How do diversity and functional nestedness of bird communities respond to changes in the landscape caused by eucalyptus plantations?

Studies of functional diversity can help to understand processes that determine the presence of species in different habitats. Measurement of functional diversity in silviculture areas is important because different functional traits can show different responses to this landscape alteration, and therefore ecological functions can be affected. This study evaluated functional and taxonomic differences in bird assemblages in a native forest and eucalyptus plantations, and also assessed the functional nestedness of the bird species. We censused birds in eucalyptus plantations of four different ages, and also in a native forest. The results showed higher functional and taxonomic diversity of birds in the native forest than in plantations and higher similarity of functional traits between plantations of different ages. The high functional diversity in the native forest indicates a greater variety of functional traits, resulting in greater functional complementarity than in plantations. The association of some traits with the native forest, such as nectarivory and foraging in air, indicates the importance of native habitats in maintaining species and functions related to such traits. Already, species traits in eucalyptus plantations represent a subset of those that were recorded in the native forest, indicating that some functions are maintained in plantations. Our results demonstrate that the species occurrence in the plantations and native forest is determined by species traits. Thus, the maintenance of some functions in plantations is provided, although there is a higher functional diversity in native forest

Transvenous nonfluoroscopic pacemaker implantation during pregnancy guided by 3-dimensional electroanatomic mapping

Patients with congenital heart disease are at ongoing risk of developing both bradyarrhythmias and tachyarrhythmias decades after surgical repair. Rarely, arrhythmias can be exacerbated during pregnancy and require emergent intervention. Here, we report unique experience with nonfluoroscopic pacemaker implantation during pregnancy. Ionizing radiation, even in low doses, is associated with an increased risk of malignancy, and a fetus may be at particularly increased risk.1, 2 Over the past 2 decades, the use of fluoroscopy in cardiac ablation procedures has become nearly obsolete with the development of 3-dimensional (3D) electroanatomic mapping software such as CARTO (Biosense-Webster, Diamond Bar, CA) and NavX or EnSite (St. Jude Medical, Inc., St. Paul, MN).3 However, certain procedures, such as device implants, still commonly use fluoroscopy in most instances.2 Fluoroscopy use in patients with congenital heart disease is of utmost concern because of cumulative radiation exposure from multiple lifetime catheterization, radiographic and computed tomography imaging, and electrophysiological procedures

Comparação do ágar suco de tomate com outros três meios, na diferenciação entre C. albicans e C. dubliniensis

O presente estudo teve como objetivo comparar o ágar suco de tomate, um tradicional meio utilizado para observação de ascósporos em leveduras, com o ágar semente de niger, ágar caseína e ágar semente de girassol, na diferenciação fenotípica entre C. albicans e C. dubliniensis. Após 48 h de incubação a 30 ºC, os 26 isolados de C. dublinienis (100%) evidenciaram a formação de clamidoconídios igualmente em todos os meios comparados. Entretanto, quando semeados com C. albicans, a formação de clamidoconídios foi raramente observada, resultando nos seguintes percentuais de ausência destas estruturas: ágar suco de tomate (92,47%), ágar niger (96,7%), ágar caseína (91,39%), ágar semente de girassol (96,7%). Estes resultados permitem-nos sugerir a utilização do ágar suco de tomate como mais um meio que, já no primo-isolamento, é capaz de, presuntivamente, diferenciar C. albicans de C. dubliniensis.The purpose of the present study is to compare the tomato juice agar, a well known medium employed to observe ascospore formation, with niger seed agar, casein agar and sunflower seed agar, applied to a differentiation between C. dubliniensis and C. albicans. After 48 hours of incubation at 30 ºC all 26 (100%) C. dubliniensis isolates tested produced chlamydospores on tomato juice agar as well as in the other three media evaluated. However, when we inoculated all media with C. albicans, the absence of chlamydospores became resulting in the following percents: tomato juice agar (92.47%), niger seed agar (96.7%), casein agar (91.39%), and sunflower seed agar (96.7%). These results indicate that tomato juice agar is another medium which can also be used in the first phenotypic differentiation between C. dubliniensis and C. albicans

Integrated study of water Sr isotopes and carbonate Sr-C-O isotopes reveals long-lived fluid compartments in the Langfjellet oil discovery, Norwegian North Sea

