Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymorphism of the alpha 1-antitrypsin gene in chronic lung disease.

Specific gene probes were used to study restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the human alpha 1-antitrypsin gene. A polymorphism due to loss of a recognition site for the restriction enzyme Taq I was identified in eight of 42 patients with bronchiectasis and nine of 49 patients with pulmonary emphysema, none of whom had alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency. Among a control group without lung disease the polymorphism was significantly less frequent, being found in only five of 101 apparently healthy blood donors. The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) polymorphism was also present in two of 14 unrelated patients with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, indicating a lack of association with any specific alpha 1-antitrypsin protein phenotype. The polymorphism identified in this study may be a new marker for genetic predisposition to chronic lung disease.     

Gauging resource exploitation by juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in restoring estuarine habitat

In the context of delta restoration and its impact on salmonid rearing, success is best evaluated based on whether out‐migrating juvenile salmon can access and benefit from suitable estuarine habitat. Here, we integrated 3 years of post‐restoration monitoring data including habitat availability, invertebrate prey biomass, and juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) physiological condition to determine whether individuals profited from the addition of 364 ha of delta habitat in South Puget Sound, Washington, United States. Productivity in the restored mudflat was comparable to reference sites 3 years after dike removal, surpassing a mean total of 6 million kJ energy from invertebrate prey. This resulted from the development of a complex network of tidal channels and a resurgence in dipteran biomass that was unique to the restoration area. Consequently, a notable shift in invertebrate consumption occurred between 2010 and 2011, whereby individuals switched from eating primarily amphipods to dipteran flies; however, dietary similarity to the surrounding habitat did not change from year to year, suggesting that this shift was a result of a change in the surrounding prey communities. Growth rates did not differ between restored and reference sites, but catch weight was positively correlated with prey biomass, where greater prey productivity appeared to offset potential density‐dependent effects. These results demonstrate how the realized function of restoring estuarine habitat is functionally dependent. High prey productivity in areas with greater connectivity may support healthy juvenile salmon that are more likely to reach the critical size class for offshore survival.     

Early singers attend to conspecific but not heterospecific behavioural cues at dawn

During the dawn chorus songbirds initiate singing activities just prior to sunrise. Environmental factors affect the timing of the dawn chorus, but relatively little is known about how behavioural cues influence chorus timing. We assessed whether early playback of conspecific and heterospecific song influenced chorus start times in two early‐singing temperate species, hermit thrush Catharus guttatus and veery C. fuscescens. We used arrays of GPS time‐synchronized recorders to record the dawn chorus at 30 locations. In each location, thirty minutes prior to natural chorus initiation, we broadcast: 1) an early singing species (hermit thrush or veery), 2) a late singing species (black‐throated green warbler Setophaga virens or Nashville warbler Oreothlypis ruficapilla), 3) a noise control, and 4) also recorded without playback (silent control). Playback treatments were separated by two‐three days at each location. Both hermit thrush and veery sang significantly earlier in response to conspecific playback compared to noise or silent controls. Both species also sang earlier in response to conspecific playback compared to the day before or the day after playback. Neither species sang earlier in response to heterospecific playback (regardless of whether the broadcast species was a naturally early or late song initiator) compared to noise or silent controls. Our results support the theory that the dawn chorus is a communication network where individuals attend primarily to conspecific cues; heterospecific song appears to have minimal impacts on the chorus start times of the two early‐singing species we investigated.     

Climate,landscape, habitat,and woodland management associations with hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius population status

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Influence of pastoral fallow on plant root growth and soil physical and chemical characteristics in a hill pasture

Pastoral fallowing over a growing season (October–May) has a profound effect on standing biomass and sward structure, and should have an impact on below ground plant growth and soil biological activities. Two field studies were conducted to compare the effects of pastoral fallow with rotational grazing on root growth and soil physical and chemical properties. Root growth and distribution was altered by pastoral fallowing and there was significantly (P < 0.01) less root biomass at 0–50 mm depth of soil in the fallowed sward than the grazed sward. Compared with the grazed treatment, pastoral fallow increased soil air permeability at 500 mm tension by 38%, saturated hydraulic conductivity by 26%, unsaturated hydraulic conductivity at 20 mm tension by 67% and soil moisture by 10–15%, and reduced soil bulk density by 11%. Fallowing had little effect on soil nutrients both at the end of fallowing, except for small reductions in K and Mineral N levels at 0–75 mm soil depth, and two to three years after fallowing.     

