National Producer and Consumer Survey: Increasing Alfalfa Hay Sales to Horse Owners

Horse owners were surveyed regarding their hay feeding choices. Unique factors of this market are discussed

Data Recovery Excavations at Site 41HR751, Woodforest Road, Harris County, Texas

41HR751 is located in southeastern Harris County, at the confluence of Greens Bayou and an unnamed tributary, both of which are part of the larger Buffalo Bayou/San Jacinto drainage system. 41HR751 was identified during a cultural resource survey of a 65-acre tract of land north of Interstate 10 that was undertaken for the Maxey Road Venture as mandated under United States Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District, Permit Application 18735(02). The site falls along the proposed route for the extension of Woodforest Road between Maxey Road on the east, and Normandy Road on the west, and thus was recommended for National Register Testing. After National Register testing excavations were completed during the summer of 1995 it was determined that 41HR751 was eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places. Testing of 41HR751 indicated the site is a well-sealed, multicomponent site containing lithic and ceramic material dating predominantly to the Late Ceramic period. Diagnostic lithics from this period include several Perdiz arrow points or point fragments, while the ceramics include Goose Creek, Baytown and San Jacinto types. Though the majority of artifacts recovered from the site relates to this occupation phase, the recovery of Gary/Kent dart points and Middle Archaic points in the lower levels of the site indicates that the area is likely to have been used over a long period of time. Data Recovery excavations were undertaken by MAC archeologists from March 1 to May 10, 1996 and a total of 35 cubic meters were excavated. Excavations yielded lithic tools dating from the Late Archaic underlain by evidence from the Middle Archaic. However, owing to financial limitations, the focus of the Data Recovery excavations was limited to the upper levels of the site. A series of radiocarbon dates obtained during these Data Recovery excavations allows Woodforest Road to provide some insights into current lithic controversies such as the age of Perdiz points in southeast Texas. Additionally, statistical analysis of the lithic debitage from the site reveals that there were significant changes in site occupation over the course of the ceramic period, both in the way certain areas of the site were used, and possibly in the intensity of occupation. Archeologists were also able to identify several features at the site, and through flotation, identified several of these as possible hearths. It is the opinion of MAC that the proposed project area does not require any further intensive cultural resources survey. No further archeological investigations at site 41HR751 are recommended prior to the construction of Woodforest Road. Artifacts and paper records will be curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University. The project was directed by Principal Investigator Dr. Nicola Hubbard, and staffed by Project Archeologist Tom Dureka, along with archeological technicians including Madeleine Donachie, Bob D’Aigle, Alan Meyers, Sharon Clarkson, Sharon Ferguson, Ibrahim Thiaw, Ann Michelle Huebner, and V. Temple

Who Cares? How Students View Faculty and Other Adults in US Higher Education

Using Mellon Foundation's College and Beyond survey of alumni from 34 colleges and universities spanning 40 years, Clotfelter found that those who reported that someone "... besides students [took] a special interest in you or your work" also reported greater general satisfaction with their college and, concretely, made larger alumni gifts. This paper uses those same data to see who it was who is reported to have cared - faculty, coaches, deans, ... - how that differed by institutional type - public research universities, coed or women's liberal arts colleges, Ivy universities … - and how it changed over time - for entering cohorts of 1951, 1976, and 1989. Some of the results may be predictable - for instance, that faculty are the main 'care givers' in all times and places - while others are unexpected - that there's no indication of a decline in the faculty role over time, for instance, or that athletes, while they find coaches more caring than do non-athletes, still report that faculty are more caring than coaches

