To date little information has been collected on the pollination biology of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle (tree-of-heaven), an invasive exotic in the U.S. This study was conducted to determine the insect pollinator fauna visiting A. altissima and to study general pollinator visitation patterns associated with the tree’s nectar profile. A list of taxa visiting trees within each of three si...

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to determine the rate of use of dental services by independently living older dentate and edentulous adults and the factors affecting utilization. METHODS Data were derived from the cross-sectional Manitoba Study of Health and Aging. A personal interview included over 240 questions addressing sociodemographics, well-being, oral and general health, ...

The parameters of legal visitation rights for grandparents in both biological and adoptive parenting situations are explored. Laws in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are summarized. Suggestions for improvement in the current system are included.

1. Olds D, Henderson CR, Cole R, et al. Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children’s criminal and antisocial behavior: 15-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 1998;280:1238-1244. 2. The Infant Health Development Program. Enhancing the outcomes of low birth weight, premature infants: a multisite, randomized trial. JAMA. 1990;263:3035-3042. 3. Brooks-Gunn J, McCarton...

In-water viewing of sharks by tourists has become a popular and lucrative industry. There is some concern that interactions with tourists with ecotourism operations might harm sharks through disruption of behaviours. Here, we analysed five years of whale shark (Rhincodon typus) encounter data by an ecotourism industry at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, to assess the impact of ecotourism inter...

Plants often grow in clusters of various sizes and have a variable number of flowers per inflorescence. This small-scale spatial clustering affects insect foraging strategies and plant reproductive success. In our study, we aimed to determine how visitation rate and foraging behaviour of pollinators depend on the number of flowers per plant and on the size of clusters of multiple plants using D...

Animal pollination is essential for the reproductive success of many wild and crop plants. Loss and isolation of (semi-)natural habitats in agricultural landscapes can cause declines of plants and pollinators and endanger pollination services. We investigated the independent effects of these drivers on pollination of young cherry trees in a landscape-scale experiment. We included (i) isolation ...

OBJECTIVE Prehospital delay is the major cause of treatment delay in stroke. This study was conducted to clarify the contribution of specific stroke-related symptoms to prehospital delay. METHODS A consecutive series of 469 patients hospitalized within 2 weeks of stroke onset was collected. In this study, prehospital delay was defined as the time interval from recognition of stroke-related sy...