Observations on the Natural History of the Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus (Sauria: Gekkonidae) in Northwest Arkansas

The Mediterranean gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, is a small nocturnal lizard introduced into the U.S. A stable population on the campus of Westark Community College in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas represents the northernmost U.S. population presently known. We report data on microhabitat usage, feeding behavior, reproduction, and activity patterns. This gecko is active on the outside of buildings during warm months of the year and occasionally inside buildings during the winter. It is most abundant on buildings with many crevices that are used as daytime retreats. It avoids direct illumination of artificial light and usually perches at heights greater than 7.5 meters. Geckos are not territorial during their nocturnal foraging period and employ a sit-and-wait tactic to capture insect prey. Eggs are laid in mid-June and hatch in mid August; this reproductive season is later and shorter than it is in more southern populations. Communal nesting may be employed. A nightly bimodal activity pattern was observed with peaks of activity at 2300 and 0300 after which activity declined rapidly

'Sarsen stones in Wessex': a society of antiquaries project contextualised and renewed

This paper reviews the Society of Antiquaries’ Evolution of the Landscape project, which started in 1974, and the project’s Sarsen Stones in Wessex survey. The survey was an ambitious public archaeology project, involving c 100 volunteers led by Fellows of the Society during the 1970s. Its aims, objectives and outcomes are described. The survey’s unique dataset, produced for the counties of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset, has now been digitised. Drawing on the dataset, the paper situates the Evolution of the Landscape project in the context of later-twentieth century British archaeology. It demonstrates the importance not only of individual Fellows, but also contemporary movements in academic and development-led archaeology, to the direction of the Society’s activities in this formative period for the discipline today, and shows how the Society’s research was engaged with some of archaeology’s most pressing cultural resource management issue

Spatial variation in density, mean size and physiological condition of the holarctic amphipod Diporeia spp. in Lake Michigan

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73108/1/j.1365-2427.2000.00530.x.pd

In silico genomic analyses reveal three distinct lineages of Escherichia coli O157:H7, one of which is associated with hyper-virulence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many approaches have been used to study the evolution, population structure and genetic diversity of <it>Escherichia coli </it>O157:H7; however, observations made with different genotyping systems are not easily relatable to each other. Three genetic lineages of <it>E. coli </it>O157:H7 designated I, II and I/II have been identified using octamer-based genome scanning and microarray comparative genomic hybridization (mCGH). Each lineage contains significant phenotypic differences, with lineage I strains being the most commonly associated with human infections. Similarly, a clade of hyper-virulent O157:H7 strains implicated in the 2006 spinach and lettuce outbreaks has been defined using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) typing. In this study an <it>in silico </it>comparison of six different genotyping approaches was performed on 19 <it>E. coli </it>genome sequences from 17 O157:H7 strains and single O145:NM and K12 MG1655 strains to provide an overall picture of diversity of the <it>E. coli </it>O157:H7 population, and to compare genotyping methods for O157:H7 strains.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>In silico </it>determination of lineage, Shiga-toxin bacteriophage integration site, comparative genomic fingerprint, mCGH profile, novel region distribution profile, SNP type and multi-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis type was performed and a supernetwork based on the combination of these methods was produced. This supernetwork showed three distinct clusters of strains that were O157:H7 lineage-specific, with the SNP-based hyper-virulent clade 8 synonymous with O157:H7 lineage I/II. Lineage I/II/clade 8 strains clustered closest on the supernetwork to <it>E. coli </it>K12 and <it>E. coli </it>O55:H7, O145:NM and sorbitol-fermenting O157 strains.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study highlight the similarities in relationships derived from multi-locus genome sampling methods and suggest a "common genotyping language" may be devised for population genetics and epidemiological studies. Future genotyping methods should provide data that can be stored centrally and accessed locally in an easily transferable, informative and extensible format based on comparative genomic analyses.</p

Stroke rate is markedly reduced after carotid endarterectomy by avoidance of protamine

AbstractPurpose: Postoperative neurologic injury remains a significant risk of carotid endarterectomy. Mechanisms include embolization of debris and formation of thrombus on the newly endarterectomized surface. We hypothesized that the risk of postoperative neurologic injury would be lower in those patients who did not receive protamine for reversal of heparin anticoagulation.Methods: We reviewed 348 consecutive primary carotid endarterectomies performed since January 1, 1986, to determine the relationship between surgical outcomes and reversal of heparin anticoagulation. Patients undergoing additional simultaneous cardiovascular procedures were excluded. One hundred ninety-three patients received protamine after completion of the endarterectomy. The remaining 155 patients did not receive any protamine.Results: All patients in both groups survived to discharge. There were no strokes in those patients who did not receive any protamine; however, the stroke rate in the protamine group was 2.6% (5 of 193), p < 0.045. The incidence of hematoma requiring reexploration was 1.0% (2 of 193) and 1.9% (3 of 155) in the protamine and no-protamine groups, respectively (p = NS). Intraoperative shunting was used more frequently in the no-protamine group (84% vs 67%, p < 0.001), and patch angioplasty was performed more frequently in the protamine group (35% vs 15%, p < 0.001). However, neither shunting nor patching significantly influenced stroke rates.Conclusions: We conclude that carotid endarterectomy without reversal of heparin anticoagulation is associated with a reduced postoperative stroke rate without a significant increase in morbidity rates. (J VASC SURG 1995;22:264-70.

High-resolution temporal profiling of transcripts during Arabidopsis leaf senescence reveals a distinct chronology of processes and regulation

Leaf senescence is an essential developmental process that impacts dramatically on crop yields and involves altered regulation of thousands of genes and many metabolic and signaling pathways, resulting in major changes in the leaf. The regulation of senescence is complex, and although senescence regulatory genes have been characterized, there is little information on how these function in the global control of the process. We used microarray analysis to obtain a highresolution time-course profile of gene expression during development of a single leaf over a 3-week period to senescence. A complex experimental design approach and a combination of methods were used to extract high-quality replicated data and to identify differentially expressed genes. The multiple time points enable the use of highly informative clustering to reveal distinct time points at which signaling and metabolic pathways change. Analysis of motif enrichment, as well as comparison of transcription factor (TF) families showing altered expression over the time course, identify clear groups of TFs active at different stages of leaf development and senescence. These data enable connection of metabolic processes, signaling pathways, and specific TF activity, which will underpin the development of network models to elucidate the process of senescence

Chromatin Central: towards the comparative proteome by accurate mapping of the yeast proteomic environment

High resolution mapping of the proteomic environment and proteomic hyperlinks in fission and budding yeast reveals that divergent hyperlinks are due to gene duplications