The Etiology of Apricot Scorch in Utah County, Utah

In the summer of 1944 a disease of apricots in Utah County, Utah, was brought to the attention of the staff of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. This disease was characterized by a scorched appearance of the edges of the leaves and therefore was called apricot scorch. They typical symptoms of apricot scorch are a scorching and curling of the margins of the leaves. The scorched area usually turns a characteristic reddish-brown color, but sometimes is quite light brown or gray. The injury starts at the margins of the leaves and works inward in waves first scorching the marginal portion of the leaves, then, after a period during which no injury takes place, scorching the out edges of the formerly uninjured part of the leaves. At the edge of each wave of injury a darker brown line is usually left in the scorched portion of the leaf. Apparently health leaves from an apricot tree which shows some scorching will often develop a marginal necrosis if they are picked and are stored for 48 hours in a closed Mason jar. Apricot leaves form orchards in areas where scorch is not common do not exhibit this marginal necrosis when they are given the same treatment. A tree which has been slightly scorched may later appear to a casual inspection to have never been scorched. This is because the dead areas at the margins of leaves may eventually drop off, leaving the tree with a completely green appearance but with the leaf margins gone. The Chinses type of apricot is apparently more susceptible to apricot scorch than is the Moorpark type. In the work reported in this paper, however, no attempt was made to classify samples or results on a varietal basis

Enhancing the Fed’s transparency didn’t hurt its deliberations

For more than two decades, transcripts of the US Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meetings have been made available to the public. But has the move to greater transparency about monetary policymaking hurt committee deliberations? In new research which examines committee meeting transcripts from 1978 to 2007, Joseph Gardner and John T. Woolley find that leadership – not transparency – had the greatest effect on how members deliberated during meetings

Soluble CTLA-4 attenuates T cell activation and modulates anti-tumor immunity

Peer reviewe

Leg strength in peripheral arterial disease: associations with disease severity and lower-extremity performance

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine relationships between lower-extremity arterial obstruction, leg strength, and lower-extremity functioning.DesignThe study design was cross-sectional. A total of 514 outpatients (269 with ankle-brachial index [ABI] <0.90), aged 55 and older, were identified from three Chicago-area hospitals. Individuals with history of lower-extremity revascularization were excluded.Main outcome measuresStrength in each leg, 6-minute walk, 4-meter walking velocity, accelerometer-measured physical activity, and a summary performance score were measured. The summary performance score is a composite measure of lower-extremity functioning, ranging from 0 to 12 (12 = best). The leg with the lower ABI was defined as the “index” leg, and the leg with higher ABI was defined as the “contralateral” leg.ResultsIndex leg ABI levels were associated linearly and significantly with strength for hip extension (P < .001), hip flexion (P < .001), knee extension (P = .066), and knee flexion (P = .003), adjusting for known and potential confounders. In adjusted analyses, the index ABI was also associated linearly and significantly with strength in the contralateral leg. Adjusting for confounders, including ABI, knee extension strength, was associated independently with functional measures.ConclusionAmong patients without prior leg revascularization, strength in each leg is highly correlated with the lower-leg ABI. Leg strength is associated independently with functional performance. Further study is needed to determine whether lower-extremity resistance training improves functioning in patients with peripheral arterial disease

A Gene Expression Signature of Invasive Potential in Metastatic Melanoma Cells

BACKGROUND: We are investigating the molecular basis of melanoma by defining genomic characteristics that correlate with tumour phenotype in a novel panel of metastatic melanoma cell lines. The aim of this study is to identify new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets that might aid clinical cancer diagnosis and management. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Global transcript profiling identified a signature featuring decreased expression of developmental and lineage specification genes including MITF, EDNRB, DCT, and TYR, and increased expression of genes involved in interaction with the extracellular environment, such as PLAUR, VCAN, and HIF1a. Migration assays showed that the gene signature correlated with the invasive potential of the cell lines, and external validation by using publicly available data indicated that tumours with the invasive gene signature were less melanocytic and may be more aggressive. The invasion signature could be detected in both primary and metastatic tumours suggesting that gene expression conferring increased invasive potential in melanoma may occur independently of tumour stage. CONCLUSIONS: Our data supports the hypothesis that differential developmental gene expression may drive invasive potential in metastatic melanoma, and that melanoma heterogeneity may be explained by the differing capacity of melanoma cells to both withstand decreased expression of lineage specification genes and to respond to the tumour microenvironment. The invasion signature may provide new possibilities for predicting which primary tumours are more likely to metastasize, and which metastatic tumours might show a more aggressive clinical course