Association of ABO and Rh blood groups with breast cancer

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the association of “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood groups with incidence of breast cancer.MethodsIn this study, we identified 70 research documents from data based search engines including “PubMed”, “ISI-Web of Knowledge”, “Embase” and “Google Scholar”. The research papers were selected by using the primary key-terms including “ABO blood type”, “Rhesus” blood type and “breast cancer”. The research documents in which “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood types and breast cancer was debated were included. After screening, we reviewed 32 papers and finally we selected 25 research papers which met the inclusion criteria and remaining documents were excluded.ResultsBlood group “A” has high incidence of breast cancer (45.88%), blood group “O” has (31.69%); “B” (16.16%) and blood group “AB” has (6.27%) incidence of breast cancer. Blood group “A” has highest and blood group “AB” has least association with breast cancer. Furthermore, “Rhesus +ve” blood group has high incidence of breast cancer (88.31%) and “Rhesus –ve” blood group has least association with breast cancer (11.68%).ConclusionBlood group “A” and “Rhesus +ve” have high risk of breast cancer, while blood type “AB” and “Rhesus –ve” are at low peril of breast cancer. Physicians should carefully monitor the females with blood group “A” and “Rh +ve” as these females are more prone to develop breast cancer. To reduce breast cancer incidence and its burden, preventive and screening programs for breast cancer especially in young women are highly recommended.     

神农架川金丝猴栖息地优势乔木树种遥感识别及其分布特征

针对神农架川金丝猴生境基础研究中乔木树种大范围分布数据难以获取问题,尝试利用多源多时相遥感数据结合专家知识分层次实现树种识别。首先采用冬季Landsat8/OLI数据根据物侯特性分层提取常绿、落叶林的地域范围;进而依据夏季Worldview-2高分遥感影像的实地乔木样本的光谱特征分层次完成常绿树种(巴山冷杉、华山松、青$、刺叶栎)和落叶树种(红桦、日本落叶松、米心水青冈、漆树、锐齿槲栎、椅杨)的识别;并通过实地植被样方及专家知识通过高程数据完成分类结果的修正;最后结合GIS对主要优势树种的地形及地域分布特征进行了空间分析。实验精度表明常绿林中巴山冷杉、华山松、刺叶栎、虫害华山松整体精度较高,落叶林中红桦、漆树等识别精度相对较高,部分树种如椅杨、锐齿槲栎识别精度较低;总体上常绿树种的精度要优于落叶树种。从植物地理学、遥感、GIS三者相结合的角度,将多源、多时相遥感数据与物种物候特性、专家知识进行有效整合,提出了一种乔木树种识别的方法(1)提供了复杂山地环境的主要乔木优势种识别途径,且具有通用性;(2)完成了物种物候特性与遥感数据特性的整合利用,有效降低数据成本费用;(3)配合地面样方及专家知识修正结果,避免了过分依赖光谱特征引起的误判。这将为神农架川金丝猴栖息地保护与恢复提供更精确的数据依据。     

Planktonic indices in the evaluation of the ecological status and the trophic state of the longest lake in Poland

Due to the intensive mixing polymictic lakes should be homogenous. However, morphometric diversity and high water dynamics contribute to the differentiation of many parameters in various areas of the lakes. This study analyzes both phytoplankton and zooplankton to assess differences in water quality along the north–south axis of the longest lake in Poland. New phytoplankton indicators were applied for determining the lake's ecological status: the Q index based on functional groups and the PMPL (Phytoplankton Metric for Polish Lakes) index based on phytoplankton biomass. TSI_ROT index (Rotifer Trophic State Index), which comprises the percentage of species indicating a high trophic state in the indicatory group and the percentage of bacteriovorus in the Rotifera population, was used for zooplankton analysis.TP content was different at different sites – we observed its gradual increase from the south to the north. Spatial variation of phosphorus did not considerably affect plankton diversity. The phytoplankton was dominated by Oscillatoriales, typical of shallow, well-mixed eutrophic lakes. The ecological status of the lake based on the EQR (Ecological Quality Ratio) was poor or moderate. The zooplankton was dominated by rotifers (at almost all sites), which indicates a eutrophic state of the lake. The values of phytoplankton indices at the studied sites did not differ considerably; the differences resulted more from local conditions such as the contaminant inflow and the macrophyte development than water dynamics.We have demonstrated that in the lake dominated by filamentous Cyanobacteria the ecological status should be determined according to the PMPL index or other indices dependent on the dominant Cyanobacteria species. Since the Q index does not include the functional group S1, the results can lead to the false conclusion that water quality improves with an increased amount of phytoplankton. The high abundance of Cyanobacteria in the lake may have contributed to the poor growth of rotifers.     

