Revisiting species and areas of interest for conserving global mammalian phylogenetic diversity.

Various prioritisation strategies have been developed to cope with accelerating biodiversity loss and limited conservation resources. These strategies could become more engaging for decision-makers if they reflected the positive effects conservation can have on future projected biodiversity, by targeting net positive outcomes in future projected biodiversity, rather than reflecting the negative consequences of further biodiversity losses only. Hoping to inform the post-2020 biodiversity framework, we here apply this approach of targeting net positive outcomes in future projected biodiversity to phylogenetic diversity (PD) to re-identify species and areas of interest for conserving global mammalian PD.

Discriminating the biophysical signal from human-induced effects on long-term primary production dynamics. The case of Patagonia.

The temporal trend of aboveground net primary production (ANPP) is frequently used to estimate the effect of humans on ecosystems. In water-limited ecosystems, like most grazing areas in the world, the effect of humans act upon ANPP in combination with environmental variations. Our main objective was to quantify long-term (1981-2012) changes of ANPP and discriminate the causes of these changes between environmental and human at a subcontinental scale, across vast areas of Patagonia.

Forest strips increase connectivity and modify forests' functioning in a deforestation hotspot.

Land use changes are occurring with unprecedented magnitude and intensity, imposing global impacts on ecosystem services (ES) and biodiversity. While the impacts of land use changes are increasingly recognized, understanding how landscape connectivity is related to ecosystem functioning is lacking. In the Argentinian Dry Chaco, deforestation increased forest fragmentation but strips of native forest (linear remnants) were usually left after clearings.

Vulnerability to climate change of islands worldwide and its impact on the tree of life.

Island systems are among the most vulnerable to climate change, which is predicted to induce shifts in temperature, rainfall and/or sea levels. Our aim was: (i) to map the relative vulnerability of islands to each of these threats from climate change on a worldwide scale; (ii) to estimate how island vulnerability would impact phylogenetic diversity. We focused on monocotyledons, a major group of flowering plants that includes taxa of important economic value such as palms, grasses, bananas, taro.

Distribution and relative age of endemism across islands worldwide.

Islands have remarkable levels of endemism and contribute greatly to global biodiversity. Establishing the age of island endemics is important to gain insights into the processes that have shaped the biodiversity patterns of island biota. We investigated the relative age of monocots across islands worldwide, using different measures of phylogenetic endemism tested against null models.

Barriers and Solutions to Conducting Large International, Interdisciplinary Research Projects.

Global environmental problems such as climate change are not bounded by national borders or scientific disciplines, and therefore require international, interdisciplinary teamwork to develop understandings of their causes and solutions. Interdisciplinary scientific work is difficult enough, but these challenges are often magnified when teams also work across national boundaries. The literature on the challenges of interdisciplinary research is extensive.

Integrating data-deficient species in analyses of evolutionary history loss.

There is an increasing interest in measuring loss of phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary distinctiveness which together depict the evolutionary history of conservation interest. Those losses are assessed through the evolutionary relationships between species and species threat status or extinction probabilities. Yet, available information is not always sufficient to quantify the threat status of species that are then classified as data deficient.

Fixism and conservation science.

The field of biodiversity conservation has recently been criticized as relying on a fixist view of the living world in which existing species constitute at the same time targets of conservation efforts and static states of reference, which is in apparent disagreement with evolutionary dynamics. We reviewed the prominent role of species as conservation units and the common benchmark approach to conservation that aims to use past biodiversity as a reference to conserve current biodiversity. We found that the species approach is justified by the discrepancy between the time scales of macroevolution and human influence and that biodiversity benchmarks are based on reference processes rather than fixed reference states.

Loss and conservation of evolutionary history in the Mediterranean Basin.

Background: Phylogenetic diversity and evolutionary distinctiveness are highly valuable components of biodiversity, but they are rarely considered in conservation practices. Focusing on a biodiversity hotspot, the Mediterranean Basin, we aimed to identify those areas where evolutionary history is highly threatened and range-restricted in the region. Using null models, we first compared the spatial distributions of three indices: two measured threatened evolutionary history-Expected PDloss and Heightened Evolutionary distinctiveness and Global Endangerment-and one measured endemic evolutionary history-Biogeographically Evolutionary Distinctiveness.

