Sexual Size Dimorphism and Body Condition in the Australasian Gannet

Funding: The research was financially supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment. Acknowledgments We thank the Victorian Marine Science Consortium, Sea All Dolphin Swim, Parks Victoria, and the Point Danger Management Committee for logistical support. We are grateful for the assistance of the many field volunteers involved in the study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

2012 Activity Report of the Regional Research Programme on Hadrontherapy for the ETOILE Center

2012 is the penultimate year of financial support by the CPER 2007-2013 for ETOILE's research program, sustained by the PRRH at the University Claude Bernard. As with each edition we make the annual review of the research in this group, so active for over 12 years now. Over the difficulties in the decision-making process for the implementation of the ETOILE Center, towards which all our efforts are focussed, some "themes" (work packages) were strengthened, others have progressed, or have been dropped. This is the case of the eighth theme (technological developments), centered around the technology for rotative beam distribution heads (gantries) and, after being synchronized with the developments of ULICE's WP6, remained so by ceasing its activities, coinciding also with the retirement of its historic leader at IPNL, Marcel Bajard. Topic number 5 ("In silico simulations") has suffered the departure of its leader, Benjamin Ribba, although the work has still been provided by Branka Bernard, a former postdoctoral fellow in Lyon Sud, and now back home in Croatia, still in contract with UCBL for the ULICE project. Aside from these two issues (and the fact that the theme "Medico-economical simulations" is now directly linked to the first one ("Medical Project"), the rest of the teams are growing, as evidenced by the publication statistics at the beginning of this report. This is obviously due to the financial support of our always faithful regional institutions, but also to the synergy that the previous years, the European projects, the arrival of the PRIMES LabEx, and the national France Hadron infrastructure have managed to impulse. The Rhone-Alpes hadron team, which naturally includes the researchers of LPC at Clermont, should also see its influence result in a strong presence in France Hadron's regional node, which is being organized. The future of this regional research is not yet fully guaranteed, especially in the still uncertain context of ETOILE, but the tracks are beginning to emerge to allow past and present efforts translate into a long future that we all want to see established. Each of the researchers in PRRH is aware that 2013 will be (and already is) the year of great challenge : for ETOILE, for the PRRH, for hadron therapy in France, for French hadrontherapy in Europe (after the opening and beginning of treatments in the German [HIT Heidelberg, Marburg], Italian [CNAO, Pavia] and Austrian [MedAustron, Wien Neuerstadt]) centers. Let us meet again in early 2014 for a comprehensive review of the past and a perspective for the future ..

Quantification of toxins in a Cry1Ac + CpTI cotton cultivar and its potential effects on the honey bee Apis mellifera L.

Transgenic Cry1Ac + CpTI cotton (CCRI41) is increasingly planted throughout China. However, negative effects of this cultivar on the honey bee Apis mellifera L., the most important pollinator for cultivated ecosystem, remained poorly investigated. The objective of our study was to evaluate the potential side effects of transgenic Cry1Ac + CpTI pollen from cotton on young adult honey bees A. mellifera L. Two points emphasized the significance of our study: (1) A higher expression level of insecticidal protein Cry1Ac in pollen tissues was detected (when compared with previous reports). In particular, Cry1Ac protein was detected at 300 ± 4.52 ng g−1 [part per billion (ppb)] in pollen collected in July, (2) Effects on chronic mortality and feeding behaviour in honey bees were evaluated using a no-choice dietary feeding protocol with treated pollen, which guarantee the highest exposure level to bees potentially occurring in natural conditions (worst case scenario). Tests were also conducted using imidacloprid-treated pollen at a concentration of 48 ppb as positive control for sublethal effect on feeding behaviour. Our results suggested that Cry1Ac + CpTI pollen carried no lethal risk for honey bees. However, during a 7-day oral exposure to the various treatments (transgenic, imidacloprid-treated and control), honey bee feeding behaviour was disturbed and bees consumed significantly less CCRI41 cotton pollen than in the control group in which bees were exposed to conventional cotton pollen. It may indicate an antifeedant effect of CCRI41 pollen on honey bees and thus bees may be at risk because of large areas are planted with transgenic Bt cotton in China. This is the first report suggesting a potential sublethal effect of CCRI41 cotton pollen on honey bees. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of risk assessment for bees as well as for directions of future work involving risk assessment of CCRI41 cotton