VoroMQA: Assessment of protein structure quality using interatomic contact areas

In the absence of experimentally determined protein structure many biological questions can be addressed using computational structural models. However, the utility of protein structural models depends on their quality. Therefore, the estimation of the quality of predicted structures is an important problem. One of the approaches to this problem is the use of knowledge‐based statistical potentials. Such methods typically rely on the statistics of distances and angles of residue‐residue or atom‐atom interactions collected from experimentally determined structures. Here, we present VoroMQA (Voronoi tessellation‐based Model Quality Assessment), a new method for the estimation of protein structure quality. Our method combines the idea of statistical potentials with the use of interatomic contact areas instead of distances. Contact areas, derived using Voronoi tessellation of protein structure, are used to describe and seamlessly integrate both explicit interactions between protein atoms and implicit interactions of protein atoms with solvent. VoroMQA produces scores at atomic, residue, and global levels, all in the fixed range from 0 to 1. The method was tested on the CASP data and compared to several other single‐model quality assessment methods. VoroMQA showed strong performance in the recognition of the native structure and in the structural model selection tests, thus demonstrating the efficacy of interatomic contact areas in estimating protein structure quality. The software implementation of VoroMQA is freely available as a standalone application and as a web server at http://bioinformatics.lt/software/voromqa . Proteins 2017; 85:1131–1145. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Sheep blood polymorphism and genetic divergence between French Rambouillet and Spanish Merino: role of genetic drift

Rambouillet sheep originating from Spanish Merino have been maintained in France as a small and closed flock since their importation. After 190 years of independent evolution, the flock has markedly differentiated from its Spanish parental population. The observed differences between them were characterized by the fixation in Rambouillet of the Mb and F30 alleles, which occurred in Spanish Merino with frequencies of 0.90 and 0.80 respectively (at two distinct blood group loci M and F30) and by the absence in Rambouillet of other alleles or phenogroups (at the Tf and the A, B, C blood group loci) which were observed in Spanish Merino with frequencies ranging from 0.10 to 0.28. On the basis of their phenotypic distributions at 11 blood polymorphic loci, the two populations differed significantly from each other (total chi 2 values = 352.62, 23 df, P less than 0.001). By comparing the observed magnitude of gene frequency differences between Rambouillet and Spanish Merino with the estimate of inbreeding coefficient for Rambouillet obtained from pedigrees, it appeared that the observed genetic differences could be attributed to the evolutionary change due to random drift in the small and closed flock of Rambouillet.     

Group differences in captive gorillas’ reaction to large crowds

The impact of visitor crowd size on captive animal behaviour can be difficult to interpret in many institutions due to the lack of variation in crowd size over short periods of time. In attempts to compare greater variation in crowd size, animal behaviour is often compared over conditions that create additional confounds, such as day of week or season. Fluctuations in attendance over the holiday season at Disney's Animal Kingdom^® Theme Park provided an opportunity to examine the impact of variation in crowd size on gorilla behaviour without the confounds found in many other studies. Ten western lowland gorillas (Gorilla g. gorilla) in a bachelor group (n = 4) and a family group (n = 6) were observed over a period of 8 weeks in late 2005. Observations were classified into Large Crowd and Small Crowd days and a repeated-measures ANOVA procedure was conducted to determine the effects of crowd size and social group on gorilla behaviour patterns. Few overall differences were found in behaviour during the Large Crowd and Small Crowd conditions. However, similar to previous research, gorillas were less visible during the Large Crowd condition (F_1,8 = 14.15, P = 0.01). There was also an interaction of crowd size and group (F_1,8 = 7.58, P = 0.01), indicating the bachelor group of gorillas was more aggressive during the Large Crowd condition, whereas the family group showed no increase in aggression with large crowds. These results indicate the importance of providing complex enclosures with visual barriers to allow animals to move away from large crowds if they choose. Future research should focus on the individual characteristics of animals and enclosures that may contribute to behavioural differences in visitor–animal interaction research, as well as the proximate cues associated with behaviour change when exposed to large crowds.     

