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Background: Active surveillance (AS) is increasingly used to monitor patients with lower risk prostate cancer (PCa). The Prostate Cancer Active Lifestyle Study (PALS) was a randomized controlled trial to determine whether weight loss improves obesity biomarkers on the causal pathway to progression in patients with PCa on AS. Methods: Overweight/obese men (body mass index >25 kg/m2) diagnosed with PCa who elected AS were recruited. The intervention was a 6‐month, individually delivered, structured diet and exercise program adapted from the Diabetes Prevention Program with a 7% weight loss goal from baseline. Control participants attended one session reviewing the US Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines. The primary outcome was change in glucose regulation from baseline to the end of the 6‐month intervention, which was measured by fasting plasma glucose, C‐peptide, insulin, insulin‐like growth factor 1, insulin‐like growth factor binding protein‐3, adiponectin, and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance. Results: Among 117 men who were randomized, 100 completed the trial. The mean percentage weight loss was 7.1% and 1.8% in the intervention and control arms, respectively (adjusted between‐group mean difference, −6.0 kg; 95% confidence interval, −8.0, −4.0). Mean percentage changes from baseline for insulin, C‐peptide, and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance in the intervention arm were −23%, −16%, and −25%, respectively, compared with +6.9%, +7.5%, and +6.4%, respectively, in the control arm (all p for intervention effects ≤.003). No significant between‐arm differences were detected for the other biomarkers. Conclusions: Overweight/obese men with PCa undergoing AS who participated in a lifestyle‐based weight loss intervention successfully met weight loss goals with this reproducible lifestyle intervention and experienced improvements in glucose‐regulation biomarkers associated with PCa progression. The Prostate Cancer Active Lifestyle Study was a randomized controlled trial to determine whether weight loss improves obesity biomarkers on the causal pathway to progression in patients with prostate cancer undergoing active surveillance. Overweight/obese men with prostate cancer on active surveillance who participated in a lifestyle‐based weight loss intervention successfully met weight loss goals and experienced improvements in glucose‐regulation biomarkers associated with prostate cancer progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent study on the diving behaviour of European shags (Gulosus aristotelis (L.)) foraging in kelp forests off rocky coasts of Norway suggests surface durations are related only to the duration of the preceding dive, and hence are being used for respiratory recovery. These results contrast with earlier reports concerning shags foraging in highly tidal estuarine waters off the coast of Lundy Island, SW England, where there was a stronger relationship between dive durations and preceding pre‐dive surface durations, suggesting the use of preparatory variation in oxygen loading. These two datasets were collected using different methods, and statistically analysed in quite different ways, so the contrasting results here could be due to different methodologies rather than the ecological differences between the two foraging environments. Here, we re‐analyse the two datasets using similar statistical methods, and we confirm the contrasting results produced by the two datasets. We, therefore, conclude that shag breathing strategies do differ between these two marine environments, presumably reflecting adaptive facultatively plastic responses to differences in predictability of foraging dive durations. Off the Norwegian coast, unpredictable variation in the depth and availability of pelagic prey in complex environments may require more responsive post‐dive respiratory recovery on the surface after each dive. In the more uniform English near‐shore environment, however, pre‐dive preparatory oxygen loading customised to match predictable dive‐to‐dive variation in benthic prey depths and foraging durations, may be more time and energy efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning is a familiar process to most people, but it currently lacks a fully developed theoretical position within evolutionary biology. Learning (memory and forgetting) involves adjustments in behaviour in response to cumulative sequences of prior experiences or exposures to environmental cues. We therefore suggest that all forms of learning (and some similar biological phenomena in development, aging, acquired immunity and acclimation) can usefully be viewed as special cases of phenotypic plasticity, and formally modelled by expanding the concept of reaction norms to include additional environmental dimensions quantifying sequences of cumulative experience (learning) and the time delays between events (forgetting). Memory therefore represents just one of a number of different internal neurological, physiological, hormonal and anatomical 'states' that mediate the carry‐over effects of cumulative environmental experiences on phenotypes across different time periods. The mathematical and graphical conceptualisation of learning as plasticity within a reaction norm framework can easily accommodate a range of different ecological scenarios, closely linking statistical estimates with biological processes. Learning and non‐learning plasticity interact whenever cumulative prior experience causes a modification in the reaction norm (a) elevation [mean phenotype], (b) slope [responsiveness], (c) environmental estimate error [informational memory] and/or (d) phenotypic precision [skill acquisition]. Innovation and learning new contingencies in novel (laboratory) environments can also be accommodated within this approach. A common reaction norm approach should thus encourage productive cross‐fertilisation of ideas between traditional studies of learning and phenotypic plasticity. As an example, we model the evolution of plasticity with and without learning under different levels of environmental estimation error to show how learning works as a specific adaptation promoting phenotypic plasticity in temporally autocorrelated environments. Our reaction norm framework for learning and analogous biological processes provides a conceptual and mathematical structure aimed at usefully stimulating future theoretical and empirical investigations into the evolution of plasticity across a wider range of ecological contexts, while providing new interdisciplinary connections regarding learning mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals are predicted to adjust their behaviour in relation to their bodily energetic state. Adjustment can be driven by either positive feedbacks (e.g. increased risk‐taking with higher energetic status; "state‐dependent safety") or negative feedbacks (e.g. reduced risk‐taking with higher status; "asset protection"). This study investigated effects of food restriction and subsequent refeeding on boldness‐like behaviour in three‐spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and nine‐spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius). The same experimental design was run in 2 consecutive years, using