Association between vildagliptin and risk of angioedema, foot ulcers, skin lesions, hepatic toxicity, and serious infections in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A European multidatabase, noninterventional, postauthorization safety study.

Objectives: This noninterventional, multidatabase, analytical cohort study explored whether vildagliptin is associated with an increased risk of specific safety events of interest, namely angioedema, foot ulcers, or skin lesions, adverse hepatic events, or serious infections compared with other noninsulin antidiabetic drugs (NIADs) using real-world data from five European electronic healthcare databases.

Design: Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus aged ≥18 years on NIAD treatment were included between January 2005 and June 2014. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the outcomes of interest were estimated using negative binomial regression.

Widespread Warming Before and Elevated Barium Burial During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: Evidence for Methane Hydrate Release?

Current climate change may induce positive carbon cycle feedbacks that amplify anthropogenic warming on time scales of centuries to millennia. Similar feedbacks might have been active during a phase of carbon cycle perturbation and global warming, termed the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, 56 million years ago). The PETM may help constrain these feedbacks and their sensitivity to warming.

Organ-specific phytohormone synthesis in two species with antithetical responses to far-red light enrichment.

Plants growing in high densities experience a reduced red (R) to far-red (FR) light ratio and shade-intolerant species respond with accelerated elongation growth to reach the top of the canopy: the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). FR-enriched light inactivates phytochrome photoreceptors, which results in subsequent action of several plant hormones regulating growth. SAS is adaptive for shade-intolerant plants, but is suppressed in shade-tolerant plant species.

Deciphering the patterns of genetic admixture and diversity in southern European cattle using genome-wide SNPs.

The divergence between indicine cattle () and taurine cattle () is estimated to have occurred approximately 250,000 years ago, but a small number of European cattle breeds still display shared ancestry with indicine cattle. Additionally, following the divergence of African and European taurine, the gene flow between African taurine and southern European cattle has also been proposed. However, the extent to which non-European cattle ancestry is diffused across southern European cattle has not been investigated thoroughly.

Orbitally Forced Hyperstratification of the Oligocene South Atlantic Ocean.

Pelagic sediments from the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean contain geographically extensive Oligocene ooze and chalk layers that consist almost entirely of the calcareous nannofossil Braarudosphaera. Poor recovery and the lack of precise dating of these horizons in previous studies has limited the understanding of the number of acmes, their timing and durations, and therefore their likely cause. Here we present a high-resolution, astronomically tuned stratigraphy of Braarudosphaera oozes (29.

Effects of Induced Stress on Seismic Waves: Validation Based on Ab Initio Calculations.

When a continuum is subjected to an induced stress, the equations that govern seismic wave propagation are modified in two ways. First, the equation of conservation of linear momentum gains terms related to the induced deviatoric stress, and, second, the elastic constitutive relationship acquires terms linear in the induced stress. This continuum mechanics theory makes testable predictions with regard to stress-induced changes in the elastic tensor.

Geological Evidence of Planet-Wide Groundwater System on Mars.

The scale of groundwater upwelling on Mars, as well as its relation to sedimentary systems, remains an ongoing debate. Several deep craters (basins) in the northern equatorial regions show compelling signs that large amounts of water once existed on Mars at a planet-wide scale. The presence of water-formed features, including fluvial Gilbert and sapping deltas fed by sapping valleys, constitute strong evidence of groundwater upwelling resulting in long term standing bodies of water inside the basins.

Traditional plant functional groups explain variation in economic but not size-related traits across the tundra biome.

Aim: Plant functional groups are widely used in community ecology and earth system modelling to describe trait variation within and across plant communities. However, this approach rests on the assumption that functional groups explain a large proportion of trait variation among species. We test whether four commonly used plant functional groups represent variation in six ecologically important plant traits.

High-Frequency Variability of Small-Particle Carbon Export Flux in the Northeast Atlantic.

