Volutin granules are intracellular storages of complexed inorganic polyphosphate (poly P). Histochemical staining procedures differentiate between pathogenic corynebacteria such as <em>Corynebacterum diphtheriae</em> (containing volutin) and non-pathogenic species, such as <em>C. glutamicum</em>. Here we report that strains ATCC13032 and MH20-22B of the non-pathogenic <em>C. glutamicum</em> also formed subcellular entities (18–37% of the total cell volume) that had the typical characteristics of volutin granules: (i) volutin staining, (ii) green UV fluorescence when stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, (iii) electron-dense and rich in phosphorus when determined with transmission electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis, and (iv) ³¹P NMR poly P resonances of isolated granules dissolved in EDTA. MgCl₂ addition to the growth medium stimulated granule formation but did not effect expression of genes involved in poly P metabolism. Granular volutin fractions from lysed cells contained polyphosphate glucokinase as detected by SDS–PAGE/MALDI-TOF, indicating that this poly P metabolizing enzyme is present also in intact poly P granules. The results suggest that formation of volutin is a more widespread phenomenon than generally accepted.

Cichlid fish inhabit a diverse range of environments that vary in the spectral content of light available for vision. These differences should result in adaptive selective pressure on the genes involved in visual sensitivity, the opsin genes. This study examines the evidence for differential adaptive molecular evolution in East African cichlid opsin genes due to gross differences in environmental light conditions. First, we characterize the selective regime experienced by cichlid opsin genes using a likelihood ratio test format, comparing likelihood models with different constraints on the relative rates of amino acid substitution, across sites. Second, we compare turbid and clear lineages to determine if there is evidence of differences in relative rates of substitution. Third, we present evidence of functional diversification and its relationship to the photic environment among cichlid opsin genes. We report statistical evidence of positive selection in all cichlid opsin genes, except short wavelength–sensitive 1 and short wavelength–sensitive 2b. In all genes predicted to be under positive selection, except short wavelength–sensitive 2a, we find differences in selective pressure between turbid and clear lineages. Potential spectral tuning sites are variable among all cichlid opsin genes; however, patterns of substitution consistent with photic environment–driven evolution of opsin genes are observed only for short wavelength–sensitive 1 opsin genes. This study identifies a number of promising candidate-tuning sites for future study by site-directed mutagenesis. This work also begins to demonstrate the molecular evolutionary dynamics of cichlid visual sensitivity and its relationship to the photic environment.

The advocacy coalition framework (ACF) pays special attention to "so-called" policy brokers when explaining policy change. However, this prominent policy approach neither clearly defines who the policy brokers are nor identifies under which institutional rules they have an influence on policy processes and outputs. This article thus formulates two theoretical hypotheses that complement the ACF and then proceeds to undertake the first empirical testing of these hypotheses within the Swiss climate policy (1990-2008). The empirical results show that, in the case under investigation, the <I>strategic interest-based behavior</I> of two policy brokers (i.e., one public administration and one political party), as well as two <I>institutionalized veto points</I> (i.e., optional referendum and parliamentary committee), are crucial factors explaining policy brokers' influence on policy process and change.

Background: Standard public health interventions to improve hand hygiene in communities with high levels of child mortality encourage community residents to wash their hands with soap at five separate key times, a recommendation that would require mothers living in impoverished households to typically wash hands with soap more than ten times per day. We analyzed data from households that received no intervention in a large prospective project evaluation to assess the relationship between observed handwashing behavior and subsequent diarrhea.<br /> Methods and Findings:Fieldworkers conducted a 5-hour structured observation and a cross-sectional survey in 347 households from 50 villages across rural Bangladesh in 2007. For the subsequent 2 years, a trained community resident visited each of the enrolled households every month and collected information on the occurrence of diarrhea in the preceding 48 hours among household residents under the age of 5 years. Compared with children living in households where persons prepared food without washing their hands, children living in households where the food preparer washed at least one hand with water only (odds ratio [OR] = 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.57–1.05), washed both hands with water only (OR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.51–0.89), or washed at least one hand with soap (OR = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.19–0.47) had less diarrhea. In households where residents washed at least one hand with soap after defecation, children had less diarrhea (OR = 0.45; 95% CI = 0.26–0.77). There was no significant association between handwashing with or without soap before feeding a child, before eating, or after cleaning a child's anus who defecated and subsequent child diarrhea.<br /> Conclusions: These observations suggest that handwashing before preparing food is a particularly important opportunity to prevent childhood diarrhea, and that handwashing with water alone can significantly reduce childhood diarrhea.

