Do Parents Meet Adolescents’ Monitoring Standards? Examination of the Impact on Teen Risk Disclosure and Behaviors if They Don’t

In this study, we examined how adolescents compare monitoring efforts by their parents to those of a "good parent" standard and assessed the impact of these comparisons on adolescent self-disclosure and risk behavior and their perceptions of their parents'' monitoring knowledge. Survey responses from 519 adolescents (12–17 years) at baseline of a larger, longitudinal study examining parental monitoring and adolescent risk were examined. Adolescents’ “good parent comparisons” differed greatly by monitoring areas (e.g., telephone use, health, money); however, between 5.5% and 25.8% of adolescents believed their parents needed to monitor their activities more than they currently were monitoring. Alternatively, between 8.5% and 23.8% of adolescents believed their parents needed to monitor their activities less often. These perceptions significantly distinguished adolescents in terms of their level of disclosure, perceived monitoring knowledge, and risk involvement. Adolescents who viewed their parents as needing to monitor more were less likely to disclose information to their parents (p<.001), less likely to perceive their parents as having greater monitoring knowledge (p<.001), and more likely to be involved in a risk behaviors (p<.001) than adolescents who perceived their parents needed no change. Adolescent disclosure to a parent is a powerful predictor of adolescent risk and poor health outcomes. These findings demonstrate that adolescents'' comparisons of their parents'' monitoring efforts can predict differences in adolescent disclosure and future risk. Obtaining adolescent "good parent" comparisons may successfully identify intervention opportunities with the adolescent and parent by noting the areas of need and direction of monitoring improvement.     

Influence of Fire Mosaics,Habitat Characteristics and Cattle Disturbance on Mammals in Fire-Prone Savanna Landscapes of the Northern Kimberley

Patch mosaic burning, in which fire is used to produce a mosaic of habitat patches representative of a range of fire histories (‘pyrodiversity’), has been widely advocated to promote greater biodiversity. However, the details of desired fire mosaics for prescribed burning programs are often unspecified. Threatened small to medium-sized mammals (35 g to 5.5 kg) in the fire-prone tropical savannas of Australia appear to be particularly fire-sensitive. Consequently, a clear understanding of which properties of fire mosaics are most instrumental in influencing savanna mammal populations is critical. Here we use mammal capture data, remotely sensed fire information (i.e. time since last fire, fire frequency, frequency of late dry season fires, diversity of post-fire ages in 3 km radius, and spatial extent of recently burnt, intermediate and long unburnt habitat) and structural habitat attributes (including an index of cattle disturbance) to examine which characteristics of fire mosaics most influence mammals in the north-west Kimberley. We used general linear models to examine the relationship between fire mosaic and habitat attributes on total mammal abundance and richness, and the abundance of the most commonly detected species. Strong negative associations of mammal abundance and richness with frequency of late dry season fires, the spatial extent of recently burnt habitat (post-fire age <1 year within 3 km radius) and level of cattle disturbance were observed. Shrub cover was positively related to both mammal abundance and richness, and availability of rock crevices, ground vegetation cover and spatial extent of ≥4 years unburnt habitat were all positively associated with at least some of the mammal species modelled. We found little support for diversity of post-fire age classes in the models. Our results indicate that both a high frequency of intense late dry season fires and extensive, recently burnt vegetation are likely to be detrimental to mammals in the north Kimberley. A managed fire mosaic that reduces large scale and intense fires, including the retention of ≥4 years unburnt patches, will clearly benefit savanna mammals. We also highlighted the importance of fire mosaics that retain sufficient shelter for mammals. Along with fire, it is clear that grazing by introduced herbivores also needs to be reduced so that habitat quality is maintained.     

Endogenous Murine BST-2/Tetherin Is Not a Major Restriction Factor of Influenza A Virus Infection

BST-2 (tetherin, CD317, HM1.24) restricts virus growth by tethering enveloped viruses to the cell surface. The role of BST-2 during influenza A virus infection (IAV) is controversial. Here, we assessed the capacity of endogenous BST-2 to restrict IAV in primary murine cells. IAV infection increased BST-2 surface expression by primary macrophages, but not alveolar epithelial cells (AEC). BST-2-deficient AEC and macrophages displayed no difference in susceptibility to IAV infection relative to wild type cells. Furthermore, BST-2 played little role in infectious IAV release from either AEC or macrophages. To examine BST-2 during IAV infection in vivo, we infected BST-2-deficient mice. No difference in weight loss or in viral loads in the lungs and/or nasal tissues were detected between BST-2-deficient and wild type animals. This study rules out a major role for endogenous BST-2 in modulating IAV in the mouse model of infection.     

Recombinase‐mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) for monoclonal antibody expression in the commercially relevant CHOK1SV cell line

To meet product quality and cost parameters for therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) production, cell lines are required to have excellent growth, stability, and productivity characteristics. In particular, cell line generation stability is critical to the success of a program, especially where high cell line generation numbers are required for large in‐market supply. However, a typical process for developing such cell lines is laborious, lengthy, and costly. In this study, we applied a FLP/FRT recombinase‐mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) system to build a site‐specific integration (SSI) system for mAb expression in the commercially relevant CHOK1SV cell line. Using a vector with a FRT‐flanked mAb expression cassette, we generated a clonal cell line with good productivity, long‐term production stability, and low mAb gene‐copy number indicating the vector was located in a ‘hot‐spot.’ A SSI host cell line was made by removing the mAb genes from the ‘hot‐spot’ by RMCE, creating a ‘landing pad’ containing two recombination cassettes that allow targeting of one or two copies of recombinant genes. Cell lines made from this host exhibited excellent growth and productivity profiles, and stability for at least 100 generations in the absence of selection agents. Importantly, while clones containing two copies had higher productivity than single copy clones, both were stable over many generations. Taken together, this study suggests the use of FLP‐based RMCE to develop SSI host cells for mAb production in CHOK1SV offers significant savings in both resources and overall cell line development time, leading to a shortened ‘time‐to‐clinic’ for therapeutic mAbs. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1645–1656, 2015     

