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Premise The sooty molds are a globally distributed ecological group of ascomycetes with epiphyllous, saprotrophic habit, comprising several phylogenetically distant taxa (i.e., members of the classes Dothideomycetes and Eurotiomycetes). Their fossil record extends almost continuously back to the early Cretaceous; however, they are hypothesized to have originated in the early Mesozoic. Here, we describe new specimens of sooty molds associated with conifer leaves from Jurassic hot spring deposits of Patagonia, Argentina. Methods Thin sections of chert samples from the La Matilde Formation, Deseado Massif (Santa Cruz, Argentina) were observed using light microscopy. Results The fungi occur on the surface and axils of leafy twigs with podocarpaceous affinities, forming dense subicula comprised by opaque moniliform hyphae. Additionally, several asexual and sexual reproductive structures are observed. On the basis of vegetative (i.e., dense subicula composed of moniliform hyphae; hyphae composed of opaque cells deeply constricted at the septa) and reproductive characters (i.e., poroconidial and sympodioconidial asexual stages and diverse spores), two morphotypes were identified with affinities within lineages of the subphylum Pezizomycotina that encompass the ecological group of sooty molds, and a third morphotype was within the phylum Ascomycota. Conclusions This finding extends the fossil record of sooty molds to the Jurassic and their geographic fossil range to the South American continent. In particular, their association with podocarpaceous conifers is shown to be ancient, dating back to the Jurassic. This new record provides an additional reference point on the diversity of interactions that characterized Jurassic forests in Patagonia.

The etiology of portal hypertension (pHTN) in children differs from that of adults and may require different management strategies. We set out to review the etiology, management, and natural history of pHTN at a pediatric liver center. From 2008 to 2018, 151 children and adolescents with pHTN were identified at a free‐standing children’s hospital. Patients were stratified by etiology of pHTN (intrahepatic disease [IH], defined as cholestatic disease and fibrotic or hepatocellular disease; extrahepatic disease [EH], defined as hepatic vein obstruction and prehepatic pHTN). Patients with EH were more likely to undergo an esophagoduodenscopy for a suspected gastrointestinal bleed (77% vs. 41%; P

Objective Non-adherence to pediatric regimens is a common concern. Low health literacy is correlated with poor outcomes in adults but is understudied in pediatrics. The current project aimed to determine the relationship between health literacy, adherence, and outcomes in pediatric liver transplant recipients. Hypotheses included a) parent and patient health literacy would be positively correlated; and b) low patient and/or parent health literacy would be negatively correlated with adherence and health outcomes. Patients and methods Eligible participants were recruited during routine follow-up visits in a pediatric liver transplant clinic. Parents and patients (>13 years old) completed 2 measures of health literacy. Patients ≥18 years completed health literacy measures without corresponding parent surveys. Adherence variables and health outcomes were obtained from medical records. Results Seventy-nine patients across two sites completed the study. Variance in classification of health literacy between measures was observed; however, most parents (82%-100%) scored within an "adequate literacy" range. More adolescents scored in lower health literacy ranges relative to the parents. Markers of SES were positively correlated with health literacy. Parent health literacy was negatively associated with biopsy-proven rejection episodes and the number of hospitalizations; however, it was not associated with measures of tacrolimus adherence. There were no relationships observed between parent and adolescent health literacy. Conclusions Health literacy is an important consideration in managing patient care; however, available measures demonstrate variability in capturing the skills of patients. Effective communication strategies may ameliorate admittedly small, but negative, impacts of limited health literacy on outcomes.