Background: We analyzed data from the baseline assessment of a large intervention project to describe typical handwashing practices in rural Bangladesh, and compare measures of hand cleanliness with household characteristics.<BR/>Methods: We randomly selected 100 villages from 36 districts in rural Bangladesh. Field workers identified 17 eligible households per village using systematic sampling. Field workers conducted 5-hour structured observations in 1000 households, and a cross-sectional assessment in 1692 households that included spot checks, an evaluation of hand cleanliness and a request that residents demonstrate their usual handwashing practices after defecation.<BR/>Results: Although 47% of caregivers reported and 51% demonstrated washing both hands with soap after defecation, in structured observation, only 33% of caregivers and 14% of all persons observed washed both hands with soap after defecation. Less than 1% used soap and water for handwashing before eating and/or feeding a child. More commonly people washed their hands only with water, 23% after defecation and 5% before eating. Spot checks during the cross sectional survey classified 930 caregivers (55%) and 453 children (28%) as having clean appearing hands. In multivariate analysis economic status and water available at handwashing locations were significantly associated with hand cleanliness among both caregivers and children.<BR/>Conclusions: A minority of rural Bangladeshi residents washed both hands with soap at key handwashing times, though rinsing hands with only water was more common. To realize the health benefits of handwashing, efforts to improve handwashing in these communities should target adding soap to current hand rinsing practices.

Partial migration, in which a fraction of a population migrate and the rest remain resident, occurs in an extensive range of species and can have powerful ecological consequences. The question of what drives differences in individual migratory tendency is a contentious one. It has been shown that the timing of partial migration is based upon a trade-off between seasonal fluctuations in predation risk and growth potential. Phenotypic variation in either individual predation risk or growth potential should thus mediate the strength of the trade-off and ultimately predict patterns of partial migration at the individual level (i.e. which individuals migrate and which remain resident). We provide cross-population empirical support for the importance of one component of this model-individual predation risk-in predicting partial migration in wild populations of bream <em>Abramis brama</em>, a freshwater fish. Smaller, high-risk individuals migrate with a higher probability than larger, low-risk individuals, and we suggest that predation risk maintains size-dependent partial migration in this system.

This paper studies the conditions under which a given power distribution among coalitions of collective actors in political decision-making processes emerge. The distribution of power among actors is one of the basic dimensions of politics and is important because of its influence on the output of the decision-making processes. The paper distinguishes between ideal-types of power structures with a dominant coalition ("dominance") and structures with distributed power among several coalitions ("challenge"). It takes into account four conditions supposed to interact with each other, i.e. the degree of federalism of a policy project, its degree of Europeanization, its policy type (i.e. direct vs. indirect coercion), and the openness of the pre-parliamentary phase of the decision-making process. In order to assess the importance of these conditions, I compare the 11 most important decision-making processes in Switzerland between 2001 and 2006 by a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Results suggest that Europeanization or an open pre-parliamentary phase lead to a power structure of dominance, whereas only a specific combination of all four conditions is able to explain power structures of challenge. I argue that this is good news for the integration capacity of the Swiss political system.

