Cercosporoid leaf pathogens from whorled milkweed and spineless safflower in California

Two cercosporoid species are respectively described from Mexican whorled milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis), and spineless safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) from California. Passalora californica represents a new pathogen on Asclepias fascicularis, while Ramularia cynarae is confirmed on Carthamus tinctorius and Cynara cardunculus (Asteraceae), and an epitype designated. Pathogenicity is also established for both pathogens based on Koch’s postulate

Old stones’ song—second verse: use-wear analysis of rhyolite and fenetized andesite artifacts from the Oldowan lithic industry of Kanjera South, Kenya

This paper investigates Oldowan hominin behavioral ecology through use-wear analysis of artifacts from Kanjera South, Western Kenya. It extends development of our experimental use-wear reference collection and analysis of use-wear on the well preserved and unweathered Oldowan tools from this site to include rhyolite, a non-local material of similar durability to previously studied quartz and quartzite tools, and fenetized andesite, a local material with considerably less durability. Variability in rhyolite and fenetized andesite texture, inclusions, and matrix required enhancement of previous methods so we combine the use of stereoscopic, metallographic, and scanning electron microscopy in this study. This study allows us to begin exploration of the links between specific artifactual raw materials and the materials they were used to process. Data assembled so far suggest that tools fashioned from non-local and local stone were, with one possible exception, used to process similar materials. Additionally, experiments carried out with replicas of tools made of rhyolite and fenetized andesite confirm interpretation of reduction sequences that tools made of less durable local material had a shorter use-life and were used expediently compared to the more durable non-local quartz, quartzite, and rhyolite. These new data improve our understanding, of the functional needs, behavioral solutions, and cognitive capacities of Oldowan hominins. Finally, these data show how use-wear analysis, combined with lithic raw material and lithic technology, can be a powerful means for evaluating two key points for human evolution: long-term memory, and planning

Additions to the Mycosphaerella complex

Species in the present study were compared based on their morphology, growth characteristics in culture, and DNA sequences of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene operon (including ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S nrDNA and the first 900 bp of the 28S nrDNA) for all species and partial actin and translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene sequences for Cladosporium species. New species of Mycosphaerella (Mycosphaerellaceae) introduced in this study include M. cerastiicola (on Cerastium semidecandrum, The Netherlands), and M. etlingerae (on Etlingera elatior, Hawaii). Mycosphaerella holualoana is newly reported on Hedychium coronarium (Hawaii). Epitypes are also designated for Hendersonia persooniae, the basionym of Camarosporula persooniae, and for Sphaerella agapanthi, the basionym of Teratosphaeria agapanthi comb. nov. (Teratosphaeriaceae) on Agapathus umbellatus from South Africa. The latter pathogen is also newly recorded from A. umbellatus in Europe (Portugal). Furthermore, two sexual species of Cladosporium (Davidiellaceae) are described, namely C. grevilleae (on Grevillea sp., Australia), and C. silenes (on Silene maritima, UK). Finally, the phylogenetic position of two genera are newly confirmed, namely Camarosporula (based on C. persooniae, teleomorph Anthracostroma persooniae), which is a leaf pathogen of Persoonia spp. in Australia, belongs to the Teratosphaeriaceae, and Sphaerulina (based on S. myriadea), which occurs on leaves of Fagaceae (Carpinus, Castanopsis, Fagus, Quercus), and belongs to the Mycosphaerellaceae

Oldest evidence of tool making hominins in a grassland-dominated ecosystem.

BACKGROUND: Major biological and cultural innovations in late Pliocene hominin evolution are frequently linked to the spread or fluctuating presence of C(4) grass in African ecosystems. Whereas the deep sea record of global climatic change provides indirect evidence for an increase in C(4) vegetation with a shift towards a cooler, drier and more variable global climatic regime beginning approximately 3 million years ago (Ma), evidence for grassland-dominated ecosystems in continental Africa and hominin activities within such ecosystems have been lacking. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We report stable isotopic analyses of pedogenic carbonates and ungulate enamel, as well as faunal data from approximately 2.0 Ma archeological occurrences at Kanjera South, Kenya. These document repeated hominin activities within a grassland-dominated ecosystem. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data demonstrate what hitherto had been speculated based on indirect evidence: that grassland-dominated ecosystems did in fact exist during the Plio-Pleistocene, and that early Homo was active in open settings. Comparison with other Oldowan occurrences indicates that by 2.0 Ma hominins, almost certainly of the genus Homo, used a broad spectrum of habitats in East Africa, from open grassland to riparian forest. This strongly contrasts with the habitat usage of Australopithecus, and may signal an important shift in hominin landscape usage

Wilson Lines and a Canonical Basis of SU(4) Heterotic Standard Models

The spontaneous breaking of SU(4) heterotic standard models by Z_3 x Z_3 Wilson lines to the MSSM with three right-handed neutrino supermultiplets and gauge group SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1) x U(1) is explored. The two-dimensional subspace of the Spin(10) Lie algebra that commutes with su(3)_C + su(2)_L is analyzed. It is shown that there is a unique basis for which the initial soft supersymmetry breaking parameters are uncorrelated and for which the U(1) x U(1) field strengths have no kinetic mixing at any scale. If the Wilson lines "turn on" at different scales, there is an intermediate regime with either a left-right or a Pati-Salam type model. We compute their spectra directly from string theory, and adjust the associated mass parameter so that all gauge parameters exactly unify. A detailed analysis of the running gauge couplings and soft gaugino masses is presented.Comment: 59 pages, 9 figure

Characterization of Mycosphaerellaceae species associated with citrus greasy spot in Panama and Spain

[EN] Greasy spot of citrus, caused by Zasmidium citri-griseum (= Mycosphaerella citri), is widely distributed in the Caribbean Basin, inducing leaf spots, premature defoliation, and yield loss. Greasy spot-like symptoms were frequently observed in humid citrus-growing regions in Panama as well as in semi-arid areas in Spain, but disease aetiology was unknown. Citrus-growing areas in Panama and Spain were surveyed and isolates of Mycosphaerellaceae were obtained from citrus greasy spot lesions. A selection of isolates from Panama (n = 22) and Spain (n = 16) was assembled based on their geographical origin, citrus species, and affected tissue. The isolates were characterized based on multi-locus DNA (ITS and EF-1 alpha) sequence analyses, morphology, growth at different temperatures, and independent pathogenicity tests on the citrus species most affected in each country. Reference isolates and sequences were also included in the analysis. Isolates from Panama were identified as Z. citri-griseum complex, and others from Spain attributed to Amycosphaerella africana. Isolates of the Z. citri-griseum complex had a significantly higher optimal growth temperature (26.8 degrees C) than those of A. africana (19.3 degrees C), which corresponded well with their actual biogeographical range. The isolates of the Z. citri-griseum complex from Panama induced typical greasy spot symptoms in 'Valencia' sweet orange plants and the inoculated fungi were reisolated. No symptoms were observed in plants of the 'Ortanique' tangor inoculated with A. africana. These results demonstrate the presence of citrus greasy spot, caused by Z. citri-griseum complex, in Panama whereas A. africana was associated with greasy spot-like symptoms in Spain.Research was partially funded by 'Programa de Formacion de los INIA Iberoamerica' and INIA RTA2010-00105-00-00-FEDER to Vidal Aguilera Cogley.. We thank J. Martinez-Minaya (UV) for assistance with INLAAguilera-Cogley, VA.; Berbegal Martinez, M.; Català, S.; Collison Brentu, F.; Armengol Fortí, J.; Vicent Civera, A. (2017). Characterization of Mycosphaerellaceae species associated with citrus greasy spot in Panama and Spain. PLoS ONE. 12(12):1-19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189585S1191212Crous, P. W., Summerell, B. A., Carnegie, A. J., Wingfield, M. J., Hunter, G. C., Burgess, T. I., … Groenewald, J. Z. (2009). Unravelling Mycosphaerella: do you believe in genera? Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi, 23(1), 99-118. doi:10.3767/003158509x479487Mondal, S. N., & Timmer, L. W. (2006). Greasy Spot, a Serious Endemic Problem for Citrus Production in the Caribbean Basin. Plant Disease, 90(5), 532-538. doi:10.1094/pd-90-0532Whiteside, J. O. (1970). Etiology and Epidemiology of Citrus Greasy Spot. Phytopathology, 60(10), 1409. doi:10.1094/phyto-60-1409Huang, F., Groenewald, J. Z., Zhu, L., Crous, P. W., & Li, H. (2015). Cercosporoid diseases of Citrus. Mycologia, 107(6), 1151-1171. doi:10.3852/15-059Wellings, C. R. (1981). Pathogenicity of fungi associated with citrus greasy spot in New South Wales. Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 76(3), 495-499. doi:10.1016/s0007-1536(81)80080-0Marco, G. M. (1986). A Disease Similar to Greasy Spot but of Unknown Etiology on Citrus Leaves in Argentina. Plant Disease, 70(11), 1074a. doi:10.1094/pd-70-1074aVidal Aguilera-Cogley, & Antonio Vicent. (2015). FUNGAL DISEASES OF CITRUS IN PANAMA. Acta Horticulturae, (1065), 947-952. doi:10.17660/actahortic.2015.1065.118Honger J. Aetiology and importance of foliage diseases affecting citrus in the nursery at the Agricultural Research Station (ARS). PhD Thesis. Accra: University of Ghana; 2004.Vicent A, Álvarez A, León M, García-Jiménez J. Mycosphaerella sp. asociada a manchas foliares de cítricos en España. In: Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Spanish Phytopathological Society. 