Beyond a Dichotomous View of the Concepts of ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ Focus Group Discussions among Gender Researchers at a Medical Faculty

Introduction

The concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are both of vital importance in medicine and health sciences. However, the meaning of these concepts has seldom been discussed in the medical literature. The aim of this study was to explore what the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ meant for gender researchers based in a medical faculty.

Methods

Sixteen researchers took part in focus group discussions. The analysis was performed in several steps. The participating researchers read the text and discussed ideas for analysis in national and international workshops. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The authors performed independent preliminary analyses, which were further developed and intensively discussed between the authors.

Results

The analysis of meanings of the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ for gender researchers based in a medical faculty resulted in three categories; “Sex as more than biology”, with the subcategories ‘sex’ is not simply biological, ‘sex’ as classification, and ‘sex’ as fluid and changeable; ”Gender as a multiplicity of power-related constructions”, with the subcategories: ‘gender’ as constructions, ‘gender’ power dimensions, and ‘gender’ as doing femininities and masculinities; “Sex and gender as interwoven”, with the subcategories: ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ as inseparable and embodying ‘sex’ and ‘gender’.

Conclusions

Gender researchers within medicine pointed out the importance of looking beyond a dichotomous view of the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. The perception of the concepts was that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ were intertwined. Further research is needed to explore how ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ interact.     

Disturbance Alters the Phylogenetic Composition and Structure of Plant Communities in an Old Field System

The changes in phylogenetic composition and structure of communities during succession following disturbance can give us insights into the forces that are shaping communities over time. In abandoned agricultural fields, community composition changes rapidly when a field is plowed, and is thought to reflect a relaxation of competition due to the elimination of dominant species which take time to re-establish. Competition can drive phylogenetic overdispersion, due to phylogenetic conservation of ‘niche’ traits that allow species to partition resources. Therefore, undisturbed old field communities should exhibit higher phylogenetic dispersion than recently disturbed systems, which should be relatively ‘clustered’ with respect to phylogenetic relationships. Several measures of phylogenetic structure between plant communities were measured in recently plowed areas and nearby ‘undisturbed’ sites. There was no difference in the absolute values of these measures between disturbed and ‘undisturbed’ sites. However, there was a difference in the ‘expected’ phylogenetic structure between habitats, leading to significantly lower than expected phylogenetic diversity in disturbed plots, and no difference from random expectation in ‘undisturbed’ plots. This suggests that plant species characteristic of each habitat are fairly evenly distributed on the shared species pool phylogeny, but that once the initial sorting of species into the two habitat types has occurred, the processes operating on them affect each habitat differently. These results were consistent with an analysis of correlation between phylogenetic distance and co-occurrence indices of species pairs in the two habitat types. This study supports the notion that disturbed plots are more clustered than expected, rather than ‘undisturbed’ plots being more overdispersed, suggesting that disturbed plant communities are being more strongly influenced by environmental filtering of conserved niche traits.     

Temporal Characteristics of Online Syntactic Sentence Planning: An Event-Related Potential Study

During sentence production, linguistic information (semantics, syntax, phonology) of words is retrieved and assembled into a meaningful utterance. There is still debate on how we assemble single words into more complex syntactic structures such as noun phrases or sentences. In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the time course of syntactic planning. Thirty-three volunteers described visually animated scenes using naming formats varying in syntactic complexity: from simple words (‘W’, e.g., “triangle”, “red”, “square”, “green”, “to fly towards”), to noun phrases (‘NP’, e.g., “the red triangle”, “the green square”, “to fly towards”), to a sentence (‘S’, e.g., “The red triangle flies towards the green square.”). Behaviourally, we observed an increase in errors and corrections with increasing syntactic complexity, indicating a successful experimental manipulation. In the ERPs following scene onset, syntactic complexity variations were found in a P300-like component (‘S’/‘NP’>‘W’) and a fronto-central negativity (linear increase with syntactic complexity). In addition, the scene could display two actions - unpredictable for the participant, as the disambiguation occurred only later in the animation. Time-locked to the moment of visual disambiguation of the action and thus the verb, we observed another P300 component (‘S’>‘NP’/‘W’). The data show for the first time evidence of sensitivity to syntactic planning within the P300 time window, time-locked to visual events critical of syntactic planning. We discuss the findings in the light of current syntactic planning views.     

