Aims: To determine if production of long-styled florets is associated with higher outcrossing rate in S. vulgaris, and whether long-styles occur in non-pollinated florets, whereas short-styles are present in self-pollinated florets.
Methods: The frequency of long-styled florets was compared in the radiate and non-radiate variants of S. vulgaris, known to exhibit higher and lower outcrossing rates, respectively. In addition, style length was compared in emasculated florets that were either self-pollinated or left non-pollinated.
Results: Long-styled florets were more frequent in the higher outcrossing radiate variant. Following emasculation, long styles occurred in non-pollinated florets, while short styles were present in self-pollinated florets. The two variants did not differ in style length within the non-pollinated or within the self-pollinated floret categories.
Conclusions: A high frequency of long-styled florets is associated with higher outcrossing rate in S. vulgaris and results from delayed self-pollination and pollen germination on stigmas. 相似文献
Aims: We tested the reliability of diagnostic characters for identification and to characterise sexual resource allocation, the breeding system and seed predation among subspecies of Gentiana lutea.
Methods: We analysed morphological characters in 70 herbarium specimens. In five natural populations we counted pollen and ovule numbers, assessed reproductive output after pollination treatments and evaluated pre-dispersal predation.
Results: Taxonomic traits previously indicated as diagnostic were not sufficient to discriminate among subspecies. The pollen number and pollen:ovule (P:O) ratio varied strongly among subspecies; self-pollinated flowers produced a significantly lower number of seeds than open-pollinated flowers. Retention of empty fruits and high levels of pre-dispersal seed predation were observed in every case.
Conclusions: The variation of P:O ratios among subspecies suggests different efficiency in pollen transfer. The species is self-compatible, nevertheless all subspecies require pollen vectors to enhance cross pollination and viable seed production. Fruit retention may have evolved as a strategy to reduce predation, ensuring higher plant fitness. 相似文献
Aims: We used a highly invasive grass, Microstegium vimineum, as a model for understanding how changes in water-induced stress (including potential associated changes in soil nutrient availability) might affect mating systems and thus evolutionary change in invasive species. We predicted that plants would respond to increased water-induced stress through a relative reduction in investment in CL vs. CH reproduction (i.e., a decrease in the CL:CH ratio).
Methods: Under greenhouse conditions, we measured fecundity (number of inflorescences and florets per plant) as well as relative investment in CL vs. CH florets (CL:CH ratios for number of inflorescences, florets per inflorescence, overall florets) in response to three watering treatments approximating mesic (low) to inundated (high) conditions.
Results: Plant biomass was significantly lower in high-watering treatment relative to intermediate and low treatments, indicating that the high-water condition was stressful. Contrary to expectations, stressed plants significantly increased relative investment in CL reproduction, a pattern associated with decreased inflorescence number and increased numbers of CL florets per inflorescence.
Conclusions: We conclude that changes in water-induced stress could strongly influence realised rates of outcrossing in this invasive plant, leading to mating system evolution, and altered invasiveness. 相似文献
Objective: To asses the association of Guanine nucleotide-binding protein (GNB3) (C825T) gene's polymorphism with T2DM.
Materials and methods: A case–control study including 400 North Indians was performed using Polymerase Chain Reaction–Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) approach to analyze genetic polymorphism.
Results: No significant difference was observed in genotype and allele frequencies of GNB3 gene on comparing cases with controls.
Discussion: Our study is in agreement with studies on Polish, Japanese, Hispanic-American and Danish populations who observed no significant association between GNB3 (C825T) polymorphism and T2DM.
Conclusion: GNB3 (C825T) polymorphism is not associated with T2DM. 相似文献
Objective: To investigate whether polymorphisms in IL21 gene contribute to sepsis susceptibility.
Materials and methods: Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms of IL21 (rs907715, rs2055979, rs12508721) were genotyped by TaqMan assay in patients with sepsis and control subjects.
Results: Polymorphisms rs2055979 and rs12508721 in IL21 were more frequent in sepsis patients compared to general population. But allele frequency of rs907715 was not significantly different between sepsis patients and control subjects.
Conclusion: Polymorphisms in IL21 may be associated with sepsis risk. 相似文献
Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) – a source of oxidative stress – and CML.
Materials and methods: About 1002 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) were studied.
Results: Women with SDB had significantly higher CML concentration compared with those without SDB (OR?=?1.63, 95%CI?=?1.03–2.58, p?=?0.04). The association was not significant among men.
Discussion: SDB was associated with CML concentration among elderly women but not men in the Cardiovascular Health Study.
