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Traits that increase mating success in males may come at a cost, such as an increased risk of predation. However, predator-mediated selection is challenging to document in natural populations, hampering our understanding of the trade-offs between sexual selection and predation. Here we report on a study of predator-mediated natural selection on wing traits in the damselfly Calopteryx splendens, th
Evolution of lignocellulose decomposition was one of the most ecologically important innovations in fungi. White rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes (mushrooms and relatives) are the most effective microorganisms in degrading both cellulose and lignin components of woody plant cell walls (PCW). However, the precise evolutionary origins of lignocellulose decomposition are poorly understood, largely bec
Changes in pollen and spore assemblages across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary elucidate the vegetation response to a global environmental crisis triggered by an asteroid impact in Mexico 66 Ma. The Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary clay, associated with the Chicxulub asteroid impact event, constitutes a unique, global marker bed enabling comparison of the world-wide palynological signal span
Vitellogenin (VTG) is a well-known biomarker for endocrine disruption and the measurement of alkali-labile protein bound phosphate (ALP) has been used as an indirect quantification method for VTG in fish, clam and mussel. One limitation of the ALP method has been the insufficient detection limit but with the method presented here this obstacle has been overcome, enabling measurement in fish specie
We propose a novel Bayesian network tool to model the probabilistic relations between a set of type 2 diabetes risk factors. The tool can be used for probabilistic reasoning and for imputation of missing values among risk factors. The Bayesian network is learnt from a joint training set of three European population studies. Tested on an independent patient set, the network is shown to be competiti
Surrogate markers for reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) efficiency such as HDL cholesterol and immune methods for apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) may not fully reflect the actual efficiency of the RCT pathway. Several genetic variants and different posttranslational proteoforms of ApoA-I may unevenly affect the functionality of the HDL particle to efflux cholesterol. A method employing top-down immu
Vertebral fractures are often painful and lead to reduced quality of life and disability. We compared the efficacy and safety of balloon kyphoplasty to nonsurgical therapy over 24 months in patients with acute painful fractures. Adults with one to three vertebral fractures were randomized within 3 months from onset of pain to undergo kyphoplasty (n = 149) or nonsurgical therapy (n = 151). Quality
The aim of this paper is to make it credible that there are feminist reasons for being a republican about freedom. In focus is Quentin Skinner’s conception of republican, or “neo-Roman”, freedom. Republican theory in history has not excelled in making poverty, gender hierarchy, and racism within the republic into main sources of concern. So can there be a radical republican theory of liberty fit f
Pseudagnostus rugosus Ergaliev, 1980 is described from the Furongian Ctenopyge tumida Zone at Gislovshammar, Scania, southern Sweden. This is the first record of this distinctive agnostoid in Scandinavia. The species is known previously from Malyi Karatau, Kazakhstan, and northwestern Hunan and western Zhejiang, South China, and provides a newly recognized link between middle-upper Furongian succe
Investigations of the interconnectedness of climate change with human societies require profound analysis of relations among humans and between humans and nature, and the integration of insights from various academic fields. An intersectional approach, developed within critical feminist theory, is advantageous. An intersectional analysis of climate change illuminates how different individuals and
CONTEXT: Prior research suggests that drug abuse (DA) is strongly influenced by both genetic and familial environmental factors. No large-scale adoption study has previously attempted to verify and integrate these findings. OBJECTIVE: To determine how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the risk for DA. DESIGN: Follow-up in 9 public databases (1961-2009) of adopted children and their
The lean stability limit of a prototype syngas burner is investigated. The burner is a three sector system, consisting of a separate igniter, stabilizer and Main burner. The ignition sector, Rich-Pilot-Lean (RPL), can be operated with both rich or lean equivalence values, and serves to ignite the Pilot sector which stabilizes the Main combustion sector. The RPL and Main sectors are fully premixed,
Popular Abstract in English Bolivia, as with other Latin American countries, is considered to be in an epidemiological transition due to the continued persistence of infectious diseases, and nutritional deficiencies related to poverty and food insecurity, together with an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases mainly related to lifestyle factors. The work presented in this thesis was focuseThe synergistic relation between nutritional deficiency and infection may have negative effects on the immune system, making individuals more vulnerable to infection. Zinc can affect the resistance to infections by modulating cytokine release, and by acting as a cofactor of thymulin, which induces the differentiation of immature T lymphocytes. To investigate the modulation of the immune response b
The functional organization of the hindlimb withdrawal reflex system was studied in the rat. For the reflex pathway to each muscle, a "mirror-image" relationship was found between the spatial distribution of sensitivity within its cutaneous receptive field and the pattern of cutaneous unloading ensuing on muscle contraction. Thus, the withdrawal movement pattern ensuing on contraction in a muscle
Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) is a T cell-dependent autoimmune disease that serves as an animal model for human rheumatoid arthritis. CIA can be induced in H-2q mice by a single immunization with the cartilage-specific protein type II collagen (CII). This study has focused on CII immunity and tolerance with respect to the interactions between antigen, antigen-presenting cells and T cells. CIA-r