The biological carbon pump exports carbon fixed by photosynthesis out of the surface ocean and transfers it to the deep, mostly in the form of sinking particles. Despite the importance of the pump in regulating the air-sea CO balance, the magnitude of global carbon export remains unclear, as do its controlling mechanisms. A possible sinking flux of carbon to the mesopelagic zone may be via the mixed-layer pump: a seasonal net detrainment of particulate organic carbon (POC)-rich surface waters, caused by sequential deepening and shoaling of the mixed layer.

Mantle Sources of Recent Anatolian Intraplate Magmatism: A Regional Plume or Local Tectonic Origin?

We present an extensive study of rehomogenized olivine-hosted melt inclusions, olivine phenocrysts, and chromian spinel inclusions to explore the link between geodynamic conditions and the origin and composition of Pliocene-Quaternary intraplate magmatism in Anatolia at Kula, Ceyhan-Osmaniye, and Karacadağ. Exceptional compositional variability of these products reveals early and incomplete mixing of distinct parental melts in each volcanic center, reflecting asthenospheric and lithospheric mantle sources. The studied primitive magmas consist of (1) two variably enriched ocean island basalt (OIB)-type melts in Kula; (2) both OIB-type and plume mid-ocean ridge basalt (P-MORB)-like melts beneath Toprakkale and Üçtepeler (Ceyhan-Osmaniye); and (3) two variably enriched OIB-type melts beneath Karacadağ.

Reference values for selected hematological, biochemical and physiological parameters of Sprague-Dawley rats at the Animal House, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Background: Lack of available reference values in a research setting under local conditions can be a drawback for beginners, as the accuracy of data from control samples cannot be checked at the beginning of a research project. This affects comparisons with data from test samples. To avoid these complications in their research projects, beginners tend to have a greater number of animals in the control group compared to test groups in order to have control group measurements within 2 SDs of the mean.

Suspicious binds: Conspiracy thinking and tenuous perceptions of causal connections between co-occurring and spuriously correlated events.

Previous research indicates that conspiracy thinking is informed by the psychological imposition of order and meaning on the environment, including the perception of causal relations between random events. Four studies indicate that conspiracy belief is driven by readiness to draw implausible causal connections even when events are not random, but instead conform to an objective pattern. Study 1 (=195) showed that conspiracy belief was related to the causal interpretation of real-life, spurious correlations (e.

A mechanistic assessment of the relationship between gut morphology and endozoochorous seed dispersal by waterfowl.

Many plants and invertebrates rely on internal transport by animals for long-distance dispersal. Their dispersal capacity is greatly influenced by interactions with the animal's digestive tract. Omnivorous birds adjust their digestive tract morphology to seasonally variable diets.

The importance of competition for light depends on productivity and disturbance.

Eutrophication is a major cause of biodiversity loss. In grasslands, this appears to occur due to asymmetric competition for light following the increases in aboveground biomass production. Here, we report the results of an experiment with five grass species that tests how well-competitive outcomes can be predicted under a factorial combination of fertilized and disturbed (frequent cutting) conditions.

School gardening increases knowledge of primary school children on edible plants and preference for vegetables.

At least 10% of children worldwide are diagnosed with overweight. Part of this problem is attributed to low vegetable intake, for which preference at a younger age is an indicator. Few studies examined long-term effects of school garden interventions on the knowledge about and preference for vegetables.

The effect of layout and pacing on learning from diagrams with unnecessary text.

Although the presentation of extraneous (i.e., irrelevant or unnecessary) information hinders learning, it is unclear whether and how layout and pacing influence this effect.

Early Signs of Bone and Cartilage Changes Induced by Treadmill Exercise in Rats.

This study aims to investigate the earliest alterations of bone and cartilage tissues as a result of different exercise protocols in the knee joint of Wistar rats. We hypothesize that pretraining to a continuous intense running protocol would protect the animals from cartilage degeneration. Three groups of animals were used: (i) an adaptive (pretraining) running group that ran for 8 weeks with gradually increasing velocity and time of running followed by a constant running program (6 weeks of 1.

