Publications by authors named "Dick C"

While flowering plants have diversified in virtually every terrestrial clime, climate constrains the distribution of individual lineages. Overcoming climatic constraints may be associated with diverse evolutionary phenomena including whole genome duplication (WGD), gene-tree conflict, and life-history changes. Climatic shifts may also have facilitated increases in flowering plant diversification rates.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Vaccinieae is a diverse group within the Ericaceae family, consisting of about 1430 species, primarily tropical, but well-known for temperate crops like blueberries and cranberries.
  • - A phylogenomic study of 210 species revealed that Vaccinieae likely originated in temperate North America around 30 million years ago, with tropical species resulting from multiple migrations from these northern ancestors.
  • - Findings indicate significant evolutionary events, including a unique ovary structure development and a major polyploid event, suggesting that Vaccinium's classification needs reevaluation due to its complex evolutionary history.
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This retrospective study assessed maxillary premolar and molar teeth and identified roots with incomplete apical bone coverage using cone beam computed tomography in 161 dogs. The associated dorsal anatomic sites that the roots communicated with were the ventral nasal meatus, maxillary recess, infraorbital canal, and pterygopalatine fossa. The study found that all roots of the maxillary premolar and molar teeth have the potential for incomplete apical bone coverage, with 26.

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Background: Dynamic and complex health systems require innovative and adaptive solutions to support patient safety and achieve equitable health outcomes for Indigenous populations. Understanding the ways by which Indigenous (and specifically Māori) nurse practitioners (NPs) practice patient safety is key to enhancing Indigenous health outcomes in predominantly westernized healthcare systems.

Aim: To describe Māori NPs perspectives on patient safety when caring for Māori and understand how Māori NPs deliver safe health care.

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Bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae) are hematophagous ectoparasites of bats characterized by viviparous pupiparity and generally high host specificity. Nycteribiid bat flies are wingless, morphologically constrained, and are most diverse in the Eastern Hemisphere. Africa hosts approximately 22% of global bat biodiversity and nearly one-third of all African bat species occur in Kenya, one of Africa's most bat-rich countries.

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Immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis involves the deposition of insoluble monoclonal AL protein fibrils in the extracellular space of different organs leading to dysfunction and death. Development of methods to efficiently express and purify AL proteins with acceptable standards of homogeneity and structural integrity has become critical to understand the in vitro and in vivo aspects of AL protein aggregation, and thus the disease progression. In this study, we report the biophysical characterization of His-tagged and untagged versions of AL full-length (FL) κI and λ6 subgroup proteins and their mutants expressed from the Expi293F human cell line.

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Summary: Primary hyperparathyroidism most commonly presents with hypercalcaemia. Rarely, parathyroid apoplexy or haemorrhage mimicking a thyroid bleeding cyst is the first presentation of a parathyroid adenoma. A woman presented with a sudden-onset painful 'goitre'.

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While sex differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been identified in areas such as neurocognitive functioning, behavior patterns, and diagnostic criteria, less work has focused on differences within females referred for ASD evaluation, including those who did not go on to receive a diagnosis. This study examined psychological and behavioral characteristics and co-occurring and differential DSM-5 diagnoses between pediatric female participants who received an ASD diagnosis (ASD+) and those who did not (ASD-). Data on cognitive functioning, adaptive functioning, internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and ADOS-2 scores were analyzed among 137 3- to 20-year-old patients.

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Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba that acts as an opportunistic pathogen for humans and is the pathogenic agent of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). A. castellanii may present as proliferative and infective trophozoites or as resistant cysts during their life cycle.

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One mechanism proposed to explain high species diversity in tropical systems is strong negative conspecific density dependence (CDD), which reduces recruitment of juveniles in proximity to conspecific adult plants. Although evidence shows that plant-specific soil pathogens can drive negative CDD, trees also form key mutualisms with mycorrhizal fungi, which may counteract these effects. Across 43 large-scale forest plots worldwide, we tested whether ectomycorrhizal tree species exhibit weaker negative CDD than arbuscular mycorrhizal tree species.

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This paper describes and illustrates five new species of (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) associated with tropical American bat flies (Diptera, Streblidae). These are sp. nov.

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Diet analysis is a vital tool for understanding trophic interactions and is frequently used to inform conservation and management. Molecular approaches can identify diet items that are impossible to distinguish using more traditional visual-based methods. Yet, our understanding of how different variables, such as predator species or prey ration size, influence molecular diet analysis is still incomplete.

