Alteration Processes of Alkenones and Related Lipids in Water Columns and Sediments

Alkenones produced by the haptophyte algae are currently being used as indices of sea surface temperature in recent and past ocean environments, but limited information is available concerning the impact of biotic and abiotic processes on the integrity of these long chain lipids. This synthesis provides selected background information on major alteration processes that must be considered before such indices can be used with confidence. A number of processes in the water column and surface sediments have the potential to impact the structural integrity of alkenones and compromise their ability as temperature markers. Processes discussed include the alteration of alkenone structure during early diagenesis, direct biotic and abiotic impacts, and the effect of digestive processes by grazers. Current literature suggests that despite substantial changes in concentration from biological processing, the temperature signal is preserved. For each of these processes, information on the integrity of the alkenone isotopic signature is also needed and limited information available is reviewed. In addition to the alkenones, related lipids including the long chain alkadienes and akyl alkenoates that might serve as ancillary markers are discussed

Report on the Hawaiian Native Claims Second Draft

report on the Hawaiian Native Claims and analysis for compensation or reparations from the United State

Technical pre-analytical effects on the clinical biochemistry of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

Clinical biochemistry has long been utilized in human and veterinary medicine as a vital diagnostic tool, but despite occasional studies showing its usefulness in monitoring health status in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.), it has not yet been widely utilized within the aquaculture industry. This is due, in part, to a lack of an agreed protocol for collection and processing of blood prior to analysis. Moreover, while the analytical phase of clinical biochemistry is well controlled, there is a growing understanding that technical pre-analytical variables can influence analyte concentrations or activities. In addition, post-analytical interpretation of treatment effects is variable in the literature, thus making the true effect of sample treatment hard to evaluate. Therefore, a number of pre-analytical treatments have been investigated to examine their effect on analyte concentrations and activities. In addition, reference ranges for salmon plasma biochemical analytes have been established to inform veterinary practitioners and the aquaculture industry of the importance of clinical biochemistry in health and disease monitoring. Furthermore, a standardized protocol for blood collection has been proposed

Biochemical Composition of Particles and Dissolved Organic Matter Slong an Estuarine Gradient: Sources and Implications for DOM Reactivity

The chemical composition of high molecular weight dissolved organic matter (DOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) was examined along the salinity gradient of the Delaware Estuary. DOM was collected and fractionated by tangential-flow ultrafiltration into 1-30 kDa (HDOM; high molecular weight) and 30 kDa to 0.2 μm (VHDOM; very high molecular weight) and compared to particles collected in parallel. Polysaccharides comprised 12-43% of particulate organic carbon (POC), 30-56% of VHDOM carbon, and 7.5-19% of HDOM carbon. Hydrolyzable amino acids comprised 17-38% of POC, 5.4-12% of VHDOM carbon, and 1.5-4.2% of HDOM carbon. Only 7-43% of dissolved organic nitrogen in VHDOM and HDOM consisted of amino acids, indicating that organic nitrogen is highly modified within the dissolved pool or an unidentified pool of dissolved organic nitrogen exists. The composition of amino acids and distribution of polysaccharides are consistent with enrichment of structural biopolymers from algae and vascular plants within DOM. Proteinaceous matter released during the growth of an axenic diatom culture contains similar amino acid distributions across size fractions as in Delaware Bay samples. The source of organic matter appears to be as important as microbial processing in determining amino acid content and composition of DOM. Shifts in amino acid composition point to contrasting sources and extent of degradation for organic matter along the estuarine gradient and among size fractions. The lower amino acid and carbohydrate content and higher β-alanine content in HDOM suggests that this fraction is more highly degraded relative to POM and VHDOM and provides geochemical evidence in support of the size-reactivity continuum hypothesis. Spatial patterns in reactivity of organic constituents were also evident with more degraded organic matter in the turbid middle estuary and the release of fresh DOM from diatoms in the lower estuary

Human Services Training in Tribal Colleges

Tribal colleges are providing interdisciplinary education and professional training for human services occupations at the undergraduate level. These programs also promote cultural competence as a result of required courses in tribal languages, history, culture and law. The Sinte Gelska University program is described as an example of the role of tribal college education in emphasizing cultural identity using a culture-specific instructional style and teaching method. These programs in tribal colleges will augment the availability of competent service to native Americans

