Environmental context alters ecological trade‐offs controlling ant coexistence in a spatially heterogeneous region

1. Ecological trade‐offs in ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) assemblages and their implications for coexistence boast a rich history in entomology. Yet investigations of trade‐offs have largely been limited to homogeneous environments. We examined how environmental context modifies trade‐off expression in an ant assemblage spanning a heterogeneous region in central Florida, U.S.A. 2. We examined how trade‐off expression is altered among two contrasting habitat types: open shrub and forest. We tested for the presence of the dominance‐discovery trade‐off and two dominance‐thermal tolerance trade‐offs by estimating behavioral dominance, discovery ability, and thermal tolerance (foraging thermal limit, lethal temperature, and maximal abundance temperature) for a wide range of interacting ant species. 3. We found significantly linear dominance hierarchies in both shrub and forest habitats, showing dominant species out‐compete subordinates for food resources. In thermally stressful shrub habitats, subordinates exhibit higher thermal tolerances, take greater thermal risks, and reach maximum forager abundances at higher temperatures than do dominant species. This suggests temperature mediated trade‐offs control coexistence in shrub habitat. In thermally moderate forest habitat, we found limited evidence for trade‐offs between competitive dominance and resource discovery or between dominance and thermal traits, implying other processes control coexistence. These results demonstrate that trade‐offs controlling ant coexistence may be contingent on environmental context.     

肝硬化原发性肝癌直径<1 cm超声造影表现及其与血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平相关性研究

摘要 目的：探讨肝硬化原发性肝癌（PHC）直径<1cm超声造影（CEUS）表现及其与血清α-L-岩藻糖苷酶（AFU）、甲胎蛋白异质体-L3（AFP-L3）、磷脂酰肌醇蛋白聚糖-3（GPC3）、肿瘤特异生长因子（TSGF）、高尔基体糖蛋白（GP73）水平相关性。方法：选取2018年1月-2022年8月于湖北省襄阳市中医院收治的肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm患者44例,根据术后病理结果分为高分化组、中分化组和低分化组。所有患者术前均完善CEUS和血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平检查。比较三组CEUS表现、定量时间-强度曲线（TIC）分析、血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平。采用Spearman相关性分析肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm患者的CEUS表现与血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平的相关性。结果：44例肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm患者的CEUS表现均为肝内单发病灶,呈圆形或类圆形,病灶边界清晰,周围可见声晕。不同分化程度肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm患者在动脉期、门脉期和延迟期的CEUS表现上差异均无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。高分化组、中分化组和低分化组的达峰时间、廓清时间和峰值加速时间逐渐减少,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。而高分化组、中分化组和低分化组的峰值强度增加率逐渐增加,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。高分化组、中分化组和低分化组的增强时间对比差异无统计学意义（P＞0.05）。高分化组、中分化组和低分化组血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平逐渐升高,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。Spearman相关性分析显示,达峰时间、廓清时间和峰值加速时间与血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平呈负相关（P＜0.05）;峰值强度增加率与血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平呈正相关（P＜0.05）。结论：肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm患者的CEUS表现均为肝内单发病灶,呈圆形或类圆形,病灶边界清晰,周围可见声晕。CEUS表现和血清AFU、AFP-L3、GPC3、TSGF、GP73水平具有相关性,两者可辅助鉴别肝硬化PHC直径<1 cm的不同分化程度。     

药物治疗老年高血压对hs-CRP和ICAM-1 水平的影响

目的：通过比较老年原发性高血压患者使用瑞舒伐他汀治疗前后的情况, 探讨瑞舒伐他汀对老年原发性高血压患者血清超 敏C反应蛋白（hs-CRP）和细胞间黏附分子-1（ICAM-1）水平的影响。方法：选取86 例老年高血压患者随机分为对照组和治疗组, 其中对照组进行采用氨氯地平治疗,而治疗组在对照组的基础上采用瑞舒伐他汀治疗,分别检测和比较两组患者的hs-CRP和ICAM- 1 水平,并进行统计学分析。结果：与治疗前相比,治疗后对照组与治疗组hs-CRP 和ICAM-1 均明显降低,而两组的hs-CRP 和ICAM-1 差异显著（t=3.1655,P<0.01;t=9.6983,P<0.01）,具有统计学意义。结论：瑞舒伐他汀能显著降低老年高血压患者的 hs-CRP 和ICAM-1 水平,减轻患者的炎性反应,具有重要的临床应用价值。     

