Indirect Reciprocity; A Field Experiment

Indirect reciprocity involves cooperative acts towards strangers, either in response to their kindness to third parties (downstream) or after receiving kindness from others oneself (upstream). It is considered to be important for the evolution of cooperative behavior amongst humans. Though it has been widely studied theoretically, the empirical evidence of indirect reciprocity has thus far been limited and based solely on behavior in laboratory experiments. We provide evidence from an online environment where members can repeatedly ask and offer services to each other, free of charge. For the purpose of this study we created several new member profiles, which differ only in terms of their serving history. We then sent out a large number of service requests to different members from all over the world. We observe that a service request is more likely to be rewarded for those with a profile history of offering the service (to third parties) in the past. This provides clear evidence of (downstream) indirect reciprocity. We find no support for upstream indirect reciprocity (in this case, rewarding the service request after having previously received the service from third parties), however. Our evidence of downstream indirect reciprocity cannot be attributed to reputational effects concerning one’s trustworthiness as a service user.     

Intracellular degradation of microspheres based on cross-linked dextran hydrogels or amphiphilic block copolymers: a comparative raman microscopy study

Micro- and nanospheres composed of biodegradable polymers show promise as versatile devices for the controlled delivery of biopharmaceuticals. Whereas important properties such as drug release profiles, biocompatibility, and (bio)degradability have been determined for many types of biodegradable particles, information about particle degradation inside phagocytic cells is usually lacking. Here, we report the use of confocal Raman microscopy to obtain chemical information about cross-linked dextran hydrogel microspheres and amphiphilic poly(ethylene glycol)-terephthalate/poly(butylene terephthalate) (PEGT/PBT) microspheres inside RAW 264.7 macrophage phagosomes. Using quantitative Raman microspectroscopy, we show that the dextran concentration inside phagocytosed dextran microspheres decreases with cell incubation time. In contrast to dextran microspheres, we did not observe PEGT/PBT microsphere degradation after 1 week of internalization by macrophages, confirming previous studies showing that dextran microsphere degradation proceeds faster than PEGT/PBT degradation. Raman microscopy further showed the conversion of macrophages to lipid-laden foam cells upon prolonged incubation with both types of microspheres, suggesting that a cellular inflammatory response is induced by these biomaterials in cell culture. Our results exemplify the power of Raman microscopy to characterize microsphere degradation in cells and offer exciting prospects for this technique as a noninvasive, label-free optical tool in biomaterials histology and tissue engineering.     

Analysing Population Numbers of the House Sparrow in the Netherlands With a Matrix Model and Suggestions for Conservation Measures

The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), formerly a common bird species, has shown a rapid decline in Western Europe over recent decades. In The Netherlands, its decline is apparent from 1990 onwards. Many causes for this decline have been suggested that all decrease the vital rates, i.e. survival and reproduction, but their actual impact remains unknown. Although the House Sparrow has been dominant in The Netherlands, data on life history characteristics for this bird species are scarce: data on reproduction are non-existent, and here we first present survival estimates based on live encounters and dead recoveries of marked individuals over the period 1976–2003, 14 years before and 14 years during the decline, reported to the Dutch Ringing Centre. We show that there is an indication that both juvenile and adult survival are lower during the period of decline. Secondly, to be able to analyse the relative impact of changes in the vital rates, we formulated a general matrix model based on a range of survival values between zero and one with a step size of 0.01 (both juvenile and adult yearly survival) and a range of realistic reproduction values (one, three or five fledglings per pair per year). With the matrix model, we calculated the finite rate of population change (λ) and applied elasticity analysis. To diagnose the cause of the decline in the Dutch House Sparrow, we parameterised the model with estimates of survival values before and during the decline and present the resulting λ. With the survival estimates from the declining period, λ < 1 only if reproduction is relatively low. We discuss this result within the light of available literature data on survival in the House Sparrow. Finally, we evaluate which of the suggested causes of population decline should be reversed to mitigate the decline and how this can be achieved.     

Label-Free Detection of Insulin and Glucagon within Human Islets of Langerhans Using Raman Spectroscopy

Intrahepatic transplantation of donor islets of Langerhans is a promising therapy for patients with type 1 diabetes. It is of critical importance to accurately monitor islet quality before transplantation, which is currently done by standard histological methods that are performed off-line and require extensive sample preparation. As an alternative, we propose Raman spectroscopy which is a non-destructive and label-free technique that allows continuous real-time monitoring of the tissue to study biological changes as they occur. By performing Raman spectroscopic measurements on purified insulin and glucagon, we showed that the 520 cm^-1 band assigned to disulfide bridges in insulin, and the 1552 cm^-1 band assigned to tryptophan in glucagon are mutually exclusive and could therefore be used as indirect markers for the label-free distinction between both hormones. High-resolution hyperspectral Raman imaging for these bands showed the distribution of disulfide bridges and tryptophan at sub-micrometer scale, which correlated with the location of insulin and glucagon as revealed by conventional immunohistochemistry. As a measure for this correlation, quantitative analysis was performed comparing the Raman images with the fluorescence images, resulting in Dice coefficients (ranging between 0 and 1) of 0.36 for insulin and 0.19 for glucagon. Although the use of separate microscope systems with different spatial resolution and the use of indirect Raman markers cause some image mismatch, our findings indicate that Raman bands for disulfide bridges and tryptophan can be used as distinctive markers for the label-free detection of insulin and glucagon in human islets of Langerhans.     

