2,343 research outputs found
First documented record of a living solemyid bivalve in a pockmark of the Nile Deep-sea Fan (eastern Mediterranean Sea)
A living specimen of a solemyid bivalve was collected at bathyal depths near a pockmark in the Nile Deep-sea Fan (eastern Mediterranean) and is here presented. Both taxonomic and molecular results suggest a Solemya species but due to the small size of the animal and the lack of molecular data for other solemyid species the species cannot be determined. This is the first record of a living solemyid from deep-sea cold seeps in the Mediterranean Basin.FCT - SFRH/ BPD/64154/2009ANR DEEP-OASES - ANRO6BDV005CHEMECO ESF EURODEEPMPG-CNRS-GDRE - DIWOO
Impact of the Assimilation of Hyperspectral Infrared Retrieved Profiles on Advanced Weather and Research Model Simulations of a Non-Convective Wind Event
Non-convective wind events commonly occur with passing extratropical cyclones and have significant societal and economic impacts. Since non-convective winds often occur in the absence of specific phenomena such as a thunderstorm, tornado, or hurricane, the public are less likely to heed high wind warnings and continue daily activities. Thus non-convective wind events result in as many fatalities as straight line thunderstorm winds. One physical explanation for non-convective winds includes tropopause folds. Improved model representation of stratospheric air and associated non-convective wind events could improve non-convective wind forecasts and associated warnings. In recent years, satellite data assimilation has improved skill in forecasting extratropical cyclones; however errors still remain in forecasting the position and strength of extratropical cyclones as well as the tropopause folding process. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of assimilating satellite temperature and moisture retrieved profiles from hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders (i.e. Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared and Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)) on the model representation of the tropopause fold and an associated high wind event that impacted the Northeast United States on 09 February 2013. Model simulations using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (ARW) were conducted on a 12-km grid with cycled data assimilation mimicking the operational North American Model (NAM). The results from the satellite assimilation run are compared to a control experiment (without hyperspectral IR retrievals), 32-km North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) interpolated to a 12-km grid, and 13-km Rapid Refresh analyses
Identification of stingless bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Kenya using Morphometrics and DNA barcoding
Stingless bees are important pollinators of wild plants and crops. The identity of stingless bee species in Africa has not been fully documented. The present study explored the utility of morphometrics and DNA barcoding for identification of African stingless bee populations, and to further employ these tools to identify potential cryptic variation within species. Stingless bee samples were collected from three ecological zones, namely Kakamega Forest, Mwingi and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, which are geographically distant and cover high, medium and low altitudes, respectively. Forewing and hind leg morphometric characters were measured to determine the extent of morphological variation between the populations. DNA barcodes were generated from the mitochondrial cytochrome c-oxidase I (COI) gene. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on the morphometric measurements separated the bee samples into three clusters: (1) Meliponula bocandei; (2) Meliponula lendliana + Plebeina hildebrandti; (3) Dactylurina schmidti + Meliponula ferruginea black + Meliponula ferruginea reddish brown, but Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) separated all the species except the two morphospecies (M. ferruginea reddish brown and black). The analysis of the COI sequences showed that DNA barcoding can be used to identify all the species studied and revealed remarkable genetic distance (7.3%) between the two M. ferruginea morphs. This is the first genetic evidence that M. ferruginea black and M. ferruginea reddish brown are separate species
Patient Demographics in Acute Care Surgery at the Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai
Acute Care Surgery is a discipline that includes trauma care, surgical critical care, and emergency surgery. It is organized in different models and provides mainly operative and nonoperative care. The aim of this study was to provide a demographic analysis of the care of surgical patients at the Emergency Department (ED) in a large teaching hospital in Shanghai, where general surgeons and orthopedic surgeons take care for most of all acute surgery. A bilingual questionnaire was developed to collect data for patients referred to the general or orthopedic surgeon in the ED (June–September 2008). Data about the gender, age, diagnosis, diagnostic tools, treatments, and outcomes were collected. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected; the most common diagnoses of patients were infections of abdominal organs and fractures. Complementary diagnostics like X-ray (59%), blood tests (36%), and ultrasound (17%) were frequently used. More than half of the patients were discharged afterwards most of them with followup. This study gives a first overview of acute care surgery of the emergency patients of the ED in a large Chinese metropolitan hospital
Mining and analysis of audiology data to find significant factors associated with tinnitus masker
Objectives: The objective of this research is to find the factors associated with tinnitus masker from the literature, and by using the large amount of audiology data available from a large NHS (National Health Services, UK) hearing aid clinic. The factors evaluated were hearing impairment, age, gender, hearing aid type, mould and clinical comments.
Design: The research includes literature survey for factors associated with tinnitus masker, and performs the analysis of audiology data using statistical and data mining techniques.
Setting: This research uses a large audiology data but it also faced the problem of limited data for tinnitus.
Participants: It uses 1,316 records for tinnitus and other diagnoses, and 10,437 records of clinical comments from a hearing aid clinic.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: The research is looking for variables associated with tinnitus masker, and in future, these variables can be combined into a single model to develop a decision support system to predict about tinnitus masker for a patient.
