945539, Human Brain Project SGA3) (to M.M. and S.L.), BIAL Foundation, AstraZeneca Foundation, Fund Generate, King Baudouin Foundation, DOCMA project [EU-H2020-MSCA-RISE-–778234], James McDonnell Foundation, Mind Science Foundation, Fondazione Europea di Ricerca Biomedica, National Institutes of Health (No. R01MH064498), Academy of Finland (Nos. 265680 and 294625), Tiny Blue Dot Foundation (to M.M.), and grant EraPerMed JTC 2019 "PerBrain" (to M.R.). L.R.D.S. and R.P. are PhD fellows, O.G. and A. T. are research associates, and S.L. is research director at the F.R.S.–FNRS. We thank S. Lapuschkin for sharing the code; further, we thank all the healthy participants, patients, and their families who participated in this study. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s). ; Consciousness can be defined by two components: arousal (wakefulness) and awareness (subjective experience). However, neurophysiological consciousness metrics able to disentangle between these components have not been reported. Here, we propose an explainable consciousness indicator (ECI) using deep learning to disentangle the components of consciousness. We employ electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation under various conditions, including sleep (n = 6), general anesthesia (n = 16), and severe brain injury (n = 34). We also test our framework using resting-state EEG under general anesthesia (n = 15) and severe brain injury (n = 34). ECI simultaneously quantifies arousal and awareness under physiological, pharmacological, and pathological conditions. Particularly, ketamine-induced anesthesia and rapid eye movement sleep with low arousal and high awareness are clearly distinguished from other states. In addition, parietal regions appear most relevant for quantifying arousal and awareness. This indicator provides insights into the neural correlates of altered states of consciousness. ; Peer reviewed