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Identifying the factors that influence the citation of articles helps authors improve the impact and reach of their research. Analysis of publications in the Journal of Fish Biology between 2008 and 2021 revealed that variables such as the number of keywords, abstract length, number of authors, and page length were associated with higher impact papers. These trends applied to both review and regular papers. These findings suggest that papers that are more informative, have higher numbers of authors, and have more keywords are more likely to be cited. Adoption of some simple "best‐practice" behaviors can improve the likelihood that a paper is cited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aristotle is often named as the first zoologist or biologist because of his writings on animals. Although Aristotle's major intention in these books was to illustrate his ideas of how knowledge and understanding might advance, at least one modern biologist (C. Darwin) has recognized Aristotle's depth and breadth as being of surviving merit. Of greater surprise is the ongoing attention that his works continue to receive, including publications in contemporary scientific journals. This review identifies 38 peer-reviewed papers on various topics from Aristotle's biological writings that have been published during the last 50 years. These papers are described according to content (genetics, population biology, anatomy, brain, movement), specific creatures (fish, scorpions, elephants, insects, birds), publication outlet, distribution over the fifty year period surveyed, and visible trends in the topics studied. It is concluded that, in the highly-competitive field of peer-reviewed scientific publication and citation, Aristotle's biology continues to excite the interest of scientists and remains salient to modern science itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Society for the Study of Species Biology has announced the recipient of the 17th Plant Species Biology Best Paper Award. The winning paper, titled "Environmental and genetic effects on phenotypic differences between Elaeocarpus photiniifolia ecotypes in dry and mesic habitats on a Japanese oceanic island," explores how different environmental conditions have led to reproductive isolation and genetic differentiation in a specific plant species. Another paper, titled "The epiphytic orchid Vanda falcata is predominantly associated with a single Tulasnellaceae fungus in adulthood, and Ceratobasidiaceae fungi strongly induce its seed germination in vitro," investigates the symbiotic relationships between orchids and mycorrhizal fungi at different stages of growth. Both papers are featured in recent issues of Plant Species Biology. [Extracted from the article]

Not only leaf cutting (imitation of damage by leaf-cutting ants, I Crematogaster i ) but also experimental fire induced more extrafloral nectaries and nectar production in new leaves, implying an adaptive response following rapid regrowth that produces tender leaves prone to be attacked by herbivores. B Marina Neves Delgado, Helena Castanheira de Morais, and Davi Rodrigo Rossatto, 37(4): 268-277 b Title: The role of leaf cutting and fire on extrafloral nectaries and nectar production in I Stryphnodendron adstringens i (Fabaceae, Mimosoideae) plants https://doi.org/10.1111/1442-1984.12373 The authors aimed to clarify the effect of leaf damage on extrafloral nectaries and nectar production (Figures 1 and 2). (b) and (c) Crematogaster ants visiting the extrafloral nectary (EFN) at the base of the petiole. [Extracted from the article]

Inflammation is an important driver of atherosclerosis, and the favourable outcomes of the Canakinumab Anti-inflammatory Thrombosis Outcome Study (CANTOS) trial revealed the large potential of anti-inflammatory drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, especially in patients with a pro-inflammatory constitution. However, the complex immune reactions driving inflammation in the vascular wall in response to an atherosclerotic microenvironment are still being unravelled. Novel insights into the cellular processes driving immunity and inflammation revealed that alterations in intracellular metabolic pathways are strong drivers of survival, growth, and function of immune cells. Therefore, this position paper presents a brief overview of the recent developments in the immunometabolism field, focusing on its role in atherosclerosis. We will also highlight the potential impact of immunometabolic markers and targets in clinical cardiovascular medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human intelligence has always been a fascinating subject for scientists. Since the inception of Spearman's general intelligence in the early 1900s, there has been significant progress towards characterizing different aspects of intelligence and its relationship with structural and functional features of the brain. In recent years, the invention of sophisticated brain imaging devices using Diffusion-Weighted Imaging (DWI) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has allowed researchers to test hypotheses about neural correlates of intelligence in humans. This review summarizes recent findings on the associations of human intelligence with neuroimaging data. To this end, first, we review the literature that has related brain morphometry to intelligence. Next, we elaborate on the applications of DWI and restingstate fMRI on the investigation of intelligence. Then, we provide a survey of literature that has used multimodal DWI-fMRI to shed light on intelligence. Finally, we discuss the state-of-theart of individualized prediction of intelligence from neuroimaging data and point out future strategies. Future studies hold promising outcomes for machine learning-based predictive frameworks using neuroimaging features to estimate human intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor Biology, owned by the International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers and currently published by IOS Press, lost its Clarivate impact factor of 3.650 in 2017. It has been plagued by over 100 retractions due to paper mills (including a batch of 15 papers published between 2014 and 2016 that were retracted at the end of 2021), faked peer reviews, and forged research. According to PubMed, the number of papers published by Tumor Biology has been reduced to a mere trickle, dropping from 707 in 2017 to 66 in 2018. It is unclear how Tumor Biology will be able to recover from such disastrous reputational damage and whether there is even merit in continuing