Krill do not feed by passive, continuous filtration but use area-intensive searching and various rapid feeding behaviors to exploit local high food concentrations. Chemicals alone at low ...concentrations, not particles, trigger feeding. Krill form dense schools that move rapidly and migrate primarily horizontally. Abrupt disruption of a school can trigger mass molting, and molts may act as decoys.
Nephrectomy and creation of a cutaneous ureterovesicostomy for intermittent catheterization of the bladder traditionally requires two surgical procedures performed through separate incisions. Herein ...we report completion of these procedures using a transperitoneal laparoscopic approach, with the ureterovesicostomy stoma created at one of the laparoscopic working ports. The clinical course was remarkable for a shortened postoperative hospitalization (48 hours) with minimal incisional pain, and an excellent long-term result with complete bladder emptying and resolution of urinary infections. Laparoscopic application of the Mitrofanoff principle for creation of a catheterizable cutaneous ureterovesicostomy combines the advantages of both, allowing optimal preservation of ureteral vascularity, minimal morbidity, and efficient bladder evacuation.
Type 2 diabetes confers a greater excess risk of cardiovascular disease in women than in men. Diabetes is also a risk factor for dementia, but whether the association is similar in women and men ...remains unknown. We performed a meta-analysis of unpublished data to estimate the sex-specific relationship between women and men with diabetes with incident dementia.
A systematic search identified studies published prior to November 2014 that had reported on the prospective association between diabetes and dementia. Study authors contributed unpublished sex-specific relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs on the association between diabetes and all dementia and its subtypes. Sex-specific RRs and the women-to-men ratio of RRs (RRRs) were pooled using random-effects meta-analyses.
Study-level data from 14 studies, 2,310,330 individuals, and 102,174 dementia case patients were included. In multiple-adjusted analyses, diabetes was associated with a 60% increased risk of any dementia in both sexes (women: pooled RR 1.62 95% CI 1.45-1.80; men: pooled RR 1.58 95% CI 1.38-1.81). The diabetes-associated RRs for vascular dementia were 2.34 (95% CI 1.86-2.94) in women and 1.73 (95% CI 1.61-1.85) in men, and for nonvascular dementia, the RRs were 1.53 (95% CI 1.35-1.73) in women and 1.49 (95% CI 1.31-1.69) in men. Overall, women with diabetes had a 19% greater risk for the development of vascular dementia than men (multiple-adjusted RRR 1.19 95% CI 1.08-1.30; P < 0.001).
Individuals with type 2 diabetes are at ∼60% greater risk for the development of dementia compared with those without diabetes. For vascular dementia, but not for nonvascular dementia, the additional risk is greater in women.
An animal study was performed to evaluate the effect of posterior sagittal pararectal mobilization on anorectal sphincter function.
We initially divided 11 juvenile pigs into 3 groups: group ...1–anesthesia alone (3), group 2–posterior sagittal incision alone (4) and group 3–posterior sagittal incision with unilateral pararectal dissection (4). Two animals in group 1 subsequently underwent posterior sagittal incision with circumferential pararectal dissection (group 4). The anal canal was preserved intact in all animals. Anorectal sphincter manometry was performed preoperatively, and 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks postoperatively. Electromyography was performed 12 weeks postoperatively. Anorectal sphincter muscle complexes were harvested for histological examination.
All animals had postoperative bowel continence. Postoperatively manometry revealed no difference from preoperative measurements in all study groups (p = 0.90). Electromyography and histological examination of the anorectal sphincters were normal in all but 2 animals. Denervation injury and histological atrophy were detected after repair of inadvertent enterotomy in 1 animal following unilateral pararectal dissection, and polyphasic motor unit potentials implying reinnervation were detected in another after circumferential pararectal mobilization.
These results indicate that posterior sagittal incision and unilateral pararectal mobilization cause no permanent injury to the anorectal sphincter. However, circumferential pararectal dissection or repair of a rectal injury may cause measurable changes in sphincter function.
Elevated CO2 could alter the productivity of heterotrophic aquatic ecosystems through effects on allochthonous litter inputs. The effects of atmospheric CO2 concentration, light availability to trees ...and tree species, on leaf detritus quality as a food resource for eastern treehole mosquitoes (Aedes triseriatus) were examined. Larvae were reared in laboratory microcosms (simulated treeholes) with naturally-senesced, abscised foliage from seedlings of red oak (Quercus rubra) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) grown in ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 environments. Elevated CO2 did not have significant effects on any measure of mosquito performance. In contrast, host species and light availability had dramatic effects on mosquito development time and survival; light availability had additional effects on adult size. Mosquito reproductive potential (± SE) averaged 8.4 ± 1.5 females female-1 generation-1 when litter input was from birch-sun leaves, but was 19.6 ± 1.8 when the litter was from birch-shade leaves and 13.0 ± 1.8 when from oak-sun leaves. Mosquito development time was nearly halved when the litter input was from oak-sun leaves versus birch-sun leaves, suggesting a potential for even greater demographic effects (e.g. two generations per year instead of one could yield a 20-fold increase in annual growth rate). Trophic transfer rates ( mg insect detritivore g litter-1 d-1) were 3-fold greater on birch-shade leaves than on birch-sun leaves. Changes in insolation and tree species composition can have important consequences for forest ecosystems, because of effects on litter quality that impact microbial saprobes and, ultimately, invertebrate detritivores.
Highlights • Adult rat CNS endothelial cells express functional TLR4. • The opioid receptor-inactive morphine metabolite M3G activates TLR4-dependent inflammatory signaling in endothelial cells. • ...Nalmefene is a mu opioid receptor antagonist without TLR4 activity, whereas CTAP is an antagonist at both receptors. • Stimulation of endothelial cells by M3G induces in vivo responses of decreased mechanical thresholds and vasodilation. • The putative glial inhibitors AV1013 and propentofylline also inhibit the inflammatory response of endothelial cells.
A human CTL epitope located in a region of the HIV-1 envelope protein gp41 that is highly conserved among various HIV-1 strains was identified. This epitope was recognized by CD4+ CTL clones that ...were induced in seronegative humans by immunization with recombinant gp160. Fusion proteins carrying portions of the HIV-1 env gene and synthetic peptides were used to localize this epitope to amino acids 584-595 of the HIV-1 BRU env sequence. Only two positions within this epitope showed variation among North American HIV-1 isolates, and the substitutions were conservative in nature. The Lys to Arg substitution at position 593 abolished recognition, probably by interfering with the peptide-MHC interactions. This epitope was recognized in association with at least one subtype of the widely distributed human class II MHC specificity DPw4, namely DPw4.2. The relatively high frequency of this allele (27.2% among Caucasians) makes it likely that a larger fraction of the population would generate a response directed at this epitope than would be the case for epitopes recognized in the context of gene products of most other class II and class I loci. Interestingly, the closely related DP beta-chain allele types 4.1 and 2.1, which differ from 4.2 by 3 and 1 amino acids, respectively, were unable to present this gp41 peptide to DPw4.2-restricted clones. Comparison of the structure of this epitope with that of other peptides recognized in the context of DPw4.2 led to the identification of a consensus sequence for DPw4.2 binding peptides. Because the gp41 CTL epitope 584-595 identified here is highly conserved and is recognized in the context of a common DP allele, it may represent an important target region for vaccine development. Our results indicate that vaccines containing this epitope may induce in a significant fraction of those immunized CTL active against at least half of all HIV-1 strains.
We report an unusual case of extrarenal Wilms tumor discovered incidentally during routine inguinal orchiopexy. The world literature and embryological implications of Wilms tumor in the inguinal ...canal are reviewed.
Insomnia is a common disorder linked with adverse long-term medical and psychiatric outcomes. The underlying pathophysiological processes and causal relationships of insomnia with disease are poorly ...understood. Here we identified 57 loci for self-reported insomnia symptoms in the UK Biobank (n = 453,379) and confirmed their effects on self-reported insomnia symptoms in the HUNT Study (n = 14,923 cases and 47,610 controls), physician-diagnosed insomnia in the Partners Biobank (n = 2,217 cases and 14,240 controls), and accelerometer-derived measures of sleep efficiency and sleep duration in the UK Biobank (n = 83,726). Our results suggest enrichment of genes involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and of genes expressed in multiple brain regions, skeletal muscle, and adrenal glands. Evidence of shared genetic factors was found between frequent insomnia symptoms and restless legs syndrome, aging, and cardiometabolic, behavioral, psychiatric, and reproductive traits. Evidence was found for a possible causal link between insomnia symptoms and coronary artery disease, depressive symptoms, and subjective well-being.
Human activity can degrade ecosystem function by reducing species number (richness) and by skewing the relative abundance of species (evenness). Conservation efforts often focus on restoring or ...maintaining species number, reflecting the well-known impacts of richness on many ecological processes. In contrast, the ecological effects of disrupted evenness have received far less attention, and developing strategies for restoring evenness remains a conceptual challenge. In farmlands, agricultural pest-management practices often lead to altered food web structure and communities dominated by a few common species, which together contribute to pest outbreaks. Here we show that organic farming methods mitigate this ecological damage by promoting evenness among natural enemies. In field enclosures, very even communities of predator and pathogen biological control agents, typical of organic farms, exerted the strongest pest control and yielded the largest plants. In contrast, pest densities were high and plant biomass was low when enemy evenness was disrupted, as is typical under conventional management. Our results were independent of the numerically dominant predator or pathogen species, and so resulted from evenness itself. Moreover, evenness effects among natural enemy groups were independent and complementary. Our results strengthen the argument that rejuvenation of ecosystem function requires restoration of species evenness, rather than just richness. Organic farming potentially offers a means of returning functional evenness to ecosystems.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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