Mangrove reforestation: greening or grabbing coastal zones and deltas? Case studies in Senegal§

Besides their important contribution to global biodiversity, mangroves provide many services. Nevertheless, due to an increase of human activities and to climate change, in less than 20 years these ecosystems have lost one fifth of their global surface area. In response to this decrease, mangrove reforestation incentives have spread throughout the world. The scientific and societal legitimacy of reforestation actions still remain in question. Focusing on two case studies, the Saloum Delta and Lower Casamance, Senegal, our methodology was mainly based on the analysis of environmental narratives and discourses between 2009 and 2013, and on reforestation campaigns conducted by NGOs. We highlight the complexity of the system of values associated with the mangroves, as well as the positive and negative interactions between the services. Even although the reforestation campaigns were generally successful in terms of reforested surfaces and international visibility, they were poor in terms of biological and cultural diversities and led to spatial injustice. Moreover, the extensive reforestation with a unique mangrove species, Rhizophora mangle, was perceived as means of ‘green grabbing’, and the simultaneous buying of carbon tax by industrial conglomerates induced disempowerment of the local communities. More integrated research programmes must be developed towards the extensive knowledge of the mangroves.     

Cost-effective HRMA pre-sequence typing of clone libraries; application to phage display selection

Background  

Methodologies like phage display selection, in vitro mutagenesis and the determination of allelic expression differences include steps where large numbers of clones need to be compared and characterised. In the current study we show that high-resolution melt curve analysis (HRMA) is a simple, cost-saving tool to quickly study clonal variation without prior nucleotide sequence knowledge.     

Caffeic Acid Phenylethyl Ester and MG-132 Have Apoptotic and Antiproliferative Effects on Leukemic Cells But Not on Normal Mononuclear Cells

Chemotherapy aims to limit proliferation and induce apoptotic cell death in tumor cells. Owing to blockade of signaling pathways involved in cell survival and proliferation, nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) inhibitors can induce apoptosis in a number of hematological malignancies. The efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, such as vincristine (VCR) and doxorubicine (DOX), may be enhanced with combined therapy based on NF-κB modulation. In this study, we evaluated the effect of caffeic acid phenylethyl ester (CAPE) and MG-132, two nonspecific NF-κB inhibitors, and conventional chemotherapeutics drugs DOX and VCR on cell proliferation and apoptosis induction on a lymphoblastoid B-cell line, PL104, established and characterized in our laboratory. CAPE and MG-132 treatment showed a strong antiproliferative effect accompanied by clear cell cycle deregulation and apoptosis induction. Doxorubicine and VCR showed antiproliferative effects similar to those of CAPE and MG-132, although the latter drugs showed an apoptotic rate two-fold higher than DOX and VCR. None of the four compounds showed cytotoxic effect on peripheral mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers. CAPE- and MG-132-treated bone marrow cells from patients with myeloid and lymphoid leukemias showed 69% (P < .001) and 25% decrease (P < .01) in cell proliferation and 42% and 34% (P < .01) apoptosis induction, respectively. Overall, our results indicate that CAPE and MG-132 had a strong and selective apoptotic effect on tumor cells that may be useful in future treatment of hematological neoplasias.     

ASSOCIATION OF MURINE SPLENOCYTE CD3 COMPLEX TO THE CYTOSKELETON: ABSENCE OF MODULATION BY EXOGENOUS FATTY ACIDS

The cytoplasmic regions of the CD3 complex are presumably involved in signal transduction following ligand—receptor binding. We investigated the effects of incubating either stearic or oleic acid on the association of murine lymphocyte CD3 complex with the cytoskeleton. Both cytochalasin D, an inhibitor of microfilament formation, and W7, an inhibitor of calmodulin, inhibited capping of CD3. The association of CD3 with the cytoskeleton was confirmed by confocal laser scanning microscopy studies, which showed co-localization of the cross-linked CD3 receptors and the membrane attachment proteins ankyrin and fodrin. Although exogenous oleic acid increased plasma membrane fluidity, neither expression nor capping of CD3 receptors was increased. Nonetheless, oleic acid did increase uptake of tritiated thymidine after binding of anti-CD3 antibodies. Lymphoproliferation was progressively inhibited by both cytochalasin D and W7, confirming the importance of intact cytoskeleton for cellular activation.     

