Paleoenvironmental interpretation of terrestrial deposits : the Cap-aux-Os and Fort Prével Members, Battery Point Formation (Early-Middle Devonian), Gaspé Bay, Québec

The Battery Point Formation of Gaspé Bay, Québec, is an Early to Middle Devonian prograding succession of siliciclastic deposits shed in response to the Acadian Orogeny. Within the Battery Point Formation are three members, of which, the Cap-aux-Os and Fort Prével Members are represented by a variety of different terrestrial depositional environments, including: coastal-margin, transitional, palustrine-lacustrine, and alluvial-plain environments. These deposits and their paleoenvironmental designation are based on paleosol structures and features, plant and root trace fossils, invertebrate fossils, and features from associated nonpedogenic deposits. Coastal-margin, and transitional environments of the Cap-aux-Os Member, which had their origins in the eastern part of the study area, were characterized as having experienced alternating oxidizing-reducing conditions, containing Entisol and Inceptisol paleosols, and containing abundant, well-preserved plant fossils, root traces, and signs of invertebrate activity. This range of paleosol types indicate that subaerial exposure surfaces in this environment were weakly to moderately affected by soil forming processes. The presence of early vascular land plant and marine invertebrate fossils and traces associated with this environment suggests episodes of submergence by brackish-water. The transitional environment was less affected by flooding due to a greater distance from the shoreline. Palustrine-lacustrine deposits in the Capaux-Os Member were also affected by fluctuating water-level. In this environment, freshwater limestone, characterized by diffuse color mottling, fenestrae, pedotubules, pseudo-microkarst and collapse breccia, experienced subaerial exposure during low water levels, resulting in pedogenic modification of the carbonate. The degree of soil maturation in these different settings was strongly controlled by changes in local base-level. The alluvial-plain environment of both the Cap-aux-Os and Fort Prevel Members is characterized as high-energy oxidized deposits, within which weakly developed Entisols to Inceptisols formed. These paleosols were influenced by periodic avulsion and overbank sedimentation. Plant and root traces preserved in this environment, especially in the Fort Prevel Member, are larger and more resilient than previously documented, and represent the colonization of new and more stress-filled upland environments. Paleosol maturity and colonization of soil substrates by early land plants was a function of paleoenvironmental stresses resulting from base-level fluctuation and sedimentation rate. The best developed paleosols formed along the coastal-margin and transitional environments during intervals of low sedimentation rates; the weakest developed paleosols formed in alluvial-plain environments, during high rates of sedimentation. Early vascular land plants were most effective in promoting the physical weathering of substrates located in low sedimentation rate environments such as the coastal-margin and transitional settings. In these environments, they modified soil structure from platy mudcracked parent material into blocky-angular or granular peds. This process increased the soil surface area exposed to weathering, increased alteration depth, and allowed greater oxidation to occur deeper in Early Devonian paleosols. Plant traces from the alluvial-plain environment did not modify their substrate greatly due to high-energy ephemeral flood events, which halted or retarded weathering. In addition to root traces, paleosols occurring in the coastal-margin to alluvial-plain environments contained pedogenic carbonate. Using Cerling\u27s (1991) soil carbonate paleobarometer, it is estimated that Early Devonian pC02 levels were 8.3 to 14 times (2,200 to 4,200 ppmV) modern levels. Because paleoenvironmental stresses induced by changing sedimentation rate prevented plants from greatly modifying substrates, weak to moderate soils developed. Under such conditions, plants were unable to remove significant amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. Plants probably benefited from elevated pCO2 levels, which may have supported their rapid evolution, diversification and expansion into new environments

Prevalence of zoonotic Cryptosporidium spp. Isolates In Njoro Sub-County, Nakuru County, Kenya

Background: There is no information on human and animal Cryptosporidium spp. in Njoro sub- county. The risk posed to humans and animals within the sub-county is therefore unknown.Materials and Methods: A total of 1476 animal and 378 human fecal samples were evaluated. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate association between infection status and the predisposing factors. Results were expressed as odds ratio (OR) with a 95%  confidence interval. Chi-square and Maentel–Haenszel tests were used to quantify relationships among variables.Results: Prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. was 9.8% in humans, 10.8% in cows, 19.6% in sheep and 4.5% in goats. Prevalence in humans was significantly higher in females 12/37. Infection was highest in the elderly (27.27%), and significantly lower in adolescents and adults at 8.66% and 9.59%, respectively. Goats had lowest overall parasitization at all levels, while sheep had the highest parasitization at levels (+1 and +2). Relatively, humans had the highest parasite counts +3 cases (1.5%).Conclusion: Cryptosporidium spp. is prevalent in Njoro sub-county and domestic animals are important reservoirs and a potential source of zoonosis in humans. Children, elderly and females are at increased risk of infection, especially during rainy season. The study  recommends maintenance of proper sanitation when handling domestic animals, treatment of drinking water and use of alternative safer sources of water in order to reduce infection

