On the North American invasion of the House Sparrow and its absence in the Yucatan Peninsula

Biological invasions occur when individuals of alien species establish and colonize new locations. The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is one of the most widespread invasive birds, native to Eurasia and North Africa, and has successfully invaded many regions from across the world. The House Sparrow was successfully introduced in 1852 into North America and quickly invaded most of the North American continent, except the Florida Peninsula. Currently, the species is found throughout agricultural and urban landscapes of North America except the Yucatan Peninsula. We analyzed the invasion process of the House Sparrow in order to determine why it is absent from the Yucatan Peninsula. For this, we focused our assessment on historical records of the species together with climatic variables. Using an ordination analysis, we compared the climatic space of the North American records for the House Sparrow with that of the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as those before and after the Florida Peninsula invasion, which took sparrows longer to fully colonize. We found that climate may represent an important driver in the process of invasion in the North American invasion of House Sparrows, probably delaying the Florida invasion, and so far, preventing the Yucatan Peninsula invasion. Our results suggest that the absence of the House Sparrow in the Yucatan Peninsula could be a temporal delay, as occurred in the Florida Peninsula; yet, climatic conditions in the Yucatan Peninsula show important differences from those of the Florida Peninsula. Given the species' plasticity and generalist life history traits, it is possible that the House Sparrow may overcome present climatic restrictions and invade the Yucatan Peninsula if proper management is not set in action.Peer reviewe

Abundance of White-fronted Parrots and diet of an urban parrot assemblage (Aves: Psittaciformes) in a green Neotropical city

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Diversidad y conservación de anfibios y reptiles en un área protegida privada de una región altamente transformada en el sur de Veracruz, México

El establecimiento de Áreas Protegidas Privadas (APPs) es una de las estrategias para la protección de la biodiversidad ante la modificación del hábitat en bosques tropicales; sin embargo, su importancia en conservación ha sido poco evaluada. En este trabajo estimamos la importancia de un APP conocida como Área de Protección y Desarrollo de Ceratozamia (APDC) para la conservación de anfibios y reptiles, en comparación con otras dos APPs (Parque Ecológico Jaguaroundi y el Parque Ecológico Tuzandepetl) en el sur de Veracruz, México. El APDC tiene una extensión de 100 hectáreas: 50 ha de bosque tropical subcaducifolio y 50 ha de pastizal. Los muestreos para este estudio se realizaron entre los años 2015 y 2016, empleando el método de búsqueda libre restringida por tiempo (esfuerzo de muestreo total = 768 horas-persona). En total, en el APDC se registraron 20 especies de anfibios y 35 de reptiles. El 20% de los anfibios y el 32% de reptiles registrados se encuentran en alguna categoría de riesgo de extinción según la Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, dos especies de anfibios y una especie de reptil están incluidas en la Lista Roja de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), mientras que el 12% de los reptiles se encuentran en categoría de vulnerabilidad ambiental alta. El APDC tuvo la mayor riqueza de especies en comparación con las otras dos APPs. Los anfibios tuvieron una composición relativamente similar entre las APPs, mientras que para los reptiles la composición de especies tendió a ser distinta. Nuestros resultados indican que por la riqueza de especies y el número de especies amenazadas de extinción y de especies no evaluadas por la UICN que alberga, el APDC contribuye a la conservación de herpetozoos en una zona altamente transformada del sur de México, en conjunto con las otras dos APPs, donde el Área Natural Protegida bajo régimen gubernamental más cercana (Reserva de la Biosfera Los Tuxtlas) se localiza a 50 km.The establishment of Private Protected Areas (PPAs) is one of the strategies for the protection of biodiversity in face to habitat modification in tropical forests; however, its importance in conservation has been poorly evaluated. In this work we estimate the importance of a PPA, known as Área de Protección y Desarrollo de Ceratozamia (APDC) for the conservation of amphibians and reptiles, compared to two other PPAs (Parque Ecológico Jaguaroundi and Parque Ecológico Tuzandepetl) at southern Veracruz, Mexico. The APDC has an area of 100 hectares: 50 ha of tropical deciduous forest and 50 ha of cattle-pasture. The surveys for this study were carried out between 2015 and 2016, which consisted of free search restricted by time (total sampling effort = 768 person-hours). In total, 20 species of amphibians and 35 species of reptiles were recorded in the APDC. Twenty percent of amphibians and 32% of registered reptiles are in some extinction risk category according to the Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, two amphibian species and one reptile species are included in the Red List of the International Union Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while 12% of reptiles are in high category of environmental vulnerability. The APDC has the highest species richness in comparison to the other two PPAs. Amphibians had a relatively similar composition among the PPAs, while for reptiles, species composition tended to be relatively different. Our results indicate that due to the richness of the species, the number of endangered species and species not evaluated by IUCN it harbors, the APDC contributes to the conservation of herpetozoa in a highly transformed area of southern Mexico, together with the two other PPAs, where the closest Protected Natural Area under governmental regime (Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve) is located 50 km away

