Effect of broodstock holding environment on egg quality in farmed brown trout (Salmo trutta)

Brown trout (Salmo trutta) broodstock from a single population were separated prior to spawning and exposed to two different holding environments: a ‘raceway system’ and a ‘tank system’. Eggs were stripped from females and 13 measures of egg quality were collected, analysed individually, combined by principle components analysis into an integrated egg quality score which was validated against egg survival. The multivariate egg quality score (PC1) differed for fish held in the tank and raceway systems. Egg survival, chorion breaking strength and chorion Se concentrations were higher in eggs produced by broodstock held in the tank system compared to those in the raceway system. In contrast, chorion concentrations of P and K were higher in eggs from fish held in the raceway system. The results suggest that brown trout broodstock reared in tank systems produced higher quality eggs compared to trout reared in raceways. Finally, this study also indicates that multivariate statistical analysis can be used to determine egg quality from multiple egg parameters

Conformationally restricted calpain inhibitors

The cysteine protease calpain-I is linked to several diseases and is therefore a valuable target for inhibition. Selective inhibition of calpain-I has proved difficult as most compounds target the active site and inhibit a broad spectrum of cysteine proteases as well as other calpain isoforms. Selective inhibitors might not only be potential drugs but should act as tools to explore the physiological and pathophysiological roles of calpain-I. α-Mercaptoacrylic acid based calpain inhibitors are potent, cell permeable and selective inhibitors of calpain-I and calpain-II. These inhibitors target the calcium binding domain PEF(S) of calpain-I and -II. Here X-ray diffraction analysis of co-crystals of PEF(S) revealed that the disulfide form of an α-mercaptoacrylic acid bound within a hydrophobic groove that is also targeted by a calpastatin inhibitory region and made a greater number of favourable interactions with the protein than the reduced sulfhydryl form. Measurement of the inhibitory potency of the α-mercaptoacrylic acids and X-ray crystallography revealed that the IC50 values decreased significantly on oxidation as a consequence of the stereo-electronic properties of disulfide bonds that restrict rotation around the S–S bond. Consequently, thioether analogues inhibited calpain-I with potencies similar to those of the free sulfhydryl forms of α-mercaptoacrylic acids

Defining biodiverse reforestation: Why it matters for climate change mitigation and biodiversity

Reforestation to capture and store atmospheric carbon is increasingly championed as a climate change mitigation policy response. Reforestation plantings have the potential to provide conservation co-benefits when diverse mixtures of native species are planted, and there are growing attempts to monetise biodiversity benefits from carbon reforestation projects, particularly within emerging carbon markets. But what is meant by ‘biodiverse’ across different stakeholders and groups implementing and overseeing these projects and how do these perceptions compare with long-standing scientific definitions? Here, we discuss approaches to, and definitions of, biodiversity in the context of reforestation for carbon sequestration. Our aim is to review how the concept of biodiversity is defined and applied among stakeholders (e.g., governments, carbon certifiers and farmers) and rights holders (i.e., First Nations people) engaging in reforestation, and to identify best-practice methods for restoring biodiversity in these projects. We find that some stakeholders have a vague understanding of diversity across varying levels of biological organisation (genes to ecosystems). While most understand that biodiversity underpins ecosystem functions and services, many stakeholders may not appreciate the difficulties of restoring biodiversity akin to reference ecosystems. Consequently, biodiversity goals are rarely explicit, and project goals may never be achieved because the levels of restored biodiversity are inadequate to support functional ecosystems and desired ecosystem services. We suggest there is significant value in integrating biodiversity objectives into reforestation projects and setting specific restoration goals with transparent reporting outcomes will pave the way for ensuring reforestation projects have meaningful outcomes for biodiversity, and legitimate incentive payments for biodiversity and natural capital accounting

The Effective Field Theory of Inflation

We study the effective field theory of inflation, i.e. the most general theory describing the fluctuations around a quasi de Sitter background, in the case of single field models. The scalar mode can be eaten by the metric by going to unitary gauge. In this gauge, the most general theory is built with the lowest dimension operators invariant under spatial diffeomorphisms, like g^{00} and K_{mu nu}, the extrinsic curvature of constant time surfaces. This approach allows us to characterize all the possible high energy corrections to simple slow-roll inflation, whose sizes are constrained by experiments. Also, it describes in a common language all single field models, including those with a small speed of sound and Ghost Inflation, and it makes explicit the implications of having a quasi de Sitter background. The non-linear realization of time diffeomorphisms forces correlation among different observables, like a reduced speed of sound and an enhanced level of non-Gaussianity.Comment: 26 pages. v2: minor corrections, JHEP published versio

Submaxillary mucin: its effect on aroma release from acidic drinks and new insight into the effect of aroma compounds on its macromolecular integrity

