Marooned plants : vernacular naming practices in the Mascarene Islands

This article explores possible histories of plant exchanges and plant naming tied to the slave trade between East Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. The subsequent 'marronnage' of slaves on these islands - their escape from captivity, sometimes to live in mountain hideouts - continues to inspire cultural references. Inspired by the use of the adjective 'marron/marronne' for a number of plants on Reunion Island, we compile evidence of plant exchanges and plant naming from ecological records, historical accounts and the use of descriptive, emotive or symbolic vernacular names as clues for deepening our knowledge of historical societies and environments. The evidence from the Mascarenes opens a window into the role of the African diaspora in plant introduction, diffusion, domestication and cultivation. We document that maroons relied on a variety of wild, escaped and cultivated plants for their subsistence. We also highlight the role of marronnage in the popular and literary imaginary, with the result that many plants are named 'marron/marrone' in a metaphorical sense. Finally, we identify a few plants that may have been transported, cultivated, or encouraged in one way or another by maroons. Along the way, we reflect on the pitfalls and opportunities of such interdisciplinary work

Bacteriophage treatment before chemical disinfection can enhance removal of plastic surface-associated; Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Opportunistic pathogens can linger on surfaces in hospital and building plumbing environments, leading to infections in at-risk populations. Further, biofilm-associated bacteria are protected from removal and inactivation protocols, such as disinfection. Bacteriophages show promise as tools to treat antibiotic resistant infections. As such, phages may also be useful in environmental applications to prevent newly acquired infections. In the current study, the potential of synergies between bacteriophage and chemical disinfection of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa was assessed under various conditions. Specifically, surface-associated P. aeruginosa was treated with various concentrations of phages (P1 or JG004), chemical disinfectant (sodium hypochlorite or benzalkonium chloride), or combined sequential treatments under three distinct attachment models (spot inoculations, dry biofilms, and wet biofilms). Phages were very effective at removing bacteria in spot inoculation (>3.2 log10 removal) and wet biofilms (up to 2.6 log10 removal), while phages prevented regrowth of dry biofilms in the application time. In addition, phage treatment followed by chemical disinfection inactivated more P. aeruginosa under wet biofilm conditions better than either treatment alone. This effect was hindered when chemical disinfection was applied first, followed by phage treatment, suggesting additive benefits of combination treatments are lost when phage is applied last. Further, we confirm prior evidence of greater phage tolerance to benzalkonium chloride relative to sodium hypochlorite, informing choices for combination phage-disinfectant approaches. Overall, this paper further supports the potential of using combination phage and chemical disinfectant treatments to improve inactivation of surface-associated P. aeruginosa. Importance Phages are already utilized in the healthcare industry to treat antibiotic resistant infections, such as on implant-associated biofilms and in compassionate care cases. Phage treatment could also be a promising new tool to control pathogens in the built environment, preventing infections from occurring. This study shows that phage can be combined effectively with chemical disinfectants to improve removal of wet biofilms and bacteria spotted onto surfaces while preventing regrowth in dry biofilms. This has the potential to improve pathogen containment within the built environment and drinking water infrastructure to prevent infections of opportunistic pathogens

Femoral vs sciatic nerve block to provide analgesia after medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy in the setting of multimodal analgesia: A randomized, controlled, single-blinded trial.

Medial open wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOW HTO) is associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain. The proximal part of the tibia is innervated by branches from the femoral nerve anteriorly and the sciatic nerve posteriorly. There is a paucity of information regarding the optimal peripheral nerve block for postoperative analgesia with minimal impact on motor function. This study tested the hypothesis that a femoral nerve block provides superior analgesia to a sciatic nerve block after MOW HTO in the setting of multimodal analgesia. Randomized controlled single-blind trial. Operating room, postoperative recovery area and ward, up to 6 postoperative months. Fifty patients undergoing MOW HTO. Interventions were femoral or sciatic nerve block under ultrasound guidance. For each intervention, a total of 100 mg of ropivacaine was injected. Postoperative pain treatment followed a pre-defined protocol with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia of morphine, paracetamol, and ibuprofen. The primary outcome was intravenous morphine consumption at 24 h postoperatively. Secondary outcomes included rest and dynamic pain scores (on a numeric rating scale out of 10) at 2, 24 and 48 h postoperatively. Functional outcomes included the Short Form-12, Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores measured at 6 months postoperatively. Mean [95% confidence interval] i.v. morphine consumption at 24 postoperative hours were 24 mg [15 mg,33 mg] in the femoral nerve block group and 24 mg [16 mg,32 mg] in the sciatic nerve block group (p = 0.98). There were no significant differences in the secondary outcomes between groups. This trial failed to demonstrate that a femoral nerve block provides superior analgesia to a sciatic nerve block after MOW HTO under general anesthesia in the setting of multimodal analgesia. There was no significant difference in quality of life and functional outcomes at 6 months postoperatively between groups. Trial registry number:Clinicaltrials.com - NCT05728294; Kofam.ch - SNCTP000003048 | BASEC2018-01774

Discovery of a large-scale filament connected to the massive galaxy cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745 at z=0.55

