In Vivo and In Vitro Activity by Diverse Chelators against Trypanosoma brucei brucei1

A system of prescreens and screen has been developed to select chelators as potential drugs against Trypanosoma brucei brucei EATRO 110. The chelators tested were nearly all commercially available, low molecular, and having moderate to high affinity for Fe(III). We prescreened 70 compounds showing heme-sparing or inhibitory activity in a Crithidia fasciculata growth system having excess Fe and minimal hemin. Of these, 45 were highly trypanocidal for suspensions of bloodstream T. b. brucei; criteria of activity here were immobilization, lysis, and loss of infectivity. Eighteen of the chelators highly active in the suspension prescreen were tried in T. b. brucei-infected mice. Thirteen of these chelators were curative in mice with 24-h infections, that is, they allowed survival >30 days beyond the untreated controls. 3,4-Dihydroxycinnamic acid (caffeic acid). 2,9-dimethyl-1, 10 phenanthroline (neocuproine), and 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde-2-pyridyl-hydrazone cured five out of five mice after an i.v. dose of 100 mg/kg. Salicylaldehyde thiosemicarbazone cured five out of five mice at an i.p. dose of 500 mg/kg. Lesser activity was shown by several other chelators.     

The Osteology of Infants and Children

The Osteology of Infants and Children . Brenda J. Baker, Tosha L. Dupras, and Matthew W. Tocheri. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005. 178 pp.     

Body mass and extinction risk in Australian marsupials: The ‘Critical Weight Range’ revisited

Australian mammals have suffered an exceptionally high rate of decline and extinction over the last two hundred years. Body mass is linked to extinction risk in Australian mammals, but the nature of this association is controversial. A widely held view is that species of intermediate body mass (between 35 and 5500 g, the ‘critical weight range’, CWR) have declined most severely. However, the existence of the CWR has been disputed. In this paper we clarify the relationship of decline status and body mass in Australian marsupials. We show that the form of this relationship differs for ground‐living versus arboreal species, and for species from low versus high rainfall areas. Among ground‐living species and those from low‐rainfall areas, declines were strongly size‐selective and concentrated on species within the CWR. For the remaining species, decline was only weakly related to body mass with no evidence of heightened risk for species of intermediate size. We conclude that for terrestrial species in low rainfall areas, species within the CWR are most at risk of decline and extinction.     

Effects of Maternal Status on the Movement and Mortality of Sterilized Female White-Tailed Deer

Abstract: Surgical sterilization by tubal ligation has been proposed as a technique for controlling white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations in urban or suburban areas where other forms of population control are impractical, but little is known about demographic rates in populations under management with surgical sterilization. We analyzed seasonal movement and mortality data collected during a 4-year study of surgical sterilization in suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA. We calculated 323 home range size estimates for 62 individual females within season and year. Non-gravid females without young exhibited home range sizes 52% larger than gravid females and females with fawns. Mortality rate was positively correlated with home range size. We suggest that the increased mortality rate observed in surgically sterilized females may be due to greater movement by non-maternal females. Population managers will need to account for potential effects of maternal status on movement and mortality when considering the use of sterilization for management of suburban populations of white-tailed deer.     

Metabolic patch dynamics in small headwater streams: exploring spatial and temporal variability in benthic processes

1. To gain a better understanding of the heterotrophic nature of small headwater streams in forested landscapes we explored the spatial and temporal variability of in‐stream organic matter processes. Three methods were used to measure the benthic metabolism of different in‐stream habitats in seven streams throughout a calendar year. This allowed us to analyse the contribution of various metabolic habitats (i.e. sediment, leaf litter, cobbles) to in‐stream metabolism during a natural flow regime. Furthermore, it allowed us to define in‐stream patchiness based on functional rather than structural elements. 2. Bacterial growth, measured using a leucine assay, displayed a quadratic relationship over time with a peak in warmer months and consistently higher bacterial growth in fine depositional (3.00–710.64 mg C m^?2 day^?1) than coarse gravel (38.84–582.85 mg C m^?2 day^?1) sediments. 3. Community metabolism, measured using dissolved oxygen chambers, showed distinct diel patterns and consistently greater net daily metabolism in leaf packs (?261.76 to ?24.50 mg C m^?2 day^?1) than fine depositional sediments (?155.00 to ?15.56 mg C m^?2 day^?1). Coarse gravel sediments (?49.55 to ?16.88 mg C m^?2 day^?1) and cobble habitats (?151.98 to 55.38 mg C m^?2 day^?1) exhibited the lowest metabolic rates. Modelled whole‐stream metabolism was highly variable among streams and temporal patterns appeared driven by temperature and the relative contribution of patch configuration as a function of flow. 4. Cellulose decomposition potential showed higher rates of microbial activity in fine depositional compared to coarse gravel sediments (30.5 and 29.1 kg average cotton tensile strength loss respectively), though there were higher rates of thread loss indicative of macroinvertebrate activity in gravel compared to depositional sediment (21% and 13% average thread loss respectively), with a slight quadratic trend. The high variability among habitats, streams and over time in this integrative measure may be explained by variability in local microbial activity as well as the potential for macroinvertebrates to contribute across patches. 5. There were strong relationships among benthic processes and habitat structure, nutrient status, stream temperature and flow. Different habitats had distinct metabolic characteristics and these characteristics appear to influence stream food webs and biogeochemical cycling depending on the relative abundance of habitats. Generally, within habitat variability was less than among habitat variability and among stream variability was less than temporal variability. Hence, in terms of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of benthic processes, these small headwater streams showed predictable metabolic patterns. However, there were few correlations between differing measures of benthic metabolism at the same patch and this suggests that caution should be taken when attempting to infer the rates of one level of metabolic activity (e.g. whole community metabolism) based on another (e.g. bacterial productivity).     

