Spatial analysis of the exposure of dogs in rural north-coastal California to vectorborne pathogens

Between 0 and 50 per cent of the dogs in eight rural villages in far northern California with a high risk of tickborne diseases were seropositive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Bartonella vinsonii subspecies berkhoffii, and between 0 and 10 per cent were seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi. The odds ratio for the co-exposure of individual dogs to B vinsonii berkhoffii and A phagocytophilum was 18.2. None of the diseases was associated with the sex of the dogs, whether they slept out of doors, or whether tick-preventive measures were taken. When the villages were assessed for landscape risk factors, a particularly high seroprevalence for B vinsonii berkhoffii and A phagocytophilum was observed in a village at a relatively high altitude and greater distance from the Pacific coast, and montane hardwood conifer woodland was most associated with a high seroprevalence for these two pathogens.     

Lipid composition of lees from Sherry wine

In this paper, we describe the study and characterization of the lipids from lees of Sherry wine, one of the main byproducts from the wine-making industry in the Jerez/Xeres/Sherry denomination of the origin zone in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. The lipid content, extractability, classification, fatty acid composition, and its main chemical characteristics have been determined in order to evaluate their potential use as a food or food additive.     

Natural and human disturbances affect natural regeneration of Swietenia macrophylla: Implications for rainforest management

In this paper we document how changes in forest structure mediated by natural (hurricane) and human (logging) disturbances affect natural regeneration of Swietenia macrophylla via its effects on seed predation, germination, and early recruitment. Work was carried out in two ejidos within the Mayan zone of Quintana Roo, differing with regard to their exposure to the effect of the hurricane Dean 2008 (Naranjal Poniente; high hurricane impact) and Señor (with no evidence of hurricane effects). We experimentally set S. macrophylla seeds in both hurricane conditions and contrasting logging effects, in three treatments: (1) open access, (2) rodent and insect access and (3) rodent and insect exclusion. We measured three dependent variables: (i) number of seeds predated, (ii) number of seeds germinated and (iii) number of seedlings established. We found that the three variables measured were differentially affected by logging and hurricane Dean. Seed predation was higher in areas with hurricane effects; germination showed no differences, but early recruitment was differentially affected by the two conditions, via an increasing of herbivory and sun exposition. Both types of disturbances studied occurred periodically in Yucatan Peninsula and elsewhere in tropics, so it is necessary to implement specific actions in order to face changes in mahogany natural regeneration stocks, and supporting the future management of tropical forests.     

Variant allometric scaling relationships between bud size and secondary shoot growth in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Quercus faginea</Emphasis>: implications for the climatic modulation of canopy growth

• Introduction and statement of the research questions  

The relationships between primary and secondary growth in tree populations of contrasting climates are poorly understood. We tested the hypotheses that bud size and stem cross-sectional area are related through allometric relationship in shoots and that their scaling slopes change in response to climatic stress.     

The crystal structure of a sodium galactose transporter reveals mechanistic insights into Na+/sugar symport

Membrane transporters that use energy stored in sodium gradients to drive nutrients into cells constitute a major class of proteins. We report the crystal structure of a member of the solute sodium symporters (SSS), the Vibrio parahaemolyticus sodium/galactose symporter (vSGLT). The approximately 3.0 angstrom structure contains 14 transmembrane (TM) helices in an inward-facing conformation with a core structure of inverted repeats of 5 TM helices (TM2 to TM6 and TM7 to TM11). Galactose is bound in the center of the core, occluded from the outside solutions by hydrophobic residues. Surprisingly, the architecture of the core is similar to that of the leucine transporter (LeuT) from a different gene family. Modeling the outward-facing conformation based on the LeuT structure, in conjunction with biophysical data, provides insight into structural rearrangements for active transport.     

Fast readout of object identity from macaque inferior temporal cortex

Understanding the brain computations leading to object recognition requires quantitative characterization of the information represented in inferior temporal (IT) cortex. We used a biologically plausible, classifier-based readout technique to investigate the neural coding of selectivity and invariance at the IT population level. The activity of small neuronal populations (approximately 100 randomly selected cells) over very short time intervals (as small as 12.5 milliseconds) contained unexpectedly accurate and robust information about both object "identity" and "category." This information generalized over a range of object positions and scales, even for novel objects. Coarse information about position and scale could also be read out from the same population.     

