The importance of stocking age in the enhancement of River Kymijoki salmon (Salmo salar)

Hatchery‐reared Atlantic salmon parr and smolts are regularly released into the River Kymijoki, Southern Finland, to enhance the local river and coastal fisheries. In 1988–1994, a series of micro‐ and Carlin‐tagging experiments were carried out to examine the influence of stocking age on the stocking results. Five age groups were compared: 1‐year and 2‐year‐old smolts, and 1‐summer, 1‐year and 2‐summer‐old parr. The aim was to determine the most profitable way of producing salmon for fishing in the River Kymijoki. Stocking age had a strong influence on the stocking results, measured as the proportion of adult recoveries. The most favourable results were obtained using 2‐year‐old smolts (survival index 100), followed by 1‐year‐old smolts (52), 2‐summer‐old parr (51), 1‐year‐old parr (37) and 1‐summer‐old parr (24). Available data on rearing costs suggest that 2‐year‐old smolts were also the most economically profitable choice, followed by 1‐year‐old parr, 1‐year‐old smolts and 1‐summer‐old parr. The most expensive way of producing salmon was by stocking 2‐summer‐old parr.     

Cholesterol substitution increases the structural heterogeneity of caveolae

Caveolin-1 binds cholesterol and caveola formation involves caveolin-1 oligomerization and cholesterol association. The role of cholesterol in caveolae has so far been addressed by methods that compromise membrane integrity and abolish caveolar invaginations. To study the importance of sterol specificity for the structure and function of caveolae, we replaced cholesterol in mammalian cells with its immediate precursor desmosterol by inhibiting 24-dehydrocholesterol reductase. Desmosterol could substitute for cholesterol in maintaining cell growth, membrane integrity, and preserving caveolar invaginations. However, in desmosterol cells the affinity of caveolin-1 for sterol and the stability of caveolin oligomers were decreased. Moreover, caveolar invaginations became more heterogeneous in dimensions and in the number of caveolin-1 molecules per caveola. Despite the altered caveolar structure, caveolar ligand uptake was only moderately inhibited. We found that in desmosterol cells, Src kinase phosphorylated Cav1 at Tyr(14) more avidly than in cholesterol cells. Taken the role of Cav1 Tyr(14) phosphorylation in caveolar endocytosis, this may help to preserve caveolar uptake in desmosterol cells. We conclude that a sterol C24 double bond interferes with caveolin-sterol interaction and perturbs caveolar morphology but facilitates Cav1 Src phosphorylation and allows caveolar endocytosis. More generally, substitution of cholesterol by a structurally closely related sterol provides a method to selectively modify membrane protein-sterol affinity, structure and function of cholesterol-dependent domains without compromising membrane integrity.     

Ortho-azo substituted phenylboronic acids for colorimetric sugar sensors

The phenylboronic acids substituted with an azo group on the ortho-position show a significant change in UV-vis spectra upon sugar binding. A new mechanism for the spectral change of the dyes is proposed based on the formation and cleavage of B-N dative bond between boronic acid group and azo group.     

Genetic and potential non-genetic benefits increase offspring fitness of polyandrous females in non-resource based mating system

Background  

The adaptive significance of female polyandry is currently under considerable debate. In non-resource based mating systems, indirect, i.e. genetic benefits have been proposed to be responsible for the fitness gain from polyandry. We studied the benefits of polyandry in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) using an experimental design in which the material investments by the sires and maternal environmental effects were controlled.     

Dynamic association of human insulin receptor with lipid rafts in cells lacking caveolae

Cholesterol-sphingolipid rich plasma membrane domains, known as rafts, have emerged as important regulators of signal transduction. The adipocyte insulin receptor (IR) is localized to and signals via caveolae that are formed by polymerization of caveolins. Caveolin binds to IR and stimulates signalling. We report that, in liver-derived cells lacking caveolae, autophosphorylation of the endogenous IR is dependent on raft lipids, being compromised by acute cyclodextrin-mediated cholesterol depletion or by antibody clustering of glycosphingolipids. Moreover, we provide evidence that IR becomes recruited to detergent-resistant domains upon ligand binding and that clustering of GM2 ganglioside inhibits IR signalling apparently by excluding the ligand-bound IR from these domains. Our results indicate that, in cells derived from liver, an important insulin target tissue, caveolae are not required for insulin signalling. Rather, the dynamic recruitment of the ligand-bound IR into rafts may serve to regulate interactions in the initiation of the IR signalling cascade.     

