Tracking habitat or testing its suitability? Similar distributional patterns can hide very different histories of persistence versus nonequilibrium dynamics.

The expansions and contractions of a species' range in response to temporal changes in selective filters leave genetic signatures that can inform a more accurate reconstruction of their evolutionary history across the landscape. After a long period of continental decline, Australian rainforests settled into localized patterns of contraction or expansion during the climatic fluctuations of the Quaternary. The environmental impacts of recurring glacial and interglacial periods also intensified the arrival of new lineages from the Sunda shelf, and it can be expected that immigrant versus locally persistent taxa responded to environmental challenges in quantifiably different manner.

Levator ani muscle avulsion: Digital palpation versus tomographic ultrasound imaging.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic performance of digital palpation of levator ani muscle (LAM) avulsion compared with translabial tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI).

Methods: A cross-sectional study, incorporating 195 women involved in a longitudinal cohort study. Palpation for levator integrity was performed, followed by a four-dimensional translabial ultrasound.

Habitat preference differentiates the Holocene range dynamics but not barrier effects on two sympatric, congeneric trees (Tristaniopsis, Myrtaceae).

Niche partitioning can lead to differences in the range dynamics of plant species through its impacts on habitat availability, dispersal, or selection for traits that affect colonization and persistence. We investigated whether niche partitioning into upland and riparian habitats differentiates the range dynamics of two closely related and sympatric eastern Australian trees: the mountain water gum (Tristaniopsis collina) and the water gum (T. laurina).

Delivery mode, levator avulsion and obstetric anal sphincter injury: A cross-sectional study 20 years after childbirth.

Background: Levator ani muscle (LAM) and anal sphincter injuries are common after vaginal birth and are associated with pelvic organ prolapse and anal incontinence.

Aims: Our objective was to investigate long-term association between delivery mode, LAM avulsion and obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) in women at least 20 years after their first birth.

Methods: All women recruited at 'index birth' of the Dunedin (New Zealand) arm of ProLong (PROlapse and incontinence LONG-term research) Study, were invited to have translabial and transperineal ultrasound assessment of LAM and anal sphincters.

Hydrophilic bile acids prevent liver damage caused by lack of biliary phospholipid in mice.

Bile acid imbalance causes progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 2 (PFIC2) or type 3 (PFIC3), severe liver diseases associated with genetic defects in the biliary bile acid transporter bile salt export pump (BSEP; ABCB11) or phosphatidylcholine transporter multidrug resistance protein 3 (MDR3; ABCB4), respectively. mice (a PFIC3 model) develop progressive cholangitis, ductular proliferation, periportal fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) because the nonmicelle-bound bile acids in the bile of these mice are toxic. We asked whether the highly hydrophilic bile acids generated by mice could protect mice from progressive liver damage.

Levator Avulsion Is Associated With Pelvic Organ Prolapse 23 Years After the First Childbirth.

Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain the association between levator avulsion and pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 195 women enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study and seen 20 years after an index birth. All had a standardized patient-administered questionnaire, the International Continence Society Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification assessment and 4D translabial ultrasound.

It is the first birth that does the damage: a cross-sectional study 20 years after delivery.

Introduction And Hypothesis: Levator ani muscle (LAM) and anal sphincter tears are common after vaginal birth and are associated with female pelvic organ prolapse and anal incontinence. The impact of subsequent births on LAM and external anal sphincter (EAS) integrity is less well defined. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of LAM and EAS trauma in primiparous (VP1) and multiparous (VP2+) women who had delivered vaginally to assess if there were differences between the two groups.

From Songlines to genomes: Prehistoric assisted migration of a rain forest tree by Australian Aboriginal people.

Background: Prehistoric human activities have contributed to the dispersal of many culturally important plants. The study of these traditional interactions can alter the way we perceive the natural distribution and dynamics of species and communities. Comprehensive research on native crops combining evolutionary and anthropological data is revealing how ancient human populations influenced their distribution.