2006; Murcia; Spain.Abdelfattah, A., Cacciola, S. O., Mosca, S., Zappia, R., & Schena, L. (2016). Analysis of the Fungal Diversity in Citrus Leaves with Greasy Spot Disease Symptoms. Microbial Ecology, 73(3), 739-749. doi:10.1007/s00248-016-0874-xQuaedvlieg, W., Binder, M., Groenewald, J. Z., Summerell, B. A., Carnegie, A. J., Burgess, T. I., & Crous, P. W. (2014). Introducing the Consolidated Species Concept to resolve species in the Teratosphaeriaceae. Persoonia - Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Fungi, 33(1), 1-40. doi:10.3767/003158514x681981Edgar, R. C. (2004). MUSCLE: multiple sequence alignment with high accuracy and high throughput. Nucleic Acids Research, 32(5), 1792-1797. doi:10.1093/nar/gkh340Darriba, D., Taboada, G. L., Doallo, R., & Posada, D. (2012). jModelTest 2: more models, new heuristics and parallel computing. Nature Methods, 9(8), 772-772. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2109Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., van der Mark, P., Ayres, D. L., Darling, A., Höhna, S., … Huelsenbeck, J. P. (2012). MrBayes 3.2: Efficient Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference and Model Choice Across a Large Model Space. Systematic Biology, 61(3), 539-542. doi:10.1093/sysbio/sys029Rambaut A. FigTree v1. 4.0, a graphical viewer of phylogenetic trees. Edinburgh, Scotland: University of Edinburgh; 2016.Spiegelhalter, D. J., Best, N. G., Carlin, B. P., & van der Linde, A. (2002). Bayesian measures of model complexity and fit. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 64(4), 583-639. doi:10.1111/1467-9868.00353Rue, H., Martino, S., & Chopin, N. (2009). Approximate Bayesian inference for latent Gaussian models by using integrated nested Laplace approximations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 71(2), 319-392. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9868.2008.00700.xChristensen RH. Ordinal—regression models for ordinal data. R package version 2015.1–21. 2015. http://www.cran.r-project.org/package=ordinal/ Accessed 8 May 2017.Hunter, G. C., Wingfield, B. D., Crous, P. W., & Wingfield, M. J. (2006). A multi-gene phylogeny for species of Mycosphaerella occurring on Eucalyptus leaves. Studies in Mycology, 55, 147-161. doi:10.3114/sim.55.1.147Braun, U., & Urtiaga, R. (2013). New species and new records of cercosporoid hyphomycetes from Cuba and Venezuela (Part 2). Mycosphere, 4(2), 172-214. doi:10.5943/mycosphere/4/2/3Braun, U., Crous, P. W., & Nakashima, C. (2014). Cercosporoid fungi (Mycosphaerellaceae) 2. Species on monocots (Acoraceae to Xyridaceae, excluding Poaceae). IMA Fungus, 5(2), 203-390. doi:10.5598/imafungus.2014.05.02.04Aptroot A. Mycosphaerella and its anamorphs: conspectus of Mycosphaerella CBS Biodiversity Series 5. Utrecht: CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre; 2006.Crous, P. W., & Wingfield, M. J. (1996). Species of Mycosphaerella and Their Anamorphs Associated with Leaf Blotch Disease of Eucalyptus in South Africa. Mycologia, 88(3), 441. doi:10.2307/3760885Aguín, O., Sainz, M. J., Ares, A., Otero, L., & Pedro Mansilla, J. (2013). Incidence, severity and causal fungal species of Mycosphaerella and Teratosphaeria diseases in Eucalyptus stands in Galicia (NW Spain). Forest Ecology and Management, 302, 379-389. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2013.03.021Maxwell, A., Dell, B., Neumeister-Kemp, H. G., & Hardy, G. E. S. J. (2003). Mycosphaerella species associated with Eucalyptus in south-western Australia: new species, new records and a key. Mycological Research, 107(3), 351-359. doi:10.1017/s0953756203007354Otero L, Aguín O, Mansilla J, Hunter G, Wingfield M. Identificación de especies de Mycosphaerella en Eucalyptus globulus y E. nitens en Galicia. In: Proceedings of the 13th Congress of the Spanish Phytopathological Society; 2006; Murcia, Spain.ZHAN, J., & McDONALD, B. A. (2011). Thermal adaptation in the fungal pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola. Molecular Ecology, 20(8), 1689-1701. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294x.2011.05023.xPeel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L., & McMahon, T. A. (2007). Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11(5), 1633-1644. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-200

Managing the complexity of doing it all : an exploratory study on students' experiences when trained stepwise in conducting consultations

