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Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting events are increasing in the western Mediterranean Sea, far from their usual nesting areas in the Mediterranean and Atlantic basins. The study of dispersal behaviour towards potential developmental areas of loggerhead post-hatchlings from this new nesting area is crucial to comprehend this colonization process and determining grounded conservation strategies. To fill this gap, was investigated, for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, the dispersal strategies and habitat use based on data from 19 head-started loggerhead post-hatchlings released from the Spanish Mediterranean coast and satellite-tracked between 2016-2018. Turtles dispersed over large areas and showed active swimming phases, as they frequently dispersed against sea currents. Dispersal routes varied for each individual, although they consistently dispersed south-eastwards, especially during the coldest periods. Several post-hatchlings travelled through the Sicilian Channel to reach deep and warmer areas in the eastern Mediterranean basin. The most year-round suitable areas corresponded to the Ionian and Levant Seas. Therefore, conservation measures focused on this stage should be taken at least in these developmental areas.

[EN] Anthropogenic activities are causing increased noise levels in the marine environment. To date, few studies have been undertaken to investigate the effects of different noise frequencies on the behaviour of juvenile fish. In this study, the behavioural changes of juvenile gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) are evaluated when exposed to white noise filtered in third-octave bands centred at 63, 125, 500, and 1000 Hz (sound pressure level, 140-150 dB re 1 mu& x3a1;a) for 7 h. The group dispersion, motility, and swimming height of the fish were analysed before and during the acoustic emission. Dispersion of the fish was found to reduce immediately upon application of low frequency sound (63 and 125 Hz) with a return to control condition after 2 h (indicative of habituation), whereas at 1 kHz, dispersion increased after 2 h without any habituation. The motility decreased significantly at 63 Hz throughout the 7 h of sound exposure. The swimming height decreased significantly for all frequencies other than 125 Hz. The results of this study highlight significant variations in the behavioural responses of juvenile fish that could have consequences on their fitness and survival., This study was conducted in the framework of the Ph.D. program in the Mediterranean Biodiversity XXXII cycle (International) of the University of Palermo. I.P.-A., M.B.-C. and V.E. acknowledge the financial support of the European Comission-Project No. 11.0661/2018794607/SUB/ENV.C2, risk-based approaches to good environmental status (RAGES). The other founding support comes from the Ph.D. Innovative with Industrial Characterization Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON) 2014-2020 and the projects bilateral Research laboratory on marine and maritime Science Italy-Argentina (CAIMAR) Joint Laboratory Italy-Argentina (Laboratori Congiunti Bilaterali Internazionali of the Italian National Reseach Council, 2017-2019). Document

The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and eco-logical processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change)., To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolution-ary research based on long-term studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database (www.spibirds.org)—a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI-Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million individual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting., SPI-Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collab-oration and synthesis. We provide community-derived data and meta-data stand-ards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata lan-guages (e.g. ecological meta-data language)., The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI-Bird's decentralized ap-proach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI-Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community-specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demogra-phy, etc.) will aid much-needed large-scale ecological data integration., The SPI-Birds have been supported by an NWO personal grant (grant number 016.Veni.181.054) to A.C., and a Research Council of Norway grant: 223257 (SFF-III) and 267511 (EVOCLIM).

HIV infections are still a very serious concern for public heath worldwide. We have applied molecular evolution methods to study the HIV-1 epidemics in the Comunidad Valenciana (CV, Spain) from a public health surveillance perspective. For this, we analysed 1804 HIV-1 sequences comprising protease and reverse transcriptase (PR/RT) coding regions, sampled between 2004 and 2014. These sequences were subtyped and subjected to phylogenetic analyses in order to detect transmission clusters. In addition, univariate and multinomial comparisons were performed to detect epidemiological differences between HIV-1 subtypes, and risk groups. The HIV epidemic in the CV is dominated by subtype B infections among local men who have sex with men (MSM). 270 transmission clusters were identified (>57% of the dataset), 12 of which included ≥10 patients; 11 of subtype B (9 affecting MSMs) and one (n = 21) of CRF14, affecting predominately intravenous drug users (IDUs). Dated phylogenies revealed these large clusters to have originated from the mid-80s to the early 00 s. Subtype B is more likely to form transmission clusters than non-B variants and MSMs to cluster than other risk groups. Multinomial analyses revealed an association between non-B variants, which are not established in the local population yet, and different foreign groups.

Supplemental oxygen is administered in the vast majority of patients in the perioperative setting and in the intensive care unit to prevent the potentially deleterious effects of hypoxia. On the other hand, the administration of high concentrations of oxygen may induce hyperoxia that may also be associated with significant complications. Oxygen therapy should therefore be precisely titrated and accurately monitored. Although pulse oximetry has become an indispensable monitoring technology to detect hypoxemia, its value in assessing the oxygenation status beyond the range of maximal arterial oxygen saturation (SpO(2) >= 97%) is very limited. In this hyperoxic range, we need to rely on blood gas analysis, which is intermittent, invasive and sometimes delayed. The oxygen reserve index (ORI) is a new continuous non-invasive variable that is provided by the new generation of pulse oximeters that use multi-wavelength pulse co-oximetry. The ORI is a dimensionless index that reflects oxygenation in the moderate hyperoxic range (PaO2 100-200 mmHg). The ORI may provide an early alarm when oxygenation deteriorates well before any changes in SpO(2) occur, may reflect the response to oxygen administration (e.g., pre-oxygenation), and may facilitate oxygen titration and prevent unintended hyperoxia. In this review we describe this new variable, summarize available data and preliminary experience, and discuss its potential clinical utilities in the perioperative and intensive care settings.

A major aim of evolutionary biology is to understand why patterns of genomic variation vary among populations and species. Large-scale genomic studies of widespread species are useful for studying how the environment and demographic history shape patterns of genomic divergence, and with the continually decreasing cost of sequencing, such studies are now becoming feasible. Here, we carry out one of the most comprehensive surveys of genomic variation in a wild vertebrate to date; the great tit ( Parus major ) HapMap project. We screened ca 500,000 SNP markers across 647 individuals from 29 populations, spanning almost the entire geographic range of the European great tit subspecies. We found that genome-wide variation was consistent with a recent colonisation across Europe from a single refugium in the Balkans and/or Turkey, with bottlenecks and reduced genetic diversity in island populations. Differentiation across the genome was highly heterogeneous, with clear “islands of differentiation” even among populations which are ostensibly panmictic. These islands of differentiation were consistently found in regions of low recombination, suggesting that background selection can rapidly promote population differentiation among even the most recently colonised populations. We also detected genomic outlier regions that were unique to peripheral great tit populations, most likely as a result of recent directional selection at the range edges of this species. These “unique” outlier regions contained candidate genes for morphology, thermal adaptation and colouration, supporting previous research in this species, and providing avenues for future investigation. Our study suggests that comprehensive screens of genomic variation in wild organisms can provide unique insights into evolution. Author summary Studying patterns of genetic variation is a useful way of determining why populations and species differ in nature. Genetic variation is shaped by natural selection, but also by the present and past size of populations, the amount of migration, and by features of the genome, such as variation in recombination rate, of the organism being studied. Teasing apart the effects of these different processes on genomic diversity is difficult, but one way that this can be achieved is by studying genomic variation across the entire range of a species. We performed a continental-scale analysis of genetic variation in the great tit - a widespread songbird that has been the focus of extensive ecological research. We first used genomic data to reconstruct the historical colonisation of great tits across Europe, and showed that during the last ice age, this species was likely restricted to a single region in Eastern Europe, from which they spread across the continent. We then studied how patterns of variation differ along the genome, and show that recombination rate is a key driver of variation among all populations. Importantly, by comparing many populations we were able to identify genes that have been subject to natural selection in specific geographical regions. We found that natural selection appeared to be strongest in populations on the edges of the great tit’s range acting on traits such as morphology, stress response and colouration. Large-scale genetic analyses such as ours are therefore useful approaches for understanding how evolution operates in the wild.

[ES] El género de copépodos Tigriopus Norman, 1869 se distribuye en todo el mundo en charcas de rocas costeras y se considera que actualmente incluye 14 especies válidas. Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer 1860), con sus subespecies Tigriopus fulvus adriaticus Van Douwe 1913 y Tigriopus fulvus algiricus Monard 1935, y Tigriopus minutus Bozic 1960 han sido descritos para el área del Mediterráneo, pero la diversidad real del género es desconocida actualmente. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la identidad real de las poblaciones mediterráneas de Tigriopus y dilucidar su taxonomía y patrón de diversidad genética. Con este fin, se secuenció un fragmento del gen de ADN mitocondrial (citocromo c oxidasa subunidad I, COI) como marcador de referencia. Los resultados sugieren la presencia de una sola especie caracterizada por una estructuración genética con una notable base geográfica en toda el área de estudio. El patrón de diversidad observado aquí se atribuye tentativamente a una fuerte monopolización de las charcas de las costas rocosas por parte de los primeros inmigrantes que las alcanzan. Sin embargo, tal monopolización se interrumpe periódicamente por los eventos de extinción local, los cuales son frecuentes en los hábitats de charcas de rocas que son intrínsecamente inestables. Aquí proponemos para este patrón el nombre de ¿monopolización periódica¿ (¿clockwork monopolization¿)., [EN] The copepod genus Tigriopus Norman, 1869 is distributed worldwide in coastal rock pools and it is currently considered to include 14 valid species. Tigriopus fulvus (Fischer 1860), with its subspecies Tigriopus fulvus adriaticus Van Douwe 1913 and Tigriopus fulvus algiricus Monard 1935, and Tigriopus minutus Bozic 1960 are currently reported to occur in the Mediterranean area, but the actual diversity of the genus is currently unknown. We aimed to assess the actual identity of Mediterranean Tigriopus populations and to elucidate their taxonomy and pattern of genetic diversity. In order to reach these goals, a fragment of a mitochondrial DNA gene (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI) was sequenced to be used as a reference marker. Our data suggest the presence of a single species characterized by a noteworthy geographically based genetic structure in the whole study area. The observed diversity pattern is tentatively ascribed here to a strong monopolization of the rock pools by the first immigrants that reached them. However, such a monopolization is periodically disrupted by local extinction events, which are frequent in the intrinsically unstable rock pool habitats. We propose the name "clockwork monopolization" for this pattern., We wish to thank Prof. Vezio Cottarelli for the help he provided us with the collection of some samples of T. fulvus and for the stimulating discussions we had on the topic of this manuscript. G Alfonso (University of Salento, Italy) and A Millán (University of Murcia, Spain) kindly provided some of the studied samples.

Currently, the deployment of tracking devices is one of the most frequently used approaches to study movement ecology of birds. Recent miniaturization of light‐level geolocators enabled studying small bird species whose migratory patterns were widely unknown. However, geolocators may reduce vital rates in tagged birds and may bias obtained movement data. There is a need for a thorough assessment of the potential tag effects on small birds, as previous meta‐analyses did not evaluate unpublished data and impact of multiple life‐history traits, focused mainly on large species and the number of published studies tagging small birds has increased substantially. We quantitatively reviewed 549 records extracted from 74 published and 48 unpublished studies on over 7,800 tagged and 17,800 control individuals to examine the effects of geolocator tagging on small bird species (body mass, + Publisher's Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: "Brlík, V, Koleček, J, Burgess, M, et al. Weak effects of geolocators on small birds: A meta‐analysis controlled for phylogeny and publication bias. J Anim Ecol. 2020; 89: 207– 220", which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12962. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.; Read Only Lizenz.

Gene flow is usually thought to reduce genetic divergence and impede local adaptation by homogenising gene pools between populations. However, evidence for local adaptation and phenotypic differentiation in highly mobile species, experiencing high levels of gene flow, is emerging. Assessing population genetic structure at different spatial scales is thus a crucial step towards understanding mechanisms underlying intraspecific differentiation and diversification. Here, we studied the population genetic structure of a highly mobile species - the great tit Parus major - at different spatial scales. We analysed 884 individuals from 30 sites across Europe including 10 close-by sites (< 50 km), using 22 microsatellite markers. Overall we found a low but significant genetic differentiation among sites (F-ST = 0.008). Genetic differentiation was higher, and genetic diversity lower, in south-western Europe. These regional differences were statistically best explained by winter temperature. Overall, our results suggest that great tits form a single patchy metapopulation across Europe, in which genetic differentiation is independent of geographical distance and gene flow may be regulated by environmental factors via movements related to winter severity. This might have important implications for the evolutionary trajectories of sub-populations, especially in the context of climate change, and calls for future investigations of local differences in costs and benefits of philopatry at large scales. (C) 2016 The Linnean Society of London, The study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (3100A0-102017 to HR, P2BEP3_152103 to KL and PMPDP3_151361/161858 to ML). We thank L. Gustafsson and J. Forsman who kindly allowed us to use their nest boxes. We gratefully thank E. Bezault, L. Cornetti and two anonymous reviewers for valuable advice on genetic analyses and helpful comments on the manuscript. All samples were collected under licenses of national authorities and financially supported by the Academy of Finland grant (to NP and 265859 to TE), the Netherland Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-VICI 86503003 to JK and NWO-VICI to MV), the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (Horizon grant to KvO), the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA 75618 to JT), the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science (IUT 34-8 to RM), the OSU-OREME, the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (CGL2010-21933-CO-02 to EB), the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/13594/2003 to ACN) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-08-JCJC-0041-01 to BD).

