Hereditary nature of death-feigning frequency in a parasitoid wasp Heterospilus prosopidis using sib analysis.

Death feigning, a state of immobility observed in many animals in response to external stimuli, is an anti-predator behaviour. Although previous studies showed that death-feigning behaviours are quantitative genetic traits, the knowledge of the heritable basis of death-feigning behaviour is lacking. To investigate the heritable basis of death-feigning behaviour, we used 3 laboratory strains of a braconid parasitoid wasp, Heterospilus prosopidis. The heritable basis using half-sib analysis, and the effects of different geographical backgrounds, rearing conditions in the laboratory, and host age were evaluated. The results of the half-sib analysis showed that the frequency of death feigning varied among sires, suggesting a certain extent of additive genetic variance. Also, the frequency of death feigning varied between geographical backgrounds and among strains. Death-feigning frequency was not affected by the age of the host. Our findings highlight the importance of genetic factors underlying the basis of the death-feigning behaviour and provide support for the genetic alterations of traits from the perspective of evolution in various animal species.

Field and Laboratory Evidence That Chlorpyrifos Exposure Reduced the Population Density of a Freshwater Snail by Increasing Juvenile Mortality.

Pesticides have been frequently detected in global freshwater ecosystems, but attempts to document changes in population dynamics of organisms upon exposure to pesticides, establish a causal relationship between exposure and population effects, and identify the key toxic events within individuals under natural field conditions remain rare. Here, we used a field survey, a reciprocal cross-transplant experiment, and a laboratory toxicity experiment to build a compelling case that exposure to the insecticide chlorpyrifos was responsible for differences in snail (Bellamya aeruginosa) densities in eastern (ELL) and western basins of Liangzi Lake in China. Our field survey and reciprocal cross-transplant experiment revealed significant differences in snail densities, juvenile percentage, survival, and relative telomere length (RTL) in the two basins. The insecticide chlorpyrifos detected in snail tissues was negatively correlated with snail densities, the percentage of juvenile snails, and RTL and had an extremely high risk quotient in ELL. In the laboratory experiment, tissue concentrations of chlorpyrifos detected in ELL were associated with reduced RTL and increased juvenile mortality in B. aeruginosa. These results support the hypothesis that chlorpyrifos exposure in ELL reduced the density of snails by reducing juvenile survival and, consequently, recruitment to the adult population.

Full life cycle test with Eisenia fetida - copper oxide NM toxicity assessment.

Copper oxide nanomaterials (CuONM) are widely used, e.g. as antimicrobial coatings, wood preservatives,fertilizers, etc. Life cycle aspects of Copper Nanomaterials (CuONM) toxicity have been scarcely studied in earthworms, as the focus has been on standard survival and reproduction toxicity tests. Standard tests do not allow for an understanding of which life cycle stage is the most sensitive, and how this can be impacted by CuONMs toxicity to cause longer term population level effects. Since CuONM may release free Cu ions (Cu2+) it is relevant to compare CuONM toxicity with CuCl2 salt. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the effects of CuONM and CuCl2 throughout the different stages of the full life cycle (FLC) of Eisenia fetida while comparing it with the OECD standard test. Additional endpoints included juvenile survival, growth, maturation, besides survival and reproduction. The FLC test showed that e.g. juvenile survival was especially susceptible during the first 28 days post-hatching, neither juvenile growth nor time to maturity were related to exposure concentration. Both CuONM and CuCl2 caused a concentration-dependent decrease in population growth, while a hormesis effect was observed at low concentrations of CuCl2. A reduction in instantaneous growth rate was observed at higher concentrations. The FLC test and the OECD test had different exposure history therefore the ECx values are not comparable across the test systems. Hence, the FLC test enabled the detection of the most vulnerable developmental stages and elucidate different life stage sensitivities between the two Cu exposures.

Ecological, genetic and evolutionary drivers of regional genetic differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana.

