Global biodiversity gradients are generally expected to reflect greater species replacement closer to the equator. However, empirical validation of global biodiversity gradients largely relies on vertebrates, plants, and other less diverse taxa. Here we assess the temporal and spatial dynamics of global arthropod biodiversity dynamics using a beta-diversity framework.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFoundational high-resolution geospatial data products for population, settlements, infrastructure, and boundaries may greatly enhance the efficient planning of resource allocation during health sector interventions. To ensure the relevance and sustainability of such products, government partners must be involved from the beginning in their creation, improvement, and/or management, so they can be successfully applied to public health campaigns, such as malaria control and prevention. As an example, Zambia had an ambitious strategy of reaching the entire population with malaria vector control campaigns by late 2020 or early 2021, but they lacked the requisite accurate and up-to-date data on infrastructure and population distribution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccurate and cost-effective methods for tracking changes in arthropod communities are needed to develop integrative environmental monitoring programs in the Arctic. To date, even baseline data on their species composition at established ecological monitoring sites are severely lacking. We present the results of a pilot assessment of non-marine arthropod diversity in a middle arctic tundra area near Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), Victoria Island, Nunavut, undertaken in 2018 using DNA barcodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe reliable taxonomic identification of organisms through DNA sequence data requires a well parameterized library of curated reference sequences. However, it is estimated that just 15% of described animal species are represented in public sequence repositories. To begin to address this deficiency, we provide DNA barcodes for 1,500,003 animal specimens collected from 23 terrestrial and aquatic ecozones at sites across Canada, a nation that comprises 7% of the planet's land surface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAncient lakes are renowned for their exceptional diversity of endemic species. As model systems for the study of sympatric speciation, it is necessary to understand whether a given hypothesized species flock is of monophyletic or polyphyletic origin. Here, we present the first molecular characterization of the Hyalella (Crustacea: Amphipoda) species complex of Lake Titicaca, using COI and 28S DNA sequences, including samples from the connected Small and Large Lakes that comprise Lake Titicaca as well as from a broader survey of southern South American sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report on the self-organized growth of monatomic transition-metal oxide chains of (3×1) periodicity and unusual MO_{2} stoichiometry (M=Ni, Co, Fe, Mn) on Ir(100). We analyze their structural and magnetic properties by means of quantitative LEED, STM, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. LEED analyses reveal a fascinating common atomic structure in which the transition-metal atoms sit above a missing-row structure of the surface and are coupled to the substrate only via oxygen atoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Comprehensive biotic surveys, or 'all taxon biodiversity inventories' (ATBI), have traditionally been limited in scale or scope due to the complications surrounding specimen sorting and species identification. To circumvent these issues, several ATBI projects have successfully integrated DNA barcoding into their identification procedures and witnessed acceleration in their surveys and subsequent increase in project scope and scale. The Biodiversity Institute of Ontario partnered with the rare Charitable Research Reserve and delegates of the 6th International Barcode of Life Conference to complete its own rapid, barcode-assisted ATBI of an established land trust in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Arctic ecosystems, especially those near transition zones, are expected to be strongly impacted by climate change. Because it is positioned on the ecotone between tundra and boreal forest, the Churchill area is a strategic locality for the analysis of shifts in faunal composition. This fact has motivated the effort to develop a comprehensive biodiversity inventory for the Churchill region by coupling DNA barcoding with morphological studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA patient with b-symtoms and a sonographically detected kidney tumor entered hospital for a nephrectomy. An aspergillosis had been histologically accounted for. Up to that point, there was no indication of an immunodeficiency or invasive aspergillosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrently, there are no data that govern the number of procedures that are necessary to promote competence during emergency medicine (EM) training. Nonetheless, the Residency Review Committee requires each program to report the average number of procedures and resuscitations performed by its residents. For 7 years, we have used a computer database to track resuscitation and procedure experience for 42 residents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of the antileukemic and anti-HIV agent avarol on the lymphoid system was studied both in vitro and in vivo. Radioactively labelled avarol ([3H]-dihydroavarol) was found to accumulate in vitro in the cytoplasmic compartment primarily of T-lymphocytes and not of B-lymphocytes. Avarol increased significantly the IgG and IgM production by cultures of human lymphoid cells (unseparated) in vitro and slightly the number of plaque forming cells in vivo in spleen of mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe secondary metabolite avarol, a potent cytostatic and antibacterial sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone, is present in large amounts only in the sponge Dysidea avara (2.7 g avarol/1 kg of fresh material). The present study was designed to determine the storage site of this compound within the organism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe two novel antimitotic and potent antileukemic agents avarone and avarol were determined to inhibit the [3H]-dThd incorporation rates of both murine spleen and human peripheral blood lymphocytes within the concentration range of 2-6 microM. The mitogens concanavalin A (ConA; for T lymphocytes), lipopolysaccharide (LPS; for murine B lymphocytes) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM; for human T and B lymphocytes) were used to stimulate DNA synthesis in the lymphocyte fractions. The ED50 concentrations, causing a 50% reduction of [3H]-dThd incorporation, were significantly lower in the experiments with avarone than in those with avarol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Soc Exp Biol Med
December 1964
J Clin Endocrinol Metab
March 1961