Introduction: Comparative Perspectives on the Indigenous Rights Movement in Africa and the Americas

Using ethnographic case studies, these "In Focus" articles explore the indigenous rights movements in two regions, Africa and the Americas, where the histories, agendas, and dynamics of the movements are at once similar and different. They consider a range of relevant questions about the politics of representation, recognition, resources, and rights as these movements engage shifting political and economic landscapes; transnational discourses, alliances, and organizations; and the complicated cultural politics of inclusion and exclusion invoked by the term indigenous. As such, they offer a critical, comparative perspective on the issues of culture, power, representation, and difference inherent in the complicated alliances, articulations, and tensions that have produced and transformed the transnational indigenous rights movement. This introduction provides a brief history of the movement, highlights some major themes in previous anthropological work, reviews the insights of the section articles, and explores some of the ways in which anthropologists have engaged with the movement. [Keywords: indigenous peoples, social movements, cultural politics, ethnography]     

Functional proteometrics for cell migration.

BACKGROUND: Advances in living cellular fluorescence biosensors and computerized microscopy enable a vision of fully automated high-resolution measurements of the detailed intracellular molecular dynamics directly linked to cellular behaviors. Given the heterogeneity of cell populations, a statistically relevant study of molecular-cellular dynamics is a key motivation for improved automation. METHODS: We explored automating computerized, microscope-based data extraction and analyses that monitor cell locomotion, rates of mitoses, and spatiotemporal activities of intracellular proteins via ratiometric fluorescent biosensors in mouse fibroblasts. Novel image processing methods included K-means clustering segmentation preprocessing followed by modified discrete, normalized cross-correlational alignment of two-color images; ratiometric processing for fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements; and intracellular spatial distribution measurements of RhoA GTPase activity. RESULTS: The interdivision time was 19.4 h (mean) +/- 6.0 h (SD) (n = 7) for the GFP-histone cells in the two-by-two field that was scanned for 72 h. After registration and ratioing of the cells with the RhoA biosensor, increases in both cell protrusion and retraction were coincident with to increases in RhoA activity. CONCLUSIONS: These advances lay the foundation for extracting and correlating measurements characterizing the functional relationships of spatial localization and protein activation with features of cell migration such as velocity, polarization, protrusion, retraction, and mitosis.     

Genetics of cytochrome P450 in two insecticide-resistant strains of the housefly,Musca domestica L.

A susceptible strain of Musca domestica containing visible mutant markers on chromosomes II, III, and V was crossed with multiresistant R-Fc and R-diazinon strains. F₁ flies were backcrossed to the mutant parent, resultant progenies were isolated according to phenotype, and substrains were established. The level of resistance to diazinon, aldrin epoxidase activity, and cytochrome P450 difference spectra of microsomes from each substrain were measured. Titers of cytochrome P450, measured as CO spectra, as well as type I, type II, and type III cytochrome P450 substrate difference spectra were compared in microsomal preparations obtained from phenotypes containing vatious resistant chromosome combinations. In both resistant strains, high levels of cytochrome P450 were controlled by a gene(s) on chromosome II. In R-diazinon, qualitative spectral changes were also controlled by chromosome II, whereas in R-Fc both chromosomes II and V contributed to qualitative changes in cytochrome P450. Both quantitative and qualitative characteristics were intermediate in heterozygous flies, suggesting incomplete dominance for their inheritance. Findings are discussed in relation to known genetics of microsomal resistance to insecticides.