Ecological and Genomic Attributes of Novel Bacterial Taxa That Thrive in Subsurface Soil Horizons.

While most bacterial and archaeal taxa living in surface soils remain undescribed, this problem is exacerbated in deeper soils, owing to the unique oligotrophic conditions found in the subsurface. Additionally, previous studies of soil microbiomes have focused almost exclusively on surface soils, even though the microbes living in deeper soils also play critical roles in a wide range of biogeochemical processes. We examined soils collected from 20 distinct profiles across the United States to characterize the bacterial and archaeal communities that live in subsurface soils and to determine whether there are consistent changes in soil microbial communities with depth across a wide range of soil and environmental conditions. We found that bacterial and archaeal diversity generally decreased with depth, as did the degree of similarity of microbial communities to those found in surface horizons. We observed five phyla that consistently increased in relative abundance with depth across our soil profiles: Chloroflexi, Nitrospirae, Euryarchaeota, and candidate phyla GAL15 and Dormibacteraeota (formerly AD3). Leveraging the unusually high abundance of Dormibacteraeota at depth, we assembled genomes representative of this candidate phylum and identified traits that are likely to be beneficial in low-nutrient environments, including the synthesis and storage of carbohydrates, the potential to use carbon monoxide (CO) as a supplemental energy source, and the ability to form spores. Together these attributes likely allow members of the candidate phylum Dormibacteraeota to flourish in deeper soils and provide insight into the survival and growth strategies employed by the microbes that thrive in oligotrophic soil environments.IMPORTANCE Soil profiles are rarely homogeneous. Resource availability and microbial abundances typically decrease with soil depth, but microbes found in deeper horizons are still important components of terrestrial ecosystems. By studying 20 soil profiles across the United States, we documented consistent changes in soil bacterial and archaeal communities with depth. Deeper soils harbored communities distinct from those of the more commonly studied surface horizons. Most notably, we found that the candidate phylum Dormibacteraeota (formerly AD3) was often dominant in subsurface soils, and we used genomes from uncultivated members of this group to identify why these taxa are able to thrive in such resource-limited environments. Simply digging deeper into soil can reveal a surprising number of novel microbes with unique adaptations to oligotrophic subsurface conditions

HIV Prevention in Care and Treatment Settings: Baseline Risk Behaviors among HIV Patients in Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania.

HIV care and treatment settings provide an opportunity to reach people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) with prevention messages and services. Population-based surveys in sub-Saharan Africa have identified HIV risk behaviors among PLHIV, yet data are limited regarding HIV risk behaviors of PLHIV in clinical care. This paper describes the baseline sociodemographic, HIV transmission risk behaviors, and clinical data of a study evaluating an HIV prevention intervention package for HIV care and treatment clinics in Africa. The study was a longitudinal group-randomized trial in 9 intervention clinics and 9 comparison clinics in Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania (N = 3538). Baseline participants were mostly female, married, had less than a primary education, and were relatively recently diagnosed with HIV. Fifty-two percent of participants had a partner of negative or unknown status, 24% were not using condoms consistently, and 11% reported STI symptoms in the last 6 months. There were differences in demographic and HIV transmission risk variables by country, indicating the need to consider local context in designing studies and using caution when generalizing findings across African countries. Baseline data from this study indicate that participants were often engaging in HIV transmission risk behaviors, which supports the need for prevention with PLHIV (PwP). TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01256463

Circulating BMP9 Protects the Pulmonary Endothelium during Inflammation-induced Lung Injury in Mice.

Rationale: Pulmonary endothelial permeability contributes to the high-permeability pulmonary edema that characterizes acute respiratory distress syndrome. Circulating BMP9 (bone morphogenetic protein 9) is emerging as an important regulator of pulmonary vascular homeostasis. Objectives:To determine whether endogenous BMP9 plays a role in preserving pulmonary endothelial integrity and whether loss of endogenous BMP9 occurs during LPS challenge. Methods: A BMP9-neutralizing antibody was administrated to healthy adult mice, and lung vasculature was examined. Potential mechanisms were delineated by transcript analysis in human lung endothelial cells. The impact of BMP9 administration was evaluated in a murine acute lung injury model induced by inhaled LPS. Levels of BMP9 were measured in plasma from patients with sepsis and from endotoxemic mice. Measurements and Main Results: Subacute neutralization of endogenous BMP9 in mice (N = 12) resulted in increased lung vascular permeability (P = 0.022), interstitial edema (P = 0.0047), and neutrophil extravasation (P = 0.029) compared with IgG control treatment (N = 6). In pulmonary endothelial cells, BMP9 regulated transcriptome pathways implicated in vascular permeability and cell-membrane integrity. Augmentation of BMP9 signaling in mice (N = 8) prevented inhaled LPS-induced lung injury (P = 0.0027) and edema (P < 0.0001). In endotoxemic mice (N = 12), endogenous circulating BMP9 concentrations were markedly reduced, the causes of which include a transient reduction in hepatic BMP9 mRNA expression and increased elastase activity in plasma. In human patients with sepsis (N = 10), circulating concentratons of BMP9 were also markedly reduced (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Endogenous circulating BMP9 is a pulmonary endothelial-protective factor, downregulated during inflammation. Exogenous BMP9 offers a potential therapy to prevent increased pulmonary endothelial permeability in lung injury