[EN] Several loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting events have been recorded along Spain's Mediterranean coast, outside its known nesting range, in recent years. In view of the possible expansion of its nesting range and considering the conservation status of this species, management measures like nest protection and head-start programs have been implemented. To study the dispersal behavior and survival of head-started loggerheads, 19 post-hatchlings from three nesting events were satellite tracked after their release in three consecutive years (2015-2017). This paper presents the first study of survival probabilities and dispersal movements of loggerhead post-hatchlings in the Mediterranean basin. Monitored post-hatchlings dispersed over large areas using variable routes, mainly off the continental shelf. Nonetheless, post-hatchlings dispersed to high-productivity warmer areas during the coldest months of monitoring. These areas might be optimum for their survival and development. We observed differences regarding dispersal orientation and routes among individuals, even from the same nest, release date, and location. Our survival models contributed to improving current survival estimates for sea turtle post-hatchlings. We observed a high probability of survival in head-started individuals during the first months after release, usually the most critical period after reintroduction. The data did not support an effect of habitat (neritic or oceanic) in survival, or an effect of the region (Balearic sea or Alboran sea) in survival probability. Differences in survival between nests were observed. These differences might be related to parasitic infections suffered during the head-starting period. This study shows that nest management measures may contribute to the conservation and range expansion of the loggerhead turtle population in the western Mediterranean., This satellite study was funded by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Ministerio de Agricultura y Medio Ambiente (ref: 16MNSV006), Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (ref: CGL2011-30413), Fundacion CRAM, Fundacion Hombre y Territorio and Eduardo J. Belda. Corresponding author, S. Abalo, was supported by a Ph.D. grant (FPU) from Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte (Spain). J. Tomas is also supported by project Prometeo II (2015) of Generalitat Valenciana and project INDICIT of the European Commission, Environment Directorate-General. We are extremely thankful to the entities that have collaborated: we thank all professionals at the Oceanografic, especially at the ARCA Rehabilitation Center, for their many efforts and whole-hearted dedication to the best animal care. In particular, we are grateful to the Conselleria d'Agricultura, Medi Ambient, Canvi Climatic i Desenvolupament Rural of the Valencia Community Regional Government. We also thank the professionals at Centro de Recuperacion de Animales Marinos (CRAM) for their dedication and animal care. We are thankful to the Marine Zoology Unit of the University of Valencia, NGO Xaloc, EQUINAC, Aquarium of Sevilla, Donana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC) and to involved professionals at Consejeria de Medio Ambiente y Ordenacion del Territorio (CMAOT) of Junta de Andalucia, especially at the Andalusian Marine Environment Management Center (CEGMA) for their efforts with animal care, logistics for release events and necropsy of "Rabiosa". We are particularly grateful to the people who called 112 to report a nesting event and to the nest custody volunteers. Thanks are due to the staff of Parador de El Saler for volunteering logistical support. The authors wish to acknowledge the use of the Maptool program for analysis and graphics in this paper. Maptool is a product of SEATURTLE.ORG (Information is available at www.seaturtle.org). Also, we acknowledge the use of the Douglas Argos Filter (DAF) utility in Movebank (www.movebank.org) and especially David Douglas for his help and recommendations. Finally, we thank the reviewers for their reviewing efforts.

Supplemental oxygen is administered in the vast majority of patients in the perioperative setting and in the intensive care unit to prevent the potentially deleterious effects of hypoxia. On the other hand, the administration of high concentrations of oxygen may induce hyperoxia that may also be associated with significant complications. Oxygen therapy should therefore be precisely titrated and accurately monitored. Although pulse oximetry has become an indispensable monitoring technology to detect hypoxemia, its value in assessing the oxygenation status beyond the range of maximal arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2 ≥97%) is very limited. In this hyperoxic range, we need to rely on blood gas analysis, which is intermittent, invasive and sometimes delayed. The oxygen reserve index (ORI) is a new continuous non-invasive variable that is provided by the new generation of pulse oximeters that use multi-wavelength pulse co-oximetry. The ORI is a dimensionless index that reflects oxygenation in the moderate hyperoxic range (PaO2 100–200 mmHg). The ORI may provide an early alarm when oxygenation deteriorates well before any changes in SpO2 occur, may reflect the response to oxygen administration (e.g., pre-oxygenation), and may facilitate oxygen titration and prevent unintended hyperoxia. In this review we describe this new variable, summarize available data and preliminary experience, and discuss its potential clinical utilities in the perioperative and intensive care settings.

Island populations are frequently smaller than continental populations, have lower genetic diversity, are more inbred and show genetic differentiation from the mainland ones. However, sufficient numbers of immigrants may reduce the differentiation of insular populations and moderate the effects of genetic drift. In this study, we compared insular and continental populations of Cetti’s Warbler Cettia cetti and Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus. We assessed the degree of genetic differentiation between insular and continental birds, their demographic history and genetic diversity. We compared the results, taking into account the differences in migration strategy and morphology of the two warblers. We found slightly lower genetic diversity in the insular populations than in the continental birds, possibly because of the lower population size or reduced immigration. The genetic differentiation between island and mainland birds was low, but higher in Cetti’s Warbler than in the Great Reed Warbler, suggesting differences in the species’ capability of crossing the sea. We found evidence for a past bottleneck in both the insular and continental populations of Cetti’s Warbler, while for the Great Reed Warbler we found no signs of past population reductions. A high dispersal capability of the Great Reed Warbler may have allowed high gene flow, which may explain the observed interspecific differences in the demographic history of the Great Reed Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler.

[EN] This research deals with two insectivorous reedbed-nesting songbirds, the Savi's Warbler Locustella luscinioides and the Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus breeding at the Marjal de Pego-Oliva (Valencia-Alicante, Spain). Our aims were to study the diet and the prey selection of the two species and to assess the dietary differences between them. Diet composition has been assessed by examining samples off regurgitated food obtained using apomorphine as an emetic. Prey availability was estimated through standardized invertebrate sampling. The diet of the two warblers were significantly different and included arthropods belonging to the orders Araneida, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Mantodea and Orthoptera. The most represented prey were Araneida and Coleoptera in the diet of Savi s Warblers, and Hymenoptera and Coleoptera in the diet of Great Reed Warblers. Both species positively selected Araneida and Coleoptera and avoided Diptera, while for other arthropod taxa prey selection differed between the two warbler, We are grateful to G. Assandri, D. Beneyto, M. Delandes, P. Lucio, M. Marin, C. Mompo, M. Morganti, R. Oliver, R. Piculo, E. Pons, R. Sanchez-Serrano and D. Vidal for their help with the fieldwork, and to S. Ano, N. Ibanez and J. Villarroya for their help in counting and classifying invertebrates. We would like to thank the authorities of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva Natural Park and the Servei de Conservacio de la Biodiversitat de la Generalitat Valenciana for providing the facilities to work in protected areas, and for providing the relevant permits. The present work has been partly financed by Projects CGL2005-02041 and CGL2010-21933/CO2-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. FC was supported by an Atraent talent grant from the University of Valencia. Juan A. Amat and two anonymous reviewers contributed to improve an earlier version of the manuscript.