BACKGROUND: Disentangling the drivers of genetic differentiation is one of the cornerstones in evolution. This is because genetic diversity, and the way in which it is partitioned within and among populations across space, is an important asset for the ability of populations to adapt and persist in changing environments. We tested three major hypotheses accounting for genetic differentiation-isolation-by-distance (IBD), isolation-by-environment (IBE) and isolation-by-resistance (IBR)-in the annual plant Arabidopsis thaliana across the Iberian Peninsula, the region with the largest genomic diversity. To that end, we sampled, genotyped with genome-wide SNPs, and analyzed 1772 individuals from 278 populations distributed across the Iberian Peninsula. RESULTS: IBD, and to a lesser extent IBE, were the most important drivers of genetic differentiation in A. thaliana. In other words, dispersal limitation, genetic drift, and to a lesser extent local adaptation to environmental gradients, accounted for the within- and among-population distribution of genetic diversity. Analyses applied to the four Iberian genetic clusters, which represent the joint outcome of the long demographic and adaptive history of the species in the region, showed similar results except for one cluster, in which IBR (a function of landscape heterogeneity) was the most important driver of genetic differentiation. Using spatial hierarchical Bayesian models, we found that precipitation seasonality and topsoil pH chiefly accounted for the geographic distribution of genetic diversity in Iberian A. thaliana. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the interplay between the influence of precipitation seasonality on genetic diversity and the effect of restricted dispersal and genetic drift on genetic differentiation emerges as the major forces underlying the evolutionary trajectory of Iberian A. thaliana.

On-chip cellomics assay enabling algebraic and geometric understanding of epigenetic information in cellular networks of living systems. 1. Temporal aspects of epigenetic information in bacteria.

A series of studies aimed at developing methods and systems of analyzing epigenetic information in cells and in cell networks, as well as that of genetic information, was examined to expand our understanding of how living systems are determined. Because cells are minimum units reflecting epigenetic information, which is considered to map the history of a parallel-processing recurrent network of biochemical reactions, their behaviors cannot be explained by considering only conventional DNA information-processing events. The role of epigenetic information on cells, which complements their genetic information, was inferred by comparing predictions from genetic information with cell behaviour observed under conditions chosen to reveal adaptation processes, population effects and community effects. A system of analyzing epigenetic information was developed starting from the twin complementary viewpoints of cell regulation as an "algebraic" system (emphasis on temporal aspects) and as a "geometric" system (emphasis on spatial aspects). Exploiting the combination of latest microfabrication technology and measurement technologies, which we call on-chip cellomics assay, we can control and re-construct the environments and interaction of cells from "algebraic" and "geometric" viewpoints. In this review, temporal viewpoint of epigenetic information, a part of the series of single-cell-based "algebraic" and "geometric" studies of celluler systems in our research groups, are summerized and reported. The knowlege acquired from this study may lead to the use of cells that fully control practical applications like cell-based drug screening and the regeneration of organs.

Quantification of industrial wastewater discharge from the major cities in Sichuan province, China.

In this study, we used spatial autocorrelation, Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index model to study the spatial characteristics and driving factors of industrial wastewater discharge in Sichuan province (2003-2018). We showed that the amount of industrial wastewater discharge in Sichuan province for the period was reduced from 116,580 to 42,064.96 million tons as observed from the Moran index ranging from -0.310 to 0.302. We identified that the EKC type of Sichuan province was monotonically decreasing and six types of the EKC (monotonically decreasing, monotonically increasing, U, N, inverted U, and inverted N, shape) in 18 major cities. The technical effect (from -0.0964 to -8.8912) can reduce the discharge of industrial wastewater, while the economy effect (0.2948-5.882), structure effect (0.0892-4.5183), and population effect (from -0.0059 to 0.2873) can promote the industrial wastewater discharge. Our findings suggest that industrial wastewater discharge was reduced and changed from non-significant dissociation to non-significant agglomeration to non-significant dissociation during the study period. Furthermore, technical management upgrade is the primary driver in Sichuan province to reduce industrial wastewater discharge during this period.

[Effect of the population in collective dwellings on small-area mortality risk estimation in the Basque Country region (Spain)]. / Efecto producido por la población institucionalizada en la estimación del riesgo de mortalidad en áreas pequeñas de Euskadi (España).

