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The study of natural avian hybridization has a chequered history; ignored or marginalized by many, but at times studied in considerable detail by a few. The discovery of an unknown duck in the English county of Norfolk in the 1840s provoked much discussion among British ornithologists regarding its status as a species or hybrid and led to conflicting views on appropriate nomenclature. William Richard Fisher of Great Yarmouth, a naturalist and artist, was much involved in these initial deliberations and, together with Abraham Dee Bartlett, was responsible in 1847 for declaring this duck a distinct species named Ferina ferinoides (now Aythya ferina × nyroca) with the vernacular name of Paget's pochard. The discovery of similar specimens elsewhere in Europe in the 1850s also stimulated considerable interest from ornithologists such as Friedrich Wilhelm Justus Bädeker and Jean Baptiste Marie Jaubert, both of whom provided scientific names, being unaware of events in Britain. The Italian ornithologist, Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi, was perhaps the most vigorous pursuer of Paget's pochard, travelling extensively in Britain and on the continent to examine specimens. This paper traces the circumstances in which the curiosity of notable ornithologists in Britain and mainland Europe was aroused by Paget's pochard, thereby reflecting the waxing and waning of interest in, and prevailing views on, natural hybridization among birds since the second half of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although content differences in pornography play an acknowledged role in many theories concerning the use and consequences of such material, relatively few studies have attempted to describe and understand the use of different types of pornography. To begin to address this gap, N = 367 participants who were in predominately mixed-sex relationships were asked open-ended questions about the pornography they used alone and the pornography they used with a romantic partner. A mixed-methods analysis employing both thematic analysis and content analysis to the same set of responses indicated that participants’ responses frequently focused on the gender of the performers, the sexual behaviors they engaged in, and the number of performers present in the pornography they watched. Other content features ranging from the presence of BDSM and rough sex to the race of performers were also mentioned by participants but to a lesser extent. Exploratory quantitative analyses indicated that the content of shared pornography use was more mono- and heteronormative than the content of solitary pornography use. Also, gender differences in the content of pornography tended to be more accentuated with respect to solitary pornography use than shared pornography use. The findings confirm that men and women may be using different kinds of pornography when they use it alone and are the first to suggest that consumers may be using different materials when they use pornography alone than when they use it with a partner. The results of the current study reinforce the importance of adopting content-specific measures of pornography use and suggest a potential avenue for conceptualizing a new taxonomic system for organizing pornographic materials.

Hoy es imposible hablar de conocimiento o información sin pensar en Internet. Este avance de la democratización informativa está potenciando el desarrollo de las ciencias en todo el mundo a una velocidad, hasta hace unas décadas, incalculable. Los retos que estos nuevos medios de difusión plantean, invariablemente, han significado en muchos aspectos un reto del ordenamiento jurídico vigente. En un mundo de blogs, podcasts, wikis, journals, fotologs, metadata, freeware, webcasts y demás formas de conocimiento libre ha surgido la pregunta sobre la vigencia de nuestro sistema de derechos de autor. Aprovechando su visita para la presentación de las licencias Creative Commons en Perú, THEMIS-Revista de Derecho tuvo la oportunidad de conversar con dos investigadores norteamericanos, quienes han generado una respuesta eficiente frente a la actual revolución informativa en el mundo.

Summary: Short polypeptides encoded by small open reading frames (smORFs) are ubiquitously found in eukaryotic genomes and are important regulators of physiology, development, and mitochondrial processes. Here, we focus on a subset of 298 smORFs that are evolutionarily conserved between Drosophila melanogaster and humans. Many of these smORFs are conserved broadly in the bilaterian lineage, and ∼182 are conserved in plants. We observe remarkably heterogeneous spatial and temporal expression patterns of smORF transcripts—indicating wide-spread tissue-specific and stage-specific mitochondrial architectures. In addition, an analysis of annotated functional domains reveals a predicted enrichment of smORF polypeptides localizing to mitochondria. We conduct an embryonic ribosome profiling experiment and find support for translation of 137 of these smORFs during embryogenesis. We further embark on functional characterization using CRISPR knockout/activation, RNAi knockdown, and cDNA overexpression, revealing diverse phenotypes. This study underscores the importance of identifying smORF function in disease and phenotypic diversity.