[EN] Coastal wetlands are highly dynamic changing ecosystems because of the effects of meteorology, wildlife interactions and human activities. They are one of the world's most threatened ecosystems, and threats to them drive the most specialist species to unfavorable conservation status and population trends. Therefore, it is important to frequently monitor the coverage changes of the different vegetation types to understand these species' population dynamics. However, frequent and detailed cartography entails costly efforts. Here, satellite images with field mapping were combined to create vegetation classification maps for past years from SPOT-5 images in the Pego-Oliva coastal wetland (Spain) and obtained classification accuracies above 85%. Together with habitat selection models, this information was used to understand the changes in the habitat of a threatened bird species, the Eastern Iberian reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi), whose population has sharply declined in recent decades in Spain. A statistically significant reduction in reed-rush patches (positively selected habitat) and an increase in homogeneous reed patches (negatively selected habitat) were observed in those areas where the species disappeared as breeders. This study shows the potential of remote sensing and GIS techniques for the a posteriori monitoring of variation in the habitats available for threatened species to set up management and conservation measures., The authors thank the authorities of the Marjal Pego-Oliva Natural Park for providing the facilities to work in protected areas and for the relevant permits. This study has been funded by projects CGL2005-02041/BOS and CGL2010-21933-C02-02 from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. P. Vera was granted research support by Spanish Ornithological Society/BirdLife in 2008. Nacho Encabo and Marcial Marin helped with the fieldwork in 2006 and 2007.

[EN] Random Forests (RFs) and Gradient Boosting Machines (GBMs) are popular approaches for habitat suitability modelling in environmental flow assessment. However, both present some limitations theoretically solved by alternative tree-based ensemble techniques (e.g. conditional RFs or oblique RFs). Among them, eXtreme Gradient Boosting machines (XGBoost) has proven to be another promising technique that mixes subroutines developed for RFs and GBMs. To inspect the capabilities of these alternative techniques, RFs and GBMs were compared with: conditional RFs, oblique RFs and XGBoost by modelling, at the micro-scale, the habitat suitability for the invasive bleak (Alburnus alburnus L.) and pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus L). XGBoost outperformed the other approaches, particularly conditional and oblique RFs, although there were no statistical differences with standard RFs and GBMs. The partial dependence plots highlighted the lacustrine origins of pumpkinseed and the preference for lentic habitats of bleak. However, the latter depicted a larger tolerance for rapid microhabitats found in run-type river segments, which is likely to hinder the management of flow regimes to control its invasion. The difference in the computational burden and, especially, the characteristics of datasets on microhabitat use (low data prevalence and high overlapping between categories) led us to conclude that, in the short term, XGBoost is not destined to replace properly optimised RFs and GBMs in the process of habitat suitability modelling at the micro-scale., This project had the support of Fundacion Biodiversidad, of Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition. We want to thank the volunteering students of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Marina de Miguel, Carlos A. Puig-Mengual, Cristina Barea, Rares Hugianu, and Pau Rodriguez. R. Munoz-Mas benefitted from a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (ref. FJCI-2016-30829). This research was supported by the Government of Catalonia (ref. 2017 SGR 548).

[EN] Differential traits (e.g., feeding at different heights in trees) have evolved to allow the coexistence of putative competitors; such traits have been well studied in small passerines (e.g., Paridae), mainly during the winter. However, few studies have been carried out during the breeding season, when competition could be more intense. We applied here a multidimensional approach, examining ecological (prey type and size, and nesting habitat characteristics) and life history (timing of maximum nestling food demand) traits that might help to explain the coexistence of great (Parus major), crested (Lophophanes cristatus), and coal (Periparus ater) tits breeding in a Mediterranean pine forest. The diets of great and crested tit nestlings were equally diverse, and more diverse than that of coal tit nestlings. Prey size diversity was similar among species. Great and crested tits consumed longer caterpillars than coal tits. This last species preferred to build its nests in nest boxes surrounded by mature vegetation, while great tits preferred immature vegetation and crested tits preferred intermediate vegetation stages. Finally, the breeding cycles of both great and coal tits overlapped to a great extent, while crested tits bred earlier. In summary, each species has a unique combination of niche characteristics that might contribute to the coexistence of the 3 tit species., [FR] Différents traits bioécologiques (ex. une alimentation à différentes hauteurs dans les arbres) ont évolué pour permettre la coexistence des présumés compétiteurs. Ces traits ont été bien étudiés chez les petits passereaux (ex. chez les paridés) principalement en hiver. Cependant, peu d'études se sont attardées à la saison de reproduction, alors que la compétition est peut être plus intense. Nous avons utilisé une approche multidimensionnelle comprenant une étude de traits écologiques (type et taille des proies, caractéristiques de l'habitat de nidification) et de traits d'histoire de vie (période où la demande alimentaire des oisillons est maximale), des traits qui pourraient aider à expliquer la coexistence des mésanges charbonnière (Parus major), huppée (Lophophanes cristatus) et noire (Periparus ater) nichant dans une pinède méditerranéenne. Le régime alimentaire des mésanges noires était moins diversifié que celui des mésanges charbonnière et huppée dont la diversité était similaire. La diversité dans la taille des proies était semblable chez les 3 espèces. Les mésanges charbonnière et huppée consommaient des chenilles de plus grande taille que ne le faisait la mésange noire. Cette dernière préférait construire son nid dans des nichoirs situés dans une végétation mature, tandis que la mésange charbonnière préférait la végétation immature et la mésange huppée les stades intermédiaires de végétation. Finalement, les périodes de reproduction des mésanges charbonnière et noire se chevauchaient en bonne partie, tandis que la mésange huppée se reproduisait plus tôt. En résumé, chaque espèce de mésange présente une combinaison unique de caractéristiques de niche écologique pouvant contribuer à la coexistence des 3 espèces., We would like to thank J. L. Gre o, who helped in the field tasks. The study was financed by the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (MEC, projects CGL2004-00787, CGL2007-61395, and CGL2010-21933-C02-02). F. Atienzar had an FPU grant from the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (AP2004-0907). Vegetation data used in the present study were processed at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) thanks to M. E. Visser and the late L. J. M. Holleman. We thank Sierra Mariola Natural Park and the land owners for their collaboration. Most of the analyses and writing for the present paper were done during a short stay at the NIOO thanks to a grant awarded to F. Atienzar by the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia (2008).

Bird nests are structures whose properties affect breeding performance. Thus, the vast majority of bird species build their own characteristic nests, selecting appropriate materials to do so. However, in habitats where the availability of "ideal" materials is low, some ability to use alternative ones would be necessary, even at the cost of having breeding success reduced. The Great Tit (Parus major) breeds under widely different environmental conditions. Its nests are althought to be composed mainly of moss, although very few studies have quantified nest composition. Our target here was describing Great Tit nest mass and composition in four different Mediterranean habitats, and exploring their fitness consequences. We recorded the basic breeding parameters, collected nests after fledging, and decomposed a sample of them, in four eastern Spanish populations: Pina (pines and oaks), Mariola (pines), Font Roja (holm oaks), and Sagunto (orange trees). Nests were heavier in Sagunto and Mariola and lighter in Font Roja, and those from Sagunto had the lowest amount of moss. Clutch size decreased as moss mass increased in the four sites. In Sagunto, hatching success increased as moss mass increased. In all habitats, nestling condition was lower when the amount of sticks and feathers was higher. We conclude that Great Tit nest mass and composition varies considerably between habitats, and the amount of different materials could affect different breeding parameters., We would very much thank to all the people who have helped in the fieldwork at the different study areas over the years, to the students who assisted in nest dissection. We thank to the Spanish Meteorological Agency and to F. Atienzar for providing temperature data. This work has benefited from projects CGL2004-00787 and CGL2007-61395 (Ministry of Education and Science) and CGL2010-21933-C02-02 (Ministry of Science and Innovation).

