Not a Tiger but a Dagger: The Larva of Comachara Cadburyi and Reassignment of the Genus to Acronictinae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Comachara cadburyi Franclemont has benn classified as a sarrothripine (Noctuidae), lithosiine (Arctiidae), and afridine (Nolidae). Larval morphology and behavior indicate a close phylogenetic relationship with Polygrammate hebraeicum Hübner, an acronictine noctuid. The egg and larva of Comachara are described and illustrated with line drawings and scanning electron micrographs. Photographs of last instars of both Comachara and Polygrammate are provided. Larval feeding and pupation habits of C. cadburyi are briefly described and compared with those of Polygrammate. Larvae of both Polygrammate and Comachara exhibit a dramatic coloration change in the last instar, transitioning from a green phase to a mottled, steely gray form. As the color change progresses, the larva ceases feeding and enters a wandering phase, during which it seeks out wood in which to pupate. Interpretation of L group setal homologies on the ninth abdominal segment is briefly addressed. Comachara provides a poignant example of the importance of immatures in elucidating phylogeny - adult features of Comachara misled a number of the twentieth century century\u27s finest lepidopterists

Anatomy and Morphometry of Myocardial Capillaries Studied with Vascular Corrosion Casting and Scanning Electron Microscopy: A Method for Rat Heart

The present paper describes a procedure for preparing vascular corrosion casts of rat myocardial microvasculature. Essential components of the procedure include: partial self clearing of the heart in vitro; cardiac arrest by infusion of KCl; retrograde aortic root infusion of Mercox-Sevriton casting resin; KOH digestion of ventricular tissue; and desiccation and mounting of casts for scanning electron microscopy. About 50% of rats yielded complete casts. Vasculature closely paralleled muscle fiber orientation. Capillary beds characteristically exhibited branching, many intercapillary cross bridges, and occasional coil-ing. Average capillary cast diameter (5.6 μm) and intercapillary distance (15 μm) are comparable to results from in vivo studies. From preliminary calculations, vascular volume represents about 10% of the ventricular walls. These data indicate that vascular corrosion casts may be useful in the analysis of pathologic states and in determining the role of potential therapeutic interventions

Performance-Based Funding of Higher Education: Analyses of Policy Discourse Across Four Case Studies

Performance-based funding (PBF) for public colleges and universities is increasingly prevalent worldwide, as a part of a broader pattern of marketisation in public education. This study focused on developing an empirical view of how, and in what contexts, policy makers use the concepts of neoliberal economics to design and support PerformanceBased Funding (PBF) policies in higher education. We analysed 121 policy documents, white papers, evaluation reports, and news items related to PBF policies in four case jurisdictions: Tennessee, Washington, United Kingdom, and Italy. We employed critical discourse analysis methods as framed by Fairclough and colleagues and implemented this approach within the broader methodological guidance of Carspecken’s critical qualitative research. Grounded in social theory, this study illuminates the role PBF policies play internationally in moving higher education institutions closer to markets. Moreover, it provides an empirical view of the mechanisms and networks built into PBF policy debates. Finally, it contributes to a theoretically and empirically grounded view on the discursive uses of neoliberalism in education policy

The Gill Arch of the Striped Bass, Morone Saxatilis. II. Microvasculature Studied with Vascular Corrosion Casting and Scanning Electron Microscopy

The gill vasculature of euryhaline striped bass, Morone saxatilis, was examined by scanning electron microscopy of corrosion casts prepared by injecting resin (either Mercox/Sevriton or L.R. White) into the ventral aorta. The vasculature of the striped bass gill appears to be similar to that of other euryhaline species. The striped bass gill has three major vascular systems: (1) a respiratory system, (2) an arterio-venous system, and (3) a nutritive system. In the respiratory system, blood from the afferent branchial artery flows to each filament via an afferent filamental artery, and from there to the highly vascularized respiratory lamellae. Lamellar blood is conducted back to the efferent branchial artery via the efferent filamental artery. In the second system arterio-venous anastomoses transport blood from the efferent filamental artery to the central venous sinus. Blood then flows to the branchial vein either directly or via paired afferent companion vessels. No arterio-venous anastomoses connecting the prelamellar vessels with the central venous sinus have been found. Finally, nutritive branches to the arch are provided by the efferent branchial artery and the efferent filamental artery. The striped bass does not have a lamellar bypass system involving the central venous sinus as reported in other species. Intralamellar distribution mechanisms and lamellar recruitment may account for changes in respiratory lamellar perfusion during decreased and increased oxygen demand, respectively. The central venous sinus\u27 role may be partially nutritional since its blood is oxygenated. However, its complex vascular connections may permit a variety of other functions

What kinds of value motives guide people in their moral attitudes? The role of personal and prescriptive values at the culture level and individual level

