Autocommunication and Perceptual Markers in Landscape: Japanese Examples

Juri Lotman distinguishes between two main types of communication. In addition to the classical I-YOU communication, he speaks about I-I communication, where both the addresser and the addressee are one and the same person. Contrary to how it sounds, autocommunication is not self-sufficient musing inside one’s self, it is remodelling oneself through a code from an entity outside oneself, be it animate or inanimate. According to Lotman, it is often the rhythmical phenomena like poetry, the rhythm of waves, etc. that lend themselves for the act of autocommunication as external codes. After having received the message one is not identical to the original oneself anymore. Perceptual markers of landscape—specific rhythms, ephemera, the rhythm of human everyday activities, bodily movement—can be considered as a secondary code leading to autocommunication in the person who contemplates the landscape. Looking at the landscape—which also implies the rhythmical movement of the eyes—one uses it as a code to reconstitute oneself. A person who has confronted a landscape does not leave it as the same person. The present article poses a definition of autocommunication in landscapes and discusses the way in which other sensorial information apart from the visual—smell, movement, rhythms etc—are used culturally to reinforce autocommunication with oneself. It can be said that several institutionalised religious and cultural practices expect the subject to reconstitute him- or herself mainly through the bodily landscape experience.     

Cryptic gametic interactions confer both conspecific and heterospecific advantages in the Chrysochus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) hybrid zone

Most species pairs are isolated through the collective action of a suite of barriers. Recent work has shown that cryptic barriers such as conspecific sperm precedence can be quite strong, suggesting that they evolve quickly. However, because the strength of multiple barriers has been formally quantified in very few systems, the relative speed with which conspecific sperm precedence evolves remains unclear. Here, we measure the strength of both conspecific sperm precedence and cryptic non-competitive isolation between the hybridizing sister species, Chrysochus auratus and C. cobaltinus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), and compare the strength of those barriers to the strength of other known reproductive barriers in this system. Overall, cryptic barriers in this system are weaker than other barriers, indicating that they have not evolved rapidly. Furthermore, their evolution has been asymmetric. Non-competitive barriers substantially reduce the production of hybrid offspring by C. auratus females but not by C. cobaltinus females. In multiply-mated C. cobaltinus females, heterospecific sperm outcompete conspecific sperm, as evidenced by the fact that heterospecific males sired disproportionately more offspring than predicted from the results for singly-mated females. In C. auratus females, neither sperm type has a competitive advantage. Such asymmetries explain why nearly all F1 hybrids in the field are from crosses between C. cobaltinus females and C. auratus males. We discuss these findings in terms of understanding the cost of mating 'mistakes' in the Chrysochus hybrid zone. In addition, our discovery that 95% confidence intervals for commonly-used isolation statistics can be very wide has important implications for speciation research. Specifically, to avoid biases in the interpretation of such isolation metrics, we suggest that studies should routinely include error estimates in their analyses of reproductive isolation.     

Shunt in the diagnosis of initial lung lesion in smokers

Cigarette smoking is an important risk factor for all respiratory tract diseases. Unfortunately, the symptoms develop slowly, thus patients feel the consequences of the slowly developing inflammation too late. The inflammation first develops in the area of respiratory bronchioles. In this stage, the disease is asymptomatic. The study included a sample of 31 smokers, mean age 36.38 years, with normal spirometry indices, acid-base status and arterial blood gases. The mean smoking index was 11.28 smoking/years. All subjects were healthy, without any subjective health problems or disease indicators. The aim was to define dead lung area (V/Q) as an early indicator of changes in smokers. Study results demonstrated the mean shunt value in smokers of 8.25%, which showed positive correlation with smoking. The shunt size yielded negative correlation with the forced expiratory volume in one second and midexpiratory flow in smokers. In conclusion, determination of lung shunt is a simple method that is sensitive enough in the diagnosis of initial lung lesion due to cigarette smoking.     

