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Scientists, hunters and business entrepreneurs in the Carolinas all had mutual interests in giant manta rays (Mobula birostris) during the early decades of the 1900s. Eastern-seaboard coastal communities called them devil fish, because of the horn-shaped fins on their head. Although the Ocean Leather Company in Morehead City primarily processed shark-skin leather, it also experimented with the skins of rays and other sea animals for the manufacture of a great variety of consumer products. Articles were written for scientific journals and ray specimens were contributed to national institutions like the American Museum of Natural History. Local fishermen, along with celebrities like the US president, Teddy Roosevelt, harpooned devil fish in Cape Lookout while marvelling at their grace and strength, breaching up to six feet above the water's surface. Beaufort planter William Elliott presented many accounts of this fantastic sea creature, with vivid stories of enslaved African harpooners jumping off boats onto the backs of giant manta rays. This research combines historical accounts and images, newspaper advertisements and talks at local explorer clubs to illustrate case studies of the community's obsession with collecting, cooking, hunting and conquering rays as an important component of maritime leisure and environmental history. It concludes by addressing international examples of subsistence, recreational and industrial fishing, and its impacts on manta rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El propósito de este artículo es analizar la transición de la escritura visigótica a la carolina a través de las inscripciones. Partiendo de la necesidad de cotejar los procesos de cambio escriturario con las “desconocidas” fuentes epigráficas haremos, en primer lugar, una introducción del ambiente histórico y cultural que favoreció la implantación de la nueva escritura. Después, examinaremos el alfabeto mayúsculo de los códices como elemento de comparación con las inscripciones y, acto seguido, presentaremos la producción epigráfica, centrándonos en los territorios que formaron parte de los reinos de Castilla y Navarra, en concreto los que corresponden a la actual Comunidad Autónoma de La Rioja.

Este es un estudio de la evolución de la escritura epigráfica de transición (XI-XIII) y su producción al amparo de los principales centros escriptorios de León y Castilla, donde la escritura carolina se introduce en el siglo XI aunque no tendrá un desarrollo pleno hasta el siglo XII. Veremos la pervivencia de las formas visigóticas en los diferentes núcleos, ya sean urbanos o rurales, así como la simultaneidad de dos, e incluso, tres alfabetos en un mismo tiempo y lugar.

Abstract The 5th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial (CVOT) Summit was held in Munich on October 24th–25th, 2019. As in previous years, this summit served as a reference meeting for in-depth discussions on the topic of recently completed and presented CVOTs. This year, focus was placed on the CVOTs CAROLINA, CREDENCE, DAPA-HF, REWIND, and PIONEER-6. Trial implications for diabetes management and the impact on new treatment algorithms were highlighted for diabetologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, nephrologists, and general practitioners. Discussions evolved from CVOTs to additional therapy options for heart failure (ARNI), knowledge gained for the treatment and prevention of heart failure and diabetic kidney disease in populations with and without diabetes, particularly using SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Furthermore, the ever increasing impact of CVOTs and substances tested for primary prevention and primary care was discussed. The 6th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial Summit will be held in Munich on October 29th–30th, 2020 ( https://www.cvot.org ).

Tomato is one of the main crops affected by the damage of Bemisia tabaci (Hemipetra: Aleyrodide), causing damage and disease. This pest is responsible for large losses in this crop and also in greenhouse. Whiteflies are pests of various crops that cause reduction in fruit yield and quality. Thus, the objective of this work was to know the influence of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) on the resistance of two tomato varieties (Santa clara and carolina) in two environments. The work was conducted in a greenhouse at the State University of. Alagoas - UNEAL, Campus I in the city of Arapiraca AL. The research period was from August 2017 to July 2018. The experiment was set up in two tomato varieties, Carolina and Santa clara distributed in 5 kg pots. The experimental design was completely randomized with ten replications. More heterogeneous and more dispersed values were obtained in relation to the number of nymphs in the two varieties, in Carolina standard density (16.83 ± 11.90), in Santa variety clear standard density (97.84 ± 69.19). Thus, it can be concluded that the Carolina variety showed greater resistance to the population dynamics of whiteflies in vegetative and reproductive development represented by the data found.

This is a query regarding BL Add MS 5415 G.4 “Map of Charlestown,” which is a chart of the Cape Fear River and coastline around 1662 that Locke replicated sometime around 1671.

