Multiple Origins of Elytral Reticulation Modifications in the West Palearctic Agabus bipustulatus Complex (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae)

The Agabus bipustulatus complex includes one of Europe's most widely distributed and common diving beetles. This complex, which is known for its large morphological variation, has a complex demographic and altitudinal variation in elytral reticulation. The various depth of the reticulation imprint, both in smaller and larger meshes, results in both mat and shiny individuals, as well as intermediate forms. The West Palearctic lowland is inhabited by a sexually dimorphic form, with shiny males and mat females. In mountain regions, shiny individuals of both sexes are found intermixed with mat individuals or in pure populations in central and southern areas, whereas pure populations of mat individuals are exclusively found in the northern region at high altitude. Sexual selection is proposed as a driving force in shaping this variation. However, the occurrence of different types of reticulation in both sexes and disjunct geographical distribution patterns suggest an additional function of the reticulation. Here we investigate the phylogeographical history, genetic structure and reticulation variation of several named forms within the Agabus bipustulatus complex including A. nevadensis. The molecular analyses recognised several well-supported clades within the complex. Several of the named forms had two or more independent origins. Few south European populations were uniform in reticulation patterns, and the males were found to display large variation. Reticulation diversity and population genetic variability were clearly correlated to altitude, but no genetic differences were detected among populations with mixed or homogenous forms. Observed reduction in secondary reticulation in female and increased variance in male at high altitude in South Europe may be explained by the occurrence of an additional selective force, beside sexual selection. The combined effect of these selective processes is here demonstrated in an extreme case to generate isolation barriers between populations at high altitudes. Here we discuss this selective force in relation to thermal selection

BDNF polymorphisms are linked to poorer working memory performance, reduced cerebellar and hippocampal volumes and differences in prefrontal cortex in a Swedish elderly population

BACKGROUND: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) links learning, memory and cognitive decline in elderly, but evidence linking BDNF allele variation, cognition and brain structural differences is lacking. METHODS: 367 elderly Swedish men (n = 181) and women (n = 186) from Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala seniors (PIVUS) were genotyped and the BDNF functional rs6265 SNP was further examined in subjects who completed the Trail Making Task (TMT), verbal fluency task, and had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) examined brain structure, cognition and links with BDNF. RESULTS: The functional BDNF SNP (rs6265,) predicted better working memory performance on the TMT with positive association of the Met rs6265, and was linked with greater cerebellar, precuneus, left superior frontal gyrus and bilateral hippocampal volume, and reduced brainstem and bilateral posterior cingulate volumes. CONCLUSIONS: The functional BDNF polymorphism influences brain volume in regions associated with memory and regulation of sensorimotor control, with the Met rs6265 allele potentially being more beneficial to these functions in the elderly

Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi

Discovery of Very High Energy gamma-rays from 1ES 1011+496 at z=0.212

We report on the discovery of Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from the BL Lacertae object 1ES1011+496. The observation was triggered by an optical outburst in March 2007 and the source was observed with the MAGIC telescope from March to May 2007. Observing for 18.7 hr we find an excess of 6.2 sigma with an integrated flux above 200 GeV of (1.58$\pm0.32) 10^{-11}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. The VHE gamma-ray flux is >40% higher than in March-April 2006 (reported elsewhere), indicating that the VHE emission state may be related to the optical emission state. We have also determined the redshift of 1ES1011+496 based on an optical spectrum that reveals the absorption lines of the host galaxy. The redshift of z=0.212 makes 1ES1011+496 the most distant source observed to emit VHE gamma-rays up to date.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, minor changes to fit the ApJ versio

The <i>Castalia</i> mission to Main Belt Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro

We describe Castalia, a proposed mission to rendezvous with a Main Belt Comet (MBC), 133P/Elst-Pizarro. MBCs are a recently discovered population of apparently icy bodies within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which may represent the remnants of the population which supplied the early Earth with water. Castalia will perform the first exploration of this population by characterising 133P in detail, solving the puzzle of the MBC’s activity, and making the first in situ measurements of water in the asteroid belt. In many ways a successor to ESA’s highly successful Rosetta mission, Castalia will allow direct comparison between very different classes of comet, including measuring critical isotope ratios, plasma and dust properties. It will also feature the first radar system to visit a minor body, mapping the ice in the interior. Castalia was proposed, in slightly different versions, to the ESA M4 and M5 calls within the Cosmic Vision programme. We describe the science motivation for the mission, the measurements required to achieve the scientific goals, and the proposed instrument payload and spacecraft to achieve these

