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In 2020, a novel spotted fever group Rickettsia was described in 3 clinically ill dogs in the United States. Using naturally infected canine blood, the novel Rickettsia sp. was isolated in epithelial (Vero E6) and mononuclear (DH82 and 030D) cell lines. The sequenced whole genome revealed a 1.27 Mb circular chromosome with 96.87% identity to Rickettsia raoultii on the basis of average nucleotide identity analysis. A maximum-likelihood phylogeny tree placed the novel Rickettsia in its own branch within the spotted fever group. Immunofluorescence revealed single rods localized along the membrane in epithelial cells and randomly distributed in the cytoplasm of mononuclear cells. We propose the name Rickettsia finnyi sp. nov., strain 2024-CO-Wats, which is available from national and international Rickettsial isolate reference collections. Fever and thrombocytopenia were among abnormalities in the 17 naturally infected dogs we describe, underscoring the pathogenic importance of R. finnyi sp. nov. and its potential public health relevance.

Florida's rice stink bug complex comprises three species; Oebalus pugnax (F.), O. insularis (Stal), and O. ypsilongriseus (DeGeer), the latter two of which are invasive and exclusive to Florida within the United States. A series of surveys were conducted in 2017 and 2018 to determine the relative abundance of the three species throughout Florida's rice growing region within the Everglades Agricultural Area, in addition to comparing their seasonality within crop and noncrop habitats. Sampling occurred in commercial rice fields and adjacent transects of graminaceous noncrop hosts using sweep nets. Oebalus pugnax (52.7%) and O. insularis (61.7%) were the most abundant species in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Both species were more prevalent in rice fields compared to transects of noncrop hosts. Oebalus ypsilongriseus remained in low abundance relative to O. pugnax and O. insularis, and did not differ in numbers collected among rice and noncrop hosts. Of the noncrop hosts in transects, Panicum dichotomiflorum (fall panicum) was the most abundant across both years. This study is the first report of Oebalus species feeding on Echinochloa crus-galli (common barnyardgrass) in Florida. This study shows that the invasive O. insularis continues to increase in abundance, and has surpassed O. pugnax in terms of regional populations. These results emphasize the need for additional studies to assess the interactions among O. insularis and other Oebalus species in addition to its feeding behavior in Florida rice.

Previous studies demonstrated that coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) promote proinflammatory gene expression in adipocytes. PCBs are highly lipophilic and accumulate in adipose tissue, a site of insulin resistance in persons with type 2 diabetes. We investigated the in vitro and in vivo effects of coplanar PCBs on adipose expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and on glucose and insulin homeostasis in lean and obese mice. We quantified glucose and insulin tolerance, as well as TNF-α levels, in liver, muscle, and adipose tissue of male C57BL/6 mice administered vehicle, PCB-77, or PCB-126 and fed a low fat (LF) diet. Another group of mice administered vehicle or PCB-77 were fed a high fat (HF) diet for 12 weeks; the diet was then switched from HF to LF for 4 weeks to induce weight loss. We quantified glucose and insulin tolerance and adipose TNF-α expression in these mice. In addition, we used in vitro and in vivo studies to quantify aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-dependent effects of PCB-77 on parameters of glucose homeostasis. Treatment with coplanar PCBs resulted in sustained impairment of glucose and insulin tolerance in mice fed the LF diet. In PCB-77-treated mice, TNF-α expression was increased in adipose tissue but not in liver or muscle. PCB-77 levels were strikingly higher in adipose tissue than in liver or serum. Antagonism of AhR abolished both in vitro and in vivo effects of PCB-77. In obese mice, PCB-77 had no effect on glucose homeostasis, but glucose homeostasis was impaired after weight loss. Coplanar PCBs impaired glucose homeostasis in lean mice and in obese mice following weight loss. Adipose-specific elevations in TNF-α expression by PCBs may contribute to impaired glucose homeostasis.

The corn wireworm, Melanotus communis (Gyllenhal) (Coleoptera: Elateridae), is an important soil insect pest of Florida sugar cane (Saccharum spp.; Poaceae). The objective of this study was to determine the host plant preference of M. communis adults and larvae to weeds and sugar cane varieties found in Florida sugar cane fields. Three sugar cane varieties, 3 grass weeds, and 3 broadleaf weeds were tested for their attraction to the insects in free choice tests. After a 24 h exposure to whole plant extracts (juices), most adults were found in sugar cane varieties, followed by grass weeds, then broadleaf weeds. After a 48 h exposure to chopped roots in muck soil, most larvae were found in sugar cane varieties, followed by grass weeds, then broadleaf weeds. After a 48 h exposure to chopped roots in sandy soil, most larvae were found in sugar cane varieties, followed by broadleaf weeds, then grass weeds. Our data show that in free choice tests, both M. communis adults and larvae prefer sugar cane over weeds present in Florida sugar cane fields.

Frost's poem, \"Maple\" raises three distinct issues: 1) What is the significance of the name \"Maple\" and of the circumstances contributing to the naming of Maple? 2) What is the significance of the phrase \"wave offering\" in the biblical passages where the maple leaf was found? and 3) What does the poem mean? My thesis centers on a biblical and etymological analysis of the Hebrew word for \"offering\" that is central to Frost's poem. The paper begins with an investigation into the Old Testament origins of this phrase and then analyzes the significance of Maple's naming and the poem' relevance to Frost' themes and previous poems.

Several morphologically similar species of picture-winged flies (the silk fly complex, Diptera: Ulidiidae) are severe primary pests of sweet corn (Zea mays L.; Poaceae) in Florida. Monitoring traps for these pests may aid threshold development and species complex determination in the field. This study evaluated floral lures, some previously used to monitor pest Lepidoptera, and liquid protein baits, used for other pest Diptera, for efficacy in attraction of silk flies. Baited universal moth traps were deployed for several weeks and placed in a summer fallow field (field trial 1), a fall sweet corn field (field trial 2), and a spring sweet corn field (field trial 3). Flies were removed weekly during each experiment. In field trial 1, traps baited with 1,4-dimethoxybenzene captured the most flies. The majority of flies captured were Chaetopsis massyla Walker. In field trial 2, aged torula yeast—baited traps captured more flies than other treatments, (1,4-dimethoxybenzene, geraniol, phenylacetaldehyde, and fresh torula yeast). The majority of captured flies were Euxesta stigmatias Loew. In field trial 3, the aged torula yeast treatment resulted in greater fly capture than all other treatments (1,4-dimethoxybenzene, acetoin, anisole, and benzaldehyde). Euxesta eluta Loew was the dominant species captured in the spring. More females than males were captured from all 3 experiments and all treatments. These experiments demonstrate that all 3 silk fly species can be captured in traps currently used for pest monitoring. Torula yeast was the best attractant evaluated, and further semiochemical investigations of torula yeast are warranted.

This article makes three important assertions: it explains Austen's famous comment that Mansfield Park is about \"ordination\"; it shows that thematically the book is an anti-slavery novel; and it shows how Austen codifies her solution to the English anxieties of the French Revolution by implementing reforms in the institutions of the state, the military, and the church. The paper uses the Burkean terms of mode and substance to prove Burke's assertion that an estate, as well as a state, \"without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation.\"

[...]it is a metaphor for a continuous present in that the sun's spotlight effect on the immediate moment is the Happy Valley's only expression of temporality. [...]in addition to the closed physical system of the Happy Valley, the absence of an experiential horizon (as a choice of life) and a celestial horizon (as a choice of eternity) represent the two qualities missing from the temporal psychology of the inhabitants. All images of retirement into various types of chambers are a retreat from progressive time and changeable life into the static, unchanging moment of a psychological Happy Valley. [...]whenever a character retreats into the cave of memory (as Nekayah does) because of grief or troubles, Johnson is employing the mode of the past. [...]as the lasting consequence of \"tempestuous sorrow,\" she decides upon a more permanent withdrawal: \"I am resolved to retire from the world, with all its flatteries and deceits, and will hide myself in solitude\" (p. 125). [...]in a prayer he recorded on 30 March 1766, he writes, \"I prayed ... for encrease of Faith, Hope, and Charity\" (I, 108).

This project is an attempt to articulate a new conception of time and space as determined by the internal evidence of the texts and not by social or economic theories. Toward this end it employs a methodology which defines time and space as separate ideological categories with specific cultural distinctives. Furthermore, this essay attempts to prove that the authors figure their fictional arguments as solutions to contemporary social problems. Samuel Johnson's Rasselas (1759) defines time in the psychological terms of emotion. Hope and fear represent the future; sorrow and regret represent the past; and pleasure and pain represent the present. There are two modes of living: the “choice of life” and the “choice of eternity.” The choice the story posits is between living a material life in the present or a spiritual life in the future. Fanny Burney's Cecilia (1782) likewise portrays the tension between choosing to live in space or to live in time. Cecilia is a young heiress who is put in the guardianship of three men representing three strata of society: the aristocracy, the noveau riche, and the middle class. The first wants Fanny's money to ensure the legacy of the past; the second wants her money to fuel the pleasures of the present; while the third wants to invest her money in the metaphysics of a compound future. Into this scenario enters a fourth guardian, a moral “monitor” who teaches Cecilia that the best use of her money is to spend it on the poor that she may truly have treasure in heaven. Maria Edgeworth's The Absentee (1812) is different from the other three works in this study in that her metaphysics of time is political and not spiritual. Edgeworth's “heaven” is a unified Ireland. Her characters' live in a pleasure-driven English present rather than for the future benefit of Ireland. Her purpose in the novel is to show how the Irish people's orientation toward Irish space must change for Ireland to become a healthy polity in time. Finally, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1813) is a revolutionary work in both subject and purpose. Mirroring the cultural conflict of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Austen portrays the tensions between those who would not change society at all, those who would change it too much, and those who would change it in moderation. In portraying these three groups as representing past, present, and future, Austen shows how each affects everyday society and that a moral society can only proceed from people who live for the future.