Pollard Huang (legcoal4)

As expected, we found no effect of genetic diversity on population size in benign habitat but found that it increased population size in challenging habitat. However, we found that population spread rates were increased due to genetic diversity in the benign but not in the challenging habitat. Additionally, variance in spread was consistently higher in genetically poor populations and highest in the challenging habitat. Our experiment challenges the general view that a bottleneck in genetic variation decreases invasion success in challenging but not benign environments.WHAT'S ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS TOPIC? Fetal lymphatic malformations (LMs) can be detected on prenatal ultrasound and until recently, therapeutic options were limited. Recently the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor rapamycin has emerged as a safe, effective therapy for children with LMs and multiple studies have demonstrated improved efficacy if started early. WHAT DOES THIS STUDY ADD? We report the first in-utero therapy with rapamycin for a rapidly enlarging, obstructive, fetal cervical LM. Fetal therapy with rapamycin was safe and effective in managing this severe malformation, despite rapamycin being started only in the last 6.5 weeks of pregnancy. We speculate that had rapamycin been commenced earlier, the reduction in mass size might have been even greater.The biotic mechanisms underlying ecosystem functioning and stability have been extensively-but separately-explored in the literature, making it difficult to understand the relationship between functioning and stability. In this study, we used community models to examine how complementarity and selection, the two major biodiversity mechanisms known to enhance ecosystem biomass production, affect ecosystem stability. Our analytic and simulation results show that although complementarity promotes stability, selection impairs it. The negative effects of selection on stability operate through weakening portfolio effects and selecting species that have high productivity but low tolerance to perturbations ("risk-prone" species). In contrast, complementarity enhances stability by increasing portfolio effects and reducing the relative abundance of risk-prone species. Consequently, ecosystem functioning and stability exhibit either a synergy, if complementarity effects prevail, or trade-off, if selection effects prevail. Across species richness levels, ecosystem functioning and stability tend to be positively related, but negative relationships can occur when selection co-varies with richness. Our findings provide novel insights for understanding the functioning-stability relationship, with potential implications for both ecological research and ecosystem management.The capacity of blood to form thrombin is a critical determinant of coagulability. Plasma thrombin generation (TG), a test that probes the capacity of plasma to form thrombin, has improved our knowledge of the coagulation system and shows promising utility in coagulation management. Although plasma TG gives comprehensive insights into the function of pro- and anticoagulation drivers, it does not measure the role of blood cells in TG. In this literature review, we discuss currently available continuous TG tests that can reflect the involvement of blood cells in coagulation, in particular the fluorogenic assays that allow continuous measurement in platelet-rich plasma and whole blood. We also provide an overview about the influence of blood cells on blood coagulation, with emphasis on the direct influence of blood cells on TG. Platelets accelerate the initiation and velocity of TG by phosphatidylserine exposure, granule content release and surface receptor interaction with coagulation proteins. Erythrocytes are also major providers of phosphatidylserine, and erythrocyte membranes trigger contact activation. Furthermore, leukocytes and cancer cells may be important players in cell-mediated coagulation because, under certain conditions, they expres