Farmer knowledge,attitude and practice on cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) pest resistance management strategies in Zimbabwe

Cotton is an important cash crop and a means of survival for Zimbabwe’s smallholder farmers who are located in the semi-arid areas. However, it is plagued by a wide variety of pests. The cotton industry in Zimbabwe came up with sustainable pest management strategies which include within the season rotation of bollworm pesticides, a closed season and acaricide rotation scheme. The land reform programme brought new players in the cotton industry and it was critical to determine their knowledge on the pest management strategies. A survey was conducted to determine farmer knowledge, practice and perception on the resistance management strategy. Responses indicated that both communal and new farmers based their spray on egg counts. Communal farmers knew when to use pyrethroids compared to new farmers. Farmers observed the acaricide rotation scheme although they use some non acaricide pesticides. More than half of the new farmers could not say which acaricides were in the acaricide scheme. The majority of the farmers reported that they adhered to the closed season although field observation revealed otherwise. A significantly higher number of new farmers knew when to slash cotton compared to communal farmers. Knowledge of acaricides was not common among farmers. Use of pyrethroids was not limited to 1 February onwards as stipulated in the cotton pest resistance management strategy. The results suggest the need for training among the cotton farmers especially the new farmers or refresher courses among the communal farmers.     

Reconsidering environmental effects assessment of chemicals: Proposal for a dynamic testing strategy

Certain substances may be hazardous to ecosystems. To be able to preserve the structures and functions of ecosystems, knowledge is required to qualify and quantify such hazards. To this end, biotests are indispensable tools. For the development and/or choice of biotests, special attention has to be drawn to conflicts between scientific demands and practical constraints. From a purely scientific point of view, experiments should be designed to maximise the ecological relevance of the obtained results. However, this often collides with the limited resources (budget, time, manpower) available. Furthermore, societal issues (e.g. animal welfare) have to be taken into account. Thus, it is necessary to develop a scientifically sound testing approach that avoids unnecessary animal testing, keeps the costs low, and can be performed within a short timeframe. The different perspectives of ecology, environmental toxicology, and environmental chemistry should be integrated into a balanced ecotoxicological approach. Accordingly, we propose a dynamic testing strategy, which is adapted to the substance (or substance group) in question and its mode(s) of action.     

Assemblage structure and conservation value of spiders and carabid beetles from restored lowland river banks

We assessed the composition of spider and carabid beetle assemblages along river banks from the Common Meuse (Belgium) to determine their relationships with local topographical and landscape-related characteristics. Data were gathered with pitfall traps in 1998 and explored by ordination and grouping methods. Our analysis revealed that the presence of xerothermic spider species was limited to scarcely covered, less dynamic gravel banks. Riparian spider species were found on frequently flooded as well as on rather elevated and high gravel banks, while riparian carabid beetles were dominant on all sampled banks. The level of flooding disturbance, the vegetation density and the presence of silt appeared to be the most important environmental determinants of spider and carabid beetle assemblage structure. Consequently, local environmental factors influence species occurrence patterns in a similar way for the two investigated arthropod groups. Nevertheless, distinct ecological groups are differently ordered along the prime environmental gradients. Nature management should therefore consider the conservation, restoration and connectivity of both dynamic and more elevated banks in order to obtain a high degree of local and regional heterogeneity throughout the river system.     

Changes in plant species richness over the last century in the eastern Swiss Alps: elevational gradient, bedrock effects and migration rates

Areas of 2,800–3,000 m a.s.l. represent the alpine-nival ecotone in the Alps. This transition zone connecting the closed swards of the alpine belt and the scattered vegetation of the nival belt may show particularly strong climate warming driven fluctuations in plant species richness compared to the nival belt. To test this hypothesis, 12 summits within this range were investigated in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland in 2004. Complete lists of vascular plant species consisting of 5–70 species were collected on each summit and the elevation of the uppermost occurrence of each species was recorded. These data were compared to historical records over 120 years in age. Within this time, vascular plant species richness increased by 11% per decade on summits in the alpine-nival ecotone. Despite this considerable change, a comparison with nival summits did not support the hypothesis that species richness increase at the alpine-nival ecotone is higher than in the nival belt. A general trend of upward migration in the range of several metres per decade could be observed. Anemochorous species were more often found to be migrating than zoochorous or autochorous species and migration was higher on calcareous than on siliceous bedrock. A comparison between the summits with the adjacent slopes in our study revealed that changes in species number could be used as an indicator for climate-induced changes—if at all—only for the narrow summit areas.