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22892. White plant shoots, wax-producing insects and other white structures made by arthropods: a mimicry complex?
- Creator:
- Yamazaki, Kazuo
- Format:
- print, počítač, and online zdroj
- Type:
- article, články, journal articles, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Zoologie, vosky, pavouci, waxes, spiders, plant mimicry, anti-herbivore defence, cocoon, entomopathogenic fungus, spider egg sac, spittlebug froth, trichome, 2, and 59
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- Many insects masquerade as parts of plants, such as bark or leaves, or mimic poisonous organisms in order to defend themselves against predators. However, recent studies indicate that plants may mimic insects and other arthropods to deter herbivores. Here, I report visually similar white structures of plants and arthropods in Japan and suggest they are part of a mimicry complex. Young shoots covered with white trichomes or waxy substances may mimic wax-producing insects, such as woolly aphids, coccids and caterpillars, potentially resulting in reduced herbivory. Since wax-producing insects would reduce plant quality and quantity, be distasteful and attract natural enemies, herbivorous insects and mammals may avoid such white shoots. Furthermore, fungus-infected insects, gregarious braconid cocoons, spider egg sacs and froth made by froghopper nymphs or blasticotomid sawfly larvae are also conspicuously white and impose risks for herbivorous insects. Thus, these white structures may be mimicry models for white shoots and are likely to be part of a defensive mimicry complex. Although this study focuses on defence against herbivores, there are simultaneous physiological roles for white colouration that will not be discussed in depth here., Kazuo Yamazaki., and Obsahuje bibliografii
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
22893. White-tailed deer winter feeding strategy in area shared with other deer species
- Creator:
- Homolka, Miloslav, Heroldová, Marta, and Bartoš, Luděk
- Type:
- article and TEXT
- Subject:
- Capreolus capreolus, Cervus elaphus, Czech Republic, Dama dama, diet analysis, fallow deer, Odocoileus virginianus, red deer, and roe deer
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- White-tailed deer were introduced into the Czech Republic about one hundred years ago. Population numbers have remained stable at low density despite almost no harvesting. This differs from other introductions of this species in Europe. We presumed that one of the possible factors preventing expansion of the white-tailed deer population is lack of high-quality food components in an area overpopulated by sympatric roe, fallow and red deer. We analyzed the WTD winter diet and diets of the other deer species to get information on their feeding strategy during a critical period of a year. We focused primarily on conifer needle consumption, a generally accepted indicator of starvation and on bramble leaves as an indicator of high-quality items. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) If the environment has a limited food supply, the poorest competitors of the four deer species will have the highest proportion of conifer needles in the diet ; (2) the deer will overlap in trophic niches and will share limited nutritious resource (bramble). White-tailed, roe, fallow, and red deer diets were investigated by microscopic analysis of plant remains in their faeces. The volume of bramble decreased in the diet of all four deer species from November to March. The content of conifer needles in the diet of white-tailed and roe deer was negatively correlated with bramble and in spring made up 90 % of their diet volume. On the other hand conifer needles in the diet of red and fallow deer occurred only in January with snow cover. Fallow and red deer started the compensation of winter starvation at least one monthearlier than both roe and white-tailed deer. a high content of conifers in white-tailed deer diet in the second half of the winter fully support the presumption about low nutritional food supply and its diet. It can lead to a markedly impaired condition for white-tailed and roe deer and negatively affect their condition. The dietary overlap of four sympatric deer species was extensive in winter. All species share a limited good quality food supply (bramble) when food is scarce, suggesting that interspecific competition may occur.
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
22894. Whither peripheral financialisation? Housing finance in Croatia since the global financial crisis
- Creator:
- Mikuš, Marek
- Format:
- počítač and online zdroj
- Type:
- model:article and TEXT
- Subject:
- Croatia, Eastern Europe, household debt, housing finance, and peripheral financialisation
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- This article analyses recent developments in Croatian housing finance to update the established account of housing finance and peripheral financialisation in Eastern Europe that is based on the boom-bust cycle of the 2000s and early-to-mid 2010s. During the bust stage of that cycle, changes in regulation and in the behaviour of debtors and creditors resulted in deleveraging and a shift away from the risky and exploitative lending practices characteristic of peripheral housing finance. However, new increases in household debt and housing prices since 2016–17, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, seem to have reversed these trends. While a boom-bust cycle of similar scope and modality to the first one is unlikely to be repeated, peripheral forms of housing finance have persisted to some degree.
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
22895. Who borrows and who may not repay?
- Creator:
- Bičáková, Alena, Prelcová, Zuzana, Pašaličová, Renata, Kejak, Michal, Univerzita Karlova. Centrum pro ekonomický výzkum a doktorské studium, and Národohospodářský ústav (Akademie věd ČR)
- Publisher:
- CERGE-EI
- Format:
- electronic and 43 s. : grafy.
