Determinants of compatibility between Arabidopsis and the hemibiotroph Colletotrichum higginsianum

Plant disease susceptibility is determined by complex interactions between plant and pathogen factors, resulting in co-evolution of a host plant species and its adapted pathogen. Previously, there has been major scientific interest in plant resistance that counteracts pathogen attack. In contrast, mechanisms of plant susceptibility are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify genetic determinants of dominant susceptibility of Arabidopsis thaliana to the hemibiotrophic ascomycete Colletotrichum higginsianum. Two different approaches were used, both based on the hypothesis that if an essential host susceptibility factor is not present or not functional, the plant will not support infection by the fungus. In the first approach, a forward genetics screen was conducted to identify mutants that had lost susceptibility due to chemically induced mutations in essential host susceptibility factors. Screening of 207,000 EMS Arabidopsis mutants in highly susceptible genetic backgrounds identified 35 candidates with reduced susceptibility to C. higginsianum. However, the reduction was not sufficiently clear-cut to allow identification of the mutated locus through positional cloning. The C. higginsianum infection phenotypes of available downy mildew resistant (dmr) and powdery mildew resistant (pmr) mutants were also analysed. Loss of susceptibility to C. higginsianum by specific dmr and pmr mutant lines indicated that pathogens share some common mechanisms of disease development. In the second approach, analysis of 116 Arabidopsis accessions from diverse geographic origins revealed considerable natural variation in response to C. higginsianum inoculation. Different modes of inheritance of resistance were identified by crossing resistant accessions to the highly susceptible Ler-0 accession and following segregation, and by quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations. It was assumed that accessions lacking an essential dominant susceptibility factor would show monogenic recessively inherited resistance. Alternatively, recessive resistance could be due to the presence of a recessive resistance (R) gene. To select for recessive resistance, accessions that had susceptible F1 progenies and F2 progenies segregating 3:1 (susceptible : resistant) were characterised further. A single recessive locus was shown to confer resistance in the accessions Ws-0, Gifu-2 and Can-0. The same locus was identified by QTL analysis in the Ler-0 x Kondara RIL population. Positional cloning in a Ler-0 x Ws-0 F2 mapping population located this recessive resistance locus to the lower arm of chromosome V between the molecular markers �236� (18,307,842 bp) and �312� (18,407,860 bp). Twenty candidate genes within the mapping interval, including six TIR (Toll-Interleukin 1 receptor) type NBS-LRR (Nucleotide Binding Site�Leucine Rich Repeats) genes, were analysed to determine whether this locus encodes a dominant susceptibility factor, or alternatively, a recessive R gene. Natural variation was also characterised cytologically. This revealed differences between resistant and susceptible accessions at an early stage in the penetration efficiency of the pathogen, or in the establishment of biotrophic primary hyphae, with no indications of involvement of host callose deposition or accumulation of reactive oxygen species in recessive resistance mechanisms

Descriptive Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Counseling and Coordination Model in Psychosocial Care. Integration of Health Care and Social Rehabilitation

Introduction: A psychosocial outreach clinic was established to offer counseling and coordination of healthcare and complementary services for persons with psychosocial and mental problems. The cost-effectiveness of these services was measured based on a pre-post comparison. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted with clients of the outreach clinic. Data on resource consumption and quality of life were collected at baseline and follow-up after 3, 6, and 12 months using the Client Sociodemographic and Service Receipt Inventory to assess service utilization, and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey to assess quality of life. The objective of the present analysis was to estimate the relation between monetary expenditure and QALYs (quality-adjusted life-years), before and after the outreach clinic was established, descriptively. The analysis was constructed from payer’s perspective and was supplemented by a sensitivity analysis. Results: A total of 85 participants were included. Total annual expenditures before the intervention were 5,832 € per client for all service segments. During the 12-months study duration expenditures decreased to 4,350 € including the costs associated with outreach clinic services. QALYs for the 12-month study period were 0.6618 and increased about 0.0568 compared to the period before. Discussion: Despite methodological limitations due to small sample size, a pre-post comparison and the retrospective cost data collection, this study suggests acceptability of the outreach clinic as cost-effective. Conclusion: The activities of the outreach clinic as an integrated care model seem to be cost-effective regarding the relation between monetary expenditures and clients’ quality of life

