scholarly journals A history of extreme disturbance affects the relationship between the abundances of nitrifiers in soil

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 1177-1187
Author(s):  
Stephanie D. Jurburg ◽  
Féline L. Assemien ◽  
Léa Beaumelle ◽  
Joana F. Salles ◽  
Jan Dirk Van Elsas ◽  
...  

Abstract To understand how and to what extent single or multiple perturbations can alter the relationships between the abundances of different nitrifier groups and nitrification, soil microcosms were exposed to six disturbance treatments: a heat shock, cold shock, or control conditions applied to undisturbed soils or to soils that had previously been subjected to a first heat shock. We monitored the recovery of the abundances of four main nitrifier groups (ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria, AOA and AOB, respectively, and Nitrobacter and Nitrospira nitrite oxidizers) as well as nitrification activity for 25 days. AOA were sensitive to cold shocks, whereas AOB were not; the latter were sensitive to heat shock. Despite the variations, both groups were resilient to the first disturbance. In contrast, Nitrobacter was affected by both disturbances, whereas Nitrospira was resistant to both shocks. Prior exposure to a heat shock affected each group’s responses as well as the relationships between them. For example, AOB were more vulnerable to heat shock in pre-exposed soils, whereas under the same circumstances, AOA were resilient. Nitrification activity was resistant to the first disturbances, but a legacy effect was observed, and nitrification was highest in Heat-Heat and lowest in Heat-Cold treatments. Overall, our study shows that within soil nitrifiers, temporal patterns and legacy effects interact to result in complex disturbance responses.

2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 539.3-539
Author(s):  
T. Khan ◽  
N. Cleaton ◽  
T. Sheeran

Background:Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a large vessel vasculitis that principally affects the aorta and its main branches. The incidence has been reported at between 1.2 – 2.3 cases per million per year, more commonly in the Asian population. The age of onset is typically between tenth and fourth decade; between 80 and 90 percent of the cases are female.The relationship between Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (mTB) and TA has long been considered; both demonstrate chronic inflammatory changes on histological examination and some granuloma formation in arterial walls. There is increasing evidence implicating mTB in the pathogenesis of TA through molecular mimicry between the mycobacterium heat shock protein -65 (mHSP-65) and the human homologue HSP -60 (hHSP-60). However, no definitive link between the two diseases has been explained.Objectives:Case presentation.Results:A 23-year-old lady was referred to our outpatient rheumatology clinic with a twelve-month history of persistently enlarged cervical lymph nodes on the left side for which she had received six months of anti-Tuberculosis medication. She had been referred to the respiratory physicians who had diagnosed presumed Tuberculous Lymphadenitis, with caseating granulomas demonstrated on biopsy, positive acid-fast bacilli smear but a negative culture. The patient had been initiated six months of anti-Tuberculosis medication; however, her lymphadenopathy showed no improvement. More recently she described a five-month history of weakness, paraesthesia and claudication symptoms in her left upper limb with episodes of dizziness and blurred vision, episodes occurring 2-3 times per day and lasting between a few minutes to a few hours.Her examination at this presentation revealed an unrecordable blood pressure in the left upper limb and 104/67mmHg in the right. There was significant tender lymphadenopathy of the left cervical lymph nodes and diminished pulses in the left upper limb. Right sided pulses were normal. The rest of her examination was normal.Investigations at presentation revealed elevated inflammatory markers with C- reactive protein (CRP) of 116mg/dL and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) of 128mm/h. Complete blood count (CBC) found her to be anaemic with a haemoglobin of 100g/L, with a mean cell volume of 71.3fl, and have elevated platelet count of 649x 109/L. Recent computerized tomography scan with contrast of the thorax demonstrated features consistent with Takayasu Arteritis. Marked left subclavian stenosis was found on magnetic resonance imaging. High dose prednisolone at 60mg once daily along with Azathioprine 2mg/kg/day was started with a follow up appointment in two weeks.Conclusion:There is increasing evidence implicating mTB in the development of TA and a few cases recognising this link have been reported. We report a case of TA in a patient recently diagnosed and treated for Tuberculous lymphadenitis who then developed symptoms of TA. There should be a low threshold for suspecting a diagnosis of Takayasu’s arteritis in patients previously or actively infected with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. Further research exploring the relationship between mTB and TA is required.References:[1]Espinoza JL, Ai S, Matsumura I. New Insights on the Pathogenesis of Takayasu Arteritis: Revisiting the Microbial Theory. Pathogens. 2018;7(3):73.[2]Aggarwal A, Chag M, Sinha N, et al. Takayasu’s arteritis: role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its 65 kDa heat shock protein. International Journal of Cardiology. 1996; 55: 49–55.[3]Reshkova V, Kalinova D, Rashkov R. Takayasu’s Arteritis associated with Tuberculosis Infections. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience. 2016; 3:114.[4]Moritz K, Jansson Hilte F, Antje Kangowski, Christian Kneitz, Emil C. Reisinger. Tuberculosis and Takayasu arteritis: case-based review Rheumatology International 2019 39:345–351[5]D Misra, A Wakhlu, V Agarwal, D Danda. Recent advances in the management of Takayasu arteritis International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases 2019; 22: 60–68Disclosure of Interests:None declared


