Characterization of resistance breaking Meloidogyne incognita - like populations using lectins, monoclonal antibodies and spores of Pasteuria penetrans

Six clones de #Meloidogyne, provenant de populations récoltées en Côte d'Ivoire et qui possèdent un phénotype estérasique particulier (codé pVI) ainsi que la faculté de briser la résistance conférée par le gène #Mi, ont été comparés à #M. incognita à l'aide de différentes sondes. Le marquage à l'aide de lectines des exsudats amphidiaux de juvéniles de second stade ne permet pas de distinguer ces lignées de #M. incognita. Des souches de #Pasteuria penetrans permettent de les distinguer et mettent aussi en évidence une certaine variabilité au sein de ce groupe. Deux anticorps monoclonaux, spécifiques de #M. incognita indiquent que les clones de phénotype pVI partagent certains caractères avec #M. incognita$ mais aussi qu'ils s'en distinguent. (Résumé d'auteur

Phylogenetic relationships of African Caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona): insights from mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences

Africa (excluding the Seychelles) has a diverse caecilian fauna, including the endemic family Scolecomorphidae and six endemic genera of the more cosmopolitan Caeciliidae. Previous molecular phylogenetic studies have not included any caecilians from the African mainland. Partial 12S and 16S mitochondrial gene sequences were obtained for two species of the endemic African Scolecomorphidae and five species and four genera of African Caeciliids, aligned against previously reported sequences for 16 caecilian species, and analysed using parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian and distance methods. Results are in agreement with traditional taxonomy in providing support for the monophyly of the African Caeciliid genera Boulengerula and Schistometopum and for the Scolecomorphidae. They disagree in indicating that the Caeciliidae is paraphyletic with respect to the Scolecomorphidae. Although more data from morphology and/or molecules will be required to resolve details of the interrelationships of the African caecilian genera, the data provide strong support for at least two origins of caecilians in which the eye is reduced and covered with bone, and do not support the hypotheses that the caecilian assemblages of Africa, and of East and of West Africa are monophyletic

Characteristics and outcomes of culture-negative prosthetic joint infections from the Prosthetic Joint Infection in Australia and New Zealand Observational (PIANO) cohort study

Introduction: Culture-negative (CN) prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) account for approximately 10 % of all PJIs and present significant challenges for clinicians. We aimed to explore the significance of CN PJIs within a large prospective cohort study, comparing their characteristics and outcomes with culture-positive (CP) cases. Methods: The Prosthetic joint Infection in Australia and New Zealand Observational (PIANO) study is a prospective, multicentre observational cohort study that was conducted at 27 hospitals between 2014 and 2017. We compared baseline characteristics and outcomes of all patients with CN PJI from the PIANO cohort with those of CP cases. We report on PJI diagnostic criteria in the CN cohort and apply internationally recognized PJI diagnostic guidelines to determine optimal CN PJI detection methods. Results: Of the 650 patients with 24-month outcome data available, 55 (8.5 %) were CN and 595 were CP. Compared with the CP cohort, CN patients were more likely to be female (32 (58.2 %) vs. 245 (41.2 %); p = 0.016), involve the shoulder joint (5 (9.1 %) vs. 16 (2.7 %); p = 0.026), and have a lower mean C-reactive protein (142 mg L−1 vs. 187 mg L−1; p = 0.016). Overall, outcomes were superior in CN patients, with culture negativity an independent predictor of treatment success at 24 months (adjusted odds ratio, aOR, of 3.78 and 95 %CI of 1.65–8.67). Suboptimal diagnostic sampling was common in both cohorts, with CN PJI case detection enhanced using the Infectious Diseases Society of America PJI diagnostic guidelines. Conclusions: Current PJI diagnostic guidelines vary substantially in their ability to detect CN PJI, with comprehensive diagnostic sampling necessary to achieve diagnostic certainty. Definitive surgical management strategies should be determined by careful assessment of infection type, rather than by culture status alone

