Many insular plant species inhabiting different archipelagos worldwide present typical ornithophilous floral traits (e.g. copious nectar, red‐orange colours), but most of them are visited by ...insectivorous/granivorous birds and lizards, which act as generalist pollinators. Oceanic islands promote these ecological interactions mainly due to the scarcity of arthropods. Our goal is to understand how these generalist interactions contribute to the shift of floral traits from entomophily (mainland) to ornithophily or saurophily (island), where specialist nectar‐feeding birds have not inhabited.
We used the well‐known pollination interactions occurring in the Canary Islands to evaluate two proposed ecological hypotheses, bee‐avoidance or bird‐attraction, explaining evolutionary transitions of floral traits. Specifically, we studied the flower colour conspicuousness of bird‐pollinated Canarian species visited by birds and lizards with their closest relatives from the mainland mainly visited by bees. We analysed the chromatic contrast of flower colours using visual models of bees, birds and lizards and the achromatic contrast in visual models of bees. We also compared reflectance spectra marker points of flowers with available spectral discrimination sensitivities of bees and birds.
Using a phylogenetically corrected framework of independent plant lineages, our results revealed that bird‐pollinated Canarian species showed lower chromatic contrast according to bees and lizard visual models than their mainland relatives, but similar chromatic contrast for bird vision. In addition, reflectance spectra marker points of the Canarian species were displaced to the longest wavelengths, far from the wavelengths of maximum discrimination of bees, but close to birds.
We conclude that the avoidance of bees would be a primary ecological strategy explaining the evolutionary transitions of flower colours from melittophily to ornithophily. The lower conspicuousness of bird‐pollinated Canarian flowers in lizards is perhaps a side effect of the bee‐avoidance strategy rather than an independent evolutionary strategy. Together, these findings provide insights into how vertebrate generalist pollinators can also lead to divergence of floral traits in insular habitats, but also in other arthropod‐poor habitats.
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In this article, the topic of plant proteomics is reviewed based on related papers published in the journal Proteomics since publication of the first issue in 2001. In total, around 300 original ...papers and 41 reviews published in Proteomics between 2000 and 2014 have been surveyed. Our main objective for this review is to help bridge the gap between plant biologists and proteomics technologists, two often very separate groups. Over the past years a number of reviews on plant proteomics have been published . To avoid repetition we have focused on more recent literature published after 2010, and have chosen to rather make continuous reference to older publications. The use of the latest proteomics techniques and their integration with other approaches in the “systems biology” direction are discussed more in detail. Finally we comment on the recent history, state of the art, and future directions of plant proteomics, using publications in Proteomics to illustrate the progress in the field. The review is organized into two major blocks, the first devoted to provide an overview of experimental systems (plants, plant organs, biological processes) and the second one to the methodology.
The proliferation of state and local regulation designed to control immigrant movement generated considerable media attention and high-profile lawsuits in 2006 and 2007. Proponents and opponents of ...these measures share one basic assumption, with deep roots in constitutional doctrine and political rhetoric: immigration control is the exclusive responsibility of the federal government. Because of the persistence of this assumption, assessments of this important trend have failed to explain why state and local measures are arising in large numbers, and why the regulatory uniformity both sides claim to seek is neither achievable nor desirable. I argue that the time has come to devise a modus vivendi regarding participation by all levels of government in the management of migration. To do so, I provide a functional account of subfederal immigration regulation and demonstrate how the federal-state-local dynamic operates as an integrated system to manage contemporary immigration. The primary function of states and localities is to integrate immigrants into the body politic and thus to bring the country to terms with demographic change. This process cannot be managed by a single sovereign, and it sometimes depends on states and localities adopting positions in tension with federal policy. Given these dynamics, I offer a reformulation of existing federalism presumptions in the immigration context. These will not be primarily for application by courts, though courts should abandon constitutional or strong field and obstacle preemption theories in immigration cases. Instead, I offer a framework for federal and state lawmakers intended to restrain their impulses to preempt legislation by lower levels of government and to create incentives for cooperative ventures in immigration regulation. Counterintuitively, the changes wrought by international economic integration demand strong institutions beneath the national level. Immigration highlights this convergence of the transnational and the local. Only by assimilating our understandings of immigration federalism to this realization can we explain and harness the value of state and local regulation.
