Allantoin Crystal Formation in Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) Females.

Bagrada hilaris is a polyphagous herbivore reported as an invasive pest in the United States. During the course of dissecting Burmeister hilaris unique crystals were observed in both the midgut and oviducts. Crystals were identified using X-ray diffraction techniques. Both acicular (i.e., needle-like, slender, and/or tapered) and cubic (i.e., cube shaped) crystals were observed in six of 75 individuals examined (8.0%). The crystals were mainly observed in females (6.7%), followed by males (1.3%) with no crystals observed in the minimal number of nymphs examined (0%). Crystals of both types were detected in the midgut and lateral oviducts of the females and midgut in males. The acicular crystals often appeared as distinct bundles when present in the midgut and oviducts. Crystals varied in size with the acicular crystals ranging from 0.12 mm to 0.5 mm in length although the cubic crystals ranged in length from 0.25 mm to over 1.0 mm with widths of ∼0.25 mm. The cubic crystals were identified as allantoin although the acicular crystals were most likely dl-allantoin in combination with halite. While allantoin in a soluble form is often found in insect tissues and excreta; being present as a crystal, especially in such a large form, is curious and raises some interesting questions. More research is warranted to further understand mechanisms associated with such crystal formation in B. hilaris and can lead to a better understanding of the excretory process in this species and the role allantoin plays in the elimination of excess nitrogen

On the nature of Bose-Einstein condensation enhanced by localization

In a previous paper we established that for the perfect Bose gas and the mean-field Bose gas with an external random or weak potential, whenever there is generalized Bose-Einstein condensation in the eigenstates of the single particle Hamiltonian, there is also generalized condensation in the kinetic energy states. In these cases Bose-Einstein condensation is produced or enhanced by the external potential. In the present paper we establish a criterion for the absence of condensation in single kinetic energy states and prove that this criterion is satisfied for a class of random potentials and weak potentials. This means that the condensate is spread over an infinite number of states with low kinetic energy without any of them being macroscopically occupied

Love of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage: 2015 CUMU National Conference in Omaha

The theme for the 2015 CUMU National Conference in Omaha, NE was “Love of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage”. The 2015 theme celebrates key elements that establish the identity of metropolitan universities and CUMU as an organization. The theme recognizes the unique opportunities and benefits provided by metropolitan universities for students and communities. Metropolitan universities provide students with enriching educational experiences while contributing to building and strengthening the community. These enriched experiences also support faculty and staff growth as members of the university and community. The theme encouraged conference participants to explore new pedagogical approaches, strategies for sustaining meaningful partnerships, and opportunities for successful engagement of the community by examining the transformative power of the relationships between metropolitan universities and their “place.” Essential to this theme is the notion of stewardship and being good stewards of the communities that we live in, that bless our lives, our families, and our universities. The special issue devoted to the theme and notion of “Love of Place” provides an overview of the stewardship witnessed at the conference and then launches into the full article contributions that illustrate the “Love of Place” exemplified by the great presenters and the many initiatives occurring across the CUMU

Consonant identification using temporal fine structure and recovered envelope cues

The contribution of recovered envelopes (RENVs) to the utilization of temporal-fine structure (TFS) speech cues was examined in normal-hearing listeners. Consonant identification experiments used speech stimuli processed to present TFS or RENV cues. Experiment 1 examined the effects of exposure and presentation order using 16-band TFS speech and 40-band RENV speech recovered from 16-band TFS speech. Prior exposure to TFS speech aided in the reception of RENV speech. Performance on the two conditions was similar (∼50%-correct) for experienced listeners as was the pattern of consonant confusions. Experiment 2 examined the effect of varying the number of RENV bands recovered from 16-band TFS speech. Mean identification scores decreased as the number of RENV bands decreased from 40 to 8 and were only slightly above chance levels for 16 and 8 bands. Experiment 3 examined the effect of varying the number of bands in the TFS speech from which 40-band RENV speech was constructed. Performance fell from 85%- to 31%-correct as the number of TFS bands increased from 1 to 32. Overall, these results suggest that the interpretation of previous studies that have used TFS speech may have been confounded with the presence of RENVs.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 DC00117)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R43 DC013006

Pre–post intervention exploring cognitive function and relationships with weight loss, intervention adherence and dropout

