| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Adam, Silke, et al.
(author)
-
Campaigning Against Europe? : The Role of Euroskeptic Fringe and Mainstream Parties in the 2009 European Parliament Election
- 2013
-
In: Journal of Political Marketing. - : Routledge. - 1537-7857 .- 1537-7865. ; 12:1, s. 77-99
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this article, we analyze political parties' campaign communication during the 2009 European Parliamentary election in 11 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK). We study which types of issues Euroskeptic fringe and Euroskeptic mainstream parties put on their campaign agendas and the kind and extent of EU opposition they voice. Further, we seek to understand whether Euroskeptic and non-Euroskeptic parties co-orient themselves toward each other within their national party systems with regard to their campaigns. To understand the role of Euroskeptic parties in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections, we draw on a systematic content analysis of parties' posters and televised campaign spots. Our results show that it is Euroskeptic parties at the edges of the political spectrum who discuss polity questions of EU integration and who most openly criticize the union. Principled opposition against the project of EU integration, however, can only be observed in the UK. Finally, we find indicators for co-orientation effects regarding the tone of EU mobilization: In national political environments where Euroskeptic parties strongly criticize the EU, pro-European parties at the same time publicly advance pro-EU positions.
|
|
| 3. |
-
Advances in Thermal Imaging
- 2021
-
In: Journal of Thermal Biology. - 0306-4565.
-
Other publication (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Thermal imaging, or more correctly infrared thermography, has been widely applied to studies of animal and human biology (see Burnay et al. 1988; McCafferty 2007; Soerensen and Pedersen 2015; Fernandez-Cuevas et al., 2015; Tattersall 2016). This technique provides non-contact measurement of surface temperature, allowing real-time recording of the spatial temperature distribution of a body region, physical structure or habitat of interest. Thermal imaging technology has advanced rapidly in the last decade and is now becoming a key tool in thermal biology. Technological advances include greater spatial and temporal resolution, increased capacity to record and store high resolution radiometric video, as well as reduced device size and portability. In addition, high-quality thermal imaging devices are quickly becoming more affordable, meaning thermal imaging is an increasingly common item of the research tool-kit in many pure and applied fields. The aim of this Special Issue was to highlight how advances in thermal imaging can be used to answer important questions in biology, and to demonstrate how the combination of this technology with novel analytical methods can further advance our conceptual understanding of thermal biology.
|
|
| 4. |
- Ameline, Baptiste, et al.
(author)
-
Methylation and copy number profiling : emerging tools to differentiate osteoblastoma from malignant mimics?
- 2022
-
In: Modern Pathology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0893-3952. ; 35:9, s. 1204-1211
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Rearrangements of the transcription factors FOS and FOSB have recently been identified as the genetic driver event underlying osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma. Nuclear overexpression of FOS and FOSB have since then emerged as a reliable surrogate marker despite limitations in specificity and sensitivity. Indeed, osteosarcoma can infrequently show nuclear FOS expression and a small fraction of osteoblastomas seem to arise independent of FOS/FOSB rearrangements. Acid decalcification and tissue preservation are additional factors that can negatively influence immunohistochemical testing and make diagnostic decision-making challenging in individual cases. Particularly aggressive appearing osteoblastomas, also referred to as epithelioid osteoblastomas, and osteoblastoma-like osteosarcoma can be difficult to distinguish, underlining the need for additional markers to support the diagnosis. Methylation and copy number profiling, a technique well established for the classification of brain tumors, might fill this gap. Here, we set out to comprehensively characterize a series of 77 osteoblastomas by immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in-situ hybridization as well as copy number and methylation profiling and compared our findings to histologic mimics. Our results show that osteoblastomas are uniformly characterized by flat copy number profiles that can add certainty in reaching the correct diagnosis. The methylation cluster formed by osteoblastomas, however, so far lacks specificity and can be misleading in individual cases.
|
|
| 5. |
- Andersson, Martin N, et al.
