404 research outputs found
Landmark based morphometric variation in Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis L.,1758)
In this study we compare Mediterranean stocks of Delphinus
delphis (L., 1758) with other populations of the same species coming from
different seas using a geometric morphometrics method. The aim is to
define the patterns of geographical variation of Delphinus delphis through a
geometric morphometrics analysis of the skulls of 124 individuals from seven
marine areas (West and East Pacific Ocean; North-east and South-East
Atlantic Ocean, West and East Indian Ocean, Mediterranenan Sea)
Are all things created equal? The incidental in archaeology
Archaeologists evince a strong tendency to impute significance to the material traces they study, a propensity that has been especially marked since the post-processual emphasis on meaning and that has taken on renewed vigour with the turn to materiality. But are there not situations in which things are rather incidental or insignificant? This set of essays emerged from a workshop held in Berlin in April 2018, in which a group of scholars was invited to discuss the place of the incidental in social life in general and in archaeology in particular. Rather than lengthy formal papers, we offer an introduction that presents a general set of reflections on the issue of the incidentalness of things, followed by essays that pursue particular directions raised by that introduction as well as our discussions in Berlin. It is our hope that these brief forays into a complex topic will stimulate further work on this subject
Image data banks and geometric morphometrics
This paper examines the opportunities offered by recent
advances in digital image processing to allow access to natural history
museum collections without direct handling of specimens. It specifically refers
to two- and three-dimensional data recording and analysis in the frame of
geometric morphometrics
Virtual Morphology and Evolutionary Morphometrics in the new millenium.
EDITED VOLUME; abstract N/
Geometric morphometric analysis as a tool to explore covariation between shape and other quantitative leaf traits in European white oaks
In this study, 2-Block Partial Least-Squares analysis was used to
explore the pattern of covariation between two sets of leaf morphological data
(landmarks and traditional measures), sampled on 273 trees in a mixed forest
of Quercus frainetto, Q. petraea and Q. pubescens, in southern-central Italy.
Two groups of related variables were detected and the three oak species were
highly significant discriminated by CVA computed on dimensions extracted by
2B-PLS analysis. Q. frainetto was characterized by obovate leaf blade with a
short petiole and leaves were greater than in the other species. Q. petraea
was differentiated by acute basal and apical regions, while Q. pubescens has
higher values of leaf compactness, pubescence and length of trichomes. The
high degree of classification accuracy of this combined approach advocates
its extension to other problematic species and highlights its importance as an
exploratory tool in plant ecology, physiology and taxonomy
Genetic and morphological variation in a Mediterranean glacial refugium: evidence from Italian pygmy shrews, Sorex minutus (Mammalia: Soricomorpha)
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Agreement between physicians and parents in rating functional ability of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>To investigate concordance between physicians and parents in rating the degree of functional ability of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The attending physician and a parent were asked to rate independently the level of physical functioning of 155 patients with disease duration ≥ 5 years on a 6-point scale ranging from 1 = no disability (i.e. the child can do without difficulty all activities that children of his/her age can do) to 6 = severe disability (i.e. all activities are difficult for the child). At study visit, measures of JIA activity and damage were assessed. Agreement was evaluated with weighted kappa (<0.40 = poor agreement; 0.41–0.60 = moderate agreement; 0.61–0.80 = substantial agreement; >0.80 excellent agreement). Physician/parent evaluations were divided in 3 groups: 1) concordance; 2) parent over-rating = parent assessment over-rated relative to physician assessment; 3) physician over-rating = physician assessment over-rated relative to parent assessment. Factors affecting concordance/discordance were evaluated by means of Kruskal-Wallis or Chi-square/Fisher exact test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Concordance, parent over-rating and physician over-rating were observed in 107 (69%), 29 (18.7%) and 19 (12.3%) evaluations, respectively. Kappa value was 0.69. Parent over-rating was associated with greater intensity of pain (p = 0.01) and higher Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ) score (p = 0.004), whereas physician over-rating was associated with more severe joint disease (p = 0.04 to <0.001), higher C-reactive protein (p = 0.03) higher frequency of Steinbrocker functional class = II (p < 0.001), and greater articular damage, as measured with the Juvenile Arthritis Damage Index (p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Physicians and parents revealed fair concordance in rating functional ability of children with JIA. Parent over-rating was associated with greater child's pain and worse C-HAQ score, whereas physician over-rating was associated with greater severity of joint inflammation and damage.</p
Combined measure of salivary alpha-synuclein species as diagnostic biomarker for Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis is still vulnerable to bias, and a definitive diagnosis often relies on post-mortem neuropathological diagnosis. In this regard, alpha-synuclein (αsyn)-specific in vivo biomarkers remain a critical unmet need, based on its relevance in the neuropathology. Specifically, content changes in αsyn species such as total (tot-αsyn), oligomeric (o-αsyn), and phosphorylated (p-αsyn) within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and peripheral fluids (i.e., blood and saliva) have been proposed as PD biomarkers possibly reflecting the neuropathological outcome. Here, we measured the p-αsyn levels in the saliva from 15 PD patients along with tot-αsyn, o-αsyn and their ratios, and compared the results with those from 23 healthy subjects (HS), matched per age and sex. We also calculated the optimal cutoff values for different αsyn species to provide information about their capability to discriminate PD from HS. We found that p-αsyn was the most abundant alpha-synuclein species in the saliva. While p-αsyn concentration did not differ between PD and HS when adjusted for total salivary proteins, the ratio p-αsyn/tot-αsyn was largely lower in PD patients than in HS. Moreover, the concentration of o-αsyn was increased in the saliva of PD patients, and tot-αsyn did not differ between PD and HS. The ROC curves indicated that no single αsyn form or ratio could provide an accurate diagnosis of PD. On the other hand, the ratio of different items, namely p-αsyn/tot-αsyn and o-αsyn, yielded more satisfactory diagnostic accuracy, suggesting that the combined measure of different species in the saliva may show more promises as a diagnostic means for PD
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