Trooping fairies,trolls, and talking tigers: the influence of traditional wilderness archetypes on current land use patterns

Broadly defined, “wilderness” encompasses all areas outside the cultural sphere, i.e., not under direct, intensive, and purposeful human control and maintenance. Because of the perceived dangers of wilderness, people are unlikely to settle deeply in wild areas, especially in their archetypical wilderness. Topographically-defined wilderness archetypes (e.g., mountains) are likely more resistant to development than the more easily obliterated land cover-defined wilderness archetypes (e.g., forests), which should lead to divergent landscape patterns. Fairytales and the names of protected areas from Ireland, Germany, and Korea were examined for evidence of wilderness archetypes. Germany and Korea (but not Ireland) exhibited archetypes (forest and mountain, respectively). The land use patterns with respect to ruggedness and relative elevation in Germany and Korea were compared with predictions based on archetype. Korea had a significantly more conservative and stricter decision rule with regards to development in rugged areas and more predictable elevational transitions from civilization to wilderness, consistent with a reluctance to develop a mountain wilderness archetype. Korean cities had similar patterns to all of Korea, while non-East Asian cities hemmed in by mountains (Germany has none) were variable but similar to Germany, implying that the observed differences are cultural not agricultural. These results indicate the important, but largely unrecognized, influence cultural details have on land use patterns and by extension conservation challenges, opportunities, and priorities. Specifically, wilderness archetypes are likely overrepresented in protected and undeveloped areas. Furthermore, wilderness archetype communities (particularly those topographically defined) likely experience less fragmentation, more restricted development, and less drastic anthropogenic disturbance.     

Step‐by‐step monitoring of a magnetic and SERS‐active immunosensor assembly for purification and detection of tau protein

We report a bottom‐up synthesis of iron oxide and gold nanoparticles, which are functionalized and combined to form a nanohybrid serving as an immune sensor, which selectively binds to tau protein, a biomarker for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Detection of the target analyte is achieved by surface‐enhanced Raman scattering originating from the diagnostic part of the nanohybrid that was prepared from Au nanoparticles functionalized with 5,5′‐dithiobis‐(2‐nitrobenzoic acid) as a Raman reporter and monoclonal anti‐tau antibody. The magnetic part consists of Fe_xO_y nanoparticles functionalized with polyclonal anti‐tau antibody and is capable to separate tau protein from a complex matrix such as cerebrospinal fluid. We further identified and validated a set of analytical tools that allow monitoring the success of both nanoparticle preparation and each functionalization step performed during the assembly of the two binding sites by an immune reaction. By applying UV/Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurements, X‐ray diffraction, small‐angle X‐ray scattering, and transmission electron microscopy, we demonstrate a proof‐of‐concept for a controlled and step‐by‐step traceable synthesis of a tau protein‐specific immune sensor.     

Out of sight but not out of mind: modulation of recruitment according to home range marking in ants

Animals can acquire a global knowledge about their environment that exceeds their individual capacities by estimating the local density and activity of nestmates in an area. In ants, home range marking can indicate the density and activity of nestmates, allowing scouts to assess the potential interest of the area as a foraging site. We investigated how home range marking through footprints influences the foraging behaviour of Lasius niger scouts at a sugary food source (1 M, 1.5 ml). Over a marked apparatus the discovery time of food sources decreased while the probability of scouts recruiting nestmates and of continuing to lay a trail increased. For ants making U turns on their return to the nest, home range marking helped them to resume laying a trail after the U turn and delayed the occurrence of the U turn. As a result, the trail intensity and the rate at which information about food was conveyed by scouts to nestmates depended on home range marking. Such modulation of information reduces the number of foragers mobilized to less frequented areas that are potentially dangerous and promotes recruitment and exploitation of food sources to better known sites.     

Seven principles to rule them all

Coen offers a unified explanation of natural selection, development, learning and cultural change, based on seven fundamental principles: population variation, persistence, reinforcement, competition, cooperation, combinatorial richness and recurrence. I discuss whether all seven principles are justified, successfully fit the four processes, encompass life processes only, and have any strong explanatory import. I find each of these claims doubtful.     

Axoplasmic asymmetry at the node of Ranvier

Brain Cell Biology - The previously described unilateral condensation of axoplasmic organelles at the node of Ranvier of large diameter fibres in spinal nerve roots has been confirmed in a single...     

Analysis of cyclophosphamide and five metabolites from human plasma using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–nitrogen–phosphorus detection

An assay method for the quantification of cyclophosphamide (CY) and five metabolites from human plasma is presented. The procedure is adapted to the chemical properties of the compounds of interest: non-polar compounds are extracted into methylene chloride, concentrated and analyzed by GC–NPD after derivatization, and the remaining aqueous fraction is deproteinated with acetonitrile–methanol prior to separation via reversed-phase HPLC and detection using atmospheric pressure ionization (API)-MS. Standard curves are linear over the required range and reproducible over five months. Plasma concentration–time profiles of CY and metabolites from a patient receiving CY by intravenous infusion (60 mg/kg, once a day for two days) are presented.