- Type:
- model:monograph and TEXT
- Subject:
- Finance, spotřebitelské úvěry, platební neschopnost, zadluženost, regionální rozdíly, 336.77.067, 347.736, 336:005.931.2, 332.1, (048.8), 4, and 336.7
- Language:
- English and Czech
- Description:
- Alena Bičáková, Zuzana Prelcová, Renata Pašaličová ; editor: Michal Kejak., Obsahuje bibliografii, and born digital
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
22896. Who cites who in the invasion zoo
- Creator:
- Pyšek, Petr, Richardson, David M., and Jarošík, Vojtěch
- Type:
- article and TEXT
- Subject:
- animal invasions, biological control, biological invasions, citation analysis, global change, impact factor, invasive species, journals, Lotka's Law, plant invasions, population ecology, research topics, temporal trends, and Web of Science
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- The citation frequency of papers on invasion ecology published between 1981 and 2003 and that had accumulated at least 30 citations on the Web of Science on 9 August 2006 was analysed. The dataset comprised 329 papers and 27,240 citations. For each paper, the total number of citations was recorded and the annual citation rate (number of citations per year) was calculated. Papers were classified into broad research fields: plant invasions, animal invasions, biological control, and general papers (reviews and syntheses). Eight papers were cited more than 300 times, five of them dealt with general topics, and the mean value of the total number of citations across the whole data set is 82.8±73.1. The mean annual citation rate is 11.5±11.3 citations per year; six studies received on average at least 50 citations each year. About a half (50.8%) of papers in the data set deal with plant invasions. General papers are significantly more cited than papers from the other categories. The annual citation rate increased with time over the analysed period (1981–2003), by 1.0 citations per year. To compare the trends in invasion ecology with those in other fields of ecology, comparable data were compiled for population ecology and dynamics, and global change. The annual citation rate for invasion ecology as a whole increased faster than that for population ecology and dynamics, but not exponentially as is the case with studies on global change. The best-cited papers on invasion ecology were distributed among most of the top ecology journals. Those published in Oikos, Journal of Ecology, Ecological Applications and BioScience are cited 3.8–5.8 times more than the average for these journals (based on the impact factor). Papers on biodiversity, community ecology, impact, invasibility, dispersal, population ecology, competition, resources, genetical issues, biological control and species invasiveness received the highest total number of citations. However, measured by the annual citation rate, the hottest current topics in invasion ecology are the effect of global change on invasions, the role of natural enemies, character of the invasion process, evolutionary aspects, invasibility of communities and ecosystem processes. Some topics are disproportionally more cited than studied and vice versa. Studies on plant and animal invasions differ in focus: the topics of invasibility, biodiversity, resources, species invasiveness and population genetics are more emphasized in botanical studies, dispersal, competition, impact and pathways in papers dealing with animal invasions. Studies of grasslands and marine environment are most frequently cited in botanical and zoological studies, respectively. Most of the highly cited papers deal with multiple species; only 14 plant species and four animal species are the primary focus of one or more of the highly-cited papers. Twenty-two authors (4.5% of the total involved in the papers analysed), each with seven or more contributions cited at least 30 times, together contributed 49.4% of the most-cited papers, and attracted 55.6% of the total number of citations.
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
22897. Whoever has will be given more: child endowment and human capital investment
- Creator:
- Borga, Liyousew Gebremedhin and Pidkuyko, Myroslav
- Publisher:
- CERGE-EI
- Format:
- electronic, bez média, svazek, and 41 stran : tabulky.
