Crescent and star shapes of members of the Chlamydiales order: impact of fixative methods.

Members of the Chlamydiales order all share a biphasic lifecycle alternating between small infectious particles, the elementary bodies (EBs) and larger intracellular forms able to replicate, the reticulate bodies. Whereas the classical Chlamydia usually harbours round-shaped EBs, some members of the Chlamydia-related families display crescent and star-shaped morphologies by electron microscopy. To determine the impact of fixative methods on the shape of the bacterial cells, different buffer and fixative combinations were tested on purified EBs of Criblamydia sequanensis, Estrella lausannensis, Parachlamydia acanthamoebae, and Waddlia chondrophila. A linear discriminant analysis was performed on particle metrics extracted from electron microscopy images to recognize crescent, round, star and intermediary forms. Depending on the buffer and fixatives used, a mixture of alternative shapes were observed in varying proportions with stars and crescents being more frequent in C. sequanensis and P. acanthamoebae, respectively. No tested buffer and chemical fixative preserved ideally the round shape of a majority of bacteria and other methods such as deep-freezing and cryofixation should be applied. Although crescent and star shapes could represent a fixation artifact, they certainly point towards a diverse composition and organization of membrane proteins or intracellular structures rather than being a distinct developmental stage.

Executive Order Number Twenty-Five, August 6, 2010

July 24, 2010, the breach of the Lake Delhi dam caused flash floods and massive damage to persons and businesses and public infrastructure in Delaware and Jones counties and surrounding areas, including Jackson County, resulting in gubernatorial declarations of emergency and applications for federal disaster assistance for these areas.

Executive Order Number Twenty-Six, October 14, 2010

Iowa Efficiency Review Report identified 90 recommendations for improving the cost effectiveness and efficiency of delivering state government services.

Executive Order Number Twenty-Seven, November 29, 2010

Iowa Efficiency Review Report identified 90 recommendations for improving the cost effectiveness and efficiency of delivering state government services.

Root abundance of maize in conventionally-tilled and zero-tilled soils of Argentina

Maize root growth is negatively affected by compacted layers in the surface (e.g. agricultural traffic) and subsoil layers (e.g. claypans). Both kinds of soil mechanical impedances often coexist in maize fields, but the combined effects on root growth have seldom been studied. Soil physical properties and maize root abundance were determined in three different soils of the Rolling Pampa of Argentina, in conventionally-tilled (CT) and zero-tilled (ZT) fields cultivated with maize. In the soil with a light Bt horizon (loamy Typic Argiudoll, Chivilcoy site), induced plough pans were detected in CT plots at a depth of 0-0.12 m through significant increases in bulk density (1.15 to 1.27 Mg m-3) and cone (tip angle of 60 º) penetrometer resistance (7.18 to 9.37 MPa in summer from ZT to CT, respectively). This caused a reduction in maize root abundance of 40-80 % in CT compared to ZT plots below the induced pans. Two of the studied soils had hard-structured Bt horizons (clay pans), but in only one of them (silty clay loam Abruptic Argiudoll, Villa Lía site) the expected penetrometer resistance increases (up to 9 MPa) were observed with depth. In the other clay pan soil (silty clay loam Vertic Argiudoll, Pérez Millán site), penetrometer resistance did not increase with depth but reached 14.5 MPa at 0.075 and 0.2 m depth in CT and ZT plots, respectively. However, maize root abundance was stratified in the first 0.2 m at the Villa Lía and Pérez Millán sites. There, the hard Bt horizons did not represent an absolute but a relative mechanical impedance to maize roots, by the observed root clumping through desiccation cracks.

Executive Order Number Sixty Nine, January 14, 2011

The proliferation of Project Labor Agreements as a result of Executive Order Number 22, dated February 3, 2010, issued by Governor Chet Culver has impacted the essence and the spirit of the competitive bidding process for state funded projects and has infringed upon Iowa’s Right to Work law

Executive Order Number Seventy, January 14, 2011

The act of filing an application for restoration of the rights of citizenship is an important and necessary aspect of an offender’s process of reintegration into society.

Executive Order Number Seventy Two, April 4, 2011

The act adopting regulations to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of the State of Iowa, state agencies should seek to achieve statutory goals as effectively and efficiently as possible without imposing unnecessary burdens that reduce jobs and hurt job growth

Adult native septic arthritis: 10 years in review in order to establish local guidelines on empiric antibiotic therapy.

