Linking ecological and social systems in cities: urban planning in Finland as a case

The loss of urban green space as a result of urbanization threatens the overall biodiversity of urban areas, and prompts us to consider the importance of existing urban nature more carefully. Because urban ecological systems are in intense interaction with human-social systems, it is fruitful to create an interdisciplinary research and planning framework to ensure the maintenance of biodiversity in urban areas. For this purpose, we adapted a suitable theoretical and conceptual scheme for the setting of Finnish urban development, which provides an example of a situation where a lot of nature has so far remained inside and around urban area. The adapted scheme focuses on the land use change as a result of urban land use planning and development, and may provide a way to address the important variables and feedback mechanisms between information flowing from ecological systems and drivers from the social system. Furthermore, we outlined a more specific framework around the Finnish urban detailed planning process in order to study the interactions between these systems further. After addressing ecology-oriented questions of quantity, quality and needs of urban nature, and human-oriented drivers, such as flow and incorporation of information, knowledge, values and institutions, we identified several challenges in integrating the components of ecological and social systems. Creating common conceptual ground for different actors and disciplines, improving communication in the process, matching contradictory values and perceptions, and improving stakeholder participation would be in the best interest of nature and people of urban areas.     

青藏高原"黑土型"退化草地成因与恢复

对青藏高原“黑土型”退化草地的成因和生态建设进行评述,认为“黑土型”退化草地是草原退化生态学行为在江河源区高寒草地的特有体现形式,由气候变暖、冰川退缩、过度放牧、鼠害等综合因子共同导致。生态恢复不仅要从草地建设入手,还要对草地资源进行合理管理与规划。加强牧区文化教育投资、实行草地长期承包、加强《草原法》建设等措施是我国高寒草地畜牧业健康发展的重要保证。青藏高原生态系统特有的“惰性”特征可能是导致其草地生态系统自我更新能力差、系统结构脆弱、生态恢复困难的重要原因,应深入开展该方面研究,为青藏高原生态环境建设提供依据。     

Investigating the form-function interface in African apes: Relationships between principal moments of area and positional behaviors in femoral and humeral diaphyses

Investigations of cross-sectional geometry in nonhuman primate limb bones typically attribute shape ratios to qualitative behavioral characterizations, e.g., leaper, slow climber, brachiator, or terrestrial vs. arboreal quadruped. Quantitative positional behavioral data, however, have yet to be used in a rigorous evaluation of such shape-behavior connections. African apes represent an ideal population for such an investigation because their relatedness minimizes phylogenetic inertia, they exhibit diverse behavioral repertoires, and their locomotor behaviors are known from multiple studies. Cross-sectional data from femoral and humeral diaphyses were collected for 222 wild-shot specimens, encompassing Pan paniscus and all commonly recognized African ape subspecies. Digital representations of diaphyseal cross sections were acquired via computed tomography at three locations per diaphysis. Locomotor behaviors were pooled broadly into arboreal and terrestrial categories, then partitioned into quadrupedal walking, quadrumanous climbing, scrambling, and suspensory categories. Sex-specific taxonomic differences in ratios of principal moments of area (PMA) were statistically significant more often in the femoral diaphysis than the humeral diaphysis. While it appears difficult to relate a measure of shape (e.g., PMA ratio) to individual locomotor modes, general locomotor differences (e.g., percentage arboreal vs. terrestrial locomotion) are discerned more easily. As percentage of arboreal locomotion for a group increases, average cross sections appear more circular. Associations between PMA ratio and specific locomotor behaviors are less straightforward. Individual behaviors that integrate eccentric limb positions (e.g., arboreal scrambling) may not engender more circular cross sections than behaviors that incorporate repetitive sagittal movements (e.g., quadrupedal walking) in a straightforward manner.     

