Five new Lamiinae (Coleoptera,Cerambycidae) from Bolivia in honor of James E. Wappes

Five new species of Lamiinae are described from Bolivia, all named after James E. Wappes: Xenofrea wappesi (Xenofreini); Anobrium wappesi (Pteropliini); Cotycicuiara wappesi, Nesozineus wappesi, and Psapharochrus wappesi (Acanthoderini). Anobrium wappesi, Cotycicuiara wappesi, and Nesozineus wappesi are included in known keys. A short note on the name and date of Anobrium oberthueri Belon, 1903 is provided.     

Ecological assessment of Portuguese reservoirs based on littoral epilithic diatoms

Hydrobiologia - The objective of this study was to evaluate whether biological methods based on epilithic littoral diatoms are a valuable complement to other biological elements for the assessment...     

Hyaluronic acid depolymerization by ascorbate-redox effects on solid state cultivation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptococcus zooepidemicus</Emphasis> in cashew apple fruit bagasse

The cashew fruit (Anacardium occidentale L.) has been used as a promising agricultural resource for the production of low-molecular weight (M_W) hyaluronic acid (HA) (10⁴–10⁵ Da). The cashew juice is a rich source of vitamin C containing, 1.2–2.0 g L⁻¹. This work explores the effects of the initial concentration of the ascorbate on the solid fermentation of the juice-moisturized bagasse from the cashew apple fruit. The results show that the M_W reduction of HA is proportional to the initial ascorbate concentration. The presence of ascorbate did not influence the Streptococcus zooepidemicus metabolism. However, the HA productivity was increased from 0.18 to 0.28 mg g⁻¹ h⁻¹ when the ascorbate concentration ranged from 1.7 to 10 mg mL⁻¹. These findings contribute to the controlled production of HA in a low M_W range, which is important in cell signalization, angiogenesis and nanoparticles production.     

Do Australian graziers have an offset mindset about their farm trees?

Worldwide, the footprint of agriculture is higher than that of any other land use, making the local decisions of millions of farmers a global force for achieving the maintenance of ecosystem services. Biodiversity offsets are increasingly used to attempt to reconcile conflicts between production and conservation. Offset policies operate on the principle of habitat substitutability, but little work has considered whether those targeted by such policies perceive nature that way. For instance, do landholders perceive trees of different arrangements, ages or species to be interchangeable? We used a large-scale landholder survey to understand how graziers manage their farm trees, and whether their beliefs are amenable to substitution. Three natural clusters were found, that: (A) liked a tidy farm but did not differentiate trees by species, age or arrangement; (B) strongly supported the need for diversity in tree cover; and, (C) preferred woodlands and connective strips to sparse trees. Those positions were consistent with their beliefs about the costs and benefits of different arrangements of trees, but were largely inconsistent with their declared tree planting and protection activities. Tree management activities were more easily explained by commodity (pro-woodland graziers (C) were most likely to be cropping) or by career stage and what that meant for time and money resources to do conservation work (contrasting A and B). Offset policies and policy incentives encouraging vegetative heterogeneity would motivate at least these first two clusters, helping to sustain a diversity of tree cover and thus ecosystem services on farms.     

Generation and exploration of new classes of antitubercular agents: The optimization of oxazolines, oxazoles, thiazolines, thiazoles to imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and isomeric 5,6-fused scaffolds

Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease resulting in a death every 20s. Thus, new drugs are urgently needed. Herein we report ten classes of compounds-oxazoline, oxazole, thiazoline, thiazole, pyrazole, pyridine, isoxazole, imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine and imidazo[1,2-c]pyrimidine-which have good (micromolar) to excellent (sub-micromolar) antitubercular potency. The 5,6-fused heteroaromatic compounds were the most potent with MIC's as low as <0.195 μM (9 and 11). Overall, the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine class was determined to be most promising, with potency similar to isoniazid and PA-824 against replicating Mtb H(37)Rv, clinically relevant drug sensitive, multi- and extensively resistant Mtb strains as well as having good in vitro metabolic stability.     

Solid-phase synthesis of 2'-hydroxychalcones. Effects on cell growth inhibition, cell cycle and apoptosis of human tumor cell lines

Thirty-one 2'-hydroxychalcones were prepared via solid-phase synthesis by base-catalyzed aldol condensation of substituted 2'-hydroxyacetophenones and benzaldehydes. Chalcones were tested for their growth inhibitory activity in three human tumor cell lines (MCF-7, NCI-H460 and A375-C5) using the SRB assay. Results revealed that several of the tested compounds caused a pronounced dose-dependent growth inhibitory effect on the tumor cell lines studied in the low micromolar range. To gain further insight on the cellular mechanism of action of this class of compounds, studies of their effect on cell cycle profile as well as on induction of cellular apoptosis were also carried out. Generally, the tested chalcones interfered with the cell cycle profile and increased the percentage of apoptotic MCF-7 cells. The results here presented may help to identify new chalcone-like structures with optimized cell growth inhibitory activity which may be further tested as potential antitumor agents.     

Sarcosin (Krp1) in skeletal muscle differentiation: gene expression profiling and knockdown experiments

SARCOSIN, also named Krp1, has been identified as a protein exclusively expressed in striated muscle tissue. Here we report on the role of SARCOSIN in skeletal muscle development and differentiation. We demonstrate, by means of whole-mount in situ hybridization, that Sarcosin mRNA is expressed in the myotome part of the mature somites in mouse embryos from embryonic day 9.5 onwards. Sarcosin is not expressed in the developing heart at these embryonic stages, and in adult tissues the mRNA expression levels are five times lower in the heart than in skeletal muscle. SARCOSIN protein partially co-localizes with the M-band protein myomesin and between and below laterally fusing myofibrils in adult skeletal muscle tissue. RNA interference mediated knock-down of SARCOSIN in the C2C12 myoblast cell line appeared to be stimulatory in the early phase of differentiation, but inhibitory at a later phase of differentiation.     

Solution structures of the first and fourth TSR domains of F-spondin

F-spondin is a protein mainly associated with neuronal development. It attaches to the extracellular matrix and acts in the axon guidance of the developing nervous system. F-spondin consists of eight domains, six of which are TSR domains. The TSR domain family binds a wide range of targets. Here we present the NMR solution structures of TSR1 and TSR4. TSR domains have an unusual fold that is characterized by a long, nonglobular shape, consisting of two beta-strands and one irregular extended strand. Three disulfide bridges and stack of alternating tryptophan and arginine side-chains stabilize the structure. TSR1 and TSR4 structures are similar to each other and to the previously determined TSR domain X-ray structures from another protein, TSP, although TSR4 exhibits a mobile loop not seen in other structures.