its publication. Other journals for cancer and oncology research would do well to observe this case closely and learn from its mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclic dominance models, such as the classic rock-paper-scissors (RPS) game, have found real-world applications in biology, ecology, and sociology. A key quantity of interest in such models is the coexistence time, i.e., the time until at least one population type goes extinct. Much recent research has considered conditions that lengthen coexistence times in an RPS model. A general finding is that coexistence is promoted by localized spatial interactions (low mobility), while extinction is fostered by global interactions (high mobility). That is, there exists a mobility threshold which separates a regime of long coexistence from a regime of rapid collapse of coexistence. The key finding of our paper is that if zealots (i.e., nodes able to defeat others while themselves being immune to defeat) of even a single type exist, then system coexistence time can be significantly prolonged, even in the presence of global interactions. This work thus highlights a crucial determinant of system survival time in cyclic dominance models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rock—paper—scissors (RPS) game is a nice model to study the biodiversity in an ecosystem. However, in the previous studies only the nearest-neighbor interaction among the species was considered. In this paper, taking the long-range migration into account, the effects of the interplay between nearest-neighbor-interaction and long-range-interaction given by Levy flight with distance distribution lh (−3 ≤ h < −1) in the spatial RPS game are investigated. Taking the probability, exchange rate, and power-law exponent of Levy flight as parameters, the coexistence conditions of three species are given. The critical curves for stable coexistence of three species in the parameter space are presented. It is also found that Levy flight has interesting effects on the final spatiotemporal pattern of the system. The results reveal that the long-range-interaction given by Levy flight exhibits pronounced effects on biodiversity of the ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The action required to stem the environmental and social implications of climate change depends crucially on how humankind shapes technology, economy, lifestyle and policy. With transport CO2 emissions accounting for about a quarter of the total, we examine the contribution of CO2 output by scientific travel. Thankfully for the reputation of the scientific community, CO2 emissions associated with the trips required to present a paper at a scientific conference account for just 0.003% of the yearly total. However, with CO2 emissions for a single conference trip amounting to 7% of an average individual’s total CO2 emissions, scientists should lead by example by demonstrating leadership in addressing the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper celebrates the life and legacy of psychiatrist and Jungian author Anthony Stevens, who passed away at age 90 on July 13, 2023. It outlines Stevens's origins as a research fellow in Greece, where his work on infant attachment led to a lifelong dedication to establishing the biological and evolutionary foundation of psychiatry. It details his instrumental role in the debate about the theory of archetypes and describes the current state of the literature including the responses and reactions to Stevens's biological innatist position. The paper concludes with a career retrospective in which Stevens's major works are introduced and briefly described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognised that high-stakes assessment can significantly influence what is taught in the classroom. Many argue that high-stakes assessment results in a narrowed curriculum where students learn by rote rather than developing higher cognitive skills. This paper describes a study investigating the various cognitive objectives present from Bloom’s Taxonomy Educational Objectives on the Leaving Certificate biology examination. The study analysed examination papers from the past and current biology syllabuses. Analysis was also carried out to determine the marks being awarded to the different cognitive objectives. The findings show that the examination predominately includes questions that do not promote higher levels of thinking. The majority of the marks on the paper were allocated to the lower objectives of the taxonomy, suggesting students can rely on rote learning to succeed when undertaking the biology examination. This study strongly highlights how high-stake examinations have a narrow scope in terms of student achievement and shows how current biology examination procedures promote low-level learning. This low level of thinking promotes rote learning and regurgitation of facts, requiring little to no understanding of the topics. To prepare students for the working world, there needs to be a shift from only terminal exams to a mixed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A complete workflow was presented for estimating the concentration of microorganisms in biological samples by automatically counting spots that represent viral plaque forming units (PFU) bacterial colony forming units (CFU), or spot forming units (SFU) in images, and modeling the counts. The workflow was designed for processing images from dilution series but can also be applied to stand-alone images. The accuracy of the methods was greatly improved by adding a newly developed bias correction method. When the spots in images are densely populated, the probability of spot overlapping increases, leading to systematic undercounting. In this paper, this undercount issue was addressed in an empirical way. The proposed empirical bias correction method utilized synthetic images with known spot sizes and counts as a training set, enabling the development of an effective bias correction function using a thin-plate spline model. Its application focused on the bias correction for the automated spot counting algorithm LoST proposed by Lin et al. Simulation results demonstrated that the empirical bias correction significantly improved spot counts, reducing bias for both fixed and random spot sizes and counts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While the effectiveness of tutoring‐style videos has been reported in previous studies conducted in laboratories, how these types of videos facilitate students' learning experiences and achievement has not been much explored in prior studies, which prevents discussion on how to