New Methodologies for Grasslands Monitoring

Monitoring grassland areas to assess changes in their condition over time has been the subject of a lot of research at different scales. Initially the techniques focused on field-based measurements, and modelling. However, several obtained data were site specific. Based on the increase in availability of remote sensing data and products, there is an expectation that remote sensing can provide rapid and definite answers to the challenges of detecting and monitoring grassland conditions and associated changes in productivity. At the time of European Copernicus Programme, the new possibilities of satellite data from the group of Sentinel satellites give the new perspective for grasslands monitoring. The Finegrass Polish – Norwegian Project have been set to detect the biomass and its changes for grasslands in Poland and Norway applying different approaches due to different specific of the area. The results have been verified by ground measurements

Gender differences in post-operative human skin

Although the impact of age, gender, and obesity on the skin wound healing process has been extensively studied, the data related to gender differences in aspects of skin scarring are limited. The present study performed on abdominal human intact and scar skin focused on determining gender differences in extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, dermal white adipose tissue (dWAT) accumulation, and Foxn1 expression as a part of the skin response to injury. Scar skin of men showed highly increased levels of COLLAGEN 1A1, COLLAGEN 6A3, and ELASTIN mRNA expression, the accumulation of thick collagen I-positive fibers, and the accumulation of $\alpha$-SMA-positive cells in comparison to the scar skin of women. However, post-injured skin of women displayed an increase (in comparison to post-injured men’s skin) in collagen III accumulation in the scar area. On the contrary, women’s skin samples showed a tendency towards higher levels of adipogenic-related genes ($PPAR\gamma$, FABP4, LEPTIN) than men, regardless of intact or scar skin. Intact skin of women showed six times higher levels of LEPTIN mRNA expression in comparison to men intact (p < 0.05), men post-injured (p < 0.05), or women post-injured scar (p < 0.05) skin. Higher levels of FOXN1 mRNA and protein were also detected in women than in men’s skin. In conclusion, the present data confirm and extend (dWAT layer) the data related to the presence of differences between men and women in the skin, particularly in scar tissues, which may contribute to the more effective and gender-tailored improvement of skin care interventions

Hygroscopic growth of water soluble organic carbon isolated from atmospheric aerosol collected at US national parks and Storm Peak Laboratory

Due to the atmospheric abundance and chemical complexity of water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), its contribution to the hydration behavior of atmospheric aerosol is both significant and difficult to assess. For the present study, the hygroscopicity and CCN activity of isolated atmospheric WSOC particulate matter was measured without the compounding effects of common, soluble inorganic aerosol constituents. WSOC was extracted with high purity water from daily high-volume PM2.5 filter samples and separated from water soluble inorganic constituents using solid-phase extraction. The WSOC filter extracts were concentrated and combined to provide sufficient mass for continuous generation of the WSOC-only aerosol over the combined measurement time of the tandem differential mobility analyzer and coupled scanning mobility particle sizer–CCN counter used for the analysis. Aerosol samples were taken at Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the summer of 2006 and fall–winter of 2007–2008; Mount Rainier National Park during the summer of 2009; Storm Peak Laboratory (SPL) near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, during the summer of 2010; and Acadia National Park during the summer of 2011. Across all sampling locations and seasons, the hygroscopic growth of WSOC samples at 90 % RH, expressed in terms of the hygroscopicity parameter, κ, ranged from 0.05 to 0.15. Comparisons between the hygroscopicity of WSOC and that of samples containing all soluble materials extracted from the filters implied a significant modification of the hydration behavior of inorganic components, including decreased hysteresis separating efflorescence and deliquescence and enhanced water uptake between 30 and 70 % RH

Comparative Toxicity of Gasoline and Diesel Engine Emissions

Better information on the comparative toxicity of airborne emissions from different types of engines is needed to guide the development of heavy vehicle engine, fuel, lubricant, and exhaust after-treatment technologies, and to place the health hazards of current heavy vehicle emissions in their proper perspective. To help fill this information gap, samples of vehicle exhaust particles and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) were collected and analyzed. The biological activity of the combined particle-SVOC samples is being tested using standardized toxicity assays. This report provides an update on the design of experiments to test the relative toxicity of engine emissions from various sources

Proteoglycan Breakdown of Meniscal Explants Following Dynamic Compression Using a Novel Bioreactor

Motivated by our interest in examining meniscal mechanotransduction processes, we report on the validation of a new tissue engineering bioreactor. This paper describes the design and performance capabilities of a tissue engineering bioreactor for cyclic compression of meniscal explants. We showed that the system maintains a tissue culture environment equivalent to that provided by conventional incubators and that its strain output was uniform and reproducible. The system incorporates a linear actuator and load cell aligned together in a frame that is contained within an incubator and allows for large loads and small displacements. A plunger with six Teflon-filled Delrin compression rods is attached to the actuator compressing up to six tissue explants simultaneously and with even pressure. The bioreactor system was used to study proteoglycan (PG) breakdown in porcine meniscal explants following various input loading tests (0–20% strain, 0–0.1 MPa). The greatest PG breakdown was measured following 20% compressive strain. These strain and stress levels have been shown to correspond to partial meniscectomy. Thus, these data suggest that removing 30–60% of meniscal tissue will result in the breakdown of meniscal tissue proteoglycans

Adhesive protein-mediated crosstalk between <i>Candida albicans</i> and <i>Porphyromonas gingivalis</i> in dual species biofilm protects the anaerobic bacterium in unfavorable oxic environment

Abstract The oral cavity contains different types of microbial species that colonize human host via extensive cell-to-cell interactions and biofilm formation. Candida albicans —a yeast-like fungus that inhabits mucosal surfaces—is also a significant colonizer of subgingival sites in patients with chronic periodontitis. It is notable however that one of the main infectious agents that causes periodontal disease is an anaerobic bacterium— Porphyromonas gingivalis. In our study, we evaluated the different strategies of both pathogens in the mutual colonization of an artificial surface and confirmed that a protective environment existed for P. gingivalis within developed fungal biofilm formed under oxic conditions where fungal cells grow mainly in their filamentous form i.e. hyphae. A direct physical contact between fungi and P. gingivalis was initiated via a modulation of gene expression for the major fungal cell surface adhesin Als3 and the aspartic proteases Sap6 and Sap9. Proteomic identification of the fungal surfaceome suggested also an involvement of the Mp65 adhesin and a “moonlighting” protein, enolase, as partners for the interaction with P. gingivalis. Using mutant strains of these bacteria that are defective in the production of the gingipains—the proteolytic enzymes that also harbor hemagglutinin domains—significant roles of these proteins in the formation of bacteria-protecting biofilm were clearly demonstrated