Strategies for managing rival bacterial communities: Lessons from burying beetles.

The role of bacteria in animal development, ecology and evolution is increasingly well understood, yet little is known of how animal behaviour affects bacterial communities. Animals that benefit from defending a key resource from microbial competitors are likely to evolve behaviours to control or manipulate the animal's associated external microbiota. We describe four possible mechanisms by which animals could gain a competitive edge by disrupting a rival bacterial community: "weeding," "seeding," "replanting" and "preserving.

Determinants of response to pentoxifylline therapy in patients with intermittent claudication.

Eighty-three patients receiving pentoxifylline for stable claudication were evaluated to identify factors associated with response to treatment. Patients with isolated aortoiliac occlusive disease and those with arterial occlusive disease of moderate severity were more likely to have an improvement in claudication distance.