Aedes aegypti pharate first instar aseasonal quiescence cues anticipatory plasticity with implications for urban vector ecology and control

The eggs of the dengue fever vector Aedes aegypti possess the ability to undergo an extended quiescence period hosting a fully developed first instar larvae within its chorion. As a result of this life history stage, pharate larvae can withstand months of dormancy inside the egg where they depend on stored reserves of maternal origin. This adaptation known as pharate first instar quiescence, allows A. aegypti to cope with fluctuations in water availability. An examination of this fundamental adaptation has shown that there are trade-offs associated with it. ^ Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are frequently associated with urban habitats that may contain metal pollution. My research has demonstrated that the duration of this quiescence and the extent of nutritional depletion associated with it affects the physiology and survival of larvae that hatch in a suboptimal habitat; nutrient reserves decrease during pharate first instar quiescence and alter subsequent larval and adult fitness. The duration of quiescence compromises metal tolerance physiology and is coupled to a decrease in metallothionein mRNA levels. My findings also indicate that even low levels of environmentally relevant larval metal stress alter the parameters that determine vector capacity. ^ My research has also demonstrated that extended pharate first instar quiescence can elicit a plastic response resulting in an adult phenotype distinct from adults reared from short quiescence eggs. Extended pharate first instar quiescence affects the performance and reproductive fitness of the adult female mosquito as well as the nutritional status of its progeny via maternal effects in an adaptive manner, i.e., anticipatory phenotypic plasticity results as a consequence of the duration of pharate first instar quiescence and alternative phenotypes may exist for this mosquito with quiescence serving as a cue possibly signaling the environmental conditions that follow a dry period. M findings may explain, in part, A. aegypti's success as a vector and its geographic distribution and have implications for its vector capacity and control.^

Structural flexibility and oxygen diffusion pathways in monomeric fluorescent proteins

Fluorescent proteins are valuable tools as biochemical markers for studying cellular processes. Red fluorescent proteins (RFPs) are highly desirable for in vivo applications because they absorb and emit light in the red region of the spectrum where cellular autofluorescence is low. The naturally occurring fluorescent proteins with emission peaks in this region of the spectrum occur in dimeric or tetrameric forms. The development of mutant monomeric variants of RFPs has resulted in several novel FPs known as mFruits. Though oxygen is required for maturation of the chromophore, it is known that photobleaching of FPs is oxygen sensitive, and oxygen-free conditions result in improved photostabilities. Therefore, understanding oxygen diffusion pathways in FPs is important for both photostabilites and maturation of the chromophores. We used molecular dynamics calculations to investigate the protein barrel fluctuations in mCherry, which is one of the most useful monomeric mFruit variants, and its GFP homolog citrine. We employed implicit ligand sampling and locally enhanced sampling to determine oxygen pathways from the bulk solvent into the mCherry chromophore in the interior of the protein. The pathway contains several oxygen hosting pockets, which were identified by the amino acid residues that form the pocket. We calculated the free-energy of an oxygen molecule at points along the path. We also investigated an RFP variant known to be significantly less photostable than mCherry and find much easier oxygen access in this variant. We showed that oxygen pathways can be blocked or altered, and barrel fluctuations can be reduced by strategic amino acid substitutions. The results provide a better understanding of the mechanism of molecular oxygen access into the fully folded mCherry protein barrel and provide insight into the photobleaching process in these proteins.

Social Network Structure as a Critical Success Condition for Open Source Software Project Communities

In recent years, a surprising new phenomenon has emerged in which globally-distributed online communities collaborate to create useful and sophisticated computer software. These open source software groups are comprised of generally unaffiliated individuals and organizations who work in a seemingly chaotic fashion and who participate on a voluntary basis without direct financial incentive. The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the social network structure of these intriguing groups and their level of output and activity, where social network structure is defined as 1) closure or connectedness within the group, 2) bridging ties which extend outside of the group, and 3) leader centrality within the group. Based on well-tested theories of social capital and centrality in teams, propositions were formulated which suggest that social network structures associated with successful open source software project communities will exhibit high levels of bridging and moderate levels of closure and leader centrality. The research setting was the SourceForge hosting organization and a study population of 143 project communities was identified. Independent variables included measures of closure and leader centrality defined over conversational ties, along with measures of bridging defined over membership ties. Dependent variables included source code commits and software releases for community output, and software downloads and project site page views for community activity. A cross-sectional study design was used and archival data were extracted and aggregated for the two-year period following the first release of project software. The resulting compiled variables were analyzed using multiple linear and quadratic regressions, controlling for group size and conversational volume. Contrary to theory-based expectations, the surprising results showed that successful project groups exhibited low levels of closure and that the levels of bridging and leader centrality were not important factors of success. These findings suggest that the creation and use of open source software may represent a fundamentally new socio-technical development process which disrupts the team paradigm and which triggers the need for building new theories of collaborative development. These new theories could point towards the broader application of open source methods for the creation of knowledge-based products other than software.