Predicting loss of evolutionary history: Where are we?

The Earth's evolutionary history is threatened by species loss in the current sixth mass extinction event in Earth's history. Such extinction events not only eliminate species but also their unique evolutionary histories. Here we review the expected loss of Earth's evolutionary history quantified by phylogenetic diversity (PD) and evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) at risk.

Diagnostic value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in pelvic abscesses.

Objective: The objective of this study was to prospectively assess the added value of gadolinium-enhanced and diffusion-weighted (DWI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to pelvic T2-weighted MRI for diagnosis of deep pelvic abscesses.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients with suspected abscess and a control group of 43 patients underwent T2-weighted, gadolinium-enhanced, T1-weighted and DWI magnetic resonance sequences. Three readers (R1, R2, R3) scored likelihood of abscess on standard MRI, standard MRI + gadolinium, and standard MRI + DWI.

The imprint of humans on landscape patterns and vegetation functioning in the dry subtropics.

Dry subtropical regions (DST), originally hosting woodlands and savannas, are subject to contrasting human pressures and land uses and different degrees of water limitation. We quantified how this variable context influences landscape pattern and vegetation functioning, by exploring the associations between three groups of variables describing (i) human pressures (population density, poverty, and market isolation) and climate (water availability), (ii) landscape pattern (woody cover, infrastructure, paddock size, etc.), and (iii) vegetation functioning (magnitude and stability of primary productivity), in regions of Asia, Africa, Australia, and America.

Protocol for the measurement of fatty acid and glycerol turnover in vivo in baboons.

Recognition of the strength of nonhuman primate models in investigating metabolic disorders has resulted in an expanded need for in vivo research techniques. We studied adipose metabolism in 10 baboons (13.0 ± 4.

Grazing-induced losses of biodiversity affect the transpiration of an arid ecosystem.

Degradation processes often lead to species loss. Such losses would impact on ecosystem functioning depending on the extinction order and the functional and structural aspects of species. For the Patagonian arid steppe, we used a simulation model to study the effects of species loss on the rate and variability (i.

Cannulation of the extrathoracic left common carotid artery for thoracic aorta operations through left posterolateral thoracotomy.

The femoral artery is the usual site of arterial cannulation in thoracic aorta operations through left posterolateral thoracotomy that require cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). The advantage of this perfusion route is in limiting the duration of circulatory arrest. It is associated, however, with the risk of retrograde embolization or, in cases involving aortic dissection, malperfusion of vital organs.

Long-term durability of resection and end-to-end anastomosis for ascending aortic aneurysms.

Background: Ascending aortic aneurysms with normal sized sinotubular junction are generally treated by resection of the dilated aorta and replacement with tubular graft. Aortic resection and direct end-to-end anastomosis has been applied to repair aortic coarctation, interrupted aortic arch, and traumatic aortic rupture. No data exist regarding the long-term durability of this approach in ascending aortic aneurysms.

[Quantitative 3D anatomy of the lumbar spine].

Purpose Of The Study: There are many anatomic descriptions of the spine, but most concentrate on qualitative information. Quantitative data is however important to achieve a better clinical approach, to adapt implant size and to construct geometric models of spine mechanics.

Material And Methods: We examined 32 dry spines (160 lumbar vertebrae) obtained from the Orfila Museum anatomy laboratory at the Saints-Pères School of Medicine in Paris.

Aortic root remodeling with the "cuff" technique for stentless valve implantation.

Aortic root and sinotubular junction dilatation and aneurysm of ascending aorta are considered relative contra-indications to implantation of a stentless valve prosthesis, because the modified aortic geometry leads to aortic incompetence and early failure of the prosthesis. Aortic root reconstruction can be performed according to various techniques. We present a surgical technique in which a tubular graft, replacing an ascending aortic aneurysm, allows sinotubular remodeling and satisfactory implantation of a stentless prosthesis.

3D reconstruction method from biplanar radiography using non-stereocorresponding points and elastic deformable meshes.

Standard 3D reconstruction of bones using stereoradiography is limited by the number of anatomical landmarks visible in more than one projection. The proposed technique enables the 3D reconstruction of additional landmarks that can be identified in only one of the radiographs. The principle of this method is the deformation of an elastic object that respects stereocorresponding and non-stereocorresponding observations available in different projections.