This article provides a comparative physical and cultural study of a cypress log sailing canoe and the plantation culture of nineteenth-century north-eastern Florida that created it. The author makes the argument that this and other vessels of similar construction represent a typology of log boat construction that was limited to Florida's north-east during the mid- to late nineteenth century. These vessels evolved to provide a means of commerce between the settlements along the rivers and estuaries of north-eastern Florida. Those vessels that remain provide an important historic link with early American settlers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 5th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial (CVOT) Summit was held in Munich on October 24th–25th, 2019. As in previous years, this summit served as a reference meeting for in-depth discussions on the topic of recently completed and presented CVOTs. This year, focus was placed on the CVOTs CAROLINA, CREDENCE, DAPA-HF, REWIND, and PIONEER-6. Trial implications for diabetes management and the impact on new treatment algorithms were highlighted for diabetologists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, nephrologists, and general practitioners. Discussions evolved from CVOTs to additional therapy options for heart failure (ARNI), knowledge gained for the treatment and prevention of heart failure and diabetic kidney disease in populations with and without diabetes, particularly using SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Furthermore, the ever increasing impact of CVOTs and substances tested for primary prevention and primary care was discussed. The 6th Cardiovascular Outcome Trial Summit will be held in Munich on October 29th–30th, 2020 (https://www.cvot.org). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To assess the incidence of cardiovascular and hypoglycaemic adverse events associated with glimepiride compared with other second‐generation sulphonylureas among patients with type 2 diabetes in a real‐world clinical setting. Materials and methods: We identified all sulphonylurea initiators between 1998 and 2017 in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Using a prevalent new‐user design, glimepiride initiators were matched 1:4 with initiators of other second‐generation sulphonylureas on calendar time, prior sulphonylurea use, and time‐conditional high‐dimensional propensity score. Cox proportional hazards models yielded adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, severe hypoglycaemia, cardiovascular death, and all‐cause mortality. Results: Among 66 032 sulphonylurea new users, 6438 initiated glimepiride and were matched to up to 20 582 initiators of other second‐generation sulphonylureas. During a mean follow‐up of 1.3 years, glimepiride was associated with a similar incidence of myocardial infarction (HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.75–1.30) and ischaemic stroke (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.72–1.27) compared with other second‐generation sulphonylureas, while there was a non‐significant trend towards a higher incidence of severe hypoglycaemia (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.92–1.68). Glimepiride was also associated with a lower incidence of all‐cause mortality (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67–0.89), and a non‐significant but similar trend for cardiovascular death (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.65–1.05). Conclusions: Glimepiride was associated with a lower incidence of all‐cause mortality compared with other second‐generation sulphonylureas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English forts in the Carolina Colony embodied the ongoing struggle between the ambitions of imperial impositions and the aspirations of frontier autonomy. This tension is acutely reflected in the spatial organization of forts. Whereas colonial authorities sought to separate Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans through the formal segregation of the built environment, life on the frontier encouraged a fluidity in space and identity. The theoretical construct of flat ontologies can be used to explore how frontier forts were a catalyst for complex and emergent spatial relations that subverted hierarchical space. Archaeological data from early 18th-century forts on the Carolina frontier exemplify the connective processes of flat ontologies that blurred space and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite having unquestionable glucose lowering efficacy, current guidelines no more favour the uses of sulphonylureas for CV safety concern, except when cost is an issue. However, formal cardiovascular outcome trial (CVOT) is not available. Materials and methods: We performed an indirect treatment comparison to find the hazard ratio for 3-point MACE, all-cause death, CV death and non-CV death between glimepiride and placebo based on two large CVOTs which established the CV safety of linagliptin (CARMELINA and CAROLINA). Results: Glimepiride was shown to have a non-inferior risk compared to placebo for 3-point MACE (HR 1.04, 95% CI 0.850, 1.274), all-cause mortality (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.880, 1.317), CV death (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.732, 1.259), and non-CV death (HR 1.24, 95% CI 0.893, 1.733). Conclusion: Cardiovascular safety of glimepiride is re-assuring and may help patients with type 2 diabetes world-over to avail the benefit of this affordable efficacious medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Paleodischarge estimates based on the slope-area method and channel boundaries determined from stratigraphic cross-sections indicate that large, terminal Pleistocene meandering paleochannels ("mega-meanders") in river valleys of the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States represent bankfull flows that were at least double the magnitude of those on modern rivers. Correlation of