Cellulases from extremely thermophilic bacteria

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth, and is the major component of urban waste. Thus cellulose must be seen as a very significant renewable source of chemical foodstocks when fossil fuels become restricted

Global Programs: A New Vision in Agricultural Research

Issues in Agriculture no. 12 from the series "Issues in Agriculture" published by the CGIAR Secretariat

Reaction of calcium phosphate with textile dyes for purification of wastewaters

International audienceWhen unsintered hydroxyapatite (HA) is dissolved in acidic solution (pH less than 3), the calcium salt dissolves readily and may be re-precipitated at neutral pH values by neutralization with base. Maturation of this precipitate eventually leads to the neo-formation of calcium phosphates similar to HA. HA is a stable solid under neutral or basic conditions and has interesting adsorption properties. Particularly, textile dyes can be adsorbed on HA particles. Thermal treatment below 800 degrees C degrades adsorbed organic matter and generates mineral HA. Such HA can be recovered and reused by re-dissolution in acidic water. We have experimented with such recycled HA the co-precipitation of textile dyes and found that HA can be reused several times. For most textile dyes, a very high level of color removal was observed (above 98%), with a small loss of HA during the recycling process (12%). This makes the treatment of textile dye polluted waters by HA co-precipitation feasible and sustainable

Unanticipated regulatory roles for Arabidopsis phytochromes revealed by null mutant analysis

In view of the extensive literature on phytochrome mutants in the Ler accession of Arabidopsis, we sought to secure a phytochrome-null line in the same genetic background for comparative studies. Here we report the isolation and phenotypic characterization of phyABCDE quintuple and phyABDE quadruple mutants in the Ler background. Unlike earlier studies, these lines possess a functional allele of FT permitting measurements of photoperiod-dependent flowering behavior. Comparative studies of both classes of mutants establish that phytochromes are dispensable for completion of the Arabidopsis life cycle under red light, despite the lack of a transcriptomic response, and also indicate that phyC is nonfunctional in the absence of other phytochromes. Phytochrome-less plants can produce chlorophyll for photosynthesis under continuous red light, yet require elevated fluence rates for survival. Unexpectedly, our analyses reveal both light-dependent and -independent roles for phytochromes to regulate the Arabidopsis circadian clock. The rapid transition of these mutants from vegetative to reproductive growth, as well as their insensitivity to photoperiod, establish a dual role for phytochromes to arrest and to promote progression of plant development in response to the prevailing light environment

Discovering and engineering novel prodrug activating and detoxifying enzymes to improve targeted cell ablation

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The Claims Culture: A Taxonomy of Industry Attitudes

This paper presents an analysis of a familiar aspect of construction industry culture that we have dubbed 'the claims culture'. This is a culture of contract administration that lays a strong emphasis on the planning and management of claims. The principal elements of the analysis are two sets of distinctions. The first comprises economic and occupational orders, referring to two kinds of control that are exercised over the construction process; predicated respectively on economic ownership and occupational competence. The second refers to contrasting attitudes towards relationships and problem solving within these orders: respectively 'distributive' and 'integrative'. The concepts of economic and occupational order entail further sub-categories. The various attitudes associated with these categories and sub-categories are described. They are assessed as to their consequences for change initiatives in the industry

Pooled Energy Budget and Human Life History

Human life history contains a series of paradoxes not easily explained by classical life history theory. While overall reproductive output is higher than in related primates, juvenile growth is slower and age-specific reproductive rates decline faster with age. A simple energetic model would predict that growth and reproductive rates should be positively correlated and that reproductive effort should not decelerate with age. The pattern of negative correlations in humans suggests the presence of trade-offs among peak reproductive rate, childhood growth, and reproductive rate at older ages. To address this puzzle, we propose a synthesis of reproductive ecology and behavioral ecology focused on intra- and inter-somatic energy transfers. This integration includes three concepts: the mother as final common pathway through which energy must pass to result in offspring; a distinction between direct and indirect reproductive effort, proposing the latter as a novel net energy allocation category relative to growth and direct reproductive effort; and a pooled energy budget representing the energetic contributions and withdrawals of all members of a breeding community. Individuals at all reproductive life stages are considered in light of their contributions to the pooled energy budget. This is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in The American Journal of Human Biology © 2009 Peter T. EllisonAnthropologyHuman Evolutionary Biolog

Plasmodium vivax trophozoites insensitive to chloroquine

© 2008 Sharrock et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens