The effect of an invasive bryozoan on community diversity and structure varies across two locations

Abstract Foundation species and invasive species strongly influence community diversity and structure, but typically in different ways. However, when widespread invasive species provide novel habitat within a community, their net effect may depend on both the environment and community composition. Fouling communities in northern and southern California harbors were surveyed to determine whether there was variation between two locations in the percent cover of an invasive bryozoan, Watersipora subtorquata (d'Orbigny, 1852), and its relationship to community diversity and composition in these two environments. Diversity significantly differed between locations and had a location-dependent association with W. subtorquata abundance. Communities were significantly dissimilar between locations, and W. subtorquata abundance had the highest percent contribution to community dissimilarity when compared to other species in the community. These results suggest that invasive species may have both facilitative and inhibitive relationships with species in a community, but that the net balance of these interactions depends on both the environmental and community context

Re-municipalization of public services: trend or hype?

Re-municipalization is part of a broader set of reverse privatization reforms. We argue the term re-municipalization lacks conceptual clarity and often confuses municipal level reversals from national ones, new service delivery from reversals, and mixed market positions (such as corporatization) from full public control. This conceptual confusion makes measurement of re-municipalization difficult. While more case studies are being discovered, studies based on quantitative time series do not show re-municipalization as an increasing trend. Much case study based research argues re-municipalization is politically transformative, but quantitative research generally finds re-municipalization to be part of a pragmatic market management process, a position confirmed by the papers in this special issue

A novel isoform of the Ly108 gene ameliorates murine lupus

Studies of human systemic lupus erythematosus patients and of murine congenic mouse strains associate genes in a DNA segment on chromosome 1 with a genetic predisposition for this disease. The systematic analysis of lupus-prone congenic mouse strains suggests a role for two isoforms of the Ly108 receptor in the pathogenesis of the disease. In this study, we demonstrate that Ly108 is involved in the pathogenesis of lupus-related autoimmunity in mice. More importantly, we identified a third protein isoform, Ly108-H1, which is absent in two lupus-prone congenic animals. Introduction of an Ly108-H1–expressing transgene markedly diminishes T cell–dependent autoimmunity in congenic B6.Sle1b mice. Thus, an immune response–suppressing isoform of Ly108 can regulate the pathogenesis of lupus.Peer Reviewe

Search for short baseline nu(e) disappearance with the T2K near detector

8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRD rapid communication8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PRD rapid communicationWe thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance and the CERN NA61 collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; Commissariat `a l’Energie Atomique and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique–Institut National de Physique Nucle´aire et de Physique des Particules, France; DFG, Germany; INFN, Italy; National Science Centre (NCN), Poland; Russian Science Foundation, RFBR and Ministry of Education and Science, Russia; MINECO and European Regional Development Fund, Spain; Swiss National Science Foundation and State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Switzerland; STFC, UK; and DOE, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the WestGrid and SciNet consortia in Compute Canada, GridPP, UK. In addition participation of individual researchers and institutions has been further supported by funds from ERC (FP7), EU; JSPS, Japan; Royal Society, UK; DOE Early Career program, USA

Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 x 10(20) protons on target

111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee comments111 pages, 45 figures, submitted to Physical Review D. Minor revisions to text following referee commentsWe thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance and the CERN NA61/SHINE Collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC, NRC, and CFI, Canada; CEA and CNRS/IN2P3, France; DFG, Germany; INFN, Italy; National Science Centre (NCN), Poland; RSF, RFBR and MES, Russia; MINECO and ERDF funds, Spain; SNSF and SER, Switzerland; STFC, UK; and the U. S. Deparment of Energy, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the WestGrid and SciNet consortia in Compute Canada, GridPP, UK, and the Emerald High Performance Computing facility in the Centre for Innovation, UK. In addition, participation of individual researchers and institutions has been further supported by funds from ERC (FP7), EU; JSPS, Japan; Royal Society, UK; and DOE Early Career program, USA

Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 pi(0) detector

10 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to PRDhttp://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.91.112010© 2015 American Physical Society11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PRD11 pages, 6 figures, as accepted to PR

Adaptive Evolution in Ecological Communities

Multi-species interactions can influence evolution in ways that are unpredictable from studies that focus on simpler communities because direct and indirect species interactions alter the strength and direction of selection

The Receptor Slamf1 on the Surface of Myeloid Lineage Cells Controls Susceptibility to Infection by Trypanosoma cruzi

Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan parasite responsible for Chagas' disease, causes severe myocarditis often resulting in death. Here, we report that Slamf1−/− mice, which lack the hematopoietic cell surface receptor Slamf1, are completely protected from an acute lethal parasite challenge. Cardiac damage was reduced in Slamf1−/− mice compared to wild type mice, infected with the same doses of parasites, as a result of a decrease of the number of parasites in the heart even the parasitemia was only marginally less. Both in vivo and in vitro experiments reveal that Slamf1-defIcient myeloid cells are impaired in their ability to replicate the parasite and show altered production of cytokines. Importantly, IFN-γ production in the heart of Slamf1 deficient mice was much lower than in the heart of wt mice even though the number of infiltrating dendritic cells, macrophages, CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes were comparable. Administration of an anti-Slamf1 monoclonal antibody also reduced the number of parasites and IFN-γ in the heart. These observations not only explain the reduced susceptibility to in vivo infection by the parasite, but they also suggest human Slamf1 as a potential target for therapeutic target against T. cruzi infection