bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Population diversification in a yeast metabolic program promotes anticipation of environmental shifts
Authors: Venturelli Ophelia S. , Zuleta Ignacio , Murray Richard M. , El-Samad Hana 
Published: February 2014

ABSTRACTDelineating the strategies by which cells contend with combinatorial changing environments is crucial for understanding cellular regulatory organization. When presented with two carbon sources, microorganisms first consume the carbon substrate that supports the highest growth rate (e.g. glucose) and then switch to the secondary carbon source (e.g. galactose), a paradigm known as the Monod model. Sequential sugar utilization has been attributed to transcriptional repression of the secondary metabolic pathway, followed by activation of this pathway upon depletion of the preferred carbon source. In this work, we challenge this notion. AlthoughSaccharomyces cerevisiaecells consume glucose before galactose, we demonstrate that the galactose regulatory pathway is activated in a fraction of the cell population hours before glucose is fully consumed. This early activation reduces the time required for the population to transition between the two metabolic programs and provides a fitness advantage that might be crucial in competitive environments. Importantly, these findings define a new paradigm for the response of microbial populations to combinatorial carbon sources.
Photoperiodic Control of Carbon Distribution during the Floral Transition inArabidopsis
Authors: Ortiz-Marchena M. Isabel , Albi Tomás , Lucas-Reina Eva , Said Fatima E. , Romero-Campero Francisco J. , Cano Beatriz , Ruiz M. Teresa , Romero José M. , Valverde Federico 
Published: February 2014

AbstractFlowering is a crucial process that demands substantial resources. Carbon metabolism must be coordinated with development through a control mechanism that optimizes fitness for any physiological need and growth stage of the plant. However, how sugar allocation is controlled during the floral transition is unknown. Recently, the role of a CONSTANS (CO) ortholog (Cr-CO) in the control of the photoperiod response in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and its influence on starch metabolism was demonstrated. In this work, we show that transitory starch accumulation and glycan composition during the floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana are regulated by photoperiod. Employing a multidisciplinary approach, we demonstrate a role for CO in regulating the level and timing of expression of the GRANULE BOUND STARCH SYNTHASE (GBSS) gene. Furthermore, we provide a detailed characterization of a GBSS mutant involved in transitory starch synthesis and analyze its flowering time phenotype in relation to its altered capacity to synthesize amylose and to modify the plant free sugar content. Photoperiod modification of starch homeostasis by CO may be crucial for increasing the sugar mobilization demanded by the floral transition. This finding contributes to our understanding of the flowering process.
Treatment of ingrown nail with a special device composed of shape‐memory alloy
Authors: Park Se‐Won , Park Ji‐Ho , Lee Jong‐Hee , Lee Dong‐Youn , Lee Joo‐Heung , Yang Jun‐Mo 
Published: February 2014

AbstractIngrown nail is a common nail problem resulting in pain and disability in daily life. Recently, a new treatment modality for an ingrown nail was reported that used a device composed of shape‐memory alloy, K‐D. The aim of the present study was to determine the efficacy, recurrence rate and complications of K‐D. Between June 2010 and September 2012, 24 patients (31 nails) underwent treatment of symptomatic incurved nails with a K‐D. Patients were evaluated at pretreatment and during every visit. The mean age of the patients involved was 43.4 years. The mean period of follow up was 161 days. The mean maintenance period was 41 days. The right first toenail was the most common site. Almost ingrown nails healed and the nail deformity was corrected after the procedure. Among the 31 nails, seven of the ingrown nails recurred during follow up (22.6% recurrence rate). The recurrence rate of the patients with stage 1, 2 and 3 ingrown nails was 22.2%, 33.3% and 14.2%, respectively. The majority of patients were very satisfied. There were no side‐effects in most patients except loss of nail in one patient. K‐D has some advantages such as simple application steps, no deformity after the procedure, high patient satisfaction and obvious effect compared to other non‐invasive and invasive methods.
Differential sensitivities of grassland structural components to changes in precipitation mediate productivity response in a desert ecosystem
Authors: Reichmann Lara G. , Sala Osvaldo E. 
Published: February 2014

Summary

In arid and semi‐arid ecosystems, there are legacies of previous‐year precipitation on current‐year above‐ground net primary production. We hypothesized that legacies of past precipitation occur through changes in tiller density, stolon density, tiller growth, axillary bud density and percentage of viable axillary buds. We examined the sensitivity to current‐ and previous‐year precipitation of these grassland structural components in Bouteloua eriopoda, the dominant grass in the northern Chihuahuan Desert.

