Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Agricultural land-use history causes persistent loss of plant phylogenetic diversity.

Intensive land use activities, such as agriculture, are a leading cause of biodiversity loss and can have lasting impacts on ecological systems. Yet, few studies have investigated how land-use legacies impact phylogenetic diversity (the total amount of evolutionary history in a community) or how restoration activities might mitigate legacy effects on biodiversity. We studied ground-layer plant communities in 27 pairs of Remnant (no agricultural history) and Post-agricultural (agriculture abandoned >60 yr ago) longleaf pine savannas, half of which we restored by thinning trees to reinstate open savanna conditions. We found that agricultural history had no impact on species richness, but did alter community composition and reduce phylogenetic diversity by 566 million years/1,000 m2 . This loss of phylogenetic diversity in post-agricultural savannas was due to, in part, a reduction in the average evolutionary distance between pairs of closely related species, that is, increased phylogenetic clustering. Habitat restoration increased species richness by 27% and phylogenetic diversity by 914 million years but did not eliminate the effects of agricultural land use on community composition and phylogenetic structure. These results demonstrate the persistence of agricultural legacies, even in the face of intensive restoration efforts, and the importance of considering biodiversity broadly when evaluating human impacts on ecosystems.
Alcohol Use Among Older Persons: Findings from a Western New York State General Population Survey

ABSTRACT: This report on the drinking patterns of older persons is based upon a cross‐sectional probability sample of 1,041 adults aged 18 years or older living in Erie and Niagara Counties in Western New York State. The rates of drinking‐, heavy drinking, and alcohol‐related problems were considerably lower among persons aged 60 or older than among those aged 50–59 (approaching old age), or among those aged 18–49 (the younger comparison group). Although heavy drinking was almost nonexistent among the elderly women, sizable proportions of the older men (e.g., about a quarter of the men in the 60–69 age group) were heavy drinkers. Previous reports concluding that the stresses of aging, such as widowhood and retirement, are associated with increased problem drinking were not confirmed in this study. More definitive, longitudinal research is needed to develop a better understanding of the relationships between drinking patterns and the aging process.
THE EVOLUTION OF DISTYLY: POLLEN TRANSFER IN ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

A recent model by Lloyd and Webb derives conditions necessary for the evolution of distyly based on pollen‐transfer probabilities between ancestral morphs and invading mutants. We used bumblebees visiting artificial flowers to measure the parameters of the model. Our findings supported the first evolutionary step proposed by the model, establishment of a stigma‐height polymorphism. Conditions for the subsequent establishment of an anther‐height polymorphism were not satisfied by pollen‐transfer patterns alone. Because conditions for the first step are considered more onerous, however, and because the second stage depends on inbreeding depression as well as pollen‐transfer patterns, we interpret our results as supporting the plausibility of the Lloyd‐Webb model. Video images of bees visiting glass‐sided artificial flowers demonstrate a mechanism for disassortative pollination between the ancestral and mutant morph. In general, pollen‐transfer probabilities were negatively correlated with the height difference between anthers of the donor and stigma of the recipient. Style length affects bee feeding posture in such a way that disassortative pollination could feasibly occur in the absence of an anther‐height polymorphism.
EVIDENCE THAT THE MAGNITUDE OF THE TRADE‐OFF IN A DICHOTOMOUS TRAIT IS FREQUENCY DEPENDENT

Many traits, such as wing dimorphism, paedomorphosis, and cyclomorphosis vary dichotomously. Such dimorphisms are maintained in part because of a trade‐off between components of fitness: for example, in insects, the flightless morph cannot migrate but has a greater fecundity than the flight‐capable morph. Several recent theoretical studies have analyzed the evolution of dichotomous traits, assuming that each morph can be characterized by a discrete syndrome of characters. Consideration of the genetic basis of dimorphism suggests that this assumption is incorrect. In this paper, I report a test of this assumption using the wing‐dimorphic sand cricket, Gryllus firmus. It is predicted that, rather than remaining constant, the fecundity of macropterous (long‐winged, flight‐capable) females will decrease as the proportion of macropterous females in the population or family increases. This prediction is supported by fecundity data from lines selected for high and low proportions of macroptery and by sib analysis. Thus, models that seek to predict the evolution of dichotomous traits should take into account the likelihood that values of components of fitness, such as fecundity, may be related to their frequencies in the population.
The choices, choosing model of quality of life: Clinical evaluation and intervention

Two previous papers presented a conjectured model of quality of life featuring the personal management of accessing choices and choosing among them (the c-c process). Those papers made the case that this model unifies the pathways leading to impaired quality of life, especially with regard to age associated multiple co-morbidities, changes in perception and functioning, and the effects of long term care environments; it also introduces a science base for understanding and guiding interventions that can assist people to achieve their quality-of-life goals. Our aim in this paper is to outline interprofessional strategies that could relieve restrictions or distortions of the c-c process imposed by aging, ill-health, or a restricting environment. We do so by outlining potential deficits in the c-c process and matching these with restorative person-centered interprofessional interventions including interprofessional teamwork. Findings suggest that interprofessional assessment and team work is well suited to assisting the c-c process. We conclude that the groundwork has been prepared for developing training programs and clinical trials for interprofessional interventions targeting the c-c process.
The history of infection control: Tuberculosis: part two — Finding the cause and trying to eliminate it

Introduction The plot thickens. I mentioned multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in part one published in the last issue of this journal. The drastic control measures taken in the US were followed by a reduction in cases, and are recommended in the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines on tuberculosis recently published by the Royal College of Physicians (2006). However, we now have extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains, which are also resistant to some of the ‘third line’ drugs used to treat MDR infections. Of 17 690 isolates from reference laboratories throughout the world in 2000 to 2005, 20% were MDR and 2% were XDR. XDR strains were found as far apart as the US, South Korea and Latvia (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2006). The potential danger of XDR strains is shown in an outbreak in South Africa, 52 of 53 patients (all with HIV) died within a median of 25 days. All had been in hospital previously, raising the likelihood of nosocomial infection – this was a real ‘wake-up call’ (Lawn and Wilkinson, 2006). However, back to history. Was the disease familial or contagious? Hippocrates mentioned the phthisic diathesis. The occurrence of the disease in families (the Keats’ for example) and the high death rate in small children (grandfather coughing over the baby) suggested a genetic element. Galen thought phthisis was contagious and later Benjamin Marten (1722) wrote in A new theory of consumptions: ‘The original and essential cause may possibly be certain species of animalculi or wonderfully minute living creatures that by their peculiar shape or disagreeable parts are inimical to our nature. Worms and animalculi fretting and gnawing. ’
Pulmonary Circulatory Control Through Hypoxic Vasoconstriction

Regulation of the pulmonary circulation appears deceptively simple, since blood flow only has to be distributed at low pressure within a single organ. There is no apparent need for extrinsic neural or humoral controls or even a pressure-regulating system. Yet the lung vessels are an integral part of one of the most carefully defended components of physiology, the maintenance of arterial oxygen tension. This task can be demanding, since oxygen uptake can increase by a full order of magnitude from rest to maximal exercise. To meet these demands, the gas exchange surface expands by recruiting additional capillaries and by passing more red blood cells through the capillary bed with shorter transit times. Not only must the interface be expansible, but the air-blood barrier must be thin to permit efficient gas exchange. This thinness, however, offers little resistance to fluid leakage, which could impede gas exchange. Thus, the pulmonary microcirculation must maintain a delicate balance of keeping well-ventilated lobules vigorously perfused while preventing fluid from accumulating in the alveoli. Although pulmonary vascular resistance can be influenced by gravity, lung inflation, neural stimulation, and numerous circulating and locally generated vasoactive substances, these factors are not clearly important in the regulation of normal pulmonary blood flow. Instead, changes in local pulmonary vascular resistance in response to changes in local airway oxygen tension is the important regulator of the pulmonary circulation. Since the distending pressure in the pulmonary arteries is low, blood can be shifted easily from poorly ventilated to well-ventilated regions of the lung with minimal increase in local vascular tone. BLOOD FLOW REDISTRIBUTION
Immunohistochemical Analysis of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Expression and Tumor Angiogenesis in Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinomas

To clarify the possible role of tumor angiogenesis, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and microvessel density (MVD) were immunohistochemically examined in tongue squamous cell carcinomas as well as in normal tongue mucosa and squamous cell carcinoma-adjacent tongue mucosa. Immunoreactivity for VEGF was detected in epithelial cells of several nonneoplastic tongue mucosa tissues and most tongue squamous cell carcinomas, indicating that this angiogenic factor acted on endothelial cells via the paracrine mechanism. VEGF expression in squamous cell carcinoma-adjacent tongue mucosa was greater than that in normal tongue mucosa, and VEGF expression in tongue squamous cell carcinomas was much higher than in squamous cell carcinoma-adjacent tongue mucosa and normal tongue mucosa. Up-regulation of VEGF might be associated with neoplastic or malignant change of epithelial cells in tongue mucosal tissues. MVD in tongue squamous cell carcinoma was higher than that of squamous cell carcinoma-adjacent tongue mucosa and normal tongue mucosa, indicating increased demands for blood supply in the carcinoma tissues. The association of VEGF expression, MVD and clinicopathological parameters of tongue squamous cell carcinomas was not statistically obvious; however, VEGF expression was slightly larger according to T stages or nodal metastasis.
EVOLUTION AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES IN BRAZIL: EVIDENCE FROM SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF MORPHOMETRIC DATA

In recent years, studies based on isoenzymatic patterns of geographic variation have revealed that what is usually called the Africanized honey bee does not constitute a single population. Instead, several local populations exist with various degrees of admixture with European honey bees. In this paper, we evaluated new data on morphometric patterns of Africanized honey bees collected at 42 localities in Brazil, using univariate and multivariate (canonical) trend surface and spatial autocorrelation analyses. The clinal patterns of variation found for genetically independent characters (wing size characters and some wing venation angles) are concordant with previous studies of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) allelic frequencies and support the hypothesis that larger honey bees in southern and southeastern Brazil originated by racial admixture in the initial phases of African honey bee colonization. Geographic variation patterns of Africanized honey bee populations reflect a demic diffusion process in which European genes were gradually lost because of the higher fitness of the African gene pool in Neotropical environmental conditions.
EVOLUTION OF BASAL METABOLIC RATE AND ORGAN MASSES IN LABORATORY MICE

Animal species of similar body mass vary widely in basal metabolic rate (BMR). A central problem of evolutionary physiology concerns the anatomical/physiological origin and functional significance of that variation. It has been hypothesized that such interspecific differences in wild animals evolved adaptively from differences in relative sizes of metabolically active organs. In order to minimize confounding phenotypic effects and maximize relevant genetic variation, we tested for intraspecific correlations between body‐mass‐corrected BMR and masses of four organs (heart, kidney, liver, and small intestine) among six inbred strains of mice. We found significant differences between strains in BMR and in masses of all four organs. Strains with exceptionally high (or low) BMR tended to have disproportionately large (or small) organs. The mass of each organ was correlated with the masses of each of the other three organs. Variation in organ masses accounted for 52% of the observed variation in BMR, of which 42% represented between‐strain variation, and 10% represented within‐strain variation. This conclusion is supported by published measurements of metabolic rates of tissue slices from the four organs. The correlation between BMR and intestine or heart mass arose exclusively from differences between strains, while the correlation between BMR and liver or kidney mass also appeared in comparing individual mice within the same strain. Thus, even though the masses of the four examined organs account for no more than 17% of total body mass, their high metabolic activities or correlated factors account for much of the variation in BMR among mice. We suggest that large masses of metabolically active organs are subject to natural selection through evolutionary trade‐offs. On the one hand, they make possible high‐energy budgets (advantageous under some conditions), but on the other hand they are energetically expensive to maintain.
FINE‐SCALE GENETIC STRUCTURE OF A TURKEY OAK FOREST

Theoretical models and computer simulations of the genetic structure of a continuous population predict the existence of patches of highly inbred individuals when gene flow within the population is limited. A map of the three genotypes of a two‐allele locus is expected to exhibit patches of homozygotes embedded in a matrix of heterozygotes, when gene flow is limited. A search for such patch structure was made on a 160 × 160 m plot within a continuous 60+ ha old‐growth stand of Quercus laevis (turkey oak). Approximately 3400 trees were genotyped for 9 polymorphic loci using starch‐gel electrophoresis, and the genetic structure was analyzed with spatial autocorrelation (both nominal and interval), hierarchical F statistics, and number‐of‐alleles‐in‐common. Adults (diameter at breast height > 0) and juveniles were analyzed separately but showed similar structure. While no distinct patch structure was found, a greater degree of relatedness was observed on a scale of 5 m–10 m than at greater distances, probably because of the limited acorn dispersal from maternal trees and a small amount of cloning by root sprouts. A computer simulation of a 10,000 tree forest breeding for 10,000 yr indicates that the effective neighborhood sizes (of randomly drawn seed‐ and pollen‐donors) are both in excess of 440 individuals. The model thus cannot distinguish the observed data from panmictic mating.
Hemispheric processing of semantic information: The effects of the semantic priming task and working memory capacity

In a classic semantic priming study (Beeman et al., 1994), participants showed a naming advantage for strongly related targets compared to weakly related targets in the left hemisphere, whereas no difference in naming advantage was found between strongly and weakly related targets in the right hemisphere. However, it is unclear how the type of task and individual differences influence this hemispheric activation. In the current study participants completed a lexical decision task when presented with strongly, weakly, and unrelated words in each visual field-hemisphere. A left hemisphere advantage was evident for strongly and weakly related words compared to unrelated words and a right hemisphere advantage was evident for strongly related words compared to weakly related and unrelated words. Additionally, high working memory capacity participants responded more accurately to strongly related words than weakly or unrelated words in the right hemisphere, whereas low working memory capacity participants showed no difference between these conditions in the right hemisphere. Thus, the type of semantic priming task and working memory capacity seem to influence the hemispheric processing of strongly and weakly related information.
Long-term tree inventory data from mountain forest plots in France.

We present repeated tree measurement data from 63 permanent plots in mountain forests in France. Plot elevations range from 800 (lower limit of the montane belt) to 1942 m above sea level (subalpine belt). Forests mainly consist of pure or mixed stands dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Silver fir (Abies alba), and Norway spruce (Picea abies), in association with various broadleaved species at low elevation and with Arolla pine (Pinus cembra) at high elevation. The plot network includes 23 plots in stands that have not been managed for the last 40 years (at least) and 40 plots in plots managed according to an uneven-aged system with single-tree or small-group selection cutting. Plot sizes range from 0.2 to 1.9 ha. Plots were installed from 1994 to 2004 and remeasured two to five times during the 1994-2015 period. During the first census (installation), living trees more than 7.5 cm in dbh were identified, their diameter at breast height (dbh) was measured and their social status (strata) noted. Trees were spatially located, either with x, y, and z coordinates (40 plots) or within 0.25-ha square subplots (23 plots). In addition, in a subset of plots (58 plots), tree heights and tree crown dimensions were measured on a subset of trees and dead standing trees and stumps were included in the census. Remeasurements after installation include live tree diameters (including recruited trees), tree status (living, damaged, dead, stump), and for a subset of trees, height. At the time of establishment of the plots, plot densities range from 181 to 1328 stems/ha and plot basal areas range from 13.6 to 81.3 m2 /ha.
THE EFFECTS OF PREDATION ON THE AGE AND SIZE OF MATURITY OF PREY

The effects of nonselective predation on the optimal age and size of maturity of their prey are investigated using mathematical models of a simple life history with juvenile and adult stages. Fitness is measured by the product of survival to the adult stage and expected adult reproduction, which is usually an increasing function of size at maturity. Size is determined by both age at maturity and the value of costly traits that increase mean growth rate (growth effort). The analysis includes cases with fixed size but flexible time to maturity, fixed time but flexible size, and adaptively flexible values of both variables. In these analyses, growth effort is flexible. For comparison with previous theory, models with a fixed growth effort are analyzed. In each case, there may be indirect effects of predation on the prey's food supply. The effect of increased predation depends on (1) which variables are flexible; (2) whether increased growth effort requires increased exposure to predators; and (3) how increased predator density affects the abundance of food for juvenile prey. If there is no indirect effect of predators on prey food supply, size at maturity will generally decrease in response to increased predation. However, the indirect effect from increased food has the opposite effect, and the net result of predation is often increased size. Age at maturity may either increase or decrease, depending on functional forms and parameter values; this is true regardless of the presence of indirect effects. The results are compared with those of previous theoretical analyses. Observed shifts in life history in response to predation are reviewed, and the role of size‐selective predation is reassessed.
WAITING FOR SPECIATION: THE EFFECT OF POPULATION SUBDIVISION ON THE TIME TO SPECIATION

We study the time required for speciation in a species that is divided into small versus large populations. Following Dobzhansky and Muller, we assume that hybrid sterility or inviability is caused by “complementary genes,” that is, by the accumulation of genes that cause sterility or inviability when brought together in hybrids but that have no deleterious effect on their normal species genetic background. When divergence between populations is caused by genetic drift, we show that the time to speciation is independent of population subdivision: speciation occurs just as quickly in a species split into a few large populations as into many small populations. When divergence is driven by natural selection, however, the time to speciation is very sensitive to population subdivision and speciation occurs most rapidly when a species is split into two large populations. These results contradict several popular intuitions about the effect of population size on speciation.
INTRASEXUAL COMPETITION ALONE FAVORS A SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC ORNAMENT IN THE RUBYSPOT DAMSELFLY HETAERINA AMERICANA

I studied the sex‐limited red spots on the wings of male rubyspot damselflies (Hetaerina americana) in relation to territoriality and fitness in the wild. Both observational and experimental (wing spot manipulation) studies indicated that wing spots were selected through competition among males for mating territories, not through female choice or direct competition for females. Males with naturally or artificially large wing spots were more successful at holding territories and consequently mated at higher rates than males with relatively small wing spots. In contrast, sexual selection on male body size appeared to operate among nonterritorial males at the clasping stage of the mating sequence, perhaps because larger males were better at clasping females forcibly. Of four models proposed to explain the evolution of ornaments through territory competition, only the agonistic handicap model makes predictions consistent with the results of this study.