Effect of nitrogen on safflower physiology and productivity

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is an oil-crop suitable for semi-arid agriculture, but its physiological response to agronomic inputs has yet to be fully evaluated. The effect of fertiliser on the physiology and production of safflower grown in pots filled with standard grade perlite inside a semi-controlled glass house was studied. Plants were initially irrigated with 20-100 ml standard hydroponic solution and then one month after germination plants were irrigated using 50-200 ml complete Hoagland’s solution, supplemented with one of eight levels of nitrogen (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175 kg N ha-1) in the form of ammonium nitrate. Elevating nitrogen to 100 kg N ha-1 significantly increased the assimilation rate by about 42 %, transpiration rate by 32%, stomatal conductance by 52% and LAI by 42% compared with the control. The above ground dry weight, seed yield and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) increased incrementally with increases in nitrogen rate. Above ground dry weight increased by an average of 42%, seed yield by 76% and WUE by 41% at harvest compared with the control. This study clearly demonstrates how nitrogen fertilisation can affect physiology of safflower leading to improvement in seed yield

Comparison of on-line and off-line methods to quantify reactive oxygen species (ROS) in atmospheric aerosols

Atmospheric aerosol particle concentrations have been linked with a wide range of pulmonary and cardio-vascular diseases but the particle properties responsible for these negative health effects are largely unknown. It is often speculated that reactive oxygen species (ROS) present in atmospheric particles lead to oxidative stress in, and ultimately disease of, the human lung. The quantification of ROS is highly challenging because some ROS components such as radicals are highly reactive and therefore short-lived. Thus, fast analysis methods are likely advantageous over methods with a long delay between aerosol sampling and ROS analysis. We present for the first time a detailed comparison of conventional off-line and fast on-line methods to quantify ROS in organic aerosols. For this comparison a new and fast on-line instrument was built and characterized to quantify ROS in aerosol particles with high sensitivity and a limit of detection of 4 nmol H2O2 equivalents per m3 air. ROS concentrations are measured with a time resolution of approximately 15 min, which allows the tracking of fast changing atmospheric conditions. The comparison of the off-line and on-line method shows that, in oxidized organic model aerosol particles, the majority of ROS have a very short lifetime of a few minutes whereas a small fraction is stable for a day or longer. This indicates that off-line techniques, where there is often a delay of hours to days between particle collection and ROS analysis, may severely underestimate true ROS concentrations and that fast on-line techniques are necessary for a reliable ROS quantification in atmospheric aerosol particles and a meaningful correlation with health outcomes.This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/H52449X/1), the Velux Stiftung (Project 593) and an ERC starting grant (grant no. 279405).This is the accepted manuscript version. The final published version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231014002787

Contaminants in Commercial Preparations of ‘Purified’ Small Leucine-Rich Proteoglycans May Distort Mechanistic Studies

This paper reports the perplexing results that came about because of seriously impure commercially available reagents. Commercial reagents and chemicals are routinely ordered by scientists and are expected to have been rigorously assessed for their purity. Unfortunately, we found this assumption to be risky. Extensive work was carried out within our laboratory using commercially-sourced preparations of the small leucine-rich proteoglycans, decorin and biglycan, to investigate their influence on nerve cell growth. Unusual results compelled us to analyse the composition and purity of both preparations of these proteoglycans using both mass spectrometry and Western blotting, with and without various enzymatic deglycosylations. Commercial ‘decorin’ and ‘biglycan’ were found to contain a mixture of proteoglycans including not only both decorin and biglycan but also fibromodulin and aggrecan. The unexpected effects of ‘decorin’ and ‘biglycan’ on nerve cell growth could be explained by these impurities. Decorin and biglycan contain either chondroitin or dermatan sulphate glycosaminoglycan chains whilst fibromodulin only contains keratan sulphate and the large (>2,500 kDa), highly glycosylated aggrecan, contains both keratan and chondroitin sulphate. The different structure, molecular weights and composition of these impurities significantly affected our work and any conclusions that could be made. These findings beg the question as to whether scientists need to verify the purity of each commercially obtained reagent used in their experiments. The implications of these findings are vast, since the effects of these impurities may already have led to inaccurate conclusions and reports in the literature with concomitant loss of researchers’ funds and time

Implications of transformation to irregular silviculture for woodland birds: A stand wise comparison in an English broadleaf woodland