An update of the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) on systemic insecticides. Part 2: impacts on organisms and ecosystems

New information on the lethal and sublethal effects of neonicotinoids and fipronil on organisms is presented in this review, complementing the previous WIA in 2015. The high toxicity of these systemic insecticides to invertebrates has been confirmed and expanded to include more species and compounds. Most of the recent research has focused on bees and the sublethal and ecological impacts these insecticides have on pollinators. Toxic effects on other invertebrate taxa also covered predatory and parasitoid natural enemies and aquatic arthropods. Little, while not much new information has been gathered on soil organisms. The impact on marine coastal ecosystems is still largely uncharted. The chronic lethality of neonicotinoids to insects and crustaceans, and the strengthened evidence that these chemicals also impair the immune system and reproduction, highlights the dangers of this particular insecticidal classneonicotinoids and fipronil. , withContinued large scale – mostly prophylactic – use of these persistent organochlorine pesticides has the potential to greatly decreasecompletely eliminate populations of arthropods in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. Sublethal effects on fish, reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals are also reported, showing a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxicity of these insecticides in vertebrates, and their deleterious impacts on growth, reproduction and neurobehaviour of most of the species tested. This review concludes with a summary of impacts on the ecosystem services and functioning, particularly on pollination, soil biota and aquatic invertebrate communities, thus reinforcing the previous WIA conclusions (van der Sluijs et al. 2015)

Increased expression of PHD3 represses the HIF-1 signaling pathway and contributes to poor neovascularization in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is known as one of the most malignant potential diseases with poor neovascularization. By comparing PDAC to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is well vascularized, we investigated the mechanisms and tumor biological significance of the poor neovascularization in PDAC. Methods: Surgical specimens from primary PDAC and HCC patients were immunohistologically stained to detect the expressions of CD105, CD44, HIF-1α, PHD3, and Siah2. We also used two PDAC and two HCC cell lines to compare the expressions of HIF-1α, PHD3, and CD44, as well as the production of VEGF in hypoxic condition. The role of PHD3 in regulating HIF-1α expression was further confirmed by siRNA knockdown in a PDAC cell line that highly expressed PHD3. Results: There were significantly fewer microvessels but more cancer stem cells in PDAC specimens compared to HCC specimens. The expression of CD105 was reversely related to the expression of CD44 in PDAC and HCC specimens. PDAC specimens also showed higher expressions of PHD3 but lower expressions of HIF-1α. Similarly, the expression of PHD3 was observed clearly in PDAC cell lines, but was almost completely negative in HCC cell lines. Hypoxic stimulation clearly enhanced HIF-1α expression and VEGF secretion in both HCC cell lines, but did not significantly change in PDAC cell lines. The knockdown of PHD3 in PDAC cells restored the hypoxic-induced HIF-1α expression, which accordingly stimulated the cells’ VEGF secretion. Conclusions: The enhanced expression of PHD3 might likely contribute to the poor neovascularization and affect the biological characterization in PDAC cancer cells

Dual-specificity phosphatase (DUSP6) in human glioblastoma: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) involvement

Objective: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and common form of primary brain cancer. Survival is poor and improved treatment options are urgently needed. Dual specificity phosphatase-6 (DUSP6) is actively involved in oncogenesis showing unexpected tumor-promoting properties in human glioblastoma, contributing to the development and expression of the full malignant and invasive phenotype. The purpose of this study was to assess if DUSP6 activates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in glioblastoma and its connection with the invasive capacity. Results: We found high levels of transcripts mRNA by qPCR analysis in a panel of primary GBM compared to adult or fetal normal tissues. At translational levels, these data correlate with high protein expression and long half-life values by cycloheximide-chase assay in immunoblot experiments. Next, we demonstrate that DUSP6 gene is involved in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in GBM by immunoblot characterization of the mesenchymal and epithelial markers. Vimentin, N-Cadherin, E-Cadherin and fibronectin were measured with and without DUSP6 over-expression, and in response to several stimuli such as chemotherapy treatment. In particular, the high levels of vimentin were blunted at increasing doses of cisplatin in condition of DUSP6 over-expression while N-Cadherin contextually increased. Finally, DUSP6 per se increased invasion capacity of GBM. Overall, our data unveil the DUSP6 involvement in invasive mesenchymal-like properties in GBM