Distribution and abundance of the hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) L. in New Zealand, 1869–1973

An account is given of early liberations and the spread of hedgehogs throughout New Zealand between 1869 and 1973. Evidence, gathered largely from questionnaires and personal observations, is summarised in tables and maps to show the present range and abundance of the species. Hedgehogs dispersed from many points of liberation; their numbers increased dramatically in the South Island between 1910 and 1940, and in the North Island between 1920 and the 1950s. By the 1940s they had colonised most of the lowland areas, and their range had extended to the foot of the bushed mountainous regions; a few were found at altitudes of 2000 m. Since 1948 they have extended their range a little to include parts of the central volcanic plateau of the North Island, areas of inland Nelson, and northern Westland. Their numbers appear to have stabilised over the past 25 years. Today, hedgehogs are most abundant in intensively farmed lowland districts, towns, and suburbs. They become less numerous with increasing altitude, and few are encountered above 800 m or in wet, bushed areas. They are absent from areas where rainfall exceeds 250 cm/year or where more than 250 frosts occur annually. Factors limiting the abundance of hedgehogs in New Zealand are discussed.     

Airway cellularity, lipid laden macrophages and microbiology of gastric juice and airways in children with reflux oesophagitis

Background and methods

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently discovered respiratory virus associated with bronchiolitis, pneumonia, croup and exacerbations of asthma. Since respiratory viruses are frequently detected in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (AE-COPD) it was our aim to investigate the frequency of hMPV detection in a prospective cohort of hospitalized patients with AE-COPD compared to patients with stable COPD and to smokers without by means of quantitative real-time RT-PCR.

Results

We analysed nasal lavage and induced sputum of 130 patients with AE-COPD, 65 patients with stable COPD and 34 smokers without COPD. HMPV was detected in 3/130 (2.3%) AE-COPD patients with a mean of 6.5 × 10⁵ viral copies/ml in nasal lavage and 1.88 × 10⁵ viral copies/ml in induced sputum. It was not found in patients with stable COPD or smokers without COPD.

Conclusion

HMPV is only found in a very small number of patients with AE-COPD. However it should be considered as a further possible viral trigger of AE-COPD because asymptomatic carriage is unlikely.     

Synthesis of a trans-syn thymine dimer building block. Solid phase synthesis of CGTAT[t,s]TATGC.

The synthesis of a building block for the sequence specific introduction of the trans-syn thymine dimer into oligonucleotides via solid phase DNA synthesis technology is described. CGTAT[t,s]TATGC was synthesized in 48% overall yield by a partially automated procedure. The stepwise coupling yield for addition of the trans-syn thymine dimer building block was 58%. The dimer containing oligonucleotide was characterized by 500 MHz 1H COSY and NOESY spectroscopy and 202.5 MHz 31P NMR. The 1H chemical shifts for the trans-syn thymine dimer unit of the decamer were found to be quite similar to those found for the trans-syn thymine dimer of TpT. Upon photolysis at 254 nm, CGTAT[t,s]TATGC was converted to a major product which coeluted with authentic CGTATTATGC and a minor product which coeluted with authentic CGTAT[c,s]TATGC, further supporting the presence of an intact trans-syn thymine dimer unit.     

Variation in heat shock proteins within tropical and desert species of poeciliid fishes

The 70-kilodalton heat shock protein (hsp70) family of molecular chaperones, which contains both stress-inducible and normally abundant constitutive members, is highly conserved across distantly related taxa. Analysis of this protein family in individuals from an outbred population of tropical topminnows, Poeciliopsis gracilis, showed that while constitutive hsp70 family members showed no variation in protein isoforms, inducibly synthesized hsp70 was polymorphic. Several species of Poeciliopsis adapted to desert environments exhibited lower levels of inducible hsp70 polymorphism than the tropical species, but constitutive forms were identical to those in P. gracilis, as they were in the confamilial species Gambusia affinis. These differences suggest that inducible and constitutive members of this family are under different evolutionary constraints and may indicate differences in their function within the cell. Also, northern desert species of Poeciliopsis synthesize a subset of the inducible hsp70 isoforms seen in tropical species. This distribution supports the theory that ancestral tropical fish migrated northward and colonized desert streams; the subsequent decrease in variation of inducible hsp70 may have been due to genetic drift or a consequence of adaptation to the desert environment. Higher levels of variability were found when the 30- kilodalton heat shock protein (hsp30) family was analyzed within different strains of two desert species of Poeciliopsis and also in wild-caught individuals of Gambusia affinis. In both cases the distribution of hsp30 isoform diversity was similar to that seen previously with allozyme polymorphisms.      