MHCII in antigen-presenting cells (APCs) is a key regulator of adaptive immune responses. Expression of MHCII genes is controlled by the transcription coactivator CIITA, itself regulated through cell ...type-specific promoters. Here we show that the transcription factor NFAT5 is needed for expression of
and MHCII in macrophages, but not in dendritic cells and other APCs. NFAT5-deficient macrophages showed defective activation of MHCII-dependent responses in CD4
T lymphocytes and attenuated capacity to elicit graft rejection in vivo. Ultrasequencing analysis of NFAT5-immunoprecipitated chromatin uncovered an NFAT5-regulated region distally upstream of
This region was required for CIITA and hence MHCII expression, exhibited NFAT5-dependent characteristics of active enhancers such as H3K27 acetylation marks, and required NFAT5 to interact with
myeloid promoter I. Our results uncover an NFAT5-regulated mechanism that maintains CIITA and MHCII expression in macrophages and thus modulates their T lymphocyte priming capacity.
Infections caused by drug-resistant microorganisms result in significant increases in mortality, morbidity, and cost related to prolonged treatments. The antibacterial activity of silver ...nanoparticles against some drug-resistant bacteria has been established, but further investigation is needed to determine whether these particles could be an option for the treatment and prevention of drug-resistant microbial infections. Hence, we challenged different drug-resistant pathogens of clinical importance (multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ampicillin-resistant Escherichia coli O157:H7 and erythromycin-resistant Streptococcus pyogenes) with a suspension of silver nanoparticles. By means of a luciferase-based assay, it was determined that silver nanoparticles (1) inactivate a panel of drug-resistant and drug-susceptible bacteria (Gram positive and Gram negative), (2) exert their antibacterial activity through a bactericidal rather than bacteriostatic mechanism, and (3) inhibit the bacterial growth rate from the time of first contact between the bacteria and the nanoparticles. Additionally, strains with a resistant phenotype to silver nanoparticle were developed and used to explore the bactericidal mode of action of silver nanoparticles. Through a Kirby-Bauer test, it was shown that silver nanoparticles' general mechanism of bactericidal action is based on inhibition of cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis mediated by the 30s ribosomal subunit, and nucleic acid synthesis. Our data suggest that silver nanoparticles are effective broad-spectrum biocides against a variety of drug-resistant bacteria, which makes them a potential candidate for use in pharmaceutical products and medical devices that may help to prevent the transmission of drug-resistant pathogens in different clinical environments.
Multicellular tumor spheroids represent a 3D in vitro model that mimics solid tumor essential properties including assembly and development of extracellular matrix and nutrient, oxygen and ...proliferation gradients. In the present study, we analyze the impact of 3D spatial organization of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells on the response to Trastuzumab. We cultured human mammary adenocarcinoma cell lines as spheroids with the hanging drop method and we observed a gradient of proliferating, quiescent, hypoxic, apoptotic and autophagic cells towards the inner core. This 3D organization decreased Trastuzumab sensitivity of HER2 over-expressing cells compared to monolayer cell cultures. We did not observe apoptosis induced by Trastuzumab but found cell arrest in G0/G1 phase. Moreover, the treatment downregulated the basal apoptosis only found in tumor spheroids, by eliciting protective autophagy. We were able to increase sensitivity to Trastuzumab by autophagy inhibition, thus exposing the interaction between apoptosis and autophagy. We confirmed this result by developing a resistant cell line that was more sensitive to autophagy inhibition than the parental BT474 cells. In summary, the development of Trastuzumab resistance relies on the balance between death and survival mechanisms, characteristic of 3D cell organization. We propose the use of spheroids to further improve the understanding of Trastuzumab antitumor activity and overcome resistance.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The contours of our federal system are under constant negotiation, as governments construct the scope of one another's interests and powers while pursuing their agendas. For our institutions to ...manage these dynamics productively, we must understand the value the system is capable of generating. But no single conception of this value exists, because the virtues and costs of any particular federal-state relationship, in any given federalism controversy, will appear different depending on perspective: the federal, state, and even local will each perceive their own advantages. And none of these conceptions will map perfectly onto the people's perceptions. In this essay, I attempt to answer the question of what federalism might be good for from each of these perspectives by considering how it has structured various regulatory and social controversies in recent years on matters such as immigration, marriage equality, drug policy, and health care reform. I focus on the administrative and enforcement judgments that each of these debates has required, in order to illuminate the discretionary spaces in which much of the work of federalism occurs. I argue that the value of the system common to all participants and that should govern the negotiation of inter-governmental relations is its creation of a framework for ongoing negotiation of differences large and small. In the spirit of this Feature, I emphasize that having many institutions with lawmaking power enables overlapping political communities to work toward national integration, while preserving governing spaces for meaningful disagreement when consensus fractures or proves elusive.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NMLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, PRFLJ, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Number sense has been systematically measured using dot comparison tasks. However, recent studies have reported that performance on dot comparison might be influenced inhibitory control and visual ...properties of dot arrays. In the present study, we analysed the influence of continuous magnitude, inhibitory control, and numerical ratio on the dot comparison performance of preschool children.
Participants were 517 preschool children from 13 different schools in Chile. Children completed a dot comparison and two inhibitory control tasks. Gebuis and Reynvoet method was used to create well-controlled dot arrays for use in the dot comparison task. A logistic mixed effects model was conducted to predict participants' dot comparison accuracy. Continuous magnitude and ratio were entered as level-1 predictors and inhibitory control as level-2 predictors.
The results showed that all predictors made a significant contribution to dot comparison accuracy. Furthermore, a significant double interaction (inhibitory control x continuous magnitude) and a triple interaction (inhibitory control x continuous magnitude x ratio) showed that the contribution of inhibitory control skills in dot comparison accuracy depends on the continuous properties of dot arrays and ratio.
These findings suggest that preschool children rely more on continuous magnitudes than numerosity in dot comparison tasks. They also indicate that the greater children's inhibitory control, the more able they are to respond based on numerosity in fully incongruent trials, particularly when ratio is low (easiest items). Taken together, the above findings support the competing processes account provided that both ANS and inhibitory control skills influence performance on dot comparison tasks.
REGIME CHANGE Rodriguez, Cristina M
Harvard law review,
11/2021, Letnik:
135, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Rodriguez explains that the Oct Term 2020, a Term of transition, is an occasion to explore both the processes and the promise of what she will call regime change, or the replacement within the ...executive branch of one set of constitutional, interpretive, philosophical, and policy commitments with another. Oct Term 2020 was one of transition for the US government. The fact that the Supreme Court mostly disagreed with the new Administration's changed legal positions points us to a second important dynamic highlighted by this Term. Though some of those disagreements were unanimous, others underscored that the Court itself has undergone its own transformation as dramatized by the addition of a new Justice days before the election. The Supreme Court, in its composition and its decisions, is not irrelevant to this challenge. But neither can the Court save the people and their representatives from themselves.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, PRFLJ, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Assessing the efficiency of retail supply chains (RSCs) requires analytical tools that address the different activities involved in these chains. In this sense, dynamic network Data Envelopment ...Analysis (DEA) arises as a suitable method to evaluate the operational performance of RSCs over a period of time. However, its use for sustainability-oriented efficiency assessment constitutes a knowledge gap that limits its applicability for thorough decision-making processes, e.g. at the retail company level. This article fills this gap through the combination of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and dynamic network DEA. A novel five-step LCA + DEA approach is proposed and applied to a case study of 30 RSCs in Spain for the period 2015–2017. In this case, the supply chain structure involves three divisions: central distribution, operation of retail stores, and home delivery. Both overall- and term-efficiency scores were found to widely range from 0.38 to 1.00, with only 1 RSC deemed efficient. Regarding divisional efficiency, store operation was found to generally show significantly higher efficiency scores than the distribution divisions. The link between long distribution distances and low efficiency stresses the relevance of integrating a network perspective into the efficiency assessment. In addition to efficiency scores, the LCA + DEA approach enriches the assessment by providing environmental, operational and socio-economic benchmarks to further support the management of RSCs from a sustainability perspective.
Display omitted
•Life Cycle Assessment and dynamic network Data Envelopment Analysis were combined.•The method was proven through a case study of 30 retail supply chains with 3 divisions.•Efficiency scores, sustainability benchmarks and economic savings were estimated.•Unlike store operation, central distribution and home delivery bring inefficiency.•The network perspective enriches the results from previous unidivisional studies.
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