design such tutoring‐style videos. Objectives: In this study, we addressed the limitations reported in studies conducted in authentic classes and attempted to explore students' learning patterns and experiences with tutoring‐style videos involving interactions between the instructor and agents. In addition, we attempted to reveal what instructional strategies can be used in tutoring‐style videos to enhance students' engagement and achievement. Methods: The study took place in an undergraduate introductory biology class offered at a university located in the Midwest of the United States. The same instructor taught two sections of this course which lasted for 15 weeks during a Spring semester. The two sections were randomly assigned to an experimental group in which participants watched tutoring‐style videos and a control group with participants watching traditional videos. The experiment was administered in a module lasting two and a half weeks focused on microbiology. Surveys and tests were conducted to determine whether the tutoring‐style videos had a positive impact on student engagement and achievement. In addition, a video content analysis was carried out to elicit insights on how to design effective tutoring‐style videos. Results: For students' emotional engagement and perceived usefulness, no significant difference was found between the two groups, even though the descriptive statistics indicated slightly higher scores from the experimental group than the control group on both subscales. In terms of achievement, the participants reported significantly more learned concepts from watching rich‐interactions in the tutoring‐style videos than the participants in the control group; and they also reported a significantly smaller number of learned concepts from watching one‐interactions in the videos than the control group participants. We also found that instruction in the tutoring‐style videos used effective strategies for facilitating students' participation and cognitive processing. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that tutoring‐style videos can be effective learning materials by allowing students to engage in interactions between instructors and agents in the videos. The more instructional strategies used to facilitate the interactions between the instructor and the agents, the higher engagement can be expected from viewers. Our study would inform the design and development of effective tutoring‐style videos. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: One‐on‐one tutoring is the gold standard in teaching.Tutoring‐style videos are found to be effective in teaching as well. What this paper adds: Tutoring‐style videos that film rich interactions lead to better learning.Tutoring‐style videos that film limited interactions are ineffective.Students who see agents in tutoring‐style videos as helpful perform better. Implications for practice and/or policy: Tutoring‐style videos should film rich interactions of tutoring sessions.Strategies should be used in videos to facilitate perceived agents' usefulness.Tutoring sessions filmed in videos should encourage a participatory atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space and time, which should properly be taken conjointly, are both communicatively produced and created with certain contextual perspectives—they are not independent physical entities. The standpoint of production makes the relationship between space and time comprehensible. They can either be mental-subjective, physical-objective, or social-intersubjective. Social and intersubjective (or E-series) spacetime might shed new light on biological thinking. For general readers, this paper provides a clue regarding an alternative conceptualization of spacetime based on biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In May 2023, herpetologists from six countries converged at the 8th Conference on the Biology of Plethodontid Salamanders in Hammond, Louisiana to share their latest cutting-edge research. The conference was hosted by the Department of Biological Sciences at Southeastern Louisiana University. Dr. Richard Bruce was the honoree. The presentations covered a diverse array of topics from gene expression to behavior to speciation, illustrating the value of plethodontid salamander biology to a range of disciplines. This special issue of Herpetologica includes 16 papers highlighting a range of research on plethodontids and encouraging new approaches to tackle old and new questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Leo XIII's publication of Aeterni Patris (1879) was a major factor in the great revival of Thomistic thought in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. Among the authors that took up the challenge implicit in the Pope's document of bringing Aquinas and his thought into the intellectual debates of the times we find two interesting proposals. The first is that of Juan González Arintero, a Spanish Dominican, and the second one is that of Josef Donat, a Jesuit born and raised in the Austrian Empire. Arintero is mostly known in Catholic circles for his influential works on mysticism, but in fact he devoted much of his early work to the subject of evolution, and how it could interact with the Catholic faith in general, and with Thomism in particular. Donat is the author of a Summa Philosophiae Christianae, a collection that was widely read in Catholic seminaries well into the 20th century. In this paper we will focus on the differing ways in which these authors tackled the problems and questions presented by Darwinian evolutionism to the post-Aeterni Patris Thomism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging field of genomic medicine offers an opportunity for biology and anatomy teachers to bring the topics of DNA, genetics, molecular processes, and evolution together into one experience. Through the genomic medicine paradigm, students see the unbroken connection between small biological topics such as mutations and their potential connection to disease phenotypes. In this paper, we present as a main example cystic fibrosis, which is an often-studied genetic disease in general biology class, for examination through the genomic medicine lens. Concepts such as genes, the plasma membrane, variation, mutations, the nucleus, and chromosomes can be used in a narrative and visual approach to genetics through the genomic medicine standpoint to engage and connect students with next-generation genomics and with the fundamental unit of life—the cell. It is through the genomic medicine lens that the cell's context and relationship to the evolving world takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology position paper reviews the diagnostic potential of ultrasound contrast agents for clinical decision-making and provides general advice for optimal contrast-enhanced ultrasound performance in musculoskeletal issues. In this domain, contrast-enhanced ultrasound performance has increasingly been investigated with promising results, but still lacks everyday clinical application and standardized techniques; therefore, experts summarized current knowledge according to published evidence and best personal experience. The goal was to intensify and standardize the use and administration of ultrasound contrast agents to facilitate correct diagnoses and ultimately to improve the management and outcomes of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a corpus-based study of a key aspect of academic writing in one discipline (biology) by final-year undergraduates and first-, second-, and third-year graduate students. The papers come from the Michigan Corpus of Upper-level Student Papers, a freely available electronic database. The principal aim of the study is to examine the extent of variation in citation practice in the biology subcorpus. To that end, it explores citation practices from a number of perspectives, including the distribution of integral versus parenthetical citations, the choice of reporting verbs, the effect of citing system, and the occurrence of selected features such as the use of citees’ first names. Results show little difference between the undergraduate and graduate papers, some effect of the citing system, and a somewhat richer intertextuality in the “evolutionary” as opposed to the “molecular” biology papers. Overall, this is an impressive body of student work from the viewpoint of textual variation in citation practice, but it should be remembered that the corpus consists of only “A” papers from a flagship research university. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mitochondria are commonly perceived as "cellular power plants". Intriguingly, power conversion is not their only function. In the first part of this paper, we review the role of mitochondria in the evolution of eukaryotic organisms and in the regulation of the human body, specifically focusing on cancer and autism in relation to mitochondrial dysfunction. In the second part, we overview our previous works, revealing the physical principles of operation for proton-pumping complexes in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Our proposed simple models reveal the physical mechanisms of energy exchange. They can be further expanded to answer open questions about mitochondrial functions and the medical treatment of diseases associated with mitochondrial disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The reduviid genus Sycanus Amyot & Serville, 1843, possesses higher aesthetic value and plays a crucial role as a natural enemy in the control of agricultural and forestry pests. However, Sycanus from China has not undergone a comprehensive review for over four decades. Based on both molecular data and morphological evidence, we conducted a systematic review of the 14 Chinese Sycanus species, including a description of three new species. Due to the variability of body coloration and morphological similarity among closely related species, unresolved issues and debates still persist in the taxonomic study of the genus Sycanus from China. In this study, we conducted phylogenetic analyses and species delimitation for Sycanus in China based on a COI DNA barcoding dataset comprising 81 samples. The results revealed that all the samples could be classified into 12 species by integrating molecular analyses with morphological comparison. This paper provides a comprehensive systematic review of the Sycanus species found in China, including descriptions of three new species: S. taiwanensis Zhao & Cai sp. nov., S. flavicorius Li & Cai sp. nov., and S. hainanensis Wang & Cai sp. nov. Furthermore, it is proposed that S. croceovittatus Dohrn, 1859, S. leucomesus Walker, 1873, and S. villicus Stål, 1863, are three synonyms of S. bifidus (Fabricius, 1787); S. bicolor Hsiao, 1979, is a synonym of S. versicolor Dohrn, 1859; and S. hsiaoi Maldonado-Capriles, 1990, is a synonym of S. marginellus Putshkov, 1987. Additionally, brief biological information is provided for two species, S. falleni Stål, 1863, and S. croceus Hsiao, 1979. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This opinion piece, written by ethnobiologists from different parts of the world, emphasizes the importance of ethnobiology research in advancing contemporary biology, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and, especially, contributing to the ecological transition and more just and inclusive world. To achieve these goals, it is essential to develop research and collaborate with social groups that live in close relationship with nature in research activities, such as Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC), as well as Afro-descendants and other Marginalized, Minority or Minoritized Communities (AMMC). Ethnobiology can identify and provide locally appropriate solutions to local problems, enabling sustainable resource management at the landscape level. The text explores important aspects that need to be considered to guide the future of ethnobiology in the next 20 years, aiming to integrate and amplify previous discussions held in the discipline and identify points that demand ongoing attention. This paper highlights reflections from diverse researchers, emphasizing how ethnobiology can embrace different perspectives and employ rigorous analysis of complex phenomena toward effective policies and practices. This approach holds the potential to address the challenges the planet is currently facing in the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This journal article provides information about the upcoming 96th National Congress of the Italian Society for Experimental Biology, which will take place in L'Aquila, Italy from April 25-28, 2024. The article includes a table of contents for the journal issue, featuring various topics such as anthropology, aging, environment and health, aquatic environments, biology of reproduction and infertility, regenerative medicine, micro- and nanovesicles, neuroscience, nutrition, oncology, cell stress, and miscellaneous subjects. Additionally, the article includes summaries of three research papers: one on the relationship between comparative anthropology and urban biodiversity in forensic practice, another on the use of infrared spectroscopy in analyzing the preservation state of archaeological remains, and a third on dental morphology and its impact on periodontal disease in primates. The article also discusses two studies on the potential benefits of using probiotic Streptococcus thermophilus and Artemisia absinthium extract as skincare and mouthwash ingredients, respectively. These studies provide insights into the potential applications of probiotics and herbal extracts in improving skin health and oral hygiene. [Extracted from the article]

