Modelling Water Trade in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin

Released in November 2004, the paper uses TERM-Water, a bottoms-up regional CGE model of the Australian economy, to examine the regional effects of expanding trade of irrigation water in the southern Murray- Darling Basin. The study finds that water trading dampens the impact of water allocation cuts on gross regional product (GRP). The benefits of introducing trading within irrigation districts are greater than the further benefits of expanding trade to between these regions. Permitting trade of seasonal allocations allows irrigators to reallocate water in reaction to climatic conditions and water availability - and it is this flexibility that enables GRP reductions to be minimised.southern murray-darling basin, CGE model, irrigation water, water allocation, water trade,

A new web-based genomics resource for bioinformatics analysis of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus: CattleTickBase

No abstract availabl

Expressed Ay HMW glutenin subunit in Australian wheat cultivars indicates a positive effect on wheat quality

Out of the six HMW-GS genes, 1Ay is usually not expressed in bread wheat cultivars. In the current study, an active 1Ay gene has been integrated into two Australian wheat cultivars, Livingston and Bonnie Rock, through conventional backcross approach. Three sister lines at BC4F4 generation for each cross were obtained and underwent a series of quality testing. Results show that the active 1Ay subunit increased the amount total protein, Glutenin/Gliadin ratio and unextractable polymeric protein. The expressed 1Ay also resulted in up to 10% increase of gluten content, 5% increase of glutenin, and hence increased the HMW- to LMW-GS ratio without affecting the relative amount of other subunits. Milling yield and Flour swelling were decreased in the Livingston lines and remained mostly unchanged for Bonnie Rock. Alveograph result showed that Ay improved dough strength in Livingston and dough extensibility in Bonnie Rock. Zeleny sedimentation value was found to be higher in all three lines of Bonnie Rock but only in one of Livingston derivatives. The dough development time and peak resistance, determined on the micro Z-arm mixer were increased in most cases. Overall, the integration of Ay subunit showed significant positive effects in bread making quality

High frequency of abnormal high molecular weight glutenin alleles in Chinese wheat landraces of the Yangtze-River region

A total of 485 common landraces of bread wheat were collected from the Yangtze-River region of China. Their high molecular weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) composition was analyzed by Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Among all landraces tested, 453 were homogeneous for HMW-GS, 32 were heterogeneous, and 37 contained abnormal subunits. A total of 22 alleles were detected, including 3 at Glu-A1, 13 at Glu-B1 and 6 at Glu-D1, respectively. Higher variations occurred at the Glu-B1 locus compared with Glu-A1 and Glu-D1. Glu-A1c (74.0%), Glu-B1b (40.4%), Glu-D1a (84.9%) appeared to be the most frequent alleles at Glu-A1, Glu-B1 and Glu-D1, respectively. Two alleles ("null" and 1) at the Glu-A1 locus, three allele compositions (7 + 8, 7OE + 8, 7 + 9) at the Glu-B1 locus, and two (2 + 12 and 5 + 10) at the Glu-D1 locus appeared to be the common types in the 485 landraces. Sixteen new alleles represented by abnormal subunits were identified at the Glu-B1 and the Glu-D1 locus

The complexity of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus genome characterised through detailed analysis of two BAC clones

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Rmi) </it>a major cattle ectoparasite and tick borne disease vector, impacts on animal welfare and industry productivity. In arthropod research there is an absence of a complete Chelicerate genome, which includes ticks, mites, spiders, scorpions and crustaceans. Model arthropod genomes such as <it>Drosophila </it>and <it>Anopheles </it>are too taxonomically distant for a reference in tick genomic sequence analysis. This study focuses on the <it>de-novo </it>assembly of two <it>R. microplus </it>BAC sequences from the understudied <it>R microplus </it>genome. Based on available <it>R. microplus </it>sequenced resources and comparative analysis, tick genomic structure and functional predictions identify complex gene structures and genomic targets expressed during tick-cattle interaction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In our BAC analyses we have assembled, using the correct positioning of BAC end sequences and transcript sequences, two challenging genomic regions. Cot DNA fractions compared to the BAC sequences confirmed a highly repetitive BAC sequence BM-012-E08 and a low repetitive BAC sequence BM-005-G14 which was gene rich and contained short interspersed elements (SINEs). Based directly on the BAC and Cot data comparisons, the genome wide frequency of the SINE Ruka element was estimated. Using a conservative approach to the assembly of the highly repetitive BM-012-E08, the sequence was de-convoluted into three repeat units, each unit containing an 18S, 5.8S and 28S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) encoding gene sequence (rDNA), related internal transcribed spacer and complex intergenic region.</p> <p>In the low repetitive BM-005-G14, a novel gene complex was found between to 2 genes on the same strand. Nested in the second intron of a large 9 Kb <it>papilin </it>gene was a <it>helicase </it>gene. This <it>helicase </it>overlapped in two exonic regions with the <it>papilin</it>. Both these genes were shown expressed in different tick life stage important in ectoparasite interaction with the host. Tick specific sequence differences were also determined for the <it>papilin </it>gene and the protein binding sites of the 18S subunit in a comparison to <it>Bos taurus</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In the absence of a sequenced reference genome we have assembled two complex BAC sequences, characterised novel gene structure that was confirmed by gene expression and sequencing analyses. This is the first report to provide evidence for 2 eukaryotic genes with exon regions that overlap on the same strand, the first to describe <it>Rhipicephalinae papilin</it>, and the first to report the complete ribosomal DNA repeated unit sequence structure for ticks. The Cot data estimation of genome wide sequence frequency means this research will underpin future efforts for genome sequencing and assembly of the <it>R. microplus </it>genome.</p

