Endophytic Trichoderma spp. can protect strawberry and privet plants from infection by the fungus Armillaria mellea

Armillaria mellea is an important fungal pathogen worldwide, affecting a large number of hosts in the horticulture and forestry industries. Controlling A. mellea infection is expensive, labour intensive and time-consuming, so a new, environmentally friendly management solution is required. To this effect, endophytic Trichoderma species were studied as a potential protective agent for Armillaria root rot (ARR) in strawberry and privet plants. A collection of forty endophytic Trichoderma isolates were inoculated into strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) plants and plant growth was monitored for two months, during which time Trichoderma treatment had no apparent effect. Trichoderma-colonised strawberry plants were then inoculated with A. mellea and after three months plants were assessed for A. mellea infection. There was considerable variation in ARR disease levels between plants inoculated with different Trichoderma spp. isolates, but seven isolates reduced ARR below the level of positive controls. These isolates were further tested for protective potential in Trichoderma-colonized privet (Ligustrum vulgare) plants where five Trichoderma spp. isolates, including two highly effective Trichoderma atrobrunneum isolates, were able to significantly reduce levels of disease. This study highlights the potential of plants pre-colonised with T. atrobrunneum for effective protection against A. mellea in two hosts from different plant families

Early mortality among Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal women who had a preterm birth in Western Australia: A population-based cohort study

Background: Having a preterm ( \u3c 37 weeks\u27 gestation) birth may increase a woman\u27s risk of early mortality. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter Aboriginal) women have higher preterm birth and mortality rates compared with other Australian women. Objectives: We investigated whether a history of having a preterm birth was associated with early mortality in women and whether these associations differed by Aboriginal status. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used population-based perinatal records of women who had a singleton birth between 1980 and 2015 in Western Australia linked to Death Registry data until June 2018. The primary and secondary outcomes were all-cause and cause-specific mortality respectively. After stratification by Aboriginal status, rate differences were calculated, and Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Results: There were 20,244 Aboriginal mothers (1349 deaths) and 457,357 non-Aboriginal mothers (7646 deaths) with 8.6 million person-years of follow-up. The all-cause mortality rates for Aboriginal mothers who had preterm births and term births were 529.5 and 344.0 (rate difference 185.5, 95 % CI 135.5, 238.5) per 100,000 person-years respectively. Among non-Aboriginal mothers, the corresponding figures were 125.5 and 88.6 (rate difference 37.0, 95 % CI 29.4, 44.9) per 100,000 person-years. The HR for all-cause mortality for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mothers associated with preterm birth were 1.48 (95 % CI 1.32, 1.66) and 1.35 (95 % CI 1.26, 1.44), respectively, compared with term birth. Compared with mothers who had term births, mothers of preterm births had higher relative risks of mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular, digestive and external causes. Conclusions: Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women who had a preterm birth had a moderately increased risk of mortality up to 38 years after the birth, reinforcing the importance of primary prevention and ongoing screening

Expedition 306 summary

The overall aim of the North Atlantic paleoceanography study of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 306 is to place late Neogene–Quaternary climate proxies in the North Atlantic into a chronology based on a combination of geomagnetic paleointensity, stable isotope, and detrital layer stratigraphies, and in so doing generate integrated North Atlantic millennial-scale stratigraphies for the last few million years. To reach this aim, complete sedimentary sections were drilled by multiple advanced piston coring directly south of the central Atlantic “ice-rafted debris belt” and on the southern Gardar Drift. In addition to the North Atlantic paleoceanography study, a borehole observatory was successfully installed in a new ~180 m deep hole close to Ocean Drilling Program Site 642, consisting of a circulation obviation retrofit kit to seal the borehole from the overlying ocean, a thermistor string, and a data logger to document and monitor bottom water temperature variations through time

What lies beneath: exploring links between asylum policy and hate crime in the UK

This paper explores the link between increasing incidents of hate crime and the asylum policy of successive British governments with its central emphasis on deterrence. The constant problematisation of asylum seekers in the media and political discourse ensures that 'anti-immigrant' prejudice becomes mainstr earned as a common-sense response. The victims are not only the asylum seekers hoping for a better life but democratic society itself with its inherent values of pluralism and tolerance debased and destabilised

