Indigenous utilization of termite mounds and their sustainability in a rice growing village of the central plain of Laos

Background

This study was conducted to identify medicinal plants and spices used for medicine by the community of Beni-Sueif, Upper Egypt.

Methods

Ethnobotanical data from local people was collected using direct interviews and a semi-structured questionnaire.

Results

Forty-eight plant species belonging to twenty-seven families and forty-seven genera were encountered during the study. Their botanical and vernacular names, plant parts used and medicinal uses are given. Results of the study were analyzed using two quantitative tools. The factor informant consensus indicated the agreement in the use of plants and the fidelity level indicated the ratio between the number of informants who independently suggested the use of a species for the same major purpose and the total number of informants who mentioned the plant for any use. The results of the factor informant consensus showed that the cardiovascular category has the greatest agreement, followed by the immunological, gastrointestinal and respiratory categories. The most important species according to their fidelity are: Hibiscus sabdariffa L. for the cardiovascular category; Trigonella foenum-graecum L. for the immunological category; Mentha piperita L. for the gastrointestinal category and Pimpinella anisum L. for the respiratory category.

Conclusions

Medicinal plants are still used for treatment in Beni-Sueif community despite the availability of prescribed medications. Documentation of this ethnomedicinal knowledge is important. Evaluation of pharmacological activity for the promising medicinal plants is suggested.     

A Sialylated Voltage-Dependent Ca2+ Channel Binds Hemagglutinin and Mediates Influenza A Virus Entry into Mammalian Cells

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Precursors of Dancing and Singing to Music in Three- to Four-Months-Old Infants

Dancing and singing to music involve auditory-motor coordination and have been essential to our human culture since ancient times. Although scholars have been trying to understand the evolutionary and developmental origin of music, early human developmental manifestations of auditory-motor interactions in music have not been fully investigated. Here we report limb movements and vocalizations in three- to four-months-old infants while they listened to music and were in silence. In the group analysis, we found no significant increase in the amount of movement or in the relative power spectrum density around the musical tempo in the music condition compared to the silent condition. Intriguingly, however, there were two infants who demonstrated striking increases in the rhythmic movements via kicking or arm-waving around the musical tempo during listening to music. Monte-Carlo statistics with phase-randomized surrogate data revealed that the limb movements of these individuals were significantly synchronized to the musical beat. Moreover, we found a clear increase in the formant variability of vocalizations in the group during music perception. These results suggest that infants at this age are already primed with their bodies to interact with music via limb movements and vocalizations.     

Late quaternary dynamics of pollen influx at mineral lake,Washington

Pollen influx analysis at Mineral Lake, Washington, indicates that immediately south of the Puget Lobe of the Fraser Glaciation, tundra was a characteristic vegetation until 16,300 years ago. Invasion ofPinus contorta began 17,500 years B.P., and boreal climax conifers (Abies, Picea andTsuga mertensiana), 16,300, but was temporarily interrupted by the Vashon advance (14,500–14,000 yr B.P.).Pseudotsuga menziesii began to grow in population 10,750 years ago, and woodland was established within a time span of 1,000 years. Modern lowland coniferous forests began to form 7,000 years ago. Logistic analysis of pollen abundance changes show that the intrinsic growth rate,r (yr⁻¹), of pioneer species (e.g. 0.024–0.026 inPteridium aquilinum) is higher than that of climax species (e.g. 0.003 inThuja plicata).P. menziesii, a subclimax species, shows an intermediater value (0.013) between these two ecologically different taxa. The absoluter value ofP. contorta (−0.011) is only slightly lower than that ofP. menziesii, although their replacement began almost simultaneously. Thus competition between these species was intense before the inflection point ofPinus curve 10,100 years ago. At this time, forest gaps became abundantly available forPseudotsuga, as indicated by a peak of the diagnostic factor (the reciprocal of the pollen influx).     

Minichromosome maintenance 2 bound with retroviral Gp70 is localized to cytoplasm and enhances DNA-damage-induced apoptosis

The interaction of viral proteins with host-cellular proteins elicits the activation of cellular signal transduction pathways and possibly leads to viral pathogenesis as well as cellular biological events. Apoptotic signals induced by DNA-damage are remarkably up-regulated by Friend leukemia virus (FLV) exclusively in C3H hosts; however, the mechanisms underlying the apoptosis enhancement and host-specificity are unknown. Here, we show that C3H mouse-derived hematopoietic cells originally express higher levels of the minichromosome maintenance (MCM) 2 protein than BALB/c- or C57BL/6-deriverd cells, and undergo more frequent apoptosis following doxorubicin-induced DNA-damage in the presence of the FLV envelope protein gp70. Dual transfection with gp70/Mcm2 reproduced doxorubicin-induced apoptosis even in BALB/c-derived 3T3 cells. Immunoprecipitation assays using various deletion mutants of MCM2 revealed that gp70 bound to the nuclear localization signal (NLS) 1 (amino acids 18-24) of MCM2, interfered with the function of NLS2 (amino acids 132-152), and suppressed the normal nuclear-import of MCM2. Cytoplasmic MCM2 reduced the activity of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) leading to the subsequent hyperphosphorylation of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK). Phosphorylated DNA-PK exhibited elevated kinase activity to phosphorylate P53, thereby up-regulating p53-dependent apoptosis. An apoptosis-enhancing domain was identified in the C-terminal portion (amino acids 703-904) of MCM2. Furthermore, simultaneous treatment with FLV and doxorubicin extended the survival of SCID mice bearing 8047 leukemia cells expressing high levels of MCM2. Thus, depending on its subcellular localization, MCM2 plays different roles. It participates in DNA replication in the nucleus as shown previously, and enhances apoptosis in the cytoplasm.     

c-kit marks late retinal progenitor cells and regulates their differentiation in developing mouse retina

Retinal progenitor cells are believed to display altered proliferation and differentiation during retinal development, suggesting that retinal progenitor cell populations are not homogeneous. However, the composition of progenitor cell populations is not known, due in part to the lack of known surface markers identifying distinct stages of retinal progenitor cells. We found a dramatic change in the expression profile of the cell surface antigens c-kit and stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) in retinal progenitor cells during development. While SSEA-1 was expressed early in development, c-kit expression peaked in late stage progenitor cells. The identification of these developmental markers enabled us to characterize distinct sub-populations of retinal progenitor cells. Progenitor cell subpopulations expressing either SSEA-1, c-kit, or both showed different proliferation and differentiation abilities. Although SSEA-1-positive cells were augmented by beta-catenin signaling, c-kit-positive cells were positively regulated by Notch signaling. Taken together, our data suggest that c-kit and SSEA-1 can be used to spatiotemporally differentiate retinal progenitor populations that have intrinsically distinct characteristics. Prolonged expression of c-kit by a retrovirus resulted in the promotion of proliferation and the appearance of nestin-positive cells in the presence of the c-kit ligand, stem cell factor (SCF). This suggests a role for c-kit, Notch, and the beta-catenin signaling network in retinal development.