The ecology of invertebrate fauna of Manx streams in relation to pollution from disused mines

This investigation was carried out to inquire into the differences in the invertebrate fauna of two closely related streams in the Isle of Man. The Gleneedle stream is a clean mountain stream which drains the western slopes of Gleneedle. The Glendhoo stream drains the eastern sides of Gleneedle and collects runoff water from disused mine workings, it is slightly polluted by the presence of lead (mean annual concentration 0.26 mgl-1) and zinc (mean annual concentration 0.108 mgl-1). The two streams combine and the sampling areas are about 400 metres apart at an altitude of approximately 150m. The major components of the invertebrate fauna were determined for each stream, and observations of population changes recorded for a period of two years, from February, 1978, to January, 1980. Variations in the ionic concentration of lead and zinc, together with other chemical and physical parameters were also recorded. Laboratory experiments were carried out to determine the hatching success of eggs of the mayfly Baetis rhodani and of the trichopterans Hydropsyche instabilis, Rhyscophila dorsalis, Polycentrppus flavomaculatus and Potamophylax latipennis, incubated in water from the Gleneedle stream as a control, in water from the Glendhoo stream and in water to which had been added salts of lead and zinc. Observations were also made in the laboratory of the effect of rearing larvae of Potamophylax latipennis, Polycentropus flavomaculatus, nymphs of Baetis rhodani and the plecopteran Protonemura meyeri in conditions similar to those of the hatching experiments. Attempts to reproduce these experiments in the field did not succeed. The results suggest that small amounts of lead and zinc of the order of 0.15 mgl-1 act synergistically to prevent the hatching of aquatic insect eggs; whilst these amounts are not fatal during larval instar stages they appear to be lethal during metamorphosis. Protonemura meyeri and Baetis rhodani were unable to moult successfully and failed to survive. The trichopteran larvae Polycentropus flavomaculatus and Potamophylax latippnnis were resistant to lead and zinc and survived successfully in this stage. The rate of pupal emergence was low for Potamophylax latipennis, and those teneral adults which did emerge had underdeveloped wings and were incapable of flight. The existence of lead and zinc in the Glendhoo waters exerts a controlling influence on the ecology of the stream, colonization by insect larvae is prevented due to the eggs failing to hatch. The presence of P. latipennis larvae in the Glendhoo stream may be explained by the ovipositing behaviour of the imagines, eggs hatch on vegetation overhanging the water. The larvae of this species are therefore able to inhabit the stream but development is inhibited during pupation

Taverna, reloaded

The Taverna workflow management system is an open source project with a history of widespread adoption within multiple experimental science communities, and a long-term ambition of effectively supporting the evolving need of those communities for complex, data-intensive, service-based experimental pipelines. This short paper describes how the recently overhauled technical architecture of Taverna addresses issues of efficiency, scalability, and extensibility, and presents performance results based on a collection of synthetic workflows, as well as a concrete case study involving a production workflow in the area of cancer research.</p

ADEPT Sounding Rocket One Flight Test Overview

On September 12th 2018, a sounding rocket flight test was conducted on a mechanically-deployed atmospheric entry system known as the Adaptable Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT). The purpose of the Sounding Rocket One (SR-1) test was to gather critical flight data for evaluating the vehicle's in-space deployment performance and supersonic stability. This flight test was a major milestone in a technology development campaign for ADEPT: the application of ADEPT for small secondary payloads. The test was conducted above White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), New Mexico on a SpaceLoft XL rocket manufactured by UP Aerospace. This paper describes the system components, test execution, and test conclusions

Clinical and cognitive characteristics of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, with and without copy number variants

Background Submicroscopic, rare chromosomal copy number variants (CNVs) contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders but it is not known whether they define atypical clinical cases. Aims To identify whether large, rare CNVs in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are confined to a distinct clinical subgroup. Method A total of 567 children with ADHD aged 5–17 years were recruited from community clinics. Psychopathology was assessed using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment. Large, rare CNVs (>500 kb, <1% frequency) were defined from single nucleotide polymorphism data. Results Copy number variant carriers (13.6%) showed no differences from non-carriers in ADHD symptom severity, symptom type, comorbidity, developmental features, family history or pre-/perinatal markers. The only significant difference was a higher rate of intellectual disability (24% v. 9%, χ2 = 15.5, P = 0.001). Most CNV carriers did not have intellectual disability. Conclusions Large, rare CNVs are not restricted to an atypical form of ADHD but may be more highly enriched in children with cognitive problems

