Discovery of a recent, natural whale fall on the continental slope off Anvers Island, western Antarctic Peninsula

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.Whale falls provide a substantial, nutrient-rich resource for species in areas of the ocean that may otherwise be largely devoid of food. We report the discovery of a natural whale fall at 1430 m depth in the cold waters of the continental slope off the western Antarctic Peninsula. This is the highest-latitude whale fall reported to date. The section of the carcass we observed—the tail fluke—was more complete than any previously reported natural whale fall from the deep sea and in the early stages of decomposition. We estimate the entire cetacean to measure 5–8 m in length. The flesh remained almost intact on the carcass but the skin was missing from the entire section except for the end of the fluke, clearly exposing blubber and soft tissue. The absence of skin indicates rapid and Homogeneous loss. The dominant macrofauna present were crustaceans, including most prominently the lithodid crab Paralomis birsteini, and zoarcid fish typical of the ‘mobile-scavenger’ successional stage. The density of mobile macrofauna was greatest on the carcass and declined to background levels within 100 m, indicating that they were attracted to the whale fall. This whale fall offers an important opportunity to examine the decomposition of a carcass under deep-sea conditions at polar latitudes.We are grateful to the captain and crew of the RV Nathaniel B. Palmer, and to the US Antarctic Support Contractor, Lockheed Martin, for their assistance at sea. We thank J.T. Eastman and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. Funding was provided by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation: ANT-1141877 to R.B.A. and ANT-1141896 to J.B.M. This is contribution 122 from the Institute for Research on Global Climate Change at the Florida Institute of Technology

Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that AEDANS is an inert fluorescent probe for the study of membrane proteins

Computer simulations were carried out of a number of AEDANS-labeled single cysteine mutants of a small reference membrane protein, M13 major coat protein, covering 60% of its primary sequence. M13 major coat protein is a single membrane-spanning, α-helical membrane protein with a relatively large water-exposed region in the N-terminus. In 10-ns molecular dynamics simulations, we analyze the behavior of the AEDANS label and the native tryptophan, which were used as acceptor and donor in previous FRET experiments. The results indicate that AEDANS is a relatively inert environmental probe that can move unhindered through the lipid membrane when attached to a membrane protein

A systematic review and meta-synthesis of the impact of low back pain on people's lives

Copyright @ 2014 Froud et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background - Low back pain (LBP) is a common and costly problem that many interpret within a biopsychosocial model. There is renewed concern that core-sets of outcome measures do not capture what is important. To inform debate about the coverage of back pain outcome measure core-sets, and to suggest areas worthy of exploration within healthcare consultations, we have synthesised the qualitative literature on the impact of low back pain on people’s lives. Methods - Two reviewers searched CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PEDro, and Medline, identifying qualitative studies of people’s experiences of non-specific LBP. Abstracted data were thematic coded and synthesised using a meta-ethnographic, and a meta-narrative approach. Results - We included 49 papers describing 42 studies. Patients are concerned with engagement in meaningful activities; but they also want to be believed and have their experiences and identity, as someone ‘doing battle’ with pain, validated. Patients seek diagnosis, treatment, and cure, but also reassurance of the absence of pathology. Some struggle to meet social expectations and obligations. When these are achieved, the credibility of their pain/disability claims can be jeopardised. Others withdraw, fearful of disapproval, or unable or unwilling to accommodate social demands. Patients generally seek to regain their pre-pain levels of health, and physical and emotional stability. After time, this can be perceived to become unrealistic and some adjust their expectations accordingly. Conclusions - The social component of the biopsychosocial model is not well represented in current core-sets of outcome measures. Clinicians should appreciate that the broader impact of low back pain includes social factors; this may be crucial to improving patients’ experiences of health care. Researchers should consider social factors to help develop a portfolio of more relevant outcome measures.Arthritis Research U

Anchoring of proteins to lactic acid bacteria

The anchoring of proteins to the cell surface of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) using genetic techniques is an exciting and emerging research area that holds great promise for a wide variety of biotechnological applications. This paper reviews five different types of anchoring domains that have been explored for their efficiency in attaching hybrid proteins to the cell membrane or cell wall of LAB. The most exploited anchoring regions are those with the LPXTG box that bind the proteins in a covalent way to the cell wall. In recent years, two new modes of cell wall protein anchoring have been studied and these may provide new approaches in surface display. The important progress that is being made with cell surface display of chimaeric proteins in the areas of vaccine development and enzyme- or whole-cell immobilisation is highlighted.

Conformational studies of peptides representing a segment of TM7 from H+-VO-ATPase in SDS micelles

The conformation of a transmembrane peptide, sMTM7, encompassing the cytoplasmic hemi-channel domain of the seventh transmembrane section of subunit a from V-ATPase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae solubilized in SDS solutions was studied by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy of the single tryptophan residue of this peptide. The results show that the peptide adopts an α-helical conformation or aggregated β-sheet depending on the peptide-to-SDS ratio used. The results are compared with published data about a longer version of the peptide (i.e., MTM7). It is concluded that the bulky, positively charged arginine residue located in the center of both peptides has a destabilizing effect on the helical conformation of the SDS-solubilized peptides, leading to β-sheet formation and subsequent aggregation

Persistent anthrax as a major driver of wildlife mortality in a tropical rainforest

Anthrax is a globally important animal disease and zoonosis. Despite this, our current knowledge of anthrax ecology is largely limited to arid ecosystems, where outbreaks are most commonly reported. Here we show that the dynamics of an anthrax-causing agent, Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, in a tropical rainforest have severe consequences for local wildlife communities. Using data and samples collected over three decades, we show that rainforest anthrax is a persistent and widespread cause of death for a broad range of mammalian hosts. We predict that this pathogen will accelerate the decline and possibly result in the extirpation of local chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) populations. We present the epidemiology of a cryptic pathogen and show that its presence has important implications for conservation

Describing the longitudinal course of major depression using Markov models: Data integration across three national surveys

BACKGROUND: Most epidemiological studies of major depression report period prevalence estimates. These are of limited utility in characterizing the longitudinal epidemiology of this condition. Markov models provide a methodological framework for increasing the utility of epidemiological data. Markov models relating incidence and recovery to major depression prevalence have been described in a series of prior papers. In this paper, the models are extended to describe the longitudinal course of the disorder. METHODS: Data from three national surveys conducted by the Canadian national statistical agency (Statistics Canada) were used in this analysis. These data were integrated using a Markov model. Incidence, recurrence and recovery were represented as weekly transition probabilities. Model parameters were calibrated to the survey estimates. RESULTS: The population was divided into three categories: low, moderate and high recurrence groups. The size of each category was approximated using lifetime data from a study using the WHO Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI). Consistent with previous work, transition probabilities reflecting recovery were high in the initial weeks of the episodes, and declined by a fixed proportion with each passing week. CONCLUSION: Markov models provide a framework for integrating psychiatric epidemiological data. Previous studies have illustrated the utility of Markov models for decomposing prevalence into its various determinants: incidence, recovery and mortality. This study extends the Markov approach by distinguishing several recurrence categories