- Type:
- model:monograph and TEXT
- Subject:
- Ekonomie, vzdělávání, vzdělanostní nerovnosti, sourozenci, lidský kapitál, matematické modelování, education, educational inequalities, siblings, human capital, mathematical modeling, 37.0, 37.014.53, 316.356.2-055.71, 331.108.23, 519.673, (048.8), 4, and 33
- Language:
- English and Czech
- Description:
- Liyousew G. Borga, Myroslav Pidkuyko., Obsahuje bibliografii, and České a anglické resumé
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
22898. Whole blood samples for faster real-time PCR analysis of thrombophilic mutations in SARS-CoV-2 virus positive patients
- Creator:
- Beránek, Martin, Koblížek, Vladimír, Dulíček, Petr, Hegerová, Jaroslava, and Palička, Vladimír
- Format:
- počítač and online zdroj
- Type:
- model:article and TEXT
- Subject:
- real-time PCR, whole blood, thrombophilic mutation, SARS-CoV-2 virus, and COVID-19
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- High incidence of thrombosis and venous thromboembolism was reported in patients with COVID-19. In this study, we focused on analysis of thrombophilic mutations performed without a standard DNA extraction step. In one hundred of COVID-19 positive outpatients, real-time PCR for Leiden mutation in the FV gene and G20210A mutation in the FII gene was carried out from DNA extracts and modified whole blood samples, and their cycle threshold (Ct) values were evaluated. In the extracts, healthy homozygotes (wt/wt), heterozygotes (M/wt), and homozygous carriers of Leiden mutation (M/M) provided median Ct values of 18.5, 19.4/22.0, and 20.9. In the whole blood, Ct values were 25.3 (wt/wt), 24.8/27.2 (M/wt), and 26.9 (M/M). Median Ct values for G20210A in the extracts were 19.6 for homozygotes (wt/wt), and 19.7/20.4 for heterozygous carriers. The whole blood samples provided Ct values of 23.9 in healthy homozygotes and 26.3/27.2 in heterozygotes for G20210A mutation. No homozygous subjects for G20210A and no double heterozygotes (for Leiden and G20210A mutations) were found. Despite significant differences in the Ct values, genotyping showed complete result concordance of the DNA extracts and the whole blood samples. The integrity and amplificability of DNA molecules in the whole blood samples during 28 days of deep freezing, interrupted by four cycles of thawing, did not significantly change. In conclusion, we demonstrated a new protocol for the detection of the thrombophilic mutations via real-time PCR on the modified whole blood of COVID-19 positive patients. The blood modification was reliable, easy, cheap, and saving costs and turnaround time of the whole laboratory process.
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public
22899. Whole exome sequencing analysis of ABCC8 and ABCD2 genes associating with clinical course of breast carcinoma
- Creator:
- Soucek, P., Hlavac, V., Elsnerova, K., Radka Václavíková, Kozevnikovova, R., and Raus, K.
- Format:
- print, bez média, and svazek
- Type:
- article, články, model:article, and TEXT
- Subject:
- Fyziologie člověka a srovnávací fyziologie, rakovina prsu, maligní nádorová onemocnění, sekvenování nové generace, terapie, breast cancer, cancer, pain therapy, next generation sequencing, ABC transporter, 14, and 612
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- The aim of the present study was to introduce methods for exome sequencing of two ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters ABCC8 and ABCD2 recently suggested to play a putative role in breast cancer progression and prognosis of patients. We performed next generation sequencing targeted at analysis of all exons in ABCC8 and ABCD2 genes and surrounding noncoding sequences in blood DNA samples from 24 patients with breast cancer. The revealed alterations were characterized by in silico tools. We then compared the most frequent functionally relevant polymorphism rs757110 in ABCC8 with clinical data of patients. In total, the study identified 113 genetic alterations (>70 % novel ones) in both genes. Of these alterations, 83 were noncoding, 13 synonymous, 10 frameshifts and 7 were missense alterations. Four in silico programs predicted pathogenicity of two polymorphisms and four newly identified alterations. Rs757110 polymorphism in ABCC8 did not significantly associate with clinical data of the patients. In conclusion, exome sequencing identified several functionally relevant alterations in ABCC8 and ABCD2 genes that may further be used for a larger follow-up study aiming to assess their clinical significance., P. Soucek, V. Hlavac, K. Elsnerova, R. Vaclavikova, R. Kozevnikovova, K. Raus., and Obsahuje bibliografii
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public
22900. Whosestory is it? - Postmodernism, history and "historiographic metafiction" in the context of Taiwanese literature
- Creator:
- Benešová, Jana
- Format:
- bez média and svazek
- Type:
- model:article and TEXT
- Subject:
- Taiwan, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and contemporary Taiwanese fiction
- Language:
- English
- Description:
- The commonly encountered account ot the postmodern (including postmodernist cultural practices) is the one based on (or very similar to) Fredric Jameson´s view of postmodernism as representing the logic of late capitalism and being defined by the issues of surface, pastiche and paranoia. This also includes Jameson´s criticism of postmodernism´s supposed ahistoricity (or belief that when it uses history, it does so in a naive and sentimentally nostalgic way). Such is also the prevalent definition of the postmodern in Taiwan, most recently adopted, for example, in Liu Liangya´s new publication, Postmodernism and Postcolonisalism: Taiwanese Fiction since 1987. Offering an alternative view, this article deploys Linda Hutcheon´s project of "problematics" of postmodernism to argue that as opposed to the more or less dualistic view of postnodern vs. postcolonial tencencies in contemporary Taiwanese fiction (especially as regards postmodernism´s relation to history) it is also possible to describe the constant revisiting of the past in numerous novels by different authors in post-martial-law Taiwan in terms of Hutcheon´s "postmodern historiographic metafiction". This thesis is further demonstrated by means of an analysis of a short story by Lai Xiangyin.
- Rights:
- http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ and policy:public