Estimating the Postmortem Interval of Carcasses in the Water Using the Carrion Insect, Brain Tissue RNA, Bacterial Biofilm, and Algae

The accurate estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) is crucial in the investigation of homicide cases. Unlike carcasses on land, various biological and abiotic factors affect the decomposition of carcasses in water. In addition, the insect evidence (e.g., blow flies) that is commonly used to estimate the PMI are unavailable before the carcasses float on water. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the PMI of a carcass in water. This study aimed to explore an effective way of estimating the PMI of a carcass in water. Carrion insects, brain tissue RNA, bacterial biofilm on the skin surface, and algae in water with PMI were studied using 45 rat carcasses in a small river. The results showed that carrion insects might not be suitable for the estimation of PMI of a carcass in water since they do not have a regular succession pattern as a carcass on land, and the flies only colonized six of the carcasses. The target genes (β-actin, GAPDH, and 18S) in the brain tissue were associated with the PMI in a time-dependent manner within 1 week after death. A polynomial regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the gene expression profiles and PMI. The correlation coefficient R2 of each regression equation was ≥ 0.924. A third-generation sequencing analysis showed that the bacteria on the skin surface of the carcass and the algae in the water samples around the carcass had a regular succession pattern, where Cryptomonas and Placoneis incased and decreased, respectively, within first 9 days. The results of this study provide a promising way to use the brain tissue RNA, bacterial biofilm, and algae to estimate the PMI of a carcass in water.

Causation

This chapter explores the notion of causation involved in the central Buddhist thesis of dependent origination, the thesis that the existence of a person just consists in the occurrence of a causal series of impersonal, impermanent psychophysical elements. It is claimed that as this thesis undergoes philosophical elaboration and development, the underlying notion of causal determination is subjected to a process of dehomuncularization: anthropomorphic elements of the folk notion of causation are stripped away, leaving in its place no more than the notion of regular succession across the Humean mosaic. The Abhidharma doctrine of four conditions is examined and compared to Aristotle’s doctrine of four causes. There is also discussion of an Abhidharma controversy concerning whether cause and effect may be simultaneous.

Communities of Ditylenchus Destructor Satellite Species of Nematodes in Infected Potato Tubers: Species Composition of Phytonematode Complex and the Structure of their Infracommunities

Within September–April 2016–2017 potato tubers affected by the potato rot nematode Ditylenchus destructor were selected in the potato storage facilities of the Institute of Potato Production of NAAS. 18 species of phytonematodes were identified, including an edificator species of microparasitocenosis and 17 satellite species of this pathogenic phytohelminth, mycohelminths (6 species) and saprobiotic nematodes (11 species). These phytonematodes are representatives of two orders, Rhabditida (11 species from 4 families) and Tylenchida (7 species from 4 families). Nematodes that are part of the group formed by D. destructor and its satellite species are divided into five groups according to quantitative indicators (the prevalence of invasion P and intensity of invasion I). The dominant is one species — D. destructor. Satellite species of D. destructor are divided into four groups, these are subdominants (4 species) and common species (3 species), which together with the dominant species form the core of the group, as well as rare (6) and accidental (4). It was shown that in the course of the disease a regular succession occurs, the species composition of phytonematodes, the grouping structure, the relationship between the number of species of various trophic groups, and the number of certain species change. There are five stages in the course of the disease, from D. destructor colonisation of the tuber, the penetration of the mycohelminths and saprobionts into the focus of the disease, and the disappearance of D. destructor. The maximum number of D. destructor occurs at stage III, mycohelminths — at stage IV, and saprobiotic nematodes — at stage V. Infracommunities consist of from two to seven species. The distribution of all the studied tubers by the number of species in the infracommunity is close to normal, most often 3–4 species of nematodes were found, several species of nematodes of the same genus are extremely rare in a particular infracommunity.

Monte commune – debt ascend. The origin of the global system contradiction ‘creditors – debtors’

The article was first to show that the forerunner of the local contradiction ‘creditors – debtors’ transformation into its global system form was a regular succession of historical events, among which building-up a debt pyramid (debt ascend) acts as a powerful system driver in the field of social, economic and legal relations. In contrast to many fundamental works dealing with the theory of credit and money debt (a stable historical phenomenon) is described as an immanent form of the system contradiction. The mechanism of spreading the global system contradiction ‘creditors – debtors’ in its fundamental social, economic and legal forms predetermines today the process of transforming the local phenomenon ‘debt’ and shaping related interests in the global phenomenon ‘one-polar world and geo-economic factors’ impact on the process of spreading the global system contradiction ‘creditors – debtors’ the author identifies key protection mechanisms, including finance (institutions, tools, procedures). These protection mechanisms are meant for consideration and adoption by the authorized body, i. e. the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Among the mentioned mechanisms two should be highlighted. The primary task is to develop on the basis of system approach methodology mechanisms of asymmetric response to repressions carried out by geo-economic and geo-political opponents of Russia. The task of paramount importance is the development of mechanisms providing necessary conditions for shaping the national elite in the field of politics, science, culture, corporate and state governance.

