scholarly journals Flower structure and development in Vietnamese Sciaphila (Triuridaceae: Pandanales): refined knowledge of the morphological misfit family and implications for taxonomy

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10205
Author(s):  
Maxim S. Nuraliev ◽  
Margarita V. Remizowa ◽  
Dmitry D. Sokoloff

The monocot family Triuridaceae is a morphological misfit with respect to several traits of floral morphology, including the uniformly apocarpous polymerous gynoecium and the famous inside-out flowers of Lacandonia. Although Triuridaceae are crucially important for understanding the floral evolution of Pandanales and angiosperms in general, significant knowledge gaps exist which hamper adequate morphological analysis of flowers in this family. The scarcity of morphological data is also reflected in numerous taxonomic inconsistencies. Here we provide a comprehensive study of reproductive organs of four species of Sciaphila occurring in Vietnam (S. arfakiana, S. densiflora, S. nana and S. stellata) including the first investigation of early floral development and gynoecium phyllotaxis. Our observations are mainly based on SEM images. We confirm the perianth (studied in male flowers) to be two-whorled and report a rare sequence of initiation of perianth parts: the outer tepals show a late congenital fusion, as their free lobes appear before the common perianth tube, whereas the inner tepals show an early congenital fusion, with their free lobes initiating on the tube rim. We interpret the stamen appendages as basal adaxial outgrowths of the stamen filaments. We discuss the number of thecae and locules in anthers of Sciaphila, and conclude that 3- and 4-, but not 2-locular anthers are characteristic of this genus. We describe the carpels as consisting of both ascidiate and plicate zones, the former being extremely short and completely obscured by anthesis. The single ovule is attached in the cross-zone. The style is non-plicate. We analyze gynoecium phyllotaxis by estimating its contact parastichies, and by investigating the number and arrangement of the outermost carpels. The carpel arrangement in a given gynoecium is a result of the balance between whorled and irregular (but not spiral) phyllotaxis. We recognize the following figures of gynoecium merism: 6, 9, 10, 10.5, 11 and 12, with the prevalence of those divisible by three. We discuss our results in the light of general diversity of floral structure of monocots. Our data allow to clarify several issues in taxonomy of Asian Sciaphila and indicate directions of further studies. We report a significant range extension for S. densiflora, which is newly recorded for the flora of Vietnam. We describe for the first time staminodes in female flowers of this species. We reveal two distinct morphs of S. nana in Vietnam. We highlight the need of a thorough revision of S. secundiflora species complex in order to verify the species boundaries and, in particular, to test the identity of the Vietnamese S. stellata.

Kavkazologiya ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 194-207
Author(s):  
L.B. KHAVZHOKOVA ◽  

The article presents an overview study of the process of the origin and formation of the Adyghe (Kabardian, Circassian, Adygheyan) literatures, covering the period of the 19th – first half of the 20th century. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to clarify some points in the history of national literary literature, concerning the specifics of its formation, differentiation, periodization, etc. Here, for the first time, a comprehensive study of the common Adyghe literary process is carried out with an emphasis on the peculiarities of the development of the literatures of the Adyghe sub-ethnic groups. The purpose of the study is to recreate a holistic objective picture of the formation and primary development of the literature of an ethnic group. It is achieved by solving a set of tasks, including: defining the ideological and thematic orientation, studying the genre and style paradigm, identifying the specifics of the poetics of the Adygeyan literature of the period under consideration. A number of general scientific methods were involved in the study (generalization, analysis, synthesis, description). The results obtained can become a theoretical aid in the further study of the Kabardian, Circassian, Adygheyan literature. They can find practical application in the preparation of special courses, writing various kinds of research papers.


1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula J. Rudall ◽  
Dennis W. Stevenson ◽  
H. Peter Linder

Floral anatomy and some aspects of leaf and root anatomy of Hanguana are described for the first time and reviewed with respect to its systematic position in monocotyledons. Several characters support its placement in the commelinoid clade, including cell wall ferulates, silica bodies and tetracytic stomata with non-oblique cell divisions. Analysis of morphological data indicates that Hanguana is the sister taxon to Zingiberales. Characters supporting this association include spinulate inaperturate pollen, plasmodial tapetum type, mucilage-secreting intra-ovarian trichomes and modified septal nectaries. Gynoecial nectaries were present in male flowers (probably modified septal nectaries, as in some Zingiberales) and staminodial nectaries in female flowers examined.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-86
Author(s):  
Cuong The Pham ◽  
Minh Duc Le ◽  
Chung Van Hoang ◽  
Anh Van Pham ◽  
Thomas Ziegler ◽  
...  

