The importance of post-translocation monitoring of habitat use and population growth: insights from a Seychelles Warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) translocation

Translocations are a valuable tool within conservation, and when performed successfully can rescue species from extinction. However, to label a translocation a success, extensive post-translocation monitoring is required, ensuring the population is growing at the expected rate. In 2011, a habitat assessment identified Frégate Island as a suitable island to host a Seychelles Warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) population. Later that year, 59 birds were translocated from Cousin Island to Frégate Island. Here, we determine Seychelles Warbler habitat use and population growth on Frégate Island, assessing the status of the translocation and identifying any interventions that may be required. We found that territory quality, an important predictor of fledgling production on Cousin Island, was a poor predictor of bird presence on Frégate Island. Instead, tree diversity, middle-storey vegetation density, and broad-leafed vegetation density all predicted bird presence positively. A habitat suitability map based on these results suggests most of Frégate Island contains either a suitable or a moderately suitable habitat, with patches of unsuitable overgrown coconut plantation. To achieve the maximum potential Seychelles Warbler population size on Frégate Island, we recommend habitat regeneration, such that the highly diverse subset of broad-leafed trees and a dense middle storey should be protected and replace the unsuitable coconut. Frégate Island’s Seychelles Warbler population has grown to 141 birds since the release, the slowest growth rate of all Seychelles Warbler translocations; the cause of this is unclear. This study highlights the value of post-translocation monitoring, identifying habitat use and areas requiring restoration, and ultimately ensuring that the population is growing

Food-dependent, exercise-induced gastrointestinal distress

Among athletes strenuous exercise, dehydration and gastric emptying (GE) delay are the main causes of gastrointestinal (GI) complaints, whereas gut ischemia is the main cause of their nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and (blood) diarrhea. Additionally any factor that limits sweat evaporation, such as a hot and humid environment and/or body dehydration, has profound effects on muscle glycogen depletion and risk for heat illness. A serious underperfusion of the gut often leads to mucosal damage and enhanced permeability so as to hide blood loss, microbiota invasion (or endotoxemia) and food-born allergen absorption (with anaphylaxis). The goal of exercise rehydration is to intake more fluid orally than what is being lost in sweat. Sports drinks provide the addition of sodium and carbohydrates to assist with intestinal absorption of water and muscle-glycogen replenishment, respectively. However GE is proportionally slowed by carbohydrate-rich (hyperosmolar) solutions. On the other hand, in order to prevent hyponatremia, avoiding overhydration is recommended. Caregiver's responsibility would be to inform athletes about potential dangers of drinking too much water and also advise them to refrain from using hypertonic fluid replacements

Granular Assembly of α-Synuclein Leading to the Accelerated Amyloid Fibril Formation with Shear Stress

α-Synuclein participates in the Lewy body formation of Parkinson's disease. Elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanism of the amyloid fibril formation is crucial not only to develop a controlling strategy toward the disease, but also to apply the protein fibrils for future biotechnology. Discernable homogeneous granules of α-synuclein composed of approximately 11 monomers in average were isolated in the middle of a lag phase during the in vitro fibrillation process. They were demonstrated to experience almost instantaneous fibrillation during a single 12-min centrifugal membrane-filtration at 14,000×g. The granular assembly leading to the drastically accelerated fibril formation was demonstrated to be a result of the physical influence of shear force imposed on the preformed granular structures by either centrifugal filtration or rheometer. Structural rearrangement of the preformed oligomomeric structures is attributable for the suprastructure formation in which the granules act as a growing unit for the fibril formation. To parallel the prevailing notion of nucleation-dependent amyloidosis, we propose a double-concerted fibrillation model as one of the mechanisms to explain the in vitro fibrillation of α-synuclein, in which two consecutive concerted associations of monomers and subsequent oligomeric granular species are responsible for the eventual amyloid fibril formation

FKBP12 Activates the Cardiac Ryanodine Receptor Ca2+-Release Channel and Is Antagonised by FKBP12.6