MAGIC observations of very high energy gamma-rays from HESS J1813-178

Recently, the HESS collaboration has reported the detection of gamma-ray emission above a few hundred GeV from eight new sources located close to the Galactic Plane. The source HESS J1813-178 has sparked particular interest, as subsequent radio observations imply an association with SNR G12.82-0.02. Triggered by the detection in VHE gamma-rays, a positionally coincident source has also been found in INTEGRAL and ASCA data. In this Letter we present MAGIC observations of HESS J1813-178, resulting in the detection of a differential gamma-ray flux consistent with a hard-slope power law, described as dN/(dA dt dE) = (3.3+/-0.5)*10^{-12} (E/TeV)^{-2.1+/-0.2} cm^(-2)s^(-1)TeV^(-1). We briefly discuss the observational technique used, the procedure implemented for the data analysis, and put this detection in the perspective of multifrequency observations.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letter

Variation in plasma calcium analysis in primary care in Sweden - a multilevel analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) is a common disease that often remains undetected and causes severe disturbance especially in postmenopausal women. Therefore, national recommendations promoting early pHPT detection by plasma calcium (P-Ca) have been issued in Sweden. In this study we aimed to investigate variation of P-Ca analysis between physicians and health care centres (HCCs) in primary care in county of Skaraborg, Sweden.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross sectional study of patients' records during 2005 we analysed records from 154 629 patients attending 457 physicians at 24 HCCs. We used multilevel logistic regression analysis (MLRA) and adjusted for patient, physician and HCC characteristics. Differences were expressed as median odds ratio (MOR).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a substantial variation in number of P-Ca analyses between both HCCs (MOR_HCC1.65 [1.44-2.07]) and physicians (MOR_physician1.95 [1.85-2.08]). The odds for a P-Ca analysis were lower for male patients (OR 0.80 [0.77-0.83]) and increased with the number of diagnoses (OR 25.8 [23.5-28.5]). Sex of the physician had no influence on P-Ca test ordering (OR 0.93 [0.78-1.09]). Physicians under education ordered most P-Ca analyses (OR 1.69 [1.35-2.24]) and locum least (OR 0.73 [0.57-0.94]). More of the variance was attributed to the physician level than the HCC level. Different mix of patients did not explain this variance between physicians. Theoretically, if a patient were able to change both GP and HCC, the odds of a P-Ca analysis would in median increase by 2.45. Including characteristics of the patients, physicians and HCCs in the MLRA model did not explain the variance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The physician level was more important than the HCC level for the variation in P-Ca analysis, but further exploration of unidentified contextual factors is crucial for future monitoring of practice variation.</p

Systematic search for VHE gamma-ray emission from X-ray bright high-frequency BL Lac objects

All but three (M87, BL Lac and 3C 279) extragalactic sources detected so far at very high energy (VHE) gamma-rays belong to the class of high-frequency peaked BL Lac (HBL) objects. This suggested to us a systematic scan of candidate sources with the MAGIC telescope, based on the compilation of X-ray blazars by Donato et al. (2001). The observations took place from December 2004 to March 2006 and cover sources on the northern sky visible under small zenith distances zd < 30 degrees at culmination. The sensitivity of the search was planned for detecting X-ray bright F(1 keV) > 2 uJy) sources emitting at least the same energy flux at 200 GeV as at 1 keV. In order to avoid strong gamma-ray attenuation close to the energy threshold, the redshift of the sources was constrained to values z<0.3. Of the fourteen sources observed, 1ES 1218+304 and 1ES 2344+514 have been detected in addition to the known bright TeV blazars Mrk 421 and Mrk 501. A marginal excess of 3.5 sigma from the position of 1ES 1011+496 was observed and has been confirmed as a source of VHE gamma-rays by a second MAGIC observation triggered by a high optical state (Albert et al. 2007). For the remaining sources, we present here the 99% confidence level upper limits on the integral flux above ~200 GeV. We characterize the sample of HBLs (including all HBLs detected at VHE so far) by looking for correlations between their multi-frequency spectral indices determined from simultaneous optical, archival X-ray, and radio luminosities, finding that the VHE emitting HBLs do not seem to constitute a unique subclass. The absorption corrected gamma-ray luminosities at 200 GeV of the HBLs are generally not higher than their X-ray luminosities at 1 keV.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables, submitted to ApJ (revised version

Constraints on the steady and pulsed very high energy gamma-ray emission from observations of PSR B1951+32/CTB 80 with the MAGIC Telescope

We report on very high energy gamma-observations with the MAGIC Telescope of the pulsar PSR B1951+32 and its associated nebula, CTB 80. Our data constrain the cutoff energy of the pulsar to be less than 32 GeV, assuming the pulsed gamma-ray emission to be exponentially cut off. The upper limit on the flux of pulsed gamma-ray emission above 75 GeV is 4.3*10^-11 photons cm^-2 sec^-1, and the upper limit on the flux of steady emission above 140 GeV is 1.5*10^-11 photons cm^-2 sec^-1. We discuss our results in the framework of recent model predictions and other studies.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, replaced with published versio