Marine shelf strata of the Quinault Formation reflect the influences of storm–flood processes and convergent margin tectonism on sedimentation and palaeocommunity distributions in an active forearc basin of Early Pliocene age, western Washington, USA. The sedimentologic, ichnologic and invertebrate megafaunal character of coastal sea cliff exposures in the Pratt Cliff–Duck Creek area, Quinault Indian Nation, reveal five different sedimentary facies – scoured, Rosselia, bioturbated, mixed and Acharax. These facies document the shifting interplay and intensities among storms, waves and river-flood plumes during transgression in inner to mid-shelf settings. Storm sedimentation on the inner shelf is recorded north of Pratt Cliff by amalgamated, proximal tempestites of the scoured facies, which grade up-section to thick deposits of hummocky cross-stratified sandstone, indicative of strong wave influences. These hummocky beds alternate, in metre-scale packages, with banded mudstone and siltstone that have distinctive sedimentologic and ichnofaunal characteristics (Rosselia facies). In particular the mudstone and siltstone occur as 1–15 cm-thick, rhythmic, parallel beds that are laterally continuous, internally homogeneous to faintly laminated, and thus similar in nature to fine-grained, oceanic flood deposits reported from shelf settings offshore the modern Eel River, northern California. The Quinault flood deposits are dominated by the ubiquitous trace fossil Rosselia socialis, comprising vertical, mud-packed, flaring burrows with a sand-filled central shaft which has been inferred as the feeding-dwelling structure of a vermiform invertebrate adapted to high sedimentation rates in inner-shelf settings. Fairweather conditions in between the higher energy periods of storms, waves and floods are recorded north of Pratt Cliff by the mixed facies, which is interpreted as representing the sand and mud zone of the inner- to mid-shelf transition. Quieter, deeper, mid-shelf, fairweather settings are typified by the bioturbated facies south of Pratt Cliff, where lower sedimentation rates and lower physical energies produced extensively bioturbated deposits of sandy siltstone punctuated, in places, by isolated sandy beds of distal tempestites. Quinault strata also chronicle stratigraphic signatures of subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate beneath western Washington during the Pliocene. For example, the imprint of geochemically unusual authigenic carbonates and a chemosynthetic palaeocommunity (Acharax facies) have been interpreted as a methane seep on the Quinault seafloor. Furthermore, a mobile rockground epifauna of pholadid bivalves became established on abundant, dark mudstone cobbles and pebbles sourced from the Hoh Assemblage, a Miocene accretionary prism that was actively deforming as well as interacting with Quinault forearc sediments during the Pliocene. Hoh mudstone clasts were supplied to the Quinault shelf via seafloor-piercing diapirs and eroding melange shear zones, exposures of which today occur in fault contact with Quinault strata along the coast from Taholah to the Raft River.

Abiotic–biotic mechanisms of microstromatolitic spicular sinter (geyseritic) initiation and development were elucidated by in situ growth experiments at Champagne Pool (75 °C, pH 5.5). Siliceous sinter formed subaerially on glass slides placed along the margin of the hot spring. Environment–silica–microbe interactions were revealed by periodic collections of incremental sinter growth that formed under a range of environmental conditions including quiescence vs. wave turbulence, and wind–evaporation vs. steam–condensation. Sinter surfaces were intermittently colonized by voluminous networks of filamentous micro-organisms, with submicron diameters, that provided an extensive surface area for silica deposition. The subaerial distribution of sinter and its textures reflected micron- to centimetre-scale differences in environmental conditions, particularly relating to the balance between wave-supplied dissolved silica and its precipitation, forced by cooling and evaporation. A continuum of sinter textures formed, representing rates of silica precipitation that either out-paced biofilm growth or regulated the structural development of biofilms, and hence also the nature of microbially templated sinter. Massive laminae of porous, filamentous-network sinter and/or fenestrae (up to 10's of microns in thickness and diameter) formed at relatively low rates of silica deposition (approximately 0.2 mg slide−1 day−1). At high rates (>1.9 mg slide−1 day−1), densely packed, granular or nonporous sinter formed, with filament networks disappearing into the siliceous matrix and becoming imperceptible under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, spicules were nucleated by filamentous microcolonies, where their discrete conical morphologies were preserved by accretion of thin sinter laminae. Microstromatolitic spicular growth ensued at fluctuating low to high rates of silica precipitation. Greater apical sinter build-up, and hence upward polarity, resulted from focused microbial recolonization and progressively greater subaerial exposure at microspicule tips. The biogenic origin of spicular sinter at Champagne Pool clearly demonstrates that micron-scale biofilms, displaying self-organization patterns common to both biofilms and microbial mats, can be an essential factor in shaping characteristic centimetre-scale sinter macrostructures. These findings suggest that a biogenic origin for geyserites elsewhere should also be considered. Moreover, results corroborate the supposition that microbially generated surface roughness may be significant for stromatolite morphogenesis in cryptic Precambrian carbonates.

A silica–carbonate deposit is forming from the dilute alkali chloride waters of Pavlova spring, a small thermal pool and outflow channel (85 to 10 times lower accumulation rates than typical siliceous sinters in the TVZ, and deposition of both silica and calcite is controlled by microchemical conditions and local temperature gradients, rather than by bulk spring water chemistry.

