Complete coding regions of the 18S rRNA gene of an enteropneust
hemichordate and an echinoid and ophiuroid echinoderm were obtained and
aligned with 18S rRNA gene sequences of all major chordate clades and four
outgroups. Gene sequences were analyzed to test morphological character
phylogenies and to assess the strength of the signal. Maximum- parsimony
analysis of the sequences fails to support a monophyletic Chordata; the
urochordates form the sister taxon to the hemichordates, and together this
clade plus the echinoderms forms the sister taxon to the cephalochordates
plus craniates. Decay, bootstrap, and tree-length distribution analyses
suggest that the signal for inference of dueterostome phylogeny is weak in
this molecule. Parsimony analysis of morphological plus molecular
characters supports both monophyly of echinoderms plus enteropneust
hemichordates and a sister group relationship of this clade to chordates.
Evolutionary parsimony does not support chordate monophyly.
Neighbor-joining, Fitch-Margoliash, and maximum-likelihood analyses support
a chordate lineage that is the sister group to an
echinoderm-plus-hemichordate lineage. The results illustrate both the
limitations of the 18S rRNA molecule alone for high- level phylogeny
inference and the importance of considering both molecular and
morphological data in phylogeny reconstruction.
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Abstract 1. The influence of infestation of the larval host plant Gentiana cruciata on the egg‐laying preferences of the xerophilous ecotype of Alcon Blue butterfly (Maculinea alcon) was studied in a semi‐dry grassland area (Aggtelek Karst Region, Northern Hungary). 2. We examined whether oviposition patterns of females differed when G. cruciata stems were uninfested compared with when they were infested by an aphid (Aphis gentianae) or a rust (Puccinia gentianae) species. 3. Females laid more than 90% of their eggs on fertile, uninfested G. cruciata stems, although these stems comprised only ~ 50% of the total stems available. Stems infested by aphids were similar to uninfested ones in properties that had a strong correlation with egg numbers, and yet there were significantly fewer eggs on infested stems than on intact ones. 4. Females never laid eggs on parts of Gentiana stems infested by aphids, and the presence of Lasius paralienus ants, which have a mutualistic interaction with Aphis gentianae, did not increase the repulsive effect of aphids. Infection of Gentiana by Puccinia did not influence the egg‐laying behaviour of females, even though the flowers and buds of infested stems exhibited a delayed development. 5. Aphid infestation can influence butterfly oviposition patterns through both direct and indirect effects. The presence of aphids directly excluded oviposition, but our data also indicated the possibility of an indirect effect of aphid infestation. Stems that had no aphids at the last egg counting, but were infested prior to it, had significantly fewer eggs than those that were never infested. 相似文献
To date, the benefit of prehospital advanced life-support programs on trauma-related mortality and morbidity has not been established
Methods
The Ontario Prehospital Advanced Life Support (OPALS) Major Trauma Study was a before–after systemwide controlled clinical trial conducted in 17 cities. We enrolled adult patients who had experienced major trauma in a basic life-support phase and a subsequent advanced life-support phase (during which paramedics were able to perform endotracheal intubation and administer fluids and drugs intravenously). The primary outcome was survival to hospital discharge.
Results
Among the 2867 patients enrolled in the basic life-support (n = 1373) and advanced life-support (n = 1494) phases, characteristics were similar, including mean age (44.8 v. 47.5 years), frequency of blunt injury (92.0% v. 91.4%), median injury severity score (24 v. 22) and percentage of patients with Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 9 (27.2% v. 22.1%). Survival did not differ overall (81.1% among patients in the advanced life-support phase v. 81.8% among those in the basic life-support phase; p = 0.65). Among patients with Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 9, survival was lower among those in the advanced life-support phase (50.9% v. 60.0%; p = 0.02). The adjusted odds of death for the advanced life-support v. basic life-support phases were nonsignificant (1.2, 95% confidence interval 0.9–1.7; p = 0.16).