a start‐box emergence test to score behaviour, aiming for an exact replication in the second year. Results indicate that the results from the original and the replicated experiment did not match. Both years there was support for treatment effects, but the effects were qualitatively and quantitatively different. In 2012, the fish on a continuous high ration had longer emergence times than restricted‐refed fish (suggesting asset protection as the feedback mechanism), while in 2013, this pattern is reversed (suggesting state‐dependent safety as the feedback mechanism). In 2013, the general emergence time was also generally shorter than in 2012. These effects suggest that the methodology used may not be particularly robust. Subject fish were wild‐caught, and differences in the populations across years, or in the individuals' prior experience, may have influenced the results. Alternatively, the start‐box emergence test could be sensitive to minor (unperceived) alterations in procedures. Regardless, the present study suggests that the robustness of the start‐box emergence test, which is a commonly used test (e.g. to score "boldness" in animal personality experiments) needs further investigation. In addition to the behavioural experiment, fish going through the refeeding protocol were shown to have higher body water content than fish on a continuously high food ration in both species. Food restriction also decreased relative liver mass in the short term, but it was restored during refeeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bet‐hedging evolves in fluctuating environments because long‐term genotype success is determined by geometric (rather than arithmetic) mean fitness across generations. Diversifying bet‐hedging produces different specialist offspring, whereas conservative bet‐hedging produces similar generalist offspring. However, many fields, such as behavioral ecology and thermal physiology, typically consider specialist versus generalist strategies only in terms of maximizing arithmetic mean fitness benefits to individuals. Here we model how environmental variability affects optimal amounts of phenotypic variation within and among individuals to maximise genotype fitness, and we disentangle the effects of individual‐level optimization and genotype‐level bet‐hedging by comparing long‐term arithmetic versus geometric mean fitness. For traits with additive fitness effects within lifetimes (e.g. foraging‐related traits), genotypes of similar generalists or diversified specialists perform equally well. However, if fitness effects are multiplicative within lifetimes (e.g. sequential survival probabilities), generalist individuals are always favored. In this case, geometric mean fitness optimization requires even more within‐individual phenotypic variation than does arithmetic mean fitness, causing individuals to be more generalist than required to simply maximize their own expected fitness. In contrast to previous results in the bet‐hedging literature, this generalist conservative bet‐hedging effect is always favored over diversifying bet‐hedging. These results link the evolution of behavioral and ecological specialization with earlier models of bet‐hedging, and we apply our framework to a range of natural phenomena from habitat choice to host specificity in parasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much recent research interest in the existence of a major axis of life‐history variation along a fast–slow continuum within almost all major taxonomic groups. Eco‐evolutionary models of density‐dependent selection provide a general explanation for such observations of interspecific variation in the "pace of life." One issue, however, is that some large‐bodied long‐lived "slow" species (e.g., trees and large fish) often show an explosive "fast" type of reproduction with many small offspring, and species with "fast" adult life stages can have comparatively "slow" offspring life stages (e.g., mayflies). We attempt to explain such life‐history evolution using the same eco‐evolutionary modeling approach but with two life stages, separating adult reproductive strategies from offspring survival strategies. When the population dynamics in the two life stages are closely linked and affect each other, density‐dependent selection occurs in parallel on both reproduction and survival, producing the usual one‐dimensional fast–slow continuum (e.g., houseflies to blue whales). However, strong density dependence at either the adult reproduction or offspring survival life stage creates quasi‐independent population dynamics, allowing fast‐type reproduction alongside slow‐type survival (e.g., trees and large fish), or the perhaps rarer slow‐type reproduction alongside fast‐type survival (e.g., mayflies—short‐lived adults producing few long‐lived offspring). Therefore, most types of species life histories in nature can potentially be explained via the eco‐evolutionary consequences of density‐dependent selection given the possible separation of demographic effects at different life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ferrierite crystal structure has often been subject to discussion because of the possible lowering of symmetry from the space group Immm. It mainly occurs in nature with a fibrous crystal habit, and because of the existence of line/planar defects in the framework, texture and preferred orientation effects it has been difficult to obtain an exact crystallographic model based only on the results from powder diffraction data. Therefore, nano‐single‐crystal diffraction and tomography data have been combined in order to improve the refinement with a meaningful model. High‐quality single‐crystal data, providing reliable structural information, and tomography images have been used as input for a Rietveld refinement which took into account a phenomenological description of stacking disorder and the analytical description of the preferred orientation, by means of spherical harmonics for strong texture effects. This is one of the first examples of application of synchrotron nano‐diffraction for the structure solution of fibrous minerals of micrometre to nanometre size. The high quality of the crystals allowed collection of single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction data of up to 0.6 Å resolution, leading to an unambiguous solution and precise anisotropic refinement. Nano‐single‐crystal diffraction and phase contrast tomography data were collected at ID11 and the high‐resolution powder diffraction patterns at ID22 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. This detailed crystallographic characterization provides a basis for understanding the potential of ferrierite for toxicity and carcinogenicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a novel perspective on life‐history evolution that combines recent theoretical advances in fluctuating density‐dependent selection with the notion of pace‐of‐life syndromes (POLSs) in behavioural ecology. These ideas posit phenotypic co‐variation in life‐history, physiological, morphological and behavioural traits as a continuum from the highly fecund, short‐lived, bold, aggressive and highly dispersive 'fast' types at one end of the POLS to the less fecund, long‐lived, cautious, shy, plastic and socially responsive 'slow' types at the other. We