radiocarbon- and luminescence-dated paleomeanders with previously reported pollen and eolian sedimentary records suggests that greater discharge was driven by seasonally wetter conditions resulting from dynamic changes to regional precipitation and runoff that occurred in association with global warming at the end of the Pleistocene. While reflecting larger channel-forming flows, the exceptionally large widths and radii of curvature of mega-meanders were nonetheless maintained by a relatively modest discharge magnitude that was between two and four times larger than modern bankfull flow and within the size range of the present two- to five-year flood. Despite their large planform, the paleochannels conveyed relatively modest bankfull discharges because a wide, shallow shape limited their cross-sectional area and hydraulic radius. Within the late Quaternary evolution of fluvial systems in the region, scrolled mega-meanders constitute a transitional meandering planform that remained influenced by large volumes of sandy bedload following the sand-bed braided channels of the late Wisconsin interval, circa 30–17 ka. In addition to greater discharge, the large planimetric dimensions of paleochannels reflect a lack of cohesive vertical accretion facies on paleomeander floodplains, a sediment regime that transported large quantities of bedload sand, and the influence of these factors on channel boundary composition, bank stability, and channel shape. Findings underscore the importance of reconstructing channel cross-sectional dimensions and slope when estimating discharge for infilled paleomeanders. This approach reduces uncertainties surrounding channel cross-sectional area, gradient, and boundary composition inherent to studies lacking subsurface data that rely upon meander geometry to retrodict discharge. Highlights • Large paleomeanders conveyed at least double the bankfull flow of modern rivers. • Greater bankfull flow was driven by seasonally wetter conditions circa 17–11 ka. • Large paleobankfull flows were likely no greater than modern five-year discharges. • Paleochannels were wide, shallow, and transported large amounts of bedload sand. • Meander size also reflects channel-shape effects of a sandy sediment regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ST131 Escherichia coli clone is associated with the global dissemination of ESBLs. It has been hypothesized that ST131 could take advantage of better colonizing abilities. However, the data on colonization prevalence of ESBL-ST131 in European hospitals are scarce.Objectives: To assess the prevalence of the ST131 clone and its microbiological characteristics among colonizing ESBL-producing E. coli (ESBL-Ec) from hospitalized patients in four European hospitals (Berlin, Geneva, Madrid and Utrecht) during the R-GNOSIS study.Methods: ESBL-Ec isolates (n = 688) were obtained from rectal swabs of hospitalized patients from March 2014 to February 2015 using selective media. The ST131 clone and its subclones were sought using PCR and positive isolates were further studied. blaESBL genes were characterized (PCR and sequencing), antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed, clonal relationships were studied by PFGE and fimH allele and O type (PCR) were assessed.Results: ST131 prevalence was 20.5% (141/688); C1/H30R1 isolates were significantly more prevalent in Geneva (49%) and C2/H30Rx in Madrid (67%). C1/H30R1 isolates showed less resistance to amikacin than C2/H30Rx (4% versus 35%) and all were susceptible to penicillin/inhibitor combinations. CTX-M-15 was the most common enzyme (49%) followed by CTX-M-27 (27%). C1/H30R1 isolates were significantly associated with CTX-M-27 (72%) and all of these isolates belonged to the C1-M27 clade. Moreover, C2/H30Rx isolates and CTX-M-15 were also significantly related (88%).Conclusions: The predominance of C2/H30Rx-CTX-M-15 in Madrid and C1/H30R1-CTX-M-27 in Geneva demonstrates a changing epidemiology of ESBLs in Europe caused by ST131 subclones; in particular, the emergence of the C1-M27 clade in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Siendo la producción epigráfica el reflejo de la actividad publicitaria de una determianda sociedad, ésta presenta especiales caracterísiticas a lo largo del siglo XII en la actual provincia de Burgos. Desde finales del siglo XI y hasta los inicios del siglo XIII, en la actual provincia de Burgos se introdujo una nueva forma de escritura publicitaria procedente del mundo franco, cuyo origen gráfico estaba en la escritura monumental romana. Esta nueva escritura convivió en nuestra provincia junto con la visigótica nacional hasta que ésta última fue progresivamente desapareciendo a lo largo del siglo XII. Así pues, aquí presentamos un estudio de esta escritura basado en los sesenta y ocho epígrafes que forman el Corpus de inscripciones carolinas de la provincia de Burgos. En él mostramos el proceso evolutivo de la escritura carolina, la convivencia de estas escrituras, así como las particularidades asociadas a los diferentes centros de producción.Epigraphical production is a reflection of the activity of publicity in a given society. This production presents a number of special features as in the case of the area covering the current province of Burgos during the twelfth century. From the end of the eleventh to the beginning of the twelfth century, a new form of script originating in Roman monumental inscriptions was introduced through the Frankish realms in the territory known today as Burgos. This new type of writing was being produced simultaneously with the national Visigothic script until the latter gradually vanish edduring the twelfth century. Our study examines this type of script based on seventy-eight epigraphs that make up the complete body of Carolingian inscriptions in Burgos. It will thus show the evolutionary process of the Carolingian script, the coexistence of these two types of writing and the main features associated with the different centres of production.