Rotação e processos de acreção e coalescência em sistemas planetários e sistemas binários

The discovery of giant stars in the spectral regions G and K, showing moderate to rapid rotation and single behavior, namely with constant radial velocity, represents one important topic of study in Stellar Astrophysics. Indeed, such anomalous rotation clearly violates the theoretical predictions on the evolution of stellar rotation, since in evolved evolutionary stages is expected that the single stars essentially have low rotation due to the evolutionary expansion. This property is well-established from the observational point of view, with different studies showing that for single giant stars of spectral types G and K values of the rotation are typically smaller than 5kms−1 . This Thesis seeks an effective contribution to solving the paradigm described above, aiming to search for single stars of spectral types G and K with anomalous rotation, tipically rotation of moderate to rapid, in other luminosity classes. In this context, we analyzed a large stellar sample consisting of 2010 apparently single stars of luminosity classes IV, III, II and Ib with spectral types G and K, with rotational velocity v sin i and radial velocity measurements obtained from observations made by CORAVEL spectrometers. As a first result of impact we discovered the presence of anomalous rotators also among subgiants, bright giants and supergiants stars, namelly stars of luminosity classes IV, II and Ib, in contrast to previous studies, that reported anomalous rotators only in the luminosity class III classic giants. Such a finding of great significance because it allows us to analyze the presence of anomalous rotation at different intervals of mass, since the luminosity classes considered here cover a mass range between 0.80 and 20MJ, approximately. In the present survey we discovered 1 subgiant, 9 giants, 2 bright giants and 5 Ib supergiants, in spectral regions G and K, with values of v sin i ≥ 10kms−1 and single behavior. This amount of 17 stars corresponds to a frequency of 0.8% of G and K single evolved stars with anomalous rotation in the mentioned classes of luminosities, listed at the Bright Star Catalog, which is complete to visual magnitude 6.3. Given these new findings, based on a stellar sample complete in visual magnitude, as that of the Bright Star Catalog, we conducted a comparative statistical analysis using the Kolmogorov- Smirnov test, from where we conclude that the distributions of rotational velocity, v sin i, for single evolved stars with anomalous rotation in luminosity classes III and II, are similar to the distributions of v sin i for spectroscopic binary systems with evolved components with the same spectral type and luminosity class. This vii result indicates that the process of coalescence between stars of a binary system might be a possible mechanism to explain the observed abnormal rotation in the referred abnormal rotators, at least among the giants and bright giants, where the rotation in excess would be associated with the transfer of angular momentum for the star resulting from the merger. Another important result of this Thesis concerns the behavior of the infrared emission in most of the stars with anomalous rotation here studied, where 14 stars of the sample tend to have an excess in IR compared with single stars with low rotation, within of their luminosity class. This property represents an additional link in the search for the physical mechanisms responsible for the abnormal observed rotation, since recent theoretical studies show that the accretion of objects of sub-stellar mass, such as brown dwarfs and giant planets, by the hosting star, can significantly raise its rotation, producing also a circumstellar dust disk. This last result seems to point in that direction, since it is not expected that dust disks occurring during the stage of star formation can survive until the stages of subgiants, giants and supergiants Ib. In summary, in this Thesis, besides the discovery of single G and K evolved stars of luminosity classes IV, II and Ib with anomalously high rotation compared to what is predicted by stellar evolution theory, we also present the frequency of these abnormal rotators in a stellar sample complete to visual magnitude 6.3. We also present solid evidence that coalescence processes in stellar binary systems and processes of accretion of brown dwarfs star or giant planets, by the hosting stars, can act as mechanisms responsible for the puzzling phenomenon of anomalous rotation in single evolved stars.

