New Distribution Records for Mosquitoes in Michigan (Diptera: Culicidae)

(excerpt) Since the late 1940\u27s very little information has appeared in the literature dealing with the geographical distribution of mosquitoes in Michigan. The earliest attempt at establish- ing a comprehensive list of species was made by Irwin (1941) who catalogued 43 species by county. A survey by Pederson (1947) resulted in the collection of 48 species and provided the most extensive distribution list of mosquitoes in Michigan. Recent studies by Newson et al. (1975), McGroarty et al. (1976) and Grimstad (1977) have contributed several new distribution and state records. Prompted by the 1975 St. Louis encephalitis outbreak in Michigan, and a lack of current information on the species of mosquitoes in Isabella County, a survey of mosquitoes was conducted in the Mount Pleasant area

Constructing Lifshitz solutions from AdS

Under general assumptions, we show that a gravitational theory in d+1 dimensions admitting an AdS solution can be reduced to a d-dimensional theory containing a Lifshitz solution with dynamical exponent z=2. Working in a d=4, N=2 supergravity setup, we prove that if the AdS background is N=2 supersymmetric, then the Lifshitz geometry preserves 1/4 of the supercharges, and we construct the corresponding Killing spinors. We illustrate these results in examples from supersymmetric consistent truncations of type IIB supergravity, enhancing the class of known 4-dimensional Lifshitz solutions of string theory. As a byproduct, we find a new AdS4 x S1 x T(1,1) solution of type IIB.Comment: 29 pages, no figures; v2 minor corrections, a reference adde

Lpa1-5525 : a new lpa1 mutant isolated in a mutagenized population by a novel non-disrupting screening method

Phytic acid, or myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate, is the main storage form of phosphorus in plants. It is localized in seeds, deposited as mixed salts of mineral cations in protein storage vacuoles; during germination, it is hydrolyzed by phytases to make available P together with all the other cations needed for seed germination. When seeds are used as food or feed, phytic acid and the bound cations are poorly bioavailable for human and monogastric livestock due to their lack of phytase activity. Therefore, reducing the amount of phytic acid is one strategy in breeding programs aimed to improve the nutritional properties of major crops. In this work, we present data on the isolation of a new maize (Zea mays L.) low phytic acid 1 (lpa1) mutant allele obtained by transposon tagging mutagenesis with the Ac element. We describe the generation of the mutagenized population and the screening to isolate new lpa1 mutants. In particular, we developed a fast, cheap and non-disrupting screening method based on the different density of lpa1 seed compared to the wild type. This assay allowed the isolation of the lpa1-5525 mutant characterized by a new mutation in the lpa1 locus associated with a lower amount of phytic phosphorus in the seeds in comparison with the wild type

Effects of polysaccharide-based edible coatings enriched with dietary fiber on quality attributes of fresh-cut apples

Little information is available regarding the incorporation of dietary fiber into edible films and coatings. In this work, apple fiber and inulin were incorporated into polysaccharide-based (alginate, pectine and gellan gum) edible coating formulations and their effects on the quality attributes of fresh-cut apples were evaluated. Antioxidant properties, color, firmness, sensory quality and microbial growth of fresh-cut apple were studied during 16 days of storage at 4 A degrees C. Results show that dietary fiber extracts incorporated to gellan gum, pectin and alginate-based coatings together with calcium chloride and ascorbic acid successfully maintained the firmness and color of coated fresh-cut apples in comparison with uncoated control samples, which presented severe texture softening and browning. The firmness of apple pieces coated with polysaccharide-based coating formulations incorporating apple fiber doubled, and sometimes tripled, that of uncoated samples. Any of the assayed coatings exhibited a positive effect on the sensory properties of fresh-cut apples. The incorporation of apple fiber, together with the use of ascorbic acid, contributed to keep the antioxidant potential of the fruit at least during the first week of storage. Furthermore, gellan gum coatings had a marked effect in reducing mesophilic and psychrophilic counts on fresh-cut apples throughout storage regardless the addition of dietary fibers. The results achieved demonstrate the feasibility of the addition of dietary fiber to edible coating formulations for increasing the nutritional value of fresh-cut apples without compromising their fresh-like quality attributes.This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT, Argentina) and by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the project AGL2010-21572. An ICREA Academia Award is also acknowledged

