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Brittle stars constitute a common and highly diverse component of epibenthic communities, and they can form dense aggregations on the seabed of all oceans worldwide. Nevertheless, there is limited information on the diversity and distribution of these echinoderms in Northwest Africa. Between 2004 and 2012, 10 multidisciplinary Spanish and Norwegian surveys were conducted off Northwest Africa—between the Strait of Gibraltar and Sierra Leone border—from a depth of 19 to 1888 m. During these surveys, we sampled 1298 stations, and about one million individuals and 124 kg of brittle stars were collected from 502 stations. Forty-two species belonging to eight ophiuroid families considered as suspension feeders were collected from 296 stations and represented 93.4% of the total abundance and 75% of the total ophiuroid-specific richness. Ophiacanthidae was the richest and most abundant family, with 15 species and estimated densities up to almost 4 × 10⁵ by 0.1 square kilometre. The other families found abundantly were Amphiuridae, Ophiotrichidae and Ophiactidae, represented by six, five and four species each, respectively. Ophiotrichidae, Ophiacanthidae and Gorgonocephalidae presented the largest biomass among the suspension-feeder families (35.5%, 33.8% and 28.2%, respectively), and Ophiotrichidae is a well-represented family along the Northwest African coast. The most remarkable concentrations and highest diversity values were detected on the upper slope (depth, 400–600 m) off Western Sahara. Between 24°N and 22°N, we collected huge concentrations of Ophiacantha abyssicola and up to six species per station. This area has permanent and intense upwelling conditions and is out of the minimum oxygen zone. We also noted significant densities and richness at Cape Ghir and Cape Blanc, where important filaments of nutrient-rich waters occur, and at Guinea-Bissau, which is affected by nutrient river inputs. The multivariate analysis clearly separated the brittle stars into two main assemblages, across latitudinal and bathymetrical gradients: northern latitude (Morocco and Northern Sahara) from the area south of 24°N and from the continental shelf–upper slope to the deep slope., Sí

Ophiuroidea constitutes the largest class of the phylum Echinodermata. It includes families with suspension-feeder behaviour that can be found in dense aggregations in all oceans worldwide. Ophiothrix maculata was known as a rare suspension-feeder brittle star, with only four records in the Eastern Central Atlantic dating from almost 100 years ago. During the ten multidisciplinary Spanish and Norwegian surveys carried out from 2004 to 2012 off Northwest Africa, between the Gibraltar Strait and the Sierra Leone border from 19 to 1888 m depth, we sampled 1298 stations. We gathered about one million individuals and 124 kg of brittle stars at 501 of the stations. Eight hundred and thirty-two specimens of Ophiothrix maculata were collected at six localities on the continental slope off Mauritania, Western Sahara and Guinea Bissau, at depths between 155 and 594 m. The Guinea Bissau samples represent the southernmost current record for the species. Even though Ophiothrix maculata has been previously recorded only in isolation, we discovered dense concentrations on the Mauritanian slope on the Wolof's Seamount (580 individuals) and off the Western Sahara, in a Lophelia pertusa reef (202 individuals). In this paper, we describe these findings and discuss the association of this species to hard-bottom habitats and high primary production areas, outside of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). We also analyse what other factors may explain the patchy distribution of O. maculata on the Northwest African slope, Sí

Echinoderms are the most important taxa of megabenthic invertebrates on the Mauritanian deep-sea floor, both in density and biomass . The phylum is represented by approximately 82 species, Ophiuroidea and Asteroidea being the most diverse classes (25 and 23 species, respectively), followed by Holothuroidea and Echinoidea (19 and 12 species, respectively). Crinoidea is poorly represented by only three species. Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers) are, undoubtedly, the main component of deep Mauritanian echinoderms, accounting for 85.5% of numerical abundance and 96.0% of biomass. Species belonging to Echinothurioida are dominant among the sea urchins . The most common echinoderm species are Phormosoma placenta , Enypniastes eximia , Psilaster cassiope , Benthothuria funebris, Ophiernus alepidotus , Pseudarchaster gracilis gracilis and Ophiura flagellata . The Mauritanian echinoderm fauna are mostly composed of species with Atlantic distribution (80.5%) and a smaller group of wide distribution species (19.5%). Only three species, two sea stars and one ophiuroid, could be considered as endemic to Macaronesian African waters : Hymenaster roseus , Dyptaster mollis and Ophiothrix maculata . The bathymetric distribution of species and multivariate analysis clearly identify two main assemblages : the first groups the stations located on the deep shelf and upper slope (

Ramos, Ana ... et al.-- 45 pages, 16 figures, 3 annexes, Human activities in continental margins have progressively increased during the last decades, threatening vulnerablemarine ecosystems in many continental slopes, such as cold-water coral reefs, seamounts and canyons. In order to protect these ecosystems and ensure the sustainable management of resources, countries and organizations should endorse effective policy actions. However, nowadays about only 0.8% of the oceans and 6% of the territorial seas belong to conservation area systems, a lack of protection that is particularly acute in deep-sea waters. The Mauritanian continental margin is the outcome of exceptional marine features, with abrupt canyon systems, sediment slides and a giant carbonate-mounds barrier occurring together. Mauritanian waters have both tropical and subtropical origins, being affected by coastal and offshore upwelling that leads to elevated productivity and abundant fishery resources. Soft-bottom habitats hold high diversity of species, and hard-bottoms sustain assemblages of suspension-feeders and vulnerable species. Nevertheless, despite the recent increase of extractive activities, the location and characterization of those Mauritanian deep-water areas of biological or ecological interest that require protection remain poorly known. The Maurit surveys have offered the opportunity to perform a first approach to the biodiversity and ecosystems in soft and hard bottoms of the Mauritanian outer shelf and slope. This last chapter provides an integrated overview of the demersal and benthic communities inhabiting Mauritanian deep waters and describes areas of particular ecological and/or biological interest that are vulnerable habitats and should be preserved according to international conventions, This work was undertaken within the framework of the EcoAfrik project and it has been partially funded by the MAVA Foundation pour la Nature (MAVA contract 12/87 AO C4/2012)

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodege- nerative disorder that causes cognitive impairment and de- mentia in � 30% of patients. Objective: Compare metric qual- ities of Mini-Mental Parkinson (MMP) and scales for out- comes in Parkinson's disease-cognition (SCOPA-COG) with respect to their relative reliability, validity and ability to pre- dict symptoms (mobility, quality of life, social repercussions, and mood) in PD patients. Outpatients (n5123, 78 males/45 females) diagnosed with PD were included in the study. A multilevel (hierarchical) modeling analysis was performed along with tests of reliability and validity to ascertain which of the two models better predicts symptoms related to PD. Results: The MMP differed significantly between patients with Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages 1, 2 or versus 4/5 (grouped together). The SCOPA-COG showed differences only between patients in H&Y stages 2 versus 4/5. Both scales were dependent on educational background and age. The SCOPA-COG had a higher coefficient of variation (0.303) than the MMP (0.184), indicating that it was the more discriminative of the two. Conclusions: The SCOPA- COG has some advantages over the MMP, the most impor- tant being a greater discriminative ability. Multilevel hier- archical analysis clarified the necessity of stratifying the PD population according to educational background, years of ill- ness, and H&Y stage when using these scales. � 2010 Movement Disorder Society

The RSGE-PD-V2.0 is a specific measure for evaluation of gait impairment in PD.To check the RSGE-PD-V2.0 metrics attributes.In addition to demographic and historical data of PD, applied assessments were: Hoehn and Yahr staging (HY); impact in daily activities with Schwab and England scale (SE); SCOPA Motor; mental status with Short portable mental status questionnaire (SPMSQ); quality of life with Parkinson's impact scale (PIMS), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-6 items (HDRS-6); and, the Clinical Impression of Severity Index-PD (CISI-PD).151 PD patients were included (n = 102 (67.5%) were male). Most patients were in HY stage 3 (n = 78 (51.6%)). Mean of age and duration of disease was 68.4 and 7.6 years respectively. Mean values of L-Dopa doses was 652.6 mg/day. Mean values of SCOPA Motor were 29.1; SPMSQ: 1.8; HADS-6: 9.2; PIMS: 18.7;RSGE-PD-V2.0: 25.4; and, CISI-PD were 10.8. Full computable scores were 100%; Guttman's lambda, 0.954; and the item-total correlation, 0.408-0.830. Correlation coefficients (Spearman's rho) between RSGE-PD-V2.0 and HY, SE, SCOPA Motor, PIMS and CISI-PD, were: 0.62; -0.75; 0.74; 0.46; and, 0.78 respectively. RSGE-PD-V2.0 scale significantly discriminated among PD severity levels (based on HY staging) Kruskal-Wallis (p0.000).Metric attributes of the RSGE-PD-V2.0 in this sample of study resulted in has sufficient and suitable satisfactory. We, therefore, believe that RSGE-PD-V2.0 is easy and a useful and recommendable specific tool for measuring gait disease in PD patients.

Resumen tomado de la publicación Se recogen las normas básicas para la realización de bibliografías o de citas bibliográficas, con especial referencia a los documentos electrónicos. Se introduce el tema aclarando algunos conceptos básicos en lo que a normalización se refiere. ESP