A new species of Embellisia,associated with skin disease of hyacinths

A new species of the genusEmbellisia (Hyphomycetes, Dematiaceae) was isolated from bulbs and leaves of various cultivars ofHyacinthus, Scilla andFreesia. It is characterized by dark, multiseptate conidia which are somewhat pointed at the apex and variable in shape and size. In contrast to other species of the genus it rarely forms chlamydospores in pure culture. The fungus was found on several locations in the Netherlands, and is also known in the USA and Germany. Inoculation experiments on several cultivars ofHyacinthus orientalis resulted in a high percentage of affected plants.Samenvatting Een nieuwe soort van het genusEmbellisia (Hyphomycetes, Dematiaceae),E. hyacinthi, werd geïsoleerd uit de buitenste bolrokken van cultivars vanHyacinthus orientalis. De schimmel is gekarakteriseerd door bruine, apicaal iets spitse conidiën met een wisselend aantal transversale, en dikwijls ook enkele longitudinale septa (Fig. 1), en de afwezigheid van duidelijk gedifferentieerde groepjes van chlamydosporen.Een sterk hierop gelijkende soort werd in 1876 beschreven door Massink alsCladosporium fasciculare Fr. Het opvallende voorkomen van longitudinale septa werd in zijn studie echter niet expliciet genoemd.WanneerEmbellisia hyacinthi wordt gekweekt op havermoutagar zijn na 5 dagen de meeste conidiën vrij lang, cylindrisch, met 3 of meer septa (Fig. 2a). Na langere tijd echter worden kleinere conidiën gevormd, zodat de variabiliteit der conidiën op dezelfde plaats groter wordt (Fig. 2b). Dit verschijnsel uit zich nog sterker op Czapekagar (Fig. 2c-d). Embellisia hyacinthi veroorzaakt kleine bruine plekjes op de buitenste bolrok van hyacint. Deze vorm van huidziekte is reeds lang bekend; de schimmel is ook in de USA en Duitsland gekonstateerd, en werd tevens geïsoleerd vanFreesia refracta enScilla sibirica. Soms ook komen langwerpige bladvlekken op de buitenste bladeren van hyacint voor. Een inoculatieproef werd gedaan met de cultivars la Victoire en Carnegie. De metEmbellisia hyacinthi geïnoculeerde planten vertoonden een aanzienlijk hoger aantastingspercentage dan die op het controleveld.     

Quarks with unit charge: a search for anomalous hydrogen

Quarks of charge +1 and other anomalous hydrogen have been sought by using the 88-inch cyclotron at Berkeley as a high-energy mass spectrometer, with natural hydrogen and deuterium as the sources of ions. No quarks were observed, and limits were placed on their ratio to protons on the earth that vary from < 2 x 10(-19)for high masses (3 to 8.2 atomic mass units) to 10(-13) for the lowest masses (< (1/3) atomic mass unit).     

Observation of a train of attosecond pulses from high harmonic generation

In principle, the temporal beating of superposed high harmonics obtained by focusing a femtosecond laser pulse in a gas jet can produce a train of very short intensity spikes, depending on the relative phases of the harmonics. We present a method to measure such phases through two-photon, two-color photoionization. We found that the harmonics are locked in phase and form a train of 250-attosecond pulses in the time domain. Harmonic generation may be a promising source for attosecond time-resolved measurements.     

Atmospheric physics and Earth observations: sample performance of the grille spectrometer

The grille spectrometer observed the setting and rising sun 18 times during the Spacelab 1 mission. In addition to solar absorption lines, many of which had not been observed before, atmospheric spectral absorptions due to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide were observed at heights tangent to the thermosphere (greater than 85 kilometers), and absorptions due to ozone, water, methane, and nitrous oxide were observed in the mesosphere (greater than 50 kilometers). The strongly coupled molecules NO-NO(2) and HC1-HF were observed as pairs in the stratosphere. Methane is presented as an example of the instrumental operations because of the characteristic aspect of the Q branch of its v(3) band.     

Tyrosine kinase activity and transformation potency of bcr-abl oncogene products

Oncogenic activation of the proto-oncogene c-abl in human leukemias occurs as a result of the addition of exons from the gene bcr and truncation of the first abl exon. Analysis of tyrosine kinase activity and quantitative measurement of transformation potency in a single-step assay indicate that variation in bcr exon contribution results in a functional difference between p210bcr-abl and p185bcr-abl proteins. Thus, foreign upstream sequences are important in the deregulation of the kinase activity of the abl product, and the extent of deregulation correlates with the pathological effects of the bcr-abl proteins.     

Detection of papillomavirus DNA in human semen

Human papillomavirus DNA has been detected in the semen of three patients, two of whom have severe chronic wart disease. These data support the contention that sexual transmission of human papillomavirus DNA could occur via semen, a possibility suggested by epidemiological data on the sexual transmission of human papillomavirus.     

Laser Rapid Prototyping of Photonic Band-Gap Microstructures

Three-dimensional periodic microstructures of aluminum oxide, which are important for creating photonic band-gap structures (PBGs), were fabricated by laser rapid prototyping by means of laser-induced direct-write deposition from the gas phase. The structures consisted of layers of parallel rods forming a face-centered tetragonal lattice with lattice constants of 66 and 133 micrometers. These structures showed transmission minima centered around 4 terahertz (75 micrometers) and 2 terahertz (150 micrometers), respectively. PBGs will allow precise control of the optical properties of materials, including lasers without threshold.     

Sharpening stellar images

Atmospherically induced phase perturbations have for years limited the resolution of large optical astronomical telescopes. A prototype telescope system with six movable elements has successfully corrected these phase perturbations. This use of real-time image sharpening has restored stellar images to the diffraction limit (in one dimension) for a 30-centimeter telescope. The double-star image presented indicates that the bulk of the atmospherically induced wave-front phase change occurred within 2 kilometers of the telescope. This implies that, at least for conditions similar to those of our measurement, real-time correction can be accomplished simultaneously for a region at least several arc seconds in angular size. With the present apparatus the technique should be practical for objects as dim as fifth magnitude, and with improvements the technique holds the promise of active image restoration for objects as dim as ninth magnitude.     

Horse milking industry in The Netherlands and Flanders

The horse milking industry is expanding in The Netherlands and Flanders. Horse milk has become popular due to its (supposed) health-enhancing properties. A horse-milking farm is not a common client for the Dutch veterinarian. When giving advice in this circumstance it should be recognised that these horses are production animals and that their milk is for human consumption. A review of the literature is given together with the results of an extensive enquiry amongst 13 horse-milking farms in The Netherlands and Flanders.