A new high-throughput method for simultaneous detection of drug resistance associated mutations in Plasmodium vivax dhfr, dhps and mdr1 genes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reports of severe cases and increasing levels of drug resistance highlight the importance of improved <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>case management. Whereas monitoring <it>P. vivax </it>resistance to anti-malarial drug by <it>in vivo </it>and <it>in vitro </it>tests remain challenging, molecular markers of resistance represent a valuable tool for high-scale analysis and surveillance studies. A new high-throughput assay for detecting the most relevant markers related to <it>P. vivax </it>drug resistance was developed and assessed on Papua New Guinea (PNG) patient isolates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><it>Pvdhfr, pvdhps </it>and <it>pvmdr1 </it>fragments were amplified by multiplex nested PCR. Then, PCR products were processed through an LDR-FMA (ligase detection reaction - fluorescent microsphere assay). 23 SNPs, including <it>pvdhfr </it>57-58-61 and 173, <it>pvdhps </it>382-383, 553, 647 and <it>pvmdr1 </it>976, were simultaneously screened in 366 PNG <it>P. vivax </it>samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Genotyping was successful in 95.4% of the samples for at least one gene. The coexistence of multiple distinct haplotypes in the parasite population necessitated the introduction of a computer-assisted approach to data analysis. Whereas 73.1% of patients were infected with at least one wild-type genotype at codons 57, 58 and 61 of <it>pvdhfr</it>, a triple mutant genotype was detected in 65.6% of the patients, often associated with the 117T mutation. Only one patient carried the 173L mutation. The mutant 647P <it>pvdhps </it>genotype allele was approaching genetic fixation (99.3%), whereas 35.1% of patients were infected with parasites carrying the <it>pvmdr1 </it>976F mutant allele.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The LDR-FMA described here allows a discriminant genotyping of resistance alleles in the <it>pvdhfr</it>, <it>pvdhps</it>, and <it>pvmdr1 </it>genes and can be used in large-scale surveillance studies.</p

Differential Patterns of Infection and Disease with P. falciparum and P. vivax in Young Papua New Guinean Children

BACKGROUND: Where P. vivax and P. falciparum occur in the same population, the peak burden of P. vivax infection and illness is often concentrated in younger age groups. Experiences from malaria therapy patients indicate that immunity is acquired faster to P. vivax than to P. falciparum challenge. There is however little prospective data on the comparative risk of infection and disease from both species in young children living in co-endemic areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A cohort of 264 Papua New Guinean children aged 1-3 years (at enrolment) were actively followed-up for Plasmodium infection and febrile illness for 16 months. Infection status was determined by light microscopy and PCR every 8 weeks and at each febrile episode. A generalised estimating equation (GEE) approach was used to analyse both prevalence of infection and incidence of clinical episodes. A more pronounced rise in prevalence of P. falciparum compared to P. vivax infection was evident with increasing age. Although the overall incidence of clinical episodes was comparable (P. falciparum: 2.56, P. vivax 2.46 episodes / child / yr), P. falciparum and P. vivax infectious episodes showed strong but opposing age trends: P. falciparum incidence increased until the age of 30 months with little change thereafter, but incidence of P. vivax decreased significantly with age throughout the entire age range. For P. falciparum, both prevalence and incidence of P. falciparum showed marked seasonality, whereas only P. vivax incidence but not prevalence decreased in the dry season. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Under high, perennial exposure, children in PNG begin acquiring significant clinical immunity, characterized by an increasing ability to control parasite densities below the pyrogenic threshold to P. vivax, but not to P. falciparum, in the 2(nd) and 3(rd) year of life. The ability to relapse from long-lasting liver-stages restricts the seasonal variation in prevalence of P. vivax infections

The effects of midazolam and sevoflurane on the GABAA receptors with alternatively spliced variants of the γ2 subunit

Emergence agitation after sevoflurane anesthesia in children can be prevented by midazolam. Alternative splicing of the GABA(A) receptor changes with age. Therefore, we hypothesized that alternative splicing of the &gamma;2 subunit affects the GABA current when applying sevoflurane and midazolam

Vegetable variety trials 2010

This publication is a compilation of vegetable variety trial notes from field trials conducted in summer 2010. It contains information on a wide variety of vegetables and focuses on quality characteristics and adaptability to western Oregon.Revised April 2011. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalogKeywords: vegetable, agriculture, variety trial, gardeningKeywords: vegetable, agriculture, variety trial, gardenin

Allometry and Ecology of the Bilaterian Gut Microbiome.

