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Plants display a range of temporal patterns of inter-annual reproduction, from relatively constant seed production to mast seeding, the synchronized and highly variable interannual seed production of plants within a population. Previous efforts have compiled global records of seed production in long-lived plants to gain insight into seed production, forest and animal population dynamics, and the effects of global change on masting. Existing datasets focus on seed production dynamics at the population scale but are limited in their ability to examine community-level mast seeding dynamics across different plant species at the continental scale. We harmonized decades of plant reproduction data for 141 woody plant species across nine Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) or long-term ecological monitoring sites from a wide range of habitats across the United States. Plant reproduction data are reported annually between 1957 and 2021 and based on either seed traps or seed and/or cone counts on individual trees. A wide range of woody plant species including trees, shrubs, and lianas are represented within sites allowing for direct community-level comparisons among species. We share code for filtering of data that enables the comparison of plot and individual tree data across sites. For each species, we compiled relevant life history attributes (e.g., seed mass, dispersal syndrome, seed longevity, sexual system) that may serve as important predictors of mast seeding in future analyses. To aid in phylogenetically informed analyses, we also share a phylogeny and phylogenetic distance matrix for all species in the dataset. These data can be used to investigate continent-scale ecological properties of seed production, including individual and population variability, synchrony within and across species, and how these properties of seed production vary in relation to plant species traits and environmental conditions. In addition, these data can be used to assess how annual variability in seed production is associated with climate conditions and how that varies across populations, species, and regions. The dataset is released under a CC0 1.0 Universal public domain license.

Background: Spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) is the most severe type of stroke with high mortality rates. This entity accounts for 17 to 33% of all strokes and is associated with a higher mortality rate. Approximately, 35–50% of patients with ICH die within the 30 days after event. Long-term survivors are often remaining with permanent deficits, with up to 75% suffering permanent disability and only 12% to 39% of the survivors have favourable outcomes. Several studies aiming to explore the efficacy of surgery for patients with ICH have been carried out. However, the results were inconclusive. To provide evidence for clinical practice, here we present a retrospective study to explore the effect of surgery for patients with spontaneous basal ganglia haemorrhage. Methods: The present study was conducted in the Neurosurgery Department of a tertiary care hospital in the Northern part of India from January 2018 to March 2020. Sixty-one patients aged between 20-70 years of basal ganglia haemorrhage who presented within 24 hours of ictus and operated were included in this study. Results: A total of 61 patients underwent surgical intervention consisting of 49 (80%) males and 12 (20%) females. Their age varied from 27 to 70 with mean age ± SD 51.93 ± 13.19 years. Thirty-six patients were ≥ 50 years of age, out of which 72% patients had unfavourable outcomes (GOS 1-3) and 28% had favourable outcome (GOS 4-5). There were 31 patients with GCS 5-8. Most patients (81%) had GOS 1-3(at the time of discharge). Out of 25 patients with GCS 9-12; 64% had GOS 4-5. The patients with volume of haematoma 40-60 ml, 82% patients had GOS 4-5. The patients with midline shift > 5 mm; 78% patients had GOS 1-3. Patients with midline shift < 5 mm; 82% had GOS 4-5 (P=0.005). The mean hospital stays of unfavourable outcomes group was 28.71 ± 10.25 days and of favourable outcomes group was 22.07 ± 6.32 days (0.000). Conclusions: Early surgery (within 6 hours) along with multi-modality medical management has definite positive role in the outcome of patients with spontaneous basal ganglionic haemorrhage. Patients ≥ 50 years, signs of brain herniation, volume of haematoma ≥ 60ml, hydrocephalic dilatation due the intraventricular haemorrhage, midline shift > 5 mm, and GCS ≤ 8 at presentation had poor prognosis.

We investigate the potential in using of using a graphics processor unit (GPU) for Monte-Carlo (MC)-based radiation dose calculations. The percent depth dose (PDD) of photons in a medium with known absorption and scattering coefficients is computed using a MC simulation running on both a standard CPU and a GPU. We demonstrate that the GPU′s capability for massive parallel processing provides a significant acceleration in the MC calculation, and offers a significant advantage for distributed stochastic simulations on a single computer. Harnessing this potential of GPUs will help in the early adoption of MC for routine planning in a clinical environment.

A 4-year-old boy presented with history of left anterolateral neck swelling since birth. He was clinically diagnosed to have a branchial cleft cyst. A CT scan revealed findings suggestive of a thymic remnant cyst. The lesion was excised and the diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology.

Demographics of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce and student body in the US and Europe continue to show severe underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Among the documented causes of the persistent lack of diversity in STEM are bias, discrimination, and harassment of members of underrepresented minority groups (URMs). These issues persist due to continued marginalization, power imbalances, and lack of adequate policies against misconduct in academic and other scientific institutions. All scientists can play important roles in reversing this trend by shifting the culture of academic workplaces to intentionally implement equitable and inclusive policies, set norms for acceptable workplace conduct, and provide opportunities for mentorship and networking. As scientists are increasingly acknowledging the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in science, there is a need for clear direction on how to take antiracist action. Here we present 10 rules to help labs develop antiracists policies and action in an effort to promote racial and ethnic diversity, equity, and inclusion in science.

Mast seeding, the synchronous and highly variable production of seed crops by perennial plants, is a population‐level phenomenon and has cascading effects in ecosystems. Mast seeding studies are typically conducted at the population/species level. Much less is known about synchrony in mast seeding between species because the necessary long‐term data are rarely available. To investigate synchrony between species within communities, we used long‐term data from seven forest communities in the U.S. Long‐Term Ecological Research (LTER) network, ranging from tropical rainforest to boreal forest. We focus on cross‐species synchrony and (i) quantify synchrony in reproduction overall and within LTER sites, (ii) test for relationships between synchrony with trait and phylogenetic similarity and (iii) investigate how climate conditions at sites are related to levels of synchrony. Overall, reproductive synchrony between woody plant species was greater than expected by chance, but spanned a wide range of values between species. Based on 11 functional and reproductive traits for 103 species (plus phylogenetic relatedness), cross‐species synchrony in reproduction was driven primarily by trait similarity with phylogeny being largely unimportant, and synchrony was higher in sites with greater climatic water deficit. Community‐level synchrony in masting has consequences for understanding forest regeneration dynamics and consumer‐resource interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]