Seaduck engineers in the Arctic Archipelago: nesting eiders deliver marine nutrients and transform the chemistry of island soils, plants, and ponds.

Seabirds are thought to provide ecological services such as the movement of nutrients between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, which may be especially critical to productivity and diversity in nutrient-poor environments. Most Arctic ecosystems are unaffected by local human impacts and are naturally nutrient poor and especially sensitive to warming. Here, we assessed the effects of nesting common eider ducks (Somateria mollissima) on soil, vegetation, and pond sediments on island archipelagoes in Hudson Strait between Nunavut and Québec, Canada. Soil, moss, and pond sediments were significantly higher in nitrogen on islands with large numbers of nesting eiders compared to sites with no nesting birds. The highest concentrations of nitrogen in soils and moss occurred at the margins of ponds on eider islands, which correspond to the areas of highest eider use. δ15N and δ34S values in soils, moss, and sediments indicated substantial marine-derived organic matter inputs at the higher nutrient sites. We propose that by foraging on coastal marine benthic invertebrates and returning to islands to nest, eider ducks bio-transport and concentrate marine-derived nutrients to their colony islands, fertilizing Arctic island ecosystems in the process. As common eiders nest on thousands of low to mid-latitude islands throughout the circumpolar Arctic, these nutrient inputs likely dramatically affect biota and ecosystem functioning throughout the tundra biome.

Distal determinants of mental health conditions (MHC) for asylum-seeking children in Greece: A health system enhancement study.

Mental health conditions (MHC) of asylum-seeking children in Greece are dire, but still recovering from the financial crisis, Greece cannot afford the cost of mental health treatments. We were motivated to understand the root causes of these mental health problems to explore the possibilities for prevention. We developed our inferences in four ways: (1) secondary analyses of thirty-nine semi-structured informational interviews conducted with national and international aid organizations and healthcare providers; (2) secondary analyses of nine interviews with asylum seekers; (3) direct observation during six refugee camp visits from June 1 to July 28, 2017; and (4) a literature review to develop a diagnostic tree of causal outcomes. Results revealed eight proximal causes: chronic stress, trauma, at-risk population without protection and assistance, the large number of vulnerable groups, feeling of insecurity, feeling of lacking control, a lack of autonomy, and feeling helpless and hopeless. We identified sixty-nine distal determinants of adverse MHC beneath the proximal causes. Too numerous and too diverse to treat effecvively with limited resources, these root causes of MHC were thematically grouped into: laws and regulations, capacity and resources, accountability and standards, prioritization, bias and stigma, and displacement. Using a common health systems framework, we developed strategic policy approaches to target the root causes, which could prevent ill-health while saving time and resources.

Size-dependent loss of aboveground animals differentially affects grassland ecosystem coupling and functions.

Increasing evidence suggests that community-level responses to human-induced biodiversity loss start with a decrease of interactions among communities and between them and their abiotic environment. The structural and functional consequences of such interaction losses are poorly understood and have rarely been tested in real-world systems. Here, we analysed how 5 years of progressive, size-selective exclusion of large, medium, and small vertebrates and invertebrates-a realistic scenario of human-induced defaunation-impacts the strength of relationships between above- and belowground communities and their abiotic environment (hereafter ecosystem coupling) and how this relates to ecosystem functionality in grasslands. Exclusion of all vertebrates results in the greatest level of ecosystem coupling, while the additional loss of invertebrates leads to poorly coupled ecosystems. Consumer-driven changes in ecosystem functionality are positively related to changes in ecosystem coupling. Our results highlight the importance of invertebrate communities for maintaining ecological coupling and functioning in an increasingly defaunated world.

Partnership and promise: evolution of the African river-blindness campaigns.

This article describes the evolution of the partnership, between various health and developmental agencies, that has sustained the campaign against river blindness in Africa. The international community was oblivious to the devastating public-health and socio-economic consequences of onchocerciasis until towards the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. Then a 'Mission to West Africa', supported by the United Nations Development Programme, and a visit to the sub-region by the president of the World Bank culminated, in 1974, in the inauguration of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP). OCP was a landmark event for the World Bank as it represented its first ever direct investment in a public-health initiative. The resounding success of the OCP is a testimony to the power of the partnership which, with the advent of the Mectizan Donation Programme, was emboldened to extend the scope of its activities to encompass the remaining endemic regions of Africa outside the OCP area. The progress that has been made in consolidating the partnership is discussed in this article. The prospects of adapting the various strategies of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control, to entrench an integrated approach that couples strong regional co-ordination with empowerment of local communities and thereby address many other health problems, are also explored.

Intramuscular hemangiosarcoma with pulmonary metastasis in a horse.

Intramuscular hemangiosarcoma resulting in severe anemia and thrombocytopenia was diagnosed in a 3-year-old Thoroughbred filly. Necropsy revealed multiple tumors within skeletal muscles and multiple pulmonary metastases.

Flagella on Legionnaires' disease bacteria: ultastructural observations.

Scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies were done on five strains of flagellated Legionella pneumophila cultured for 1 to 3 days on charcoal yeast extract agar or yeast extract broth. Ultrastructurally, each strain consisted of pleomorphic, flagellated bacilli, many of which showed the typical pinching type of division as seen with other gram-negative bacteria. Most of the flagellated organisms, regardless of the strain, had a single, relatively straight or undulant polar flagellum, about 25 nm in diameter. In some instances, retraction of the bacterial cell membranes made the flagellar basal bodies (bulbs) visible when observed by transmission electron microscopy. The bulbous nature of these bodies appears to be different from the basal structures described for Escherichia coli and other gram-negative bacteria. Long "streamers," previously observed with the light microscope, appear to be fimbriae (or pili) that have a diameter approximatley half that of the flagella and are somewhat coiled and bent at irregular intervals.