The supramedullary cells of the teleost Coris julis (L.): A noradrenergic neuronal system

This study, carried out on Coris julis (Labridae), is a contribution to the immunocytochemical characterization of fish supramedullary neurons. The significance of these giant cells has been debated since the beginning of the twentieth century. Our research provides the first evidence for a noradrenergic feature of this neuronal system. The possible role of supramedullary neurons as components of the autonomic nervous system is discussed. Moreover, the present results, taken together with our previous studies, surmise that this the first known case of co-localization of a neuropeptide (gastrin/CCK-like) and noradrenaline in the nervous system of teleosts

Campañas medioambientales contra empresas forestales: ¿Cuál es el objetivo de estas campañas?

Campaigns by environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) can have far reaching consequences in determining the policies of governments and corporations. This paper examines campaigns targeting forestry companies to determine what makes a successful campaign. Over forty ENGOs completed a questionnaire defining what they perceive to constitute a successful campaign. The responses were analysed using Analytical Hierarchy Process. The results showed that campaigns by ENGOs have two main targets: changes in laws and the target group implementing the campaign’s recommendation(s). Achieving these targets, for most, constitute a successful campaign. Subsequently, representatives of seven ENGOs were questioned to attain their perspectives of the results in comparison to campaigns they are conducting against forest enterprises. They supported the results of the questionnaire, but also felt that there are various other factors that need to be considered (e.g. the campaign’s timeframe and the possibility of having hidden targets) that increase the issue’s complexity.Campañas llevadas a cabo por organizaciones no gubernamentales ambientalistas (ONGsA) pueden tener importantes consecuencias a la hora de influenciar las políticas tanto de gobiernos como de corporaciones industriales. Este artículo se centra en el estudio de campañas cuyo blanco son las empresas madereras, analizando que condiciones deben cumplir dichas campañas para poder ser consideradas como exitosas. Para ello, más de cuarenta ONGsA rellenaron un cuestionario en el que se les pedía que indicaran su opinión sobre que define una campaña exitosa. Las respuestas fueron analizadas utilizando un Proceso Analítico Jerárquico (AHP). Los resultados mostraron que las campañas de las ONGsA tienen dos objetivos principales, obtener cambios en las leyes y que la compañía o gobierno objetivo de la campaña cumpla las recomendaciones propuestas. A posteriori, los representantes de siete ONGsA, con campañas ambientales en curso contra empresas madereras, fueron preguntados sobre si los resultados obtenidos a través del análisis AHP estaban en concordancia con las perspectivas para sus campañas ambientales. Como resultado, se obtuvo que si bien sus perspectivas coincidían con los resultados del análisis, existen otros factores a tener en cuenta (por ejemplo el marco temporal de la campaña y la posibilidad de afectar objetivos no explícitamente señalados) que aumentan la complejidad del problema

Penerapan Metode Fuzzy Service Quality (Servqual) untuk Menganalisa Kepuasan Pelayanan Pendidikan pada Jurusan Ilmu Komputer Fakultas Sains dan Teknik Universitas Nusa Cendana

In carrying the service of education, Departmen Of Computer Science Faculty Of Science And Technique University Of Nusa Cendana, trying to give the service that can be contented the students. So far the departmen doesn't know how the assessment of students against the service given. The survey of students statisfaction can be a manner to deliver what they feel and what is the hope of students against the service of education. Fuzzy service quality (servqual) method can be used to analyze the statisfaction of service. The concept of fuzzy is used to help the respondent for giving value that more objective, while the servqual method define the statisfaction of service as how far the difference between the facts and the hope on the service that is received by respondent. This method have five dimention that are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance dan emphaty. The result of service statisfaction analysis in Computer Science Department using the fuzzy method in the academic year 2016/2017 the value is GAP -14.3197, that means the giving service is not statisfy. Based on the result of analysis gived repair recommendation of each dimention that is the value of GAP is smallest negative

Hybrid UWB-Inertial TDoA-based Target Tracking with Concentrated Anchors

In this paper, hybrid radio/inertial mobile target tracking for accurate and smooth path estimation is considered. The proposed tracking approach builds upon an Ultra WideBand (UWB)-based positioning algorithm, based on the Linear Hyperbolic Positioning System (LinHPS), with Time Difference of Arrival (TDoA) processing and anchors concentrated on a single hotspot at the center of the environment where the target moves. First, we design an Adaptive Radio-based Extended Kalman Filter (AREKF), which does not require a priori statistical knowledge of the noise in the target movement model and estimates the measurement noise covariance, at each sampling time, according to a proper LookUp Table (LUT). In order to improve the performance of AREKF, we incorporate inertial data collected from the target and propose three “hybrid” radio/inertial algorithms, denoted as Hybrid Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-aided Radio-based EKF (HIREKF), Hybrid Noisy Control EKF (HNCEKF), and Hybrid Control EKF (HCEKF). Our results on experimentally acquired paths show that the proposed algorithms achieve an average instantaneous position estimation error on the order of a few centimeters. Moreover, the minimum target path length estimation error, obtained with HCEKF, is on the order of 6% and 1% for two paths with lengths equal to approximately 17 m and 46 m, respectively

A protein kinase a-independent pathway controlling aquaporin 2 trafficking as a possible cause for the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis associated with polycystic kidney disease 1 haploinsufficiency.

