Bergmann's rule states that, within species of mammals, individuals tend to be larger in cooler environments. However, the validity of the rule has been debated. We examined the relationship between size and latitude as well as size and temperature within various species of mammals. We also tested the idea that smaller mammals follow Bergmann's rule more strongly than larger mammals, as expected if heat conservation is the cause of the rule. When all studies were included, the percentage of species showing a positive correlation between size and latitude was significantly >50% (78 of 110 species). Similarly, the percentage of species showing a negative correlation between size and temperature was significantly >50% (48 of 64). Analyses using only significant studies or only studies that sampled extensively also support Bergmann's rule. The size-latitude and size-temperature trends were consistent within all orders and most families for which data are available. We did not find support for the hypothesis that smaller mammals conform more strongly to Bergmann's rule than larger mammals. Thus, we found broad support for Bergmann's rule as a general trend for mammals; however, our analyses do not support heat conservation as the explanation.

Background: Surgical mortality data are collected routinely in high-income countries, yet virtually no low-or middle-income countries have outcome surveillance in place. The aim was prospectively to collect worldwide mortality data following emergency abdominal surgery, comparing findings across countries with a low, middle or high Human Development Index (HDI).Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Self-selected hospitals performing emergency surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive patients from at least one 2-week interval during July to December 2014. Postoperative mortality was analysed by hierarchical multivariable logistic regression.

Axonal growth, guidance and synapse formation are controlled by receptors on neuronal growth cones that can recognize positive and inhibitory cues in the local microenvironment. Four well characterized receptor systems are known that recognize the growth-promoting activities associated with the extracellular matrix and the membranes of cells such as astrocytes, muscle cells and Schwann cells; these are the integrins and the homophilically binding cell adhesion molecules neural-cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), N-cadherin and L1 (refs 5-12). Alternative splicing generates 20-30 isoforms of NCAM and these can also be differentially glycosylated. There are two sites where alternative splicing changes the extracellular structure of membrane-bound NCAM and one of these (the MSD1 region) does not obviously affect function. Here we report that the variable alternatively spliced exon (VASE) in immunoglobulin domain 4 downregulates the neurite outgrowth-promoting activity of NCAM. The high level of VASE expression in the adult central as compared with peripheral nervous system could contribute to the poor regenerative capacity of the former.

Aims To investigate the pharmacokinetics of the antimalarial artemisinin in the field setting using sparsely collected data. Methods Artemisinin concentrations were determined by h.p.l.c. in a total of 107 capillary plasma samples collected on the first day and in 33 samples on the last day of a 5-day oral artemisinin regimen of 10 mg kg −1 day −1 in 23 paediatric (aged 2-12 years) and 31 adult (aged 16-45 years) Vietnamese patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The population model was developed using NONMEM, incorporating interoccasion variability and accounting for a systematic change in artemisinin pharmacokinetics with time, modelled as a change in oral bioavailability. Results Clinical efficacy, in terms of parasite clearance and fever subsidence times, was comparable between children and adults. A one-compartment model with separate pharmacokinetic estimates for children and adults was found best to describe the disposition of artemisinin after oral administration. The population estimates for artemisinin clearance and distribution volume, respectively, were 432 l h −1 and 1600 l for adults and 14.4 l h −1 kg −1 and 37.9 l kg −1 for children, with an intersubject variability (collectively for both age groups) of 45% and 104%, respectively. The oral bioavailability was estimated to decrease from Day 1 to Day 5 by a factor of 6.9, a value found to be similar for children and adults. Conclusions Artemisinin pharmacokinetic data was successfully derived in both paediatric and adult patients using 2-3 capillary blood samples taken in conjunction with parasitaemia monitoring. This study's findings advocated the dosing of artemisinin to children according to bodyweight and to adults according to a standard dose.

