Use of woody plants by locals in Mare aux Hippopotames Biosphere Reserve in western Burkina Faso

The central area of the Mare aux Hippopotames Biosphere Reserve is located in the western part of Burkina Faso. Local populations have a close relationship with the reserve, from which they get much of their needs in food products, medicine, energy, arts and crafts. The use of resources has consequences for the biodiversity, ecosystem and environment of the reserve. The discussions held during ethnobotanical inquiries have permitted us to establish the main uses of woody plants and to pick out the repercussions of this usage. From this it emerges that the reserve has an important floristic richness and a biodiversity unknown to both locals and authorities.     

Relationship between eutrophication reference conditions and boundary settings considering OSPAR recommendations and the Water Framework Directive—examples from the German Bight

In order to allow for natural variability, the original OSPAR assessment procedure for eutrophication (Comprehensive Procedure) sets the threshold between Non-Problem/Problem Area (elevated levels) at 50% above natural background concentrations, which is equivalent to the boundary setting good/moderate for the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The 50% level corresponds to the recent natural variability of nutrient gradients in coastal and estuarine waters in the German Bight. Based on this threshold, a proposal is given for the additional boundary settings required for the WFD assessments. Examples, based on concentrations of total nitrogen and other correlated eutrophication components, are presented. However, for eutrophication effects such as oxygen deficiency, reduced transparency and increased transboundary loads, especially for offshore regions, 50% exceedance of the natural background surpasses ‘slight differences’ as recommended by the boundary good/moderate for the WFD. For this reason, 15% is proposed as the boundary setting for good/moderate and discussed for different parameters. Overlapping between recent means and their standard deviations and the four boundary settings for the WFD cannot be avoided, thereby causing weak assessments. Since the part of the variability of recent data is caused by hydrodynamics, coupled with salinity variation, the variability could be reduced to some degree by relating the data to mean salinities. By doing this, the significance of classifications could be improved. The application of this procedure is discussed for examples from the German Bight.     

Bacterial Spectrum and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Bloodstream Infections in Children with Febrile Neutropenia: Experience of Single Center in Southeast of Turkey

Empirical antimicrobial therapy is usually started in febrile neutropenic patients without having culture results. The aim of this study was to help determine the policies of empirical antibiotic usage in febrile neutropenic children by detecting the antimicrobial susceptibility profile in this group of patients. In this study 811 blood cultures taken from neutropenic children hospitalized at the Department of Oncology of Gaziantep Children Hospital November 2007 and February 2010 were retrospectively evaluated. Blood cultures were routinely collected in aerobic and anaerobic media and incubated using the BACTEC system. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the isolates to antimicrobial agents was performed using the Vitek2^® system according to the recommendations of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Of 811 isolates analyzed, 128 (56.4%) were gram positive cocci, 43 (18.9%) were gram negative bacilli and fungi accounted for 56 (24.7%). The main isolated Gram-positive bacteria from blood were coagulase-negative staphylococcus (56.7%), followed by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (14.1%). S. aureus and Streptococcus spp. were all susceptible to linezolid, vancomycin and teicoplanin. S aureus was still susceptible to few other antimicrobial agents such as tetracycline (82.4%), chloramphenicol (55.6%). Seven E. faecium, 7 E. fecalis and 1 E. hirae was isolated from blood cultures. Vancomycin resistance was detected in 6 out of 15 (40%) Enterococcus spp. isolates. Among gram-negative bacteria E. coli (30.2%) was followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (20.9%) and Proteus spp. (18.6%). Imipenem (89.2%), meropenem (86.6%), chloramphenicol (88.9%), amicasin (82.4%) and fosfomycin (81.3%) showed highest susceptibility in vitro activity against all Gram-negative isolates. To know the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the pathogens frequently isolated from febrile neutropenic children and to consider this profile before starting an empirical antibiotic therapy would help the clinics which have any role in the treatment of these patients to determine the empirical antibiotic usage policies.     

Schizosaccharomyces pombe and its Ni(II)-insensitive mutant GA1 in Ni(II) uptake from aqueous solutions: a biodynamic model

In the present study, Ni(II) uptake from aqueous solution by living cells of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe haploid 972 with h ^? mating type and a Ni(II)-insensitive mutant GA1 derived from 972 was investigated at various initial glucose and Ni(II) concentrations. A biodynamic model was developed to predict the unsteady and steady-state phases of the uptake process. Gompertz growth and uptake process parameters were optimized to predict the maximum growth rate μ _m and the process metric C _r, the remaining Ni(II) content in the aqueous solution. The simulated overall metal uptake values were found to be in acceptable agreement with experimental results. The model validation was done through regression statistics and uncertainty and sensitivity analyses. To gain insight into the phenomenon of Ni(II) uptake by wild-type and mutant S. pombe, probable active and passive metal transport mechanisms in yeast cells were discussed in view of the simulation results. The present work revealed the potential of mutant GA1 to remove Ni(II) cations from aqueous media. The results obtained provided new insights for understanding the combined effect of biosorption and bioaccumulation processes for metal removal and offered a possibility for the use of growing mutant S. pombe cell in bioremediation.     

