Distress Tolerance among Students Referred for Treatment Following Violation of Campus Cannabis Use Policy: Relations to Use, Problems, and Motivation

Students referred to treatment after violating campus drug policies represent a high-risk group. Identification of factors related to these students’ cannabis use could inform prevention and treatment efforts. Distress tolerance (DT) is negatively related to substance-related behaviors and may be related to high-risk cannabis use vulnerability factors that can impact treatment outcome. Thus, the current study tested whether DT was related to cannabis use frequency, cannabis-related problems, and motivation to change cannabis use among 88 students referred for treatment after violating campus cannabis policies. DT was robustly, negatively related to cannabis use and related problems. DT was also significantly, negatively correlated with coping, conformity, and expansion motives. DT was directly and indirectly related to cannabis problems via coping (not conformity or expansion) motives. Motives did not mediate the relation of DT to cannabis use frequency. DT may be an important target in treatment with students who violate campus cannabis policies

Crop Updates 2007 - Farming Systems

This session covers forty papers from different authors: 1. Quality Assurance and industry stewardship, David Jeffries, Better Farm IQ Manager, Cooperative Bulk Handling 2. Sothis: Trifolium dasyurum (Eastern Star clover), A. Loi, B.J. Nutt and C.K. Revell, Department of Agriculture and Food 3. Poor performing patches of the paddock – to ameliorate or live with low yield? Yvette Oliver1, Michael Robertson1, Bill Bowden2, Kit Leake3and Ashley Bonser3, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems1, Department of Food and Agriculture2, Kellerberrin Farmer3 4. What evidence is there that PA can pay? Michael Robertson, CSIRO Floreat, Ian Maling, SilverFox Solutions and Bindi Isbister, Department of Agriculture and Food 5.The journey is great, but does PA pay? Garren Knell, ConsultAg; Alison Slade, Department of Agriculture and Food, CFIG 6. 2007 Seasonal outlook, David Stephens and Michael Meuleners, Department of Agriculture and Food 7. Towards building farmer capacity to better manage climate risk, David Beard and Nicolyn Short, Department of Agriculture and Food 8. A NAR farmers view of his farming system in 2015, Rob Grima, Department of Agriculture and Food 9. Biofuels opportunities in Australia, Ingrid Richardson, Food and Agribusiness Research, Rabobank 10. The groundwater depth on the hydrological benefits of lucerne and the subsequent recharge values, Ruhi Ferdowsian1and Geoff Bee2; 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Landholder, Laurinya, Jerramungup 11. Subsoil constraints to crop production in the high rainfall zone of Western Australia, Daniel Evans1, Bob Gilkes1, Senthold Asseng2and Jim Dixon3; 1University of Western Australia, 2CSIRO Plant Industry, 3Department of Agriculture and Food 12. Prospects for lucerne in the WA wheatbelt, Michael Robertson, CSIRO Floreat, Felicity Byrne and Mike Ewing, CRC for Plant-Based Management of Dryland Salinity, Dennis van Gool, Department of Agriculture and Food 13. Nitrous oxide emissions from a cropped soil in the Western Australian grainbelt, Louise Barton1, Ralf Kiese2, David Gatter3, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl2, Renee Buck1, Christoph Hinz1and Daniel Murphy1,1School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, 2Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 3The Department of Agriculture and Food 14. Managing seasonal risk is an important part of farm management but is highly complex and therefore needs a ‘horses for courses’ approach, Cameron Weeks, Planfarm / Mingenew-Irwin Group, Dr Michael Robertson, Dr Yvette Oliver, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and Dr Meredith Fairbanks, Department of Agriculture and Food 15. Novel use application of clopyralid in lupins, John Peirce, and Brad Rayner Department of Agriculture and Food 16. Long season wheat on the South Coast – Feed and grain in a dry year – a 2006 case study, Sandy White, Department of Agriculture and Food 17. Wheat yield response to potassium and the residual value of PKS fertiliser drilled at different depths, Paul Damon1, Bill Bowden2, Qifu Ma1 and Zed Rengel1; Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia1, Department of Agriculture and Food2 18. Saltbush as a sponge for summer rain, Ed Barrett-Lennard and Meir Altman, Department of Agriculture and Food and CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity 19. Building strong working relationships between grower groups and their industry partners, Tracey M. Gianatti, Grower Group Alliance 20. To graze or not to graze – the question of tactical grazing of cereal crops, Lindsay Bell and Michael Robertson, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 21. Can legume pastures and sheep replace lupins? Ben Webb and Caroline Peek, Department of Agriculture and Food 22. EverGraze – livestock and perennial pasture performance during a drought year, Paul Sanford, Department of Agriculture and Food, and CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity 23. Crop survival in challenging times, Paul Blackwell1, Glen Riethmuller1, Darshan Sharma1and Mike Collins21Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Okura Plantations, Kirikiri New Zealand 24. Soil health constraints to production potential – a precision guided project, Frank D’Emden, and David Hall, Department of Agriculture and Food 25. A review of pest and disease occurrence in 2006, Mangano, G.P. and Severtson, D.L., Department of Agriculture and Food 26. e-weed – an information resource on seasonal weed management issues, Vanessa Stewart and Julie Roche, Department of Agriculture and Food 27. Review of Pesticide Legislation and Policies in Western Australia, Peter Rutherford, BSc (Agric.), Pesticide Legislation Review, Office of the Chief Medical Adviser, WA Department of Health 28. Future wheat yields in the West Australian wheatbelt, Imma Farré and Ian Foster, Department of Agriculture and Food, Stephen Charles, CSIRO Land and Water 29. Organic matter in WA arable soils: What’s active and what’s not, Frances Hoyle, Department of Agriculture and Food, Australia and Daniel Murphy, UWA 30. Soil quality indicators in Western Australian farming systems, D.V. Murphy1, N. Milton1, M. Osman1, F.C. Hoyle2, L.K Abbott1, W.R. Cookson1and S. Darmawanto1; 1UWA, 2Department of Agriculture and Food 31. Impact of stubble on input efficiencies, Geoff Anderson, formerly employed by Department of Agriculture and Food 32. Mixed farming vs All crop – true profit, not just gross margins, Rob Sands and David McCarthy, FARMANCO Management Consultants, Western Australia 33. Evaluation of Local Farmer Group Network – group leaders’ surveys 2005 and 2006, Paul Carmody, Local Farmer Group Network, Network Coordinator, UWA 34. Seeding rate and nitrogen application and timing effects in wheat, J. Russell, Department of Agriculture and Food, J. Eyres, G. Fosbery and A. Roe, ConsultAg, Northam 35. Foliar fungicide application and disease control in barley, J. Russell, Department of Agriculture and Food, J. Eyres, G. Fosbery and A. Roe, ConsultAg, Northam 36. Brown manuring effects on a following wheat crop in the central wheatbelt, , J. Russell, Department of Agriculture and Food, J. Eyres, G. Fosbery and A. Roe, ConsultAg, Northam 37. Management of annual pastures in mixed farming systems – transition from a dry season, Dr Clinton Revell and Dr Phil Nichols; Department of Agriculture and Food 38. The value of new annual pastures in mixed farm businesses of the wheatbelt, Dr Clinton Revell1, Mr Andrew Bathgate2and Dr Phil Nichols1; 1Department of Agriculture and Food, 2Farming Systems Analysis Service, Albany 39. The influence of winter SOI and Indian Ocean SST on WA winter rainfall, Meredith Fairbanks and Ian Foster, Department of Agriculture and Food 40. Market outlook – Grains, Anne Wilkins, Market Analyst, Grains, Department of Agriculture and Foo