propose that such variation in life histories and the associated individual differences in behaviour can be explained through their eco‐evolutionary dynamics with population density – a single and ubiquitous selective factor that is present in all biological systems. Contrasting regimes of environmental stochasticity are expected to affect population density in time and space and create differing patterns of fluctuating density‐dependent selection, which generates variation in fast versus slow life histories within and among populations. We therefore predict that a major axis of phenotypic co‐variation in life‐history, physiological, morphological and behavioural traits (i.e. the POLS) should align with these stochastic fluctuations in the multivariate fitness landscape created by variation in density‐dependent selection. Phenotypic plasticity and/or genetic (co‐)variation oriented along this major POLS axis are thus expected to facilitate rapid and adaptively integrated changes in various aspects of life histories within and among populations and/or species. The fluctuating density‐dependent selection POLS framework presented here therefore provides a series of clear testable predictions, the investigation of which should further our fundamental understanding of life‐history evolution and thus our ability to predict natural population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anatomical adaptations to high‐salinity environments in mangrove leaves may be recorded in leaf water isotopes. Recent studies observed lower 18O enrichment (ΔL) of leaf water with respect to source water in three mangrove species relative to adjacent freshwater trees, but the factors that govern this phenomenon remain unclear. To resolve this issue, we investigated leaf traits and ΔL in 15 species of true mangrove plants, 14 species of adjacent freshwater trees, and 4 species of semi‐mangrove plants at five study sites along south‐eastern coast of China. Our results confirm that ΔL was generally 3–4‰ lower for mangrove species than for adjacent freshwater or semi‐mangrove species. We hypothesized that higher leaf water content (LWC) and lower leaf stomatal density (LS) both played important roles in reducing ΔL in mangroves relative to nearby freshwater plants. Both differences acted to elongate effective leaf mixing length (L) in mangroves by about 200% and lower stomatal conductance by about 30%. Péclet models based on both LWC and LS could accurately predict ΔL. Our findings highlight the potential species‐specific anatomical determinants of ΔL (or L), which has important implications for the interpretation of environmental information from metabolites produced by leaf water isotopes in palaeoclimate research. Mangrove forests evolve typical leaf structures to adapt to high‐salinity environments, and many of these adaptations may leave imprints in leaf water isotopes. Our comprehensive field study confirmed that the isotope enrichment of leaf water (ΔL) in mangroves were generally lower than those of the adjacent nonmangrove at multiple‐site and multiple‐species scales and that leaf anatomies play key roles in determining these differences in ΔL. The potential species‐specific anatomical determinants of ΔL based on a large pool of species can be incorporated into the leaf water model, which will have considerable potential applications not only for palaeoclimate reconstruction but also in distinguishing what kinds of plants with strong Péclet effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities may not always be well supported to engage meaningfully in activity at home, an injustice impacting on well‐being and quality of life. Research sought better understanding of how occupational therapists work to improve the quality of this support, in particular, how they encourage support workers and managers to adopt recommendations. A single, purposively selected, case of supporting engagement in activity at home was investigated using a critical ethnographic case study methodology from an interpretivist and social constructionist stance. An occupational therapist worked with five people with severe and profound learning disabilities and their support workers over one year. Data were collected using ethnographic methods (participant observation, interviews and document analysis) and analyzed using an emergent systematic strategy (formal coding and categorization, alongside intuitive and affective analysis) and NVivo qualitative data analysis software. The case's story (illustrated by an ethnographic vignette constructed from the data) highlights challenges encouraging others to follow recommendations as intended. It has two overarching themes: the impact of shifting support and leadership cultures; and characteristics of occupational therapy, seeking in particular to create and sustain cultural change by working with support workers in a collaborative and empowering way. To overcome the impacts of organizational culture on how support is given (thereby improving the quality of lives of people with profound intellectual disabilities) professionals need to collaborate with support workers. Occupational injustices they arguably may face, in particular risk of burnout where their roles are conflicting or ambiguous, may also need to be addressed. Implications are suggested for health and social care professionals working indirectly through support workers of people with profound intellectual disabilities (and others with high support needs) and for the education and training of these professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of hydration of calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CaSO4·0.5H2O) to form gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) was studied by combining scanning 3D X‐ray diffraction (s3DXRD) and phase contrast tomography (PCT) to determine in situ the spatial and crystallographic relationship between these two phases. From s3DXRD measurements, the crystallographic structure, orientation and position of the crystalline grains in the sample during the hydration reaction were obtained, while the PCT reconstructions allowed visualization of the 3D shapes of the crystals during the reaction. This multi‐scale study unfolds structural and morphological evidence of the dissolution–precipitation process of the gypsum plaster system, providing insights into the reactivity of specific crystallographic facets of the hemihydrate. In this work, epitaxial growth of gypsum crystals on the hemihydrate grains was not observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Phenotypes vary hierarchically among taxa and populations, among genotypes within populations, among individuals within genotypes, and also within individuals for repeatedly expressed, labile phenotypic traits. This hierarchy produces some fundamental challenges to clearly defining biological phenomena and constructing a consistent explanatory framework. We use a heuristic statistical model to explore two consequences of this hierarchy. First, although the variation existing among individuals within populations has long been of interest to evolutionary biologists, within-individual variation has been much less emphasized. Within-individual variance occurs when labile phenotypes (behaviour, physiology, and sometimes morphology) exhibit