bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Low‐dose pioglitazone and low‐dose flutamide added to metformin and oestro‐progestagens for hyperinsulinaemic women with androgen excess: add‐on benefits disclosed by a randomized double‐placebo study over 24 months
Authors: Ibáñez Lourdes , López‐Bermejo Abel , Díaz Marta , Enríquez Goya , Del Río Luis , De Zegher Francis 
Published: November 2008

SummaryContext and aim  Metformin plus oestro‐progestagen is a combination treatment for non‐obese women with hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess. We explored whether low‐dose pioglitazone (Pio) and flutamide (Flu) has readily detectable add‐on effects.Design patients, intervention  Randomized, double‐placebo pilot study over 24 months; 38 women with hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess (mean age 20 years; BMI 23·7 kg/m2); all women received metformin and an oestro‐progestagen for 24 months, and add‐on Flu (62·5 mg/day; 21/28 days) for 18 months. A first randomization was performed at start of the study, for Pio (7·5 mg/day; 21/28 days) vs. Pio‐placebo, with a cross‐over of Pio subgroups at 18 month. A second randomization was performed at 18 months, for Flu vs. Flu‐placebo until 24 months.Main outcomes  Intima media thickness (IMT); body composition by absorptiometry; abdominal fat partitioning by magnetic resonance; circulating glucose, insulin, IGF‐I, androgens, LDL : HDL ratio, RBP4, vaspin.Results  Add‐on effects of Pio included a gain of lean mass (mirrored by a loss of fat) and an accelerated lowering of IMT (P ≤ 0·001). Add‐on effects of flutamide included a further reduction of androgen excess. Between 0 and 18 months, women lost a quarter of their visceral fat (P < 0·001; independently of Pio); beyond 18 months, a rebound of visceral fat occurred in women who had stopped Pio and Flu. Between 0 and 24 months, insulin sensitivity increased, as did circulating RBP‐4 and vaspin (all P = 0·001).Conclusion  Low‐dose Pio and Flu further improve long‐term markers – such as IMT, lean mass and visceral fat – when jointly added to a treatment of metformin plus an oestro‐progestagen in non‐obese women with hyperinsulinaemic androgen excess.
Comprehensive assessment of carbon productivity, allocation and storage in three Amazonian forests
Authors: MALHI YADVINDER , ARAGÃO LUIZ EDUARDO O. C. , METCALFE DANIEL B. , PAIVA ROMILDA , QUESADA CARLOS A. , ALMEIDA SAMUEL , ANDERSON LIANA , BRANDO PAULO , CHAMBERS JEFFREY Q. , Da COSTA ANTONIO C. L. , HUTYRA LUCY R. , OLIVEIRA PAULO , PATIÑO SANDRA , PYLE ELIZABETH H. , ROBERTSON AMANDA L. , TEIXEIRA LILIANE M. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThe allocation and cycling of carbon (C) within forests is an important component of the biospheric C cycle, but is particularly understudied within tropical forests. We synthesise reported and unpublished results from three lowland rainforest sites in Amazonia (in the regions of Manaus, Tapajós and Caxiuanã), all major sites of the Large‐Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Programme (LBA). We attempt a comprehensive synthesis of the C stocks, nutrient status and, particularly, the allocation and internal C dynamics of all three sites. The calculated net primary productivities (NPP) are 10.1±1.4 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (Manaus), 14.4±1.3 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (Tapajós) and 10.0±1.2 Mg C ha−1 yr−1 (Caxiuanã). All errors bars report standard errors. Soil and leaf nutrient analyses indicate that Tapajós has significantly more plant‐available phosphorus and calcium. Autotrophic respiration at all three sites (14.9–21.4 Mg C ha yr−1) is more challenging to measure, with the largest component and greatest source of uncertainty being leaf dark respiration. Comparison of measured soil respiration with that predicted from C cycling measurements provides an independent constraint. It shows general good agreement at all three sites, with perhaps some evidence for measured soil respiration being less than expected. Twenty to thirty percent of fixed C is allocated belowground. Comparison of gross primary productivity (GPP), derived from ecosystem flux measurements with that derived from component studies (NPP plus autotrophic respiration) provides an additional crosscheck. The two approaches are in good agreement, giving increased confidence in both approaches to estimating GPP. The ecosystem carbon‐use efficiency (CUEs), the ratio of NPP to GPP, is similar at Manaus (0.34±0.10) and Caxiuanã (0.32±0.07), but may be higher at Tapajós (0.49±0.16), although the difference is not significant. Old growth or infertile tropical forests may have low CUE compared with recently disturbed and/or fertile forests.