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Combined searches for the production of supersymmetric top quark partners in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A combination of searches for top squark pair production using proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the CERN LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1) collected by the CMS experiment, is presented. Signatures with at least 2 jets and large missing transverse momentum are categorized into events with 0, 1, or 2 leptons. New results for regions of parameter space where the kinematical properties of top squark pair production and top quark pair production are very similar are presented. Depending on themodel, the combined result excludes a top squarkmass up to 1325 GeV for amassless neutralino, and a neutralinomass up to 700 GeV for a top squarkmass of 1150 GeV. Top squarks with masses from 145 to 295 GeV, for neutralino masses from 0 to 100 GeV, with a mass difference between the top squark and the neutralino in a window of 30 GeV around the mass of the top quark, are excluded for the first time with CMS data. The results of theses searches are also interpreted in an alternative signal model of dark matter production via a spin-0 mediator in association with a top quark pair. Upper limits are set on the cross section for mediator particle masses of up to 420 GeV

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

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Measurement of the W gamma Production Cross Section in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=13 TeV and Constraints on Effective Field Theory Coefficients

A fiducial cross section for W gamma production in proton-proton collisions is measured at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV in 137 fb(-1) of data collected using the CMS detector at the LHC. The W -> e nu and mu nu decay modes are used in a maximum-likelihood fit to the lepton-photon invariant mass distribution to extract the combined cross section. The measured cross section is compared with theoretical expectations at next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics. In addition, 95% confidence level intervals are reported for anomalous triple-gauge couplings within the framework of effective field theory.Peer reviewe

Search for top squark production in fully hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search for production of the supersymmetric partners of the top quark, top squarks, is presented. The search is based on proton-proton collision events containing multiple jets, no leptons, and large transverse momentum imbalance. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb(-1). The targeted signal production scenarios are direct and gluino-mediated top squark production, including scenarios in which the top squark and neutralino masses are nearly degenerate. The search utilizes novel algorithms based on deep neural networks that identify hadronically decaying top quarks and W bosons, which are expected in many of the targeted signal models. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model, and limits on the top squark production cross section are obtained in the context of simplified supersymmetric models for various production and decay modes. Exclusion limits as high as 1310 GeVare established at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the top squark for direct top squark production models, and as high as 2260 GeV on the mass of the gluino for gluino-mediated top squark production models. These results represent a significant improvement over the results of previous searches for supersymmetry by CMS in the same final state.Peer reviewe

Observation of tW production in the single-lepton channel in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV

A measurement of the cross section of the associated production of a single top quark and a W boson in final states with a muon or electron and jets in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC in 2016. A boosted decision tree is used to separate the tW signal from the dominant t (t) over bar background, whilst the subleading W+jets and multijet backgrounds are constrained using data-based estimates. This result is the first observation of the tW process in final states containing a muon or electron and jets, with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The cross section is determined to be 89 +/- 4 (stat) +/- 12 (syst) pb, consistent with the standard model.Peer reviewe