phenotypic plasticity or deviate from a norm-of-reaction within the same individual. A statistical partitioning of phenotypic variance leads us to explore an array of ideas about residual within-individual variation. We use this approach to draw attention to additional processes that may influence within-individual phenotypic variance, including interactions among environmental factors, ecological effects on the fitness consequences of plasticity, and various types of adaptive variance. Second, our framework for investigating variation in phenotypic variance reveals that interactions between levels of the hierarchy form the preconditions for the evolution of all types of plasticity, and we extend this idea to the residual level within individuals, where both adaptive plasticity in residuals and canalization-like processes (stability) can evolve. With the statistical tools now available to examine heterogeneous residual variance, an array of novel questions linking phenotype to environment can be usefully addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Several lines of evidence support a role for infectious agents in the development of prostate cancer (PCa). In particular, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been implicated in PCa etiology, and studies have found that the risk of acquiring a STI can be reduced with circumcision. Therefore, circumcision may reduce PCa risk. METHODS: Participant data collected as part of 2 population-based case-control studies of PCa were analyzed. Self-reported circumcision status, age at circumcision, and age at first sexual intercourse were recorded along with a history of STIs or prostatitis. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the relative risk of PCa by circumcision status. RESULTS: Data from 1754 cases and 1645 controls were available. Circumcision before first sexual intercourse was associated with a 15% reduction in risk of PCa compared to that of uncircumcised men (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-0.99). This risk reduction was observed for cases with both less aggressive (odds ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.74-1.04) and more aggressive (odds ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.66-1.00) PCa features. CONCLUSIONS: Circumcision before first sexual intercourse is associated with a reduction in the relative risk of PCa in this study population. These findings are consistent with research supporting the infectious/inflammation pathway in prostate carcinogenesis. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Unexplained variation in outcomes after common surgeries raises concerns about the quality and appropriateness of surgical care. Understanding variation in surgical outcomes may identify processes that could affect the quality of surgical and postoperative care. The authors of this report examined hospital-level variation in outcomes after inpatient urologic oncology procedures. METHODS: Patients who underwent radical cystectomy, radical nephrectomy, and radical prostatectomy were identified from the Washington State Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System for the years 2003 through 2007. The postoperative length of stay (LOS) was measured, and LOS that exceeded the 75th percentile was classified as prolonged. The occurrence of Agency for Healthcare Quality patient safety indicators (PSIs), readmissions, and deaths also were measured. Analyses were adjusted for patient age and comorbidity in random effects, multilevel, multivariable models that assessed hospital-level outcomes. RESULTS: The authors identified 853 patients from 37 hospitals who underwent cystectomy, 3018 patients who underwent nephrectomy from 51 hospitals, and 8228 patients who underwent prostatectomy from 51 hospitals. Complications captured by PSIs were rare. Hospital-level variation was most profound for LOS outcomes after nephrectomy and prostatectomy (variance in prolonged LOS, 8.1% and 26.7%, respectively), thromboembolic events after nephrectomy (8% of variance), and mortality after cystectomy (7.1% of variance). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital-level variation confounds the care of urologic cancer patients in the state of Washington. The authors concluded that transparent reporting of surgical outcomes and local quality-improvement initiatives should be considered to ameliorate the observed variation and improve the quality of cystectomy, nephrectomy, and prostatectomy care. Cancer 2011;. Published 2012 by the American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a tunable X-ray focusing apparatus, referred to as transfocators, based on compound refractive lenses. It discusses the beneficial features of the in-vacuum transfocator (IVT) to the X-ray source, which has been in operation at the ID11 beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). It also notes that the IVT can act as a pre-focusing device to be used in conjunction with a downstream microfocusing or nanofocusing element, leading to flux gains.

Studies of cooperatively breeding birds rarely benefit from the extensive research on adaptive foraging behaviour, despite the potential for concepts such as state-dependent foraging to explain many aspects of behaviour in social groups. For example, sex differences in preferred foraging techniques used by green woodhoopoes, Phoeniculus purpureus, have previously been explained by sexual dimorphism in bill length and the benefits afforded by foraging specialization and niche differentiation within cooperative groups. Contrary to this argument, there were no sex differences in mean foraging success and/or prey size captured when males and females used the same foraging techniques. Subordinates of both sexes did experience lower and more varied foraging success compared with dominants, but probably only as a consequence of competition or inexperience. However, dominant males experienced greater variance in individual foraging success compared with dominant females, and dominant males also experienced greater variances in prey size when using their preferred foraging techniques. Dominant males therefore appeared to specialize in foraging techniques that provided more variable rewards, whilst dominant females consistently chose to minimize variation in reward. Dominant females also experienced less variance in foraging returns when using the same techniques as males, suggesting a possible link with sexual dimorphism in bill length. Partitioning of foraging niches in dominant green woodhoopoes therefore appears to be better explained by sex differences in variance (risk) sensitivity to foraging rewards. We suggest that this kind of detailed analysis of state-dependent foraging has the potential to explain many of the crucial age and sex differences in behaviour within cooperative groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which evaluates the association between the extent of lymphadectomy and survival among patients with lymph node metastases undergoing radical cystectomy. Results of the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox proportional-hazards regression analyses suggest that an increased number of lymph nodes removed at the time of cystectomy was associated with improved survival in patients with lymph node-positive bladder cancer.

