Influence of environment and climate on occurrence of the cixiid planthopper Hyalesthes obsoletus, the vector of the grapevine disease 'bois noir'.

Species distribution models (SDMs), which are well established in many fields of biological research, are still uncommon in the agricultural risk analysis of pest insects. To exemplify the use of SDMs, we investigated the influence of environmental factors on the occurrence of Hyalesthes obsoletus Signoret (Hemiptera: Cixiidae). The planthopper is the only known vector of the grapevine yellows disease 'bois noir'.

Annual plants under cyclic disturbance regime: better understanding through model aggregation.

In their application for conservation ecology, "classical" analytical models and individual-based simulation models (IBMs) both entail their specific strengths and weaknesses, either in providing a detailed and realistic representation of processes or in regard to a comprehensive model analysis. This well-known dilemma may be resolved by the combination of both approaches when tackling certain problems of conservation ecology. Following this idea, we present the complementary use of both an IBM and a matrix population model in a case study on grassland conservation management.

Evolving clinical application of cardiac MRI.

Over the past decade, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a new technology representing the next major advance in noninvasive cardiac imaging. It provides unique and accurate data representative of cardiac structure, function, and perfusion at both the gross anatomical and myocardial levels. Cardiac MRI proves to be highly accurate and reproducible in many challenging areas in clinical cardiology, including diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis, differentiation of ischemic from dilated cardiomyopathy, confirmation of the diagnosis of myocarditis, and definition and quantification of myocardial viability.