Factors Affecting European Farmers’Participation in Biodiversity Policies

This article reports the major findings from an interdisciplinary research project that synthesises key insights into farmers’ willingness and ability to co-operate with biodiversity policies. The results of the study are based on an assessment of about 160 publications and research reports from six EU member states and from international comparative research.We developed a conceptual framework to systematically review the existent literature relevant for our purposes. This framework provides a common structure for analysing farmers’ perspectives regarding the introduction into farming practices of measures relevant to biodiversity. The analysis is coupled and contrasted with a survey of experts. The results presented above suggest that it is important to view support for practices oriented towards biodiversity protection not in a static sense – as a situation determined by one or several influencing factors – but rather as a process marked by interaction. Financial compensation and incentives function as a necessary, though clearly not sufficient condition in this process

A Deviation from the Bipolar-Tetrapolar Mating Paradigm in an Early Diverged Basidiomycete

In fungi, sexual identity is determined by specialized genomic regions called MAT loci which are the equivalent to sex chromosomes in some animals and plants. Usually, only two sexes or mating types exist, which are determined by two alternate sets of genes (or alleles) at the MAT locus (bipolar system). However, in the phylum Basidiomycota, a unique tetrapolar system emerged in which four different mating types are generated per meiosis. This occurs because two functionally distinct molecular recognition systems, each encoded by one MAT region, constrain the selection of sexual partners. Heterozygosity at both MAT regions is a pre-requisite for mating in both bipolar and tetrapolar basidiomycetes. Tetrapolar mating behaviour results from the absence of genetic linkage between the two regions bringing forth up to thousands of mating types. The subphylum Pucciniomycotina, an early diverged lineage of basidiomycetes encompassing important plant pathogens such as the rusts and saprobes like Rhodosporidium and Sporidiobolus, has been so far poorly explored concerning the content and organization of MAT loci. Here we show that the red yeast Sporidiobolus salmonicolor has a mating system unlike any previously described because occasional disruptions of the genetic cohesion of the bipolar MAT locus originate new mating types. We confirmed that mating is normally bipolar and that heterozygosity at both MAT regions is required for mating. However, a laboratory cross showed that meiotic recombination may occur within the bipolar MAT locus, explaining tetrapolar features like increased allele number and evolution rates of some MAT genes. This pseudo-bipolar system deviates from the classical bipolar–tetrapolar paradigm and, to our knowledge, has never been observed before. We propose a model for MAT evolution in the Basidiomycota in which the pseudo-bipolar system may represent a hitherto unforeseen gradual form of transition from an ancestral tetrapolar system to bipolarity

NMDA and Dopamine Converge on the NMDA-Receptor to Induce ERK Activation and Synaptic Depression in Mature Hippocampus

The formation of enduring internal representation of sensory information demands, in many cases, convergence in time and space of two different stimuli. The first conveys the sensory input, mediated via fast neurotransmission. The second conveys the meaning of the input, hypothesized to be mediated via slow neurotransmission. We tested the biochemical conditions and feasibility for fast (NMDA) and slow (dopamine) neurotransmission to converge on the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase signaling pathways, crucial in several forms of synaptic plasticity, and recorded its effects upon synaptic transmission. We detected differing kinetics of ERK2 activation and synaptic strength changes in the CA1 for low and high doses of neurotransmitters in hippocampal slices. Moreover, when weak fast and slow inputs are given together, they converge on ERK2, but not on p38 or JNK, and induce strong short-term synaptic depression. Surprisingly, pharmacological analysis revealed that a probable site of such convergence is the NMDA receptor itself, suggesting it serves as a detector and integrator of fast and slow neurotransmission in the mature mammalian brain, as revealed by ERK2 activation and synaptic function

The Role of Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase in LP-BPM5 Murine Retroviral Disease Progression

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immunomodulatory intracellular enzyme involved in tryptophan degradation. IDO is induced during cancer and microbial infections by cytokines, ligation of co-stimulatory molecules and/or activation of pattern recognition receptors, ultimately leading to modulation of the immune response. LP-BM5 murine retroviral infection induces murine AIDS (MAIDS), which is characterized by profound and broad immunosuppression of T- and B-cell responses. Our lab has previously described multiple mechanisms regulating the development of immunodeficiency of LP-BM5-induced disease, including Programmed Death 1 (PD-1), IL-10, and T-regulatory (Treg) cells. Immunosuppressive roles of IDO have been demonstrated in other retroviral models, suggesting a possible role for IDO during LP-BM5-induced retroviral disease progression and/or development of viral load

Vaccinia Virus Protein C6 Is a Virulence Factor that Binds TBK-1 Adaptor Proteins and Inhibits Activation of IRF3 and IRF7

Recognition of viruses by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) causes interferon-β (IFN-β) induction, a key event in the anti-viral innate immune response, and also a target of viral immune evasion. Here the vaccinia virus (VACV) protein C6 is identified as an inhibitor of PRR-induced IFN-β expression by a functional screen of select VACV open reading frames expressed individually in mammalian cells. C6 is a member of a family of Bcl-2-like poxvirus proteins, many of which have been shown to inhibit innate immune signalling pathways. PRRs activate both NF-κB and IFN regulatory factors (IRFs) to activate the IFN-β promoter induction. Data presented here show that C6 inhibits IRF3 activation and translocation into the nucleus, but does not inhibit NF-κB activation. C6 inhibits IRF3 and IRF7 activation downstream of the kinases TANK binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and IκB kinase-ε (IKKε), which phosphorylate and activate these IRFs. However, C6 does not inhibit TBK1- and IKKε-independent IRF7 activation or the induction of promoters by constitutively active forms of IRF3 or IRF7, indicating that C6 acts at the level of the TBK1/IKKε complex. Consistent with this notion, C6 immunoprecipitated with the TBK1 complex scaffold proteins TANK, SINTBAD and NAP1. C6 is expressed early during infection and is present in both nucleus and cytoplasm. Mutant viruses in which the C6L gene is deleted, or mutated so that the C6 protein is not expressed, replicated normally in cell culture but were attenuated in two in vivo models of infection compared to wild type and revertant controls. Thus C6 contributes to VACV virulence and might do so via the inhibition of PRR-induced activation of IRF3 and IRF7

Determination of nutrient salts by automatic methods both in seawater and brackish water: the phosphate blank

9 páginas, 2 tablas, 2 figurasThe main inconvenience in determining nutrients in seawater by automatic methods is simply solved: the preparation of a suitable blank which corrects the effect of the refractive index change on the recorded signal. Two procedures are proposed, one physical (a simple equation to estimate the effect) and the other chemical (removal of the dissolved phosphorus with ferric hydroxide).Support for this work came from CICYT (MAR88-0245 project) and Conselleria de Pesca de la Xunta de GaliciaPeer reviewe

Moralizing biology: the appeal and limits of the new compassionate view of nature

In recent years, a proliferation of books about empathy, cooperation and pro-social behaviors (Brooks, 2011a) has significantly influenced the discourse of the life-sciences and reversed consolidated views of nature as a place only for competition and aggression. In this article I describe the recent contribution of three disciplines – moral psychology (Jonathan Haidt), primatology (Frans de Waal) and the neuroscience of morality – to the present transformation of biology and evolution into direct sources of moral phenomena, a process here named the ‘moralization of biology’. I conclude by addressing the ambivalent status of this constellation of authors, for whom today ‘morality comes naturally’: I explore both the attractiveness of their message, and the problematic epistemological assumptions of their research-programs in the light of new discoveries in developmental and molecular biology

Brazilian Consensus on Photoprotection

Brazil is a country of continental dimensions with a large heterogeneity of climates and massive mixing of the population. Almost the entire national territory is located between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, and the Earth axial tilt to the south certainly makes Brazil one of the countries of the world with greater extent of land in proximity to the sun. The Brazilian coastline, where most of its population lives, is more than 8,500 km long. Due to geographic characteristics and cultural trends, Brazilians are among the peoples with the highest annual exposure to the sun. Epidemiological data show a continuing increase in the incidence of nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancers. Photoprotection can be understood as a set of measures aimed at reducing sun exposure and at preventing the development of acute and chronic actinic damage. Due to the peculiarities of Brazilian territory and culture, it would not be advisable to replicate the concepts of photoprotection from other developed countries, places with completely different climates and populations. Thus the Brazilian Society of Dermatology has developed the Brazilian Consensus on Photoprotection, the first official document on photoprotection developed in Brazil for Brazilians, with recommendations on matters involving photoprotection