Linking microbial co-occurrences to soil ecological processes across a woodland-grassland ecotone.

Ecotones between distinct ecosystems have been the focus of many studies as they offer valuable insights into key drivers of community structure and ecological processes that underpin function. While previous studies have examined a wide range of above-ground parameters in ecotones, soil microbial communities have received little attention. Here we investigated spatial patterns, composition, and co-occurrences of archaea, bacteria, and fungi, and their relationships with soil ecological processes across a woodland-grassland ecotone.

Valproic acid utilization among girls and women in Stockholm: Impact of regulatory restrictions.

Objective: In November 2014, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) strengthened restrictions on the use of valproic acid in girls and women of childbearing potential. The objective of this study was to determine whether there has been a change in initiations of valproic acid treatment to females after the regulatory restrictions and to assess if such changes differed between indications (epilepsy and psychiatric disorder).

Methods: An interrupted time-series analysis was conducted using all initiations of valproic acid in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dynamic Pore-Scale Model of Drainage in Granular Porous Media: The Pore-Unit Assembly Method.

Dynamics of drainage is analyzed for packings of spheres, using numerical experiments. For this purpose, a dynamic pore-scale model was developed to simulate water flow during drainage. The pore space inside a packing of spheres was extracted using regular triangulation, resulting in an assembly of grain-based tetrahedra.

Performing and interpreting individual pharmacokinetic profiles in patients with Hemophilia A or B: Rationale and general considerations.

Objectives: In a separate document, we have provided specific guidance on performing individual pharmacokinetic (PK) studies using limited samples in persons with hemophilia with the goal to optimize prophylaxis with clotting factor concentrates. This paper, intended for clinicians, aims to describe how to interpret and apply PK properties obtained in persons with hemophilia.

Methods: The members of the Working Party on population PK (PopPK) of the ISTH SSC Subcommittee on Factor VIII and IX and rare bleeding disorders, together with additional hemophilia and PK experts, completed a survey and ranking exercise whereby key areas of interest in the field were identified.

The Collaborative Seismic Earth Model: Generation 1.

We present a general concept for evolutionary, collaborative, multiscale inversion of geophysical data, specifically applied to the construction of a first-generation Collaborative Seismic Earth Model. This is intended to address the limited resources of individual researchers and the often limited use of previously accumulated knowledge. Model evolution rests on a Bayesian updating scheme, simplified into a deterministic method that honors today's computational restrictions.

Successful fishing for nucleus pulposus progenitor cells of the intervertebral disc across species.

Background: Recently, Tie2/TEK receptor tyrosine kinase (Tie2 or syn. angiopoietin-1 receptor) positive nucleus pulposus progenitor cells were detected in human, cattle, and mouse. These cells show remarkable multilineage differentiation capacity and direct correlation with intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration and are therefore an interesting target for regenerative strategies.

Biogeophysical Impacts of Land-Use Change on Climate Extremes in Low-Emission Scenarios: Results From HAPPI-Land.

The impacts of land use have been shown to have considerable influence on regional climate. With the recent international commitment to limit global warming to well below 2°C, emission reductions need to be ambitious and could involve major land-use change (LUC). Land-based mitigation efforts to curb emissions growth include increasing terrestrial carbon sequestration through reforestation, or the adoption of bioenergy crops.

Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation.

Quantifying the relationship between tree diameter and height is a key component of efforts to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests. Although substantial site-to-site variation in height-diameter allometries has been documented, the time consuming nature of measuring all tree heights in an inventory plot means that most studies do not include height, or else use generic pan-tropical or regional allometric equations to estimate height.Using a pan-tropical dataset of 73 plots where at least 150 trees had in-field ground-based height measurements, we examined how the number of trees sampled affects the performance of locally derived height-diameter allometries, and evaluated the performance of different methods for sampling trees for height measurement.