Leaf proteome analysis of eight Populus ×euramericana genotypes: Genetic variation in drought response and in water‐use efficiency involves photosynthesis‐related proteins

Genetic variation of leaf proteome in drought response was investigated among eight Populus ×euramericana genotypes contrasting for their leaf carbon isotope discrimination (Δ), an estimate of intrinsic water‐use efficiency. Plants were grown in open field on two similar plots. Drought was induced by an 86‐day irrigation cessation on one plot, whereas a second plot remained regularly irrigated. Using 2‐DE, 863 reproducible spots were detected; about 60% presented at least one significant effect i.e. treatment, genotype and/or genotype by treatment interaction effect. A significant genotype by treatment interaction was detected for 62 reliably identified proteins among which, about 65% consisted in chloroplast‐associated proteins either involved in the Calvin cycle or in the electron‐transport chains. The other proteins were involved in oxidative stress, amino acid or protein metabolisms. Correlations between protein abundance and Δ variations were found for 45 reliably identified proteins. The abundance of ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activase isoforms scaled negatively with Δ regardless of the treatment, suggesting that a large intrinsic water‐use efficiency could be due to higher abundance of ribulose‐1,5‐bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase activase. Under control condition, abundance of enzymes involved in carbon fixation was also negatively correlated with Δ, whereas abundance of enzymes involved in photorespiration or respiration was positively correlated with Δ.     

Molecular Systematics and Phylogenetics of Gracilariacean Species from the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean reports of Gracilariaceae species, in particular those assigned to the G. verrucosa complex, were re-examined with the use of molecular tools, in order to verify their systematic position and better understand their distribution. Within this complex, we recognized four distinct taxa: Gracilariopsis longissima, Gracilaria gracilis, Gracilaria longa and a possible new species. The rbcL gene sequences, together with those of other terete Mediterranean entities, were included in a broad molecular phylogeny of the family. The reproductive characters of the studied taxa do not fit completely with published hypothesis on the generic and intrageneric relationships, suggesting that the anatomy of some subgroups should be better characterized.     

Intraoperative functional study of unilateral cold thyroid nodules

The authors studied 7 patients (age between 22 and 52 years, mean 40.2 +/- 6.55 S.D.) with single or multiple solid nodules, localized in the same thyroid lobe. All subjects performed scintiscanning and echography for evaluating the nature of nodules. During the thyroidectomy the hormonal pattern has been studied in the venous blood of both lobes (inferior thyroid and jugular veins, homo and heterolateral). The authors found a significant decrease of T3 and T4 values with increased T3/T4 ratio at the nodular level. This report could be related to an hypothetical alteration of iodination mechanisms, maybe due to an intrinsic defect of oxidative mitochondrial systems.     

Resource ratio and human impact: how diatom assemblages in Lake Maggiore responded to oligotrophication and climatic variability

Diatoms have been often used to track trophic changes from sedimentary records: recent studies demonstrated that these organisms can even be valuable indicators of climatic variability, although it is often difficult to discriminate the role of trophic and climatic drivers. Moving from the hypothesis that oligotrophication and climate affected the composition of the diatom assemblages by changing the resource ratio, we analysed the vernal diatoms succession in Lake Maggiore, between 1984 and 2007, using multivariate techniques (cluster analysis, canonical correspondence analysis, multivariate regression trees), in order to single out the oligotrophication effects from those attributable to climatic variability. Our results point out that Si, TP, temperature and wind emerged as key explanatory variables in species selection, with a stronger link between trophic and climatic drivers after the lake reached a stable oligotrophic status. Peculiar climate-driven events (deep mixing and floods) affected the in-lake Si:P ratio, giving an advantage to diatoms that are excellent P, but poor Si competitors. The classical role of Fragilaria and Tabellaria as early-warning indicators of eutrophication should be reconsidered, taking into account that both can be useful indicators of climate change, when links between their physiological resource needs and environmental data coming from robust limnological investigations can be established.     

Determining optimal clothing ensembles based on weather forecasts,with particular reference to outdoor winter military activities

Military and civil defense personnel are often involved in complex activities in a variety of outdoor environments. The choice of appropriate clothing ensembles represents an important strategy to establish the success of a military mission. The main aim of this study was to compare the known clothing insulation of the garment ensembles worn by soldiers during two winter outdoor field trials (hike and guard duty) with the estimated optimal clothing thermal insulations recommended to maintain thermoneutrality, assessed by using two different biometeorological procedures. The overall aim was to assess the applicability of such biometeorological procedures to weather forecast systems, thereby developing a comprehensive biometeorological tool for military operational forecast purposes. Military trials were carried out during winter 2006 in Pokljuka (Slovenia) by Slovene Armed Forces personnel. Gastrointestinal temperature, heart rate and environmental parameters were measured with portable data acquisition systems. The thermal characteristics of the clothing ensembles worn by the soldiers, namely thermal resistance, were determined with a sweating thermal manikin. Results showed that the clothing ensemble worn by the military was appropriate during guard duty but generally inappropriate during the hike. A general under-estimation of the biometeorological forecast model in predicting the optimal clothing insulation value was observed and an additional post-processing calibration might further improve forecast accuracy. This study represents the first step in the development of a comprehensive personalized biometeorological forecast system aimed at improving recommendations regarding the optimal thermal insulation of military garment ensembles for winter activities.     

