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Female and male plants of difficult-to-root species Leucadendron elimense subsp. elimense were investigated for rooting potential with three rooting hormones: indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at three different concentrations (2000 ppm, 4000 ppm, and 6000 ppm). The experiment was made under essential misting, bottom heat, and a naturally ventilated greenhouse. After 18 weeks the experiment terminated and callusing and rooting percentage, root number, and root length were determined. Female cuttings rooted in the highest percentage (80%), root number (>30), and root length (close to 100 mm) after treatment with IAA at 4000 ppm. Under the above treatment male cuttings rooted in 70%, with a mean root number of 24 and root length of 90 mm. The efficient rooting results could aid in saving the species in its natural habitat and supporting restoration ecology, as well as introducing this species into the flower market.

Abstract: Background: The Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA2LEN) Taskforce has requested more data on correlations between various patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials on allergy. We compared three tools—the Rhinitis Control Assessment Test (RCAT), Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and Rhinitis Total Symptom Score (RTSS)—to determine whether the RCAT alone is a sufficient primary outcome parameter in clinical trials on allergic rhinoconjunctivitis. Methods: In two double‐blind, placebo‐controlled immunotherapy studies, 33 patients allergic to grass pollen and 94 to birch pollen completed two questionnaires (RCAT and RQLQ) and kept their own symptom diary from which the RTSS was calculated. Results: Upon comparing RCAT and RQLQ results, we found strong correlations of r = −0.871 for grass pollen–allergic patients and r = −0.795 for birch pollen–allergic patients. The comparison between RCAT and RTSS results showed a strong correlation of r = −0.811 (grass pollen–allergic patients) and a moderate correlation of r = −0.539 (birch pollen–allergic patients). In the RCAT, 69.7% of grass pollen–allergic patients and 45.7% of birch pollen–allergic patients receiving guideline‐concordant therapy were regarded as having insufficiently controlled symptoms. Conclusion: The strong correlations suggest that the RCAT alone is equivalent to the RQLQ with respect to patients' symptom control and quality of life. Patients with uncontrolled symptoms can be identified using the RCAT. Hence, the physician can decide whether symptomatic therapy can be intensified or allergy immunotherapy should be administered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The central nervous system is known to be plastic in volume and structure depending on the stimuli the organism is subjected to. We tested in the jumping spider Marpissa muscosa (Clerck, 1757), whether rearing environments affect the volume of two target higher‐order brain centers: the mushroom body (MB) and the arcuate body (AB). We reared female M. muscosa (N = 39) in three environments: solitarily (D: deprived), solitarily but in a physically enriched environment (P: physically enriched) and together with several siblings (G: group). We additionally investigated spiders caught from the field (W: wild). Volumes of MB and AB were compared using microCT analysis. We hypothesized that spiders reared in treatments P and G should have larger MB and AB than the spiders from treatment D, as the enriched environments are presumably cognitively more demanding than the deprived environment. Spiders from treatment P had significantly larger absolute brain volumes than spiders from treatment D, whereas brain volumes of treatment G lay in between. The relative volume of the MB was not significantly different between the treatments, whereas relative AB volumes were significantly larger in treatment P than in D, supporting the hypothesis that the AB is a center of locomotor control. W spiders had smaller absolute brain volumes and relatively smaller AB than spiders from laboratory treatments, which suggests developmental constraints under natural, possibly food‐limited conditions. Additionally, differences in the relative volume of MB substructures were found. Overall, our study demonstrates that brains of jumping spiders respond plastically to environmental conditions in that absolute brain volume, as well as the relative volume of higher‐order brain centers, is affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To date, prevalence and clinical significance of noninvasive arrhythmia risk predictors in apparently healthy, middle-aged persons are largely unknown.Methods: A total of 110 apparently healthy persons 20-75 years old were enrolled in this prospective observational monocenter study and followed up for 32 +/- 15 months. Baseline investigations included symptom-limited bicycle ergometry, echocardiography, time-domain analysis, and spectral turbulence analysis of the signal-averaged electrocardiogram (ECG), ventricular arrhythmias, and heart rate variability on 24-hour Holter ECG, baroreflex sensitivity, and t-wave alternans in all persons.Results: The prevalence of an abnormal signal-averaged ECG was 1% for spectral turbulence analysis and varied between 1% and 37% for time-domain analysis depending upon the definition used for an abnormal time-domain analysis. A reduced heart rate variability defined as a standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals < or =105 ms, <100 ms and <70 ms was found in 12%, 9%, and 1% of persons. A baroreflex sensitivity <6 ms/mmHg and <3 ms/mmHg was present in 15% and 2% of persons. Microvolt t-wave alternans was found to be positive in 5%, negative in 88%, and indeterminate in 7% of persons, respectively. During the 32 +/- 15 months follow-up, no arrhythmic events and no cardiovascular mortality were observed in this population.Conclusions: Abnormal findings of noninvasive arrhythmia risk stratification can be found in 1-37% of healthy, middle-aged persons when previously reported cut-off values are used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]