Osteology of Pseudochampsa ischigualastensis gen. et comb. nov. (Archosauriformes: Proterochampsidae) from the Early Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of Northwestern Argentina

Proterochampsids are crocodile-like, probably semi-aquatic, quadrupedal archosauriforms characterized by an elongated and dorsoventrally low skull. The group is endemic from the Middle-Late Triassic of South America. The most recently erected proterochampsid species is “Chanaresuchus ischigualastensis”, based on a single, fairly complete skeleton from the early Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation of northwestern Argentina. We describe here in detail the non-braincase cranial and postcranial anatomy of this species and revisit its taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships. The phylogenetic analysis recovered ‘Chanaresuchus ischigualastensis’ as part of a trichotomy together with Gualosuchus reigi and Chanaresuchus bonapartei. Accordingly, “Chanaresuchus ischigualastensis” can be potentially more closely related to Gualosuchus reigi, or even Rhadinosuchus gracilis, than to Chanaresuchus bonapartei. In addition, after discussing previously claimed synapomorphies of Chanaresuchus, we could not find unambiguous support for the monophyly of the genus. As a result, we propose here the erection of the new genus Pseudochampsa for ‘Chanaresuchus ischigualastensis’, which results in the new combination Pseudochampsa ischigualastensis. The information provided here about the anatomy and taxonomy of Pseudochampsa ischiguaslastensis will be useful for future quantitative analyses focused on the biogeography and macroevolutionary history of proterochampsids.     

Identifying Factors to Improve Oral Cancer Screening Uptake: A Qualitative Study

Aims

To engage with high risk groups to identify knowledge and awareness of oral cancer signs and symptoms and the factors likely to contribute to improved screening uptake.

Methods

Focus group discussions were undertaken with 18 males; 40+ years of age; smokers and/or drinkers (15+ cigarettes per day and/or 15+ units of alcohol per week), irregular dental attenders living in economically deprived areas of Teesside.

Results

There was a striking reported lack of knowledge and awareness of oral cancer and its signs and symptoms among the participants. When oral/mouth cancer leaflets produced by Cancer Research UK were presented to the participants, they claimed that they would seek help on noticing such a condition. There was a preference to seek help from their general practitioner rather than their dentist due to perceptions that a dentist is ‘inaccessible’ on a physical and psychological level, costly, a ‘tooth specialist’ not a ‘mouth specialist’, and also not able to prescribe medication and make referrals to specialists. Interestingly, none of the 18 participants who were offered a free oral cancer examination at a dental practice took up this offer.

Conclusions

The uptake of oral cancer screening may be improved by increasing knowledge of the existence and signs and symptoms of oral cancer. Other factors that may increase uptake are increased awareness of the role of dentists in diagnosing oral cancer, promotion of oral cancer screening by health professionals during routine health checks, and the use of a “health” screening setting as opposed to a “dental” setting for such checks.     

Characteristics of Attempted Suicide by Patients with Schizophrenia Compared with Those with Mood Disorders: A Case-Controlled Study in Northern Japan

Recent reports suggest a lifetime suicide risk for schizophrenia patients of approximately 5%. This figure is significantly higher than the general population suicide risk consequently, detection of those at risk is clinically important. This study was undertaken to define the characteristics of suicide attempts by schizophrenia patients compared with attempts by patients with mood disorders. All patients were diagnosed using the ICD-10 criteria. The study population comprised 65 patients with F2 disorders (schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders), i.e., “the F2 group”, and 94 patients with F3 disorders (mood disorders), i.e., “the F3 group”, who presented in the clinical setting of consultation-liaison psychiatry. The F2 group had a significantly younger mean age and significantly higher ratios of ‘past/present psychiatric treatment’ and ‘more than 3 months interruption of psychiatric treatment’. In contrast, the ratios of ‘physical disorder comorbidity’, ‘alcohol intake at suicide attempt’ and ‘suicide note left behind’ were significantly higher in the F3 group. The F2 group attempted suicide by significantly more serious methods. Furthermore, ‘hallucination-delusion’ was the most prevalent motive in the F2 group and was the only factor that showed a significant association with the seriousness of the method of suicide attempt (OR = 3.36, 95% CI: 1.05–11.33).     

