The physiological ecology of talitrid amphipods: an update

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (11) ◽  
pp. 1965-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Morritt ◽  
John I Spicer

A review of the major advances made in the field of the physiological ecology of talitrid amphipods (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Talitridae) over the past decade is presented. The following subjects are reviewed and their implications for the invasion of land by this group discussed: water relations, the role of exosomatic water, osmotic and ionic regulation, developmental ecophysiology, trace metals, nitrogenous excretion, gas exchange and transport, and thermal relations. It is concluded that an in-depth study of physiological "services" provided by the ventral groove is needed, and that at present, our understanding of talitrid physiological ecology is still heavily dependent on semiterrestrial species. We urgently require more studies on the physiology of palustral beachfleas and euterrestrial amphipods, particularly group IV:2 species (an evolutionarily more recent group that evolved from beachflea-type progenitors), in order to redress the current imbalance.

2021 ◽  
pp. 088506662199232
Author(s):  
Xiaojuan Zhang ◽  
Xin Li

Septic shock with multiple organ failure is a devastating situation in clinical settings. Through the past decades, much progress has been made in the management of sepsis and its underlying pathogenesis, but a highly effective therapeutic has not been developed. Recently, macromolecules such as histones have been targeted in the treatment of sepsis. Histones primarily function as chromosomal organizers to pack DNA and regulate its transcription through epigenetic mechanisms. However, a growing body of research has shown that histone family members can also exert cellular toxicity once they relocate from the nucleus into the extracellular space. Heparin, a commonly used anti-coagulant, has been shown to possess life-saving capabilities for septic patients, but the potential interplay between heparin and extracellular histones has not been investigated. In this review, we summarize the pathogenic roles of extracellular histones and the therapeutic roles of heparin in the development and management of sepsis and septic shock.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 909-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orson K. Miller Jr.

Over the past decade much progress has been made in an effort to determine which fungi are mycorrhizal symbionts. It is now apparent that one ectomycorrhizal or ectendomycorrhizal host is often able to form mycorrhizae with a wide variety of higher fungi. Evidence is presented which supports the hypothesis that fungal succession occurs as the host matures. In addition, fungi which are normally ectomycorrhizal may sometimes form endomycorrhizae on different hosts or under altered ecological conditions. There has also been much evolution in fruiting-body form and mode of spore discharge especially under severe montane or desert conditions. As a result patterns are emerging in the Homobasidiomycetes at the order, family, and generic level in the evolution of the mycorrhizal habit. Spore morphology, habitat, and distribution are listed and discussed in relation to the biological role of the fungi.


Author(s):  
Douglas R. Givens

The history of any discipline involves the explanation of its past and how the past has influenced its development through time. Its ‘objects are events which have finished happening, and conditions no longer in existence. Only when they are no longer perceptible do they become objects of historical thought’ (Collingwood 1946: 233). Writing the history of archaeology involves the analysis of past events and of the contributions that individual archaeologists have made to its development through time. The roles of individuals in archaeology are best seen in biographical accounts of their labours and in the contributions to the discipline that they have made. In general, historians of archaeological science, who are interested in explaining the roles of the individuals in its development, must focus their attention on three important items. First, the most important item is evidence that something has occurred. If individuals’ contributions have no basis in truth and cannot be justified, then they are of no value to the historian of archaeology. Second, the historical picture of individuals’ lives and work must have defined boundaries in space and time. These provide the area of focus for study and description of individuals’ activities. Third, the efforts of individual practitioners must be couched within the intellectual climate in which they are made. Individuals’ contributions are not made in an intellectual vacuum, apart from collegial or institutional influences. Biography, as a tool for writing the history of archaeology, must embrace all of these requisites. For those engaged in explaining archaeology’s past, historical evidence of event and period provide the foundation upon which we can trace our science’s development. Studying and evaluating past work can be helpful in separating useful and outdated methodologies of the field and laboratory. Moreover, the study of the history of anthropology may give the anthropologist needed ‘distance from their own theoretical and methodological preoccupations’ (Darnell 1974: 2). What we see anthropology today as being is certainly not what the ultimate science of humankind will be in the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (S349) ◽  
pp. 474-478
Author(s):  
Rosa M. Ros ◽  
Beatriz Garca

AbstractJust as in the past, the development of the natural sciences and in particular of astronomy has changed the history of humanity. If we think about the role of our discipline into the future, it shows its enormous power in the field of education, owing to the possibility of awakening interest in science in very varied audiences. Within the framework of the enormous progress made in the technologies related to astronomy, many of them of daily use, the role of the astronomer in the era of Communications acquires fundamental importance.In this presentation, we will try to make a journey through the different ways of presenting astronomical topics for different audiences over the last 100 years. In turn, we will show some specific achievements, associated with education programmes of the discipline. We discuss the impact produced by proposals that are both rigorous in terms of content, and also appeal to the development of the human being in an integral manner, within the framework of citizen science activities.For this research, we have taken into account the uninterrupted development of the NASE programme, which has performed 112 courses in 24 countries throughout the world and in different languages. NASE has involved 4966 secondary teachers in the last eight years.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Abigail Jane Mack