Tree species in tropical rain forests exhibit a rich panoply of spatial patterns that beg ecological explanation. The analysis of tropical census data typically relies on spatial statistics, which quantify the average aggregation tendency of a species. In this article we develop a cluster-based approach that complements traditional spatial statistics in the exploration and analysis of ecological hypotheses for spatial pattern. We apply this technique to six study species within a fully mapped 50-ha forest census in peninsular Malaysia. For each species we identify the scale(s) of spatial aggregation and the corresponding tree clusters. We study the correlation between cluster locations and abiotic variables such as topography. We find that the distribution of cluster sizes exhibits equilibrium and nonequilibrium behavior depending on species life history. The distribution of tree diameters within clusters also varies according to species life history. At different spatial scales, we find evidence for both niche-based and dispersal-limited processes producing spatial pattern. Our methodology for identifying scales of aggregation and clusters is general; we discuss the method's applicability to spatial problems outside of tropical plant ecology.

A description is given of the investigation into two outbreaks of congenital cataract in dairy herds. There is a description of the clinical signs, the incidence, the period of time over which the cases occurred and of the seasonal distribution of the births. The type of herd management is descirbed and a hereditary factor is not considered to occur. The possibility of the involvement of other toxic and environmental agents is discussed. The macroscopic and microscopical findings are described; the relation to the early period of lens development of the bovine fetus suggested.

The Gryphon must not be confounded with the Griffin, as will be seen later on. The reeds here (bamboos) are of such enormous length, that each portion of them, between the joints, forms a tube, of which a boat is made that is capable of holding three men. It is a wellknown fact, that many of the people here are more than five cubits in height. 1 These people never expectorate, are subject to no pains, either in the head, the teeth, and the eyes, and, rarely, in any other parts of the body ; 1 The Roman cubit was eighteen inches, so that these men were nearly eight feet high. i 4 CURIOUS CREATURES. so well is the heat of the sun calculated to strengthen the constitution.. .. According to the account of Megasthenes, dwelling upon a mountain called Nulo, there is a race of men who have their feet turned backwards, with eight toes on each foot. On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men who have the heads of dogs, and clothe themselves with the skins of wild beasts. Instead of speaking, they bark ; and, furnished with claws, they live by hunting, and catching birds. According to the story, as given by Ctesias, the number of these people is more than a hundred and twenty thousand ; and the same author tells us that there is a certain race in India, of which the females are pregnant once only in the course of their lives, and that the hair of the children becomes white the instant they are born. He speaks also of another race of men who are known as Monocoli, 1 who have only one leg, but are able to leap with surprising agility. The same people are also called Sciapodae, 2 because they are in the habit of lying on their backs, during the time of extreme heat, and protect themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet. These people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytae (dwellers in caves) ; to the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without necks, and have eyes in their shoulders. 8 Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr, an animal of extraordinary swiftness. These go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect ; they have also the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness, these creatures are never 1 From &v& TOU fiOfov KU\OV, ' ' from having but one leg. " * From 2ctaToOt, " making a shadow with his foot." 3 See illustration, p. 9. mouth, but a lyttle rounde hole & through that hole they eate their meate with a pipe, & they have no tongue, & they speake not, but they blow & whistle, and so make signes one to another. And in another yle are wild men with hanging eares unto their shoulders. And in another yle are wild men, with hanging eares & have feete lyke an hors & they run faste, & they take wild beastes, and eate them. And in another yle are men that go on theyr handes & feete lyke beasts & are all rough, and will leape upon a tree like cattes or apes. And in another yle are men that go ever uppon theyr knees marvaylosly, and have on every foote viii Toes.. .. "There ...

Abstract-Two new, miniaturised scientific radiation monitoring payloads are presented prior to their first flight on the TechDemoSat-1 Spacecraft. They are capable of monitoring the space radiation environment and its effects on radiation sensitive devices. MuREM and SSTL RM carry RADFET dosimeters, dose rate sensitive photodiodes and PIN diode particle detectors. SSTL RM is also connected to external RADFET sensors placed around the spacecraft, whilst MuREM carries a radiation effects payload consisting of COTS devices which will be monitored whilst exposed to the space radiation environment.