12 research outputs found

    Impact of papyrus wetland encroachment on spatial and temporal variabilities of stream flow and sediment export from wet tropical catchments

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    During the past decades, land use change in the Lake Victoria basin has significantly increased the sediment fluxes to the lake. These sediments as well as their associated nutrients and pollutants affect the food and water security of millions of people in one of Africa's most densely populated regions. Adequate catchment management strategies, based on a thorough understanding of the factors controlling runoff and sediment discharge are therefore crucial. Nonetheless, studies on the magnitude and dynamics of runoff and sediment discharge are very scarce for the Lake Victoria basin and the African Rift region.We therefore conducted runoff discharge and sediment export measurements in the Upper Rwizi, a catchment in Southwest Uganda, which is representative for the Lake Victoria basin. Land use in this catchment is characterized by grazing area on the high plateaus, banana cropping on the slopes and Cyperus papyrus L. wetlands in the valley bottoms. Due to an increasing population pressure, these papyrus wetlands are currently encroached and transformed into pasture and cropland. Seven subcatchments (358km2-2120km2), with different degrees of wetland encroachment, were monitored during the hydrological year June 2009-May 2010.Our results indicate that, due to their strong buffering capacity, papyrus wetlands have a first-order control on runoff and sediment discharge. Subcatchments with intact wetlands have a slower rainfall-runoff response, smaller peak runoff discharges, lower rainfall-runoff ratios and significantly smaller suspended sediment concentrations. This is also reflected in the measured annual area-specific suspended sediment yields (SYs): subcatchments with encroached papyrus swamps have SY values that are about three times larger compared to catchments with intact papyrus vegetation (respectively 106-137tonkm-2y-1 versus 34-37tonkm-2y-1). We therefore argue that protecting and (where possible) rehabilitating these papyrus wetlands should be a corner stone of catchment management strategies in the Lake Victoria basin. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

    Mapping of Murine Th1 Helper T-Cell Epitopes of Mycolyl Transferases Ag85A, Ag85B, and Ag85C from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

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    BALB/c (H-2(d)) and C57BL/6 (H-2(b)) mice were infected intravenously with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv or vaccinated intramuscularly with plasmid DNA encoding each of the three mycolyl transferases Ag85A, Ag85B, and Ag85C from M. tuberculosis. Th1-type spleen cell cytokine secretion of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon (IFN-γ) was analyzed in response to purified Ag85 components and synthetic overlapping peptides covering the three mature sequences. Tuberculosis-infected C57BL/6 mice reacted strongly to some peptides from Ag85A and Ag85B but not from Ag85C, whereas tuberculosis-infected BALB/c mice reacted only to peptides from Ag85A. In contrast, spleen cells from both mouse strains produced elevated levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ following vaccination with Ag85A, Ag85B, and Ag85C DNA in response to peptides of the three Ag85 proteins, and the epitope repertoire was broader than in infected mice. Despite pronounced sequence homology, a number of immunodominant regions contained component specific epitopes. Thus, BALB/c mice vaccinated with all three Ag85 genes reacted against the same amino acid region, 101 to 120, that was also immunodominant for Ag85A in M. bovis BCG-vaccinated and tuberculosis-infected H-2(d) haplotype mice, but responses were completely component specific. In C57BL/6 mice, a cross-reactive T-cell response was detected against two carboxy-terminal peptides spanning amino acids 241 to 260 and 261 to 280 of Ag85A and Ag85B. These regions were not recognized at all in C57BL/6 mice vaccinated with Ag85C DNA. Our results underline the need for comparative analysis of all three Ag85 components in future vaccination studies

    Improved Tuberculosis DNA Vaccines by Formulation in Cationic Lipids

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    Mice were vaccinated with plasmid DNA (pDNA) encoding antigen 85A (Ag85A), Ag85B, or PstS-3 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis either in saline or formulated for intramuscular injections in VC1052:DPyPE (aminopropyl-dimethyl-myristoleyloxy-propanaminium bromide-diphytanoylphosphatidyl-ethanolamine) (Vaxfectin; Vical, Inc., San Diego, Calif.) or for intranasal instillations in GAP-DLRIE:DOPE (aminopropyl-dimethyl-bis-dodecyloxy-propanaminium bromide-dioleoylphosphatidyl-ethanolamine). These two novel cationic and neutral colipid formulations were previously reported to be effective adjuvants for pDNA-induced antibody responses. The levels of Ag85-specific total immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG isotypes were all increased 3- to 10-fold by formulation of pDNA in Vaxfectin. The level of production of splenic T-cell-derived Th1-type cytokines (interleukin-2 and gamma interferon) in response to purified Ag85 and to synthetic peptides spanning the entire Ag85A protein was also significantly higher in animals vaccinated with pDNA formulated in Vaxfectin. Cytolytic T-lymphocyte responses generated by pDNA encoding phosphate-binding protein PstS-3 in Vaxfectin were better sustained over time than were those generated by PstS-3 DNA in saline. Intranasal immunization with Ag85A DNA in saline was completely ineffective, whereas administration in GAP-DLRIE:DOPE induced a positive Th1-type cytokine response; however, the extent of the latter response was clearly lower than that obtained following intramuscular immunization with the same DNA dose. Combined intramuscular and intranasal administrations in cationic lipids resulted in stronger immune responses in the spleen and, more importantly, in the lungs as well. Finally, formulation in Vaxfectin increased the protective efficacy of the Ag85B DNA vaccine, as measured by reduced relative light unit counts and CFU counts in the spleen and lungs from mice challenged with bioluminescent M. tuberculosis H37Rv. These results may be of importance for future clinical use of DNA vaccines in humans
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