Readability of biology textbooks

It was the purpose of this paper to determine the readability of six current sophomore biology textbooks according to Fry\u27s graph for estimating readability. Pages dealing with heredity, botany, zoology, and ecology were selected for readability evaluation. Important physical characteristics of these six books were also compared

Commutators Of Classıcal Operators In A New Vanıshıng Orlıcz-Morrey Space

We study mapping properties of commutators of classical operators of harmonic analysis - commutators of maximal, singular and fractional operators in a new vanishing subspace of Orlicz-Morrey spaces. We show that the vanishing property defining that subspace is preserved under the action of those operators

Characterization of the boundedness of fractional maximal operator and its commutators in Orlicz and generalized Orlicz–Morrey spaces on spaces of homogeneous type

In this paper, we establish the necessary and sufficient conditions for the boundedness of fractional maximal operator Mα and the fractional maximal commutators Mb,α in Orlicz LΦ(X) and generalized Orlicz–Morrey spaces MΦ,φ(X) on spaces of homogeneous type X= (X, d, μ) in the sense of Coifman-Weiss. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG part of Springer Nature

Ecology of wintering Canada geese in the greater Chicago metropolitan area

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) breed in subarctic and temperate areas of North America, but both populations typically winter in temperate regions of the northern United States. During winter, Canada geese are increasingly using urban areas, but data are lacking on habitat use and selection, movements, potential thermal benefits of selected habitats, and survival of Canada geese during late autumn and winter in urban areas. I captured Canada geese during November‒February 2014‒2016 in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area (GCMA) in northeastern, Illinois, USA and fitted 41 geese with solar-powered GPS transmitters. Neck collar-mounted transmitters operated on the cellular phone network and collected hourly locations (n = 39,392). Canada geese selected green spaces (59.8%) in greater proportion than available (14%), but I also documented geese using novel habitats such as rooftops and rail yards (i.e., industrial urban; 11.3%). Habitat use shifted away from green spaces (36%) to industrial urban habitats (10.4%), riverine (12.8%), and deep-water habitats (37.8%) as temperatures decreased below the lower critical limit for Canada geese (i.e., temperature at which increased thermoregulatory costs are incurred to maintain core body temperature). During periods when temperature decreased and snow depth increased geese increasingly used industrial urban habitats. Both snow depth and minimum daily temperatures were associated with decreased movement distances within habitats. Movements by Canada geese within rail yard (x̅ = 224.0 m, SE = 13.0) and green space habitats (x̅ = 145.6 m, SE = 3.4) were the longest for any habitat type, while movements by geese in deep-water habitats (x̅ = 85.7 m, SE = 3) and rooftop habitats (x̅ = 52.9 m, SE = 5.5) were the shortest. When temperatures were below the lower critical temperature (-6 ⁰C) Canada geese transitioned from deep-water to green space habitat in greater proportion than all other possible transitions between habitat types. Proportion of use of green space habitat increased during diurnal hours. Both deep-water and riverine habitats had greater proportional use during earlier morning hours than later in the day. Conversely, proportional use increased from midday to early evening in industrial urban habitat where proportional use increased during midday to early evening. All habitats had similar daily low temperatures, deep-water (+3.5 ⁰C) and industrial urban habitat (+3.2 ⁰C) did have warmer daily high temperatures than green space. The majority of transmittered Canada geese (85%) wintering in the GCMA never migrated south and no geese made foraging flights outside of the GCMA to agricultural fields. Winter survival was 100% for Canada geese remaining in the GCMA and 48% for geese that left the GCMA, with all mortality due to hunting. Since geese did not make foraging flights to agricultural fields, hunting may not be a viable option to reduce urban populations or change movement patterns during winter. Future research should test targeted harassment at industrial urban habitats, such as rooftops and deep-water habitats to see if Canada geese could be forced to leave urban areas

Soil PH and clay content associated with chronic wasting disease in white-tailed deer in northern Illinois

Soil is an important reservoir for chronic wasting disease (CWD) which is a prion disease that infects cervids through both direct contact with infected animals and contact with contaminated environments. I built a boosted regression tree model that accurately predicted (AUC = 0.954) the probability of CWD presence in northern Illinois based on soil characteristics (soil texture, pH, cation exchange capacity, organic matter, and water content), then used the outcome to assess possible pathways by which soil characteristics increase the probability of transmission via environmental contamination. The model indicates CWD is likely to be present where: soil pH is greater than 6.6, percent clay is lower than 20%, cation exchange capacity (CEC) is lower than 15 meq/100g, and soil organic matter is less than 4.5%. Soil pH and the abundance of clays and associated soil organic matter and CEC appear to alter the availability of prions immobilized in soil. The results suggest that exposure to prions through probable routes of infection such as inhalation or ingestion is greatest where pH is greater than 6.6 and the percent clay is less than 20%

Czytanie audiowizualności. O literaturze w cyberprzestrzeni

A review of the book entitled Literature – new media. Homo irretitus in the literary culture of the 20th and 21st centuries (Literatura – nowe media. Homo irretitus w kulturze literackiej XX i XXI wieku) deals with the clash between literature and new media. The book constitutes an academic guide to the world of intermedia narration and cyber-literature. It may serve students, teachers and form tutors as a source of additional knowledge on the convergence of media. The authors reflect widely upon the transformation of both literary creation and the theory dealing with the art of language, as well as upon the changes in the study of literature, books and reading in the 21st century