Studying dispersal is crucial to understand metapopulation and sink-source dynamics and invasion processes. The capability to disperse is especially important for species living in fragmented habitats like wetlands. We investigated the distribution of natal and breeding dispersal distances and philopatry in Spanish populations of two closely related reedbed-nesting birds, the Moustached Warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon and the Eurasian Reed Warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus. These warblers are morphologically very similar, but differ in migration strategy and, in our study area, in population size. Our aims were to find the best model for dispersal distances and to assess the occurrence of intra- or interspecific differences in dispersal patterns. We used ringing data from the Spanish marking scheme and selected recaptures to avoid including migrating individuals. In both species, most individuals were philopatric but dispersing birds were able to cross large distances (up to more than 100 km), suggesting the capability to compensate for habitat fragmentation. We found the heavy-tailed Cauchy distribution to be the best conceptual description for our data, in all cases but natal dispersal of Moustached Warblers. Among Eurasian Reed Warblers, natal philopatry was lower than breeding philopatry. We found no significant interspecific differences. This does not confirm the hypothesis of higher dispersal ability in long distance migrants (like Eurasian Reed Warblers) than in resident/short distance migrant bird species (like Moustached Warblers). The similarity in dispersal patterns among the two warblers may be explained by their close phylogenetic relatedness, similar constraints imposed on both species by a patchy habitat or similar evolutionary pressures., We are grateful to the many ringers who collected the data during years of fieldwork in Spain. Francesco Ceresa is supported by an "Atraent talent'' grant from the University of Valencia.

Capsule: We found high diet overlap and different uses of space and time between Moustached Warblers Acrocephalus melanopogon and Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus breeding in sympatry at a marshland in Spain. Aims: To study the degree of diet overlap between both species, their space use on a local scale and their breeding phenologies. Methods: We studied the breeding phenologies of the two species by standardized ringing activity. Spatial distribution was investigated by point counts. We determined diet composition from emetic samples and we collected invertebrates by standardized sweep-netting to estimate food availability. Results: Diet and prey selection were similar among species. Conversely, spatial overlap was relatively small (, The present work has been partly financed by Projects CGL2005-02041 and CGL2010-21933/CO2-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Francesco Ceresa is supported by an 'Atraent talent' grant from the University of Valencia.

The establishment of protected areas is traditionally considered indispensable to preserve biodiversity hotspots or areas inhabited by threatened species. The analysis of correlations between composition or richness of several taxonomic groups in a specific area has emerged as a useful mechanism to quickly identify areas of biological and conservation interest, and is currently used to select and design protected areas. The effect of habitat fragmentation on these correlations at a regional scale has been studied, but the effect of land use on the correlations obtained at local scale is poorly understood. We evaluated the relationships among different taxonomic groups frequently used in biological assessments for reserve design (vascular flora, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), taking into account the effects of land use on these correlations. We compared richness and species composition of these groups in 1 km(2) quadrants within a total area of 75 km(2) in a low mountain Mediterranean area. Richness and composition were significantly correlated between several groups, both using the complete data set and also analyzing natural and disturbed areas separately. Species composition and species richness correlations were not congruent at the full landscape approach, nor natural and disturbed quadrants. Factors extrinsic to the communities also varied their influence in the assemblage of the community and species richness or not land uses were taken into account. According to our results, natural and human-disturbed areas should not be combined in cross-taxon congruences analysis at local scale., We would like to thank the Service of Environment of the Local government of Carcaixent for funding and giving all the facilities to develop the field work. We are also very grateful to D. Beneyto, L. Garcia and R. Piculo for their help in the surveys. We sincerely thank Dr. George R. Hess for his comments and contributions to improve the manuscript.

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) are a series of geometric and positional isomers of linoleic acid that have been studied for their effects against diabetes, cancer and atherosclerosis, all conditions with an inflammatory component. Despite the continued interest in CLA, there are many controversies surrounding the health benefits of these fatty acids owing to isomer- and tissue-specific responses. Dietary CLA, found mainly in dairy products and ruminant meat, consists of mainly the 9cis(Z), 11trans(E) isomer, while dietary supplements consist of equal amounts of 9Z,11E- and 10E,12Z-CLA. Other CLA isomers exist, and there is increasing realization that modest alterations in fatty acid structure have profound effects on the biological response observed. In this article, the effects of CLA on inflammation will be discussed with an emphasis on the mechanisms of action and the isomer-specific effects. The primary focus is the macrophage, a classical mediator of inflammatory responses that impact atherogenesis...

Forest type and habitat structure can have profound effects on different aspects of avian life histories. These effects may, however, strongly differ across and within forests that vary in vegetation composition and structure, especially when an ancient forest has been replaced by a new forest. To test for these differences in effect, we studied Great Tit Parus major life-history traits (280 first clutches) in two Mediterranean evergreen forests during 2005–07: an ancient Holm Oak Quercus ilex and a reforested pine forest. A comparison between forests revealed that females breeding in the Holm Oak forest started laying one week later, and produced larger clutches and broods both at hatching and at fledging. Chicks raised in the Holm Oak forest also fledged in better condition. Within forests, however, the reproductive success was not higher for pairs breeding in nestboxes surrounded by oaks within the pine forest, and also reproductive success was not lower in nestboxes surrounded by pines within oak forest. Instead, vegetation maturity around nestboxes, rather than tree species composition, affected hatching success. Surprisingly, hatching success was higher in nestboxes surrounded by immature vegetation. We suggest that this may be due to a lower nest predation rate in nestboxes surrounded by immature vegetation, compared to nestboxes surrounded by mature vegetation. We suggest that different factors appear to affect variation in breeding success in Mediterranean Great Tits comparing across forests (e.g. food availability) vs. within a forest (e.g. nest predation).

