NO air pollution drives species composition, but tree traits drive species diversity of urban epiphytic lichen communities.

Lichens serve as important bioindicators of air pollution in cities. Here, we studied the diversity of epiphytic lichens in the urban area of Munich, Bavaria, southern Germany, to determine which factors influence species composition and diversity. Lichen diversity was quantified in altogether 18 plots and within each, five deciduous trees were investigated belonging to on average three tree species (range 1-5).

Examining the support-supply and bud-packing hypotheses for the increase in toothed leaf margins in northern deciduous floras.

Premise: The proportion of woody dicots with toothed leaves increases toward colder regions, a relationship used to reconstruct past mean annual temperatures. Recent hypotheses explaining this relationship are that (1) leaves in colder regions are thinner, requiring thick veins for support and water supply, with the resulting craspedodromous venation leading to marginal teeth (support-supply hypothesis) or that (2) teeth are associated with the packing of leaf primordia in winter buds (bud-packing hypothesis).

Methods: We addressed these hypotheses by examining leaf thickness, number of primordia in buds, growing season length (mean annual temperature, MAT), and other traits in 151 deciduous woody species using georeferenced occurrences and a Bayesian model controlling for phylogeny.

Prevention of surgical site sternal infections in cardiac surgery: a two-centre prospective randomized controlled study.

Objectives: Surgical site infection (SSI) of the sternum is a devastating complication in cardiac surgery. The aim of this prospective randomized controlled two-centre clinical study was to compare the use of a gentamicin-collagen sponge (Genta-Coll® resorb) and of a cyanoacrylate-based microbial skin sealant (InteguSeal®) on the SSI rate of the sternum.

Methods: We analysed data from 996 consecutive patients following isolated coronary artery bypass grafting between 2012 and 2014.

Relative and absolute quantification of postsynaptic density proteome isolated from rat forebrain and cerebellum.

The postsynaptic density (PSD) of central excitatory synapses is essential for postsynaptic signaling, and its components are heterogeneous among different neuronal subtypes and brain structures. Here we report large scale relative and absolute quantification of proteins in PSDs purified from adult rat forebrain and cerebellum. PSD protein profiles were determined using the cleavable ICAT strategy and LC-MS/MS.

Structure and different conformational states of native AMPA receptor complexes.

Ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. Their modulation is believed to affect learning and memory, and their dysfunction has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Despite a wealth of functional data, little is known about the intact, three-dimensional structure of these ligand-gated ion channels.