A novel acetabular alignment guide for THR using selective anatomic landmarks on the pelvis

This paper presents a novel approach for acetabular alignment during the implant of a prosthetic hip joint in a natural pelvis. The alignment instrument uses selective anatomic bony landmarks on the pelvis, which are accessible in surgery, to guide the placement of the acetabular component in the appropriate orientation. A closed form solution, involving both a forward and reverse analysis, is presented to relate the parameters of the device with the abduction and anteversion angles. Using mathematical models, this device should allow the surgeon to place the acetabular component with an orientation between 10.9 degrees and 19.1 degrees anteversion and 35.7 degrees and 44.3 degrees abduction with 95% confidence in a male/left specimen for the commonly accepted target of 15 degrees anteversion and 40 degrees abduction. This device is currently being used successfully by one of the authors in THR surgery.     

Alcohol biosensing by polyamidoamine (PAMAM)/cysteamine/alcohol oxidase‐modified gold electrode

A highly stable and sensitive amperometric alcohol biosensor was developed by immobilizing alcohol oxidase (AOX) through Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers on a cysteamine‐modified gold electrode surface. Ethanol determination is based on the consumption of dissolved oxygen content due to the enzymatic reaction. The decrease in oxygen level was monitored at ?0.7 V vs. Ag/AgCl and correlated with ethanol concentration. Optimization of variables affecting the system was performed. The optimized ethanol biosensor showed a wide linearity from 0.025 to 1.0 mM with 100 s response time and detection limit of (LOD) 0.016 mM. In the characterization studies, besides linearity some parameters such as operational and storage stability, reproducibility, repeatability, and substrate specificity were studied in detail. Stability studies showed a good preservation of the bioanalytical properties of the sensor, 67% of its initial sensitivity was kept after 1 month storage at 4°C. The analytical characteristics of the system were also evaluated for alcohol determination in flow injection analysis (FIA) mode. Finally, proposed biosensor was applied for ethanol analysis in various alcoholic beverage as well as offline monitoring of alcohol production through the yeast cultivation. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 2010     

Links between plant species’ spatial and temporal responses to a warming climate

To generate realistic projections of species’ responses to climate change, we need to understand the factors that limit their ability to respond. Although climatic niche conservatism, the maintenance of a species’s climatic niche over time, is a critical assumption in niche-based species distribution models, little is known about how universal it is and how it operates. In particular, few studies have tested the role of climatic niche conservatism via phenological changes in explaining the reported wide variance in the extent of range shifts among species. Using historical records of the phenology and spatial distribution of British plants under a warming climate, we revealed that: (i) perennial species, as well as those with weaker or lagged phenological responses to temperature, experienced a greater increase in temperature during flowering (i.e. failed to maintain climatic niche via phenological changes); (ii) species that failed to maintain climatic niche via phenological changes showed greater northward range shifts; and (iii) there was a complementary relationship between the levels of climatic niche conservatism via phenological changes and range shifts. These results indicate that even species with high climatic niche conservatism might not show range shifts as instead they track warming temperatures during flowering by advancing their phenology.     

Sexuality and Genetic Identity in the Agaricus Section Arvenses

Twelve wild collections and one commercial strain were used to characterize breeding systems and to develop molecular identities in the Arvenses section of the genus Agaricus, which includes the “horse mushroom” A. arvensis. Two morphotypes were identified based on macro- and micromorphological features. However, not all collections could be delimited by conventional taxonomic characters. Sequencing of the small subunit intergenic spacer (ITS) region (368 to 370 bp) of the rRNA genes clearly resolved the 13 collections into two clusters consistent with the identified morphotypes. Single-spore progenies and mating type testers were established and used to test intra- and interstock compatibility. The two compatibility groups identified were consistent with ITS clusters. Compatibility group I stocks readily interbred within the constraints of a unifactorial heterothallic system with a multiallelic mating type factor. Compatibility group II had a more restricted breeding pattern, and interactions were difficult to predict on the basis of mating type. Morphological data, ITS sequences, and the ability to interbreed suggest that these collections are part of a complex of interrelated species. Single-spore, homokaryotic isolates from both compatibility groups were able to fruit in compost culture, and two of the collections may represent natural homokaryotic fruiting. We conclude that species from the section Arvenses have versatile unifactorial heterothallic life cycles that permit both interbreeding and homokaryotic fruiting.     

How does plant population density affect the biomass of Ravenna grass?

Ravenna grass, Tripidium ravennae (L.) H. Scholz, is known to produce an abundance of biomass, but how plant density affects its biomass potential remains unknown. The objectives were to determine the effects of plant density on biomass yield; plant growth traits; biomass?carbon, nitrogen, and ash concentrations; heating value; nitrogen removal; and sucrose concentration in leaves and culms. The treatments consisted of five plant densities (1,250; 2,500; 5,000; 10,000; and 20,000 plants per hectare) in a randomized complete block design with four blocks. Plots were nonirrigated, unfertilized, and harvested once during the dormant season each year. Data were collected from 2015?2019. Dependent variables that varied with plant population density (p < .05) were biomass yield, number of reproductive culms per plant, reproductive culm diameter, reproductive culm sucrose concentration, and nitrogen removal with biomass. Biomass yield ranged from 5.6 to 16.3 Mg/ha for plant densities of 1,250–20,000 plants per hectare, respectively. Combined over years, nonlinear regression of the data showed the equation for biomass yield to plateau at 16.2 Mg/ha at a plant density of 10,640 plants per hectare. As plant density increased, the number of reproductive culms per plant, culm diameter, and culm sucrose concentration significantly decreased. At 1,250 plants per hectare, the number of reproductive culms per plant, culm diameter, and culm sucrose averaged 70, 10.2 mm, and 63.2 g/kg, respectively. Nitrogen removed with biomass significantly increased as biomass yield increased with plant density. At a density of 10,000 and 20,000 plants per hectare, the amount of nitrogen removed annually in the harvested biomass averaged 88 kg/ha. The data suggest that 10,000 plants per hectare would produce the greatest annual biomass yields; however, research is needed to determine the nutrient requirement for Ravenna grass to sustain biomass production at that density.     