Paleobiology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. 146-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Oliver

The Mesozoic-Cenozoic coral Order Scleractinia has been suggested to have originated or evolved (1) by direct descent from the Paleozoic Order Rugosa or (2) by the development of a skeleton in members of one of the anemone groups that probably have existed throughout Phanerozoic time. In spite of much work on the subject, advocates of the direct descent hypothesis have failed to find convincing evidence of this relationship. Critical points are:(1) Rugosan septal insertion is serial; Scleractinian insertion is cyclic; no intermediate stages have been demonstrated. Apparent intermediates are Scleractinia having bilateral cyclic insertion or teratological Rugosa.(2) There is convincing evidence that the skeletons of many Rugosa were calcitic and none are known to be or to have been aragonitic. In contrast, the skeletons of all living Scleractinia are aragonitic and there is evidence that fossil Scleractinia were aragonitic also. The mineralogic difference is almost certainly due to intrinsic biologic factors.(3) No early Triassic corals of either group are known. This fact is not compelling (by itself) but is important in connection with points 1 and 2, because, given direct descent, both changes took place during this only stage in the history of the two groups in which there are no known corals.


Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meshan Lehmann ◽  
Matthew R. Hilimire ◽  
Lawrence H. Yang ◽  
Bruce G. Link ◽  
Jordan E. DeVylder

Abstract. Background: Self-esteem is a major contributor to risk for repeated suicide attempts. Prior research has shown that awareness of stigma is associated with reduced self-esteem among people with mental illness. No prior studies have examined the association between self-esteem and stereotype awareness among individuals with past suicide attempts. Aims: To understand the relationship between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among young adults who have and have not attempted suicide. Method: Computerized surveys were administered to college students (N = 637). Linear regression analyses were used to test associations between self-esteem and stereotype awareness, attempt history, and their interaction. Results: There was a significant stereotype awareness by attempt interaction (β = –.74, p = .006) in the regression analysis. The interaction was explained by a stronger negative association between stereotype awareness and self-esteem among individuals with past suicide attempts (β = –.50, p = .013) compared with those without attempts (β = –.09, p = .037). Conclusion: Stigma is associated with lower self-esteem within this high-functioning sample of young adults with histories of suicide attempts. Alleviating the impact of stigma at the individual (clinical) or community (public health) levels may improve self-esteem among this high-risk population, which could potentially influence subsequent suicide risk.


Author(s):  
Jesse Schotter

The first chapter of Hieroglyphic Modernisms exposes the complex history of Western misconceptions of Egyptian writing from antiquity to the present. Hieroglyphs bridge the gap between modern technologies and the ancient past, looking forward to the rise of new media and backward to the dispersal of languages in the mythical moment of the Tower of Babel. The contradictory ways in which hieroglyphs were interpreted in the West come to shape the differing ways that modernist writers and filmmakers understood the relationship between writing, film, and other new media. On the one hand, poets like Ezra Pound and film theorists like Vachel Lindsay and Sergei Eisenstein use the visual languages of China and of Egypt as a more primal or direct alternative to written words. But Freud, Proust, and the later Eisenstein conversely emphasize the phonetic qualities of Egyptian writing, its similarity to alphabetical scripts. The chapter concludes by arguing that even avant-garde invocations of hieroglyphics depend on narrative form through an examination of Hollis Frampton’s experimental film Zorns Lemma.


Author(s):  
Ted Geier

Covers the long history of the Smithfield animal market and legal reform in London. Shows the relationship of civic improvement tropes, including animal rights, to animal erasure in the form of new foodstuffs from distant meat production sites. The reduction of lives to commodities also informed public abasement of the butchers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-343
Author(s):  
Fabio Camilletti

It is generally assumed that The Vampyre was published against John Polidori's will. This article brings evidence to support that he played, in fact, an active role in the publication of his tale, perhaps as a response to Frankenstein. In particular, by making use of the tools of textual criticism, it demonstrates how the ‘Extract of a Letter from Geneva’ accompanying The Vampyre in The New Monthly Magazine and in volume editions could not be written without having access to Polidori's Diary. Furthermore, it hypothesizes that the composition of The Vampyre, traditionally located in Geneva in the course of summer 1816, can be postdated to 1818, opening up new possibilities for reading the tale in the context of the relationship between Polidori, Byron, and the Shelleys.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104
Author(s):  
Robert Kiely

