Distribution and Emergency

Streaming video requires RealPlayer to view.The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Humanitarian organizations divide their work into two categories: development aid that improves underlying conditions, and emergency aid, given in response to a natural or manmade disaster. However, Jennifer Rubenstein, a fellow at Princeton University, questioned this distinction. While it might have logistical advantages, she argued, it does not suit the variety of situations and populations requiring aid.Ohio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, streaming video, photos, power point presentation, and lecture summar

Modeled Chl:C ratio and derived estimates of phytoplankton carbon biomass and its contribution to total particulate organic carbon in the global surface ocean

Chlorophyll (Chl) is a distinctive component of autotrophic organisms, often used as an indicator of phytoplankton biomass in the ocean. However, assessment of phytoplankton biomass from Chl relies on the accurate estimation of the Chl:carbon(C) ratio. Here we present global patterns of Chl:C ratios in the surface ocean obtained from a phytoplankton growth model that accounts for the optimal acclimation of phytoplankton to ambient nutrient, light, and temperature conditions. The model agrees largely with observed/expected global patterns of Chl:C. Combining our Chl:C estimates with satellite Chl and particulate organic carbon (POC), we infer phytoplankton C concentration in the surface ocean and its contribution to the total POC pool. Our results suggest that the portion of POC corresponding to living phytoplankton is higher in subtropical latitudes and less productive regions (∼30–70%) and decreases to ∼10–30% toward high latitudes and productive regions. An important caveat of our model is the lack of iron limiting effects on phytoplankton physiology. Comparison of our predicted phytoplankton biomass with an independent estimate of total POC reveals a positive correlation between nitrate concentrations and nonphotosynthetic POC in the surface ocean. This correlation disappears when a constant Chl:C is applied. Our analysis is not constrained by assumptions of constant Chl:C or phytoplankton:POC ratio, providing a novel independent analysis of phytoplankton biomass in the surface ocean. These results highlight the importance of accounting for the variability in Chl:C and its application in distinguishing the autotrophic and heterotrophic components in the assemblage of the marine plankton ecosystem

"No one likes that judgmental look like you are a terrorist." Sensorial encounters with the Muslim Other in Amsterdam

Often framed in the public discourse as Europe's ultimate Other, Muslims have been heftily debated and vastly problematised by politicians, pundits, and public intellectuals as unwanted immigrants, part of a bad diversity, problematic, violent, refusals of modernity, secularism, and freedom. Thinking through the body as a phenomenal lived body, we explore Othering as a set of visual, auditory, olfactory, and haptic encounters. Employing an urban ethnography on everyday lived experiences of young Muslims in Amsterdam, the paper investigates multiple modes through which Othering is sensed, lived, and felt through the body

Selection Signatures in Worldwide Sheep Populations

The diversity of populations in domestic species offers great opportunities to study genome response to selection. The recently published Sheep HapMap dataset is a great example of characterization of the world wide genetic diversity in sheep. In this study, we re-analyzed the Sheep HapMap dataset to identify selection signatures in worldwide sheep populations. Compared to previous analyses, we made use of statistical methods that (i) take account of the hierarchical structure of sheep populations, (ii) make use of linkage disequilibrium information and (iii) focus specifically on either recent or older selection signatures. We show that this allows pinpointing several new selection signatures in the sheep genome and distinguishing those related to modern breeding objectives and to earlier post-domestication constraints. The newly identified regions, together with the ones previously identified, reveal the extensive genome response to selection on morphology, color and adaptation to new environments

Telomerecat: A ploidy-agnostic method for estimating telomere length from whole genome sequencing data.

Telomere length is a risk factor in disease and the dynamics of telomere length are crucial to our understanding of cell replication and vitality. The proliferation of whole genome sequencing represents an unprecedented opportunity to glean new insights into telomere biology on a previously unimaginable scale. To this end, a number of approaches for estimating telomere length from whole-genome sequencing data have been proposed. Here we present Telomerecat, a novel approach to the estimation of telomere length. Previous methods have been dependent on the number of telomeres present in a cell being known, which may be problematic when analysing aneuploid cancer data and non-human samples. Telomerecat is designed to be agnostic to the number of telomeres present, making it suited for the purpose of estimating telomere length in cancer studies. Telomerecat also accounts for interstitial telomeric reads and presents a novel approach to dealing with sequencing errors. We show that Telomerecat performs well at telomere length estimation when compared to leading experimental and computational methods. Furthermore, we show that it detects expected patterns in longitudinal data, repeated measurements, and cross-species comparisons. We also apply the method to a cancer cell data, uncovering an interesting relationship with the underlying telomerase genotype

