Fire-mediated habitat change regulates woodland bird species and functional group occurrence.

In an era characterized by recurrent large wildfires in many parts of the globe, there is a critical need to understand how animal species respond to fires, the rates at which populations can recover, and the functional changes fires may cause. Using quantified changes in habitat parameters over a ~400-yr post-fire chronosequence in an obligate-seeding Australian eucalypt woodland, we build and test predictions of how birds, as individual species and aggregated into functional groups according to their use of specific habitat resources, respond to time since fire. Individual bird species exhibited four generalized response types to time since fire: incline, decline, delayed, and bell. All significant relationships between bird functional group richness or abundance and time since fire were consistent with predictions based on known time-since-fire-associated changes in habitat features putatively important for these bird groups. Consequently, we argue that the bird community is responding to post-fire successional changes in habitat as per the habitat accommodation model, rather than to time since fire per se, and that our functional framework will be of value in predicting bird responses to future disturbances in this and other obligate-seeder forest and woodland ecosystems. Most bird species and functional groups that were affected by time since fire were associated with long-unburned woodlands. In the context of recent large, stand-replacement wildfires that have affected a substantial proportion of obligate-seeder eucalypt woodlands, and the multi-century timescales over which post-fire succession occurs, it would appear preferable from a bird conservation perspective if fires initiating loss of currently long-unburned woodlands were minimized. Once long-unburned woodlands are transformed by fire into recently burned woodlands, there is limited scope for alternative management interventions to accelerate the rate of habitat development after fire, or supplement the resources formerly provided to birds by long-unburned woodlands, with the limited exception of augmenting hollow availability for key hollow-nesting species.

Synthesis of ultrasmall, homogeneously alloyed, bimetallic nanoparticles on silica supports.

Supported nanoparticles containing more than one metal have a variety of applications in sensing, catalysis, and biomedicine. Common synthesis techniques for this type of material often result in large, unalloyed nanoparticles that lack the interactions between the two metals that give the particles their desired characteristics. We demonstrate a relatively simple, effective, generalizable method to produce highly dispersed, well-alloyed bimetallic nanoparticles. Ten permutations of noble and base metals (platinum, palladium, copper, nickel, and cobalt) were synthesized with average particle sizes from 0.9 to 1.4 nanometers, with tight size distributions. High-resolution imaging and x-ray analysis confirmed the homogeneity of alloying in these ultrasmall nanoparticles.

Confidence limits, error bars and method comparison in molecular modeling. Part 2: comparing methods.

The calculation of error bars for quantities of interest in computational chemistry comes in two forms: (1) Determining the confidence of a prediction, for instance of the property of a molecule; (2) Assessing uncertainty in measuring the difference between properties, for instance between performance metrics of two or more computational approaches. While a former paper in this series concentrated on the first of these, this second paper focuses on comparison, i.e. how do we calculate differences in methods in an accurate and statistically valid manner. Described within are classical statistical approaches for comparing widely used metrics such as enrichment, area under the curve and Pearson's product-moment coefficient, as well as generic measures. These are considered of over single and multiple sets of data and for two or more methods that evince either independent or correlated behavior. General issues concerning significance testing and confidence limits from a Bayesian perspective are discussed, along with size-of-effect aspects of evaluation.

Clinical recommendations in the management of the patient with type 1 diabetes on insulin pump therapy in the perioperative period: a primer for the anaesthetist.

Insulin pump therapy is increasingly common in patients with type 1 diabetes. Many of these patients will require surgery at some point in their lifetime. Few doctors will have experience of managing these patients, and little evidence exists to assist in the development of guidelines for patients with insulin pump therapy, undergoing surgery.It is clear that during emergency surgery insulin pump therapy is not appropriate and should be discontinued, but patients undergoing some elective surgery can and should continue insulin pump therapy, without any adverse effect on their blood sugar control, or on the outcome of their surgery. Individual hospitals need to formalize guidance on the management of patients receiving continuous subcutaneous insulin therapy, to allow patients the choice to continue their therapy during surgery. This expert opinion presents anaesthetists with a suggested clinical framework to help facilitate continued insulin pump therapy, during elective surgery and into the postoperative period.

Habitat fragmentation and its lasting impact on Earth's ecosystems.

We conducted an analysis of global forest cover to reveal that 70% of remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest's edge, subject to the degrading effects of fragmentation. A synthesis of fragmentation experiments spanning multiple biomes and scales, five continents, and 35 years demonstrates that habitat fragmentation reduces biodiversity by 13 to 75% and impairs key ecosystem functions by decreasing biomass and altering nutrient cycles. Effects are greatest in the smallest and most isolated fragments, and they magnify with the passage of time. These findings indicate an urgent need for conservation and restoration measures to improve landscape connectivity, which will reduce extinction rates and help maintain ecosystem services.

The mediating role of mental toughness in sport.

AIM: We conducted two studies that examined different models, which included mental toughness and psychological constructs that are thought to be related to this construct. METHODS: In Study 1, 531 athletes completed measures of mental toughness, resilience, and emotional intelligence. In Study 2, 522 athletes completed measures of mental toughness, sport motivation, and self-efficacy. RESULTS: There were positive paths between the constructs in the model, which were mediated by mental toughness in Study 1. Further, there was a positive path between mental toughness and self-efficacy, but negative paths with introjected regulation and amotivation in Study 2. CONCLUSION: This two study paper suggests that it might also be the presence of constructs such as resilience, emotional intelligence, motivation, and/or self-efficacy that enable mentally tough individuals to excel under stressful circumstances rather than just coping.

The mediating role of mental toughness in sport.

AIM: We conducted two studies that examined different models, which included mental toughness and psychological constructs that have been found to be related to this construct. METHODS: In Study 1, 531 athletes completed measures of mental toughness, resilience, and emotional intelligence. In Study 2, 522 athletes completed measures of mental toughness, sport motivation, and self-efficacy. RESULTS: There were positive paths between the constructs in the model, which were mediated by mental toughness in Study 1. Further, there was a positive path between mental toughness and self-efficacy, but negative paths with introjected regulation and amotivation in Study 2. CONCLUSION: This two study paper suggests that it might also be the presence of constructs such as resilience, emotional intelligence, motivation, and/or self-efficacy that enable mentally tough individuals to excel under stressful circumstances rather than just coping.

Sources of sport confidence, imagery type and performance among competitive athletes: the mediating role of sports confidence.

AIM: This study explored the mediating role of sport confidence upon (1) sources of sport confidence-performance relationship and (2) imagery-performance relationship. METHODS: Participants were 157 competitive athletes who completed state measures of confidence level/sources, imagery type and performance within one hour after competition. RESULTS: Among the current sample, confirmatory factor analysis revealed appropriate support for the nine-factor SSCQ and the five-factor SIQ. Mediational analysis revealed that sport confidence had a mediating influence upon the achievement source of confidence-performance relationship. In addition, both cognitive and motivational imagery types were found to be important sources of confidence, as sport confidence mediated imagery type- performance relationship. CONCLUSION: Findings indicated that athletes who construed confidence from their own achievements and report multiple images on a more frequent basis are likely to benefit from enhanced levels of state sport confidence and subsequent performance.

Confidence limits, error bars and method comparison in molecular modeling. Part 1: the calculation of confidence intervals.

Computational chemistry is a largely empirical field that makes predictions with substantial uncertainty. And yet the use of standard statistical methods to quantify this uncertainty is often absent from published reports. This article covers the basics of confidence interval estimation for molecular modeling using classical statistics. Alternate approaches such as non-parametric statistics and bootstrapping are discussed.

Intrinsic electron beam emittance from metal photocathodes: the effect of the electron effective mass.

A theoretical development of prior analyses, together with our solenoid scan measurements on eight planar metal photocathodes (Ag, Be, Cr, Cu, Mo, Sn, Ta, and W) and previous data on Mg [X. J. Wang, M. Babzien, R. Malone, and Z. Wu, in Proceedings of LINAC2002, Gyeongju, Korea, 2002 (Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Pohang, Korea, 2002), pp. 142-144.] indicate that the transverse momentum (and hence intrinsic emittance) of an electron beam is fundamentally dependent on the electron effective mass in the metal.

Change in body mass index during middle age affects risk of total knee arthoplasty due to osteoarthritis: a 19-year prospective study of 1003 women.

The evidence linking body mass index (BMI) to severe OA shows a strong association in the knee. There are limited data exploring the effect of BMI on the risk of joint arthroplasty in a healthy population with long periods of follow up. We compared the self-reported BMI at age 20, measured BMI at baseline, year 5 and year 10 with the year 19 risk of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in a well-described, population based cohort of healthy women. A total of 733 women attended the 19th year visit, of whom 31 underwent TKA and 676 were used as a control group after 26 were removed for having hip arthoplasty. Using logistic regression, an increase in 1 unit of BMI at baseline was associated with a 10.5% increased risk of TKA (p=0.017) and at year 5 the increased risk is 8.6% (p=0.042). When adjusted for baseline age and smoking, baseline BMI was the only significant predictor of TKA at 10.0% with p=0.024. There was no significant association at 10 years or for change in BMI over time. In this prospective, population based study, BMI predicted the risk of TKA for OA. The risk was greatest at baseline when the patients were in middle age suggesting that this is the most important time to target weight reduction interventions.

Pre-competitive confidence, coping, and subjective performance in sport.

