Protective effects of some grapevine polyphenols against naturally occurring neuronal death

The interest in the biological properties of grapevine polyphenols (PPs) in neuroprotection is continuously growing in the hope of finding translational applications. However, there are several concerns about the specificity of action of these molecules that appear to act non-specifically on the permeability of cellular membranes. Naturally occurring neuronal death (NOND) during cerebellar maturation is a well characterized postnatal event that is very useful to investigate the death and rescue of neurons. We here aimed to establish a baseline comparative study of the potential to counteract NOND of certain grapevine PPs of interest for the oenology. To do so, we tested ex vivo the neuroprotective activity of peonidin- and malvidin-3-O-glucosides, resveratrol, polydatin, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, (+)-taxifolin, and (+)-catechin. The addition of these molecules (50 μM) to organotypic cultures of mouse cerebellum explanted at postnatal day 7, when NOND reaches a physiological peak, resulted in statistically significant (two-tailed Mann–Whitney test—p < 0.001) reductions of the density of dead cells (propidium iodide+ cells/mm2) except for malvidin-3-O-glucoside. The stilbenes were less effective in reducing cell death (to 51–60%) in comparison to flavanols, (+)-taxifolin and quercetin 3-O-glucoside (to 69–72%). Thus, molecules with a -OH group in ortho position (taxifolin, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, (+)-catechin, and peonidin 3-O-glucoside) have a higher capability to limit death of cerebellar neurons. As NOND is apoptotic, we speculate that PPs act by inhibiting executioner caspase 3

Integrating Theory, Practice And Policy The Technical Efficiency And Productivity Of Florida\u27s Circuit Courts

In 1998, Florida voters approved Article V, Revision 7, which changed the funding mechanism of the state circuit court system from a county/state mix to state responsibility. The change was implemented as planned in the 2004/05 fiscal year. Although increased efficiency was a key goal of Revision 7, to date no published studies exist on the impacts of Revision 7 on circuit or system efficiency and/or productivity. This work analyzes Revision 7, integrating the larger debate of increasing judgeships or improving efficiency. The study is a full performance analysis of the Florida circuit courts from 1993 through 2008 that can benchmark the system‟s future efficiency and productivity. In that respect, top performers are identified. The study follows the evolution of court studies from their rational origins to the more recent orientation of open-natural systems. Resource dependency and institutional theory, two open-natural system frameworks, are utilized to predict that Florida‟s circuit courts have become more efficient over the period since the implementation of Revision 7. The efficiency outcomes are expected to be unequal across circuit sizes. Integrating a Florida debate to a larger one that transcends time and culture, productivity changes are expected to be a function of the number of judges that a circuit adds within a given year, controlling for other factors. The results of the study methodologies—data envelopment analysis, Malmquist Productivity Index, hierarchal regression analysis and analysis of covariance—reveal that only 3 of 300 DMU‟s in Florida are technically efficient; the mean IOTA score is .76. The Florida circuits did not improve efficiency and productivity as expected, in fact becoming significantly less efficient over time as a function of Revision 7. Small and medium-sized circuits lost iii efficiency, large circuits showed no change and there was a significant interaction between circuit size and Revision 7 period. Within the system overall, productivity fell by 2.7%, most noticeably in the small and medium-sized circuits. The number of judges a circuit added explained 32.2% of the variance in total factor productivity change. The largest system productivity losses followed both Revision 7 intervention years and the addition of the most judges in a single year. Analysis of covariance revealed that productivity increased only when no judges were added to a circuit, regardless of circuit size or time period (+2.6%). The addition of a single judge reduced average productivity by 8.6%; adding two judges reduced productivity by 10.5% and adding 3 or more judges reduced productivity by 16.2%. As judges were added, productivity declined in circuits of all sizes, but the drop was more pronounced in the small and medium-sized circuits. None of the circuits showed an increase in productivity from 1993 to 2008. Revision 7 has not increased circuit court efficiency or productivity in Florida. It is recommended that efficiency and productivity analyses be included in resource allocation decisions such as adding judgeships. More data on court structures and process are needed. Efficiency and productivity measures show that the current level of circuit court judgeships is sufficient

Mobile Mapping and its Potential for Faculty Collaboration and Undergraduate Student Learning

