| 1. |
- Abalaka, J. L., et al.
(author)
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Rock Firefinch Lagonosticta sanguinodorsalis in the Mandara Mountains, north-east Nigeria : a new subspecies?
- 2010
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In: African Bird Club Bulletin. - 1352-481X. ; 17:2, s. 210-211
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- L’Amarante des rochers Lagonosticta sanguinodorsalis dans les Monts Mandara, Nigeria du sud-est: une nouvelle sous-espèce ? Nous fournissons une description d’un mâle et d’une femelle, ainsi que desphotos d’un mâle, d’un amarante capturé dans les Monts Mandara, au nord-est du Nigeria. Le plumage et le cri de cet amarante sont identiques à ceux de l’Amarante des rochers Lagonosticta sanguinodorsalis, une espèce précédemment rapportée de la zone, excepté que le mâle n’a pas la couronne grise typique de l’espèce. Des travaux supplémentaires sur le terrain sont nécessaires pour déterminer s’il agit d’un individu aberrant ou d’une population de l’Amarante des rochers morphologiquement distincte.
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| 2. |
- Abdoullaye, Doukary, et al.
(author)
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Permanent genetic resources added to molecular ecology resources database 1 August 2009 - 30 September 2009
- 2010
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In: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 10:1, s. 232-236
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article documents the addition of 238 microsatellite marker loci and 72 pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Adelges tsugae, Artemisia tridentata, Astroides calycularis, Azorella selago, Botryllus schlosseri, Botrylloides violaceus, Cardiocrinum cordatum var. glehnii, Campylopterus curvipennis, Colocasia esculenta, Cynomys ludovicianus, Cynomys leucurus, Cynomys gunnisoni, Epinephelus coioides, Eunicella singularis, Gammarus pulex, Homoeosoma nebulella, Hyla squirella, Lateolabrax japonicus, Mastomys erythroleucus, Pararge aegeria, Pardosa sierra, Phoenicopterus ruber ruber and Silene latifolia. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Adelges abietis, Adelges cooleyi, Adelges piceae, Pineus pini, Pineus strobi, Tubastrea micrantha, three other Tubastrea species, Botrylloides fuscus, Botrylloides simodensis, Campylopterus hemileucurus, Campylopterus rufus, Campylopterus largipennis, Campylopterus villaviscensio, Phaethornis longuemareus, Florisuga mellivora, Lampornis amethystinus, Amazilia cyanocephala, Archilochus colubris, Epinephelus lanceolatus, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus, Symbiodinium temperate-A clade, Gammarus fossarum, Gammarus roeselii, Dikerogammarus villosus and Limnomysis benedeni. This article also documents the addition of 72 sequencing primer pairs and 52 allele specific primers for Neophocaena phocaenoides.
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| 3. |
- Abdul Kader, Hale, et al.
(author)
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The determinants of reinsurance in the Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar years, 1919–39
- 2010
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In: Business History. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 52:2, s. 268-284
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drawing a framework from agency theory, we use a panel data design to examine the factors motivating the level of demand for reinsurance in the rapidly developing Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar period 1919–39. We find that as hypothesised, reinsurance enabled Swedish fire insurers to mitigate underwriting and solvency risks and thus increased their capacity to underwrite new business in uncertain economic times. This in turn helped to increase the supply of indemnity coverage for property (buildings) fire risks in the Swedish insurance market. We also find that as expected, investment earnings are inversely related to reinsurance purchases. However, contrary to what was hypothesised, reinsurance appears to be positively related to liquidity levels, suggesting that over our period of analysis, fire insurers could have been reinsuring to ‘protect’ earnings and accumulated cash reserves therefore enabling investment opportunities to be realised. Analysis of the sub-period 1919–28 further supports this contention, while our results for the economic depression years after 1929 show that reinsurance helped mitigate underwriting and insolvency risks, suggesting that the reinsurance decision of fire insurance companies could be motivated by macroeconomic factors.
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| 4. |
- Abul-Kasim, Kasim, et al.
(author)
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Advanced radiological work-up as an adjunct to decision in early reconstructive surgery in brachial plexus injuries
- 2010
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In: Journal of Brachial Plexus and Peripheral Nerve Injury. - : BioMed Central. - 1749-7221. ; 5, s. 14-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BackgroundAs neurophysiologic tests may not reveal the extent of brachial plexus injury at the early stage, the role of early radiological work-up has become increasingly important. The aim of the study was to evaluate the concordance between the radiological and clinical findings with the intraoperative findings in adult patients with brachial plexus injuries.MethodsSeven consecutive male patients (median age 33; range 15-61) with brachial plexus injuries, caused by motor cycle accidents in 5/7 patients, who underwent extensive radiological work-up with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography myelography (CT-M) or both were included in this retrospective study. A total of 34 spinal nerve roots were evaluated by neuroradiologists at two different occasions. The degree of agreement between the radiological findings of every individual nerve root and the intraoperative findings was estimated by calculation of kappa coefficient (К-value). Using the operative findings as a gold standard, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the clinical findings and the radiological findings were estimated.ResultsThe diagnostic accuracy of radiological findings was 88% compared with 65% for the clinical findings. The concordance between the radiological findings and the intraoperative findings was substantial (К = 0.76) compared with only fair (К = 0.34) for the clinical findings. There were two false positive and two false negative radiological findings (sensitivity and PPV of 0.90; specificity and NPV of 0.87).ConclusionsThe advanced optimized radiological work-up used showed high reliability and substantial agreement with the intraoperative findings in adult patients with brachial plexus injury.
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| 5. |
- Accinelli, Cesare, et al.
