Saint Lucia revisited

The eastern Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is now famous in parasitological history as the setting for a major programme of schistosomiasis control'. Perhaps less well-known are the island's effective control of many intestinal parasites, and elimination of malaria, such that the current patterns of mortality and other demographic indicators now resemble those of industrialized countries. More recently, the island has become the focus for another community-based health programme as the Caribbean region again comes to grips with Aedes aegypti and its recently imported relative, Aedes albopictus, important vectors of yellow fever and dengue viruses (see Box 1).     

The fishes of Saint Paul's Rocks

Fifty species of fishes are recorded from Saint Paul's Rocks in a checklist which includes notes on ecology and behaviour. The poor species diversity, which is the lowest of any tropical island studied to date, seems to result from the isolation of the Rocks and also their small size and lack of habitat diversity. Large pelagic and semi-pelagic predators, especially Galapagos sharks, are unusually common; 12.1% of identified shore fishes at St Paul's appear to be endemic to the Rocks, while 6.1% are known only from the tropical islands of the mid-Atlantic ridge (St Paul's, Ascension, St Helena); 15.2% are recorded only from Brazil and St Paul's 30.3% are widespread western Atlantic forms that have the central Atlantic as the eastern limit of their range; a further 36.4% are widely distributed throughout the tropical Atlantic. Three new species are described: Anthias salmopunctatus, Stegastes sanctipauli and Enneanectes smithi .     

Prospecting Anticancer Compounds in Actinomycetes Recovered from the Sediments of Saint Peter and Saint Paul's Archipelago,Brazil

Saint Peter and Saint Paul's Archipelago is a collection of 15 islets and rocks remotely located in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. In this particular site, the present project intended to assess the biodiversity and biotechnological potential of bacteria from the actinomycete group. This study presents the first results of this assessment. From 21 sediment samples, 268 strains were isolated and codified as BRA followed by three numbers. Of those, 94 strains were grown in liquid media and submitted to chemical extractions with AcOEt (A), BuOH (B), and MeOH (M). A total of 224 extracts were screened for their cytotoxic activity and 41 were significantly active against HCT‐116 cancer cells. The obtained IC₅₀ values ranged from 0.04 to 31.55 μg/ml. The HR‐LC/MS dereplication analysis of the active extracts showed the occurrence of several known anticancer compounds. Individual compounds, identified using HR‐MS combined with analysis of the AntiMarin database, included saliniketals A and B, piericidins A and C and glucopiericidin A, staurosporine, N‐methylstaurosporine, hydroxydimethyl‐staurosporine and N‐carbamoylstaurosporine, salinisporamycin A, and rifamycins S and B. BRA‐199, identified as Streptomyces sp., was submitted to bioassay‐guided fractionation, leading to isolation of the bioactive piericidins A and C, glucopiericidin, and three known diketopiperazines, cyclo(l ‐Phe‐trans‐4‐OH‐l ‐Pro), cyclo(l ‐Phe‐l ‐Pro), and cyclo(l ‐Trp‐l ‐Pro).     

Saint cults and political alignments in Southern Italy

Conclusion People are seldom able to account for the meanings implied in the particulars of the rituals, but the most important element in the interaction with the saint seems to be of a reciprocal character-exchange of gifts for miracles or protection. The saint cult can be seen as part of a total social phenomenon which articulates the symmetrical reciprocity in the interpersonal relationships in the social structure and asymmetrical relationships in the clientela system. The feasts amount to a popular gathering with multiple functions where all the activities that are being performed renew and confirm networks that constitute village solidarity. The saint cult also joins all these functions and meanings in a complex cultural-personal metaphor that relates expressions of reciprocity as instances of the underlying forms of the society.The saint cult does not merely express a metaphor.A metaphor uses imagery from one domain or level of experience to illuminate relationships, objects and processes in a different domain or at a different level. It follows from this that the domain of thought or experience which is being explicated by metaphor is that which metaphor is used to illuminate, not that from which the idioms of metaphor is fetched .There is also a formal similarity between the gift-giving to a patron saint and to a profane patron. But the rituals in the saint cults do not account for a divine justification of the order in the substantial world. On the contrary, the rituals of the saint cults use a known and common language of reciprocity to get hold of a difficult and inexplicable world. I thus argue that the rituals of the saint cults use idioms similar to the profane political and social relations to express the quality of the relationship between saint and devotee, but this in no way implies that the two domains are substantively confounded. The forms are part of the same world view that emphasizes reciprocity as the basis for social solidarity; receiving evokes obligations for return giving, a favor for a gift. Ritual is not a substitute for the world or displacement of action in it; it is part of, an expression of, a world articulated by those values/views of reciprocity. Consequently, the saint cults which have been analyzed here do not represent an alternative to political or other activities, but a continuation and a completion of that activity into the total means by which one seeks goals in a world so conceived.Mia Di Tota is associated with the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Oslo.

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Saint Louis Encephalitis Viral Ribonucleic Acid Replication Complex

Pulse-labeled Saint Louis encephalitis viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) is found in the cytoplasm of infected cells associated with a membranous structure which sediments with an average value of 250S. The integrity of the complex is destroyed by detergents and ribonuclease; however, it is stable in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) which differentiates this structure from cellular polyribosomes. With cultures in which cellular RNA was highly labeled prior to infection, ribosomal RNA could not be demonstrated in the complex isolated from EDTA-sucrose gradients. Single-stranded 43S and the 26S and 20S forms of viral RNA were found in the complex. Viral RNA polymerase activity in sucrose-gradient fractions sedimented in the same region as the fractions which contained the pulse-labeled viral RNA. The polymerase incorporated (3)H-guanosine triphosphate into acid-precipitable material in the absence of added template. It was also found that the replication complex contains viral-specific proteins.     

Identification of Saint Louis encephalitis virus mRNA.

Saint Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus-specific RNA was recovered from infected HeLa cells by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-phenol-chloroform extraction, and the molecular species were resolved by SDS-sucrose gradient centrifugation and agarose gel electrophoresis. Sucrose gradient centrifugation revealed the presence of a 45S species, minor 20 to 30S heterogeneous species, and an 8 to 10 S RNA species in the cytoplasmic extract. Analysis of the same samples by electrophoresis on agarose gels, under both nondenaturing and denaturing conditions, revealed only two virus-specific RNA molecules, the 45S genome-sized RNA and an 8 to 10S species. Varying the gel concentration to facilitate analysis of nucleic acids with molecular weights ranging from 25,000 to 25 X 10(6) failed to reveal additional RNA species, although low levels of a putative double-stranded replicative form could conceivably have escaped detection. From our observations it appears that the heterogeneous RNA species and presumably the 20S RNase-resistant species reported in other investigations of flavivirus RNA are degradation products or conformers of the 45S molecule. Polysomes from SLE virus-infected cells were prepared and separated from contaminating nucleocapsid by centrifugation on discontinuous sucrose gradients. RNA extracted from these polysome preparations was analyzed by sucrose gradient centrifugation and agarose gel electrophoresis. The 45S SLE virus genome-size molecule was found to be the only RNA species associated with the polysomes. This molecule was sensitive to RNase digestion and was released from polysomes by EDTA and puromycin treatment. These findings provide direct evidence that the 45 S SLE virus RNA serves as the messenger during virus replication, in contrast to the 26S RNA species which functions as the predominant messenger during alphavirus replication.     

Occurrences of whale shark (Rhincodon typus Smith, 1828) in the Saint Peter and Saint Paul archipelago, Brazil

The Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago in the central tropical Atlantic, is an important ground of whale sharks that are commonly sighted throughout the year close to the fishing boats in the adjacencies of the islands. In sightings reported between February 2000 and November 2005, the lengths of the individuals ranged between 1.8 to 14.0 m. The causes of these concentrations in the archipelago are still unclear, once there are no upwellings and plankton concentrations for feeding, and no reproductive activities were reported. Nevertheless, they could be associated to the spawning period of the abundant flying fishes, mainly in the first semester, when sightings were more frequent.     

How did Death become a Saint in Mexico?

Over the last decade, the cult of La Santa Muerte (St Death) has attracted a remarkable number of followers in Mexico and the USA. Whereas the social context of her devotees, who tend to live on the fringes of society, has attracted ample attention from scholars and journalists, one of the principal puzzles is still how a skeleton image of death has come to be seen as a saint by large numbers of Catholics. How is it possible for this figure to embrace such antagonistic qualities as death and sainthood in a Christian context? In this semiotic-material exploration of the image's genealogy, I suggest that La Santa Muerte should be seen as a coalescing of two radically distinct images of death: the popular-secular Catrina and the occult-biblical Santísima Muerte. The St Death venerated today encompasses the ambiguities of the two and creates an exceptionally vibrant and popular Catholic image.     

Structural and Nonstructural Proteins of Saint Louis Encephalitis Virus

Analysis of purified Saint Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus by acrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that the virions contained three structural proteins designated SP-1, SP-2, and SP-3 which had molecular weights of 63,000, 18,000, and 8,500, respectively. The envelope contained proteins SP-1 and SP-3 which were removed from the nucleocapsid by nonionic detergent treatment. Nucleocapsids prepared by deoxycholate treatment of complete virions had a density of 1.301 in potassium tartrate and contained SP-2 and SP-3. Brij-58-prepared SLE nucleocapsids had a density of 1.321 and contained only SP-2. Cycloheximide treatment for 1 hr in the presence of actinomycin irreversibly inhibited BHK cellular protein synthesis and reversibly inhibited the synthesis of SLE viral protein and ribonucleic acid. Three structural proteins and five virus-specific nonstructural proteins were detectable in SLE virus-infected BHK cells treated with actinomycin and pulse-inhibited with cycloheximide. Formation of each individual viral structural protein was detectable within 30 min after cycloheximide removal and continued with only minor changes from 12 to 18 hr after infection. Late in the infection cycle, synthesis of the nucleocapsid structural protein SP-2 and SP-3, the small envelope protein, was no longer detectable.     

Patterns of success in passeriform bird introductions on Saint Helena

Ecologists have long attempted to predict the success of species that are introduced into foreign environments. Some have emphasized qualities intrinsic to the species themselves, whereas others have argued that extrinsic forces such as competition may be more important. We test some of the predictions made by both the extrinsic and intrinsic hypotheses using passeriform birds introduced onto the island of Saint Helena. We found direct evidence that extrinsic forces are more important predictors of successful invasion. Species introduced when fewer other species were present were more likely to be successful. In a direct test of the alternative hypothesis that intrinsic forces play a more prominent role in success or failure, we found a tendency for species which successfully established on Saint Helena to be also successful when introduced elsewhere. However, the vast majority of species unsuccessful at establishing on Saint Helena had probabilities of success outside Saint Helena of 50% or greater, making this result somewhat equivocal. Finally, we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that species that are successful early are those that are intrinsically superior invaders. These results are consistent with similar analyses of the introduced avian communities on Oahu, Tahiti, and Bermuda.     

The ecology of Saint Paul's Rocks (Equatorial Atlantic)

St Paul's Rocks are a remote group of islets, barely 400 m across, in the equatorial mid-Atlantic (o°55'N 29°21'W). The results of a primarily zoological survey of the Rocks, carried out in September 1979 by the Cambridge Expedition to Saint Paul's Rocks, are reported. In addition, earlier studies of the Rocks' biology are discussed in the light of recent research. The terrestrial fauna is dominated by three species of sea-bird and a land crab. Also reported from on land are a few species of insects, ticks and spiders, an endemic pseudoscorpion, and a centipede; the majority of these species are associated with the seabirds.
The islets are devoid of tracheophytes, bryophytes and lichens.
The marine ecology of the Rocks is discussed with respect to habitat. Five habitats are distinguished in the supralittoral and littoral zones; the fauna and to a limited extent the flora of each is described. Sublittorally the Rocks consist almost entirely of steep escarpments extending to 60 m depth and beyond. The shallow sublittoral (< 60 m deep) is divided into four habitats: (1) Palythoa zone; (2) Caulerpa zone; (3) sub- Cauferpa zone, and (4) areas of unstable substrates. The Palythoa zone occupies a band extending from the base of the littoral to a depth of c . 5m and is dominated by a mat-forming hexacoral, Palythoa caribaeorum. Below this zone to a depth of c . 33 m the rock faces are thickly invested by a species of green-alga, Caulerpa racemosa. At depth this Caulerpa dominated zone is succeeded by an invertebrate dominated community. Unstable substrates are represented by a few pockets of coarse sand and some patches of rubble. The communities in each of these habitats are described. A primarily taxonomic review of the deep-water fauna is also included. Finally, the influence of ocean currents on the zoogeographical relationships of the Rocks' fauna is briefly examined.