Search results for " Mal"
showing 10 items of 5318 documents
Sex-ratio and male sexual characters in a population of Blue tits Parus caeruleus
2005
Sex allocation theory proposes that parents should bias the sex ratio of their offspring if the reproductive value of one sex is greater than that of the other. In the monogamous blue tit (Parus caeruleus), males have a greater variance in reproductive success than females, and high-quality males have higher reproductive success than high-quality females due to extrapair paternity. Consequently, females mating with attractive males are expected to produce broods biased toward sons, as sons benefit more than daughters from inheriting their father’s characteristics. Song and plumage color in birds are secondary sexual characters indicating male quality and involved in female choice. We used t…
Pseudomonas salomonii sp. nov., pathogenic on garlic, and Pseudomonas palleroniara sp. nov., isolated from rice
2002
International audience; A total of 26 strains, including 15 strains isolated from garlic plants with the typical symptoms of 'Café au lait' disease and 11 strains isolated from diseased or healthy rice seeds and sheaths infested by Pseudomonas fuscovaginae, were compared with 70 type or reference strains of oxidase-positive pathogenic or non-pathogenic fluorescent pseudomonads. The strains were characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. Numerical taxonomy of phenotypic characteristics showed that the garlic and rice strains were related to each other. However, they clustered into separate phenons, distinct from those of the other strains tested, and were different in several nu…
Effects of inbreeding on a gregarious parasitoid wasp with complementary sex determination
2017
Inbreeding and inbreeding depression are processes in small populations of particular interest for a range of human activities such as animal breeding, species conservation or pest management. In particular, biological control programs should benefit from a thorough understanding of the causes and consequences of inbreeding because natural enemies experience repetitive bottlenecks during importation, laboratory rearing, and introduction. Predicting the effect of inbreeding in Hymenopteran parasitoid wasps, frequently used in biological control programs, is nonetheless a difficult endeavor. In haplodiploid parasitoids, the purge of deleterious alleles via haploid males should reduce genetic …
The effect of fish life-history structures on the topologies of aquatic food webs
2021
Biological organisms can vastly change their ecological functionality due to changes in body size and diet across their life. Consequently, it has been increasingly recognized that to attain sufficient biological realism, food webs may need to include life-history structures. The objective of the work is to study theoretically whether and how the inclusion of life-history structures affects the food web topology. Topological research was done by applying network theory metrics for three different food web types with two different sizes that were generated by using the niche-model. The dynamical modeling was performed by using an allometric trophic network modeling approach. The different ty…
Flexible timing of reproductive effort as an alternative mating tactic in black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) males
2016
Alternative reproductive tactics often take the form of dichotomous behavioural phenotypes. Focusing attention on such obvious dichotomy means that flexible patterns of behaviour within tactics is largely ignored. Using a long-term dataset of black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) lek behaviours, we tested whether there were fine-scale differences in reproductive effort (lek attendance, fighting rates) and whether these were related to age and phenotype. Yearling males increased their lek attendance and fighting rate to a peak when adult male effort was declining. Adults and yearlings allocated reproductive effort according to their body mass but this was unrelated to differences in timing of effort…
Screening of durum wheat landraces (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) for the malting suitability
2018
Abstract Durum (T. turgidum subsp. durum) wheat production worldwide is substantially less than that of common wheat (Triticum aestivum) mainly due to the relatively limited end-users. In order to evaluate malting and brewing suitability, sixteen old durum wheat landraces were malted at micro scale. Results show malt quality parameters in the range 78.2–85.9% for the extract, 72.9–80.9% for the fermentability, 3–5 EBC units for the colour, 0.49–0.79% dm for water-extractable arabinoxylans and 0.043–0.059% dm for the β-glucans. Regarding wort viscosity (1.53–1.92 mPa s), we found negative correlation with endo-1,4-β-D-xylanase, positive correlation with endo-β-glucanases and soluble proteins…
Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease
2017
Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, …
Dynamics of Torque Teno virus plasma DNAemia in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients
2017
Abstract Background Torque Teno virus (TTV) plasma DNA load directly correlate with the level of immunosuppresion in different clinical settings. It is uncertain whether this may be the case in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients (allo-HSCT). Objectives We characterized the dynamics of TTV DNAemia in patients undergoing T-cell replete allo-SCT. Study design Retrospective single-center observational study including 72 allo-HSCT patients. Plasma TTV DNA loads were quantified before initiating the conditioning regimen and at different time-points after transplant by real-time PCR. White blood cells (WBC) and absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) were measured by flow cytometry.…
M1 Macrophages Activate Notch Signalling in Epithelial Cells: Relevance in Crohn's Disease
2016
Background: The Notch signalling pathway plays an essential role in mucosal regeneration, which constitutes a key goal of Crohn's disease (CD) treatment. Macrophages coordinate tissue repair and several phenotypes have been reported which differ in the expression of surface proteins, cytokines and hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). We analysed the role of HIFs in the expression of Notch ligands in macrophages and the relevance of this pathway in mucosal regeneration. Methods: Human monocytes and U937-derived macrophages were polarized towards the M1 and M2 phenotypes and the expression levels of HIF-1α, HIF-2α, Jagged 1 (Jag1) and delta-like 4 (Dll4) were evaluated. The effects of macrophage…
Systemic redox biomarkers and their relationship to prognostic risk markers in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and IgA nephropathy.
2017
Abstract Background Oxidative stress is evident from an early stage in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, we investigated redox biomarkers in polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and IgA nephropathy (IGAN). Methods This is a case-control study with three groups: ADPKD (n = 54), IGAN (n = 58) and healthy controls (n = 86). The major plasma aminothiols with their redox species were examined: homocysteine (Hcy), cysteinglycine (CG), cysteine (Cys) and glutathione (GSH). The redox ratio was the ratio of reduced free and oxidized aminothiols in plasma. We investigated malonedialdehyde (MDA) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), and ten single nucleotide polymorphisms of antioxidant …