Low Abundance of Regular Pollinators and Indirect Competitive Effects of Dominant Small Bees Negatively Affect Passion Fruit Pollination in Smallholder Croplands.

Land-use changes have led to natural habitat loss and fragmentation, favoring the occurrence of dominant bee species in agroecosystems. This has raised concerns on the dominance effects in pollination-dependent crops like passion fruits (Passiflora edulis Sims) in tropical regions. That is because dominant bee species might overlap their foraging time with regular pollinators, potentially impairing crop yield.

The use of Pleurotus ostreatus by-products for the preparation of a gel-like polysaccharide with bioactive properties.

The mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus is widely produced in Brazil and its stipes are discarded before commercialization. In the present study, this agricultural fungal waste (mushroom stipes), was analyzed by preparing an aqueous extract and obtaining the polysaccharides by ethanol precipitation (POS-extract). The fraction presented 37 % of carbohydrates and small amounts of proteins and phenolic compounds.

Mammary Gland Reactive Stroma Characterization at Aging After Bisphenol A Exposure During Hormonal Susceptibility Windows.

Mammary glands development is influenced by endocrine signaling, which remodels epithelial and stromal compartments. Reactive stroma phenotype is observed when stromal disturbances occur, leading to changes in extracellular matrix composition and occurrence of reactive cell types. One of the triggers of these alterations is endocrine-disrupting chemical exposure, such as bisphenol A (BPA).

Pairs of rats cooperate more when responding to simultaneous reinforcement than to alternated reinforcement.

The purpose of this experiment was to explore whether simultaneous access to consequences configures a defining functional feature of coordination. We evaluated whether coordination episodes are maintained when reinforcers are alternately presented to two cooperating rats across these episodes, in contrast to the delivery of reinforcers simultaneously for both rats and independently for each rat. Rat pairs responded under either a tandem fixed-interval (FI) 10-s FI 10-s or a tandem variable-interval (VI) 10-s VI 10-s schedules.

Grading systems and perineural invasion in oral squamous cell carcinoma - a disease-specific survival analysis.

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an aggressive cancer, with prognosis influenced by clinical variables as well grading systems and perineural invasion (PNI), which are associated to poorer outcomes, including higher rates of recurrence and metastasis. This study aims to evaluate OSCC using three grading systems and assess the impact of PNI and clinicopathologic parameters on patient survival.

Material And Methods: Eighty-one primary OSCC samples were analyzed.