Evolution and development of complex floral displays.

Flowering plants - angiosperms - display an astounding diversity of floral features, which have evolved in response to animal pollination and have resulted in the most species-rich plant clade. Combinations of macroscale (e.g.

Bacillus anthracis in South Africa, 1975-2013: are some lineages vanishing?

The anthrax-causing bacterium Bacillus anthracis comprises the genetic clades A, B, and C. In the northernmost part (Pafuri) of Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, both the common A and rare B strains clades occur. The B clade strains were reported to be dominant in Pafuri before 1991, while A clade strains occurred towards the central parts of KNP.

Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Brucella spp. from Human, Livestock, and Wildlife in South Africa.

Brucellosis is an economically important zoonotic disease affecting humans, livestock, and wildlife health globally and especially in Africa. Brucella abortus and B. melitensis have been isolated from human, livestock (cattle and goat), and wildlife (sable) in South Africa (SA) but with little knowledge of the population genomic structure of this pathogen in SA.

Complex petal spot formation in the Beetle Daisy (Gorteria diffusa) relies on spot-specific accumulation of malonylated anthocyanin regulated by paralogous GdMYBSG6 transcription factors.

Gorteria diffusa has elaborate petal spots that attract pollinators through sexual deception, but how G. diffusa controls spot development is largely unknown. Here, we investigate how pigmentation is regulated during spot formation.

Characterisation of the R2R3 Myb subgroup 9 family of transcription factors in tomato.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) has many epidermal cell outgrowths including conical petal cells and multiple types of trichomes. These include the anther-specific trichome mesh which holds the anthers connate. The R2R3 Myb Subgroup 9 family of transcription factors is involved in development of epidermal cell outgrowths throughout the angiosperms.

Airway inflammation accelerates pulmonary exacerbations in cystic fibrosis.

Airway inflammation underlies cystic fibrosis (CF) pulmonary exacerbations. In a prospective multicenter study of randomly selected, clinically stable adolescents and adults, we assessed relationships between 24 inflammation-associated molecules and the future occurrence of CF pulmonary exacerbation using proportional hazards models. We explored relationships for potential confounding or mediation by clinical factors and assessed sensitivities to treatments including CF transmembrane regulator (CFTR) protein synthesis modulators.

Strawberry varieties differ in pollinator-relevant floral traits.

A rising global population will need more food, increasing demand for insect pollination services. However, general insect declines conflict with this demand. One way to mitigate this conflict is to grow crop flowers that are easier for insects to find and more rewarding to those that visit them.

Half-Normal Saline vs Normal Saline for Cavotricuspid Isthmus-Dependent Atrial Flutter Ablation.

Background: Cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation requires permanent bidirectional block to prevent recurrence of typical atrial flutter (AFL). Catheter irrigation with half-normal saline (HNS) produces larger and deeper lesions in experimental models compared with normal saline (NS). This study was performed to compare the clinical efficacy and safety of HNS vs NS irrigation for typical AFL ablation.

Bumblebees negotiate a trade-off between nectar quality and floral biomechanics.

How and why pollinators choose which flowers to visit are fundamental, multifaceted questions in pollination biology, yet most studies of floral traits measure simple relative preferences. Here, we used vertically and horizontally oriented slippery-surfaced artificial flowers to test whether bumblebees could make a trade-off between floral handling difficulty and nectar sucrose concentration. We quantified foraging energetics, thereby resolving the rationale behind the bees' foraging decisions.

Bumblebee responses to variation in pollinator-attracting traits of flowers.

Adaptations that attract pollinators to flowers are central to the reproductive success of insect-pollinated plants, including crops. Understanding the influence of these non-rewarding traits on pollinator preference is important for our future food security by maintaining sufficient crop pollination. We have identified substantial variation in flower shape, petal size, corolla-tube length, petal spot size and floral volatile compounds among a panel of 30 genetically distinct lines of .

Clinical Validation Benchmark Dataset and Expert Performance Baseline for Colorectal Polyp Localization Methods.

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading death causes worldwide, but, fortunately, early detection highly increases survival rates, with the adenoma detection rate being one surrogate marker for colonoscopy quality. Artificial intelligence and deep learning methods have been applied with great success to improve polyp detection and localization and, therefore, the adenoma detection rate. In this regard, a comparison with clinical experts is required to prove the added value of the systems.

Quasi-experimental, Nonrandomized Initiative to Minimize Sleep Disruptions among Hospitalized Children.

Unlabelled: Hospitalized children experience frequent sleep disruptions. We aimed to reduce caregiver-reported sleep disruptions of children hospitalized on the pediatric hospital medicine service by 10% over 12 months.

Methods: In family surveys, caregivers cited overnight vital signs (VS) as a primary contributor to sleep disruption.

