Seed size-seed number trade-offs: influence of seed size on the density of fire-stimulated persistent soil seed banks.

Premise: Does the seed size-seed number allocation trade-off model apply to long-term persistent soil seed banks? This trade-off between seed size versus number of seeds produced is usually applied at a single population on an annual basis. Our question is how this model might apply to close relatives that produce dormant seed forming long-term persistent soil seed banks. These two criteria allow a focus on divergent evolution of conspecifics and permits us to isolate seed size in the spectrum of life history traits that may be influencing seed traits, and on how seed size influences accumulation and persistence in the soil.

Investigating Instructor Talk in Novel Contexts: Widespread Use, Unexpected Categories, and an Emergent Sampling Strategy.

Instructor Talk-noncontent language used by instructors in classrooms-is a recently defined and promising variable for better understanding classroom dynamics. Having previously characterized the Instructor Talk framework within the context of a single course, we present here our results surrounding the applicability of the Instructor Talk framework to noncontent language used by instructors in novel course contexts. We analyzed Instructor Talk in eight additional biology courses in their entirety and in 61 biology courses using an emergent sampling strategy.

Collectively Improving Our Teaching: Attempting Biology Department-wide Professional Development in Scientific Teaching.

Many efforts to improve science teaching in higher education focus on a few faculty members at an institution at a time, with limited published evidence on attempts to engage faculty across entire departments. We created a long-term, department-wide collaborative professional development program, Biology Faculty Explorations in Scientific Teaching (Biology FEST). Across 3 years of Biology FEST, 89% of the department's faculty completed a weeklong scientific teaching institute, and 83% of eligible instructors participated in additional semester-long follow-up programs.

Selective, Accurate, and Precise Quantitation of Glutarylcarnitine in Human Urine from a Patient with Glutaric Acidemia Type I.

Background: Although correctly used in expanded newborn screening programs to identify patients with possible diseases, flow-injection tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) acylcarnitine "profiles" are inadequate for standard clinical uses owing to their limited quantitative accuracy and lack of selectivity. We report the application of our selective, accurate, and precise method for quantification of acylcarnitines, applied to urine glutarylcarnitine from a patient with glutaric acidemia type I (GAI).

Methods: A previously validated acylcarnitine ultra-HPLC-MS/MS method was used, with a focus on analysis of glutarylcarnitine.

Selective and accurate C5 acylcarnitine quantitation by UHPLC-MS/MS: Distinguishing true isovaleric acidemia from pivalate derived interference.

Tandem MS acylcarnitine "profiles" are extremely valuable. Although used appropriately in newborn screening programs to identify patients with possible diseases, their inadequate quantitative accuracy and lack of selectivity is problematic for confirmatory testing. In this report, we show the application of our validated, selective, accurate, precise, and robust UHPLC-MS/MS method for quantitation of acylcarnitines, specifically to C5 acylcarnitines: pivaloyl-, 2-methylbutyryl-, isovaleryl-, and valerylcarnitine.