Interactions between the endocrine and immune systems in locusts

The prophenoloxidase cascade in the haemolymph of mature adult Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R & F) is activated in response to injection of laminarin, a -1,3 glucan. Co-injection of adipokinetic hormone-I (Lom-AKH-I) and laminarin prolongs the activation of the enzyme in a dose-dependent manner. However, injections of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) do not activate prophenoloxidase unless AKH is co-injected, when there is a dose-dependent increase in the level of phenoloxidase that persists in the haemolymph for several hours. Even when AKH is co-injected, the highest levels of phenoloxidase activity are always greater after injection of laminarin than after LPS, and these two immunogens must activate the prophenoloxidase cascade by quite distinct pathways. In the present study, interactions between the endocrine and immune systems were examined with respect to activation of prophenoloxidase and the formation of nodules: injection of LPS induces nodule formation in adult locusts. With LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, nodules form exclusively in dense accumulations in the anterior portion of the abdomen on either side of the dorsal blood vessel associated with the dorsal diaphragm. However, with LPS from Escherichia coli, fewer nodules are formed but with a similar distribution, except that occasionally some nodules are aligned additionally on either side of the ventral nerve cord. Co-injection of Lom-AKH-I with LPS from either bacteria stimulates greater numbers of nodules to be formed. This effect of coinjection of AKH on nodule formation is seen at low doses of hormone with only 0.3 or 0.4 pmol of Lom-AKH-1, respectively, increasing the number of nodules by 50%. Injections of octopamine or 5-hydroxytryptamine do not mimic either of the actions of Lom-AKH-I described here. Co-injection of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril, reduces nodule formation in response to injections of LPS but has no effect on the activation of phenoloxidase. Co-injection of an inhibitor of eicosanoid synthesis, dexamethasone, with LPS influences nodule formation (with or without AKH) in different ways according to the dose of dexamethasone used, but does not affect activation of prophenoloxidase. Eicosanoid synthesis is important for nodule formation, but not for the activation of the prophenoloxidase cascade in locust haemolymph

First Principles Analysis of Electron-Phonon Interaction in Graphene

The electron-phonon interaction in monolayer graphene is investigated by using density functional perturbation theory. The results indicate that the electron-phonon interaction strength is of comparable magnitude for all four in-plane phonon branches and must be considered simultaneously. Moreover, the calculated scattering rates suggest an acoustic phonon contribution that is much weaker than previously thought, revealing the role of optical phonons even at low energies. Accordingly it is predicted, in good agreement with a recent measurement, that the intrinsic mobility of graphene may be more than an order of magnitude larger than the high values reported in suspended samples.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

The \u3ci\u3eLeucaena\u3c/i\u3e Network: A Grazier Advocacy Organisation Ensuring the Future of a Valuable Forage Resource for Northern Australia

Leucaena leucocephala is a productive and sustainable forage tree legume for beef cattle production in northern Australia. Following a protracted period of research and development to overcome agronomic and social constraints, substantial adoption by graziers is now occurring (Mullen, these proceedings). However, a recent challenge has threatened future development, viz. the perception by some environmentalists that leucaena is an environmental weed. In addition, production-oriented support from public research and development organisations has diminished significantly over the past 20 years. The Leucaena Network (TLN) was formed in July 2000, primarily to counter the anti-leucaena movement, but has since developed as an advocacy organisation promoting the many beneficial aspects of leucaena forage systems. The structure, aims and achievements of this unique organisation are outlined below

Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at risk for autism

Children’s assignment of novel words to nameless objects, over objects whose names they know (mutual exclusivity; ME) has been described as a driving force for vocabulary acquisition. Despite their ability to use ME to fast-map words (Preissler & Carey, 2005), children with autism show impaired language acquisition. We aimed to address this puzzle by building on studies showing that correct referent selection using ME does not lead to word learning unless ostensive feedback is provided on the child’s object choice (Horst & Samuelson, 2008). We found that although toddlers aged 2;0 at risk for autism can use ME to choose the correct referent of a word, they do not benefit from feedback for long-term retention of the word–object mapping. Further, their difficulty using feedback is associated with their smaller receptive vocabularies. We propose that difficulties learning from social feedback, not lexical principles, limits vocabulary building during development in children at risk for autism

Transition times in the Landau-Zener model

This paper presents analytic formulas for various transition times in the Landau-Zener model. Considerable differences are found between the transition times in the diabatic and adiabatic bases, and between the jump time (the time for which the transition probability rises to the region of its asymptotic value) and the relaxation time (the characteristic damping time of the oscillations which appear in the transition probability after the crossing). These transition times have been calculated by using the exact values of the transition probabilities and their derivatives at the crossing point and approximations to the time evolutions of the transition probabilities in the diabatic basis, derived earlier \protect{[}N. V. Vitanov and B. M. Garraway, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 53}, 4288 (1996)\protect{]}, and similar results in the adiabatic basis, derived in the present paper.Comment: 7 pages, two-column revtex style, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. A (Feb 1999

Theory of the tunneling resonances of the bilayer electron systems in strong magnetic field

We develop a theory for the anomalous interlayer conductance peaks observed in bilayer electron systems at nu=1. Our model shows the that the size of the peak at zero bias decreases rapidly with increasing in-plane magnetic field, but its location is unchanged. The I-V characteristic is linear at small voltages, in agreement with experimental observations. In addition we make quantitative predictions for how the inter-layer conductance peaks vary in position with in-plane magnetic field at high voltages. Finally, we predict novel bi-stable behavior at intermediate voltages.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure