Multistation study of nighttime scintillations in low latitudes: Evidence of control by equatorial F region irregularities

VHF nighttime scintillations, recorded during a high solar activity period at a meridian chain of stations covering a magnetic latitude belt of 3°–21°N (420 km subionospheric points) are analyzed to investigate the influence of equatorial spread F irregularities on the occurrence of scintillation at latitudes away from the equator. Observations show that saturated amplitude scintillations start abruptly about one and a half hours after ground sunset and their onset is almost simultaneous at stations whose subionospheric points are within 12°N latitude of the magnetic equator, but is delayed at a station whose subionospheric point is at 21°N magnetic latitude by 15 min to 4 hours. In addition, the occurrence of postsunset scintillations at all the stations is found to be conditional on their prior occurrence at the equatorial station. If no postsunset scintillation activity is seen at the equatorial station, no scintillations are seen at other stations also. The occurrence of scintillations is explained as caused by rising plasma bubbles and associated irregularities over the magnetic equator and the subsequent mapping of these irregularities down the magnetic field lines to the F region of higher latitudes through some instantaneous mechanism; and hence an equatorial control is established on the generation of postsunset scintillation-producing irregularities in the entire low-latitude belt.

The 310 Helical Conformation of the Amino Terminal Decapeptide of Suzukacillin. 270 MHz 'H NMR Evidence for Eight Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds

The amino terminal suzukacillin decapeptide fragment, Boc-Aib-Pro-Val-Aib-Val-Ala-Aib-Ala-Aib-Aitbh-eO Me, two pentapeptides Boc-AibPrc-Val-AibVal-OMe and Boc-Ala-AibAla-AibAibOMe, and the tripeptide Boc-Ala-AibAibOMe have been studied by 270-MHz 'H NMR spectroscopy. By use of solvent dependence of chemical shifts in a CDC13-(CD3),S0 system and temperature dependence of amide NH chemical shifts in (CD3),S0, the intramolecularly hydrogen bonded NH groups in these peptides have been identified. The tripeptide possesses one hydrogen bond, both pentapeptides show evidence for three intramolecular hydrogen bonds, and the decapeptide has eight NH groups participating in hydrogen bonding. An Ala( 1)-Aib(2) @ turn is proposed for the tripeptide. Both pentapeptides favor 310 helical conformations composed of three consecutive B turns. The decapeptide adopts a 310 helical conformation with some flexibility at the Va1(5)-Ala(6) segment. The proposed conformations are consistent with the known stereochemical preferences of Aib residues.

Personal health records as sources of productivity evidence

Capturing data from various data repositories and integrating them for productivity improvements is common in modern business organisations. With the well-accepted concept of achieving positive gains through investment in employee health and wellness, organisations have started to capture both employee health and non-health data as Employer Sponsored electronic Personal Health Records (ESPHRs). However, non-health related data in ESPHRs has hardly been taken into consideration with outcomes such as employee productivity potentially being suited for further validation and stimulation of ESPHR usage. Here we analyse selected employee demographic information (age, gender, marital status, and job grade) and health-related outcomes (absenteeism and presenteeism) of employees for evidence-based decision making. Our study considered demographic and health-related outcomes of 700 employees. Surprisingly, the analysis shows that employees with high sick leave rates are also high performers. A factor analysis shows 92% of the variance in the data can be explained by three factors, with the job grade capable of explaining 62% of the variance. Work responsibilities may drive employees to maintain high work performance despite signs of sickness, so ESPHRs should focus attention on high performers. This finding suggests new ways of extracting value from ESPHRs to support organisational health and wellness management to help assure sustainability in organisational productivity.

Conclaves and concurrent expert evidence: A positive development in Australian legal practice?

Many Australian courts now prefer pre-hearing meetings of experts (conclaves) being convened to prepare joint reports to identify areas of agreement and disagreement, followed by concurrent expert evidence at trial. This contrasts to the traditional approach where experts did not meet before trial and did not give evidence together. Most judges, lawyers and expert witnesses favour this as a positive development in Australian legal practice, at least for civil disputes. This new approach impacts medical practitioners who are called upon to give expert evidence, or who are parties to disputes before the courts. Arguably, it is too soon to tell whether the relative lack of transparency at the conclave stage will give rise to difficulties in the coronial, disciplinary and criminal arenas.

