Capitalizing on stereotypes

While walking through the isle of never ending glossy magazine covers, one can easily notice the differences between men\u27s and women\u27s magazines. It is not something that people notice right away, but it is something worth looking at. Obviously, the magazine industry creates the covers of its magazines, as well as the articles, to attract people to buy its magazines. Through flashy covers and screaming tag lines men and women alike are overwhelmed with pressure to buy various magazines. Magazines almost stare at you from the stands at supermarket check out aisles. Words such as make-up, sex, beer, diet, and beautiful grab your attention, almost hypnotizing you with their glow. Women half naked on men’s covers have breasts they flaunt, push up, or wear in under-wired and padded bras, or cosmetically enhance (Timson). These scantily clad women are wearing the Playmate of the Year bathing suit and advertising diets, beer, sex and gadgets to men everywhere. Women’s magazines have similar appeal. The tag lines read of love, romance, sexual pleasures, and beauty. Beautifully dressed women fill the cover and almost show women that they to could look like the model on the cover. All they have to do is buy this magazine. These screaming tag lines and beautiful women are enticing men and women alike to pick up the magazine and read

Correlation between survival in water and persistence of infectivity in soil of Heterorhabditis spp. isolates

Persistence in soil of ten isolates of three species of Heterorhabditis was monitored by baiting the soil with insects and recording their mortality. Infective juveniles (IJ) of the same ten isolates were also incubated in tap water and their survival recorded. Both tests were conducted in the laboratory at 20±C. Inter- and intraspecific differences in persistence were detected: H. bacteriophora HI was the most persistent isolate in both media. There was no clear division between H. megidis (North West European Group) and H. downesi, but isolates of H. downesi tended to be less persistent than those of H. megidis. Nematodes persisted longer in soil than in water: after 180 days in water, all IJ were dead in seven of the ten isolates, whereas all isolates still killed insects after 265 days in soil. Persistence of isolates in soil (indicated by LT50, the time that nematode-infestedsoil retained the ability to kill 50% of the bait insects) was correlated with their survival in water (represented by ST50, the time at which 50% of the IJ were still alive), with r2 D 0:84, indicating that similar factors were responsible for the reduction in each parameter

Post-Fire Succession and Montezuma Quail in a Semi-Desert Grassland of Southeast Arizona

A 1,011.7-ha wildfire occurred in southeast Arizona in May 2009 and provided an opportunity to evaluate pre- and post-fire abundance of and habitat use by Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae) through use of flush surveys and radiotelemetry. We evaluated movements of radio-marked quail from 2 months prior to the burn to 12 months post-burn. We observed strong site fidelity with coveys persisting in small patches of unburned areas and micro-topography, despite extensive reduction in cover in the surrounding landscape. We documented 46.7% reduction in abundance using flush counts within the first 2 weeks post-fire, and 66.7% reduction within 3 weeks post-fire. We also documented roosting within a fire-affected area and successful nesting by Montezuma quail a few months following a wildfire

Intrauterine exposure to mild analgesics is a risk factor for development of male reproductive disorders in human and rat

International audienceBACKGROUND: More than half of pregnant women in the Western world report intake of mild analgesics, and some of these drugs have been associated with anti-androgenic effects in animal experiments. Intrauterine exposure to anti-androgens is suspected to contribute to the recent increase in male reproductive problems, and many of the anti-androgenic compounds are like the mild analgesics potent inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis. Therefore, it appears imperative to further investigate the potential endocrine disrupting properties of mild analgesics. METHODS: In a prospective birth cohort study, 2297 Danish and Finnish pregnant women completed a questionnaire and 491 of the Danish mothers participated in a telephone interview, reporting on their use of mild analgesics during pregnancy. The testicular position of newborns was assessed by trained paediatricians. In rats, the impact of mild analgesics on anogenital distance (AGD) after intrauterine exposure was examined together with the effect on ex vivo gestational day 14.5 testes. RESULTS: In the Danish birth cohort, the use of mild analgesics was dose-dependently associated with congenital cryptorchidism. In particular, use during the second trimester increased the risk. This risk was further increased after the simultaneous use of different analgesics. The association was not found in the Finnish birth cohort. Intrauterine exposure of rats to paracetamol led to a reduction in the AGD and mild analgesics accordingly reduced testosterone production in ex vivo fetal rat testes. CONCLUSION: There was an association between the timing and the duration of mild analgesic use during pregnancy and the risk of cryptorchidism. These findings were supported by anti-androgenic effects in rat models leading to impaired masculinization. Our results suggest that intrauterine exposure to mild analgesics is a risk factor for development of male reproductive disorders

Molecular Diagnostics for Lassa Fever at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Nigeria: Lessons Learnt from Two Years of Laboratory Operation

Background: Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever endemic in West Africa. However, none of the hospitals in the endemic areas of Nigeria has the capacity to perform Lassa virus diagnostics. Case identification and management solely relies on non-specific clinical criteria. The Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) in the central senatorial district of Edo State struggled with this challenge for many years. Methodology/Principal Findings A laboratory for molecular diagnosis of Lassa fever, complying with basic standards of diagnostic PCR facilities, was established at ISTH in 2008. During 2009 through 2010, samples of 1,650 suspected cases were processed, of which 198 (12%) tested positive by Lassa virus RT-PCR. No remarkable demographic differences were observed between PCR-positive and negative patients. The case fatality rate for Lassa fever was 31%. Nearly two thirds of confirmed cases attended the emergency departments of ISTH. The time window for therapeutic intervention was extremely short, as 50% of the fatal cases died within 2 days of hospitalization—often before ribavirin treatment could be commenced. Fatal Lassa fever cases were older (p = 0.005), had lower body temperature (p<0.0001), and had higher creatinine (p<0.0001) and blood urea levels (p<0.0001) than survivors. Lassa fever incidence in the hospital followed a seasonal pattern with a peak between November and March. Lassa virus sequences obtained from the patients originating from Edo State formed—within lineage II—a separate clade that could be further subdivided into three clusters. Conclusions/Significance: Lassa fever case management was improved at a tertiary health institution in Nigeria through establishment of a laboratory for routine diagnostics of Lassa virus. Data collected in two years of operation demonstrate that Lassa fever is a serious public health problem in Edo State and reveal new insights into the disease in hospitalized patients.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Multitaxonomic Diversity Patterns along a Desert Riparian–Upland Gradient

Riparian areas are noted for their high biodiversity, but this has rarely been tested across a wide range of taxonomic groups. We set out to describe species richness, species abundance, and community similarity patterns for 11 taxonomic groups (forbs & grasses, shrubs, trees, solpugids, spiders, scarab beetles, butterflies, lizards, birds, rodents, and mammalian carnivores) individually and for all groups combined along a riparian–upland gradient in semiarid southeastern Arizona, USA. Additionally, we assessed whether biological characteristics could explain variation in diversity along the gradient using five traits (trophic level, body size, life span, thermoregulatory mechanism, and taxonomic affiliation). At the level of individual groups diversity patterns varied along the gradient, with some having greater richness and/or abundance in riparian zones whereas others were more diverse and/or abundant in upland zones. Across all taxa combined, riparian zones contained significantly more species than the uplands. Community similarity between riparian and upland zones was low, and beta diversity was significantly greater than expected for most taxonomic groups, though biological traits explained little variance in diversity along the gradient. These results indicate heterogeneity amongst taxa in how they respond to the factors that structure ecological communities in riparian landscapes. Nevertheless, across taxonomic groups the overall pattern is one of greater species richness and abundance in riparian zones, coupled with a distinct suite of species