Draft Genome Sequence of a Cardiobacterium hominis Strain Isolated from Blood Cultures of a Patient with Infective Endocarditis.

Cardiobacterium hominis is a well-known commensal bacterium of the oral cavity and an agent of infective endocarditis in humans. Here, we provide a draft genome sequence of a pathogenic strain isolated from blood cultures of a patient with infectious endocarditis

Chlamydia pneumoniae: possible association with asthma in children.

Chlamydia pneumoniae: possible association with asthma in childre

Improved timber harvest techniques maintain biodiversity in tropical forests

Tropical forests are selectively logged at 20 times the rate at which they are cleared, and at least a fifth have already been disturbed in this way. In a recent pan-tropical assessment, Burivalova et al. demonstrate the importance of logging intensity as a driver of biodiversity decline in timber estates. Their analyses reveal that species richness of some taxa could decline by 50% at harvest intensities of 38 m3 ha-1. However, they did not consider the extraction techniques that lead to these intensities. Here, we conduct a complementary meta-analysis of assemblage responses to differing logging practices: conventional logging and reduced-impact logging. We show that biodiversity impacts are markedly less severe in forests that utilise reduced-impact logging, compared to those using conventional methods. While supporting the initial findings of Burivalova et al., we go on to demonstrate that best practice forestry techniques curtail the effects of timber extraction regardless of intensity. Therefore, harvest intensities are not always indicative of actual disturbance levels resulting from logging. Accordingly, forest managers and conservationists should advocate practices that offer reduced collateral damage through best practice extraction methods, such as those used in reduced-impact logging. Large-scale implementation of this approach would lead to improved conservation values in the 4 million km2 of tropical forests that are earmarked for timber extraction

SU(3) Predictions of B→PPB\to PP Decays in the Standard Model

With SU(3) symmetry one only needs 13 hadronic parameters to describe $B\to PP$ decays in the Standard Model. When annihilation contributions are neglected, only 7 hadronic parameters are needed. These parameters can be determined from existing experimental data and some unmeasured branching ratios and CP asymmetries of the type $B\to PP$ can be predicted. In this talk we present SU(3) predictions of branching ratios and CP asymmetries for $B\to PP$ decays in the Standard Model.Comment: 4 pages, no figure. Talk present at the 5th International Conference on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons, Vancouver, June 200

First ADS analysis of B- -> D0K- decays in hadron collisions

Proceedings of DISCRETE 2010, Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries, Rome (IT), 6-11 December 2010Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Analysis of the X(1835)X(1835) as a baryonium state with Bethe-Salpeter equation

In this article, we take the X(1835) as a pseudoscalar baryonium state, and calculate the mass spectrum of the baryon-antibaryon bound states $p\bar{p}$, $\Sigma\bar{\Sigma}$, $\Xi\bar{\Xi}$, and $\Lambda\bar{\Lambda}$ in the framework of the Bethe-Salpeter equation with a phenomenological potential. The numerical results indicate the $p\bar{p}$, $\Sigma\bar{\Sigma}$ and $\Xi\bar{\Xi}$ bound states maybe exist, and the $X(1835)$ can be tentatively identified as the $p\bar{p}$ bound state.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, published versio

The Flora Mission for Ecosystem Composition, Disturbance and Productivity

Global land use and climate variability alter ecosystem conditions - including structure, function, and biological diversity - at a pace that requires unambiguous observations from satellite vantage points. Current global measurements are limited to general land cover, some disturbances, vegetation leaf area index, and canopy energy absorption. Flora is a pathfinding mission that provides new measurements of ecosystem structure, function, and diversity to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics of human and natural disturbances, and the biogeochemical and physiological responses of ecosystems to disturbance. The mission relies upon high-fidelity imaging spectroscopy to deliver full optical spectrum measurements (400-2500 nm) of the global land surface on a monthly time step at 45 meter spatial resolution for three years. The Flora measurement objectives are: (i) fractional cover of biological materials, (ii) canopy water content, (iii) vegetation pigments and light-use efficiency, (iv) plant functional types, (v) fire fuel load and fuel moisture content, and (vi) disturbance occurrence, type and intensity. These measurements are made using a multi-parameter, spectroscopic analysis approach afforded by observation of the full optical spectrum. Combining these measurements, along with additional observations from multispectral sensors, Flora will far advance global studies and models of ecosystem dynamics and change

D0−Dˉ0D^0-\bar{D}^0 mixing studies with the decays D0→KS0K∓π±D^0 \to K^0_S K^\mp \pi^\pm

We demonstrate how a time-dependent analysis of the decays $D^0 \to K^0_S K^\mp \pi^\pm$ can be used to determine the $D^0-\bar{D}^0$ mixing parameter $y$ with a precision that is competitive with established methods. The proposed analysis is an inclusive study which makes use of the measurements of the coherence factor and mean strong phase difference for these decays recently performed by CLEO.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. Journal reference added. Minor typos fixe

Biomass and Necromass in Three Undisturbed Forests in the Brazilian Amazon.

Resumo 21.4