Search results for "BIOLOGICAL"
showing 10 items of 12574 documents
Niche position drives interspecific variation in occupancy and abundance in a highly-connected lake system
2019
Highlights • We studied interspecific variation in occupancy and abundance of freshwater species. • Occupancy and abundance correlated positively for both diatoms and macroinvertebrates. • Niche position had clearest effects on variation in occupancy and abundance. • The more marginal the niche position, the rarer a species is. We examined how niche position, niche breadth, biological traits and taxonomic relatedness affect interspecific variation in occupancy and abundance of two commonly-used biological indicator groups, i.e. diatoms and macroinvertebrates. We studied 291 diatom and 103 macroinvertebrate species that occupied the littoral zones of a large (305 km2) highly-connected freshw…
Application of machine learning algorithms in thermal images for an automatic classification of lumbar sympathetic blocks
2023
Purpose There are no previous studies developing machine learning algorithms in the classification of lumbar sympathetic blocks (LSBs) performance using infrared thermography data. The objective was to assess the performance of different machine learning algorithms to classify LSBs carried out in patients diagnosed with lower limbs Complex Regional Pain Syndrome as successful or failed based on the evaluation of thermal predictors. Methods 66 LSBs previously performed and classified by the medical team were evaluated in 24 patients. 11 regions of interest on each plantar foot were selected within the thermal images acquired in the clinical setting. From every region of interest, different t…
Changes in biomechanics of skiing at maximal velocity caused by simulated 20 km skiing race using V2 skating technique
2018
This study investigated how the fatigue caused by a 20-km simulated skating cross-country skiing race on snow affects the final spurt performance from a biomechanical perspective. Subjects performed a 100-m maximal skiing trial before and at the end of the simulated race. Cycle characteristics, ground reaction forces from skis and poles, and muscle activity from eight muscles were recorded during each trial. Results showed that subjects were in a fatigued state after the simulated race manifested by 11.6% lower skiing speed (P<.01). The lower skiing speed was related to an 8.0% decrease in cycle rate (P<.01), whereas cycle length was slightly decreased (tendency). In temporal patterns, rela…
Advantages of Hyaluronic Acid and Its Combination with Other Bioactive Ingredients in Cosmeceuticals
2021
This study proposes a review on hyaluronic acid (HA) known as hyaluronan or hyaluronate and its derivates and their application in cosmetic formulations. HA is a glycosaminoglycan constituted from two disaccharides (N-acetylglucosamine and D-glucuronic acid), isolated initially from the vitreous humour of the eye, and subsequently discovered in different tissues or fluids (especially in the articular cartilage and the synovial fluid). It is ubiquitous in vertebrates, including humans, and it is involved in diverse biological processes, such as cell differentiation, embryological development, inflammation, wound healing, etc. HA has many qualities that recommend it over other substances used…
Antennal lobe representations are optimized when olfactory stimuli are periodically structured to simulate natural wing beat effects
2014
Animals use behaviors to actively sample the environment across a broad spectrum of sensory domains. These behaviors discretize the sensory experience into unique spatiotemporal moments, minimize sensory adaptation, and enhance perception. In olfaction, behaviors such as sniffing, antennal flicking, and wing beating all act to periodically expose olfactory epithelium. In mammals, it is thought that sniffing enhances neural representations; however, the effects of insect wing beating on representations remain unknown. To determine how well the antennal lobe produces odor-dependent representations when wing beating effects are simulated, we used extracellular methods to record neural units an…
Between-group competition and human cooperation.
2008
A distinctive feature of human behaviour is the widespread occurrence of cooperation among unrelated individuals. Explaining the maintenance of costly within-group cooperation is a challenge because the incentive to free ride on the efforts of other group members is expected to lead to decay of cooperation. However, the costs of cooperation can be diminished or overcome when there is competition at a higher level of organizational hierarchy. Here we show that competition between groups resolves the paradigmatic ‘public goods’ social dilemma and increases within-group cooperation and overall productivity. Further, group competition intensifies the moral emotions of anger and guilt associated…
Relaciones suelo-vegetación en una toposecuencia del Escudo Guayanés, Venezuela
2014
El Escudo Guayanés es uno de los territorios más antiguos del planeta; tiene millones de años sometido a procesos de lixiviación y erosión que dejan suelos oligotróficos. El objetivo de este trabajo fue hacer la caracterización de los parámetros físicos y químicos de los suelos, en diferentes comunidades boscosas de la Reserva Forestal Imataca, e identificar ciertas relaciones entre los componentes edáficos y las especies que allí se presentan. Se realizó un inventario de todos los individuos mayores a 10cm dap (diámetro a la altura del pecho) en 15 parcelas (1ha); en cada una de esas parcelas se evaluaron cuatro sub-parcelas de sotobosque (100m²) para contabilizar todas las espermatofitas;…
A DNA‐Encoded FRET Biosensor for Visualizing the Tension across Paxillin in Living Cells upon Shear Stress
2022
Paxillin is a potential participant in the direct intracellular force transmission which is considered as the foundation of cells sensing and responding to extracellular environment. However, the detection of tension across paxillin has not been achieved due to lacking microsized tools. Herein, a paxillin tension sensor (PaxTs) based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) technique was constructed. PaxTs can be expressed and assembled to FA sites spontaneously to visualize the tension across paxillin with FRET efficiency of ~62.4% in living cells. The tension across paxillin was found to decrease upon shear stress, in which the membrane fluidity and contractility of actin acted as…
The adaptations to tube-dwelling life of Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) larvae and its eutrophication-tolerant mechanisms
2019
Propsilocerus akamusi (Diptera: Chironomidae) is a dominant macroinvertebrate species in many eutrophic lakes in subtropical and temperate zones. P. akamusi larvae can migrate deep into the sediment (>30 cm) during summer where is no oxygen. However, to our knowledge, the specific adaptive tactics of its tube-dwelling life (>30 cm) and underlying mechanisms why this species is favored by nutrient-rich lakes remain limited. With the understanding above-mentioned issues, we can provide important information for the development of sensitive biomonitoring. We examined monthly morphological dynamics and physiological adaptations of P. akamusi to anoxic conditions, and environmental relationships…
Potential for adaptation to climate change: family-level variation in fitness-related traits and their responses to heat waves in a snail population.
2017
Background On-going global climate change poses a serious threat for natural populations unless they are able to evolutionarily adapt to changing environmental conditions (e.g. increasing average temperatures, occurrence of extreme weather events). A prerequisite for evolutionary change is within-population heritable genetic variation in traits subject to selection. In relation to climate change, mainly phenological traits as well as heat and desiccation resistance have been examined for such variation. Therefore, it is important to investigate adaptive potential under climate change conditions across a broader range of traits. This is especially true for life-history traits and defences ag…