ALBERT

Description: This study addresses the crystal chemistry of a set of five samples of F-rich amphiboles from the Franklin marble (USA), using a combination of microchemical (Electron microprobe analysis (EMPA)), single-crystal refinement (SREF) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy methods. The EMPA data show that three samples fall into the compositional field of fluoro-edenite ( Hawthorne et al. , 2012 ), whereas two samples are enriched in high-charged C cations and – although very close to the C R 3+ boundary – must be classified as fluoro-pargasite. Magnesium is by far the dominant C cation, Ca is the dominant B cation (with B Na in the range 0.00–0.05 a.p.f.u., atoms per formula unit) and Na is the dominant A cation, with A (vacancy) in the range 0.07–0.21 a.p.f.u.; W F is in the range 1.18–1.46 a.p.f.u. SREF data show that: T Al is completely ordered at the T (1) site; the M (1) site is occupied only by divalent cations (Mg and Fe 2+ ); C Al is disordered between the M (2) and M (3) sites; A Na is ordered at the A ( m ) site, as expected in F-rich compositions. The FTIR spectra show a triplet of intense and sharp components at ~3690, 3675 and 3660 cm –1 , which are assigned to the amphibole and the systematic presence of two very broad absorptions at 3560 and 3430 cm –1 . These latter are assigned, on the basis of polarized measurements and FPA (focal plane array) imaging, to chlorite-type inclusions within the amphibole matrix. Up to eight components can be fitted to the spectra; band assignment based on previous literature on similar compositions shows that C Al is disordered over the M (2) and M (3) sites, thus supporting the SREF conclusions based on the 〈 M –O〉 bond distance analysis. The measured frequencies of all components are typical of O–H groups pointing towards Si–O(7)–Al tetrahedral linkages, thus allowing characterization of the SRO (short-range-order) of T Al in the double chain. Accordingly, the spectra show that in the fluoro-edenite/pargasite structure, the T cations, Si and Al, are ordered in such a way that Si–O(7)–Si linkages regularly alternate with Si–O(7)–Al linkages along the double chain.

Description: Witzkeite, ideally Na 4 K 4 Ca(NO 3 ) 2 (SO 4 ) 4 ·2H 2 O, is a new mineral found in the oxidation zone of the guano mining field at Punta de Lobos, Tarapacá region, Chile. It occurs as colorless, tabular crystals up to 140 μm in length, associated with dittmanite and nitratine. Witzkeite is colorless and transparent, with a white streak and a vitreous luster. It is brittle, with Mohs hardness 2 and distinct cleavage on {001}. Measured density is 2.40(2) g/cm 3 , calculated density is 2.403 g/cm 3 . Witzkeite is biaxial (–) with refractive indexes α = 1.470(5), β = 1.495(5), = 1.510(5), measured 2 V = 50–70°. The empirical composition is (electron microprobe, mean of five analyses, H 2 O, CO 2 , and N 2 O 5 by gas chromatography; wt%): Na 2 O 12.83, K 2 O 22.64, CaO 7.57, FeO 0.44, SO 3 39.96, N 2 O 5 12.7, H 2 O 4.5, total 100.64; CO 2 was not detected. The chemical formula, calculated based on 24 O, is: Na 3.40 K 3.95 Ca 1.11 Fe 0.05 (NO 3 ) 1.93 (SO 4 ) 4.10 (H 4.10 O 1.81 ). Witzkeite is monoclinic, space group C 2/ c , with unit-cell parameters: a = 24.902(2), b = 5.3323(4), c = 17.246(1) Å, β = 94.281(7)°, V = 2283.6(3) Å 3 (Z = 4). The crystal structure was solved using single-crystal X-ray diffraction data and refined to R 1 ( F ) = 0.043. Witzkeite belongs to a new structure type and is noteworthy for the very rare simultaneous presence of sulfate and nitrate groups. The eight strongest X-ray powder-diffraction lines [ d in Å ( I in %) ( h k l )] are: 12.38 (100) (2 0 0), 4.13 (19) (6 0 0), 3.10 (24) (8 0 0), 2.99 (7) ( 0 2), 2.85 (6) (8 0 2), 2.69 (9) ( 1 3), 2.48 (12) (10 0 0), and 2.07 (54) (12 0 0). The IR spectrum of witzkeite was collected in the range 390–4000 cm –1 . The spectrum shows the typical bands of SO 4 2– ions (1192, 1154, 1116, 1101, 1084, 993, 634, and 617 cm –1 ) and of NO 3 – ions (1385, 1354, 830, 716, and 2775 cm –1 ). Moreover, a complex pattern of bands related to H 2 O is visible (bands at 3565, 3419, 3260, 2405, 2110, 1638, and 499 cm –1 ). The IR spectrum is discussed in detail.

