Interleukin-1 Receptor–Associated Kinase M–Deficient Mice Demonstrate an Improved Host Defense during Gram-negative Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and the most frequent source of sepsis. Bacteria that try to invade normally sterile body sites are recognized by innate immune cells through pattern recognition receptors, among which toll-like receptors (TLRs) feature prominently. Interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R)–associated kinase (IRAK)-M is a proximal inhibitor of TLR signaling expressed by epithelial cells and macrophages in the lung. To determine the role of IRAK-M in host defense against bacterial pneumonia, IRAK-M-deficient (IRAK-M^−/−) and normal wild-type (WT) mice were infected intranasally with Klebsiella pneumoniae. IRAK-M mRNA was upregulated in lungs of WT mice with Klebsiella pneumonia, and the absence of IRAK-M resulted in a strongly improved host defense as reflected by reduced bacterial growth in the lungs, diminished dissemination to distant body sites, less peripheral tissue injury and better survival rates. Although IRAK-M^−/− alveolar macrophages displayed enhanced responsiveness toward intact K. pneumoniae and Klebsiella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro, IRAK-M^−/− mice did not show increased cytokine or chemokine levels in their lungs after infection in vivo. The extent of lung inflammation was increased in IRAK-M^−/− mice shortly after K. pneumoniae infection, as determined by semiquantitative scoring of specific components of the inflammatory response in lung tissue slides. These data indicate that IRAK-M impairs host defense during pneumonia caused by a common gram-negative respiratory pathogen.     

Effects of Temperature and Photoperiod on Flowering in Lentils (Lens culinaris Medic.)

Factorial combinations of three photoperiods (10, 13 and 16h), two day temperatures (18 and 28 C) and two night temperatures(5 and 13 C) were imposed on nodulated plants of six diversegenotypes (cultivars and land-races) of lentil (Lens culinarisMedic.) grown in pots in growth cabinets from vernalized (1.50.5 C for 30d) or non-vernalized seeds (i.e. 144 ‘treatment’combinations). The times from sowing to the appearance of firstopen flowers were recorded. Vernalization, long days and warmtemperatures hastened flowering but genotypes differed in relativesensitivity to each of these factors and in time to floweringin the same most-inductive environment. Rates of progress towardsflowering (i.e. 1/f the reciprocals of the times to first flower,f) in all genotypes, vernalized or not, were linear functionsof both mean temperature,     

Avian biodiversity monitoring in Australian rangelands

Abstract Birds have been widely regarded as a key element in monitoring biodiversity both in Australia and elsewhere. We believe that, although birds are unlikely to be an umbrella or indicator taxon for other biota (other vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, microorganisms), they do represent a taxon that can be monitored more easily and with less effort per datum than other biotic components. It has been shown by the great participation rate of lay observers (whom we call monitors) in several schemes (notably the Birds Australia Atlas programs) that there is a capacity to mobilize the public to undertake bird surveying. Although there are many limitations to acquiring high‐quality information (scale, dynamism, mobility, irruptiveness, paucity of monitors over much of the rangelands), we think that these can be dealt with to allow the use of birds as a key component of biodiversity monitoring. We outline some of the possible options for statistically characterizing monitoring data for rangeland birds.