Relationship between myological variables and different take-off and landing behaviours in frogs

Although landing behaviour in anurans differs significantly among species, a take-off behaviour seems to be largely conserved in the evolution of frogs and toads. The ancestral mode of landing is hypothesized to involve the body crash-landing on the substrate, after which the anuran cycles the limbs forward and then backward to their resting position. The part of the body that first contacts the substrate may vary among taxa. The limbs and pectoral girdle muscles as well as those of the caudopelvic region, involved with landing and take-off behaviours, are investigated. The existence of a relationship exists between myology and different take-off and landing behaviours is explored. The results suggest that most of the muscles involved in both take-off and landing are conserved morphologically, with only few differing, depending on the locomotor behaviour. Two muscles tend to be longer; the m. coracobrachialis, which is involved with landing, and the m. coccygeosacralis, related to the take-off.     

Intravital microscopy of the lung: minimizing invasiveness

In vivo microscopy has recently become a gold standard in lung immunology studies involving small animals, largely benefiting from the democratization of multiphoton microscopy allowing for deep tissue imaging. This technology represents currently our only way of exploring the lungs and inferring what happens in human respiratory medicine. The interest of lung in vivo microscopy essentially relies upon its relevance as a study model, fulfilling physiological requirements in comparison with in vitro and ex vivo experiments. However, strategies developed in order to overcome movements of the thorax caused by breathing and heartbeats remain the chief drawback of the technique and a major source of invasiveness. In this context, minimizing invasiveness is an unavoidable prerequisite for any improvement of lung in vivo microscopy. This review puts into perspective the main techniques enabling lung in vivo microscopy, providing pros and cons regarding invasiveness.

     

Vitamin D,Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 and Incident Cognitive Impairment: Findings from the REGARDS Study

Vitamin D protects against cognitive decline in animals but evidence in humans has been inconsistent. Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) is a hormone that inhibits vitamin D activation yet few studies examined whether FGF23 is associated with cognitive impairment. The objective of this study was to examine associations of 25(OH)D and FGF23 with incident cognitive impairment in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a cohort of black and white adults ≥45 years old. FGF23 and 25(OH)D were measured in 474 incident impairment cases and 561 controls. In multivariable-adjusted models, there were no significant associations of FGF23 with incident cognitive impairment. In analyses using clinically-relevant categories of 25(OH)D (< 20 ng/ml, 20–29.9 ng/ml, ≥30 ng/ml), there was no statistically significant association of lower 25(OH)D concentrations with odds of incident cognitive impairment in models adjusted for demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables and season of blood draw (tertile 1 [≥30 ng/ml] reference; tertile 2 [20–29.9 ng/ml], odds ratio [OR] 0.96, 95%CI 0.67, 1.38; tertile 3 [<20 ng/ml] OR 1.26, 95%CI 0.83, 1.91). When 25(OH)D was modeled as race-specific tertiles, there were no significant associations of 25(OH)D with incident cognitive impairment in whites, whereas lower 25(OH)D was associated with higher odds in blacks (tertile 1 [>23 ng/ml] reference; tertile 2 [15–23 ng/ml], OR 2.96, 95%CI 1.48,5.94; tertile 3 [<15 ng/ml] OR 2.40, 95%CI 1.07,5.40) in the fully adjusted model. In this cohort of older adults, lower race-specific tertiles of 25(OH)D were associated with higher incidence of cognitive impairment in black individuals but not white individuals. These data suggest that treating low 25(OH)D may be a novel strategy for addressing racial disparities in neurocognitive outcomes.     