实时灰阶超声造影股浅静脉瓣膜返流时间与病变严重程度的相关性探讨

目的:探讨超声造影股浅静脉瓣膜返流与病变严重程度的关系。方法:回顾性分析55例63条诊断为原发性深静脉功能不全患者的临床和超声造影资料,记录股浅静脉瓣膜返流时间和CEAP临床表现分级,并进行两者的相关性分析。结果:统计学分析表明,CEAP临床表现分级与瓣膜返流时间无相关性;但溃疡肢体组与非溃疡肢体组的股浅静脉瓣膜返流时间比较,两组有显著性差异(P0.05)。结论:超声造影检查股静脉瓣膜返流时间有可能预测患肢静脉性溃疡的发生。     

Comparison of iceball diameter and temperature distribution achieved with 3-mm accuprobe cryoprobes in porcine and human liver tissue and human colorectal liver metastases in vitro

We aimed to assess the thermal profile and size of iceballs produced by Accuprobe cryoprobes in fresh porcine and human liver and human colorectal cancer liver metastases in vitro to allow better planning of cryosurgical treatment of liver metastases. Iceballs were produced by a 20-min single freeze cycle using 8-mm cryoprobes in pig liver in a waterbath at 37 degrees C (n = 8) and 3-mm cryoprobes in pig liver (n = 8), human liver (n = 3), and human colorectal cancer liver metastases (n = 8). The iceball diameters and the temperatures at different distances from the cryoprobe were measured. Mean iceball diameters produced by 8-mm cryoprobes in pig liver were 56.3 mm and varied from 38.7 to 39.6 mm for 3-mm cryoprobes in the different tissues used. There was no significant difference in iceball size in the different tissues. The diameter of the zone of -40 degrees C or less was approximately 44 mm using 8-mm cryoprobes in porcine liver and between 27 and 31 mm using 3-mm cryoprobes in the different tissues examined. The results may allow better preoperative planning of the cryosurgical treatment of liver metastases with Accuprobe cryoprobes.     

我国三大城市群地区城市和农业用地地表热环境效应对比研究

以大中小城市协同发展为特征的城市群已成为我国城市化发展的主要形式,城市化和农业作为城市群地区最主要的土地利用活动,其气候效应是国际研究的热点。然而过去研究多关注大城市的热岛效应,对更为普遍的农业活动以及中小城市城市化的气候效应认识十分薄弱。基于MODIS地表温度数据,以自然林地为参照,提出了一种可逐像元估算土地利用地表热环境效应的新方法,进而对比分析了我国三大城市群地区（京津冀、长三角和珠三角）城市和农业用地地表热环境效应及其驱动因子差异。结果表明各城市群白天城市热岛效应明显,地级以上城市年平均热岛强度达3.2℃以上,但最强热岛均未发生在核心城市。夜晚热岛效应明显减弱,京津冀和长三角部分城市甚至出现冷岛效应。农业用地在白天亦表现出明显的增温效应,特别是在京津冀地区,而在夜晚除珠三角城市群外,降温效应明显,京津冀和长三角地区平均降温2.3℃和0.7℃。虽然城市用地平均增温强度大于农业用地,但农业用地因面积优势对区域温度变化起控制作用。白天城市和农业用地整体导致各城市群温度明显增加,京津冀增温最高（4.0℃）,夜晚二者导致长三角和京津冀地区平均温度降低。研究还发现各城市群城市和农业用地地表热环境效应时空异质性极大,主要受植被、地表反照率、气候背景和人口密度控制。本文对制定缓解气候变化的土地利用策略具有重要的指导意义。     

Hyperkalaemia,not apoptosis,accurately predicts insect chilling injury

There is a growing appreciation that insect distribution and abundance are associated with the limits of thermal tolerance, but the physiology underlying thermal tolerance remains poorly understood. Many insects, like the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria), suffer a loss of ion and water balance leading to hyperkalaemia (high extracellular [K⁺]) in the cold that indirectly causes cell death. Cells can die in several ways under stress, and how they die is of critical importance to identifying and understanding the nature of thermal adaptation. Whether apoptotic or necrotic cell death pathways are responsible for low-temperature injury is unclear. Here, we use a caspase-3 specific assay to indirectly quantify apoptotic cell death in three locust tissues (muscle, nerves and midgut) following prolonged chilling and recovery from an injury-inducing cold exposure. Furthermore, we obtain matching measurements of injury, extracellular [K⁺] and muscle caspase-3 activity in individual locusts to gain further insight into the mechanistic nature of chilling injury. We found a significant increase in muscle caspase-3 activity, but no such increase was observed in either nervous or gut tissue from the same animals, suggesting that chill injury primarily relates to muscle cell death. Levels of chilling injury measured at the whole animal level, however, were strongly correlated with the degree of haemolymph hyperkalaemia, and not apoptosis. These results support the notion that cold-induced ion balance disruption triggers cell death but also that apoptosis is not the main form of cell damage driving low-temperature injury.     

