Threatened ecosystems of Myanmar. An IUCN Red List of ecosystems assessment. Version 1.0.

[Excerpt:] Myanmar's Red List of Ecosystems is a tool to understand our threats and plan for conservation and sustainable management. Forests constitute the dominant ecosystems in Myanmar, and we are blessed with high forest cover (42.92%) and diversity, with 36 of our 64 ecosystems identified as forest and mangrove. These forests and biodiversity underpin a range of ecosystem services which are central to Myanmar’s sustainable development, supporting human and resource needs, and contributing to a more stable climate. The loss of forests and our biodiversity leads to degradation and deterioration of ecosystem services and threatens Myanmar’s irreplaceable ecological heritage. We often discuss ecosystem services but this study documents Myanmar’s terrestrial ecosystem typology and spatial distribution for the first time. This is one of the first ecosystem red lists developed within ASEAN and this will inform our implementation for decades to come to inform legislation, land-use planning, protected area expansion, monitoring and reporting, and ecosystem management. To sustain our forests and our biodiversity we need to sustainably manage all of these incredible ecosystems

miRNA_targets : a database for miRNA target predictions in coding and non-coding regions of mRNAs

AbstractMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that play a role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in most eukaryotes. They help in fine-tuning gene expression by targeting messenger RNAs (mRNA). The interactions of miRNAs and mRNAs are sequence specific and computational tools have been developed to predict miRNA target sites on mRNAs, but miRNA research has been mainly focused on target sites within 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes. There is a need for an easily accessible repository of genome wide full length mRNA — miRNA target predictions with versatile search capabilities and visualization tools. We have created a web accessible database of miRNA target predictions for human, mouse, cow, chicken, Zebra fish, fruit fly and Caenorhabditis elegans using two different target prediction algorithms, The database has target predictions for miRNA's on 5′ UTRs, coding region and 3′ UTRs of all mRNAs. This database can be freely accessed at http://mamsap.it.deakin.edu.au/mirna_targets/

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

Political transition and emergent forest-conservation issues in Myanmar.

Political and economic transitions have had substantial impacts on forest conservation. Where transitions are underway or anticipated, historical precedent and methods for systematically assessing future trends should be used to anticipate likely threats to forest conservation and design appropriate and prescient policy measures to counteract them. Myanmar is transitioning from an authoritarian, centralized state with a highly regulated economy to a more decentralized and economically liberal democracy and is working to end a long-running civil war. With these transitions in mind, we used a horizon-scanning approach to assess the 40 emerging issues most affecting Myanmar's forests, including internal conflict, land-tenure insecurity, large-scale agricultural development, demise of state timber enterprises, shortfalls in government revenue and capacity, and opening of new deforestation frontiers with new roads, mines, and hydroelectric dams. Averting these threats will require, for example, overhauling governance models, building capacity, improving infrastructure- and energy-project planning, and reforming land-tenure and environmental-protection laws. Although challenges to conservation in Myanmar are daunting, the political transition offers an opportunity for conservationists and researchers to help shape a future that enhances Myanmar's social, economic, and environmental potential while learning and applying lessons from other countries. Our approach and results are relevant to other countries undergoing similar transitions

The Role of B-cells and IgM Antibodies in Parasitemia, Anemia, and VSG Switching in Trypanosoma brucei–Infected Mice

African trypanosomes are extracellular parasitic protozoa, predominantly transmitted by the bite of the haematophagic tsetse fly. The main mechanism considered to mediate parasitemia control in a mammalian host is the continuous interaction between antibodies and the parasite surface, covered by variant-specific surface glycoproteins. Early experimental studies have shown that B-cell responses can be strongly protective but are limited by their VSG-specificity. We have used B-cell (µMT) and IgM-deficient (IgM−/−) mice to investigate the role of B-cells and IgM antibodies in parasitemia control and the in vivo induction of trypanosomiasis-associated anemia. These infection studies revealed that that the initial setting of peak levels of parasitemia in Trypanosoma brucei–infected µMT and IgM−/− mice occurred independent of the presence of B-cells. However, B-cells helped to periodically reduce circulating parasites levels and were required for long term survival, while IgM antibodies played only a limited role in this process. Infection-associated anemia, hypothesized to be mediated by B-cell responses, was induced during infection in µMT mice as well as in IgM−/− mice, and as such occurred independently from the infection-induced host antibody response. Antigenic variation, the main immune evasion mechanism of African trypanosomes, occurred independently from host antibody responses against the parasite's ever-changing antigenic glycoprotein coat. Collectively, these results demonstrated that in murine experimental T. brucei trypanosomiasis, B-cells were crucial for periodic peak parasitemia clearance, whereas parasite-induced IgM antibodies played only a limited role in the outcome of the infection

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Microbiology With Diseases by Taxonomy

xxvii, 778 p. : il.; 30 cm