Palms of the past: Can morphometric phytolith analysis inform deep time evolution and palaeoecology of Arecaceae?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Palm fossils are often used as evidence for warm and wet palaeoenvironments, reflecting the affinities of most modern palms. However, several extant palm lineages tolerate cool and/or arid climates, making a clear understanding of the taxonomic composition of ancient palm communities important for reliable palaeoenvironmental inference. However, taxonomically identifiable palm fossils are rare and often confined to specific facies. Although the resolution of taxonomic information they provide remains unclear, phytoliths (microscopic silica bodies) provide a possible solution because of their high preservation potential under conditions where other plant fossils are scarce. We thus evaluate the taxonomic and palaeoenvironmental utility of palm phytoliths. METHODS: We quantified phytolith morphology of 97 modern palm and other monocot species. Using this dataset, we tested the ability of five common discriminant methods to identify nine major palm clades. We then compiled a dataset of species' climate preferences and tested if they were correlated with phytolith morphology using a phylogenetic comparative approach. Finally, we reconstructed palm communities and palaeoenvironmental conditions at six fossil sites. KEY RESULTS: Best performing models correctly identified phytoliths to their clade of origin only 59% of the time. Although palms were generally distinguished from non-palms, few palm clades were highly distinct, and phytolith morphology was weakly correlated with species' environmental preferences. Reconstructions at all fossil sites suggested that palm communities were dominated by Trachycarpeae and Areceae, with warm, equable climates, and high, potentially seasonal rainfall. However, fossil site reconstructions had high uncertainty and often conflicted with other climate proxies. CONCLUSIONS: While phytolith morphology provides some distinction among palm clades, caution is warranted. Unlike prior spatially-restricted studies, our geographically and phylogenetically broad study indicates phytolith morphology may not reliably differentiate most palm taxa in deep time. Nevertheless, it reveals distinct clades, including some likely to be palaeoenvironmentally informative.

Perceptions and opinions of Canadian pet owners about anaesthesia, pain and surgery in small animals.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the perceptions and opinions of Canadian pet owners about anaesthesia, pain and surgery in dogs and cats. METHODS: Six Canadian veterinary hospitals participated. Each practice received 200 copies of a questionnaire that were distributed to pet owners. Questions regarding the use of analgesics, anaesthesia, surgery and onychectomy (cats) were included. Responses were transformed into ordinal scores and analysed with a Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test. RESULTS: A total of 849 out of 1200 questionnaires were returned. Owners believed more frequently that analgesics are needed for surgical procedures than for the medical conditions. Owners rated as very important/important: "knowing what to expect during illness/injury/surgery" (99·3%), "being assured that all necessary analgesic drugs/techniques will be used" (98·6%), "being informed about procedures/risk" (98·5%), and having a board-certified anaesthesiologist (90·5%). Most owners agreed/partly agreed that pain impacts quality of life (94·2%), and affects their pet's behaviour (89·5%). Most respondents (69%) were women; they were significantly more concerned than men about anaesthesia, pain, cost and client-communication. Cat owners believed that analgesics were necessary for some procedures/conditions significantly more often than canine-only owners. Pet owners with previous surgery disagreed more frequently that "pain after surgery can be helpful" and that "pain in animals is easy to recognize" than those without previous surgery. Most owners think onychectomy should be banned in cats (56·4%). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study identified important areas of client communication regarding pain and its control in pets.

Nature and transformation of dissolved organic matter in treatment wetlands.

This investigation into the occurrence, character, and transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in treatment wetlands in the western United States shows that (i) the nature of DOM in the source water has a major influence on transformations that occur during treatment, (ii) the climate factors have a secondary effect on transformations, (iii) the wetlands receiving treated wastewater can produce a net increase in DOM, and (iv) the hierarchical analytical approach used in this study can measure the subtle DOM transformations that occur. As wastewater treatment plant effluent passes through treatment wetlands, the DOM undergoes transformation to become more aromatic and oxygenated. Autochthonous sources are contributed to the DOM, the nature of which is governed by the developmental stage of the wetland system as well as vegetation patterns. Concentrations of specific wastewater-derived organic contaminants such as linear alkylbenzene sulfonate, caffeine, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid were significantly attenuated by wetland treatment and were not contributed by internal loading.

Arachidonate has protumor-promoting action that is inhibited by linoleate in mouse skin carcinogenesis.

Previous studies demonstrated a requirement for arachidonic acid metabolites in tumor development in mouse skin. The goal of this study was to determine whether the arachidonate content of epidermal phospholipids could be altered by increasing dietary levels of linoleate and whether specific metabolites of linoleate and arachidonate have dissimilar biological effects. In a series of tumor studies in which the quantity of dietary linoleate was incrementally increased, a slight reduction in phospholipid levels of arachidonate was observed that correlated with an increased phospholipid level of linoleate and a suppression in tumor yield. A comparison of the arachidonate lipoxygenase metabolite 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) with the 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (13-HODE) lipoxygenase metabolite of linoleate revealed that 12-HETE has biological activities that mimic the phorbol ester tumor promoters, whereas 13-HODE has antithetical effects. Specifically, 12(S)-HETE enhanced the activation of protein kinase C by phorbol esters, mimicked phorbol ester-induced adhesion of keratinocytes to fibronectin and mimicked phorbol ester repression of expression of a differentiation-related gene, keratin-1. 13-HODE blocked 12-HETE-induced cell adhesion and prevented 12-HETE-induced suppression of keratin-1 expression. Overall, these studies suggest that arachidonate and linoleate have opposing functions in the epidermis, particularly with regard to events involved in tumor development.

Chemical and nutritional differences between two bird-dispersed fruits:Ilex opaca andIlex verticillata.

Ilex opaca andIlex verticillata are woody species bearing lowquality, bird-dispersed fall fruits that persist for several months. Tests of secondary chemistry show that fruits of both species contain phenolics and saponins as major classes of secondary metabolites. Soluble carbohydrates are the major nutrients in both species. Ripe fruits from ten trees in both wild and cultivated populations of each species were collected during 1986, 1987, and 1988 and analyzed for phenolic and carbohydrate content using Folin-Denis and anthrone methods, respectively. Fruits from 1987 and 1988 were analyzed for saponin content using hemanalysis. Significant differences were found in the average content of the above chemical classes between the two species and among individuals within each species. The fruits ofIlex opaca are more persistent, higher in phenolics, and lower in saponins and carbohydrates thanJ. verticillata fruits. Generally, there are greater differences in fruit chemistry among plants within a year than within one individual between years. Mechanical defenses were tested by puncturing fruits in situ. No differences in decay were found between punctured and unpunctured fruits.