Combined analyses of deep tow magnetic anomalies and International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 349 cores show that initial seafloor spreading started around 33 Ma in the northeastern South China Sea (SCS), but varied slightly by 1-2 Myr along the northern continent-ocean boundary (COB). A southward ridge jump of 20 km occurred around 23.6 Ma in the East Subbasin; this timing also slightly varied along the ridge and was coeval to the onset of seafloor spreading in the Southwest Subbasin, which propagated for about 400 km southwestward from 23.6 to 21.5 Ma. The terminal age of seafloor spreading is 15 Ma in the East Subbasin and 16 Ma in the Southwest Subbasin. The full spreading rate in the East Subbasin varied largely from 20 to 80 km/Myr, but mostly decreased with time except for the period between 26.0 Ma and the ridge jump (23.6 Ma), within which the rate was the fastest at 70 km/ Myr on average. The spreading rates are not correlated, in most cases, to magnetic anomaly amplitudes that reflect basement magnetization contrasts. Shipboard magnetic measurements reveal at least one magnetic reversal in the top 100 m of basaltic layers, in addition to large vertical intensity variations. These complexities are caused by late-stage lava flows that are magnetized in a different polarity from the primary basaltic layer emplaced during the main phase of crustal accretion. Deep tow magnetic modeling also reveals this smearing in basement magnetizations by incorporating a contamination coefficient of 0.5, which partly alleviates the problem of assuming a magnetic blocking model of constant thickness and

A working checklist of accepted taxa worldwide is vital in achieving the goal of developing an online flora of all known plants by 2020 as part of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. We here present the first-ever worldwide checklist for liverworts (Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) that includes 7486 species in 398 genera representing 92 families from the two phyla. The checklist has far reaching implications and applications, including providing a valuable tool for taxonomists and systematists, analyzing phytogeographic and diversity patterns, aiding in the assessment of floristic and taxonomic knowledge, and identifying geographical gaps in our understanding of the global liverwort and hornwort flora. The checklist is derived from a working data set centralizing nomenclature, taxonomy and geography on a global scale. Prior to this effort a lack of centralization has been a major impediment for the study and analysis of species richness, conservation and systematic research at both regional and global scales. The success of this checklist, initiated in 2008, has been underpinned by its community approach involving taxonomic specialists working towards a consensus on taxonomy, nomenclature and distribution.

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Coring/logging data and physical property measurements from International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 349 are integrated with, and correlated to, reflection seismic data to map seismic sequence boundaries and facies of the central basin and neighboring regions of the South China Sea. First-order sequence boundaries are interpreted, which are Oligocene/Miocene, middle Miocene/late Miocene, Miocene/Pliocene, and Pliocene/Pleistocene boundaries. A characteristic early Pleistocene strong reflector is also identified, which marks the top of extensive carbonate-rich deposition in the southern East and Southwest Subbasins. The fossil spreading ridge and the boundary between the East and Southwest Subbasins acted as major sedimentary barriers, across which seismic facies changes sharply and cannot be easily correlated. The sharp seismic facies change along the Miocene-Pliocene boundary indicates that a dramatic regional tectonostratigraphic event occurred at about 5 Ma, coeval with the onsets of uplift of Taiwan and accelerated subsidence and transgression in the northern margin. The depocenter or the area of the highest sedimentation rate switched from the northern East Subbasin during the Miocene to the Southwest Subbasin and the area close to the fossil ridge in the southern East Subbasin in the Pleistocene. The most active faulting and vertical uplifting now occur in the southern East Subbasin, caused most likely by the active and fastest subduction/obduction in the southern segment of the Manila Trench and the collision between the northeast Palawan and the Luzon arc. Timing of magmatic intrusions and seamounts constrained by seismic stratigraphy in the central basin varies and does not show temporal pulsing in their activities.LI ET AL.

Milk consumption is decreasing in the USA and is the lowest in countries with a high prevalence of lactase non-persistence. The dairy industry and Minnesota investigators have made efforts to minimize the influence of lactose intolerance on milk consumption. Some lactose intolerant individuals, without co-existent irritable bowel syndrome, are able to consume a glass of milk with a meal with no or minor symptoms. The high frequency of lactase persistence in offspring of Northern European countries and in some nomadic African tribes is due to mutations in the promoter of the lactase gene in association with survival advantage of milk drinking. Educational and commercial efforts to improve calcium and Vitamin D intake have focused on urging consumption of tolerable amounts of milk with a meal, use of lowered lactose-content foods including hard cheeses, yogurt, and lactose-hydrolyzed milk products.