We conducted a rainfall manipulation experiment consisting in −80% reduced precipitation, ambient, +80% increased precipitation treatments that were subjected to one of five precipitation levels in the previous two years (−80% and −50% reduced precipitation, ambient, +50% and +80% increased precipitation). The first two years preconditioned the experimental plots for year three, in which we created wet‐to‐dry and dry‐to‐wet transitions. Measurements were taken in year 3.

We found that stolon density was the most sensitive to changes in precipitation and that percent‐active buds were insensitive.

We also found that past precipitation had a significant legacy on grassland structural components regardless of the precipitation received in the current year, and that the legacy occurs mostly through changes in stolon density.

Here, we showed that there is a differential sensitivity of structural components to current and past precipitation and supported previous findings that vegetation structure is one of the controls of productivity during precipitation transitions.
Is there a ‘browse trap’? Dynamics of herbivore impacts on trees and grasses in an African savanna
Authors: Staver Ann Carla , Bond William J. 
Published: February 2014

Summary

Despite widespread acknowledgement that large mammal herbivory can strongly affect vegetation structure in savanna, we still lack a theoretical and practical understanding of savanna dynamics in response to herbivory.

Like fire, browsing may impose height‐structured recruitment limitations on trees (i.e. a ‘browse trap’), but the demographics of herbivore effects have rarely been considered explicitly. Evidence that cohorts of trees in savannas may establish during herbivore population crashes and persist long term in savanna landscapes is anecdotal.

Here, we use an experimental approach in Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in South Africa, examining the response of grass biomass and tree populations to 10 years of graduated herbivore exclusion, and their subsequent response when exclosures were removed.

We found that grazer exclusion increased grass biomass and that, despite presumable increases in fire intensity and grass competition, herbivore – especially mesoherbivore, including impala and nyala – exclusion resulted in increases in tree size. After herbivore reintroduction, grazers reduced grass biomass over short time‐scales, but tree release from browsing persisted, regardless of tree size.

Synthesis. This work provides the first experimental evidence that release from browsing trumps grazer–grass–fire interactions to result in increases in tree size that persist even after browser reintroduction. Escape from the ‘browse trap’ may be incremental and not strictly episodic, but, over longer time‐scales, reductions in browsing pressure may lead to tree establishment events in savanna that persist even during periods of intense browsing. Explicitly considering the temporal demographic effects of browsing will be the key for a much‐needed evaluation of the potential global extent of herbivore impacts in savanna.
Multi‐century reconstruction of fire activity in Northern European boreal forest suggests differences in regional fire regimes and their sensitivity to climate
Authors: Drobyshev Igor , Granström Anders , Linderholm Hans W. , Hellberg Erik , Bergeron Yves , Niklasson Mats 
Published: February 2014

Summary

Forest fires are one of the main disturbance agents in boreal and temperate ecosystems. To decipher large‐scale temporal and spatial patterns of past fire activity in Scandinavia, we analysed the synchronicity of dendrochoronologically reconstructed fire events in a large network of sites (n = 62; 3296 samples, 392 individual fire years) covering a wide geographical gradient (56.5–67.0° N and 9.3–20.5° E) over AD 1400–1900. We identified large fire years (LFY) as years with regionally increased forest fire activity and located the geographical centres of climatic anomalies associated with synchronous LFY occurrence across the region, termed LFY centroids.