Description: Two oxy-tourmalines showing intermediate compositions between the oxy-schorl and oxy-dravite series (sample from Sludyanka crystalline complex, Baikal, Russia) and the oxy-dravite and bosiite series (sample from the Valletta mine, Piedmont, Italy) were structurally and chemically characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, electron microprobe analysis, optical absorption and Synchrotron Mössbauer source spectroscopy. A comparative analysis of the results, along with data from literature on additional samples corresponding to the species oxy-schorl, oxy-dravite, bosiite and povondraite, show that the main structural variations within the Fe-bearing, Na-dominant oxy-tourmalines are related to variations in the content of Fe, which is incorporated into the structure via substitution mechanisms that involves Al. The results also show the occurrence of a complete substitution series from oxy-schorl via oxy-dravite and bosiite to povondraite, but no (or a limited) direct substitution series between oxy-schorl and bosiite (or povondraite). The substitution of Al by larger cations causes changes in 〈 Y –O〉 and 〈 Z –O〉 distances as well as in the unit-cell parameters. The effect of 〈 Y –O〉 on the a -parameter is evident in the oxy-schorl–oxy-dravite series, but it is of marginal significance in the oxy-dravite–bosiite–povondraite series. On the other hand, a good correlation exists between 〈 Z –O〉 and the a -parameter only in the oxy-dravite–bosiite–povondraite series. The c -parameter is strongly correlated with 〈 Z –O〉 along the entire substitution series. Classification problems related to the naming of Fe-bearing, Na-dominant oxy-tourmalines are discussed. Application of the nomenclature rules in force resulted in ambiguous naming of the studied samples. This makes, for example, direct comparisons of physical and chemical properties of tourmalines originating from different deposits difficult.

Description: 〈p〉The Cerrado biome in Brazil is a tropical savanna and an important global biodiversity hot spot. Today, only a fraction of its original area remains undisturbed, and this habitat is at risk of conversion to agriculture, especially to soybeans. Here, we present the first quantitative analysis of expanding the Soy Moratorium (SoyM) from the Brazilian Amazon to the Cerrado biome. The SoyM expansion to the Cerrado would prevent the direct conversion of 3.6 million ha of native vegetation to soybeans by 2050. Nationally, this would require a reduction in soybean area of approximately 2%. Relative risk of future native vegetation conversion for soybeans would be driven by the Brazilian domestic market, China, and the European Union. We conclude that, to preserve the Cerrado’s biodiversity and ecosystem services, urgent action is required, including a zero native vegetation conversion agreement such as the SoyM.〈/p〉

Description: To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2943200/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2943200/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bovine Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium -- Elsik, Christine G -- Tellam, Ross L -- Worley, Kim C -- Gibbs, Richard A -- Muzny, Donna M -- Weinstock, George M -- Adelson, David L -- Eichler, Evan E -- Elnitski, Laura -- Guigo, Roderic -- Hamernik, Debora L -- Kappes, Steve M -- Lewin, Harris A -- Lynn, David J -- Nicholas, Frank