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Article Synopsis
  • Molecular methods like metabarcoding and quantitative PCR are promising for estimating species abundance but face challenges due to variability in DNA concentration from specimens.
  • DNA mixture analysis offers a new way to estimate specimen abundance using unique alleles but is limited by the difficulty of analyzing many variable markers in mixed samples.
  • In a study on Chinook salmon smolts, the DNA mixture analysis using microhaplotypes showed potential for accurately resolving species in high-quality DNA samples, but improvements are needed for analyzing poorer quality DNA.
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(1) Background: Ionic transport in is the object of intense studies. expresses a Fe-reductase (TcFR) and a Fe transporter (TcIT). We investigated the effect of Fe depletion and Fe supplementation on different structures and functions of epimastigotes in culture.

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We retrospectively evaluated how accurately preoperative imaging localizes parathyroid adenoma in superior versus inferior parathyroids. Over 6 years, 104 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism underwent parathyroid surgery in a single centre. Of these, 103 underwent ultrasound, 97 [Tc]pertechnetate/MIBI SPECT/CT and 30 [F]fluorocholine (FCH) PET/CT.

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The angiosperm family Primulaceae is morphologically diverse and distributed nearly worldwide. However, phylogenetic uncertainty has obstructed the identification of major morphological and biogeographic transitions within the clade. We used target capture sequencing with the Angiosperms353 probes, taxon-sampling encompassing nearly all genera of the family, tree-based sequence curation, and multiple phylogenetic approaches to investigate the major clades of Primulaceae and their relationship to other Ericales.

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In addition to their standard inorganic phosphate (Pi) nutritional function, Pi transporters have additional roles in several cells, including Pi sensing (the so-called transceptor) and a crucial role in Pi metabolism, where they control several phenotypes, such as virulence in pathogens and tumour aggressiveness in cancer cells. Thus, intracellular Pi concentration should be tightly regulated by the fine control of intake and storage in organelles. Pi transporters are classified into two groups: the Pi transporter (PiT) family, also known as the Pi:Na symporter family; and the Pi:H symporter (PHS) family.

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Biofilm formation is an adaptive resistance mechanism that pathogens employ to survive in the presence of antimicrobials. is an infectious Gram-negative bacterium whose biofilm allows it to withstand antimicrobial attack and threaten human health. Chronic wound healing is often impeded by infections and the associated biofilms.

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  • The study focuses on the complex relationship between the bat fly species Penicillidia fulvida and its diverse bat hosts, which may suggest the presence of cryptic species despite its apparent generalist behavior.
  • Researchers collected and analyzed genetic data from 65 specimens across Kenya, using techniques like mitochondrial sequencing to understand genetic variation linked to bat hosts.
  • Findings indicate that while P. fulvida shows some genetic structure, it is primarily influenced by geographical factors rather than strict host specificity, highlighting its unique adaptability in host associations.*
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Light Chain (AL) Amyloidosis is a plasma cell dyscrasia producing amyloidogenic light chains (LC) that misfold and form amyloid deposits that cause damage in vital organs, primarily the heart and kidneys. Urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs) are nanoparticles produced by renal epithelial cells throughout the nephron. We previously showed that uEVs from active renal AL amyloidosis patients contain LC oligomers that are large (>250kDa), resistant to heat and chemical denaturation, but of low abundance.

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The objective of this study was to retrospectively evaluate preoperative imaging modalities for localization of parathyroid adenomas with a view to enable minimally invasive parathyroidectomy and in particular, to consider the contribution of F-fluorocholine-PET/CT. 104 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism, who underwent parathyroid surgery in a single centre during a 6-year period were included. Of these, 103 underwent ultrasound, 97 Tc-Pertechnetate/SestaMIBI-SPECT, 20 MRI and 30 F-fluorocholine-PET/CT.

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Telehealth is a promising modality for Part C early intervention (EI), services typically implemented face-to-face in home and community settings. Barriers to telehealth in EI reported prior to COVID-19 included lack of training and access to reliable internet. The abrupt telehealth shift at the onset of the pandemic did not permit a phased adoption approach.

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Suitable habitat fragment size, isolation, and distance from a source are important variables influencing community composition of plants and animals, but the role of these environmental factors in determining composition and variation of host-associated microbial communities is poorly known. In parasite-associated microbial communities, it is hypothesized that evolution and ecology of an arthropod parasite will influence its microbiome more than broader environmental factors, but this hypothesis has not been extensively tested. To examine the influence of the broader environment on the parasite microbiome, we applied high-throughput sequencing of the V4 region of 16S rRNA to characterize the microbiome of 222 obligate ectoparasitic bat flies (Streblidae and Nycteribiidae) collected from 155 bats (representing six species) from ten habitat fragments in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.

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Giardia duodenalis is a flagellated protozoan that inhabits vertebrate host intestines, causing the disease known as giardiasis. Similar to other parasites, G. duodenalis must take advantage of environmental resources to survive, such as inorganic phosphate (P) availability.

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