State of the climate in 2018

In 2018, the dominant greenhouse gases released into Earth’s atmosphere—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—continued their increase. The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration at Earth’s surface was 407.4 ± 0.1 ppm, the highest in the modern instrumental record and in ice core records dating back 800 000 years. Combined, greenhouse gases and several halogenated gases contribute just over 3 W m−2 to radiative forcing and represent a nearly 43% increase since 1990. Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 65% of this radiative forcing. With a weak La Niña in early 2018 transitioning to a weak El Niño by the year’s end, the global surface (land and ocean) temperature was the fourth highest on record, with only 2015 through 2017 being warmer. Several European countries reported record high annual temperatures. There were also more high, and fewer low, temperature extremes than in nearly all of the 68-year extremes record. Madagascar recorded a record daily temperature of 40.5°C in Morondava in March, while South Korea set its record high of 41.0°C in August in Hongcheon. Nawabshah, Pakistan, recorded its highest temperature of 50.2°C, which may be a new daily world record for April. Globally, the annual lower troposphere temperature was third to seventh highest, depending on the dataset analyzed. The lower stratospheric temperature was approximately fifth lowest. The 2018 Arctic land surface temperature was 1.2°C above the 1981–2010 average, tying for third highest in the 118-year record, following 2016 and 2017. June’s Arctic snow cover extent was almost half of what it was 35 years ago. Across Greenland, however, regional summer temperatures were generally below or near average. Additionally, a satellite survey of 47 glaciers in Greenland indicated a net increase in area for the first time since records began in 1999. Increasing permafrost temperatures were reported at most observation sites in the Arctic, with the overall increase of 0.1°–0.2°C between 2017 and 2018 being comparable to the highest rate of warming ever observed in the region. On 17 March, Arctic sea ice extent marked the second smallest annual maximum in the 38-year record, larger than only 2017. The minimum extent in 2018 was reached on 19 September and again on 23 September, tying 2008 and 2010 for the sixth lowest extent on record. The 23 September date tied 1997 as the latest sea ice minimum date on record. First-year ice now dominates the ice cover, comprising 77% of the March 2018 ice pack compared to 55% during the 1980s. Because thinner, younger ice is more vulnerable to melting out in summer, this shift in sea ice age has contributed to the decreasing trend in minimum ice extent. Regionally, Bering Sea ice extent was at record lows for almost the entire 2017/18 ice season. For the Antarctic continent as a whole, 2018 was warmer than average. On the highest points of the Antarctic Plateau, the automatic weather station Relay (74°S) broke or tied six monthly temperature records throughout the year, with August breaking its record by nearly 8°C. However, cool conditions in the western Bellingshausen Sea and Amundsen Sea sector contributed to a low melt season overall for 2017/18. High SSTs contributed to low summer sea ice extent in the Ross and Weddell Seas in 2018, underpinning the second lowest Antarctic summer minimum sea ice extent on record. Despite conducive conditions for its formation, the ozone hole at its maximum extent in September was near the 2000–18 mean, likely due to an ongoing slow decline in stratospheric chlorine monoxide concentration. Across the oceans, globally averaged SST decreased slightly since the record El Niño year of 2016 but was still far above the climatological mean. On average, SST is increasing at a rate of 0.10° ± 0.01°C decade−1 since 1950. The warming appeared largest in the tropical Indian Ocean and smallest in the North Pacific. The deeper ocean continues to warm year after year. For the seventh consecutive year, global annual mean sea level became the highest in the 26-year record, rising to 81 mm above the 1993 average. As anticipated in a warming climate, the hydrological cycle over the ocean is accelerating: dry regions are becoming drier and wet regions rainier. Closer to the equator, 95 named tropical storms were observed during 2018, well above the 1981–2010 average of 82. Eleven tropical cyclones reached Saffir–Simpson scale Category 5 intensity. North Atlantic Major Hurricane Michael’s landfall intensity of 140 kt was the fourth strongest for any continental U.S. hurricane landfall in the 168-year record. Michael caused more than 30 fatalities and $25 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages. In the western North Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut led to 160 fatalities and$6 billion (U.S. dollars) in damages across the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Tropical Storm Son-Tinh was responsible for 170 fatalities in Vietnam and Laos. Nearly all the islands of Micronesia experienced at least moderate impacts from various tropical cyclones. Across land, many areas around the globe received copious precipitation, notable at different time scales. Rodrigues and Réunion Island near southern Africa each reported their third wettest year on record. In Hawaii, 1262 mm precipitation at Waipā Gardens (Kauai) on 14–15 April set a new U.S. record for 24-h precipitation. In Brazil, the city of Belo Horizonte received nearly 75 mm of rain in just 20 minutes, nearly half its monthly average. Globally, fire activity during 2018 was the lowest since the start of the record in 1997, with a combined burned area of about 500 million hectares. This reinforced the long-term downward trend in fire emissions driven by changes in land use in frequently burning savannas. However, wildfires burned 3.5 million hectares across the United States, well above the 2000–10 average of 2.7 million hectares. Combined, U.S. wildfire damages for the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons exceeded $40 billion (U.S. dollars)