High-grade serous tubo-ovarian cancer (HGSTOC) is the most lethal tumor of the female genital tract. The foregoing therapy consists of cytoreduction followed by standard platinum/taxane chemotherapy; alternatively, for primary unresectable tumors, neo-adjuvant platinum/taxane chemotherapy followed by delayed interval cytoreduction. In patients with suboptimal surgery or advanced disease, different forms of targeted therapy have been accepted or tested in clinical trials. Studies on HGSTOC discovered its genetic and proteomic heterogeneity, epigenetic regulation, and the role of the tumor microenvironment. These findings turned attention to the fact that there are several distinct primary tumor subtypes of HGSTOC and the unique biology of primary, metastatic, and recurrent tumors may result in a differential drug response. This results in both chemo-refractoriness of some primary tumors and, what is significantly more frequent and destructive, secondary chemo-resistance of metastatic and recurrent HGSTOC tumors. Treatment possibilities for platinum-resistant disease include several chemotherapeutics with moderate activity and different targeted drugs with difficult tolerable effects. Therefore, the question appears as to why different subtypes of ovarian cancer are predominantly treated based on the same therapeutic schemes and not in an individualized way, adjusted to the biology of a specific tumor subtype and temporal moment of the disease. The paper reviews the genomic, mutational, and epigenetic signatures of HGSTOC subtypes and the tumor microenvironment. The clinical trials on personalized therapy and the overall results of a new, comprehensive approach to personalized therapy for ovarian cancer have been presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thomas Cavalier‐Smith, born in London, U.K., on October 21, 1942, was a Professor of Evolutionary Biology in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford at the time of his death on March 19, 2021. Credited with at least 235 research works and over 20,000 citations, Cavalier‐Smith was a well‐known and widely respected scientist who took a bold and detailed approach to understanding major transitions in evolution, including the role of endosymbiosis. He was noted for his willingness to question theories and constantly accumulate and evaluate data, motivated by science for the sake of science. This paper reviews Thomas Cavalier‐Smith's major accomplishments, examines his theoretical approaches, and provides highlights from the "Tree of Life Symposium" sponsored by the International Society of Protistologists (ISOP) and the International Society of Evolutionary Protistology (ISEP) on June 21, 2021, to celebrate Tom's life and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, the number of published papers that include search terms such as thermodynamics, entropy, ecology, and ecosystems has grown rapidly. Recently, background research carried out during the development of a paper on "thermodynamics in ecology" revealed huge variation in the understanding of the meaning and the use of some of the central terms in this field—in particular, entropy. This variation seems to be based primarily on the differing educational and scientific backgrounds of the researchers responsible for contributions to this field. Secondly, some ecological subdisciplines also seem to be better suited and applicable to certain interpretations of the concept than others. The most well-known seems to be the use of the Boltzmann–Gibbs equation in the guise of the Shannon–Weaver/Wiener index when applied to the estimation of biodiversity in ecology. Thirdly, this tendency also revealed that the use of entropy-like functions could be diverted into an area of statistical and distributional analyses as opposed to real thermodynamic approaches, which explicitly aim to describe and account for the energy fluxes and dissipations in the systems. Fourthly, these different ways of usage contribute to an increased confusion in discussions about efficiency and possible telos in nature, whether at the developmental level of the organism, a population, or an entire ecosystem. All the papers, in general, suffer from a lack of clear definitions of the thermodynamic functions used, and we, therefore, recommend that future publications in this area endeavor to achieve a more precise use of language. Only by increasing such efforts it is possible to understand and resolve some of the significant and possibly misleading discussions in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotaxis plays a crucial role in a variety of processes in biology and ecology. Quite often it acts to improve efficiency of biological reactions. One example is the immune system signalling, where infected tissues release chemokines attracting monocytes to fight invading bacteria. Another example is reproduction, where eggs release pheromones that attract sperm. A macro scale example is flower scent appealing to pollinators. In this paper we consider a system of PDEs designed to model such processes. Our interest is to quantify the effect of chemotaxis on reaction rates compared to pure reaction-diffusion. We limit consideration to surface chemotaxis, which is well motivated from the point of view of many applications. Our results provide the first insight into situations where chemotaxis can be crucial for reaction success, and where its effect is likely to be limited. The proofs are based on new analytical tools; a significant part of the paper is dedicated to building up the linear machinery that can be useful in more general settings. In particular, we establish precise estimates on the rates of convergence to the ground state for a class of Fokker--Planck operators with potentials that grow at a logarithmic rate at infinity. These estimates are made possible by a new sharp weak weighted Poincaré inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper reviews research developments in semiosis (sign activity) as theorized by Peirce, Eco and Sebeok, focusing specifically on the current study of "semiotic threshold zones," which range from the origins of life through various nonhuman life forms to artificial life forms, including those symbolic thresholds most familiar to library and information science (LIS) researchers. The intent is to illustrate potential opportunities for LIS research beyond its present boundaries. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides a framework that describes six semiotic threshold zones (presemiotic, protosemiotic, phytosemiotic, zoosemiotic, symbolic and polysemiotic) and notable work being done by researchers in each. Findings: While semiotic researchers are still defining the continuum of semiotic thresholds, this focus on thresholds can provide a unifying framework for significance as human and nonhuman interpretations of a wide variety of signs accompanied by a better understanding of their relationships becomes more urgent in a rapidly changing global environment. Originality/value: Though a variety of semiotic-related topics have appeared in the LIS literature, semiotic thresholds and their potential relationships to LIS research have not been previously discussed there. LIS has traditionally tasked itself with the recording, dissemination and preservation of knowledge, and in a world that faces unprecedented environmental and global challenges for all species, the importance of these thresholds may well be considered as part of our professional obligations in potentially documenting and archiving the critical differences in semiosis that extend beyond purely human knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rosa, R., and Seibel, B. A. 2010. Voyage of the argonauts in the pelagic realm: physiological and behavioural ecology of the rare paper nautilus, Argonauta nouryi. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 1494–1500.The metabolic demands of a rare paper nautilus, Argonauta nouryi, in the eastern tropical Pacific (ETP) are evaluated. After adjusting for temperature and size, the rates of oxygen consumption and of aerobic and anaerobic metabolic potential (as evidenced by citrate synthase and octopine dehydrogenase activities, respectively) of A. nouryi were much higher than those in holopelagic octopods that exhibit float-and-wait predation strategies. In fact, the rates were similar to those found in small epipelagic squids and benthic octopods. The critical oxygen partial pressure was 4.9 kPa at 20°C, suggesting that the strong oxygen minimum layer found at intermediate depths in the ETP may constrain the vertical distribution of A. nouryi to the upper few metres of the water column. We also report the occurrence of a chain of shelled females at the surface, in which each animal was attached, as if on the benthos, to the next individual in the chain. Although it may constitute an effective strategy to increase the rates of mate encounter in the vast open ocean, there may be an important ecological trade-off for such behaviour, namely the increase in visibility at the surface with concomitant attraction of predators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A practical method for collecting, storing, and transporting liquid biological samples in a dry state for subsequent hormone metabolite analyses is presented. This method employs the use of ordinary filter paper strips that imbibe liquid samples. Samples taken up by the filter paper were allowed to dry and were retained at ambient conditions in capped vials for up to 5 years prior to analysis. Examples presented in the present report include urine samples from human and nonhuman primates as well as solubilized fecal samples from nonhuman primates. Hormone metabolite analysis of the paper-stored samples provided data that were comparable to the results obtained from analyses of the original liquid samples. One year of storage had no effect on hormone concentration. Five years of storage resulted in concentrations that were quantitatively less bat qualitatively similar to the concentrations obtained by direct analysis of the initial samples. These data demonstrate the versatility and reliability of paper as a matrix for biological samples that may provide a more convenient approach for collecting and transporting samples collected in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citation patterns were examined for Worm et al. 2006 (Science 314∶787–790), a high-impact paper that focused on relationships between marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. This paper sparked much controversy through its projection, highlighted in the press release, that all marine fisheries would be collapsed by 2048. Analysis of 664 citing papers revealed that only a small percentage (11%) referred to the 2048 projection, while 39% referred to fisheries collapse in general, and 40% to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The 2048 projection was mentioned more often in papers published soon after the original paper, in low-impact journals, and in journals outside of fields that would be expected to focus on biodiversity. Citing papers also mentioned the 2048 projection more often if they had few authors (28% of single-author papers vs. 2% of papers with 10 or more authors). These factors suggest that the more knowledgeable the authors of citing papers were about the controversy over the 2048 projection, the less likely they were to refer to it. A noteworthy finding was that if the original authors were also involved in the citing papers, they rarely (1 of 55 papers, 2%) mentioned the 2048 projection. Thus the original authors have emphasized the broader concerns about biodiversity loss, rather than the 2048 projection, as the key result of their study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development in the deinking process has made recycled fiber a major part of the raw material for pulp and paper industry. Enzymes have revolutionized the deinking process obtaining brightness levels surpassing conventional deinking processes. This study explores the deinking efficiencies of bacterial alkalophilic laccase (L) and xylanase (X) enzymes along with physical deinking methods of microwaving (MW) and sonication (S) for recycling of old newsprint (ONP). Methods and Results: The operational parameters viz. enzyme dose, pH and treatment time for X and L deinking were optimized statistically using Response Surface Methodology. Laccase did not require any mediator supplementation for deinking. Deinking of ONP pulp with a combination of xylanase and laccase enzymes was investigated, and fiber surface composition and morphological changes were studied using X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Compared to the pulp deinked with xylanase (47.9%) or laccase (62.2%) individually, the percentage reduction of effective residual ink concentration (ERIC) was higher for the combined xylanase/laccase-deinked pulp (65.8%). An increase in brightness (21.6%), breaking length (16.5%), burst factor (4.2%) tear factor (6.9%), viscosity (13%) and cellulose crystallinity (10.3%) along with decrease in kappa number (22%) and chemical consumption (50%) were also observed. Surface appeared more fibrillar along with changes in surface functional groups. A combination of physical and enzymatic processes (S-MW-XL) for deinking further improved brightness (28.8%) and decreased ERIC (73.9%) substantially. Conclusion: This is the first report on deinking of ONP with laccase without any mediator supplementation. XL pretreatment resulted in marked improvement in paper quality and a new sequence being reported for deinking (S-MW-XL) will contribute further in decreasing chemical consumption and making the process commercially feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial genomes often harbor integrated viruses (prophages), which provide novel functions but also lyse cells under stressful conditions. A new paper combines mathematical models with experimental evolution to determine how prophages are maintained in bacterial populations despite their fitness costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, the Bio-Ontologies SIG at ISMB has provided a forum for discussion of the latest and most innovative research in the application of ontologies and more generally the organisation, presentation and dissemination of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. The ten papers selected for this supplement are extended versions of the original papers presented at the 2010 SIG. The papers span a wide range of topics including practical solutions for data and knowledge integration for translational medicine, hypothesis based querying , understanding kidney and urinary pathways, mining the pharmacogenomics literature; theoretical research into the orthogonality of biomedical ontologies, the representation of diseases, the representation of research hypotheses, the combination of ontologies and natural language processing for an annotation framework, the generation of textual definitions, and the discovery of gene interaction networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open access (OA) publishing, whereby authors, their institutions, or their granting bodies pay or provide a repository through which peer-reviewed work is available online for free, is championed as a model to increase the number of citations per paper and disseminate results widely, especially to researchers in developing countries. We compared the number of citations of OA and non-OA papers in six journals and four books published since 2000 to test whether OA increases number of citations overall and increases citations made by authors in developing countries. After controlling for type of paper (e.g., review or research paper), length of paper, authors’ citation profiles, number of authors per paper, and whether the author or the publisher released the paper in OA, OA had no statistically significant influence on the overall number of citations per journal paper. Journal papers were cited more frequently if the authors had published highly cited papers previously, were members of large teams of authors, or published relatively long papers, but papers were not cited more frequently if they were published in an OA source. Nevertheless, author-archived OA book chapters accrued up to eight times more citations than chapters in the same book that were not available through OA, perhaps because there is no online abstracting service for book chapters. There was also little evidence that journal papers or book chapters published in OA received more citations from authors in developing countries relative to those journal papers or book chapters not published in OA. For scholarly publications in conservation biology, only book chapters had an OA citation advantage, and OA did not increase the number of citations papers or chapters received from authors in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Citations by other researchers are important in the dissemination of research findings. We aimed to investigate whether preferential citation of statistically significant articles exists in the psychiatric literature. Study Design and Settings: We analyzed all original research papers published in 1996 in four psychiatric journals. Using a standardized questionnaire, from each paper, we extracted the primary outcome and its statistical significance. The number of citations, excluding authors'' “self-citations,” received by April 2005 was obtained. Regression analysis was used to relate citation frequency to statistical significance, adjusting for confounders. Results: Of 448 extracted papers, 368 used statistical significance testing and 287 (77.8%) reported P <0.05. The median number of citations for papers reporting “significant” and “nonsignificant” results was 33 vs. 16. After adjustment for journal, study design, reporting quality, whether outcome confirmed previous findings and study size, the ratio of the number of citations per article for articles reporting “P <0.05” on the primary outcome to those reporting “P >0.05” was 1.63 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32, 2.02, P <0.001). Conclusion: Authors cite studies based on their P-value rather than intrinsic scientific merit. This practice skews the research evidence. Systematic study registration and inclusion in meta-analysis should be encouraged. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of providing paper or rope, alternative enriching substrates to straw, to piglets in farrowing crates on piglet and sow welfare. Sixty multiparous sows and their litters were housed in crates that were either barren (BARREN), enriched with shredded paper (PAPER) or natural fibre rope (ROPE). Enriching substrates were introduced when piglets were 10 days old. The proportion of sows with udder and teat lesions before parturition and at weaning was recorded. Piglet facial lesions were scored according to severity on days 11, 18 and 27. Sow and piglet behaviour was recorded using scan sampling on days 14, 18, 22 and 26. Furthermore, the behaviour of one male and one female focal piglet per litter was recorded continuously for 10min twice per day on days 14, 18, 22 and 26. On day 27 post-partum, focal piglets were observed for 5min in a novel arena and for a further 5min after a novel object was introduced. On day 27, there was a tendency for more BARREN sows to have