Ballistospore discharge is a feature of 30000 species of mushrooms, basidiomycete yeasts and pathogenic rusts and smuts. The biomechanics of discharge may involve an abrupt change in the center of mass associated with the coalescence of Buller's drop and the spore. However this process occurs so rapidly that the launch of the ballistospore has never been visualized. Here we report ultra high-sp...

This investigation examined the effect of formaldehyde (HCHO) on cardiac function in in vitro cardiac preparations and in situ hearts of guinea pigs and rabbits. Though HCHO (0.2-4 mg/kg, i.v.) produced noticeable bradycardiac and negative inotropic responses in anesthetized guinea pigs and rabbits, the responses to HCHO were far less in isolated guinea pig auricles and perfused hearts (Langend...

Eight species of Scytodes Latreille, 1804 are newly described: Scytodes iara sp. nov. and S. caure sp. nov. from Amazonas; S. mapinguari sp. nov. from Amazonas and Roraima; S. curupira sp. nov. from Amazonas and Rondônia; S. saci sp. nov. from Roraima; and S. jurupari sp. nov., S. tinkuan sp. nov. and S. caipora sp. nov. from Acre. In addition, the female of S. altamira Rheims & Brescovit, 2000...

To program a goal-directed orienting response toward a sound source embedded in an acoustic scene, the audiomotor system should detect and select the target against a background. Here, we focus on whether the system can segregate synchronous sounds in the midsagittal plane (elevation), a task requiring the auditory system to dissociate the pinna-induced spectral localization cues. Human listene...

The effect of the intravenous administration of procaine amide in 25 patients with supraventricular arrhythmias is reported. The data, including six conversions of auricular fibrillation, indicate a pronounced effect of this drug on the auricles as well as on the heart as a whole. Special attention is directed to the finding of frequent and undesirable electrocardiographic and hypotensive effec...

Coastal degradation and habitat disruption are severely compromising sessile marine species. The fan shell Pinna nobilis is an endemic, vulnerable species and the largest bivalve in the Mediterranean basin. In spite of species legal protection, fan shell populations are declining. Models analyzed the contributions of environmental (mean depth, wave height, maximum wave height, period of waves w...

Flutter of the auricles may be associated with either a regular or an irregular ventricular rate. The former occurs as a rule in the untreated patient, the latter as a result of digitalis therapy. An attempt was made to explain the irregular ventricular response in auricular flutter as a result of a conduction disturbance similar to that seen in sinus rhythm with second degree A-V block charact...

Most basidiomycete fungi actively eject their spores. The process begins with the condensation of a water droplet at the base of the spore. The fusion of the droplet onto the spore creates a momentum that propels the spore forward. The use of surface tension for spore ejection offers a new paradigm to perform work at small length scales. However, this mechanism of force generation remains poorl...

From March 2008 through February 2014, 80 patients aged 1-95 years (43 men and 37 women) were diagnosed with tinea faciei by a rural Japanese clinic. The affected sites were the cheek in 42 patients (52.5%), the auricles and area surrounding the auricles in 16 (20.0%), and the mandible in 12 (15.0%); 33 patients (41.2%) had concurrent ringworm in areas other than the face. Twenty-one patients (...