Conclusion: Accumulation of CML may be an adverse health consequence of SDB 相似文献
Objective: To evaluate H19 RNA in urine cells as diagnostic tool for UC.
Materials and methods: RT-PCR analysis of urine samples from healthy volunteers and UC patients.
Results: H19 RNA was unequivocally detected in the urine of 90.5% of patients and 25.9% of controls. H19 copies were three orders of magnitude higher in patients. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.933.
Conclusions: This pilot study shows that urinary cell H19 is a highly sensitive test for UC and pending verification could transform patient management. 相似文献
Objective: To assess oral riboflavin is an adherence marker.
Methods: Riboflavin was incorporated into active treatment and placebo pills for a clinical trial lasting for 2 years.
Results: The accuracy (area under the receiver operating curve) of urinary riboflavin was 0.91 as a binary classifier of adherence, and was similar or better than for two active study ingredients daidzein (0.92) and genistein (0.87) (all p?<?0.0001). Decreased adherence over time was similar in the two study groups.
Conclusion: Riboflavin is an accurate and useful biomarker for study pill ingestion. 相似文献
Objective: This review aimed to highlight biomarker characterisation and assessment of unique bacterial pili.
Methods: A PubMed search for bacterial pili, diagnostics, vaccine and therapeutics was performed, with emphasis on the well characterised pili.
Results: In total, 46 papers were identified and reviewed.
Conclusion: Extensive analyses of pili enabled by advanced nanotechnology and whole genome sequencing provide evidence that they are strong biomarker candidates. Mycobacterium tuberculosis curli pili are emphasised as important epitopes for the development of much needed point-of-care diagnostics and therapeutics. 相似文献
Objectives: Few studies have compared the expression of inflammatory or adhesion molecules between coronary artery disease (CAD) versus CSX.
Materials and methods: Ninety-two CSX and 145 CAD subjects without known diabetes mellitus underwent coronary angiogram for angina.
Results: Vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 (median, 507 versus 431?ng/ml, p?=?0.001) was significantly higher in the CAD group. In the binary regression, VCAM-1 was a significant differential factor for CAD versus CSX.
Discussion and conclusion: Adhesion molecules might be implicated in the differential expression of macro versus microvascular coronary disease.
Trial registration number: NCT01198730 at https://clinicaltrials.gov 相似文献
Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the prognostic value of leptin in patients with proven coronary artery disease (CAD) (N?=?1907).
Methods: AtheroGene is a contemporary CAD cohort study (N?=?3229). Median follow-up time was 3.8 (Quartile 1/3 with 2.8/4.9) years.
Results: Leptin concentration was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) for the fully adjusted model of HR?=?1.32 in women but was not significant in men. The endpoint cardiovascular death and non-fatal myocardial infarction was observed in 167 patients.
Conclusion: In women with known CAD, increased leptin concentration is useful for predicting cardiovascular death and non-fatal myocardial infarction. 相似文献
Aims: Investigating a range of hypotheses for the role of biotic and abiotic factors as determinants of the global variation in animal vs. wind pollination.
Methods: We analysed 67 plant communities ranging from 70º north to 34º south. For these we determined habitat type, species richness, insularity, topographic heterogeneity, current climate and late-quaternary climate change. The predictive effects of these factors on the proportion of wind- and animal-pollinated plants were tested using correlations, ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression analyses with information-theoretic model selection.
Results: The proportion of animal-pollinated plant species was positively associated with plant species richness and current temperature. Furthermore, in forest, animal pollination was positively related to precipitation. Historical climate was only weakly and idiosyncratically correlated with animal pollination.
Conclusion: Results were consistent with the hypothesised reduced chance for wind-transported pollen reaching conspecific flowers in species-rich communities, fewer constraints on nectar production in warm and wet habitats, and reduced relative effectiveness of wind dispersal in humid areas. There was little evidence of a legacy of historical climate change affecting these patterns. 相似文献
Aims: To explore which factors have more importance in determining the pre-fledging daily survival rates in a Yellow-legged Gull population from northern Iberia. Specifically, we tested for the effect of hatching date and order, body size and condition and meteorological conditions on pre-fledging survival.
Methods: Cormack–Jolly–Seber models with mixtures were used to model daily survival rates.
Results: Daily survival rates were mostly negatively affected by hatching date.
Conclusions: Hatching date was the most important factor affecting survival of chicks during the pre-fledging period in a Yellow-legged Gull colony from northern Iberia. 相似文献
Objective: The study examined the early release kinetics of TnTuORF.
Materials and methods: We analyzed the time course of the release of cardiac troponins I and T and TnTuORF in patients (n?=?31) with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy undergoing transcoronary ablation of septal hypertrophy (TASH).