Changes in FKBP12.6 binding to cardiac ryanodine receptors (RyR2) are implicated in mediating disturbances in Ca2+-homeostasis in heart failure but there is controversy over the functional effects of FKBP12.6 on RyR2 channel gating. We have therefore investigated the effects of FKBP12.6 and another structurally similar molecule, FKBP12, which is far more abundant in heart, on the gating of single sheep RyR2 channels incorporated into planar phospholipid bilayers and on spontaneous waves of Ca2+-induced Ca2+-release in rat isolated permeabilised cardiac cells. We demonstrate that FKBP12 is a high affinity activator of RyR2, sensitising the channel to cytosolic Ca2+, whereas FKBP12.6 has very low efficacy, but can antagonise the effects of FKBP12. Mathematical modelling of the data shows the importance of the relative concentrations of FKBP12 and FKBP12.6 in determining RyR2 activity. Consistent with the single-channel results, physiological concentrations of FKBP12 (3 µM) increased Ca2+-wave frequency and decreased the SR Ca2+-content in cardiac cells. FKBP12.6, itself, had no effect on wave frequency but antagonised the effects of FKBP12

Oxidative discolouration in whole-head and cut lettuce: biochemical and environmental influences on a complex phenotype and potential breeding strategies to improve shelf-life

Lettuce discolouration is a key post-harvest trait. The major enzyme controlling oxidative discolouration has long been considered to be polyphenol oxidase (PPO) however, levels of PPO and subsequent development of discolouration symptoms have not always correlated. The predominance of a latent state of the enzyme in plant tissues combined with substrate activation and contemporaneous suicide inactivation mechanisms are considered as potential explanations for this phenomenon. Leaf tissue physical properties have been associated with subsequent discolouration and these may be influenced by variation in nutrient availability, especially excess nitrogen and head maturity at harvest. Mild calcium and irrigation stress has also been associated with a reduction in subsequent discolouration, although excess irrigation has been linked to increased discolouration potentially through leaf physical properties. These environmental factors, including high temperature and UV light intensities, often have impacts on levels of phenolic compounds linking the environmental responses to the biochemistry of the PPO pathway. Breeding strategies targeting the PALand PPOpathway biochemistry and environmental response genes are discussed as a more cost-effective method of mitigating oxidative discolouration then either modified atmosphere packaging or post-harvest treatments, although current understanding of the biochemistry means that such programs are likely to be limited in nature and it is likely that they will need to be deployed alongside other methods for the foreseeable future

The outcome of total ankle replacement: a systematic review and meta-analysis

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of modern total ankle replacements (TARs) to determine the survivorship, outcome, complications, radiological findings and range of movement, in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis (OA) of the ankle who undergo this procedure. We used the methodology of the Cochrane Collaboration, which uses risk of bias profiling to assess the quality of papers in favour of a domain-based approach. Continuous outcome scores were pooled across studies using the generic inverse variance method and the random-effects model was used to incorporate clinical and methodological heterogeneity. We included 58 papers (7942 TARs) with an interobserver reliability (Kappa) for selection, performance, attrition, detection and reporting bias of between 0.83 and 0.98. The overall survivorship was 89% at ten years with an annual failure rate of 1.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7 to 1.6). The mean American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society score changed from 40 (95% CI 36 to 43) pre-operatively to 80 (95% CI 76 to 84) at a mean follow-up of 8.2 years (7 to 10) (

A pancreatic islet-specific microRNA regulates insulin secretion.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a growing class of non-coding RNAs that are thought to regulate gene expression by translational repression. Several miRNAs in animals exhibit tissue-specific or developmental-stage-specific expression, indicating that they could play important roles in many biological processes. To study the role of miRNAs in pancreatic endocrine cells we cloned and identified a novel, evolutionarily conserved and islet-specific miRNA (miR-375). Here we show that overexpression of miR-375 suppressed glucose-induced insulin secretion, and conversely, inhibition of endogenous miR-375 function enhanced insulin secretion. The mechanism by which secretion is modified by miR-375 is independent of changes in glucose metabolism or intracellular Ca2+-signalling but correlated with a direct effect on insulin exocytosis. Myotrophin (Mtpn) was predicted to be and validated as a target of miR-375. Inhibition of Mtpn by small interfering (si)RNA mimicked the effects of miR-375 on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and exocytosis. Thus, miR-375 is a regulator of insulin secretion and may thereby constitute a novel pharmacological target for the treatment of diabetes