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. Woodland birds in Britain have undergone significant long term declines since the late 1960s, associated in particular with changes in woodland structure in general, and loss of early successional vegetation. Irregular, continuous canopy broadleaf management is a form of selective logging, very recently adopted in UK that produces woodlands with open canopies and substantial mid- and understorey growth. We examined spring and late winter bird densities, estimated using distance sampling, at 310 points in irregular, transitional (that being managed towards irregular), limited intervention, and coppice stands within a large working broad-leaf woodland in lowland southern Britain. Almost all understorey and canopy vegetation measures differed significantly across stand types. Ten of 20 species had highest spring abundance in irregular woodland, five in coppice, three in transitional, and just two in limited intervention. In winter, 5–6 species preferred each of limited intervention, irregular and transitional, while no species preferred coppice. Densities differed little across seasons except in Paridae where abundances increased in late winter during which limited intervention stands were used more by this group. Birds generally occupied similar niche positions and had similar niche breadths across seasons. Compared to under-managed woodlands, irregular silviculture in UK's broadleaf woodlands is likely to enhance habitat quality for woodland birds, including several species of conservation concern e.g. marsh tit Poecile palustris which was twice as abundant in irregular stands as in any other stand type

Gel chromatographic characterization of immunoreactive adrenocorticotropin in patients with ACTH hypersecretion

We investigated the molecular size of circulating immunoreactive ACTH by gel chromatography in patients with ACTH hypersecretion due to various disorders of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. 4 patients with Addison's disease, 2 with Nelson's syndrome, 4 with Cushing's disease, 6 with the ectopic ACTH syndrome (2 bronchial carcinoma, 1 medullary carcinoma, 1 metastatic islett cell carcinoma, 1 benign bronchial carcinoid and 1 patient with occult ectopic Cushing's syndrome) and 1 patient with hypersecretion of ACTH from a clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma were studied. Analysis of the molecular size of immunoreactive ACTH was performed by gel chromatography on a Sephadex G-75 column (superfine, 100×1.5 cm) equilibrated with 1% formic acid. 2 ml fractions were collected and evaporated to dryness. The ACTH content of the recovered samples was determined by RIA. In Addison's disease, Nelson's syndrome and Cushing's disease the plasma showed a single peak of ACTH immunoreactivity at the expected position of 1–39 ACTH. In the ectopic ACTH syndrome the plasma of 4 patients revealed at chromatography at least one other peak eluting between the void volume and 1–39 ACTH suggestive of a high molecular weight form of ACTH whereas plasma of 2 patients showed only a single ACTH peak at the position of labeled 1–39 ACTH. The patient with a clinically non-functioning pituitary adenoma revealed a gel filtration pattern similar to the patients with ectopic ACTH syndrom and secretion of high molecular weight ACTH. We conclude that secretion of high molecular weight forms of ACTH is not a unique feature of the ectopic ACTH syndrome. It may therefore not serve as a marker of the ectopic Cushing's syndrome in the differential diagnosis of the ACTH dependent Cushing's syndrome. Vice versa, lack of high molecular weight ACTH does not exclude an ectopic source of ACTH secretion as cause of Cushing's syndrome

Effects of anthropogenic emissions on the molecular composition of urban organic aerosols: An ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry study

Identification of the organic composition of atmospheric aerosols is necessary to develop effective air pollution mitigation strategies. However, the majority of the organic aerosol mass is poorly characterized and its detailed analysis is a major analytical challenge. In this study, we applied state-of-the-art direct infusion nano-electrospray (nanoESI) ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) and liquid chromatography ESI Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (Q-TOF) MS for the analysis of the organic fraction of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) collected at an urban location in Cork, Ireland. Comprehensive mass spectral data evaluation methods (e.g., Kendrick Mass Defect and Van Krevelen) were used to identify compound classes and mass distributions of the detected species. Up to 850 elemental formulae were identified in negative mode nanoESI-UHR-MS. Nitrogen and/or sulphur containing organic species contributed up to 40% of the total identified formulae and exhibited strong diurnal variations suggesting the importance of night-time NO3 chemistry at the site. The presence of a large number of oxidised aromatic and nitroaromatic compounds in the samples indicated a strong anthropogenic influence, i.e., from traffic emissions and domestic solid fuel (DSF) burning. Most of the identified biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) compounds are later-generation nitrogen- and sulphur-containing products, indicating that SOA composition is strongly affected by anthropogenic species such as NOx and SO2. Unsaturated and saturated C12–C20 fatty acids were found to be the most abundant homologs with a composition reflecting a primary marine origin. The results of this work demonstrate that the studied site is a very complex environment affected by a variety of anthropogenic activities and natural sources.Research at the University of Cambridge was supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European fellowship (project # 254319) and the European Research Council (ERC starting grant 279405).This is the accepted version. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231014001472

Therapeutic DNA vaccine induces broad T cell responses in the gut and sustained protection from viral rebound and AIDS in SIV-infected rhesus macaques.