(author)
-
Composition of physiologically important fatty acids in great tits differs between urban and rural populations on a seasonal basis
- 2015
-
In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. - 2296-701X. ; 3:93, s. 1-13
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fatty acids (FA) have crucial functions in animals, affecting e.g. inflammatory responses, thermoregulation, and cell membrane fluidity. Diet and ambient temperature affect animals’ FA composition, which, in turn, may influence these physiological processes. Great tit (Parus major) −common in both urban and rural habitats− are mainly granivorous during winter and insectivorous during summer. These diets show pronounced differences in FA composition. Such variation has context-dependent effects on physiology, because the thermal environment, food availability, and levels of pro-inflammatory environmental stressors differ between urban and rural areas. Thus, we investigated how great tit plasma FA composition varied between urban and rural habitats and across seasons. Eight FAs differed between urban and rural birds. Among these, arachidonic acid (omega (ω)-6 polyunsaturated FA) with thermoregulatory and pro-inflammatory properties was more abundant in urban than rural birds in winter, whereas ω-3 FAs with anti-inflammatory properties were more abundant in rural birds. The difference in pro- and anti-inflammatory FAs suggest that the negative health effects that urban birds suffer from being exposed to higher levels of pollutants might be enhanced by an elevated inflammatory response. Eight FAs differed between winter and summer birds. This variation reflected the diet change: FAs common in seeds, e.g. oleic- and linoleic acid, were present in higher amounts in winter birds, whereas ω-3 polyunsaturated FAs that are common in caterpillars were more abundant in summer birds. Overall, a larger seasonal variation was seen among the urban birds. This study is the first to reveal a difference in FA composition between urban and rural populations for all animals studied to date. Future experiments should unravel the physiological implications of this variation, and ultimately, link its effects to fitness of animals with different physiological and dietary requirements in urban and rural environments.
|
|
| 6. |
- Andreasson, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
-
Age-dependent effects of predation risk on night-time hypothermia in two wintering passerine species
- 2019
-
In: Oecologia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0029-8549 .- 1432-1939. ; 189:2, s. 329-337
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Small animals that winter at northern latitudes need to maximize energy intake and minimize energy loss. Many passerine birds use night-time hypothermia to conserve energy. A potential cost of night-time hypothermia with much theoretical (but little empirical) support is increased risk of night-time predation, due to reduced vigilance and lower escape speed in hypothermic birds. This idea has never been tested in the wild. We, therefore, increased perceived predation risk in great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) roosting in nest boxes during cold winter nights to measure any resultant effect on their use of night-time hypothermia. Roosting birds of both species that experienced their first winter were less prone to use hypothermia as an energy-saving strategy at low ambient temperatures when exposed to increased perceived predation risk either via handling (great tits) or via predator scent manipulation (blue tits). However, we did not record such effects in birds that were in their second winter or beyond. Our results suggest that effects of increased predation risk are age- and temperature specific. This could be caused by age-related differences in experience and subsequent risk assessment, or by dominance-related variation in habitat quality between young and old birds. Predation risk could, through its effect on use and depth of night-time hypothermia, be important for total energy management and winter survival for resident birds at northern latitudes.
|
|
| 7. |
- Andreasson, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
-
Age differences in night-time metabolic rate and body temperature in a small passerine
- 2020
-
In: Journal of Comparative Physiology B: Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0174-1578. ; 190, s. 349-359
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Spending the winter in northern climes with short days and cold ambient temperatures (Ta) can be energetically challenging for small birds that have high metabolic and heat loss rates. Hence, maintaining body temperature (Tb) in Ta below thermoneutrality can be energetically costly for a small bird. We still know little about how increased heat production below thermoneutrality affects the level at which Tb is maintained, and if these patterns are age specific. To test this, we measured subcutaneous body temperature (Ts) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) simultaneously in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) during winter nights in Ta’s ranging from 25 to − 15 °C. RMR increased below the lower critical temperature (LCT, estimated at 14 °C) and was 6% higher in young (birds in their first winter) compared to old birds (birds in their second winter or older). The higher RMR was also mirrored in higher Ts and thermal conductance (C) in young birds, which we suggest could be caused by age differences in plumage quality, likely driven by time constraints during moult. Reduction in nightly predicted Tb was modest and increased again at the coldest ambient temperatures, suggesting that either heat retention or heat production (or both) improved when Ta reached levels which are cold by the standards of birds in our population. Our results show that levels of heat production and Tb can be age specific. Further studies should address age-specific differences on quality, structure, and thermal conductivity of plumage more explicitly, to investigate the role of variation in insulation in age-linked metabolic phenotypes.