The preparation of single crystals suitable for X-ray analysis is frequently the most difficult step in structural studies of proteins. With the aid of two examples, it is shown that de novo solution of the crystallographic phase problem can be achieved at low resolution using microcrystalline powder samples via the single isomorphous replacement method. With synchrotron radiation and optimized instrumentation, high-quality powder patterns have been recorded, from which it was possible to generate phase information for structure factors up to 6 A resolution. pH- and radiation-induced anisotropic lattice changes were exploited to reduce the problem of overlapping reflections, which is a major challenge in protein powder diffraction. The resulting data were of sufficient quality to compute molecular envelopes of the protein molecule and to map out the solvent channels in the crystals. The results show that protein powder diffraction can yield low-resolution data that are potentially useful for the characterization of microcrystalline proteins as novel micro- and mesoporous materials as well as for structural studies of biologically important macromolecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Animals often differ in suites of correlated behaviours, comparable with how humans differ in personality. Constraints on the architecture of behaviour have been invoked to explain why such ‘behavioural syndromes’ exist. From an adaptationist viewpoint, however, behavioural syndromes should evolve only in those populations where natural selection has favoured such trait covariance, and they should therefore exist only in particular types of population. 2. A comparative approach was used to examine this prediction of the adaptive hypothesis. We measured behavioural correlations in 12 different populations of three-spined stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus) and assessed whether they indeed varied consistently according to the selective environment, where population was unit of analysis. 3. For a sample of fry from each population, we measured five different behaviours within the categories of (i) aggression (towards conspecifics); (ii) general activity; and (iii) exploration–avoidance (of novel foods, novel environments and altered environments). 4. We show that behavioural syndromes are not always the same in different types of stickleback population: the often-documented syndrome between aggressiveness, activity and exploratory behaviour existed only in large ponds where piscivorous predators were present. In small ponds where predators were absent, these behaviours were not (or only weakly) associated. 5. Our findings imply that population variation in behavioural syndromes does not result from stochastic evolutionary processes, but may result instead from adaptive evolution of behaviour favouring what should prove to be optimal trait combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE To evaluate our experience with a referral population of 790 patients undergoing initial prostate biopsy in the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era, to assess the role of a digital rectal examination (DRE) in predicting the outcome of prostate needle biopsy (PNB) and to evaluate if DRE findings were associated with cancer grade. PATIENTS AND METHODS We analysed 790 consecutive men who had an initial PNB from September 1999 to July 2005 by one urologist (C.P.). All data were collected in a prospective database. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between an abnormal DRE and the presence of cancer and cancer grade on PNB. RESULTS An abnormal DRE was an independent predictor for prostate cancer on multivariate analysis (odds ratio 2.18, 95% confidence interval 1.53–3.10, P < 0.001). In all patients biopsied, an abnormal DRE was associated with a Gleason sum of ≥ 7 on multivariate analysis (odds ratio 3.39, 2.07–5.53, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION A DRE is a useful and important tool to use when assessing patients for a PNB. An abnormal DRE independently predicted high-grade disease in these men. These results might have important implications in the prediction of men with other than indolent prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is shown that samples of microcrystalline tetragonal chicken egg white lysozyme can be effectively cryoprotected for high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction studies at 100 K. The survival of the powder in the beam is increased by a factor of around 30. Thus, a high-quality powder diffraction pattern could be collected at 100 K, which attains a resolution of dmin≃ 2.6 Å, significantly better than the previous limit of ∼3.27 Å at room temperature, despite a smaller volume of sample. Systematic variations of the concentration and type of cryoprotectant agent show that the lattice microstrains that accompany cooling, and degrade the quality of the powder diffraction data by broadening the diffraction peaks, are caused by a collapse in the volume of the crystalline unit cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of turkey egg-white lysozyme (TEWL) has been refined from high- reso-lution X-ray powder diffraction data. The sample was rapidly obtained as a polycrys-talline precipitate at high protein concentration using 0.5 M NaCl solvent pH 6 and was deposited in the PDB with code 1xft. The diffraction data were collected at room temperature. Molecular replacement was shown to give a suitable starting point for refinement, illustrating that powder data can be sufficient for this approach. Crystallo-graphic models were then refined by combined Rietveld and stereochemical restraint analysis of the powder data (dmin = 3.35Å), resulting in the extra-ction of reliable lattice parameters and the refinement of the molecular conformation at room temperature. The structure is hexagonal [space group P6122, unit-cell para-meters a = 71.0862 (3), c = 85.0276 (5) Å ] with 12 symmetryrela-ted mole-cules in the unit cell, in agreement with previous studies. The results of our analysis are indicative of specific amino acids being disordered at this temperature. Upon cooling, a sudden drop in the lattice parameters at 250 K is observed concur-rently with the freezing of the mother liquor. The observation of severe peak broade-ning below this temperature indicates strain effects accompanying the freezing trans-ition, which are found to be reversible. Finally, a correlation between the unit-cell parame-ters and the pH of the buffer solution is evident, in a similar manner to earlier obser-vations on HEWL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the use of raven roosts as structured information centers in North Wales. Social foraging; Aggregation of ravens in communal winter roosts; Capability of ravens to feed on rich but ephemeral carcasses.

Male orange-tufted sunbirds (Nectarinia osea ) exhibit distinct song dialects throughout Israel. Recently, two distinct local dialects with a sharp boundary were discovered in a small (1.5 km2 ) urban neighborhood densely inhabited by 63 territorial sunbird pairs. We conducted playback experiments to determine song dialect discrimination capability by sunbird males in this neighborhood. Males of both dialects responded significantly more strongly to playback of their own dialect than to that of the adjacent dialect. In spite of the extreme proximity between the two dialect areas, we found no effect of distance to the neighboring dialect on the intensity of any the behavioral responses. We suggest that due to the complex acoustic properties of this urban neighborhood, sunbirds are extremely limited in the number of neighboring males they can assess to establish what the local song is. A stronger response to one's own dialect is therefore expected, and we discuss how local dialects could be maintained via this mechanism regardless of the very small distances between territories and dialect populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of isostructural imidonitridophosphates AE2AlP8N15(NH) (AE=Ca, Sr, Ba) was synthesized at high‐pressure/high‐temperature conditions (1400 °C and 5–9 GPa) from alkaline‐earth metal nitrides or azides Ca3N2/Sr(N3)2/Ba(N3)2 and the binary nitrides AlN and P3N5. NH4F served as a hydrogen source and mineralizing agent. The crystal structures were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and feature a three‐dimensional network of vertex‐sharing PN4‐tetrahedra forming diverse‐sized rings that are occupied by aluminum and alkaline earth ions. These structures represent another example of nitridophosphate‐based networks that simultaneously incorporate AlN6‐octahedra and alkaline‐earth‐centered polyhedra, with aluminum not participating in the tetrahedra network. They differ from previously reported ones by incorporating non‐condensed octahedra instead of strongly condensed octahedra units and contribute to the diversity of multicationic nitridophosphate network structures. The results are supported by atomic resolution EDX mapping, solid‐state NMR and FTIR measurements. Eu2+‐doped samples show strong luminescence with narrow emissions in the range of green to blue under UV excitation, marking another instance of Eu2+‐luminescence within imidonitridophosphates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a small passerine known to be highly sedentary. Throughout a 30‐year capture–mark–recapture study, we have obtained occasional reports of recoveries far outside our main metapopulation study system, documenting unusually long dispersal distances. Our records constitute the highest occurrence of long‐distance dispersal events recorded for this species in Scandinavia. Such long‐distance dispersals radically change the predicted distribution of dispersal distances and connectedness for our study metapopulation. Moreover, it reveals a much greater potential for colonization than formerly recorded for the house sparrow, which is an invasive species across four continents. These rare and occasional long‐distance dispersal events are challenging to document but may have important implications for the genetic composition of small and isolated populations and for our understanding of dispersal ecology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expands upon the 'altruism as a handicap' argument of A. Zahavi (1995) in which altruists improve their future fitness as a result of honestly signalling their phenotypic quality to prospective mates or allies. Study of the babbler; Suggestion that cooperative systems may be specially likely to evolve signals using altruism as a handicap, because signalling costs could be recouped within the collaboration.

