BACKGROUND Human tissue valves for aortic valve replacement have a limited durability that is influenced by interrelated determinants. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the relation between these determinants of durability and valve regurgitation measured by serial echocardiography. METHODS AND RESULTS In adult patients, 218 cryopreserved aortic allografts were implanted with t...

The variation in fine root traits in terms of size inequality at the individual root level can be identified as a strategy for adapting to the drastic changes in soil water and nutrient availabilities. The Gini and Lorenz asymmetry coefficients have been applied to describe the overall degree of size inequality, which, however, are neglected when conventional statistical means are calculated. H...

Tuberose is one of the most important aromatic cut flower among ornamental plants that its growth and quality is influenced by the type and percentage of mineral compounds in the substrate. This study was carried out on the basis of a randomized complete design to explore the impact of feldspar, talc, dolomite and tuff minerals at the rate of 10, 20 and 40% incorporated with garden soil and man...

Morphological plasticity of ectomycorrhizal (EcM) short roots (known also as first and second order roots with primary development) allows trees to adjust their water and nutrient uptake to local environmental conditions. The morphological traits (MTs) of short-living EcM roots, such as specific root length (SRL) and area, root tip frequency per mass unit (RTF), root tissue density, as well as ...

Water deficit is a major yield-limiting factor for many crops, and improving the root system has been proposed as a promising breeding strategy, although not in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). The present work was carried out mainly to assess how root traits are influenced under water stress in groundnut, whether transgenics can alter root traits, and whether putative changes lead to water ext...

In [7], Tits classified spherical buildings of rank at least three. In the addenda of [7], he introduced the Moufang property for buildings and observed that with only the results of Chapter 4 of [7] one could show that an irreducible spherical building of rank at least three and all of its irreducible residues of rank at least two must satisfy the Moufang property. Tits and the author have rec...