A phytoplankton trophic index to assess the status of lakes for the Water Framework Directive

Despite improvements in wastewater treatment systems, the impact of anthropogenic nutrient sources remains a key issue for the management of European lakes. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides a mechanism through which progress can be made on this issue. The Directive requires a classification of the ecological status of phytoplankton, which includes an assessment of taxonomic composition. In this paper, we present a composition metric, the plankton trophic index, that was developed in the WISER EU FP7 project and demonstrate how it has been used to compare national phytoplankton classification systems in Northern and Central Europe. The metric was derived from summer phytoplankton data summarised by genus from 1,795 lakes, covering 20 European countries. We show that it is significantly related to total phosphorus concentrations, but that it is also sensitive to alkalinity, lake size and climatic variables. Through the use of country-specific reference values for the index, we demonstrate that it is significantly related to other national phytoplankton assessment systems and illustrate for a single European (intercalibration) lake type how it was used to intercalibrate WFD boundaries from different countries.     

Strength and uncertainty of phytoplankton metrics for assessing eutrophication impacts in lakes

Phytoplankton constitutes a diverse array of short-lived organisms which derive their nutrients from the water column of lakes. These features make this community the most direct and earliest indicator of the impacts of changing nutrient conditions on lake ecosystems. It also makes them particularly suitable for measuring the success of restoration measures following reductions in nutrient loads. This paper integrates a large volume of work on a number of measures, or metrics, developed for using phytoplankton to assess the ecological status of European lakes, as required for the Water Framework Directive. It assesses the indicator strength of these metrics, specifically in relation to representing the impacts of eutrophication. It also examines how these measures vary naturally at different locations within a lake, as well as between lakes, and how much variability is associated with different replicate samples, different months within a year and between years. On the basis of this analysis, three of the strongest metrics (chlorophyll-a, phytoplankton trophic index (PTI), and cyanobacterial biovolume) are recommended for use as robust measures for assessing the ecological quality of lakes in relation to nutrient-enrichment pressures and a minimum recommended sampling frequency is provided for these three metrics.     

Intratumor Heterogeneity of ALK-Rearrangements and Homogeneity of EGFR-Mutations in Mixed Lung Adenocarcinoma

Background

Non Small Cell Lung Cancer is a highly heterogeneous tumor. Histologic intratumor heterogeneity could be ‘major’, characterized by a single tumor showing two different histologic types, and ‘minor’, due to at least 2 different growth patterns in the same tumor. Therefore, a morphological heterogeneity could reflect an intratumor molecular heterogeneity. To date, few data are reported in literature about molecular features of the mixed adenocarcinoma. The aim of our study was to assess EGFR-mutations and ALK-rearrangements in different intratumor subtypes and/or growth patterns in a series of mixed adenocarcinomas and adenosquamous carcinomas.

Methods

590 Non Small Cell Lung Carcinomas tumor samples were revised in order to select mixed adenocarcinomas with available tumor components. Finally, only 105 mixed adenocarcinomas and 17 adenosquamous carcinomas were included in the study for further analyses. Two TMAs were built selecting the different intratumor histotypes. ALK-rearrangements were detected through FISH and IHC, and EGFR-mutations were detected through IHC and confirmed by RT-PCR.

Results

10/122 cases were ALK-rearranged and 7 from those 10 showing an intratumor heterogeneity of the rearrangements. 12/122 cases were EGFR-mutated, uniformly expressing the EGFR-mutated protein in all histologic components.

Conclusion

Our data suggests that EGFR-mutations is generally homogeneously expressed. On the contrary, ALK-rearrangement showed an intratumor heterogeneity in both mixed adenocarcinomas and adenosquamous carcinomas. The intratumor heterogeneity of ALK-rearrangements could lead to a possible impact on the therapeutic responses and the disease outcomes.     

A computer program suitable for fitting linear models when the dependent variable is dichotomous, polichotomous or censored survival and non-linear models when the dependent variable is quantitative.

Given a set of measurements of s explanatory variables corresponding to each experimental unit, a computer program, whose methodological background can be found in [2] has been written in FORTRAN IV language in order to perform regression analyses when the dependent variable is: (i) dichotomous; (ii) polichotomous; (iii) censored survival. In the two former the Cox's [6] linear logistic models are used while in the third one it has been resorted to the models suggested by Feigl and Zelen [8]. The statistical estimation procedure is maximum likelihood and among the different algorithms developed to reach this goal, the one published by Van der Voort and Dorpema [3], has been utilized. Furthermore, when the dependent variable is quantitative, the program is suitable to fit any function non-linear in the parameters; the pertinent function and its first and second derivatives must be provided by the user. In the present version, implemented on a Univac 1106 machine, the program fits directly the Gompertz function.