|
|
| 8. |
- Andreasson, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
-
Avian Reproduction in a Warming World
- 2020
-
In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-701X. ; 8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Weather influences both the distribution and life-history strategies of birds. Temperature ranks amongst the more important weather parameters in this regard since warming springs in temperate and high latitudes and more frequent heat-waves globally have caused major changes in breeding phenology and negatively affected adult and juvenile survival, respectively. Both long-term and stochastic changes in temperature can have fundamental consequences for avian reproduction even when the effects are not lethal, such as via thermal constraints on parental provisioning and chick growth. To date, most of what we know about temperature effects on nestling development and parental effort during reproduction is based on correlative data. In addition, an increasing amount of evidence indicates that temperature change also significantly affects birds that breed in cooler temperate areas, which so far has been somewhat overlooked. Therefore, in this perspective piece, we outline the existing literature on temperature effects on nestling development and parental behavior, with an emphasis on what needs to be done to address the causal effects of temperature change on avian reproduction under climate change. We finish by providing an outlook over future avenues of research, and give suggestions of some specific areas that might be especially promising in developing this field of research.
|
|
| 9. |
- Andreasson, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
-
Body temperature responses of Great Tits Parus major to handling in the cold
- 2020
-
In: Ibis. - : Wiley. - 0019-1019 .- 1474-919X. ; 162:3, s. 836-844
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Animals typically respond to stressful stimuli such as handling by increasing core body temperature. However, small birds in cold environments have been found to decrease body temperature (Tb) when handled over longer periods, although there are no data extending beyond the actual handling event in such birds. We therefore measured both the initial Tb decrease during ringing and standardized Tb sampling, and subsequent recovery of Tb after this handling protocol in wild Great Tits Parus major roosting in nestboxes in winter. Birds reduced their Tb by 2.3 °C during c. 4 min of handling. When birds were returned to their nestboxes after handling, Tb decreased by a further 1.9 °C over c. 2 min, reaching a Tb of 34.6 °C before taking 20 min to rewarm to 2.5 °C above their initial Tb. The Tb reduction during handling could be a consequence of increased heat loss rate from disrupted plumage insulation, whereas Tb reduction after handling might reflect reduced heat production. These are important factors to consider when handling small birds in the cold.
|
|
| 10. |
- Andreasson, Fredrik, et al.
(author)
-
Brood size constrains the development of endothermy in blue tits
- 2016
-
In: Journal of Experimental Biology. - : The Company of Biologists. - 1477-9145 .- 0022-0949. ; 219:14, s. 2212-2219
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Altricial birds are unable to maintain body temperature when exposed to low ambient temperatures during the first days after hatching. Thermoregulatory capacity begins to form as postnatal development progresses, and eventually nestlings become homeothermic. Several factors may influence this development at both the level of the individual and the level of the whole brood, but to our knowledge no studies have focused on the effect of brood size per se on the development of endothermy in individual nestlings. We performed cooling experiments on blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nestlings in the field, to study how different experimental brood sizes affected the development of endothermy in individual nestlings and the thermal environment experienced by the whole brood in the nest. Nestlings from all experimental brood sizes showed a decrease in cooling rate as they grew older, but birds from reduced broods showed an earlier onset of endothermy compared with nestlings from enlarged and control broods. This difference manifested during early development and gradually disappeared as nestlings grew older. The thermal environment in the nests differed between treatments during nestling development, such that nest temperature in reduced broods was lower than that in enlarged broods during all days and during nights at the end of the experimental period. We suggest that the development of endothermy in blue tit nestlings is not ontogenetically fixed, but instead may vary according to differences in developmental, nutritional and thermal conditions as determined by brood size.
|
|