Equity in Health Care Financing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Evidence from Studies Using Benefit and Financing Incidence Analyses

IntroductionHealth financing reforms in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) over the past decades have focused on achieving equity in financing of health care delivery through universal health coverage. Benefit and financing incidence analyses are two analytical methods for comprehensively evaluating how well health systems perform on these objectives. This systematic review assesses progress towards equity in health care financing in LMICs through the use of BIA and FIA.ConclusionStudies evaluated in this systematic review indicate that health care financing in LMICs benefits the rich more than the poor but the burden of financing also falls more on the rich. There is some evidence that primary health care is pro-poor suggesting a greater investment in such services and removal of barriers to care can enhance equity. The results overall suggest that there are impediments to making health care more accessible to the poor and this must be addressed if universal health coverage is to be a reality.     

Is it really you,Orthotrichum acuminatum? Ascertaining a new case of intercontinental disjunction in mosses

Intercontinental disjunct distributions are a main issue in current biogeography. Bryophytes usually have broad distribution ranges and therefore constitute an interesting subject of study in this context. During recent fieldwork in western North America and eastern Africa, we found new populations of a moss morphologically similar to Orthotrichum acuminatum. So far this species has been considered to be one of the most typical epiphytic mosses of the Mediterranean Basin. The new findings raise some puzzling questions. Do these new populations belong to cryptic species or do they belong to O. acuminatum, a species which then has a multiple‐continent disjunct range? In the latter case, how could such an intercontinental disjunction be explained? To answer these questions, an integrative study involving morphological and molecular approaches was conducted. Morphological results reveal that Californian and Ethiopian samples fall within the variability of those from the Mediterranean Basin. Similarly, phylogenetic analyses confirm the monophyly of these populations, showing that O. acuminatum is one of the few moss species with a distribution comprising the western Nearctic, the western Palaearctic and Palaeotropical eastern Africa. Pending a further genetic and phylogeographical study to support or reject the hypothesis, a process of long‐distance dispersal (LDD) is hypothesized to explain this distribution and the origin of the species is suggested to be the Mediterranean Basin, from where diaspores of the species may have migrated to California and Ethiopia. The spore release process in O. acuminatum is revisited to support the LDD hypothesis, © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 180 , 30–49.     

Phylogenetic signal and potential for invasiveness

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Arterial stiffness in hypertensive and type 2 diabetes patients in Ghana: comparison of the cardio-ankle vascular index and central aortic techniques

Background

Diabetes and hypertension increase arterial stiffness and cardiovascular events in all societies studied so far; sub-Saharan African studies are sparse. We investigated factors affecting arterial function in Ghanaians with diabetes, hypertension, both or neither.

Method

Testing the hypothesis that arterial stiffness would progressively increase from controls to multiply affected patients, 270 participants were stratified into those with diabetes or hypertension only, with both, or without either. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), heart–ankle pulse wave velocity (haPWV), aortic PWV (PWVao) by Arteriograph, aortic and brachial blood pressures (BP), were measured.

Results

In patients with both diabetes and hypertension compared with either alone, values were higher of CAVI (mean?±?SD, 8.3?±?1.2 vs 7.5?±?1.1 and 7.4?±?1.1 units; p?<?0.05), PWVao (9.1?±?1.4 vs 8.7?±?1.9 and 8.1?±?0.9 m/s; p?<?0.05) and haPWV (8.5?±?1 vs 7.9?±?1 and 7.2?±?0.7 m/s; p?<?0.05) respectively. In multivariate analysis, age, having diabetes or hypertension and BMI were independently associated with CAVI in all participants (β?=?0.49, 0.2, 0.17 and -0.2 units; p?<?0.01, respectively). Independent determinants of PWVao were heart rate, systolic BP and age (β?=?0.42, 0.27 and 0.22; p?<?0.01), and for haPWV were systolic BP, age, BMI, diabetes and hypertension status (β?=?0.46, 0.32, -0.2, 0.2 and 0.11; p?<?0.01).

Conclusion

In this sub-Saharan setting with lesser atherosclerosis than the western world, arterial stiffness is significantly greater in patients with coexistent diabetes and hypertension but did not differ between those with either diabetes or hypertension only. Simple, reproducibly measured PWV/CAVI may offer effective and efficient targets for intervention.