Radio Frequency Signals in Jupiter's Atmosphere

During the Galileo probe's descent through Jupiter's atmosphere, under the ionosphere, the lightning and radio emission detector measured radio frequency signals at levels significantly above the probe's electromagnetic noise. The signal strengths at 3 and 15 kilohertz were relatively large at the beginning of the descent, decreased with depth to a pressure level of about 5 bars, and then increased slowly until the end of the mission. The 15-kilohertz signals show arrival direction anisotropies. Measurements of radio frequency wave forms show that the probe passed through an atmospheric region that did not support lightning within at least 100 kilometers and more likely a few thousand kilometers of the descent trajectory. The apparent opacity of the jovian atmosphere increases sharply at pressures greater than about 4 bars.     

Colloid oncotic pressure and total protein changes in horses during anesthesia fluid therapy

It is unknown whether overlapping or sequential use of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory (NSAIDs) results in an increased risk for gastrointestinal (GI) ulceration. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the GI effects of various combinations of an injectable NSAID followed by an oral NSAID, a scenario often employed clinically for management of the pre‐ and post‐operative canine patient. Six healthy Walker hounds received four treatment regimens in a randomized, cross‐over design with a 2 week washout period between each treatment week: carprofen (4 mg kg^–1, SQ) followed by placebo (PO, q24 × 4 days); placebo (SQ) followed by deracoxib (3–4 mg kg^–1, PO, q24 × 4 days); carprofen (4 mg kg^–1, SQ) followed by carprofen (4 mg kg^–1, PO, q24 × 4 days); carprofen (4 mg kg^–1, SQ) followed by deracoxib (3–4 mg kg^–1, PO, q24 ×4 days). Weekly bloodwork (CBC, biochemistry panel, fecal evaluation, fecal occult blood) and daily clinical scoring (TPR, vomiting, diarrhea, appetite) were obtained. GI endoscopy was performed on days –2, 1, 2, 5, and 11 days post treatment of each treatment period and lesions scored using a previously reported 6‐point scale. Data was analyzed using a mixed anova for repeated measures. There were no significant differences in clinical or clinicopathologic data between groups. Within the carprofen‐carprofen and carprofen‐deracoxib groups, lesions worsened by Day 5 (1 day after last oral dose) for the fundic and antral regions (p < 0.05). Fundic, antral and lesser curvature lesions improved by Day 5 in the carprofen‐placebo group and lesser curvature lesions improved in the placebo‐deracoxib group (p < 0.05). No significant within‐group differences were noted for the esophagus, cardia or duodenum. The small number of dogs precludes general conclusions about the safety of sequential NSAID use, but these results suggest that a larger scale study is warranted.     

Convergence of developmental mutants into a single tomato model system: 'Micro-Tom' as an effective toolkit for plant development research

Background

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) plant is both an economically important food crop and an ideal dicot model to investigate various physiological phenomena not possible in Arabidopsis thaliana. Due to the great diversity of tomato cultivars used by the research community, it is often difficult to reliably compare phenotypes. The lack of tomato developmental mutants in a single genetic background prevents the stacking of mutations to facilitate analysis of double and multiple mutants, often required for elucidating developmental pathways.

Results

We took advantage of the small size and rapid life cycle of the tomato cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) to create near-isogenic lines (NILs) by introgressing a suite of hormonal and photomorphogenetic mutations (altered sensitivity or endogenous levels of auxin, ethylene, abscisic acid, gibberellin, brassinosteroid, and light response) into this genetic background. To demonstrate the usefulness of this collection, we compared developmental traits between the produced NILs. All expected mutant phenotypes were expressed in the NILs. We also created NILs harboring the wild type alleles for dwarf, self-pruning and uniform fruit, which are mutations characteristic of MT. This amplified both the applications of the mutant collection presented here and of MT as a genetic model system.

Conclusions

The community resource presented here is a useful toolkit for plant research, particularly for future studies in plant development, which will require the simultaneous observation of the effect of various hormones, signaling pathways and crosstalk.