A goal of coral reef management is to provide habitat and nursery areas for fish populations. This requires simple and reliable methods for characterizing biological and physical reef features that contribute to fish habitat. Most attempts to establish this relationship have been performed on small-scale, site-specific study areas where variability in fish populations and reef structure is limited and results may be insufficiently robust for extrapolation beyond those sites. Most studies also include geological structures, like ridges and rock formations that provide fish habitat but are not amenable to management action. A focus on the role of Scleractinia (stony corals) may better inform decisions aimed at improving fish habitat. Stony corals provide the structural foundation of coral reefs and are the target of numerous management actions. Data from three broad-area, multi-station reef surveys of fish and stony coral colonies were examined to identify correlations between fish population measures (density, taxa richness and biomass) and both biological (taxa richness and live surface area) and physical (number, size and structural complexity) attributes of scleractinian coral populations. Strongest correlations were found with physical coral features, particularly coral colony height. Characterizing this relationship will improve fishery management tools and support status and trend assessment of the worldwide decline in the physical stature of reefs.

Brown et al. apply integrated omics and phenotypic screening to assess the role of the gut microbiome in modulating host resilience in Drosophila melanogaster. They find that Acetobacter tropicalis in gnotobiotic animals, is sufficient to rescue increased atrazine toxicity, which could pave the way for biotic strategies to improve host resilience to environmental chemical exposure.

Accretion and erosion of scleractinian (stony coral) carbonate skeletons determine whether a colony will increase or decrease in size with potential consequences for ecosystem processes, functions and services. The capacity for skeletal growth can be estimated by comparing a colony’s rate of calcification with its rate of erosion. Calcification depends on the species-specific metabolic activity of living tissue, and erosion depends primarily on the availability and density of barren skeleton, those areas on the colony where polyps have died. Assessment of skeletal growth capacity requires data on calcification rates, erosion rates and both live and barren colony surface area. Rates of calcification and erosion are documented for many Caribbean species and others can be estimated from existing data. Three-dimensional surface area of colonies can be determined from data collected during demographic surveys, which identify species, measure dimensions, and estimate the proportion of live tissue on a colony. Data from demographic surveys conducted in the U.S. Virgin Islands are used to calculate the skeletal growth capacity (GC) as an indicator of coral species and community resilience. Scleractinia are the primary architects of coral reefs, and the gain or loss of skeletal framework is vitally important to reef ecosystem processes that lead to valued goods and services. Estimates of GC reflect stony coral resilience, which is the capacity to recover from disturbances by returning to previous physical and functional levels. GC can also provide insight to the effects of stressors such as ocean acidification, and can inform several management decisions, including restoration site selection and threatened species designation.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains an extremely aggressive disease characterized by rapidly acquired multi-drug resistance, including to first-line chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine. Autophagy is a process that is often exploited by cancer and is one of several intrinsic factors associated with resistance to gemcitabine. We have previously found that miR-198 acts as a tumor suppressor in PDAC through the targeting of factors including Valosin-containing protein (VCP). VCP has been reported to play an important role in autophagic flux. In this study, we investigated whether the repression of VCP through miR-198 administration disrupts the autophagy process and sensitizes PDAC cells to gemcitabine treatment in vitro. Moreover, we used LGA-PEI (LPNP) nanoparticles to effectively administer miR-198 to tumors in vivo, inducing tumor sensitization to gemcitabine and leading to a significant reduction in tumor burden and metastases and a concomitant downregulation of VCP expression and autophagy maturation. Our results indicate a potential therapeutic strategy for targeting gemcitabine resistant PDAC and establishes the use of LPNPs for effective therapeutic delivery of nucleic acids in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract Lipid carriers of hydrophobic paclitaxel (PTX) are used in clinical trials for cancer chemotherapy. Improving their loading capacity requires enhanced PTX solubilization. We compared the time-dependence of PTX membrane solubility as a function of PTX content in cationic liposomes (CLs) with lipid tails containing one (oleoyl; DOPC/DOTAP) or two (linoleoyl; DLinPC/newly synthesized DLinTAP) cis double bonds by using microscopy to generate kinetic phase diagrams. The DLin lipids displayed significantly increased PTX membrane solubility over DO lipids. Remarkably, 8 mol% PTX in DLinTAP/DLinPC CLs remained soluble for approximately as long as 3 mol% PTX (the solubility limit, which has been the focus of most previous studies and clinical trials) in DOTAP/DOPC CLs. The increase in solubility is likely caused by enhanced molecular affinity between lipid tails and PTX, rather than by the transition in membrane structure from bilayers to inverse cylindrical micelles observed with small-angle X-ray scattering. Importantly, the efficacy of PTX-loaded CLs against prostate cancer cells (their IC50 of PTX cytotoxicity) was unaffected by changing the lipid tails, and toxicity of the CL carrier was negligible. Moreover, efficacy was approximately doubled against melanoma cells for PTX-loaded DLinTAP/DLinPC over DOTAP/DOPC CLs. Our findings demonstrate the potential of chemical modifications of the lipid tails to increase the PTX membrane loading while maintaining (and in some cases even increasing) the efficacy of CLs. The increased PTX solubility will aid the development of liposomal PTX carriers that require significantly less lipid to deliver a given amount of PTX, reducing side effects and costs.