Grass tetany

Grass tunny is a metabolic disorder of ruminant animals that results from a deficiency of available Mg in the diet. The etiology of tetany is complicated by the many soil, plant, and animal factors that influence Mg availability to plants and in tuns to animals. This review will highlight some of these factors and provide management information which will minimize the impact of this disorder. Only the most recent and pertinent literature citations are included. A more detailed bibliographic list is available from the authors

Phonological treatment approaches for spoken word production in aphasia

This paper provides an overview of phonological treatment approaches for anomia in individuals with aphasia. The role of phonology in language processing, as well as the impact of phonological impairment on communication is initially discussed. Then, traditional phonologically-based treatment approaches, including phonological, orthographic, indirect, guided, and mixed cueing methods are described. Collectively, these cueing treatment approaches aim to facilitate word retrieval by stimulating residual phonological abilities. An alternative treatment approach, phonomotor treatment, is also examined. Phonomotor treatment aims to rebuild sub-lexical, phonological sequence knowledge and phonological awareness as a means to strengthen lexical processing and whole-word naming. This treatment is supported by a parallel-distributed processing model of phonology and therefore promotes multi-modal training of individual phonemes and phoneme sequences in an effort to enhance the neural connectivity supporting underlying phonological processing mechanisms. The paper concludes with suggestions for clinical application and implementation.The United States Department of Veterans Affairshttps://www.thieme-connect.com2018-02-28hb2017Speech-Language Pathology and Audiolog

Genetic and environmental variation in methane emissions of sheep at pasture

A total of 2,600 methane (CH4) and 1,847 CO2 measurements of sheep housed for 1 h in portable accumulation chambers (PAC) were recorded at 5 sites from the Australian Sheep CRC Information Nucleus, which was set up to test leading young industry sires for an extensive range of current and novel production traits. The final validated dataset had 2,455 methane records from 2,279 animals, which were the progeny of 187 sires and 1,653 dams with 7,690 animals in the pedigree file. The protocol involved rounding up animals from pasture into a holding paddock before the first measurement on each day and then measuring in groups of up to 16 sheep over the course of the day. Methane emissions declined linearly (with different slopes for each site) with time since the sheep were drafted into the holding area. After log transformation, estimated repeatability (rpt) and heritability (h(2)) of liveweight-adjusted CH4 emissions averaged 25% and 11.7%, respectively, for a single 1-h measurement. Sire × site interactions were small and nonsignificant. Correlations between EBV for methane emissions and Sheep Genetics Australia EBV for production traits were used as approximations to genetic correlations. Apart from small positive correlations with weaning and yearling weights (r = 0.21-0.25, P < 0.05), there were no significant relationships between production trait and methane EBV (calculated from a model adjusting for liveweight by fitting separate slopes for each site). To improve accuracy, future protocols should use the mean of 2 (rpt = 39%, h(2) = 18.6%) or 3 (rpt = 48%, h(2) = 23.2%) PAC measurements. Repeat tests under different pasture conditions and time of year should also be considered, as well as protocols measuring animals directly off pasture instead of rounding them up in the morning. Reducing the time in the PAC from 1 h to 40 min would have a relatively small effect on overall accuracy and partly offset the additional time needed for more tests per animal. Field testing in PAC has the potential to provide accurate comparisons of animal and site methane emissions, with potentially lower cost/increased accuracy compared to alternatives such as SF6 tracers or open path lasers. If similar results are obtained from tests with different protocols/seasonal conditions, use of PAC measurements in a multitrait selection index with production traits could potentially reduce methane emissions from Australian sheep for the same production level