Antioxidant responses in Phanerochaete chrysosporium exposed to Astrazone Red FBL textile dye

Interest in environmental‐pollutant‐induced oxidative stress and knowledge of the interactions between reactive oxygen species and cellular systems have increased in toxicology and microbial ecology considerably in recent decades. These reactive oxidants are produced by a variety of environmental sources: ionizing radiations, ultraviolet light, redox cycling drugs, hyperoxia, ischemia and redox‐active xenobiotics or during metabolism of environmental pollutants, such as heavy metals in mining industries, dyes in wastewater of textile industries, pesticides and polycyclic hydrocarbons, i.e. foreign materials. In this study, the effect of dye on the antioxidative defence system of Phanerochaete chrysosporium was investigated, and we showed the ability of Phanerochaete chrysosporium to antioxidative response and defence system exposed to Astrazone Red FBL. Catalase, glutathione reductase, glutathione s‐transferase activities and level of glutathione decreased, depending on the period of growth in each exposure to low and high concentration group (20 and 50 ppm) compared with the control group. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cretaceous roots of the amphisbaenian lizards

Amphisbaenians are highly specialized limbless burrowing lizards of controversial relationships. Among fossil lizards, the Eocene (47 Ma) Cryptolacerta is allegedly closest to the amphisbaenian ancestor, but this is put in doubt in this study. Similarities between Cryptolacerta and amphisbaenians, such as limb reduction and expansion of the skull roof, may be a result of parallel evolution. Instead, the Late Cretaceous lizard Slavoia with well‐developed limbs and several plesiomorphic skull characters is proposed to be the oldest known stem amphisbaenian. This is supported by two different phylogenetic analyses and observations on numerous specimens together representing almost the whole skeleton. Among the unique features, that Slavoia shares with amphisbaenians, the most significant are vomers strongly underlapping palatines and pterygoid quadrate ramus tightly wrapping around posteromedial surface of quadrate. The anatomy of Slavoia suggests that the reinforcement of the snout in amphisbaenian evolution preceded the elongation of the postorbital part of the skull, and that of the body, as well as modification of the limbs. Reduction of its hindlimbs was more advanced than that of the forelimbs. The ancient geological age of the central Asiatic Slavoia suggests that diversification of the main North American amphisbaenian groups may have resulted from a faunal dispersals from Asia after the Late Cretaceous.     

Sleep measurements in women with dysthymic disorder and insomnia

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - To determine the effects of trazodone, mirtazapine and hydroxyzine on sleep profiles of dysthymic disorder (DD) women with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor...     

Household environmental microbiota influences early-life eczema development

Exposure to a diverse microbial environment during pregnancy and early postnatal period is important in determining predisposition towards allergy. However, the effect of environmental microbiota exposure during preconception, pregnancy and postnatal life on development of allergy in the child has not been investigated so far. In the S-PRESTO (Singapore PREconception Study of long Term maternal and child Outcomes) cohort, we collected house dust during all three critical window periods and analysed microbial composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. At 6 and 18 months, the child was assessed for eczema by clinicians. In the eczema group, household environmental microbiota was characterized by presence of human-associated bacteria Actinomyces, Anaerococcus, Finegoldia, Micrococcus, Prevotella and Propionibacterium at all time points, suggesting their possible contributions to regulating host immunity and increasing the susceptibility to eczema. In the home environment of the control group, putative protective effect of an environmental microbe Planomicrobium (Planococcaceae family) was observed to be significantly higher than that in the eczema group. Network correlation analysis demonstrated inverse relationships between beneficial Planomicrobium and human-associated bacteria (Actinomyces, Anaerococcus, Finegoldia, Micrococcus, Prevotella and Propionibacterium). Exposure to natural environmental microbiota may be beneficial to modulate shed human-associated microbiota in an indoor environment.     

Neuromediator adaptation of the cerebral cortex and brain stem structures after radiation exposure]

In experiments with male Wistar rats a decreased receptor binding of 3H-corticosterone and impairment of neuromediator adaptation in the brain structures responsible for the regulation of animal and vegetative functions were observed 6 months after the effect of external radiation (0.5 Gy) and a mixture of external radiation and 131I (6.5 microCi/kg). These processes, being partly arrested by neurotropin, lay the neurochemical basis for the development of diencephalic syndrome.