'Asking the Right Question'. A Comparison of Two Approaches to Gathering Data on 'Herbals' Use in Survey Based Studies

Background

Over the last decade academic interest in the prevalence and nature of herbal medicines use by pregnant women has increased significantly. Such data are usually collected by means of an administered questionnaire survey, however a key methodological limitation using this approach is the need to clearly define the scope of ‘herbals’ to be investigated. The majority of published studies in this area neither define ‘herbals’ nor provide a detailed checklist naming specific ‘herbals’ and CAM modalities, which limits inter-study comparison, generalisability and the potential for meta-analyses. The aim of this study was to compare the self-reported use of herbs, herbal medicines and herbal products using two different approaches implemented in succession.

Methods

Cross-sectional questionnaire surveys of women attending for their mid-trimester scan or attending the postnatal unit following live birth at the Royal Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, North-East Scotland. The questionnaire utilised two approaches to collect data on ‘herbals’ use, a single closed yes/no answer to the question “have you used herbs, herbal medicines and herbal products in the last three months”; and a request to tick which of a list of 40 ‘herbals’ they had used in the same time period.

Results

A total of 889 responses were obtained of which 4.3% (38) answered ‘yes’ to herbal use via the closed question. However, using the checklist 39% (350) of respondents reported the use of one or more specific ‘herbals’ (p<0.0001). The 312 respondents who reported ‘no’ to ‘herbals’ use via the closed question but “yes” via the checklist consumed a total of 20 different ‘herbals’ (median 1, interquartile range 1–2, range 1–6).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that the use of a single closed question asking about the use of ‘herbals’, as frequently reported in published studies, may not yield valid data resulting in a gross underestimation of actual use.     

Conceptual learning by miniature brains

Concepts act as a cornerstone of human cognition. Humans and non-human primates learn conceptual relationships such as ‘same’, ‘different’, ‘larger than’, ‘better than’, among others. In all cases, the relationships have to be encoded by the brain independently of the physical nature of objects linked by the relation. Consequently, concepts are associated with high levels of cognitive sophistication and are not expected in an insect brain. Yet, various works have shown that the miniature brain of honeybees rapidly learns conceptual relationships involving visual stimuli. Concepts such as ‘same’, ‘different’, ‘above/below of’ or ‘left/right are well mastered by bees. We review here evidence about concept learning in honeybees and discuss both its potential adaptive advantage and its possible neural substrates. The results reviewed here challenge the traditional view attributing supremacy to larger brains when it comes to the elaboration of concepts and have wide implications for understanding how brains can form conceptual relations.     

Conformational Preference of ‘CαNN’ Short Peptide Motif towards Recognition of Anions

Among several ‘anion binding motifs’, the recently described ‘C^αNN’ motif occurring in the loop regions preceding a helix, is conserved through evolution both in sequence and its conformation. To establish the significance of the conserved sequence and their intrinsic affinity for anions, a series of peptides containing the naturally occurring ‘C^αNN’ motif at the N-terminus of a designed helix, have been modeled and studied in a context free system using computational techniques. Appearance of a single interacting site with negative binding free-energy for both the sulfate and phosphate ions, as evidenced in docking experiments, establishes that the ‘C^αNN’ segment has an intrinsic affinity for anions. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation studies reveal that interaction with anion triggers a conformational switch from non-helical to helical state at the ‘C^αNN’ segment, which extends the length of the anchoring-helix by one turn at the N-terminus. Computational experiments substantiate the significance of sequence/structural context and justify the conserved nature of the ‘C^αNN’ sequence for anion recognition through “local” interaction.     