Structural variability of DNA-containing Mg-pyrophosphate microparticles: optimized conditions to produce particles with desired size and morphology

Our previous studies demonstrated the formation of structurally diverse DNA-containing microparticles (DNA MPs) in PCR with Mg-pyrophosphate (MgPPi) as the structure-forming component. These DNA MPs were referred to major structural types: microdisks (2D MPs) with nanometer thickness and 3D MPs with sophisticated morphology and constructed from intersecting disks and their segments. Little is known about factors that influence both the morphology and size of DNA MPs, and the present study was aimed at fulfilling this gap. We showed that the addition of Mn²⁺ cations to PCR mixtures caused the profound changes in MPs morphology, depending on DNA polymerase used (KlenTaq or Taq). Asymmetric PCR with 20-fold decrease in the concentration of one of two primers facilitated the predominant formation of microdisks with unusual structure. The addition of 1 mM Na-pyrophosphate to PCR mixtures with synthesized DNA and subsequent thermal cycling (10–15 cycles) were optimal to produce microdisks or nanometer 3D particles. Using electron microscopy, we studied also the structure of inorganic micro- and nanoparticles from MgPPi, formed during multiple heating and cooling cycles of a mixture of Mg²⁺ and Na-pyrophosphate in various regimes. Also, we found the conditions to yield planar (Mg·Mn)PPi nanocrystals (diameter ~100 nm and thickness ~10 nm) which efficiently adsorbed exogenous DNA. These inorganic nanoparticles are promising for DNA delivery in transfection studies. Mechanisms to be involved in structural modifications of MPs and perspectives of their practical application are discussed.     

Eggs in autumn: responses to declining incubation temperatures by the eggs of montane lizards

Facultative hatching in response to environmental cues may increase the viability of offspring, if the cue that stimulates hatching also predicts the negative consequences of delayed emergence. Declining incubation temperatures might provide such a cue for montane lizards, because eggs that fail to hatch before winter will perish in the nest. I tested this idea by incubating eggs of an alpine scincid lizard ( Bassiana duperreyi ) in the laboratory. For the first half of the incubation period the eggs were kept at nest temperatures typical of those experienced in summer in the field (daily cycle of 18 ± 7.5°C). I then transferred eggs at weekly intervals into cooler regimes (either 15 ± 7.5°C; or with daytime temperatures unchanged but dropping to 0°C overnight). Contrary to prediction, the eggs did not hatch early. However, transfer to lower temperatures caused only a relatively short delay in hatching, because of a virtual temperature-independence of developmental rates late (but not early) in incubation. Decreasing incubation temperatures also modified hatchling running speeds and post-hatching growth rates, even if the thermal decrease occurred only shortly before the usual time of hatching. These processes plausibly affect hatchling fitness in cold-climate reptiles, and might be adaptations to montane habitats. Alternatively, they may prove to be widespread in other (warmer-climate) reptile taxa, in which case no adaptive hypothesis need be proposed. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 76 , 71–77.     

Critical thermal maxima and minima of Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Decapoda: Palaemonidae)

1. Critical thermal maxima (CTMax) and minima (CTMin) were determined for postlarvae and juveniles of Macrobrachium rosenbergii acclimated at 20, 23, 26, 29 and 32±1°C. 2. At each acclimation temperature the CTMax and CTMin for postlarvae were 37.3, 38.3, 39.0, 41.0, 41.6°C and 10.0, 11.0, 13.0, 14.8, 16.8°C respectively and for juveniles 36.5, 38.4, 39.2, 41.5, 42.0 and 10.5, 11.3, 13.3, 14.6, 16.4°C respectively. 3. We found no indication of significant differences (P>0.05) in the CTMax and CTMin of the prawn postlarvae and juveniles. 4. The zone of thermal tolerance base on the CTMax and CTMin boundaries for postlarvae was 821.2°C² and 816.9°C² for juveniles, showing a high degree of eurythermality. To cultivate this species it should be done in no less than 16°C (CTMin) and below 42°C.