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Stable isotopes of δ13C and δ15N were used to examine food sources and trophic structure of 65 taxa, representing 19 ecological groups, in a high-latitude ecosystem. Discrimination was made between pelagic and benthic carbon sources, where feeding in most cases reflected the habitat. Trophic levels from these analyses, TLN, were compared with corresponding levels estimated by an Ecopath mass-balance model, TLE, constructed independently of the isotope data. The good correlation between the two methods (r2 = 0.72) supports the diet composition and the grouping of taxa into ecological groups in the model. However, when estimates diverged, this was often explained by the analyses of few taxa, taxa that were not the most representative for the group, or the analyses of specimens from a limited size range. Some assumed detrivores were assigned high TLN in favour of an abundant microbial community in the sediments. High TLN estimates for many invertebrate taxa, combined with relatively low TLN for fishes, suggest that parts of the benthic food web are decoupled from the classical food web.

This study aimed at providing confidence in the predictability of the impacts of drill cuttings (DC) discharge on the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa. L. pertusa was exposed to DC from offshore exploration in the lab with the goal to assess precautionary thresholds of effects. Two exposure scenarios with DC were tested: a long-term (LT) pulsed exposure (12 weeks, peak concentrations: 2-50 mg/L, mean concentrations: 1-25 mg/L) and a short-term (ST) continuous exposure (2.5 weeks, mean concentrations: 4-42 mg/L). After exposure, a recovery period of 16 and 4 weeks was maintained in LT and ST, respectively. While there was an assumption that DC might result in an increase in respiration, decrease in growth, enhanced mucus production, reduced fatty acid content, only a significant rise was noted in skeleton growth at DC 4 mg/L and a significant increase of mucus particulate organic carbon at 25 mg/L at end of the exposure. DC did not markedly reduce prey capture rate consecutive to DC exposure. However, the effect of DC produced an increase of coral polyp activity during exposure and a return to pre-exposure conditions after cessation of DC, and coenosarc was smothered from DC even after a long recovery period (4 weeks). Overall, a DC concentration of 10 mg/L seems to represent a threshold above which changes in coral conditions were observed however with no apparent physiological consequences for the coral within the experimental time scale.

Background The World Health Organization’s Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-Bref) is a frequently used instrument to assess the quality of life in both healthy and ill populations. Inquiries of the psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-Bref report that the validity and reliability is generally satisfactory. However, some studies fail to support a four-factor dimensionality; others report poor reliability of the social and environmental domain; and there may be some challenges of supporting construct validity across age. This paper evaluates the psychometric properties of the Norwegian WHOQOL-Bref and extends previous research by testing for measurement invariance across age, gender and education level. In addition, we provide updated normative data for the Norwegian population. Methods We selected a random sample of the Norwegian population (n = 654) aged 18–75 years. Participants filled out the WHOQOL-Bref, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and various sociodemographic variables. Results We found an acceptable convergent and discriminate validity and internal consistency of the physical, psychological and environmental domains, but a marginal reliability was found for the social domain. The factor loadings were invariant across gender, education and age. Some items had low factor loadings and explained variance, and the model fit for the age group 60–75 years were less satisfactory. Conclusions The original four-factor dimensionality of the WHOQOL-Bref displayed a better fit to the data compared to the one-factor solution and is recommended for use in the Norwegian population. The WHOQOL-Bref is suitable to use across gender, education and age, but for assessment in the oldest age group, the WHOQOL-Old module could be a good supplementary, but further studies are needed.

Electronic games are popular and many children spend much time on this activity. Here we investigate whether the quantity of time children spend on gaming is related to their social development, making this the first study to examine this relationship in children. We examine prospective relations between time spent gaming and social competence in a community sample of Norwegian 6 year olds (n = 873) followed up at ages 8, 10, and 12, controlling for socioeconomic status, body mass index, and time spent gaming together with friends. Results revealed that greater social competence at both 8 and 10 years predicted less gaming 2 years later and that more age-10 gaming predicted less social competence at age 12 but only among girls.

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Despite the importance of the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa to deep-sea reef ecosystem functioning, current knowledge of key physiological responses to available food resources is scarce. Scenarios with varying food density may help to understand how corals deal with seasonal variations in the dark ocean and might be used to study consequences of anthropogenic activities potentially affecting food availability. Thus, the physiological responses of L. pertusa to varying food (Artemia salina nauplii) concentration, ranging from 20% to 300% of carbon equivalent turned over by basal coral respiration, were investigated. A starvation group was also included. Measurements of respiration, growth, mucus production, and energy reserves (storage fatty acids) were performed at several time intervals over 26 weeks. In general, data showed a stronger effect of experimental time on measured responses, but no significant influence of food density treatment. In starved corals, respiration rate declined to 52% of initial respiration, while skeleton growth rate was maintained at the same rate as Artemia-fed corals throughout the investigation. Mucus production measured as the sum of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) was also similar across food treatments, but POC production exceeded that of DOC at the highest food density. No marked effect was observed on storage fatty acids. These results confirm that L. pertusa is highly resilient to environmental conditions with suboptimal food densities over a time scale of months. Regulation of several physiological processes, including respiration and mucus production, possibly in combination with an opportunistic feeding strategy, contributed to this tolerance to maintain viable corals. Thus, it appears that L. pertusa is well adapted to life in the deep sea.

The motor system in its manifold articulations is receiving increasing clinical and research attention. This is because motor impairments constitute a central, expressive component of the mental state examination and a key transdiagnostic feature indexing disease severity. Furthermore, within the schizophrenia spectrum, the integration of neurophysiological, developmental, and phenomenological perspectives suggests that motor impairment is not simply a generic, extrinsic proxy of an altered neurodevelopment, but might be more intimately related to psychotic risk. Therefore, an increased understanding, conceptualization, and knowledge of such motor system and its anomalies could empower contemporary risk prediction and diagnostic procedures.