Metal pollution drives earthworm biodiversity in urban lawns.

Urban soils represent hotspots of metallic trace elements (MTEs) pollution. Despite the critical impact of soil organisms on soil ecosystem services, there is limited understanding regarding the effects of MTE levels in urban soils on these organisms. This is particularly surprising considering that earthworms, key organisms for soil ecosystems, are commonly used in MTE toxicity tests.

Virtual reality validation of naturalistic modulation strategies to counteract fading in retinal stimulation.

. Temporal resolution is a key challenge in artificial vision. Several prosthetic approaches are limited by the perceptual fading of evoked phosphenes upon repeated stimulation from the same electrode.

Replicated, urban-driven exposure to metallic trace elements in two passerines.

While there are increasing examples of phenotypic and genotypic differences between urban and non-urban populations of plants and animals, few studies identified the mechanisms explaining those dissimilarities. The characterization of the urban landscape, which can only be achieved by measuring variability in relevant environmental factors within and between cities, is a keystone prerequisite to understand the effects of urbanization on wildlife. Here, we measured variation in bird exposure to metal pollution within 8 replicated urbanization gradients and within 2 flagship bird species in urban evolutionary ecology: the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) and the great tit (Parus major).

Growing in the city: Urban evolutionary ecology of avian growth rates.

Introduction: Rapid environmental change driven by urbanization offers a unique insight into the adaptive potential of urban-dwelling organisms. Urban-driven phenotypic differentiation is increasingly often demonstrated, but the impact of urbanization (here modelled as the percentage of impervious surface (ISA) around each nestbox) on offspring developmental rates and subsequent survival remains poorly understood. Furthermore, the role of selection on urban-driven phenotypic divergence was rarely investigated to date.

The association between stressors and telomeres in non-human vertebrates: a meta-analysis.

Animal response to stressors such as harsh environmental conditions and demanding biological processes requires energy generated through increased mitochondrial activity. This results in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In vitro and some in vivo studies suggest that oxidative damage of DNA caused by ROS is responsible for telomere shortening.

Pigeon odor varies with experimental exposure to trace metal pollution.

Trace metals are chemical pollutants that have well-known noxious effects on wildlife and that are current major environmental issues in urban habitats. Previous studies have demonstrated their negative (e.g.

Reproduction impairments in metal-polluted environments and parental hormones: No evidence for a causal association in an experimental study in breeding feral pigeons exposed to lead and zinc.

Humans are responsible for land-cover changes resulting in the emission of hazardous chemical elements including metallic trace elements i.e. MTEs.

Pre-analytical issues in the haemostasis laboratory: guidance for the clinical laboratories.

Ensuring quality has become a daily requirement in laboratories. In haemostasis, even more than in other disciplines of biology, quality is determined by a pre-analytical step that encompasses all procedures, starting with the formulation of the medical question, and includes patient preparation, sample collection, handling, transportation, processing, and storage until time of analysis. This step, based on a variety of manual activities, is the most vulnerable part of the total testing process and is a major component of the reliability and validity of results in haemostasis and constitutes the most important source of erroneous or un-interpretable results.

Heparin monitoring: clinical outcome and practical approach.

Traditional anticoagulant agents such as unfractionated heparin (UFH), low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs), fondaparinux, danaparoid and bivalirudine are used in the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic diseases. However, these agents have limitations: their constraining parenteral route of administration and the need for regular coagulation monitoring for HNF. The LMWHs, with their more predictable anticoagulant response, don't require a systematic monitoring.

Do trace metals select for darker birds in urban areas? An experimental exposure to lead and zinc.

Trace metals from anthropogenic activities are involved in numerous health impairments and may therefore select for detoxification mechanisms or a higher tolerance. Melanin, responsible for the black and red colourations of teguments, plays a role in metal ion chelation and its synthesis is positively linked to immunity, antioxidant capacity and stress resistance due to pleiotropic effects. Therefore, we expected darker birds to (1) store higher amounts of metals in their feathers, (2) maintain lower metal concentrations in blood and (3) suffer less from metal exposure.

Trace Metals Affect Early Maternal Transfer of Immune Components in the Feral Pigeon.

Maternal early transfers of immune components influence eggs' hatching probability and nestlings' survival. They depend on females' own immunity and, because they are costly, on their physiological state. Therefore, trace metals, whether toxic and immunosuppressive (e.

Monetary incentive moderates the effect of implicit fear on effort-related cardiovascular response.

Integrating the implicit-affect-primes-effort model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015) with the principles of motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989) we investigated if the effort mobilization deficit observed in people exposed to fear primes (vs. anger primes) in a difficult short-term memory task could be compensated by high monetary incentive. Effort was operationalized as cardiac response.

Task difficulty moderates implicit fear and anger effects on effort-related cardiac response.