Undergraduate research is a high impact practice for student learning, but the key is often to match projects with tools that build students’ skills as they learn about a topic. Digital tools now profligate to the point that they are almost overwhelming to the student and teacher alike. These tools, coupled with computing have forged an entirely new field: digital humanities. Our manuscript discusses how one easy to use, student friendly digital tool—ARCGIS’s mobile app, Collector—is used in collaborative undergraduate research. The tool’s usefulness stems from its potential to contribute to the relationship between the discourse on digital humanities with its actual practice in the classroom. The Collector App encourages undergraduate researchers to go beyond the confines of the classroom and into the field to conduct research with one of their favorite tools, their smartphone. The Collector App allows past-present-and future classes of students to intermingle in a digital space that is devoted to creating knowledge for public use. The easy-to-use digital tool facilitates undergraduates in the Humanities and other disciplines to become cognizant of the world immediately around them in a new way while also equipping them with a technical skill that may be applied in other courses as well as in future employment scenarios. In short, the Collector App serves as a place where applied research and the scholarship of discovery intersect. As such, the Collector App contributes to the expansion of the digital humanities into undergraduate education. We present as evidence several different collaborative digital undergraduate projects that span classes and semesters and all involve primary field research through Collector. The Collector-based research projects have encouraged students to build skills while contributing to knowledge in new ways.La recherche de premier cycle est une pratique à fort impact sur l'apprentissage des étudiants, mais la clé est souvent de trouver des outils qui renforcent les compétences des étudiants tout en apprenant sur un sujet donné. Les outils numériques sont maintenant si présents qu'ils sont presque écrasants tant pour les élèves que pour les enseignants. Ces outils, associés à l'informatique, ont forgé un tout nouveau domaine : les sciences humaines numériques. Notre manuscrit explique la façon dont un outil numérique facile à utiliser et convivial pour les étudiants — l'application mobile d'ARCGIS, Collector — est utilisé dans la recherche collaborative dans le premier cycle universitaire. L'utilité de l'outil découle de son potentiel à contribuer à la relation entre le discours sur les sciences humaines numériques et sa pratique réelle en classe. Le Collector App encourage les chercheurs de premier cycle à sortir des limites de la salle de classe et à se rendre sur le terrain pour mener des recherches avec l'un de leurs outils préférés, leur téléphone portable mobile. L'application Collector permet aux anciennes et futures classes d'élèves de se mêler dans un espace numérique dédié à la création de connaissances à usage public. Cet outil numérique facile à utiliser permet aux étudiants de premier cycle en sciences humaines et dans d'autres disciplines de se familiariser avec le monde qui les entoure immédiatement et de façon nouvelle tout en acquérant une compétence technique qui pourra être utilisée dans d'autres cours ainsi que dans de futurs scénarios professionnels. En résumé, l'application Collector sert de lieu d'intersection entre la recherche appliquée et la découverte scientifique. À ce titre, l'application Collector App contribue à l'expansion des sciences humaines numériques dans l'enseignement de premier cycle. Nous présentons comme preuve plusieurs projets de collaboration de premier cycle en numérique qui s'étendent sur plusieurs classes et semestres et qui impliquent tout une recherche primaire sur le terrain par le biais de Collector

Life History Traits of Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 Stranded along Italian Coasts (Cetartiodactyla: Physeteridae)

We investigated the relationship between age and body length, and age at sexual maturity of Physeter macrocephalus individuals stranded along the Italian coast. Our molecular analysis shows that all our samples belong to the C.001.002 haplotype, shared between Atlantic and Mediterranean populations. We show that males attain sexual maturity at 10 years, similar to those from other marine areas. However, considering the same body length class, Mediterranean males are older than Atlantic ones. Our finding of a Mediterranean pregnant female of only 6.5 m in length and an assessed age of 24–26 years is particularly noteworthy, considering that females reach sexual maturity at about 9 years and 9 m of total length in other regions. Comparing our results with the literature data, we highlight the positive correlation between lifespan, adult body length and weight of males from the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. Regardless of whether the relatively small size of Mediterranean specimens is a consequence of an inbreeding depression or an adaptation to less favorable trophic conditions, we recommend to closely monitor this population from a conservation perspective. In fact, its low genetic diversity likely corresponds to a relatively limited ability to respond to environmental changes compared with other populations