Short communication Dairy farm borehole water quality in the greater Mangaung region of the Free State Province, South Africa

Published ArticleMost dairy farm effluent is discharged onto pastures and land by irrigation and poses a risk of enriching groundwater including borehole drinking water. Nitrate, coliforms and Escherichia coli (E. coli), in particular, may cause disease in humans and animals drinking contaminated water. The aim of this study was to obtain an understanding of the status of borehole drinking water quality, including physical, chemical and microbiological properties, on 75 dairy farms in the greater Mangaung region of the Free State, South Africa. Borehole drinking water samples were collected during autumn and spring of 2009 and the physical, chemical and microbiological parameters analysed and compared to the required standards prescribed by the South Africa National Standards (SANS) 241 of 2006. Most farms were compliant; however for combined nitrate and nitrite N, 37 of the farms exceeded the prescribed limit. Similarly, for total coliforms, 45 and for E. coli, 22 of the farms exceeded the acceptable limits. Nine of the farm boreholes were contaminated by N and E. coli. On one farm all of the bacteriological parameters and four of the chemical parameters exceeded the prescribed limits, and on two other farms four and five of the chemical parameters were exceeded. Further studies on water and waste management on dairy farms in the Manguang region of the Free State are suggested

Rigid and concave, 2,4-cis-substituted azetidine derivatives: A platform for asymmetric catalysis.

A series of single enantiomer, 2,4-cis-disubstituted amino azetidines were synthesised and used as ligands for copper-catalysed Henry reactions of aldehydes with nitromethane. Optimisation of ligand substituents and the reaction conditions was conducted. The enantiomeric excess of the formed products was highest when alkyl aldehydes were employed in the reaction (>99% e.e.). The absolute stereochemistry of one representative azetidine derivative salt was determined by analysis of the Flack parameter of an XRD single crystal structure. The origin of selectivity in catalysis was investigated computationally, revealing the importance of the amino-substituent in determining the stereochemical outcome. A racemic platinum complex of a cis-disubstituted azetidine is examined by XRD single crystal structure analysis with reference to its steric parameters, and analogies to the computationally determined copper complex catalyst are drawn. A preliminary example of the use of a cis-disubstituted azetidine scaffold in thiourea H-bonding catalyst is noted in the supporting information

Radio Observations of HD 80606 Near Planetary Periastron

This paper reports Very Large Array observations at 325 and 1425 MHz (90cm and 20cm) during and near the periastron passage of HD 80606b on 2007 November 20. We obtain flux density limits (3-sigma) of 1.7 mJy and 48 microJy at 325 and 1425 MHz, respectively, equivalent to planetary luminosity limits of 2.3 x 10^{24} erg/s and 2.7 x 10^{23} erg/s. These are well above the Jovian value (at 40 MHz) of 2 x 10^{18} erg/s. The motivation for these observations was that the planetary magnetospheric emission is driven by a stellar wind-planetary magnetosphere interaction so that the planetary luminosity would be elevated. Near periastron, HD 80606b might be as much as 3000 times more luminous than Jupiter. Recent transit observations of HD 80606b provide stringent constraints on the planetary mass and radius, and, because of the planet's highly eccentric orbit, its rotation period is likely to be "pseudo-synchronized" to its orbital period, allowing a robust estimate of the former. We are able to make robust estimates of the emission frequency of the planetary magnetospheric emission and find it to be around 60--90 MHz. We compare HD 80606b to other high-eccentricity systems and assess the detection possibilities for both near-term and more distant future systems. Of the known high eccentricity planets, only HD 80606b is likely to be detectable, as HD 20782B b and HD 4113b are both likely to have weaker magnetic field strengths. Both the forthcoming "EVLA low band" system and the Low Frequency Array may be able to improve upon our limits for HD 80606b, and do so at a more optimum frequency. If the low-frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA-lo) and a future lunar radio array are able to approach their thermal noise limits, they should be able to detect an HD 80606b-like planet, unless the planet's luminosity increases by substantially less than a factor of 3000.Comment: 9 pages; accepted for publication in A

Line-profile tomography of exoplanet transits -- II. A gas-giant planet transiting a rapidly-rotating A5 star

Most of our knowledge of extrasolar planets rests on precise radial-velocity measurements, either for direct detection or for confirmation of the planetary origin of photometric transit signals. This has limited our exploration of the parameter space of exoplanet hosts to solar- and later-type, sharp-lined stars. Here we extend the realm of stars with known planetary companions to include hot, fast-rotating stars. Planet-like transits have previously been reported in the lightcurve obtained by the SuperWASP survey of the A5 star HD15082 (WASP-33; V=8.3, v sin i = 86 km/sec). Here we report further photometry and time-series spectroscopy through three separate transits, which we use to confirm the existence of a gas giant planet with an orbital period of 1.22d in orbit around HD15082. From the photometry and the properties of the planet signal travelling through the spectral line profiles during the transit we directly derive the size of the planet, the inclination and obliquity of its orbital plane, and its retrograde orbital motion relative to the spin of the star. This kind of analysis opens the way to studying the formation of planets around a whole new class of young, early-type stars, hence under different physical conditions and generally in an earlier stage of formation than in sharp-lined late-type stars. The reflex orbital motion of the star caused by the transiting planet is small, yielding an upper mass limit of 4.1 Jupiter masses on the planet. We also find evidence of a third body of sub-stellar mass in the system, which may explain the unusual orbit of the transiting planet. In HD 15082, the stellar line profiles also show evidence of non-radial pulsations, clearly distinct from the planetary transit signal. This raises the intriguing possibility that tides raised by the close-in planet may excite or amplify the pulsations in such stars.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

