Understanding Antarctica - 50 years of British Scientific Monitoring (1959-2009)

Science has always been at the centre of human endeavour in Antarctica. It is just over 50 years since the International Geophysical Year (1957-58) established many of the long-term research and monitoring programmes now undertaken there. On the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, and on completion of International Polar Year (2007-08), it is timely to reflect on the importance of Antarctic monitoring and look to its future. Over the past 50 years, long-term environmental monitoring by the British Antarctic Survey, part of the Natural Environment Research Council, and UK universities has resulted in many important discoveries, such as the hole in the ozone layer and the rapid melting of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. Research on areas such as climate change and ice-sheet-linked sea-level rise clearly demonstrate the global importance of Antarctic science. As an active collaborator working with scientists from other Antarctic Treaty nations, the UK has achieved more than would have been possible working alone. It is essential to continue to monitor the Antarctic environment, parts of which are warming faster than anywhere else on the planet. There are also areas of science about which we have little understanding and which require new long-term research. These include surveying the deep sea, understanding the causes and effects of ocean acidification in the Southern Ocean and predicting the future of Antarctica’s ice sheets, which play a key role in determining global sea level. This publication presents examples of discoveries by UK scientists that have resulted from long-term environmental monitoring

CoopeTárcoles, Costa Rica. Equator Initiative Case Study Series

The artisanal fishers of the community of Tárcoles, located in the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific coast of North America (Central America)-Costa Rica; faced declining fish stocks due to a combination of overharvesting by commercial shrimp boats and unsustainable local fishing practices. At the same time, development of the tourism sector along the coast threatened to restrict access to the shore and to marginalize their work. The local fishing cooperative Coope Tárcoles R.L. was founded in 1985 to confront these twin threats. At the forefront of these efforts has been the development of fishing bylaws that stress sustainable practices, enshrined in the community's 'Code of Responsible Fishing'. In partnership with CoopeSolidar R.L., the initiative launched a sustainable and community-based ecotourism venture in 2007 to provide an alternative source of income for local residents. In 2009, meanwhile, the group was successful in gaining approval of a community-managed marine area

Chromatin \u27programming\u27 by sequence - is there more to the nucleosome code than %GC

The role of genomic sequence in directing the packaging of eukaryotic genomes into chromatin has been the subject of considerable recent debate. A new paper from Tillo and Hughes shows that the intrinsic thermodynamic preference of a given sequence in the yeast genome for the histone octamer can largely be captured with a simple model, and in fact is mostly explained by %GC. Thus, the rules for predicting nucleosome occupancy from genomic sequence are much less complicated than has been claimed

Comparative Genomics Reveals Chd1 as a Determinant of Nucleosome Spacing in Vivo

Packaging of genomic DNA into nucleosomes is nearly universally conserved in eukaryotes, and many features of the nucleosome landscape are quite conserved. Nonetheless, quantitative aspects of nucleosome packaging differ between species because, for example, the average length of linker DNA between nucleosomes can differ significantly even between closely related species. We recently showed that the difference in nucleosome spacing between two Hemiascomycete species-Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis-is established by trans-acting factors rather than being encoded in cis in the DNA sequence. Here, we generated several S. cerevisiae strains in which endogenous copies of candidate nucleosome spacing factors are deleted and replaced with the orthologous factors from K. lactis. We find no change in nucleosome spacing in such strains in which H1 or Isw1 complexes are swapped. In contrast, the K. lactis gene encoding the ATP-dependent remodeler Chd1 was found to direct longer internucleosomal spacing in S. cerevisiae, establishing that this remodeler is partially responsible for the relatively long internucleosomal spacing observed in K. lactis. By analyzing several chimeric proteins, we find that sequence differences that contribute to the spacing activity of this remodeler are dispersed throughout the coding sequence, but that the strongest spacing effect is linked to the understudied N-terminal end of Chd1. Taken together, our data find a role for sequence evolution of a chromatin remodeler in establishing quantitative aspects of the chromatin landscape in a species-specific manner

Real-time Assessment of Right and Left Ventricular Volumes and Function in Children Using High Spatiotemporal Resolution Spiral bSSFP with Compressed Sensing

Background: Real-time (RT) assessment of ventricular volumes and function enables data acquisition during free-breathing. However, in children the requirement for high spatiotemporal resolution requires accelerated imaging techniques. In this study, we implemented a novel RT bSSFP spiral sequence reconstructed using Compressed Sensing (CS) and validated it against the breath-hold (BH) reference standard for assessment of ventricular volumes in children with heart disease. Methods: Data was acquired in 60 children. Qualitative image scoring and evaluation of ventricular volumes was performed by 3 clinical cardiac MR specialists. 30 cases were reassessed for intra-observer variability, and the other 30 cases for inter-observer variability. Results: Spiral RT images were of good quality, however qualitative scores reflected more residual artefact than standard BH images and slightly lower edge definition. Quantification of Left Ventricular (LV) and Right Ventricular (RV) metrics showed excellent correlation between the techniques with narrow limits of agreement. However, we observed small but statistically significant overestimation of LV end-diastolic volume, underestimation of LV end-systolic volume, as well as a small overestimation of RV stroke volume and ejection fraction using the RT imaging technique. No difference in inter-observer or intra-observer variability were observed between the BH and RT sequences. Conclusions: Real-time bSSFP imaging using spiral trajectories combined with a compressed sensing reconstruction is feasible. The main benefit is that it can be acquired during free breathing. However, another important secondary benefit is that a whole ventricular stack can be acquired in ~20 seconds, as opposed to ~6 minutes for standard BH imaging. Thus, this technique holds the potential to significantly shorten MR scan times in children

Tyrosine 263 in Cyanobacterial Phytochrome Cph1 Optimizes Photochemistry at the prelumi-R→lumi-R Step

We report a low-temperature fluorescence spectroscopy study of the PAS-GAF-PHY sensory module of Cph1 phytochrome, its Y263F mutant (both with known 3D structures) as well as Y263H and Y263S to connect their photochemical parameters with intramolecular interactions. None of the holoproteins showed photochemical activity at low temperature, and the activation barriers for the Pr→lumi-R photoreaction (2.5-3.1 kJ mol(-1)) and fluorescence quantum yields (0.29-0.42) were similar. The effect of the mutations on Pr→Pfr photoconversion efficiency (ΦPr→Pfr) was observed primarily at the prelumi-R S0 bifurcation point corresponding to the conical intersection of the energy surfaces at which the molecule relaxes to form lumi-R or Pr, lowering ΦPr→Pfr from 0.13 in the wild type to 0.05-0.07 in the mutants. We suggest that the Ea activation barrier in the Pr* S1 excited state might correspond to the D-ring (C19) carbonyl - H290 hydrogen bond or possibly to the hindrance caused by the C13(1) /C17(1) methyl groups of the C and D rings. The critical role of the tyrosine hydroxyl group can be at the prelumi-R bifurcation point to optimize the yield of the photoprocess and energy storage in the form of lumi-R for subsequent rearrangement processes culminating in Pfr formation

Islamic Moral Values and End-of-Life Care: Examining the Intersection of Religious Beliefs and the U.S. Health Care System

End-of-life care is a central aspect of health care in the United States. Given the country’s diverse population, it is crucial to understand different religious perspectives on policies, standards of care, and medical practices. Religious beliefs impact the ways that end-of-life care is perceived and administered to patients of different faiths. This article examines Islamic approaches to end-of-life care within the context of the US health care system. Drawing on data collected through a literature review and interviews with Muslim physicians, imams, and scholars with extensive knowledge of Islam, four areas are identified in which end-of-life recommendations in the US medical care system parallel Islamic moral values: care for aging parents, time spent in the hospital, use of medication, and the preparation of advance directives. We argue that individuals’ Islamic beliefs and the initiatives and policies for end-of-life care in the United States are not oppositional and provide insight into how our Muslim participants turn theological perspectives and ethics into health practices