Genotyping an Emiliania huxleyi (Prymnesiophyceae) bloom event in the North Sea reveals evidence of asexual reproduction

Due to the unprecedented rate at which our climate is changing, the ultimate consequence for many species is likely to be either extinction or migration to an alternate habitat. Certain species might, however, evolve at a rate that could make them resilient to the effects of a rapidly changing environment. This scenario is most likely to apply to species that have large population sizes and rapid generation times, such that the genetic variation required for adaptive evolution can be readily supplied. Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay and Mohler (Prymnesiophyceae) is likely to be such a species as it is the most conspicuous extant calcareous phytoplankton species in our oceans with generation times of 1 day−1. Here we report on a validated set of microsatellites, in conjunction with the coccolithophore morphology motif genetic marker, to genotype 93 clonal isolates collected from across the world. Of these, 52 came from a single bloom event in the North Sea collected on the D366 UK Ocean Acidification cruise in June-July 2011. There were 26 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) encountered only once in the North Sea bloom and 8 MLGs encountered twice or up to six times. Each of these repeated MLGs exhibited Psex values of less than 0.05 indicating each repeated MLG was the product of asexual reproduction and not separate meiotic events. In addition, we show that the two most polymorphic microsatellite loci, EHMS37 and P01E05, are reporting on regions likely undergoing rapid genetic drift during asexual reproduction. Despite the small sample size, there were many more repeated genotypes than previously reported for other bloom-forming phytoplankton species, including a previously genotyped E. huxleyi bloom event. This study challenges our current assumption that sex is the predominant mode of reproduction during bloom events. Whilst genetic diversity is high amongst extant populations of E. huxleyi, the root cause for this diversity and ultimate fate of these populations still requires further examination. Nonetheless, we show that certain CMM genotypes are found everywhere; while others appear to have a regional bias.

Gender differences, responsiveness and memory of a potentially painful event in hermit crabs

Nonreflexive responses to a noxious event and prolonged memory are key criteria of a pain experience. In a previous study, hermit crabs, Pagurus bernhardus, that received a small electric shock within their shell often temporarily evacuated the shell and some groomed their abdomen and/or moved away from their vital resource. Most, however, returned to the shell. When offered a new shell 20 s later, shocked crabs were more likely than nonshocked crabs to approach and move into a new shell and did so more quickly (Elwood & Appel 2009, Animal Behaviour, 77, 1243-1246). Here we examined how increasing the time between the shock and the offering of a new shell influences the response. There was evidence of a memory of the aversive shock that lasted at least 1 day. Crabs tested after 30 min and 1 day were more likely to approach the shell and new shells were more likely to be taken 30 min after the shock. Shocked crabs approached the new shell more quickly and used fewer probes of the chelipeds prior to moving in and these results were stable over time and significant for specific times up to 1 day. Females were more likely than males to evacuate shells and did so after fewer shocks. These results extend previous work and demonstrate an extended memory of having been shocked. The findings are consistent with respect to criteria for pain that are accepted for vertebrates.

Risk factors for clinical coronary heart disease in systemic lupus erythematosus: the lupus and atherosclerosis evaluation of risk (LASER) study.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: Accelerated atherosclerosis and premature coronary heart disease (CHD) are recognized complications of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the exact etiology remains unclear and is likely to be multifactorial. We hypothesized that SLE patients with CHD have increased exposure to traditional risk factors as well as differing disease phenotype and therapy-related factors compared to SLE patients free of CHD. Our aim was to examine risk factors for development of clinical CHD in SLE in the clinical setting. METHODS: In a UK-wide multicenter retrospective case-control study we recruited 53 SLE patients with verified clinical CHD (myocardial infarction or angina pectoris) and 96 SLE patients without clinical CHD. Controls were recruited from the same center as the case and matched by disease duration. Charts were reviewed up to time of event for cases, or the same "dummy-date" in controls. RESULTS: SLE patients with clinical CHD were older at the time of event [mean (SD) 53 (10) vs 42 (10) yrs; p

Association of European population levels of thrombotic and inflammatory factors with risk of coronary heart disease: the MONICA Optional Haemostasis Study

Aims Classical risk factors do not fully explain international differences in risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). We therefore measured thrombotic and inflammatory markers in a substudy of the WHO MONICA project and correlated these with CHD event rates.