This paper analyses late presentation (LP) of HIV infection, and its determinants, among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Spain, newly diagnosed with HIV (2003-2011) in 15 sexually transmitted infection/HIV counselling and testing clinics. LP was defined as 12 months before diagnosis (12-24 months (aOR:1.4; 95% CI:1.0-2.0); > 24 months (aOR:2.2; 95% CI:1.7-3.0)). LP was less likely in MSM reporting a known HIV-infected partner as infection source or symptoms compatible with acute retroviral syndrome. 'Region of birth' interacted with 'educational level' and 'steady partner as infection source': only African and Latin-American MSM with low educational level were more likely to present late; Latin-American men attributing their infection to steady partner, but no other MSM, had LP more frequently. In Spain, HIV testing among MSM should be promoted, especially those > 34 years old and migrants with low educational level. The current recommendation that MSM be tested at least once a year is appropriate. This work has been supported with grants No. 36303/02, 36537/05 and 36794/08 from FIPSE (Fundación para la Investigación y la Prevención del Sida en España). The authors wish to thank Kathy Fitch for the English review. Sí

Wetlands are naturally patchy habitats, but patchiness has been accentuated by the extensive wetlands loss due to human activities. In such a fragmented habitat, dispersal ability is especially important to maintain gene flow between populations. Here we studied population structure, genetic diversity and demographic history of Iberian and North African populations of two wetland passerines, the Eurasian reed warbler Acrocephalus scirpaceus and the moustached warbler Acrocephalus melanopogon. These species are closely related and sympatric in our study sites, but the reed warbler is a long-distance migrant and widespread bird while the moustached warbler is resident or migrates over short distances, and breeds across a more discontinuous range. Using microsatellites and mtDNA data, we found higher population differentiation in moustached than in reed warbler, indicating higher dispersal capability of the latter species. Our results also suggest that the sea limits dispersal in the moustached warbler. For both species, we found evidence of gene flow between study sites, indicating the capability of compensating for habitat fragmentation. However, in most cases gene flow was restricted, possibly because of the large distances between study sites (from c. 290 to 960 km) or breeding site fidelity. Haplotype diversity was higher for the reed warbler, possibly because of a more important contribution of dispersal from different populations and the higher population size. Studying demographic history, we obtained signs of postglacial population growth for both species, and evidences of a recent colonization or re-colonization of the Mallorca Island by the moustached warbler, We acknowledge M. Rebassa, M. Marin, J. Gomez, Santi, Luis, Kames and family and many others, who have helped us with the field work. We would also like to thank the authorities of the Marjal de Pego-Oliva Natural Park, the S'Albufera de Mallorca Natural Park, 'Consejeria de medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Rural de Castilla-La Mancha', the 'Servei de Conservacio de la Biodiversitat de la Generalitat Valenciana' and the 'Haut Commissariat aux Eaux et Forets et a la lutte contre la desertification de Rabat, Morocco' for providing the facilities to work in protected areas and for the relevant permits. The people in these areas were always kind and have greatly helped us in sampling reed and moustached warblers. We are grateful to M. Serra and the researchers and PhD students of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology (Inst. Cavanilles of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology - Univ. of Valencia), for providing the laboratory and useful advices for DNA extraction. This study has been funded by Projects CGL2005-02041/BOS and CGL2010-21933-C02-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. FC was supported by an 'Atraent talent' grant from the Univ. of Valencia.

BACKGROUND: Asthma guidelines recommend reducing the dose of inhaled corticosteroids after establishing control.OBJECTIVE: To identify predictors of loss of control and the kinetics of symptoms, and inflammatory and physiological measurements when inhaled corticosteroids are reduced in patients with stable asthma.PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a single-blind study, the daily dose of inhaled corticosteroid was reduced by one-half at intervals of 20±2 days in 17 adults with controlled asthma until loss of asthma control occurred or until the corticosteroid was replaced with placebo for 20 days. The patients recorded symptoms and peak expiratory flow each day, and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), the provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in FEV1(PC20), exhaled nitric oxide, and eosinophils in sputum and blood were measured every 10 days. A loss of asthma control was defined as a worsening of the symptoms score of at least 20%, and either a decrease in FEV1of at least 15% or a decrease in PC20of at least fourfold.RESULTS: Two patients had a respiratory infection and were withdrawn from the study. In eight patients, asthma became uncontrolled after a mean of 33 days (range 13 to 48 days). This was accurately reflected by a worsening of all parameters. The first parameter to change was the sputum eosinophil percentage (20 days before the loss of asthma control). Significant changes in exhaled nitric oxide, FEV1and methacholine PC20were observed only when the symptoms became uncontrolled. A high blood eosinophil count at baseline (risk ratio of 2.5, 95% CI 1.0 to 6.5) and an increase in sputum eosinophil count after the reduction of corticosteroids were predictors of loss of asthma control.CONCLUSION: In patients whose asthma is controlled on inhaled corticosteroid, it is prudent not to reduce the dose further if the blood eosinophils are increased or if the sputum eosinophils increase by as little as 1% after the reduction of corticosteroids.

Publicación online disponible en: http://www.icm.csic.es/scimar/index.php [EN] A country-by-country review of seabird mortality from longline fishing in the Mediterranean Sea and in Macaronesian waters shows a paucity of data. Of 12 Mediterranean countries known to undertake longlining, seabird mortality is only reported for six: France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Tunisia. Seabird mortality from longlining has been reported from the Azores (Portugal) but not from the other Macaronesian Islands. Only for one country, Spain, is information on the levels of mortality available, suggesting that 4-6% of the local breeding population of Cory´s shearwater Calonectris diomedea may be killed annually, a level considered unsustainable for the long-term persistence of colonies. Cory´s shearwater is the most commonly affected species, although a number of Larus gull species are also being caught. There is insufficient knowledge to conclude whether any seabird species is at conservation risk within the region, but concern is expressed for Cory´s shearwater. It is recommended that Mediterranean and Macaronesian countries conduct assessments of their longline fisheries and seabird mortality in terms of the Food and Agriculture Organization´s International Plan of Action - Seabirds. Regional fishery organisations, such as ICCAT and GFCM, should commence the collection of seabird mortality data. A "longline action plan" for the affected seabird species should be produced. [ES] Este trabajo presenta una revisión de la escasa información disponible sobre mortalidad de aves marinas en las flotas palangreras del mar Mediterráneo y Macaronesia. De los 12 países mediterráneos que disponen de flota palangrera tan sólo 6 han aportado información sobre mortalidad de aves marinas: Francia, Grecia, Italia, Malta, España y Túnez. También se sabe que existe mortalidad de aves marinas en las islas Azores (Portugal) pero no en el resto de las islas de la Macaronesia. Tan sólo España dispone de información sobre niveles de mortalidad. Es posible que entre el 4-6% de la población reproductora local de pardela cenicienta Calonectris diomedea muera en el palangre anualmente, un nivel que se considera insostenible para la persistencia a largo plazo de las colonias. La pardela cenicienta es la especie más afectada, aunque también se capturan gaviotas del género Larus. Aunque no se sabe lo suficiente como para concluir si alguna especie de ave marina está amenazada localmente por el palangre, se sugiere que la pardela cenicienta sí puede estarlo. Se recomienda que los países mediterráneos y macaronésicos lleven a cabo valoraciones de sus pesquerías de palangre y de la mortalidad de aves marinas en los términos de los planes internacionales de acción de la FAO. Las organizaciones pesqueras regionales, tales como la ICCAT y la GFCM, deberían comenzar a compilar información sobre mortalidad de aves marinas. Se debería redactar un plan de accción para las especies de aves marinas afectadas. The financial and logistic support of the African Seabird Group, the Conselleria de Medio Ambiente de la Generalitat Valenciana, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Secretaria de Pesca del Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Spain, the University of Cape Town, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) is gratefully acknowledged.