Abstract Background Amyloid deposition in pancreas is rare. Lactoferrin amyloid deposition has not been reported in pancreas, till date. Presence of enhancing mural nodule in a cyst on imaging is a worrisome feature for malignancy, and warrants surgical resection in a surgically fit candidate, as per Fukuoka guidelines for management of cystic lesions in pancreas. Case report We report a case of localized amyloidosis presenting as a mural nodule in a 1.6 cm cyst located in the head of pancreas, which led to pancreatoduodenectomy in a 69 year old woman. Histological evaluation revealed a simple mucinous cyst with localized lactoferrin amyloid deposition corresponding to the mural nodule identified on imaging. Conclusions We report the first case of localized lactoferrin amyloid deposition in pancreas that presented as a mural nodule in a cystic lesion and prompted pancreatoduodenectomy. This unique case illustrates that on rare occasion mural nodule in a cyst can be benign. It adds amyloid deposition to the differential diagnosis of mural nodules in pancreatic cystic lesions seen on imaging.

A major problem in education and visual information design is that, while tools to measure people’s reading and writing ability with texts and numbers are ripe, the ability to properly process information from data graphics – an ability that can be called Visual Information Literacy – is still off the radar, and even less interest is apparently devoted to its evaluation. The purpose of this research is that of presenting an exploration of methods and tools towards the measurement of data graphics effectiveness and efficiency, and of proposing a definition of ‘Visual Information Literacy’, together with the design of a model characterizing it as a developmental skills progression that covers the cognitive abilities activated when dealing with data graphics. A final goal of this paper is to report a first round of results assessing the validity of the model designed, by bringing statistical evidence that data graphics comprehension depends on the matching of users’ ability and data graphics difficulty. The contribution of this paper is twofold: comparing the current research on Visual Information Literacy and advancing it by designing a model for its characterization to allow the design of a Visual Information Literacy measurement scale standard.