The Astropy Problem

The Astropy Project (http://astropy.org) is, in its own words, "a community effort to develop a single core package for Astronomy in Python and foster interoperability between Python astronomy packages." For five years this project has been managed, written, and operated as a grassroots, self-organized, almost entirely volunteer effort while the software is used by the majority of the astronomical community. Despite this, the project has always been and remains to this day effectively unfunded. Further, contributors receive little or no formal recognition for creating and supporting what is now critical software. This paper explores the problem in detail, outlines possible solutions to correct this, and presents a few suggestions on how to address the sustainability of general purpose astronomical software

Identifying determinants, pressures and trade-offs of crop residue use in mixed smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

<p>Crop residues (CR) have become a limited resource in mixed crop-livestock farms. As a result of the increasing demand and low availability of alternative resources, CR became an essential resource for household activities, especially for livestock keeping; a major livelihood element of smallholder farmers in the developing world. Farmers' decisions on CR use are determined by farmers' preferences, total crop production, availability of alternative resources and demand for CR. Interaction of these determinants can result in pressures and trade-offs of CR use. Determinants, pressures and trade-offs are shaped by the specific socio-economic and agro-ecological context of these mixed farms. The objective of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of the determinants of CR use and to examine some options to cope with pressures and trade-offs in 12 study sites across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Drawing on socio-economic data at household and village level, we describe how cereal intensification and livestock feed demand influence use, pressures and trade-offs of CR use across study sites, specifically cereal residue. Our results show that in low cereal production and livestock feed demand sites, despite a low demand for CR and availability of alternative biomass, pressures and trade-offs of CR use are common particularly in the dry season. In sites with moderate cereal production, and low-moderate and moderate livestock feed demand, alternative biomass resources are scarce and most residues are fed to livestock or used to cover household needs. Subsequently, pressures and potential trade-offs are stronger. In sites with low cereal production and high livestock feed demand, pressures and trade-offs depend on the availability of better feed resources. Finally, sites with high cereal production and high livestock feed demand have been able to fulfil most of the demand for CR, limiting pressures and trade-offs. These patterns show that agricultural intensification, better management of communal resources and off-farm activities are plausible development pathways to overcome pressures and trade-offs of CR use. Although technologies can largely improve these trends, research and development should revisit past initiatives so as to develop innovative approaches to tackle the well-known problem of low agricultural production in many smallholder mixed systems, creating more sustainable futures.</p

Quantitative Interaction Proteomics of Neurodegenerative Disease Proteins

Several proteins have been linked to neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs), but their molecular function is not completely understood. Here, we used quantitative interaction proteomics to identify binding partners of Amyloid beta precursor protein (APP) and Presenilin-1 (PSEN1) for Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntingtin (HTT) for Huntington's disease, Parkin (PARK2) for Parkinson's disease, and Ataxin-1 (ATXN1) for spinocerebellar ataxia type 1. Our network reveals common signatures of protein degradation and misfolding and recapitulates known biology. Toxicity modifier screens and comparison to genome-wide association studies show that interaction partners are significantly linked to disease phenotypes in vivo. Direct comparison of wild-type proteins and disease-associated variants identified binders involved in pathogenesis, highlighting the value of differential interactome mapping. Finally, we show that the mitochondrial protein LRPPRC interacts preferentially with an early-onset AD variant of APP. This interaction appears to induce mitochondrial dysfunction, which is an early phenotype of AD.Peer reviewe

Application of Diffusion Tensor Imaging Parameters to Detect Change in Longitudinal Studies in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is the major cause of vascular cognitive impairment, resulting in significant disability and reduced quality of life. Cognitive tests have been shown to be insensitive to change in longitudinal studies and, therefore, sensitive surrogate markers are needed to monitor disease progression and assess treatment effects in clinical trials. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is thought to offer great potential in this regard. Sensitivity of the various parameters that can be derived from DTI is however unknown. We aimed to evaluate the differential sensitivity of DTI markers to detect SVD progression, and to estimate sample sizes required to assess therapeutic interventions aimed at halting decline based on DTI data. We investigated 99 patients with symptomatic SVD, defined as clinical lacunar syndrome with MRI confirmation of a corresponding infarct as well as confluent white matter hyperintensities over a 3 year follow-up period. We evaluated change in DTI histogram parameters using linear mixed effect models and calculated sample size estimates. Over a three-year follow-up period we observed a decline in fractional anisotropy and increase in diffusivity in white matter tissue and most parameters changed significantly. Mean diffusivity peak height was the most sensitive marker for SVD progression as it had the smallest sample size estimate. This suggests disease progression can be monitored sensitively using DTI histogram analysis and confirms DTI's potential as surrogate marker for SVD