Petrologia e geologia estrutural do plutão granítico Barcelona, província Borborema, NE do Brasil

The Dissertation aimed to advance the geological knowledge of the Barcelona Granitic Pluton (BGP). This body is located in the eastern portion of the Rio Grande do Norte Domain (RND), within the São José do Campestre subdomain (SJC), NE of the Borborema Province. The main goal was to understand the geological evolution of the rocks of the pluton and the tectonic setting of magma generation and its emplacement. The BGP has an assumed Ediacaran age and outcropping area of approximately 260 km2, being composed of three varied petrographic/textural facies: (a) porphyritic biotite monzogranite; (b) dykes and sheets of biotite microgranite; (c) dioritic to quartz-dioritic enclaves. The rocks of the BGP have the following structures: (i) a NE-SW and NW-SE directed magmatic fabric (Sγ), accompanied by a magmatic lineation (Lγ) with gentle dip to NE-SW and NW-SE. In the southern portion, there is the concentric pattern of this foliation with medium to high dip, and (ii) a solid state foliation, in part mylonitic (S3+), mainly on the eastern edge with slightly plunging to west. The integration of structural and gravity data permitted to interpret the emplacement of the BGP as controlled by the transcurrent shear zones systems Lajes Pintadas (LPSZ) and Sítio Novo (SNSZ), both of dextral strike-slip kinematics. Mineral chemistry data show that the amphibole form the porphyritic biotite monzogranite facies is hastingsite with moderate Mg / (Mg + Fe) ratios, indicating crystallization under moderate to high ƒO2 and cristallization pressure of around 5.0-6.0 kbar. The biotite tends to be slightly richer in annite molecule and plots in the transitional field from primary biotite to reequilibrated biotite. In discriminant diagrams of magmatic series, the biotite behave like those of subalkaline affinity, consistent with the potassium calc-alkaline / sub-alkaline geochemical affinity of the hosting rock. The opaque minerals are primarily magnetite, with some crystals martitized to hematite indicating relatively oxidizing conditions during magma evolution that originated the BGP. Zoning in plagioclase, K-feldspar and allanite crystals suggest fractional crystallization process. Lithogeochemical data suggest that the facies described for the BGP have similar magma source, usually plotting in the fields and trends of the subalkaline / high potassium calc-alkaline series.

Hepatite C crônica em serviço de referência no nordeste do Brasil: um estudo retrospectivo de dezoito anos de acompanhamento

Chronic Hepatitis C is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in advanced final stage of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and of death related to liver disease. Evolves progressively in time 20-30 years. Evolutionary rates vary depending on factors virus, host and behavior. This study evaluated the impact of hepatitis C on the lives of patients treated at a referral service in Hepatology of the University Hospital Onofre Lopes - Liver Study Group - from May 1995 to December 2013. A retrospective evaluation was performed on 10,304 records, in order to build a cohort of patients with hepatitis C, in which all individuals had their diagnosis confirmed by gold standard molecular biological test. Data were obtained directly from patient charts and recorded in an Excel spreadsheet, previously built, following an elaborate encoding with the study variables, which constitute individual data and prognostic factors defined in the literature in the progression of chronic hepatitis C. The Research Ethics Committee approved the project. The results were statistically analyzed with the Chi-square test and Fisher's exact used to verify the association between variable for the multivariate analysis, we used the Binomial Logistic regression method. For both tests, it was assumed significance p < 0.05 and 95%. The results showed that the prevalence of chronic hepatitis C in NEF was 4.96 %. The prevalence of cirrhosis due to hepatitis C was 13.7%. The prevalence of diabetes in patients with Hepatitis C was 8.78 % and diabetes in cirrhotic patients with hepatitis C 38.0 %. The prevalence of HCC was 5.45%. The clinical follow-up discontinuation rates were 67.5 %. The mortality in confirmed cases without cirrhosis was 4.10% and 32.1% in cirrhotic patients. The factors associated with the development of cirrhosis were genotype 1 (p = 0.0015) and bilirubin > 1.3 mg % (p = 0.0017). Factors associated with mortality were age over 35 years, abandon treatment, diabetes, insulin use, AST> 60 IU, ALT> 60 IU, high total bilirubin, extended TAP, INR high, low albumin, treatment withdrawal, cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma. The occurrence of diabetes mellitus increased mortality of patients with hepatitis C in 6 times. Variables associated with the diagnosis of cirrhosis by us were blood donor (odds ratio 0.24, p = 0.044) and professional athlete (odds ratio 0.18, p = 0.35). It is reasonable to consider a revaluation in screening models for CHC currently proposed. The condition of cirrhosis and diabetes modifies the clinical course of patients with chronical hepatitis C, making it a disease more mortality. However, being a blood donor or professional athlete is a protective factor that reduces the risk of cirrhosis, independent of alcohol consumption. Public policies to better efficient access, hosting and resolution are needed for this population.