Immunotherapies that induce durable immune control of chronic HIV infection may eliminate the need for life-long dependence on drugs. We investigated a DNA vaccine formulated with a novel genetic adjuvant that stimulates immune responses in the blood and gut for the ability to improve therapy in rhesus macaques chronically infected with SIV. Using the SIV-macaque model for AIDS, we show that epidermal co-delivery of plasmids expressing SIV Gag, RT, Nef and Env, and the mucosal adjuvant, heat-labile E. coli enterotoxin (LT), during antiretroviral therapy (ART) induced a substantial 2-4-log fold reduction in mean virus burden in both the gut and blood when compared to unvaccinated controls and provided durable protection from viral rebound and disease progression after the drug was discontinued. This effect was associated with significant increases in IFN-γ T cell responses in both the blood and gut and SIV-specific CD8+ T cells with dual TNF-α and cytolytic effector functions in the blood. Importantly, a broader specificity in the T cell response seen in the gut, but not the blood, significantly correlated with a reduction in virus production in mucosal tissues and a lower virus burden in plasma. We conclude that immunizing with vaccines that induce immune responses in mucosal gut tissue could reduce residual viral reservoirs during drug therapy and improve long-term treatment of HIV infection in humans

Redox Regulation of Cardiac ASK1 (Apoptosis Signal-Regulating Kinase 1) Controls p38-MAPK (Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase) and Orchestrates Cardiac Remodeling to Hypertension.

Systemic hypertension increases cardiac workload causing cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and increased cardiac fibrosis. An underlying feature is increased production of reactive oxygen species. Redox-sensitive ASK1 (apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1) activates stress-regulated protein kinases (p38-MAPK [mitogen-activated protein kinases] and JNKs [c-Jun N-terminal kinases]) and promotes fibrosis in various tissues. Here, we determined the specificity of ASK1 signaling in the heart, with the hypothesis that ASK1 inhibitors may be used to manage fibrosis in hypertensive heart disease. Using immunoblotting, we established that moderate levels of H2O2 activate ASK1 in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and perfused rat hearts. ASK1 was activated during ischemia in adult rat hearts, but not on reperfusion, consistent with activation by moderate (not high) reactive oxygen species levels. In contrast, IL (interleukin)-1β activated an alternative kinase, TAK1 (transforming growth factor-activated kinase 1). ASK1 was not activated by IL1β in cardiomyocytes and activation in perfused hearts was due to increased reactive oxygen species. Selonsertib (ASK1 inhibitor) prevented activation of p38-MAPKs (but not JNKs) by oxidative stresses in cultured cardiomyocytes and perfused hearts. In vivo (C57Bl/6J mice with osmotic minipumps for drug delivery), selonsertib (4 mg/[kg·d]) alone did not affect cardiac function/dimensions (assessed by echocardiography). However, it suppressed hypertension-induced cardiac hypertrophy resulting from angiotensin II (0.8 mg/[kg·d], 7d), with inhibition of Nppa/Nppb mRNA upregulation, reduced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and, notably, significant reductions in interstitial and perivascular fibrosis. Our data identify a specific reactive oxygen species→ASK1→p38-MAPK pathway in the heart and establish that ASK1 inhibitors protect the heart from hypertension-induced cardiac remodeling. Thus, targeting the ASK1→p38-MAPK nexus has potential therapeutic viability as a treatment for hypertensive heart disease

Gurga Chiya and Tepe Marani: new excavations in the Shahrizor plain, Iraqi Kurdistan

Gurga Chiya and Tepe Marani are small, adjacent mounds located close to the town of Halabja in the southern part of the Shahrizor Plain, one of the most fertile regions of Iraqi Kurdistan. Survey and excavation at these previously unexplored sites is beginning to produce evidence for human settlement spanning the sixth to the fourth millennia, c. 5600–3300 cal. b.c. In Mesopotamian chronology this corresponds to the Late Neolithic through to Chalcolithic periods; the Halaf, Ubaid, and Uruk phases of conventional culture history. In Iraqi Kurdistan, documentation of these periods—which witnessed many important transformations in prehistoric village life—is currently very thin. Here we offer a preliminary report on the emerging results from the Shahrizor Plain, with a particular focus on the description of material culture (ceramic and lithic assemblages), in order to establish a benchmark for further research. We also provide a detailed report on botanical remains and accompanying radiocarbon dates, which allow us to place this new evidence in a wider comparative framework. A further, brief account is given of Late Bronze Age material culture from the upper layers at Gurga Chiya. We conclude with observations on the significance of the Shahrizor Plain for wider research into the later prehistory of the Middle East, and the importance of preserving and investigating its archaeological record