Lamellar organization of pigments in chlorosomes, the light harvesting complexes of green photosynthetic bacteria

Chlorosomes of green photosynthetic bacteria constitute the most efficient light harvesting complexes found in nature. In addition, the chlorosome is the only known photosynthetic system where the majority of pigments (BChl) is not organized in pigment-protein complexes but instead is assembled into aggregates. Because of the unusual organization, the chlorosome structure has not been resolved and only models, in which BChl pigments were organized into large rods, were proposed on the basis of freeze-fracture electron microscopy and spectroscopic constraints. We have obtained the first high-resolution images of chlorosomes from the green sulfur bacterium Chlorobium tepidum by cryoelectron microscopy. Cryoelectron microscopy images revealed dense striations approximately 20 A apart. X-ray scattering from chlorosomes exhibited a feature with the same approximately 20 A spacing. No evidence for the rod models was obtained. The observed spacing and tilt-series cryoelectron microscopy projections are compatible with a lamellar model, in which BChl molecules aggregate into semicrystalline lateral arrays. The diffraction data further indicate that arrays are built from BChl dimers. The arrays form undulating lamellae, which, in turn, are held together by interdigitated esterifying alcohol tails, carotenoids, and lipids. The lamellar model is consistent with earlier spectroscopic data and provides insight into chlorosome self-assembly.     

Using shared goal setting to improve access and equity: a mixed methods study of the Good Goals intervention in children's occupational therapy

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Access and equity in children's therapy services may be improved by directing clinicians' use of resources toward specific goals that are important to patients. A practice-change intervention (titled 'Good Goals') was designed to achieve this. This study investigated uptake, adoption, and possible effects of at intervention in children's occupational therapy services. METHODS: Mixed methods case studies (n = 3 services, including 46 therapists and 558 children) were conducted. The intervention was delivered over 25 weeks through face-to-face training, team workbooks, and 'tools for change'. Data were collected before, during, and after the intervention on a range of factors using interviews, a focus group, case note analysis, routine data, document analysis, and researchers' observations. RESULTS: Factors related to uptake and adoptions were: mode of intervention delivery, competing demands on therapists' time, and leadership by service manager. Service managers and therapists reported that the intervention: helped therapists establish a shared rationale for clinical decisions; increased clarity in service provision; and improved interactions with families and schools. During the study period, therapists' behaviours changed: identifying goals, odds ratio 2.4 (95% CI 1.5 to 3.8); agreeing goals, 3.5 (2.4 to 5.1); evaluating progress, 2.0 (1.1 to 3.5). Children's LoT decreased by two months [95% CI [MINUS SIGN]8 to +4 months] across the services. Cost per therapist trained ranged from [POUND SIGN]1,003 to [POUND SIGN]1,277, depending upon service size and therapists' salary bands. CONCLUSIONS: Good Goals is a promising quality improvement intervention that can be delivered and adopted in practice and may have benefits. Further research is required to evaluate its: (i) impact on patient outcomes, effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and (ii) transferability to other clinical contexts.     

Death among geladas (Theropithecus gelada): a broader perspective on mummified infants and primate thanatology

Despite intensive study in humans, responses to dying and death have been a neglected area of research in other social mammals, including nonhuman primates. Two recent reports [Anderson JR, Gillies A, Lock LC. 2010. Pan thanatology. Current Biology 20:R349–R351; Biro D, Humle T, Koops K, Souse C, Hayashi M, Matsuzawa T. 2010. Chimpanzee mothers at Bossou, Guinea carry the mummified remains of their dead infants. Current Biology 20:R351–R352] offered exciting new insights into behavior toward dying and dead conspecifics in our closest living relatives—chimpanzees. Here, we provide a comparative perspective on primate thanatology using observations from a more distant human relative—gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada)—and discuss how gelada reactions to dead and dying groupmates differ from those recently reported for chimpanzees. Over a 3.75‐year study period, we observed 14 female geladas at Guassa, Ethiopia carrying dead infants from 1 hr to ≥48 days after death. Dead infants were carried by their mothers, other females in their group, and even by females belonging to other groups. Like other primate populations in which extended (>10 days) infant carrying after death has been reported, geladas at Guassa experience an extreme climate for primates, creating conditions which may favor slower rates of decomposition of dead individuals. We also witnessed the events leading up to the deaths of two individuals and the responses by groupmates to these dying individuals. Our results suggest that while chimpanzee mothers are not unique among primates in carrying their dead infants for long periods, seemingly “compassionate” caretaking behavior toward dying groupmates may be unique to chimpanzees among nonhuman primates (though it remains unknown whether such “compassionate” behavior occurs outside captivity). Am. J. Primatol. 73:405–409, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Solution structure of the soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE)

The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a multiligand cell surface receptor involved in various human diseases, as it binds to numerous molecules and proteins that modulate the activity of other proteins. Elucidating the three-dimensional structure of this receptor is therefore most important for understanding its function during activation and cellular signaling. The major alternative splice product of RAGE comprises its extracellular region that occurs as a soluble protein (sRAGE). Although the structures of sRAGE domains were available, their assembly into the functional full-length protein remained unknown. We observed that the protein has concentration-dependent oligomerization behavior, and this is also mediated by the presence of Ca(2+) ions. Moreover, using synchrotron small angle x-ray scattering, the solution structure of human sRAGE was determined in the monomeric and dimeric forms. The model for the monomer displays a J-like shape, whereas the dimer is formed through the association of the two N-terminal domains and has an elongated structure. These results provide insights into the assembly of the RAGE homodimer, which is essential for signal transduction, and the sRAGE:RAGE heterodimer that leads to blockage of the receptor signaling, paving the way for the design of therapeutic strategies for a large number of different pathologies.     

