The 10th Flora Malesiana Symposium

The 10th Flora Malesiana Symposium was held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) between 11 and 15 July 2016 and was attended by 185 researchers from 25 countries. Over five days, taxonomists, horticulturists and conservationists came together to present and discuss their research on the plant diversity of the Malesian region. Over 160 presentations were given and a series of very popular workshops was run

Obituary

An obituary of Tony Whitten, who died on 29 November 201

Economist Letter to NTIA on 700 MHz Spectrum Auction

As the 700 MHz auction approaches, we are writing to clear up a common misconception about the nature of spectrum auctions and the impact of various rules on auction revenues.Auctions, spectrum auctions, market design

The Sapotaceae of Indonesia and the Potential Role of Botanic Gardens in their Conservation

Indonesia holds a large percentage of Malesian Sapotaceae taxa with an estimated 15 genera and 158 species. Bogor Botanic Gardens currently hold 12 genera and 41 species of which 29 are native to Indonesia. This represents just under 20% of Sapotaceae species currently recorded from Indonesia. The utility of these collections is dependent on the type of data associated with them and on the quality of identification of the material. Of the 29 native species only three have had a global threat assessment made and, of these, one, Madhuca boerlageana (Burck) Baehni, is considered Critically Endangered. The regional botanic gardens initiative of the Indonesian government is establishing botanic gardens in each of the 47 ecoregions of Indonesia. This new initiative is potentially very important for in situ and ex situ conservation of the Indonesian flora. So far it has brought into cultivation 39 threatened species, however none of these are Sapotaceae. The lack of global IUCN threat data is a major impediment to the prioritisation of collection, cultivation and conservation of Sapotaceae species

Tax Law within the Larger Legal System

Tax law may be viewed as occupying its own universe, even though tax funds the implementation of public policies that animate Canadian society. This article reminds us that tax law must respond to basic rule-of-law norms in spite of overarching and well-meaning policy goals. It adopts reference points featured in recent cases. One is the Charter, which limits penalties that can be imposed on non-compliant taxpayers and tax advisers without adhering to due process safeguards. Another is the impact of international arrangements among countries in a global business environment to guide consistent regulatory responses and to identify and share information. No matter how seemingly efficient or well-grounded, international norms still need to be safely grounded in Parliamentary authority to be enforceable in relation to Canadian taxpayers. All practitioners concerned with tax equity, neutrality, and efficiency should remember that tax law exists within a larger legal system and must be so evaluated; occasionally, it must yield to the legal principles underlying that system

Spatiotemporal Statistical Downscaling for the Fusion of In-lake and Remote Sensing Data

This paper addresses the problem of fusing data from in-lake monitoring programmes with remote sensing data, through statistical downscaling. A Bayesian hierarchical model is developed, in order to fuse the in-lake and remote sensing data using spatially-varying coefficients. The model is applied to an example dataset of log(chlorophyll-a) data for Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes of North America

The effectiveness and limitations of digital images for taxonomic research

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper is partly based on the dissertation by AP for her M.Sc. in Biodiversity and Plant Taxonomy at the University of Edinburgh and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, supervised by PW and HA. The assistance of staff at the SBG Herbarium and RBGE Sapotaceae Resource Centre is gratefully acknowledged. All herbaria mentioned in the paper are thanked for allowing access to their collections and for allowing researchers to take photographs. The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is particularly thanked for supporting the last author during his time visiting Malaysian herbaria and forests under EPU permit number: 40/20019/2522. The authors would also like to thank Professor Pete Hollingsworth for helpful views on early drafts of the paper.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Onset and persistence of person-perceived participation restriction in older adults: a 3-year follow-up study in the general population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Participation restriction is defined as "problems an individual may experience in involvement in life situations" and refers to the personal and societal consequences of health conditions. There is a growing interest in participation restriction because (i) problems with work or looking after others may be more concerning to individuals than the signs and symptoms of health conditions and (ii) even when poor health persists, participation may still be maintained. The natural history of participation restriction in the general population is unknown and the aim of this report is to describe change in status of person-perceived participation restriction over three years in community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>Prospective cohort study (baseline and 3-year follow-up) using postal questionnaires mailed to a population-based sample of older adults. Responders were included in this study if they completed all items of the Keele Assessment of Participation at baseline (n = 6965). Estimates of onset and persistence of person-perceived participation restriction at 3-year follow-up were calculated for any and for each aspect of life in the sample as a whole, and then by age and gender using attrition re-weighted logistic regression to take account of sample attrition.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the whole sample of 6965 persons, overall participation status at three years was unchanged in 69%, and changed in 31%. Of 3431 persons with no restriction at baseline, it is estimated that 29.8% (95% confidence interval: 27.6%, 32.0%) would report restriction in at least one aspect of life at 3-year follow-up. Of 3534 persons who had baseline restriction, it is estimated that 68.8% (66.2%, 71.3%) would report continuing restriction in at least one aspect of life after 3 years. Onset and persistence both increased with age, and were most frequently recorded for restricted mobility outside the home.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although most older persons do not change their overall participation status during a three-year period, change does occur which implies that population approaches to improving participation can be sought. Both onset and persistence of person-perceived participation restriction are more common the older the age-group.</p

