bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Changing drivers of species dominance during tropical forest succession
Authors: Lohbeck Madelon , Poorter Lourens , Martínez‐Ramos Miguel , Rodriguez‐Velázquez Jorge , van Breugel Michiel , Bongers Frans 
Published: December 2013

Summary

Deterministic theories predict that local communities assemble from a regional species pool based on niche differences, thus by plant functional adaptations. We tested whether functional traits can also explain patterns in species dominance among the suite of co‐occurring species.

We predicted that along a gradient of secondary succession, the main driver of species dominance changes from environmental filtering in the relatively harsh (dry and hot) early successional conditions, towards increased competitive interactions and limiting similarity in later successional conditions (when light is limited).

We used the Kurtosis (K) (a measure of peakedness) of the functional trait distribution of secondary forest communities in high‐diversity tropical rain forest in Chiapas, Mexico. The forests ranged 1–25 years in age, and we used eight functional leaf traits related to a plants' carbon, water and heat balance. We calculated the functional trait distribution based on species dominance, where trait values were weighted by species' relative basal area, as well as based on species presence, all species counting once. ‘K‐ratio’ was subsequently computed by dividing kurtosis based on species dominance by kurtosis based on species presence. If the K‐ratio is high, the dominant species are functionally similar and we interpreted this as environmentally driven functional convergence allowing species to become dominant. If the K‐ratio is small, dominant species are a functionally dissimilar subset of the species present and we interpreted this as competitively driven functional divergence allowing species to become dominant.

We found that in early succession, dominant species represent a functionally narrow subset of species with similar traits, and in late succession, dominant species increasingly represent a wide subset of the species present. This trend was found for traits that reflect photosynthetic performance and light capture, and indicates increased competition for light with succession. No trend was found for traits that indicate defence against herbivory, suggesting no successional changes in herbivore pressure.

Synthesis. This is one of the first studies showing that drivers of species dominance change along a gradient of secondary succession. During the early successional time window we evaluated, the importance of environmental filtering as a driving force fades away rapidly, and the importance of niche partitioning for species dominance starts to emerge.
Night warming on hot days produces novel impacts on development, survival and reproduction in a small arthropod
Authors: Zhao Fei , Zhang Wei , Hoffmann Ary A. , Ma Chun‐Sen 
Published: December 2013

Summary

An asymmetric increase in night‐time temperatures (NTs) on hot days is one of the main features of global climate change. But the biological effects of an increased night‐time temperature combined with high daytime temperature are unclear.

We used six thermal regimens to simulate NTs on hot days and investigated the effects of night warming on life‐history traits of the English grain aphid Sitobion avenae. Experimental temperatures fluctuated in continuous diurnal cycles, increasing from 27 °C to a maximum 35 °C and then declining to 27 °C gradually before further dropping to different minima (13, 16, 19, 21, 23 or 25 °C) representing NTs.

When compared to expectations based on constant temperatures, night warming raised the optimum temperature for development by 3 °C, in contrast to results from experiments where temperature variability was altered symmetrically or in a parallel manner. Night warming also reduced aphid survival under heat from 75% to 37% and depressed adult performance by up to 50%. Overall, night warming exacerbated the detrimental effects of hot days on the intrinsic rate of population increase, which was predicted to drop by 30% when night‐time minimum temperatures exceeded 20 °C.

Our novel findings on development challenge the ‘Kaufmann effect’, suggesting this is inapplicable to night warming likely to be encountered in nature. Although many average temperature models predict increasing pest outbreaks, our results suggest that outbreaks of some species might decrease due to the effects of night warming on population dynamics.
Thermally Stimulated Luminescence in Powdered Soy Proteins
Authors: Abdi Dereje , Jahan Muhammad S. , Boatright William L. , Walters Benjamin M. , Lei Qingxin 
Published: December 2013

