No need for speed: slow development of fungi in extreme environments

Microbial growth under extreme conditions is often slow. This is partly because large amounts of energy are diverted into cellular mechanisms that allow survival under hostile conditions. Because this challenge is universal and diversity in extreme environments is low compared to non-extreme environments, slow-growing microorganisms are not overgrown by other species. In some cases, especially when nutrients are scarce, slow growth was even shown to increase stress tolerance. And in at least some species of extremotolerant and extremophilic fungi, growth rate appears to be coupled with their very unusual morphologies, which in turn may be an adaptation to extreme conditions. However, there is more than one strategy of survival in extreme environments. Fungi that thrive in extremes can be divided into (i) ubiquitous and polyextremotolerant generalists and (ii) rarely isolated specialists with narrow ecological amplitudes. While generalists can compete with mesophilic species, specialists cannot. When adapting to extreme conditions, the risk of an evolutionary trade-off in the form of reduced fitness under mesophilic conditions may limit the maximum stress tolerance achievable by polyextremotolerant generalists. At the same time, specialists are rarely found in mesophilic environments, which allows them to evolve to ever greater extremotolerance, since a reduction of mesophilic fitness is likely to have little impact on their evolutionary success.     

Cannibalism and intraguild predation in Typhlodromus exhilaratus and T. phialatus (Acari: Phytoseiidae) under laboratory conditions

Two species of Phytoseiidae are found in the same agroecosystem: Typhlodromus exhilaratus prevails in vine plots, while T. phialatus prevails in uncultivated surrounding areas. The objective of the present paper was to investigate whether the poor settlement of T. phialatus in vine plots can be explained by intraguild predation of these two species and/or cannibalism. Predatory abilities of the females on larvae and protonymphs were studied under laboratory conditions. A first experiment was conducted with only conspecific or heterospecific phytoseiid prey, in a second experiment Tetranychus urticae eggs were added to the phytoseiid prey. Oviposition, prey consumption, and escape rates of females were recorded. Oviposition and intraguild predation rates were higher for T. exhilaratus than for T. phialatus. Typhlodromus exhilaratus consumed fewer conspecifics than heterospecific phytoseiids, and oviposited when feeding on both diets. Typhlodromus phialatus consumed equal amounts of con- and heterospecifics. Although these two generalist predators belong to the type III defined by McMurtry and Croft (Annual Review of Entomology 42:291–321, 1997), our results suggest that they have different predation behaviour. However, because these results were obtained in experiments where no choice was given between the two phytoseiid species, they are difficult to link to previous studies conducted on the intraguild predation of the Phytoseiidae. The greater voracity and prolificacy of T. exhilaratus could partially explain the poor settlement of T. phialatus in vineyards and the predominance of T. exhilaratus. However, a full understanding of this phenomenon will require the study of other factors, such as susceptibility to pesticides and micro-climatic conditions, as well as the ability to cope with different food sources and host plants.     

Tracking the effects of one century of habitat loss and fragmentation on calcareous grassland butterfly communities

Habitat loss and fragmentation are known to reduce patch sizes and increase their isolation, consequently leading to modifications in species richness and community structure. Calcareous grasslands are among the richest ecosystems in Europe for insect species. About 10% (1,150 ha) of the total area of a calcareous ridge region (Calestienne, Belgium) and its butterfly community was analysed over a timeframe of about 100 years. Since 1905 to present day (2005), the Calestienne region has undergone both calcareous grassland loss and fragmentation: not only did calcareous grassland size decrease and isolation increase, but also, the number of calcareous grassland patches within the landscape increased until 1965, and subsequently decreased, clearly reflecting the effects of fragmentation. These processes have had a profound effect on the butterfly community: extinction and rarefaction affected significantly more often specialist species, which means that generalist species are more and more overrepresented. This ecological drift, i.e. the replacement of specialists by generalists in species assemblages is likely to be a general effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on natural communities.     

