What do cells actually want?

Genome-scale models require an objective function representing what an organism strives for. A method has been developed to infer this fundamental biological function from data.Please see related Research article: www.dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13059-016-0968-2

Tail amputation for treatment of osteomyelitis of the first and second coccygeal vertebrae in a cow

Diseases of the tail are common in cattle (3, 4). Infection or necrosis of the tail tip, injury of the coccygeal vertebrae resulting in tail paralysis (8, 12) as well as fracture or luxation of the coccygeal vertebrae(6) are some of the most common disorders. Congenital defects, diskospondylitis and tumours of the tail occur occasionally (5, 8). Tail fractures or luxations are usually the result of trauma, such as falls, excessive traction on the tail when moving a downer cow, excessive traction on a calf during assisted delivery, and mounting by other cows or heavy bulls (3, 13). Clinical signs depend on the severity of nerve damage and the location of the fracture. Fractures involving the second (S2), third and fourth sacral (S3 and S4) segments may affect the pudendal nerve, pelvic nerves and the tail nerve resulting in paralysis of the urinary bladder, anus and tail. Tail paralysis without other neurological deficits indicates damage to the coccygeal nerve (7). Diseases of the tail may be treated conservatively or by amputation cranial to the affected area. Tail amputation in cattle is a very controversial subject because in some countries, it is carried out prophylactically for management reasons without any medical indication (1, 9, 11). Prophylactic tail amputation is done 7–8 cm below the vulva in calves and 5–6 cm below the vulva in heifers and mature cows. The present case report describes complete amputation of the tail at the level of the sacrum in a cow with osteomye - litis of the first (C1) and second coccygeal (C2) vertebrae

Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) gene flow within rivers of the Missouri Ozark highlands

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 9, 2013).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Lori S. EggertIncludes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri-Columbia 2013.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Biological sciences."May 2013"For species of conservation concern, effective management includes maintaining robust population sizes while monitoring and promoting genetic variability. For hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), an aquatic salamander species experiencing dramatic declines in population size, little is known about genetic variation at the within-river scale and whether habitat patches within rivers are genetically and/or demographically connected. Given that suitable habitat patches are isolated, and that hellbenders exhibit extreme site fidelity, gene flow may be restricted among these discrete habitat patches. Using several polymorphic microsatellite loci, I assessed the fine-scale genetic relationships between hellbenders occupying various habitat patches within a river. My results indicate that a substantial amount of gene flow is occurring between habitat patches, with no evidence to support genetic differentiation between patches. Since dispersal is the mechanism driving gene flow, it can be inferred from this data that hellbenders disperse, with dispersal hypothesized to occur during the larval and/or juvenile phase. Dispersal can occur in both males and females. However, the propensity for one sex to disperse more frequently than the other is driven by evolutionary forces and mating strategies. Using molecular techniques, I investigated differential dispersal between males and females in order to evaluate sex-biased dispersal in hellbenders. My results suggest that male and female hellbenders disperse, and that both sexes contribute to the observed levels of gene flow. Because hellbender populations are experiencing low juvenile recruitment in addition to the declines in population size, I compared heterozygosity levels in survived and dead offspring to evaluate how genetic diversity influences offspring survival. My results suggest that heterozygosity-fitness correlations would be an intriguing area of research to pursue in future studies, and may give further insight into causes for hellbender declines

Flow Measurement Options for Canal Turnouts

Volumetric record-keeping, billing, and allocations at irrigation district delivery points (turnouts) are the norm, rather than the exception for most California irrigation districts. However, many older districts are just beginning these efforts, and other districts are trying to improve existing hardware and procedures. Volumetric accounting with high accuracy and a reasonable price presents unique engineering challenges for irrigation districts because of the variety of existing structures and configurations at irrigation delivery points. Because it is likely that irrigation districts will attempt to utilize existing devices, or slightly modify them, there is a need for standardized installation and/or calibration. This paper discusses three efforts to adapt, improve, and/or calibrate existing technologies for flow rate and volumetric metering of canal turnouts

Claytonia virginica L.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/5143/thumbnail.jp

Thermalization and Cooling of Plasmon-Exciton Polaritons: Towards Quantum Condensation

We present indications of thermalization and cooling of quasi-particles, a precursor for quantum condensation, in a plasmonic nanoparticle array. We investigate a periodic array of metallic nanorods covered by a polymer layer doped with an organic dye at room temperature. Surface lattice resonances of the array---hybridized plasmonic/photonic modes---couple strongly to excitons in the dye, and bosonic quasi-particles which we call plasmon-exciton-polaritons (PEPs) are formed. By increasing the PEP density through optical pumping, we observe thermalization and cooling of the strongly coupled PEP band in the light emission dispersion diagram. For increased pumping, we observe saturation of the strong coupling and emission in a new weakly coupled band, which again shows signatures of thermalization and cooling.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures including supplemental material. The newest version includes new measurements and corrections to the interpretation of the result