Parasites exert a strong selection pressure on their hosts as manifested in behavioural antiparasite traits to reduce negative impacts on fitness. The numerous nest-dwelling ecto-parasites residing in avian nests make altricial birds excellent model-systems for investigating the relationship between parasites and their hosts. Here, we experimentally increased natural levels of hen fleas Ceratophyl

The Forum Romanum constituted the religious, political, economic and administrative centre of Rome for more than a millennium. During this time it went through several changes. It transformed from a liminal zone in the periphery of the Iron Age settlements into a communal space and sacred ground; later into an arena for political struggle and civic ambition; and finally into a showcase for Imperia

In international law, the exercise of legal discretion is constrained by criteria, such as the abuse of rights doctrine and the principle of legal certainty. The hitherto research of these criteria gives reason to take up a discussion on the appropriate way of conceptualising discretion and constraining criteria. This article, in contrast to the belief of other scholars, makes a case for the under

Fouling is a major obstacle in the introduction of membrane processes in new applications in the pulping industry. Due to the complex nature of the feed solutions, complementary analysis methods are usually needed to identify the substances involved. Four different methods were used for the comprehensive analysis of a membrane removed from an ultrafiltration plant treating alkaline bleach plant ef

Purpose: Most studies on paediatric pharyngotonsillitis focus on group A streptococci. This study, however, analyses a broad spectrum of bacteria and viruses related to paediatric pharyngotonsillitis and evaluates their associated clinical symptoms and courses. Methods: This observational prospective study in primary healthcare includes 77 children aged < 15 with a sore throat and 34 asymptomatic

Purpose: To translate and culturally adapt the Swedish version of the ‘Blue flags’ questionnaire into Dutch and to examine the validity and reliability aspects of the Dutch version. Methods: The ‘Blue flags’ questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted to the Dutch situation. A total of 58 participants filled in the first questionnaire at baseline and 51 participants filled in the second qu

Objective: To assess the value of second-look resection (SLR) in stage T1 bladder cancer (BCa) with respect to progression-free survival (PFS), and also the secondary outcomes recurrence-free survival (RFS), bladder-cancer-specific survival (CSS), and cystectomy-free survival (CFS). Patients and methods: The study included 2456 patients diagnosed with stage T1 BCa 2004–2009 with 5-yr follow-up reg

After the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains, antibiotic resistance in bacteria has become an important problem. Thus, materials for combating multidrug-resistant bacteria are of vital importance. In this work, we developed an antibacterial material that can selectively capture and destruct bacteria on the basis of their physical characteristics. To achieve bacterial capture and deactivation

Radical trachelectomy is the cornerstone' of fertility-sparing surgery in patients with early-stage cervical cancer wishing to preserve fertility. Growing evidence has demonstrated the oncologic safety and subsequent favorable pregnancy outcomes in well-selected cases. In the absence of prospective trials, the decision on the appropriate surgical approach (vaginal, open, or minimally invasive surg

The objective of integrated pest and pollinator management (IPPM) is to co-manage for pest control and pollination goals. Departing from the well-established concept of integrated pest management, we include pollinator management in a hierarchical decision support system of management actions. We depict this support system as an IPPM pyramid. Priority is given to proactive measures at the base of

Let H be the Drury-Arveson or Dirichlet space of the unit ball of Cd. The weak product H ☉ H of H is the collection of all functions h that can be written as h =∑∞n=1 fngn, where ∑∞n=1 ||fn|| ||gn|| < ∞. We show that H ☉ H is contained in the Smirnov class of H; that is, every function in H ☉ H is a quotient of two multipliers of H, where the function in the denominator can be chosen to be cyclic

To improve our understanding of early microbial colonization of pristine minerals and their group-specific C utilization, we exposed minerals (illite/goethite/quartz) amended with artificial root exudates (ARE, glucose, and citric acid) in grassland soils for a period of 24 weeks. FTIR spectra indicated that mineral-associated ARE were used within the first 2 weeks of exposure and were replaced by

Purpose: The development of blood biomarkers that reflect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathophysiology (phosphorylated tau and amyloid-β) has offered potential as scalable tests for dementia differential diagnosis and early detection. In 2019, the Geneva AD Biomarker Roadmap Initiative included blood biomarkers in the systematic validation of AD biomarkers. Methods: A panel of experts convened in Nove

Different ZnO nanostructures can be grown using low-cost chemical bath deposition. Although this technique is cost-efficient and flexible, the final structures are usually randomly oriented and hardly controllable in terms of homogeneity and surface density. In this work, we use colloidal lithography to pattern (100) silicon substrates to fully control the nanorods' morphology and density. Moreove

In this study, the effect of axial heat conduction on thermal performance in a zigzag channel printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) with supercritical liquefied natural gas as the working fluid is studied by a numerical method under different conditions. The influence factors include Reynolds number, operating pressure, inlet temperatures of the cold side, and wall thermal conductivity. The result

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the performance of typically developing Swedish-speaking children on DYMTA (Dynamisk Motorisk Talbedömning), a Swedish dynamic motor speech assessment. Method: Participants were 94 children, 45 boys/49 girls (9/8 multilingual), with typical oral motor, speech, and language skills, between 37 and 106 months divided into five age-groups. They performed tw