The dependence on temperature and salinity of dissolved

Recurring latitudinal patterns of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) content and the fugacity of CO2 (fCO2) were observed in East Atlantic surface waters with strong gradients at hydrographic fronts. The dissolved inorganic carbon chemistry clearly displayed the effects of oceanic circulation and of persistent surface water processes. In two cases inorganic carbon components could be used as an indicator of the origin of hydrographic features. Surface water fCO2 below the atmospheric value, low DIC and low salinity north of the equator were ascribed to a combination of high rainfall and low wind speed in the Intertropical Convergence Zone and of biological uptake of CO2. Low surface water DIC and salinity delineated the Congo outflow. Along the cruise tracks calculated titration alkalinity (TA) had an almost linear relationship with salinity, while DIC had an apparent dependence on temperature and salinity. The latter dependence was tested by comparing observed DIC to DIC estimated from fCO2 and a reference value of TA normalised to salinity. Different scenarios of temperature, salinity, fCO2 and nutrient contents were applied. Changes of DIC were found to be indeed related to both temperature and salinity. The latitudinal distribution of DIC could be inferred with an accuracy of 17 μmol kg−1 and a standard deviation of 13 μmol kg−1 from in situ salinity, in situ temperature and the reference values of TA and nutrient contents normalised to in situ salinity (scenario D). The applied technique of estimating DIC from temperature and salinity is a powerful diagnostic tool to evaluate the spatial distribution of DIC.

Jihadist Foreign Fighter Phenomenon in Western Europe: A Low-Probability, High-Impact Threat

The phenomenon of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq is making headlines. Their involvement in the atrocities committed by terrorist groups such as the so-called “Islamic State” and Jabhat al-Nusra have caused grave concern and public outcry in the foreign fighters’ European countries of origin. While much has been written about these foreign fighters and the possible threat they pose, the impact of this phenomenon on Western European societies has yet to be documented. This Research Paper explores four particular areas where this impact is most visible: a) violent incidents associated with (returned) foreign fighters, b) official and political responses linked to these incidents, c) public opinion, and d) anti-Islam reactions linked to these incidents. The authors conclude that the phenomenon of jihadist foreign fighters in European societies should be primarily regarded as a social and political threat, not a physical one. They consider the phenomenon of European jihadist foreign fighters a “low-probability, high-impact” threat

Comparative sequence analysis of the potato cyst nematode resistance locus H1 reveals a major lack of co-linearity between three haplotypes in potato (Solanum tuberosum ssp.)

The H1 locus confers resistance to the potato cyst nematode Globodera rostochiensis pathotypes 1 and 4. It is positioned at the distal end of chromosome V of the diploid Solanum tuberosum genotype SH83-92-488 (SH) on an introgression segment derived from S. tuberosum ssp. andigena. Markers from a high-resolution genetic map of the H1 locus (Bakker et al. in Theor Appl Genet 109:146–152, 2004) were used to screen a BAC library to construct a physical map covering a 341-kb region of the resistant haplotype coming from SH. For comparison, physical maps were also generated of the two haplotypes from the diploid susceptible genotype RH89-039-16 (S. tuberosum ssp. tuberosum/S. phureja), spanning syntenic regions of 700 and 319 kb. Gene predictions on the genomic segments resulted in the identification of a large cluster consisting of variable numbers of the CC-NB-LRR type of R genes for each haplotype. Furthermore, the regions were interspersed with numerous transposable elements and genes coding for an extensin-like protein and an amino acid transporter. Comparative analysis revealed a major lack of gene order conservation in the sequences of the three closely related haplotypes. Our data provide insight in the evolutionary mechanisms shaping the H1 locus and will facilitate the map-based cloning of the H1 resistance gene

Kidney Infarction in Patients With COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious life-threatening infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Recent findings indicate an increased risk for acute kidney injury during COVID-19 infection. The pathophysiologic mechanisms leading to acute kidney injury in COVID-19 infection are unclear but may include direct cytopathic effects of the virus on kidney tubular and endothelial cells, indirect damage caused by virus-induced cytokine release, and kidney hypoperfusion due to a restrictive fluid strategy. In this report of 2 cases, we propose an additional pathophysiologic mechanism. We describe 2 cases in which patients with COVID-19 infection developed a decrease in kidney function due to kidney infarction. These patients did not have atrial fibrillation. One of these patients was treated with therapeutic doses of low-molecular-weight heparin, after which no further deterioration in kidney function was observed. Our findings implicate that the differential diagnosis of acute kidney injury in COVID-19–infected patients should include kidney infarction, which may have important preventive and therapeutic implications

Central Asia and the globalisation of the contemporary legal consciousness

What is the logic which governs the processes of legal globalization? How does the transnational proliferation of legal forms operate in the contemporary geo-juridical space? What are the main defining characteristics of the currently dominant mode of transnational legal consciousness and how can the concept of legal consciousness help us understand better the historical ebb and flow of the Western-led projects of good governance promotion in regions like Central Asia after the fall of the Soviet Union? Using Duncan Kennedy’s seminal essay Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought as its starting platform, this essay seeks to explore these and a series of other related questions, while also drawing on the work of the Greek Marxist lawyer-philosopher Nicos Poulantzas to help elucidate some latent analytical stress-points in Kennedy’s broader theoretical framework. Reacting against the neo-Orientalist tone adopted across much of the contemporary field of Central Asian studies, it develops an alternative account of the internal history of the legal-globalizational encounter between the Western-based reform entrepreneurs and the national legal-political elites in Central Asia in the post-1991 period, complementing it with a detailed description of the general institutional and discursive structures within which this encounter took place