Objective: Antibiotic stewardship includes development of practice guidelines incorporating local microbiology and resistance patterns. In case of septic arthritis (SA), addition of vancomycin to the empiric therapy and broad-spectrum antibiotherapy in some clinical settings are subjects of discussion. Our objective was to review the local epidemiology of native septic arthritis in adults, in order to establish local guidelines for empiric therapy. Methods: Retrospective study based on positive synovial fluid cultures and hospital discharge diagnoses of SA obtained from 1999 to 2008 in patients _16 years. Medical records were reviewed to assess the diagnosis and complete relevant clinical information. Results: During this ten-year period, we identified 233 SA on native joints in 231 patients. 107 episodes (46%) were obtained through positive synovial fluid cultures, and 126 episodes (54%) through the discharge diagnosis. 147 SA (63%) were large joint infections (LJI). 35 SA (15%) occurred in intravenous drug users. Preexisting arthropathy was present in 51% of cases. 42% of patients with small joint infection (SJI) were diabetic, vs. 23% with LJI (p = 0.003). When available, synovial fluid direct examination was positive in 35% of cases. Etiologic agents are reported in the table. Five of the 11 MRSA SA (45%) occurred in known carriers. SJI were more frequently polymicrobial (24% vs. 1%, p<0.001). For LJI, an empiric treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanate (A/C) would have been appropriate in 85% of cases. MRSA (8 cases) and tuberculous (7 cases) arthritis would have been the most frequently untreated pathogens. Addition of vancomycin to A/C in MRSA carriers would rise the adequacy to 87%. In contrast, A/C would cover only 75% of SJI (82% if restricted to non-diabetic patients). MRSA (3 cases) and P. aeruginosa (9 cases, 7 monomicrobial) would be the main untreated pathogens. An anti-pseudomonal penicillin would have been appropriate in 94% of cases of SJI (P = 0.002 vs. A/C, p = 0.19 if diabetic patients not included). Conclusions: Treatment with A/C seems adequate for empiric coverage of LJI in our setting. Broad-spectrum antibiotherapy was significantly superior for SJI in diabetic patients, due to different causative bacteria. In an area of low MRSA incidence, our results do not justify a systematic empiric therapy for MRSA, which should be considered in a known carrier.

Using the HEGY Procedure When Not All Roots Are Present

Empirical studies have shown little evidence to support the presence of all unit roots present in the $^{\Delta_4}$ filter in quarterly seasonal time series. This paper analyses the performance of the Hylleberg, Engle, Granger and Yoo (1990) (HEGY) procedure when the roots under the null are not all present. We exploit the Vector of Quarters representation and cointegration relationship between the quarters when factors $(1-L),(1+L),\bigg(1+L^2\bigg),\bigg(1-L^2\bigg) y \bigg(1+L+L^2+L^3\bigg)$ are a source of nonstationarity in a process in order to obtain the distribution of tests of the HEGY procedure when the underlying processes have a root at the zero, Nyquist frequency, two complex conjugates of frequency $^{\pi/2}$ and two combinations of the previous cases. We show both theoretically and through a Monte-Carlo analysis that the t-ratios $^{t_{{\hat\pi}_1}}$ and $^{t_{{\hat\pi}_2}}$ and the F-type tests used in the HEGY procedure have the same distribution as under the null of a seasonal random walk when the root(s) is/are present, although this is not the case for the t-ratio tests associated with unit roots at frequency $^{\pi/2}$.

Executive Order Number Seventy One, March, 2011

The act new policies that encourage a job-friendly environment can take Iowa a significant way forward in our effort to compete for new jobs, much of that work can be undone by a bureaucracy that fails to understand the critical relationship between burdensome regulation and job creation

Using the HEGY Procedure When Not All Roots Are Present

Empirical studies have shown little evidence to support the presence of all unit roots present in the $^{\Delta_4}$ filter in quarterly seasonal time series. This paper analyses the performance of the Hylleberg, Engle, Granger and Yoo (1990) (HEGY) procedure when the roots under the null are not all present. We exploit the Vector of Quarters representation and cointegration relationship between the quarters when factors $(1-L),(1+L),\bigg(1+L^2\bigg),\bigg(1-L^2\bigg) y \bigg(1+L+L^2+L^3\bigg)$ are a source of nonstationarity in a process in order to obtain the distribution of tests of the HEGY procedure when the underlying processes have a root at the zero, Nyquist frequency, two complex conjugates of frequency $^{\pi/2}$ and two combinations of the previous cases. We show both theoretically and through a Monte-Carlo analysis that the t-ratios $^{t_{{\hat\pi}_1}}$ and $^{t_{{\hat\pi}_2}}$ and the F-type tests used in the HEGY procedure have the same distribution as under the null of a seasonal random walk when the root(s) is/are present, although this is not the case for the t-ratio tests associated with unit roots at frequency $^{\pi/2}$.

A note on the coincidence between Stackelberg and Nash equilibria in a differential game between government and firms

[cat] A Navas i Marín Solano es va demostrar la coincidència entre els equilibris de Nash i de Stackelberg per a una versi´o modificada del joc diferencial proposat por Lancaster (1973). Amb l’objectiu d’obtenir una solució interior, es van imposar restriccions importants sobre el valors dels paràmetres del model. En aquest treball estenem aquest resultat, en el límit en que la taxa de descompte és igual a zero, eliminant les restriccions i considerant totes les solucions possibles.