Methane and sulphate consumption in different habitats of the Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano (HMMV)

The Hakon Mosby Mud Volcano is a highly active methane seep hosting different chemosynthetic communities such as thiotrophic bacterial mats and siboglinid tubeworm assemblages. This study focuses on in situ measurements of methane fluxes to and from these different habitats, in comparison to benthic methane and oxygen consumption rates. By quantifying in situ oxygen, methane, and sulfide fluxes in different habitats, a spatial budget covering areas of 10-1000 -m diameter was established. The range of dissolved methane efflux (770-2 mmol m-2 d-1) from the center to the outer rim was associated with a decrease in temperature gradients from 46°C to < 1°C m-1, indicating that spatial variations in fluid flow control the distribution of benthic habitats and activities. Accordingly, total oxygen uptake (TOU) varied between the different habitats by one order of magnitude from 15 mmol m-2 d-1 to 161 mmol m-2 d-1. High fluid flow rates appeared to suppress benthic activities by limiting the availability of electron acceptors. Accordingly, the highest TOU was associated with the lowest fluid flow and methane efflux. This was most likely due to the aerobic oxidation of methane, which may be more relevant as a sink for methane as previously considered in submarine ecosystems.

Are luminous radio-loud active galactic nuclei triggered by galaxy interactions?

We present the results of a comparison between the optical morphologies of a complete sample of 46 southern 2 Jy radio galaxies at intermediate redshifts (0.05 < z < 0.7) and those of two control samples of quiescent early-type galaxies: 55 ellipticals at redshifts z ≤ 0.01 from the Observations of Bright Ellipticals at Yale (OBEY) survey, and 107 early-type galaxies at redshifts 0.2 < z < 0.7 in the Extended Groth Strip (EGS). Based on these comparisons, we discuss the role of galaxy interactions in the triggering of powerful radio galaxies (PRGs). We find that a significant fraction of quiescent ellipticals at low and intermediate redshifts show evidence for disturbed morphologies at relatively high surface brightness levels, which are likely the result of past or on-going galaxy interactions. However, the morphological features detected in the galaxy hosts of the PRGs (e.g. tidal tails, shells, bridges, etc.) are up to 2 mag brighter than those present in their quiescent counterparts. Indeed, if we consider the same surface brightness limits, the fraction of disturbed morphologies is considerably smaller in the quiescent population (53 per cent at z < 0.2 and 48 per cent at 0.2 ≤ z < 0.7) than in the PRGs (93 per cent at z < 0.2 and 95 per cent at 0.2 ≤ z < 0.7 considering strong-line radio galaxies only). This supports a scenario in which PRGs represent a fleeting active phase of a subset of the elliptical galaxies that have recently undergone mergers/interactions. However, we demonstrate that only a small proportion (≲20 per cent) of disturbed early-type galaxies are capable of hosting powerful radio sources.

Patterns of local R&D cooperation of foreign subsidiaries in an intermediate country: innovative and structural factors

We attempt to contribute to a better understanding of cooperative innovation patterns of foreign subsidiaries (FS) in Spain as a representative intermediate country, going deeply into three main aspects: firstly, a sectoral taxonomy which combines international technological dynamism and revealed technological advantage as a way to understand such patterns. Secondly we focus our attention on innovative intensive subsidiaries, assuming they are the most important ones for hosting countries. Thirdly, we combine innovation and structural-competitive variables to explain local cooperation. We found more intense cooperation of FS with local agents in dynamic specialization sectors, as well as the fact that this is mostly carried out in a complementary mode with inner knowledge capabilities of the companies. Cooperative activities are influenced by economicstructural factors of the Spanish economy, particularly in highly innovative companies. Cooperative strategies of domestic firms might also have an influence on those of foreign subsidiaries.

