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An improved knowledge of how contrasting types of plant communities and their associated soil biota differ in their responses to climatic variables is important for better understanding the future impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Elevational gradients serve as powerful study systems for answering questions on how ecological processes can be affected by changes in temperature an

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) is a regulatory peptide expressed in the nervous system and in endocrine cells, e.g. in pancreatic islets. CART deficient mice exhibit islet dysfunction, impaired insulin secretion and increased body weight. A mutation in the CART gene in humans is associated with reduced metabolic rate, obesity and diabetes. Furthermore, CART is upregulated in

Population viscosity can have major consequences for adaptive evolution, in particular for phenotypes involved in social interactions. For example, population viscosity increases the probability of mating with close kin, resulting in selection for mechanisms that circumvent the potential negative consequences of inbreeding. Female promiscuity is often suggested to be one such mechanism. However, w

Background Smaller hippocampal volume has repeatedly been reported in schizophrenia patients Obstetric complications (OCs) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variation in schizophrenia susceptibility genes have independently been related to hippocampal volume We investigated putative independent and interaction effects of severe hypoxia-related OCs and variation in four hypoxia-regulated sch

Objectives To assess HIV knowledge, attitudes, sexual practices and sexual and reproductive health ( SRH) service delivery in border areas of Tanzania, with a view to support the prioritisation of SRH interventions in border areas. Methods The target sample comprised randomly selected people living near the border, aged 15 to 49 years. To gather information, we utilised: (i) a standardised questio

Objectives: Genome-wide association (GWA) studies still rely on the common-disease common-variant hypothesis since the assumption is associated with increased power. In GWA studies, polymorphisms are genotyped and their association with disease is investigated. Most of the identified associations are indirect and reflect a shared inheritance of the genotyped markers and genetically linked causal v

Prey species are often exposed to multiple predators, which presents several difficulties to prey species. This is especially true when the response to one predator influences the preys susceptibility to other predators. Predator-induced defences have evolved in a wide range of prey species, and experiments involving predators with different hunting strategies allow researchers to evaluate how pre

In the plant biosynthesis of secondary compounds, phenylalanine is a precursor of condensed tannins. Tannins are deposited into the soil in plant root exudates and dead plant material and have been suggested to precipitate some soil nutrients and hence reduce nutrient availability for plants. Free amino acid, inorganic and microbial N concentration during the growing season was investigated in an

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) influencing the risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and demonstrated the association of common genetic variation for this type of cancer. Such evidence for inherited genetic risk is also provided by the family history and the very high concordance between monozygotic twins. However, little is known a

Many wetland ecosystems such as peatlands and wet tundra hold large amounts of organic carbon (C) in their soils, and are thus important in the terrestrial C cycle. We have synthesized data on the carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange obtained from eddy covariance measurements from 12 wetland sites, covering 1-7 years at each site, across Europe and North America, ranging from ombrotrophic and minerotroph

About a quarter of all meteorites falling on Earth today originate from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body similar to 470 Ma ago, the largest documented breakup in the asteroid belt in the past similar to 3 Ga. A window into the flux of meteorites to Earth shortly after this event comes from the recovery of about 100 fossil L chondrites (1-21 cm in diameter) in a quarry of mid-Ordovician l

In this short note we give an exact characterization of C*-algebras that have the class of convex functions. More precisely, we give a convexity characterization of subhomogeneous C*-algebras. We use these results to generalize the single function based convexity conditions for commutativity of a C*-algebra to the single function based convexity conditions for subhomogeneity.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is commonly associated with Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection. This study examined patient samples for complement activation on leukocyte-platelet complexes and microparticles as well as donor samples for Stx and lipopolysaccharide (O157LPS)-induced complement activation on platelet-leukocyte complexes and microparticles. Results, analyz

A series of four new analogue phases Ca2M2X (M = Pd, Pt and X = Al, Ge) were prepared by direct combination of the respective elements in stoichiometric mixtures at high temperature in order to analyze the impact of valence electron count (vec) and electronegativity differences (Delta chi) on the structure selection and stability. Their crystal structures, as determined from single-crystal X-ray d

In a series of smog chamber experiments, the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generated from ozonolysis of beta-caryophyllene was characterized by determining the CCN derived hygroscopicity parameter, kappa(CCN), from experimental data. Two types of CCN counters, operating at different temperatures, were used. The effect of semi-volatile organic compounds

This study aimed to investigate whether decreasing the amount of slices in breast tomosynthesis (BT) image volumes reduce reading time. BT slices were combined into so-called slabs, by reconstructing thin slices and merging them into thicker slabs. Sets of slabs where created from 35 clinical BT volumes with malignant or benignant findings and from 50 BT volumes drawn from screening sets (without

Often integrating ordinary differential equations or differential algebraic equations (DAE) do not constitute the problem alone. A common complement is finding the root of an algebraic function (an event function) that depends on the states of the problem. This formulation of a model enables the possibility of including discontinuities, an important part of the Functional Mock-up Interface standar