Sulphur River Formation and the Pleistocene Mammals of the Ben Franklin Local Fauna

An extensive alluvial deposit in northeastern Texas is here described and named the Sulphur River Formation. Twenty-one mammals from these deposits are identified and grouped under the name Ben Franklin local fauna. Fossils and radiocarbon dates indicate that the age of the fauna is Late Wisconsin

EC1274 Revised 1959 Garden Vegetables

Extension circular 1274 revised in 1959 discusses garden vegetables from soil preparation to insects

Sulphur River Formation and the Pleistocene Mammals of the Ben Franklin Local Fauna

An extensive alluvial deposit in northeastern Texas is here described and named the Sulphur River Formation. Twenty-one mammals from these deposits are identified and grouped under the name Ben Franklin local fauna. Fossils and radiocarbon dates indicate that the age of the fauna is Late Wisconsin

Growing hardy kiwifruit in the home garden

Native to the forests of eastern Asia, about 80 species of Actinidia are known. Two of these, A. kolomikta and A. arguta can be grown in Minnesota and similar regions, and produce delicious, grape-sized berries with a flavor similar to grocery store kiwifruit though somewhat sweeter. This article provides information for home gardeners who are interested in growing this plant

Anthrax Lethal Toxin Impairs Innate Immune Functions of Alveolar Macrophages and Facilitates Bacillus anthracis Survival

Alveolar macrophages (AM) are very important for pulmonary innate immune responses against invading inhaled pathogens because they directly kill the organisms and initiate a cascade of innate and adaptive immune responses. Although several factors contribute to inhalational anthrax, we hypothesized that unimpeded infection of Bacillus anthracis is directly linked to disabling the innate immune functions contributed by AM. Here, we investigated the effects of lethal toxin (LT), one of the binary complex virulence factors produced by B. anthracis, on freshly isolated nonhuman primate AM. Exposure of AM to doses of LT that killed susceptible macrophages had no effect on the viability of AM, despite complete MEK1 cleavage. Intoxicated AM remained fully capable of B. anthracis spore phagocytosis. However, pretreatment of AM with LT resulted in a significant decrease in the clearance of both the Sterne strain and the fully virulent Ames strain of B. anthracis, which may have been a result of impaired AM secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Our data imply that cytolysis does not correlate with MEK1 cleavage, and this is the first report of LT-mediated impairment of nonhuman primate AM bactericidal activity against B. anthracis