Forest restoration occupies centre stage in global conversations about carbon removal and biodiversity conservation, but recent research rarely acknowledges social dimensions or environmental justice ...implications related to its implementation. We find that 294.5 million people live on tropical forest restoration opportunity land in the Global South, including 12% of the total population in low-income countries. Forest landscape restoration that prioritizes local communities by affording them rights to manage and restore forests provides a promising option to align global agendas for climate mitigation, conservation, environmental justice and sustainable development.
Heavy eye syndrome or convergent strabismus fixus is an acquired strabismus typically seen in eyes with high myopia. We present a case, discuss the aetiology and management, and include a short video ...illustrating the surgical procedure undertaken. A 47-year-old highly myopic woman with h/o bilateral cataract surgery and B/L scleral buckling for retinal detachments, had left esotropia and hypotropia measuring more than 40 prism dioptres base-out and 12 prism dioptres base up. MRI orbits showed bilateral asymmetrical medial deviation of ocular bulbs, more on left side. Also, there was degeneration of lateral rectus-superior rectus band with displacement of lateral rectus downwards. She underwent Botox to bi-medial recti after which she could demonstrate potential for binocular single vision. A left un-augmented loop Myopexy procedure and recession of the left medial rectus was thereafter performed under general anaesthesia. After surgery, her eyes were binocularly aligned for near with minimal esotropia for distance. This case suggests that patients with significant esotropia combined with high myopia should be suspected to have heavy eye syndrome. Orbital imaging should be undertaken to demonstrate the anatomical abnormality and muscle paths to confirm a definite diagnosis. Modified Loop Myopexy was found to be effective in this case of heavy eye syndrome
Ecological restoration through mine spoil genesis should be dogmatic and the strategies involved a holistic approach, which emphasizes the role of microbial community composition that varies in ...accordance with the physiological and nutritional status of mine spoil profiles. This is because the patterns observed aboveground is being driven by the belowground diversity and processes. Thus, the relationship between microbial community structure and mine spoil genesis in chronosequence coal mine spoil has attracted considerable research attention. The occurrence of higher microbial diversity and difficulties in culturing microbes necessitate the use of a culture-independent approach through community-level physiological profiling based on the patterns of carbon source utilization using BIOLOG Ecoplate and thereby the functional diversity of microbial communities in different age series coal mine spoil was determined. The average well-color development exhibited an increasing trend with a minimum in OB0 (0.0640) and a maximum in OB15 (0.5060) over time. The patterns of substrate utilization (carbohydrates, carboxylic and ketonic acids, amino acids, polymers, amines, and amides) reflect the shift in microbial community composition in different age series coal mine spoil over time. Gradual increase in species richness and Shannon diversity index with the increase in age of mine spoil substantiated relatively higher microbial diversity reflecting the sign of mine spoil genesis. Principal component analysis and redundancy analysis based on the differential patterns of substrate utilization discriminate different age series coal mine spoil into independent clusters, which evaluated the broad-scale patterns of microbial community dynamics influencing the pace and progress of mine spoil genesis.
More than five decades ago, Ehrlich and Raven proposed a revolutionary idea–that the evolution of novel plant defense could spur adaptive radiation in plants. Despite motivating much work on ...plant–herbivore coevolution and defense theory, Ehrlich and Raven never proposed a mechanism for their “escape and radiate” model. Recent intriguing mechanisms proposed by Marquis et al. include sympatric divergence, pleiotropic effects of plant defense traits on reproductive isolation, and strong postzygotic isolation, but these may not be general features of herbivore-mediated speciation. An alternate view is that herbivores impose strong divergent selection on defenses in allopatric plant populations, with plant–herbivore coevolution driving local adaptation resulting in plant speciation. Building on these ideas, we propose three scenarios that consider the role of herbivores in plant speciation. These include (1) vicariance, subsequent coevolution within populations and adaptive divergence between geographically isolated populations, (2) colonization of a new habitat lacking effective herbivores followed by loss of defense and then re-evolution and coevolution of defense in response to novel herbivores, and (3) evolution of a new defense followed by range expansion, vicariance, and coevolution. We discuss the general role of coevolution in plant speciation and consider outstanding issues related to understanding: (1) the mechanisms behind cospeciation of plants and insects, (2) geographic variation in defense phenotypes, (3) how defensive traits and geography map onto plant phylogenies, and (4) the role of herbivores in driving character displacement in defense phenotypes of related species in sympatry.
Abstract
In this work, we have studied some bouncing cosmologies in the frame work of
f
(
R
,
T
) gravity. The bouncing scenario has been formulated to avoid the big bang singularity. The physical ...and geometrical parameters are investigated. The effect of the extended gravity theory on the dynamical parameters of the model has been investigated. It is found that, the
f
(
R
,
T
) gravity parameter affects the cosmic dynamics substantially. We have also, tested the model through the calculation of the cosmographic coefficients and the
Om
(
z
) parameter. A scalar field reconstruction of the bouncing scenario is also carried out. The stability of the model are tested under linear, homogeneous and isotropic perturbations.