Gender differences in cancer susceptibility : an inadequately addressed issue

The gender difference in cancer susceptibility is one of the most consistent findings in cancer epidemiology. Hematologic malignancies are generally more common in males and this can be generalized to most other cancers. Similar gender differences in non-malignant diseases including autoimmunity, are attributed to hormonal or behavioral differences. Even in early childhood, however, where these differences would not apply, there are differences in cancer incidence between males and females. In childhood, few cancers are more common in females, but overall, males have higher susceptibility. In Hodgkin lymphoma, the gender ratio reverses towards adolescence. The pattern that autoimmune disorders are more common in females, but cancer and infections in males suggests that the known differences in immunity may be responsible for this dichotomy. Besides immune surveillance, genome surveillance mechanisms also differ in efficiency between males and females. Other obvious differences include hormonal ones and the number of X chromosomes. Some of the differences may even originate from exposures during prenatal development. This review will summarize well-documented examples of gender effect in cancer susceptibility, discuss methodological issues in exploration of gender differences, and present documented or speculated mechanisms. The gender differential in susceptibility can give important clues for the etiology of cancers and should be examined in all genetic and non-genetic association studies

The magnitude of postconvulsive leukocytosis mirrors the severity of periconvulsive respiratory compromise : a single center retrospective study

Background: Generalized epileptic convulsions frequently exhibit transient respiratory symptoms and non-infectious leukocytosis. While these peri-ictal effects appear to arise independently from one another, the possibility that they stem from a common ictal pathophysiological response has yet to be explored. We aimed to investigate whether peri-ictal respiratory symptoms and postictal leukocytosis coexist. Methods: We performed a single center retrospective chart review of 446 patients brought to our emergency department between January 1, 2017 and August 23, 2018 for the care of generalized epileptic convulsions with or without status epilepticus. We included 152 patients who were stratified based on the presence (PeCRC+) or absence (PeCRC-) of overt periconvulsive respiratory compromise (PeCRC). In addition, patients were stratified based on the presence or absence of postconvulsive leukocytosis (PoCL), defined as an initial postconvulsive white blood cell (WBC) count ≥ 11,000 cells/mm3. Triage vital signs, and chest x ray (CXR) abnormalities were also examined. Results: Overt PeCRC was observed in 31.6% of patients, 43% of whom required emergent endotracheal intubations. PoCL was observed in 37.5% of patients, and was more likely to occur in PeCRC+ than in PeCRC- patients (79.2 vs. 18.2%; OR = 17.0; 95% CI = 7.2-40.9; p < 0.001). Notably, the magnitude of PoCL was proportional to the severity of PeCRC, as the postconvulsive WBC count demonstrated a negative correlation with triage hemoglobin oxygen saturation (R = -0.22; p < 0.01; CI = -0.48 to -0.07). Moreover, a receiver operating characteristic analysis of the WBC count's performance as predictor of endotracheal intubation reached a significant area under the curve value of 0.81 (95% CI = 0.71-0.90; p < 0.001). Finally, PeCRC+ patients demonstrated frequent CXR abnormalities, and their postconvulsive WBC counts correlated directly with triage heart rate (R = 0.53; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Our data support the existence of an ictal pathophysiological response, which induces proportional degrees of PoCL and PeCRC. We suggest this response is at least partially propelled by systemic catecholamines

Sexual dimorphism in glioma glycolysis underlies sex differences in survival

The molecular bases for sex differences in cancer remain undefined and how to incorporate them into risk stratification remains undetermined. Given sex differences in metabolism and the inverse correlation between fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and survival, we hypothesized that glycolytic phenotyping would improve glioma subtyping. Using retrospectively acquired lower-grade glioma (LGG) transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we discovered male-specific decreased survival resulting from glycolytic gene overexpression. Patients within this high-glycolytic group showed significant differences in the presence of key genomic alterations (i.e., 1p/19q codeletion, CIC, EGFR, NF1, PTEN, FUBP1, and IDH mutations) compared with the low-glycolytic group. Although glycolytic stratification defined poor prognostic males independent of grade, histology, TP53, and ATRX mutation status, we unexpectedly found that females with high-glycolytic gene expression and wild-type IDH survived longer than all other wild-type patients. Validation with an independent metabolomics dataset from grade 2 gliomas determined that glycolytic metabolites selectively stratified males and also uncovered a potential sexual dimorphism in pyruvate metabolism. These findings identify a potential synergy between patient sex, tumor metabolism, and genomic alterations in determining outcome for glioma patients

Genetic associations of PPARGC1A with Type 2 Diabetes : differences among populations with African origins

The aim of this study was to assess the differences in correlation of PPARGC1A polymorphisms with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk in adults of African origins: African Americans and Haitian Americans. The case-control study consisted of >30 years old, self-identified Haitian Americans (n=110 cases and n=116 controls) and African Americans (n=124 cases and n=122 controls) living in South Florida with and without T2D. Adjusted logistic regression indicated that both SNP rs7656250 (OR = 0.22, P=0.005) and rs4235308 (OR = 0.42, P=0.026) showed protective association with T2D in Haitian Americans. In African Americans, however, rs4235308 showed significant risk association with T2D (OR = 2.53, P=0.028). After stratification with sex, in Haitian Americans, both rs4235308 (OR = 0.38, P=0.026) and rs7656250 (OR = 0.23, P=0.006) showed protective association with T2D in females whereas in African American males rs7656250 had statistically significant protective effect on T2D (OR = 0.37, P=0.043). The trends observed for genetic association of PPARGC1A SNPs, rs4235308, and rs7656250 for T2D between Haitian Americans and African Americans point out differences in Black race and warrant replicative study with larger sample size