Lasting the distance: The survival of alien birds shipped to New Zealand in the 19th century

Invasive alien species are a major threat to biodiversity and human activities, providing a strong incentive to understand the processes by which alien invasion occurs. While it is important to understand the determinants of success at each of several invasion stages—transport, introduction, establishment, and spread—few studies have explored the first of these stages. Here, we quantify and analyze variation in the success of individual animals in surviving the transport stage, based on shipping records of European passerines destined for New Zealand. We mined the original documents of Acclimatisation Societies, established in New Zealand for the purpose of introducing supposedly beneficial alien species, in combination with recently digitized newspaper archives, to produce a unique dataset of 122 ships that carried passerines from Europe to New Zealand between 1850 and 1885. For 37 of these shipments, data on the survival of individual species were available. Using generalized linear mixed models, we explored how survival was related to characteristics of the shipments and the species. We show that species differed greatly in their survival, but none of the tested traits accounted for these differences. Yet, survival increased over time, which mirrors the switch from early haphazard shipments to larger organized shipments. Our results imply that it was the quality of care received by the birds that most affected success at this stage of the invasion process.     

Use of a new violet-excitable AmCyan variant as a label in cell analysis

Here we report a new variant of AmCyan fluorescent protein that has been specifically designed for multicolor cell analysis. AmCyan is one of the existing violet fluorochromes for use in flow cytometers equipped with a violet (405 nm) laser. It is also widely used as a label in fluorescent spectroscopy. Limitations on its use are due to the significant AmCyan fluorescence spillover into the FITC detector, due to excitation of AmCyan by the blue (488 nm) laser. In order to resolve this problem, we modified the excitation profile of AmCyan. The new fluorescent protein that we developed, AmCyan100, has an emission profile similar to AmCyan with an emission maximum at 500 nm, but its excitation maximum is shifted to 395 nm, which coincides more closely with the violet laser line and decreases the excitation with the blue laser, thus reducing the spillover observed with the original AmCyan. Moreover, this new protein has a Stokes shift of more than 100 nm compared to the Stokes shift of 31 nm in its precursor. Our data also suggests that AmCyan100-mAb conjugates have brightness similar to AmCyan-mAb conjugates. In summary, AmCyan100 conjugates have minimum spillover into the FITC detector, and can potentially replace existing AmCyan conjugates in multicolor flow cytometry without any changes in instrumental setup and existing reagent panel design.     

Porphyromonas gingivalis Mediates Inflammasome Repression in Polymicrobial Cultures through a Novel Mechanism Involving Reduced Endocytosis

The interleukin (IL)-1β-processing inflammasome has recently been identified as a target for pathogenic evasion of the inflammatory response by a number of bacteria and viruses. We postulated that the periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis may suppress the inflammasome as a mechanism for its low immunogenicity and pathogenic synergy with other, more highly immunogenic periodontal bacteria. Our results show that P. gingivalis lacks signaling capability for the activation of the inflammasome in mouse macrophages. Furthermore, P. gingivalis can suppress inflammasome activation by another periodontal bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum. This repression affects IL-1β processing, as well as other inflammasome-mediated processes, including IL-18 processing and cell death, in both human and mouse macrophages. F. nucleatum activates IL-1β processing through the Nlrp3 inflammasome; however, P. gingivalis repression is not mediated through reduced levels of inflammasome components. P. gingivalis can repress Nlrp3 inflammasome activation by Escherichia coli, and by danger-associated molecular patterns and pattern-associated molecular patterns that mediate activation through endocytosis. However, P. gingivalis does not suppress Nlrp3 inflammasome activation by ATP or nigericin. This suggests that P. gingivalis may preferentially suppress endocytic pathways toward inflammasome activation. To directly test whether P. gingivalis infection affects endocytosis, we assessed the uptake of fluorescent particles in the presence or absence of P. gingivalis. Our results show that P. gingivalis limits both the number of cells taking up beads and the number of beads taken up for bead-positive cells. These results provide a novel mechanism of pathogen-mediated inflammasome inhibition through the suppression of endocytosis.     

Conserved N-terminal sequences in the flagellins of archaebacteria

Methanococcus voltae produces two flagellins of molecular weight 31,000 and 33,000. Amino acid analysis as well as peptide mapping with cyanogen bromide, chymotrypsin and Staphylococcus aureus V-8 protease indicates that the two flagellins are distinct. N-terminal sequencing of the 31,000 Mc. voltae flagellin as well as the 24,000 and 25,000 molecular weight flagellins of Methanospirillum hungatei GP1 shows an extensive homology with the reported N-terminus of the flagellins from Halobacterium halobium, deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cloned genes. However, the N-termini of all three sequenced methanogen flagellins lack a terminal methionine and start at position 13 from the N-terminus of H. halobium flagellins. This initial 12 amino acid stretch may be a leader peptide which is subsequently cleaved to generate the mature flagellin, which could suggest flagellar assembly in archaebacteria occurs by a mechanism distinct from that in eubacteria. The high degree of conservation of the N-terminus of the flagellins from Mc. voltae, Msp. hungatei and H. halobium suggests an important role for this sequence, and that the archaebacteria share a common mechanism for flagellar biosynthesis.