Grassland birds and rotational-grazing in the northeast: Breeding ecology,survival and management opportunities

We studied long-term (2002–2009) demographics of bobolinks (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) and savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) breeding in rotationally grazed systems in the northeastern United States. Both nest success (6–44% bobolink; 7–48% savannah sparrow) and annual productivity (0.43–2.83 bobolink; 0.70–2.35 savannah sparrow) varied annually. Predation (48%) and trampling by cows (32%) accounted for most failed nests. Annual adult apparent survival ranged from 23% to 85% and showed substantial variation by species and sex. Although grazing resulted in substantial loss of vegetative cover, savannah sparrows responded similarly to predation and grazing-induced nest failure (time to renest, distance moved between nests) and generally remained in the same paddock to renest. Minimum paddock size to accommodate one female within this rotation was 70 m × 70 m (0.49 ha), allowing a female to stay within a paddock and move (approx. 50 m) between nesting attempts. To balance pasturing objectives and birds' needs in paddocks first grazed before 25 June, managers in the Northeast should rest that paddock 42–50 days before the second grazing. © 2011 The Wildlife Society.     

GL261 glioma tumor cells respond to ATP with an intracellular calcium rise and glutamate release

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most severe and unpredictable complications of prematurity. There are two possible mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of NEC: individual inflammatory response and impaired blood flow in mesenteric vessels with secondary ischemia of the intestine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible relationship between polymorphisms: Il-1β 3953C>T, Il-6 ?174G>C and ?596G>A, TNFα ?308G>A, and 86 bp variable number tandem repeat polymorphism of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (Il-1RN VNTR 86 bp) and three polymorphisms that may participate in arteries tension regulation and in consequence in intestine blood flow impairment: eNOS (894G>T and ?786T>C) and END-1 (5665G>T) and NEC in 100 infants born from singleton pregnancy, before 32 + 0 weeks of gestation, exposed to antenatal steroids therapy, and without congenital abnormalities. In study population, 22 (22%) newborns developed NEC. Surgery-requiring NEC was present in 7 children. Statistical analysis showed 20-fold higher prevalence of NEC in infants with the genotype TT [OR 20 (3.71–208.7); p = 0.0004] of eNOS 894G>T gene polymorphism. There was a higher prevalence of allele C carriers of eNOS 786T>C in patients with surgery-requiring NEC [OR 4.881 (1.33–21.99); p = 0.013]. Our investigation did not confirm any significant prevalence for NEC development in another studied genotypes/alleles. This study confirms the significant role of polymorphisms that play role in intestine blood flow. Identifying gene variants that increase the risk for NEC development may be useful in screening infants with inherent vulnerability and creating strategies for individualized care.     

Tissue banking,biovigilance and the notify library

This issue is dedicated to the contributions of Professor Glyn O. Phillips to the field of tissue banking and the advancement of science in general. The use of ionizing radiation to sterilize medical products drew the interest of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A meeting in 1976 in Athens Greece to present work on the effects of sterilizing radiation doses upon the antigenic properties of proteins and biologic tissues was my first introduction of Professor Phillips and the role that he was to play in Tissue Banking (Friedlaender, in Phillips GO, Tallentine AN (eds) Radiation sterilization. Irradiated tissues and their potential clinical use. The North E. Wales Institute, Clwyd, p 128, 1978). The IAEA sponsored subsequent meetings in the Republic of Korea, Czechoslovakia and Rangoon, the later including a visit to the tissue bank by Professor Phillips. His advocacy resulted in multiple workshops and teaching opportunities in a variety of countries, one of which led to the establishment of the Asia Pacific Surgical Tissue Banking Association in 1989 (Phillips and Strong, in Phillips GO, Strong DM, von Versen R, Nather A (eds) Advances in tissue banking, vol 3. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 403–417, 1999).     

Marked improvement of PAC and BAC cloning is achieved using electroelution of pulsed-field gel-separated partial digests of genomic DNA.

We describe a simple electroelution method for purifying large, gel-fractionated DNA molecules that alleviates the need for melting of the agarose and subsequent enzymatic agarose digestion. The method yields DNA that is visibly more intact than that purified from a standard agarose-digestion protocol and is more amenable to large-fragment cloning with PAC and BAC vectors. These findings are notable in that PAC and BAC library construction is a very labor-intensive and costly procedure, such that any net improvement in cloning efficiency is highly advantageous. This method also should prove useful towards other applications which require purification of very large DNA molecules, such as YAC cloning.     

An acoustic tracking of a megamouth shark, Megachasma pelagios: a crepuscular vertical migrator

A 4.9 m TL megamouth shark, only the sixth specimen known to science, was tracked continuously for 50.5 h, during which it exhibited distinct vertical migrations at the dawn and dusk transitions. The male shark was captured on 21 October 1990 in a drift gill net off Dana Point, California, restrained overnight in a harbor, and released at sea the next afternoon. Horizontally, the shark moved slowly southward, covering 62 km on a relatively straight path with no significant diel changes. For the major part of the tracking, its rate of movement was 1.15 km h^–1, as determined from positions at 15 min intervals. Considering a probable head current of 10–25 cm sec^–1, its estimated through-the-water swimming speed was more likely 1.5–2.1 km h^–1 (X¯ = 1.8, representing 0.1 body lengths sec^–1). Vertically, the shark stayed shallow at night (12–25 m depth range, X¯ = 17) and deep during the days (120–166 m, X¯ = 149) but still well above the bottom at 700–850 m. The four twilight depth-change events were very distinct and always spanned the times of sunset or sunrise. The ascent and descent profiles are a reasonble match to isolumes on the order of 0.4 lux for an extinction coefficient (0.07) calculated from water transparency measurements. Furthermore, the steepest parts of the shark's profiles correspond closely to the times of maximum rate-of-change of illumination. These findings suggest that, except during nights, the shark's chosen depth was to a large degree determined by light level.     

Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics

Available Light: Anthropological Reflections on Philosophical Topics. Clifford Geertz. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 27 lpp.     

Identification of a poison in toxic scallops from a Gonyaulax tamarensis red tide

The poison in stored extracts of the hepatopancreas of scallops that became toxic during a red tide caused by $\text{Gonyaulax tamarensis}$ has been extensively purified and the product shown to be identical to saxitoxin in its toxicity to mice and TLC behavior in six solvent systems.