Interpretation
The OPALS Major Trauma Study showed that systemwide implementation of full advanced life-support programs did not decrease mortality or morbidity for major trauma patients. We also found that during the advanced life-support phase, mortality was greater among patients with Glasgow Coma Scale scores less than 9. We believe that emergency medical services should carefully re-evaluate the indications for and application of prehospital advanced life-support measures for patients who have experienced major trauma.Each year in the United States, an estimated 500 000 adult patients are transported to hospital after experiencing major trauma.1,2 Major trauma can be described as life-or limb-threatening injury due to blunt force, penetrating injury or burn injury. Considering both frequency and associated mortality, major trauma is the second most important condition for children and the fourth most important condition for adults treated by emergency medical service providers.2 About 20% of these patients die, and many survivors are left with permanent disability.Throughout most urban areas of the United States and Canada, paramedics provide prehospital advanced life-support to many of these critically injured patients. Advanced life-support protocols include advanced airway management (endotracheal intubation) and intravenous fluid therapy. In contrast, basic life-support providers administer oxygen, ventilate with a bag valve mask, and provide immobilization and dressings. The relative effectiveness of community-based advanced life-support programs for major trauma patients has not been clearly established, and there have been calls for larger and more rigorously designed studies.3–5Endotracheal intubation in the field has not been proven to reduce mortality and morbidity among severely injured patients, and there are concerns that performing this difficult task under trying conditions may cause harm.6,7 The value of prehospital intravenous resuscitation has also been questioned.8,9 In addition, there are concerns that the on-scene time spent providing advanced life-support measures may actually delay life-saving expeditious transfer to the hospital and the operating room.10 To date, no large controlled clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate the impact of prehospital advanced life-support programs on trauma-related mortality and morbidity.3As part of the Ontario Prehospital Advanced Life Support (OPALS) studies, we recently demonstrated that advanced life-support programs had no impact on the outcomes of patients who had experienced cardiac arrest, but they did lead to significant improvement in survival among patients with respiratory distress.11,12 The primary objective of the current study, the OPALS Major Trauma Study, was to assess any change in survival that might result from the systemwide introduction of prehospital advanced life-support programs in multiple cities with existing basic life-support programs provided through emergency medical services. We also evaluated the impact of advanced life-support on morbidity and processes of care. 相似文献
The difficulty of experimental determination of haplotypes from phase-unknown genotypes has stimulated the development of nonexperimental inferral methods. One well-known approach for a group of unrelated individuals involves using the trivially deducible haplotypes (those found in individuals with zero or one heterozygous sites) and a set of rules to infer the haplotypes underlying ambiguous genotypes (those with two or more heterozygous sites). Neither the manner in which this "rule-based" approach should be implemented nor the accuracy of this approach has been adequately assessed. We implemented eight variations of this approach that differed in how a reference list of haplotypes was derived and in the rules for the analysis of ambiguous genotypes. We assessed the accuracy of these variations by comparing predicted and experimentally determined haplotypes involving nine polymorphic sites in the human apolipoprotein E (APOE) locus. The eight variations resulted in substantial differences in the average number of correctly inferred haplotype pairs. More than one set of inferred haplotype pairs was found for each of the variations we analyzed, implying that the rule-based approach is not sufficient by itself for haplotype inferral, despite its appealing simplicity. Accordingly, we explored consensus methods in which multiple inferrals for a given ambiguous genotype are combined to generate a single inferral; we show that the set of these "consensus" inferrals for all ambiguous genotypes is more accurate than the typical single set of inferrals chosen at random. We also use a consensus prediction to divide ambiguous genotypes into those whose algorithmic inferral is certain or almost certain and those whose less certain inferral makes molecular inferral preferable. 相似文献
The ability of platelets to form stable adhesion contacts with other activated platelets (platelet cohesion or aggregation) at sites of vascular injury is essential for hemostasis and thrombosis. In this study, we have examined the mechanisms regulating cytosolic calcium flux during the development of platelet-platelet adhesion contacts under the influence of flow. An examination of platelet calcium flux during platelet aggregate formation in vitro demonstrated a key role for intercellular calcium communication (ICC) in regulating the recruitment of translocating platelets into developing aggregates. We demonstrate that ICC is primarily mediated by a signaling mechanism operating between integrin alpha IIb beta 3 and the recently cloned ADP purinergic receptor P2Y12. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the efficiency by which calcium signals are propagated within platelet aggregates plays an important role in dictating the rate and extent of thrombus growth. 相似文献
The soils of the Pampas are thought to be generally non-contaminated but there is growing evidence of trace element accumulation at some specific sites. The goal of this study was to measure the current levels of the main Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) in the top horizon and in specific soil profiles so that we would establish the baseline concentrations of these elements. Eighty-eight top soils and three soil profiles were sampled. The samples were acid digested. Arsenic, boron, barium, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, silver, selenium and zinc were determined with inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectrometry (ICPES).
All of the values found are within the normal range for uncontaminated soils as reported from several continents. Elements with high environmental risk potential are lower than the admissible range of the European Union and some of them are orders of magnitude lower than those of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) 501 levels. Potentially Toxic Elements contents increased with depth or showed a maximum concentration at the B2 horizon. This is related to the parent material and the pedogenetic processes but not to recent contamination. Soil profiles showed higher concentrations of PTE in clayey horizons. However, these relationships did not appear in top soil samples in any soil Great Group studied. The shown data establishes a baseline for PTE concentrations for Pampas soils. 相似文献
Siderophores have been identified as virulence factors in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. The 14-pass transmembrane protein MirB is postulated to function as a siderophore transporter, responsible for uptake of the hydroxamate siderophore N,N′,N″-triacetylfusarinine C (TAFC). Our aim was to identify amino acids of A. fumigatus MirB that are crucial for uptake of TAFC. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to create MirB mutants. Expression of wild-type and mutant proteins in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain PHY14, which lacks endogenous siderophore transporters, was confirmed by Western blotting. TAFC transport assays using 55Fe-labeled TAFC and growth assays with Fe-TAFC as the sole iron source identified alanine 125, tyrosine 577, loop 3, and the second half of loop 7 (Loop7Del2) as crucial for function, since their substitution or deletion abrogated uptake completely. Wild-type MirB transported ferricrocin and coprogen as well as TAFC but not ferrichrysin. MirB was localized by fluorescence microscopy using antisera raised against a MirB extracellular loop peptide. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that in yeast, wild-type MirB had a punctate distribution under the plasma membrane, as did the A125D and Y577A strains, indicating that the defect in transport of these mutants was unlikely to be due to mislocalization or degradation. MirB immunolocalization in A. fumigatus showed that the transporter was found in vesicles which cycled between the cytoplasm and the plasma membrane and was concentrated at the hyphal tips. The location of MirB was not influenced by the presence of the siderophore TAFC but was sensitive to internal iron stores. 相似文献