Proteomic changes in various plant tissues associated with chromium stress in sunflower

Heavy metal stress is one of the major abiotic stresses that cause environmental pollution in recent decades. An elevated concentration of these heavy metals is highly toxic to plant. Chromium (Cr) is one of the heavy metals whose concentration in the environment is still increasing alarmingly. It is harmful for plant growth and achene yield. To check out the growth and protein alternation towards pollutants, two sunflower varieties (RA-713 and AHO-33) were subjected to different chromium concentrations (control, 200 ppm, 400 ppm) by soil application. This study has elaborated that 400 ppm Cr resulted in a reduction of various growth parameters. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was used to enhance the understanding of plant proteomic modulation under Cr stress. Different protein bands like 48 and 49, 26 kDa have newly appeared, and three 60, 47, and 42 kDa, and two protein bands 49 and 13 kDa were up-regulated in seeds of RA-713 and AHO-33, respectively. Some proteins (52, 16 kDa) are down-regulated in leaf tissues of both varieties. Only 6 and 81 kDa protein showed up-regulation and 154 kDa down-regulation behavior in the shoot in response to stress. The finding s of study might support the selection of tolerant genotype under Cr contamination and the discovery of new protein biomarkers that can use as monitoring tools in heavy metal stress biology.     

Influence of predation risk on the sheltering behaviour of the coral-dwelling damselfish, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pomacentrus moluccensis</Emphasis>

Predation is a key ecosystem function, especially in high diversity systems such as coral reefs. Not only is predation one of the strongest top-down controls of prey population density, but it also is a strong driver of prey behaviour and function through non-lethal effects. We ask whether predation risk influences sheltering behaviour of damselfish living in mutualism with branching corals. Host corals gain multiple advantages from the mutualistic relationship which are determined by the strength of damselfish sheltering. Distance travelled by the Lemon Damselfish Pomacentrus moluccensis away from their host colony was measured here as a proxy for sheltering strength and was expected to be shortest under highest predation risk. Predation risk, defined as a function of predator abundance and activity, turbidity and habitat complexity, was quantified at four reef slope sites in Kepulauan Seribu, Indonesia. Damselfish sheltering strength was measured using stationary unmanned video cameras. Small damselfish (< 2 cm) increased their sheltering strength under high turbidity. Predator feeding activity, but not abundance, influenced damselfish sheltering strength. Contrary to our expectations, sheltering behaviour of adult damselfish decreased under high predator activity. While these observations are in line with risk-averse behaviour by juvenile P. moluccensis, they may indicate the presence of sentinel behaviour in the adults of this species. Habitat complexity seemed to be less important as a driver of damselfish behaviour. These counterintuitive results may indicate complex social behaviour and age-specific strategies for predator avoidance.     

Low Completeness of Bacteraemia Registration in the Danish National Patient Registry

Bacteraemia is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and timely access to relia-ble information is essential for health care administrators. Therefore, we investigated the complete-ness of bacteraemia registration in the Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR) containing hospital discharge diagnoses and surgical procedures for all non-psychiatric patients. As gold standard we identified bacteraemia patients in three defined areas of Denmark (~2.3 million inhabitants) from 2000 through 2011 by use of blood culture data retrieved from electronic microbiology databases. Diagnoses coded according to the International Classification of Diseases, version 10, and surgical procedure codes were retrieved from the DNPR. The codes were categorized into seven groups, ranked a priori according to the likelihood of bacteraemia. Completeness was analysed by contin-gency tables, for all patients and subgroups. We identified 58,139 bacteraemic episodes in 48,450 patients; 37,740 episodes (64.9%) were covered by one or more discharge diagnoses within the sev-en diagnosis/surgery groups and 18,786 episodes (32.3%) had a code within the highest priority group. Completeness varied substantially according to speciality (from 17.9% for surgical to 36.4% for medical), place of acquisition (from 26.0% for nosocomial to 36.2% for community), and mi-croorganism (from 19.5% for anaerobic Gram-negative bacteria to 36.8% for haemolytic strepto-cocci). The completeness increased from 25.1% in 2000 to 35.1% in 2011. In conclusion, one third of the bacteraemic episodes did not have a relevant diagnosis in the Danish administrative registry recording all non-psychiatric contacts. This source of information should be used cautiously to iden-tify patients with bacteraemia.     

Feeding behavior and diet of the eight-banded butterflyfish Chaetodon octofasciatus in the Thousand Islands,Indonesia

Marine fishes reach their highest diversity in coral reef ecosystems, which they utilize as territory, place of refuge and reproduction, and source of food. One type of predation among reef fishes is feeding on coral polyps, and a single, easily identifiable family of fishes, Chaetodontidae, contains the majority of obligate corallivore species. Multiple studies have examined the behaviour and ecology of Chaetodontidae and their relationship with the benthic habitat. However, many questions remain about their feeding ecology and food specifity at the species level. The present study is the first attempt to systematically decipher the feeding behavior of the obligate corallivore, Chaetodon octofasciatus. Field data were collected from four sites in the Thousand Islands, Indonesia, during two sampling campaigns in 2006, covering two seasons and two different depths. A high abundance of C. octofasciatus was positively related to hard coral cover. Out of a total of 57 scleractinian coral genera observed during the study period, 24 were utilized by C. octofasciatus. All fish collected during the study (n?=?36) had >86 % nematocysts in their guts, supporting their classification as obligate corallivores. Based on the Strauss electivity index, C. octofasciatus displayed a preference for the coral genus Acropora at all depths, while preference for Fungia became more marked at greater depth. Both Acropora and Fungia were observed at high density at all sites, with Acropora density decreasing markedly with depth and Fungia density increasing. Bite rates showed an asymptotic relationship to Acropora density, levelling off between 15 and 20 bites/5 min. The existence of a strong relationship with live coral cover and the preference for specific genera such as Acropora designate C. octofasciatus as a potential bioindicator in the Thousand Islands reefs, while making it particular susceptible to the ongoing degradation of reefs in the region.