Lodgepole pine management guidelines for land managers in the wildland-urban interface

As a consequence of the current mountain pine beetle epidemic, many landowners and land managers are concerned about how to actively manage lodgepole pine stands. The following guidelines cover treating the dead standing trees killed by the insects, protecting homes and communities from wildfire, and ensuring that the future forest is better structured to prevent widespread mortality from insect epidemics and wildfire

Prevalence and Characteristics of Self-Reported Hypothyroidism and Its Association with Nonorgan-Specific Manifestations in US Sarcoidosis Patients: A Nationwide Registry Study

Little is known about the prevalence, clinical characteristics and impact of hypothyroidism in patients with sarcoidosis. We aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical features of hypothyroidism and its relation to organ involvement and other clinical manifestations in patients with sarcoidosis. We conducted a national registry-based study investigating 3835 respondents to the Sarcoidosis Advanced Registry for Cures Questionnaire between June 2014 and August 2019. This registry is based on a self-reported, web-based questionnaire that provides data related to demographics, diagnostics, sarcoidosis manifestations and treatment. We compared sarcoidosis patients with and without self-reported hypothyroidism. We used multivariable logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounders to determine the association of hypothyroidism with nonorgan-specific manifestations. 14% of the sarcoidosis patients self-reported hypothyroidism and were generally middle-aged white women. Hypothyroid patients had more comorbid conditions and were more likely to have multiorgan sarcoidosis involvement, especially with cutaneous, ocular, joints, liver and lacrimal gland involvement. Self-reported hypothyroidism was associated with depression (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.3, 95% CI 1.01–1.6), antidepressant use (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.7), obesity (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.4–2.1), sleep apnoea (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3–2.2), chronic fatigue syndrome (aOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.2–2) and was borderline associated with fibromyalgia (aOR 1.3, 95% CI 1–1.8). Physical impairment was more common in patients with hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a frequent comorbidity in sarcoidosis patients that might be a potentially reversible contributor to fatigue, depression and physical impairment in this population. We recommend considering routine screening for hypothyroidism in sarcoidosis patients especially in those with multiorgan sarcoidosis, fatigue and depression

Exploring Web-Based University Policy Statements on Plagiarism by Research-Intensive Higher Education Institutions

Plagiarism may distress universities in the US, but there is little agreement as to exactly what constitutes plagiarism. While there is ample research on plagiarism, there is scant literature on the content of university policies regarding it. Using a systematic sample, we qualitatively analyzed 20 Carnegie-classified universities that are “Very High in Research.” This included 15 public state universities and five high-profile private universities. We uncovered highly varied and even contradictory policies at these institutions. Notable policy variations existed for verbatim plagiarism, intentional plagiarism and unauthorized student collaboration at the studied institutions. We conclude by advising that the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) and others confer and come to accord on the disposition of these issues

Fur in Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense Influences Magnetosomes Formation and Directly Regulates the Genes Involved in Iron and Oxygen Metabolism

Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense strain MSR-1 has the unique capability of taking up large amounts of iron and synthesizing magnetosomes (intracellular magnetic particles composed of Fe3O4). The unusual high iron content of MSR-1 makes it a useful model for studying biological mechanisms of iron uptake and homeostasis. The ferric uptake regulator (Fur) protein plays a key role in maintaining iron homeostasis in many bacteria. We identified and characterized a fur-homologous gene (MGR_1314) in MSR-1. MGR_1314 was able to complement a fur mutant of E. coli in iron-responsive manner in vivo. We constructed a fur mutant strain of MSR-1. In comparison to wild-type MSR-1, the mutant strain had lower magnetosome formation, and was more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide and streptonigrin, indicating higher intracellular free iron content. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses indicated that Fur protein directly regulates expression of several key genes involved in iron transport and oxygen metabolism, in addition it also functions in magnetosome formation in M. gryphiswaldense

A Net Structure Based Relational Question Answerer: Description and Examples

A question answering system is described which uses a net structure for storage of information. The net structure consists of nodes an labelled edges, which represent relations between the nodes. The labels are also nodes, and therefore definitions of relations may be stored in the net. It is demonstrated that the generality and complexity of this memory structure allows a surprisingly powerful question answering system to be constructed using comparitively simple executive routines. Output from the question answerer, which is currently running on an interactive, time sharing system, is included, showing its range of applicability including question answering, inductive and deductive inference simple theorem proving and problem solving