Phylogeographical patterns of a generalist acorn weevil: insight into the biogeographical history of broadleaved deciduous and evergreen forests

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Climatic changes during glacial periods have had a major influence on the recent evolutionary history of living organisms, even in temperate forests on islands, where the land was not covered with ice sheets. We investigated the phylogeographical patterns of the weevil <it>Curculio sikkimensis </it>(Curculionidae), a generalist seed predator of Fagaceae plants living in both deciduous oak and evergreen forests of Japan. Its genetic structure was compared to that of another host-specific seed predator, <it>C. hilgendorfi</it>, inhabiting only evergreen forests.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We examined 921 bp of mitochondrial DNA for 115 individuals collected from 33 populations of <it>C. sikkimensis </it>from 11 plant species of three genera, <it>Quercus</it>, <it>Lithocarpus</it>, and <it>Castanopsis</it>. An analysis of molecular variance revealed that a large proportion (almost 50%, <it>P </it>< 0.001) of the total genetic variance could be explained by differences between two geographical regions, the southwestern and northeastern parts of the main islands of Japan. In contrast, no significant genetic differentiation of the weevil was observed among vegetation types of their utilized host plant species. The phylogeographical patterns of the generalist and the host-specific seed predator exhibited a congruent genetic boundary in the Chugoku-Shikoku region.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that geology and historical environment have contributed to shaping the present genetic structure of <it>C. sikkimensis</it>. The geographical patterns of genetic differentiation in the Chugoku-Shikoku region observed in the two types of Fagaceae-associated <it>Curculio </it>in this study have also been observed in several plant species growing in warm and cool temperate zones of Japan. The occurrence of this common pattern suggests that deciduous oak and evergreen forests of Japan survived together, or adjacent to each other, in small refugia during glacial ages, in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the main islands, although these two types of forests are presently distributed in cool and warm temperate zones of Japan, respectively.</p

Clinical Application of Coagulation Biomarkers

Coagulopathy is of intense interest in the fields of emergency medicine, with many recent studies of coagulation biomarkers for clinical use. The occurrence of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) also resulted in the activation of studies about the coagulopathy. At present DIC has been admitted in many clinical conditions and many coagulation biomarkers have been studied. Fibrin degradation product (FDP) and D-dimer are one type of coagulation biomarker. A characteristic of FDP and D-dimer is the rapid and dynamic elevation of their levels when fibrinolysis occurs in several acute diseases. In this chapter, we present the clinical application of FDP and D-dimer. In trauma, FDP and -dimer have been used for the evaluation of trauma severity, to predict the likelihood of hemorrhage and to evaluate the need for the transfusion of packed red blood cells. In cardiac pulmonary arrest (CPA), FDP and D-dimer have been useful for predicting the return of spontaneous circulation. Thus, the measurement of coagulation biomarkers is useful in the diagnosis and/or treatment of trauma and CPA

Isolation of a transcriptionally active element of high copy number retrotransposons in sweetpotato genome

Many plant retrotransposons have been characterized, but only three families (Tnt1, Tto1 and Tos17) have been demonstrated to be transpositionally competent. We followed a novel approach that enabled us to identify an active element of the Ty1-copia retrotransposon family with estimated 400 copies in the sweetpotato genome. DNA sequences of Ty1 -copia reverse transcriptase (RTase) from the sweetpotato genome were analyzed, and a group of retrotransposon copies probably formed by recent transposition events was further analyzed. 3’RACE on callus cDNA amplified transcripts containing long terminal repeats (LTR) of this group. The sequence -specific amplification polymorphism (S-SAP) patterns of the LTR sequence in the genomic DNA were compared between a normal plant and callus lines derived from it. A callus -specific S-SAP product was found into which the retrotransposon detected by the 3’RACE had been transposed apparently during cell culture. We conclude that our approach provides an effective way to identify active elements of retrotransposons with high copy numbers.</p

Prediction of extravasation in pelvic fracture using coagulation biomarkers

学位記番号：医博甲1701

About the Effectivity of the Priming Water Channel in the Pool-and-Weir-Fishway

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Electromagnetic Simulation for THz Antenna-Coupled Microbolometers Operated at Room Temperature

Room-temperature terahertz (THz) detectors with higher performance are necessary for utilizing the THz wave in various sensing, spectroscopy and imaging, but even the best ones in the present are still insufficient for the practical applications. This issue is essential especially in the region around 1 THz at which there exists a large technology gap between microwave and middle-infrared. Therefore, we study to develop an antenna-coupled microbolometer to achieve a high-performance THz detector operated at a room-temperature for sensing at around 1 THz frequency wave. In this paper, we present several important features and results obtained from electromagnetic simulations, which help to design a structure of the antenna and heater to absorb efficiently the power of THz wave

Pareto Distributions and the Evolution of Top Incomes in the U.S.

This paper presents a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms and entrepreneur's portfolio choice. We analytically show that this model generates the Pareto distribution of top income earners and Zipf's law of firms at the steady state. The differential equation for the probability density distribution of income is derived and numerically evaluated. In the model, CEOs respond to a tax cut by increasing their share of stocks of their own firms, thereby increasing the diffusion of their wealth. The calibrated model shows that the transition path matches with the decline of the Pareto exponent of the income distribution and the trend of top 1% income share in the U.S. in recent decades. We argue that the low marginal income tax at the top bracket of income could lead to the higher dispersion of income among the top income earners, which results in the higher concentration of income in the top income group