Das Recht der Biomedizin in Frankreich - ausgewählte Materialien

Die rechtspolitische Diskussion um den rechtlichen Rahmen der Gentechnologie verlangt den Blick über die Grenzen, insbesondere zu den europäischen Nachbarstaaten. Diese Sammlung enthält wesentliche Dokumente der französischen Debatte in französischer und deutscher Zusammenfassung

Отвод и постановка на кадастровый учет земельного участка Воронинского кладбища, с. Воронино Томской области

Отвод и постановка на кадастровый учет земельного участка Воронинского кладбища, с. Воронино Томской области.Elimination and cadastral registration of the land plot of the Voronin cemetery, p. Voronino, Tomsk Region

Multiple UHECR Events from Galactic hadron jets

We propose a new observational test of top-down source models for the ultra-high-energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs), based on the simultaneous observation of two or more photons from the same Galactic hadron jet. We derive a general formula allowing one to calculate the probability of detecting such `multiple events', for any particular top-down model, once the physical parameters of the associated hadron jets are known. We then apply our results to a generic top-down model involving the decay of a supermassive particle, and show that under reasonable assumptions the next-generation UHECR detectors would be able to detect multiple events on a timescale of a few years, depending on the mass of the top-down progenitor. Either the observation or the non-observation of such events will provide constraints on the UHECR top-down models and/or the physics of hadronization at ultra-high energy.Comment: 14 pages + 1 appendix, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Cost evaluation of an innovative outreach clinic across social insurance codes in rural Northern Germany - A routine data analysis

A community outreach clinic was established in 2013 in a rural part of Germany to counsel and better integrate patients with mental health disorders or clients with psychosocial problems into the healthcare and complementary social assistance system. In a pilot study, we aimed to evaluate the costs of the integration assistance system after the outreach clinic was opened, the number of visits and the trend in the costs of the social assistance system of the federal state. Anonymised secondary cost data were used to evaluate the costs associated with the integration assistance receivers before (2010–2012) and after the establishment of the outreach clinic (2013–2015). Total costs were descriptively compared between the intervention group (consultation in the outreach clinic), the non-referral group, and a propensity score-matched control group for the years 2013–2015. To monitor the counselling activity, we used anonymised data on visits to the outreach clinic between 2013 and 2015. Data from 50 clients in the outreach clinic and 678 non-referral clients were analysed. The total costs of the integration assistance for the years 2013–2015 amounted to EUR 21,516 (95% CI 14,513–28,518) and EUR 28,464 (25,789–31,140) respectively. Propensity score matching of the controls resulted in equalised total costs for the years 2013 through 2015 for clients (n = 50, EUR 21,516 (14,513–28,518)) and controls (n = 250, EUR 21,725 (18,214–25,234)). The total number of integration assistance receivers in the district was lower than the average for the federal state. The number of consultations at the outpatient clinic steadily increased from 146 in 2013 to 1,090 in 2015. Counselling in the outreach clinic might help reduce the placement of clients into integration assistance, including supported housing, and slow the expected cost trend. However, counselling failed to lower total costs in the integration assistance service, possibly due to the selection of more severe cases

Users' Experiences with Psychosocial Counselling Services in a Community Mental Health Centre

