Characterisation of host growth after infection with a broad-range freshwater cyanopodophage

Freshwater cyanophages are poorly characterised in comparison to their marine counterparts, however, the level of genetic diversity that exists in freshwater cyanophage communities is likely to exceed that found in marine environments, due to the habitat heterogeneity within freshwater systems. Many cyanophages are specialists, infecting a single host species or strain; however, some are less fastidious and infect a number of different host genotypes within the same species or even hosts from different genera. Few instances of host growth characterisation after infection by broad host-range phages have been described. Here we provide an initial characterisation of interactions between a cyanophage isolated from a freshwater fishing lake in the south of England and its hosts. Designated ΦMHI42, the phage is able to infect isolates from two genera of freshwater cyanobacteria, Planktothrix and Microcystis. Transmission Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy indicate that ΦMHI42 is a member of the Podoviridae, albeit with a larger than expected capsid. The kinetics of host growth after infection with ΦMHI42 differed across host genera, species and strains in a way that was not related to the growth rate of the uninfected host. To our knowledge, this is the first characterisation of the growth of cyanobacteria in the presence of a broad host-range freshwater cyanophage

RURAL SUICIDE: A THREE MANUSCRIPT DISSERTATION UTILIZING THE NATIONAL VIOLENT DEATH REPORTING SYSTEM

Purpose: Rural residents and veterans are at a greater risk of death by suicide but there is little research to compare rural versus urban suicide decedents. There is also a lack of research specific to rural veteran suicide. This three-manuscript dissertation study explores 1. epidemiology of suicide specific to rural areas comparing rural veterans to rural non-veterans 2. veteran suicide decedents that lived in rural areas compared to veterans that live in urban areas and 3. How the continuum of rurality is related to demographic and circumstantial variables associated with suicide Methods: Data was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control Restricted Access Database. The data included suicide decedents from 40 states from 2003-2017 n=199,730. Within this sample, the rural population was n=36,032 and the veteran population was n=7,421. Findings: Rural decedents had a mean age (M=61.16 SD=18.08 when compared to urban decedents (M=45.14 SD=16.45). Rural decedents died using firearm (77.9%) compared to urban residents (58.6%). Rural veterans had a reported issue with on-going physical health problems 35.7% compared to rural non-veterans 17.2%. When controlling for age the suicide decedents in the sample were 11.70 times likely to be male veterans. When looking at only the veteran population within the sample rural veterans were 1.43 times more likely to die using firearm compared to urban veterans. When looking at suicide across the rurality gradient death by firearms increased as the gradient moves from urban to rural. Conclusions: Rurality influences the reported characteristics of suicide decedents. Rural residents are less likely to have reported mental health treatment, report of alcohol problems, report of substance abuse problems, are more likely to die by suicide using a firearm, and there is increased use of long guns as rurality increases. Rural veterans were 1.43 times more likely to die using firearm compared to rural non-veterans. Firearms are more accessible in rural areas, rural residents are more familiar with firearms, and there is greater variety of firearms, namely long guns, in rural areas

Psalmody in Prophecy: Habakkuk 3 in Context

The psalm in Habakkuk 3 resembles songs in Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 32 and 33, Judges 5 and 2 Samuel 22 in its archaic linguistic formations and vocabulary stock, victory hymn form, and appearance outside of the Psalter. Unlike these hymns set within prose narratives, however, Habakkuk 3 appears within a book of prophetic poetry structured in a liturgical and dramatic fashion. Habakkuk, therefore, offers an ideal case for the comparative study of prophetic and narrative composition through the use of the same literary device. The results of such a comparison reveal a sophisticated text which mixes inherited generic conventions to create novel effects. I am delighted to dedicate this essay to my father, John D.W. Watts, whose early work included the form-critical description of inset hymnody in Amos

Scripturalization and the Aaronide Dynasties

Priests claiming descent from Aaron controlled the high priesthood of temples in Jerusalem and on Mount Gerizim in the Second Temple period. These Aaronides were in a position to influence religious developments in this period, especially the scripturalization of the Torah. The priests’ dynastic claims were probably a significant factor in the elevation of the Pentateuch to scriptural status. This claim can be tested by correlating what little we know about the Aaronide dynasties with what little we know about the scripturalization of two different portions of the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch and Ezra-Nehemiah

Reader Identification and Alienation in the Legal Rhetoric of the Pentateuch

Three voices dominate Pentateuchal discourse in turn: the omniscient narrator relates the stories of Genesis and Exodus, YHWH delivers the laws of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and Moses combines narrative and law in the rhetoric of Deuteronomy. These three dominant voices of the Pentateuch are interdependent and almost interchangeable: the anonymous narrator, like Moses the scribe, requires both divine inspiration and reader acceptance for authorization of the story; the divine lawgiver requires reader acceptance of human mediation of the commandments; the prophetic scribe depends on authority delegated by both God and readers to interpret the stories, the laws, and the sanctions. The Pentateuch leaves the unification of speaking voices incomplete, however, and as a result divides the audience in two. God and Moses (or, at least, God through Moses) address the people in the wilderness and also the readers who overhear their speeches. Their audience comprises Israel throughout time, from Sinai to the present, as Deuteronomy makes explicitly clear. The narrator, by contrast, addresses only the readers through a discourse lying outside the story being narrated. Thus the Pentateuch\u27s use of a third-person omniscient and impersonal narrator resists the unifying rhetoric of the divine and human speeches which it contains. By providing knowledge unavailable to the Israelites in the story, the narrator persuades readers to both identify with and to alienate themselves from aspects of wilderness Israel

Relic Texts

Religious traditions typically ritualize their scriptures in three dimensions. Other kinds of texts may be ritualized in one or two dimensions (e.g. the performative dimension of the scripts of plays or sheet music, the semantic dimension of national law codes), but the regular ritualization of a text in all three dimensions usually distinguishes it as a scripture or sacred text. There are, however, some texts or, more accurately, some specific copies of texts, that tend to be ritualized only in the iconic dimension, and scriptures feature prominently among them. I term such texts “relic books.” Relic books are writings that are valued for being the specific objects that they are. These objects are rare, if not one-of-a-kind, and are in theory not reproducible. This paper describes relic texts and illustrates how they function both within religious groups and in secular society with examples from recent news stories

The Torah as the Rhetoric of Priesthood

In the Second Temple period, the Torah gained scriptural authority through its association with the priesthoods of the Jerusalem and Samaritan temples. The Torah, in tum, legitimized these priests\u27 control over both the temples and, for much of the period, over the territory of Judah as well. An original function of the Pentateuch then was to legitimize the religious and, by extension, the political claims of priestly dynasties. This point has rarely been discussed and never been emphasized by biblical scholars, however, which makes the subject of the Torah\u27s relationship to the Second Temple Aaronide priesthood as much about the ideologies of academic culture as about ancient religious history

Ritual Legitimacy and Scriptural Authority

In this essay, James W. Watts explains the interdependence of texts and rituals with regard to ancient religions. Specifically, he outlines patterns of practice and developments in the ritual use of texts and the texual authorization of rituals in antiquity. Watts also makes the case that beyond the interplay of texual authority and ritual legitimacy that most ancient cultures engaged in, Judaism was unique in elevating the Torah along with its other laws and stories to special scriptural status