Complete profiling of some eicosanoids using glass capillary gas chromatography with flame ionization detection: application to biological samples

The improvement of glass capillary preparation technology has allowed the development of high-resolution and very low-bleeding gas chromatographic columns. Using an all-glass injector and a flame ionization detector, it was possible to get a complete resolution of some of the principal stable oxygenated metabolites of arachidonic acid (cyclized and aliphatic, i.e., eicosanoids). Due to the low bleeding of the column, detector limits exceed those obtained with previously prepared columns. Total profiling studies have been obtained with small amounts of activated washed platelets after only an ether extraction, allowing for the first time a complete, simultaneous survey of cycloxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways. The application has been extended with success to other cell types.     

Alkaloids of Dyera costulata

Six bisindole alkaloids have been isolated from the leaves of Dyera costulata (Apocynaceae). One is the known ochrolifuanine A and the others are the novel ochrolifuanines E and F, and the 18-dehydroochrolifuanines A, E and F.     

Hereditary retinoblastoma: can balanced insertion entirely explain the differences of expressivity among families?

Summary Although the retinoblastoma gene has been isolated and sequenced, the difference in penetrance and expressivity among families has not yet been fully explained. Balanced chromosomal insertion involving the 13q14 regions has been shown to account for some families with several unaffected carriers. Since there could be cases with karyotypically undetectable insertions, we tested whether this mechanism was general enough to explain the whole difference in expressivity among families. Using 166 pedigrees, reported in nine series available in the literature (including our own), we conclude that balanced insertion cannot entirely explain the familial data, even if we allow for a reduced viability of unbalanced gametes. Other mechanisms are proposed and discussed in this paper.     

Body Size,Growth and Life Span: Implications for the Polewards Range Shift of Octopus tetricus in South-Eastern Australia

Understanding the response of any species to climate change can be challenging. However, in short-lived species the faster turnover of generations may facilitate the examination of responses associated with longer-term environmental change. Octopus tetricus, a commercially important species, has undergone a recent polewards range shift in the coastal waters of south-eastern Australia, thought to be associated with the southerly extension of the warm East Australian Current. At the cooler temperatures of a polewards distribution limit, growth of a species could be slower, potentially leading to a bigger body size and resulting in a slower population turnover, affecting population viability at the extreme of the distribution. Growth rates, body size, and life span of O. tetricus were examined at the leading edge of a polewards range shift in Tasmanian waters (40°S and 147°E) throughout 2011. Octopus tetricus had a relatively small body size and short lifespan of approximately 11 months that, despite cooler temperatures, would allow a high rate of population turnover and may facilitate the population increase necessary for successful establishment in the new extended area of the range. Temperature, food availability and gender appear to influence growth rate. Individuals that hatched during cooler and more productive conditions, but grew during warming conditions, exhibited faster growth rates and reached smaller body sizes than individuals that hatched into warmer waters but grew during cooling conditions. This study suggests that fast growth, small body size and associated rapid population turnover may facilitate the range shift of O. tetricus into Tasmanian waters.     

Disentangling invasion processes in a dynamic shipping-boating network

The relative importance of multiple vectors to the initial establishment, spread and population dynamics of invasive species remains poorly understood. This study used molecular methods to clarify the roles of commercial shipping and recreational boating in the invasion by the cosmopolitan tunicate, Botryllus schlosseri. We evaluated (i) single vs. multiple introduction scenarios, (ii) the relative importance of shipping and boating to primary introductions, (iii) the interaction between these vectors for spread (i.e. the presence of a shipping-boating network) and (iv) the role of boating in determining population similarity. Tunicates were sampled from 26 populations along the Nova Scotia, Canada, coast that were exposed to either shipping (i.e. ports) or boating (i.e. marinas) activities. A total of 874 individuals (c. 30 per population) from five ports and 21 marinas was collected and analysed using both mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) and 10 nuclear microsatellite markers. The geographical location of multiple hotspot populations indicates that multiple invasions have occurred in Nova Scotia. A loss of genetic diversity from port to marina populations suggests a stronger influence of ships than recreational boats on primary coastal introductions. Population genetic similarity analysis reveals a dependence of marina populations on those that had been previously established in ports. Empirical data on marina connectivity because of boating better explains patterns in population similarities than does natural spread. We conclude that frequent primary introductions arise by ships and that secondary spread occurs gradually thereafter around individual ports, facilitated by recreational boating.     

Fluorescence banding in four species of Microtidae: an analysis of the evolutive changes of the constitutive heterochromatin

Three different fluorochrome and specific counterstain combination (DAPI/AMD, DA/DAPI and CMA/DA) treatments were applied to the chromosomes of four Microtidae (Rodentia) species. The results complete the data obtained in our previous paper (Burgos, M., Jiménez, R., & Dìaz de la Guardia, R., Genome 30:540–546, 1988) and prove that the changes in the constitutive heterochromatin in the evolution of the karyotypes of these species are not only due to gain or loss of heterochromatin, but are qualitative with respect to their nucleotide composition, repeated base pair organization or DNA-protein complex modification. These variations lead to the differential response to the fluorescence dye combinations used.     

How the Visual Cortex Handles Stimulus Noise: Insights from Amblyopia

Adding noise to a visual image makes object recognition more effortful and has a widespread effect on human electrophysiological responses. However, visual cortical processes directly involved in handling the stimulus noise have yet to be identified and dissociated from the modulation of the neural responses due to the deteriorated structural information and increased stimulus uncertainty in the case of noisy images. Here we show that the impairment of face gender categorization performance in the case of noisy images in amblyopic patients correlates with amblyopic deficits measured in the noise-induced modulation of the P1/P2 components of single-trial event-related potentials (ERP). On the other hand, the N170 ERP component is similarly affected by the presence of noise in the two eyes and its modulation does not predict the behavioral deficit. These results have revealed that the efficient processing of noisy images depends on the engagement of additional processing resources both at the early, feature-specific as well as later, object-level stages of visual cortical processing reflected in the P1 and P2 ERP components, respectively. Our findings also suggest that noise-induced modulation of the N170 component might reflect diminished face-selective neuronal responses to face images with deteriorated structural information.