Effect of colony morphology variation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Burkholderia pseudomallei</Emphasis> on intracellular survival and resistance to antimicrobial environments in human macrophages in vitro

Background  

Primary diagnostic cultures from patients with melioidosis demonstrate variation in colony morphology of the causative organism, Burkholderia pseudomallei. Variable morphology is associated with changes in the expression of a range of putative virulence factors. This study investigated the effect of B. pseudomallei colony variation on survival in the human macrophage cell line U937 and under laboratory conditions simulating conditions within the macrophage milieu. Isogenic colony morphology types II and III were generated from 5 parental type I B. pseudomallei isolates using nutritional limitation. Survival of types II and III were compared with type I for all assays.     

Bronchoabsorption; a novel bronchoscopic technique to improve biomarker sampling of the airway

Background

Current techniques used to obtain lung samples have significant limitations and do not provide reproducible biomarkers of inflammation. We have developed a novel technique that allows multiple sampling methods from the same area (or multiple areas) of the lung under direct bronchoscopic vision. It allows collection of mucosal lining fluid and bronchial brushing from the same site; biopsy samples may also be taken. The novel technique takes the same time as standard procedures and can be conducted safely.

Methods

Eight healthy smokers aged 40–65 years were included in this study. An absorptive filter paper was applied to the bronchial mucosa under direct vision using standard bronchoscopic techniques. Further samples were obtained from the same site using bronchial brushings. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was obtained using standard techniques. Chemokine (C-C Motif) Ligand 20 (CCL20), CCL4, CCL5, Chemokine (C-X-C Motif) Ligand 1 (CXCL1), CXCL8, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, Interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Matrix metalloproteinase 8 (MMP-8) and MMP-9 were measured in exudate and BAL. mRNA was collected from the bronchial brushings for gene expression analysis.

Results

A greater than 10 fold concentration of all the biomarkers was detected in lung exudate in comparison to BAL. High yield of good quality RNA with RNA integrity numbers (RIN) between 7.6 and 9.3 were extracted from the bronchial brushings. The subset of genes measured were reproducible across the samples and corresponded to the inflammatory markers measured in exudate and BAL.

Conclusions

The bronchoabsorption technique as described offers the ability to sample lung fluid direct from the site of interest without the dilution effects caused by BAL. Using this method we were able to successfully measure the concentrations of biomarkers present in the lungs as well as collect high yield mRNA samples for gene expression analysis from the same site. This technique demonstrates superior sensitivity to standard BAL for the measurement of biomarkers of inflammation. It could replace BAL as the method of choice for these measurements. This method provides a systems biology approach to studying the inflammatory markers of respiratory disease progression.

Trial registration

NHS Health Research Authority (13/LO/0256).     

The C. elegans glutamate receptor subunit NMR-1 is required for slow NMDA-activated currents that regulate reversal frequency during locomotion.

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptor is important for synaptic plasticity and nervous system development and function. We have used genetic and electrophysiological methods to demonstrate that NMR-1, a Caenorhabditis elegans NMDA-type ionotropic glutamate receptor subunit, plays a role in the control of movement and foraging behavior. nmr-1 mutants show a lower probability of switching from forward to backward movement and a reduced ability to navigate a complex environment. Electrical recordings from the interneuron AVA show that NMDA-dependent currents are selectively disrupted in nmr-1 mutants. We also show that a slowly desensitizing variant of a non-NMDA receptor can rescue the nmr-1 mutant phenotype. We propose that NMDA receptors in C. elegans provide long-lived currents that modulate the frequency of movement reversals during foraging behavior.     

