Natural Resources Policy Under the Bush Administration: Not What it Says, But What it has Done in Court

Bioassays relying on magnetic read-out using probe-tagged magnetic nanobeads are potential platforms for low-cost biodiagnostic devices for pathogen detection. For optimal assay performance it is crucial to apply an easy, efficient and robust bead-probe conjugation protocol. In this paper, sensitive (1.5 pM) singleplex detection of bacterial DNA sequences is demonstrated in a portable AC susceptometer by a magnetic nanobead-based bioassay principle; the volume-amplified magnetic nanobead detection assay (VAM-NDA). Two bead sizes, 100 and 250 nm, are investigated along with a highly efficient, rapid, robust, and stable conjugation chemistry relying on the avidin-biotin interaction for bead-probe attachment. Avidin-biotin conjugation gives easy control of the number of detection probes per bead; thus allowing for systematic investigation of the impact of varying the detection probe surface coverage upon bead immobilization in rolling circle amplified DNA-coils. The existence of an optimal surface coverage is discussed. Biplex VAM-NDA detection is for the first time demonstrated in the susceptometer: Semi-quantitative results are obtained and it is concluded that the concentration of DNA-coils in the incubation volume is of crucial importance for target quantification. The present findings bring the development of commercial biodiagnostic devices relying on the VAM-NDA further towards implementation in point-of-care and outpatient settings

Rickettsia helvetica in Patient with Meningitis, Sweden, 2006

Pathogenicity of Rickettsia helvetica is relatively unknown. We isolated a spotted fever group rickettsial organism from a patient with subacute meningitis. Nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA, ompB, and 17kDa genes identified the isolate as R. helvetica. This organism may be associated with serious infections such as central nervous system disorders

Phonon black-body radiation limit for heat dissipation in electronics

Thermal dissipation at the active region of electronic devices is a fundamental process of considerable importance. Inadequate heat dissipation can lead to prohibitively large temperature rises that degrade performance and intensive efforts are under way to mitigate this self-heating. At room temperature, thermal resistance is due to scattering, often by defects and interfaces in the active region, that impedes the transport of phonons. Here, we demonstrate that heat dissipation in widely used cryogenic electronic devices instead occurs by phonon black-body radiation with the complete absence of scattering, leading to large self-heating at cryogenic temperatures and setting a key limit on the noise floor. Our result has important implications for the many fields that require ultralow-noise electronic devices

Fungicides and the grapevine wood mycobiome: a case study on Tracheomycotic Ascomycete Phaemoniella chlamydospora reveals potential for two novel control strategies

Original ResearchPhaeomoniella chlamydospora is a tracheomycotic fungus that colonizes the xylem of grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.), causing wood discoloration, brown wood streaking, gummosis, and wood necrosis, which negatively affect the overall health, productivity, and life span of vines. Current control strategies to prevent or cope with P. chlamydospora infections are frequently ineffective. Moreover, it is unclear how fungicides commonly applied in vineyards against downy and powdery mildew agents affect the wood mycobiome, including wood pathogens such as P. chlamydospora. In this study, we used next-generation sequencing to assess the effects of foliar spray of grapevines with inorganic (copper oxychloride and sulfur), synthetic (penconazole and fosetyl-aluminum), and natural (Blad) fungicides currently used against the downy and powdery mildews. The subjects of our investigation were (i) the resident wood mycobiome, (ii) the early colonization by a consortium of fungal wood endophytes (ACEA1), (iii) the wood colonization success of P. chlamydospora, and (iv) the in planta interaction between P. chlamydospora and ACEA1, under greenhouse conditions, in rooted grapevine cuttings of cv. Cabernet Sauvignon. The data obtained suggest that the resident mycobiome is affected by different fungicide treatments. In addition, the early colonization success of the endophytes composing ACEA1 varied in response to fungicides, with relative abundances of some taxa being overrepresented or underrepresented when compared with the control. The wood colonization by P. chlamydospora comported significant changes in the mycobiome composition, and in addition, it was greatly affected by the foliar spray with Blad, which decreased the relative abundance of this pathogen 12-fold (4.9%) when compared with the control (60.7%) and other treatments. The presence of the pathogen also decreased considerably when co-inoculated into the plant with ACEA1, reaching relative abundances between 13.9% and 2.0%, depending on the fungicide treatment applied. This study shows that fungicides sprayed to prevent infections of powdery and downy mildews have an control strategies to fight P. chlamydospora, namely, the foliar spray with Blad and the use of ACEA1. Further studies to confirm these results are requiredinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spectroscopic investigations of a Ti:Tm:LiNbO3 waveguide for photon-echo quantum memory