Short-term effect of acetate and ethanol on methane formation in biogas sludge

Biochemical processes in biogas plants are still not fully understood. Especially, the identification of possible bottlenecks in the complex fermentation processes during biogas production might provide potential to increase the performance of biogas plants. To shed light on the question which group of organism constitutes the limiting factor in the anaerobic breakdown of organic material, biogas sludge from different mesophilic biogas plants was examined under various conditions. Therefore, biogas sludge was incubated and analyzed in anaerobic serum flasks under an atmosphere of N₂/CO₂. The batch reactors mirrored the conditions and the performance of the full-scale biogas plants and were suitable test systems for a period of 24 h. Methane production rates were compared after supplementation with substrates for syntrophic bacteria, such as butyrate, propionate, or ethanol, as well as with acetate and H₂+CO₂ as substrates for methanogenic archaea. Methane formation rates increased significantly by 35 to 126 % when sludge from different biogas plants was supplemented with acetate or ethanol. The stability of important process parameters such as concentration of volatile fatty acids and pH indicate that ethanol and acetate increase biogas formation without affecting normally occurring fermentation processes. In contrast to ethanol or acetate, other fermentation products such as propionate, butyrate, or H₂ did not result in increased methane formation rates. These results provide evidence that aceticlastic methanogenesis and ethanol-oxidizing syntrophic bacteria are not the limiting factor during biogas formation, respectively, and that biogas plant optimization is possible with special focus on methanogenesis from acetate.     

Paenibacillus larvae Chitin-Degrading Protein PlCBP49 Is a Key Virulence Factor in American Foulbrood of Honey Bees

Paenibacillus larvae, the etiological agent of the globally occurring epizootic American Foulbrood (AFB) of honey bees, causes intestinal infections in honey bee larvae which develop into systemic infections inevitably leading to larval death. Massive brood mortality might eventually lead to collapse of the entire colony. Molecular mechanisms of host-microbe interactions in this system and of differences in virulence between P. larvae genotypes are poorly understood. Recently, it was demonstrated that the degradation of the peritrophic matrix lining the midgut epithelium is a key step in pathogenesis of P. larvae infections. Here, we present the isolation and identification of PlCBP49, a modular, chitin-degrading protein of P. larvae and demonstrate that this enzyme is crucial for the degradation of the larval peritrophic matrix during infection. PlCBP49 contains a module belonging to the auxiliary activity 10 (AA10, formerly CBM33) family of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) which are able to degrade recalcitrant polysaccharides. Using chitin-affinity purified PlCBP49, we provide evidence that PlCBP49 degrades chitin via a metal ion-dependent, oxidative mechanism, as already described for members of the AA10 family. Using P. larvae mutants lacking PlCBP49 expression, we analyzed in vivo biological functions of PlCBP49. In the absence of PlCBP49 expression, peritrophic matrix degradation was markedly reduced and P. larvae virulence was nearly abolished. This indicated that PlCBP49 is a key virulence factor for the species P. larvae. The identification of the functional role of PlCBP49 in AFB pathogenesis broadens our understanding of this important family of chitin-binding and -degrading proteins, especially in those bacteria that can also act as entomopathogens.     

The first report of autochthonous non-vector-borne transmission of canine leishmaniosis in the Nordic countries

Background

Leishmania spp. are zoonotic protozoans that infect humans and other mammals such as dogs. The most significant causative species in dogs is L. infantum. In dogs, leishmaniosis is a potentially progressive, chronic disease with varying clinical outcomes. Autochthonous cases of canine leishmaniosis have not previously been reported in the Nordic countries.