Changes of enzyme activity in lipid signaling pathways related to substrate reordering

The static fluid mosaic model of biological membranes has been progressively complemented by a dynamic membrane model that includes phospholipid reordering in domains that are proposed to extend from nanometers to microns. Kinetic models for lipolytic enzymes have only been developed for homogeneous lipid phases. In this work, we develop a generalization of the well-known surface dilution kinetic theory to cases where, in a same lipid phase, both domain and nondomain phases coexist. Our model also allows understanding the changes in enzymatic activity due to a decrease of free substrate concentration when domains are induced by peptides. This lipid reordering and domain dynamics can affect the activity of lipolytic enzymes, and can provide a simple explanation for how basic peptides, with a strong direct interaction with acidic phospholipids (such as beta-amyloid peptide), may cause a complex modulation of the activities of many important enzymes in lipid signaling pathways.     

Prediction of methylated CpGs in DNA sequences using a support vector machine

DNA methylation plays a key role in the regulation of gene expression. The most common type of DNA modification consists of the methylation of cytosine in the CpG dinucleotide. At the present time, there is no method available for the prediction of DNA methylation sites. Therefore, in this study we have developed a support vector machine (SVM)-based method for the prediction of cytosine methylation in CpG dinucleotides. Initially a SVM module was developed from human data for the prediction of human-specific methylation sites. This module achieved a MCC and AUC of 0.501 and 0.814, respectively, when evaluated using a 5-fold cross-validation. The performance of this SVM-based module was better than the classifiers built using alternative machine learning and statistical algorithms including artificial neural networks, Bayesian statistics, and decision trees. Additional SVM modules were also developed based on mammalian- and vertebrate-specific methylation patterns. The SVM module based on human methylation patterns was used for genome-wide analysis of methylation sites. This analysis demonstrated that the percentage of methylated CpGs is higher in UTRs as compared to exonic and intronic regions of human genes. This method is available on line for public use under the name of Methylator at http://bio.dfci.harvard.edu/Methylator/.     

The vertebrate social behavior network: evolutionary themes and variations

Based on a wide variety of data, it is now clear that birds and teleost (bony) fish possess a core "social behavior network" within the basal forebrain and midbrain that is homologous to the social behavior network of mammals. The nodes of this network are reciprocally connected, contain receptors for sex steroid hormones, and are involved in multiple forms of social behavior. Other hodological features and neuropeptide distributions are likewise very similar across taxa. This evolutionary conservation represents a boon for experiments on phenotypic behavioral variation, as the extraordinary social diversity of teleost fish and songbirds can now be used to generate broadly relevant insights into issues of brain function that are not particularly tractable in other vertebrate groups. Two such lines of research are presented here, each of which addresses functional variation within the network as it relates to divergent patterns of social behavior. In the first set of experiments, we have used a sexually polymorphic fish to demonstrate that natural selection can operate independently on hypothalamic neuroendocrine functions that are relevant for (1) gonadal regulation and (2) sex-typical behavioral modulation. In the second set of experiments, we have exploited the diversity of avian social organizations and ecologies to isolate species-typical group size as a quasi-independent variable. These experiments have shown that specific areas and peptidergic components of the social behavior network possess functional properties that evolve in parallel with divergence and convergence in sociality.     

A Human Health Risk Assessment Software for Facilitating Management of Urban Contaminated Sites: A Case Study: The Massa Site,Tuscany, Italy

The goal of this article is to present the Human Health Risk Assessment (HRA) software developed as one of the NORISC ^{1 1}NORISC is the acronym of the project “Network Oriented Risk assessment by In-situ Screening of Contaminated sites” realized under under the 5th European Union Community Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities. View all notes decision support software system components that could be used as a tool for facilitating management of urban contaminated sites. The NORISC-HRA software provides sufficient technical and procedural support to conduct a simple site-specific risk assessment. The employed HRA methodology is generally based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) procedures. The software determines the level and spatial distribution of human health risks at a given site and sets up site-specific preliminary Health-Based Remedial Goals (HBRGs)/Risk-Based Concentrations (RBCs) for soil and groundwater. The NORISC-HRA software is recommended for use when national soil and groundwater limit values are exceeded. Exposure pathways considered in this software are associated with three land use patterns—residential, industrial/commercial, and recreational. The aricle also presents the software testing results obtained at one of the NORISC test sites—the Massa site (Avenza-Carrara, Tuscany, Italy). Findings of the HRA indicated that the contaminated soil at the Massa test site might pose potential cancer and non-cancer risks to industrial workers in its present condition. Arsenic was the dominant substance responsible for most of the baseline risk and at the RBC of 1.77 mg/kg it was the primary driver of remedial decisions at the Massa site.     

