Metagenomic-based Surveillance of Pacific Coast tick Dermacentor occidentalis Identifies Two Novel Bunyaviruses and an Emerging Human Ricksettsial Pathogen.

An increasing number of emerging tick-borne diseases has been reported in the United States since the 1970s. Using metagenomic next generation sequencing, we detected nucleic acid sequences from 2 novel viruses in the family Bunyaviridae and an emerging human rickettsial pathogen, Rickettsia philipii, in a population of the Pacific Coast tick, Dermacentor occidentalis in Mendocino County sampled annually from 2011 to 2014. A total of 250 adults of this human-biting, generalist tick were collected from contiguous chaparral and grassland habitats, and RNA from each individually extracted tick was deep sequenced to an average depth of 7.3 million reads. We detected a Francisella endosymbiont in 174 ticks (70%), and Rickettsia spp. in 19 ticks (8%); Rickettsia-infected ticks contained R. rhipicephali (16 of 250, 6.4%) or R. philipii (3 of 250,1.2%), the agent of eschar-associated febrile illness in humans. The genomes of 2 novel bunyaviruses (>99% complete) in the genera Nairovirus and Phlebovirus were also identified and found to be present in 20-91% of ticks, depending on the year of collection. The high prevalence of these bunyaviruses in sampled Dermacentor ticks suggests that they may be viral endosymbionts, although further studies are needed to determine whether they are infectious for vertebrate hosts, especially humans, and their potential role in tick ecology

Book Reviews

Tucker: Contracts in Engineering; Osborn: Questioned Documents--A Study of Questioned Documents with an Outline of Methods by which the Facts may be Discovered and Shown; Scott (ed. and trans.): The Visigothic Code (Forum Judicum

Recent Legal Litertature

Freund: The Police Power, Public Policy and Constitutional Rights; Parsons: The Law of Contracts; Baldwin: American Railroad Law; Gilbert (ed.): Street Railway Reports, Annotated, reporting the electric railway and street railway decisions of the Federal and State Courts in the United States, from April 1, 1903

All plug-in electric vehicles are not the same: Predictors of preference for a plug-in hybrid versus a battery-electric vehicle

This study analyzes data from a survey of drivers (n = 1080) administered in late 2013 to assess factors that influence potential car buyers to consider two different types of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in the United States: plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The results indicate distinct profiles of respondents preferring PHEVs, which have a gasoline backup engine, versus battery BEVs, which rely solely on a battery for power. Respondents interested in selecting a PHEV consider it more for its economic benefits, such as reduced gasoline and maintenance expenditures. Respondents preferring a BEV are drawn to its environmental and technological appeal. The absence of range anxiety for PHEV is a major factor influencing potential PEV buyers

Morphology of the normal human lens

Purpose. To provide a quantitative, morphologic description of differentiated lens fiber cells in all regions of aged normal human lenses. Methods. Transparent normal human lenses (age range, 44 to 71 years) were examined with correlative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Vibratome sections allowed examination of internal structures, whereas dissected whole lenses revealed surface characteristics. Additionally, image analysis was used to measure cross-sectional areas of fiber cells. Results. Approximate regional dimensions (percentage of diameter and thickness, respectively) were determined for whole lenses : cortex 16%, 17% ; adult nucleus 24%, 21% ; juvenile nucleus 12%, 9% ; fetal nucleus 45%, 49% ; and embryonic nucleus 3%, 4%. Cortical cells were irregularly hexagonal, and the average cross-sectional area measured 24 ± 9 μm2. Adult nuclear cells were flattened with intricate membranous interdigitations and an area of 7 ± 2 μm2. Juvenile nuclear cells had an area of 14 ± 5 μm2. Fetal nuclear cells were rounded with an area of 35 ± 22 μm2. Embryonic nuclear cells also were rounded and had a variable area of 80 ± 68 μm2. Fiber cell cytoplasm in all lens regions appeared smooth in texture and homogeneous in staining density. Conclusions. Both TEM and SEM are necessary to obtain a complete description of fiber cells. Cross-sections of fibers give new insights into the lamellar organization of the lens, indicating that each region has characteristic cell shapes and sizes. Furthermore, average dimensions were used to demonstrate that the number of cells and approximate growth rates vary significantly between adjacent regions

Femtosecond photodissociation dynamics of 1,4-diiodobenzene by gas-phase X-ray scattering and photoelectron spectroscopy

We present a multifaceted investigation into the initial photodissociation dynamics of 1,4-diiodobenzene (DIB) following absorption of 267 nm radiation. We combine ultrafast time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray scattering experiments performed at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) to study the initial electronic excitation and subsequent rotational alignment, and interpret the experiments in light of Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF) calculations of the excited electronic landscape. The initially excited state is found to be a bound 1B1 surface, which undergoes ultrafast population transfer to a nearby state in 35 ± 10 fs. The internal conversion most likely leads to one or more singlet repulsive surfaces that initiate the dissociation. This initial study is an essential and prerequisite component of a comprehensive study of the complete photodissociation pathway(s) of DIB at 267 nm. Assignment of the initially excited electronic state as a bound state identifies the mechanism as predissociative, and measurement of its lifetime establishes the time between excitation and initiation of dissociation, which is crucial for direct comparison of photoelectron and scattering experiments.</p

Recent Legal Literature

Noyes: American Railroad Rates; Meyer: Railway Legislation in the United States; Diccy: Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century; Page: Law of Contracts; Camp: The Encyclopaedia of Evidence; Clement: Fire Insurance as a Void Conttract and as Affected by Construction and Waiver of Estoppel, including miscellaneous provisions and an analysis and comparison of the various standard forms, all reduced to rules with the relevant statutory provisions of all the states. Volume II.; Woodruff: A Selection of Cases on Domestic Relations and the Law of Persons; Kinkead: Jurisprudence Law and Ethics; Schouler: Law of the Domestic Relations Embracing Husband and Wife, Parent and Child, Fuardian and Ward, Infancy and Master and Servant; Hoyt (ed.): Report of the Colorado Bar Association. Volume 8

The Monitor project: JW 380 -- a 0.26, 0.15 Msol pre main sequence eclipsing binary in the Orion Nebula Cluster

We report the discovery of a low-mass (0.26 +/- 0.02, 0.15 +/- 0.01 Msol) pre-main-sequence eclipsing binary with a 5.3 day orbital period. JW 380 was detected as part of a high-cadence time-resolved photometric survey (the Monitor project) using the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope and Wide Field Camera for a survey of a single field in the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) region in V and i bands. The star is assigned a 99 per cent membership probability from proper motion measurements, and radial velocity observations indicate a systemic velocity within 1 sigma of that of the ONC. Modelling of the combined light and radial velocity curves of the system gave stellar radii of 1.19 +0.04 -0.18 Rsol and 0.90 +0.17 -0.03 Rsol for the primary and secondary, with a significant third light contribution which is also visible as a third peak in the cross-correlation functions used to derive radial velocities. The masses and radii appear to be consistent with stellar models for 2-3 Myr age from several authors, within the present observational errors. These observations probe an important region of mass-radius parameter space, where there are currently only a handful of known pre-main-sequence eclipsing binary systems with precise measurements available in the literature.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Effects of Life Cycle Cost Information Disclosure on the Purchase Decision of Hybrid and Plug-In Vehicles

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