RUNX3 inactivation by frequent promoter hypermethylation and protein mislocalization constitute an early event in breast cancer progression

Background We had previously established that inactivation of RUNX3 occurs by frequent promoter hypermethylation and protein mislocalization in invasive ductal carcinomas (IDC) of breast. Here, we hypothesize that inactivation of RUNX3 occurring in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) represent early event in breast carcinogenesis. Methods The study cohort of 40 patients included 17 pure DCIS cases and 23 cases of DCIS with associated IDC (DCIS-IDC). The DCIS and IDC components of mixed cases were manually microdissected to permit separate evaluation. All the 63 samples including 17 pure DCIS, 23 samples each of DCIS and IDC of DCIS-IDC cases were analyzed for RUNX3 protein expression using R3-6E9 monoclonal antibody as well as promoter methylation status by methylation specific PCR. Results Compared to matched normal breast samples (4 of 40, 10%), DCIS (35 of 40, 88%) and IDC (21 of 23, 91%) exhibited significant RUNX3 inactivation (P

N1, P2 and T-complex of the auditory brain event-related potentials to tones with varying rise times in adults with and without dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty affecting the acquisition of fluent reading and spelling skills due to poor phonological processing. Underlying deficits in processing sound rise time have also been found in children and adults with dyslexia. However, the neural basis for these deficits is unknown. In the present study event-related potentials were used to index neural processing and examine the effect of rise time manipulation on the obligatory N1. T-complex and P2 responses in English speaking adults with and without dyslexia. The Tb wave of the T-complex showed differences between groups, with the amplitudes for Tb becoming less negative with increased rise time for the participants with dyslexia only. Frontocentral N1 and P2 did not show group effects. Enhanced Tb amplitude that is modulated by rise time could indicate altered neural networks at the lateral surface of the superior temporal gyrus in adults with dyslexia. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Spitzer space telescope study of Sn 2002hh: An infrared echo from a Type IIP supernova

We present late-time ( 590 - 994 days) mid-IR photometry of the normal but highly reddened Type IIP supernova SN 2002hh. Bright, cool, slowly fading emission is detected from the direction of the supernova. Most of this flux appears not to be driven by the supernova event but instead probably originates in a cool, obscured star formation region or molecular cloud along the line of sight. We also show, however, that the declining component of the flux is consistent with an SN-powered IR echo from a dusty progenitor CSM. Mid-IR emission could also be coming from newly condensed dust and/or an ejecta/CSM impact, but their contributions are likely to be small. For the case of a CSM-IR echo, we infer a dust mass of as little as 0.036 M-. with a corresponding CSM mass of 3.6(0.01/ r(dg)) M-., where rdg is the dust-to-gas mass ratio. Such a CSM would have resulted from episodic mass loss whose rate declined significantly about 28,000 years ago. Alternatively, an IR echo from a surrounding, dense, dusty molecular cloud might also have been responsible for the fading component. Either way, this is the first time that an IR echo has been clearly identified in a Type IIP supernova. We find no evidence for or against the proposal that Type IIP supernovae produce large amounts of dust via grain condensation in the ejecta. However, within the CSM-IR echo scenario, the mass of dust derived implies that the progenitors of the most common of core-collapse supernovae may make an important contribution to the universal dust content.

An early-time infrared and optical study of the Type Ia Supernova 1998bu in M96

We present first-season infrared (IR) and optical photometry and spectroscopy of the Type Ia Supernova 1998bu in M96. We also report optical polarimetry of this event. SN 1998bu is one of the closest type Ia supernovae of modern times, and the distance of its host galaxy is well determined. We find that SN 1998bu is both photometrically and spectroscopically normal. However, the extinction to this event is unusually high, with A(V) = 1.0 +/- 0.11. We find that SN 1998bu peaked at an intrinsic M-V = -19.37 +/- 0.23. Adopting a distance modulus of 30.25 (Tanvir et al.) and using Phillips et al.'s relations for the Hubble constant, we obtain H-0 = 70.4 +/- 4.3 km s(-1) Mpc(-1). Combination of our IR photometry with those of Jha et al. provides one of the most complete early-phase IR light curves for a SN Ia published so far. In particular, SN 1998bu is the first normal SN Ia for which good pre-t(Bmax) IR coverage has been obtained. It reveals that the J, H and K light curves peak about 5 days earlier than the flux in the B-band curve.

INCIDENCE AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE OF PERIOPERATIVE HISTAMINE-RELEASE - RANDOMIZED STUDY OF VOLUME LOADING AND ANTIHISTAMINES AFTER INDUCTION OF ANESTHESIA

Although histamine release is recognised as a common event during anaesthesia and surgery, few clinicians judge the resultant cardiorespiratory disturbances serious enough to warrant prophylaxis with antihistamines. We have assessed the incidence and importance of histamine release in a randomised 2 x 2 factorial study.