Results: The results demonstrated that tinnitus maskers are more likely to be fit to individuals with milder forms of hearing loss, and the factors age, gender, type of hearing aid and mould were all found significantly associated with tinnitus masker. In particular, those patients having Age<=55 years were more likely to wear a tinnitus masker, as well as those with milder forms of hearing loss. ITE (in the ear) hearing aids were also found associated with tinnitus masker. A feedback on the results of association of mould with tinnitus masker from a professional audiologist of a large NHS (National Health Services, UK) was also taken to better understand them. The results were obtained with different accuracy for different techniques. For example, the chi-squared test results were obtained with 95% accuracy, for Support and Confidence only those results were retained which had more than 1% Support and 80% Confidence.
Conclusions: The variables audiograms, age, gender, hearing aid type and mould were found associated with the
choice of tinnitus masker in the literature and by using statistical and data mining techniques. The further work in this research would lead to the development of a decision support system for tinnitus masker with an explanation that how that decision was obtained
Strongly asymmetric hybridization barriers shape the origin of a new polyploid species and its hybrid ancestor
PREMISE OF THE STUDY:Hybridization between diploids and tetraploids can lead to new allopolyploid species, often via a triploid intermediate. Viable triploids are often produced asymmetrically, with greater success observed for “maternal-excess” crosses where the mother has a higher ploidy than the father. Here we investigated the evolutionary origins ofMimulus peregrinus, an allohexaploid recently derived from the triploidM. ×robertsii, to determine whether reproductive asymmetry has shaped the formation of this new species. METHODS:We used reciprocal crosses between the diploid (M. guttatus) and tetraploid (M. luteus) progenitors to determine the viability of triploidM. ×robertsiihybrids resulting from paternal- vs. maternal-excess crosses. To investigate whether experimental results predict patterns seen in the field, we performed parentage analyses comparing natural populations ofM. peregrinusto its diploid, tetraploid, and triploid progenitors. Organellar sequences obtained from pre-existing genomic data, supplemented with additional genotyping was used to establish the maternal ancestry of multipleM. peregrinusandM. ×robertsiipopulations. KEY RESULTS:We found strong evidence for asymmetric origins ofM. peregrinus, but opposite to the common pattern, with paternal-excess crosses significantly more successful than maternal-excess crosses. These results successfully predicted hybrid formation in nature: 111 of 114M. ×robertsiiindividuals, and 27 of 27M. peregrinus, had anM. guttatusmaternal haplotype. CONCLUSION:This study, which includes the firstMimuluschloroplast genome assembly, demonstrates the utility of parentage analysis through genome skimming. We highlight the benefits of complementing genomic analyses with experimental approaches to understand asymmetry in allopolyploid speciation
Sorting Strategies for Long Yearling Cattle Grown in an Extensive Forage Utilization Beef Production System
One hundred sixty English-cross steers (244 kg, SD=23 kg) were used in each yr of a 2-yr study to determine effects of sorting on performance, carcass characteristics, variability, and profitability in a long yearling system utilizing ranch-source calves. Steers were back grounded during winter then grazed smooth brome-grass pastures followed by warm season native range prior to entering the feedlot in the fall. Steers were stratified by BW and allotted to 1 of 4 treatments: 1) 40 head sorted by pre-grazing BW where heavy steers entered the feedlot in July (PST), 2) 40 head sorted by BW entering the feedlot (FDL), 3) 60 head sorted by BW and fat thickness at the end of the feeding period (IND), and 4) 20 head that were not sorted (UNS). No differences were observed for performance during back-grounding or grazing phases (P \u3e 0.30). Cattle receiving PST sorting weighed less entering the feedlot and consumed less feed with less feedlot ADG compared to other treatments (P \u3c 0.05). No differences in feed efficiencies were detected (P = 0.84). Cattle receiving PST sorting had greater marbling scores (P \u3c 0.05) and less variation in BW upon feedlot entry which resulted in less variation in carcass weight compared with UNS (P \u3c 0.05). Cattle sorted by BW entering the feedlot tended (P = 0.08) to have less variation in carcass weight compared with UNS. There were no differences in carcass weight or profitability when calculated on either a live or value basis. No sorting strategy increased carcass weight, reduced discounts for overweight or corpulent carcasses, or improved profitability over UNS
Long-term reductions in tinnitus severity
BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to assess long-term changes in tinnitus severity exhibited by patients who completed a comprehensive tinnitus management program; to identify factors that contributed to changes in tinnitus severity within this population; to contribute to the development and refinement of effective assessment and management procedures for tinnitus. METHODS: Detailed questionnaires were mailed to 300 consecutive patients prior to their initial appointment at the Oregon Health & Science University Tinnitus Clinic. All patients were then evaluated and treated within a comprehensive tinnitus management program. Follow-up questionnaires were mailed to the same 300 patients 6 to 36 months after their initial tinnitus clinic appointment. RESULTS: One hundred ninety patients (133 males, 57 females; mean age 57 years) returned follow-up questionnaires 6 to 36 months (mean = 22 months) after their initial tinnitus clinic appointment. This group of patients exhibited significant long-term reductions in self-rated tinnitus loudness, Tinnitus Severity Index scores, tinnitus-related anxiety and prevalence of current depression. Patients who improved their sleep patterns or Beck Depression Inventory scores exhibited greater reductions of tinnitus severity scores than patients who continued to experience insomnia and depression at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Individualized tinnitus management programs that were designed for each patient contributed to overall reductions in tinnitus severity exhibited on follow-up questionnaires. Identification and treatment of patients experiencing anxiety, insomnia or depression are vital components of an effective tinnitus management program. Utilization of acoustic therapy also contributed to improvements exhibited by these patients
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