Effects of human-related disturbance on breeding success of urban and non-urban blue tits (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cyanistes caeruleus</Emphasis>)

There is a need to study the effects of urbanization on wildlife in order to understand the ecological implications of increasing urbanization and find out how to reduce its threats to biodiversity. The blue tit evolved as a forest species and prefers deciduous and mixed forests, whereas its nesting in urban habitats is a more recent phenomenon. Our long-term study of blue tit populations has been conducted in two habitats: an urban parkland (frequently visited by people) and a deciduous forest outside of the city. Using linear mixed modeling, we revealed that a relationship of blue tit breeding success (and the number of fledglings) with thermal conditions in May differed between the urban parkland and the forest. While the relationship was positive in the forest, it was negative in the parkland. In addition, breeding success in the parkland increased with increasing number of rainy days in May. We argue that the main possible reason for such patterns is human activity in the parkland, which interferes with tit parental care, especially the regular feeding of nestlings, whereas it is evidently associated with weather conditions. Human disturbance in the forest is likely to be negligible.     

Some methods for constructing C-designs

Block designs having a property described by Caliński (1971) and Saha (1976), referred to as C-property, are further considered. A necessary and sufficient condition for a block design to have the C-property is given by Saha (1976) and another by Ceranka and Koz?owska (1983). In this paper some methods for constructing such block designs are presented.     

Circadian rhythm of hot flashes and activity levels among prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy

Abstract

Background: Modifiable risk factors contribute to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and erectile dysfunction (ED). We aimed to compare the knowledge about the contribution of modifiable risk factors to the pathogenesis of CVD and ED. The impact of patients’ having modifiable risk factors on the awareness of their negative influence on the development of CVD and ED was examined.

Methods: To this multicenter cohort study, we included 417 patients with CHD who had been hospitalized in the cardiology or cardiac surgery department during the previous six weeks and underwent cardiac rehabilitation in one of the five centers. Knowledge about modifiable risk factors was collected. ED was assessed by an abridged IIEF-5 questionnaire. Comparisons between groups were conducted using the Student’s t-test, Mann–Whitney U test, and Kruskal–Wallis test. Relationships were analyzed with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

Results: The mean number of correctly identified risk factors for CVD was significantly higher than those for ED (3.71?±?1.87 vs. 2.00?±?1.94; p?<?.0001). Smoking was the most recognized risk factor both for CVD and ED. Dyslipidemia was least frequently identified as a risk factor for CVD. Sedentary lifestyle was the only risk factor whose incidence did not affect the level of patient knowledge.

Conclusions: Cardiac patients with ED know more about risk factors for CVD than ED. It is necessary to include information about the negative impact of modifiable risk factors on sexual health into education programs promoting healthy lifestyles in men with cardiovascular diseases.     

Relationship between vitamin D receptor BsmI and FokI polymorphisms and anthropometric and biochemical parameters describing metabolic syndrome

Introduction.?It was found that vitamin D may have a direct effect on adipocyte differentiation and metabolism and might be involved in the glucose regulation of insulin secretion, as suggested from the discovery of a nuclear localization of 1,25-(OH)₂D₃ in pancreatic islets. In recent years, several polymorphisms in the VDR gene which are able to alter the activity of VDR protein have been described. The BsmI and FokI polymorphisms were described in relation to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The aim of the study was to find whether there are associations between BsmI and FokI polymorphisms and anthropometric (BMI, WHR, BP) and biochemical parameters describing metabolic syndrome.

Materials and methods.?Studied were 176 randomly selected men aged 25–65 years (mean: 51.99 years) with a mean BMI of 28.06 kg/m². Two polymorphisms of the VDR gene (FokI and BsmI) were explored using the PCR-RFLP method. Serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, and TG were measured using commercially available kits.

Results.?It was found that BB carriers tend to have higher BMI (29.00 ± 3.74 versus 26.81 ± 3.76, p = 0.024) and waist circumference (101.79 ± 10.59 versus 96.23 ± 10.35, p = 0.014) compared with the bb genotypes. Similarly, FF and Ff carriers had higher fasting insulin levels than the ff genotypes (12.30 ± 10.26 versus 9.76 ± 5.88, p = 0.001 and 9.76 ± 5.88 vs. 6.35 ± 2.64, p = 0.008), and lover cHDL levels in comparison to ff genotypes (52.28 ± 10.02 versus 60.63 ± 16.58, p = 0.015 and 53.70 ± 12.03 versus 60.63 ± 16.58, p = 0.032. Besides these, no significant differences were found.

