Self‐pollination in island and mainland populations of the introduced hummingbird‐pollinated plant, Nicotiana glauca (Solanaceae)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142032/1/ajb20672.pd

A retrospective study of PBDEs and PCBs in human milk from the Faroe Islands

BACKGROUND: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in wildlife and humans remain a cause of global concern, both in regard to traditional POPs, such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and emerging POPs, such as the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). To determine the time related concentrations, we analyzed human milk for these substances at three time points between 1987 and 1999. Polychlorobiphenylols (OH-PCBs), the dominating class of PCB metabolites, some of which are known to be strongly retained in human blood, were also included in the assessment. METHODS: We obtained milk from the Faroe Islands, where the population is exposed to POPs from their traditional diet (which may include pilot whale blubber). In addition to three pools, nine individual samples from the last time point were also analyzed. After cleanup, partitioning of neutral and acidic compounds, and separation of chemical classes, the analyses were carried out by gas chromatography and/or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Compared to other European populations, the human milk had high PCB concentrations, with pool concentrations of 2300 ng/g fat 1987, 1600 ng/g fat in 1994, and 1800 ng/g fat in 1999 (based on the sum of eleven major PCB congeners). The nine individual samples showed great variation in PCB concentrations. The OH-PCBs were present in trace amounts only, at levels of approximately 1% of the PCB concentrations. The PBDE concentrations showed a clear increase over time, and their concentrations in human milk from 1999 are among the highest reported so far from Europe, with results of individual samples ranging from 4.7 to 13 ng/g fat CONCLUSION: Although remote from pollution sources, the Faroe Islands show high concentrations of POPs in human milk, particularly PCBs, but also PBDEs. The PBDEs show increasing concentrations over time. The OH-PCB metabolites are poorly transferred to human milk, which likely is related to their acidic character

Euro plus Med-Checklist Notulae, 11

This is the eleventh of a series of miscellaneous contributions, by various authors, where hitherto unpublished data relevant to both the Med-Checklist and the Euro+Med (or Sisyphus) projects are presented. This instalment deals with the families Anacardiaceae, Asparagaceae (incl. Hyacinthaceae), Bignoniaceae, Cactaceae, Compositae, Cruciferae, Cyperaceae, Ericaceae, Gramineae, Labiatae, Leguminosae, Orobanchaceae, Polygonaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae and Staphyleaceae. It includes new country and area records and taxonomic and distributional considerations for taxa in Bidens, Campsis, Centaurea, Cyperus, Drymocallis, Engem, Hoffmannseggia, Hypopitys, Lavandula, Lithraea, Melilotus, Nicotiana, Olimarabidopsis, Opuntia, Orobanche, Phelipanche, Phragmites, Rumex, Salvia, Schinus, Staphylea, and a new combination in Drimia.Peer reviewe

Increased serum levels of MRP-8/14 in type 1 diabetes induce an increased expression of CD11b and an enhanced adhesion of circulating monocytes to fibronectin

The recruitment of monocytes from the bloodstream is crucial in the accumulation of macrophages and dendritic cells in type 1 diabetic pancreases. Adhesion via integrins to endothelium and extracellular matrix proteins, such as fibronectin (FN), and the production of myeloid-related protein (MRP)-8, -14, and -8/14 by recently transmigrated monocytes are thought to be instrumental in such recruitment. We determined the FN-adhesive capacity and integrin expression of monocytes of type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients and related them to the subjects' serum levels of MRP-8, -14 and -8/14. Monocytes of type 1 diabetic patients displayed an increased adhesion to fibronectin in comparison with type 2 patients and healthy control subjects but had a normal expression of the FN binding integrins CD29, CD49a, CD49d, and CD49e (although CD11b and CD18 expression was increased). MRP-8/14, which was increased in the sera of type 1 diabetic patients, induced healthy donor monocytes to adhere to FN and upregulate CD11b expression in a dosage-dependent manner. The observed MRP-induced increased adhesion of monocytes to FN and upregulation of CD11b most likely contributed to a facilitated accumulation of monocytes and monocyte-derived cells at the site of inflammation, in this case the pancreatic islets

