Comparative analyses of avian population fluctuations have shown large interspecific differences in population variability that have been difficult to relate to variation in general ecological characteristics. Here we show that interspecific variation in demographic stochasticity, caused by random variation among individuals in their fitness contributions, can be predicted from a knowledge of the species' position along a "slow-fast" gradient of life-history variation, ranging from high reproductive species with short life expectancy at one end to species that often produce a single offspring but survive well at the other end of the continuum. The demographic stochasticity decreased with adult survival rate, age at maturity, and generation time or the position of the species toward the slow end of the slow-fast life-history gradient. This relationship between life-history characteristics and demographic stochasticity was related to interspecific differences in the variation among females in recruitment as well as to differences in the individual variation in survival. Because reproductive decisions in birds are often subject to strong natural selection, our results provide strong evidence for adaptive modifications of reproductive investment through life-history evolution of the influence of stochastic variation on avian population dynamics.
Prostatis, the most common urological disease in men, afflicts between 25 and 50% of all adult men. Four clinical categories are recognized: acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis, non-bacterial prostatitis and prostatodynia. The role of Gram-positive aerobic bacteria and the different anaerobes in chronic bacterial prostatitis is still a matter of debate. During this study, the urethral discharge and the prostatic fluid obtained after prostatic massage of 50 patients with chronic prostatitis, confirmed by clinical examination and resistant to empirical quinolone therapy, were cultured under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The parallel specimens from 24 patients exhibited high colony counts of Gram-positive and Gram-negative anaerobic bacteria, either alone (18 cases) or in combination with aerobic bacteria (6 cases). The specimens obtained after prostatic massage of the remaining 26 patients were completely negative for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. No Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum or Trichomonas vaginalis were isolated from these patients. Patients with chronic prostatitis who gave positive culture results for anaerobes were treated with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid or clindamycin for 3-6 weeks. After treatment, samples were again taken and cultured for all pathogens known to cause prostatitis. These post-therapeutic samples revealed a decrease or total elimination of the symptoms, and no anaerobic bacteria could be detected.
We introduce a signal‐to‐noise ratio in an attempt to suggest an optimum pinhole size for confocal polarized light microscopes. We find that pinhole sizes which are typically 60% greater than those used in nonpolarized light confocal microscopy are appropriate.
The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of expulsion and impulsion nozzle high frequency venti lation (VFDV) for cleansing respiratory system during long term mechanical ventilation. Material and methods. Retrospective study. In the group of 198 patients presenting its own procedures and the application of inpulsive and expulsive effect of the nozzle frequency ventilation (VFDV) for cleansing and maintaining a patent airway. They used high frequency jet ventilation with the possibility of expulsion and epulsion programming and assessed a total of over 8000 expulsion procedures. Changes in lung mechanics, hemodynamics, effectiveness of expulsion and the need for suction beforeexpulsion and in regu lar application of VFDV were monitored. Results. We statistically compared and evaluated the effectiveness of expulsion in the VFDV group of 198 patients on long term UVP, which was effective in average of 94.9% of patients. The impact of expul sion regime on circulatory, ventilation systems and gas exchange in the lungs, including lung mechanics, were analyzed. The authors found that the application of VFDV had a substantial and statistically significant effect on hemodynamics. Application of expulsion and lavage (a technique is described) statistically significantly reduced airway resistance Raw (p<0.01) and improved the levels of lung static compliance (p<0.01) compared with the prior expulsion. Changes in blood gases during the expulsion itself did not have a major impact on gas exchange in the lungs or on the pH in this group, but there was a statisti cally significant increase in PaO 2 (p<0.05). A key finding was that when comparing the number of manipulations in the air ways (suction), a radical reduction in the number of pumping was observed, if expulsion was used regularly. A statistically sig nificant difference in the application of expulsion was detected when compared to most groups of patients (p<0.01). The number of necessary manipulations on the airways was reduced by over 100%. Reducing the number of suctions decreased traumatization of mucosa and the risk of infectious complications. Conclusion. The expulsion and lung lavage was an effective and noninvasive method for airway cleansing. VFDV expulsion could contribute to substantial improvements in the care of the maintenance of airway patency in long UVP.
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