The spatial pattern of LFY centroids indicated the presence of two regions with climatically mediated synchronicity of fire occurrence, located south and north from 60° N. The return intervals of LFYs in Scandinavia followed a Weibull distribution in both regions. Intervals, however, differed: a period of 40 years would carry a 0.93 probability of LFY occurrence in the southern region, but only a 0.48 probability of LFY occurrence in the northern region.

Over 1420–1759, the northern region was characterized by significantly higher temporal variability in LFY occurrence than the southern region. Temporal correlation of LFYs with reconstructed average summer temperature and total precipitation was evident mainly for the northern region. LFYs in this region were associated with positive temperature and negative precipitation anomalies over Scandinavia and with colder and wetter conditions in more southern parts of the European subcontinent.

Synthesis. Historical patterns of the occurrence of large fire years (LFY) in Scandinavia point towards the presence of two well‐defined zones with characteristic fire activity, with the geographical division at approximately 60° N. The northern and mid‐boreal forests, although exhibiting lower LFY frequencies, appeared to be more sensitive to past summer climate, as compared to the southern boreal forests. This would imply that fire regimes across Scandinavia may show an asynchronous response to future climate changes.
Management and outcomes for elderly women with vulvar cancer over time
Authors: Rauh‐Hain JA , Clemmer J , Clark RM , Bradford LS , Growdon WB , Goodman A , Boruta DM , Dizon DS , Schorge JO , del Carmen MG 
Published: February 2014

ObjectiveTo examine changes over time in survival and treatment for women diagnosed with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.DesignRetrospective analysis.SettingUSA, data obtained from the SEER Program for 1988–2009.PopulationWomen with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.MethodsWomen were stratified by age: <50, 50–64, 65–79, and ≥80 years. Differences in survival and treatment patterns were analysed between age groups. Multivariate logistic regression models were constructed to examine treatment patterns. Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards survival methods were used to assess survival.Main outcome measuresVital status from the date of diagnosis until death, censoring or last follow‐up.ResultsThe final study group consisted of 8553 women, 1806 (21.12%) <50 years, 2141 (25.03%) 50–64 years, 2585 (30.22%) 65–79 years, and 2021 (23.63%) >80 years old. After adjusting for patient and tumour characteristics, older women were less likely to have surgery and more likely to receive radiotherapy. Compared with women under 50 years, women 50–64 had a two‐fold higher risk of death (HR 1.91, 95% CI 1.55–2.34); those 65–79 years had a four‐fold higher risk of death (HR 4.01, 95% CI 3.32–4.82), and those ≥80 years had a seven‐fold higher risk of death (HR 6.98, 95% CI 5.77–8.46). These trends stayed relatively constant over the time periods studied.ConclusionsWomen over 50 years are at a higher risk of vulvar cancer‐specific mortality, which increases with age. These trends stayed relatively constant over the time periods studied.
Cannabis use during pregnancy in France in 2010
Authors: Saurel‐Cubizolles M‐J , Prunet C , Blondel B 
Published: February 2014

