Empirical models to quantify the nutritive characteristics of annual pastures in south-west Western Australia

The objective of this paper is to quantify the magnitude of the major sources of variation, which affect in vitro digestibility (DMD) and concentrations of neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF), and crude protein (CP) of annual pastures in Mediterranean-type climate zones. Four experiments were conducted in the south-west of Western Australia in 2006–07 and 2007–08, where the supply of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, or sulfur and pasture types were varied. Effects of seasonality, fertiliser application, pasture type, and site were analysed with an auto-regression maximum likelihood procedure. Temperature sum was used to explain the seasonal differences in DMD, CP, NDF, and ADF. Seasonality explained 82, 79, 79, and 62% of the total variation in DMD, NDF, ADF, and CP, respectively, with only an additional 5, 5, 6, and 24% being explained by the combined effects of site/management, fertiliser application, and pasture type.The differences in DMD, NDF, ADF, and CP, between sites, were 2.3–6.0%, 4.6–18.7%, 5.8–8.6%, and 1.5–17.4%, respectively. Pasture types differed by 6.6–9.5%, 9.0–11.4%, 3.1–6.1%, and 5.1–5.2% for DMD, NDF, ADF, and CP, respectively. The differences between sites and pasture types were markedly larger for CP, NDF, and ADF than for DMD. Fertiliser application did not affect nutritive characteristics, with the exception of N application rates on CP. It was concluded that the seasonality model captured nearly all of the temporal variation in DMD, NDF, and ADF but not in CP. The spatial variation in DMD was mostly determined by pasture type. By comparison, NDF and ADF were most strongly affected by grazing management, and CP by the availability of N

Physical interaction between MYCN oncogene and polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) in neuroblastoma: Functional and therapeutic implications

This article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. © 2013 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.CLU (clusterin) is a tumor suppressor gene that we have previously shown to be negatively modulated by the MYCN proto-oncogene, but the mechanism of repression was unclear. Here, we show that MYCN inhibits the expression of CLU by direct interaction with the non-canonical E box sequence CACGCG in the 5′-flanking region. Binding of MYCN to the CLU gene induces bivalent epigenetic marks and recruitment of repressive proteins such as histone deacetylases and Polycomb members. MYCN physically binds in vitro and in vivo to EZH2, a component of the Polycomb repressive complex 2, required to repress CLU. Notably, EZH2 interacts with the Myc box domain 3, a segment of MYC known to be essential for its transforming effects. The expression of CLU can be restored in MYCN-amplified cells by epigenetic drugs with therapeutic results. Importantly, the anticancer effects of the drugs are ablated if CLU expression is blunted by RNA interference. Our study implies that MYC tumorigenesis can be effectively antagonized by epigenetic drugs that interfere with the recruitment of chromatin modifiers at repressive E boxes of tumor suppressor genes such as CLU.SPARKS, The Neuroblastoma Society, a Wellcome Trust grant (to A. S.), and the Italian Association for Cancer Research

European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme - a summary of assessment protocols and decision support tools for use of alien species in aquaculture

The European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme (ENSARS) was developed in response to European 'Council Regulation No. 708/2007 of 11 June 2007 concerning use of alien and locally absent species in aquaculture' to provide protocols for identifying and evaluating the potential risks of using non-native species in aquaculture. ENSARS is modular in structure and adapted from non-native species risk assessment schemes developed by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation and for the UK. Seven of the eight ENSARS modules contain protocols for evaluating the risks of escape, introduction to and establishment in open waters, of any non-native aquatic organism being used (or associated with those used) in aquaculture, that is, transport pathways, rearing facilities, infectious agents, and the potential organism, ecosystem and socio-economic impacts. A concluding module is designed to summarise the risks and consider management options. During the assessments, each question requires the assessor to provide a response and confidence ranking for that response based on expert opinion. Each module can also be used individually, and each requires a specific form of expertise. Therefore, a multidisciplinary assessment team is recommended for its completion

Single-step deposition of hexamethyldisiloxane surface gradient coatings with a high amplitude of water contact angles over a polyethylene foil

One interesting category of nano- and micro-engineered surfaces is surface gradients, which allow the controlled optimization of biointerfaces at a small scale in an extended area length. Plasma coatings offer a large diversity of functionalities at the nanoscale, accompanied by high chemical stability and adhesion on a variety of substrates at ambient temperature. Atmospheric-pressure plasma-assisted deposition could be employed for the generation of surface gradients on thermosensitive materials. In this study, a corona plasma jet is used to deposit polydimethylsiloxane/SiO2-like surface gradients on polyethylene foil by varying the O2 concentration in the discharge during the movement of the plasma source. We obtained, in a single-step approach, gradient coatings along a length of ∼10 cm, with a gradual variation of both chemistry and surface energy

External gestation of Exogone naidina Öersted, 1845 (Polychaeta, Syllidae): Ventral attachment of eggs and embryos

The external gestation of sexually ripe females of the species Exogone naidina (Polychaeta, Syllidae) is described by means of SEM and TEM analysis. The eggs, embryos and juveniles are attached in close vicinity of each parapodial complex in a position immediately below each ventral cirrus and are connected to the female by a cup like structure. The formation of this adhesive disk is linked to secretory cells scattered between dermal cells of ripe female. This adhesive disk is present only in sexually mature animals and is considered as epitokous structure. The evolutive significance of ventral and dorsal attachment found within the Exogoninae is also discussed. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Organizational learning and emotion: constructing collective meaning in support of strategic themes

Missing in the organizational learning literature is an integrative framework that reflects the emotional as well as the cognitive dynamics involved. Here, we take a step in this direction by focusing in depth over time (five years) on a selected organization which manufactures electronic equipment for the office industry. Drawing on personal construct theory, we define organizational learning as the collective re-construal of meaning in the direction of strategically significant themes. We suggest that emotions arise as members reflect on progress or lack of progress in achieving organizational learning. Our evidence suggests that invalidation – where organizational learning fails to correspond with expectations – gives rise to anxiety and frustration, while validation – where organizational learning is aligned with or exceeds expectations – evokes comfort or excitement. Our work aims to capture the key emotions involved as organizational learning proceeds