Post-Franco Theatre

In the multiple realms and layers that comprise the contemporary Spanish theatrical landscape, “crisis” would seem to be the word that most often lingers in the air, as though it were a common mantra, ready to roll off the tongue of so many theatre professionals with such enormous ease, and even enthusiasm, that one is prompted to wonder whether it might indeed be a miracle that the contemporary technological revolution – coupled with perpetual quandaries concerning public and private funding for the arts – had not by now brought an end to the evolution of the oldest of live arts, or, at the very least, an end to drama as we know it

Genetic testing for TMEM154 mutations associated with lentivirus susceptibility in sheep

Stefan Hiendleder is a member of the International Sheep Genomics ConsortiumIn sheep, small ruminant lentiviruses cause an incurable, progressive, lymphoproliferative disease that affects millions of animals worldwide. Known as ovine progressive pneumonia virus (OPPV) in the U.S., and Visna/Maedi virus (VMV) elsewhere, these viruses reduce an animal’s health, productivity, and lifespan. Genetic variation in the ovine transmembrane protein 154 gene (TMEM154) has been previously associated with OPPV infection in U.S. sheep. Sheep with the ancestral TMEM154 haplotype encoding glutamate (E) at position 35, and either form of an N70I variant, were highly-susceptible compared to sheep homozygous for the K35 missense mutation. Our current overall aim was to characterize TMEM154 in sheep from around the world to develop an efficient genetic test for reduced susceptibility. The average frequency of TMEM154 E35 among 74 breeds was 0.51 and indicated that highly-susceptible alleles were present in most breeds around the world. Analysis of whole genome sequences from an international panel of 75 sheep revealed more than 1,300 previously unreported polymorphisms in a 62 kb region containing TMEM154 and confirmed that the most susceptible haplotypes were distributed worldwide. Novel missense mutations were discovered in the signal peptide (A13V) and the extracellular domains (E31Q, I74F, and I102T) of TMEM154. A matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) assay was developed to detect these and six previously reported missense and two deletion mutations in TMEM154. In blinded trials, the call rate for the eight most common coding polymorphisms was 99.4% for 499 sheep tested and 96.0% of the animals were assigned paired TMEM154 haplotypes (i.e., diplotypes). The widespread distribution of highly-susceptible TMEM154 alleles suggests that genetic testing and selection may improve the health and productivity of infected flocks.Michael P. Heaton, Theodore S. Kalbfleisch, Dustin T. Petrik, Barry Simpson, James W. Kijas, Michael L. Clawson, Carol G. Chitko-McKown, Gregory P. Harhay, Kreg A. Leymaster, the International Sheep Genomics Consortiu

GWAS meta-analysis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy implicates multiple hepatic genes and regulatory elements

Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disorder affecting 0.5–2% of pregnancies. The majority of cases present in the third trimester with pruritus, elevated serum bile acids and abnormal serum liver tests. ICP is associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes, including spontaneous preterm birth and stillbirth. Whilst rare mutations affecting hepatobiliary transporters contribute to the aetiology of ICP, the role of common genetic variation in ICP has not been systematically characterised to date. Here, we perform genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses for ICP across three studies including 1138 cases and 153,642 controls. Eleven loci achieve genome-wide significance and have been further investigated and fine-mapped using functional genomics approaches. Our results pinpoint common sequence variation in liver-enriched genes and liver-specific cis-regulatory elements as contributing mechanisms to ICP susceptibility

Publisher Correction: Telomerecat: A ploidy-agnostic method for estimating telomere length from whole genome sequencing data.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper

CONDITION OF BLACK-TAILED DEER FAWNS FROM OAK WOODLAND AND CHAPARRAL HABITAT TYPES

Abstract. The physical condition of 20 resident Columbian black-tailed fawns (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) from oak woodland and chaparral areas was evaluated during spring and fall, using a series of physical parameters: whole and field dressed weight, mandible and femur length, blood urea nitrogen level (BUN) and packed cell volume (PCV) of the blood, rumen fill, volatile fatty acids (VFA) in rumen fluid, and fat content of femur marrow and muscle tissue. The plant species composition of rumen contents was also determined. The physical condition of oak woodland fawns appeared better than that of chaparral fawns, as indicated by significantly higher ruminal VFA, BUN, femur marrow fat and muscle tissue fat levels in animals from the oak woodland, Femur marrow fat was accurately and consistently determined using a modified Babcock acid digestion procedure. Fat and dry matter content of femur marrows were highly correlated. Seasonal differences in the diet of oak woodland fawns were observed, while chaparral fawns relied heavily on browse both in spring and fall. Based on age estimates from eye lens and body weights, fawns in the oak woodland were born 18 days earlier than those in chaparral