Adiaspiromycosis of human skin caused by Emmonsia crescens

Two cases of cutaneous adiaspiromycosis by Emmonsia crescens are reported. This is the first human skin infection by this species and is the first report of its kind in man from India. In the first patient, the agent was demonstrated in KOH mounts, histology and culture from irregular, pigmented skin plaques on the right gluteal area. The lesion also contained calcium. In the second patient the fungus was demonstrated histologically in a knee lesion. The agent had elicited a histiocytic and giant cell reaction in the dermis in both cases. The first patient suffered from anaemia and epilepsy and the second suffered from nephropathy with chyluria. The skin lesions were surgically excised with skin grafting in the first patient.     

The effect of zygotic bud position on the transmission of mitochondrial genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Summary Segregation of mitochondrial genomes in yeast zygotes has been investigated by partial pedigree analysis of crosses involving the markers cap, ery, oli1 and par. The results demonstrate that the segregation pattern of markers is non-random during the first zygote generation and is directly related to slow mixing of the zygote cytoplasm. We have observed that a first bud may be formed at the center or either end of the dumbbell-shaped zygote. Cytoplasmic mixing is particularly slow in those zygotes producing first end buds.Clones derived from first end buds are usually pure (or nearly so) for a parental genotype and so detectable recombination of mitochondrial markers is reduced in these zygotes. Cells derived from a zygote after removal of a first end bud are predominantly of the other parental genotype. This observation suggests that a large fraction of the available segregating units enters each first bud and illustrates one means of obtaining complete segregation (even in multi-factor crosses) at the first generation. First center buds generally receive mitochondrial markers from both parents and the recombination frequency in such clones (and the clones derived from isolated first center buds) is significantly higher than in similar clones from zygotes with first end buds. Therefore, the distribution of first bud positions within a population of zygotes can influence the recombination frequency between mitochondrial loci. The delay in cytoplasmic mixing in combination with certain patterns of zygotic budding can distort the relationship between input of mitochondrial genomes and the output of a cross.The phage analogy model of yeast mitochondrial genetics has been re-examined in light of these data. The assumption of rapid panmixis is not supported by the data from any of the crosses analyzed here. Since panmixis is most closely approximated in zygotes with first center buds, crosses with predominantly zygotes of that type may be the ones where the model is most applicable.     

A fossil fern indicator of epiphytism in a Tertiary flora

The first known indicator of probable fern epiphytism in the Tertiary fossil record is documented from the Eocene London Clay of southeast England. This pyritised fern rachis exhibits major deviation from the basic form of petiolar vascular trace morphology shown by the other London Clay fossil ferns and is here attributed to the Polypodiaceae. This represents the first known occurrence of this family in the London Clay macroflora, and brings the total of distinct fern rachis types from the Lower Tertiary of southeast England to six. The significance of this find is interpreted in relation to its probable origins from a tropical rainforest palaeoflora in which it is proposed that this specimen represents the first occurrence of an epiphytic component.     

Dicyemennea canadensis n. sp. (phylum Dicyemida) from Bathypolypus arcticus (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Octopoda)

Dicyemennea canadensis n. sp. is described from a bathyal octopus collected off Canada in the Bay of Fundy. The dicyemid is a small species that rarely exceeds 600 microm in length. The vermiform stages are further characterized as having 17-23 peripheral cells, a conical-shaped calotte, an axial cell that extends to the base of the propoplar cells, and no abortive axial cells. Infusoriform embryos consist of 37 cells. There is 1 nucleus in each urn cell, and refringent bodies are absent. This is the first dicyemid to be described from the cephalopod Bathypolypus arcticus (Prosch. 1847), and the first dicyemid reported from Canada. In addition, it is the first species of Dicyemennea from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean to be described.     