Investigating Devonian trees as geo-engineers of past climates: linking palaeosols to palaeobotany and experimental geobiology

We present the rationale for a cross-disciplinary investigation addressing the ‘Devonian plant hypothesis’ which proposes that the evolutionary appearance of trees with deep, complex rooting systems represents one of the major biotic feedbacks on geochemical carbon cycling during the Phanerozoic. According to this hypothesis, trees have dramatically enhanced mineral weathering driving an increased flux of Ca2+ to the oceans and, ultimately, a 90% decline in atmospheric CO2 levels through the Palaeozoic. Furthermore, experimental studies indicate a key role for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in soil–plant processes and especially in unlocking the limiting nutrient phosphorus in soil via Ca-phosphate dissolution mineral weathering. This suggests co-evolution of roots and symbiotic fungi since the Early Devonian could well have triggered positive feedbacks on weathering rates whereby root–fungal P release supports higher biomass forested ecosystems. Long-standing areas of uncertainty in this paradigm include the following: (1) limited fossil record documenting the origin and timeline of the evolution of tree-sized plants through the Devonian; and (2) the effects of the evolutionary advance of trees and their in situ rooting structures on palaeosol geochemistry. We are addressing these issues by integrating palaeobotanical studies with geochemical and mineralogical analyses of palaeosol sequences at selected sites across eastern North America with a particular focus on drill cores from Middle Devonian forests in Greene County, New York State

Contrasting arbuscular mycorrhizal responses of vascular and non-vascular plants to a simulated Palaeozoic CO2 decline

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal symbiosis is widely hypothesized to have promoted the evolution of land plants from rootless gametophytes to rooted sporophytes during the mid-Palaeozoic (480–360 Myr, ago), at a time coincident with a 90% fall in the atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]a). Here we show using standardized dual isotopic tracers (14C and 33P) that AM symbiosis efficiency (defined as plant P gain per unit of C invested into fungi) of liverwort gametophytes declines, but increases in the sporophytes of vascular plants (ferns and angiosperms), at 440 p.p.m. compared with 1,500 p.p.m. [CO2]a. These contrasting responses are associated with larger AM hyphal networks, and structural advances in vascular plant water-conducting systems, promoting P transport that enhances AM efficiency at 440 p.p.m. [CO2]a. Our results suggest that non-vascular land plants not only faced intense competition for light, as vascular land floras grew taller in the Palaeozoic, but also markedly reduced efficiency and total capture of P as [CO2]a fell

Considering river structure and stability in the light of evolution: Feedbacks between riparian vegetation and hydrogeomorphology

River ecological functioning can be conceptualized according to a four-dimensional framework, based on the responses of aquatic and riparian communities to hydrogeomorphic constraints along the longitudinal, transverse, vertical and temporal dimensions of rivers. Contemporary riparian vegetation responds to river dynamics at ecological timescales, but riparian vegetation, in one form or another, has existed on Earth since at least the Middle Ordovician (c. 450 Ma) and has been a significant controlling factor on river geomorphology since the late Silurian (c. 420 Ma). On such evolutionary timescales, plant adaptations to the fluvial environment and the subsequent effects of these adaptations on aspects of fluvial sediment and landform dynamics resulted in the emergence, from the Silurian to the Carboniferous, of a variety of contrasted fluvial biogeomorphic types where water flow, morphodynamics and vegetation interacted to different degrees. Here we identify several of these types and describe the consequences for biogeomorphic structure and stability (i.e. resistance and resilience), along the four river dimensions, of feedbacks between riparian plants and hydrogeomorphic processes on contrasting ecological and evolutionary timescales.This is the author's accepted manuscript and will be under embargo until the 18th of September 2015. The final version is available from Wiley at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.3643/abstrac

The Effects of Feeding Coconut Oil on Anthropometric and Biochemical Measures and Mood in Healthy Adults: A Pilot Study

