Publications by authors named "J L Vera Cruz"
Arctic habitats are changing rapidly and altering trophic webs and ecosystem functioning. Understanding how species' abundances and distributions differ among Arctic habitats is important in predicting future species shifts and trophic-web consequences. We aimed to determine the habitat-abundance relationships for three small herbivores on the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, USA by fitting data from 983 point counts (collected during 2019, 2021, and 2022) with N-mixture models that account for imperfect detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA comparative approach to the microstructure in the carpus and tarsus in anurans.
Dev Growth Differ
January 2025
Despite the significant literature about morphological features of limb skeletons involved in tetrapod limb evolution, some questions about carpal and tarsal elements remain. In anurans, the ecomorphological and biomechanical approaches studied long hind limbs (to jump) and forelimbs (to land) and emphasized the role of the long bones in locomotion but disregarded what happens with the nodular elements of the carpus and tarsus. Here, we present a comparative study of nodular elements of the carpus and tarsus in anurans based on whole-mount specimens stained with Alcian Blue (cartilage) and Alizarin Red S (bone and calcified cartilage).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genitourinary health significantly affects the quality of life of men, particularly those in middle age. Recent studies have shown that more than half of the men aged over 40 years experience some degree of low urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) or erectile dysfunction (ED).
Objective: To assess the prevalence of ED and LUTS in middle-aged men and correlate this with quality of life data.
Article Synopsis
- In population health research, traditional definitions of rurality based on broad population density measures overlook the diverse characteristics of rural areas.
- Researchers employed an exploratory latent class analysis to identify distinct classes of rurality in the US by analyzing data from 15,643 rural census tracts using the Community Capitals Framework.
- Four classes of rurality were identified: Outlying, Developed, Well-Resourced, and Adaptable, each showing significant differences in social vulnerability, suggesting a need for tailored health interventions that consider these unique rural community combinations.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the safety and effectiveness of ocrelizumab in Hispanic/Latino individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), highlighting the need for real-world data from underrepresented populations in clinical trials.
- Out of 305 participants, the majority had relapsing-remitting MS, and the results showed minimal relapses and a significant reduction in MRI activity, with only 12.4% experiencing confirmed disability worsening.
- While the treatment was largely safe, with a low rate of serious infections and a consistent profile of outcomes, the study confirms ocrelizumab's effectiveness in this demographic at a specialized MS center.