Different ways to die in a changing world: Consequences of climate change for tree species performance and survival through an ecophysiological perspective

Anthropogenic activities such as uncontrolled deforestation and increasing greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for triggering a series of environmental imbalances that affect the Earth's complex climate dynamics. As a consequence of these changes, several climate models forecast an intensification of extreme weather events over the upcoming decades, including heat waves and increasingly severe drought and flood episodes. The occurrence of such extreme weather will prompt profound changes in several plant communities, resulting in massive forest dieback events that can trigger a massive loss of biodiversity in several biomes worldwide. Despite the gravity of the situation, our knowledge regarding how extreme weather events can undermine the performance, survival, and distribution of forest species remains very fragmented. Therefore, the present review aimed to provide a broad and integrated perspective of the main biochemical, physiological, and morpho‐anatomical disorders that may compromise the performance and survival of forest species exposed to climate change factors, particularly drought, flooding, and global warming. In addition, we also discuss the controversial effects of high CO₂ concentrations in enhancing plant growth and reducing the deleterious effects of some extreme climatic events. We conclude with a discussion about the possible effects that the factors associated with the climate change might have on species distribution and forest composition.     

Microbial enrichment and multiplexed microfiltration for accelerated detection of Salmonella in spinach

To attain Salmonella detection thresholds in spinach suspensions using enrichment media requires at least 24 hr. Separation and concentration of selected microorganisms via microfiltration and microfugation reduce time for sample preparation, especially when working with large volumes of vegetable suspensions. This facilitates accelerated detection of Salmonella in spinach suspensions, and may contribute to effectively monitoring this pathogen before it reaches the consumer. We report a microfiltration-based protocol for accelerated sample preparation to concentrate and recover ≤1 colony forming unit (CFU) Salmonella/g pathogen-free spinach. Store-bought samples of spinach and a spinach plant subjected to two environmental conditions (temperature and light exposure) during its production were tested. The overall procedure involves extraction with buffer, a short enrichment step, prefiltration using a nylon filter, crossflow hollow fiber microfiltration, and retentate centrifugation to bring microbial cells to detection levels. Based on 1 CFU Salmonella/g frozen spinach, and a Poisson distribution statistical analyses with 99% probability, we calculated that 3 hr of incubation, when followed by microfiltration, is sufficient to reach the 2 log concentration required for Salmonella detection within 7 hr. Longer enrichment times (5 hr or more) is needed for concentrations lower than 1 CFU Salmonella/g of ready to eat spinach. The recovered microbial cells were identified and confirmed as Salmonella using both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and plating methods. Different environmental conditions tested during production did not affect Salmonella viability; this demonstrated the broad adaptability of Salmonella and emphasized the need for methods that enable efficient monitoring of production for the presence of this pathogen.     

Extraction and physicochemical characterization of Sargassum vulgare alginate from Brazil

Alginate fractions from Sargassum vulgare brown seaweed were characterized by (1)H NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy and by rheological measurements. The alginate extraction conditions were investigated. In order to carry out the structural and physicochemical characterization, samples extracted for 1 and 5h at 60 degrees C were further purified by re-precipitation with ethanol and denoted as SVLV (S. vulgare low viscosity) and SVHV (S. vulgare high viscosity), respectively. The M/G ratio values for SVLV and SVHV were 1.56 and 1.27, respectively, higher than the ratio for most Sargassum spp. alginates (0.19-0.82). The homopolymeric blocks F(GG) and F(MM) of these fractions characterized by (1)H NMR spectroscopy were 0.43 and 0.55 for SVHV and 0.36 and 0.58 for SVLV samples, respectively, these values typically being within 0.28-0.77 and 0.07-0.41, respectively. Therefore, the alginate samples from S. vulgare are much richer in mannuronic block structures than those from other Sargassum species. Values of M(w) for alginate samples were also calculated using intrinsic viscosity data. The M(w) value for SVLV (1.94 x 10(5)g/mol) was lower than that for SVHV (3.3 x 10(5)g/mol). Newtonian behavior was observed for a solution concentration as high as 0.7% for SVLV, while for SVHV the solutions behaved as a Newtonian fluid up to 0.5%. The optimal conditions for obtaining the alginates from S. vulgare were 60 degrees C and 5h extraction. Under these conditions, a more viscous alginate in higher yield was extracted from the seaweed biomass.     