Targeted sequencing for high-resolution evolutionary analyses following genome duplication in salmonid fish : Proof of concept for key components of the insulin-like growth factor axis

Acknowledgements This study was funded by a Natural Environment Research Council grant (NERC, project code: NBAF704). FML is funded by a NERC Doctoral Training Grant (Project Reference: NE/L50175X/1). RLS was an undergraduate student at the University of Aberdeen and benefitted from financial support from the School of Biological Sciences. DJM is indebted to Dr. Steven Weiss (University of Graz, Austria), Dr. Takashi Yada (National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Japan), Dr. Robert Devlin (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canada), Prof. Samuel Martin (University of Aberdeen, UK), Mr. Neil Lincoln (Environment Agency, UK) and Prof. Colin Adams/Mr. Stuart Wilson (University of Glasgow, UK) for providing salmonid material or assisting with its sampling. We are grateful to staff at the Centre for Genomics Research (University of Liverpool, UK) (i.e. NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility – Liverpool; NBAF-Liverpool) for performing sequence capture/Illumina sequencing and providing us with details on associated methods that were incorporated into the manuscript. Finally, we are grateful to the organizers of the Society of Experimental Biology Satellite meeting 'Genome-powered perspectives in integrative physiology and evolutionary biology' (held in Prague, July 2015) for inviting us to contribute to this special edition of Marine Genomics and hosting a really stimulating meeting.

Phenomenal conservatism and Bergmann's dilemma

We are grateful for very useful comments and criticism on drafts of this paper to Michael Bergmann, Chris Tucker, a referee of this Journal and audience at the conference Philosophy, Analysis and Public Engagement, University of L’Aquila, 3–5 September 2014. The final draft of this paper was written at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP). The authors thank the MCMP for hosting them and for providing a stimulating atmosphere to conduct this research.

‘Genetic Coding’ Reconsidered : An Analysis of Actual Usage

I thank George Pandarakalam for research assistance; Hans-Jörg Rheinberger for hosting my stay at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin; and Sahotra Sarkar and referees of this journal for offering detailed comments. Funded by the Wellcome Trust (WT098764MA).

Phenomenal conservatism and Bergmann's dilemma

We are grateful for very useful comments and criticism on drafts of this paper to Michael Bergmann, Chris Tucker, a referee of this Journal and audience at the conference Philosophy, Analysis and Public Engagement, University of L’Aquila, 3–5 September 2014. The final draft of this paper was written at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP). The authors thank the MCMP for hosting them and for providing a stimulating atmosphere to conduct this research.

‘Genetic Coding’ Reconsidered : An Analysis of Actual Usage

I thank George Pandarakalam for research assistance; Hans-Jörg Rheinberger for hosting my stay at the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin; and Sahotra Sarkar and referees of this journal for offering detailed comments. Funded by the Wellcome Trust (WT098764MA).

The evolutionary relationships and age of Homo naledi : an assessment using dated Bayesian phylogenetic methods

Acknowledgements We wish to express our gratitude to the National Geographic Society and the National Research Foundation of South Africa for funding the discovery, recovery, and analysis of the H. naledi material. The study reported here was also made possible by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund, the Canada Research Chairs Program, Simon Fraser University, the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (COE-Pal), as well as by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, a Young Scientist Development Grant from the Paleontological Scientific Trust (PAST), a Baldwin Fellowship from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, and a Seed Grant and a Cornerstone Faculty Fellowship from the Texas A&M University College of Liberal Arts. We would like to thank the South African Heritage Resource Agency for the permits necessary to work on the Rising Star site; the Jacobs family for granting access; Wilma Lawrence, Bonita De Klerk, Merrill Van der Walt, and Justin Mukanku for their assistance during all phases of the project; Lucas Delezene for valuable discussion on the dental characters of H. naledi. We would also like to thank Peter Schmid for the preparation of the Dinaledi fossil material; Yoel Rak for explaining in detail some of the characters used in previous studies; William Kimbel for drawing our attention to the possibility that there might be a problem with Dembo et al.’s (2015) codes for the two characters related to the articular eminence; Will Stein for helpful discussion about the Bayesian analyses; Mike Lee for his comments on this manuscript; John Hawks for his support in organizing the Rising Star workshop; and the associate editor and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. We are grateful to S. Potze and the Ditsong Museum, B. Billings and the School of Anatomical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, and B. Zipfel and the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand for providing access to the specimens in their care; the University of the Witwatersrand, the Evolutionary Studies Institute, and the South African National Centre of Excellence in PalaeoSciences for hosting a number of the authors while studying the material; and the Western Canada Research Grid for providing access to the high-performance computing facilities for the Bayesian analyses. Last but definitely not least, we thank the head of the Rising Star project, Lee Berger, for his leadership and support, and for encouraging us to pursue the study reported here.