Substantial Insect Herbivory in a South African Savanna-Forest Mosaic: A Neglected Topic.

Insect herbivory plays a crucial role in shaping plant communities in many terrestrial ecosystems. However, in African savannas, insect herbivory has been relatively understudied compared to large mammalian herbivory. In this study, we examined the impact of insect herbivory, focusing on leaf chewers and miners, in a South African savanna-forest mosaic (including patches of forest, thicket and savanna) in Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park, South Africa.

Evolutionary radiation of the Eurasian Pinus species under pervasive gene flow.

Evolutionary radiation, a pivotal aspect of macroevolution, offers valuable insights into evolutionary processes. The genus Pinus is the largest genus in conifers with 90% of the extant species emerged in the Miocene, which signifies a case of rapid diversification. Despite this remarkable history, our understanding of the mechanisms driving radiation within this expansive genus has remained limited.

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities.

Trees structure the Earth's most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge.

Ketogenesis promotes tolerance to Pseudomonas aeruginosa pulmonary infection.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common cause of pulmonary infection. As a Gram-negative pathogen, it can initiate a brisk and highly destructive inflammatory response; however, most hosts become tolerant to the bacterial burden, developing chronic infection. Using a murine model of pneumonia, we demonstrate that this shift from inflammation to disease tolerance is promoted by ketogenesis.

Three-dimensional feedback processes in current-driven metal.

Using three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we study how a pit on a metal surface evolves when driven by intense electrical current density j. Redistribution of j around the pit initiates a feedback loop: j both reacts to and alters the electrical conductivity σ, through Joule heating and hydrodynamic expansion, so that j and σ are constantly in flux. Thus, the pit transforms into larger striation and filament structures predicted by the electrothermal instability theory.

Seeding the Electrothermal Instability through a Three-Dimensional, Nonlinear Perturbation.

Electrothermal instability plays an important role in applications of current-driven metal, creating striations (which seed the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability) and filaments (which provide a more rapid path to plasma formation). However, the initial formation of both structures is not well understood. Simulations show for the first time how a commonly occurring isolated defect transforms into the larger striation and filament, through a feedback loop connecting current and electrical conductivity.

Friction between human skin and incontinence pads in the presence of barrier protection products.

This novel experimental work aims to bring further knowledge of frictional performance of common barrier products used in the treatment of incontinence-associated dermatitis and determine how the skin-pad interface changes when a treatment is applied to the skin. Key data is reported and there is an in-depth analysis into friction profiles which reveals great differences between how different skin-pad tribosystems operate when exposed to commercially available barrier treatments. In a wet-pad state (3M™ Cavilon™ Barrier cream) reduced friction and had much lower dynamic and static coefficients of friction than the other barrier treatments ( (Sorbaderm Barrier cream) and the (Sorbaderm Barrier spray)).

Does Inclusion of Emergency Medicine (EM) Residents in ECG Screening for STEMI Change the Time to Catheterization Lab Activation?

Background: Emergency medicine physicians must rapidly obtain and interpret an electrocardiogram (ECG) to quickly identify life-threatening cardiac emergencies such as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Although ECG interpretation is a critical component of residency education, few high-powered studies exploring the accuracy of resident ECG interpretation exist.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate whether or not the inclusion of Third Year Emergency Medicine Resident ECG interpretations is noninferior to attending-only ECG interpretations in regard to time to STEMI activation.

Children's Oncology Group KidsCare smartphone application for parents of children with cancer.

Background: Parents of children with cancer must learn and retain crucial information necessary to provide safe care for their child. Smartphone applications (apps) provide a significant opportunity to meet the informational needs of these parents. We aimed to develop, refine, and evaluate a smartphone app, informed by the Children's Oncology Group (COG) expert consensus recommendations, to support the informational needs of parents of children with cancer.

Kin and Non-Kin Connected Plants Benefit More Than Disconnected Kin and Non-Kin Plants under Nutrient-Competitive Environments.

In the natural environment, plants grow and interact with both conspecific and heterospecific neighbours under different environmental conditions. In this study, we tested whether Willd genotypes differ in growth performance when grown with kin and non-kin under nutrient limitation in pot partitioning treatments. Biomass accumulation, allocation, organ efficiency, and specific leaf area were measured at the end of the experiment.

A Structured Discharge Education Intervention for Parents of Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Oncology Patients.

Parents of children newly diagnosed with cancer require specialized knowledge and skills in order to safely care for their children at home. The Children's Oncology Group (COG) developed expert consensus recommendations to guide new diagnosis education; however, these recommendations have not been empirically tested. We used a sequential two-cohort study design to test a nurse-led Structured Discharge Teaching Intervention (SDTI) that operationalizes the COG expert recommendations in the setting of a tertiary children's hospital.

