Habitat and Respiratory Strategy Effects on Hypoxia Performance in Anuran Tadpoles.

A critical component of animal conservation in a changing world is an understanding of the physiological resilience of animals to different conditions. In many aquatic animals, hypoxia (low environmental oxygen levels) is a regular occurrence, but the likelihood and severity of hypoxia vary across habitats. Fast-flowing, stream-like habitats are never hypoxic, so long as flow is maintained.

Diversification of the African legless skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Family Scincidae).

Cladogenic diversification is often explained by referring to climatic oscillations and geomorphic shifts that cause allopatric speciation. In this regard, southern Africa retains a high level of landscape heterogeneity in vegetation, geology, and rainfall patterns. The legless skink subfamily Acontinae occurs broadly across the southern African subcontinent and therefore provides an ideal model group for investigating biogeographic patterns associated with the region.

Acceptorless Alcohol Dehydrogenation Catalysed by Pd/C.

Although the selective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds is a critical reaction, it is often plagued by several challenges related to sustainability. Here, the continuous, acceptorless dehydrogenation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds over heterogeneous catalysts was demonstrated, in the absence of oxidants, bases or acceptor molecules. In addition to improving selectivity and atom efficiency, the absence of an acceptor resulted in the co-production of molecular H , a clean energy source, and permitted dehydrogenation to proceed at >98 % selectivity at turnover frequency values amongst the highest in the literature.

Translation and cultural adaptation of a specific instrument for measuring asthma control and asthma status: the Asthma Control and Communication Instrument.

Objective: To translate the Asthma Control and Communication Instrument (ACCI) to Portuguese and adapt it for use in Brazil.

Methods: The ACCI was translated to Portuguese and adapted for use in Brazil in accordance with internationally accepted guidelines. The protocol included the following steps: permission and rights of use granted by the original author; translation of the ACCI from English to Portuguese; reconciliation; back-translation; review and harmonization of the back-translation; approval from the original author; review of the Portuguese version of the ACCI by an expert panel; cognitive debriefing (the clarity, understandability, and acceptability of the translated version being tested in a sample of the target population); and reconciliation and preparation of the final version.