For the first half-century of settlement by Europeans, the colonies of Carolina and Louisiana were imperial borderlands. Looking west, Carolinians were among the first settlers to highlight and experience the threat that the French posed once they had traversed and mapped the length of the Mississippi. Although during this period the efforts to claim, survey and document landownership were flourishing, the reality of struggling to clear and use tracts of many hundreds of acres meant that much of the region remained ‘wilderness’ despite being nominally owned by Europeans.This paper compares British and French printed accounts that symbolically brought this land under control. I argue that European efforts to bring the landscape, flora and fauna of the southeast under control were problematic even in areas not previously understood as ‘borderlands’, such as parts of Charles Town and New Orleans themselves. While the accounts do reflect a feeling of increasing imperial confidence on the part of the British and the French, during this period neither was able to fully control the landscape they professed to have mastered. This paper shows that it was the vulnerability, not the strength, of these powers that struck the authors whose work is surveyed here.

In colonial British America ‘travel writing’ found its way into many different literary genres: religious tracts, scientific accounts, and political or promotional writings, often written to make settlement attractive. Travel writing was also often devoted to mapping and describing landscapes for future travellers or settlers. Whatever its genre, however, early American travel writing is unquestionably a form that makes manifest by implication the actual mobility of the travellers themselves and the need for continued and future mobility. This paper will examine this issue in A New Voyage to Carolina (1709), by British travel writer John Lawson (1674–1711) as little attention has so far been paid to the rhetoric of his implicit assumptions about mobility and the importance of emigration. In this post-colonial context, then, this paper argues that A New Voyage stands as a substantial piece of colonial travel writing, one of whose basic, underlying themes is the importance of freedom of movement, both individual and collective. Lawson’s own experience bears this out insofar as, in addition to his travels, he was himself instrumental in the founding of two early eighteenth-century towns in North Carolina, Bath and New Bern, the latter a community of about 300 Palatine and Swiss emigrants.

In colonial British America 'travel writing' found its way into many different literary genres: religious tracts, scientific accounts, and political or promotional writings, often written to make settlement attractive. Travel writing was also often devoted to mapping and describing landscapes for future travellers or settlers. Whatever its genre, however, early American travel writing is unquestionably a form that makes manifest by implication the actual mobility of the travellers themselves and the need for continued and future mobility. This paper will examine this issue in A New Voyage to Carolina (1709), by British travel writer John Lawson (1674-1711) as little attention has so far been paid to the rhetoric of his implicit assumptions about mobility and the importance of emigration. In this post-colonial context, then, this paper argues that A New Voyage stands as a substantial piece of colonial travel writing, one of whose basic, underlying themes is the importance of freedom of movement, both individual and collective. Lawson's own experience bears this out insofar as, in addition to his travels, he was himself instrumental in the founding of two early eighteenthcentury towns in North Carolina, Bath and New Bern, the latter a community of about 300 Palatine and Swiss emigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listening to music can help researchers to comprehend and gain insight into complex problems in transdisciplinary research. This article explains how members of a research group at North-West University in South Africa conducted research on a crisis in the urban settlement of Carolina in Mpumalanga Province when acid mine drainage (AMD) from local coal mining operations was found in the municipal water supply. In grappling with complex issues such as the failure of communication with local stakeholders, the group resorted to using the music of Pat Metheny’s music to come to abetter understanding of the crisis. Keywords:Carolina, acid mine drainage (AMD), Pat Metheny, transdisciplinarity, coal mining. Disciplines: History, water studies, music studies, transdisciplinarymethodology.