teat lesions (P =0.07). PAPER litters tended to have a smaller proportion of piglets with facial lesions (P =0.06). ROPE piglets were active in the enriched area of the crate in more observations than BARREN and PAPER piglets (P <0.01). PAPER piglets spent less time inactive (P <0.01), less time exploring the pen-fittings (P <0.01) and more time interacting with the enriching substrate (P <0.001) than piglets in the other two treatments. In the first 5min in the novel arena BARREN piglets froze more than PAPER and ROPE piglets (P =0.05). In conclusion, shredded paper improved piglet welfare and was easily incorporated into the farrowing crates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Three laccases, a natural form and two recombinant forms obtained from two different expression hosts, were characterized and compared for paper pulp bleaching. Laccase from Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, a well known lignolytic fungus, was selected as a reference for this study. The corresponding recombinant laccases were produced in Aspergillus oryzae and A. niger hosts using the lacI gene from P. cinnabarinus to develop a production process without using the expensive laccase inducers required by the native source. In flasks, production of recombinant enzymes by Aspergilli strains gave yields close to 80 mg l-1. Each protein was purified to homogeneity and characterized, demonstrating that the three hosts produced proteins with similar physico-chemical properties, including electron paramagnetic resonance spectra and N-terminal sequences. However, the recombinant laccases have higher Michaelian (Km) constants, suggesting a decrease in substrate/enzyme affinity in comparison with the natural enzyme. Moreover, the natural laccase exhibited a higher redox potential (around 810 mV), compared with A. niger (760 mV) and A. oryzae (735 mV). Treatment of wheat straw Kraft pulp using laccases expressed in P. cinnabarinus or A. niger with 1-hydroxybenzotriazole as redox mediator achieved a delignification close to 75%, whereas the recombinant laccase from A. oryzae was not able to delignify pulp. These results were confirmed by thioacidolysis. Kinetic and redox potential data and pulp bleaching results were consistent, suggesting that the three enzymes are different and each fungal strain introduces differences during protein processing (folding and/or glycosylation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not immediately clear how costly behavior that benefits others evolves by natural selection. By saving on inherent costs, individuals that do not contribute socially have a selective advantage over altruists if both types receive equal benefits. Restrained consumption of a common resource is a form of altruism. The cost of this kind of prudent behavior is that restrained individuals give up resources to less-restrained individuals. The benefit of restraint is that better resource management may prolong the persistence of the group. One way to dodge the problem of defection is for altruists to interact disproportionately with other altruists. With limited dispersal, restrained individuals persist because of interaction with like types, whereas it is the unrestrained individuals that must face the negative long-term consequences of their rapacity. Here, we study the evolution of restraint in a community of three competitors exhibiting a nontransitive (rock-paper-scissors) relationship. The nontransitivity ensures a form of negative feedback, whereby improvement in growth of one competitor has the counterintuitive consequence of lowering the density of that improved player. This negative feedback generates detrimental long-term consequences for unrestrained growth. Using both computer simulations and evolution experiments with a nontransitive community of Escherichia coil, we find that restrained growth can evolve under conditions of limited dispersal in which negative feedback is present. This research, thus, highlights a set of ecological conditions sufficient for the evolution of one form of altruism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinary research in biotechnology and related scientific areas has increased tremendously over the past decade. This rapid pace, in conjunction with advances in microfabricated systems, computer hardware, bioengineering and the availability of low-powered miniature components, has now made it feasible to design bio-inspired materials, sensors and systems with tremendous potential for defence and security applications. To realize the full potential of biotechnology and bio-inspiration, there is a need to define specific requirements to meet the challenges of the changing world and its threats. One approach to assisting the defence and security communities in defining their requirements is through the use of a conceptual model. The distributed or intelligent autonomous sensing (DIAS) system is one such model. The DIAS model is not necessarily aimed at a single component, for instance a sensor, but can include a system, or even a system of systems in the same way that a single organism, a multi-cellular organism or group of organisms is configured. This paper provides an overview of the challenges to and opportunities for bio-inspired sensors and systems together with examples of how they are being implemented. Examples focus on both learning new things from biological organisms that have application to the defence and security forces and adapting known discoveries in biology and biochemistry for practical use by these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial discusses the prevalence of heart failure worldwide and the advancements in molecular and cellular biology that are transforming our understanding and treatment of the condition. The special issue includes nine papers that highlight recent advances in understanding the transcriptome profile in cardiovascular diseases and providing novel treatments for promoting cardiac repair. The papers cover topics such as the transcriptomic profile of endothelial cells in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the impact of inflammation in remote zones after myocardial infarction, the effectiveness of manganese porphyrin compound for cardiac arrest, the role of HIF2α and ARNT signaling in endothelial cells, strategies to induce cardiomyocyte proliferation, the characterization of the common marmoset as a primate model for cardiovascular disease, and the link between heart failure and cognitive impairment. The authors express their gratitude to the contributors and reviewers of the special issue. [Extracted from the article]