The cibarial pump of the xylem-feeding froghopper produces negative pressures exceeding 1 MPa.

The xylem sap of vascular plants is an unlikely source of nutrition, being both nutrient poor and held under tensions (negative pressures) that can exceed 1 MPa. But some insects feed on xylem sap exclusively, extracting copious quantities using a muscular cibarial pump. However, neither the strength of the insect's suction, nor the direct energetic cost of xylem ingestion, have ever been quantified.

The initiation of puberty in Atlantic salmon brings about large changes in testicular gene expression that are modulated by the energy status.

Background: When puberty starts before males reach harvest size, animal welfare and sustainability issues occur in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture. Hallmarks of male puberty are an increased proliferation activity in the testis and elevated androgen production. Examining transcriptional changes in salmon testis during the transition from immature to maturing testes may help understanding the regulation of puberty, potentially leading to procedures to modulate its start.

A metabolomics approach to elucidate effects of food deprivation in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether NMR-based metabolomics is a suitable method to generate an integrated view on metabolic processes during food deprivation in salmonid fish. Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) weighing 43-115 g were either fed ad libitum or deprived of food for 28 days at 10°C to investigate catabolic effects on energy reserves and metabolite patterns. The NMR analysis of plasma, liver, and muscle extracts revealed significant fasting-induced changes in the metabolome.

Prognosis of uterine corpus cancer after tamoxifen treatment for breast cancer.

Tamoxifen increases the risk of uterine corpus cancer. Since only few, mostly small, studies have examined prognosis of uterine corpus cancer following tamoxifen, we conducted a large retrospective cohort study to further investigate this. We examined histopathologic and immunohistochemical characteristics of 332 patients with uterine corpus cancer following breast cancer, according to tamoxifen use.