Very long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are the major acyl groups of sphingomyelins and ceramides in the head of mammalian spermatozoa

Very long-chain (C24 to C34) polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFA) are important constituents of sphingomyelin (SM) and ceramide (Cer) in testicular germ cells. In the present paper we focused on the SM and Cer and their fatty acids in spermatozoa and their main regions, heads and tails. In bull and ram spermatozoa, SM was the third most abundant phospholipid and VLCPUFA were the major acyl groups ( approximately 70%) of SM and Cer. In rat epididymal spermatozoa the SM/Cer ratio was low in the absence of and could be maintained high in the presence of the cation chelator EDTA, added to the medium used for sperm isolation. This fact points to the occurrence of an active divalent cation-dependent sphingomyelinase. Bull and rat sperm had an uneven head-tail distribution of phospholipid, with virtually all the VLCPUFA-rich SM located at the head, the lower SM content in the rat being determined by the lower sperm head/tail size ratio. Most of the SM from bull sperm heads was readily solubilized with 1% Triton X-100 at 4 degrees C. The detergent-soluble SM fraction was richer in VLCPUFA than the nonsoluble fraction and richer in saturated fatty acids. Cer was produced at the expense of SM, thus decreasing severalfold the SM/Cer ratio in rat spermatozoa incubated for 2 h in presence of the sperm-capacitating agents, calcium, bicarbonate, and albumin. The generation of Cer from SM in the sperm head surface may be an early step among the biochemical and biophysical changes known to take place in the spermatozoon in the physiological events preceding fertilization.     

Ethnobotany in the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, Nuevo León, México

The archives of Flora Medicinal, an ancient pharmaceutical laboratory that supported ethnomedical research in Brazil for more than 30 years, were searched for plants with antimalarial use. Forty plant species indicated to treat malaria were described by Dr. J. Monteiro da Silva (Flora Medicinal leader) and his co-workers. Eight species, Bathysa cuspidata, Cosmos sulphureus, Cecropia hololeuca, Erisma calcaratum, Gomphrena arborescens, Musa paradisiaca, Ocotea odorifera, and Pradosia lactescens, are related as antimalarial for the first time in ethnobotanical studies. Some species, including Mikania glomerata, Melampodium divaricatum, Galipea multiflora, Aspidosperma polyneuron, and Coutarea hexandra, were reported to have activity in malaria patients under clinical observation. In the information obtained, also, there were many details about the appropriate indication of each plant. For example, some plants are indicated to increase others' potency. There are also plants that are traditionally employed for specific symptoms or conditions that often accompany malaria, such as weakness, renal failure or cerebral malaria. Many plants that have been considered to lack activity against malaria due to absence of in vitro activity against Plasmodium can have other mechanisms of action. Thus researchers should observe ethnomedical information before deciding which kind of screening should be used in the search of antimalarial drugs.     

Simple and rapid method determination for metformin in human plasma using high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry: application to pharmacokinetic studies

A rapid and simple method for quantitation of metformin (MET) in human plasma by HPLC-MS/MS was developed and validated. The sample preparation consists of plasma deproteinization using acetonitrile. The mobile phase consisted of water-acetonitrile and formic acid (55/45/0.048, v/v/%) and the run time was 3 min. A pursuit C(18) (100 mm x 2.0 mm i.d., 3 microm) column connected to a guard column MS-pursuit (0.20 mm x 0.20 mm i.d., 5 microm) was used. The range of the calibration curve was from 20 to 5000 ng/mL, the limit of quantitation being 20 ng/mL. The detection was performed on a mass spectrometer (ESI+), using metoprolol as internal standard. The calibration curves have r(2) values of 0.995 (CV=0.24%, n=10). The accuracy and precision were between 90.74 and 106.7% and coefficients of variations (CV) of 1.10 and 4.35%, respectively. The method was applied to determine the pharmacokinetic parameters: C(max) (1667.25 ng/mL) and T(max) (3.89 h).     

Computational aspects of feedback in neural circuits

It has previously been shown that generic cortical microcircuit models can perform complex real-time computations on continuous input streams, provided that these computations can be carried out with a rapidly fading memory. We investigate the computational capability of such circuits in the more realistic case where not only readout neurons, but in addition a few neurons within the circuit, have been trained for specific tasks. This is essentially equivalent to the case where the output of trained readout neurons is fed back into the circuit. We show that this new model overcomes the limitation of a rapidly fading memory. In fact, we prove that in the idealized case without noise it can carry out any conceivable digital or analog computation on time-varying inputs. But even with noise, the resulting computational model can perform a large class of biologically relevant real-time computations that require a nonfading memory. We demonstrate these computational implications of feedback both theoretically, and through computer simulations of detailed cortical microcircuit models that are subject to noise and have complex inherent dynamics. We show that the application of simple learning procedures (such as linear regression or perceptron learning) to a few neurons enables such circuits to represent time over behaviorally relevant long time spans, to integrate evidence from incoming spike trains over longer periods of time, and to process new information contained in such spike trains in diverse ways according to the current internal state of the circuit. In particular we show that such generic cortical microcircuits with feedback provide a new model for working memory that is consistent with a large set of biological constraints. Although this article examines primarily the computational role of feedback in circuits of neurons, the mathematical principles on which its analysis is based apply to a variety of dynamical systems. Hence they may also throw new light on the computational role of feedback in other complex biological dynamical systems, such as, for example, genetic regulatory networks.