Studies the effect of group size on group provisioning effort and group productivity in the Arabian Babbler Turdoides squamiceps. Results suggesting that helping-at-nest in Arabian Babblers has a positive and linear effect on the reproductive success of parents as well as substantially reducing the provisioning required of other group members.

Gravitropism was studied in roots of wild type (WT) Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. (strain Wassilewskija) and three starch‐deficient mutants that were generated, by T‐DNA insertional mutagenesis. One of these mutants was starchless while the other two were intermediate mutants, which had 51% and 60%, respectively, of the WT amount of starch as. determined by light and electron microscopy. The four parameters used to assay gravitropism were: orientation during vertical growth, time course of curvature, induction, and intermittent stimulation experiments. WT roots were much more responsive to gravity than were roots of the slarchless mutant, and the intermediate starch mutants exhibited an intermediate graviresponse. Our data suggest that lowered starch content in the mutants primarily affects gravitropism rather than differential growth because both phototropic curvature and growth rates were approximately equal among all four genotypes. Since responses of intermediate‐starch mutants were closer to the WT response than to that of the starchless mutant, it appears that 51–60% of the WT level of starch is near the threshold amount needed for full gravitropic sensitivity. While other interpretations are possible, the data are consistent with the starch statolith hypothesis for gravity perception in that the degree of graviresponsiveness is proportional to the total mass of plastids per cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We derive the null limiting distributions of the usual sup-Wald and CUSUM tests for structural stability with an unknown potential break date in a polynomial regressi on model where the errors are I(d), -0.5 < d < 0.5. For d > 0, both tests diverge under the null so that the asymptotic size of either test is unity. For d< 0, both tests converge to zero under the null so that the asymptotic size of either test is zero [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-types of histone H1 have been observed in a variety of tissues from several organisms. One of the best characterized H1 variants is H5 from avian erythrocytes. Several lines of evidence suggest that H5 has a greater affinity for DNA than H1 and is thus thought to account, in part, for the highly condensed and transcriptionally repressed state of avian erythrocyte chromatin. In trout there is an analogous erythrocyte-specific H1 variant, previously termed 'H5' [B. L. A. Miki and J. M. Neelin (1975) Can. J. Biochem. 53, 1158-1169). Using a sensitive and rapid protein-blotting procedure which is specific amongst the histones for histone H1 and its variants, we compared DNA-binding properties of the trout erythrocyte histone 'H5' and chicken H5. By increasing the NaCl concentration of the binding buffer, a gradual decrease in the amount of DNA that bound to chicken H1, trout H1 and trout erythrocyte 'H5' variant was observed, such that at concentrations above 0.37 M, negligible amounts of DNA were bound. By contrast, chicken H5 bound a significantly greater amount of DNA even at a concentration of 0.4 M NaCl. Based on the DNA-binding, properties, we conclude that the trout erythrocyte variant 'H5' is more closely related to H1 than to H5. By assaying the DNA-binding affinity of calf thymus H1 peptide fragments, generated by protease and chemical cleavage, and the sperm-specific H1 variants of the annelid, Platynereis dumerilii, which possess greatly shortened C-terminal tails, we conclude that a domain that includes a very small portion of the C-terminal tail and part of the globular domain is sufficient for the binding of H1 to DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first nitridic analog of an amphibole mineral, the quaternary nitridosilicate phosphate Cr5.7Si2.3P8N24 was synthesized under high‐pressure high‐temperature conditions at 1400 °C and 12 GPa from the binary nitrides Cr2N, Si3N4 and P3N5, using NH4N3 and NH4F as additional nitrogen source and mineralizing agent, respectively. The crystal structure was elucidated by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction with microfocused synchrotron radiation (C2/m, a=9.6002(19), b=17.107(3), c=4.8530(10) Å, β=109.65(3)°). The elemental composition was analyzed by energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The structure consists of vertex‐sharing PN4‐tetrahedra forming zweier double chains and edge‐sharing (Si,Cr)‐centered octahedra forming separated ribbons. Atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy shows ordered Si and Cr sites next to a disordered Si/Cr site. Optical spectroscopy indicates a band gap of 2.1 eV. Susceptibility measurements show paramagnetic behavior and support the oxidation state Cr+IV, which is confirmed by EPR. The comprehensive analysis expands the field of Cr−N chemistry and provides access to a nitride analog of one of the most prevalent silicate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first nitridic analog of an amphibole mineral, the quaternary nitridosilicate phosphate Cr5.7Si2.3P8N24 was synthesized under high‐pressure high‐temperature conditions at 1400 °C and 12 GPa from the binary nitrides Cr2N, Si3N4 and P3N5, using NH4N3 and NH4F as additional nitrogen source and mineralizing agent, respectively. The crystal structure was elucidated by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction with microfocused synchrotron radiation (C2/m, a=9.6002(19), b=17.107(3), c=4.8530(10) Å, β=109.65(3)°). The elemental composition was analyzed by energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The structure consists of vertex‐sharing PN4‐tetrahedra forming zweier double chains and edge‐sharing (Si,Cr)‐centered octahedra forming separated ribbons. Atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy shows ordered Si and Cr sites next to a disordered Si/Cr site. Optical spectroscopy indicates a band gap of 2.1 eV. Susceptibility measurements show paramagnetic behavior and support the oxidation state Cr+IV, which is confirmed by EPR. The comprehensive analysis expands the field of Cr−N chemistry and provides access to a nitride analog of one of the most prevalent silicate structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary explanations for helping in cooperative breeding systems usually require a positive effect of helping on the fitness of the breeders being assisted. However, such helper effects have proven surprisingly difficult to quantify. Cockburn et al. (this issue ) apply detailed statistical analyses to long-term field data on the enigmatic superb fairy-wren. They show that it is possible to disentangle the complex web of ecological and evolutionary interactions that confound so many studies. Whilst fairy-wren helpers may