Effects of river water and salinity on the toxicity of deltamethrin to freshwater shrimp, cladoceran, and fish

Deltamethrin is a pyrethroid insecticide used extensively to control invertebrate pests on cotton and other crops. It is acutely toxic to nontarget aquatic organisms, but existing toxicity data are mostly from toxicity tests using purified laboratory water that differs greatly from the turbid, high-conductivity rivers in the cotton-growing regions of Australia. The aim of this study was to determine whether the water quality variables conductivity, suspended particles, and dissolved organic matter alter the toxicity of deltamethrin to freshwater crustaceans and a fish. We tested three Australian native species: a cladoceran (Ceriodaphnia cf. dubia), a freshwater shrimp (Paratya australiensis), and larvae of the eastern rainbow fish (Melanotaenia duboulayi). Conductivity of the test solutions ranged from 200 to 750 μS/cm, but such changes did not modify the toxicity of deltamethrin to any of the test species. However, the toxicity of deltamethrin to C. cf. dubia and P. australiensis in river water was significantly decreased (1.8-fold to 6.3-fold reduction) compared to that in laboratory water. Variability in the toxicity data limited our ability to detect differences between laboratory and river water for M. duboulayi. Despite reductions in toxicity in natural waters, deltamethrin remained highly toxic [all L(E)C50 values <0.26 μg/L] to all organisms tested; thus, further investigation of the hazard of deltamethrin is warranted. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Baculovirus Capsid Display Potentiates OVA Cytotoxic and Innate Immune Responses

Baculoviruses (BV) are DNA viruses that are pathogenic for insects. Although BV infect a range of mammalian cell types, they do not replicate in these cells. Indeed, the potential effects of these insect viruses on the immune responses of mammals are only just beginning to be studied. We show in this paper that a recombinant Autographa californica multiple nuclear polyhedrosis virus carrying a fragment of ovalbumin (OVA) on the VP39 capsid protein (BV-OVA) has the capacity to act as an adjuvant and vector of antigens in mice, thereby promoting specific CD4 and cytotoxic T cell responses against OVA. BV also induced in vivo maturation of dendritic cells and the production of inflammatory cytokines, thus promoting innate and adaptive immune responses. The OVA-specific response induced by BV-OVA was strong enough to reject a challenge with OVA-expressing melanoma cells (MO5 cells) and effectively prolonged survival of MO5 bearing mice. All these findings, together with the absence of pre-existing immunity to BV in humans and the lack of viral gene expression in mammalian cells, make BV a candidate for vaccination

Molecular dynamics simulation of humic substances

© 2014, Orsi. Humic substances (HS) are complex mixtures of natural organic material which are found almost everywhere in the environment, and particularly in soils, sediments, and natural water. HS play key roles in many processes of paramount importance, such as plant growth, carbon storage, and the fate of contaminants in the environment. While most of the research on HS has been traditionally carried out by conventional experimental approaches, over the past 20 years complementary investigations have emerged from the application of computer modeling and simulation techniques. This paper reviews the literature regarding computational studies of HS, with a specific focus on molecular dynamics simulations. Significant achievements, outstanding issues, and future prospects are summarized and discussed

Scenario Analysis as a Tool for Informing the Design of Behaviour Change Interventions

This article presents the design process behind the specification of a behaviour change intervention method to promote energy saving. The amount of energy used for food preparation is highly influenced by people’s behaviours. A user-centred design approach based on scenario analysis was applied to provide understanding of context of use and specification of user requirements. This knowledge was applied to the design of behaviour change interventions to motivate sustainable behaviours

The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2013/14: overview.

The Concise Guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2013/14 provides concise overviews of the key properties of over 2000 human drug targets with their pharmacology, plus links to an open access knowledgebase of drug targets and their ligands (www.guidetopharmacology.org), which provides more detailed views of target and ligand properties from the IUPHAR database. The full contents can be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.12444/full. This compilation of the major pharmacological targets is divided into seven areas of focus: G protein-coupled receptors, ligand-gated ion channels, ion channels, catalytic receptors, nuclear hormone receptors, transporters and enzymes. These are presented with nomenclature guidance and summary information on the best available pharmacological tools, alongside key references and suggestions for further reading. A new landscape format has easy to use tables comparing related targets. It is a condensed version of material contemporary to late 2013, which is presented in greater detail and constantly updated on the website www.guidetopharmacology.org, superseding data presented in previous Guides to Receptors & Channels. It is produced in conjunction with NC-IUPHAR and provides the official IUPHAR classification and nomenclature for human drug targets, where appropriate. It consolidates information previously curated and displayed separately in IUPHAR-DB and GRAC and provides a permanent, citable, point-in-time record that will survive database updates

Localization of human (pro)renin receptor lacking the transmembrane domain on budded baculovirus of Autographa californica multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus

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Baculoviral capsid display of His-tagged ZnO inorganic binding peptide

Virus-templated fabrication of compound structures can be made through incorporating the specifically inorganic-binding peptide into the viral scaffold, widely used is phage display system. Compared to prokaryotic phages, insect cell-based baculovirus has some strengths such as the adaptability to the proteins’ posttranslational modification and non-replication in mammalian cells. As an attempt to explore the baculovirus-mediated bioconjugates, we show in this study that a genetically engineered baculovirus, with a hexahistidine (His6) tagged ZnO binding peptide fused to the N-terminus of the viral capsid protein vp39 of AcNPV, was constructed. It maintains both the viral infectivity and the fusion protein’s activity. The presence of the fusion protein on the baculovirus particle was demonstrated by western blot analysis of purified budded virus. Its display on the virus capsid was revealed by virus fractionation analysis. The binding of nanosized ZnO powders to the virus capsid was visualized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This is the first report of the display of the inorganic-binding peptide on the capsid of eukaryotic baculovirus. Aimed at the nanomaterials’ application in the biological field, this research could find useful in the biotracking of the baculovirus transduction process and the preparation of novel functional nanodevices