Baseline information on prokaryotic and microeukaryotic plankton communities inside and outside of Indonesian marine lakes

Marine lakes represent a unique and globally rare aquatic environment characterised by lower salinities and pH and higher temperatures than the surrounding open water environment. Here we provide baseline data on planktonic communities of Archaea, Bacteria and microeukaryotes inside and outside (open water habitat) of three marine lakes (Kakaban, Haji Buang and Tanah Bamban) in the Berau region of Indonesia. Compositional variation was highly congruent with the major axis of variation separating open water from marine lake samples for all three domains. Planktonic Archaea mainly consisted of OTUs assigned to Euryarchaeota that were closely related to organisms in Genbank previously obtained from seawater samples. The majority of archaeal OTUs were most abundant in open water habitat with a few OTUs abundant in all habitats. Most bacterial sequences were assigned to Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes with the percentage of Cyanobacteria highest in two of the marine lakes and lowest in the remaining lake (Tanah Bamban). In contrast to Archaea, there were a number of bacterial OTUs that were markedly more abundant in marine lake habitat. Most microeukaryote sequences were assigned to the Alveolata, Stramenopiles, Opisthokonta, Archaeplastida and Hacrobia. As was the case with Bacteria, a number of abundant microeukaryote OTUs were more abundant in marine lake habitat. Our results thus indicate similar compositional responses to the environmental conditions in marine lake habitat across the major domains of life and point to marine lakes harbouring distinct microbial communities.publishe

The ZEB1 Transcription Factor Is a Novel Repressor of Adiposity in Female Mice

gene located in that region, and as it influences the differentiation of various mesodermal lineages, we hypothesized that ZEB1 might also modulate adiposity. The goal of these studies was to test that hypothesis in mice. mice were heavier than WT controls, which was attributed by Echo MRI to increased fat mass (at three months on an HFD: 0.517±0.081 total fat/lean mass versus 0.313±0.036; at three months on an RCD: 0.175±0.013 versus 0.124±0.012). No differences were observed in food uptake or physical activity, suggesting that the genotypes differ in some aspect of their metabolic activity. ZEB1 expression also increases during adipogenesis in cell culture.These results show for the first time that the ZEB1 transcription factor regulates the accumulation of adipose tissue. Furthermore, they corroborate the genome-wide association studies that mapped an “obesity” gene at chromosome 10p11–12

GHRS and ORFEUS-II Observations of the Highly Ionized Interstellar Medium Toward ESO141-055

We present Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph and ORFEUS-II measurements of Si IV, CIV, N V, and O VI absorption in the interstellar medium of the Galactic disk and halo toward the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy ESO141-055. The high ionization absorption is strong, with line strengths consistent with the spectral signature expected for hot (log T = 5-6) collisionally ionized gas in either a ``Galactic fountain'' or an inhomogeneous medium containing a mixture of conductive interfaces and turbulent mixing layers. The total O VI column density of log N ~ 15 suggests that the scale height of O VI is large (>3 kpc) in this direction. Comparison of the high ion column densities with measurements for other sight lines indicates that the highly ionized gas distribution is patchy. The amount of O VI perpendicular to the Galactic plane varies by at least a factor of ~4 among the complete halo sight lines thus far studied. In addition to the high ion absorption, lines of low ionization species are also present in the spectra. With the possible exception of Ar I, which may have a lower than expected abundance resulting from partial photoionization of gas along the sight line, the absorption strengths are typical of those expected for the warm, neutral interstellar medium. The sight line intercepts a cold molecular cloud with log N(H2) ~ 19. The cloud has an identifiable counterpart in IRAS 100-micron emission maps of this region of the sky. We detect a Ly-alpha absorber associated with ESO141-055 at z = 0.03492. This study presents an enticing glimpse into the interstellar and intergalactic absorption patterns that will be observed at high spectral resolution by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer.Comment: 24 pages + 8 figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Accepted for publication in Ap

Reconfiguration on sparse graphs

A vertex-subset graph problem Q defines which subsets of the vertices of an input graph are feasible solutions. A reconfiguration variant of a vertex-subset problem asks, given two feasible solutions S and T of size k, whether it is possible to transform S into T by a sequence of vertex additions and deletions such that each intermediate set is also a feasible solution of size bounded by k. We study reconfiguration variants of two classical vertex-subset problems, namely Independent Set and Dominating Set. We denote the former by ISR and the latter by DSR. Both ISR and DSR are PSPACE-complete on graphs of bounded bandwidth and W[1]-hard parameterized by k on general graphs. We show that ISR is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by k when the input graph is of bounded degeneracy or nowhere-dense. As a corollary, we answer positively an open question concerning the parameterized complexity of the problem on graphs of bounded treewidth. Moreover, our techniques generalize recent results showing that ISR is fixed-parameter tractable on planar graphs and graphs of bounded degree. For DSR, we show the problem fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by k when the input graph does not contain large bicliques, a class of graphs which includes graphs of bounded degeneracy and nowhere-dense graphs

The Many Faces of Risk: A Qualitative Study of Risk in Outpatient Involuntary Treatment.

