EPI Update: Special Alert, July 31, 2013

Weekly newsletter for Center For Acute Disease Epidemiology of Iowa Department of Public Health. SPECIAL ALERT

Report on a special investigation of the football program at Lincoln High School within the Des Moines Independent Community School District for the period May 30, 2003 through October 31, 2012

Report on a special investigation of the football program at Lincoln High School within the Des Moines Independent Community School District for the period May 30, 2003 through October 31, 2012

Molecular phylogenetics of soricid shrews (Mammalia) based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences: with special reference to the Soricinae

Molecular phylogeny of soricid shrews (Soricidae, Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) based on 1140 bp mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb) sequences was inferred by the maximum likelihood (ML) method. All 13 genera of extant Soricinae and two genera of Crocidurinae were included in the analyses. Anourosorex was phylogenetically distant from the main groupings within Soricinae and Crocidurinae in the ML tree. Thus, it could not be determined to which subfamily Anourosorex should be assigned: Soricinae, Crocidurinae or a new subfamily. Soricinae (excluding Anourosorex) should be divided into four tribes: Neomyini, Notiosoricini, Soricini and Blarinini. However, monophyly of Blarinini was not robust in the present data set. Also, branching orders among tribes of Soricinae and those among genera of Neomyini could not be determined because of insufficient phylogenetic information of the cytb sequences. For water shrews of Neomyini (Chimarrogale, Nectogale and Neomys), monophyly of Neomys and the Chimarrogale-Nectogale group could not be verified, which implies the possibility of multiple origins for the semi-aquatic mode of living among taxa within Neomyini. Episoriculus may contain several separate genera. Blarinella was included in Blarinini not Soricini, based on the cytb sequences, but the confidence level was rather low; hence more phylogenetic information is needed to determine its phylogenetic position. Furthermore, some specific problems of taxonomy of soricid shrews were clarified, for example phylogeny of local populations of Notiosorex crawfordi, Chimarrogale himalayica and Crocidura attenuata.

Addendum to a report on a special investigation of the Iowa Department of Transportation for the period January 29, 1994 through June 30, 2013

Addendum to a report on a special investigation of the Iowa Department of Transportation for the period January 29, 1994 through June 30, 2013

Responses of yield and N use of spring sown crops to N fertilization, with special reference to the use of plant growth regulators

Selostus: Typpilannoituksen ja kasvunsääteiden vaikutukset kevätviljojen ja rypsin satoon sekä typen käyttöön

Report on a special investigation of Remsen-Union Family Connections for the period July 1, 2011 through October 31, 2012

Report on a special investigation of Remsen-Union Family Connections for the period July 1, 2011 through October 31, 2012

Report on a special investigation of the City of Sloan for the period May 19, 2009 through March 31, 2013

Report on a special investigation of the City of Sloan for the period May 19, 2009 through March 31, 2013

Special investigation of the Garner Volunteer Ambulance Service for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012

Special investigation of the Garner Volunteer Ambulance Service for the period July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012

Report on a special investigation of the City of Riverside for the period July 1, 2006 through December 31, 2012

Report on a special investigation of the City of Riverside for the period July 1, 2006 through December 31, 2012

Special Surface Preparation Prior to Bituminous Overlays, HR-231, 1987

Research project HR-231, "Special Surface Preparation Prior to Bituminous Overlay", was initiated in 1982 to study the effectiveness of three different crack fillers in extending pavement life. In particular, this project was designed to determine if any of the fillers could substantially reduce the rate of subsurface deterioration and general deterioration of an asphalt pavement at crack locations. This project also sought to determine the effects of the various crack filling procedures on different thicknesses of bituminous overlays. The three fillers, a fly ash slurry, an emulsion, and a rubberized asphalt mixture, were used along with a control section with no crack filler material on a 2.5 mile section of Cerro Gordo Trunk Route S-25 south of the town of Thornton. This report discusses the construction and performance of each filler material and makes recommendations concerning future use of any of the materials used.

Report on a special investigation of Grange Township for the period January 1, 2006 through November 15, 2013

Report on a special investigation of Grange Township for the period January 1, 2006 through November 15, 2013

Plant architecture of Paspalum vaginatum schwartz modified by nitrate and ammonium nutrition

Paspalum vaginatum Schwartz plants were grown under greenhouse conditions in a continuous-flow hydroponic culture, containing NO3- or NH4+or NH4NO3 as nitrogen source. After 30 days, the size of aerial biomass and root system decreased significantly when plants were supplied with NH4+as exclusive nitrogen source. Compared to NO3- treatment, reducing and non-reducing sugars were decreasing together with a significant increase in amino acids content. NH4+-nutrition caused tillers to grow toward an orthogravitropic position (average angle of 68° with respect to the horizontal), and with NO3--nutrition, tillers tended to become diagravitropic (average angle of 23°). With NH4NO3 all the parameters measured had values in between those of the other two sources. Thus, the morphologic differences among plants growing in NO3- or NH4+ nutrition confirm the hypothesis that nitrogen source determines the growth habit of tillers in P. vaginatum by modulating the endogenous levels of reducing-non-reducing sugars.