Effects of elevated CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> and nitrogen on wheat growth and photosynthesis

The effects of nitrogen [75 and 150 kg (N) ha⁻¹] and elevated CO₂ on growth, photosynthetic rate, contents of soluble leaf proteins and activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and nitrate reductase (NR) were studied on wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. HD-2285) grown in open top chambers under either ambient (AC) or elevated (EC) CO₂ concentration (350 ± 50, 600 ± 50 μmol mol⁻¹) and analyzed at 40, 60 and 90 d after sowing. Plants grown under EC showed greater photosynthetic rate and were taller and attained greater leaf area along with higher total plant dry mass at all growth stages than those grown under AC. Total soluble and Rubisco protein contents decreased under EC but the activation of Rubisco was higher at EC with higher N supply. Nitrogen increased the NR activity whereas EC reduced it. Thus, EC causes increased growth and P_N ability per unit uptake of N in wheat plants, even if N is limiting.     

In vivo up-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in specific brain areas by chronic exposure to Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol

Cannabinoids are widely abused drugs. Here we show that chronic administration of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9)-THC), the active psychotropic agent in marijuana and hashish, at 1.5 mg per kg per day intraperitoneally for 7 days, increases the expression, at both mRNA and protein levels, of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in specific rat brain areas, notably in those involved in reward and addiction. Real-time PCR revealed a 10-fold up-regulation of BDNF mRNA in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) upon chronic Delta(9)-THC treatment, but there was no change at 3 or 24 h after a single injection. Smaller increases in mRNA levels were found in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), medial prefrontal cortex and paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Immunohistochemistry showed large increases in BDNF-stained cells in the NAc (5.5-fold), posterior VTA (4-fold) and PVN (1.7-fold), but no change was observed in the anterior VTA, hippocampus or dorsal striatum. Altogether, our study indicates that chronic exposure to Delta(9)-THC up-regulates BDNF in specific brain areas involved with reward, and provides evidence for different BDNF expression in the anterior and posterior VTA. Moreover, BDNF is known to modulate synaptic plasticity and adaptive processes underlying learning and memory, leading to long-term functional and structural modification of synaptic connections. We suggest that Delta(9)-THC up-regulation of BDNF expression has an important role in inducing the neuroadaptive processes taking place upon exposure to cannabinoids.     

The activation of 5-HT receptors in prefrontal cortex enhances dopaminergic activity

Atypical antipsychotics show preferential 5-HT 2A versus dopamine (DA) D2 receptor affinity. At clinical doses, they fully occupy cortical 5-HT2 receptors, which suggests a strong relationship with their therapeutic action. Half of the pyramidal neurones in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) express 5-HT 2A receptors. Also, neurones excited through 5-HT 2A receptors project to the ventral tegmental area (VTA). We therefore hypothesized that prefrontal 5-HT 2A receptors can modulate DA transmission through excitatory mPFC-VTA inputs. In this study we used single unit recordings to examine the responses of DA neurones to local (in the mPFC) and systemic administration of the 5-HT 2A/2C agonist 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl-2-aminopropane] (DOI). Likewise, using microdialysis, we examined DA release in the mPFC and VTA (single/dual probe) in response to prefrontal and systemic drug administration. The local (in the mPFC) and systemic administration of DOI increased the firing rate and burst firing of DA neurones and DA release in the VTA and mPFC. The increase in VTA DA release was mimicked by the electrical stimulation of the mPFC. The effects of DOI were reversed by M100907 and ritanserin. These results indicate that the activity of VTA DA neurones is under the excitatory control of 5-HT 2A receptors in the mPFC. These observations may help in the understanding of the therapeutic action of atypical antipsychotics.