Controls on long‐term root and leaf litter decomposition in neotropical forests
Authors: CUSACK DANIELA F. , CHOU WENDY W. , YANG WENDY H. , HARMON MARK E. , SILVER WHENDEE L. ,   THE LIDET TEAM
Published: November 2008

AbstractLitter decomposition represents one of the largest annual fluxes of carbon (C) from terrestrial ecosystems, particularly for tropical forests, which are generally characterized by high net primary productivity and litter turnover. We used data from the Long‐Term Intersite Decomposition Experiment (LIDET) to (1) determine the relative importance of climate and litter quality as predictors of decomposition rates, (2) compare patterns in root and leaf litter decomposition, (3) identify controls on net nitrogen (N) release during decay, and (4) compare LIDET rates with native species studies across five bioclimatically diverse neotropical forests. Leaf and root litter decomposed fastest in the lower montane rain and moist forests and slowest in the seasonally dry forest. The single best predictor of leaf litter decomposition was the climate decomposition index (CDI), explaining 51% of the variability across all sites. The strongest models for predicting leaf decomposition combined climate and litter chemistry, and included CDI and lignin (R2=0.69), or CDI, N and nonpolar extractives (R2=0.69). While we found no significant differences in decomposition rates between leaf and root litter, drivers of decomposition differed for the two tissue types. Initial stages of decomposition, determined as the time to 50% mass remaining, were driven primarily by precipitation for leaf litter (R2=0.93) and by temperature for root litter (R2=0.86). The rate of N release from leaf litter was positively correlated with initial N concentrations; net N immobilization increased with decreasing initial N concentrations. This study demonstrates that decomposition is sensitive to climate within and across tropical forests. Our results suggest that climate change and increasing N deposition in tropical forests are likely to result in significant changes to decomposition rates in this biome.
Storage and turnover of carbon in grassland soils along an elevation gradient in the Swiss Alps
Authors: LEIFELD JENS , ZIMMERMANN MICHAEL , FUHRER JÜRG , CONEN FRANZ 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAmount, composition, and rate of turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC) in mountainous cold regions is largely unknown, making predictions of future responses of this carbon (C) to changing environmental conditions uncertain. We hypothesized increasing amounts and declining turnover times of soil organic matter (SOM) under permanent grassland with increasing elevation and decreasing temperature. Samples from an irrigated transect in the Swiss Alps (880 to 2200 m elevation, mean annual temperatures +8.9 to +0.9 °C) were analyzed. Soil C stocks ranged from 49 to 96 t C ha−1 (0–20 cm) and were not related to elevation, though the highest site stored least C. Particulate organic carbon (POC) increased significantly with elevation and accounted for > 80% of the total soil C at 2200 m (0–5 cm). Mean residence times (MRTs) of POC computed by means of radiocarbon dating were in the order of years to decades and were positively related to elevation in the topsoil. At higher elevations, the estimated total C flux through the soil profile mainly depended on this fraction. MRT of mineral‐associated matter ranged from decades to centuries and was not systematically related to elevation, but positively related to the soil mineral surface area and it increased with soil depth. Turnover rates from simulations with the soil C model RothC exceeded those from 14C measurements by a factor of 1.7–3.3 which suggests that C dynamics at these sites is overestimated by the model. Size of model pools and amount of C in soil fractions were only weakly correlated, thereby challenging previously postulated hypotheses concerning the correspondence of pools and fractions for grasslands at higher elevations.
