AMERICAN FARMERS AND WORLD AFFAIRS

International Relations/Trade,

The Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey (MGPS-2): Compact Source Catalogue

We present the first data release from the second epoch Molonglo Galactic Plane Survey (MGPS-2). MGPS-2 was carried out with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope at a frequency of 843 MHz and with a restoring beam of 45 arcsec x 45 arcsec cosec(dec), making it the highest resolution large scale radio survey of the southern Galactic plane. It covers the range |b| < 10 deg and 245 deg < l < 365 deg and is the Galactic counterpart to the Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) which covers the whole southern sky with dec 10 deg). In this paper we present the MGPS-2 compact source catalogue. The catalogue has 48,850 sources above a limiting peak brightness of 10 mJy/beam. Positions in the catalogue are accurate to 1 arcsec - 2 arcsec. A full catalogue including extended sources is in preparation. We have carried out an analysis of the compact source density across the Galactic plane and find that the source density is not statistically higher than the density expected from the extragalactic source density alone. We also present version 2.0 of the SUMSS image data and catalogue which are now available online. The data consists of 629 4.3 deg x 4.3 deg mosaic images covering the 8100 deg^2 of sky with dec 10 deg. The catalogue contains 210,412 radio sources to a limiting peak brightness of 6 mJy/beam at dec -50 deg. We describe the updates and improvements made to the SUMSS cataloguing process.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to be published in MNRAS Note that Figures 8 and 9 are much lower resolution than in the published versio

The Development of a Match to Sample Memory Task and Test of Impulsivity to Investigate Rat Models of Schizophrenia

Animal models of schizophrenia have been developed using chronic exposure to the dissociative anesthetics phencycladine (PCP) and ketamine to induce psychosis in rats. Preliminary research in our laboratory has shown marginal effects of low doses of PCP on the rat P300 event related potential (ERP) similar to those found in human male schizophrenics. As part of a broader program of research investigating the P300 ERP in a rat model of schizophrenia, we have been developing a battery of behavioral paradigms to test for memory deficits and impulsiveness that can be used to differentiate schizophrenic-like behavior from normal behavior in rats. The present research is directed toward developing a Y-maze match to sample (MTS) and a two lever MTS paradigm to screen for memory deficits. In these tests the rat receives a water reinforcer only if it chooses to run to the alley that was lighted or press the lever that was lighted during the sample phase. Memory is tested by inserting a delay interval during which the light cue disappears and the response is prevented. We are also developing a test of impulsivity in which the rat must inhibit a nose poke response until the third brief presentation of a light to obtain a water reinforcer. Early nose pokes result in a time out. Olin Hall construction delayed the initiation of this experiment. Accordingly preliminary results will be presented

Radio sources with ultra-high polarization

A sample of 129 unresolved radio sources with ultrahigh linear polarization (>30 per cent) has been selected from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey. Such high average linear polarization is unusual in extragalactic sources. Higher resolution Australia Telescope Compact Array and Very Large Array observations confirm the high average polarization but find that most of these sources are extended. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy, where available, shows that the optical counterparts are elliptical galaxies with no detectable emission lines. The optical spectra, radio luminosity, linear size and spectral index of these sources are typical of radio-loud active galactic nuclei. Galaxy counts within a 1 Mpc radius of the radio sources show that these highly polarized sources are in environments similar to their low polarization (<2 per cent) counterparts. Similarly, the line-of-sight environments of the ultrahigh polarization sources are on average indistinguishable from those of the low-polarization sources. We conclude that the extraordinarily high average polarization must be due to intrinsic properties of the sources, such as an extremely ordered source magnetic field, low internal thermal plasma density or a preferential orientation of the source magnetic field perpendicular to the line of sight.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS; v2: some typos correcte

FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL POLICY AND FAR EAST FARM MARKETS

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Association between Antibodies to the MR 67,000 Isoform of Glutamate Decarboxylase (GAD) and Type 1 (Insulin-Dependent) Diabetes Mellitus with Coexisting Autoimmune Polyendocrine Syndrome Type II