Validation of a new spot form of net blotch differential set and evidence for hybridisation between the spot and net forms of net blotch in Australia

A recently developed spot form of blotch differential set of 16 barley lines was tested for reaction response to 60 Pyrenophora teres f. maculata isolates from geographically disperse barley crops of Australia. Twelve barley lines (Arimont, Barque, Chebec, CI5286, CI5791, CI9214, CII6150, Dairokkaku, Esperance Orge 289, Galleon, Keel, Skiff, Torrens and TR250) provided differential response between the isolates. The susceptible controls Gairdner and Kombar provided indication of isolate virulence or avirulence. Abundant pathogenic diversity was revealed with 33 designated pathotypes, some of which related to geographic region. AFLP analysis also revealed abundant diversity with each of the isolates representing a unique genotype and one isolate that contained both AFLP bands unique to P. teres f. maculata and P. teres f. teres, the cause of spot form and net form of net blotch respectively, suggesting that sexual recombination between the net form and spot form isolates may have occurred naturally in the field.

Anthranilate Hydroxylase from Aspergillus niger: Evidence for the Participation of Iron in the Double Hydroxylation Reaction

Evidence was obtained for the participation of iron in the double hydroxylation reaction catalyzed by anthranilate hydroxylase from Aspergillus niger (UBC 814). Omission of iron from the growth medium gave inactive preparations of anthranilate hydroxylase which could be reactivated by incubating the enzyme preparations with ferric citrate. The enzyme was susceptible to inhibition by metal chelating agents. The Ki for o-phenanthroline, which inhibited the enzyme activity non-competitively with respect to anthranilate, was calculated to be 0.9 mM. The inhibition by o-phenanthroline was counteracted by ferric complexes such as ferric-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and ferric citrate. Anthranilate afforded protection against inhibition by o-phenanthroline.

Phylodynamic evidence of the migration of turnip mosaic potyvirus from Europe to Australia and New Zealand

Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) is a potyvirus that is transmitted by aphids and infects a wide range of plant species. We investigated the evolution of this pathogen by collecting 32 isolates of TuMV, mostly from Brassicaceae plants, in Australia and New Zealand. We performed a variety of sequence-based phylogenetic and population genetic analyses of the complete genomic sequences and of three non-recombinogenic regions of those sequences. The substitution rates, divergence times and phylogeographical patterns of the virus populations were estimated. Six inter- and seven intralineage recombination-type patterns were found in the genomes of the Australian and New Zealand isolates, and all were novel. Only one recombination-type pattern has been found in both countries. The Australian and New Zealand populations were genetically different, and were different from the European and Asian populations. Our Bayesian coalescent analyses, based on a combination of novel and published sequence data from three nonrecombinogenic protein-encoding regions, showed that TuMV probably started to migrate from Europe to Australia and New Zealand more than 80 years ago, and that distinct populations arose as a result of evolutionary drivers such as recombination. The basal-B2 subpopulation in Australia and New Zealand seems to be older than those of the world-B2 and -B3 populations. To our knowledge, our study presents the first population genetic analysis of TuMV in Australia and New Zealand. We have shown that the time of migration of TuMV correlates well with the establishment of agriculture and migration of Europeans to these countries.

Molecular evidence of Ebola Reston virus infection in Philippine bats

Background: In 2008-09, evidence of Reston ebolavirus (RESTV) infection was found in domestic pigs and pig workers in the Philippines. With species of bats having been shown to be the cryptic reservoir of filoviruses elsewhere, the Philippine government, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, assembled a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional team to investigate Philippine bats as the possible reservoir of RESTV. Methods: The team undertook surveillance of bat populations at multiple locations during 2010 using both serology and molecular assays. Results: A total of 464 bats from 21 species were sampled. We found both molecular and serologic evidence of RESTV infection in multiple bat species. RNA was detected with quantitative PCR (qPCR) in oropharyngeal swabs taken from Miniopterus schreibersii, with three samples yielding a product on conventional hemi-nested PCR whose sequences differed from a Philippine pig isolate by a single nucleotide. Uncorroborated qPCR detections may indicate RESTV nucleic acid in several additional bat species (M. australis, C. brachyotis and Ch. plicata). We also detected anti-RESTV antibodies in three bats (Acerodon jubatus) using both Western blot and ELISA. Conclusions: The findings suggest that ebolavirus infection is taxonomically widespread in Philippine bats, but the evident low prevalence and low viral load warrants expanded surveillance to elaborate the findings, and more broadly, to determine the taxonomic and geographic occurrence of ebolaviruses in bats in the region. © 2015 Jayme et al.