A world-ecological perspective of cultural production refuses a dualist conception of nature and society – which imagines nature as an external site of static outputs  – and instead foregrounds the fact that human and extra-human natures are completely intertwined. This essay seeks to reinterpret the satirical writing of a canonical figure within the Irish literary tradition, Brian O'Nolan, in light of the energy history of Ireland, understood as co-produced by both human actors and biophysical nature. How does the energy imaginary of O'Nolan's work refract and mediate the Irish environment and the socio-ecological relations shaping the fuel supply-chains that power the Irish energy regime dominant under the Irish Free State? I discuss the relationship between peat as fuel and Brian O'Nolan's pseudonymous newspaper columns, and indicate how questions about energy regimes and ecology can lead us to read his Irish language novel An Béal Bocht [The Poor Mouth] (1941) in a new light. The moments I select and analyze from O'Nolan's output feature a kind of satire that exposes the folly of separating society from nature, by presenting an exaggerated form of the myth of nature as an infinite resource.


This volume is an interdisciplinary assessment of the relationship between religion and the FBI. We recount the history of the FBI’s engagement with multiple religious communities and with aspects of public or “civic” religion such as morality and respectability. The book presents new research to explain roughly the history of the FBI’s interaction with religion over approximately one century, from the pre-Hoover period to the post-9/11 era. Along the way, the book explores vexed issues that go beyond the particulars of the FBI’s history—the juxtaposition of “religion” and “cult,” the ways in which race can shape the public’s perceptions of religion (and vica versa), the challenges of mediating between a religious orientation and a secular one, and the role and limits of academic scholarship as a way of addressing the differing worldviews of the FBI and some of the religious communities it encounters.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 336-340
Author(s):  
Yasmin Hamzavi Abedi ◽  
Cristina P. Sison ◽  
Punita Ponda

Background: Serum Peanut-specific-IgE (PN-sIgE) and peanut-component-resolved-diagnostics (CRD) are often ordered simultaneously in the evaluation for peanut allergy. Results often guide the plans for peanut oral challenge. However, the clinical utility of CRD at different total PN-sIgE levels is unclear. A commonly used predefined CRD Ara h2 cutoff value in the literature predicting probability of peanut challenge outcomes is 0.35kUA/L. Objective: To examine the utility of CRD in patients with and without a history of clinical reactivity to peanut (PN). Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of 196 children with PN-sIgE and CRD testing, of which, 98 patients had a clinical history of an IgE-mediated reaction when exposed to PN and 98 did not. The Fisher's exact test was used to assess the relationship between CRD and PN-sIgE at different cutoff levels, McNemar test and Gwet’s approach (AC1 statistic) were used to examine agreement between CRD and PN-sIgE, and logistic regression was used to assess differences in the findings between patients with and without reaction history. Results: Ara h 1, 2, 3, or 9 (ARAH) levels ≤0.35 kUA/L were significantly associated with PN-sIgE levels <2 kUA/L rather than ≥2 kUA/L (p < 0.0001). When the ARAH threshold was increased to 1 kUA/L and 2 kUA/L, these thresholds were still significantly associated with PN-sIgE levels of <2, <5, and <14 kUA/L. These findings were not significantly different in patients with and without a history of clinical reactivity. Conclusion: ARAH values correlated with PN-sIgE. Regardless of clinical history, ARAH levels are unlikely to be below 0.35, 1, or 2 kUA/L if the PN-sIgE level is >2 kUA/L. Thus, if possible, practitioners should consider PN-sIgE rather than automatically ordering CRD with PN-sIgE every time. Laboratory procedures that allow automatically and reflexively adding CRD when the PN-sIgE level is ≤5 kUA/L can be helpful. However, further studies are needed in subjects with challenge-proven PN allergy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 374-395
Author(s):  
Rafael Ignacio Estrada Mejia ◽  
Carla Guerrón Guerron Montero

This article aims to decrease the cultural invisibility of the wealthy by exploring the Brazilian emergent elites and their preferred living arrangement: elitist closed condominiums (BECCs) from a micropolitical perspective.  We answer the question: What is the relationship between intimacy and subjectivity that is produced in the collective mode of existence of BECCs? To do so, we trace the history of the elite home, from the master’s house (casa grande) to contemporary closed condominiums. Following, we discuss the features of closed condominiums as spaces of segregation, fragmentation and social distinction, characterized by minimal public life and an internalized sociability. Finally, based on ethnographic research conducted in the mid-size city of Londrina (state of Paraná) between 2015 and 2017, we concentrate on four members of the emergent elite who live in BECCs, addressing their collective production of subjectivity. 


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