Non-primary progressive language impairment in neurodegenerative conditions: protocol for a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Progressive language difficulties arise in many neurodegenerative conditions, causing significant impact upon patients and families. This occurs most obviously in primary progressive aphasia (PPA) but can also occur within other forms of progressive disease. In these cases, language decline may be significant, but as they are not the presenting or dominant symptom, may be overlooked in favour of more prominent cognitive, behaviour or motor deficits. To date, there has been no systematic investigation into non-primary progressive aphasia. This scoping review aims to describe the currently reported language impairments found in non-language-led dementias and identify their clinical relevance, defined as the impact on everyday living. It also seeks to identify the reported interventions for language impairment in this patient group to-date. METHOD: We will conduct a scoping review of published studies that have assessed and/or treated aphasia in people diagnosed with a neurodegenerative condition other than primary progressive aphasia. The systematic search will include the electronic databases PubMed, MEDLINE, OVID-EMBASE, PsycINFO, and speechBITE, using search terms for specific non-language-led dementia subtypes. Findings will be mapped and described according to the type of language difficulties identified and rehabilitation approaches employed. Intervention studies will be evaluated for their methodological rigour using validated scales. DISCUSSION: This scoping review will provide an overview of the types of aphasia found in neurodegenerative conditions where language dysfunction is not the primary focus. Current treatment approaches (and gaps in the provision of treatment) will be identified

When it is not primary progressive aphasia: A scoping review of spoken language impairment in other neurodegenerative dementias

BACKGROUND: Progressive difficulties with spoken language occur across the spectrum of degenerative dementia. When not a primary presenting and dominant symptom, language difficulties may be overlooked in favor of more prominent cognitive, behavior, or motor deficits. The aim of this scoping review is to examine the extent and nature of the research evidence describing (1) the spoken language impairments found in non-language led dementias, (2) their impact on everyday living, and (3) the reported language interventions. METHODS: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, OVID-EMBASE, PsycINFO, and SpeechBITE using terms related to spoken language for the following dementia types: Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), cortico-basal syndrome (CBS), behavior variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD), posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), and motor neuron disease associated with FTD (MND+FTD). Risk of bias was assessed with the QualSyst tool. RESULTS: Seventy-three eligible studies were included. A wide range of spoken language impairments were reported, involving both linguistic (e.g., syntactic processing) and other cognitive (e.g., sustained attention) underlying mechanisms. Although the severity of these deficits was scarcely reported, in some cases they manifested as non-fluent, dynamic, and global aphasias. No papers in the review described either the impact of these language impairments on everyday living or language therapies to treat them. DISCUSSION: There is a need to understand better the level of disability produced by language impairment in people living with non–language-led dementias. Our findings suggest three calls for action: (1) research studies should assess the clinical relevance of any spoken language deficits examined, (2) both linguistic and cognitive underlying mechanisms should be fully described (to inform the design of effective language and behavioral interventions), and (3) trials of language therapy should be conducted in those groups of individuals where significant language impairment is proved

Gold nanoparticles on nanodiamond for nanophotonic applications

We present here some recent results of a research focused on the prepn. of detonation nanodiamond/Au nanoparticles hybrid materials. Two different exptl. routes are followed for the decoration of diamond nanoparticles by Au nanoparticles, that are in turn prepd. by an innovative electroless approach. Structure and morphol. at the nanoscale level of the Au-on-nanodiamond deposits have been deeply investigated by electron microscopy (FE-SEM, HR-TEM) and diffraction (XRD) techniques. Optical properties of these systems have been detd. by performing scattering and UV-Vis absorption measurements, and by comparing the exptl. data with simulated extinction spectra. The results highlighted very interesting plasmonic and scattering behaviors, mainly related to the high refractive index of diamond

de Sitter Supersymmetry Revisited

We present the basic $\mathcal{N} =1$ superconformal field theories in four-dimensional de Sitter space-time, namely the non-abelian super Yang-Mills theory and the chiral multiplet theory with gauge interactions or cubic superpotential. These theories have eight supercharges and are invariant under the full $SO(4,2)$ group of conformal symmetries, which includes the de Sitter isometry group $SO(4,1)$ as a subgroup. The theories are ghost-free and the anti-commutator $\sum_\alpha\{Q_\alpha, Q^{\alpha\dagger}\}$ is positive. SUSY Ward identities uniquely select the Bunch-Davies vacuum state. This vacuum state is invariant under superconformal transformations, despite the fact that de Sitter space has non-zero Hawking temperature. The $\mathcal{N}=1$ theories are classically invariant under the $SU(2,2|1)$ superconformal group, but this symmetry is broken by radiative corrections. However, no such difficulty is expected in the $\mathcal{N}=4$ theory, which is presented in appendix B.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

On N = 2 Truncations of IIB on T^{1,1}

We study the N=4 gauged supergravity theory which arises from the consistent truncation of IIB supergravity on the coset T^{1,1}. We analyze three N=2 subsectors and in particular we clarify the relationship between true superpotentials for gauged supergravity and certain fake superpotentials which have been widely used in the literature. We derive a superpotential for the general reduction of type I supergravity on T^{1,1} and this together with a certain solution generating symmetry is tantamount to a superpotential for the baryonic branch of the Klebanov-Strassler solution.Comment: 32 pages, v2:references adde