A new genus, Desertispora, and a new species, Diversispora sabulosa, in the family Diversisporaceae (order Diversisporales, subphylum Glomeromycotina)

Phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the SSU-ITS-LSU nrDNA segment and the RPB1 gene showed that the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus originally described as Diversispora omaniana does not belong to the genus Diversispora, but represents a separate clade at the rank of genus in the family Diversisporaceae of the order Diversisporales. The closest natural relatives of the fungus proved to be species of the genera Corymbiglomus and Redeckera. Consequently, the new genus was named Desertispora, and Di. omaniana was renamed De. omaniana comb. nov. In addition, the morphological and histochemical features of spores and mycorrhizal structures of a new Diversispora sp., Di. sabulosa, were described and the closest relatives of the species were determined based on phylogenetic analyses of sequences of the two loci mentioned above. The new fungus was grown in single-species cultures established from spores extracted from a trap culture inoculated with a mixture of the rhizosphere soil and root fragments of Ammophila arenaria that had colonized maritime sand dunes of the Curonian Spit located in the north of Lithuania. Diversispora sabulosa was never found before in many different sites of the world which were sampled during the last 34 years by the last author of the paper. Also, the lack of molecular sequences in public databases of identity ≥ 97% to sequences of Di. sabulosa suggests that the fungus is rare on the Earth

Too big to handle, too important to abandon: Reforming Sudan's Gezira scheme

© 2020 The Authors Participatory irrigation management (PIM) has been broadly promoted by public administrators and donor organizations. The reasons for this push include performance failures of state-controlled irrigation schemes and the need to improve irrigation productivity for meeting rising food demands. A popular reform for increasing participation and ownership is represented by Irrigation Management Transfers (IMTs). IMTs mean replacing the government with the civil society (farmers) in irrigation management, and they go beyond working with the public sector as in PIM. These widely implemented reforms produced mixed experiences. Besides, the evaluation of IMT cases is reliant on scarce quantitative data. IMTs are also difficult to replicate due to methodological issues. However, qualitative research can engage with stakeholders’ perceptions and narratives, especially the most relevant target group, namely farmers. We provide in this study stakeholders’ opinions and attitudes towards several waves of IMT reforms in the Gezira scheme in Sudan. This mega-scheme is of high developmental and socio-cultural importance for the country ever since the independence from the British Empire. Using a perception survey and in-depth interviews with key informants, we illustrate the failure legacies to reform the Gezira scheme by enhancing farmers’ participation through Water User Associations (WUAs). While both farmers and experts have suggested a poor implementation, inadequate farmers’ involvement and unclear objectives of the reforms, the reforms’ recurrent failures are explained within complex historic and political contexts. There are long-standing legacies of development missteps of the Gezira scheme, with no clear and ultimate triggers of performance deterioration. Besides, splits in professional cultures, power imbalances, political instrumentalization (of farmers) and the lack of farmers’ awareness or capacities are salient factors for understanding the poor state of the Gezira scheme. It is difficult for stand-alone irrigation management reforms to be successful. Such reforms need to be embedded within a comprehensive policy package that prioritizes irrigation governance and proposes sound regulations based on clear roles, consensus-making and prior consultation

The adherent/invasive escherichia coli (AIEC) strain LF82 invades and persists in human prostate cell lineRWPE-1 activating a strong inflammatory response

Adherent/invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) strains have recently been receiving increased attention because they are more prevalent and persistent in the intestine of Crohn's disease (CD) patients than in healthy subjects. Since AIEC strains show a high percentage of similarity to extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), neonatal meningitis-associated E. coli (NMEC), and uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) strains, here we compared AIEC strain LF82 with a UPEC isolate (strain EC73) to assess whether LF82 would be able to infect prostate cells as an extraintestinal target. The virulence phenotypes of both strains were determined by using the RWPE-1 prostate cell line. The results obtained indicated that LF82 and EC73 are able to adhere to, invade, and survive within prostate epithelial cells. Invasion was confirmed by immunofluorescence and electron microscopy. Moreover, cytochalasin D and colchicine strongly inhibited bacterial uptake of both strains, indicating the involvement of actin microfilaments and microtubules in host cell invasion. Moreover, both strains belong to phylogenetic group B2 and are strong biofilm producers. In silico analysis reveals that LF82 shares with UPEC strains several virulence factors: namely, type 1 pili, the group II capsule, the vacuolating autotransporter toxin, four iron uptake systems, and the pathogenic island (PAI). Furthermore, compared to EC73, LF82 induces in RWPE-1 cells a marked increase of phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and of NF-κB already by 5 min postinfection, thus inducing a strong inflammatory response. Our in vitro data support the hypothesis that AIEC strains might play a role in prostatitis, and, by exploiting host-cell signaling pathways controlling the innate immune response, likely facilitate bacterial multiplication and dissemination within the male genitourinary trac

Terahertz Faraday rotation in a magnetic liquid: High magneto-optical figure of merit and broadband operation in a ferrofluid

We report on the demonstration of a high figure of merit (FOM) Faraday rotation in a liquid in the terahertz (THz) regime. Using a ferrofluid, a high broadband rotation (11 mrad/mm) is experimentally demonstrated in the frequency range of 0.2–0.9 THz at room temperature. Given the low absorption of the liquid, a high magneto-optical figure of merit (5-16 rad.cm/T) is obtained

Investigating EAST: A Scotland-Gaza English for Academic Study Telecollaboration between SET Students

How can technology be best-harnessed to innovate pedagogical approaches to curriculum design and delivery in order to enhance university students’ learning experience? This article looks at this question from the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) perspective and reports on a number of technology-enabled interventions to the design and teaching methods used on a Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) pre-sessional course. Every summer the University of Glasgow (UK) runs an intensive ESP course for incoming international postgraduate students wanting to study SET-related disciplines. In previous years, in order to progress onto their Master’s or PhD programmes, the students had to produce a written assignment and an oral presentation which investigates an engineering problem of their choosing and a range of solutions. In August 2015 an online collaboration with a partner university in Palestine was piloted, which allowed several significant developments. During the project, 20 Palestinian students and 37 UK-based students, divided into small groups, worked together on authentic and highly contextualised SET-related scenarios from the Gaza Strip, devised by the Palestinian students. Their role was to act as critical friends, and provide content-oriented comments throughout the project, which they had been trained in on an intensive online preparatory course in constructive feedback. Based on the guidance from their peer mentors, the students in the UK analysed and evaluated possible solutions. At the end of the project, they delivered presentations to the audience in Gaza via a videoconference link. The course was

English for Specific Academic Purposes Student Partnerships Across Borders

Students coming to the UK frequently join their chosen university via a pre-sessional English language course, but organisers of such courses often struggle to find staff on campus in the summer months to provide the necessary content input. This paper presents an attempt to overcome this shortfall, describing two parallel English for Specific Academic Purpose telecollaboration projects between universities in Scotland and Gaza, one involving Engineering, the other Biomedical students. We outline how the projects were organised, offer our findings, and provide a set of guidelines that may encourage similar cross-continent link-ups between universities