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity.

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Evaluating the Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Mutation D614G on Transmissibility and Pathogenicity

Global dispersal and increasing frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variant D614G are suggestive of a selective advantage but may also be due to a random founder effect. We investigate the hypothesis for positive selection of spike D614G in the United Kingdom using more than 25,000 whole genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences. Despite the availability of a large dataset, well represented by both spike 614 variants, not all approaches showed a conclusive signal of positive selection. Population genetic analysis indicates that 614G increases in frequency relative to 614D in a manner consistent with a selective advantage. We do not find any indication that patients infected with the spike 614G variant have higher COVID-19 mortality or clinical severity, but 614G is associated with higher viral load and younger age of patients. Significant differences in growth and size of 614G phylogenetic clusters indicate a need for continued study of this variant

Probing enzymatic activity inside single cells

We report a novel approach for determining the enzymatic activity within a single suspended cell. Using a steady-state microfluidic delivery device and timed exposure to the pore-forming agent digitonin, we controlled the plasma membrane permeation of individual NG108-15 cells. Mildly permeabilized cells (∼100 pores) were exposed to a series of concentrations of fluorescein diphosphate (FDP), a fluorogenic alkaline phosphatase substrate, with and without levamisole, an alkaline phosphatase inhibitor. We generated quantitative estimates for intracellular enzyme activity and were able to construct both dose-response and dose-inhibition curves at the single-cell level, resulting in an apparent Michaelis contant Km of 15.3 μM ± 1.02 (mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM), n = 16) and an inhibition constant Ki of 0.59 mM ± 0.07 (mean ± SEM, n = 14). Enzymatic activity could be monitored just 40 s after permeabilization, and five point dose-inhibition curves could be obtained within 150 s. This rapid approach offers a new methodology for characterizing enzyme activity within single cells

Comparative genomics of biotechnologically important yeasts

Ascomycete yeasts are metabolically diverse, with great potential for biotechnology. Here, we report the comparative genome analysis of 29 taxonomically and biotechnologically important yeasts, including 16 newly sequenced. We identify a genetic code change, CUG-Ala, in Pachysolen tannophilus in the clade sister to the known CUG-Ser clade. Our well-resolved yeast phylogeny shows that some traits, such as methylotrophy, are restricted to single clades, whereas others, such as l-rhamnose utilization, have patchy phylogenetic distributions. Gene clusters, with variable organization and distribution, encode many pathways of interest. Genomics can predict some biochemical traits precisely, but the genomic basis of others, such as xylose utilization, remains unresolved. Our data also provide insight into early evolution of ascomycetes. We document the loss of H3K9me2/3 heterochromatin, the origin of ascomycete mating-type switching, and panascomycete synteny at the MAT locus. These data and analyses will facilitate the engineering of efficient biosynthetic and degradative pathways and gateways for genomic manipulation