Contingent Valuation of Woodland-Owner Private Amenities in Spain,Portugal, and California

Most of the Mediterranean woodlands in Spain, Portugal, and California are managed as agrosilvopastoral enterprises, producing some combination of livestock, wood, cork products, and crops, as well as wildlife habitat and diverse environmental services. Private amenity benefits to landowners have been suggested as an explanation for high land prices and the persistence of such rangeland enterprises despite apparently marginal cash returns. In this study, private amenity values are estimated using a contingent valuation technique in surveys of private woodland owners as part of five case studies, using a design developed to separate landowner amenity income and capital values. Nonindustrial private landowners were asked about the maximum amount of money that they were willing to give up (to pay) before selling their property to invest in more commercially profitable assets, and the proportion of the market price of their woodland that they think is explained by privately consumed amenities. Amenity values were found to be relevant because, in all cases, landowners were willing to pay &spigt; €120 · ha^-1 · yr^-1, at 2002 prices, and attributed &spigt; 30% of land market price to amenities. These values represent an amenity profitability rate &spigt; 2% in all case studies. The data analysis shows some similarities, but mostly divergences, in the different land-simulated and amenity-simulated markets.     

Metastatic intraocular chondrosarcoma in a dog

Chondrosarcoma accounts for about 10% of all canine bone tumors and is the second most common primary bone tumor in dogs. In veterinary medicine, chondrosarcomas are classified as skeletal and extraskeletal. Extraskeletal chondrosarcomas are mesenchymal neoplasms of soft tissues and visceral organs that produce neoplastic chondrocytes in a fibrillary matrix. There is no involvement of bone or periosteal tissues in extraskeletal chondrosarcomas. The aim of this report is to describe the first case of a metastatic intraocular extraskeletal chondrosarcoma in a dog.     

Ethyl hexanoate transfer modeling in carrageenan matrices for determination of diffusion and partition properties

Aroma compound properties in food matrices, such as volatility and diffusivity, have to be determined to understand the effect of composition and structure on aroma release and perception. This work illustrates the use of mass transfer modeling to identify diffusion and partition properties of ethyl hexanoate in water and in carrageenan matrices with various degrees of structure. The comparison of results obtained with a diffusive model to those obtained with a convective model highlights the importance of considering the appropriate transfer mechanism. Modeling of the preliminary experimental steps ensures correct estimation of the conditions for the main aroma release step. The obtained values of partition and diffusion coefficients are in agreement with those found in the literature (either experimentally determined or predicted by theoretical equations) and demonstrate that the structure level of carrageenan matrices has little influence on diffusion properties of ethyl hexanoate (less than 20%).     

Socio-economic status and health awareness are associated with choice of cooking oil in Costa Rica

OBJECTIVE: To examine the socio-economic and lifestyle determinants of cooking oil choice in Costa Rica during the last decade (1994-2004). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. Subjects (total n = 2274) belonged to the control population of a large case-control study; they were recruited yearly. Data about type of oil used for cooking, dietary intake, socio-economic and demographic characteristics were collected. SETTING: A dietitian visited all subjects and conducted the interviews at their homes; all subjects lived in the Costa Rican central valley region. SUBJECTS: Adult, free-living, rural and urban Costa Ricans with no history of myocardial infarction and physical or mental disability. RESULTS: The odds of choosing soybean over palm oil increased significantly each year (P < 0.05) and was determined by high socio-economic status (SES) and variables that suggest health awareness (self-reported history of hypertension, high cholesterol, multivitamin use and intake of green leafy vegetables). The odds of choosing other unsaturated oils, namely corn and sunflower, over soybean oil also increased yearly (P < 0.05) and was associated with the same two factors (high SES and health awareness). Palm oil users remained in the lowest SES tertile and were more likely to live in rural areas. Across all SES tertiles, high health awareness determined the odds of choosing other unsaturated oils over palm oil, and soybean oil (P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: These data show that, in addition to SES, health awareness is associated with the selection of unsaturated oils over palm oil in a developing country undergoing transition. These data should be considered when targeting nutrition messages and policies that promote better dietary choices.     