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between confidence and subjective performance in addition to exploring whether coping mediated this relationship. A sample of 414 athletes completed a measure of confidence before performance. Athletes also completed a measure of coping and subjective performance after competing. Correlational findings revealed that confidence was positively and significantly associated with subjective performance. Furthermore, mediational analysis found that coping partly mediated this relationship. In particular, task-oriented coping (i.e., mental imagery) and disengagement-oriented coping (i.e., resignation) had positive and negative mediational effects, respectively. Additionally, athletes who employed mental imagery generally coped more effectively than those using resignation. These findings imply mental imagery has the potential not only to improve confidence, but also subsequent performance, while resignation coping may have the opposite effect. Overall, these results lend some credence to Vealey's integrated sports confidence model.

Awake renal transplantation; a realistic alternative to general anesthesia.

A 63-year-old man with profound phobia of general anesthesia recently underwent successful renal transplantation in our unit under combined spinal-epidural anesthesia (CSEA). We believe that although this is not a novel technique, it is a realistic option for renal transplantation in patients in whom general anesthesia is not feasible. The use of CSEA for surgery below the umbilicus and its postoperative pain management has increased in popularity in recent years. Its use in renal transplantation is not widely reported; however, available articles suggest that it is a safe and useful alternative to general anesthesia, with no significant difference in anesthesia or surgical time, surgical conditions, hemodynamic stability, or early postoperative renal function. The procedure was performed with no alteration to the surgical technique usually adopted by the surgeon. The patient had a largely uneventful postoperative recovery, with good pain control and no significant complications. He has achieved good stable renal function, with a serum creatinine concentration of 105 mumol/L at 6 months (preoperative serum creatinine concentration, 832 mumol/L). We believe this case demonstrates that CSEA is a practical option for renal transplantation in the United Kingdom, and would recommend CSEA as a useful alternative to general anesthesia in patients with this type of phobia. Careful preoperative planning, patient selection, and consideration of a contingency plan meant that surgically the procedure proceeded as standard, with good results. Because of the success of this case, a second patient with phobia of general anesthesia has recently been placed on the regional transplantation waiting list.

5-Fluorouracil response in a large panel of colorectal cancer cell lines is associated with mismatch repair deficiency.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is (CRC) one of the commonest cancers and its therapy is still based on few drugs. Currently, no biological criteria are used to choose the most effective of the established drugs for treatment. METHODS: A panel of 77 CRC cell lines was tested for sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil (5FU) using the SRB assay. The responses were grouped into three categories and correlated with genetic changes in the cell lines. RESULTS: The strongest and most clearcut correlation was between 5-fluorouracil response and replication error status (mismatch repair deficiency). All the other significant correlations (loss of heterozygosity for DCC and mutations in TGFbIIR) are secondary to the association with replication error status. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: Our findings validate previous analyses based mainly on clinical data, and indicate that replication error status could be a useful guide to 5-fluorouracil-based CRC therapy. Essentially, all previously described correlations with 5FU response are secondary to the association with replication error status.

Ligand Entropy in Gas-Phase, Upon Solvation and Protein Complexation. Fast Estimation with Quasi-Newton Hessian.

A method of rapid entropy estimation for small molecules in vacuum, solution, and inside a protein receptor is proposed. We show that the Hessian matrix of second derivatives built by a quasi-Newton optimizer during geometry optimization of a molecule with a classical molecular potential in these three environments can be used to predict vibrational entropies. We also show that a simple analytical solvation model allows for no less accurate entropy estimation of molecules in solution than a physically rigorous but computationally more expensive model based on Poisson's equation. Our work also suggests that scaled particle theory more precisely estimates the hydrophobic part of solvation entropy than the using a simple surface area term.

Stress appraisals, emotions, and coping among international adolescent golfers.

The aims of this study were to (a) explore the emotions generated during or as a consequence of stress appraisals, after coping, and after the event outcome, (b) explore whether multiple emotions were generated from the initial stress appraisal through to event outcome, and (c) to explore whether outcomes that were perceived as favorable resulted in positive emotions and outcomes that were perceived as unfavorable or neither favorable nor unfavorable resulted in negatively toned emotions. Participants were 10 male English international adolescent golfers (mean+/-SD; age 16.7+/-1.6 years), who were interviewed regarding their experiences of stress appraisals, emotions, and coping during competitive golf. Results revealed that emotions were generated within or as a consequence of stress appraisals, after coping, and after the event outcome. Additionally, multiple emotions were generated from the stressful appraisal to the event outcome. Positively toned emotions were cited more frequently than negatively toned emotions after favorable events, whereas negatively toned emotions were reported more frequently than positively toned emotions after unfavorable events. Coping appears important in generating positively toned emotions.