Based on the implicit-affect-primes-effort (IAPE) model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), the present experiment tested whether objective task difficulty moderates the previously found impact of fear and anger primes on effort-related cardiac response during an arithmetic task. We expected that fear primes would lead to stronger cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity than anger primes in an easy task, but that anger primes would lead to a stronger PEP response than fear primes in a difficult task. Results corroborated these predictions.

Trace metals, melanin-based pigmentation and their interaction influence immune parameters in feral pigeons (Columba livia).

Understanding the effects of trace metals emitted by anthropogenic activities on wildlife is of great concern in urban ecology; yet, information on how they affect individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems remains scarce. In particular, trace metals may impact survival by altering the immune system response to parasites. Plumage melanin is assumed to influence the effects of trace metals on immunity owing to its ability to bind metal ions in feathers and its synthesis being coded by a pleiotropic gene.

Implicit fear and effort-related cardiac response.

Based on the Implicit-Affect-Primes-Effort (IAPE) model (Gendolla, 2012, 2015), two experiments tested the impact of fear primes on effort-related cardiac response. The main dependent variable was reactivity of cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) during the performance of cognitive tasks. The IAPE model predicts that activation of implicit fear and sadness results in stronger PEP responses during task performance than activation of implicit happiness or anger.

The adaptive function of melanin-based plumage coloration to trace metals.

Trace metals produced by anthropogenic activities are of major importance in urban areas and might constitute a new evolutionary force selecting for the ability to cope with their deleterious effects. Interestingly, melanin pigments are known to bind metal ions, thereby potentially sequestering them in inert body parts such as coat and feathers, and facilitating body detoxification. Thus, a more melanic plumage or coat coloration could bring a selective advantage for animals living in polluted areas.

Ambient temperature influences birds' decisions to eat toxic prey.

Aposematic prey warn predators of their toxicity using conspicuous signals. However, predators regularly include aposematic prey in their diets, particularly when they are in a poor energetic state and in need of nutrients. We investigated whether or not an environmental factor, ambient temperature, could change the energetic state of predators and lead to an increased intake of prey that they know to contain toxins.

Modelling coupled turbulence - dissolved oxygen dynamics near the sediment-water interface under wind waves and sea swell.

A one-dimensional vertical unsteady numerical model for diffusion-consumption of dissolved oxygen (DO) above and below the sediment-water interface was developed to investigate DO profile dynamics under wind waves and sea swell (high-frequency oscillatory flows with periods ranging from 2 to 30s). We tested a new approach to modelling DO profiles that coupled an oscillatory turbulent bottom boundary layer model with a Michaelis-Menten based consumption model. The flow regime controls both the mean value and the fluctuations of the oxygen mass transfer efficiency during a wave cycle, as expressed by the non-dimensional Sherwood number defined with the maximum shear velocity (Sh).

[Syncopes and brief spells of feeling faint: value of Holter monitoring?].

A retrospective study of Holter monitoring of 250 patients referred for syncope and short spells of dizziness suspected of being cardiac in origin was undertaken to assess the diagnostic value of the investigation. The arrhythmias observed were classified in 3 groups, significant, suspect and physiological with respect to their true or potential severity and to previously reported results of Holter monitoring in healthy subjects. The following arrhythmias were classified as significant: supraventricular tachycardia with a ventricular rate greater than or equal to 200 bpm; sustained ventricular tachycardia (greater than 30 s and greater than or equal to 150 bpm), bradycardia (less than bpm), sinus arrest (waking greater than 2 s sleeping greater than or equal to 6 s), complete AV block with wide QRS complexes and pacemaker dysfunction.

[Genesis of auricular fibrillation in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome].

Atrial fibrillation seems to be more common in the absence of associated cardiac disease in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) than in subjects of the same age without this condition. The aim of this study was to analyse the electrophysiological mechanism of AF and to establish its relationship to the accessory pathway. The series comprises 14 out of 51 patients with WPW undergoing classical endocavitary investigation associating the recording of cardiac potentials from the His bundle, right atrium (RA), left atrium (LA) via the coronary sinus and atrial and ventricular stimulation techniques.

[Electrophysiological effects of anti-arrhythmia agents in man. Attempt at classification].

The electrophysiological effects of anti-arrhythmic drugs in man may be classified in three groups: -- Group I: comprising drugs whose characteristic action is on the AV node (beta blockers, verapamil, digitalis) The nodal conduction time (A-H interval) and refractory periods are increased. -- Group II: comprising drugs acting on the His-Purkinje system, the AV nodal conduction staying unchanged. This group has two sub-groups.

[Electrophysiological study on mexiletine in man with reference to dose-response relation].

The electrophysiological properties of Mexiletine were investigated by endocavitary His Bundle recording and programmed electrical stimulation of the heart in 30 patients. Differing dosage (2, 2.7 and 3.