Trenches like fences make good neighbours: Revenue sharing around Kibale National Park,Uganda

Revenue sharing aims to balance the disadvantages people encounter living next to protected areas while fostering improved conservation behaviours. In Uganda, 20% of protected area entrance fees are shared with local governments to benefit communities adjacent to national parks. The process to distribute funds and implement projects was investigated by interviewing Uganda Wildlife Authority wardens, local government and village residents around Kibale National Park, Uganda. The perceived benefit of revenue sharing by officials and local communities was collected through interviews and a household survey, while the influence of the program on conservation objectives was assessed by measuring illegal resource extraction from the national park adjacent to study villages. It was found that the program is evolving into an effective mechanism for sharing benefits, but that better project management and increased accounting transparency could further improve the program. If the projects specifically dealt with the problem of crop raiding by park-protected animals, then villagers did benefit and lower levels of illegal activity were found inside the park. Generally household perceived benefit was low, however reduced in-park illegal activity was recorded where the village chairperson perceived higher benefit from the program, implying that the village leadership may be influencing the conservation behaviours within the community. Compared with other incentive options such as loss compensation, direct payment, and collaborative management, revenue sharing appears to be an effective and practical choice, given the limited funding available to the wildlife authority to benefit local communities while trying to improve conservation behaviours.     

Genome Sequence of Cronobacter sakazakii BAA-894 and Comparative Genomic Hybridization Analysis with Other Cronobacter Species

Background

The genus Cronobacter (formerly called Enterobacter sakazakii) is composed of five species; C. sakazakii, C. malonaticus, C. turicensis, C. muytjensii, and C. dublinensis. The genus includes opportunistic human pathogens, and the first three species have been associated with neonatal infections. The most severe diseases are caused in neonates and include fatal necrotizing enterocolitis and meningitis. The genetic basis of the diversity within the genus is unknown, and few virulence traits have been identified.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We report here the first sequence of a member of this genus, C. sakazakii strain BAA-894. The genome of Cronobacter sakazakii strain BAA-894 comprises a 4.4 Mb chromosome (57% GC content) and two plasmids; 31 kb (51% GC) and 131 kb (56% GC). The genome was used to construct a 387,000 probe oligonucleotide tiling DNA microarray covering the whole genome. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was undertaken on five other C. sakazakii strains, and representatives of the four other Cronobacter species. Among 4,382 annotated genes inspected in this study, about 55% of genes were common to all C. sakazakii strains and 43% were common to all Cronobacter strains, with 10–17% absence of genes.

Conclusions/Significance

CGH highlighted 15 clusters of genes in C. sakazakii BAA-894 that were divergent or absent in more than half of the tested strains; six of these are of probable prophage origin. Putative virulence factors were identified in these prophage and in other variable regions. A number of genes unique to Cronobacter species associated with neonatal infections (C. sakazakii, C. malonaticus and C. turicensis) were identified. These included a copper and silver resistance system known to be linked to invasion of the blood-brain barrier by neonatal meningitic strains of Escherichia coli. In addition, genes encoding for multidrug efflux pumps and adhesins were identified that were unique to C. sakazakii strains from outbreaks in neonatal intensive care units.     

Product-specific validation of a serological potency test for release of Leptospira vaccines in the European Union

Historically in the European Union, all Leptospira vaccines were released using the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) hamster potency assay. Recently, there has been a shift toward alternatives that offer either refinement of testing or replacement of animals for product release. This is being driven by animal welfare concerns but also by a drive to have more consistent, cheaper, and faster batch release tests. This publication discusses one such example of a multicomponent canine vaccine that includes three Leptospira serovars and has recently been registered in the European Union. The potency release test is a refinement because it uses rabbit serology rather than hamster challenge. This publication covers the principles of the test method, challenges faced during its development and registration, and discussion about benefits and limitations of this method. It concludes with a view of how the use of serology testing could fit into an overall strategy to move to fully in vitro testing by adopting a consistency approach.     

Neural cell adhesion molecule-associated polysialic acid inhibits NR2B-containing N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and prevents glutamate-induced cell death

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and its associated glycan polysialic acid play important roles in the development of the nervous system and N-methyl-D-aspartate(NMDA)receptor-dependent synaptic plasticity in the adult. Here, we investigated the influence of polysialic acid on NMDA receptor activity. We found that glutamate-elicited NMDA receptor currents in cultured hippocampal neurons were reduced by approximately 30% with the application of polysialic acid or polysialylated NCAM but not by the sialic acid monomer, chondroitin sulfate, or non-polysialylated NCAM. Polysialic acid inhibited NMDA receptor currents elicited by 3 microm glutamate but not by 30 microm glutamate, suggesting that polysialic acid acts as a competitive antagonist, possibly at the glutamate binding site. The polysialic acid induced effects were mimicked and fully occluded by the NR2B subunit specific antagonist, ifenprodil. Recordings from single synaptosomal NMDA receptors reconstituted in lipid bilayers revealed that polysialic acid reduced open probability but not the conductance of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in a polysialic acid and glutamate concentration-dependent manner. The activity of single NR2B-lacking synaptosomal NMDA receptors was not affected by polysialic acid. Application of polysialic acid to hippocampal cultures reduced excitotoxic cell death induced by low micromolar concentration of glutamate via activation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors, whereas enzymatic removal of polysialic acid resulted in increased cell death that occluded glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. These observations indicate that the cell adhesion molecule-associated glycan polysialic acid is able to prevent excitotoxicity via inhibition of NR2B subunit-containing NMDA receptors.     