Objective: Cisplatin is a widely used, very effective chemotherapeutic agent that can cause severe ototoxicity. In this study, d-methionine was tested as an otoprotectant via round window membrane (RWM) application in the chinchilla. Methods: A minute amount of cisplatin alone, or d-methionine followed by cisplatin, was applied topically directly to the intact RWM of anesthetized adult chinchillas. Auditory brainstem responses were measured before and 1 week after topical round window application. Animals were killed, and the cochleas were examined. Results: The ears pretreated with d-methionine were completely protected from hearing loss and hair cell loss in the organ of Corti compared with controls. The ears receiving cisplatin without d-methionine protection sustained nearly complete hearing loss with threshold shifts of >60 dB, with extensive outer hair cell loss throughout the organ of Corti but particularly in the basal turn. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that topical d-methionine provides excellent otoprotection against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity both electrophysiologically and structurally. (Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2002;126:683-689.)

More than a dozen hydrocarbon seep-carbonate occurrences in late Jurassic to late Cretaceous forearc and accretionary prism strata, western California, accumulated in turbidite/fault-hosted or serpentine diapir-related settings. Three sites, Paskenta, Cold Fork of Cottonwood Creek and Wilbur Springs, were analyzed for their petrographic, geochemical and palaeoecological attributes, and each showed a three-stage development that recorded the evolution of fluids through reducing‐oxidizing‐reducing conditions. The first stage constituted diffusive, reduced fluid seepage (CH4, H2S) through seafloor sediments, as indicated by Fe-rich detrital micrite, corroded surfaces encrusted with framboidal pyrite, anhedral yellow calcite and negative cement stable isotopic signatures (d 13 C as low as � 35.5% PDB; d 18 Oa s low as � 10.8% PDB). Mega-invertebrates, adapted to reduced conditions and/or bacterial chemosymbiosis, colonized the sites during this earliest period of fluid seepage. A second, early stage of centralized venting at the seafloor followed, which was coincident with hydrocarbon migration, as evidenced by nonluminescent fibrous cements with d 13 C values as low as � 43.7% PDB, elevated d 18 O (up to þ2.3% PDB), petroleum inclusions, marine borings and lack of pyrite. Throughout these early phases of hydrocarbon seepage, microbial sediments were preserved as layered and clotted, nondetrital micrites. A final late-stage of development marked a return to reducing conditions during burial diagenesis, as implied by pore-associated Mn-rich cement phases with bright cathodoluminescent patterns, and negative d 18 O signatures (as low as � 14% PDB). These recurring patterns among sites highlight similarities in the hydrogeological evolution of the Mesozoic convergent margin of California, which influenced local geochemical conditions and organism responses. A comparison of stable carbon and oxygen isotopic data for 33 globally distributed seep-carbonates, ranging in age from Devonian to Recent, delineated three groupings that reflect variable fluid input, different tectono-sedimentary regimes and time‐temperature-dependent burial diagenesis.

Theories of motivation and common expectation argue that people who contribute more to an undertaking should receive more from it. This expectation has significantly influenced the design of compensation systems. Merit pay reflects this influence. Nonetheless, in spite of intuitive appeal and apparent theoretical support, merit pay rarely achieves its objectives. This article reviews five common implementation issues. It also argues that merit plans underemphasize important attribution biases that affect performance judgments. These biases suggest that such plans would still have limited effectiveness, even if implementation problems were overcome. The article presents an alternative focused on group accomplishment. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Although the research literature has long recognized performance appraisal as an important individually-oriented development tool, the developmental benefits of performance evaluation at the work-unit or group level have generally been overlooked. This paper examines these benefits, emphasizing particularly the team-building potential inherent in developing and using a set of appropriate, unit-level performance indicators. The problems related to the development of such indicators, and methods for minimizing these difficulties, are also considered.

Much research has examined the effects of the employment of women on family life, but substantially less attention has been paid to the impact of family life on work behaviour. This research was undertaken to test four competing hypotheses about the effects of family life on a woman's job performance and work attitudes. A sample of 94 non-professional women participated in the study. They completed several work and family-oriented questionnaires. Their managers provided job performance ratings. Of the four hypotheses tested (diffusion of energy; spillover effect; compensatory effect; and motherhood demands), the pattern of results best supported the motherhood demands hypothesis. Results showed that women with children were significantly lower in occupational commitment relative to women without children. Contrary to expectation, women with younger children outperformed women with older children.