Animal biomass in a New Zealand forest compared with other parts of the world

Summary Data on mammalian, avian and invertebrate biomass in mixed broadleaf-podocarp forest of the Orongorongo Valley are summarised and compared with the biomass in other forests. Animal biomass totalled at least 504 kg/ha — more than twice that in several tropical forests but less than that reported from temperate deciduous forests of Europe. Earthworms (333 kg/ha) provided most animal biomass: arthropods at least 145 kg/ha, mammals (all introduced) 25 kg/ha, and birds 0.6 kg/ha. By world standards the biomass of mammals, and litter-dwelling and underground arthropods, is high and that of birds moderate. Introduced mammals have greatly altered the distribution of biomass in this forest, herbivores and predatory mammals gaining biomass at the expense of some native aboveground invertebrates and birds, several of which have been lost to this community.     

Malaria and urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa

There are already 40 cities in Africa with over 1 million inhabitants and the United Nations Environmental Programme estimates that by 2025 over 800 million people will live in urban areas. Recognizing that malaria control can improve the health of the vulnerable and remove a major obstacle to their economic development, the Malaria Knowledge Programme of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Systemwide Initiative on Malaria and Agriculture convened a multi-sectoral technical consultation on urban malaria in Pretoria, South Africa from 2nd to 4th December, 2004. The aim of the meeting was to identify strategies for the assessment and control of urban malaria. This commentary reflects the discussions held during the meeting and aims to inform researchers and policy makers of the potential for containing and reversing the emerging problem of urban malaria.     

Control of cell volume in the J774 macrophage by microtubule disassembly and cyclic AMP

We have explored the possibilities that cell volume is regulated by the status of microtubule assembly and cyclic AMP metabolism and may be coordinated with shape change. Treatment of J774.2 mouse macrophages with colchicine caused rapid microtubule disassembly and was associated with a striking increase (from 15-20 to more than 90 percent) in the proportion of cells with a large protuberance at one pole. This provided a simple experimental system in which shape changes occurred in virtually an entire cell population in suspension. Parallel changes in cell volume could then be quantified by isotope dilution techniques. We found that the shape change caused by colchicine was accompanied by a decrease in cell volume of approximately 20 percent. Nocodozole, but not lumicolchicine, caused identical changes in both cell shape and cell volume. The volume loss was not due to cell lysis nor to inhibition of pinocytosis. The mechanism of volume loss was also examined. Colchicine induced a small but reproducible increase in activity of the ouabain-sensitive Na(+), K(+)-dependent ATPase. However, inhibition of this enzyme/transport system by ouabain did not change cell volume nor did it block the colchicines-induced decrease in volume. One the other hand, SITS (4’acetamido, 4-isothiocyano 2,2’ disulfonic acid stilbene), an inhibitor of anion transport, inhibited the effects of colchicines, thus suggesting a role for an anion transport system in cell volume regulation. Because colchicine is known to activate adenylate cyclase in several systems and because cell shape changes are often induced by hormones that elevate cyclic AMP, we also examined the effects of cyclic AMP on cell volume. Agents that act to increase syclic AMP (cholera toxin, which activates adenylate cyclase; IBMX, and inhibitor of phosphodiesterase; and dibutyryl cyclic AMP) all caused a volume decrease comparable to that of colchicine. To define the effective metabolic pathway, we studied two mutants of J774.2, one deficient in adenylate cyclase and the other exhibiting markedly reduced activity of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Cholera toxin did not produce a volume change in either mutant. Cyclic AMP produced a decrease in the cyclase-deficient line comparable to that in wild type, but did not cause a volume change in the kinase- deficient line. This analysis established separate roles for cyclic AMP and colchicine. The volume decrease induced by cyclic AMP requires the action of a cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Colchicine, on the other hand, induced a comparable volume change in both mutants and wild type, and thus does not require the kinase.