All-cause mortality and periodontitis in 60-70-year-old men: A prospective cohort study

Objective To investigate the association between periodontitis and mortality from all causes in a prospective study in a homogenous group of 60- to 70-year-old West European men. Methodology A representative sample of 1400 dentate men, (mean age 63.8, SD 3.0 years), drawn from the population of Northern Ireland, had a comprehensive periodontal examination between 2001 and 2003. Men were divided into thirds on the basis of their mean periodontal attachment loss (PAL). The primary endpoint, death from any cause, was analysed using Kaplan-Meier survival plots and Cox's proportional hazards model. Results In total, 152 (10.9%) of the men died during a mean follow-up of 8.9 (SD 0.7) years; 37 (7.9%) men in the third with the lowest PAL (<1.8 mm) died compared with 73 (15.7%) in the third with the highest PAL (>2.6 mm). The unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for death in the men with the highest level of PAL compared with those with the lowest PAL was 2.11 (95% CI 1.42-3.14), p < 0.0001. After adjustment for confounding variables (age, smoking, hypertension, BMI, diabetes, cholesterol, education, marital status and previous history of a cardiovascular event) the HR was 1.57 (1.04-2.36), p = 0.03. Conclusion The European men in this prospective cohort study with the most severe loss of periodontal attachment were at an increased risk of death compared with those with the lowest loss of periodontal attachment.

ME and Julie:a study in narrative of illness experience and therapy in a Myalgic Encephalomyelitis sufferer

This article uses what Atkinson and Walmsley (1997) refer to as an ‘autobiographical account’ to explore the themes and relationships between narrative, illness experience and therapy in a Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) sufferer. Julie is a chronic ME sufferer, having lived with ME for the past 12 years. Her life-story over those years, as she presents it, casts our attention to the intrinsically personal nature of her ‘illness experience’ and to her distinctively artistic therapeutic responses to her condition. Julie’s autobiographical narrative reveals how ME has penetrated both her body and her sense of self, her limbs as well as her dreams; as though it were a parasite feeding off her fight to regain health. In terms of narrative, Julie’s ME illness progresses from past to present, but never to the future which lies beyond contemplation. Despite this denial of the future, Julie does think of ME as a liminal phase which is to be coped through. As both spatial object and temporal event, Julie conceptualises her ME variously, dealing with it on a day-to-day basis, increasingly turning to landscape painting as a form of escapism which parallels her former physical outward bound activities. This personal therapy, so this article concludes, constitutes both narrative performance and narrative text (as canvas), both of which can only cautiously be independently interpreted by the (inter)viewer.

Associations between maternal characteristics and pregnancy-related stress among low-risk mothers: An observational cross-sectional study

Background: Pregnancy is viewed as a major life event and, while the majority of healthy, low-risk women adapt well to pregnancy, there are those whose levels of stress are heightened by the experience.

Objectives: To determine the level of pregnancy-related stress experienced by a group of healthy, low-risk pregnant women and to relate the level of stress with a number of maternal characteristics.

Design: An observational cross-sectional study.

Setting: A large, urban maternity centre in Northern Ireland.

Participants: Of the 306 pregnant women who were invited to participate, 278 provided informed consent and were administered one self-complete questionnaire. Due to the withdrawal criteria, 15 questionnaires were removed from the analysis, resulting in a final sample of 263 healthy, low-risk pregnant women.

Methods: Levels of stress were measured using a self-report measure designed to assess specific worries and concerns relating to pregnancy. Maternal characteristics collected included age, marital status, social status, parity, obstetric history, perceived health status and 'wantedness' for the pregnancy. Regression analysis was undertaken using an ordinary linear regression model.

Results: The mean prenatal distress score in the sample was 15.1 (SD = 7.4; range 0-46). The regression model showed that women who had had previous pregnancies, with or without complications, had significantly lower mean prenatal distress scores than primiparous women (p < 0.01). Women reporting poorer physical health had higher mean prenatal distress scores than those who reported at least average health, while women aged 16-20 experienced a mean increase in the reported prenatal distress score (p < 0.05) in comparison to the reference group of 36 years and over.

Conclusions: This study brings to light the prevalence of pregnancy-related stress within a sample representative of healthy, low-risk women. Current antenatal care is ill-equipped to identify women suffering from high levels of stress; yet a growing body of research evidence links stress with adverse pregnancy outcomes. This study emphasises that healthy, low-risk women experience a range of pregnancy-related stress and identification of stress levels, either through the use of a simple stress measurement tool or through the associated factors identified within this research study, provides valuable data on maternal well-being. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The developmental character of cardiac autonomic responses to an acute noxious event in 4- and 8-month-old healthy infants

