Native drivers of fish life history traits are lost during the invasion process

Rapid adaptation to global change can counter vulnerability of species to population declines and extinction. Theoretically, under such circumstances both genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can maintain population fitness, but empirical support for this is currently limited. Here, we aim to characterize the role of environmental and genetic diversity, and their prior evolutionary history (via haplogroup profiles) in shaping patterns of life history traits during biological invasion. Data were derived from both genetic and life history traits including a morphological analysis of 29 native and invasive populations of topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva coupled with climatic variables from each location. General additive models were constructed to explain distribution of somatic growth rate (SGR) data across native and invasive ranges, with model selection performed using Akaike's information criteria. Genetic and environmental drivers that structured the life history of populations in their native range were less influential in their invasive populations. For some vertebrates at least, fitness-related trait shifts do not seem to be dependent on the level of genetic diversity or haplogroup makeup of the initial introduced propagule, nor of the availability of local environmental conditions being similar to those experienced in their native range. As long as local conditions are not beyond the species physiological threshold, its local establishment and invasive potential are likely to be determined by local drivers, such as density-dependent effects linked to resource availability or to local biotic resistance

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Tunable coherent femtosecond X-ray source driven by an intense femtosecond laser

The wavelength tunability of high harmonic generation is presented. By applying intense femtosecond laser pulse to gaseous medium, the wavelengths of high-order harmonics could be tuned. The wavelength shift large enough to cover the interval between adjacent orders was obtained in harmonics from Ar and Ne atoms driven by 25 fs pulses, opening a way to realize a tunable coherent x-ray source

Interaction of intense, femtosecond laser pulse with small-sized Ne clusters

We report the first observation of X-ray emission (4 - 18 nm) from small-sized Ne clusters heated by high-intensity, 25-100 fs laser pulses. The Ne spectrum started to drastically change in emitting ions from Ne5+ to Ne7+ below the pre-expansion temperature of -120 °C. The significant change in the spectrum is attributed to the collisional heating of small-sized Ne clusters formed in the cryogenically cooled gas jet. Though the size of Ne clusters in our experiment is estimated to be quite small, i.e. a few tens of atoms per cluster, and thus they were undetectable by the standard Rayleigh scattering technique, the appearance of spectral lines of Ne7+ ions presented clear evidence of collisional heating that occurred in near-solid-density cluster. By extending the laser pulse length from 25 fs to 100 fs, considerably higher X-ray yield from the highest charge state Ne7+ was observed in the covered spectral region, showing more efficient absorption of 100 fs laser pulse

Investigations on femtosecond-pulse-driven soft X-ray lasers using a gas puff target irradiated with a Ti:Sapphire laser

Experimental investigations on soft x-ray lasers based on optical field ionization of gases with an ultrashort-pulse terawatt laser system are presented. The x-ray laser active medium was created using an elongated gas puff target formed by pulsed injection of a small amount of gas from a high-pressure electromagnetic valve through a nozzle in the form of a slit. The target was irradiated with a laser pulses from a 20-fs. 50-mJ Ti:Sapphire (Ti:S) laser system Both recombination and collisional soft x-ray laser scheme have been studied. Soft x-ray spectra from nitrogen, oxygen, and xenon targets are presented and discussed