Pre-breeeding survival is one of the major sources of individual variation in lifetime reproductive success. However, very little is known about the reasons for differences in survival among individuals during this important phase of the life cycle. Some studies, using local return rates as indices of survival, have shown a relationship between post-fledging survival and fledging date and mass in birds, most of them suggesting directional selection towards heavy masses and early fledging dates. Recent development of capture-recapture models allows the separate estimate of survival and recapture probabilities, as well as the inclusion of individual covariates into the modelling process. We used here these models to explore the relative effects of fledging date and fledging mass on local recruitment of individual great tit Parus major fledglings. Individual capture-recapture histories of 2051 fledglings (cohorts 1992-1999), 184 of which were recaptured as breeding birds during 1993-2000, were used in the analyses. Hatching date, offspring mass at day 15, their squared terms, and interactions between mass and date, were included as covariates into the modelling process. Models with age (fledglings and adults) and time (year) dependence were used. The probability of local recruitment increased with fledging mass in each of the years studied. Fledging date also affected recruitment but, against what is commonly thought, fledgling early is not the best option every year. Either early, intermediate or late fledglings were favoured in different years. This between-year variation in the optimum fledging date offers an alternative explanation to the lack of evolution towards earlier breeding dates, in spite of the advantages of early breeding some years.

Summary 1. We studied age-specific survival rates in the willow tit Parus montanus in northern Finland using 15 years of capture‐recapture data obtained from birds during the breeding seasons 1986‐2000. In addition, short- and long-term costs of reproduction were investigated by comparing survival probabilities of breeding and non-breeding individuals. 2. We did not find evidence supporting age-specific survival probabilities in males. However, in females there was a significant decline in survival after the age of 5 years. 3. Reproduction did not impair individuals’ chances of being alive in the subsequent year (short-term cost) because breeding males and females had similar survival rates as non-breeders. 4. Demographic costs of breeding appeared later in life. Females skipping breeding earlier in life showed a higher probability of survival after the age of 5 years than females that bred every year until that age. This effect was non-significant in males. 5. The observed decline in survival probability late in life is likely to result from an increased cost of reproduction due to higher allocation of resources to breeding earlier in life, i.e. increased effort early in life is traded with survival late in life. The results also suggest that income breeders, such as small passerines, may pay long-term costs of reproduction. This is in agreement with the disposable soma theory of ageing.

During 2000 to 2009, data on people undergoing HIV testing and on those newly diagnosed with HIV were collected in a network of 20 Spanish clinics specialising in sexually transmitted infections and/or HIV testing and counselling. The number of tests performed, overall and disaggregated by different variables, was obtained. HIV prevalence among first-time testers and HIV incidence among repeat testers were calculated. To evaluate trends, joinpoint regression models were fitted. In total, 236,939 HIV tests were performed for 165,745 individuals. Overall HIV prevalence among persons seeking HIV testing was 2.5% (95% CI: 2.4 to 2.6). Prevalence was highest in male sex workers who had sex with other men (19.0% (95% CI: 16.7 to 21.4)) and was lowest in female sex workers (0.8% (95% CI: 0.7 to 0.9)). Significant trends in prevalence were observed in men who have sex with men (MSM) (increasing) and heterosexual individuals (decreasing). The incidence analysis included 30,679 persons, 64,104 person-years (py) of follow-up and 642 seroconversions. The overall incidence rate (IR) was 1.0/100 py (95% CI: 0.9/100 to 1.1/100). Incidence was significantly higher in men and transgender females than in women (1.8/100 py (95% CI: 1.6 to 1.9), 1.2/100 py (95% CI: 0.5 to 2.8) and 0.1/100 py (95% CI: 0.09 to 0.2) respectively) and increased with age until 35–39 years. IRs in MSM and people who inject drugs were significantly greater than in heterosexual individuals (2.5/100 py (95% CI: 2.3 to 2.7), 1.6/100 py (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.2) and 0.1/100 py (95% CI: 0.09 to 0.2) respectively), and an upward trend was observed in MSM. Our results call for HIV prevention to be reinforced in MSM and transgender women in Spain. This work has been supported with grants No. 36303/02, 36537/05 and 36794/08 from FIPSE (Fundación para la Investigación y la Prevención del Sida en España). The au-thors wish to thank Kathy Fitch for the English review. Sí

Objective: To examine the short- and long-term effects of an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program for COPD patients on dyspnea, exercise, health-related quality of life, and hospitalization rate. Setting: Secondary-care respiratory clinic in Barcelona. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial with blinding of outcome assessment and follow-up at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months. Sixty patients with moderate to severe COPD (age 65 6 7 years; FEV1 35 6 14%) were recruited. Thirty patients randomized to rehabilitation received 3 months of outpatient breathing retraining and chest physiotherapy, 3 months of daily supervised exercise, and 6 months of weekly supervised breathing exercises. Thirty patients randomized to the control group received standard care. Results: We found significant differences between groups in perception of dyspnea (p < 0.0001), in 6-min walking test distance (p < 0.0001), and in day-to-day dyspnea, fatigue, and emotional function measured by the Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire (p < 0.01). The improvements were evident at the third month and continued with somewhat diminished magnitude in the second year of follow-up. The PR group experienced a significant (p < 0.0001) reduction in exacerbations, but not the number of hospitalizations. The number of patients needed to treat to achieve significant benefit in health-related quality of life for a 2-year period was approximately three. Conclusion: Outpatient rehabilitation programs can achieve worthwhile benefits that persist for a period of 2 years. (CHEST 2000; 117:976 ‐983)

Induced sputum cell counts provide a relatively noninvasive method to evaluate the presence, type, and degree of inflammation in the airways of the lungs. Their interpretation requires a knowledge of normal values from a healthy population. The objective was to examine the total and differential cell counts in induced sputum from a sample of healthy adults. A total of 118 healthy nonsmoking adults were studied. None had asthma or airflow obstruction (negative history, FEV(1) >/= 80% predicted, ratio of FEV(1) to vital capacity [FEV(1)/VC] >/= 80%, methacholine PC(20) >/= 16 mg/ml). Forty-six were atopic. Sputum induction produced an adequate sample in 96 subjects [53 males, mean age (range) 36 (18 to 60) yr]. The expectorate was processed within 2 h; sputum was selected, treated with dithiothreitol, filtered, and examined in a hemocytometer for total cell count and viability and on Wright-stained cytospins for a differential cell count. The mean, median (90th percentile) total cell count was 4.1, 2.4 (9.7) x 10(6) cells/g and cell viability was 69.6, 72.0 (89.7)%. The proportions of eosinophils were 0.4, 0.0 (1.1)%, neutrophils 37.5, 36.7 (64.0)%, macrophages 58.8, 60.8 (86.1)%, lymphocytes 1.0, 0.5 (2.6)%, metachromatic cells 0.0, 0.0 (0.04)%, and bronchial epithelial cells 1.6, 0.3 (4.4)%, respectively. Female gender and atopy were associated with a significant elevation of eosinophils; mean difference between male/female was 0.3% (p = 0.043) and between atopic/nonatopic 0.4% (p = 0.024). This study has identified reference values for total and differential cell counts in induced sputum of healthy adults.