AbstractHeating powder isolated soy proteins (ISPs) in a N2 environment produced thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL), in 2 major temperature regions, 50 to 250°C (region R1) and 250 to 350°C (region R2). In soy protein 7S fraction, strong TSL was detected in both regions with glow peak maximum (Tm) at 150 ± 15°C and at 300 ± 10°C. Two additional satellite or shoulder peaks were detected from the ISP and 7S protein fraction within region R1 at Tm = 90°C and Tm = 210°C. The soy protein 11S fraction produced a broad, poorly defined TSL peak in the low‐temperature region. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy data from the control ISP sample, deuterium sulfide‐treated ISP, ISP stored in either N2 or O2, and defatted soy flour, indicated that the trapped radicals present in ISP is associated with the production of the primary TSL peak at 150 ± 15°C. Activation energies required to release the trapped charges (for luminescence to occur) are approximately 0.70, 0.78, 1.50, and 1.8 eV for TSL at Tm = 100, 150, 200, and 300°C, respectively. The reaction mechanism that leads to the release of the trapped charges for TSL to occur followed a mixed order kinetic, between 1.5 and 1.8. The frequency factor varied between 107/s and 1017/s.
Modelling group dynamic animal movement
Authors: Langrock Roland , Hopcraft J. Grant C. , Blackwell Paul G. , Goodall Victoria , King Ruth , Niu Mu , Patterson Toby A. , Pedersen Martin W. , Skarin Anna , Schick Robert S. 
Published: December 2013

Summary

Group dynamics are a fundamental aspect of many species' movements. The need to adequately model individuals' interactions with other group members has been recognized, particularly in order to differentiate the role of social forces in individual movement from environmental factors. However, to date, practical statistical methods, which can include group dynamics in animal movement models, have been lacking.

We consider a flexible modelling framework that distinguishes a group‐level model, describing the movement of the group's centre, and an individual‐level model, such that each individual makes its movement decisions relative to the group centroid. The basic idea is framed within the flexible class of hidden Markov models, extending previous work on modelling animal movement by means of multistate random walks.

While in simulation experiments parameter estimators exhibit some bias in non‐ideal scenarios, we show that generally the estimation of models of this type is both feasible and ecologically informative.

We illustrate the approach using real movement data from 11 reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Results indicate a directional bias towards a group centroid for reindeer in an encamped state. Though the attraction to the group centroid is relatively weak, our model successfully captures group‐influenced movement dynamics. Specifically, as compared to a regular mixture of correlated random walks, the group dynamic model more accurately predicts the non‐diffusive behaviour of a cohesive mobile group.

As technology continues to develop, it will become easier and less expensive to tag multiple individuals within a group in order to follow their movements. Our work provides a first inferential framework for understanding the relative influences of individual versus group‐level movement decisions. This framework can be extended to include covariates corresponding to environmental influences or body condition. As such, this framework allows for a broader understanding of the many internal and external factors that can influence an individual's movement.
Psychosocial factors associated with impact of cancer in longterm haematological cancer survivors
Authors: Korszun Ania , Sarker Shah‐Jalal , Chowdhury Kashfia , Clark Charlotte , Greaves Paul , Johnson Rachel , Kingston Judith , Levitt Gill , Matthews Janet , White Peter , Lister Andrew , Gribben John 
Published: December 2013

SummaryTo assess the impact of cancer (IOC) on subsequent quality of life (QOL), 718 long‐term haematological cancer survivors completed validated psychosocial, functional and QOL scales, including IOC. Fifteen percent reported significant psychological distress, 18% high levels of fatigue and 10% moderate to severe functional impairment. These groups of participants also showed poorer QOL. There were no significant differences in psychological distress (P = 0·76), fatigue (P = 0·23) or functional impairment (P = 0·74) across different cancer subtypes. Two separate hierarchical regression analyses examined the combined association of disease‐type, psychosocial and other factors on negative and positive IOC scores respectively. Higher negative IOC scores were significantly associated (P ≤ 0·001) with medical comorbidity, psychological distress, lower social support, high fatigue levels and functional impairment. Paediatric patients (diagnosed at <17 years) had significantly higher negative IOC scores than adult patients (P = 0·001); greater years since diagnosis was significantly (P < 0·001) associated with less negative IOC. Higher positive IOC was associated with acute leukaemia (P = 0·01); lower positive IOC with paediatric patients (P < 0·001), white ethnicity (P < 0·001), higher education (P = 0·003), no partner (P = 0·01) and lower social support (P = 0·01). Screening for medical comorbidity, psychological distress and fatigue identifies those needing most support and should allow earlier interventions to address negative and positive IOC to improve the well‐being of cancer survivors.
Fluorescence‐lifetime molecular imaging can detect invisible peritoneal ovarian tumors in bloody ascites
Authors: Nakajima Takahito , Sano Kohei , Sato Kazuhide , Watanabe Rira , Harada Toshiko , Hanaoka Hirofumi , Choyke Peter L. , Kobayashi Hisataka 
Published: December 2013

Blood contamination, such as bloody ascites or hemorrhages during surgery, is a potential hazard for clinical application of fluorescence imaging. In order to overcome this problem, we investigate if fluorescence‐lifetime imaging helps to overcome this problem. Samples were prepared at concentrations ranging 0.3–2.4 μm and mixed with 0–10% of blood. Fluorescence intensities and lifetimes of samples were measured using a time‐domain fluorescence imager. Ovarian cancer SHIN3 cells overexpressing the D‐galactose receptor were injected into the peritoneal cavity 2.5 weeks before the experiments. Galactosyl serum albumin‐rhodamine green (GSA‐RhodG), which bound to the D‐galactose receptor and was internalized thereafter, was administered intraperitoneally to peritoneal ovarian cancer‐bearing mice with various degrees of bloody ascites. In vitro study showed a linear correlation between fluorescence intensity and probe concentration (r2 > 0.99), whereas the fluorescence lifetime was consistent (range, 3.33 ± 0.15–3.75 ± 0.04 ns). By adding 10% of blood to samples, fluorescence intensities decreased to <1%, while fluorescence lifetimes were consistent. In vivo fluorescence lifetime of GSA‐RhodG stained tumors was longer than the autofluorescence lifetime (threshold, 2.87 ns). Tumor lesions under hemorrhagic peritonitis were not depicted using fluorescence intensity imaging; however, fluorescence‐lifetime imaging clearly detected tumor lesions by prolonged lifetimes. In conclusion, fluorescence‐lifetime imaging with GSA‐RhodG depicted ovarian cancer lesions, which were invisible in intensity images, in hemorrhagic ascites.
Parental Care Syndromes in House Sparrows: Positive Covariance Between Provisioning and Defense Linked to Parent Identity
Authors: Wetzel Daniel P. , Westneat David F. 
Published: December 2013

AbstractParents of many species provide multiple forms of care to their offspring. In many birds, parents often provision offspring with food and defend them from predators and/or nest‐site competitors. We tested how these two forms of parental care covary in a wild population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Using a behavioral reaction norm approach, we found that nestling provisioning exhibited between individual differences and positively covaried with a measure of nest defense: the propensity to attack a heterospecific nest box competitor, the European starling (Sturnis vulgaris). This result would seem to support parental investment theory and suggests that high‐provisioning parents have high‐value offspring, which they will defend more vigorously than low‐provisioning parents. In addition, we found that parents with nestlings that hatched earlier in the season and grew faster approached a model starling more frequently and tended to be more likely to strike the starling. However, we also found that although brood value explained significant variation in both nestling provisioning and nest defense, it did not eliminate the positive, between‐individual relationship between provisioning and defense. This suggests that some of the correlation between provisioning and defense is tied to individual identity and hence may be a behavioral syndrome in which differences between individuals in underlying attributes produce correlated behaviors.
The interrelationship of lameness, saddle slip and back shape in the general sports horse population
Authors: Greve L. , Dyson S. J. 
Published: December 2013