Classical ecology provides principles for construction and function of biological communities, but to what extent these apply to the animal-associated microbiota is just beginning to be assessed. Here, we investigated the influence of several well-known ecological principles on animal-associated microbiota by characterizing gut microbial specimens from bilaterally symmetrical animals (Bilateria) ranging from flies to whales. A rigorously vetted sample set containing 265 specimens from 64 species was assembled. Bacterial lineages were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Previously published samples were also compared, allowing analysis of over 1,098 samples in total. A restricted number of bacterial phyla was found to account for the great majority of gut colonists. Gut microbial composition was associated with host phylogeny and diet. We identified numerous gut bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences that diverged deeply from previously studied taxa, identifying opportunities to discover new bacterial types. The number of bacterial lineages per gut sample was positively associated with animal mass, paralleling known species-area relationships from island biogeography and implicating body size as a determinant of community stability and niche complexity. Samples from larger animals harbored greater numbers of anaerobic communities, specifying a mechanism for generating more-complex microbial environments. Predictions for species/abundance relationships from models of neutral colonization did not match the data set, pointing to alternative mechanisms such as selection of specific colonists by environmental niche. Taken together, the data suggest that niche complexity increases with gut size and that niche selection forces dominate gut community construction.IMPORTANCEThe intestinal microbiome of animals is essential for health, contributing to digestion of foods, proper immune development, inhibition of pathogen colonization, and catabolism of xenobiotic compounds. How these communities assemble and persist is just beginning to be investigated. Here we interrogated a set of gut samples from a wide range of animals to investigate the roles of selection and random processes in microbial community construction. We show that the numbers of bacterial species increased with the weight of host organisms, paralleling findings from studies of island biogeography. Communities in larger organisms tended to be more anaerobic, suggesting one mechanism for niche diversification. Nonselective processes enable specific predictions for community structure, but our samples did not match the predictions of the neutral model. Thus, these findings highlight the importance of niche selection in community construction and suggest mechanisms of niche diversification

The Transmembrane Domain of CEACAM1-4S Is a Determinant of Anchorage Independent Growth and Tumorigenicity

CEACAM1 is a multifunctional Ig-like cell adhesion molecule expressed by epithelial cells in many organs. CEACAM1-4L and CEACAM1-4S, two isoforms produced by differential splicing, are predominant in rat liver. Previous work has shown that downregulation of both isoforms occurs in rat hepatocellular carcinomas. Here, we have isolated an anchorage dependent clone, designated 253T-NT that does not express detectable levels of CEACAM1. Stable transfection of 253-NT cells with a wild type CEACAM1-4S expression vector induced an anchorage independent growth in vitro and a tumorigenic phenotype in vivo. These phenotypes were used as quantifiable end points to examine the functionality of the CEACAM1-4S transmembrane domain. Examination of the CEACAM1 transmembrane domain showed N-terminal GXXXG dimerization sequences and C-terminal tyrosine residues shown in related studies to stabilize transmembrane domain helix-helix interactions. To examine the effects of transmembrane domain mutations, 253-NT cells were transfected with transmembrane domain mutants carrying glycine to leucine or tyrosine to valine substitutions. Results showed that mutation of transmembrane tyrosine residues greatly enhanced growth in vitro and in vivo. Mutation of transmembrane dimerization motifs, in contrast, significantly reduced anchorage independent growth and tumorigenicity. 253-NT cells expressing CEACAM1-4S with both glycine to leucine and tyrosine to valine mutations displayed the growth-enhanced phenotype of tyrosine mutants. The dramatic effect of transmembrane domain mutations constitutes strong evidence that the transmembrane domain is an important determinant of CEACAM1-4S functionality and most likely by other proteins with transmembrane domains containing dimerization sequences and/or C-terminal tyrosine residues