Never Resting Brain: Simultaneous Representation of Two Alpha Related Processes in Humans

Brain activity is continuously modulated, even at “rest”. The alpha rhythm (8–12 Hz) has been known as the hallmark of the brain''s idle-state. However, it is still debated if the alpha rhythm reflects synchronization in a distributed network or focal generator and whether it occurs spontaneously or is driven by a stimulus. This EEG/fMRI study aimed to explore the source of alpha modulations and their distribution in the resting brain. By serendipity, while computing the individually defined power modulations of the alpha-band, two simultaneously occurring components of these modulations were found. An ‘induced alpha’ that was correlated with the paradigm (eyes open/ eyes closed), and a ‘spontaneous alpha’ that was on-going and unrelated to the paradigm. These alpha components when used as regressors for BOLD activation revealed two segregated activation maps: the ‘induced map’ included left lateral temporal cortical regions and the hippocampus; the ‘spontaneous map’ included prefrontal cortical regions and the thalamus. Our combined fMRI/EEG approach allowed to computationally untangle two parallel patterns of alpha modulations and underpin their anatomical basis in the human brain. These findings suggest that the human alpha rhythm represents at least two simultaneously occurring processes which characterize the ‘resting brain’; one is related to expected change in sensory information, while the other is endogenous and independent of stimulus change.     

Using the International Classification of Functioning,Disability and Health (ICF) to Describe Children Referred to Special Care or Paediatric Dental Services

Children in dentistry are traditionally described in terms of medical diagnosis and prevalence of oral disease. This approach gives little information regarding a child’s capacity to maintain oral health or regarding the social determinants of oral health. The biopsychosocial approach, embodied in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - Child and Youth version (ICF-CY) (WHO), provides a wider picture of a child’s real-life experience, but practical tools for the application of this model are lacking. This article describes the preliminary empirical study necessary for development of such a tool - an ICF-CY Core Set for Oral Health. An ICF-CY questionnaire was used to identify the medical, functional, social and environmental context of 218 children and adolescents referred to special care or paediatric dental services in France, Sweden, Argentina and Ireland (mean age 8 years ±3.6yrs). International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) diagnoses included disorders of the nervous system (26.1%), Down syndrome (22.0%), mental retardation (17.0%), autistic disorders (16.1%), and dental anxiety alone (11.0%). The most frequently impaired items in the ICF Body functions domain were ‘Intellectual functions’, ‘High-level cognitive functions’, and ‘Attention functions’. In the Activities and Participation domain, participation restriction was frequently reported for 25 items including ‘Handling stress’, ‘Caring for body parts’, ‘Looking after one’s health’ and ‘Speaking’. In the Environment domain, facilitating items included ‘Support of friends’, ‘Attitude of friends’ and ‘Support of immediate family’. One item was reported as an environmental barrier – ‘Societal attitudes’. The ICF-CY can be used to highlight common profiles of functioning, activities, participation and environment shared by children in relation to oral health, despite widely differing medical, social and geographical contexts. The results of this empirical study might be used to develop an ICF-CY Core Set for Oral Health - a holistic but practical tool for clinical and epidemiological use.     

In situ analysis of epigenetic modifications in the chromatin of Brachypodium distachyon embryos

Epigenetic modifications of the chromatin structure are crucial for many biological processes and act on genes during the development and germination of seeds. The spatial distribution of 3 epigenetic markers, i.e. H4K5ac, H3K4me2 and H3K4me1 was investigated in ‘matured,’ ‘dry,’ ‘imbibed” and ‘germinating’ embryos of a model grass, Brachypodium. Our results indicate that the patterns of epigenetic modification differ in the various types of tissues of embryos that were analyzed. Such a tissue-specific manner of these modifications may be linked to the switch of the gene expression profiles in various organs of the developing embryo.     

Deceptive Desmas: Molecular Phylogenetics Suggests a New Classification and Uncovers Convergent Evolution of Lithistid Demosponges