How do you build a nectar spur? A transcriptomic comparison of nectar spur development in and gibba development in .

Nectar spurs (tubular outgrowths of floral organs) have long fascinated biologists. However, given that no model species possess nectar spurs, there is still much to learn about their development. In this study we combined morphological analysis with comparative transcriptomics to gain a global insight into the morphological and molecular basis of spur outgrowth in .

Morphoelastic modelling of pattern development in the petal epidermal cell cuticle.

We use the model system as a vehicle to study the origin and propagation of surface nano-ridges in plant petal epidermal cells by tracking the development of the cell shape and the cuticle. In this system, the cuticle develops two distinct sub-layers, (i) an uppermost layer which increases in thickness and in-plane extension and (ii) a substrate, composed of cuticular and cell wall material. We quantify the pattern formation and geometrical changes and then postulate a mechanical model assuming that the cuticle behaves as a growing bi-layer.

The evolution of flower colour.

Flowers are the most commonly seen colourful elements of the natural world, and in this primer we explain the evolution of their spectacular range of colours. To understand flower colour, we first explain what colour is and how a flower can have different colours in the eyes of different observers. We briefly introduce the molecular and biochemical basis of flower colour, which is primarily based on well-characterised pigment synthesis pathways.

Validity of Self-Reported Mosquito Bites to Assess Household Mosquito Abundance in Six Communities of Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.

Mosquito-borne diseases are a global burden; however, current methods of evaluating human-mosquito contact rates are expensive and time consuming. Validated surveys of self-reported mosquito bites may be an inexpensive way to determine mosquito presence and bite exposure level in an area, but this remains untested. In this study, a survey of self-reported mosquito bites was validated against household mosquito abundance from six communities in Esmeraldas, Ecuador.

Biased pollen transfer by bumblebees favors the paternity of virus-infected plants in cross-pollination.

We used a marker gene for paternity analysis to determine if virus infection affected male reproductive success of tomato in bumblebee-mediated cross-pollination under glasshouse conditions. We found that bumblebees that visited flowers of infected plants showed a strong preference to subsequently visit flowers of non-infected plants. The behavior of the bumblebees to move toward non-infected plants after pollinating virus-infected plants appears to explain the paternity data, which demonstrate a statistically significant ∼10-fold bias for fertilization of non-infected plants with pollen from infected parents.

Multiple gene co-options underlie the rapid evolution of sexually deceptive flowers in Gorteria diffusa.

Gene co-option, the redeployment of an existing gene in an unrelated developmental context, is an important mechanism underlying the evolution of morphological novelty. In most cases described to date, novel traits emerged by co-option of a single gene or genetic network. Here, we show that the integration of multiple co-opted genetic elements facilitated the rapid evolution of complex petal spots that mimic female bee-fly pollinators in the sexually deceptive South African daisy Gorteria diffusa.

Cuticle chemistry drives the development of diffraction gratings on the surface of Hibiscus trionum petals.

Plants combine both chemical and structural means to appear colorful. We now have an extensive understanding of the metabolic pathways used by flowering plants to synthesize pigments, but the mechanisms remain obscure whereby cells produce microscopic structures sufficiently regular to interfere with light and create an optical effect. Here, we combine transgenic approaches in a novel model system, Hibiscus trionum, with chemical analyses of the cuticle, both in transgenic lines and in different species of Hibiscus, to investigate the formation of a semi-ordered diffraction grating on the petal surface.

Multiple origins of lipid-based structural colors contribute to a gradient of fruit colors in Viburnum (Adoxaceae).

Structural color is poorly known in plants relative to animals. In fruits, only a handful of cases have been described, including in Viburnum tinus where the blue color results from a disordered multilayered reflector made of lipid droplets. Here, we examine the broader evolutionary context of fruit structural color across the genus Viburnum.

Enhancing the Retail Food Environment Index (RFEI) with Neighborhood Commuting Patterns: A Hybrid Human-Environment Measure.

The Retail Food Environment Index (RFEI) and its variants have been widely used in public health to measure people's accessibility to healthy food. These indices are purely environmental as they only concern the geographic distribution of food retailers, but fail to include human factors, such as demographics, socio-economy, and mobility, which also shape the food environment. The exclusion of human factors limits the explanatory power of RFEIs in identifying neighborhoods of the greatest concern.

Preferences for Sexually Transmitted Infection and Cancer Vaccines in the United States and in China.

Objectives: This study assessed preferences for hypothetical vaccines for children in 2 large vaccine markets according to how the vaccine-preventable disease is transmitted via a discrete choice experiment.

Methods: Surveys in China (N = 1350) and the United States (N = 1413) were conducted from April to May 2021. The discrete choice experiment included attributes of cost, age at vaccination, transmission mode of the vaccine-preventable disease, and whether the vaccine prevents cancer.