Form and Function in the Xenarthra–an Introduction to the Symposium Proceedings Volume

This special issue of the Journal of Mammalian Evolution represents the proceedings from a symposium held in conjunction with the 9th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology (ICVM IX, Punta del Este, Uruguay, July 29, 2010), and entitled “Form and Function in the Xenarthra.” This symposium was the third on xenarthran biology to be presented in association with the ICVM meetings. In this brief introduction to the symposium proceedings, we plan to discuss the justification for the symposium, to provide a brief history of previous symposia and their results, and to introduce the contents of the present volume.     

Trench connection

'Trench Connection' was the first international symposium focusing primarily on the hadal zone (depths greater than 6000 m). It was held at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute in November 2010. The symposium was successful in having attracted an international collective of scientists and engineers to discuss the latest developments in the exploration and understanding of the deepest environments on Earth. The symposium sessions were categorized into three themes: (i) new deep-submergence technology; (ii) trench ecology and evolution; and (iii) the physical environment. Recent technological developments have overcome the challenges of accessing the extreme depths, which have in turn prompted an international renewed interest in researching physical and biological aspects of the hadal ecosystems. This bringing together of international participants from different disciplines led to healthy discussions throughout the symposium, providing potential opportunities and realizations of where the future of unravelling hadal ecology lies. Hadal science is still at relatively rudimentary levels compared with those of shallower marine environments; however, it became apparent at the symposium that it is now an ever-expanding scientific field.     

G6PD deficiency, diet, and adaptation to malaria

The symposium on “G6PD Deficiency, Diet, and Adaptation to Malaria” was held in Cortona, Italy on July 3,4,5 1995 under the auspices of the Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES). The Congress had actually taken place in Florence in April 1995, and the G6PD symposium was a satellite session to that meeting. Professor Brunetto Chiarelli, of the Istituto di Antropologia at the University of Florence, was the program chairman for the Congress. The general theme of the Congress was “Biodemography and Human Evolution,” and the G6PD symposium was consistent with this topic. In its broadest sense the symposium focused on biocultural factors which have influenced evolution at the G6PD locus and the pattern of population variation that has consequently emerged in this genetic system. A more specific sub-theme, reflected in the title of the symposium, was the interaction between dietary factors and the G6PD locus in providing antimalarial protection to human populations.     

Effects of beta-lactam antibiotics on eukaryotic cells

A symposium on effects of beta-lactam antibiotics on eukaryotic cells was held as part of the 9th International Congress of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (Munich, Germany, July 1986). This symposium provided an opportunity to review recent work on the effect of beta-lactam structures on mammalian cells in culture and to speculate on possible clinical implications. This paper is a comment on the subject matter covered by the symposium papers which follow.Abbreviations Ara-C cytosine arabinoside - BLA beta-lactam antibiotic     

Cofactors in and as posttranslational protein modifications

A symposium at the FASEB meeting in Las Vegas in May 1988 will be devoted to the role of cofactors (vitamins, coenzymes, prosthetic groups) in and as posttranslational protein modifications; the symposium is part of a thematic focus on metabolic regulation. In planning the symposium, we decided to consider metabolic regulation in its broadest context, which should include both the short-term activity modulations in the life of contemporary organisms and the adaptations of special molecular strategies over evolutionary time. We further decided to focus the symposium context on the involvement of cofactors both as catalytic participants in and as substrates or end products of posttranslational modifications. As a preview of the actual symposium, the present discussion is an attempt to enumerate cases of cofactor involvement in these different categories: 1) essential nutrients as participants in posttranslational modifications; 2) cofactors as donor substrates in reversible, regulatory modifications; and 3) cofactor incorporation or generation as covalent constituents of proteins. The actual symposium topics are taken from category 1: vitamin C and protein hydroxylation (K. I. Karivikkio) and vitamin K and protein carboxylation (J. W. Suttie) and category 3: biotinylation (H. G. Wood), phycobiliproteins (A. Glazer), and pyruvoyl enzymes (W. Dowhan).     

自然资本科学和决策实践:宜居城市和可持续发展——2018年自然资本项目年会述评

2018年自然资本项目年会(Natural Capital Project Symposium)于3月19日至22日在美国斯坦福大学举行。自然资本项目由美国斯坦福大学、世界自然基金会和大自然保护协会发起,旨在推进将科学和融入自然多元价值的实践纳入管理决策过程。本次会议正式邀请并宣布中国科学院生态环境研究中心为项目伙伴。会议吸引了来自33个国家363名政府工作人员、非政府组织成员、企业家和专家学者参加。本届年会的两大主题是宜居城市和可持续发展。会议包含9个大会主题报告和3个平行分会场,平行分会场归纳为宜居城市、可持续发展、淡水和流域管理、海岸带恢复力、投资标准化制定、模型培训和探索等六个方面;会议同时设有专题讨论和小组研讨、InVEST模型培训和讨论、墙报展示等。会议推进了生态系统服务的科学发展和实践应用,将自然资本纳入科学决策体系,在全球范围内推动科学和决策的融合、促进可持续发展。     

全国首次植物病原真菌毒素研讨会

<正> 全国首次植物病原真菌毒素研讨会于1991年4月13—17日在南京农业大学召开,参加的单位有复旦大学、北京农业大学、江苏省农科院、沈阳农业大学、河北农业大学和南京农业大学等农业大专院校、农业科研单位和综合性大学21个单位的45位正式代表。我国著名植病学家方中达教授和植病生理学家复旦大学薛应龙教授自始至终到会指导。会议期间特邀请了国际毒素研究中心日本名古屋大学     

Book review

Book reviewed in this article. Ecological Processes in Coastal Environments The first European ecological symposium and the 19th symposium of the British Ecological Society, Norwich, 12–16 September 1977 R. L. Jefferies and A. J. Davy     

Purinergic Receptors,Past and Future (Closing Remarks)

Abstract

At the end of a symposium, it is useful to look back, both at the symposium itself and the developments that led up to the symposium. In this spirit, I thought it would be appropriate to tell the story of how I first became interested in purinergic receptors. I am recounting this story not because I believe that my audience has a burning interest in the history of my intellectual development, but rather because it illustrates the power of ideas.     

Light,endocrine systems and cancer--a meeting report

The International Symposium "Light, Endocrine Systems and Cancer" was held on May 2-3 at Cologne University, Germany. The symposium was organized by Professor Claus Piekarski and Dr. Thomas C. Erren, Institute and Polyclinic for Occupational and Social Medicine. The main goal of the symposium was to evaluate the epidemiological and experimental data on the effect of the exposure to light-at-night on cancer risk and to indicate the main directions of future research in the field. The symposium covered also the mechanisms and epidemiology of skin cancer which, however, are not included in the present summary.     

Systems biology: new institute and applications

The Yale Systems Biology Institute (YSBI) sponsored its first symposium at the university's West Campus in October 2010. The symposium served to provide Yale's scientific community with a glimpse into the wide range of research at the forefront of this interdisciplinary field. YSBI was conceived less than a year ago, and the event was the perfect forum for its debut, both at Yale and in the U.S. scientific community. This article includes a brief overview of the different topics presented at the symposium, followed by a discussion of the advantages and challenges of practical application of systems biology.     

Erratum

The Table of Contents in the January 1997 issue, AJPA 102:1, did not differentiate between articles published as part of an edited symposium, and other research papers published in that issue. Five of the first six articles (pp. 1-77) in volume 102:1 were originally presented at the 63rd AAPA annual meeting (1994) as part of a symposium entitled “Social and Political-Economic Perspectives in Biological Anthropology.” The organizers of the symposium, and its counterpart published in AJPA 102:1, were T.L. Leatherman and A.H. Goodman.     

2nd PEGS Annual Symposium on Antibodies for Cancer Therapy

The 2nd Annual Antibodies for Cancer Therapy symposium, organized again by Cambridge Healthtech Institute as part of the Protein Engineering Summit, was held in Boston, USA from April 30^th to May 1^st, 2012. Since the approval of the first cancer antibody therapeutic, rituximab, fifteen years ago, eleven have been approved for cancer therapy, although one, gemtuzumab ozogamicin, was withdrawn from the market. The first day of the symposium started with a historical review of early work for lymphomas and leukemias and the evolution from murine to human antibodies. The symposium discussed the current status and future perspectives of therapeutic antibodies in the biology of immunoglobulin, emerging research on biosimilars and biobetters, and engineering bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. The tumor penetration session was focused on the understanding of antibody therapy using ex vivo tumor spheroids and the development of novel agents targeting epithelial junctions in solid tumors. The second day of the symposium discussed the development of new generation recombinant immunotoxins with low immunogenicity, construction of chimeric antigen receptors, and the proof-of-concept of ‘photoimmunotherapy’. The preclinical and clinical session presented antibodies targeting Notch signaling and chemokine receptors. Finally, the symposium discussed emerging technologies and platforms for therapeutic antibody discovery.     

Mammalian feeding and primate evolution: An overview

Most of the papers included in this volume are derived from presentations in a symposium on Mammalian Feeding at the 65th Annual Meetings of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in North Carolina in 1996. The aims of this symposium were to gather together the preeminent researchers on mammalian mastication and document the state of research in that field. The symposium emphasized in vivo studies of mammalian feeding because of a paucity of recent reviews of this field, but included morphometric and modeling papers as well. Subsequently the papers were revised, and were submitted in spring 1998 for publication, pending the outcome of peer review. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Past, present and future of ACE inhibitors

This satellite symposium was organised and sponsored by Servier. The aim of the symposium was to evaluate the past 30 years of experience with and the future of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. The session was chaired by R. Ferrari (Ferrara, Italy) and M. Tendera (Katowice, Poland).     

Setting the standard in pulmonary hypertension management

This satellite symposium was organised and sponsored by Actelion. The symposium aimed to explore the importance of setting appropriate treatment goals for different patient populations with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The session was chaired by N. Galie (Bologna, Italy) and M. Humbert (Clamart, France).     

2nd PEGS Annual Symposium on Antibodies for Cancer Therapy: April 30–May 1, 2012, Boston,USA

The 2nd Annual Antibodies for Cancer Therapy symposium, organized again by Cambridge Healthtech Institute as part of the Protein Engineering Summit, was held in Boston, USA from April 30^th to May 1^st, 2012. Since the approval of the first cancer antibody therapeutic, rituximab, fifteen years ago, eleven have been approved for cancer therapy, although one, gemtuzumab ozogamicin, was withdrawn from the market.  The first day of the symposium started with a historical review of early work for lymphomas and leukemias and the evolution from murine to human antibodies. The symposium discussed the current status and future perspectives of therapeutic antibodies in the biology of immunoglobulin, emerging research on biosimilars and biobetters, and engineering bispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. The tumor penetration session was focused on the understanding of antibody therapy using ex vivo tumor spheroids and the development of novel agents targeting epithelial junctions in solid tumors. The second day of the symposium discussed the development of new generation recombinant immunotoxins with low immunogenicity, construction of chimeric antigen receptors, and the proof-of-concept of ‘photoimmunotherapy’. The preclinical and clinical session presented antibodies targeting Notch signaling and chemokine receptors.  Finally, the symposium discussed emerging technologies and platforms for therapeutic antibody discovery.     

Pulmonary and renal pressure-flow relationships: what should be taught?

This article is from a symposium presented at the annual meeting of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) on June 11, 2000. The presentation was funded under the auspices of a National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement Program entitled "Development of Active Learning Materials for Physiology and Functional Anatomy: A Cooperative HAPS-APS Initiative." This symposium was part of the first module to be developed on "gradients and conductances: what flows where and why?" This presentation was designed to model the usefulness of the general model of gradients and conductances in the physiology and pathophysiology of the respiratory and renal systems. Thirteen different examples of pressure-flow-resistance and concentration-flux relationships are introduced; several ideas for active-learning activities and simple figures appropriate for undergraduate physiology classes are included. The symposium assumes that undergraduate students have already learned about diffusion, osmosis, and the basic principles of cardiovascular physiology. The presentation was designed to follow a symposium entitled: "Cardiovascular pressure-flow relationships: what should be taught?"     

How technology is reshaping the practice of nongynecologic cytology: frontiers of cytology symposium

To pay tribute to the Founders of Acta Cytologica, this Golden Anniversary symposium on nongynecologic cytology revives the written symposium style of the 1950s. Participants from countries throughout the world were asked how new technologies are currently applied in their laboratories and whether future advances and challenges can be predicted. The specific questions and the participants' answers follow.     

Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems: Physically Inspired Approaches from Nanoscale to Microscale,Wageningen 18–21 October 2009

The Wageningen Delivery of Functionality symposium covered all aspects involved with food structural design to arrive at high-quality foods which meet demanding customer expectations and regulatory requirements. The symposium integrated aspects from the structural organization of foods at molecular and supramolecular scales to dedicated techniques required to describe and visualize such structures, the gastro-intestinal events and how to model these in a laboratory setting, and finally the impact those food structures and ingredients have on the consumer’s physiology and on the human perception. As an interdisciplinary platform, bringing together more than 160 researchers from academia and industry, the symposium meanwhile fulfills an important role in the food science community.