Reconciling the fossil record with molecular phylogenies to enhance the understanding of animal evolution is a challenging task, especially for taxa with a mostly poor fossil record, such as sponges (Porifera). ‘Lithistida’, a polyphyletic group of recent and fossil sponges, are an exception as they provide the richest fossil record among demosponges. Lithistids, currently encompassing 13 families, 41 genera and >300 recent species, are defined by the common possession of peculiar siliceous spicules (desmas) that characteristically form rigid articulated skeletons. Their phylogenetic relationships are to a large extent unresolved and there has been no (taxonomically) comprehensive analysis to formally reallocate lithistid taxa to their closest relatives. This study, based on the most comprehensive molecular and morphological investigation of ‘lithistid’ demosponges to date, corroborates some previous weakly-supported hypotheses, and provides novel insights into the evolutionary relationships of the previous ‘order Lithistida’. Based on molecular data (partial mtDNA CO1 and 28S rDNA sequences), we show that 8 out of 13 ‘Lithistida’ families belong to the order Astrophorida, whereas Scleritodermidae and Siphonidiidae form a separate monophyletic clade within Tetractinellida. Most lithistid astrophorids are dispersed between different clades of the Astrophorida and we propose to formally reallocate them, respectively. Corallistidae, Theonellidae and Phymatellidae are monophyletic, whereas the families Pleromidae and Scleritodermidae are polyphyletic. Family Desmanthidae is polyphyletic and groups within Halichondriidae – we formally propose a reallocation. The sister group relationship of the family Vetulinidae to Spongillida is confirmed and we propose here for the first time to include Vetulina into a new Order Sphaerocladina. Megascleres and microscleres possibly evolved and/or were lost several times independently in different ‘lithistid’ taxa, and microscleres might at least be four times more likely lost than megascleres. Desma spicules occasionally may have undergone secondary losses too. Our study provides a framework for further detailed investigations of this important demosponge group.     

Molecular Mechanisms,Thermodynamics, and Dissociation Kinetics of Knob-Hole Interactions in Fibrin

Polymerization of fibrin, the primary structural protein of blood clots and thrombi, occurs through binding of knobs ‘A’ and ‘B’ in the central nodule of fibrin monomer to complementary holes ‘a’ and ‘b’ in the γ- and β-nodules, respectively, of another monomer. We characterized the A:a and B:b knob-hole interactions under varying solution conditions using molecular dynamics simulations of the structural models of fibrin(ogen) fragment D complexed with synthetic peptides GPRP (knob ‘A’ mimetic) and GHRP (knob ‘B’ mimetic). The strength of A:a and B:b knob-hole complexes was roughly equal, decreasing with pulling force; however, the dissociation kinetics were sensitive to variations in acidity (pH 5–7) and temperature (T = 25–37 °C). There were similar structural changes in holes ‘a’ and ‘b’ during forced dissociation of the knob-hole complexes: elongation of loop I, stretching of the interior region, and translocation of the moveable flap. The disruption of the knob-hole interactions was not an “all-or-none” transition as it occurred through distinct two-step or single step pathways with or without intermediate states. The knob-hole bonds were stronger, tighter, and more brittle at pH 7 than at pH 5. The B:b knob-hole bonds were weaker, looser, and more compliant than the A:a knob-hole bonds at pH 7 but stronger, tighter, and less compliant at pH 5. Surprisingly, the knob-hole bonds were stronger, not weaker, at elevated temperature (T = 37 °C) compared with T = 25 °C due to the helix-to-coil transition in loop I that helps stabilize the bonds. These results provide detailed qualitative and quantitative characteristics underlying the most significant non-covalent interactions involved in fibrin polymerization.     

Picomonas judraskeda Gen. Et Sp. Nov.: The First Identified Member of the Picozoa Phylum Nov., a Widespread Group of Picoeukaryotes,Formerly Known as ‘Picobiliphytes’

In 2007, a novel, putatively photosynthetic picoeukaryotic lineage, the ‘picobiliphytes’, with no known close eukaryotic relatives, was reported from 18S environmental clone library sequences and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Although single cell genomics later showed these organisms to be heterotrophic rather than photosynthetic, until now this apparently widespread group of pico-(or nano-)eukaryotes has remained uncultured and the organisms could not be formally recognized. Here, we describe Picomonas judraskeda gen. et sp. nov., from marine coastal surface waters, which has a ‘picobiliphyte’ 18S rDNA signature. Using vital mitochondrial staining and cell sorting by flow cytometry, a single cell-derived culture was established. The cells are biflagellate, 2.5–3.8×2–2.5 µm in size, lack plastids and display a novel stereotypic cycle of cell motility (described as the “jump, drag, and skedaddle”-cycle). They consist of two hemispherical parts separated by a deep cleft, an anterior part that contains all major cell organelles including the flagellar apparatus, and a posterior part housing vacuoles/vesicles and the feeding apparatus, both parts separated by a large vacuolar cisterna. From serial section analyses of cells, fixed at putative stages of the feeding cycle, it is concluded that cells are not bacterivorous, but feed on small marine colloids of less than 150 nm diameter by fluid-phase, bulk flow endocytosis. Based on the novel features of cell motility, ultrastructure and feeding, and their isolated phylogenetic position, we establish a new phylum, Picozoa, for Picomonas judraskeda, representing an apparently widespread and ecologically important group of heterotrophic picoeukaryotes, formerly known as ‘picobiliphytes’.     