We report the fabrication and characterization of a Ti$^{4+}$:Tm$^{3+}$:LiNbO$_3$ optical waveguide in view of photon-echo quantum memory applications. In particular, we investigated room- and cryogenic-temperature properties via absorption, spectral hole burning, photon echo, and Stark spectroscopy. We found radiative lifetimes of 82 $\mu$s and 2.4 ms for the $^3$H$_4$ and $^3$F$_4$ levels, respectively, and a 44% branching ratio from the $^3$H$_{4}$ to the $^3$F$_4$ level. We also measured an optical coherence time of 1.6 $\mu$s for the $^3$H$_6\leftrightarrow{}^3$H$_4$, 795 nm wavelength transition, and investigated the limitation of spectral diffusion to spectral hole burning. Upon application of magnetic fields of a few hundred Gauss, we observed persistent spectral holes with lifetimes up to seconds. Furthermore, we measured a linear Stark shift of 25 kHz$\cdot$cm/V. Our results are promising for integrated, electro-optical, waveguide quantum memory for photons.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure

Phenomenological implications from moduli fields in strings

We study some phenomenological consequences of having moduli fields with large vacuum expectation values (v.e.v.). The v.e.vs of the moduli are dynamically determined once supersymmetry is broken in 4D string theories. The study constraints the possible Yukawa interactions and modular weights for matter fields.Comment: 9 pages (LaTeX), Oxford preprint OUTP-93-34

Osteoblast-Restricted Disruption of the Growth Hormone Receptor in Mice Results in Sexually Dimorphic Skeletal Phenotypes

Growth hormone (GH) exerts profound anabolic actions during postnatal skeletal development, in part, through stimulating the production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in liver and skeletal tissues. To examine the requirement for the GH receptor (GHR) in osteoblast function in bone, we used Cre-LoxP methods to disrupt the GHR from osteoblasts, both in vitro and in vivo. Disruption of GHR from primary calvarial osteoblasts in vitro abolished GH-induced signaling, as assessed by JAK2/STAT5 phosphorylation, and abrogated GH-induced proliferative and anti-apoptotic actions. Osteoblasts lacking GHR exhibited reduced IGF-1-induced Erk and Akt phosphorylation and attenuated IGF-1-induced proliferation and anti-apoptotic action. In addition, differentiation was modestly impaired in osteoblasts lacking GHR, as demonstrated by reduced alkaline phosphatase staining and calcium deposition. In order to determine the requirement for the GHR in bone in vivo, we generated mice lacking the GHR specifically in osteoblasts (ΔGHR), which were born at the expected Mendelian frequency, had a normal life span and were of normal size. Three week-old, female ΔGHR mice had significantly reduced osteoblast numbers, consistent with the in vitro data. By six weeks of age however, female ΔGHR mice demonstrated a marked increase in osteoblasts, although mineralization was impaired; a phenotype similar to that observed previously in mice lacking IGF-1R specifically in osteoblasts. The most striking phenotype occurred in male mice however, where disruption of the GHR from osteoblasts resulted in a feminization of bone geometry in 16 week-old mice, as observed by μCT. These results demonstrate that the GHR is required for normal postnatal bone development in both sexes. GH appears to serve a primary function in modulating local IGF-1 action. However, the changes in bone geometry observed in male ΔGHR mice suggest that, in addition to facilitating IGF-1 action, GH may function to a greater extent than previously appreciated in establishing the sexual dimorphism of the skeleton