Virus and host factors affecting the clinical outcome of bluetongue virus infection

Bluetongue is a major infectious disease of ruminants caused by bluetongue virus (BTV), an arbovirus transmitted by Culicoides. Here, we assessed virus and host factors influencing the clinical outcome of BTV infection using a single experimental framework. We investigated how mammalian host species, breed, age, BTV serotypes, and strains within a serotype, affect the clinical course of bluetongue. Results obtained indicate that in small ruminants there is a marked difference in the susceptibility to clinical disease induced by BTV at the host species level, but less so at the breed level. No major differences in virulence were found between divergent serotypes (BTV-8 and BTV-2). However, we observed striking differences in virulence between closely related strains of the same serotype collected towards the beginning and the end of the European BTV-8 outbreak. As observed previously, differences in disease severity were also observed when animals were infected with either blood from a BTV-infected animal or from the same virus isolated in cell culture. Interestingly, with the exception of two silent mutations, full viral genome sequencing showed identical consensus sequences of the virus before and after cell culture isolation. However, deep sequencing analysis revealed a marked decrease in the genetic diversity of the viral population after passaging in mammalian cells. In contrast, passaging in Culicoides cells increased the overall number of low frequency variants compared to virus never passaged in cell culture. Thus, Culicoides might be a source of new viral variants and viral population diversity can be another factor influencing BTV virulence

Cytokines in \u3ci\u3eMycoplasma hyorhinis\u3c/i\u3e-Induced Arthritis in Pigs Bred Selectively for High and Low Immune Responses

Yorkshire pigs were bred selectively for high and low immune responses (H and L pigs, respectively) based on multiple antibody (Ab) and cell-mediated immune response traits. In a previous experiment, generation 4 (G4) pigs of each line were infected with Mycoplasma hyorhinis. High responders had a more rapid and higher Ab response and less polyserositis, but arthritis was more severe in H pigs than in L pigs. To test the hypothesis that line differences were attributable to differential expression of cytokines, M. hyorhinis infection was induced in pigs of G8. Arthritis was more severe clinically (P, ≤0.05) and postmortem (P, ≤0.001) when M. hyorhinis CFU were more numerous in synovial fluid (SF) of H pigs than of L pigs (P, ≤0.03). In H pigs but not L pigs, CFU and lesion scores were correlated positively. In H pigs, infection increased the frequency of expression of mRNAs for interleukin-8 (IL-8), IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in mononuclear cells from synovial membranes (SM). In L pigs, IL-1a, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a mRNAs were increased in frequency of expression. The quantity of the cytokine message for IL-6 was increased in infected H pigs. For L pigs, infection increased the cytokine message for IL-1 α, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a. IL-6 in SM and gamma interferon (IFN-ϒ) in SF were produced at a higher copy number in H pigs than in L pigs after infection. For H pigs, there were no positive rank correlations between lesion or CFU scores and cytokines. For L pigs, IL-1 α, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF- α in SM correlated with CFU, while IL-6, TNF- β, and IFN-ϒ in SF correlated with CFU. Lesion score in L pigs correlated with IL-1 α in SF. While these results indicate that H and L pigs differ in the cytokine response to M. hyorhinis infection, they do not confirm a characteristic cytokine response in association with the relative susceptibility to infection and arthritis observed in H pigs