W -- Reymond, Alexandre -- Rijnkels, Monique -- Skow, Loren C -- Zdobnov, Evgeny M -- Schook, Lawrence -- Womack, James -- Alioto, Tyler -- Antonarakis, Stylianos E -- Astashyn, Alex -- Chapple, Charles E -- Chen, Hsiu-Chuan -- Chrast, Jacqueline -- Camara, Francisco -- Ermolaeva, Olga -- Henrichsen, Charlotte N -- Hlavina, Wratko -- Kapustin, Yuri -- Kiryutin, Boris -- Kitts, Paul -- Kokocinski, Felix -- Landrum, Melissa -- Maglott, Donna -- Pruitt, Kim -- Sapojnikov, Victor -- Searle, Stephen M -- Solovyev, Victor -- Souvorov, Alexandre -- Ucla, Catherine -- Wyss, Carine -- Anzola, Juan M -- Gerlach, Daniel -- Elhaik, Eran -- Graur, Dan -- Reese, Justin T -- Edgar, Robert C -- McEwan, John C -- Payne, Gemma M -- Raison, Joy M -- Junier, Thomas -- Kriventseva, Evgenia V -- Eyras, Eduardo -- Plass, Mireya -- Donthu, Ravikiran -- Larkin, Denis M -- Reecy, James -- Yang, Mary Q -- Chen, Lin -- Cheng, Ze -- Chitko-McKown, Carol G -- Liu, George E -- Matukumalli, Lakshmi K -- Song, Jiuzhou -- Zhu, Bin -- Bradley, Daniel G -- Brinkman, Fiona S L -- Lau, Lilian P L -- Whiteside, Matthew D -- Walker, Angela -- Wheeler, Thomas T -- Casey, Theresa -- German, J Bruce -- Lemay, Danielle G -- Maqbool, Nauman J -- Molenaar, Adrian J -- Seo, Seongwon -- Stothard, Paul -- Baldwin, Cynthia L -- Baxter, Rebecca -- Brinkmeyer-Langford, Candice L -- Brown, Wendy C -- Childers, Christopher P -- Connelley, Timothy -- Ellis, Shirley A -- Fritz, Krista -- Glass, Elizabeth J -- Herzig, Carolyn T A -- Iivanainen, Antti -- Lahmers, Kevin K -- Bennett, Anna K -- Dickens, C Michael -- Gilbert, James G R -- Hagen, Darren E -- Salih, Hanni -- Aerts, Jan -- Caetano, Alexandre R -- Dalrymple, Brian -- Garcia, Jose Fernando -- Gill, Clare A -- Hiendleder, Stefan G -- Memili, Erdogan -- Spurlock, Diane -- Williams, John L -- Alexander, Lee -- Brownstein, Michael J -- Guan, Leluo -- Holt, Robert A -- Jones, Steven J M -- Marra, Marco A -- Moore, Richard -- Moore, Stephen S -- Roberts, Andy -- Taniguchi, Masaaki -- Waterman, Richard C -- Chacko, Joseph -- Chandrabose, Mimi M -- Cree, Andy -- Dao, Marvin Diep -- Dinh, Huyen H -- Gabisi, Ramatu Ayiesha -- Hines, Sandra -- Hume, Jennifer -- Jhangiani, Shalini N -- Joshi, Vandita -- Kovar, Christie L -- Lewis, Lora R -- Liu, Yih-Shin -- Lopez, John -- Morgan, Margaret B -- Nguyen, Ngoc Bich -- Okwuonu, Geoffrey O -- Ruiz, San Juana -- Santibanez, Jireh -- Wright, Rita A -- Buhay, Christian -- Ding, Yan -- Dugan-Rocha, Shannon -- Herdandez, Judith -- Holder, Michael -- Sabo, Aniko -- Egan, Amy -- Goodell, Jason -- Wilczek-Boney, Katarzyna -- Fowler, Gerald R -- Hitchens, Matthew Edward -- Lozado, Ryan J -- Moen, Charles -- Steffen, David -- Warren, James T -- Zhang, Jingkun -- Chiu, Readman -- Schein, Jacqueline E -- Durbin, K James -- Havlak, Paul -- Jiang, Huaiyang -- Liu, Yue -- Qin, Xiang -- Ren, Yanru -- Shen, Yufeng -- Song, Henry -- Bell, Stephanie Nicole -- Davis, Clay -- Johnson, Angela Jolivet -- Lee, Sandra -- Nazareth, Lynne V -- Patel, Bella Mayurkumar -- Pu, Ling-Ling -- Vattathil, Selina -- Williams, Rex Lee Jr -- Curry, Stacey -- Hamilton, Cerissa -- Sodergren, Erica -- Wheeler, David A -- Barris, Wes -- Bennett, Gary L -- Eggen, Andre -- Green, Ronnie D -- Harhay, Gregory P -- Hobbs, Matthew -- Jann, Oliver -- Keele, John W -- Kent, Matthew P -- Lien, Sigbjorn -- McKay, Stephanie D -- McWilliam, Sean -- Ratnakumar, Abhirami -- Schnabel, Robert D -- Smith, Timothy -- Snelling, Warren M -- Sonstegard, Tad S -- Stone, Roger T -- Sugimoto, Yoshikazu -- Takasuga, Akiko -- Taylor, Jeremy F -- Van Tassell, Curtis P -- Macneil, Michael D -- Abatepaulo, Antonio R R -- Abbey, Colette A -- Ahola, Virpi -- Almeida, Iassudara G -- Amadio, Ariel F -- Anatriello, Elen -- Bahadue, Suria M -- Biase, Fernando H -- Boldt, Clayton R -- Carroll, Jeffery A -- Carvalho, Wanessa A -- Cervelatti, Eliane P -- Chacko, Elsa -- Chapin, Jennifer E -- Cheng, Ye -- Choi, Jungwoo -- Colley, Adam J -- de Campos, Tatiana A -- De Donato, Marcos -- Santos, Isabel K F de Miranda -- de Oliveira, Carlo J F -- Deobald, Heather -- Devinoy, Eve -- Donohue, Kaitlin E -- Dovc, Peter -- Eberlein, Annett -- Fitzsimmons, Carolyn J -- Franzin, Alessandra M -- Garcia, Gustavo R -- Genini, Sem -- Gladney, Cody J -- Grant, Jason R -- Greaser, Marion L -- Green, Jonathan A -- Hadsell, Darryl L -- Hakimov, Hatam A -- Halgren, Rob -- Harrow, Jennifer L -- Hart, Elizabeth A -- Hastings, Nicola -- Hernandez, Marta -- Hu, Zhi-Liang -- Ingham, Aaron -- Iso-Touru, Terhi -- Jamis, Catherine -- Jensen, Kirsty -- Kapetis, Dimos -- Kerr, Tovah -- Khalil, Sari S -- Khatib, Hasan -- Kolbehdari, Davood -- Kumar, Charu G -- Kumar, Dinesh -- Leach, Richard -- Lee, Justin C-M -- Li, Changxi -- Logan, Krystin M -- Malinverni, Roberto -- Marques, Elisa -- Martin, William F -- Martins, Natalia F -- Maruyama, Sandra R -- Mazza, Raffaele -- McLean, Kim L -- Medrano, Juan F -- Moreno, Barbara T -- More, Daniela D -- Muntean, Carl T -- Nandakumar, Hari P -- Nogueira, Marcelo F G -- Olsaker, Ingrid -- Pant, Sameer D -- Panzitta, Francesca -- Pastor, Rosemeire C P -- Poli, Mario A -- Poslusny, Nathan -- Rachagani, Satyanarayana -- Ranganathan, Shoba -- Razpet, Andrej -- Riggs, Penny K -- Rincon, Gonzalo -- Rodriguez-Osorio, Nelida -- Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra L -- Romero, Natasha E -- Rosenwald, Anne -- Sando, Lillian -- Schmutz, Sheila M -- Shen, Libing -- Sherman, Laura -- Southey, Bruce R -- Lutzow, Ylva Strandberg -- Sweedler, Jonathan V -- Tammen, Imke -- Telugu, Bhanu Prakash V L -- Urbanski, Jennifer M -- Utsunomiya, Yuri T -- Verschoor, Chris P -- Waardenberg, Ashley J -- Wang, Zhiquan -- Ward, Robert -- Weikard, Rosemarie -- Welsh, Thomas H Jr -- White, Stephen N -- Wilming, Laurens G -- Wunderlich, Kris R -- Yang, Jianqi -- Zhao, Feng-Qi -- 062023/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 077198/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- BBS/B/13438/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- BBS/B/13446/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom -- P30 DA018310/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-04/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-04S1/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-05/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-05S1/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-05S2/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-06/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-06S1/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-06S2/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-07/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG003273-08/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2009 Apr 24;324(5926):522-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1169588.