The male reproductive systems of A. mixtum and R. sanguineus s.l. were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde for 48 h and dehydrated in increasing dilutions of ethanol. The samples were then embedded and mounted in historesin to obtain sections of 3 μm that were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE), photographed, and visualized through optical microscopy. The results show that the morphology of mature germ cells displays excellent diagnostic traits that can be used for tick taxonomy.Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration increases the performance of invasive plants relative to natives when grown in monoculture, but it is unclear how that will affect the relative competitive abilities per se of invasive and native grasses grown together. Apalutamide inhibitor We tested competitive outcomes for four native and four invasive perennial C3 and C4 grasses under ambient (390 ppm) and elevated (700 or 1000 ppm) CO2 concentrations in the greenhouse with non-limiting water and nutrients. We predicted that elevated CO2 would increase the competitive suppression of native grasses by invasive grasses. To test this, we determined the relative interaction intensity of biomass allocation for natives grown alone vs. those grown in native-invasive species pairs. We also measured photosynthetic traits that contribute to plant invasiveness and may be affected by elevated CO2 concentrations for species pairs in mixture to determine native-invasive relative performance. We found no effect of CO2 for the aboveground biomass and tiller production measures of interaction intensity or for relative performance for most of the measured photosynthetic traits. In competition, the invaders nearly always outperform natives in biomass and tiller production, regardless of CO2 level. The results suggest that increasing CO2 concentration alone has little effect on grass competitive outcomes under controlled conditions.Dispersal is a key process affecting population persistence and major factors affecting dispersal rates are the amounts, connectedness and properties of habitats in landscapes. We present new data on the butterfly Maniola jurtina in flower-rich and flower-poor habitats that demonstrates how movement and behaviour differ between sexes and habitat types, and how this effects consequent dispersal rates. Females had higher flight speeds than males, but their total time in flight was four times less. The effect of habitat type was strong for both sexes, flight speeds were ~ 2.5 × and ~ 1.7 × faster on resource-poor habitats for males and females, respectively, and flights were approximately 50% longer. With few exceptions females oviposited in the mown grass habitat, likely because growing grass offers better food for emerging caterpillars, but they foraged in the resource-rich habitat. It seems that females faced a trade-off between ovipositing without foraging in the mown grass or foraging without ovipositing where flowers were abundant. We show that taking account of habitat-dependent differences in activity, here categorised as flight or non-flight, is crucial to obtaining good fits of an individual-based model to observed movement. An important implication of this finding is that incorporating habitat-specific activity budgets is likely necessary for predicting longer-term dispersal in heterogeneous habitats, as habitat-specific behaviour substantially influences the mean (> 30% difference) and kurtosis (1.4 × difference) of dispersal kernels. The presented IBMs provide a simple method to explicitly incorporate known activity and movement rates when predicting dispersal in changing and heterogeneous landscapes.PURPOSE This study investigated the incidence of pneumococcal pneumonia requiring hospitalisation among middle-aged and older adults with and without specific underlying medical conditions, evaluating the influence of these conditions in the risk of developing pneumonia. METHODS Population-based prospective cohort study included 2,025,730 individuals ≥ 50 years around Catalonia, Spain. The Catalonian information system for the development of research in primary care (SIDIAP) was used to establish baseline characteristics of the cohort (comorbidities and underlying medical conditions). Hospitalisations from pneumococcal pneumonia occurred among cohort members between 01/01/2015 and 31/12/2015 were collected from hospital discharge codes of 68 reference Catalonian hospitals. Cox regression was used to estimate the association between baseline conditions and the risk of developing pneumonia. RESULTS Global incidence rate (IR) of hospitalised pneumococcal pneumonia was 82.8 cases per 100,000 persons-year. Maximum IRs (per 100,000 persons-year) emerged among persons with haematological neoplasia (837.4), immunodeficiency (709.2), HIV infection (474.7), severe renal disease (407.5) and chronic pulmonary disease (305.7). In the multivariable analyses, apart from increasing age, HIV infection (hazard ratio [HR] 6.78), haematological neoplasia (HR 6.30), prior all-cause pneumonia (HR 5.27), immunodeficiency (HR 4.57) and chronic pulmonary disease (HR 2.89) were the conditions most strongly associated with an increasing risk. Pneumococcal vaccination did not emerge associated with a reduced risk in our study population (nor PPsV23 neither PCV13). CONCLUSION Old age, immunocompromising conditions and chronic pulmonary/respiratory disease are major risk factors for pneumococcal pneumonia in adults. Our data underline the need for better prevention strategies in these persons.PURPOSE To review the prevalences of proatlas anomalies in craniofacial malformations and evaluate the relation between craniofacial malformation and proalast anomalies. METHODS The 221 patients with craniofacial malformation who underwent CT facial bone and 3D brain in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH). Then, the craniofacial malformed patients are classified into six groups composed of craniosynostosis, cephalocele, midface anomaly, facial and branchial arch syndrome, facial cleft face, and others. Reviewing image finding by the researcher and the radiologist advisor was done separately and gave the consensus in the case with disagreement. Qualitative analysis of the prevalence of proatlas anomalies was achieved. In addition, assessment of the relationship between craniofacial malformation and proatlas anomalies was conducted using Pearson’s chi-square test to determine statistical significance. RESULT The proatlas anomalies were presented in 26 patients of 221 craniofacial malformed patients. Details of frequentative proatlas anomalies consist of pre-basioccipital arch in eight patients, os odontoideum in five patients, bony mass along the margin of foramen magnum in three patients, atlas assimilation in two patients, hypertrophic occipital condyle in one patient, third occipital condyle in one patient, and mixed characteristic of proatlas anomalies in six patients.