CircumArctic Collaboration to Monitor Caribou and Wild Reindeer

 Caribou and wild reindeer (Rangifer) are integral to ecology and Aboriginal lives and culture in circumArctic regions. Since reaching peak size in the 1990s, most herds have been declining, while their ranges are changing as the footprint of people’s activities expands and the climate warms. More than ever, then, people need to share information and experience on Rangifer management and conservation. In recognition of this need for a circumArctic approach to monitoring, the CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment (CARMA) network, a relatively informal group of scientists, community representatives, and management agencies, was established in 2004. CARMA emphasizes collaborating and sharing information on migratory tundra Rangifer and developing tools to deal with the impacts of global changes on these herds.   Le caribou et le renne sauvage (Rangifer) jouent un rôle intégrant dans la vie et la culture autochtones des régions circumarctiques ainsi que dans l’écologie de ces régions. Depuis que la taille des troupeaux a atteint son summum dans les années 1990, la taille de la plupart des troupeaux diminue et leur parcours naturel se modifie en raison de l’expansion des activités humaines et du réchauffement climatique. C’est pourquoi plus que jamais auparavant, il est important de partager information et expérience au sujet de la gestion et de la conservation du Rangifer. Dans cette optique, un réseau de surveillance circumarctique a été établi en 2004, soit le réseau CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment (CARMA), dirigé par un groupe relativement informel de scientifiques, de représentants de la communauté et d’organismes de gestion. Le réseau CARMA met l’accent sur la collaboration et le partage d’information concernant le Rangifer migrateur de la toundra ainsi que sur la mise au point d’outils pouvant faire face aux incidences des changements planétaires qui ont un effet sur ces troupeaux

RNA Sequencing in Hypoxia-Adapted T98G Glioblastoma Cells Provides Supportive Evidence for IRE1 as a Potential Therapeutic Target.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer with a median survival time of 14.6 months after diagnosis. GBM cells have altered metabolism and exhibit the Warburg effect, preferentially producing lactate under aerobic conditions. After standard-of-care treatment for GBM, there is an almost 100% recurrence rate. Hypoxia-adapted, treatment-resistant GBM stem-like cells are thought to drive this high recurrence rate. We used human T98G GBM cells as a model to identify differential gene expression induced by hypoxia and to search for potential therapeutic targets of hypoxia adapted GBM cells. RNA sequencing (RNAseq) and bioinformatics were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and cellular pathways affected by hypoxia. We also examined expression of lactate dehydrogenase

Seasonal concentrations of cesium-137 in rumen content, skeletal muscles and feces of caribou from the Porcupine herd: lichen ingestion rates and implications for human consumption

The Porcupine caribou herd was monitored for cesium-137 during 1987 to address human health concerns over potential meat contamination by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident, and to determine lichen intake rates based on body burdens of radiocesium. A total of 36 caribou were collected from northwestern Alaska and the Yukon Territories in March, June, September, and November. Mean radiocesium concentrations in skeletal muscle peaked in March at 133 Bq/kg fresh weight. This value should not prove hazardous to human health. Radiocesium concentrations in skeletal muscle (wet weight) ranged from approximately 22 to 50% of radiocesium concentrations in rumen contents (dry weight), and from approximately 15 to 37% of radiocesium concentrations in feces (dry weight). Radioactivity in feces was significantly correlated with radioactivity in rumen contents. Computer simulations relating lichen intake rates to radiocesium body burdens are presented for 3 scenarios: (1) when seasonal intakes were adjusted to provide the optimum fit between simulated and observed radiocesium body burdens (2) when seasonal intakes were based on empirical data, and (3) when seasonal intakes were adjusted to yield a "conventional" radiocesium curve of a slow fall build-up prior to a late winter plateau

Oil and the Porcupine Caribou Herd — Can we quantify the impacts?

We report on a number of ongoing studies and discuss what projects are in place to further refine and test relationships

Pregnancy rate as an indicator of nutritional status in Rangifer. implications of lactational infertility

Monitofing pregnancy rates to detect changes in nutrition is best accomplished by sampling lactating females because they will be more responsive to changes in nutrienr availability: nutrition influences pregnancy fate of lactating caribou both through autumn body condition and lactational infertility

CTCF genomic binding sites in Drosophila and the organisation of the bithorax complex.

Insulator or enhancer-blocking elements are proposed to play an important role in the regulation of transcription by preventing inappropriate enhancer/promoter interaction. The zinc-finger protein CTCF is well studied in vertebrates as an enhancer blocking factor, but Drosophila CTCF has only been characterised recently. To date only one endogenous binding location for CTCF has been identified in the Drosophila genome, the Fab-8 insulator in the Abdominal-B locus in the Bithorax complex (BX-C). We carried out chromatin immunopurification coupled with genomic microarray analysis to identify CTCF binding sites within representative regions of the Drosophila genome, including the 3-Mb Adh region, the BX-C, and the Antennapedia complex. Location of in vivo CTCF binding within these regions enabled us to construct a robust CTCF binding-site consensus sequence. CTCF binding sites identified in the BX-C map precisely to the known insulator elements Mcp, Fab-6, and Fab-8. Other CTCF binding sites correlate with boundaries of regulatory domains allowing us to locate three additional presumptive insulator elements; "Fab-2," "Fab-3," and "Fab-4." With the exception of Fab-7, our data indicate that CTCF is directly associated with all known or predicted insulators in the BX-C, suggesting that the functioning of these insulators involves a common CTCF-dependent mechanism. Comparison of the locations of the CTCF sites with characterised Polycomb target sites and histone modification provides support for the domain model of BX-C regulation