Plant composition modulates arthropod pest and predator abundance: Evidence for culling exotics and planting natives

We investigate the role of plant species in crops, pasture and native vegetation remnants in supporting agronomic pests and their predators. The study was conducted in three Australian States and across 290 sites sampled monthly for two years. Pastures played a key role in harbouring pest species consistent across States, while native vegetation hosted relatively more predators than other habitat types within each State. Furthermore, native plant species supported the lowest pest density and more predators than pests; in contrast, 75 of the exotic weed species surveyed hosted more pests than predators. Despite the role of pasture in harbouring pests, we found in NSW that pasture also supported the highest proportion of juvenile predators, while native vegetation remnants had the lowest. Our results indicate that non-crop habitat (native remnants or pasture) with few exotic weeds supports high predator and low pest arthropod densities, and that weeds are associated with high pest densities. By linking broad response variables such as ‘all pests’ with specific predictors such as ‘plant species’, our study will inform on-farm management actions of which weeds to control and which natives to plant or regenerate. This study shows the importance of knowing the function of habitats and plants species in supporting pests and predators in agricultural landscapes across multiple regions.

Evidence for the involvement of a rapidly turning over protease in the degradation of cytochrome oxidase in Neurospora crassa

Treatment of N. crassa cultures with cycloheximide followed by washing and incubation in drug-free fresh medium results in a rapid decline in cytochrome oxidase activity. This is associated with the degradation of higher molecular weight subunits of cytochrome oxidase under these conditions. The protease activity associated with the mitochondrial preparation decreases during cycloheximide treatment and rapidly returns to normal levels on subsequent washing and transfer to drug-free fresh medium. It is suggested that the steady-state level of cytochrome oxidase is governed by a rapidly turning over cytoplasmically synthesized mitochondrial protease.

Neutron Scattering and Molecular Dynamics Evidence for Levitation Effect in Nanopores

Neutron Scattering and Molecular Dynamics Evidence for Levitation Effect in Nanopores ... Neutron scattering measurements and molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out on the three isomers of pentane (neopentane (neo), isopentane (iso), and n-pentane (n-)) adsorbed in zeolite NaY. ... In order to understand this surprising dependence, the dimensionless levitation parameter, γ, for atomic systems may be modified to suit molecular systems.

1-D hydrogen-bonded organization of hexanuclear {3d-4f-5d} complexes: evidence for slow relaxation of the magnetization for [{LMe2Ni(H2O)Ln(H2O)4.5}2{W(CN)8}2] with Ln = Tb and Dy

Heterometallic {3d-4f-5d} aggregates with formula [{LMe2Ni(H2O)Ln(H2O)4.5}2{W(CN)8}2]·15H2O, (LMe2 stands for N,N-2,2-dimethylpropylenedi(3-methoxysalicylideneiminato) Schiff-base ligand) with Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy, have been obtained by reacting bimetallic [LMe2Ni(H2O)2Ln(NO3)3] and Cs3{W(CN)8} in H2O. The hexanuclear complexes are organized in 1-D arrays by means of hydrogen bonds established between the solvent molecules coordinated to Ln and the CN ligands of an octacyanometallate moiety. The X-ray structure was solved for the Tb derivative. Magnetic behavior indicates ferromagnetic {W–Ni} and {Ni–Ln} interactions (JNiW = 18.5 cm-1, JNiGd = 1.85 cm-1) as well as ferromagnetic intermolecular interactions mediated by the H-bonds. Dynamic magnetic susceptibility studies reveal slow magnetic relaxation processes for the Tb and Dy derivatives, suggesting SMM type behavior for these compounds.

The global distribution of Banana bunchy top virus reveals little evidence for frequent recent, human-mediated long distance dispersal events

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV; family Nanoviridae, genus Babuvirus) is a multi-component single-stranded DNA virus, which infects banana plants in many regions of the world, often resulting in large-scale crop losses. Weanalyzed 171 banana leaf samples from fourteen countries and recovered, cloned, and sequenced 855 complete BBTV components including ninety-four full genomes. Importantly, full genomes were determined from eight countries, where previously no full genomes were available (Samoa, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the USA [HI]). Accounting for recombination and genome component reassortment, we examined the geographic structuring of global BBTV populations to reveal that BBTV likely originated in Southeast Asia, that the current global hotspots of BBTV diversity are Southeast Asia/Far East and India, and that BBTV populations circulating elsewhere in the world have all potentially originated from infrequent introductions. Most importantly, we find that rather than the current global BBTV distribution being due to increases in human-mediated movements of bananas over the past few decades, it is more consistent with a pattern of infrequent introductions of the virus to different parts of the world over the past 1,000 years.