Sediment removal by prairie filter strips in row-cropped ephemeral watersheds

Twelve small watersheds in central Iowa were used to evaluate the effectiveness of prairie filter strips (PFS) in trapping sediment from agricultural runoff. Four treatments with PFS of different size and location (100% rowcrop, 10% PFS of total watershed area at footslope, 10% PFS at footslope and in contour strips, 20% PFS at footslope and in contour strips) arranged in a balanced incomplete block design were seeded in July 2007. All watersheds were in bromegrass ( L.) for at least 10 yr before treatment establishment. Cropped areas were managed under a no-till, 2-yr corn ( L.)-soybean [ (L.) Merr.] rotation beginning in 2007. About 38 to 85% of the total sediment export from cropland occurred during the early growth stage of rowcrop due to wet field conditions and poor ground cover. The greatest sediment load was observed in 2008 due to the initial soil disturbance and gradually decreased thereafter. The mean annual sediment yield through 2010 was 0.36 and 8.30 Mg ha for the watersheds with and without PFS, respectively, a 96% sediment trapping efficiency for the 4-yr study period. The amount and distribution of PFS had no significant impact on runoff and sediment yield, probably due to the relatively large width (37-78 m) of footslope PFS. The findings suggest that incorporation of PFS at the footslope position of annual rowcrop systems provides an effective approach to reducing sediment loss in runoff from agricultural watersheds under a no-till system

Luminosity functions for galaxies and quasars in the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic Legacy Survey

We construct rest-frame luminosity functions (LFs) at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, 8 and 24 μm over the redshift range 0 < z < 2 for galaxies and 0 < z < 4 for optical quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), using optical and infrared (IR) data from the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic (SWIRE) Survey. The 3.6- and 4.5-μm galaxy LFs show evidence for moderate positive luminosity evolution up to z∼ 1.5, consistent with the passive ageing of evolved stellar populations. Their comoving luminosity density was found to evolve passively, gradually increasing out to z∼ 0.5–1 but flattening, or even declining, at higher redshift. Conversely, the 24-μm galaxy LF, which is more sensitive to obscured star formation and/or active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity, undergoes strong positive evolution, with the derived IR energy density and star formation rate (SFR) density ∝ (1 +z)γ with γ= 4.5+0.7−0.6 and the majority of this evolution occurring since z∼ 1. Optical QSOs, however, show positive luminosity evolution in all bands, out to the highest redshifts (3 < z < 4). Modelling as L*∝ (1 +z)γ gave γ= 1.3+0.1−0.1 at 3.6 μm, γ= 1.0+0.1−0.1 at 4.5 μm and stronger evolution at the longer wavelengths (5.8, 8 and 24 μm), of γ∼ 3. Comparison of the galaxy LFs to predictions from a semi-analytic model based on cold dark matter (CDM) indicates that an initial mass function (IMF) skewed towards higher mass star formation in bursts compared to locally be preferred. As a result, the currently inferred massive SFRs in distant submm sources may require substantial downwards revision

Potential contribution of soil diversity and abundance metrics to identifying high nature value farmland (HNV)

Identifying and halting the decline of High Nature Value farmland (HNV) is seen as essential to the EU meeting its 2020 biodiversity targets. Data on HNV farmland is used to target policy instruments and monitor changes in HNV to assess policy impact and development. Initial estimates of HNV land were based on land cover data with limited spatial resolution. The EU has since taken a distributed approach, allowing countries to develop their own data and metrics to report on the presence of HNV land, and changes to it. Land cover type has been the main data used for reporting but no consistent set of data metrics have been agreed. Therefore, there is interest in both developing standardised reporting metrics and identifying land with high restoration potential to increase the area of HNV land. We explore the relationship between soil associations and broad habitats across a member state (Wales) to determine if any discernible patterns exist between soil and habitat diversity and if soils information might be useful for identifying areas with high restoration potential. We developed a set of criteria to identify soil abundance, combining soil diversity with ecological rare species approaches. The rare (< 1000 ha) and occasional (1000–10,000 ha) soils identified were associated with significantly higher levels of habitat diversity than the national average. We propose that soil diversity information could supplement habitat information in identifying areas of potential restoration interest. Two iconic areas of Wales, the Llŷn Peninsula and Conwy Valley, were compared for restoration potential. Soil diversity in both areas is higher than the national average; habitat diversity was average, or lower in the case of the Llŷn Peninsula. These areas with higher soil diversity offer greater potential for restoration to type-2 HNV. Soil diversity and habitat diversity were found to be positively correlated at a national level despite major management modification of habitats. Given this relationship it is proposed that soil diversity information offers useful metrics alongside land cover data for identifying or comparing areas with regard to potential restoration for HNV