Species traits explain recent range shifts of Finnish butterflies
Authors: PÖYRY JUHA , LUOTO MISKA , HEIKKINEN RISTO K. , KUUSSAARI MIKKO , SAARINEN KIMMO 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThis study provides a novel systematic comparative analysis of the species characteristics affecting the range margin shifts in butterflies towards higher latitudes, while taking phylogenetic relatedness among species into account. We related observed changes in the northern range margins of 48 butterfly species in Finland between two time periods (1992–1996 and 2000–2004) to 11 species traits. Species with positive records in at least ten 10 km × 10 km grid squares (in the Finnish National Butterfly Recording Scheme, NAFI) in both periods were included in the study. When corrected for range size change, the 48 butterfly species had shifted their range margins northwards on average by 59.9 km between the study periods, with maximum shifts of over 300 km for three species. This rate of range shifts exceeds all previously reported records worldwide. Our findings may be explained by two factors: the study region is situated in higher latitudes than in most previous studies and it focuses on the period of most prominent warming during the last 10–15 years. Several species traits exhibited a significant univariate relationship with the range margin shift according to generalized estimation equations (GEE) taking into account the phylogenetic relatedness among species. Nonthreatened butterflies had on average expanded their ranges strongly northwards (84.5 km), whereas the distributions of threatened species were stationary (−2.1 km). Hierarchical partitioning (HP) analysis indicated that mobile butterflies living in forest edges and using woody plants as their larval hosts exhibited largest range shifts towards the north. Thus, habitat availability and dispersal capacity of butterfly species are likely to determine whether they will be successful in shifting their ranges in response to the warming climate.
Precipitation pulses enhance respiration of Mediterranean ecosystems: the balance between organic and inorganic components of increased soil CO2 efflux
Authors: INGLIMA I. , ALBERTI G. , BERTOLINI T. , VACCARI F. P. , GIOLI B. , MIGLIETTA F. , COTRUFO M. F. , PERESSOTTI A. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn regions characterized by arid seasons, such as the Mediterranean basin, soil moisture is a major driver of ecosystem CO2 efflux during periods of drought stress. Here, a rain event can induce a disproportional respiratory pulse, releasing an amount of CO2 to the atmosphere that may significantly contribute to the annual ecosystem carbon balance. The mechanisms behind this pulse are unclear, and it is still unknown whether it is due to the stimulation of autotrophic, heterotrophic and/or inorganic CO2 fluxes. On the Mediterranean island of Pianosa, eddy flux measurements showed respiratory pulses after rain events following prolonged drought periods, which occurred in the summer of 2003 and 2006. To investigate the mechanisms of this observed enhanced respiration fluxes and partition of the soil CO2 sources, two water manipulation experiments were performed. The first was designed to estimate the effect of soil rewetting on soil CO2 efflux, in the different ecosystem types existing on the island (i.e. woodland, ex‐agricultural and Mediterranean shrubland). The second was a soil CO2 partitioning experiment to investigate the relative contribution of inorganic and organic CO2 sources to soil respiration, under dry and wet soil conditions. Our results suggest that the pulse in the CO2 efflux is primarily due to the enhancement of heterotrophic respiration, likely caused by the degradation of easily decomposable substrates, accumulated in soils during the dry period. In fact, the vegetation at the site was senescent and did not play any significant role in CO2 exchange, as suggested by the absence of diurnal CO2 uptake in eddy covariance measurements. In addition, soil rewetting did not significantly enhance inorganic CO2 efflux.
