Controlling norovirus transmission in units with immunocompromised patients is challenging. We present a cluster of norovirus cases that occurred on a stem-cell transplant unit and the prevention efforts that were implemented to limit the outbreak. Protocols developed to control this cluster may provide a model for other facilities.

A new fossil site in a previously unexplored part of western Madagascar (the Beanka Protected Area) has yielded remains of many recently extinct vertebrates, including giant lemurs (Babakotia radofilai, Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Pachylemur sp., and Archaeolemur edwardsi), carnivores (Cryptoprocta spelea), the aardvark-like Plesiorycteropus sp., and giant ground cuckoos (Coua). Many of these represent considerable range extensions. Extant species that were extirpated from the region (e.g., Prolemur simus) are also present. Calibrated radiocarbon ages for 10 bones from extinct primates span the last three millennia. The largely undisturbed taphonomy of bone deposits supports the interpretation that many specimens fell in from a rock ledge above the entrance. Some primates and other mammals may have been prey items of avian predators, but human predation is also evident. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) suggest that fossils were local to the area. Pottery sherds and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates with cut and chop marks indicate human activity in previous centuries. Scarcity of charcoal and human artifacts suggests only occasional visitation to the site by humans. The fossil assemblage from this site is unusual in that, while it contains many sloth lemurs, it lacks ratites, hippopotami, and crocodiles typical of nearly all other Holocene subfossil sites on Madagascar.

As improvements in neuroscience have enabled a better understanding of disorders of consciousness as well as methods to treat them, a hurdle that has become all too prevalent is the denial of coverage for treatment and rehabilitation services. In 2011, a settlement emerged from a Vermont District Court case, Jimmo v. Sebelius, which was brought to stop the use of an “improvement standard” that required tangible progress over an identifiable period of time for Medicare coverage of services. While the use of this standard can have deleterious effects on those with many chronic conditions, it is especially burdensome for those in the minimally conscious state (MCS), where improvements are unpredictable and often not manifested through repeatable overt behaviors. Though the focus of this paper is on the challenges of brain injury and the minimally conscious state, which an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 individuals suffer from in the United States, the post-Jimmo arguments presented can and should have a broad impact as envisioned by the plaintiffs who brought the case on behalf of multiple advocacy groups representing patients with a range of chronic care conditions.

The radiation-induced displacement damage in yttrium borate (YBO3) is studied under X-ray, proton, and alpha irradiation. The photoluminescence (PL) was tested before and after irradiation to determine whether damage occurred and whether it could be queried by examining the PL spectrum. Two different dopants (cerium and europium) were used to activate the phosphor because each provides not only a different spectral signature but also a different mechanism for altering the spectrum between the pre- and post-PL measurements. X-rays, being primarily ionizing radiation, did not show any significant change between the pre and post measurements. We expected protons and alphas to damage the crystal structure, evidence of which could be seen in the change in the spectra before and after irradiation. However, we found no change under alpha exposure (3.6 × 1010 particles/cm2) and a significant change after proton exposure (5 × 1015 particles/cm2). While the material appears to be sensitive to protons, we cannot rule out its sensitivity to alphas because the alpha fluence may be too low to show an effect. This result provides strong indication that our materials are being damaged by particle radiation and that the radiation effects can be quantified.

The seventh annual Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from February 5 to 7, 2010, with 224 attendees onsite. The theme for the meeting was “Advancing Excellence in Teaching Political Science.” Using the working-group model, the TLC track format encourages in-depth discussion and debate on research dealing with the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Five selected clones of Lolium perenne were selfed and diallel crossed without reciprocals to produce 15 families. These families were grown in a replicated field trial for 2 years at four rates of applied nitrogen – 0, 225, 450 and 675 kg N/ha – per annum. The data recorded included dry-matter yield, number of fertile and sterile tillers per plant, mean dry weight per fertile and sterile tiller and total dry weights of fertile and sterile tillers. Conventional analyses of variance and diallel analyses were applied to the data as well as path analyses, used to examine the interrelationships between yield and the tiller characters.

The main effect of years was significant only for mean dry weights per tiller and dry-matter yield. Increasing the rate of applied nitrogen increased the number of tillers and yields but decreased mean tiller dry weights. Differences between progenies were due to both general and specific combining ability for most characters. Relatively high narrow-sense heritabilities were obtained for the tiller characters although there were differences between the two years.

The progenies achieved their yield through different combinations of tiller characters, some having large numbers of fertile tillers with medium dry weights and others having numerous sterile tillers with high dry weights. Although there was inconsistency in the interrelationships between characters, number of tillers was always more important in determining yield than mean dry weight per tiller.

The results are discussed in relation to the predictive value of tiller characters on yields and the implications for breeding programmes.

Four new species of cheilostome Bryozoa from the hippothoid genus Antarctothoa (formerly subgenus Antarctothoa, Moyano 1987) are described. Antarctothoa bougainvillei (d'Orbigny) and Antarctothoa dictyota (Hayward) are re-described from material collected from Patagonia and South Georgia respectively.

Can we learn from what happened to Latin, in terms of its native speakers and foreign users? Comparisons are often made between the role of Latin during and after the Roman Empire and the role of English in the present. These can often be illuminating, particularly for the student of the sociolinguistics of the Late Latin-speaking world, where a generous application of the uniformitarian principle allows us to avoid now some of the misunderstandings that were common in the past: for example, the realization that linguistic change is inevitable and in itself neither good nor bad, and that language-internal variation is not pathological, and need not necessarily in itself lead to fragmentation, has been salutary. As a result, the modern view of the development of Latin into Romance, and of Romance into the separate Romance languages, is almost certainly more plausible now than it used to be. We have a more nuanced account to present, even though there is a great deal we do not and perhaps cannot know, including in particular an inability to be sure about the dating of developments which we can be sure occurred at some point.