Effects of Shading the First Leaf on Growth of Barley Plants: II. Effects on Photosynthesis

The contributions made by photosynthesis in the first leaf toseedling growth have been examined by a variety of methods includinginfra-red gas analysis and the use of ¹⁴CO₂. The first leafis fully expanded by day 8 and maximal rates of photosynthesisare achieved about I day later. Up to day 8 growth of the seedlingsresults from the redistribution of seed reserves and once theseare exhausted growth is dependent upon the first leaf, beingreduced to very low levels if this is shaded. The second leafwhich begins to expand rapidly after day 10 is contributingto growth by day 14, and the contribution from the first leafbegins to decline after day 12. Apart from greatly reducing photosynthesis in treated leaves,shade also affects the development of photosynthetic capacity.When applied for 2 days or more from day 6, shade reduces thepeak level of carbon fixation achieved on days 9 and 10 by upto 35 per cent. It is shown that development of the first leafin terms of increased dry weight and photosynthetic capacity,is dependent on photosynthesis in the developing leaf itself.The mechanisms by which shading affects development are discussed.     

三白草科花部发育及其系统学意义

本研究从比较三白草科属间小花个体发育及分析花器官数量变异入手,探寻花器官在发生顺序、数目变化及排列方式等方面的演化趋势,揭示系统发育在个体发育中一定程度重现的事实及属间的进化关系。结果简述如下:首先,雄蕊和心皮发生顺序由中部优先演化到两侧优先。其次,由于远中雄蕊和心皮经历了从发育延迟、生长减缓到最终消失的历程,中部雄蕊和心皮由成对演化为单生。此外,两侧生雄蕊对由各自独立的原基发生演化到共同原基发生或减化为1枚,假银莲花属近中1枚雄蕊原基二裂成1对,蕺菜属3枚心皮发生于一环状共同原基等,都是该科花器官演化的重要事实并可归结为融合、减化和复化的结果。文章根据花器官的演化趋势及过渡类型的剖析,论述了三白草科属间的系统进化关系。     

Conodontos carboníferos de la sección del río Cares (Unidad de Picos de Europa, Zona Cantábrica, NO de España)

The first Carboniferous conodonts studied from the Cares river section correspond to fifteen species and one subspecies from seven genera, some of them reported from the Picos de Europa Unit for the first time. The conodonts belong to several zones between the upper Tournaisian and the upper Serpukhovian-lower Bashkirian. Furthermore, the species Idiognathodus incurvus Dunn is reported for the first time in the Cantabrian Mountains and southern Europe, from upper Bashkirian or lower Moscovian beds.     

Analysis of circular dichroism spectra of homopurine: homopyrimidine DNA's for sequence information and comparison of results with heterobase DNA

Procedures are developed which make a first neighbor frequency analysis possible from a CD spectrum of homopyrimidine: homopurine DNA's. The contribution to the CD spectrum from the various first neighbor frequencies present in homopyrimidine: homopurine-type DNA's has been determined, and hence the CD spectrum for any DNA of this type with known first neighbor frequencies can easily be calculated. An identical analysis is presented for the determination of extinction coefficients. It is further shown that unlike the more usual heteropurine–pyrimidine DNA's a random sequence does not lead to a simplified formalism. Finally, it is concluded that the homopyrimidine: homopurine DNA's have a structure that is different from that of the more usual heterobase DNA's. A procedure capable of determining first neighbor frequencies from a CD spectrum for heterobase and/or homopurine: homopyrimidine DNA's is described. This procedure is used to determine that there is only minimal interference between these two types of DNA in the first neighbor analysis.     

New data on the composition and distribution of the genus Leptomona Bechyné, 1958 (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae)

The leaf-beetle Leptomona russica (Gmelin, 1790) known from the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, and Middle Asia was found in Orenburg Province for the first time. It is the first record of this species from Europe and the first record of the genus Leptomona from European Russia. The diagnostic characters of the two Russian Leptomona species are included.     