In Vitro Evaluation of Spider Silk Meshes as a Potential Biomaterial for Bladder Reconstruction

Reconstruction of the bladder by means of both natural and synthetic materials remains a challenge due to severe adverse effects such as mechanical failure. Here we investigate the application of spider major ampullate gland-derived dragline silk from the Nephila edulis spider, a natural biomaterial with outstanding mechanical properties and a slow degradation rate, as a potential scaffold for bladder reconstruction by studying the cellular response of primary bladder cells to this biomaterial. We demonstrate that spider silk without any additional biological coating supports adhesion and growth of primary human urothelial cells (HUCs), which are multipotent bladder cells able to differentiate into the various epithelial layers of the bladder. HUCs cultured on spider silk did not show significant changes in the expression of various epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and fibrosis associated genes, and demonstrated only slight reduction in the expression of adhesion and cellular differentiation genes. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis showed that most of the silk-exposed HUCs maintain an undifferentiated immunophenotype. These results demonstrate that spider silk from the Nephila edulis spider supports adhesion, survival and growth of HUCs without significantly altering their cellular properties making this type of material a suitable candidate for being tested in pre-clinical models for bladder reconstruction.     

Fabrication,Characterization and Cellular Compatibility of Poly(Hydroxy Alkanoate) Composite Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Nerve Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering techniques using a combination of polymeric scaffolds and cells represent a promising approach for nerve regeneration. We fabricated electrospun scaffolds by blending of Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and Poly (3-hydroxy butyrate-co-3- hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) in different compositions in order to investigate their potential for the regeneration of the myelinic membrane. The thermal properties of the nanofibrous blends was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which indicated that the melting and glass temperatures, and crystallization degree of the blends decreased as the PHBV weight ratio increased. Raman spectroscopy also revealed that the full width at half height of the band centered at 1725 cm⁻¹ can be used to estimate the crystalline degree of the electrospun meshes. Random and aligned nanofibrous scaffolds were also fabricated by electrospinning of PHB and PHBV with or without type I collagen. The influence of blend composition, fiber alignment and collagen incorporation on Schwann cell (SCs) organization and function was investigated. SCs attached and proliferated over all scaffolds formulations up to 14 days. SCs grown on aligned PHB/PHBV/collagen fibers exhibited a bipolar morphology that oriented along the fiber direction, while SCs grown on the randomly oriented fibers had a multipolar morphology. Incorporation of collagen within nanofibers increased SCs proliferation on day 14, GDNF gene expression on day 7 and NGF secretion on day 6. The results of this study demonstrate that aligned PHB/PHBV electrospun nanofibers could find potential use as scaffolds for nerve tissue engineering applications and that the presence of type I collagen in the nanofibers improves cell differentiation.     

Controlled aggregation of primary human pancreatic islet cells leads to glucose‐responsive pseudoislets comparable to native islets

Clinical islet transplantation is a promising treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes. However, pancreatic islets vary in size and shape affecting their survival and function after transplantation because of mass transport limitations. To reduce diffusion restrictions and improve islet cell survival, the generation of islets with optimal dimensions by dispersion followed by reassembly of islet cells, can help limit the length of diffusion pathways. This study describes a microwell platform that supports the controlled and reproducible production of three‐dimensional pancreatic cell clusters of human donor islets. We observed that primary human islet cell aggregates with a diameter of 100–150 μm consisting of about 1000 cells best resembled intact pancreatic islets as they showed low apoptotic cell death (<2%), comparable glucose‐responsiveness and increasing PDX1, MAFA and INSULIN gene expression with increasing aggregate size. The re‐associated human islet cells showed an a‐typical core shell configuration with beta cells predominantly on the outside unlike human islets, which became more randomized after implantation similar to native human islets. After transplantation of these islet cell aggregates under the kidney capsule of immunodeficient mice, human C‐peptide was detected in the serum indicating that beta cells retained their endocrine function similar to human islets. The agarose microwell platform was shown to be an easy and very reproducible method to aggregate pancreatic islet cells with high accuracy providing a reliable tool to study cell–cell interactions between insuloma and/or primary islet cells.     

A rare complication of a pneumococcal pneumonia

In this case report we describe the development of a pyopneumopericarditis secondary to pneumonia, a complication that is rarely seen nowadays. (Neth Heart J 2009:17:393–5.)     

Phosphorus in agricultural soils: drivers of its distribution at the global scale

Phosphorus (P) availability in soils limits crop yields in many regions of the World, while excess of soil P triggers aquatic eutrophication in other regions. Numerous processes drive the global spatial distribution of P in agricultural soils, but their relative roles remain unclear. Here, we combined several global data sets describing these drivers with a soil P dynamics model to simulate the distribution of P in agricultural soils and to assess the contributions of the different drivers at the global scale. We analysed both the labile inorganic P (P_ILAB), a proxy of the pool involved in plant nutrition and the total soil P (P_TOT). We found that the soil biogeochemical background corresponding to P inherited from natural soils at the conversion to agriculture (BIOG) and farming practices (FARM) were the main drivers of the spatial variability in cropland soil P content but that their contribution varied between P_TOT vs. P_ILAB. When the spatial variability was computed between grid cells at half‐degree resolution, we found that almost all of the P_TOT spatial variability could be explained by BIOG, while BIOG and FARM explained 38% and 63% of P_ILAB spatial variability, respectively. Our work also showed that the driver contribution was sensitive to the spatial scale characterizing the variability (grid cell vs. continent) and to the region of interest (global vs. tropics for instance). In particular, the heterogeneity of farming practices between continents was large enough to make FARM contribute to the variability in P_TOT at that scale. We thus demonstrated how the different drivers were combined to explain the global distribution of agricultural soil P. Our study is also a promising approach to investigate the potential effect of P as a limiting factor for agroecosystems at the global scale.