Asthma is usually diagnosed clinically. This study investigated how methacholine challenge and peak expiratory flow monitoring influenced change from a pretest clinical diagnosis. Records of 132 patients referred with respiratory symptoms, who subsequently had reliable measurements of both airway responsiveness (provocative concentration of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1 (PC20)) and peak expiratory flow variability (PEFV) were reviewed. Initial and final diagnoses for each patient were classified as: a) definite asthma; b) possible asthma; and c) definitely not asthma. The predictive value of PEFV and PC20 regarding overall change from pre- to post-test diagnosis, change from initial diagnosis of possible or definitely not asthma, and change from initial diagnosis of definite asthma, were tested by multiple logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios for PC20 were expressed per doubling dose, and for PEFV per 5% variability. Clinical diagnosis of definite asthma and definitely not asthma were confirmed in 70% and 79% respectively. PC20, but not PEFV, predicted an overall change between pre- and post-test diagnosis. Both PC20 and PEFV independently predicted change to definite asthma. PEFV and interaction between PC20 and PEFV predicted a change in those whose initial diagnosis was definite asthma. Although both measurements showed a significant correlation, there was poor agreement between positive tests. Both peak expiratory flow variability and provocative dose of methacholine causing a 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in one second influence diagnostic decision-making in patients with a high pre-test probability of asthma.

[EN] Factors determining departure decisions of migrants from a stopover site can be extrinsic and/or intrinsic but the relative role of each of these factors on departure decisions is still poorly known. Date and wind should be the main factors determining departure decisions in a long-distance migrant, which is expected to minimise duration of migration. Date was considered as an intrinsic factor and wind as an extrinsic one. We analysed the capture-recapture data of a long-distance migrant European songbird, the sedge warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus,from a stopover site in northern Iberia during the autumn migration period to quantify the relative importance of several factors on emigration likelihood. Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) models were used to estimate the emigration likelihood. from 107 models tested, only the model with an additive effect of date, tailwind assistance and population size substantially supported the data. As expected, sedge warblers were more likely to depart with high tailwind values and late in the season and, contrary to expectations, with decreasing sedge warbler abundance, [ES] Los factores que determinan la decisión de abandonar un área de descanso durante el periodo de migración pueden ser extrínsecos y/o intrínsecos. En las aves que tienden a reducir el tiempo de la migración, tanto la fecha como la meteorología deberían ser los factores principales que determinan las decisiones de partir. Se analizaron datos de captura-recaptura de un migrador transahariano, el carricerín común Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, de un área de descanso en el norte de la península Ibérica durante el periodo de paso posnupcial para cuantificar la importancia relativa de diversos factores en la probabilidad de emigración. La probabilidad de partir se estimó con modelos Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS). De 107 modelos, solo uno tenía respaldo suficiente, de acuerdo al criterio AIC. Dicho modelo incluía el efecto aditivo de la fecha, viento y densidad de aves. Como se esperaba, los carricerines comunes tenían más probabilidad de partir con vientos de cola elevados y en fechas más tardías, siendo esta probabilidad más elevada para densidades bajas., We are grateful to the people who collaborated during the field work; especially D. Alonso, X. Esparza, J. Goikoetxea, J. Jauregui, M. Laso, A. Mendiburu, R. Piculo and A. Vilches. The Plaiaundi Ecological Park team (N. Aizpurua, M. Etxaniz, A. Luengo) provided us with facilities to work at Jaizubia. This research was funded by the Basque Government, Gipuzkoa Administration, Orona and Kutxa, as well as by the Spanish Ministry of Education (pre-doctoral fellowship to MA) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (project CGL2010-21933-C02-02). Two anonymous referees provided very valuable comments that helped us to improve an earlier version of this work.

Leukotrienes (LT), isoprostanes, and nitrites/nitrates are biomarkers of airway inflammation and oxidative stress that can be detected in exhaled breath condensate (EBC). The aim of this study was to evaluate LTB4, LTE4, 8-isoprostane, and nitrite/nitrate levels in the EBC of healthy and wheezing preschool children.We included 21 healthy nonatopic children and 25 patients with recurrent wheezing episodes in a cross-sectional study. LTB4, LTE4, and 8-isoprostane concentrations were measured directly in EBC using a specific enzyme immunoassay; nitrite/nitrate concentrations were measured using a colorimetric assay.LTB4 concentrations were higher in children with wheezing episodes than in healthy controls (76 pg/mL vs 20 pg/mL, P.001). LTE4 was increased in children with wheezing episodes than in healthy controls (68 pg/mL vs 35 pg/mL, P.001). Nitrite concentrations were higher in children with wheezing episodes than in healthy controls (14 pg/mL vs 9.7 pg/mL, P.03). We found no differences in 8-isoprostane and nitrate concentrations between the patients and the healthy controls.Our findings suggest that EBC is a suitable noninvasive method for the assessment of airway inflammation and oxidative stress in preschool children. Levels of LTB4, LTE4, and nitrites were higher in children with recurrent wheezing episodes than in healthy controls.

[EN] Divergent selection and local adaptation are responsible for many phenotypic differences between populations, potentially leading to speciation through the evolution of reproductive barriers. Here we evaluated the morphometric divergence among west European populations of Reed Bunting in order to determine the extent of local adaptation relative to two important selection pressures often associated with speciation in birds: migration and diet. We show that, as expected by theory, migratory E. s. schoeniclus had longer and more pointed wings and a slightly smaller body mass than the resident subspecies, with the exception of E. s. lusitanica, which despite having rounder wings was the smallest of all subspecies. Tail length, however, did not vary according to the expectation (shorter tails in migrants) probably because it is strongly correlated with wing length and might take longer to evolve. E. s. witherbyi, which feed on insects hiding inside reed stems during the winter, had a very thick, stubby bill. In contrast, northern populations, which feed on seeds, had thinner bills. Despite being much smaller, the southern E. s. lusitanica had a significantly thicker, longer bill than migratory E. s. schoeniclus, whereas birds from the UK population had significantly shorter, thinner bills. Geometric morphometric analyses revealed that the southern subspecies have a more convex culmen than E. s. schoeniclus, and E. s. lusitanica differs from the nominate subspecies in bill shape to a greater extent than in linear bill measurements, especially in males. Birds with a more convex culmen are thought to exert a greater strength at the bill tip, which is in agreement with their feeding technique. Overall, the three subspecies occurring in Western Europe differ in a variety of traits following the patterns predicted from their migratory and foraging behaviours, strongly suggesting that these birds have became locally adapted through natural selection., Some fieldwork in Portugal was supported financially by ICETA, University of Porto. LG and JMN were supported financially by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology through grants SFRH/BD/64645/2009 and SFRH/BPD/40667/2007, respectively. JSM and EJB were funded by the projects CGL2005-02041/BOS and CGL2010-21933-C02-02 granted by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Spain). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.