A cell cycle-coordinated Polymerase II transcription compartment encompasses gene expression before global genome activation

© 2019, The Author(s). Most metazoan embryos commence development with rapid, transcriptionally silent cell divisions, with genome activation delayed until the mid-blastula transition (MBT). However, a set of genes escapes global repression and gets activated before MBT. Here we describe the formation and the spatio-temporal dynamics of a pair of distinct transcription compartments, which encompasses the earliest gene expression in zebrafish. 4D imaging of pri-miR430 and zinc-finger-gene activities by a novel, native transcription imaging approach reveals transcriptional sharing of nuclear compartments, which are regulated by homologous chromosome organisation. These compartments carry the majority of nascent-RNAs and active Polymerase II, are chromatin-depleted and represent the main sites of detectable transcription before MBT. Transcription occurs during the S-phase of increasingly permissive cleavage cycles. It is proposed, that the transcription compartment is part of the regulatory architecture of embryonic nuclei and offers a transcriptionally competent environment to facilitate early escape from repression before global genome activation

Impact of Psychotic Symptoms and Concurrent Neuropsychiatric Symptoms on the Quality of Life of People With Dementia Living in Nursing Homes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordOBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to determine whether psychotic symptoms in people with dementia (PwD) living in nursing homes were associated with reduced quality of life and to understand the additional impact of other concurrent neuropsychiatric symptoms on QoL. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort study (using data from WHELD cohort). SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: 971 PwD living in nursing homes participating in the WHELD study. METHODS: The Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Nursing Home (NPI-NH) version was completed by informant interview. We compared mean differences in proxy-rated QoL scores (DEMQOL-Proxy) for PwD experiencing or not experiencing delusions and for PwD experiencing or not experiencing hallucinations. Backward multiple regression was used to determine the added contributions of agitation (Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory), anxiety (NPI-NH-Anxiety), depression (Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia), dementia severity (Clinical Dementia Rating-sum of boxes score), pain (Abbey Pain Scale), and antipsychotic prescription. Mediation analysis was conducted for agitation, anxiety, and depression. RESULTS: Presence of both delusions (P < .001, B = -8.39) and hallucinations (P < .001, B = -7.78) was associated with poorer QoL. Both associations remained significant after controlling for other factors. Agitation, anxiety, and depression partially mediated the relationship between each psychotic symptom and QoL. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Delusions and hallucinations in PwD are associated with poorer QoL among PwD living in nursing homes. The effects remain significant after adjusting for confounding variables. Direct effects of each symptom maintained significance despite significant mediation by concurrent neuropsychiatric symptoms.Bateman Family Charitable TrustUniversity of ExeterNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR

Genetic analysis of the GLUT10 glucose transporter (SLC2A10) polymorphisms in Caucasian American type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: GLUT10 (gene symbol SLC2A10) is a facilitative glucose transporter within the type 2 diabetes (T2DM)-linked region on chromosome 20q12-13.1. Therefore, we evaluated GLUT10 as a positional candidate gene for T2DM in Caucasian Americans. METHODS: Twenty SNPs including 4 coding, 10 intronic and 6 5' and 3' to the coding sequence were genotyped across a 100 kb region containing the SLC2A10 gene in DNAs from 300 T2DM cases and 310 controls using the Sequenom MassArray Genotyping System. Allelic association was evaluated, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype structure of SLC2A10 were also determined to assess whether any specific haplotypes were associated with T2DM. RESULTS: Of these variants, fifteen had heterozygosities greater than 0.80 and were analyzed further for association with T2DM. No evidence of significant association was observed for any variant with T2DM (all P ≥ 0.05), including Ala206Thr (rs2235491) which was previously reported to be associated with fasting insulin. Linkage disequilibrium analysis suggests that the SLC2A10 gene is contained in a single haplotype block of 14 kb. Haplotype association analysis with T2DM did not reveal any significant differences between haplotype frequencies in T2DM cases and controls. CONCLUSION: From our findings, we can conclude that sequence variants in or near GLUT10 are unlikely to contribute significantly to T2DM in Caucasian Americans

Selective glycoprotein detection through covalent templating and allosteric click-imprinting

A hierarchical bottom-up route exploiting reversible covalent interactions with boronic acids and so-called click chemistry for selective glycoprotein detection is described. The self-assembled and imprinted surfaces confer high binding affinities, nanomolar sensitivity, exceptional glycoprotein specificity and selectivity.</p