Plantulae are always absent in extant ants, and the arolium is often reduced in size, and sometimes vestigial. The arolium contains resilin in both examined species. Additionally, resilin enriched regions are also present in the antenna cleaners of both species, although they differ in which of the involved structures is more flexible, the calcar in Sceliphron and the basitarsal comb in Formica. Functionally, the hymenopteran distal leg combines (a) interlocking mechanisms (claws, spine-like setae) and (b) adhesion mechanisms (plantulae, arolium). On rough substrate, claws and spine-like setae interlock with asperities and secure a firm grip, whereas the unfolding arolium generates adhesive contact on smooth surfaces. Differences of the folded arolium of Sceliphron and Formica probably correlate with differences in the mechanism of folding/unfolding. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Morphology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology of the thyroid gland has been widely used for the evaluation of thyroid nodules. Most of the nodules are primary thyroid lesions. However, up to 4% of thyroid FNA may harbor a metastatic neoplasm. The metastases are most commonly from lung, kidney, breast, and skin. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/acetosyringone.html Metastatic colorectal cancers are also seen in thyroid but less common. Here we report the cytologic features, differential diagnosis and clinical implications of a metastatic rectal adenocarcinoma to the thyroid gland diagnosed by FNA. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The use of a lithium metal anode still presents a challenging chemistry and engineering problem that holds back next generation lithium battery technology. One of the issues facing lithium metal is the presence of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer that forms on the electrode creating a variety of chemical species that change the properties of the electrode and is closely related to the formation and growth of lithium dendrites. In order to advance the scientific progress of lithium metal more must be understood about the fundamentals of the SEI. One property of the SEI that is particularly critical is the passivating behavior of the different SEI components. This property is critical to the continued formation of SEI and stability of the electrolyte and electrode. Here we report the investigation of the passivation behavior of Li 2 O, Li 2 CO 3, LiF and LiOH with the lithium salt LiFSI. We used large computational chemistry models that are able to capture the lithium/SEI interface as well as the SEI/electrolyte interface. We determined that LiF and Li 2 CO 3 are the most passivating of the SEI layers, followed by LiOH and Li 2 O. These results match previous studies of other Li salts and provide further examination of LiFSI reduction. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.Forests exhibit leaf and ecosystem level responses to environmental changes. Specifically, rising carbon dioxide (CO2 ) levels over the past century are expected to have increased the intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) of tropical trees while the ecosystem is gradually pushed into progressive nutrient limitation. Due to the long-term character of these changes, however, observational datasets to validate both paradigms are limited in space and time. In this study, we used a unique herbarium record to go back nearly a century and show that despite the rise in CO2 concentrations, iWUE has decreased in central African tropical trees in the Congo basin. Although we find evidence that points to leaf-level adaptation to increasing CO2 - i.e. increasing photosynthesis-related nutrients and decreasing maximum stomatal conductance, a decrease in leaf δ13 C clearly indicates a decreasing iWUE over time. Additionally, the stoichiometric carbon to nitrogen and nitrogen to phosphorus ratios in the leaves show no sign of progressive nutrient limitation as they have remained constant since 1938, which suggests that nutrients have not increasingly limited productivity in this biome. Altogether, the data suggest that other environmental factors, such as increasing temperature, might have negatively affected net photosynthesis and consequently downregulated the iWUE. Results from this study reveal that the second largest tropical forest on Earth has responded differently to recent environmental changes than expected, highlighting the need for further on-ground monitoring in the Congo Basin. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.The prevalence of concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs in plasma of persons with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is variable and its clinical significance enigmatic. We examined the prevalence,clinical and virological features of concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs inchildren and adults with chronic HBV infection living in North America. A total of 1,462 HBsAg positive participants in the Hepatitis B Research Network pediatric and adult cohorts were included[median age 41 (range 4-80) years, 48% female, 11% white, 13% black, 73% Asians]. Only 18 (1.2%) were found to be anti-HBs positive (≥10 mIU/mL) at initial study evaluation.Distributions of sex, race, HBV genotype, and ALTwere similar between participants with and without concurrent anti-HBs. Those who were anti-HBs positive appeared to be older (median age 50 vs. 41 years,p=0.06), hadlower platelet counts (median 197 vs. 222 x 103/mm3 , p=0.07)and higher prevalence of HBeAg (44% vs. 26%, p=0.10). They also had lower HBsAg levels (median 2.0 vs. 3.5 log10 IU/mL, p=0.02).Testing of follow-up samples after a median of 4 years (range 1-6)in 12 of the 18 participants with initial concurrent anti-HBsshowed anti-HBs became undetectable in 6, decreased to less then 10 mIU/mL in 1and remained positive in 5 participants.Two patients lost HBsAg during follow-up. In conclusion, prevalenceof concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs was low at 1.2%,with anti-HBs disappearing in some during follow-up, in this large cohort of racially diverse children and adults with chronic HBV infection living in North America. Presence of concurrent HBsAg and anti-HBs did not identify a specific phenotype of chronic hepatitis B, nor did it appear to affect clinical outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.