The seasonal variation of fucoidan within three species of brown macroalgae

Fucoidan is comprised of a fucose backbone with sulphate groups, whose variation is important to the functionality of the polysaccharide. The structure of fucoidan has been reported to vary according to species, season, location and maturity; however there is currently little published data to support this. Understanding the seasonal variation of fucoidan is important for industrial applications to identify optimum harvesting times and ensure consistent product composition. This study explores the seasonal variation of three species of brown macroalgae, Fucus serratus (FS), Fucus vesiculosus (FV) and Ascophyllum nodosum (AN), harvested monthly off the coast of Aberystwyth, UK. Average fucoidan content is 6.0, 9.8 and 8.0 wt% respectively for FS, FV and AN, with highest quantities extracted in autumn and lowest in spring. Fucose content, varied between 18 and 28, 26–39 and 35–46 wt% and sulphate content between 30 and 40, 9–35 and 6–22 wt% for FS, FV and AN respectively, with both fluctuating inversely to the total fucoidan content. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) has provided insight into the structural differences between the species. Based on the molecular weight (MW) distribution, and in line with previous research, it is hypothesised that fucoidan in FS has a more complex structure, with a higher degree of associated sulphate ions than in FV and AN which have a simpler, linear structure with less associated sulphate ions

Classicalization and Unitarity

We point out that the scenario for UV completion by "classicalization", proposed recently is in fact Wilsonian in the classical Wilsonian sense. It corresponds to the situation when a field theory has a nontrivial UV fixed point governed by a higher dimensional operator. Provided the kinetic term is a relevant operator around this point the theory will flow in the IR to the free scalar theory. Physically, "classicalization", if it can be realized, would correspond to a situation when the fluctuations of the field operator in the UV are smaller than in the IR. As a result there exists a clear tension between the "classicalization" scenario and constraints imposed by unitarity on a quantum field theory, making the existence of classicalizing unitary theories questionable.Comment: Some clarifications and refs added. Accepted as a JHEP publication; 12 page

pH dominates variation in tropical soil archaeal diversity and community structure

Little is known of the factors influencing soil archaeal community diversity and composition in the tropics. We sampled soils across a range of forest and nonforest environments in the equatorial tropics of Malaysia, covering a wide range of pH values. DNA was PCR-amplified for the V1-V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene, and 454-pyrosequenced. Soil pH was the best predictor of diversity and community composition of Archaea, being a stronger predictor than land use. Archaeal OTU richness was highest in the most acidic soils. Overall archaeal abundance in tropical soils (determined by qPCR) also decreased at higher pH. This contrasts with the opposite trend previously found in temperate soils. Thaumarcheota group 1.1b was more abundant in alkaline soils, whereas group 1.1c was only detected in acidic soils. These results parallel those found in previous studies in cooler climates, emphasizing niche conservatism among broad archaeal groups. Among the most abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs), there was clear evidence of niche partitioning by pH. No individual OTU occurred across the entire range of pH values. Overall, the results of this study show that pH plays a major role in structuring tropical soil archaeal communities

The Monte Carlo Event Generator DPMJET-III

A new version of the Monte Carlo event generator DPMJET is presented. It is a code system based on the Dual Parton Model and unifies all features of the DTUNUC-2, DPMJET-II and PHOJET 1.12 event generators. DPMJET-III allows the simulation of hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, nucleus-nucleus, photon-hadron, photon-photon and photon-nucleus interactions from a few GeV up to the highest cosmic ray energies.Comment: 6 pages, Talk given at the Conference ``Monte Carlo 2000'', Lisbon, Portugal, 23-26 Oct. 200

Spherical perspective

We survey the present state of spherical perspective, regarding both mathematical structure and drawing practice, with a view to applications in the visual arts. We define a spherical perspective as the entailment of a conical anamorphosis with a compact flattening of the visual sphere. We examine a general framework for solving spherical perspectives, exemplified with the azimuthal equidistant (“fisheye”) and equirectangular cases. We consider the relation between spherical and curvilinear perspectives. We briefly discuss computer renderings but focus on methods adapted to freehand sketching or technical drawing with simple instruments such as ruler and compass. We discuss how handmade spherical perspective drawings can generate immersive anamorphoses, which can be rendered as virtual reality panoramas, leading to hybrid visual creations that bridge the gap between traditional drawing and digital environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Do tropical forest leaves suffer more insect herbivory? A comparison of tropical versus temperate herbivory, estimated from leaf litter

It is generally believed that tropical forests suffer more herbivory, as a proportion of leaf area, than do temperate forests. Reviews so far have compared studies performed by different authors using very different methodologies. Here we carried out studies on 125 samples at 86 localities in eastern North America and on 75 samples taken at five localities in Malaysia and Singapore, including both mature secondary and primary forest. Samples in North America were spread over 3 years. In tropical Asia, the samples were taken at four time slices at least 8 months apart, scattered over a 4-year period. Total herbivore damage during the lifetime of tree leaves was estimated from the percentage area damaged in recently fallen, undecayed leaves from the forest floor, using scanner-linked software. In terms of percentage damage per leaf, the results suggest that lowland tropical forest has significantly higher leaf herbivory (5.82%) than temperate forest (5.48%). This is in accord with the general expectation that aseasonal tropical forests should have more herbivory damage. However, when percentage damage ‘per unit time of growing season’ is calculated based on an estimate of leaf lifetime in the tropics, tropical lowland herbivory damage turns out to be a fraction (about one half) of that in the temperate zone. Thus, these results tend to put in question the widely held view that herbivore damage is markedly more intense in the tropics. Over total leaf lifetime, the intensity of damage in the tropical area is only slightly higher than temperate regions. In terms of intensity of herbivory on leaves per unit of time, the opposite seems to be the case. It is uncertain which index should be taken as more significant in interpreting the selection pressure for anti-herbivore defenses in the tropics

The SOS Pilot Study: a RCT of routine oxygen supplementation early after acute stroke—effect on recovery of neurological function at one week

Mild hypoxia is common after stroke and associated with poor long-term outcome. Oxygen supplementation could prevent hypoxia and improve recovery. A previous study of routine oxygen supplementation showed no significant benefit at 7 and 12 months. This pilot study reports the effects of routine oxygen supplementation for 72 hours on oxygen saturation and neurological outcomes at 1 week after a stroke

The outcome of arthroscopic treatment of temporomandibular joint arthoropathy

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Ninety patients underwent arthroscopic temporomandibular joint surgery to 124 joints for arthropathy which had failed to respond to at least six months of non-surgical treatment. They were surveyed at between 6 months and 5 years (mean 2.5 years) after surgery and 63 per cent responded to the survey. They reported an 82 per cent improvement for pain (50 to 100 per cent better), 80 per cent for clicking and 82 per cent for locking. There was no morbidity following the treatment. Arthroscopic surgery sould be considered for advanced temporomandibular joint arthropathy which is refractory to non-surgical treatment.I. Rosenburg and A. N. Gos

Formulating genome-scale kinetic models in the post-genome era

The biological community is now awash in high-throughput data sets and is grappling with the challenge of integrating disparate data sets. Such integration has taken the form of statistical analysis of large data sets, or through the bottom–up reconstruction of reaction networks. While progress has been made with statistical and structural methods, large-scale systems have remained refractory to dynamic model building by traditional approaches. The availability of annotated genomes enabled the reconstruction of genome-scale networks, and now the availability of high-throughput metabolomic and fluxomic data along with thermodynamic information opens the possibility to build genome-scale kinetic models. We describe here a framework for building and analyzing such models. The mathematical analysis challenges are reflected in four foundational properties, (i) the decomposition of the Jacobian matrix into chemical, kinetic and thermodynamic information, (ii) the structural similarity between the stoichiometric matrix and the transpose of the gradient matrix, (iii) the duality transformations enabling either fluxes or concentrations to serve as the independent variables and (iv) the timescale hierarchy in biological networks. Recognition and appreciation of these properties highlight notable and challenging new in silico analysis issues

Standardising outcomes for clinical trials and systematic reviews

Fifteen years ago, what was to become OMERACT met for the first time in The Netherlands to discuss ways in which the multitude of outcomes in assessments of the effects of treatments for rheumatoid arthritis might be standardised. In Trials, Tugwell et al have described the need for, and success of, this initiative [1] and Cooney and colleagues have set out their plans for a corresponding initiative for ulcerative colitis [2]. Why do we need such initiatives? What\u27s the problem? And are these and other initiatives the solution