We record two species of amphibians for the first time from Vietnam: Bufo luchunnicus from Lao Cai and Son La provinces and Amolops wenshanensis from Quang Ninh Province. Morphologically, the Vietnamese representatives of B. luchunnicus resemble the type series from China. The specimen of A. wenshanensis from Vietnam slightly differs from the type series from China by having a smaller size (SVL 33.2 mm vs. 35.7 – 39.9 mm in males) and the presence of distinct transverse bands on the dorsal surfaces of limbs. Genetic divergence between the sequence of the Vietnamese specimen and those of A. wenshanensis from China available from GenBank is 1.2 – 1.6% (ND2 gene). In addition, morphological data and natural history notes of aforementioned species are provided from Vietnam.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
E. A. Dolmatov ◽  
R. B. Borzayev ◽  
A. N. Shaipov

The results of the study of the duration of the juvenile period of indigenous Chechen willow leaf pear genotypes (Pyrus salicifolia Pall.) are given in connection with the acceleration of the breeding process and the use of selected forms in pear breeding for high precocity. The studies were carried out in 2016-2019 at OOO “Orchards of Chechnya” in accordance with the Agreement on creative cooperation with the Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding. The work was carried out in accordance with generally accepted programs and methods. The objects of the study were one-year and two-year-old pear seedlings obtained from sowing seeds of selected dwarf and low-growing local Chechen forms of willow pear (P. salicifolia Pall.), laying fruit buds on annual growths and seedlings of Caucasian pear (P. caucasica Fed.), 20 500 pcs. of each specie. The aim of the research was to study the potential of precocity of willow pear seedlings and to reveal of selected forms with the greatest degree of this trait. Stratified seeds were sown in the sowing department of the OOO “Orchards of Chechnya” production nursery in April, 2017. The seedlings were grown according to the common technology in dryland conditions on the plot with chestnut soil. The first fl owering of plants was noted in the spring, 2019. As a result of the research, for the first time on a large number of the experimental material it was found that in the off spring of the indigenous Chechen willow leaf pear genotypes, the selection of a little more than 2% of seedlings with a very short juvenile period (2 years) was possible. They are of great interest in accelerating the breeding process and in the selection of new pear varieties with high precocity. 20 willow leaf pear genotypes were selected for the further use in breeding for high precocity and as sources of the trait of short juvenile period.


2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-8
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Carmichael

Some of the receptors on the surface of cardiac muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) mediate the response of these cells to catecholamines by causing the production of the common second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). An example of such receptors are the β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors (βARs) that are heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptors. Selective stimulation of these two receptor subtypes leads to distinct physiological and pathophysiological responses, but their precise location on the surface of cardiomyocytes has not been correlated with these responses. In an ingenious combination of techniques, Viacheslav Nikolaev, Alexey Moshkov, Alexander Lyon, Michele Miragoli, Pavel Novak, Helen Paur, Martin Lohse, Yuri Korchev, Sian Harding, and Julia Gorelik have mapped the function of these receptors for the first time.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Fisher

This article makes the case that Vīraśaivism emerged in direct textual continuity with the tantric traditions of the Śaiva Age. In academic practice up through the present day, the study of Śaivism, through Sanskrit sources, and bhakti Hinduism, through the vernacular, are generally treated as distinct disciplines and objects of study. As a result, Vīraśaivism has yet to be systematically approached through a philological analysis of its precursors from earlier Śaiva traditions. With this aim in mind, I begin by documenting for the first time that a thirteenth-century Sanskrit work of what I have called the Vīramāheśvara textual corpus, the Somanāthabhāṣya or Vīramāheśvarācārasāroddhārabhāṣya, was most likely authored by Pālkurikĕ Somanātha, best known for his vernacular Telugu Vīraśaiva literature. Second, I outline the indebtedness of the early Sanskrit and Telugu Vīramāheśvara corpus to a popular work of early lay Śaivism, the Śivadharmaśāstra, with particular attention to the concepts of the jaṅgama and the iṣṭaliṅga. That the Vīramāheśvaras borrowed many of their formative concepts and practices directly from the Śivadharmaśāstra and other works of the Śaiva Age, I argue, belies the common assumption that Vīraśaivism originated as a social and religious revolution.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evdoxia Efstathiadou ◽  
Georgia Ntatsi ◽  
Dimitrios Savvas ◽  
Anastasia P. Tampakaki