Metamorphic concentrator solar cells with over 40% conversion efficiency

ABSTRACT: Multijunction III-V concentrator cells have attracted much interest for concentrator photovoltaic (PV) systems recently due to their unparalleled conversion efficiencies. As high as these efficiencies are, they can be made even higher if the combination of subcell bandgaps for the multijunction solar cell are chosen from metamorphic semiconductors that are not all lattice-matched to the same growth substrate. Advances in the design of metamorphic subcells to reduce carrier recombination and increase voltage, wide-bandgap tunnel junctions capable of operating at high concentration, metamorphic buffers to transition from the substrate lattice constant to the active subcells, concentrator cell AR coating and grid design, and integration into 3-junction cells current matched under the terrestrial spectrum have resulted in new heights in solar cell performance. A metamorphic Ga 0.44 In 0.56 P/ Ga 0.92 In 0.08 As/ Ge 3-junction solar cell from this research has reached a record 40.7% efficiency at 240 suns, under the standard reporting spectrum for terrestrial concentrator cells (AM1.5 direct, low-AOD, 24.0 W/cm 2 25°C), and experimental lattice-matched 3-junction cells have now also achieved over 40% efficiency, with 40.1% measured at 135 suns. This metamorphic 3-junction device is the first solar cell to reach over 40% in efficiency, and has the highest solar conversion efficiency for any type of photovoltaic cell developed to date

1961

My Ideal Course, Underwater, U.S.A. (page 1) From the Editor (3) Turf Management Club News (3) Quotes from 1961 Seniors (4) The United States Most Western Owned Golf Course: Armed Forces Golf Course, Guam (5) Turf Majors Participate in Horticultural Show (7) Picture - G.C.S.A Scholarships Awarded to Three Turf Seniors (8) Picture - Stockbridge - Majors in turf Management (9) Opportunity and Education (10) The Most Outstanding Turf Senior for the Year - 1961 (11) How We Prepare Our Greens Before Topdressing (12) An Inexpensive Cure for Weeds and Poa Annua (13) Watering (14) Picture - Honorary Members of the Turf Management Club (16) Picture - Graduates of Winter School for Turf Managers - 1961 (17) Welcome Speech by Narry Sperandio (A-1) Handle with Care by Dr. Ellsworth H. Wheeler (A-2) Current Ideas on Green Construction - Panel Discussion (A-4) Automatic Systems for Watering by Robert F. Harper (A-14) History of Golf Course Architecture by Geoffrey S. Cornish (A-22) Effect of Nutrition on Turf Diseases by Dr. Houston B. Couch Turf Disease Control and Use of Fungicides by Dr. R. J. Lukens Trees and Tree Care by Gordon S. King (A-38) Arsenical Toxicity by Dr. C. R. Skogley (A-41) Soil Reaction to Arsenical Compounds by Joseph E. Steckel Brush Control For the Golf Course by Dr. William I. Boyd (A-51) Massachusetts Highway Herbicide Program by Joseph L. Beasley (A-54) General Turf (Alternate Session): Observations on Highway Turf Establishment & Maintenance by E.F. Button (A-62) Pre-emerge Chemicals for the Control of Crabgrass by Dr. John R. Havis, John M. Zak & Joseph Troll (A-70) Root Growth of Turf Grasses as Affected by Different heights of Cut and Nutrient Levels by Evangel J. Bredakis (A-71) The Use of Sod by Daniel Pellegrino (A-72

Microstructural Evolution in Thin Films of Electronic Materials

Contains reports on ten research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001National Science FoundationU.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Contract AFOSR 85-0154Semiconductor Research CorporationAT&TInternational Business Machines CorporationNational Institutes of Healt