Anticancer activity evaluation of kuanoniamines A and C isolated from the marine sponge Oceanapia sagittaria, collected from the Gulf of Thailand

The pyridoacridine alkaloids kuanoniamines A and C were isolated together with 24 α-methylcholestanol, p-hydroxybenzaldehyde, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, phenylacetic acid and 3-formylindole from the ethyl acetate extract of the marine sponge Oceanapia sagittaria (Sollas), collected from the Gulf of Thailand. Kuanoniamines A and C were evaluated for their effect on the growth of five human tumour and a non-tumour cell lines, as well as on the proliferation of human lymphocytes. Kuanoniamine A was found to be a potent growth inhibitor of all the tumour and a non-tumour cell lines while kuanoniamine C was less potent but showed high selectivity toward the estrogen dependent (ER+) breast cancer cell line. Kuanoniamine A has shown to be a more potent inhibitor of DNA synthesis than kuanoniamine C. Kuanoniamine A was also found to cause an extensive reduction of the MCF-7 cells in G2/M phase as well as an increase in the apoptotic cells.     

Energy acquisition and allocation to egg production in relation to fish reproductive strategies

Oogenesis in fishes follows a universal plan; yet, due to differences in the synchrony and rate of egg development, spawning frequency varies from daily to once in a lifetime. Some species spawn and feed in separate areas, during different seasons, by storing energy and drawing on it later for reproduction (i.e. capital breeding). Other species spawn using energy acquired locally, throughout a prolonged spawning season, allocating energy directly to reproduction (i.e. income breeding). Capital breeders tend to ovulate all at once and are more likely to be distributed at boreal latitudes. Income breeding allows small fish to overcome allometric constraints on egg production. Income breeders can recover more quickly when good‐feeding conditions are re‐established, which is a benefit to adults regarding bet‐hedging spawning strategies. Many species exhibit mixed capital‐ and income‐breeding patterns. An individual's position along this capital–income continuum may shift with ontogeny or in relation to environmental conditions, so breeding patterns are a conditional reproductive strategy. Poor‐feeding environments can lead to delayed maturation, skipped spawning, fewer spawning events per season or fewer eggs produced per event. In a few cases, variations in feeding environments appear to affect recruitment variability. These flexible processes of energy acquisition and allocation allow females to prioritize their own condition over their propagules' condition at any given spawning opportunity, thereby investing energy cautiously to maximize lifetime reproductive value. These findings have implications for temporal and spatial sampling designs, for measurement and interpretation of fecundity, and for interpreting fishery and ecosystem assessments.     

Bovine leptospirosis in abattoirs in Uganda: Molecular detection and risk of exposure among workers

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic bacterial disease reported worldwide. In Uganda, seropositivity has been reported in both humans and domesticated animals, including cattle. However, it remains unknown whether cattle are shedding leptospires and thus acting as potential source for human leptospirosis. We conducted this cross‐sectional study in two cattle abattoirs in Kampala, Uganda between June and July 2017. Kidney and urine samples from 500 cattle sourced from across the country were analysed by real‐time PCR to establish the prevalence of Leptospira‐positive cattle and risk of exposure to abattoir workers. The species of infecting Leptospira was determined by amplification of secY gene and compared to reference sequences published in GenBank. Of 500 cattle tested, 36 (7.2%) had Leptospira DNA in their kidneys (carriers), 29 (5.8%) in their urine (shedders); with an overall prevalence (kidney and/or urine) of 8.8%. Leptospira borgpetersenii was confirmed as the infecting species in three cattle and Leptospira kirschneri in one animal. Male versus female cattle (OR = 3, p‐value 0.003), exotic versus local breeds (OR = 21.3, p‐value 0.002) or cattle from Western Uganda (OR = 4.4, p‐value 0.001) and from regions across the border (OR = 3.3, p‐value 0.032) versus from the central region were more likely to be Leptospira‐positive. The daily risk of exposure of abattoir workers to ≥1 (kidney and/or urine) positive carcass ranged from 27% (95% credibility interval 18.6–52.3) to 100% (95% CI 91.0–100.0), with halal butchers and pluck inspectors being at highest risk. In conclusion, cattle slaughtered at abattoirs in Uganda carry and shed pathogenic Leptospira species; and this may pose occupation‐related risk of exposure among workers in these abattoirs, with workers who handle larger numbers of animals being at higher risk.     

The novel pyridazine pyrazolecarboxamide insecticide dimpropyridaz inhibits chordotonal organ function upstream of TRPV channels

The cover image is based on the Research Article The novel pyridazine pyrazolecarboxamide insecticide dimpropyridaz inhibits chordotonal organ function upstream of TRPV channels by Christian Spalthoff et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7352