As coral reef condition and sustainability continue to decline worldwide, losses of critical habitat and their ecosystem services have generated an urgency to understand and communicate reef response to management actions, environmental contamination, and natural disasters. Increasingly, coral reef protection and restoration programs emphasize the need for robust assessment tools for protecting high-quality waters and establishing conservation goals. Of equal importance is the need to communicate assessment results to stakeholders, beneficiaries, and the public so that environmental consequences of decisions are understood. The Biological Condition (BCG) model provides a structure to evaluate the condition of a coral reef in increments of change along a gradient of human disturbance. Communication of incremental change, regardless of direction, is important for decision makers and the public to better understand what is gained or lost depending on what actions are taken. We developed a narrative (qualitative) Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) from the consensus of a diverse expert panel to provide a framework for coral reefs in US Caribbean Territories. The model uses narrative descriptions of biological attributes for benthic organisms to evaluate reefs relative to undisturbed or minimally disturbed conditions. Using expert elicitation, narrative decision rules were proposed and deliberated to discriminate among six levels of change along a gradient of increasing anthropogenic stress. Narrative rules for each of the BCG levels are presented to facilitate the evaluation of benthic communities in coral reefs and provide specific narrative features to detect changes in coral reef condition and biological integrity. The BCG model can be used in the absence of numeric, or quantitative metrics, to evaluate actions that may encroach on coral reef ecosystems, manage endangered species habitat, and develop and implement management plans for marine protected areas, watersheds, and coastal zones. The narrative BCG model is a defensible model and communication tool that translates scientific results so the nontechnical person can understand and support both regulatory and non-regulatory water quality and natural resource programs.

The Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) is a conceptual model used to describe incremental changes in biological condition along a gradient of increasing anthropogenic stress. As coral reefs collapse globally, scientists and managers are focused on how to sustain the crucial structure and functions, and the benefits that healthy coral reef ecosystems provide for many economies and societies. We developed a numeric (quantitative) BGC model for the coral reefs of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to transparently facilitate ecologically meaningful management decisions regarding these fragile resources. Here, reef conditions range from natural, undisturbed conditions to severely altered or degraded conditions. Numeric decision rules were developed by an expert panel for scleractinian corals and other benthic assemblages using multiple attributes to apply in shallow-water tropical fore reefs with depths

Contrary to widespread assumptions, probabilistic models in psychology and the social sciences are not incompatible with the linear geometry of interval measurement. Randomness is typically conceived in terms of sampling problems encountered in representing populations. Statistical approaches to sampling focuses on describing observations at the group level via centralized analytic methods. Probabilistic modelling usually focuses on normal distributions to secure the predictability afforded by the mean and standard deviation functioning as sufficient statistics. A measurement-oriented conception of randomness focuses on response processes exhibiting linear structural invariances constrained by uncertainty. Hypothetical expectations are tested against possibly meaningful observations at the level of individuals. The pattern of responses is taken to inform scores as minimally sufficient to the estimation of model parameters. Statistical models of population sampling distributions are paradigmatically distinct from scientific models of individual measurements admitting a linear geometry. An elementary introduction to the mathematics involved is provided.

Ecologized learning situated in diverse in-school, out-of-school, and after-school contexts poses daunting challenges to measuring, communicating, managing, and improving outcomes. Formal and informal educators, policymakers, funders, and other key stakeholders engaged in cross-sector collaborations defined five pillars of STEM learning ecosystem success: partnerships, measures, administrative systems, teaching and learning practices, and workforce development connections. Variation in the ecosystem success construct was mapped, existing items from an earlier ecosystem assessment were revised, four parallel survey forms with common items were devised, and an online administration system was created in early 2020. Data from over 400 stakeholders in dozens of ecosystems were fit to a probabilistic model of measurement capable of supporting metrological quality assurance standards.

This study explores possibilities for productively studying and modelling vision using a probabilistic approach prioritizing the estimation and comparison of linear measures. Visual optometry, survey ratings, and reading assessment data are evaluated in a common frame of reference, with the aim of determining the extent to which an overall model of functional binocular vision might be feasible. The data available for study were not assembled, however, with this explicit aim in mind but appear to incorporate features justifying a preliminary exploration of the possibility that further study would be warranted. Preliminary results include estimates of optometric, survey, and assessment results in a common multidimensional framework, and regression predictions of reading fluency from visual skills and acuity optometry, and a survey of convergence insufficiency symptoms.