Estimating the temporal origins of lineage diversity adds an important dimension to understanding diversity generating processes. In lineages with a sparse fossil record, molecular phylogenetic methods provide a means for estimating divergence times. In the present study, we use publicly available sequence data from the chloroplast genome of liverworts to simultaneously estimate significant divergence dates across all classes and orders of liverworts (Marchantiophyta). We show that, although there is great potential in synthetic dating analyses of sequence data, missing sequences can reduce the reliability of estimates, and that calibration priors should be interpreted with caution. Using the liverwort dataset as a broad outgroup, we obtain the first divergence time estimates for a large family of leafy liverworts; the Lepidoziaceae (Jungermanniidae). The Lepidoziaceae originated in the early Cretaceous with subsequent establishment of main lineages in the late Cretaceous. Divergence time estimates are consistent with Cenozoic diversification in Lepidozia, Telaranea, and Bazzania. Evidence was found for similar patterns of ancient origins followed by Cenozoic diversification in Ricciaceae (Marchantiopsida), Pelliaceae and Fossombroniaceae (Pelliidae), and Metzgeriaceae (Metzgeriidae), and adds to reports of similar patterns in Lejeuneaceae (Jungermanniidae, Porellales), and Plagiochilaceae (Jungermaniidae, Jungermanniales). The liverworts might be the living relatives of one of the earliest groups of land plants, but much of the extant diversity has evolved in the Cenozoic. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, ••, ••–••.

Following the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in the Americas, ZIKV was causally associated with microcephaly and a range of neurological and developmental symptoms, termed congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). The viruses responsible for this outbreak belonged to the Asian lineage of ZIKV. However, in-vitro and in-vivo studies assessing the pathogenesis of African-lineage ZIKV demonstrated that African-lineage isolates often replicated to high titer and caused more severe pathology than Asian-lineage isolates. To date, the pathogenesis of African-lineage ZIKV in a translational model, particularly during pregnancy, has not been rigorously characterized. Here we infected four pregnant rhesus macaques with a low-passage strain of African-lineage ZIKV and compared its pathogenesis to a cohort of four pregnant rhesus macaques infected with an Asian-lineage isolate and a cohort of mock-inoculated controls. Viral replication kinetics were not significantly different between the two experimental groups and both groups developed robust neutralizing antibody titers above levels considered to be protective. There was no evidence of significant fetal head growth restriction or gross fetal harm at delivery (1-1.5 weeks prior to full term) in either group. However, a significantly higher burden of ZIKV vRNA was found in maternal-fetal interface tissues in the macaques exposed to an African-lineage isolate. Our findings suggest that ZIKV of any genetic lineage poses a threat to pregnant individuals and their infants. IMPORTANCE ZIKV was first identified in 1947 in Africa, but most of our knowledge of ZIKV is based on studies of the distinct Asian genetic lineage, which caused the outbreak in the Americas in 2015-16. In its most recent update, the WHO stated that improved understanding of African-lineage pathogenesis during pregnancy must be a priority. Recent detection of African-lineage isolates in Brazil underscores the need to understand the impact of these viruses. Here we provide the first comprehensive assessment of African-lineage ZIKV infection during pregnancy in a translational non-human primate model. We show African-lineage isolates replicate with similar kinetics to Asian-lineage isolates and can infect the placenta. However, there was no evidence of more severe outcomes with African-lineage isolates. Our results highlight both the threat that African-lineage ZIKV poses to pregnant individuals and their infants and the need for future epidemiological and translational in-vivo studies with African-lineage ZIKV.

Extensive research has been conducted on effects of moisture stress on growth and development of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] but information is limited on the response of determinate cultivars to moisture stress initiated at different growth stages. Moisture is a major factor limiting yield in most areas where soybeans are grown. Moisture stress experiments were conducted under field conditions using four determinate soybean cultivars of Group VI maturity, ‘Davis’, ‘Lee 74’, ‘Sohoma’, and ‘Centennial’. The experiments were conducted in 1980 and 1981 on a Captina silt loam (fine‐silty mixed, mesic Typic Fragiudult) at Fayetteville, AR. These experiments consisted of two moisture stress treatments which were initiated at the R2 and R4 growth stages and a control which was irrigated as needed throughout the season. Measurements were made on both roots and aboveground plant parts. When a moisture deficit was initiated by placing black plastic over the plots at either R2 or R4, seed yield was significantly reduced both years. A moisture deficit following application of plastic at R2 reduced yield more than at R4 in 1981, but the reverse was found in 1980, an extremely dry year. A moisture deficit initiated at R4 significantly reduced seed size and seed number both years whereas seed size was not significantly reduced either year by deficits initiated at R2. Sohoma produced significantly larger seeds than the other three cultivars when plants were moisture stressed at R4. No significant cultivar X moisture stress interactions involving seed yield were observed in either year; however, there was a definite trend for seed yields of Sohoma to be reduced less by moisture deficits initiated at stage R4 in both 1980 and 1981. Percent flower and pod shedding did not appear to be affected to any great extent by the moisture stress treatments in either year. In general, as the total number of flowers and pods increased, the number of flowers and pods shed increased proportionally. There were about four times as many roots under the row as were present in the furrow middles in both years. Also, a moisture deficit restricted root growth under the row in the upper portion of the profile, but increased it in the lower portion in the dry year of 1980.