In vitro modulation using a synthetic antioxidant of the stimulus-induced formation of cyclic AMP

The in vitro treatment of membranes isolated from different rat organs with a water-soluble synthetic antioxidant has resulted in the change of basal and stimulus-induced adenylate cyclase activity. It is believed that the antioxidant effect is realized rather at the level of signal transfer from activated receptor to adenylate cyclase than at the level of agonist-receptor interaction.     

Purification of recombinant proteins with an example of tumor necrosis factor thymosin-α1

Hybrid protein, cancer necrosis factor thymosin-α1 (TNF-T), when synthesizing in strain-producer of Escherichia coli SG200-50 with plasmid pThy315, was a part of “inclusion bodies” mostly in the form of a high-molecular complex with other proteins due to the S-S bonds formation. An approach of purification of TNF-T has been proposed, which is based on the destruction of the complex in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate (DDS-Na) and dithiotreitol (DDT) followed by gel-filtration on Sephadex G-100 and renaturation by ultrafiltration on hollow fibers. The method allows the isolation of electrophoretically homogeneous TNF-T containing no DDS-Na and having high cytotoxic activity against cancer cells of mouse adenocarcinome L-929. The yield of TNF-T achieved 80% relative its content in biomass and 30% relative the total protein.     

Water inputs across a tropical montane landscape in Veracruz,Mexico: synergistic effects of land cover,rain and fog seasonality,and interannual precipitation variability

Land‐cover change can alter the spatiotemporal distribution of water inputs to mountain ecosystems, an important control on land‐surface and land‐atmosphere hydrologic fluxes. In eastern Mexico, we examined the influence of three widespread land‐cover types, montane cloud forest, coffee agroforestry, and cleared areas, on total and net water inputs to soil. Stand structural characteristics, as well as rain, fog, stemflow, and throughfall (water that falls through the canopy) water fluxes were measured across 11 sites during wet and dry seasons from 2005 to 2008. Land‐cover type had a significant effect on annual and seasonal net throughfall (NTF <0=canopy water retention plus canopy evaporation; NTF >0=fog water deposition). Forest canopies retained and/or lost to evaporation (i.e. NTF<0) five‐ to 11‐fold more water than coffee agroforests. Moreover, stemflow was fourfold higher under coffee shade than forest trees. Precipitation seasonality and phenological patterns determined the magnitude of these land‐cover differences, as well as their implications for the hydrologic cycle. Significant negative relationships were found between NTF and tree leaf area index (R²=0.38, P<0.002), NTF and stand basal area (R²=0.664, P<0.002), and stemflow and epiphyte loading (R²=0.414, P<0.001). These findings indicate that leaf and epiphyte surface area reductions associated with forest conversion decrease canopy water retention/evaporation, thereby increasing throughfall and stemflow inputs to soil. Interannual precipitation variability also altered patterns of water redistribution across this landscape. Storms and hurricanes resulted in little difference in forest‐coffee wet season NTF, while El Niño Southern Oscillation was associated with a twofold increase in dry season rain and fog throughfall water deposition. In montane headwater regions, changes in water delivery to canopies and soils may affect infiltration, runoff, and evapotranspiration, with implications for provisioning (e.g. water supply) and regulating (e.g. flood mitigation) ecosystem services.     

Distribution of the antimonate precipitate in normal and segregated nucleoli after potassium pyroantimonate fixation

Fixation with a saturated aqueous solution of potassium pyroantimonate produces electron-opaque antimonate deposits in the nucleoli of lutheinic and hepatic cells. The comparative analysis between normal and actinomycin D segregated nucleoli fixed either with glutaraldehyde-osmium or potassium pyroantimonate facilitates location of the ring-shaped precipitates in the fibrillar centers and the fine dense ones in the pars fibrosa.     

Elemental Fingerprinting of Mussel Shells to Predict Population Sources and Redistribution Potential in the Gulf of Maine

As the climate warms, species that cannot tolerate changing conditions will only persist if they undergo range shifts. Redistribution ability may be particularly variable for benthic marine species that disperse as pelagic larvae in ocean currents. The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, has recently experienced a warming-related range contraction in the southeastern USA and may face limitations to northward range shifts within the Gulf of Maine where dominant coastal currents flow southward. Thus, blue mussels might be especially vulnerable to warming, and understanding dispersal patterns is crucial given the species'' relatively long planktonic larval period (>1 month). To determine whether trace elemental “fingerprints” incorporated in mussel shells could be used to identify population sources (i.e. collection locations), we assessed the geographic variation in shell chemistry of blue mussels collected from seven populations between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and northern Maine. Across this ∼500 km of coastline, we were able to successfully predict population sources for over two-thirds of juvenile individuals, with almost 80% of juveniles classified within one site of their collection location and 97% correctly classified to region. These results indicate that significant differences in elemental signatures of mussel shells exist between open-coast sites separated by ∼50 km throughout the Gulf of Maine. Our findings suggest that elemental “fingerprinting” is a promising approach for predicting redistribution potential of the blue mussel, an ecologically and economically important species in the region.