This study evaluated the impact of a continuing medical education (CME) program that emphasized actionable information, motivation to act, and skills to strengthen physician recommendations for seasonal influenza vaccination in children 6 through 23 months of age for whom influenza immunization rates are suboptimal. Physicians were randomly assigned to an accredited CME program or to no CME. Participants completed pre- and post-study questionnaires. Influenza immunization rates were compared between groups. A total of 33 physicians in the CME group and 35 in the control group documented 292 and 322 healthy baby visits, respectively. Significantly more parents immunized their children against influenza after interacting with CME-trained physicians than those with no CME training (52.9% vs. 40.7%; p = 0.007). The odds ratio for vaccination after visits with CME-trained physicians was 1.52 (95% confidence interval 1.09 to 2.12; p = 0.014), which was unaffected by the socioeconomic status of parents. Parents who discussed influenza vaccination with CME-trained physicians were 20% more likely to choose an approved but publicly unfunded adjuvanted pediatric influenza vaccine. The percentages of physicians reporting the highest levels of knowledge, ability, and confidence doubled or tripled after the CME intervention. Significantly more parents immunized very young children after interacting with physicians who had undergone CME training.

Adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine (aTIV) provides enhanced protection against seasonal influenza in children compared with nonadjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV). This prospective cohort study assessed parental attitudes, beliefs, and intentions to vaccinate their infants aged 6–23 months with aTIV. Parents were surveyed before and after routine healthy baby visits, and post clinician interaction results were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Physicians at 15 community practice clinics and nurses at 3 public health clinics participated; 207 parents were surveyed. After clinician consultation, most parents considered immunization with aTIV to be safe (72.9%), effective (69.6%), and important (69.0%); most perceived support for vaccination from significant others (62.8%) and clinicians (81.6%); and 66.6% intended to vaccinate their infant with aTIV. Parental attitudes toward vaccinating their infant with aTIV were strongly correlated with perceptions of vaccine safety, efficacy, and importance, and these represented the strongest influence on intentions to vaccinate (odds ratio (OR) 79.25; 95% confidence interval (CI) 6.05–1037.50). Parental intentions were further influenced by perceived strength of clinician recommendation (OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.38–15.06) and social support for vaccination (OR 3.46, 95% CI 0.50–24.13). These findings may inform clinician approaches to parental education to ensure optimal seasonal pediatric influenza vaccination.

This prospective cohort survey evaluated the concordance of clinicians’ perceptions of parental intentions and parents’ actual intentions to vaccinate their infants against influenza. During a routine healthy baby visit, clinicians provided parents with information about influenza, children’s vulnerability to influenza, and nonadjuvanted and adjuvanted trivalent influenza vaccines (TIV and aTIV, respectively). Before and after the clinician–parent interaction, parents were surveyed about their attitudes, their perceptions of support from significant others, and the intention to vaccinate their infant with aTIV. Clinicians were asked about their perception of parents’ intentions to choose aTIV for their children. These assessments included 24 clinicians at 15 community practices and nine public health clinics, and 207 parents. The correlation coefficients of the clinicians’ assessment of parents’ intention to vaccinate were 0.483 (p < 0.001) if the vaccine was presented as free of cost, 0.266 (p < 0.001) if the cost was $25, and 0.146 (p = 0.036) if the cost was $50, accounting for 23%, 7%, and 2% of the variance in parental intentions, respectively. The clinicians were poor at predicting parental intentions to immunize, particularly when cost was involved. Information on vaccine options and influenza infection should be provided for every eligible patient to allow parents to determine if the vaccine is appropriate for their child.