Species of Bursaphelenchus Fuchs, 1937 (Nematoda: Parasitaphelenchidae) and other nematode genera associated with insects from Pinus pinaster in Portugal

Insects associated with maritime pine, Pinus pinaster, in Portugal were collected and screened for the presence of Bursaphelenchus species. Nematodes were identified using Internal Transcribed Spacers-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (ITS-RFLP) analysis of dauer juveniles and morphological identification of adults that developed from dauer juveniles on fungal cultures or on cultures in pine wood segments at 26 C. Several associations are described: Bursaphelenchus teratospicularis and Bursaphelenchus sexdentati are associated with Orthotomicus erosus; Bursaphelenchus tusciae, B. sexdentati and/or Bursaphelenchus pinophilus with Hylurgus ligniperda and Bursaphelenchus hellenicus with Tomicus piniperda, Ips sexdentatus and H. ligniperda. An unidentified Bursaphelenchus species is vectored by Hylobius sp. The previously reported association of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus with Monochamus galloprovincialis was confirmed. The association of Bursaphelenchus leoni with Pityogenes sp. is not definitively established and needs further studies for clarification. Other nematode genera besides Bursaphelenchus were found to be associated with the insects sampled, including two different species of Ektaphelenchus, Parasitorhabditis sp., Parasitaphelenchus sp., Contortylenchus sp. and other unidentified nematodes. The Ektaphelenchus species found in O. erosus is morphologically similar to B. teratospicularis found in the same insect; adults of both the species are found in cocoon-like structures under the elytra of the insects. Introduction Approximately one third of the nematodes belonging to the order Aphelenchida Siddiqi, 1980 are associated with insects (Poinar, 1983). These nematodes establish a variety of associations with the insects, which may be described as commensalism, e.g. phoresy (to the benefit of the nematode but not affecting the insect), mutualism (both the organisms benefit) or parasitism (nematodes benefit at the expense of the insect) (Giblin-Davis, 2004). Most Bursaphelenchus Fuchs, 1937 species are mycetophagous, feeding on fungi in the galleries of bark beetles and thu

The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke has global importance and it causes an increasing amount of human suffering and economic burden, but its management is far from optimal. The unsuccessful outcome of several research programs highlights the need for reliable data on which to plan future clinical trials. The Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive aims to aid the planning of clinical trials by collating and providing access to a rich resource of patient data to perform exploratory analyses. METHODS: Data were contributed by the principal investigators of numerous trials from the past 16 years. These data have been centrally collated and are available for anonymized analysis and hypothesis testing. RESULTS: Currently, the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive contains 21 trials. There are data on \u3e15,000 patients with both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Ages range between 18 and 103 years, with a mean age of 69+/-12 years. Outcome measures include the Barthel Index, Scandinavian Stroke Scale, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Orgogozo Scale, and modified Rankin Scale. Medical history and onset-to-treatment time are readily available, and computed tomography lesion data are available for selected trials. CONCLUSIONS: This resource has the potential to influence clinical trial design and implementation through data analyses that inform planning

Today and Future Neutrino Experiments at Krasnoyarsk Nuclear Reactor

The results of undergoing experiments and new experiment propositions at Krasnoyarsk underground nuclear reactor are presentedComment: 4 page

Convenient Versus Unique Effective Action Formalism in 2D Dilaton-Maxwell Quantum Gravity

The structure of one-loop divergences of two-dimensional dilaton-Maxwell quantum gravity is investigated in two formalisms: one using a convenient effective action and the other a unique effective action. The one-loop divergences (including surface divergences) of the convenient effective action are calculated in three different covariant gauges: (i) De Witt, (ii) $\Omega$-degenerate De Witt, and (iii) simplest covariant. The on-shell effective action is given by surface divergences only (finiteness of the $S$-matrix), which yet depend upon the gauge condition choice. Off-shell renormalizability is discussed and classes of renormalizable dilaton and Maxwell potentials are found which coincide in the cases of convenient and unique effective actions. A detailed comparison of both situations, i.e. convenient vs. unique effective action, is given. As an extension of the procedure, the one-loop effective action in two-dimensional dilaton-Yang-Mills gravity is calculated.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX file, HUPD-93-0

Stable and Metastable Structures of Cobalt on Cu(001): An ab initio Study

We report results of density-functional theory calculations on the structural, magnetic, and electronic properties of (1x1)-structures of Co on Cu(001) for coverages up to two monolayers. In particular we discuss the tendency towards phase separation in Co islands and the possibility of segregation of Cu on top of the Co-film. A sandwich structure consisting of a bilayer Co-film covered by 1ML of Cu is found to be the lowest-energy configuration. We also discuss a bilayer c(2x2)-alloy which may form due to kinetic reasons, or be stabilized at strained surface regions. Furthermore, we study the influence of magnetism on the various structures and, e.g., find that Co adlayers induce a weak spin-density wave in the copper substrate.Comment: 11 pages including 4 figures. Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Higher-order mutual coherence of optical and matter waves

We use an operational approach to discuss ways to measure the higher-order cross-correlations between optical and matter-wave fields. We pay particular attention to the fact that atomic fields actually consist of composite particles that can easily be separated into their basic constituents by a detection process such as photoionization. In the case of bosonic fields, that we specifically consider here, this leads to the appearance in the detection signal of exchange contributions due to both the composite bosonic field and its individual fermionic constituents. We also show how time-gated counting schemes allow to isolate specific contributions to the signal, in particular involving different orderings of the Schr\"odinger and Maxwell fields.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Transport by molecular motors in the presence of static defects

The transport by molecular motors along cytoskeletal filaments is studied theoretically in the presence of static defects. The movements of single motors are described as biased random walks along the filament as well as binding to and unbinding from the filament. Three basic types of defects are distinguished, which differ from normal filament sites only in one of the motors' transition probabilities. Both stepping defects with a reduced probability for forward steps and unbinding defects with an increased probability for motor unbinding strongly reduce the velocities and the run lengths of the motors with increasing defect density. For transport by single motors, binding defects with a reduced probability for motor binding have a relatively small effect on the transport properties. For cargo transport by motors teams, binding defects also change the effective unbinding rate of the cargo particles and are expected to have a stronger effect.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 7 figures, 1 tabl

The JCMT Legacy Survey of the Gould Belt: a first look at Orion B with HARP

‘The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com '. Copyright Royal Astronomical Society.The Gould Belt Legacy Survey will survey nearby star-forming regions (within 500 pc), using Heterodyne Array Receiver Programme (HARP), Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 and Polarimeter 2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. This paper describes the initial data obtained using HARP to observe 12CO, 13CO and C18O J= 3 → 2 towards two regions in Orion B, NGC 2024 and NGC 2071. We describe the physical characteristics of the two clouds, calculating temperatures and opacities utilizing all the three isotopologues. We find good agreement between temperatures calculated from CO and from dust emission in the dense, energetic regions. We determine the mass and energetics of the clouds, and of the high-velocity material seen in 12CO emission, and compare the relative energetics of the high- and low-velocity material in the two clouds. We present a clumpfind analysis of the 13CO condensations. The slope of the condensation mass functions, at the high-mass ends, is similar to the slope of the initial mass function.Peer reviewe