Renal water reabsorption is controlled by vasopressin (AVP) which binds to V2 receptors resulting in PKA activation, phosphorylation of AQP2 at serine 256 (pS256) and translocation to the plasma membrane. Besides S256, AVP causes dephosphorylation of S261. Recent studies showed that cyclin-dependent kinases can phosphorylate S261 AQP2 peptides in vitro. In an attempt to investigate the possible role of cdks on AQP2 phosphorylation, we identified a new PKA-independent pathway regulating AQP2 trafficking. In ex-vivo kidney slices and MDCK-AQP2 cells, R-roscovitine, a specific cdks inhibitor, increased pS256 and decreased pS261. The changes in AQP2 phosphorylation were paralleled by an increase in cell surface AQP2 expression and osmotic water permeability in the absence of forskolin stimulation. Of note, R-roscovitine didn’t alter cAMP-dependent PKA activity. Because phosphorylation results from the balance between kinase and phosphatase activity, we evaluated the possible contribution of protein phosphatases PP1, PP2A and PP2B. Of these, R-roscovitine treatment specifically reduced PP2A protein expression and activity in MDCK cells. Interestingly, in PKD1+/- mice displaying a syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis with high level of pS256 despite unchanged AVP and cAMP, we found a reduced PP2A expression and activity and reduced pS261. Similarly to what previously found in PKD1+/- mice, R-roscovitine treatment caused a significant decrease in intracellular calcium in MDCK cells. Our data indicate that a reduced activity of PP2A, secondary to reduced intracellular Ca2+ levels, promotes AQP2 trafficking independently of the AVP-PKA axis. This pathway may be relevant for explaining pathological states characterized by inappropriate AVP secretion and positive water balance

A novel human aquaporin-4 splice variant exhibits a dominant-negative activity: a new mechanism to regulate water permeability.

Two major isoforms of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) have been described in human tissue. Here we report the identification and functional analysis of an alternatively spliced transcript of human AQP4, AQP4-Δ4, that lacks exon 4. In transfected cells AQP4-Δ4 is mainly retained in the endoplasmic reticulum and shows no water transport properties. When AQP4-Δ4 is transfected into cells stably expressing functional AQP4, the surface expression of the full-length protein is reduced. Furthermore, the water transport activity of the cotransfectants is diminished in comparison to transfectants expressing only AQP4. The observed down-regulation of both the expression and water channel activity of AQP4 is likely to originate from a dominant-negative effect caused by heterodimerization between AQP4 and AQP4-Δ4, which was detected in coimmunoprecipitation studies. In skeletal muscles, AQP4-Δ4 mRNA expression inversely correlates with the level of AQP4 protein and is physiologically associated with different types of skeletal muscles. The expression of AQP4-Δ4 may represent a new regulatory mechanism through which the cell-surface expression and therefore the activity of AQP4 can be physiologically modulated

Excluding arbuscular mycorrhiza lowers variability in soil respiration but slows down recovery from perturbations

The role of mutualisms in mediating temporal stability in an ecosystem has been debated extensively. Here, we focus on how a ubiquitous mutualism, arbuscular mycorrhiza, influences temporal stability of a key ecosystem process, ecosystem respiration. We discriminated between two forms of temporal stability, temporal variability and resilience, and hypothesized that excluding arbuscular mycorrhiza would be detrimental for both of them. We analyzed a set of 10 parallel manipulation experiments to assess how excluding arbuscular mycorrhiza modulates temporal stability compared to other common experimental factors. We quantified the temporal variability of ecosystem respiration and the resilience to experimental perturbations (i.e., pulses, stresses, and a disturbance) following manipulations of mycorrhizal state. We observed lower temporal variability in the absence of arbuscular mycorrhiza in discord to our main hypothesis. Manipulating arbuscular mycorrhiza had a stronger impact on temporal variability than the pulse (application of urea), the stress (addition of salt), and a disturbance (experimental defoliation) but weaker than excluding primary producers or comparing across different plant species. Resilience to experimental perturbations declined in non‐mycorrhizal microcosms. We present an empirical study on how mutualisms impact temporal stability. Arbuscular mycorrhiza differentially alters temporal variability and resilience, highlighting that generalizing across different forms of temporal stability could be misleading

Use of giant reed (Arundo donax L.) to control soil erosion and improve soil quality in a marginal degraded area

Soil erosion is one of the biggest environmental problems throughout European Union causing considerable soil losses. Vegetation cover provides an important soil protection against runoff and soil erosion. To this aim, unlike annual crops, perennial plants have the advantage of covering soil for a longer time and reducing soil erodibility thanks to SOM increase due to litter effect and to reduction of soil disturbance (no-tillage). Two experiments were carried out in marginal hilly areas (10% slope) of Southern Italy: i) long-term experiment in which it was evaluated the effect of two fertilization doses (N: 100 and 50 kg N ha−1 from urea) on Arundo donax L. biomass production as well as its effect on soil erosion; ii) three-year experiment to evaluate the soil cover capacity of the giant reed by analysing the plant leaf area index (LAI). Results of the two experiments showed a good soil protection of Arundo donax L. that reduced soil losses by 78% as compared to fallow and showed soil erosion reduction not different from permanent meadow thanks to the soil covering during the period with the highest rain erosivity and to the reduction in soil erodibility. The protective effect of Arundo donax L. from rain erosivity was also confirmed by LAI analysis that showed a good soil covering of giant reed in the above mentioned period, even during the initial yield increasing phase following crop transplant. According to biomass yield, from the fifteen year of cultivation in a low fertile inland hilly area of Southern Italy, giant reed was characterized by a yield-decreasing phase that resulted postponed as compared to more fertile environments thus ensuring a longstanding soil protection from soil erosion. In addition, the higher nitrogen fertilization dose (100 kg ha−1 of N) allowed interesting biomass yield as compared to the lower dose (50 kg N ha−1) and kept constant SOC along the year of experimentation due to an improved contribution of leaf fall, root exudates and root turnover to soil. o