Conclusions.?The BsmI VDR polymorphism seems to influence BMI, while the FokI VDR polymorphism appears to affect insulin sensitivity and serum cHDL level.     

The Downfall of Gomułka

Marina Tsvetaeva’s 1934 “Chërt” (The Devil) forms a central part of the cycle of autobiographical prose she wrote in emigration. This article assembles clues to the hidden origins of the Devil she describes in prose about her grandfathers, some of it censored in pre-1990 editions of her works. Tsvetaeva’s Devil is not simply metaphysical: it has the unusual appearance of a Great Dane. Though she goes on to trace its appearances in the literature and culture of her childhood, some of its physical features (eyes, nose, colour and posture) link it with other people in her life. The vivid details of the Devil suggest relationships, though peculiarly mediated ones, to members of her own family, especially her maternal grandfather, Aleksandr Danilovich Mein. The poet describes herself using Pushkin’s poem “Utoplennik” to camouflage her own sense of self from her mother. Much of the rest of “The Devil” describes her recognition of the Devil in varying symbolic or even phonetic guises, tracing how the poet stayed faithful to him even after he ceased to appear visibly, how she found and read his symbols in surrounding reality—e.g., card games, toys, rituals for finding lost objects—and in unexpected, otherwise respectable, parts of society, including her own grandfather. As always, Tsvetaeva creates a story that affirms her identity as a poet and illustrates the work she had to do to achieve that identity.     

Goodness-of-fit testing for the marginal distribution of regime-switching models with an application to electricity spot prices

This paper complements a recently published study (Janczura and Weron in AStA-Adv Stat Anal 96(3):385–407, 2012) on efficient estimation of Markov regime-switching models. Here, we propose a new goodness-of-fit testing scheme for the marginal distribution of such models. We consider models with an observable (like threshold autoregressions) as well as a latent state process (like Markov regime-switching). The test is based on the Kolmogorov–Smirnov supremum-distance statistic and the concept of the weighted empirical distribution function. The motivation for this research comes from a recent stream of literature in energy economics concerning electricity spot price models. While the existence of distinct regimes in such data is generally unquestionable (due to the supply stack structure), the actual goodness-of-fit of the models requires statistical validation. We illustrate the proposed scheme by testing whether commonly used Markov regime-switching models fit deseasonalized electricity prices from the NEPOOL (US) day-ahead market.     

Block–Savits Characterization and Star Ordering of Exponential Mixtures

Block and Savits (1980 Block , H. W. , Savits , T. H. ( 1980 ). Laplace transforms for classes of life distributions . Ann. Probab. 8 : 465 – 474 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) established a characterization of life distributions using the Laplace transform. In this article, we remark that one of the necessary conditions to be IFRA distribution is equivalent to the star ordering of exponential mixtures. It leads to the definition of two new classes of life distributions, called LIFR and LIFRA, and their dual classes: LDFR and LDFRA. It occurs that these classes have many useful aging properties and preserve known reliability operations. Properties of the classes are studied and relations with known classes are established.     

Bayesian Estimation for Deformed Modified Power Series Distribution

In this article, posterior distribution, posterior moments, and predictive distribution for the modified power series distributions deformed at any of a support point under linex and generalized entropy loss function are derived. It is assumed that the prior information can be summarized by a uniform, Beta, two-sided power, Gamma, or generalized Pareto distributions. The obtained results are demonstrated on the generalized Poisson and the generalized negative binomial distribution deformed at a given point.     

Data-Driven Tests for Trend

This article proposes a new nonparametric test for the ordered alternatives problem in the k-sample setting for null hypothesis of lack of trend. This article further elaborates upon and extends the results of Ledwina and Wy?upek (2012a Ledwina , T. , Wy?upek , G. ( 2012a ). Two-sample test against one-sided alternatives . Scand. J. Statist. 39 : 358 – 381 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) obtained for k = 2. Simulations show that the new test has high and stable power and is able to control the Type I error to satisfactory extent, thus solving the problem posed in Terpstra and Magel (2003 Terpstra , J. T. , Magel , R. C. ( 2003 ). A new nonparametric test for the ordered alternative problem . J. Nonparametr. Statist. 15 : 289 – 301 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Our theoretical results say that asymptotic errors of both kinds do not exceed significance level, thus implying that the test is asymptotically unbiased.