Routine measurements of reservoir pressure variation with depth can detect pressure discontinuities indicative of barriers to vertical fluid movement. This study investigates how pressure data can be augmented by detailed profiles of formation water 87Sr/86Sr ratio to determine the precise location and cause of such barriers, and by C–O–Sr isotope analysis of carbonate cements to determine the duration over which the barrier has persisted. The study focuses on the clastic Hugin Formation reservoir in the Langfjellet Oil Discovery (Norwegian North Sea). Here, pressure data indicated a barrier somewhere within a 25 m depth interval. Formation water 87Sr/86Sr was measured with high spatial resolution by extraction from core samples using the residual salt analysis (RSA) method. This revealed three homogeneous populations of water separated by a small step in 87Sr/86Sr over a 7 m interval containing coal and shale layers, and a very large step in 87Sr/86Sr over a 1.2 m interval corresponding to a thin coal and shale layer situated below a major flooding surface. The latter is the main candidate for the pressure barrier. Modelling confirmed that this inferred pressure barrier also greatly retards Sr diffusion. Carbonate cements occur disseminated throughout the reservoir and in several heavily-cemented zones. Oxygen isotope-derived temperatures indicate that these formed in two episodes: (1) Pre-compactional, precipitated shortly after deposition in the zone of bacterial methanogenesis (~30 °C, ~200 m depth, ~162 Ma); (2) Post-compactional incorporating thermal decarboxylation-derived carbon (~90 °C, ~2500 m depth, ~46 Ma). Carbonate 87Sr/86Sr data reveal the same compositional populations present in the current formation water to be present in both cement generations. The water compositional stratification must thus have been present when the early and late cements precipitated, down till today. The persistence of a compositional step for most of the geological history of the rocks confirms the presence of a major fluid communication barrier. The Sr RSA data show invariant water composition across the heavily carbonate cemented intervals, implying no barrier effect. The combination of pressure data (to identify pressure barriers), Sr RSA (to add spatial resolution) and Sr–C–O isotopes of carbonates of different ages (to add a time dimension) is useful for identifying major long-term fluid communication barriers and differentiating them from smaller, less effective or shorter-term features. The method has applications for identifying seals in exploitation of petroleum and water resources, and underground storage of CO2 and radioactive waste

Discrepancies between prescribed and defined daily doses: a matter of patients or drug classes?

International audienc

Operational experience, improvements, and performance of the CDF Run II silicon vertex detector

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) pursues a broad physics program at Fermilab's Tevatron collider. Between Run II commissioning in early 2001 and the end of operations in September 2011, the Tevatron delivered 12 fb-1 of integrated luminosity of p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. Many physics analyses undertaken by CDF require heavy flavor tagging with large charged particle tracking acceptance. To realize these goals, in 2001 CDF installed eight layers of silicon microstrip detectors around its interaction region. These detectors were designed for 2--5 years of operation, radiation doses up to 2 Mrad (0.02 Gy), and were expected to be replaced in 2004. The sensors were not replaced, and the Tevatron run was extended for several years beyond its design, exposing the sensors and electronics to much higher radiation doses than anticipated. In this paper we describe the operational challenges encountered over the past 10 years of running the CDF silicon detectors, the preventive measures undertaken, and the improvements made along the way to ensure their optimal performance for collecting high quality physics data. In addition, we describe the quantities and methods used to monitor radiation damage in the sensors for optimal performance and summarize the detector performance quantities important to CDF's physics program, including vertex resolution, heavy flavor tagging, and silicon vertex trigger performance.Comment: Preprint accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods A (07/31/2013

Implementing the European guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention in the primary care setting in Cyprus: Lessons learned from a health care services study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent guidelines recommend assessment and treatment of the overall risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) through management of multiple risk factors in patients at high absolute risk. The aim of our study was to assess the level of cardiovascular risk in patients with known risk factors for CVD by applying the SCORE risk function and to study the implications of European guidelines on the use of treatment and goal attainment for blood pressure (BP) and lipids in the primary care of Cyprus.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Retrospective chart review of 1101 randomly selected patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), or hypertension or hyperlipidemia in four primary care health centres. The SCORE risk function for high-risk regions was used to calculate 10-year risk of cardiovascular fatal event. Most recent values of BP and lipids were used to assess goal attainment to international standards. Most updated medications lists were used to compare proportions of current with recommended antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drug (LLD) users according to European guidelines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Implementation of the SCORE risk model labelled overall 39.7% (53.6% of men, 31.3% of women) of the study population as high risk individuals (CVD, DM2 or SCORE ≥5%). The SCORE risk chart was not applicable in 563 patients (51.1%) due to missing data in the patient records, mostly on smoking habits. The LDL-C goal was achieved in 28.6%, 19.5% and 20.9% of patients with established CVD, DM2 (no CVD) and SCORE ≥5%, respectively. BP targets were achieved in 55.4%, 5.6% and 41.9% respectively for the above groups. There was under prescription of antihypertensive drugs, LLD and aspirin for all three high risk groups.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study demonstrated suboptimal control and under-treatment of patients with cardiovascular risk factors in the primary care in Cyprus. Improvement of documentation of clinical information in the medical records as well as GPs training for implementation and adherence to clinical practice guidelines are potential areas for further discussion and research.</p

Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter–gatherers

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter–gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter–gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th–5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques. The results demonstrate clear sub-regional trends in the use of ceramics by hunter–gatherers; aquatic resources in the Eastern Baltic, non-ruminant animal fats in the Southeastern Baltic, and a more variable use, including ruminant animal products, in the Western Baltic, potentially including dairy. We found surprisingly little evidence for the use of ceramics for non-culinary activities, such as the production of resins. We attribute the emergence of these subregional cuisines to the diffusion of new culinary ideas afforded by the adoption of pottery, e.g. cooking and combining foods, but culturally contextualized and influenced by traditional practices