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Mirrored cross-polarized light microscopy as a means for calculating collagen soluble fiber crimp inside bone and joint flesh.
Transgenic GFAP-hM3Dq mice were administered clozapine N-oxide both peripherally, affecting the entire central nervous system (CNS), or directly into the BLA. In both instances, GFAP-Gq-signaling activation significantly reduced ethanol consumption and correlating blood ethanol concentrations. However, GFAP-Gq-DREADD activation throughout the CNS had more broad effects resulting in decreased locomotor activity and sucrose consumption. More targeted GFAP-Gq-signaling activation in the BLA only impacted ethanol consumption. Finally, a glutamate assay revealed that after GFAP-Gq-signaling activation glutamate concentrations in the amygdala were partially normalized to control levels. Altogether, these studies support the theory that astrocytes represent a viable target for alcohol use disorder therapies.Understanding the responses of aquatic animals to temperature variability is essential to predict impacts of future climate change and to inform conservation and management. Most ectotherms such as fish are expected to adjust their behaviour to avoid extreme temperatures and minimize acute changes in body temperature. In coastal Skagerrak, Norway, sea surface temperature (SST) ranges seasonally from 0 to over 20°C, representing a challenge to the fish community which includes cold-, cool- and warm-water affinity species. By acoustically tracking 111 individuals of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, pollack Pollachius pollachius and ballan wrasse Labrus bergylta in 2015-2018, we examined how coexisting species within a fish community adjusted their behaviour (i.e. vertical distribution in the water column and habitat selection) to cope with the thermal variation. Mixed-effect models showed that thermal preference was a main driver of behaviour and habitat use of the fish community in a southern Norwegian fjord. Cod used colder waters, compared with pollack and ballan wrasse. Increases in SST during summer were associated with the use of deeper, colder waters by cod, especially by larger individuals, and conversely with the occupancy of shallower areas by pollack and ballan wrasse. During winter, when SST dropped and the thermal stratification reversed, pollack and ballan wrasse moved to deeper, relatively warmer areas, while cod selected shallower, colder habitats. Although habitat selection was affected by temperature, species-specific habitat selection was observed even when temperature was similar throughout habitats. This study shows how cohabiting fish species respond to thermal heterogeneity, suggesting that (a) temperature regulates the access to the different depths and habitats and (b) behavioural plasticity may be an important factor for coping with temperature variability and potentially for adaptation to climate change.
In today's aging society, surgery is increasingly performed for older patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (PHCC). This study aimed to examine survival and oncological outcomes in octogenarians with PHCC who underwent surgery.

We retrospectively examined 480 consecutive PHCC patients treated for PHCC between 1991 and 2020. Two hundred forty-seven underwent resection. Patient and clinical characteristics, including postoperative complications, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were analyzed.

The proportion of octogenarians with PHCC undergoing surgery increased from 5.2% in 1991-2000to 13.4% in 2016-2020. R0 resection and postoperative complication rates were comparable between octogenarians and younger patients. Five-year OS (30.0% vs. 31.7%) and DFS (20.0% vs. 29.5%) did not significantly differ. One-year OS was significantly better in octogenarians who underwent resection than those who did not (95.0% vs. 17.6%; p < .001). Two octogenarians who developed Clavien-Dindo grade III complications had undergone right hemihepatectomy (RH). Posthepatectomy liver failure and biliary leakage (Grade B) were also observed in octogenarians who underwent RH.

In well-selected octogenarians with PHCC, surgery offers short- and long-term outcomes comparable with those of their younger counterparts. RH may be considered in octogenarians on an individual basis.
In well-selected octogenarians with PHCC, surgery offers short- and long-term outcomes comparable with those of their younger counterparts. RH may be considered in octogenarians on an individual basis.The main objective of this long-term study (1978-2016) was to find the underlying factors behind the declining trends of eider Somateria mollissima in the Baltic/Wadden Sea. Specifically, we aimed at quantifying the bottom-up effect of nutrients, through mussel stocks, on reproduction and abundance of eider, and the top-down effects caused by white-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla predation. Bottom-up effects increase marine primary productivity with subsequent effects on food availability for a major mussel predator. Top-down effects may also regulate eider populations because during incubation female eiders are vulnerable to predation by eagles. Our structural equation modelling explained a large percentage of the variance in eider abundance. We conclude that the Baltic/Wadden Sea eider population was regulated directly by white-tailed sea eagle predation on incubating females and indirectly by the amount of nutrients in seawater affecting both mussel stocks and the breeding success of eiders, reflecting density dependence. check details These findings may explain the decreasing trend in the Baltic/Wadden Sea eider population during the last decades as an additive effect of top-down and bottom-up factors, and likely as an interaction between them.Food web stability and resilience are at the heart of understanding the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Previous studies show that models of empirical food webs are substantially more stable than random ones, due to a few strong interactions embedded in a majority of weak interactions. Analyses of trophic interaction loops show that in empirical food webs the patterns of the interaction strengths prevent the occurrence of destabilizing heavy loops and thereby enhances resilience. Yet, it is still unexplored which biological mechanisms cause these patterns that enhance food web resilience. We quantified food web resilience using the real part of the maximum eigenvalue of the Jacobian matrix of the food web from a seagrass bed in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) wetland, that could be parametrized by the empirical data of the food web. We found that the empirically based Jacobian matrix of the YRD food web indicated a much higher resilience than random matrices with the same element values but arranged in random ways.
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