(author)
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Dissipation and removal of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in different aquatic environments
- 2010
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In: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier BV. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 79:8, s. 891-897
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) has received recent attention due to the potential use as a first-line defense against H5N1 and H1N1 influenza viruses. Research has shown that oseltamivir is not removed during conventional wastewater treatments, thus having the potential to enter surface water bodies. A series of laboratory experiments investigated the fate and the removal of oseltamivir in two surface water ecosystems of Japan and in a municipal wastewater treatment plant located in Northern Italy. Persistence of oseltamivir in surface water ranged from non-detectable degradation to a half-life of 53 d. After 40 d, <3% of radiolabeled oseltamivir evolved as (CO2)-C-14. The presence of sediments (5%) led to a significant increase of oseltamivir degradation and mineralization rates. A more intense mineralization was observed in samples of the wastewater treatment plant when applying a long incubation period (40 d). More precisely, 76% and 37% of the initial radioactivity applied as C-14-oseltamivir was recovered as (CO2)-C-14 from samples of the biological tank and effluent water, respectively. Two bacterial strains growing on oseltamivir as sole carbon source were isolated and used for its removal from synthetic medium and environmental samples, including surface water and wastewater. Inoculation of water and wastewater samples with the two oseltamivir-degrading strains showed that mineralization of oseltamivir was significantly higher in both inoculated water and wastewater, than in uninoculated controls. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and quantitative PCR analysis showed that Tamiflu would not affect the microbial population of surface water and wastewater.
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| 6. |
- Accinelli, Cesare, et al.
(author)
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Removal of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and other selected pharmaceuticals from wastewater using a granular bioplastic formulation entrapping propagules of Phanerochaete chrysosporium
- 2010
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In: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 81:3, s. 436-43
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The capacity of the ligninolytic fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade a wide variety of environmentally persistent xenobiotics has been largely reported in the literature. Beside other factors, one barrier to a wider use of this bioremediation fungus is the availability of effective formulations that ensure easy preparation, handling and application. In this series of laboratory experiments, we evaluated the efficiency of a granular bioplastic formulation entrapping propagules of P. chrysosporium for removal of four selected pharmaceuticals from wastewater samples. Addition of inoculated granules to samples of the wastewater treatment plant of Bologna significantly increased the removal of the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and the antibiotics, erythromycin, sulfamethoxazol, and ciprofloxacin. Similar effects were also observed in effluent water. Oseltamivir was the most persistent of the four active substances. After 30d of incubation, approximately two times more oseltamivir was removed in bioremediated wastewater than controls. The highest removal efficiency of the bioplastic formulation was observed with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Microbiological DNA-based analysis showed that the bioplastic matrix supported the growth of P. chrysosporium, thus facilitating its adaptation to unusual environment such as wastewater.
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| 7. |
- Addario, Barbara, et al.
(author)
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The domain structure of Entamoeba α-actinin2
- 2010
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In: Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters (Druk). - : Springer. - 1425-8153 .- 1689-1392. ; 15:4, s. 665-78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Entamoeba histolytica, a major agent of human amoebiasis, expresses two distinct forms of α-actinin, a ubiquitous actin-binding protein that is present in most eukaryotic organisms. In contrast to all metazoan α-actinins, in both isoforms the intervening rod domain that connects the N-terminal actin-binding domain with the C-terminal EF-hands is much shorter. It is suggested that these α-actinins may be involved in amoeboid motility and phagocytosis, so we cloned and characterised each domain of one of these α-actinins to better understand their functional role. The results clearly showed that the domains have properties very similar to those of conventional α-actinins.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Adhikari, Deepak, et al.
(author)
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Tsc/mTORC1 signaling in oocytes governs the quiescence and activation of primordial follicles
- 2010
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In: Human Molecular Genetics. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0964-6906 .- 1460-2083. ; 19:3, s. 397-410
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- To maintain the female reproductive lifespan, the majority of ovarian primordial follicles are preserved in a quiescent state in order to provide ova for later reproductive life. However, the molecular mechanism that maintains the long quiescence of primordial follicles is poorly understood. Here we provide genetic evidence to show that the tumor suppressor tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (Tsc1), which negatively regulates mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), functions in oocytes to maintain the quiescence of primordial follicles. In mutant mice lacking the Tsc1 gene in oocytes, the entire pool of primordial follicles is activated prematurely due to elevated mTORC1 activity in the oocyte, ending up with follicular depletion in early adulthood and causing premature ovarian failure (POF). We further show that maintenance of the quiescence of primordial follicles requires synergistic, collaborative functioning of both Tsc and PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) and that these two molecules suppress follicular activation through distinct ways. Our results suggest that Tsc/mTORC1 signaling and PTEN/PI3K (phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase) signaling synergistically regulate the dormancy and activation of primordial follicles, and together ensure the proper length of female reproductive life. Deregulation of these signaling pathways in oocytes results in pathological conditions of the ovary, including POF and infertility.
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| 10. |
- Adhikary, N C, et al.
(author)
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Ion-beam driven dust ion-acoustic solitary waves in dusty plasmas
- 2010
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In: Physics of Plasmas. - : American Institute of Physics (AIP). - 1070-664X .- 1089-7674. ; 17:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The nonlinear propagation of small but finite amplitude dust ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) in an ion-beam driven plasma consisting of Boltzmannian electrons, positive ions, and stationary negatively charged dust grains is studied by using the standard reductive perturbation technique. It is shown that there exist two critical values (γc1) and (γc2) of ion beam to ion phase velocity ratio (γ), above and below which the beam generated solitons are not possible. The effects of the parameters, namely, γ, the ratio of the ion beam to plasma ion density (μi), the dust to ion density ratio (μd), and the ion beam to plasma ion mass ratio (μ) on both the amplitude and width of the stationary DIAWs, are analyzed numerically, and applications of the results to laboratory ion beam as well as space plasmas (e.g., auroral plasmas) are explained.
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