Breathing pattern during sequential swallowing in healthy adult humans

Sequential liquid swallowing is a common daily occurrence during which coordination of deglutition and breathing are highly regulated to avoid pulmonary aspiration and to maintain hematosis. We studied the effects of sequential water swallowing (SWS) at fixed swallowing rates and with regular succession of swallows on respiration in healthy subjects. Thirty-one normal adults (19 men, 12 women) with a mean age of 27.96 ± 3.68 yr were explored at rest and during SWS (at 12 and 24 swallows/min). Respiration was recorded by intranasal air pressure changes and timing of deglutition by an acoustic method. Oxygen saturation [arterial O2 saturation from pulse oximetry ([Formula: see text])] was monitored with a finger probe. During SWS, we determined the respiratory phase (inspiration or expiration) before and after each ingestion cycle (IC; period of sustained apnea including 1 or more swallows). We also measured inspiratory time (TI), expiratory time (TE), respiratory cycle duration (TT), respiratory rate (RR) and [Formula: see text] at rest and during SWS. We showed that respiration was interrupted by sequential swallows determining a succession of ICs that were often preceded and followed by expiration. During SWS, TI decreased and TE increased compared with rest ( P < 0.01). However, TT, RR, and [Formula: see text] did not change. It seems that the preferential coupling of swallowing with expiration during SWS is favored by an increase in TE to ensure airway protection, although the repetitive swallows, RR, and [Formula: see text] were not altered during SWS. These data may be useful to study the effects of aging and pathological conditions on swallowing and breathing coordination during SWS. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Sequential water swallowing induces ingestion cycles that are often preceded and followed by expiration. Moreover, inspiratory time decreases and expiratory time increases during sequential swallowing compared with rest without changes in ventilatory cycle duration, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation.

Poetics of Emotive Prose: In Search of Hidden Senses

It is well known that literary works of high artistic value tend to leave their readers with a whole range of impressions which cannot be attributes to the plot or figures of speech. Sources of such emotive and intellectual impact are often difficult to account for if one is guided only by the adopted mode of discourse analysis. Proceeding from R. Jacobson’s conception of poetics of emotive prose as the unity of sense and sound the paper sets out to show that frame semantics might prove to be instrumental in the study of linguistic mechanisms producing additional, and, possibly, otherwise obscure, senses in discourse. The investigation presented concentrates on cognitive structures representing knowledge of sound as part of the knowledge of the world. Two types of frames are considered. First, there are frames standing for fragments of reality where sound constitutes the periphery of the frame structure representing information accompanying an event. Such frames underlie the ‘story’ forming the plot of a text of fiction. The significance of sound in this case lies in the fact that the mention of sound alone helps to restore the rest of the frame in the reader’s mind thus evoking an all round picture of what is described. Besides, sound effects contribute to imagery creating mood and atmosphere. Second, the study of hidden sound frames might give an insight into “the way the author’s voice sounds” that is into the author’s manner of telling a tale. The frames of the second type refer to metadiscourse, i.e. the part of discourse organizing the presentation of the ‘story’ to the reader. Sound effects of the second type are imitative in nature and depend on the language the text is written in. In English one of the most common patterns is a regular succession of long and short vowels in an utterance. The pattern is illustrated by examples taken from ‘Cat in the Rain’ by E. Hemingway where a patterned alternation of monosyllabic words with short and long vowels or diphthongs is used to create the impression of the sound of raindrops rattling on the ground. In the Russian language text of emotive prose metadiscursive sound effects stem mainly from the use of syllabic structures. The investigation revealed that ascending arrangement of words consisting of two, three, four, and five syllables as well as corresponding descending arrangement is frequently used in M. Bulgakov’s story of Pontius Pilate in “Master and Margaret”, thus distinguishing it from the rest of the text. This rhythmic device is quite common in Russian poetry, and one might conclude that it is one of the elements performing the poetic function in emotive prose. The paper points at the study of quantitative frames in emotive prose as a perspective of further research since quantitative information (numerals) are part of numerous frames representing knowledge of time, action, and events of the world.