Objective: This study aimed to derive a conceptualisation of risk in outpatient involuntary psychiatric treatment that has utility and meaning for stakeholders. Methods: Thirty-eight participants –patients, caregivers, clinicians and legal decision makers – participated in qualitative interviews about their experiences of outpatient involuntary psychiatric treatment. Interview data was analysed using a general inductive method. Results: Six types of risk were identified: ‘actual harm’, ‘social adversity’, ‘therapeutic outcome/compromised treatment’, ‘the system’, ‘interpersonal distress’, and ‘epistemic’. There were overlaps between the discourses on risk, but variation in how different aspects of risk were emphasised. Conclusions: Based on the findings, a comprehensive model of “risk” contextualized to outpatient involuntary treatment is proposed. It incorporates the domains of “risk of harm to self or others”; “risk of social adversity”; “risk of excess distress”; and, “risk of compromised treatment”. This model may have instrumental value in the implementation and the scrutiny of risk-based mental health laws.funded by a discretionary grant from the Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Office of NSW Healt

The lived experience of involuntary community treatment: a qualitative study of mental health consumers and carers

Objective: To describe the lived experiences of people subject to community treatment orders (CTOs) and their carers. Method: We recruited 11 participants (five mental health consumers and six carers) through consumer and carer networks in NSW, Australia, to take part in interviews about their experiences. We analysed the interview data set using established qualitative methodologies. Results: The lived experiences were characterised by ‘access’ concerns, ‘isolation’, ‘loss and trauma’, ‘resistance and resignation’ and ‘vulnerability and distress’. The extent and impact of these experiences related to the severity of mental illness, the support available for people with mental illnesses and their carers, the social compromises associated with living with mental illness, and the challenges of managing the relationships necessitated by these processes. Conclusions: The lived experience of CTOs is complex: it is one of distress and profound ambivalence. The distress is an intrinsic aspect of the experience of severe mental illness, but it also emerges from communication gaps, difficulty obtaining optimal care and accessing mental health services. The ambivalence arises from an acknowledgement that while CTOs are coercive and constrain autonomy, they may also be beneficial. These findings can inform improvements to the implementation of CTOs and the consequent experiences. Keywords: carer, community treatment order, interview, involuntary treatment, mental health, patient experience, qualitative researchsupported by the Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Office (MHDAO) of NSW Health of Australia

Characterisation of the Cullin-3 mutation that causes a severe form of familial hypertension and hyperkalaemia

Deletion of exon 9 from Cullin‐3 (CUL3, residues 403–459: CUL3Δ403–459) causes pseudohypoaldosteronism type IIE (PHA2E), a severe form of familial hyperkalaemia and hypertension (FHHt). CUL3 binds the RING protein RBX1 and various substrate adaptors to form Cullin‐RING‐ubiquitin‐ligase complexes. Bound to KLHL3, CUL3‐RBX1 ubiquitylates WNK kinases, promoting their ubiquitin‐mediated proteasomal degradation. Since WNK kinases activate Na/Cl co‐transporters to promote salt retention, CUL3 regulates blood pressure. Mutations in both KLHL3 and WNK kinases cause PHA2 by disrupting Cullin‐RING‐ligase formation. We report here that the PHA2E mutant, CUL3Δ403–459, is severely compromised in its ability to ubiquitylate WNKs, possibly due to altered structural flexibility. Instead, CUL3Δ403–459 auto‐ubiquitylates and loses interaction with two important Cullin regulators: the COP9‐signalosome and CAND1. A novel knock‐in mouse model of CUL3WT/Δ403–459 closely recapitulates the human PHA2E phenotype. These mice also show changes in the arterial pulse waveform, suggesting a vascular contribution to their hypertension not reported in previous FHHt models. These findings may explain the severity of the FHHt phenotype caused by CUL3 mutations compared to those reported in KLHL3 or WNK kinases

The chameleon groups of Richard J. Thompson: automorphisms and dynamics

The automorphism groups of several of Thompson's countable groups of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the line and circle are computed and it is shown that the outer automorphism groups of these groups are relatively small. These results can be interpreted as stability results for certain structures of PL functions on the circle. Machinery is developed to relate the structures on the circle to corresponding structures on the line

Paraxial propagation of a quantum charge in a random magnetic field

The paraxial (parabolic) theory of a near forward scattering of a quantum charged particle by a static magnetic field is presented. From the paraxial solution to the Aharonov-Bohm scattering problem the transverse transfered momentum (the Lorentz force) is found. Multiple magnetic scattering is considered for two models: (i) Gaussian $\delta$ -correlated random magnetic field; (ii) a random array of the Aharonov-Bohm magnetic flux line. The paraxial gauge-invariant two-particle Green function averaged with respect to the random field is found by an exact evaluation of the Feynman integral. It is shown that in spite of the anomalous character of the forward scattering, the transport properties can be described by the Boltzmann equation. The Landau quantization in the field of the Aharonov-Bohm lines is discussed.Comment: Figures and references added. Many typos corrected. RevTex, 25 pages, 9 figure

The Origin of the Silicate Emission Features in the Seyfert 2 Galaxy, NGC 2110

The unified model of active galactic nuclei (AGN) predicts silicate emission features at 10 and 18 microns in type 1 AGN, and such features have now been observed in objects ranging from distant QSOs to nearby LINERs. More surprising, however, is the detection of silicate emission in a few type 2 AGN. By combining Gemini and Spitzer mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy of NGC 2110, the closest known Seyfert 2 galaxy with silicate emission features, we can constrain the location of the silicate emitting region to within 32 pc of the nucleus. This is the strongest constraint yet on the size of the silicate emitting region in a Seyfert galaxy of any type. While this result is consistent with a narrow line region origin for the emission, comparison with clumpy torus models demonstrates that emission from an edge-on torus can also explain the silicate emission features and 2-20 micron spectral energy distribution of this object. In many of the best-fitting models the torus has only a small number of clouds along the line of sight, and does not extend far above the equatorial plane. Extended silicate-emitting regions may well be present in AGN, but this work establishes that emission from the torus itself is also a viable option for the origin of silicate emission features in active galaxies of both type 1 and type 2.Comment: ApJL, accepte