Females vary in the size of offspring that they produce, often in a manner that depends on maternal age or stage. This is puzzling, given that offspring size is predicted to evolve to a single optimal value where the gain in fitness from being larger exactly offsets the fitness lost to the mother by producing fewer offspring. We used a stage-structured life-history model to determine the optima...

Second-stage larvae of Meloidodera floridensis kept in tap water developed without feeding into small, slender males. They completed three molts, and the molted cuticles remained superimposed. All organ systems were well developed in third- and fourth-stage male larvae. Structures in the head region such as cephalic framework, styler and esophagus were smaller and differed morphologically from ...

Xanthine oxidase plays crucial roles in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and uric acid in blood which may lead to gout, one of the oldest known forms of arthritis amongst humans. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) a medicinal/spice exhibits antioxidant activity, but unknown effects on xanthine oxidase activity. Here, for the first time, we examined the effects of S. hortensis...

Experiment was conducted as split plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Kermanshah to shed lights on economic analysis of deficit irrigation and integrated application of biological and chemical fertilizer son cultivation of medicinal plant Borage (Borago officinalis L). Irrigation tritments include: a) 30% less water than crop requires invegetative, b) inreprodu...

BACKGROUND Miscarriage is a common event but is remarkably difficult to measure in epidemiological studies. Few large-scale population-based studies have been conducted in the UK. METHODS This was a population-based two-stage postal survey of reproductive histories of adult women living in the United Kingdom in 2001, sampled from the electronic electoral roll. In Stage 1 a short "screening" q...

Drought is the major abiotic stress to rice grain yield under unpredictable changing climatic scenarios. The widely grown, high yielding but drought susceptible rice varieties need to be improved by unraveling the genomic regions controlling traits enhancing drought tolerance. The present study was conducted with the aim to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for grain yield and root develo...

Members of some social insects adjust their behaviours depending upon social context. Such plasticity allows colonies to sustain efficiency of the whole without the cost of additional production of individuals or delayed responses to perturbations. Using the recently discovered social clonal stage of trematode parasites, we investigated whether members of the reproductive caste adjust their def...

Early in the process of speciation, reproductive failures occur in hybrid animals between genetically diverged populations. The sterile hybrid animals are often males in mammals and they exhibit spermatogenic disruptions, resulting in decreased number and/or malformation of mature sperms. Despite the generality of this phenomenon, comparative study of phenotypes in hybrid males from various cro...