Glomerular and proximal tubular lesions due to inulin in rabbits,as seen by electron microscopy

Résumé La microscopie électronique a permis d'observer des lésions du glomérule et du tube proximal, après administration intraveineuse d'inuline chez les lapins: nombreux macrophages dans les anses glomérulaires, tuméfaction endothéliale, tuméfaction épithéliale avec soudure des pédicelles; nécrose des cellules épithéliales du tube proximal.La poursuite de cette étude devrait établir définitivement si l'emploi de l'inuline est contre-indiqué dans l'exploration fonctionnelle rénale.     

First record of the genus Tanaostigma (Hymenoptera,Chalcidoidea, Tanaostigmatidae) from the Afrotropical region with description of three new species

ABSTRACT

The genus Tanaostigma is newly recorded from the Afrotropical region and three new species are described: Tanaostigma lasallei van Noort sp. nov. (South Africa), Tanaostigma mulu van Noort sp. nov. (Kenya) and Tanaostigma ukumbusho van Noort sp. nov. (Kenya). We provide comprehensive images of the holotypes and an illustrated identification key to the African species. New country distribution records are provided for Tanaostigmodes tambotis Prinsloo & LaSalle, 1995. All images presented here as well as supplementary images and online keys are available on www.waspweb.org

www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:61D1A59D-3702-480A-B146-73067C29CD82     

Review of galactic and extragalactic searches for class I methanol masers

Class I methanol masers are important tools for investigations of star formation throughout the Universe. Recently, a series of surveys for class I methanol masers at the 95 GHz transition toward samples of young stellar objects have been undertaken. These surveys have resulted in the detection of about 200 new class I methanol masers and combined with previous increased the number of known observations they have class I methanol masers in our Galaxy to ~400. From analysis of the relationship between class I methanol maser emission and associated astrophysical objects, it has been shown that the intensity of the class I methanol maser emission is closely correlated with the properties of the 1.1 mm Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey （BGPS） dust continuum sources and outflow properties. This further supports the hypothesis that class I methanol masers are collisionally pumped and excited in shocked regions. Based on these observations, it can be inferred that the BGPS catalog is likely to provide more reliable samples for targeting further class I methanol maser searches. A new survey for class I methanol masers toward a larger size sample of BGPS sources to test this is currently underway. The prospects for detecting class I methanol megamasers in extragalactic sources is discussed, and observations constituting the first sensitive search have been proposed.     

解磷青霉菌的筛选及其对农作物和牧草的增产作用

青霉菌是大多数土壤微生物群体中的成员。许多青霉菌具有生物防治功能、分解土壤矿物功能(包括解磷作用)以及能够分泌植物生长刺激物质。研究利用这些真菌来增加作物产量由此受到注意。本文介绍从土壤中分离、鉴定青霉菌、青霉菌的解磷作用以及对植物生长的刺激作用的研究方法以及策略。从澳大利亚的14种不同的农业土壤中分离并鉴定了解磷的青霉菌。某些菌株具有商业化价值,特别适合在碱性土壤中使用。这些菌株包括一个Penicillium bilaiae以及尚未鉴定的青霉菌种类。     

Improved Classification for Compositional Data Using the <Emphasis Type="Italic">α</Emphasis>-transformation

In compositional data analysis, an observation is a vector containing nonnegative values, only the relative sizes of which are considered to be of interest. Without loss of generality, a compositional vector can be taken to be a vector of proportions that sum to one. Data of this type arise in many areas including geology, archaeology, biology, economics and political science. In this paper we investigate methods for classification of compositional data. Our approach centers on the idea of using the α-transformation to transform the data and then to classify the transformed data via regularized discriminant analysis and the k-nearest neighbors algorithm. Using the α-transformation generalizes two rival approaches in compositional data analysis, one (when α=1) that treats the data as though they were Euclidean, ignoring the compositional constraint, and another (when α = 0) that employs Aitchison’s centered log-ratio transformation. A numerical study with several real datasets shows that whether using α = 1 or α = 0 gives better classification performance depends on the dataset, and moreover that using an intermediate value of α can sometimes give better performance than using either 1 or 0.     

Triple Task Method: Systemic, Reflective Action Research

This brief article introduces a new methodology for systemic action research—Triple Task (TT)—and sets out its rationale and initial progress in becoming an embedded method for group working. Arising from the authors previous work with soft systems approaches, the Imagine method for sustainable development assessment and action research in a variety of global locations, TT provides a means for groups to engage together in purposive work and, at the same time, for facilitators to understand how the dynamic of the group influences the groups output. TT is based on an ambitious concept and at the time of writing the results of TT applied in the context of an EU Framework 7 funded project are in their early stages but importantly, significant insights are already arising including the answers to some puzzling questions:

• Do purposeful groups always produce the most insightful outcomes?
• Do conflictual groups produce incoherent results?
• What makes a ‘good’ group?

     

Quantitative reactivity profiling predicts functional cysteines in proteomes

Cysteine is the most intrinsically nucleophilic amino acid in proteins, where its reactivity is tuned to perform diverse biochemical functions. The absence of a consensus sequence that defines functional cysteines in proteins has hindered their discovery and characterization. Here we describe a proteomics method to profile quantitatively the intrinsic reactivity of cysteine residues en masse directly in native biological systems. Hyper-reactivity was a rare feature among cysteines and it was found to specify a wide range of activities, including nucleophilic and reductive catalysis and sites of oxidative modification. Hyper-reactive cysteines were identified in several proteins of uncharacterized function, including a residue conserved across eukaryotic phylogeny that we show is required for yeast viability and is involved in iron-sulphur protein biogenesis. We also demonstrate that quantitative reactivity profiling can form the basis for screening and functional assignment of cysteines in computationally designed proteins, where it discriminated catalytically active from inactive cysteine hydrolase designs.