Chronic exposure to increasing background ozone impairs stomatal functioning in grassland species
Authors: MILLS GINA , HAYES FELICITY , WILKINSON SALLY , DAVIES WILLIAM J. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractTwo species found in temperate calcareous and mesotrophic grasslands (Dactylis glomerata and Leontodon hispidus) were exposed to eight ozone treatments spanning preindustrial to post‐2100 regimes, and late‐season effects on stomatal functioning were investigated. The plants were grown as a mixed community in 14 L containers and were exposed to ozone in ventilated solardomes (dome‐shaped greenhouses) for 20 weeks from early May to late September 2007. Ozone exposures were based on O3 concentrations from a nearby upland area, and provided the following seasonal 24 h means: 21.4, 39.9 (simulated ambient), 50.2, 59.4, 74.9, 83.3, 101.3 and 102.5 ppb. In both species, stomatal conductance of undamaged inner canopy leaves developing since a midseason cutback increased linearly with increasing background ozone concentration. Imposition of severe water stress by leaf excision indicated that increasing background ozone concentration decreased the ability of leaves to limit water loss, implying impaired stomatal control. The threshold ozone concentrations for these effects were 15–40 ppb above current ambient in upland UK, and were within the range of ozone concentrations anticipated for much of Europe by the latter part of this century. The potential mechanism behind the impaired stomatal functioning was investigated using a transpiration assay. Unlike for lower ozone treatments, apparently healthy green leaves of L. hispidus that had developed in the 101.3 ppb treatment did not close their stomata in response to 1.5 μm abscisic acid (ABA); indeed stomatal opening initially occurred in this treatment. Thus, ozone appears to be disrupting the ABA‐induced signal transduction pathway for stomatal control thereby reducing the ability of plants to respond to drought. These results have potentially wide‐reaching implications for the functioning of communities under global warming where periods of soil drying and episodes of high vapour pressure deficit are likely to be more severe.
Linking seed dispersal and genetic structure of trees: a biogeographical approach
Authors: Voigt Friederike A. , Arafeh Rami , Farwig Nina , Griebeler Eva M. , Böhning‐Gaese Katrin 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAim  Natural and human‐induced differences in frugivore assemblages can influence the seed dispersal distances of trees. An important issue in seed dispersal systems is to understand whether differences in seed dispersal distances also affect the genetic structure of mature trees. One possible approach to test for a relationship between seed dispersal and the genetic structure of mature trees is to compare the genetic structure of two closely related tree species between two biogeographical regions that differ in frugivore assemblages and seed dispersal distances. Previous studies on two Commiphora species revealed that Commiphora guillauminii in Madagascar has a much lower seed dispersal distance than Commiphora harveyi in South Africa. We tested whether the lower seed dispersal distance might have caused decreased gene flow, resulting in a stronger genetic structure in Madagascar than in South Africa.Location  Madagascar and South Africa.Methods  Using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers we investigated the genetic structure of 134 trees in Madagascar and 158 trees in South Africa at a local and a regional spatial scale.Results  In concordance with our hypothesis, kinship analysis suggests that gene flow was restricted mostly to 3 km in Madagascar and to 30 km in South Africa. At the local spatial scale, the genetic differentiation among groups of trees within sample sites was marginally significantly higher in Madagascar (FST = 0.069) than in South Africa (FST = 0.021). However, at a regional spatial scale genetic differentiation was lower in Madagascar (FST = 0.053) than in South Africa (FST = 0.163).Main conclusions  Our results show that lower seed dispersal distances of trees were linked to higher genetic differentiation of trees only at a local spatial scale. This suggests that seed dispersal affects the genetic population structure of trees at a local, but not at a regional, spatial scale.
Speciation chronology of rockhopper penguins inferred from molecular, geological and palaeoceanographic data
Authors: De Dinechin Marc , Ottvall Richard , Quillfeldt Petra , Jouventin Pierre 
Published: November 2008

AbstractAim The Southern Ocean is split into several biogeographical provinces between convergence zones that separate watermasses of different temperatures. Recent molecular phylogenies have uncovered a strong phylogeographic structure among rockhopper penguin populations,Eudyptes chrysocome sensu lato, from different biogeographical provinces. These studies suggested a reclassification as three species in two major clades, corresponding, respectively, to warm, subtropical and cold sub‐Antarctic watermasses rather than to geographic proximity. Such a phylogeographic pattern, also observed in plants, invertebrates and fishes of the Southern Ocean, suggests that past changes in the positions of watermasses may have affected the evolutionary history of penguins. We calculated divergence times among various rockhopper penguin clades and calibrated these data with palaeomagmatic and palaeoceanographic events to generate a speciation chronology in rockhopper penguins.Location Southern Ocean.Methods Divergence times between populations were calculated using five distinct mitochondrial DNA loci, and assuming a molecular clock model as implemented inmdiv. The molecular evolution rate of rockhopper penguins was calibrated using the radiochronological age of St Paul Island and Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Separations within other clades were correlated with palaeoceanographic data using this calibrated rate.Results The split between the Atlantic and Indian populations of rockhopper penguins was dated as 0.25 Ma, using the date of emergence of St Paul and Amsterdam islands, and the divergence between sub‐Antarctic and subtropical rockhopper penguins was dated asc. 0.9 Ma (i.e.during the mid‐Pleistocene transition, a major change in the Earth’s climate cycles).Main conclusions The mid‐Pleistocene transition is known to have caused a major southward shift in watermasses in the Southern Ocean, thus changing the environment around the northernmost rockhopper penguin breeding sites. This ecological isolation of northernmost populations may have caused vicariant speciation, splitting the species into two major clades. After the emergence of St Paul and Amsterdam islands in the subtropical Indian Ocean 0.25 Ma, these islands were colonized by penguins from the subtropical Atlantic, 6000 km away, rather than by penguins from the sub‐Antarctic Indian Ocean, 5000 km closer.