中国逍遥蛛科化石新属种（蜘蛛目，逍遥蛛科）

记述产自中国辽西的逍遥蛛科化石1新属：白垩逍遥蛛属Cretadromus gen．nov．,1新种：辽宁白垩逍遥蛛Cretadromus liaoningensis sp．nov．：这是逍遥蛛科化石在中国的首次发现,也是逍遥蛛科在晚侏罗世-早白垩世的首次报道。标本采白辽宁省凌源市大王杖子晚侏罗世-早白垩世义县组地层,现存于大连自然博物馆：     

The first mitosis of the mouse embryo is prolonged by transitional metaphase arrest

The first mitosis of the mouse embryo is almost twice as long as the second. The mechanism of the prolongation of the first mitosis remains unknown, and it is not clear whether prometaphase or metaphase or both are prolonged. Prometaphase is characterized by dynamic chromosome movements and spindle assembly checkpoint activity, which prevents anaphase until establishment of stable kinetochore-microtubule connections. The end of prometaphase is correlated with checkpoint inactivation and disappearance of MAD2L1 (MAD2) and RSN (CLIP-170) proteins from kinetochores. Spindle assembly checkpoint operates during the early mouse mitoses, but it is not clear whether it influences their duration. Here, we determine the length of prometaphases and metaphases during the first two embryonic mitoses by time-lapse video recording of chromosomes and by immunolocalization of MAD2L1 and RSN proteins. We show that the duration of the two prometaphases does not differ and that MAD2L1 and RSN disappear from kinetochores very early during each mitosis. The first metaphase is significantly longer than the second one. Therefore, the prolongation of the first embryonic mitosis is due to a prolonged metaphase, and the spindle assembly checkpoint cannot be involved in this process. We show also that MAD2L1 staining disappears gradually from kinetochores of oocytes arrested at metaphase of the second meiotic division. This shows a striking similarity between the first embryonic mitosis and metaphase arrest in oocytes. We postulate that the first embryonic mitosis is prolonged by a transient metaphase arrest that is independent of the spindle assembly checkpoint and is similar to metaphase II arrest. The molecular mechanism of this transient arrest remains to be elucidated.     

First record of the Brassy Chub Kyphosus vaigiensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) in the Eastern Mediterranean (Osteichthyes: Perciformes: Kyphosidae)

The Brassy Chub, Kyphosus vaigiensis, first recorded in the Mediterranean in 1998, is reported herein from the coast of Israel. The identity of the specimen was confirmed by morphological and molecular analysis. This is the first record of K. vaigiensis from the Eastern Mediterranean. The possible origins of the Israeli record is discussed.     

Leader of the pack: faecal pellet deposition order impacts PCR amplification in wombats

DNA sourced from faeces is notoriously less reliable than that from tissue. Hence, understanding whether faecal pellet quality varies within faecal piles may be important for sample selection. We hypothesized that the order in which faecal pellets are deposited may influence microsatellite polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification success from sampled faeces, more specifically, that first pellets deposited will have signatures of greater success than later ones. In a first test of the hypothesis, first and later-deposited pellets, as determined from the direction of footprints, were collected from fresh (overnight) faecal piles of northern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus krefftii). DNA extracts were typed for seven microsatellite loci. We found that faecal deposition order significantly affected optical density of bands on autoradiographs (a measure of PCR amplification success) when the first faecal pellet was compared with the last one, but not when the first pellet was only distinguishable from later ones. The absence of a difference in amplification rate between first and later pellets is likely a reflection of the overall high amplification success in this study. That first pellets deposited yield more product suggests they contain more intestinal cells. Although further comparisons are needed, these results may inform sample selection in species for which success of microsatellite PCR amplification of faecal DNA is low. Deposition order may have more of an impact on amplification success and genotyping errors as faecal age increases.     

First passage time problem for a drifted Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process

We consider a continuous stochastic process defined as a drifted Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, for which the first passage time is of interest. The process being non-homogeneous, the first passage time probability density function cannot be found analytically, but numerical methods enable to find its estimate. Estimating the first passage time implies solving an unsteady convection-diffusion equation, with variable coefficients, and we use an implicit Euler scheme to solve it. This work is applied to simulated data, and the continuous process is inspired from recent work on biological marker modelling for HIV-positive patients. The first passage time probability density function can be useful to compare the marker progression in different groups. Numerical results show that the first passage time is highly dependent from the process perturbation, and is then more relevant than methods not considering the stochastic process directly to compare the progression.     