Strange Little Flies in the Big City: Exotic Flower-Breeding Drosophilidae (Diptera) in Urban Los Angeles

Urban landscapes are commonly considered too mundane and corrupted to be biotically interesting. Recent insect surveys employing 29 Malaise traps throughout Los Angeles, California, however, have uncovered breeding populations of two unexpected species of one of the most studied and familiar groups of organisms, Drosophila “fruit” flies. Unlike most introduced species of drosophilids, which breed in fresh or decaying fruits, these are specialized flower-breeders. A common species in the survey was Drosophila (Drosophila) gentica Wheeler and Takada, previously collected only once, in El Salvador. It belongs to the flavopilosa species group, all species of which have been known until now from central Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, to Veracruz, Mexico and the Caribbean, breeding in flowers of Cestrum (“jessamine”) and Sessea (Solanaceae). The Los Angeles populations are probably breeding in a native and/or introduced Cestrum; in addition, populations in San Luis Obispo County were visiting ornamental Cestrum. Drosophila gentica occurs as far north as San Francisco, where it was found breeding in Cestrum aurantiacum. D. gentica is redescribed and figured in detail for diagnostic and identification purposes. Specimens from Jamaica previously identified as D. gentica are a distinct species but are not formally described in lieu of complete male specimens. Rare in the Malaise traps was Drosophila (Sophophora) flavohirta Malloch, a common species in Australia on the blossoms of native Myrtaceae, found on introduced Eucalyptus in South Africa and both Eucalyptus and Syzygium in Madagascar; adults feed on myrtaceous pollen and nectar, larvae breed in the flowers. It is also redescribed in detail, including its unusual egg. This is the first New World report of this species; DNA sequences confirm it is a morphologically highly aberrant member of the D. melanogaster species group. This study reveals how intensive field sampling can uncover remarkable biodiversity in even the most urbanized areas.     

Colony size and not nest density drives reproductive output in the Common Tern Sterna hirundo

Density is known to be an important factor in population size regulation. Several mechanisms of density limitation have been identified in colonial birds. We studied competition in Common Terns Sterna hirundo to assess whether the factor limiting reproductive output was competition for nest‐sites, which is dependent on local nest density, or density‐dependent competition for food resources, which is dependent on overall colony size using the same foraging area. We found strong associations of both colony size and nest density with reproductive output in five colonies of Common Terns in three different habitats (one marine, two freshwater). Based on detailed long‐term datasets of six separate sub‐colonies of the Banter See colony that differed in nest density, we found that reproductive success was not related to nest density but to overall colony size, possibly a result of resource depletion and food competition. We also found carry‐over effects of colony size during rearing on post‐fledging return rate. These results have important implications for the conservation management plans aimed at recovering declining populations of Common Terns.     

Phytaspase,a relocalisable cell death promoting plant protease with caspase specificity

Caspases are cysteine‐dependent proteases and are important components of animal apoptosis. They introduce specific breaks after aspartate residues in a number of cellular proteins mediating programmed cell death (PCD). Plants encode only distant homologues of caspases, the metacaspases that are involved in PCD, but do not possess caspase‐specific proteolytic activity. Nevertheless, plants do display caspase‐like activities indicating that enzymes structurally distinct from classical caspases may operate as caspase‐like proteases. Here, we report the identification and characterisation of a novel PCD‐related subtilisin‐like protease from tobacco and rice named phytaspase (plant aspartate‐specific protease) that possesses caspase specificity distinct from that of other known caspase‐like proteases. We provide evidence that phytaspase is synthesised as a proenzyme, which is autocatalytically processed to generate the mature enzyme. Overexpression and silencing of the phytaspase gene showed that phytaspase is essential for PCD‐related responses to tobacco mosaic virus and abiotic stresses. Phytaspase is constitutively secreted into the apoplast before PCD, but unexpectedly is re‐imported into the cell during PCD providing insights into how phytaspase operates.     

Effect of knee joint cooling on the electromyographic activity of lower extremity muscles during a plyometric exercise

During sporting events, injured athletes often return to competition after icing because of the reduction in pain. Although some controversy exists, several studies suggest that cryotherapy causes a decrease in muscle activity, which may lead to a higher risk of injury upon return to play. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a 20-min knee joint cryotherapy application on the electromyographic activity of leg muscles during a single-leg drop jump in twenty healthy subjects, randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. After the pre-tests, a crushed-ice bag was applied to the knee joint of the experimental group subjects for 20 min, while the control group subjects rested for 20 min. All subjects were retested immediately after this period and retested again after another 20 min of rest. Average electromyographic activity and ground contact time were calculated for the pre- and post-test sessions. Decreases in electromyographic activity of the lower extremity musculature were found in pre-activation, eccentric (braking), and concentric (push-off) phases immediately after the icing, and after 20 min of rest. The results lend support to the suggestion that cryotherapy during sporting events may place the individuals in a vulnerable position.