OBJECTIVE: Analysis of users experiences with a low-threshold psychosocial counselling and case management service across separate sectors (e. g., outpatient, inpatient) and legal provisions (e. g., V and XII Books of Social Code). METHODS: Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: Several aspects of the users' experiences with counselling services have contributed towards their satisfaction with the service. The importance of short waiting times and the on-call telephone service as well as sufficient time taken for consultations, the availability of outreach counselling and the quality of the relationship with the counsellor were all highlighted. Potential for improvement was seen in the visibility of the service in the community. CONCLUSION: The investigated counselling and case management service can help to provide a low-threshold crisis intervention and could place users in more custom-fit community integration services.ZIEL: Analyse der Erfahrungen von Nutzern einer innovativen, rechtskreisübergreifenden psychosozialen Beratungsstelle. METHODE: Neun Einzelinterviews wurden qualitativ-inhaltsanalytisch ausgewertet. ERGEBNISSE: Das Angebot stärkte psychosoziale Ressourcen und die Autonomie der Nutzer. Positiv wurde die aufsuchende Beratung bewertet, kritisiert wurde die begrenzte Sichtbarkeit des Angebots. SCHLUSSFOLGERUNGEN: Eine rechtskreisübergreifende Beratungsstelle kann Hilfesuchende in Krisen auffangen und passgenau gemeindepsychiatrische oder psychosoziale Angebote vermitteln

The effect of ambient temperature, habitat quality and individual age on incubation behaviour and incubation feeding in a socially monogamous songbird

Parents often invest a substantial amount of energy in raising offspring. How much they do so depends on several environmental factors and on the extent they cooperate to raise the offspring. In birds, males can feed incubating females, which may allow females to stay longer on the nest, which, in turn, may ultimately improve reproductive success. The interplay between environmental factors and such incubation feeding on incubation attendance has, however, received little attention. Here, we show that favourable circumstances (higher ambient temperature and food availability) allowed incubating blue tit females to increase the time off the nest to improve self-maintenance and males to feed them less, whereas males also fed inexperienced partners more often. Thus, we show a concerted effect of several environmental and intrinsic factors on parental effort during incubation, which will help to improve the general understanding of avian incubation and parental care

The nuclear immune receptor RPS4 is required for RRS1SLH1-dependent constitutive defense activation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) disease resistance (R) proteins recognize specific ‘‘avirulent’’ pathogen effectors and activate immune responses. NB-LRR proteins structurally and functionally resemble mammalian Nod-like receptors (NLRs). How NB-LRR and NLR proteins activate defense is poorly understood. The divergently transcribed Arabidopsis R genes, RPS4 (resistance to Pseudomonas syringae 4) and RRS1 (resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum 1), function together to confer recognition of Pseudomonas AvrRps4 and Ralstonia PopP2. RRS1 is the only known recessive NBLRR R gene and encodes a WRKY DNA binding domain, prompting suggestions that it acts downstream of RPS4 for transcriptional activation of defense genes. We define here the early RRS1-dependent transcriptional changes upon delivery of PopP2 via Pseudomonas type III secretion. The Arabidopsis slh1 (sensitive to low humidity 1) mutant encodes an RRS1 allele (RRS1SLH1) with a single amino acid (leucine) insertion in the WRKY DNA-binding domain. Its poor growth due to constitutive defense activation is rescued at higher temperature. Transcription profiling data indicate that RRS1SLH1-mediated defense activation overlaps substantially with AvrRps4- and PopP2-regulated responses. To better understand the genetic basis of RPS4/RRS1-dependent immunity, we performed a genetic screen to identify suppressor of slh1 immunity (sushi) mutants. We show that many sushi mutants carry mutations in RPS4, suggesting that RPS4 acts downstream or in a complex with RRS1. Interestingly, several mutations were identified in a domain C-terminal to the RPS4 LRR domain. Using an Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay system, we demonstrate that the P-loop motif of RPS4 but not of RRS1SLH1 is required for RRS1SLH1 function. We also recapitulate the dominant suppression of RRS1SLH1 defense activation by wild type RRS1 and show this suppression requires an intact RRS1 P-loop. These analyses of RRS1SLH1 shed new light on mechanisms by which NB-LRR protein pairs activate defense signaling, or are held inactive in the absence of a pathogen effector