Managing complexity in a distributed digital library

As the capabilities of distributed digital libraries increase, managing organizational and software complexity becomes a key issue. How can collections and indexes be updated without impacting queries currently in progress? How can the system handle several user-interface clients for the same collections? Computer science professors and lectors from the University of Waikato have developed a software structure that successfully manages this complexity in the New Zealand Digital Library. This digital library has been a success in managing organizational and software complexity. The researchers' primary goal has been to minimize the effort required to keep the system operational and yet continue to expand its offerings

Blocking neutrophil integrin activation prevents ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Neutrophil recruitment, mediated by β2 integrins, combats pyogenic infections but also plays a key role in ischemia-reperfusion injury and other inflammatory disorders. Talin induces allosteric rearrangements in integrins that increase affinity for ligands (activation). Talin also links integrins to actin and other proteins that enable formation of adhesions. Structural studies have identified a talin1 mutant (L325R) that perturbs activation without impairing talin's capacity to link integrins to actin and other proteins. Here, we found that mice engineered to express only talin1(L325R) in myeloid cells were protected from renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Dissection of neutrophil function in vitro and in vivo revealed that talin1(L325R) neutrophils had markedly impaired chemokine-induced, β2 integrin-mediated arrest, spreading, and migration. Surprisingly, talin1(L325R) neutrophils exhibited normal selectin-induced, β2 integrin-mediated slow rolling, in sharp contrast to the defective slow rolling of neutrophils lacking talin1 or expressing a talin1 mutant (W359A) that blocks talin interaction with integrins. These studies reveal the importance of talin-mediated activation of integrins for renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. They further show that neutrophil arrest requires talin recruitment to and activation of integrins. However, although neutrophil slow rolling requires talin recruitment to integrins, talin-mediated integrin activation is dispensable

Alternative Data Reduction Procedures for UVES: Wavelength Calibration and Spectrum Addition

This paper addresses alternative procedures to the ESO supplied pipeline procedures for the reduction of UVES spectra of two quasar spectra to determine the value of the fundamental constant mu = Mp/Me at early times in the universe. The procedures utilize intermediate product images and spectra produced by the pipeline with alternative wavelength calibration and spectrum addition methods. Spectroscopic studies that require extreme wavelength precision need customized wavelength calibration procedures beyond that usually supplied by the standard data reduction pipelines. An example of such studies is the measurement of the values of the fundamental constants at early times in the universe. This article describes a wavelength calibration procedure for the UV-Visual Echelle Spectrometer on the Very Large Telescope, however, it can be extended to other spectrometers as well. The procedure described here provides relative wavelength precision of better than 3E-7 for the long-slit Thorium-Argon calibration lamp exposures. The gain in precision over the pipeline wavelength calibration is almost entirely due to a more exclusive selection of Th/Ar calibration lines.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Astronom

Use of Extractable Lipofuscin for Age Determination of Blue Crab Callinectes Sapidus

The blue crab Callinectes sapidus is an economically and ecologically important species in many temperate estuaries, yet stock assessments have been limited to length-based methods for demographic analyses. We evaluated the potential of age pigments (lipofuscins) sequestered in neural tissue of eye-stalks and brains to estimate the age of blue crabs collected from Chesapeake Bay and Chincoteague Bay. The rate of lipofuscin accumulation was determined using crabs of known age reared in the laboratory. Age pigments were extracted from neural tissues (eye-stalk or brain), quantified, and normalized to protein content to allow comparisons across tissue types and crab sizes. Field-collected blue crabs (35 to 185 mm carapace width) contained highly variable levels of age pigments (coefficient of variation = 58 %). Lipofuscin level was significantly related to carapace width, but not significantly different between gender or sampling location. In juveniles (40 to 70 mm carapace width) reared for 6 mo, the age pigments showed no significant change during the rapid summer growth period, but significantly increased during fall (after 3 mo). Lipofuscin contents in known-age reared crabs were positively related to chronological age. Modal analysis of lipofuscin for field-collected adult males provided separation of multiple modes, whereas carapace width showed only a single broad mode. These results confirm the potential use of lipofuscin for age estimation of blue crabs