Engaging an account of a judicial decision made in the Los Angeles Mental Health Court, this article interrogates the role of anticipation in the lived negotiation of moral, social and institutional orders. As Judge Samuel Benton recounts his attempt to let himself ‘emotionally off the hook’ in the wake of a patient’s suicide, anticipation emerges as: 1) an ordered, linear sequencing of events towards logical ends; 2) unsettled, temporally disjunctive engagements with the past in order to make sense of present experience and ambiguous futures; 3) existential negotiations of one’s potential morality and social belonging; and 4) distributed organization of information between people and across objects in order to elaborate present and future experience. These manifestations of anticipation reveal the social and temporal contingency and deep intersubjectivity of our negotiations with uncertainty in the unsettling process of becoming moral.


1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1372) ◽  
pp. 1093-1099 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. L. Munday ◽  
R. J. Whittington ◽  
N. J. Stewart

Before the arrival of European settlers in Australia, the platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus , probably suffered from little disease. Among other things, European settlement has involved substantial environmental perturbation, introduction of large predators, introduction of motor vehicles and translocation of potential pathogens. As a result, platypuses are now killed by motor vehicles, dogs, foxes and discarded plastic litter. Information programmes targeting appropriate segments of the public would help reduce these unnecessary deaths. The enigmatic disease, ulcerative mycosis, caused by Mucor amphibiorum , has been the subject of scientific investigation in Tasmania for the past 15 years. The apparent recent acceleration in its spread has sounded a warning and more intensive investigation is warranted. The possibility that this pathogen has been translocated from subtropical to temperate Tasmania, Australia, with green tree frogs in banana shipments further emphasizes the role of humans in threatening the welfare of the platypus. Recommendations are made in relation to appropriate measures that could be taken to ameliorate disease and trauma in this species.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annapurni Jayam Trouth ◽  
Alok Dabi ◽  
Noha Solieman ◽  
Mohankumar Kurukumbi ◽  
Janaki Kalyanam

Acquired myasthenia gravis is a relatively uncommon disorder, with prevalence rates that have increased to about 20 per 100,000 in the US population. This autoimmune disease is characterized by muscle weakness that fluctuates, worsening with exertion, and improving with rest. In about two-thirds of the patients, the involvement of extrinsic ocular muscle presents as the initial symptom, usually progressing to involve other bulbar muscles and limb musculature, resulting in generalized myasthenia gravis. Although the cause of the disorder is unknown, the role of circulating antibodies directed against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in its pathogenesis is well established. As this disorder is highly treatable, prompt recognition is crucial. During the past decade, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the disease, leading to new treatment modalities and a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Iwona Kantor-Pietraga

Abstract The article addresses the problem of depopulating towns in the postwar period (1946–1990) in Poland. The essence of this study is to highlight the problem rather neglected in scientific research on two levels – empirical and explanatory. In the article, a full inventory of towns, which recorded a decrease in population, in the period, was made on the basis of available statistical sources and relating studies on the issues of population. Due to short-term population swings, only the facts related to depopulation that took place in perspective of the designated research sub-periods were taken into consideration: 1946–1950, 1950–1960, 1960–1970, 1970–1980 and 1980–1990. The analysis was made on the basis of the contemporary administrative division of the country into provinces. The primary purpose of the article was an attempt to answer the question regarding the role of depopulation in the socialist period and the possible connotations of this fact, in relation to population loss reported presently in Polish towns. The starting point was, however, a detailed discussion of conditions of urban depopulation in the socialist period. It was recognized that the understanding of this genetically multifaceted problem should form the basis of interpretation to any generalizations made in relation to the past, present and future demographic changes in Poland and other countries. It was also found that understanding the facts connected with demographic development should be a canon of research conducted with reference to the analysed problems. The raised issue of demographic decrease in Polish towns during the socialist period, falls within such an explanatory model.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gilbert

Over the past 60 years there have been tremendous advances made in Argumentation Theory. One crucial advance has been the move from the investigation of static arguments to a concern with dialogic interactions in concrete contexts. This focus has entailed a slow shift toward involving both non-logical and non-discursive elements in the analysis of an argument. I argue that the traditional attitude Informal Logic has displayed toward emotion can be and ought be moderated. In particular, I examine the role of emotion in everyday argumentation, and how Informal Logic can encompass it alongside the more traditional logical mode of communication


1979 ◽  
Vol 205 (1158) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the U. K. and other developed countries. In the U. K., mortality from coronary heart disease has increased progressively over the past 25 years, particularly in males. This paper examines the possible role of trace metals in the development of cardiovascular disease, with particular reference to the effects of cobalt, cadmium and lead in myocardial disease, atherosclerosis and hypertension. It is concluded that cobalt is an unimportant factor in community levels of cardiovascular disease, that cadmium has striking effects on blood pressure in animals and that there is some evidence for an association between environmental lead and high blood pressure.


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