Distinct clonal identities of B-ALLs arising after lenolidomide therapy for multiple myeloma

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) who are treated with lenalidomide rarely develop a secondary B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). The clonal and biological relationship between these sequential malignancies is not yet clear. We identified 17 patients with MM treated with lenalidomide, who subsequently developed B-ALL. Patient samples were evaluated through sequencing, cytogenetics/fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, and immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) clonality assessment. Samples were assessed for shared mutations and recurrently mutated genes. Through whole exome sequencing and cytogenetics/FISH analysis of 7 paired samples (MM vs matched B-ALL), no mutational overlap between samples was observed. Unique dominant IgH clonotypes between the tumors were observed in 5 paired MM/B-ALL samples. Across all 17 B-ALL samples, 14 (83%) had a TP53 variant detected. Three MM samples with sufficient sequencing depth (\u3e500×) revealed rare cells (average of 0.6% variant allele frequency, or 1.2% of cells) with the same TP53 variant identified in the subsequent B-ALL sample. A lack of mutational overlap between MM and B-ALL samples shows that B-ALL developed as a second malignancy arising from a founding population of cells that likely represented unrelated clonal hematopoiesis caused by a TP53 mutation. The recurrent variants in TP53 in the B-ALL samples suggest a common path for malignant transformation that may be similar to that of TP53-mutant, treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia. The presence of rare cells containing TP53 variants in bone marrow at the initiation of lenalidomide treatment suggests that cellular populations containing TP53 variants expand in the presence of lenalidomide to increase the likelihood of B-ALL development

Complexes of Iron(II) with silylated pentalene ligands; building blocks for homo- and heterobimetallics

A range of iron(II) complexes incorporating the silylated pentalene ligands (Pn†H = 1,4-{SiiPr3}2C8H5 and Pn† = 1,4-{SiiPr3}2C8H4) have been investigated as model molecules/building blocks for metallocene-based polymers. Six complexes have been synthesised and extensively characterised by a range of techniques, including by cyclic voltammetry and X-ray diffraction studies. Amongst these compounds are the homobimetallic [Cp∗Fe]2(μ-Pn†) which is a fused analogue of biferrocene, and the 3d/4s heterobimetallic [Cp∗Fe(η5-Pn†)][K] which forms an organometallic polymer in the solid state. DFT calculations on model mono-Fe(η5-Pn) compounds reveal the charge densities on the uncoordinated carbon atoms of the pentalene ligand, and hence the potential for incorporating these units into heteronuclear bimetallic complexes is assessed

A Novel Bocavirus Associated with Acute Gastroenteritis in Australian Children

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a common illness affecting all age groups worldwide, causing an estimated three million deaths annually. Viruses such as rotavirus, adenovirus, and caliciviruses are a major cause of AGE, but in many patients a causal agent cannot be found despite extensive diagnostic testing. Proposing that novel viruses are the reason for this diagnostic gap, we used molecular screening to investigate a cluster of undiagnosed cases that were part of a larger case control study into the etiology of pediatric AGE. Degenerate oligonucleotide primed (DOP) PCR was used to non-specifically amplify viral DNA from fecal specimens. The amplified DNA was then cloned and sequenced for analysis. A novel virus was detected. Elucidation and analysis of the genome indicates it is a member of the Bocavirus genus of the Parvovirinae, 23% variant at the nucleotide level from its closest formally recognized relative, the Human Bocavirus (HBoV), and similar to the very recently proposed second species of Bocavirus (HBoV2). Fecal samples collected from case control pairs during 2001 for the AGE study were tested with a bocavirus-specific PCR, and HBoV2 (sequence confirmed) was detected in 32 of 186 cases with AGE (prevalence 17.2%) compared with only 15 controls (8.1%). In this same group of children, HBoV2 prevalence was exceeded only by rotavirus (39.2%) and astrovirus (21.5%) and was more prevalent than norovirus genogroup 2 (13.4%) and adenovirus (4.8%). In a univariate analysis of the matched pairs (McNemar's Test), the odds ratio for the association of AGE with HBoV2 infection was 2.6 (95% confidence interval 1.2–5.7); P = 0.007. During the course of this screening, a second novel bocavirus was detected which we have designated HBoV species 3 (HBoV3). The prevalence of HBoV3 was low (2.7%), and it was not associated with AGE. HBoV2 and HBoV3 are newly discovered bocaviruses, of which HBoV2 is the thirdmost-prevalent virus, after rotavirus and astrovirus, associated with pediatric AGE in this study