Opinions about moralized issues are arguably one of the most difficult issues in interpersonal dialogues given that they can result in intolerance and prejudicial behavior toward those with divergent moral beliefs. Recent research has shown that moral attitudes vary not only depending on the individual's characteristics but also as a function of culture. Individuals from individualistic-oriented cultures exhibit more lenient judgments toward moralized issues than those from collectivistic-oriented cultures. What is unclear to date is what kinds of cultural value motives underlie these attitudesAre they driven only by intrinsic value motives (personal values) or also by extrinsic value motives (prescriptive values in the form of societal expectations about what should be valued)? The cultural press to conform is arguably stronger if moral attitudes are predicted by the latter. Participants from eight countries (N = 1,456) responded to a questionnaire containing a modified version of the Schwartz Value Survey assessing personal and prescriptive values. The results showed that personal value ratings of openness-to-change versus conservation at the culture and individual levels were predictive of individuals' moral attitudes consistent with previous findings. Prescriptive value ratings of openness-to-change versus conservation also predicted individuals' moral attitudes, but only at the aggregated culture level. This suggests that the prescriptive values concept is a truly group-level phenomenon and that attitudes toward moralized issues are guided by cultural values with normative qualities. We discuss the implications for intercultural contact situations.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Elucidating the Mechanisms of Influenza Virus Recognition by Ncr1

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphocytes that specialize in the defense against viral infection and oncogenic transformation. Their action is tightly regulated by signals derived from inhibitory and activating receptors; the later include proteins such as the Natural Cytotoxicity Receptors (NCRs: NKp46, NKp44 and NKp30). Among the NCRs, NKp46 is the only receptor that has a mouse orthologue named Ncr1. NKp46/Ncr1 is also a unique marker expressed on NK and on Lymphoid tissue inducer (LTI) cells and it was implicated in the control of various viral infections, cancer and diabetes. We have previously shown that human NKp46 recognizes viral hemagglutinin (HA) in a sialic acid-dependent manner and that the O-glycosylation is essential for the NKp46 binding to viral HA. Here we studied the molecular interactions between Ncr1 and influenza viruses. We show that Ncr1 recognizes influenza virus in a sialic acid dependent manner and that N-glycosylation is important for this binding. Surprisingly we demonstrate that none of the predicted N-glycosilated residues of Ncr1 are essential for its binding to influenza virus and we thus conclude that other, yet unidentified N-glycosilated residues are responsible for its recognition. We have demonstrated that N glycosylation play little role in the recognition of mouse tumor cell lines and also showed the in-vivo importance of Ncr1 in the control of influenza virus infection by infecting C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice knockout for Ncr1 with influenza

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and the regulation of human invariant natural killer T cells: lessons from obesity, diabetes and psoriasis

Aims/hypothesis The innate immune cells, invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells), are implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, an inflammatory condition associated with obesity and other metabolic diseases, such as diabetes and dyslipidaemia. We observed an improvement in psoriasis severity in a patient within days of starting treatment with an incretin-mimetic, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. This was independent of change in glycaemic control. We proposed that this unexpected clinical outcome resulted from a direct effect of GLP-1 on iNKTcells. Methods We measured circulating and psoriatic plaque iNKT cell numbers in two patients with type 2 diabetes and psoriasis before and after commencing GLP-1 analogue therapy. In addition, we investigated the in vitro effects of GLP-1 on iNKT cells and looked for a functional GLP-1 receptor on these cells. Results The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index improved in both patients following 6 weeks of GLP-1 analogue therapy. This was associated with an alteration in iNKT cell number, with an increased number in the circulation and a decreased number in psoriatic plaques. The GLP-1 receptor was expressed on iNKT cells, and GLP-1 induced a dose-dependent inhibition of iNKT cell cytokine secretion, but not cytolytic degranulation in vitro. Conclusions/interpretation The clinical effect observed and the direct interaction between GLP-1 and the immune system raise the possibility of therapeutic applications for GLP-1 in inflammatory conditions such as psoriasis

Ecosystem development after mangrove wetland creation : plant–soil change across a 20-year chronosequence

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Ecosystems 15 (2012): 848-866, doi:10.1007/s10021-012-9551-1.Mangrove wetland restoration and creation efforts are increasingly proposed as mechanisms to compensate for mangrove wetland losses. However, ecosystem development and functional equivalence in restored and created mangrove wetlands are poorly understood. We compared a 20-year chronosequence of created tidal wetland sites in Tampa Bay, Florida (USA) to natural reference mangrove wetlands. Across the chronosequence, our sites represent the succession from salt marsh to mangrove forest communities. Our results identify important soil and plant structural differences between the created and natural reference wetland sites; however, they also depict a positive developmental trajectory for the created wetland sites that reflects tightly coupled plant-soil development. Because upland soils and/or dredge spoils were used to create the new mangrove habitats, the soils at younger created sites and at lower depths (10–30 cm) had higher bulk densities, higher sand content, lower soil organic matter (SOM), lower total carbon (TC), and lower total nitrogen (TN) than did natural reference wetland soils. However, in the upper soil layer (0–10 cm), SOM, TC, and TN increased with created wetland site age simultaneously with mangrove forest growth. The rate of created wetland soil C accumulation was comparable to literature values for natural mangrove wetlands. Notably, the time to equivalence for the upper soil layer of created mangrove wetlands appears to be faster than for many other wetland ecosystem types. Collectively, our findings characterize the rate and trajectory of above- and below-ground changes associated with ecosystem development in created mangrove wetlands; this is valuable information for environmental managers planning to sustain existing mangrove wetlands or mitigate for mangrove wetland losses