Submaxillary mucin is a major component that defines the makeup and functionality of saliva. Understanding its structure and function during food intake is key to designing appropriate strategies for enhancing the delivery of flavour. In the present study, the hydrodynamic integrity of bovine submaxillary mucin was characterised under physiological and acidic conditions and it was shown to have a broad molecular weight distribution with species ranging from 100 kDa to over 2000 kDa, and a random coil type of conformation. A decrease in the pH of mucin appeared to result in aggregation and a broader molecular weight distribution, which was shown to correlate with a release of flavour compounds. Our study also provides indications that p-cresol may have an effect on the macromolecular integrity of mucin

Measurement of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Functions g2 and Asymmetry A2

We have measured the spin structure functions g2p and g2d and the virtual photon asymmetries A2p and A2d over the kinematic range 0.02 < x < 0.8 and 1.0 < Q^2 < 30(GeV/c)^2 by scattering 38.8 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons from transversely polarized NH3 and 6LiD targets.The absolute value of A2 is significantly smaller than the sqrt{R} positivity limit over the measured range, while g2 is consistent with the twist-2 Wandzura-Wilczek calculation. We obtain results for the twist-3 reduced matrix elements d2p, d2d and d2n. The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule integral - int(g2(x)dx) is reported for the range 0.02 < x < 0.8.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Self-consistent description of nuclear compressional modes

Isoscalar monopole and dipole compressional modes are computed for a variety of closed-shell nuclei in a relativistic random-phase approximation to three different parametrizations of the Walecka model with scalar self-interactions. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of self-consistency which by itself, and with little else, guarantees the decoupling of the spurious isoscalar-dipole strength from the physical response and the conservation of the vector current. A powerful new relation is introduced to quantify the violation of the vector current in terms of various ground-state form-factors. For the isoscalar-dipole mode two distinct regions are clearly identified: (i) a high-energy component that is sensitive to the size of the nucleus and scales with the compressibility of the model and (ii) a low-energy component that is insensitivity to the nuclear compressibility. A fairly good description of both compressional modes is obtained by using a ``soft'' parametrization having a compression modulus of K=224 MeV.Comment: 28 pages and 10 figures; submitted to PR

Can inflationary models of cosmic perturbations evade the secondary oscillation test?

We consider the consequences of an observed Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy spectrum containing no secondary oscillations. While such a spectrum is generally considered to be a robust signature of active structure formation, we show that such a spectrum {\em can} be produced by (very unusual) inflationary models or other passive evolution models. However, we show that for all these passive models the characteristic oscillations would show up in other observable spectra. Our work shows that when CMB polarization and matter power spectra are taken into account secondary oscillations are indeed a signature of even these very exotic passive models. We construct a measure of the observability of secondary oscillations in a given experiment, and show that even with foregrounds both the MAP and \pk satellites should be able to distinguish between models with and without oscillations. Thus we conclude that inflationary and other passive models can {\em not} evade the secondary oscillation test.Comment: Final version accepted for publication in PRD. Minor improvements have been made to the discussion and new data has been included. The conclusions are unchagne

Guidelines for incorporating scientific knowledge and practice on rare diseases into higher education: neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses as a model disorder model disorder.

This article addresses the educational issues associated with rare diseases (RD) and in particular the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCLs, or CLN diseases) in the curricula of Health Sciences and Professional's Training Programs. Our aim is to develop guidelines for improving scientific knowledge and practice in higher education and continuous learning programs. Rare diseases (RD) are collectively common in the general populationwith 1 in 17 people affected by a RDin their lifetime. Inherited defects in genes involved in metabolism are the commonest group of RD with over 8000 known inborn errors of metabolism. The majority of these diseases are neurodegenerative including the NCLs. Any professional training program on NCL must take into account the medical, social and economic burdens related to RDs. To address these challenges and find solutions to themit is necessary that individuals in the government and administrative authorities, academia, teaching hospitals and medical schools, the pharmaceutical industry, investment community and patient advocacy groups all work together to achieve these goals. The logistical issues of including RD lectures in university curricula and in continuing medical education should reflect its complex nature. To evaluate the state of education in the RD field, a summary should be periodically up dated in order to assess the progress achieved in each country that signed up to the international conventions addressing RD issues in society. It is anticipated that auditing current practice will lead to higher standards and provide a framework for those educators involved in establishing RD teaching programs world-wide.publishedVersio

Precision Measurement of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Functions g2 and Asymmetries A2

We have measured the spin structure functions g2p and g2d and the virtual photon asymmetries A2p and A2d over the kinematic range 0.02 < x < 0.8 and 0.7 < Q^2 < 20 GeV^2 by scattering 29.1 and 32.3 GeV longitudinally polarized electrons from transversely polarized NH3 and 6LiD targets. Our measured g2 approximately follows the twist-2 Wandzura-Wilczek calculation. The twist-3 reduced matrix elements d2p and d2n are less than two standard deviations from zero. The data are inconsistent with the Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule if there is no pathological behavior as x->0. The Efremov-Leader-Teryaev integral is consistent with zero within our measured kinematic range. The absolute value of A2 is significantly smaller than the sqrt[R(1+A1)/2] limit.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 table