A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from africa and the evolution of spinosaurids

Fossils discovered in Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) rocks in the Tenere Desert of central Niger provide new information about spinosaurids, a peculiar group of piscivorous theropod dinosaurs. The remains, which represent a new genus and species, reveal the extreme elongation and transverse compression of the spinosaurid snout. The postcranial bones include blade-shaped vertebral spines that form a low sail over the hips. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the enlarged thumb claw and robust forelimb evolved during the Jurassic, before the elongated snout and other fish-eating adaptations in the skull. The close phylogenetic relationship between the new African spinosaurid and Baryonyx from Europe provides evidence of dispersal across the Tethys seaway during the Early Cretaceous.     

Effect of plant roots on the germination of microsclerotia ofVerticillum dahliae

Root observation boxes were used to study the effects of hosts and non-hosts on the germination of microsclerotia ofV. dahliae. The effects of roots on microsclerotia were examined within a radius of 1 mm around the root tip. Host plants such as potato and field bean induced a higher percentage of germination of the microsclerotia than a non-host such as barley. A susceptible potato cultivar stimulated germination more than a resistant cultivar. The germination percentage and the number of hyphae per microsclerotium decreased with distance from the root surface regardless of the plant species or cultivar.     

Standorteigenschaften und Anbaumanagement erklären regionale Unterschiede im Kohlherniebefall in Deutschland

In the years 2013 and 2014 the presence and the infestation level of Plasmodiophora brassicae in six federal states of Germany were assessed using a bioassay method. Soils were sampled from 237 oilseed rape fields and the farmers provided information about the soil type, the soil pH values and the last year of oilseed rape cultivation. Clubroot was detected in 66 % of the fields investigated with a mean disease severity (BI) of 0.34. Between and within the federal states differences in presence and infestation level of P. brassicae were detected. In Schleswig-Holstein significantly more fields were infected by P. brassicae (90 %) and BI was relatively high (0.49) compared to Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia with 50 % infected fields and a mean BI of 0.27. Highly infested fields (BI > 0.8) were prevalent on 15 and 25 % of fields investigated in every federal state. Within the federal states the soil climate regions (BKR) differed significantly from each other. In BKR with light and sandy soils P. brassicae was less widespread compared to neighboring BKR with loamy soils. In addition, BKR with high infestation levels on fields investigated revealed a high presence of clubroot infested fields within this BKR. The infestation level in our study was significantly influenced by soil type, content of sand and soil pH value: soil types with a sand content of 30–35 % and a pH values lower than 5.6 showed high clubroot severity and disease incidences.     

Effect of plant roots on the germination of microsclerotia ofVerticillium dahliae

Induction of germination of microsclerotia by exudates from plant roots may be important for the control ofV. dahliae. Laboratory experiments with root observation boxes were carried out to assess the influence of root tips of seven crop species and cultivars on the germination of microsclerotia ofVerticillium dahliae in soil under controlled conditions. The root density of crops was measured in a field experiment. The results of the laboratory experiments and the field experiment were combined to estimate the total effect of crops on the population of microsclerotia in the field. Germination of microsclerotia was stimulated by all crops compared to a control without a crop. Among crops, roots of potato cvs Element and Astarte had a larger stimulation effect on microsclerotia than that of potato Ostara, pea, flax, sugar beet or onion. The number of hyphae per microsclerotium decreased with distance from the root surface regardless of the crop species or cultivar. Differences in root densities, in the affected root zones and in the stimulation effect on germination of microsclerotia caused large differences among crops in the effect on the population of microsclerotia in the soil. However, growing a rop with the special purpose to reduce the level ofV. dahliae inoculum in the soil is an inefficient control measure, because only a small part of the total soil volume is affected by roots and the number of hyphae per microscleroium affected is too low.Abbreviations MS microsclerotia, microsclerotium     

Qualitative aspects in the analysis of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables using fast, low-pressure gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Quantitative method validation is a well-established process to demonstrate trueness and precision of the results with a given method. However, an assessment of qualitative results is also an important need to estimate selectivity and devise criteria for chemical identification when using the method, particularly for mass spectrometric analysis. For multianalyte analysis, automatic instrument software is commonly used to make initial qualitative identifications of the target analytes by comparison of their mass spectra against a database library. Especially at low residue levels in complex matrices, manual checking of results is typically needed to correct the peak assignments and integration errors, which is very time-consuming. Low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LP-GC-MS) has been demonstrated to increase the speed of analysis for GC-amenable residues in various foods and provide more advantages over the traditional GC-MS approach. LP-GC-MS on a time-of-flight (ToF) instrument was used, which provided high sample throughput with <10 min analysis time. The method had already been validated to be acceptable quantitatively for nearly 150 pesticides, and in this study of qualitative performance, 90 samples in total of strawberry, tomato, potato, orange, and lettuce extracts from the QuEChERS sample preparation approach were analyzed. The extracts were randomly spiked with different pesticides at different levels, both unknown to the analyst, in the different matrices. Automated software evaluation was compared with human assessments in terms of false-positive and -negative results. Among the 13590 possible permutations with 696 blind additions made, the automated software approach yielded 1.2% false presumptive positives with 23% false negatives, whereas the analyst achieved 0.8% false presumptive positives and 17% false negatives for the same analytical data files. False negatives frequently occurred due to challenges at the lowest concentrations, but 70% of them involved certain pesticides that degraded (e.g., captafol, folpet) or otherwise could not be detected. The false-negative rate was reduced to 5-10% if the problematic analytes were excluded. Despite its somewhat better performance in this study, the analyst approach was extremely time-consuming and would not be practical in high sample throughput applications for so many analytes in complicated matrices.     

Cross-protective immunity and the serological classification system for Bacteroides nodosus

The relationship between the serological classification system for serogroup B and for serogroup H of Bacteroides nodosus and cross-protection between subgroups within these serogroups was examined. Protection against ovine footrot following vaccination was achieved against other subgroup strains provided sufficient cross-reactive antibody was induced by shared pilus antigens. Within serogroup B, better cross-protection against one subgroup was obtained with a pili vaccine than a whole cell vaccine which correlated with higher pilus antibody titres induced by the former. For serogroup H, a lack of cross-protection and serological reactivity between subgroups was demonstrated, which indicates that the prototype strain of subgroup H2 should be designated a new serogroup.     

A monolithic photovoltaic-photoelectrochemical device for hydrogen production via water splitting

Direct water electrolysis was achieved with a novel, integrated, monolithic photoelectrochemical-photovoltaic design. This photoelectrochemical cell, which is voltage biased with an integrated photovoltaic device, splits water directly upon illumination; light is the only energy input. The hydrogen production efficiency of this system, based on the short-circuit current and the lower heating value of hydrogen, is 12.4 percent.