The distribution and ecology of Arenaria norvegica Gunn. in Ireland

Arenaria norvegica subsp. norvegica was re-discovered in Ireland in 2008 after an absence of 47 years. A detailed survey in 2009 revealed a small population restricted to skeletal soils on the edges of limestone pavement. A. norvegica subsp. anglica occurs in an almost identical habitat in Northern England. Irish plants also appear to flower at least a month earlier and produce more infloresences than in Britain. These differences warrant further investigation given the isolation of the Irish population. That it remained undetected for so long is remarkable and cautions against declaring a species as ‘extinct’ even in such a well botanized locality as the Burren

Startup-yritysten kasvun ajurit ja pullonkaulat

Uusien ja kasvuhakuisten yritysten (tässä ”startup-yritysten”) merkitys elinkeinoelämän uudistumiselle on keskeinen. Tämän hankkeen päätavoitteena on ollut selvittää, miten julkista politiikkaa tulisi kehittää, jotta se edistäisi mahdollisimman hyvin startup-yritysten kasvua. Tässä raportissa tarkastellaan kansallista startup-yrityksiä, yrittäjyyttä ja startup-yritysten toimintaympäristöä useasta eri näkökulmasta. Raportissa on luotu tilannekuvaa startup-yritysten nykytilasta ja niiden merkityksestä elinkeinoelämälle, vertailtu kansallista startup-yritysten toimintaympäristöä kansainvälisiin verrokkimaihin sekä analysoitu startup-ekosysteemien ja startup-yrityspalvelujen nykytilaa. Tehty selvitys tukee näkemystä siitä, että kansallinen startup-toimintaympäristö on kehittynyt paljon viimeisen kymmenen vuoden aikana. Tästä huolimatta olemme kuitenkin kansainvälisestä kehityksestä jäljessä. Startup-toimintaympäristön kehittäminen edellyttää julkiselta sektorilta entistä vahvempaa ja fokusoidumpaa startup-yrityspolitiikkaa. Kansainvälisten esimerkkien viitoittamana peräänkuulutamme erityisesti poikkihallinnollista startup-politiikkaa. Näkemyksemme mukaan Suomi tarvitsee poikkihallinnollisen startup-strategian, joka on laadittu eri start-up –kentän toimijoiden ja hallinnonalojen tiiviillä yhteistyöll

A re-examination of the life and work of A.F.G. Kerr and of his colleagues and friends

Arthur Francis George Kerr’s life is reviewed and related to a previously published account. Kerr’s collecting activity is analysed using an expanded version of the Thai Biogeography Group’s database of collections. 8,666 of the total 48,970 collections are Kerr’s and 3,178 are those of his colleagues and friends. Therefore, the total number of collections made by Kerr and his acquaintances is likely to be larger and more diverse than previously believed. Mapping of these data using GIS show that Kerr’s collecting activities focussed on particular regions of Thailand at particular times. Also large areas of the country remained unexplored by Kerr and his acquaintances: a pattern that, to some extent, persists to this day. The large, but dispersed, archive of Kerr’s photographs, maps, living collections and correspondence indicate that he was a skilled photographer (taking at least 3,000 images), cartographer (producing many hand-drawn maps) and exceptionally acute, accurate and detailed observer (filling numerous notebooks and leaving other records). It is clear that digitising these collections to form an on-line dedicated website is highly desirable to further progress on the flora of Thailand and surrounding countries and would form an unique record of the social history of early 20thC Thailand

Database of European vascular plants red lists as a contribution to more coherent plant conservation

We introduce the database of European vascular plant red lists, a compilation of red list categories designated to taxa during in-country conservation assessments. Version 1.0 of the database is a standalone static dataset with open access in an end-user friendly format. Its aim is to fulfil the objectives of European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action 18201, ConservePlants. The database synthesizes data across 42 red lists from 41 countries, with participation of 39 out of a total of 44 European countries and two additional Mediterranean countries. The database contains 51,109 records representing 21,481 original taxonomic names with 37 different red list categories. During data harmonisation, 20,312 of the original taxonomic names were assigned to 17,873 unique accepted taxonomic names with scientific authorships across 184 families, 1650 genera and 15,593 species; and red list categories were standardised to 13 unique categories. We see this database as a source of information in diverse plant conservation activities and suitable for various stakeholders.peer-reviewe

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden

A new species of Uvaria (Annonaceae) from Southeast Asia

A new species, Uvaria vietnamensis C. Meade (Annonaceae), is described and illustrated. Resembling U. calamistrata Hance, this species is distinguished by its tomentose bearded fruit. The type material includes Poilane collections from Vietnam that were originally listed under “Uvaria fauveliana Pierre” by JOVET-AST (1938). The status of this latter taxon is also discussed

A new species of Uvaria (Annonaceae) from Southeast Asia

A new species, Uvaria vietnamensis C. Meade (Annonaceae), is described and illustrated. Resembling U. calamistrata Hance, this species is distinguished by its tomentose bearded fruit. The type material includes Poilane collections from Vietnam that were originally listed under “Uvaria fauveliana Pierre” by JOVET-AST (1938). The status of this latter taxon is also discussed

A systematic revision of the Uvaria L. group (Annonaceae) in Continental Asia

THESIS 6165The goal of this research project has been to complete a taxonomic revision of Uvaria L. (Annonaceae) and its affiliates in Continental Asia. Research was based primarily at the Trinity College Herbarium. Research visits were also made to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, The Natural History Museum, London, The Rijksherbarium, Leiden, The Herbarium of Utrecht University, Utrecht and the herbarium of the Museum Nationale D\u27Histoire Naturelle, Paris. A three month field expedition was made to Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore in 1998, and included field collecting and visits to all the main herbaria of each country. A research collection was assembled at TCD based on material from the Trinity College herbarium and material received on loan from institutes in Europe, North America and Asia

Multivariate analysis of leaf shape patterns in Asian species of the Uvaria group (Annonaceae)

Multivariate analysis of leaf radian measurements was used to investigate variation in leaf shape among 34 Asian species of the Uvaria group, a large palaeotropical group of climbing Annonaceae characterized by imbricate petals and stellate hairs. Raw data were normalized by conversion into 15 ratio characters and using the log10 transformation. All species surveyed showed a unique leaf-shape ‘bauplan’. The ratio character with the greatest discriminating power in both the Principal Components Analysis and Discriminant Analysis (DA) results was a measure of the shape of the leaf base. Ratio characters with the highest factor loadings for principal components 1 and 2 clearly separated the sampled taxa when plotted against one another and provided support for the retention of several taxa as distinct species or varieties. Classification of cases into taxa using DA yielded a correct classification rate of only 52% for the ratio-transformed data; however, division of taxa in the dataset into smaller subgroups defined by discrete morphological characters significantly increased the accuracy of case identification to between 67 and 100% of cases correctly classified, depending on the group. Case identification using DA on log10-transformed data was higher than for the ratio values in the entire dataset (61.7%) and the larger subgroups. However, the rate of correct case assignment was lower in the smaller groups than for the ratio data

Neotypification of Uvaria hirsuta Jack (Annonaceae)

Uvaria hirsuta Jack is one of the more common species of the genus Uvaria(Annonaceae)in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. The original type was destroyed in 1824, and any duplicates which may have existed are now lost. Wallich Herbarium Catalogue no. 6458b is proposed here as neotype for U. hirsuta. The specimen is of high quality, includes both flowers and fruits, and was collected at the type locality soon after Jack's original collection