By using an immunoprecipitation assay, we analysed reactivity of autoantibodies to human recombinant GAD65 and GAD67 in sera from patients with autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome Type II (APS II) with and without Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus (IDDM) compared to patients with organ-specific autoimmunity. Overall antibodies to GAD65 were correlated with IDDM in all study groups, whereas GAD67 antibodies were associated with IDDM when APS II coexists. Antibodies to GAD65 and GAD67 were detected in 13 (44.8%) and 7 (24.1%) out of 29 APS II patients with IDDM, but in only 4 (13.8%) and 2 (6.9%) out of 29 APS II patients without IDDM, respectively (p < 0.05). In short-standing IDDM (< 1 year), antibodies to GAD67 were significantly more frequent in patients with APS II (5 of 9 [55.6%] subjects) compared to matched diabetic patients without coexisting polyendocrinopathy (1 of 18 [5.6%] subjects) (p < 0.02). The levels of GAD65 (142 ± 90 AU) and GAD67 antibodies (178 ± 95 AU) were significantly higher in patients with polyglandular disease than in patients with isolated IDDM (91 ± 85 AU and 93 ± 57 AU) (p < 0.02). Interestingly, all 11 GAD67 antibody positive subjects also had GAD65 antibodies (p < 0.0001), and in 10 of 11 anti-GAD67 positive sera the GAD67 antibodies could be blocked by either GAD67 or GAD65, suggesting the presence of cross-reactive autoantibodies. No correlation was observed between GAD antibodies and age, sex or any particular associated autoimmune disease, besides IDDM. GAD antibodies were present in only 1 of 6 (16.7%) patients with APS Type I, in 1 of 26 (3.9%) patients with autoimmune thyroid disease but in none of the patients with Addison's disease (n = 16), pernicious anaemia (n = 7) or normal controls (n = 50). Our data suggest distinct antibody specificities reactive to GAD isoforms in APS II and IDDM, which might reflect different mechanisms of autoimmune response in IDDM with coexisting autoimmune polyendocrine autoimmunity

Improving music genre classification using automatically induced harmony rules

We present a new genre classification framework using both low-level signal-based features and high-level harmony features. A state-of-the-art statistical genre classifier based on timbral features is extended using a first-order random forest containing for each genre rules derived from harmony or chord sequences. This random forest has been automatically induced, using the first-order logic induction algorithm TILDE, from a dataset, in which for each chord the degree and chord category are identified, and covering classical, jazz and pop genre classes. The audio descriptor-based genre classifier contains 206 features, covering spectral, temporal, energy, and pitch characteristics of the audio signal. The fusion of the harmony-based classifier with the extracted feature vectors is tested on three-genre subsets of the GTZAN and ISMIR04 datasets, which contain 300 and 448 recordings, respectively. Machine learning classifiers were tested using 5 × 5-fold cross-validation and feature selection. Results indicate that the proposed harmony-based rules combined with the timbral descriptor-based genre classification system lead to improved genre classification rates

Loss of epidermal Evi/Wls results in a phenotype resembling psoriasiform dermatitis

Cells of the epidermis renew constantly from germinal layer stem cells. Although epithelial cell differentiation has been studied in great detail and the role of Wnt signaling in this process is well described, the contribution of epidermal Wnt secretion in epithelial cell homeostasis remains poorly understood. To analyze the role of Wnt proteins in this process, we created a conditional knockout allele of the Wnt cargo receptor Evi/Gpr177/Wntless and studied mice that lacked Evi expression in the epidermis. We found that K14-Cre, Evi-LOF mice lost their hair during the first hair cycle, showing a reddish skin with impaired skin barrier function. Expression profiling of mutant and wild-type skin revealed up-regulation of inflammation-associated genes. Furthermore, we found that Evi expression in psoriatic skin biopsies is down-regulated, suggesting that Evi-deficient mice developed skin lesions that resemble human psoriasis. Immune cell infiltration was detected in Evi-LOF skin. Interestingly, an age-dependent depletion of dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) and an infiltration of gammadelta(low) T cells in Evi mutant epidermis was observed. Collectively, the described inflammatory skin phenotype in Evi-deficient mice revealed an essential role of Wnt secretion in maintaining normal skin homeostasis by enabling a balanced epidermal-dermal cross talk, which affects immune cell recruitment and DETC survival

Gad65 is recognized by t-cells, but not by antibodies from nod-mice

Since the 64kDa-protein glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) is one of the major autoantigens in T-cell mediated Type 1 diabetes, its relevance as a T-cell antigen needs to be clarified. After isolation of splenic T-cells from non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a useful model for human Type 1 diabetes, we found that these T-cells proliferate spontaneously when incubated with human GAD65, but only marginally after incubation with GAD67, both recombinated in the baculovirus system. No effect was observed with non-diabetic NOD mice or with T-cells from H-2 identical NON-NOD-H-2g7 control mice. It has been published previously that NOD mice develop autoantibodies against a 64kDa protein detected with mouse beta cells. In immunoprecipitation experiments with sera from the same NOD mice and 33S-methionine-labelled GAD, no autoantibody binding could be detected. We conclude firstly that GAD65 is an important T-cell antigen which is relevant early in the development of Type 1 diabetes and secondly that there is an antigenic epitope in the human GAD65 molecule recognized by NOD T-cells, but not by NOD autoantibodies precipitating conformational epitopes. Our results therefore provide further evidence that GAD65 is a T-cell antigen in NOD mice, being possibly also involved in very early processes leading to the development of human Type 1 diabetes