ObjectiveThe aim was to estimate the proportion of women who reported cannabis use during pregnancy, to analyse the demographic and social characteristics of users, and the link between cannabis use and either preterm or small‐for‐gestational‐age birth.DesignData were obtained from interviews of a representative sample of women giving birth in France in 2010 in the days after delivery, and from their medical records.SettingAll maternity units in France.SampleThe analysis includes women with live singleton births in metropolitan France who responded to the question about cannabis use during pregnancy: in total, 13 545 women.MethodsThe percentage of cannabis users during pregnancy was estimated, and variations according to social characteristics were described. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate any associations between cannabis use and preterm birth or small‐for‐gestational‐age status.Main outcome measuresPercentage of cannabis use, preterm birth rate, and small‐for‐gestational‐age rate.ResultsIn all, 1.2% of women reported having used cannabis during pregnancy. This percentage was higher among younger women, women living alone, or women who had a low level of education or low income. It was also associated with tobacco use and drinking alcohol. Cannabis users had higher rates of spontaneous preterm births: 6.4 versus 2.8%, for an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 2.15 (95% CI 1.10–4.18). The corresponding aOR was 2.64 (95% CI 1.12–6.22) among tobacco smokers and 1.22 (95% CI 0.29–5.06) among non‐tobacco smokers.ConclusionsAlthough the reported rate of cannabis use during pregnancy in France is low, efforts should be continued to inform women and healthcare providers about the potential consequences of its use.
Risk and the Arborist in the Remaking of the Australian Urban Forest
Authors: DAVISON AIDAN , KIRKPATRICK JAMES BARRIE 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe emerging profession of arboriculture has influenced Australian urban landscapes over the past decade. Arborists manage the urban forest as a core component of urban sustainability. We analyse qualitative interviews with 53 professionals involved in tree management in six eastern Australian cities to determine the ways in which a concern with risk management has shaped both the urban forest and the professional status and role of arborists. We found tree‐related risk has, in part, worked against urban greening by reducing tree size. However, an emerging risk culture has encouraged the development of the profession of arboriculture, which, in turn, has pioneered sophisticated ways, familiar to neither engineers nor ecologists, of ensuring the cohabitation of people and trees.
Recent Change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population and Housing Geographies
Authors: BIDDLE NICHOLAS , PROUT SARAH 
Published: February 2014

AbstractThe intercensal period (2006–2011) was a time of significant policy and population change in Indigenous affairs. The aim of this paper is to document the changing distribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and housing geographies over that period. We use the Indigenous Region structure developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show that Indigenous Australians grew at a rate that significantly outstrips the non‐Indigenous population with an increasing concentration of the Indigenous population on the urban eastern seaboard and particularly among older people. We present results that show that for certain measures, the housing situation of the Indigenous population in 2011 had improved relative to the Indigenous population in 2006. A smaller proportion of Indigenous households were estimated to live in an overcrowded dwelling compared with Indigenous households in 2006. There were also significant increases in the per cent of Indigenous households that owned or were purchasing their own home. Other results might be seen as less positive with community housing (a tenure type identified as having benefits in both qualitative and quantitative analysis) declining in importance. In net terms though, Indigenous households continue to experience a high degree of housing need. Compared with other households, they were 3.7 times as likely to live in an overcrowded dwelling.
Embryo Selection for Cognitive Enhancement: Curiosity or Game‐changer?
Authors: Shulman Carl , Bostrom Nick 
Published: February 2014

AbstractHuman capital is an important determinant of individual and aggregate economic outcomes, and a major input to scientific progress. It has been suggested that advances in genomics may open up new avenues to enhance human intellectual abilities genetically, complementing environmental interventions such as education and nutrition. One way to do this would be via embryo selection in the context of in vitro fertilization (IVF). In this article, we analyze the feasibility, timescale, and possible societal impacts of embryo selection for cognitive enhancement. We find that embryo selection, on its own, may have significant (but likely not drastic) impacts over the next 50 years, though large effects could accumulate over multiple generations. However, there is a complementary technology – stem cell‐derived gametes – which has been making rapid progress and which could amplify the impact of embryo selection, enabling very large changes if successfully applied to humans.
Bias from heterogeneous usage of space in spatially explicit capture–recapture analyses
Authors: Efford Murray G. 
Published: February 2014

SummaryRoyleet al. (Methods in Ecology and Evolution,,4, 520) proposed a spatially explicit capture–recapture (SECR) model in which an animal's usage of a site, and hence its probability of detection, depends on a function of site‐specific covariates normalized using a weighted sum of such values across the animal's home range.From simulations supposedly based on the model, they drew the conclusion that existing methods will produce ‘extremely biased’ estimates of population size when animals use space selectively. This conclusion is faulty because they simulated data from a different model, omitting the normalization needed to represent selection of resources at the home‐range level.New simulations show that the null SECR estimator of population size is nearly unbiased for low to moderate levels of selective space use when the generating model includes normalization. Including detector‐level covariates of detection, as allowed in standard software, nearly eliminates bias due to strongly selective space use, whether or not the generating model includes normalization.
MLST@SNaP: user‐friendly software for simplification of multilocus sequence typing and dissemination of microbial population analyses
Authors: Soares Inês , Araujo Ricardo 
Published: February 2014