Objective: To evaluate the association between baseline cognitive function, intervention dropout, adherence and 3-month weight loss (WL) when controlling for confounding demographic variables. Methods: 107 (Mage = 40.9 yrs.), BMI in the overweight and obese range (BMI = 35.6 kg/m2), men (N = 17) and women (N = 90) completed a 3-month WL intervention. Participants attended weekly behavioral sessions, comply with a reduced calorie diet, and complete 100 min of physical activity (PA)/wk. Cognitive function tasks at baseline included Flanker (attention), Stroop (executive control) and working memory, demographics, body weight and cardiovascular fitness were assessed at baseline. Session attendance, adherence to PA and diet were recorded weekly. Results: Baseline attention was positively correlated with age (p \u3c .05), education (p \u3c .05), attendance (p \u3c .05), diet (p \u3c .05) and PA (p \u3c .05). Baseline executive control (p \u3c .05) and working memory (p \u3c .05) were each associated with % WL. Baseline executive control (p \u3c .01) and working memory (p \u3c .001) were also each associated with education. ANOVA indicated that baseline attention (p \u3c .01) was associated with WL, specifically for comparing those who achieved 5–10% WL (p \u3c .01) and those who achieved greater than 10% WL (p \u3c .01) to those who dropped. Significance: Results suggest that stronger baseline attention is associated with completion of a 3-mo. WL intervention. Executive control and working memory are associated with amount of WL achieved. NCT registration: US NIH Clinical Trials, NCT0166471

Subclinical infection of macaques and baboons with a baboon simarterivirus

Simarteriviruses (Arteriviridae: Simarterivirinae) are commonly found at high titers in the blood of African monkeys but do not cause overt disease in these hosts. In contrast, simarteriviruses cause severe disease in Asian macaques upon accidental or experimental transmission. Here, we sought to better understand the host-dependent drivers of simarterivirus pathogenesis by infecting olive baboons (n = 4) and rhesus monkeys (n = 4) with the simarterivirus Southwest baboon virus 1 (SWBV-1). Surprisingly, none of the animals in our study showed signs of disease following SWBV-1 inoculation. Three animals (two rhesus monkeys and one olive baboon) became infected and sustained high levels of SWBV-1 viremia for the duration of the study. The course of SWBV-1 infection was highly predictable: plasma viremia peaked between 1 × 107 and 1 × 108 vRNA copies/mL at 3–10 days post-inoculation, which was followed by a relative nadir and then establishment of a stable set-point between 1 × 106 and 1 × 107 vRNA copies/mL for the remainder of the study (56 days). We characterized cellular and antibody responses to SWBV-1 infection in these animals, demonstrating that macaques and baboons mount similar responses to SWBV-1 infection, yet these responses are ineffective at clearing SWBV-1 infection. SWBV-1 sequencing revealed the accumulation of non-synonymous mutations in a region of the genome that corresponds to an immunodominant epitope in the simarterivirus major envelope glycoprotein GP5, which likely contribute to viral persistence by enabling escape from host antibodies

A Phase 1 study of intravenous infusions of tigecycline in patients with acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells meet the higher energy, metabolic, and signaling demands of the cell by increasing mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial protein translation. Blocking mitochondrial protein synthesis through genetic and chemical approaches kills human AML cells at all stages of development in vitro and in vivo. Tigecycline is an antimicrobial that we found inhibits mitochondrial protein synthesis in AML cells. Therefore, we conducted a phase 1 dose-escalation study of tigecycline administered intravenously daily 5 of 7 days for 2 weeks to patients with AML. A total of 27 adult patients with relapsed and refractory AML were enrolled in this study with 42 cycles being administered over seven dose levels (50-350 mg/day). Two patients experienced DLTs related to tigecycline at the 350 mg/day level resulting in a maximal tolerated dose of tigecycline of 300 mg as a once daily infusion. Pharmacokinetic experiments showed that tigecycline had a markedly shorter half-life in these patients than reported for noncancer patients. No significant pharmacodynamic changes or clinical responses were observed. Thus, we have defined the safety of once daily tigecycline in patients with refractory AML. Future studies should focus on schedules of the drug that permit more sustained target inhibition

Enhanced quantization on the circle

We apply the quantization scheme introduced in [arXiv:1204.2870] to a particle on a circle. We find that the quantum action functional restricted to appropriate coherent states can be expressed as the classical action plus $\hbar$-corrections. This result extends the examples presented in the cited paper.Comment: 7 page