The closest lineage of Archaeplastida is revealed by phylogenomics analyses that include Microheliella maris

By clarifying the phylogenetic positions of ‘orphan’ protists (unicellular micro-eukaryotes with no affinity to extant lineages), we may uncover the novel affiliation between two (or more) major lineages in eukaryotes. Microheliella maris was an orphan protist, which failed to be placed within the previously described lineages by pioneering phylogenetic analyses. In this study, we analysed a 319-gene alignment and demonstrated that M. maris represents a basal lineage of one of the major eukaryotic lineages, Cryptista. We here propose a new clade name ‘Pancryptista’ for Cryptista plus M. maris. The 319-gene analyses also indicated that M. maris is a key taxon to recover the monophyly of Archaeplastida and the sister relationship between Archaeplastida and Pancryptista, which is collectively called ‘CAM clade’ here. Significantly, Cryptophyceae tend to be attracted to Rhodophyta depending on the taxon sampling (ex., in the absence of M. maris and Rhodelphidia) and the particular phylogenetic ‘signal’ most likely hindered the stable recovery of the monophyly of Archaeplastida in previous studies.     

'Conserved hypothetical' proteins: prioritization of targets for experimental study

Comparative genomics shows that a substantial fraction of the genes in sequenced genomes encodes ‘conserved hypothetical’ proteins, i.e. those that are found in organisms from several phylogenetic lineages but have not been functionally characterized. Here, we briefly discuss recent progress in functional characterization of prokaryotic ‘conserved hypothetical’ proteins and the possible criteria for prioritizing targets for experimental study. Based on these criteria, the chief one being wide phyletic spread, we offer two ‘top 10’ lists of highly attractive targets. The first list consists of proteins for which biochemical activity could be predicted with reasonable confidence but the biological function was predicted only in general terms, if at all (‘known unknowns’). The second list includes proteins for which there is no prediction of biochemical activity, even if, for some, general biological clues exist (‘unknown unknowns’). The experimental characterization of these and other ‘conserved hypothetical’ proteins is expected to reveal new, crucial aspects of microbial biology and could also lead to better functional prediction for medically relevant human homologs.     

Tolerance of some warm-season turfgrasses to compaction under shade and sunlight conditions in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia

We evaluated the compaction tolerance of some warm-season turfgrasses under shade and sunlight conditions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hybrid bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon, cultivars ‘Tifway’ and ‘Tifsport,’ seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) and its cultivar ‘Sea Isle 2000’ were used. The study area was divided into two sections: one was exposed to sunlight and the other was maintained under 70% shade using a green plastic grille. Turfgrasses were planted using “sods” in beds containing a mixture of sand, silt, and peat moss (4: 1: 1, v/v). The soil was compacted using a locally-made 250 kg cylindrical roll, passing four times over the grown turfgrasses for 3 days/week. The results showed that plant height, leaf area, grass quality and color were decreased by compaction in both the shade and sunlight areas. Plant height in the shaded area with or without compaction was higher than in the sunlight area. Under compaction, ‘Sea Isle 2000’ was the shortest: 8.8 cm in the sunlight and 14.3 cm in the shade. For grasses grown in sunlight, compaction decreased grass height, and height was lowest (4.0 cm) for paspalum ‘Sea Isle 2000’ in January. In the shaded area, paspalum turfgrass retained its high quality (4.0) in April, May, and June. In the sunlight area, the grass quality was highest (4.0) in ‘Sea Isle 2000’ and the lowest (3.0) in ‘Tifsport.’ Paspalum turfgrass showed a higher color degree (4) than bermudagrass (2.5) in April, May, and June. Compaction also led to a decline in leaf area and fresh and dry weights of all grown turfgrasses. The grass density was high for paspalum turfgrasses, indicating that their resistance to compaction was greater than bermudagrasses. It can be concluded that the best compaction and shade-tolerant turfgrasses are ‘Sea Isle 2000’ and seashore paspalum.