Local selection and population structure in a deep‐sea fish,the roundnose grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris)

Local populations within a species can become isolated by stochastic or adaptive processes, though it is most commonly the former that we quantify. Using presumably neutral markers we can assess the time‐dependent process of genetic drift, and thereby quantify patterns of differentiation in support of the effective management of diversity. However, adaptive differences can be overlooked in these studies, and these are the very characteristics that we hope to conserve by managing neutral diversity. In this study, we used 16 hypothetically neutral microsatellite markers to investigate the genetic structure of the roundnose grenadier in the North Atlantic. We found that one locus was a clear outlier under directional selection, with F_ST values much greater than at the remaining loci. Differentiation between populations at this locus was related to depth, suggesting directional selection, presumably acting on a linked locus. Considering only the loci identified as neutral, there remained significant population structure over the region of the North Atlantic studied. In addition to a weak pattern of isolation by distance, we identified a putative barrier to gene flow between sample sites either side of the Charlie‐Gibbs Fracture Zone, which marks the location where the sub‐polar front crosses the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge. This may reflect a boundary across which larvae are differentially distributed in separate current systems to some extent, promoting differentiation by drift. Structure due to both drift and apparent selection should be considered in management policy.     

Investigation of the methyl fluoride technique for determining rhizospheric methane oxidation

Methane oxidation rates in the rhizosphere of Pontederia cordata,Sagittaria lancifolia, and Typha latifolia were quantified in fieldstudies using the methyl fluoride inhibition technique. An averageoxidation of 22.9 ± 17.7% (sd,n = 44) was found for all field experiments (oxidation is expressedas a % of total potential emission in the presumedabsence of oxidation). Greenhouse experiments using the same techniquegave an average rhizospheric oxidation of 64.9 ±17.0% (sd, n = 44). Comparison of a subset ofgreenhouse plants with the methyl fluoride (MF) and a light oxic/darkanoxic (LO/DA) technique for suppressing CH₄ oxidationyielded similar percentages (57.7 ±15.0% for MF and 58.5 ±13.9% for LO/DA, n = 11). Rhizospheric oxidationdisplayed a seasonal trend in Typha latifolia with decreasingoxidation percentages during warmer months as the importance ofrhizospheric CH₄ oxidation declined relative toCH₄ emission (46.5 ±13.8% in December and 13.5 ±1.7% in July). However, the absolute rateof methane oxidation was highest during the warmer months (44.2± 3.4 mg m^-2 d^-1 inDecember and 318.7 ± 151.4 mg m^-2d^-1 in July). As methane emission rates increased,the sensitivity of the methyl fluoride technique decreased dueto the larger error between replicate flux measurements.     

Relationship of macrophyte-mediated changes in the water column to periphyton composition and abundance

SUMMARY. 1. Dense growths of Myriophyllum heterophyllum influenced temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and light levels in the littoral waters of Lake Winnipesaukee, a soft-water. New England lake. Periphyton species composition and abundance (algal units cm' stem) were related to the macrophyte-mediated changes in the physicochemical environment.
2. Duringearlysummer, M. heterophyllum occupied onlythe lower part of the water column. Limnetic and littoral waters exchanged readily and were chemically similar. Early summer periphyton species composition was dominated by diatoms from the phytoplankton, entangled in the finely dissected leaves of M. heterophyllum.
3. By mid-summer, M. heterophyllum occupied the entire watercolumn of the littoral zone. The metabolic and photosynthetic activity and dense foliage of M. heterophyllum created marked vertical gradients in physicochemical conditions. Mid-day temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and light levels were maximal in the surface waters of the M. heterophyllum mat during the summer. Concurrently, periphyton species composition shifted to blue-green and then to a filamentous green alga on the apex and mid-stem. On the lower stem, diatoms consistently dominated the periphyton.
4. Periphyton abundance on the apex was inversely related to apical elongation. Temporal fluctuations of periphyton abundance on the lower and mid-stem were small throughout the study. Periphyton abundance was lowest on the lower stem, where the deteriorating leaves provided less surface area for colonization.