Results

In this report we describe the first diagnosed autochthonous cases of canine leishmaniosis in Finland, in which transmission via a suitable arthropod vector was absent. Two Finnish boxers that had never been in endemic areas of Leishmania spp., had never received blood transfusions, nor were infested by ectoparasites were diagnosed with leishmaniosis. Another dog was found with elevated Leishmania antibodies. A fourth boxer dog that had been in Spain was considered to be the source of these infections. Transmission occurred through biting wounds and semen, however, transplacental infection in one of the dogs could not be ruled out.Two of the infected dogs developed a serious disease and were euthanized and sent for necropsy. The first one suffered from membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and the second one had a chronic systemic disease. Leishmania sp. was detected from tissues by PCR and/or IHC in both dogs. The third infected dog was serologically positive for Leishmania sp. but remained free of clinical signs.

Conclusions

This case report shows that imported Leishmania-infected dogs may pose a risk for domestic dogs, even without suitable local arthropod vectors.

     

Genetic variation and relationship of alfalfa populations and their progenies based on RAPD markers

The aim of investigation was to evaluate genetic variation and relationship among alfalfa populations and their offspring, with minimal cost, by using DNA marker analysis. RAPD analysis was performed on bulked DNA samples of five alfalfa parental populations and their progenies: 20 F1 populations from reciprocal diallel crosses and five S1 populations from self-pollination. Twenty primers generated 217 bands, ranging in size from 300 to 6000 bp, with the average number of bands per primer of 10.85 and polymorphism information content of 0.246. Percentage of polymorphic loci, effective number of alleles, expected heterozygosity and Shannon’s information index were used to estimate genetic variation. Higher diversity was observed in F1 progeny populations, while genetic variation in parental populations and S1 progenies remained similar. The genetic relatedness of alfalfa populations was analysed by UPGMA and Bayesian model-based clustering approach. In both types of analysis selfpollinated progenies were grouped. Furthermore, the hybrid offspring where Zuzana, and RSI 20 were maternal parents were placed in separate groups. The results indicate that use of RAPD markers on bulked DNA samples can be fast and cost-effective way for differentiation of alfalfa parental populations and their offspring, as well as for evaluation of their genetic relationships.     

Spiders in the context of agricultural land abandonment in Greek Mountains: species responses,community structure and the need to preserve traditional agricultural landscapes

Agricultural land abandonment is a major conservation issue when it comes to remote Mediterranean mountainous ecosystems. Although its impact on taxa such as birds or butterflies is well known, knowledge remains poor for less studied invertebrate taxa such as spiders. We sampled ground spiders (Gnaphosidae, Liocranidae, Miturgidae and Corrinidae) in 20 randomly selected sites (1 km × 1 km; 15 pitfall traps) that well depicted a land abandonment gradient, in terms of four forest encroachment classes. Our results showed a negative effect of land abandonment on ground spider species richness and diversity (Simpson index), pinpointing that forested habitats with more than 75 % woody vegetation cover are relatively poor. We also provide evidence for the beneficial role of low intensity grazing (0.4–4 livestock units/km²) for ground spider abundance. Community analysis revealed four distinct clusters of co-occurring species, while Generalized Linear Models at cluster and species level showed the definitive role of forest encroachment, and secondarily of other environmental factors such as humidity, elevation and longitude, in regulating species distribution patterns. Conservation measures for ground spider diversity maintenance should focus on promoting traditional agricultural practices, including small-scale cultivation and mild livestock grazing in order to preserve open and semi-open rural mosaics.     

Increase of methane formation by ethanol addition during continuous fermentation of biogas sludge

Very recently, it was shown that the addition of acetate or ethanol led to enhanced biogas formation rates during an observation period of 24 h. To determine if increased methane production rates due to ethanol addition can be maintained over longer time periods, continuous reactors filled with biogas sludge were developed which were fed with the same substrates as the full-scale reactor from which the sludge was derived. These reactors are well reflected conditions of a full-scale biogas plant during a period of 14 days. When the fermenters were pulsed with 50–100 mM ethanol, biomethanation increased by 50–150 %, depending on the composition of the biogas sludge. It was also possible to increase methane formation significantly when 10–20 mM pure ethanol or ethanolic solutions (e.g. beer) were added daily. In summary, the experiments revealed that “normal” methane production continued to take place, but ethanol led to production of additional methane.