There are growing concerns in South Africa about the threat that acid mine drainage (AMD) poses to local natural water resources in many of the country's mining areas. Since the beginning of the 21stcentury, the toxic water has been responsible for pollution in parts of the country. Government and operators in the country's water sector have actively been working in recent years at addressing the problem. This article deals with a contemporary history of an AMD crisis in the coalmining town of Carolina, in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and explains how the matter was eventually resolved. The discourse focuses on how people of Carolina responded to the contamination of the municipality's water supply system and eventually chose to follow the path of active protest. The water crisis even made a detour to the high court, with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) actively supporting the cause of local residents. Although by September 2012 the town's water supply was restored, the community remained distrustful of the local authority's ability to secure a consistent supply of good quality water. The authorities took some measures to restore trust. People had been traumatised and sound relations had to be restored in the aftermath of the crisis. The Carolina crisis of 2012 is contemplated from the perspective of the current threat that AMD poses to South Africa's finite water resources and the danger of mining in sensitive areas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines how vampires are depicted in four recent literary works by Colombian authors. It is divided in four sections. The first section proposes a set of common characteristics that appear in different depictions of vampires. This section also reflects on the transformations that these characters have suffered in western literary works during the past two centuries. The second section analyzes the way in which these depictions of vampires relate to the concepts of eros and agape. The third section examines the representation of vampires in Fernando Romero Loaiza's "Crónicas de vampiros" (1997), Andres García's short story "Los ojos de la noche" (2009), and Carolina Andujar's novels "Vampyr" (2009) and "Vajda, príncipe inmortal" (2012). The last section contains a set of conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the history of forensic science in terms of ideologies and institutions rather than developing technique. It presents an analytical framework for characterising forensic institutions and practices, past and present. That framework highlights the distinct issues of means of witness, accredited testimony, and the reaching of juridical decisions. The article applies the framework by comparing four forensic ‘formations,’ (or ‘cultures’) which have been prominent at various times and places in the western world from the early modern period onward: these are the central European heritage of the Caroline code, a eugenically-oriented forensic enterprise of late nineteenth-century America, the forensic perspective in nineteenth-century British India, and the representation of forensic certainty in contemporary American popular culture. The article concludes with a critique of what seems an increasingly common expectation: that forensic science evolves independently of legal institutions, and can ultimately displace them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We derive a paleoflood chronology for the past 2000 years from three stratigraphic sections of overbank sediments with dates from radiocarbon, luminescence, 137Cs techniques, and historical records. Particle sizes were measured in 6–15 year intervals in post-1870 sediments and in 45–170 year intervals in pre-1870 sediments using an automatic laser analyzer. The sedimentological characteristics of ad 1948–2009 deposits were compared with gaging records, demonstrating that fine sand content and sorting discern time intervals of large floods, but flood magnitudes are not well resolved. This modern analog was applied to pre-1870 sediments and revealed two periods in the last 2000 years with large floods during ad 650–850 and ad 1100–1350, which are times when the regional tree-ring record showed extreme wetness and no severe or extreme droughts. Our findings indicate flood-prone phases of transitional climate at the beginning and end of the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ (MWP), and relatively subdued flooding during the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA), possibly correlated with rearrangement of macro-scale atmospheric circulation patterns between the MWP and the LIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1680s Scots attempted to found new settlements within the colonies of Carolina and East Jersey. Though these efforts failed, they are important. The efforts of the 1680s were challenged by the fact that king Charles II of England and Scotland refused to grant new proprieties. Undaunted, Scots devised plans to establish autonomous settlements within Carolina and East Jersey, hoping to swamp the proprieties with new settlers and to sustain effective sovereignty of the settlements. To gain effective sovereignty, Scots tried to establish geographic exclusivity, economic viability, constitutional security, and some measure of political power. On the ground in East Jersey and Carolina, Scots tried to effect their plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study about the linkage between the movement of tropical cyclones and heavy rainfall across the Carolina region in the U.S. It quantifies the effect of tropical cyclones on precipitation events. It also discusses the development of a synoptic climatology which shows the relationships between atmospheric variables and precipitation totals. Results show the variability in tropical cyclones that struck the Carolina region between 1950 and 2004.