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19390049" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Culex quinquefasciatus (the southern house mosquito) is an important mosquito vector of viruses such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus, as well as of nematodes that cause lymphatic filariasis. C. quinquefasciatus is one species within the Culex pipiens species complex and can be found throughout tropical and temperate climates of the world. The ability of C. quinquefasciatus to take blood meals from birds, livestock, and humans contributes to its ability to vector pathogens between species. Here, we describe the genomic sequence of C. quinquefasciatus: Its repertoire of 18,883 protein-coding genes is 22% larger than that of Aedes aegypti and 52% larger than that of Anopheles gambiae with multiple gene-family expansions, including olfactory and gustatory receptors, salivary gland genes, and genes associated with xenobiotic detoxification.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3740384/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3740384/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Arensburger, Peter -- Megy, Karine -- Waterhouse, Robert M -- Abrudan, Jenica -- Amedeo, Paolo -- Antelo, Beatriz -- Bartholomay, Lyric -- Bidwell, Shelby -- Caler, Elisabet -- Camara, Francisco -- Campbell, Corey L -- Campbell, Kathryn S -- Casola, Claudio -- Castro, Marta T -- Chandramouliswaran, Ishwar -- Chapman, Sinead B -- Christley, Scott -- Costas, Javier -- Eisenstadt, Eric -- Feschotte, Cedric -- Fraser-Liggett, Claire -- Guigo, Roderic -- Haas, Brian -- Hammond, Martin -- Hansson, Bill S -- Hemingway, Janet -- Hill, Sharon R -- Howarth, Clint -- Ignell, Rickard -- Kennedy, Ryan C -- Kodira, Chinnappa D -- Lobo, Neil F -- Mao, Chunhong -- Mayhew, George -- Michel, Kristin -- Mori, Akio -- Liu, Nannan -- Naveira, Horacio -- Nene, Vishvanath -- Nguyen, Nam -- Pearson, Matthew D -- Pritham, Ellen J -- Puiu, Daniela -- Qi, Yumin -- Ranson, Hilary -- Ribeiro, Jose M C -- Roberston, Hugh M -- Severson, David W -- Shumway, Martin -- Stanke, Mario -- Strausberg, Robert L -- Sun, Cheng -- Sutton, Granger -- Tu, Zhijian Jake -- Tubio, Jose Manuel C -- Unger, Maria F -- Vanlandingham, Dana L -- Vilella, Albert J -- White, Owen -- White, Jared R -- Wondji, Charles S -- Wortman, Jennifer -- Zdobnov, Evgeny M -- Birren, Bruce -- Christensen, Bruce M -- Collins, Frank H -- Cornel, Anthony -- Dimopoulos, George -- Hannick, Linda I -- Higgs, Stephen -- Lanzaro, Gregory C -- Lawson, Daniel -- Lee, Norman H -- Muskavitch, Marc A T -- Raikhel, Alexander S -- Atkinson, Peter W -- HHSN266200400001C/PHS HHS/ -- HHSN266200400039C/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- HHSN266200400039C/PHS HHS/ -- N01-AI-30071/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- N01AI30071/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- ZIA AI000810-13/Intramural NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Oct 1;330(6000):86-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1191864.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Center for Disease Vector Research, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA. arensburger@gmail.com〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20929810" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Energy & Fuels DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b00282