University of Bern

About: University of Bern is a education organization based out in Bern, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 35422 authors who have published 79413 publications receiving 3125088 citations. The organization is also known as: Bern University & UNIBE.

Ecological opportunity and sexual selection together predict adaptive radiation

Abstract: A fundamental challenge to our understanding of biodiversity is to explain why some groups of species undergo adaptive radiations, diversifying extensively into many and varied species, whereas others do not. Both extrinsic environmental factors (for example, resource availability, climate) and intrinsic lineage-specific traits (for example, behavioural or morphological traits, genetic architecture) influence diversification, but few studies have addressed how such factors interact. Radiations of cichlid fishes in the African Great Lakes provide some of the most dramatic cases of species diversification. However, most cichlid lineages in African lakes have not undergone adaptive radiations. Here we compile data on cichlid colonization and diversification in 46 African lakes, along with lake environmental features and information about the traits of colonizing cichlid lineages, to investigate why adaptive radiation does and does not occur. We find that extrinsic environmental factors related to ecological opportunity and intrinsic lineage-specific traits related to sexual selection both strongly influence whether cichlids radiate. Cichlids are more likely to radiate in deep lakes, in regions with more incident solar radiation and in lakes where there has been more time for diversification. Weak or negative associations between diversification and lake surface area indicate that cichlid speciation is not constrained by area, in contrast to diversification in many terrestrial taxa. Among the suite of intrinsic traits that we investigate, sexual dichromatism, a surrogate for the intensity of sexual selection, is consistently positively associated with diversification. Thus, for cichlids, it is the coincidence between ecological opportunity and sexual selection that best predicts whether adaptive radiation will occur. These findings suggest that adaptive radiation is predictable, but only when species traits and environmental factors are jointly considered.

Traits: Composable Units of Behavior

Abstract: Inheritance is the fundamental reuse mechanism in object-oriented programming languages; its most prominent variants are single inheritance, multiple inheritance, and mixin inheritance. In the first part of this paper, we identify and illustrate the conceptual and practical reusability problems that arise with these forms of inheritance. We then present a simple compositional model for structuring object-oriented programs, which we call traits. Traits are essentially groups of methods that serve as building blocks for classes and are primitive units of code reuse. In this model, classes are composed from a set of traits by specifying glue code that connects the traits together and accesses the necessary state. We demonstrate how traits overcome the problems arising with the different variants of inheritance, we discuss how traits can be implemented effectively, and we summarize our experience applying traits to refactor an existing class hierarchy.

ENETS Consensus Guidelines for High-Grade Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors and Neuroendocrine Carcinomas

Abstract: a Medical Oncology Department, Hospital Universitario Doce de Octubre, Madrid , Spain; b Department of Oncology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen , Norway; c Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif , and d Oncologie Médicale, Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris Nord Val de Seine, Paris , France; e Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin , Germany; f Department of Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna , Austria; g Department of Oncology, First Faculty of Medicine and General Teaching Hospital, Prague , Czech Republic; h Neuroendocrine Tumour Unit, Royal Free Hospital, London , UK; i Institut für Pathologie und Zytologie, St. Vincenz Krankenhaus, Limburg , Germany; j Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Warmia and Mazury, Olsztyn , Poland; k Neuroendocrine Tumour Unit, Royal Free Hospital, London , UK; l NET Centre, St. Vincent’s University and Department of Clinical Medicine, St. James Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin , Ireland; m Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern , Switzerland

Clonal spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius in Europe and North America: an international multicentre study

Abstract: gentamicin/kanamycin [aac(6 ′ )-Ie‐aph(2 ′ )-Ia] (88.3%), kanamycin [aph(3 ′ )-III] (90.3%), streptomycin [ant(6 ′ )Ia] (90.3%), streptothricin (sat4) (90.3%), macrolides and/or lincosamides [erm(B), lnu(A)] (89.3%), fluoroquinolones (87.4%), tetracycline [tet(M) and/or tet(K)] (69.9%), chloramphenicol (catpC221) (57.3%) and rifampicin (1.9%). Conclusions: Two major clonal MRSP lineages have disseminated in Europe (ST71-J-t02-II ‐III) and North America (ST68-C-t06-V). Regardless of their geographical or clonal origin, the isolates displayed resistance to the major classes of antibiotics used in veterinary medicine and thus infections caused by MRSP isolates represent a serious therapeutic challenge.

The impact of servicescape on quality perception

Abstract: Purpose – Although numerous articles emphasize the importance of the servicescape (the physical facilities of a service company), the effect of the servicescape on quality perception has been inadequately captured by previous empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the servicescape on perceived quality in a more comprehensive way.Design/methodology/approach – The article proposes a new model for assessing the effects of the servicescape on quality perception based on SERVQUAL. The model considers the special role of the servicescape (or what is called “tangibles” in SERVQUAL) by taking into account that the servicescape elements act as search qualities, while the other SERVQUAL dimensions represent experience or credence qualities. In doing so, the model captures direct and indirect influences of the servicescape. Additionally, a more comprehensive scale for the servicescape is suggested, which exceeds the mostly tangible aspects of the physical environment covered in the...