We report the detection of a 4/h70 Mpc long large-scale filament leading into the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The extent of this object well beyond the cluster's nominal virial radius (~2.3 Mpc) rules out prior interaction between its constituent galaxies and the cluster and makes it a prime candidate for a genuine filament as opposed to a merger remnant or a double cluster. The structure was discovered as a pronounced overdensity of galaxies selected to have V-R colors close to the cluster red sequence. Extensive spectroscopic follow-up of over 300 of these galaxies in a region covering the filament and the cluster confirms that the entire structure is located at the cluster redshift of z=0.545. Featuring galaxy surface densities of typically 15/Mpc^2 down to luminosities of 0.10 L(*,V), the most diffuse parts of the filament are comparable in density to the clumps of red galaxies found around A851 in the only similar study carried out to date (Kodama et al.). Our direct detection of an extended large-scale filament funneling matter onto a massive, distant cluster provides a superb target for in-depth studies of the evolution of galaxies in environments of greatly varying density, and supports the predictions from theoretical models and numerical simulations of structure formation in a hierarchical picture.Comment: ApJL, in pres

On a productive dialogue between religion and science

Searching for common ground in philosophy, science and theology, it seems to us that it would be reasonable to maintain the position of realistic pragmatism that Charles Sanders Peirce had called pragmaticism. In the pragmaticist manner, we typify the knowledge and select the types of knowledge that might be useful for understanding the problems that are of interest to us. We pose a question of how it would be possible to obtain practically useful information about reality, first from the perspective of natural sciences, and then from that of theology; that is, to diversify the ways of knowledge and just maybe, to move toward a productive dialogue between science and religion

Time-dependent multi-orbital mean-field for fragmented Bose-Einstein condensates

The evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates is usually described by the famous time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which assumes all bosons to reside in a single time-dependent orbital. In the present work we address the evolution of fragmented condensates, for which two (or more) orbitals are occupied, and derive a corresponding time-dependent multi-orbital mean-field theory. We call our theory TDMF($n$), where $n$ stands for the number of evolving fragments. Working equations for a general two-body interaction between the bosons are explicitly presented along with an illustrative numerical example.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur

Large-Scale Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect: Measuring Statistical Properties with Multifrequency Maps

We study the prospects for extracting detailed statistical properties of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect associated with large scale structure using upcoming multifrequency CMB experiments. The greatest obstacle to detecting the large-angle signal is the confusion noise provided by the primary anisotropies themselves, and to a lesser degree galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. We employ multifrequency subtraction techniques and the latest foregrounds models to determine the detection threshold for the Boomerang, MAP (several microK) and Planck CMB (sub microK) experiments. Calibrating a simplified biased-tracer model of the gas pressure off recent hydrodynamic simulations, we estimate the SZ power spectrum, skewness and bispectrum through analytic scalings and N-body simulations of the dark matter. We show that the Planck satellite should be able to measure the SZ effect with sufficient precision to determine its power spectrum and higher order correlations, e.g. the skewness and bispectrum. Planck should also be able to detect the cross correlation between the SZ and gravitational lensing effect in the CMB. Detection of these effects will help determine the properties of the as yet undetected gas, including the manner in which the gas pressure traces the dark matter.Comment: 13 ApJ pages, 11 figures; typos and figure 5 revised; submitted to Ap

Madagascar's fire regimes challenge global assumptions about landscape degradation

Narratives of landscape degradation are often linked to unsustainable fire use by local communities. Madagascar is a case in point: the island is considered globally exceptional, with its remarkable endemic biodiversity viewed as threatened by unsustainable anthropogenic fire. Yet, fire regimes on Madagascar have not been empirically characterised or globally contextualised. Here, we contribute a comparative approach to determining relationships between regional fire regimes and global patterns and trends, applied to Madagascar using MODIS remote sensing data (2003–2019). Rather than a global exception, we show that Madagascar's fire regimes are similar to 88% of tropical burned area with shared climate and vegetation characteristics, and can be considered a microcosm of most tropical fire regimes. From 2003–2019, landscape-scale fire declined across tropical grassy biomes (17%–44% excluding Madagascar), and on Madagascar at a relatively fast rate (36%–46%). Thus, high tree loss anomalies on the island (1.25–4.77× the tropical average) were not explained by any general expansion of landscape-scale fire in grassy biomes. Rather, tree loss anomalies centred in forests, and could not be explained by landscape-scale fire escaping from savannas into forests. Unexpectedly, the highest tree loss anomalies on Madagascar (4.77×) occurred in environments without landscape-scale fire, where the role of small-scale fires (<21 h [0.21 km2]) is unknown. While landscape-scale fire declined across tropical grassy biomes, trends in tropical forests reflected important differences among regions, indicating a need to better understand regional variation in the anthropogenic drivers of forest loss and fire risk. Our new understanding of Madagascar's fire regimes offers two lessons with global implications: first, landscape-scale fire is declining across tropical grassy biomes and does not explain high tree loss anomalies on Madagascar. Second, landscape-scale fire is not uniformly associated with tropical forest loss, indicating a need for socio-ecological context in framing new narratives of fire and ecosystem degradation