A central tenet of plant defense theory is that adaptation to the abiotic environment sets the template for defense strategies, imposing a trade-off between plant growth and defense. Yet this ...trade-off, commonly found among species occupying divergent resource environments, may not occur across populations of single species. We hypothesized that more favorable climates and higher levels of herbivory would lead to increases in growth and defense across plant populations. We evaluated whether plant growth and defense traits covaried across 18 populations of showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) inhabiting an east-west climate gradient spanning 25° of longitude. A suite of traits impacting defense (e.g., latex, cardenolides), growth (e.g., size), or both (e.g., specific leaf area SLA, trichomes) were measured in natural populations and in a common garden, allowing us to evaluate plastic and genetically based variation in these traits. In natural populations, herbivore pressure increased toward warmer sites with longer growing seasons. Growth and defense traits showed strong clinal patterns and were positively correlated. In a common garden, clines with climatic origin were recapitulated only for defense traits. Correlations between growth and defense traits were also weaker and more negative in the common garden than in the natural populations. Thus, our data suggest that climatically favorable sites likely facilitate the evolution of greater defense at minimal costs to growth, likely because of increased resource acquisition.
SF3B is a multi-protein complex essential for branch site (BS) recognition and selection during pre-mRNA splicing. Several splicing modulators with antitumor activity bind SF3B and thereby modulate ...splicing. Here we report the crystal structure of a human SF3B core in complex with pladienolide B (PB), a macrocyclic splicing modulator and potent inhibitor of tumor cell proliferation. PB stalls SF3B in an open conformation by acting like a wedge within a hinge, modulating SF3B’s transition to the closed conformation needed to form the BS adenosine-binding pocket and stably accommodate the BS/U2 duplex. This work explains the structural basis for the splicing modulation activity of PB and related compounds, and reveals key interactions between SF3B and a common pharmacophore, providing a framework for future structure-based drug design.
Display omitted
•Splicing modulators bind a hinge of SF3B1 and regulate its conformational transition•Modulator binding regulates formation of the branch site adenosine-binding pocket•The common pharmacophore of modulators is crucial for their molecular recognition•Structure of pladienolide B in complex with SF3B provides a framework for drug design
Cretu et al. report the crystal structure of the multi-protein complex SF3B in complex with pladienolide B, a potent antitumor splicing modulator. The structure explains in molecular terms how the small-molecule compound and, by extension, the related splicing modulators interfere with the proper recognition of the branch site region of the intron.
We carry out a compact phase space analysis of a non-canonical scalar field theory whose Lagrangian is of the form
F
(
X
)
-
V
(
ϕ
)
within general relativity. In particular, we focus on a kinetic ...term of the form
F
(
X
)
=
β
X
m
(
m
≠
1
/
2
) with power-law potential
V
0
ϕ
n
and exponential potential
V
0
e
-
λ
ϕ
/
M
Pl
of the scalar field. The Cuscuton case
m
=
1
/
2
where the scalar field is non-dynamical is left out of consideration. The main aim of this work is to investigate the genericity of nonsingular bounce in these models and to investigate the cosmic future of the bouncing cosmologies when they are generic. A global dynamical system formulation that is particularly suitable for investigating nonsingular bouncing cosmologies is used to carry out the analysis. We show that when
F
(
X
)
=
β
X
m
(
β
<
0
), nonsingular bounce is generic for a power law potential
V
(
ϕ
)
=
V
0
ϕ
n
only within the parameter range
1
2
<
m
<
1
,
n
<
2
m
m
-
1
and for an exponential potential
V
(
ϕ
)
=
V
0
e
-
λ
ϕ
/
M
Pl
only within the parameter range
1
2
<
m
≤
1
. Except in these cases, nonsingular bounce in these models is not generic due to the non-existence of global past or future attractors. Our analysis serves to show the importance of a global phase space analysis to address important questions about nonsingular bouncing solutions, an idea that may and must be adopted for such solutions even in other theories.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Insect herbivores are hypothesized to be major factors affecting the ecology and evolution of plants. We tested this prediction by suppressing insects in replicated field populations of a native ...plant, Oenothera biennis, which reduced seed predation, altered interspecific competitive dynamics, and resulted in rapid evolutionary divergence. Comparative genotyping and phenotyping of nearly 12,000 O. biennis individuals revealed that in plots protected from insects, resistance to herbivores declined through time owing to changes in flowering time and lower defensive ellagitannins in fruits, whereas plant competitive ability increased. This independent real-time evolution of plant resistance and competitive ability in the field resulted from the relaxation of direct selective effects of insects on plant defense and through indirect effects due to reduced herbivory on plant competitors.
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