SummaryReasons for performing studySaddle slip is usually blamed on saddle fit, crooked riders or horse shape, but may reflect hindlimb lameness. There are no studies of the frequency of occurrence of saddle slip and risk factors within a tested sample population of the general sports horse population.ObjectivesTo quantify the frequency of saddle slip and to describe the association with lameness, thoracolumbar shape/symmetry, crooked riders and ill‐fitting saddles.Study designNonrandom, cross‐sectional survey using convenience sampling.MethodsFive hundred and six sports horses in normal work were assessed prospectively. Thoracolumbar shape/symmetry were measured at predetermined sites; the presence of lameness (in hand and/or ridden) and saddle slip was recorded. Descriptive statistics, univariable and multiple logistic regression were performed to assess the relationship between horse–saddle–rider factors and saddle slip.ResultsThe frequency of lameness, quadrilaterally reduced cranial phase of the stride or stiff, stilted canter was 45.7%, saddle slip 12.3%, left–right thoracolumbar shape asymmetries ≥ coefficient of variance of 8% (1.2 cm) 0.6%; and 103 of 276 riders (37.3%) sat crookedly. The saddle consistently slipped to one side in 24.4% of horses with hindlimb lameness alone, 45.5% of horses with concurrent hindlimb and forelimb lameness, compared with 5.4% with forelimb lameness, 17.4% with stiff, stilted canter, 20% with quadrilaterally reduced cranial phase of stride and 5.5% nonlame horses. Nineteen horses (30.6%) with saddle slip had no detectable hindlimb lameness; however, 14 had a gait abnormality, particularly in canter. Multivariable analysis revealed that saddle slip was significantly associated with hindlimb lameness and gait abnormalities (odds ratio [OR] = 52.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] 17.3–159.7), a saddle fitted with even contact and uniform flocking (OR = 15.49, 95% CI 1.9–125.5), riders sitting crookedly (OR = 6.32, 95% CI 2.9–13.7), a well‐balanced saddle (OR = 3.05, 95% 1.4–6.9) and large back shape ratio at T18 (OR = 1.2, 95% 1.1–1.3).ConclusionsMany horses with hindlimb and/or forelimb lameness go unrecognised. Saddle slip may be a sign of hindlimb lameness. Education of the equestrian population to identify lameness and saddle slip is required.The Summary is available in Chinese – see Supporting information.
Modeling the Effects of Naturally Occurring Organic Carbon on Chlorinated Ethene Transport to a Public Supply Well
Authors: Chapelle Francis H. , Kauffman Leon J. , Widdowson Mark A. 
Published: December 2013

AbstractThe vulnerability of public supply wells to chlorinated ethene (CE) contamination in part depends on the availability of naturally occurring organic carbon to consume dissolved oxygen (DO) and initiate reductive dechlorination. This was quantified by building a mass balance model of the Kirkwood‐Cohansey aquifer, which is widely used for public water supply in New Jersey. This model was built by telescoping a calibrated regional three‐dimensional (3D) MODFLOW model to the approximate capture zone of a single public supply well that has a history of CE contamination. This local model was then used to compute a mass balance between dissolved organic carbon (DOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), and adsorbed organic carbon (AOC) that act as electron donors and DO, CEs, ferric iron, and sulfate that act as electron acceptors (EAs) using the Sequential Electron Acceptor Model in three dimensions (SEAM3D) code. SEAM3D was constrained by varying concentrations of DO and DOC entering the aquifer via recharge, varying the bioavailable fraction of POC in aquifer sediments, and comparing observed and simulated vertical concentration profiles of DO and DOC. This procedure suggests that approximately 15% of the POC present in aquifer materials is readily bioavailable. Model simulations indicate that transport of perchloroethene (PCE) and its daughter products trichloroethene (TCE), cis‐dichloroethene (cis‐DCE), and vinyl chloride (VC) to the public supply well is highly sensitive to the assumed bioavailable fraction of POC, concentrations of DO entering the aquifer with recharge, and the position of simulated PCE source areas in the flow field. The results are less sensitive to assumed concentrations of DOC in aquifer recharge. The mass balance approach used in this study also indicates that hydrodynamic processes such as advective mixing, dispersion, and sorption account for a significant amount of the observed natural attenuation in this system.
Patient–physician communication about early stage prostate cancer: analysis of overall visit structure
Authors: Henry Stephen G. , Czarnecki Danielle , Kahn Valerie C. , Chou Wen‐Ying Sylvia , Fagerlin Angela , Ubel Peter A. , Rovner David R. , Alexander Stewart C. , Knight Sara J. , Holmes‐Rovner Margaret 
Published: December 2013

