Functional Morphology of the Lingual Apparatus of Sandgrouse (Aves: Pteroclidae).

The morphology of the lingual apparatus of three species of sandgrouse (Aves; Pteroclidae) has been described. All biomechanically important parts were included in the description, i.e., all muscles potentially involved in the functioning of the lingual apparatus, all skeletal parts, the salivary glands associated with the lingual apparatus, and the surface morphology of the oropharyngeal cavity. For each muscle its potential functions have been described. In a comparison with data from the literature of three other groups of birds it was found that the functional organization of the lingual apparatus of the sandgrouse is strikingly similar to the one found in plovers and pigeons. However, the functional organization in the chicken differs in several fundamental aspects from that in the other groups. These differences concern particularly those muscles involved in raising the intermandibular region. In the chicken, the M. intermandibularis and M. constrictor colli intermandibularis are connected to each other via a midventral raphe and thereby form a functional unit that raises the intermandibular region. The M. serpihyoideus extends deep to these two muscles and attaches to the basibranchial, thereby becoming a tongue retractor. In the sandgrouse, pigeons, and plovers, however, the M. intermandibularis is connected via a raphe to the M. serpihyoideus whereas the M. constrictor colli intermandibularis remains separate. In these three groups, the M. serpihyoideus is not a tongue retractor, because it has no attachment to the hyoid apparatus. In several other functional units have the sandgrouse, the pigeons, and the plovers also a similar organization, whereas the chicken differs fundamentally. It is suggested that the organization of these functional units represent different functional types. However, a broader survey over a larger number of taxa would have to be undertaken to determine the distribution of these types and to gain an understanding of their evolution

IDEA ASSESSMENT VIA ENTERPRISE CROWDFUNDING: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF DECISION-MAKING STYLES

Deciding which ideas to pursu is an essential step in innovation management. Organizations increasingly open up their decision-making processes internally and externally by harnessing the collective intelligence of crowds. One mechanism for doing so is enterprise crowdfunding, i.e. inviting employees to propose and support ideas on a crowdfunding platform inside the enterprise. In this paper, we empirically analyze such an enterprise crowdfunding endeavor where hundreds of employees endowed with the discretion to spend company budget proposed dozens of ideas and decided to fund 10 of them. Based on log files and information on the employees´ roles in their enterprise, we investigate the time course of individual decision-making “ i.e., whether they decide rather quickly or more time-lagged which ideas to support Factors that influnce decision-making style include characteristics of proposers, supporters, ideas, supporters´ activity level, and the progress of the trial. From this, we derive suggestions for future research into crowdfunding, and we propose relevant design parameters for using crowdfunding as a tool for internal openness and Enterprise 2.0

Triethyl­ammonium O-3β-cholest-5-en-3-yl (4-meth­oxy­phen­yl)dithio­phospho­nate

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C6H16N+·C34H52O2PS2 − or [(CH3CH2)3NH]+·[C34H52O2PS2]−, the cation and anion are paired via weak, inter­molecular, bifurcated N—H⋯(S,S) hydrogen bonds. The cholesteryl units form an alternating (herringbone) motif as well as an infinitely stacked layered structure along the b axis. The P—S bond lengths [1.975 (2) and 1.981 (2) Å compared with ca 1.92 Å for a formal P=S double bond and with ca 2.01 Å for a P—S single bond] suggest delocalization of the negative charge between the P—S bonds. A distorted tetra­hedral geometry around the P atom is revealed by non-ideal O—P—C and S—P—S bond angles of 96.7 (2) and 115.52 (11)°, respectively

Functional analysis of the role of interferon gamma through the characterisation of conditional interferon gamma receptor two mouse mutants

The data presented within this thesis shows the generation and characterisation of a complete-, macrophage/granulocyte- and T cell-specific IFNγR2 deficient mouse mutant. This mutant mouse is a valuable tool in dissecting the mechanism of action of the pleiotrophic cytokine IFNγ.The global mutant mouse was tested in three models in vivo - DSS induced colitis, Trichuris muris infection and EAE. The aim of the DSS-induced colitis model was to test the role of IFNγ in the innate immune system and, despite previous reports demonstrating IFNγ deficient mice are protected from DSS-colitis, our IFNγR2 deficient mice displayed equal or more severe colitis than control mice. We hypothesise that this discrepancy is due to differences in the gut microbiota.The Trichuris muris model was utilised as a method of examining the role of IFNγ in the adaptive immune system. The complete IFNγR2 mutant was resistant to a low dose T. muris infection; however, neither the T cell specific nor the macrophage/granulocyte specific mutant duplicated the resistant phenotype observed in the global knock-out mice. Analysis of a double conditional T cell and macrophage/granulocyte specific IFNγR2 mutant produced inconsistent results. Initial experiments suggested that, in combination, these deficiencies are sufficient to duplicate the resistant phenotype observed in the global mutant mice, but this was not reproducible.The final in vivo model that we used to analyse IFNγR2 mutant mice was EAE. This model was chosen as, for a long time, the mechanism of action and the involvement of IFNγ in EAE has been a matter of uncertainty. These results demonstrated that global IFNγR2 mutant mice demonstrate an atypical phenotype, with no signs of recovery. In contrast, control mice develop classical EAE symptoms with almost complete recovery prior to the termination of the experiment. The IFNγ receptor mutant mouse generated will be of great value to the scientific community as IFNγ has been demonstrated to play a role in multiple diseases and this tool allows the mechanism of action of this cytokine to be unravelled.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Comprehensive inter-laboratory calibration of reference materials for δ18O versus VSMOW using various on-line high-temperature conversion techniques

Internationally distributed organic and inorganic oxygen isotopic reference materials have been calibrated by six laboratories carrying out more than 5300 measurements using a variety of high-temperature conversion techniques (HTC) in an evaluation sponsored by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). To aid in the calibration of these reference materials, which span more than 125‰, an artificially enriched reference water (δ18O of +78.91‰) and two barium sulfates (one depleted and one enriched in 18O) were prepared and calibrated relative to VSMOW2 and SLAP reference waters. These materials were used to calibrate the other isotopic reference materials in this study. The seemingly large estimated combined uncertainties arise from differences in instrumentation and methodology and difficulty in accounting for all measurement bias. They are composed of the 3-fold standard errors directly calculated from the measurements and provision for systematic errors discussed in this paper. A primary conclusion of this study is that nitrate samples analyzed for δ18O should be analyzed with internationally distributed isotopic nitrates, and likewise for sulfates and organics. Authors reporting relative differences of oxygen-isotope ratios (δ18O) of nitrates, sulfates, or organic material should explicitly state in their reports the δ18O values of two or more internationally distributed nitrates (USGS34, IAEA-NO-3, and USGS35), sulfates (IAEA-SO-5, IAEA-SO-6, and NBS 127), or organic material (IAEA-601 benzoic acid, IAEA-602 benzoic acid, and IAEA-600 caffeine), as appropriate to the material being analyzed, had these reference materials been analyzed with unknowns. This procedure ensures that readers will be able to normalize the δ18O values at a later time should it become necessary. The high-temperature reduction technique for analyzing δ18O and δ2H is not as widely applicable as the well-established combustion technique for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope determination. To obtain the most reliable stable isotope data, materials should be treated in an identical fashion; within the same sequence of analyses, samples should be compared with working reference materials that are as similar in nature and in isotopic composition as feasible.

(Ferrocenyl­thio­phospho­nato-κS)(triphenyl­phosphane-κP)gold(I) dichloro­methane monosolvate

In the title compound, [AuFe(C5H5)(C5H5O2PS)(C18H15P)]·CH2Cl2, the two-coordinate gold(I) atom shows a slightly distorted linear arrangement, with a P—Au—S bond angle of 176.81 (6)°. The difference in P=O and P—O(H) bond lengths, which are 1.503 (6) and 1.541 (5) Å, respectively, implies there is apparently no delocalization between the P—O bonds, and the proton appears to be localized on one O atom only. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link dinuclear mol­ecules into chains propagated in the [010] direction. The dichloro­methane solvent mol­ecule was disordered between two positions in a 0.63 (3):0.37 (3) ratio

The Role of β7 Integrins in CD8 T Cell Trafficking During an Antiviral Immune Response

The requirement of β7 integrins for lymphocyte migration was examined during an ongoing immune response in vivo. Transgenic mice (OT-I) expressing an ovalbumin-specific major histocompatibility complex class I–restricted T cell receptor for antigen were rendered deficient in expression of all β7 integrins or only the αEβ7 integrin. To quantitate the relative use of β7 integrins in migration in vivo, equal numbers of OT-I and OT-I-β7−/− or OT-I-αE−/− lymph node (LN) cells were adoptively transferred to normal mice. Although OT-I-β7−/− LN cells migrated to mesenteric LN and peripheral LN as well as wild-type cells, β7 integrins were required for naive CD8 T cell and B cell migration to Peyer's patch. After infection with a recombinant virus (vesicular stomatitis virus) encoding ovalbumin, β7 integrins became critical for migration of activated CD8 T cells to the mesenteric LN and Peyer's patch. Naive CD8 T cells did not enter the lamina propria or the intestinal epithelium, and the majority of migration of activated CD8 T cells to the small and large intestinal mucosa, including the epithelium, was β7 integrin–mediated. The αEβ7 integrin appeared to play no role in migration during a primary CD8 T cell immune response in vivo. Furthermore, despite dramatic upregulation of αEβ7 by CD8 T cells after entry into the epithelium, long-term retention of intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes was also αEβ7 independent

Genetic diversity of honeybee colonies predicts gut bacterial diversity of individual colony members.

The gut microbiota of social bees is relatively simple and dominated by a set of core taxa found consistently in individuals around the world. Yet, variation remains, and can affect host health. We characterised individual- and regional-scale variation in honeybee (Apis mellifera) gut microbiota from 64 colonies in North-West England by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, and asked whether microbiota were influenced by host genotype and landscape composition. We also characterised the genotypes of individual bees and the land cover surrounding each colony. The literature-defined core taxa dominated across the region despite the varied environments. However, there was variation in the relative abundance of core taxa, and colony membership explained much of this variation. Individuals from more genetically diverse colonies had more diverse microbiotas, but individual genetic diversity did not influence gut microbial diversity. There were weak trends for colonies in more similar landscapes to have more similar microbiota, and for bees from more urban landscapes to have less diverse microbiota. To our knowledge, this is the first report for any species that the gut bacterial communities of individuals are influenced by the genotypes of others in the population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved