The Quilon Limestone,Kerala Basin,India: an archive for Miocene Indo‐Pacific seagrass beds

Reuter, M., Piller, W.E., Harzhauser, M., Kroh, A., Rögl, F. & ?ori?, S. 2010: The Quilon Limestone, Kerala Basin, India: an archive for Miocene Indo‐Pacific seagrass beds. Lethaia, Vol. 44, pp. 76–86. The facies of the fossiliferous Quilon Limestone in SW India is described for the first time in detail at the Padappakkara‐type locality. Facies (fossiliferous, micrite‐rich, bioturbated sediment with intercalated sand pockets) and faunal composition (epiphytic foraminifers, seagrass feeding Smaragdia gastropods, bioimmuration of celleporiform bryozoan colonies) indicate a seagrass environment. The large discoidal archaiasin foraminifer Pseudotaberina malabarica, in particular, is considered as a proxy for seagrass communities. Recent seagrasses have their centre of generic richness in the Indo‐Pacific where they cover wide areas in the tidal and shallow sub‐tidal zones. However, their geological record is only fragmentary and their palaeobiogeographic distribution has a big stratigraphical gap in the Miocene Western Indo‐Pacific region. The described nannoplankton flora and planktonic foraminifers from the Quilon Formation demonstrate that the deposition of the studied seagrass bed occurred in nannoplankton biozone NN3. This timing suggests formation during the closure of the Tethyan Seaway. The Quilon Limestone is thus an early Western Indo‐Pacific seagrass bed and an important step in reconstructing the history of seagrass communities. □Quilon Formation, Pseudotaberina malabarica, seagrass facies, Burdigalian, Indo‐Pacific.     

Gastrointestinal and immunological responses of senior dogs to chicory and mannan-oligosaccharides

Thirty-four senior dogs (pointers 8 - 11 years, beagles 9 - 11 years) were used to evaluate the effects of oligosaccharides on nutritional and immunological characteristics. Dogs were randomly allotted to treatments [1% chicory (CH), 1% mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS), 1% chicory + 1% MOS (CM), or no supplementation (control, CON)] in a parallel design with a 4 week baseline period followed by a 4 week treatment period. Dietary supplementation with MOS or CM tended (P = 0.07) to increase food intake due, in part, to an increase in fermentable fibre and a decrease in energy content of the diet. Although wet faecal output increased (P < 0.05) for dogs supplemented with MOS or CM, when corrected for food intake, no differences were noted. The CM treatment increased (P < 0.05) faecal score (1 = hard and dry, 5 = watery liquid), although these scores remained in a desirable range (3 to 3.5). Chicory supplementation increased (P = 0.07) fat digestibility. Chicory or MOS increased (P  0.05) faecal bifidobacteria concentrations 0.4 and 0.5 log₁₀ cfu/g DM, respectively, compared to the CON, while MOS decreased (P < 0.05) faecal E. coli concentrations. Oligosaccharides did not affect white blood cell (WBC) concentrations, but CH and CM tended to increase (P = 0.10) neutrophil concentrations compared to control dogs. Peripheral lymphocyte concentrations were decreased in dogs supplemented with MOS (P = 0.06) and CM (P < 0.05). Chicory and MOS alter faecal microbial populations and certain indices of the immune system of senior dogs.     

Season of the year influences semen output and concentrations of testosterone in circulation of yaks (Poephagus grunniens L.)

Seasonal changes in plasma testosterone concentration and semen quality were evaluated in yak bulls throughout a 1-year period. Blood samples were collected every week from adult yak bulls (n = 15). These blood samples were analyzed for testosterone using a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunoassay. Ejaculates were collected from five representative bulls each week. Ejaculate volume, progressive motility, live sperm count and sperm concentrations were determined. Mean testosterone in plasma was 1.03 ± 0.25 ng/ml. Concentrations of testosterone changed throughout the year (P < 0.05) and were found to be highest during the winter. It was also higher during the autumn than in summer and spring (P < 0.05). Mean ejaculate volume, progressive motility, live sperm count and spermatozoa concentration were 2.7 ± 0.3 ml, 72.8 ± 1.4%, 82.3 ± 0.9% and 968 ± 233 × 10⁶ ml⁻¹, respectively. Ejaculate volume and sperm concentration were higher (P < 0.05) in autumn than in other seasons. To conclude, a highly sensitive EIA for testosterone was developed and validated for yak plasma. Seasonal changes in semen quality were associated with changes in the concentration of testosterone in plasma from yak bulls.     

Heh2/Man1 may be an evolutionarily conserved sensor of NPC assembly state

Integral membrane proteins of the Lap2-emerin-MAN1 (LEM) family have emerged as important components of the inner nuclear membrane (INM) required for the functional and physical integrity of the nuclear envelope. However, like many INM proteins, there is limited understanding of the biochemical interaction networks that enable LEM protein function. Here, we show that Heh2/Man1 can interact with major scaffold components of the nuclear pore complex (NPC), specifically the inner ring complex (IRC), in evolutionarily distant yeasts. Although an N-terminal domain is required for Heh2 targeting to the INM, we demonstrate that more stable interactions with the NPC are mediated by a C-terminal winged helix (WH) domain, thus decoupling INM targeting and NPC binding. Inhibiting Heh2’s interactions with the NPC by deletion of the Heh2 WH domain leads to NPC clustering. Interestingly, Heh2’s association with NPCs can also be disrupted by knocking out several outer ring nucleoporins. Thus, Heh2’s interaction with NPCs depends on the structural integrity of both major NPC scaffold complexes. We propose a model in which Heh2 acts as a sensor of NPC assembly state, which may be important for NPC quality control mechanisms and the segregation of NPCs during cell division.     

The chemokine,CXCL16, and its receptor,CXCR6, are constitutively expressed in human annulus fibrosus and expression of CXCL16 is up-regulated by exposure to IL-1ß in vitro

Chemokines are an important group of soluble molecules with specialized functions in inflammation. The roles of many specialized chemokines and their receptors remain poorly understood in the human intervertebral disc. We investigated CXCL16 and its receptor, CXCR6, to determine their immunolocalization in disc tissue and their presence following exposure of cultured human annulus fibrosus cells to proinflammatory cytokines. CXCL16 is a marker for inflammation; it also can induce hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α), which is a phenotypic marker of heathy nucleus pulposus tissue. We found CXCL16 and CXCR6 immunostaining in many cells of the annulus portion of the disc. Molecular studies showed that annulus fibrosus cells exposed to IL-1ß, but not TNF-α, exhibited significant up-regulation of CXCL16 expression vs. control cells. There was no significant difference in the percentage of annulus cells that exhibited immunolocalization of CXCL16 in grade I/II, grade III or grade IV/V specimens. The presence of CXCL16 and its receptor, CXCR6, in the annulus in vivo suggests the need for future research concerning the role of this chemokine in proinflammatory functions, HIF-1α expression and disc vascularization.