Ideas and thoughts of Italian teachers on the professional future of persons with disability
Authors: Nota L. , Soresi S. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractBackground  The literature places special focus on the quality of life (QoL) of individuals with disability and on their self‐determination and social and work participation. The field of vocational guidance also considers the satisfaction these individuals experience concerning their future crucial to their QoL. At the same time, however, persons with disability are at great risk of not making highly advantageous choices for their future. Hence, teachers and career counsellors can play an important role in vocational guidance for persons with disability.Methods  The present study was aimed at investigating the ideas of a group of teachers asked to describe in writing the future of hypothetical students with disability. Their descriptions were first analysed to verify whether any reference was made to the construct of QoL and whether a significant role was attributed to aspects of work inclusion and work satisfaction. Response category differences were then compared for curricular teachers vs. specialised teachers, elementary school teachers vs. middle school teachers, and low self‐efficacy vs. high self‐efficacy teachers.Results  Teachers describing the future of a hypothetical student with Down's syndrome mentioned some aspects of QoL and emphasised certain features over others. Several category type differences teachers emerged, although not always in line with expectations.Conclusions  Teachers' ideas on the future of individuals with intellectual disability are characterised by a certain bias towards the restrictions that impairment can imply. In consideration of our findings, the need for training actions is highlighted.
Introgressive hybridization of human and rodent schistosome parasites in western Kenya
Authors: STEINAUER MICHELLE L. , HANELT BEN , MWANGI IBRAHIM N. , MAINA GEOFFREY M. , AGOLA LELO E. , KINUTHIA JOSEPH M. , MUTUKU MARTIN W. , MUNGAI BEN N. , WILSON WADE D. , MKOJI GERALD M. , LOKER ERIC S. 
Published: November 2008

AbstractHybridization and introgression can have important consequences for the evolution, ecology and epidemiology of pathogenic organisms. We examined the dynamics of hybridization between a trematode parasite of humans, Schistosoma mansoni, and its sister species, S. rodhaini, a rodent parasite, in a natural hybrid zone in western Kenya. Using microsatellite markers, rDNA and mtDNA, we showed that hybrids between the two species occur in nature, are fertile and produce viable offspring through backcrosses with S. mansoni. Averaged across collection sites, individuals of hybrid ancestry comprised 7.2% of all schistosomes collected, which is a large proportion given that one of the parental species, S. rodhaini, comprised only 9.1% of the specimens. No F1 individuals were collected and all hybrids represented backcrosses with S. mansoni that were of the first or successive generations. The direction of introgression appears highly asymmetric, causing unidirectional gene flow from the rodent parasite, S. rodhaini, to the human parasite, S. mansoni. Hybrid occurrence was seasonal and most hybrids were collected during the month of September over a 2‐year period, a time when S. rodhaini was also abundant. We also examined the sex ratios and phenotypic differences between the hybrids and parental species, including the number of infective stages produced in the snail host and the time of day the infective stages emerge. No statistical differences were found in any of these characteristics, and most of the hybrids showed an emergence pattern similar to that of S. mansoni. One individual, however, showed a bimodal emergence pattern that was characteristic of both parental species. In conclusion, these species maintain their identity despite hybridization, although introgression may cause important alterations of the biology and epidemiology of schistosomiasis in this region.