The IMPACT study: A clustered randomized controlled trial to assess the effect of a referral algorithm for axial spondyloarthritis

BACKGROUND: A substantial number of patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) have axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), but early recognition of these patients is difficult for general practitioners (GPs). The Case Finding Axial Spondyloarthritis (CaFaSpA) referral strategy has shown to be able to identify patients with CLBP at risk for axSpA, but its impact on clinical daily practice is yet unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of the CaFaSpA referral strategy on pain caused by disability in primary care patients with CLBP. METHODS: Within this clustered randomized controlled trial 93 general practices were randomized to either the CaFaSpA referral model (intervention) or usual primary care (control). In each group primary care patients between 18 and 45 years with CLBP were included. The primary outcome was disability caused by CLBP, measured with the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ) at baseline and four months. Secondary outcome was the frequency of new axSpA diagnosis. Descriptive analyses were performed, and a linear mixed-effects model was used. RESULTS: In total 679 CLBP patients were included of which 333 patients were allocated to the intervention group and 346 to the control group. Sixty-four percent were female and mean age was 36.2 years. The mean RMDQ score at baseline was 8.39 in the intervention group and 8.61 in the control group. At four months mean RMDQ score was 7.65 in the intervention group and 8.15 in the control group. This difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.50). Six (8%) out of the 75 finally referred patients, were diagnosed with axSpA by their rheumatologist. CONCLUSIONS: The CaFaSpA referral strategy for axSpA did not have an effect on disability after four months caused by CLBP. However, the strategy is able to detect the axSpA patient within the large CLBP population sufficiently. Trial registration number: NCT01944163, Clinicaltrials.gov

Black hole thermodynamics with conical defects

Recently we have shown [1] how to formulate a thermodynamic first law for a single (charged) accelerated black hole in AdS space by fixing the conical deficit angles present in the spacetime. Here we show how to generalise this result, formulating thermodynamics for black holes with varying conical deficits. We derive a new potential for the varying tension defects: the thermodynamic length, both for accelerating and static black holes. We discuss possible physical processes in which the tension of a string ending on a black hole might vary, and also map out the thermodynamic phase space of accelerating black holes and explore their critical phenomena

Microbial catabolic activities are naturally selected by metabolic energy harvest rate

The fundamental trade-off between yield and rate of energy harvest per unit of substrate has been largely discussed as a main characteristic for microbial established cooperation or competition. In this study, this point is addressed by developing a generalized model that simulates competition between existing and not experimentally reported microbial catabolic activities defined only based on well-known biochemical pathways. No specific microbial physiological adaptations are considered, growth yield is calculated coupled to catabolism energetics and a common maximum biomass-specific catabolism rate (expressed as electron transfer rate) is assumed for all microbial groups. Under this approach, successful microbial metabolisms are predicted in line with experimental observations under the hypothesis of maximum energy harvest rate. Two microbial ecosystems, typically found in wastewater treatment plants, are simulated, namely: (i) the anaerobic fermentation of glucose and (ii) the oxidation and reduction of nitrogen under aerobic autotrophic (nitrification) and anoxic heterotrophic and autotrophic (denitrification) conditions. The experimentally observed cross feeding in glucose fermentation, through multiple intermediate fermentation pathways, towards ultimately methane and carbon dioxide is predicted. Analogously, two-stage nitrification (by ammonium and nitrite oxidizers) is predicted as prevailing over nitrification in one stage. Conversely, denitrification is predicted in one stage (by denitrifiers) as well as anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation). The model results suggest that these observations are a direct consequence of the different energy yields per electron transferred at the different steps of the pathways. Overall, our results theoretically support the hypothesis that successful microbial catabolic activities are selected by an overall maximum energy harvest rate