Background: At most medical schools the components required to conduct a consultation, medical knowledge, communication, clinical reasoning and physical examination skills, are trained separately. Afterwards, all the knowledge and skills students acquired must be integrated into complete consultations, an art that lies at the heart of the medical profession. Inevitably, students experience conducting consultations as complex and challenging. Literature emphasizes the importance of three didactic course principles: moving from partial tasks to whole task learning, diminishing supervisors' support and gradually increasing students' responsibility. This study explores students' experiences of an integrated consultation course using these three didactic principles to support them in this difficult task. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with 20 pre-clerkship and 19 clerkship students in total. Discussions were audiotaped, transcribed and analysed by Nvivo using the constant comparative strategy within a thematic analysis. Results: Conducting complete consultations motivated students in their learning process as future physician. Initially, students were very much focused on medical problem solving. Completing the whole task of a consultation obligated them to transfer their theoretical medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge on the spot. Furthermore, diminishing the support of a supervisor triggered students to reflect on their own actions but contrasted with their increased appreciation of critical feedback. Increasing students' responsibility stimulated their active learning but made some students feel overloaded. These students were anxious to miss patient information or not being able to take the right decisions or to answer patients' questions, which sometimes resulted in evasive coping techniques, such as talking faster to prevent the patient asking questions. Conclusion: The complex task of conducting complete consultations should be implemented early within medical curricula because students need time to organize their medical knowledge into applicable clinical knowledge. An integrated consultation course should comprise a step-by-step teaching strategy with a variety of supervisors' feedback modi, adapted to students' competence. Finally, students should be guided in formulating achievable standards to prevent them from feeling overloaded in practicing complete consultations with simulated or real patients

Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation

To investigate the neural substrates that underlie spontaneous musical performance, we examined improvisation in professional jazz pianists using functional MRI. By employing two paradigms that differed widely in musical complexity, we found that improvisation (compared to production of over-learned musical sequences) was consistently characterized by a dissociated pattern of activity in the prefrontal cortex: extensive deactivation of dorsolateral prefrontal and lateral orbital regions with focal activation of the medial prefrontal (frontal polar) cortex. Such a pattern may reflect a combination of psychological processes required for spontaneous improvisation, in which internally motivated, stimulus-independent behaviors unfold in the absence of central processes that typically mediate self-monitoring and conscious volitional control of ongoing performance. Changes in prefrontal activity during improvisation were accompanied by widespread activation of neocortical sensorimotor areas (that mediate the organization and execution of musical performance) as well as deactivation of limbic structures (that regulate motivation and emotional tone). This distributed neural pattern may provide a cognitive context that enables the emergence of spontaneous creative activity

A qualitative study of the impact of severe asthma and its treatment showing that treatment burden is neglected in existing asthma assessment scales

Background People with severe asthma experience significant respiratory symptoms and suffer adverse effects of oral corticosteroids (OCS), including disturbed mood and physical symptoms. OCS impacts on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) have not been quantified. Asthma HRQoL scales are valid as outcome measures for patients requiring OCS only if they assess the deficits imposed by OCS. Aims The aim of this study was to compare the burden of disease and treatment in patients with severe asthma with items in eight asthma-specific HRQoL scales. Methods Twenty-three patients with severe asthma recruited from a severe asthma clinic were interviewed about the impact of their respiratory symptoms and the burden of their treatment. The domains from a thematic analysis of these interviews were compared with the items of eight asthma-specific HRQoL scales. Results In addition to the burden caused by symptoms, ten domains of OCS impact on HRQoL were identified: depression, irritability, sleep, hunger, weight, skin, gastric, pain, disease anxiety, and medication anxiety. Some patients experienced substantial HRQoL deficits attributed to OCS. Although all HRQoL scales include some OCS-relevant items, all eight scales fail to adequately assess the several types of burden experienced by some patients while on OCS. Conclusion The burden of OCS in severe asthma is neglected in policy and practice because it is not assessed in outcome studies. Existing asthma HRQoL scales provide an overly positive estimation of HRQoL in patients with frequent exposure to OCS and underestimate the benefit of interventions that reduce OCS exposure. Changes to existing measurement procedures are needed

Precision Gauge Unification from Extra Yukawa Couplings

We investigate the impact of extra vector-like GUT multiplets on the predicted value of the strong coupling. We find in particular that Yukawa couplings between such extra multiplets and the MSSM Higgs doublets can resolve the familiar two-loop discrepancy between the SUSY GUT prediction and the measured value of alpha_3. Our analysis highlights the advantages of the holomorphic scheme, where the perturbative running of gauge couplings is saturated at one loop and further corrections are conveniently described in terms of wavefunction renormalization factors. If the gauge couplings as well as the extra Yukawas are of O(1) at the unification scale, the relevant two-loop correction can be obtained analytically. However, the effect persists also in the weakly-coupled domain, where possible non-perturbative corrections at the GUT scale are under better control.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX. v6: Important early reference adde