Coconut oil has increased in popularity as a health food with claims that it promotes weight loss and improves blood lipid levels, this being despite the high content of saturated fat. However, consumption studies of coconut oil in humans are limited and have conflicting or inconclusive findings. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of coconut oil consumption on fasting blood lipids and blood glucose, blood pressure, body composition, waist-to-hip ratio, and mood. A 21-week, free-living, randomized, two-armed crossover study design was conducted with two 7-week periods of coconut oil treatment (30mL/day) and no coconut oil control, separated by a 7-week washout period on 23 healthy adults. Biochemical and anthropometric data was collected at the beginning and end of each study period. Three randomized compliance 24-hour diet recalls, and five Profile of Mood States questionnaires were also collected during each study period. Mood was analyzed by chi-square, and other data was analyzed by a mixed effects model (IBM SPSS Statistics). Diet intake for kilocalories (p=0.025), carbohydrates (p=0.024), total fat (p=0.001) and saturated fat (p=0.000) were higher in the treatment than in the control. Biochemical results of this study indicated a significant increase in total cholesterol (p=0.037) and triglycerides (p=0.044), an increase in HDL (p=0.084), that approached significance, and a significant decrease in LDL:HDL ratio (p=0.023). The anthropometric results indicated a significant increase in fat mass (p=0.033), percent body fat (p=0.034), and a significant decrease in total body water (p=0.037), and a decrease in fat-free mass (p=0.075) that approached significance. Mood measures indicated a significant decrease in perceived sad (p=0.013) and energetic (p=0.013) mood. No other measures were significant during the intervention. In the no coconut oil control, triglycerides (p=0.060) and percent body fat (p=0.056) both increased and approached significance. Perceived lively (p=0.036) and satisfied (p=0.045) mood significantly decreased, while perceived weary (p=0.059) mood increased and approached significance. No other measures were significant during the control, and the control group findings warrant further investigation. In conclusion, inclusion of 30mL of coconut oil (240 kcals) per day may raise total and HDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and increase percent body fat and fat mass, while decreasing fat-free mass. Perceived sad mood and energetic mood may also decrease with consumption. Therefore, in this study, coconut oil did not appear to decrease weight, yet percent body fat, fat mass, and blood lipids increased. Further studies are needed to confirm these results

Diseño de 105 km de pavimento articulado por el método AASHTO 93, tramo Yalí, El Pochote en el Municipio de San Sebastián de Yalí Departamento de Jinotega

Presenta un diseño de 1.5 km de pavimento articulado por el método AAstho 93, del tramo Dalí-El Pochote en el municipio de Yoli Departamento de Jinotega, norte –central del país, en el extremo Sur-Oeste del departamento de Jinotega al que pertenece administrativamente y dista de la cabecera departamental a 45 km en una recién construida y muy moderna carretera y a 203 kms de la ciudad capital Managua

The SFA Business Review Vol. 3 No. 3

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/busreview/1006/thumbnail.jp

Founders, Feminists, and a Fascist -- Some Notable Women in the Missouri Section of the MAA

In the history of the Missouri Section of the MAA, some of the more interesting people who influenced the growth and development of the section through the years were and are women. In this chapter, we discuss the contributions of a few (certainly not all) of these women to the Missouri Section and mathematics as a whole, including Emily Kathryn Wyant (founder of KME), Margaret F. Willerding (who dealt with sexism in the 1940s), Maria Castellani (an official in Mussolini’s Italy before coming to America), and T. Christine Stevens (co-founder of Project NExT). Without them, and others like them, both mathematics and the Missouri Section of the MAA would be poorer

Analysis of the piggyBac transposase reveals a functional nuclear targeting signal in the 94 c-terminal residues

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The <it>piggyBac</it> transposable element is a popular tool for germ-line transgenesis of eukaryotes. Despite this, little is known about the mechanism of transposition or the transposase (TPase) itself. A thorough understanding of just how <it>piggyBac</it> works may lead to more effective use of this important mobile element. A PSORTII analysis of the TPase amino acid sequence predicts a bipartite nuclear localization signal (NLS) near the c-terminus, just upstream of a putative ZnF (ZnF).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We fused the <it>piggyBac</it> TPase upstream of and in-frame with the enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) in the <it>Drosophila melanogaster</it> inducible metallothionein protein. Using Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cells and the deep red fluorescent nuclear stain Draq5, we were able to track the pattern of <it>piggyBac</it> localization with a scanning confocal microscope 48 hours after induction with copper sulphate.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Through n and c-terminal truncations, targeted internal deletions, and specific amino acid mutations of the <it>piggyBac</it> TPase open reading frame, we found that not only is the PSORTII-predicted NLS required for the TPase to enter the nucleus of S2 cells, but there are additional requirements for negatively charged amino acids a short length upstream of this region for nuclear localization.</p