Genome-wide measurement of local nucleosome array regularity and spacing by nanopore sequencing

The nature of chromatin as regular succession of nucleosomes has gained iconic status. However, since most nucleosomes in metazoans are poorly positioned it is unknown to which extent the bulk genomic nucleosome repeat length (NRL) reflects the regularity and spacing of nucleosome arrays at individual loci. We describe a new approach to map nucleosome array regularity and spacing through sequencing oligonucleosome-derived DNA by Illumina sequencing as well as emergent nanopore-technology. This revealed modulation of array regularity and NRL depending on functional chromatin states independently of nucleosome phasing and even in unmappable regions. We also found that nucleosome arrays downstream of silent promoters are considerably more regular than those downstream of highly expressed ones, despite more extensive nucleosome phasing of the latter. Our approach is generally applicable and provides an important parameter of chromatin organisation that so far had been missing.

On a Nonstationary Route Problem with Constraints

The extremal route problem of permutations under constraints in the form of preceding conditions is investigated. It is supposed that an executer leaves the initial point (the base) after which he visits a system of megalopolises (finite goal sets) and performs some work on each megalopolis. The cost functions for executor permutations and interior works depend on the “visiting moment” that can correspond to the real time or can also correspond to the natural regular succession (the first visiting, the second visiting, and so on). An economic variant of the widely interpreted dynamic programming method (DPM) is constructed. On this basis an optimal computer realized algorithm is constructed. A variant of a greed algorithm is proposed.

Does the brain “initiate” freely willed processes? A philosophy of science critique of Libet-type experiments and their interpretation

In the extensive, recent debates on free will, the pioneering experiments by Benjamin Libet continue to play a significant role. It is often claimed that these experiments demonstrate the illusory nature of freely willed actions. In this article, we provide a detailed analysis and evaluation of Libet’s experiments from a philosophy of science perspective. Our analysis focuses on Libet’s central notion of the “initiation” of freely willed processes by the brain. We examine four interpretations of the notion of initiation: in terms of a cause, a necessary condition, a correlation, and a regular succession. We argue that none of these four interpretations can be supported by the design and results of Libet’s experiments. In addition, we analyze two recent Libet-type experiments. Our general conclusion is that neither Libet’s original experiments nor later Libet-type experiments can justify the claim that allegedly freely willed processes are in fact initiated by the brain.

The origin of sex and the nature of species

By sex in eukaryotes, we understand a more-or-less regular succession of meiosis and syngamy. A natural consequence of this is the alternation of haploid and diploid phases in the life cycle. Eukaryotic sex significantly differs from prokaryotic sex in two crucial respects: the cellular mechanisms are quite different, and the transfer of genetic material in prokaryotes is less frequent and more localized (Maynard Smith et al., 1991). However, there seems to be significant continuity in the molecular mechanisms: sex in either case requires recombination enzymes, many of which are active in repair of damaged DNA as well. Thus, it seems plausible that recombinational repair was a preadaptation for sexual recombination. We mention in passing that there is a theory that selection for the recombinational repair of doublestrand DNA damage is responsible for the current maintenance of eukaryotic sex (Bernstein et al., 1981, 1988), but there are severe theoretical as well as factual problems with this theory; we will mention some factual difficulties later. Although an alternation of haploid and diploid phases follows from sex, a clue to the origin problem may lie in the idea that this alternation existed before the evolution of sexual recombination proper. The first hint that this may have been so comes from the classic paper by Cleveland (1947), where he proposed that the haploid-diploid cycle may have started with a spontaneous diploidization by endomitosis: that is, without syngamy. His suggestions were based on original observations on primitive flagellates (hypermastigotes and polymastigotes). Among them, Barbulanympha has a regular endomitosis-meiosis cycle. Margulis & Sagan (1986) called renewed attention to Cleveland’s ideas. In particular, they argued that the alternation of ploidy phases could have a primarily ecological explanation: if the environment alternates in some important factors, this may drive a haploid-diploid cycle, provided the phases are adaptations to different environments. For example, diploids have a smaller relative surface area than haploids, which may confer higher metabolic efficiency. We shall come back to such ideas soon. We focus first on the possible cellular mechanisms connecting the two phases. It is important that some protists have a one-step rather than a two-step meiosis: after syngamy, the two homologous chromosomes become disjunct without premeiotic doubling.