Leaf chemistry of architecturally defended plants responds more strongly to soil phosphorus variation than non-architecturally defended ones.

Plants utilize a mixture of defence types in response to herbivores, including physical, chemical, and biological defences. Among chemical defences, phenolics are well-known to inhibit digestion and are highly variable across plant species and resource gradients. There are prominent hypotheses predicting the potential change of phenolics in response to soil nutrients, but most focus on nitrogen (N) and none consider their interaction with defence strategies.

Defence plasticity in the spiny plant Aralia elata (Miq.) Seem. in response to light and soil fertility.

Background And Aims: Plants have evolved various defences against herbivores, including direct chemical and structural defences and co-opted biological defences by predatory insects. However, the effects of abiotic habitat conditions on the quantitative expression of defence traits of spiny species have not been elucidated.

Methods: Here, we investigated whether a spiny deciduous tree, Aralia elata (Miq.

Fauna access outweighs litter mixture effect during leaf litter decomposition.

Decomposition rates of litter mixtures reflect the combined effects of litter species diversity, litter quality, decomposers, their interactions with each other and with the environment. The outcomes of those interactions remain ambiguous and past studies have reported conflicting results (e.g.

Description of two new species of (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from karst landscapes in Yunnan, China, highlights complex conservation needs.

Karst habitats are hotspots of diversity and endemism. Their naturally fragmented distributions across broad geographic landscapes have led to the complex array of smaller evolutionary ecosystems that present unique challenges from a conservation perspective. Comprehensive biodiversity assessments of karst habitats have revealed that these ecosystems contain an almost unparalleled level of endemism, and many site-restricted species remain undescribed, thus posing considerable challenges for effective conservation management.

Harmonic Generation and Inverse Cascade in the z-Pinch Driven, Preseeded Multimode, Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor Instability.

The magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI) plays an essential role in astrophysical systems and in magneto-inertial fusion, where it is known to be an important degradation mechanism of confinement and target performance. In this Letter, we show for the first time experimental evidence of mode mixing and the onset of an inverse-cascade process resulting from the nonlinear coupling of two discrete preseeded axial modes (400- and 550-μm wavelengths) on an Al liner that is magnetically imploded using the 20-MA, 100-ns rise-time Z Machine at Sandia National Laboratories. Four radiographs captured the temporal evolution of the MRTI.

Rapid Eocene diversification of spiny plants in subtropical woodlands of central Tibet.

Spinescence is an important functional trait possessed by many plant species for physical defence against mammalian herbivores. The development of spinescence must have been closely associated with both biotic and abiotic factors in the geological past, but knowledge of spinescence evolution suffers from a dearth of fossil records, with most studies focusing on spatial patterns and spinescence-herbivore interactions in modern ecosystems. Numerous well-preserved Eocene (~39 Ma) plant fossils exhibiting seven different spine morphologies discovered recently in the central Tibetan Plateau, combined with molecular phylogenetic character reconstruction, point not only to the presence of a diversity of spiny plants in Eocene central Tibet but a rapid diversification of spiny plants in Eurasia around that time.

Electromyographic Examination of Hip and Knee Extension Hex Bar Exercises Varied by Starting Knee and Torso Angles.

Unlabelled: Variations of the deadlift can be executed using the hexagonal (hex) bar by altering, for instance, the knee and torso angles while maintaining a constant hip angle at the start position.

Purpose: To examine muscle activation patterns of the biceps femoris, rectus femoris, and erector spinae during three deadlift variations using the hex bar.

Methods: Twenty resistance-trained male and female subjects performed hex bar deadlift variations in three different starting knee flexion positions: 128.

Leaf trait association in relation to herbivore defense, drought resistance, and economics in a tropical invasive plant.

Premise: Exploring how functional traits vary and covary is important to understand plant responses to environmental change. However, we have limited understanding of the ways multiple functional traits vary and covary within invasive species.

Methods: We measured 12 leaf traits of an invasive plant Chromolaena odorata, associated with plant or leaf economics, herbivore defense, and drought resistance on 10 introduced populations from Asia and 12 native populations from South and Central America, selected across a broad range of climatic conditions, and grown in a common garden.

Trunk spines of trees: a physical defence against bark removal and climbing by mammals?

Background And Aims: The defensive role of spines has previously been related to leaves, young shoots and reproductive organs. However, some woody species harbour spines on their trunks where none of those organs are present. Several explanations are plausible: they could be (1) climbing aids, (2) remnants from defence of leaves or reproductive organs during an earlier development phase, or (3) an as-yet undescribed defence.