Antifungal effects of iron sulfate on grapevine fungal pathogens

The present study aimed to determine the most efficient experimental conditions of iron sulfate use leading to optimal inhibition in the development of fungal pathogens. Assays have been focused on fungal species inducing severe grapevine diseases. FeSO₄ directly inhibited the in vitro mycelial growth of Botrytis cinerea, Eutypa lata, Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Phaeoacremonium aleophilum, Diplodia seriata, and Neofusicoccum parvum with variable efficiency in the range of 0.5–10 mM. The development was always completely inhibited at 20 mM. This inhibitory effect was greatly increased at acidic pH values. The anionic moiety of the molecule was of importance since bromide, chloride and sulfate were highly active, whereas acetate and oxalate showed a small effect. Electron microscope observations on E. lata and B. cinerea showed that a treatment with FeSO₄ induced dramatic changes in the hyphal organization leading to cell death. No toxicity was observed on grapevine leaves following repeated FeSO₄ sprays in the antifungal concentration range. Therefore, FeSO₄ may be proposed to effectively replace the long-term pollutant use of CuSO₄ as an antifungal agent, with the additional advantage of iron being an important plant micronutrient.     

Sensitivity in the estimation of parameters fitted by simple linear regression models in the ratio of blueberry buds to fruits in Chile using percentage counting

Blueberry exporting is an important activity in Chile, with fresh blueberries commanding the highest prices and being among the most exported products to the European and North American markets. To maintain quality in the centres of consumption, farmers must continuously improve the logistics of harvesting and shipping the blueberries. Thus every year they must calculate the production of the orchard well in advance in order to hire staff and ensure the logistic cold chain. For this calculation they use a count of flower buds and a simple linear model of which the slope parameter represents the number of fruits per bud. However, due to the cost of the counting procedure, some producers count only a fraction of each plant (25%, 50% or 100%), and furthermore they do not know what effect the variety and productive age of the plants may have on the estimation. The objective of this work is to measure the impact of the cultivated variety, the age of the plant in productive years, and the percentage of fruits counted in estimating the parameter fruits per bud. The study involved monitoring 310 plants of different varieties and ages distributed in northern, central and southern Chile (over an area of approximately 700 km × 200 km). The parameter was estimated by fitting simple linear regression models (SLRM) as a function of the number of fruits and flower buds. To evaluate the impact on the parameter, the SLRM was fitted considering the variables observed in all the plants, by percentage counted, by variety and by variety-age of the plant. The major findings indicate significant differences in the estimation of the parameter, suggesting that in order to estimate fruits per bud the whole plant must be counted and its age and variety taken into account.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In silico</Emphasis> genomic subtraction guides development of highly accurate,DNA-based diagnostics for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ralstonia solanacearum</Emphasis> race 3 biovar 2 and blood disease bacterium

New rapid diagnostic methods are urgently needed to discriminate the quarantine pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum (Rs) race 3 biovar 2 (R3B2) from other populations of Rs that lack the adaptation to cause bacterial wilt disease in temperate regions. We used an in silico bioinformatic approach to identify several genome sequences potentially specific to R3B2 strains. Primer sets were designed to PCR-amplify sequences in these regions, and four sets were ultimately shown to be >99% accurate for detection of R3B2 strains. On the basis of these results, several primers were designed to enable development of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay that was rapid, technologically simple, and essentially 100% accurate for identification of R3B2 when applied to a comprehensive collection of geographically diverse Rs strains. We fortuitously found that a sequence in one of the “R3B2-specific” regions has ~90% identity to a sequence present in strains of the blood disease bacterium (BDB), a member of the Rs species complex that infects banana. Alignments of these sequences allowed design of a second PCR primer set that proved 100% accurate for identification of BDB strains when tested on the 22 BDB strains available to us. These results demonstrate the power of in silico genomic subtraction for rapid identification of population-specific DNA sequences and for the development of simple, reliable detection methods for Rs subpopulations.