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the effect of the inclusion of the population in collective dwellings on the estimation of mortality risk in the census areas of the Basque Country (Spain) for the main causes of mortality in the period 1996-2003. METHOD: Small-area ecological cross-sectional study. The main causes of mortality by sex were analyzed. RESULTS: When the general effect on all areas with a a population in collective dwellings was analyzed, hardly any noticeable effect was seen on either men or women. On the other hand, an effect was found when selecting the areas where the population in collective dwellings is more than 10% of the area's population. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of the inclusion of the population in collective dwellings clearly seen in causes of mortality, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, related to greater dependence or frailty, and therefore related to being in a nursing or elderly persons' home, over-estimating the risk of mortality by approximately 8% and 4%, respectively, in these geographical areas.

Population response of the estuarine copepod Eurytemora affinis to its bioaccumulation of trace metals.

We evaluated the acute toxicities of metals cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) to a widely-distributed copepod Eurytemora affinis isolated from the Seine estuary. Both sexes of adult E. affinis were exposed separately to the three metals at concentration gradients to determine its 50% lethal concentration (LC50). After 4 days of exposure, both males and females showed a higher sensitivity to Cu (male LC50: 25.0 µg.L-1 and female LC50: 38.0 µg.L-1) than to Ni (male LC50: 90.0 µg.L-1 and female 161.0 µg.L-1) and Cd (male LC50: 127.8 µg.L-1 and female LC50: 90.0 µg.L-1). To assess for the first time, the extend of metal bioaccumulation and its effect at population scale, late stages (>200 µm) were collected and exposed to each metal at the concentration of 1/3 LC50, and to their mixture during 144 h without feeding. The Cd concentration consistently increased with time until the end of the experiment, whereas the Ni and Cu concentrations reached a plateau after 24 h and 72 h exposure, respectively. The results revealed that the copepods could accumulate Cu faster than Ni and Cd either in the treatment alone (0.58 L g-1.d-1) or in the three-metal mixture (0.72 L g-1.d-1) after 50% of exposure time (72 h). The number of individuals decreased in copepod populations except for the Cd treatment, where the number of nauplii increased. In addition, all treatments of metal exposure negatively affected bacterial densities in the copepod cultures, where the Cu treatment showed a negative remarkable effect compared with Cd and Ni treatment did.

Intention-to-prevent analyses for estimating human papillomavirus vaccine efficacy in clinical studies.

HPV vaccine efficacy trials have been conducted in populations exposed to HPV infection (i.e., sexually active individuals); participants were not excluded from participating in the trials based on their HPV status at baseline. Thus, some participants could have been infected at baseline with 1 or more vaccine HPV types. Because HPV vaccines are prophylactic and do not affect existing HPV infections, prophylactic efficacy was assessed in a per-protocol population (those not infected at enrollment to the HPV type being analyzed who also completed the 3-dose regimen of vaccine and had no protocol violations). Supportive intention-to-treat (ITT) and modified ITT, were also conducted to include those with prevalent HPV infection. ITT analyses included those who received ≥1 dose of vaccine and had efficacy follow-up regardless of whether or not they were infected with HPV prior to vaccination. Efficacy in the ITT population simply reflects the amount of prevalent infection in a particular population of study subjects. Intention-to-prevent (ITP) analyses included those who received one dose of vaccine, had efficacy follow-up, and were not infected at enrollment to the HPV type being analyzed. While all of these analyses have been presented, there has been little discussion regarding their respective significance. In this methodological review, we show that an ITT analysis does not preserve an unbiased comparison of treatment groups in relation to estimating prophylactic HPV vaccine efficacy. Furthermore, ITP is more suitable at preserving an unbiased comparison of treatment groups in relation to estimating prophylactic HPV vaccine efficacy.

Quantifying the weight of fingerprint evidence through the spatial relationship, directions and types of minutiae observed on fingermarks.

This paper presents a statistical model for the quantification of the weight of fingerprint evidence. Contrarily to previous models (generative and score-based models), our model proposes to estimate the probability distributions of spatial relationships, directions and types of minutiae observed on fingerprints for any given fingermark. Our model is relying on an AFIS algorithm provided by 3M Cogent and on a dataset of more than 4,000,000 fingerprints to represent a sample from a relevant population of potential sources. The performance of our model was tested using several hundreds of minutiae configurations observed on a set of 565 fingermarks. In particular, the effects of various sub-populations of fingers (i.e., finger number, finger general pattern) on the expected evidential value of our test configurations were investigated. The performance of our model indicates that the spatial relationship between minutiae carries more evidential weight than their type or direction. Our results also indicate that the AFIS component of our model directly enables us to assign weight to fingerprint evidence without the need for the additional layer of complex statistical modeling involved by the estimation of the probability distributions of fingerprint features. In fact, it seems that the AFIS component is more sensitive to the sub-population effects than the other components of the model. Overall, the data generated during this research project contributes to support the idea that fingerprint evidence is a valuable forensic tool for the identification of individuals.

Pollination density - effects on pollen germination and pollen tube growth in Betula pubescens Ehrh. in northern Sweden.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that increased pollination enhances the probability of'pollen competition'in Betula pubescent. In an in vitro test, the germination of pollen from three B. pubescens trees, increased with increasing pollen density (r2 = 0·82, 0·81 and 0·82, respectively). Pollen tubes grew at different rates in styles when testing different paternal/maternal combinations. Evidence was obtained to suggest that these differences might be attributed to both maternal and paternal effects. Further, increasing the number of tubes per style tended to increase the length of the longest tube per style, but had no significant effect on the mean length of the tubes. The r values, for the correlations of lengths with numbers of pollen tubes per style, were lower in two natural B pubescens populations than in the data from a controlled pollination experiment, is concluded that selection among male gametes may occur after supplementary pollination in B. pubescens, but in natural situations, pollen deposition is usually too low for pollen Selection to be a common occurrence.

Envejecimiento poblacional y efecto en la diabetes mellitus en Cuba / Population ageing and effect on diabetes mellitus in Cuba

El envejecimiento poblacional marca la situación de la población cubana, que influye de manera especial en las enfermedades no transmisibles, entre ellas la diabetes mellitus (DM). La incidencia de esta enfermedad es elevada, lo que se une desde hace años a la estructura de las enfermedades y los indicadores de incidencia de las enfermedades no transmisibles, por lo que es factible pensar en la relación entre ambos factores. El objetivo del siguiente trabajo es describir la situación demográfica de la población cubana y su repercusión epidemiológica en la población con DM. La investigación se clasifica como un estudio descriptivo realizado con base en información de anuarios con información estadística de indicadores de salud pública del país desde el año 2000 hasta el 2013 y publicaciones e investigaciones nacionales relacionadas con la población y con la DM. Se obtuvieron los siguientes resultados: en el país la evolución demográfica ha determinado el marcado envejecimiento; por otra parte, el análisis epidemiológico indica la disminución de enfermedades transmisibles y un aumento de las no transmisibles, en especial la DM. El comportamiento de los indicadores de la DM Tipo 1 y 2, refleja una relación con la estructura de la población, y se observa además un aumento de la mortalidad a pesar de las múltiples acciones de salud que se realizan. Se concluye que el envejecimiento de la población tiene su repercusión en la estructura de la DM, lo que provocará importantes efectos sobre la prestación de servicios de salud.

Population ageing marks the status of Cuban population, influencing in a particular form on noncommunicable diseases, specifically diabetes mellitus (DM). The incidence of this disease is high, which has been combined since many years ago to the structure of diseases and incidence indicators of noncommunicable ones. Therefore it is possible to think about a relationship between both factors. The objective of this article is to describe the situation of population with diabetes from a demographical and epidemiological perspective. The research is classified as a descriptive study based on annual reports with statistical information of public health indicators of the country from 2000 to 2013, and also publications and national researches related to the population and diabetes mellitus disease. According to it, the following results were found: in the country, demographical evolution has strongly determined. On the other hand, epidemiological analysis shows the reduction of transmissible diseases and an increase of noncommunicable ones, especially DM. The indicators behavior of DM Type 1 and 2 reflects a great relationship with population evolution. It is also observed an increase of death rate despite the multiple health activities done. As a conclusion it can be said that the population ageing has its impact on DM structure, which is going to cause significant effects on the health services provision.