In den vorangehenden Kapiteln wurden verschiedene Analysen zur Verbreitung erneuerbarer Energien in der Schweiz präsentiert. Dabei fokussierten wir auf die unterschiedliche Verbreitung von Anlagen in den Kantonen und den Gründen dafür, auf die Motive bei der Wahl von Steuerungsinstrumenten in den Kantonen zugunsten der erneuerbaren Energien sowie auf die Einstellung der Bevölkerung zu verschiedenen Arten der Elektrizitätsproduktion. Zentral waren dabei die Aspekte der sozialen Akzeptanz. Diese wurde analysiert in Bezug auf die Präferenzen der kantonalen Elite wie auch im Hinblick auf die Reaktionen der Bevölkerung auf Projekte im Bereich der erneuerbare Energie. Dabei haben wir nicht zuletzt den Einfluss der direkten Demokratie und der föderalen Staatsstruktur auf den Verlauf der politischen Entscheidungsprozesse zur Förderung der erneuerbaren Energien beleuchtet.<br /><br /> Im abschliessenden Kapitel verfolgen wir das Ziel, die verschiedenen Befunde in einer Synthese zusammenzufassen. Dazu werden im nächsten Unterkapitel die wichtigsten Ergebnisse dargelegt und damit zwei Fragen beantwortet: Welche Faktoren beeinflussen die Verbreitung der erneuerbaren Energie in der  Schweiz und wie lassen sich politische Instrumente zur Förderung erneuerbarer Energie einführen und umsetzen? Anschliessend werden übergreifende, zentrale Erkenntnisse diskutiert. Dazu gehören das Verhältnis zwischen der politischen Elite und der Bevölkerung, die Frage der Steuerungsinstrumente und das Mass von Akzeptanz für eine erfolgreiche Energiepolitik. Im letzten Unterkapitel stellen wir sieben Empfehlungen vor.

Sludge management arises as a relevant problem after being accumulated in primary ponds of septage treatment plants. One of the most attractive options for sludge disposal is its use in agriculture and then specific guidelines regarding hygienic quality must be fulfilled. This study aimed at evaluating the storage time needed to inactivate Ascaris eggs and Salmonella in sludge accumulated in a primary pond treating septage. Raw septage exhibited very low concentrations of viable Ascaris eggs, hence, experiments with Ascaris suum egg spiking were conducted. The concentration of Ascaris eggs in the solids accumulated at the bottom of the pond was 20 eggs/g of total solids (g TS) at the time of pond closure. Although it decreased, some eggs remained viable (0.59 mean viable eggs/g TS) up to 20 months of in-pond storage of the biosolids. Salmonella survival was studied after developing an analytical method that inhibited the native flora. Sludge was seeded with Salmonella enteritidis. An equation adequately describing Salmonella die-off in biosolids subjected to 115 days of in-pond storage/dewatering, was found to be represented by the regression: y = log MPN Salmonella/g TS = 6.67 · t – 0.086, with "t" = storage time elapsed in days. The initial concentration was 7.0x106 MPN/g TS and the removal efficiency was 99%.

Evolutionary theory of senescence emphasizes the importance of intense selection on early reproduction owing to the declining force of natural selection with age that constrains lifespan. In humans, recent studies have, however, suggested that late-life mortality might be more closely related to late rather than early reproduction, although the role of late reproduction on fitness remains unclear. We examined the association between early and late reproduction with longevity in historical post-reproductive Sami women. We also estimated the strength of natural selection on early and late reproduction using path analysis, and the effect of reproductive timing on offspring survival to adulthood and maternal risk of dying at childbirth. We found that natural selection favoured both earlier start and later cessation of reproduction, and higher total fecundity. Maternal age at childbirth was not related to offspring or maternal survival. Interestingly, females who produced their last offspring at advanced age also lived longest, while age at first reproduction and total fecundity were unrelated to female longevity. Our results thus suggest that reproductive and somatic senescence may have been coupled in these human populations, and that selection could have favoured late reproduction. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the mechanisms which might have promoted the association between late reproduction and longevity.