开展临床指导教师对普通专科医师培训情况的调查结果分析

目的:调查我院专科医师培训开展的整体情况,为继续做好专科医师培训工作提供依据。方法:随机调查我院参与普通专科医师培训轮转科室的指导教师,发放自制调查表。结果:90%以上导师认为科室带教质量高;48.78%导师认为临床科室应为学员每月发放1000元以上生活补助;60.98%导师认为硕士研究生普通专科医师培训时间应为二年;60%以上导师认为应着重硕士研究生临床操作技能、医患沟通能力、病历书写能力及阅片能力等方面能力的培训;50%以上导师认为目前培训中存在的主要问题是生活无保障;图书馆国内外最新文献不足;监管力度不强;临床技能培训针对性不强等。结论:我院开展普通专科医师培训整体情况较好。但仍存在很多问题,在今后的培训过程中应继续为学员的生活提供更多保障,继续加强管理监督,保证培训按计划、按质量完成。     

建立ICU呼吸专科护理小组在机械通气病人中的作用

目的:探讨建立ICU呼吸专科护理小组在机械通气病人中的作用。方法:评估建立ICU呼吸专科护理小组前后实施呼吸机集束策略依从性的情况及对呼吸机相关性肺炎(VAP)发生率的影响。结果:建立ICU呼吸专科护理小组前后分别纳入458、487个病人,手卫生依从性由20.9%提高到65.7%(P=0.001);床头抬高30°以上依从性由24.8%提高到49.5%(P=0.001);镇静评分依从性无明显改善(P=0.06);使用无创呼吸机依从性由20.4%提高到32%(P=0.03)。同时ICU呼吸专科护理小组建立后可降低VAP发生率(24.4%vs 41.7%,P=0.004),降低VAP病人的机械通气时间和ICU住院时间,但并不能降低其死亡率。结论:建立ICU呼吸专科护理小组可提高呼吸机集束策略的依从性,可以降低VAP发生率。     

Oak-insect herbivore interactions along a temperature and precipitation gradient

The interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants are expected to be influenced by changing climates. Modern oaks provide an excellent system to examine this assumption because their interactions with herbivores occur over broad climatic and spatial scales, they vary in their defensive and nutritional investment in leaves by being deciduous or evergreen, and their insect herbivores range from generalists to highly specialized feeders. In this study, we surveyed leaf-litter samples of four oak species along an elevation gradient, from coastal northern California, USA, to the upper montane woodlands of the Sierra Nevada, to examine the relationship between climatic factors (mean annual temperature and precipitation) and oak herbivory levels at multiple scales; across all oak species pooled, between evergreen and deciduous species and within species.Overall, temperature and precipitation did not appear to have a significant effect on most measures of total herbivore damage (percent leaves damaged per tree, percent leaf area removed and average number of feeding damage marks per leaf) and the strongest predictor of herbivore damage overall was the identity of the host species. However, increases in precipitation were correlated with an increase in the actual leaf area removed, and specialized insects, such as those that make leaf mines and galls, were the most sensitive to differences in precipitation levels. This suggests that the effects of changing climate on some plant–insect interactions is less likely to result in broad scale increases in damage with increasing temperatures or changing precipitation levels, but is rather more likely to be dependent on the type of herbivore (specialist vs. generalist) and the scale (species vs. community) over which the effect is examined.     

Repair of potentially lethal damage in yeast induced by fast neutrons

Survival curves of 3 diploid (D7) yeast strains: one wild-type, one deficient in excision of pyrimidine dimers (UV-sensitive) and one blocked in DNA double-strand-break repair (X-ray-sensitive), were compared after irradiation with cyclotron-produced fast neutrons. It was observed that both the UV-sensitive (rad3/rad3) and the X-ray-sensitive (rad52/rad52) mutants were more sensitive to neutrons than the wild-type. The role of DNA double-strand-breaks in neutron-induced cell death was further studied by comparing the relative sensitivity of the rad52/rad52 mutant to gamma-rays and fast neutrons. A comparison of the dose modification factors revealed that the deficiency in DNA double-strand-break repair did not make the yeast cells more sensitive to neutrons than to photons, which suggests that lesions of a different type may also be produced by neutrons. Survival curves obtained upon immediate plating and after delayed plating of neutron-irradiated cells showed that all 3 yeast strains were efficient in liquid holding recovery. The role of different repair pathways in cellular recovery from neutron-induced lethal damage is discussed.