State and local governments plan for development of most land vulnerable to rising sea level along the US Atlantic coast

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of IOP Publishing for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009): 044008, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/4/044008.Rising sea level threatens existing coastal wetlands. Overall ecosystems could often survive by migrating inland, if adjacent lands remained vacant. On the basis of 131 state and local land use plans, we estimate that almost 60% of the land below 1 m along the US Atlantic coast is expected to be developed and thus unavailable for the inland migration of wetlands. Less than 10% of the land below 1 m has been set aside for conservation. Environmental regulators routinely grant permits for shore protection structures (which block wetland migration) on the basis of a federal finding that these structures have no cumulative environmental impact. Our results suggest that shore protection does have a cumulative impact. If sea level rise is taken into account, wetland policies that previously seemed to comply with federal law probably violate the Clean Water Act

Quality of meat from different carcass cuts of kamieniec lambs

Celem przeprowadzonych badań było porównanie jakości mięsa pochodzącego z podstawowych elementów tuszy jagniąt rasy kamienieckiej. Badaniami objęto 24 tryczki odłączone od matek w 70. dniu życia. Odłączone od matek jagnięta żywiono ad libitum kiszonką z traw oraz śrutą jęczmienną i premiksem. Po zakończeniu tuczu (60 dni) tryczki ubito. W trakcie rozbioru tusz, do celów badawczych pobrano cztery elementy, tj. karkówkę, comber, łopatkę, i udziec, z których w trakcie wykrawania wycięto odpowiednio: m. splenius, m. longissimus dorsi, m. triceps brachii oraz m. biceps femoris. Z mięśni tych pobrano próbki do oceny cech sensorycznych mięsa. Pozostałe mięso krojono na drobne kawałki, z których po wymieszaniu i zmieleniu pobierano próbkę średnią (ok. 300 g) dla danego elementu, przeznaczoną do badań chemicznych i fizykochemicznych. Wykazano, że mięso z combra i udźca, w porównaniu z mięsem z karkówki i łopatki, odznaczało się większą (p ≤ 0,01) zawartością białka ogólnego i składników mineralnych oznaczonych w postaci popiołu. Z kolei mięso z łopatki i karkówki charakteryzowało się zdecydowanie większą (p ≤ 0,01) zawartością tłuszczu oraz wyższymi (p ≤ 0,01) wartościami pH. Konsekwencją stwierdzonej najwyższej wartości pH mięsa z łopatki była jego największa (p ≤ 0,01) wodochłonność. Analiza barwy mięsa wykazała, że surowiec z karkówki odznaczał się mniejszym (p ≤ 0,05) udziałem barwy czerwonej (a*) w porównaniu z mięsem z combra i łopatki. W ocenie sensorycznej mięsa stwierdzono tendencję do większego natężenia i mniejszej pożądalności zapachu mięsa z karkówki oraz nieznacznie mniejszej kruchości mięsa z udźca i łopatki.The objective of the research project performed was to compare the quality of meat from primal carcass cuts of Kamieniec lambs. The experiment involved 24 ram lambs weaned at the age of 70 days. The weaned lambs were fed, ad libitum, grass silage, ground barley, and a premix. Ram lambs were slaughtered as soon as their fattening was completed (60 days). While cutting up carcasses, four cuts were collected for the research purposes: neck, saddle, right shoulder, and leg; from them, m. splenius, m. longissimus dorsi, m. triceps brachii, and m. biceps femoris, respectively, were trimmed. From those muscles, samples were collected to analyse sensory characteristics of meat. The remaining meat was finely chopped, mixed, and minced. Average samples (ca. 300 g each) of every individual cut were collected for chemical and physicochemical analyses. It was proved that, compared to meat from the neck and shoulder, meat from the saddle and leg was characterized by a higher (p ≤ 0.01) content of total protein and mineral compounds determined as ash. Meat from the neck and the shoulder had a significantly (p ≤ 0.01) higher fat content and higher (p ≤ 0.01) pH values. A consequence of the highest pH value of meat from the shoulder was its highest (p ≤ 0.01) water-holding capacity. The analysis of meat colour showed that meat from the neck had a lower (p ≤ 0.05) content of redness (a*) compared to meat from the saddle and shoulder. Based on the sensory analysis of meat, reported was a trend towards higher aroma intensity and lower aroma desirability of meat from the neck, and slightly lower tenderness of meat from the leg and the shoulder

Untranslated regions of thyroid hormone receptor beta 1 mRNA are impaired in human clear cell renal cell carcinoma

Thyroid hormone receptor β1 (TRβ1) is a hormone-dependent transcription factor activated by 3,5,3'-l-triiodothyronine (T3). TRβ1 functions as a tumor suppressor and disturbances of the THRB gene are frequent findings in cancer. Translational control mediated by untranslated regions (UTRs) regulates cell proliferation, metabolism and responses to cellular stress, processes that are involved in carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that reduced TRβ1 expression in clear cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC) results from regulatory effects of TRβ1 5' and 3'UTRs on protein translation. We determined TRβ1 expression and alternative splicing of TRβ1 5' and 3'UTRs in ccRCC and control tissue together with expression of the type 1 deiodinase enzyme (coded by DIO1, a TRβ1 target gene). Tissue concentrations of T3 (which are generated in part by D1) and expression of miRNA-204 (an mRNA inhibitor for which a putative interaction site was identified in the TRβ1 3'UTR) were also determined. TRβ1 mRNA and protein levels were reduced by 70% and 91% in ccRCC and accompanied by absent D1 protein, a 58% reduction in tissue T3 concentration and 2-fold increase in miRNA-204. Structural analysis of TRβ1 UTR variants indicated that reduced TRβ1 expression may be maintained in ccRCC by posttranscriptional mechanisms involving 5'UTRs and miRNA-204. The tumor suppressor activity of TRβ1 indicates that reduced TRβ1 expression and tissue hypothyroidism in ccRCC tumors is likely to be involved in the process of carcinogenesis or in maintaining a proliferative advantage to malignant cells.status: publishe

Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 Catalyzed by Re(pyridine-oxazoline)(CO)3Cl Complexes

A series of rhenium tricarbonyl complexes coordinated by asymmetric diimine ligands containing a pyridine moiety bound to an oxazoline ring were synthesized, structurally and electrochemically characterized, and screened for CO2 reduction ability. The reported complexes are of the type Re(N-N)(CO)3Cl, with N-N = 2-(pyridin-2-yl)-4,5-dihydrooxazole (1), 5-methyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)-4,5-dihydrooxazole (2), and 5-phenyl-2-(pyridin-2-yl)-4,5-dihydrooxazole (3). The electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 by these complexes was observed in a variety of solvents and proceeds more quickly in acetonitrile than in dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The analysis of the catalytic cycle for electrochemical CO2 reduction by 1 in acetonitrile using density functional theory (DFT) supports the C–O bond cleavage step being the rate-determining step (RDS) (ΔG⧧ = 27.2 kcal mol–1). The dependency of the turnover frequencies (TOFs) on the donor number (DN) of the solvent also supports that C–O bond cleavage is the rate-determining step. Moreover, the calculations using explicit solvent molecules indicate that the solvent dependence likely arises from a protonation-first mechanism. Unlike other complexes derived from fac-Re(bpy)(CO)3Cl (I; bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine), in which one of the pyridyl moieties in the bpy ligand is replaced by another imine, no catalytic enhancement occurs during the first reduction potential. Remarkably, catalysts 1 and 2 display relative turnover frequencies, (icat/ip)2, up to 7 times larger than that of I