The cytotoxic effects of the anti‐bacterial peptides on leukocytes

Antimicrobial peptides are small molecular weight proteins with a large antibacterial spectrum. They can reach high local concentrations in tissues with active inflammation, being largely produced by immunocompetent cells. However, their effect on eukaryotic cells is still unclear. We have, therefore, studied three structurally different antimicrobial peptides (cecropin P1, PR‐39 and NK‐lysin) for their cytotoxic effects on blood mononuclear cells. None of the antimicrobial peptides tested exhibited significant cytotoxic effect on resting lymphocytes isolated either from peripheral blood or from the spleen with the exception of high concentrations (ten times higher than IC100 for Escherichia coli) of NK‐lysin. Activated lymphocytes were, however, more sensitive to the cytotoxic effect of the antimicrobial peptides. Both activated T‐cells and B‐cells were dose dependent sensitive to NK‐lysin while only activated B‐cells but not activated T‐cells were sensitive to PR‐39. Cecropin did not exhibit any cytotoxic effect on activated lymphocytes either. By using several cell lines (3B6, K562, U932 and EL‐4) we were able to show that NK‐lysin has a broad necrotic effect while PR‐39 has a cell specific apoptotic effect dependent on the specifically cellular uptake. In conclusion we show here that antimicrobial peptides are not cytotoxic for the resting eukaryotic cells but can be cytotoxic on activated immune cells through distinct mechanisms of cell death. Copyright © 2009 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of infliximab on mRNA expression profiles in synovial tissue of rheumatoid arthritis patients

We examined the gene expression profiles in arthroscopic biopsies retrieved from 10 rheumatoid arthritis patients before and after anti-TNF treatment with infliximab to investigate whether such profiles can be used to predict responses to the therapy, and to study effects of the therapy on the profiles. Responses to treatment were assessed using European League Against Rheumatism response criteria. Three patients were found to be good responders, five patients to be moderate responders and two patients to be nonresponders. The TNF-alpha status of the biopsies from each of the patients before treatment was also investigated immunohistochemically, and it was detected in biopsies from four of the patients, including all three of the good responders. The gene expression data demonstrate that all patients had unique gene expression signatures, with low intrapatient variability between biopsies. The data also revealed significant differences between the good responding and nonresponding patients (279 differentially expressed genes were detected, with a false discovery rate < 0.025). Among the identified genes we found that MMP-3 was significantly upregulated in good responders (log2 fold change, 2.95) compared with nonresponders, providing further support for the potential of MMP-3 as a marker for good responses to therapy. An even more extensive list of 685 significantly differentially expressed genes was found between patients in whom TNF-alpha was found and nonresponders, indicating that TNF-alpha could be an important biomarker for successful infliximab treatment. Significant differences were also observed between biopsies taken before and after anti-TNF treatment, including 115 differentially expressed genes in the good responding group. Interestingly, the effect was even stronger in the group in which TNF-alpha was immunohistochemically detected before therapy. Here, 1,058 genes were differentially expressed, including many that were novel in this context (for example, CXCL3 and CXCL14). Subsequent Gene Ontology analysis revealed that several 'themes' were significantly over-represented that are known to be affected by anti-TNF treatment in inflammatory tissue; for example, immune response (GO:0006955), cell communication (GO:0007154), signal transduction (GO:0007165) and chemotaxis (GO:0006935). No genes reached statistical significance in the moderately responding or nonresponding groups. In conclusion, this pilot study suggests that further investigation is warranted on the usefulness of gene expression profiling of synovial tissue to predict and monitor the outcome of rheumatoid arthritis therapies.     

Report on the international workshop on alternative methods for Leptospira vaccine potency testing: State of the science and the way forward

Routine potency testing of Leptospira vaccines is mostly conducted using a vaccination–challenge test that involves large numbers of hamsters and unrelieved pain and distress. NICEATM, ICCVAM, and their international partners organized a workshop to review the state of the science of alternative methods that might replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals for veterinary Leptospira vaccine potency testing and to identify ways to advance improved alternative methods. Vaccine manufacturers were encouraged to initiate or continue product-specific validation using in vitro enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays as replacements for potency testing of four common Leptospira serogroups. Participants discussed the potential for eliminating the back-titration procedure in the hamster challenge assay, which could reduce animal use by 50% for each individual potency test. Further animal reduction may also be possible by using cryopreserved Leptospira stock to replace continual passaging through hamsters. Serology assays were identified as a way to further reduce and refine animal use but should be considered only after attempting in vitro assays. Workshop participants encouraged consideration of analgesics and use of earlier humane endpoints when the hamster vaccination–challenge potency assay is used. International harmonization of alternative potency methods was recommended to avoid duplicative potency testing to meet regionally different requirements.