Euro+Med-Checklist Notulae, 13

This is the thirteenth of a series of miscellaneous contributions, by various authors, where hitherto unpublished data relevant to both the Med-Checklist and the Euro+Med (or Sisyphus) projects are presented. This instalment deals with the families Amaryllidaceae (incl. Alliaceae), Apocynaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Compositae, Crassulaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Gramineae, Hydrocharitaceae, Iridaceae, Labiatae, Liliaceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Orobanchaceae, Oxalidaceae, Papaveraceae, Pittosporaceae, Primulaceae (incl. Myrsinaceae), Ranunculaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rubiaceae, Solanaceae and Umbelliferae. It includes new country and area records and taxonomic and distributional considerations for taxa in Allium, Anthemis, Atriplex, Centaurea, Chasmanthe, Chenopodium, Delphinium, Digitaria, Elodea, Erigeron, Eucalyptus, Hypecoum, Leptorhabdos, Luffa, Malvaviscus, Melia, Melica, Momordica, Nerium, Oxalis, Pastinaca, Phelipanche, Physalis, Pittosporum, Salvia, Scorzoneroides, Sedum, Sesleria, Silene, Spartina, Stipa, Tulipa and Ziziphus, new combinations in Cyanus, Lysimachia, Rhaponticoides and Thliphthisa, and the reassessment of a replacement name in Sempervivum

A design for an electromagnetic filter for precision energy measurements at the tritium endpoint

We present a detailed description of the electromagnetic filter for the PTOLEMY project to directly detect the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB). Starting with an initial estimate for the orbital magnetic moment, the higher-order drift process of ExB is configured to balance the gradient-B drift motion of the electron in such a way as to guide the trajectory into the standing voltage potential along the mid-plane of the filter. As a function of drift distance along the length of the filter, the filter zooms in with exponentially increasing precision on the transverse velocity component of the electron kinetic energy. This yields a linear dimension for the total filter length that is exceptionally compact compared to previous techniques for electromagnetic filtering. The parallel velocity component of the electron kinetic energy oscillates in an electrostatic harmonic trap as the electron drifts along the length of the filter. An analysis of the phase-space volume conservation validates the expected behavior of the filter from the adiabatic invariance of the orbital magnetic moment and energy conservation following Liouville's theorem for Hamiltonian systems

Reconstruction of cell population dynamics using CFSE

Background: Quantifying cell division and death is central to many studies in the biological sciences. The fluorescent dye CFSE allows the tracking of cell division in vitro and in vivo and provides a rich source of information with which to test models of cell kinetics. Cell division and death have a stochastic component at the single-cell level, and the probabilities of these occurring in any given time interval may also undergo systematic variation at a population level. This gives rise to heterogeneity in proliferating cell populations. Branching processes provide a natural means of describing this behaviour. Results: We present a likelihood-based method for estimating the parameters of branching process models of cell kinetics using CFSE-labeling experiments, and demonstrate its validity using synthetic and experimental datasets. Performing inference and model comparison with real CFSE data presents some statistical problems and we suggest methods of dealing with them. Conclusion: The approach we describe here can be used to recover the (potentially variable) division and death rates of any cell population for which division tracking information is available

Activin enhances skin tumourigenesis and malignant progression by inducing a pro-tumourigenic immune cell response

Activin is an important orchestrator of wound repair, but its potential role in skin carcinogenesis has not been addressed. Here we show using different types of genetically modified mice that enhanced levels of activin in the skin promote skin tumour formation and their malignant progression through induction of a pro-tumourigenic microenvironment. This includes accumulation of tumour-promoting Langerhans cells and regulatory T cells in the epidermis. Furthermore, activin inhibits proliferation of tumour-suppressive epidermal γδ T cells, resulting in their progressive loss during tumour promotion. An increase in activin expression was also found in human cutaneous basal and squamous cell carcinomas when compared with control tissue. These findings highlight the parallels between wound healing and cancer, and suggest inhibition of activin action as a promising strategy for the treatment of cancers overexpressing this factor