AbstractBackgroundWe know little about patient–physician communication during visits to discuss diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.ObjectiveTo examine the overall visit structure and how patients and physicians transition between communication activities during visits in which patients received new prostate cancer diagnoses.ParticipantsForty veterans and 18 urologists at one VA medical centre.MethodsWe coded 40 transcripts to identify major communication activities during visits and used empiric discourse analysis to analyse transitions between activities.ResultsWe identified five communication activities that occurred in the following typical sequence: ‘diagnosis delivery’, ‘risk classification’, ‘options talk’, ‘decision talk’ and ‘next steps’. The first two activities were typically brief and involved minimal patient participation. Options talk was typically the longest activity; physicians explicitly announced the beginning of options talk and framed it as their professional responsibility. Some patients were unsure of the purpose of visit and/or who should make treatment decisions.ConclusionVisits to deliver the diagnosis of early stage prostate cancer follow a regular sequence of communication activities. Physicians focus on discussing treatment options and devote comparatively little time and attention to discussing the new cancer diagnosis. Towards the goal of promoting patient‐centred communication, physicians should consider eliciting patient reactions after diagnosis delivery and explaining the decision‐making process before describing treatment options.
Patients with Single Distal MCA Perfusion Lesions Have a High Rate of Good Outcome with or without Reperfusion
Authors: Lemmens Robin , Christensen Søren , Straka Matus , De Silva Deidre A. , Mlynash Michael , Campbell Bruce C. V. , Bammer Roland , Olivot Jean-Marc , Desmond Patricia , Marks Michael P. , Davis Stephen M. , Donnan Geoffrey A. , Albers Gregory W. , Lansberg Maarten G. 
Published: December 2013

Background Reperfusion is associated with good functional outcome after stroke. However, minimal data are available regarding the effect of reperfusion on clinical outcome and infarct growth in patients with distal MCA branch occlusions. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate this association and to determine the impact of the perfusion-diffusion mismatch. Methods Individual patient data from three stroke studies (EPITHET, DEFUSE and DEFUSE 2) with baseline MRI profiles and reperfusion status were pooled. Patients were included if they had a single cortical perfusion lesion on their baseline MRI that was consistent with a distal MCA branch occlusion. Good functional outcome was defined as a score of 0–2 on the modified Rankin Scale at day 90 and infarct growth was defined as change in lesion volume between the baseline DWI and the final T2/FLAIR. Results Thirty patients met inclusion criteria. Eighteen (60%) had a good functional outcome and twenty (67%) had reperfusion. Reperfusion was not associated with good functional outcome in the overall cohort (OR: 1·0, 95% CI 0·2–4·7) and also not in the subset of patients with a PWI-DWI mismatch ( n = 17; OR: 0·7, 95% CI 0·1–5·5). Median infarct growth was modest and not significantly different between patients with (0 ml) and without reperfusion (6 ml); P = 0·2. Conclusion The overall high rate of good outcomes in patients with distal MCA perfusion lesions might obscure a potential benefit from reperfusion in this population. A larger pooled analysis evaluating the effect of reperfusion in patients with distal MCA branch occlusions is warranted as confirmation of our results could have implications for the design of future stroke trials.