Haematology and serum biochemistry of the Carpentarian Rock-rat (Zyzomys palatalis)

Haematology and serum biochemistry was analysed on samples collected from four endangered Carpentarian Rock-rats (Zyzomys palatalis) maintained in a captive colony at the Territory Wildlife Park, Northern Territory. As these animals are endangered, only small sample numbers were able to be analysed. Most haematological and serum biochemical parameters were similar to those for other native Australian murids, with the exception of alkaline phosphatase and creatinine. The study provides preliminary haematology and serum biochemistry information for the Carpentarian Rock-rat and will assist managers of this species to assess the health of the captive and wild populations

Increased divergence in floral morphology strongly reduces gene flow in sympatric sexually deceptive orchids with the same pollinator

In sexually deceptive orchids, pollinator specificity is the main factor responsible for species isolation. The two sexually deceptive orchids Ophrys chestermanii and Ophrys normanii occur sympatrically on Sardinia and attract the same pollinator, males of Bombus vestalis, by producing the same odour bouquets. Since gene flow between these two species has been shown to be almost absent, their genetic distinctness seems to be preserved by other forms of reproductive barrier than pollinator specificity. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and strength of these isolation barriers which apparently halt gene flow between these two orchids that share the same pollinator. Morphological measurements, combined with observations of cross-pseudocopulations, revealed that, in sympatry, the longer caudicles of O. normanii and the smaller and differently shaped stigmatic cavity in O. chestermanii are the main factors preventing gene flow between these two sympatric species. In contrast, other pre- or post-mating barriers seem to be weak or absent, as the two species have overlapping flowering time and we were able to rear hybrid offspring from interspecific manual crosses. At the same time, genetic analysis of orchid plantlets collected at sympatric sites detected the presence of only two putative hybrid individuals. Thus, the probability of natural cross-pollination between O. normanii and O. chestermanii seems to be strongly limited by divergence in their floral morphology. For some traits, this divergence was found increased between sympatric populations

Pilot study of remote telemonitoring in COPD

Background: Remote in-home monitoring (RM) of symptoms and physiological variables may allow early detection and treatment of exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is unclear whether RM improves patient outcomes or healthcare resource utilization. This study determined whether RM is feasible in patients with COPD and if RM reduces hospital admissions or length of stay (LOS) or improves health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Subjects and Methods: Forty-four patients were randomized to standard best practice care (SBP) (n=22) or SBP+RM (n=22). RM involved daily recording of physiological variables, symptoms, and medication usage. Results: There were no differences (mean±SD, SBP versus SBP+RM) in age (68±8 versus 70±9 years), gender (male:female 10:12 in both groups), or previous computer familiarity (59% versus 50%) between groups. The SBP group had a lower forced expiratory volume in 1 s (0.66±0.24 versus 0.91±0.34 L, p<0.01) and more current smokers (six versus none, p<0.05). There were no differences in number of COPD-related admissions/year (1.5±1.8 versus 1.3±1.7, p=0.76), COPD-related LOS days/year (15.6±19.4 versus 11.4±19.6, p=0.66), total admissions/year (2.2±2.1 versus 2.0±2.3, p=0.86), total LOS days/year (22.1±29.9 versus 21.6±30.4, p=0.88), or HRQOL between the two groups. Conclusions: The addition of RM to SBP was feasible but did not reduce healthcare utilization or improve quality of life in this group of patients already receiving comprehensive respiratory care

ATP-dependent mechanics of red blood cells

Red blood cells are amazingly deformable structures able to recover their initial shape even after large deformations as when passing through tight blood capillaries. The reason for this exceptional property is found in the composition of the membrane and the membrane-cytoskeleton interaction. We investigate the mechanics and the dynamics of RBCs by a unique noninvasive technique, using weak optical tweezers to measure membrane fluctuation amplitudes with μs temporal and sub nm spatial resolution. This enhanced edge detection method allows to span over >4 orders of magnitude in frequency. Hence, we can simultaneously measure red blood cell membrane mechanical properties such as bending modulus κ = 2.8 ± 0.3 × 10−19J = 67.6 ± 7.2 kBT, tension σ = 6.5 ± 2.1 × 10−7N/m, and an effective viscosity ηeff = 81 ± 3.7 × 10−3 Pa s that suggests unknown dissipative processes. We furthermore show that cell mechanics highly depends on the membrane-spectrin interaction mediated by the phosphorylation of the interconnection protein 4.1R. Inhibition and activation of this phosphorylation significantly affects tension and effective viscosity. Our results show that on short time scales (slower than 100 ms) the membrane fluctuates as in thermodynamic equilibrium. At time scales longer than 100 ms, the equilibrium description breaks down and fluctuation amplitudes are higher by 40% than predicted by the membrane equilibrium theory. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are influences of the spectrin that is not included in the membrane theory or nonequilibrium fluctuations that can be accounted for by defining a nonthermal effective energy of up to Eeff = 1.4 ± 0.1 kBT, that corresponds to an actively increased effective temperature