AbstractPhaseolus vulgaris (L.), commonly known as bean or common bean, is considered a promiscuous legume host since it forms nodules with diverse rhizobial species and symbiovars. Most of the common bean nodulating rhizobia are mainly affiliated to the genus Rhizobium, though strains belonging to Ensifer, Pararhizobium, Mesorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, and Burkholderia have also been reported. This is the first report on the characterization of bean-nodulating rhizobia at the species and symbiovar level in Greece. The goals of this research were to isolate and characterize rhizobia nodulating local common bean genotypes grown in five different edaphoclimatic regions of Greece with no rhizobial inoculation history. The genetic diversity of the rhizobial isolates was assessed by BOX-PCR and the phylogenetic affiliation was assessed by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of housekeeping and symbiosis-related genes. A total of fifty fast-growing rhizobial strains were isolated and representative isolates with distinct BOX-PCR fingerpriniting patterns were subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The strains were closely related to R. anhuiense, R. azibense, R. hidalgonense, R. sophoriradicis, and to a putative new genospecies which is provisionally named as Rhizobium sp. I. Most strains belonged to symbiovar phaseoli carrying the α-, γ-a and γ-b alleles of nodC gene, while some of them belonged to symbiovar gallicum. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that strains assigned to R. sophoriradicis and harbored the γ-b allele were found in European soils. All strains were able to re-nodulate their original host, indicating that they are true microsymbionts of common bean.


Author(s):  
Nooreddine Iskandar ◽  
Tatiana Rahbany ◽  
Ali Shokor

Abstract Background: Due to the common instability caused by political and security issues, Lebanese hospitals have experienced acts of terrorism multiple times. The most recent Beirut Explosion even forced several hospitals to cease operations for the first time in decades—but studies show the preparedness levels for such attacks in similar countries are low. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the experience of Lebanese hospitals with terrorist attacks. Methods: This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders to assess their experience with terrorist bombings. Data was analyzed using the thematic analysis method. Results: The researchers found that Lebanese hospitals vary greatly in their structures and procedures. Those differences are a function of 3 contextual factors: location, culture, and accreditation status. Hospitals found near ‘dangerous zones’ were more likely to be aware and to have better response to such events. A severe lack of communication, unity of command, and collaboration between stakeholders has made the process fragmented. Conclusion: The researchers recommend a larger role for the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) in this process, and the creation of a platform where Lebanese organizations can share their experiences to improve preparedness and resilience of the Lebanese healthcare system in the face of terrorism.


2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 1047-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina G Kuznetsova ◽  
Seppo Nokkala ◽  
Dmitri E Shcherbakov

For the first time, the karyotype is described in a representative of the order Zoraptera. Zorotypus hubbardi Caudell (Zorotypidae) have holokinetic chromosomes and male karotype of 2n = 38 (36 + neo-XY). Males possess two follicles in each testis and females have six panoistic ovarioles in each ovary. Oogenesis and, more closely, spermato genesis, including meiosis and sperm formation, have been studied. Based on the presence of panoistic ovaries and holokinetic chromosomes, Crampton's hypothesis that Zoraptera represent a group of Polyneoptera nearest to the origin of Paraneoptera is considered the most plausible.


Author(s):  
Nadezhda G. KANTYSHEVA ◽  
Inna V. Solovyova

This article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the structural and semantic features of dish names and their descriptions in German in the field of restaurant discourse. The study employs cognitive discourse analysis, elements of comparative and contextological approaches, taking into account linguocultural parameters. The relevance of the comprehensive study of the names of dishes in restaurant discourse is due to an increased interest in the parameterization of lexical units in different types of institutional discourse. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the fact that for the first time, within the framework of a restaurant menu, not only the nomination of a dish is considered, but also the structural and semantic characteristics of its description are analysed. An attempt is made to analyse a connection between the nominations of dishes and their description in the restaurant menu, as well as to determine the semantic dominants of the genre under study. It is concluded that the text of the menu as a whole presents a combination of the language for special purposes and the language of advertising. In interaction with extralinguistic factors, the nominations of dishes and their descriptions not only document the culture of food in society, but also reflect the ethnocultural picture of the world. Based on the analysis of the menu texts, it is established that structurally the names of dishes are complex words or phrases, built mainly according to the attributive model. The description of dishes performs the function of verbalizing the sensations of taste and clarifying the method of preparing dishes, characterizing the quality of dishes, their ingredients, and the intensity of taste. Evaluative parameters in descriptions are expressed at the lexical, grammatical, syntactic and stylistic levels.


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