Using voluntary agreements to exclude stock from waterways: an evaluation of project success and persistence

Agriculture is one of the major drivers of ecological degradation in river basins. Excluding stock (cows and sheep) from grazing riverbanks and accessing rivers is one of the most common river restoration activities. To be effective, stock exclusion must be maintained indefinitely. In Australia, and elsewhere, stock exclusion projects are most commonly implemented by establishing voluntary agreements between landholders and government agencies. This study examined the extent to which landholders in 3 catchment management authority (CMA) regions in southeast Australia maintain stock exclusion from waterways, whether vegetation on riverbanks recovered, and the effectiveness of assessment methods. It was found that nearly half of landholders continue to graze stock on the riverbank. There has been some success with improving the condition of riparian vegetation. Sites with full stock exclusion contain the pre-European abundance of juvenile trees, and sites with continued grazing contain significantly lower abundance of juvenile trees. Establishing the effectiveness of management was made more difficult by the inconsistent methods used by the different CMAs. Stock exclusion projects implemented with voluntary agreements have the potential to succeed if oversight is improved between government agencies and CMAs and between CMAs and landholders. Projects will be easier to assess if regional authorities use consistent methods of assessment. Voluntary agreements are only suitable for environmental management if projects are monitored, maintained, and assessed appropriately

Geldanamycin Derivative Ameliorates High Fat Diet-Induced Renal Failure in Diabetes

Diabetic nephropathy is a serious complication of longstanding diabetes and its pathogenesis remains unclear. Oxidative stress may play a critical role in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic nephropathy. Our previous studies have demonstrated that polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) induce peroxynitrite generation in primary human kidney mesangial cells and heat shock protein 90β1 (hsp90β1) is indispensable for the PUFA action. Here we investigated the effects of high fat diet (HFD) on kidney function and structure of db/db mice, a widely used rodent model of type 2 diabetes. Our results indicated that HFD dramatically increased the 24 h-urine output and worsened albuminuria in db/db mice. Discontinuation of HFD reversed the exacerbated albuminuria but not the increased urine output. Prolonged HFD feeding resulted in early death of db/db mice, which was associated with oliguria and anuria. Treatment with the geldanamycin derivative, 17-(dimethylaminoehtylamino)-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-DMAG), an hsp90 inhibitor, preserved kidney function, and ameliorated glomerular and tubular damage by HFD. 17-DMAG also significantly extended survival of the animals and protected them from the high mortality associated with renal failure. The benefit effect of 17-DMAG on renal function and structure was associated with a decreased level of kidney nitrotyrosine and a diminished kidney mitochondrial Ca2+ efflux in HFD-fed db/db mice. These results suggest that hsp90β1 is a potential target for the treatment of nephropathy and renal failure in diabetes

New Insights into the Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus Host Interaction Mechanisms

Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus (S. gallolyticus) were classically clustered into the Lancefield Group D streptococci and despite their taxonomic reclassification still share a similar genetic content and environment. Both species are considered as opportunistic pathogens. E. faecium is often associated with nosocomial bacteraemia, and S. gallolyticus is sporadically found in endocarditis of colorectal cancer patients. In both cases, the source of infection is commonly endogenous with a translocation process that launches through the intestinal barrier. To get new insights into the pathological processes preceding infection development of both organisms, we used an in vitro model with Caco-2 cells to study and compare the adhesion, invasion and translocation inherent abilities of 6 E. faecium and 4 S. gallolyticus well-characterized isolates. Additionally, biofilm formation on polystyrene, collagen I and IV was also explored. Overall results showed that E. faecium translocated more efficiently than S. gallolyticus, inducing a destabilization of the intestinal monolayer. Isolates Efm106, Efm121 and Efm113 (p < .001 compared to Ef222) exhibited the higher translocation ability and were able to adhere 2-3 times higher than S. gallolyticus isolates. Both species preferred the collagen IV coated surfaces to form biofilm but the S. gallolyticus structures were more compact (p = .01). These results may support a relationship between biofilm formation and vegetation establishment in S. gallolyticus endocarditis, whereas the high translocation ability of E. faecium high-risk clones might partially explain the increasing number of bacteraemia