not increase nest productivity, they do increase future survival of breeding females. This study points the way for future statistical explorations of long-term data in other cooperative birds and mammals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal personalities and behavioural syndromes have overarching implications for individual survival, fitness and cooperative task participation. In social spiders, personality in boldness and aggression, and their association into behavioural syndromes, are thought to play a role in individual participation and task specialisation in collective behaviours, such as prey capture. However, recent retractions of key publications in this field have exposed gaps and uncertainties in our understanding of factors governing task performance in social spider colonies. Here, we analyse an already‐published data set on animal personalities in the Indian social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum to investigate whether boldness and aggression form a behavioural syndrome and assess its persistence over the short‐ and long‐term, and across age classes. Boldness and aggression were negatively correlated traits, forming a syndrome, but only over the long‐term in subadult spiders, and not over the short‐term in subadults or in juveniles. These results provide evidence for the existence of a behavioural syndrome in at least one social spider species. However, more work is now required to fully understand the observed inconsistencies in behavioural syndrome structures and animal personalities, as well as their possible role(s) in mediating task partitioning and collective performance in social spider colonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high levels of flux available at a fourth‐generation synchrotron are shown to have significant beam heating effects for high‐energy X‐rays and radiation hard samples, leading to temperature increases of over 400 K with a monochromatic beam. These effects have been investigated at the ID11 beamline at the recently upgraded ESRF Extremely Brilliant Source, using thermal lattice expansion to perform in situ measurements of beam heating. Results showed significant increases in temperature for metal and ceria samples, which are compared with a lumped thermodynamic model, providing a tool for estimating beam heating effects. These temperature increases may have a drastic effect on samples and measurements, such as the rapid recrystallization of a copper wire shown here. These results demonstrate the importance of beam heating and provide information needed to consider, predict and mitigate these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two methods for reconstructing intragranular strain fields are developed for scanning three‐dimensional X‐ray diffraction (3DXRD). The methods are compared with a third approach where voxels are reconstructed independently of their neighbours [Hayashi, Setoyama & Seno (2017). Mater. Sci. Forum, 905, 157–164]. The 3D strain field of a tin grain, located within a sample of approximately 70 grains, is analysed and compared across reconstruction methods. Implicit assumptions of sub‐problem independence, made in the independent voxel reconstruction method, are demonstrated to introduce bias and reduce reconstruction accuracy. It is verified that the two proposed methods remedy these problems by taking the spatial properties of the inverse problem into account. Improvements in reconstruction quality achieved by the two proposed methods are further supported by reconstructions using synthetic diffraction data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat structure can impede visibility and movement, resulting in lower resource monopolization and aggression. Consequently, dominant individuals may prefer open habitats to maximize resource gain, or complex habitats to minimize predation risk. We explored the role of dominance on foraging, aggression and habitat choice using convict cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) in a two‐patch ideal free distribution experiment. Groups of six fish of four distinct sizes first competed for shrimp in one‐patch trials in both an open and complex habitat; half the groups experienced each habitat type first. Following these one‐patch trials, each group then chose between habitat types in a two‐patch trial while competing for food. Finally, each fish underwent an individual behavioural assessment using a battery of "personality" tests to determine if behaviour when alone accurately reflected behaviour within a social context. In the one‐patch trials, dominant fish showed similar food consumption between habitats, but chased more in the complex habitat. In the two‐patch choice trials, dominants preferred and defended the complex habitat, forming an ideal despotic distribution with more than half the fish and competitive weight in the open habitat. Within the groups, individual fish differed in foraging and chasing, with repeatabilities of 0.45 and 0.23 across all treatments. Although a higher foraging rate during the individual assessment predicted foraging rate and use of the complex habitat during the group trials, aggression and boldness tests were not reflective of group behaviour. Across groups, heavier dominants and those with higher foraging rate in the open habitat used the open habitat more, suggesting that both risk and energetic state affect habitat preference in dominant convict cichlids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong seasonality at high latitudes represents a major challenge for many endotherms as they must balance survival and reproduction in an environment that varies widely in food availability and temperature. To avoid energetic mismatches caused by limited foraging time and stochastic weather conditions, bats employ the energy‐saving state of torpor during summer to save accumulated energy reserves.However, at high‐latitude small‐bats‐in‐summer face a particular challenge: as nocturnal foragers, they rely on the darkness at night to avoid predators and/or interspecific competition, but live in an environment with short, light summer nights, and even a lack of true night at the northernmost distributions of some bat species.To predict optimal behaviour in relation to latitudinal variation in diurnal cycles, we constructed a stochastic dynamic programming model of bats living at high latitudes. Using a stochastic dynamic programming framework with values that are representative for our study system, we show that individual energetic reserves are a strong driver of daytime use of torpor and night‐time foraging behaviour alike, with these linked effects being both temperature‐ and photoperiod‐dependent.We further used the model to predict survival probabilities at five locations across a latitudinal gradient (60.1° N to 70.9° N), finding that combinations of photoperiod and temperature conditions limited population distributions in the model.To verify our model results, we compared predictions for optimal decisions with our