Characterization of a Novel Flavivirus from Mosquitoes in Northern Europe That Is Related to Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses of the Tropics

A novel flavivirus was isolated from mosquitoes in Finland, representing the first mosquito-borne flavivirus from Northern Europe. The isolate, designated Lammi virus (LAMV), was antigenically cross-reactive with other flaviviruses and exhibited typical flavivirus morphology as determined by electron microscopy. The genomic sequence of LAMV was highly divergent from the recognized flaviviruses, and yet the polyprotein properties resembled those of mosquito-borne flaviviruses. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete coding sequence showed that LAMV represented a distinct lineage related to the Aedes sp.-transmitted human pathogenic flaviviruses, similarly to the newly described Nounané virus (NOUV), a flavivirus from Africa (S. Junglen et al., J. Virol. 83:4462-4468, 2009). Despite the low sequence homology, LAMV and NOUV were phylogenetically grouped closely, likely representing separate species of a novel group of flaviviruses. Despite the biological properties preferring replication in mosquito cells, the genetic relatedness of LAMV to viruses associated with vertebrate hosts warrants a search for disease associations.The genus Flavivirus in the family Flaviviridae consists of 53 recognized virus species that are enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. The virion consists of three structural proteins: capsid (C), membrane (M), and envelope (E). In addition, seven nonstructural proteins are present in infected cells (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, and NS5). Based on their antigenic properties and vector associations, flaviviruses have been grouped into mosquito-borne, tick-borne, and no-known-vector viruses and have been isolated from vertebrates, bats, and rodents (15, 25). The grouping of flaviviruses according to their transmission mode is strongly supported by phylogenetic analyses of their genomic sequences (9, 18, 31).Mosquito-borne flaviviruses are a large and divergent group of viruses that can be differentiated phylogenetically into those associated either with encephalitic disease and transmission by Culex spp. mosquitoes or with diseases with hemorrhagic complications and transmission by Aedes spp. (18). Seven groups of mosquito-borne flaviviruses, namely, the Aroa, dengue, Japanese encephalitis, Kokobera, Ntaya, Spondweni, and yellow fever virus groups are recognized (15, 25). These groups include important animal and human pathogens such as dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and yellow fever virus (YFV).Unclassified insect flaviviruses that have no recognized association with vertebrates have been isolated from a variety of mosquito species and also from mosquito cell lines. These insect flaviviruses do not appear to infect vertebrate cells and are not associated with human or animal disease. The cell fusing agent virus (CFAV), a tentative species in the genus Flavivirus, was the first of these insect viruses to be characterized (5, 40), Although CFAV was originally identified in cultured mosquito cells, it was later isolated from mosquitoes collected in Puerto Rico (7). This as-yet-unclassified insect flavivirus group now also includes Kamiti river virus (KRV) isolated in Kenya (10, 38) and a virus isolated from Culex spp. in Japan, designated culex flavivirus (22). In addition, related viral sequences or isolates have been recently reported from mosquitoes in Spain (1), the United States and Trinidad (26), and Mexico (14). Moreover, the identification of flaviviruslike sequences integrated within the genomes of Aedes mosquitoes further complicates the evolutionary history of the flaviviruses. These sequences, currently referred to as cell silent agent are genetically most closely related to CFAV and possibly share common evolutionary origin (11). Phylogenetically, the insect viruses form a divergent outgroup that may represent a primordial flavivirus lineage. Apart from the insect flaviviruses, the other recently discovered novel flaviviruses represent highly divergent lineages, such as Tamana bat virus (13), and Ngoye virus (20). Recently, a novel flavivirus, Nounané virus (NOUV) was isolated from a novel mosquito vector species, Uranotaenia mashonaensis in Côte d''Ivoire (23), and was shown to be phylogenetically related to the human pathogenic mosquito-borne flaviviruses.Several arboviruses have been reported from Northern Europe including the flavivirus tick-borne encephalitis virus (24, 36) but, to date, no mosquito-borne flaviviruses have been isolated. Our aim was to screen for arboviruses in Finland by studying mosquitoes using virus isolation and subsequent arbovirus antigen detection, which resulted in the identification of a novel flavivirus. We present here the isolation and characterization of this isolate, designated Lammi virus (LAMV), and discuss the implications of our findings.