Heterophyes species in Greece: record of H. heterophyes, H. aequalis and H. dispar from the first intermediate host, Pirenella conica

Heterophyes heterophyes is reported for the first time from the snail host Pirenella conica in Greece. H. aequalis and H. dispar are reported for the first time from Greece and from Europe. The results presented, together with the available data on necropsies of dogs and cats, human infections and the biotope preference of the snail, suggest that Greece is an important focus of infection in Europe.     

Metroliasthes lucida in the eastern wild turkey from Rhode Island

The cestode, Metroliasthes lucida, is reported for the first time from the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) in Rhode Island, United States; this is the first published record from New England. One of eight birds examined was infected with 10 cestodes.     

猕猴桃优良株系果实生长发育规律研究

猕猴桃果实生长发育过程可分为三个时期。(1)迅速增长期:中华猕猴桃大约从4月中旬至6月上旬;美味猕猴桃大约从4月底或5月初至6月中下旬。(2)缓慢增长期:中华猕猴桃约自6月上旬至7月下旬;美味猕猴桃自6月下旬至7月下旬。(3)停滞增长期:中华猕猴桃从7月下旬至8月底或9月初;美味猕猴桃自8月上旬至9月上中旬。 中华猕猴桃优株果实可溶性固形物含量增长过程可分为四个阶段:(1)微升增长阶段,持续时间5周左右;(2)活跃增长阶段,持续2周左右;(3)迅速增长阶段,持续2周左右;(4)渐缓增长阶段。美味猕猴桃优株及绿果猕猴桃果实固形物含量增大变化的阶段性不明显。     

Seasonal antler cycle in a herd of pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) in Uruguay

To describe the yearling antler cycle of pampas deer bucks (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) 22 bucks and 72 antler cycles have been studied in a semi-captive population. Date of individual antler cast, first day on which the brow and the trez tine were observed, and day of the velvet shedding were registered. Time intervals (days) between first and second antler casts, between first antler cast and the brow tine observation, between brow and trez tines observation and from first antler cast to velvet shedding were calculated. The brow and the trez tine were first observed 22.8±0.6 and 45.9±0.9 days after the first antler cast. Velvet shedding was observed 103.3±2.1 days after the first antler cast. Both antlers casts were observed earlier in adult cycle bucks than in first antler bucks, although the interval between both casts was not different. The interval from the brow tine observation to the trez tine observation was shorter in first antler cycle bucks than in adults. As in other deer species, antler cycle was seasonal, but persistence of cycle-to-cycle antler growth well into adulthood is different from what occurs in most deer species.     

The final stages of spliceosome maturation require Spp2p that can interact with the DEAH box protein Prp2p and promote step 1 of splicing.

Pre-mRNA processing occurs by assembly of splicing factors on the substrate to form the spliceosome followed by two consecutive RNA cleavage-ligation reactions. The Prp2 protein hydrolyzes ATP and is required for the first reaction (Yean SL, Lin RJ, 1991, Mol Cell Biol 11:5571-5577; Kim SH, Smith J, Claude A, Lin RJ, 1992, EMBO J 11:2319-2326). The Saccharomyces cerevisiae SPP2 gene was previously identified as a high-copy suppressor of temperature-sensitive prp2 mutants (Last RL, Maddock JR, Woolford JL Jr, 1987, Genetics 117:619-631). We have characterized the function of Spp2p in vivo and in vitro. Spp2p is an essential protein required for the first RNA cleavage reaction in vivo. Depletion of Spp2p from yeast cells results in accumulation of unspliced pre-mRNAs. A temperature-sensitive spp2-1 mutant accumulates pre-mRNAs in vivo and is unable to undergo the first splicing reaction in vitro. However, spliceosomal complexes are assembled in extracts prepared from the mutant. We show that Spp2p function is required after spliceosome assembly but prior to the first reaction. Spp2p associates with the spliceosome before the first RNA cleavage reaction and is likely to be released from the spliceosome following ATP hydrolysis by Prp2p. The Prp2 and Spp2 proteins are capable of physically interacting with each other. These results suggest that Spp2p interacts with Prp2p in the spliceosome prior to the first cleavage-ligation reaction. Spp2p is the first protein that has been found to interact with a DEAD/H box splicing factor.