Results: Fifteen minutes after TASH, the levels of both troponins increased significantly (cTnT median: 18?ng/L versus 27?ng/L; cTnI median: 15?ng/L versus 25?ng/L). TnTuORF showed no variation.
Discussion: We observed a significantly greater increase in cTnI compared with cTnT.
Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that troponin assays allow early detection of myocardial injury, whereas TnTuORF levels remain unchanged in this setting. 相似文献
Aims: We evaluated the vulnerability and resilience of high-mountain Pinus sylvestris/P. nigra forests and derived Cytisus broom scrub communities to climate and anthropogenic disturbances.
Methods: We assessed historical transitions from forest to scrub and their relation to climate and human influences, using a multi-proxy paleoenvironmental study (pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, charcoal, magnetic susceptibility) in three mires in the Gredos Range, western Iberian Central System.
Results: High percentages of Pinus sylvestris/nigra pollen and the identification of their macro remains demonstrated that high-mountain pine forests have been present in the oromediterranean bioclimatic belt of the Gredos Range since the mid-Holocene. After that, a major human-induced decline, enhanced by climate conditions, has led to their gradual replacement by broom communities.
Conclusions: Broom communities are derived from ancient pine forests that were intensively transformed by human activities after 700 cal year BP, and largely disappeared by ca. 500 cal yr BP. Today’s landscape, dominated by broom scrub and grasslands with scattered stands of pines, shows high resilience and provides suitable refugia for a rich mountain biodiversity which deserves a further protection. 相似文献
Objective: To assess the predictive value of CT-apelin together with NT-proBNP in patients undergoing CRT.
Methods: Serum CT-apelin and NT-proBNP were measured by ELISA before, and six months after CRT. Primary endpoint was non-response (<4% increase in LVEF) after six months.
Results: From 81 patients, 15 proved to be non-responders. Six-month CT-apelin was superior compared to NT-proBNP in identifying non-responders by multivariate ROC (CT-apelin: p?=?0.01, NT-proBNP: p?=?0.13) and by logistic regression (CT-apelin: p?=?0.01, NT-proBNP: p?=?0.41) analyses.
Conclusion: Six-month CT-apelin might be a valuable novel biomarker in identifying non-responders to CRT that was superior to NT-proBNP. 相似文献
Objective: To clarify the relationship between big ET-1 and isolated CAE.
Methods: We measured big ET-1 with ELISA in 216 patients (CAE, n?=?72; CAD, n?=?72; normal, n?=?72) and evaluated the link with isolated CAE.
Results: The level of plasma big ET-1 was significantly higher in patients with isolated CAE (p?<?0.001). Big ET-1 was strongly and independently associated with CAE by multivariate analysis (OR 95%CI: 1.026 (1.018–1.034), p?=?0.000).
Conclusions: Big ET-1 may be a useful predictor for the presence of isolated CAE. 相似文献
Objective: To review the evidence and investigate the association between immune-inflammatory biomarkers and CE strokes versus other stroke subtypes.
Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature (sources: MEDLINE, web-based register http://stroke-biomarkers.com, reference lists) with quality assessment and meta-analysis of selected articles.
Results: The most consistent association was found between C-reactive protein (CRP) and CE strokes when compared to other stroke subtypes (standardized mean difference 0.223 (0.116, 0.343); p?<?0.001)
Conclusions: Our findings confirm a possible association between selected inflammatory biomarkers and CE stroke. 相似文献
Aims: To investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of Macqueen’s Bustard in Iran, using two mitochondrial DNA loci.
Methods: Molecular diversity of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI) gene and part of the mitochondrial control region D-loop (in total 1183 base pairs) were analysed from 26 individual Macqueen’s Bustards from three regions of Iran.
Results: There was little variation in nucleotides and haplotypes in the populations for genes of both CR and COI. The population had free breeding and gene flow between the three study regions in Iran: Petregan, Ferdows and Yazd.
Conclusion: The use of molecular and genetic studies is essential to strengthen the protection of genetic diversity of the Macqueen’s Bustard. 相似文献
Objectives: To investigate the prognostic value of IGF-I in patients admitted for acute decompensation of cirrhosis.
Materials and methods: Cohort study that included 103 patients. IGF-I was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: Ninety-day mortality was 26.2% and it was independently associated with MELD, age and IGF-I. The Kaplan–Meier survival probability at 90 days was 94.3% in patients with IGF-I?≥13?ng/mL and 63.2% for patients with IGF-I?<13?ng/mL (p?=?.001).
Discussion and conclusion: IGF-I levels are independently associated with mortality in acute decompensation of cirrhosis. 相似文献