own empirical data collected on northern bats (Eptesicus nilssonii) from two latitudes in Norway. The similarities between our predictions and observations provide strong evidence that this model framework incorporates the most important drivers of diurnal decision‐making in bat physiology and behaviour.Comparing empirical data and model predictions also revealed that bats facing lighter night conditions further north restrict their mass gain, which strengthens the hypothesis that predation threat is a main driver of bat nocturnality. Our model findings regarding state‐dependent decisions in bats should contribute to the understanding of how bats cope with the summer challenges at high latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delays from the diagnosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) to radical cystectomy (RC) longer than 12 weeks result in higher mortality and shorter progression-free survival. This study sought to identify factors associated with RC delays and to determine whether delays in care in the current treatment paradigm, which includes neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), affect survival.Methods: Subjects with American Joint Committee on Cancer stage II urothelial carcinoma of the bladder who underwent RC from 2004 to 2012 were identified from the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results national cancer registry and the Medicare claims database and were stratified into RC groups with or without NAC. Cox multivariable proportional hazard models and multivariable logistic regression models assessed the significance of delays in RC for survival and identified independent characteristics associated with RC delays, respectively.Results: This study identified 1509 patients with MIBC who underwent RC during the study period. In comparison with timely surgery, delays in RC increased overall mortality, regardless of the use of NAC (hazard ratio [HR] without NAC, 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.76; HR after NAC, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.06-2.52). Patients proceeding to RC without NAC had higher odds of delayed care if they lived in a high-poverty neighborhood (odds ratio [OR], 1.37; 95% CI, 1.01-2.08) or nonmetropolitan area (OR, 1.61; 95% CI, 1.01-2.55), were men (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.25-4.00), or required a provider transfer for bladder cancer care (OR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.10-3.03).Conclusions: Delays in care from the time of either the initial diagnosis or the completion of NAC to RC are associated with worse overall survival among patients with MIBC. Timely surgery is fundamental in the treatment of MIBC, and this necessitates attention to disparities in access to complex surgical care and care coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent work on animal personalities has shown that individuals within populations often differ consistently in various types of behaviour and that many of these behaviours correlate among individuals to form behavioural syndromes. Individuals of certain species have also been shown to differ in their rate of behavioural innovation in arriving at novel solutions to new and existing problems (e.g., mazes, novel foods). Here, we investigate whether behaviours traditionally studied in personality research are correlated with individual rates of innovation as part of a wider behavioural syndrome. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) of both sexes from three different wild population sources were assessed: (a) exploration of an open area; (b) speed through a three‐dimensional maze; (c) investigation of a novel object; and (d) attraction to a novel food. The covariance structure (syndrome structure) was examined using structural equation modelling. The best model separated behaviours relating to activity in all contexts from rates of exploration/investigation and innovation. Innovative behaviour (utilizing new food and moving through a novel area) in these fish therefore forms part of the same syndrome as the traditional shy‐bold continuum (exploration of an open area and investigation of a novel object) found in many animal personality studies. There were no clear differences in innovation or syndrome structure between the sexes, or between the three different populations. However, body size was implicated as part of the behavioural syndrome structure, and because body size is highly correlated with age in guppies, this suggests that individual behavioural differences in personality/innovation in guppies may largely be driven by developmental state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is an uncommon, but well described, clinical entity that typically occurs following chemotherapy in patients with rapidly growing hematological malignancies. It is rarely described in patients with solid tumors. We report a case of TLS in a patient with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate after treatment with paclitaxel chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The 2012 United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against screening for prostate cancer has impacted rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and appears to be associated with declining prostate cancer incidence. Our objective was to characterize health care utilization that may explain these observed trends.Methods: MarketScan claims, which capture >30 million privately insured patients in the United States, were queried for all men aged 40-64 years for the years 2008-2014. PSA testing, prostate biopsy, prostate cancer diagnosis, and definitive local treatment were determined using associated International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and Current Procedural Terminology, Fourth Edition codes.Results: There were approximately 6 million qualifying men with a full year of data. PSA testing, prostate biopsy, and prostate cancer detection declined significantly between 2009 and 2014, most notably after 2011. The prostate biopsy rate per 100 patients with a PSA test decreased over the study period from 1.95 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.92-1.97) to 1.52 (95% CI, 1.50-1.54). Prostate cancer incidence per prostate biopsy increased over the study period from 0.36 (95% CI, 0.35-0.36) to 0.39 (95% CI, 0.39-0.40). Of new prostate cancer diagnoses, the proportion managed with definitive local treatment decreased from 69% (95% CI, 69%-70%) to 54% (95% CI, 53%-55%). Both PSA testing and prostate cancer incidence decreased significantly after 2011 (P < .001).Conclusion: In a large cohort of privately insured men, PSA testing, prostate biopsy, prostate cancer incidence, and local definitive treatment for prostate cancer decreased between 2008 and 2014, most notably after 2011. This decrease may be driven by differential referral patterns from primary care providers to urologists. Cancer 2018;124:2733-2739. © 2018 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]