Abstract: Late Quaternary river patterns and sedimentation styles reflect past climate changes in Atlantic drainages of eastern Georgia and the Carolinas. Past climate episodes for the region are summarized from pollen and eolian sedimentary records that exhibit correlation to major changes in river channel patterns. Records of past river responses are derived from luminescence and radiocarbon dated landforms and strata. Slow tectonic uplift does not explain temporal changes in channel patterns. Drainage networks have not received meltwater from continental or mountain glaciers. Eustatic influence would have been most pronounced on the now-submerged continental shelf prior to 6 ka and currently manifests only within 60–80 km of the present highstand shoreline. Human impact overshadows climatic changes during historic time, but was negligible during prehistoric time. The late Quaternary fluvial system primarily responded to climatic fluctuations that drove changes in vegetation, precipitation, and runoff patterns. Prehistoric meandering paleochannels of the Holocene stand as important references to guide “natural” channel rehabilitation efforts. During the coldest climate phases of the late Wisconsin stage (ca. 30–16 ka), when forest vegetation was sparse and interspersed with grasses and herbs, many rivers and streams were braided with eolian dunes on the floodplains. The terminal Wisconsin stage (ca. 16–11 ka) exhibited rapid warming and forest expansion characterized by pronounced change from braided to meandering patterns with intermediate forms of sandy scroll-bar patterns. The Younger Dryas cold excursion is not readily apparent in the regional fluvial record. Unusually large meandering channels of the terminal Wisconsin stage continue into the first half of the Holocene and indicate significantly larger bankfull flood discharges during those times than during the last half of the Holocene. Bankfull channels during the last half of the Holocene retained meandering patterns, but decreased to modern-like dimensions, suggesting more modern-like flood regimes. No clear fluvial response occurs to the presumed middle Holocene climatic optimum (Hypsithermal), the Medieval warm period and Little Ice Age, or to recent instrumentally-observed fluctuations in climate, but little research has been done in these realms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Prosapia bicincta (Say) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae), the twolined spittlebug, is an economic pest of turfgrass in the southeastern United States. No data concerning natural enemies of P. bicincta in turfgrass have been reported previously. We compared predation of spittlebug eggs, nymphs, and adults in the laboratory by potential generalist predators commonly found in turfgrass: bigeyed bugs Geocoris uliginosus Say and Geocoris punctipes Say; red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren; wolf spiders (Lycosa sp. Walckenaer); carabid beetles Harpalaus pens ylvanicus DeGeer and Calosoma saiji Dejean; and tiger beetles Megacephala carolina carolina L. Eggs were readily consumed by generalist predators. S. invicta consumed 100% of the eggs offered. H. pens ylvanicus and C. sayi were also significant predators of P. bicincta eggs. Nymphs live in spittlemasses that protect them from attack by predators, but exposed nymphs were susceptible to attack when mechanically removed from their spittlemasses. S. invicta and M. carolina carolina caused significant mortality of exposed nymphs. P. bicincta adults are aposematic and have the ability to reflex bleed; however, reflex bleeding did not prevent attack by predators. S. invicta and M. carolina carolina killed 100% of the adult spittlebugs offered in laboratory bioassays. Lycosa sp. are less voracious predators of adults. Sound background knowledge about P. bicincta and its potential natural enemy complex is important for the development and implementation of a detailed, site-specific, biologically based pest management program in turfgrass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evidence from animal models and prospective studies of RA, multiple sclerosis, and type-1 diabetes suggest an important role for vitamin D as a modifiable environmental factor in autoimmune disease. This role has not been well studied in human SLE. We compared serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels between recently diagnosed SLE cases and matched controls, and examined disease characteristics in relationship to 25(OH)D among cases. Data from a population-based cohort of 123 recently diagnosed SLE patients and 240 controls were used. We found a trend toward lower 25(OH)D levels in cases compared to controls, which was statistically significant in Caucasians (p =0.04), controlling for age, sex, season, and smoking. Overall, 67% of the subjects were vitamin D deficient, with mean levels significantly lower among African Americans (15.9 ng/ml) compared to Caucasians (31.3 ng/ml). Critically low vitamin D levels (<10 ng/ml) were found in 22 of the SLE cases, with presence of renal disease being the strongest predictor (OR 13.3, p <0.01) followed by photosensitivity (OR 12.9, p <0.01). These results suggest vitamin D deficiency as a possible risk factor for SLE and provide guidance for future studies looking at a potential role of vitamin D in the prevention and/or treatment of SLE. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Over the years numerous proposals have been presented describing the relationship between the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) and the break-up of Pangea. Recent proposals have focused on refuting the original proposal of a mantle plume origin for the large igneous province and attendant dikes, and instead propose an upper mantle or passive cause for the break-up and CAMP. In this paper we examine the fundamental assumption that the multiple dike orientations associated with the break-up are geographically or temporally delimited. New mapping and compilations of older local maps demonstrate that multiple dike orientations ranging from NW- to NE-trending were intruded throughout the western Carolinas and are not geographically limited. Further, new plagioclase 40Ar/ 39Ar dates indicate that all three orientations observed were emplaced within a 2 Ma period (c.a. 199–197 Ma). Based on this information we propose that a rapidly rotating stress field must be responsible for the emplacement of multiple dike orientations in the Carolinas and the break-up of Pangea and go on to propose several new tectonic models to account for this rotating stress field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]