Summary

Microbial multilocus sequence typing is a course‐grained approach for classifying micro‐organisms that involves intense gene sequencing, limiting its application in clinical and research laboratories. Multiplexes targeting single‐nucleotide polymorphisms might replace this impractical method by providing the SNaP profile. We here describe mlst@snap, a fast, user‐friendly and automated process to convert thousands of MLST sequences or sequence types into SNaP profiles and vice versa. The software largely increases the promptness of microbial population data analyses, being presently designed for the micro‐organisms Aspergillus fumigatus, Burkholderia cenocepacia, Burkholderia cepacia, Burkholderia contaminans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

mlst@snap is freely available for macintosh, unix and windows systems as supplementary material of this manuscript, at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/kc4fwabtb8lu1/setupMLST%40SNaP and http://www.portugene.com/MLSTSNaP.html accompanied by tutorial, example files and some data.
Climate change increases risk of fusarium ear blight on wheat in central China
Authors: Zhang X. , Halder J. , White R.P. , Hughes D.J. , Ye Z. , Wang C. , Xu R. , Gan B. , Fitt B.D.L. 
Published: February 2014

AbstractTo estimate potential impact of climate change on wheat fusarium ear blight (FEB), simulated weather for the A1B climate change scenario was input into a model for estimating FEB in central China. In this article, a logistic weather‐based regression model for estimating incidence of wheat FEB in central China was developed, using up to 10 years (2001–2010) of disease, anthesis date and weather data available for 10 locations in Anhui and Hubei provinces. In the model, the weather variables were defined with respect to the anthesis date for each location in each year. The model suggested that incidence of FEB is related to number of days of rainfall in a 30‐day period after anthesis and that high temperatures before anthesis increase the incidence of disease. Validation was done to test whether this relationship was satisfied for another five locations in Anhui province with FEB data for 4–5 years but no nearby weather data, using simulated weather data obtained employing the regional climate modelling system PRECIS. How climate change may affect wheat anthesis date and FEB in central China was investigated for period 2020–2050 using wheat growth model Sirius and climate data simulated using PRECIS. The projection suggested that wheat anthesis dates will generally be earlier and FEB incidence will increase substantially for most locations.
Recent Radiation within Y‐chromosomal Haplogroup R‐M269 Resulted in High Y‐STR Haplotype Resemblance
Authors: Larmuseau Maarten H. D. , Vanderheyden Nancy , Van Geystelen Anneleen , van Oven Mannis , de Knijff Peter , Decorte Ronny 
Published: February 2014

SummaryY‐chromosomal short tandem repeats (Y‐STRs) are often used in addition to Y‐chromosomal single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (Y‐SNP) to detect subtle patterns in a population genetic structure. There are, however, indications for Y‐STR haplotype resemblance across different subhaplogroups within haplogroup R1b1b2 (R‐M269) which may lead to erosion in the observation of the population genetic pattern. Hence the question arises whether Y‐STR haplotypes are still informative beyond high‐resolution Y‐SNP genotyping for population genetic studies. To address this question, we genotyped the Y chromosomes of more than 1000 males originating from the West‐European regions of Flanders (Belgium), North‐Brabant and Limburg (the Netherlands) at the highest resolution of the current Y‐SNP tree together with 38 commonly used Y‐STRs. We observed high resemblance of Y‐STR haplotypes between males belonging to different subhaplogroups of haplogroup R‐M269. Several subhaplogroups within R‐M269 could not be distinguished from each other based on differences in Y‐STR haplotype variation. The most likely hypothesis to explain this similarity of Y‐STR haplotypes within the population of R‐M269 members is a recent radiation where various subhaplogroups originated within a relatively short time period. We conclude that high‐resolution Y‐SNP typing rather than Y‐STR typing might be more useful to study population genetic patterns in (Western) Europe.