Maternal birth trauma: why should it matter to urogynaecologists?

Purpose Of Review: There is increasing awareness of the importance of intrapartum events for future pelvic floor morbidity in women. In this review, we summarize recent evidence and potential consequences for clinical practice.

Recent Findings: Both epidemiological evidence and data from perinatal imaging studies have greatly improved our understanding of the link between childbirth and later morbidity.

Bipolar multi-electrode balloon catheter radiofrequency renal denervation with the Vessix system: preclinical safety evaluation.

Aims: A bipolar multi-electrode 7 Fr-compatible balloon-catheter radiofrequency (RF) renal denervation system (Vessix™ Renal Denervation System; Boston Scientific, Marlborough, MA, USA) was evaluated for safety in domestic swine.

Methods And Results: Renal arteries of 27 swine received overlapping treatments proximally/single treatments distally to mimic balloon overlap clinically. Each histopathology cohort (30, 90, 180 days) had four RF-treated and three sham-treated (no RF energy delivered) animals, with the response of artery/surrounding nerves to bilateral treatment examined (42 arteries).

RNA mango aptamer-fluorophore: a bright, high-affinity complex for RNA labeling and tracking.

Because RNA lacks strong intrinsic fluorescence, it has proven challenging to track RNA molecules in real time. To address this problem and to allow the purification of fluorescently tagged RNA complexes, we have selected a high affinity RNA aptamer called RNA Mango. This aptamer binds a series of thiazole orange (fluorophore) derivatives with nanomolar affinity, while increasing fluorophore fluorescence by up to 1,100-fold.

Brain metastases associated with germ cell tumors may be treated with chemotherapy alone.

Background: The management of brain metastases in patients with germ cell tumors remains controversial. The authors assessed the outcome in this patient group after the introduction of GAMEC chemotherapy (14-day cisplatin, high-dose methotrexate, etoposide, and actinomycin-D with filgrastim support) and cessation of the routine use of cranial irradiation.

Methods: Data were recorded prospectively from 39 patients with germ cell tumors and concurrent brain metastases who received treatment before and after the advent of GAMEC after they relapsed on conventional cisplatin-based chemotherapy.

Primordial enemies: fungal pathogens in thrips societies.

Microbial pathogens are ancient selective agents that have driven many aspects of multicellular evolution, including genetic, behavioural, chemical and immune defence systems. It appears that fungi specialised to attack insects were already present in the environments in which social insects first evolved and we hypothesise that if the early stages of social evolution required antifungal defences, then covariance between levels of sociality and antifungal defences might be evident in extant lineages, the defences becoming stronger with group size and increasing social organisation. Thus, we compared the activity of cuticular antifungal compounds in thrips species (Insecta: Thysanoptera) representing a gradient of increasing group size and sociality: solitary, communal, social and eusocial, against the entomopathogen Cordyceps bassiana.

Social complexity and nesting habits are factors in the evolution of antimicrobial defences in wasps.

Microbial diseases are important selective agents in social insects and one major defense mechanism is the secretion of cuticular antimicrobial compounds. We hypothesized that given differences in group size, social complexity, and nest type the secretions of these antimicrobials will be under different selective pressures. To test this we extracted secretions from nine wasp species of varying social complexity and nesting habits and assayed their antimicrobial compounds against cultures of Staphylococcus aureus.

Nuclear energy.

The technical principles and practices of the civil nuclear industry are described with particular reference to fission and its products, natural and artificial radioactivity elements principally concerned and their relationships, main types of reactor, safety issues, the fuel cycle, waste management, issues related to weapon proliferation, environmental considerations and possible future developments.

An enhanced miniaturized assay for antimicrobial prospecting.

Bioprospecting for novel antimicrobials increasingly relies on extremely small samples unsuitable for conventional bulk extraction and assay. We developed a microtitre plate assay for minimal amounts of test materials which is rapid, extremely sensitive, allows time-course analysis and reduces false negatives. Developed for the analyses of antimicrobial sensitivity and resistance, the technique is appropriate for assays where source materials are scarce.

Total synthesis of (-)-xyloketal A.

[reaction: see text] The first total synthesis of the C(3)-symmetric and biologically active natural product, (-)-xyloketal A, has been accomplished in one step from phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene) and (4R)-3-hydroxymethyl-2,4-dimethyl-4,5-dihydrofuran. This remarkably direct process involved an exceedingly facile and diastereoselective boron trifluoride diethyl etherate-promoted triple electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction that was coupled to three bicyclic acetal formation reactions.

Synthesis and evaluation of new chiral nonracemic C2-symmetric and unsymmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl ligands.

The synthesis of a series of chiral nonracemic and C2-symmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl ligands (R = Me, i-Pr and Ph) as well as the syntheses of the corresponding unsymmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl ligands (R = Me and Ph) is described. These bipyridyl ligands were prepared, in a notably direct and modular fashion, from the readily available and corresponding 2-chloropyridine acetals (R = Me, i-Pr and Ph). The bipyridyl ligands were evaluated in copper(I)-catalyzed cyclopropanation reactions of styrene with the ethyl and t-butyl esters of diazoacetic acid.

Synthesis of xyloketal A, B, C, D, and G analogues.

A series of demethyl analogues of the natural products xyloketal A, B, C, D, and G have been prepared in a notably direct manner from 3-hydroxymethyl-2-methyl-4,5-dihydrofuran and a series of corresponding phenols. These syntheses featured a boron trifluoride diethyl etherate-promoted electrophilic aromatic substitution reaction as a key step. In the case of the synthesis of analogues of xyloketal A, the process was found to be highly efficient (up to 93% yield).

Asymmetric allylic oxidation reactions catalyzed by a chiral nonracemic and C2-symmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl copper(I) complex.

The evaluation of a chiral, nonracemic and C2-symmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl ligand in copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric allylic oxidation reactions of a series of cyclic alkenes with tert-butyl peroxybenzoate is reported (up to 91% ee, the highest reported enantioselectivity for a bipyridyl ligand copper(I) complex to date).

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions catalyzed by a chiral nonracemic C2-symmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl copper(II) complex.

Enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions of a series of substituted indoles with methyl trifluoropyruvate, catalyzed by a chiral nonracemic C(2)-symmetric 2,2'-bipyridyl copper(II) triflate complex, are described. The corresponding 3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-indole-3-yl-propionic acid methyl esters were formed in good yield and in high enantiomeric excess (up to 90%). This is the first report of the use of a chiral nonracemic 2,2'-bipyridyl ligand in catalytic and enantioselective Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions.

Phenylboronic acid mediated triple condensation reactions of phloroglucinol and unsaturated carbonyl compounds.

[reaction: see text] A remarkable phenylboronic acid mediated triple condensation reaction of phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene) with a series of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds is reported. This experimentally simple reaction afforded novel C3-symmetric 2H-chromene derivatives. These derivatives represent structural analogues of the natural product xyloketal A, which has been reported to be a potent inhibitor of acetylcholine esterase.

How important is TVT location?

Background: The tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) is claimed to be a midurethral procedure, but data on sling placement are scarce to date. The aim of this study was to investigate tape position and mobility and correlate this with postoperative symptoms of bladder dysfunction.

Methods: One hundred and forty-one women 5 weeks to 2.

A new class of chiral P,N-ligands and their application in palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitution reactions.

An efficient and modular synthesis of a series of chiral nonracemic P,N-ligands is reported. The P,N-ligands were prepared from 2-chloro-4-methyl-6,7-dihydro-5H-[1]pyrindine-7-one and a series of substituted chiral C(2)-symmetric 1,2-ethanediols (R = Me, i-Pr, and Ph). The ligands were evaluated for use in catalytic asymmetric synthesis in the palladium-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions of a racemic allylic acetate and dimethyl malonate.