RNA-Seq reveals large quantitative differences between the transcriptomes of outbreak and non-outbreak locusts

Outbreaks of locust populations repeatedly devastate economies and ecosystems in large parts of the world. The consequent behavioural shift from solitarious to gregarious and the concomitant changes in the locusts’ biology are of relevant scientific interest. Yet, research on the main locust species has not benefitted from recent advances in genomics. In this first RNA-Seq study on Schistocerca gregaria, we report two transcriptomes, including many novel genes, as well as differential gene expression results. In line with the large biological differences between solitarious and gregarious locusts, almost half of the transcripts are differentially expressed between their central nervous systems. Most of these transcripts are over-expressed in the gregarious locusts, suggesting positive correlations between the levels of activity at the population, individual, tissue and gene expression levels. We group these differentially expressed transcripts by gene function and highlight those that are most likely to be associated with locusts’ phase change either in a species-specific or general manner. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of population-level and physiological events leading to gregariousness.M. Bakkali wishes to thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología for the for the Ramón y Cajal fellowship and for the BFU2010-16438 grant that supported both this research and the FPI studentship to Rubén Martín Blázquez. We thank Mrs. Pernille Lavgesen for revision of the English language writing of this manuscript. We also thank the editor for the valuable comments on the manuscript

Estimación de los parámetros de operación de un motor de inducción con mínimos recursos de medición; Estimation of Motor Operation Parameters with Minimal Measurement Resources

En el trabajo se muestra un procedimiento simple para estimar, con m&iacute;nimos recursos de medici&oacute;n, los par&aacute;metros deoperaci&oacute;n de un motor de inducci&oacute;n con carga arbitraria. El m&eacute;todo propuesto mezcla la estimaci&oacute;n del circuitoequivalente del motor mediante datos del fabricante con mediciones de voltaje y corriente que son perfectamenterealizables en la industria con instrumentos tan asequibles como un amper&iacute;metro de gancho. Con la ayuda delMatlab 6.5, se ha desarrollado un programa que implementa pr&aacute;cticamente el m&eacute;todo desarrollado y ha permitidocomprobarlo en casos pr&aacute;cticos. El m&eacute;todo presentado consigue estimaciones m&aacute;s precisas que las que se ofrecenen sistemas computacionales que se emplean internacionalmente.&nbsp;&nbsp;The presented paper shows a simple procedure for the estimation of the operation parameters of inductionmotors with arbitrary load. The proposed method combine the equivalent circuit estimation by manufacturerdata, as well as voltage and current measurements obtained with hook-on instruments. Using Matlab 6.5 apractical implementation of this method was obtained and it has served to proof several practical cases. Thepresented procedure is more accurate than other methods offered by commercial software</p

Outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157

behalf of the Outbreak Control Team Research articles Monitoring West Nile virus (WNV) infection in wild birds in Serbia during 2012: first isolation and characterisation of WNV strains from Serbia