Defining language impairments in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of core impairments in pragmatic language skills, which are found across all ages and subtypes. In contrast, there is significant heterogeneity in language phenotypes, ranging from nonverbal to superior linguistic abilities, as defined on standardized tests of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. The majority of children are verbal but impaired in language, relative to age-matched peers. One hypothesis is that this subgroup has ASD and co-morbid specific language impairment (SLI). An experiment was conducted comparing children with ASD to children with SLI and typically developing controls on aspects of language processing that have been shown to be impaired in children with SLI: repetition of nonsense words. Patterns of performance among the children with ASD and language impairment were similar to those with SLI, and contrasted with the children with ASD and no language impairment and typical controls, providing further evidence for the hypothesis that a subgroup of children with ASD has co-morbid SLI. The findings are discussed in the context of brain imaging studies that have explored the neural bases of language impairment in ASD and SLI, and overlap in the genes associated with elevated risk for these disorders.M01 RR00533 - NCRR NIH HHS; R01 DC10290 - NIDCD NIH HHS; U19 DC03610 - NIDCD NIH HH

Investing in the future: lessons learnt from communicating the results of HSV/ HIV intervention trials in South Africa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Communicating the results of randomised controlled trials may present challenges for researchers who have to work with communities and policy-makers to anticipate positive outcomes, while being aware that results may show no effect or harm.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We present a case study from the perspective of researchers in South Africa about the lessons learnt from communicating the results of four trials evaluating treatment for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) as a new strategy for HIV prevention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that contextual factors such as misunderstandings and mistrust played an important role in defining the communications response. Use of different approaches in combination was found to be most effective in building understanding, credibility and trust in the research process. During the communication process, researchers acted beyond their traditional role of neutral observers and became agents of social change. This change in role is in keeping with a global trend towards increased communication of research results and presents both opportunities and challenges for the conduct of future research.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Despite disappointing trial results which showed no benefit of HSV-2 treatment for HIV prevention, important lessons were learnt about the value of the communication process in building trust between researchers, community members and policy-makers, and creating an enabling environment for future research partnerships.</p

Newfoundland Neogene sediment drifts: transition from the Paleogene greenhouse to the modern icehouse

This workshop brought together specialists from various fields to develop a drilling proposal to fill the "Oligo-Miocene Gap" that exists in our understanding of the functions of Earth's systems. We propose to establish the first continuous high-deposition record of the Oligo-Miocene through new International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) drilling in the North Atlantic to allow the development of a continuous Neogene cyclostratigraphy and to enhance our knowledge of Oligo-Miocene ocean–ice–climate dynamics. The workshop was held in Heidelberg from 15 to 17 September 2014 funded by ESF (EARTHTIME EU), NSF, and the ECORD MagellanPlus Workshop Series Program. A total of 24 participants from six different countries (Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States) attended the workshop, including several early career stage researchers. We discussed certain aspects of Cenozoic paleoceanography and paleoclimate and how the gaps in the Oligo-Miocene could be filled using scientific drilling. The ultimate goal of the workshop (to submit a pre-proposal to IODP) was achieved (IODP Proposal 874-pre was submitted 1 October 2014). Our workshop consisted of overview presentations followed by self-selected breakout groups that discussed different topics and produced text and figures for the proposal. Here, we give a short overview of the major topics discussed during the workshop and the scientific goals presented in the resulting IODP pre-proposal

Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D* transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure

Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA

The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies in the range $134-277$ GeV has been measured using the hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA. Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the $\eta - \phi$ plane with a cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet production with transverse energies $E^{jet}_T>14$ GeV are presented. The jet shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity ($\eta^{jet}$) increases and narrows as $E^{jet}_T$ increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes. Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive production of jets with high $\eta^{jet}$ and low $E^{jet}_T$. The observed broadening of the jet shape as $\eta^{jet}$ increases is consistent with the predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure