Island biogeography theory provides key insights into biodiversity patterns across islands species-area relationships and conservation. However, classical island biogeography theory assumes that species are ecologically equivalent in terms of their dispersal ability. We evaluated the role of a key trait (hand-wing index, a proxy for dispersal ability in birds) in shaping species-area relationships of avifauna spanning 6706 species on 3894 islands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPopulations of forest trees exhibit large temporal fluctuations, but little is known about the synchrony of these fluctuations across space, including their sign, magnitude, causes and characteristic scales. These have important implications for metapopulation persistence and theoretical community ecology. Using data from permanent forest plots spanning local, regional and global spatial scales, we measured spatial synchrony in tree population growth rates over sub-decadal and decadal timescales and explored the relationship of synchrony to geographical distance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The role of a Flight Nurse is specialised; they must have both education and experience to fulfil the requirements of the role. Mastering these skills takes time, thus long-term retention is essential. When nurses experience their work as more fulfilling, they are more inclined to remain within a role for an extended period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWord problem-solving (WPS) poses a significant challenge for many students, particularly those with mathematics difficulties (MD), hindering their overall mathematical development. To improve WPS proficiency, providing individualized and intensive interventions is critical. This umbrella review examined 11 medium- to high-quality meta-analyses to identify intervention and participant characteristics, informed by the Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity (TII) framework, that consistently moderate WPS outcomes for students with MD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConspecific density dependence (CDD) in plant populations is widespread, most likely caused by local-scale biotic interactions, and has potentially important implications for biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem processes. However, progress in this important area of ecology has been hindered by differing viewpoints on CDD across subfields in ecology, lack of synthesis across CDD-related frameworks, and misunderstandings about how empirical measurements of local CDD fit within the context of broader ecological theories on community assembly and diversity maintenance. Here, we propose a conceptual synthesis of local-scale CDD and its causes, including species-specific antagonistic and mutualistic interactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenes encoding subunits of SWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin remodeling complexes are mutated in nearly 25% of cancers. To gain insight into the mechanisms by which SWI/SNF mutations drive cancer, we contributed ten rhabdoid tumor (RT) cell lines mutant for SWI/SNF subunit SMARCB1 to a genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 depletion screen performed across 896 cell lines. We identify PHF6 as specifically essential for RT cell survival and demonstrate that dependency on Phf6 extends to Smarcb1-deficient cancers in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile animal model studies have extensively defined the mechanisms controlling cell diversity in the developing mammalian lung, there exists a significant knowledge gap with regards to late-stage human lung development. The NHLBI Molecular Atlas of Lung Development Program (LungMAP) seeks to fill this gap by creating a structural, cellular and molecular atlas of the human and mouse lung. Transcriptomic profiling at the single-cell level created a cellular atlas of newborn human lungs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatterns of species diversity have been associated with changes in climate across latitude and elevation. However, the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying these relationships are still actively debated. Here, we present a complementary view of the well-known tropical niche conservatism (TNC) hypothesis, termed the multiple zones of origin (MZO) hypothesis, to explore mechanisms underlying latitudinal and elevational gradients of phylogenetic diversity in tree communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne mechanism proposed to explain high species diversity in tropical systems is strong negative conspecific density dependence (CDD), which reduces recruitment of juveniles in proximity to conspecific adult plants. Although evidence shows that plant-specific soil pathogens can drive negative CDD, trees also form key mutualisms with mycorrhizal fungi, which may counteract these effects. Across 43 large-scale forest plots worldwide, we tested whether ectomycorrhizal tree species exhibit weaker negative CDD than arbuscular mycorrhizal tree species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: We conducted a systematic literature review to understand the evidence supporting treatment decisions for cholestatic pruritus associated with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
Methods: Studies that enrolled ≥ 75% participants with PBC or PSC and reported ≥ 1 endpoint(s) related to efficacy, safety, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) or other patient-reported outcomes were included. Bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and the Quality of Cohort studies tool for non-RCTs.
Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) sustain lifelong hematopoiesis. Mutations of pre-mRNA splicing machinery, especially splicing factor 3b, subunit 1 (SF3B1), are early lesions found in malignancies arising from HSPC dysfunction. However, why splicing factor deficits contribute to HSPC defects remains incompletely understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile adult bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and their extrinsic regulation is well studied, little is known about the composition, function, and extrinsic regulation of the first HSPCs to enter the BM during development. Here, we functionally interrogate murine BM HSPCs from E15.5 through P0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) is known as an established and safe procedure for treatment of degenerative disc disease, albeit rare, the development of postoperative intra-abdominal or retroperitoneal collection of lymph warrants timely diagnosis and management. This study presents the case of a 62-year-old male who underwent L4-L5 and L5-S1 ALIF and developed a persistent left-sided fluid collection, resulting in a symptomatic retroperitoneal lymphocele confirmed by computed tomography (CT). After percutaneous drainage by interventional radiology (IR), output remained high at 1 liter (L) per day, necessitating sclerotherapy with doxycycline and ethanol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActivating KRAS mutations and functional loss of members of the SWI/SNF complex, including ARID1A, are found together in the primary liver tumor cholangiocarcinoma (CC). How these mutations cooperate to promote CC has not been established. Using murine models of hepatocyte and biliary-specific lineage tracing, we show that Kras and Arid1a mutations drive the formation of CC and tumor precursors from the biliary compartment, which are accelerated by liver inflammation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe introduce the FunAndes database, a compilation of functional trait data for the Andean flora spanning six countries. FunAndes contains data on 24 traits across 2,694 taxa, for a total of 105,466 entries. The database features plant-morphological attributes including growth form, and leaf, stem, and wood traits measured at the species or individual level, together with geographic metadata (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) faces limitations such as antigen selection and limited T-cell persistence. CD7 is an attractive antigen for targeting T-ALL, but overlapping expression on healthy T cells leads to fratricide of CD7-CAR T cells, requiring additional genetic modification. We took advantage of naturally occurring CD7- T cells to generate CD7-CAR (CD7-CARCD7-) T cells.
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