Heart rate (HR) has been widely studied as a measure of an individual's response to painful stimuli. It remains unclear whether changes in mean HR or the variability of HR are specifically related to the noxious stimulus (i.e. pain). Neither is it well understood how such changes reflect underlying neurologic control mechanisms that produce these responses, or how these mechanisms change during the first year of life. To study the changes in cardiac autonomic modulation that occur with acute pain and with age during early infancy, the relationship between respiratory activity and short-term variations of HR (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia) was quantified in a longitudinal study of term born healthy infants who underwent a finger lance blood collection at 4 months of age (n = 24) and again at 8 months of age (n = 20). Quantitative respiratory activity and HR were obtained during baseline, lance, and recovery periods. Time and frequency domain analyses from 2.2-min epochs of data yielded mean values, spectral measures of low (0.04-0.15 Hz) and high (0.15-0.80 Hz) frequency power (LF and HF), and the LF/HF ratio. To determine sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac activity, the transfer relation between respiration and HR was used. At both 4 and 8 months, mean HR increased significantly with the noxious event (p > 0.01). There were age-related differences in the pattern of LF, HF, and LF/HF ratio changes. Although these parameters all decreased (p > 0.01) at 4 months, LF and LF/HF increased at 8 months and at 8 months HF remained stable in response to the noxious stimulus. Transfer gain changes with the lance demonstrated a change from predominant vagal baseline to a sympathetic condition at both ages. The primary finding of this study is that a response to an acute noxious stimulus appears to produce an increase in respiratory-related sympathetic HR control and a significant decrease in respiratory-related parasympathetic control at both 4 and 8 months. Furthermore, with increasing age, the sympathetic and parasympathetic changes appear to be less intense, but more sustained.

Vegetation changes and human settlement of Easter Island during the last millennia: a multiproxy study of the Lake Raraku sediments

Earlier palynological studies of lake sediments from Easter Island suggest that the island underwent a recent and abrupt replacement of palm-dominated forests by grasslands, interpreted as a deforestation by indigenous people. However, the available evidence is inconclusive due to the existence of extended hiatuses and ambiguous chronological frameworks in most of the sedimentary sequences studied. This has given rise to an ongoing debate about the timing and causes of the assumed ecological degradation and cultural breakdown. Our multiproxy study of a core recovered from Lake Raraku highlights the vegetation dynamics and environmental shifts in the catchment and its surroundings during the late Holocene. The sequence contains shorter hiatuses than in previously recovered cores and provides a more continuous history of environmental changes. The results show a long, gradual and stepped landscape shift from palm-dominated forests to grasslands. This change started c. 450 BC and lasted about two thousand years. The presence of Verbena litoralis, a common weed, which is associated with human activities in the pollen record, the significant correlation between shifts in charcoal influx, and the dominant pollen types suggest human disturbance of the vegetation. Therefore, human settlement on the island occurred c. 450 BC, some 1500 years earlier than is assumed. Climate variability also exerted a major influence on environmental changes. Two sedimentary gaps in the record are interpreted as periods of droughts that could have prevented peat growth and favoured its erosion during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, respectively. At c. AD 1200, the water table rose and the former Raraku mire turned into a shallow lake, suggesting higher precipitation/evaporation rates coeval with a cooler and wetter Pan-Pacific AD 1300 event. Pollen and diatom records show large vegetation changes due to human activities c. AD 1200. Other recent vegetation changes also due to human activities entail the introduction of taxa (e.g. Psidium guajava, Eucalyptus sp.) and the disappearance of indigenous plants such as Sophora toromiro during the two last centuries. Although the evidence is not conclusive, the American origin of V. litoralis re-opens the debate about the possible role of Amerindians in the human colonisation of Easter Island.

Estimation of contribution of changes in classic risk factors to trends in coronary-event rates across the WHO MONICA Project populations

Background. From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, the WHO MONICA Project monitored coronary events and classic risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) in 38 populations from 21 countries. We assessed the extent to which changes in these risk factors explain the variation in the trends in coronary-event rates, across the populations. Methods. In men and women aged 35-64 years, non-fatal myocardial infarction and coronary deaths were registered continuously to assess trends in rates of coronary events. We carried out population surveys to estimate trends in risk factors. Trends in event rates were regressed on trends in risk score and in individual risk factors. Findings. Smoking rates decreased in most male populations but trends were mixed in women; mean blood pressures and cholesterol concentrations decreased, body-mass index increased, and overall risk scores and coronary-event rates decreased. The model of trends in 10-year coronary-event rates against risk scores and single risk factors showed a poor fit, but this was improved with a 4-year time lag for coronary events. The explanatory power of the analyses was limited by imprecision of the estimates and homogeneity of trends in the study populations. Interpretation. Changes in the classic risk factors seem to partly explain the variation in population trends in CHD. Residual variance is attributable to difficulties in measurement and analysis, including time lag, and to factors that were not included, such as medical interventions. The results support prevention policies based on the classic risk factors but suggest potential for prevention beyond these.