Thyroid hormone plasmatic levels in rats treated with serotonin in acute and chronic way

Many experiments show that serotonin (5-HT) controls thyroidal function at hypothalamic level, inhibiting the TRH secretion. The majority of experiments are done in an acute way, consisting of a single serotonin dose injected intraperitoneally (ip) or intracerebroventricularly (ic) with the effect registered after a short time (usually 1 h) as in normal environmental conditions similar to the TSH stimulation test, that consists of transfer of the experimental animals from 30°C to 4°C for 30 min, thus inducing stimulation of the hypothalamus-hypophysis-thyroid axis. The aim of the present research was to study the correlation between 5-HT and the thyroidal function, measuring plasmatic thyroid hormone levels in rats ip treated in chronic (injected daily for 10 days with different doses of 5-HT), and in acute way (after 1 h from a single 2.0 mg/kg bw 5-HT dose) in normal environmental conditions to evidence the serotonin site action activity outside the blood-brain barrier. The results of the chronic experiment show an inhibitory effect of 5-HT, on T3 and T4 plasmatic level, only when it is injected at medium doses (0.2 and 0.4 mg/kg bw for T3, and 0.2 for T4), while the results of the acute experiment do not evidence any modification. These results show that in normal environmental conditions the outside 5-HT site action is active only when the 5-HT is injected chronically at defined doses, probably for a down-regulation phenomenon.     

Influence of biomass production and detachment forces on biofilm structures in a biofilm airlift suspension reactor

The influence of process conditions (substrate loading rate and detachment force) on the structure of biofilms grown on basalt particles in a Biofilm Airlift Suspension (BAS) reactor was studied. The structure of the biofilms (density, surface shape, and thickness) and microbial characteristics (biomass yield) were investigated at substrate loading rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 kg COD/m3. day with basalt concentrations of 60 g/L, 150 g/L, and 250 g/L. The basalt concentration determines the number of biofilm particles in steady state, which is the main determining factor for the biofilm detachment in these systems. In total, 12 experimental runs were performed. A high biofilm density (up to 67 g/L) and a high biomass concentration was observed at high detachment forces. The higher biomass content is associated with a lower biomass substrate loading rate and therefore with a lower biomass yield (from 0.4 down to 0.12 gbiomass/gacetate). Contrary to general beliefs, the observed biomass detachment decreased with increasing detachment force. In addition, smoother (fewer protuberances), denser and thinner compact biofilms were obtained when the biomass surface production rate decreased and/or the detachment force increased. These observations confirmed a hypothesis, postulated earlier by Van Loosdrecht et al. (1995b), that the balance between biofilm substrate surface loading (proportional to biomass surface production rate, when biomass yield is constant) and detachment force determines the biofilm structure. When detachment forces are relatively high only a patchy biofilm will develop, whereas at low detachment forces, the biofilm becomes highly heterogeneous with many pores and protuberances. With the right balance, smooth, dense and stable biofilms can be obtained. Copyright 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Stent implantation in acute myocardial infarction using a heparin-coated stent: a pilot study as a preamble to a randomized trial comparing balloon angioplasty and stenting

Preliminary experience with primary stenting in myocardial infarction has suggested a greater benefit in clinical outcome than has been obtained with direct balloon angioplasty. However, subacute thrombosis (SAT) remains a limitation for this new mode of therapy. In the BENESTENT II Pilot and main trials, the incidence of SAT with the heparin-coated Palmaz-Schatz stent was only 0.15%. Therefore, as a preamble to a large randomized trial, the feasibility and safety of the use of the Heparin-Coated Palmaz-Schatz trade mark Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) was tested in 101 patients enrolled between April and September 1996 in 18 clinical centres. In 101 stent-eligible AMI patients, as dictated by protocol, a heparin-coated stent was implanted. The primary objectives were to determine the in-hospital incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE: death, MI, target lesion revascularization) and bleeding complications, while the secondary objectives were the procedural success rate and the MACE, the restenosis and reocclusion rates at 6.5 months. Stent implantation (n 3 129 stents) was successful in 97 patients of the 101 who were included in this trial. During their hospital stay, two patients died and no patient experienced re-infarction, ischaemia prompting re-PTCA or CABG. Four patients suffered a bleeding complication, three major and one minor, of whom three required surgical repair. At 210 days follow-up, 81% of the patients were event free. At 6.5 months restenosis was documented in 18% of the 88 patients who underwent follow-up angiography, including three total occlusions. The results, both with respect to QCA and the occurrence of MACE, compare favourably with studies using elective stenting in both stable and unstable angina patients. As a result of this pilot study, a large randomized trial comparing direct balloon angioplasty with direct stenting in 900 patients with AMI was initiated in December 1996.