Abdominal PP meshes coated with functional core-sheath biodegradable nanofibers with anticoagulant and antibacterial properties.

Abdominal hernia repair is a common surgical procedure, involving in most cases the use of textile meshes providing a mechanical barrier to consolidate the damaged surrounding tissues and prevent the resurgence of the hernia. However, in more than half cases postoperative complications such as adhesions and infections occur at the surface of the mesh, leading to chronic pain for the patient and requiring the removal of the implant. One of the most promising strategies to reduce the risk of postoperative adhesions and infections is to add a physical barrier between the mesh and the abdominal walls.

Male fertility advantage within and between seasons in the perennial androdioecious plant Phillyrea angustifolia.

Background And Aims: Androdioecy, the co-occurrence of males and hermaphrodites, is a rare reproductive system. Males can be maintained if they benefit from a higher male fitness than hermaphrodites, referred to as male advantage. Male advantage can emerge from increased fertility owing to resource reallocation.

Sexual selection in seaweed? Testing Bateman's principles in the red alga .

In anisogamous species, sexual selection is expected to be stronger in males. Bateman's principles state that the variance in (i) reproductive and (ii) mating success is greater for males, and (iii) the relationship between reproductive success and mating success (the Bateman gradient) is also stronger for males than for females. Sexual selection, based on Bateman's principles, has been demonstrated in animals and some angiosperms, but never in a seaweed.

Sex-specific selection patterns in a dioecious insect-pollinated plant.

Competition for mate acquisition is the hallmark of any sexual organism. In insect-pollinated plants, competition to attract pollinators is expected to result in pollinator-mediated selection on attractive floral traits. This could overlap with sexual selection if the number of mating partners increases with pollinator attraction, resulting in an improved reproductive success.

Opposing effects of plant traits on diversification.

Species diversity can vary dramatically across lineages due to differences in speciation and extinction rates. Here, we explore the effects of several plant traits on diversification, finding that most traits have opposing effects on diversification. For example, outcrossing may increase the efficacy of selection and adaptation but also decrease mate availability, two processes with contrasting effects on lineage persistence.