Complex Effects of a Land-Use Gradient on Pollinators and Natural Enemies: Natural Habitats Mitigate the Effects of Aphid Infestation on Pollination Services.

Pollinators and natural enemies are essential ecosystem service providers influenced by land-use and by interactions between them. However, the understanding of the combined impacts of these factors on pollinator and natural enemy activities and their ultimate effects on plant productivity remains limited. We investigated the effects of local and landscape vegetation characteristics and the presence of herbivorous pests on pollination and biological control services and their combined influence on phytometer seed set.

The Role of 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT in Breast Cancer Response Assessment and Follow-Up.

Purpose: 68 Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI), a new PET/CT radiotracer targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts in tumor microenvironment, can detect many types of cancer. We aimed to assess whether it can also be used for response assessment and follow-up.

Methods: We followed up patients with FAPI-avid invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) before and after treatment changes and correlated qualitative maximal intensity projection images and quantitative tumor volume with CT results and blood tumor biomarkers.

The Role of 68 Ga-FAPI PET/CT in Detection of Metastatic Lobular Breast Cancer.

Purpose: Invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) may be hard to detect using conventional imaging modalities and usually shows less avidity to 18 F-FDG PET/CT. 68 Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET/CT has shown promising results in detecting non- 18 F-FDG-avid cancers. We aimed to assess the feasibility of detecting metastatic disease in patients with non- 18 F-FDG-avid ILC.

Rangeland sharing by cattle and bees: moderate grazing does not impair bee communities and resource availability.

Rangelands are a dominant anthropogenic land use and a main driver of natural habitat loss worldwide. Land sharing, the integration of agricultural production and biodiversity conservation, may provide a platform for managing rangelands to fulfill multiple ecosystem services. However, livestock grazing can greatly affect biodiversity and little is known about its effects on providers of focal ecosystem services, such as pollinators.

Validation of diagnostic gene sets to identify critically ill patients with sepsis.

Purpose: Gene expression diagnostics have been proposed to identify critically ill patients with sepsis. Three expression-based scores have been developed, but have not been compared in a prospective validation. We sought to validate these scores using an independent dataset and analysis.

Ribosomal Antibiotics: Contemporary Challenges.

Most ribosomal antibiotics obstruct distinct ribosomal functions. In selected cases, in addition to paralyzing vital ribosomal tasks, some ribosomal antibiotics are involved in cellular regulation. Owing to the global rapid increase in the appearance of multi-drug resistance in pathogenic bacterial strains, and to the extremely slow progress in developing new antibiotics worldwide, it seems that, in addition to the traditional attempts at improving current antibiotics and the intensive screening for additional natural compounds, this field should undergo substantial conceptual revision.

Crystal structure of the synergistic antibiotic pair, lankamycin and lankacidin, in complex with the large ribosomal subunit.

The structures of the large ribosomal subunit of Deinococcus radiodurans (D50S) in complex with the antibiotic lankamycin (3.2 Å) and a double antibiotic complex of lankamycin and lankacidin C (3.45 Å) have been determined, in continuation of previous crystallographic studies on lankacidin-D50S complex.

The Proto-Ribosome: an ancient nano-machine for peptide bond formation.

The ribosome is a ribozyme whose active site, the peptidyl transferase center (PTC) is situated within a highly conserved universal symmetrical region that connects all ribosomal functional centers involved in amino-acid polymerization. The linkage between this elaborate architecture and A-site tRNA position revealed that the A to P-site passage of the tRNA 3' terminus during protein synthesis is performed by a rotary motion, synchronized with the overall tRNA/mRNA sideways movement and Guided by the PTC. This rotary motion leads to suitable stereochemistry for peptide bond formation as well as for substrate mediated catalysis.

Ancient machinery embedded in the contemporary ribosome.

Structural analysis, supported by biochemical, mutagenesis and computational evidence, indicates that the peptidyltransferase centre of the contemporary ribosome is a universal symmetrical pocket composed solely of rRNA. This pocket seems to be a relic of the proto-ribosome, an ancient ribozyme, which was a dimeric RNA assembly formed from self-folded RNA chains of identical, similar or different sequences. This could have occurred spontaneously by gene duplication or gene fusion.

Analysis of BRCA1/BRCA2 genes' contribution to breast cancer susceptibility in high risk Jewish Ashkenazi women.

Background: Three mutations in BRCA1 (185delAG 5382InsC) and BRCA2 (6174delT) can be detected in a substantial proportion of Jewish Ashkenazi breast/ovarian cancer families. Family-specific pathogenic mutations in both genes can be detected in up to 5% of high risk Ashkenazim. The contribution of major gene rearrangements and seemingly pathogenic missense mutations to inherited breast cancer predisposition has never been systematically evaluated in Ashkenazim.

How I treat acute and chronic leukemia in pregnancy.

The prevalence of pregnancy associated leukemia is approximately 1 case out of 10,000 pregnancies. This rare occurrence precludes the conducting of large, prospective studies to examine diagnostic, management and outcome issues. The treatment of a pregnant woman with leukemia may be associated with severe adverse fetal outcome including death and malformations, and therefore poses a difficult challenge for both the patient and the attending physician.