<i>Schistosoma mansoni</i> cercariae experience influx of macromolecules during skin penetration

We have observed that when cercariae penetrate the skin of mice, there is influx into their tissues of Lucifer Yellow and certain labelled molecules of up to 20 kDa molecular weight. This observation was made using a variety of fluorescent membrane-impermeant compounds injected into the skin before the application of cercariae. This unexpected phenomenon was investigated further by transforming cercariae in vitro in the presence of the membrane-impermeant compounds and examining the distribution by microscopy. In schistosomula derived from this procedure, the nephridiopore and surface membrane were labelled while the pre- and post-acetabular glands were not labelled. The region associated with the oesophagus within the pharyngeal muscle clearly contained the fluorescent molecules, as did the region adjacent to the excretory tubules and the germinal mass. We used cercariae stained with carmine to aid identification of regions labelled with Lucifer Yellow. Although the mechanism of this influx is unclear, the observation is significant. From it, we can suggest an hypothesis that, during skin penetration, exposure of internal tissues of the parasite to external macromolecules represents a novel host-parasite interfac

From Conflict to Collaboration: Exploring Influences on Community Well-Being

Decades after the Timber Wars, land management agencies continue to redefine approaches to forest restoration and management, with impacts for Western forest dependent communities. To better understand this evolving dynamic, we examined the recent history of a rural forest community in the northern Sierra Nevada against the backdrop of changing perspectives on and relationships to resource use, industry, and forest management. Guided by community priorities distilled from interview data, we examine the transition from the Timber Wars to collaborative forest management through the rise of area collaboratives. The success of this work and its potential to genuinely improve community well-being remains to be seen but a notable shift has begun. With this paper we aim to advance understanding of the transition from the Timber Wars to community-based collaborative efforts, and what this means for rural forest communities

Effects of irradiation and tunicamycin on the surface glycoproteins Schistosoma mansoni

The cercarial glycocalyx and schistosomulum surface contains a number of glycoproteins which are expressed in very variable amounts within a parasite population. Tunicamycin inhibits glycoprotein synthesis of schistosomula if the parasites are incubated for 24hr with the drug (10µg ml[raised to the power of -1]). An unexpected increase in lectin binding to the parasite surface was observed but no other changes were detected. Schistosomula treated in this way did not develop in the host past the lung stage. Ultraviolet irradiation (400µW min cm[raised to the power of-2]) also inhibited glycoprotein synthesis. Synthesis of other proteins, and in particular heat shock proteins, were also inhibited. Sera from mice (NIH strain) infected with irradiated cercariae contained antibodies which bound to normal schistosomula with lower affinity than to irradiated parasites. This is evidence that irradiation modifies the surface and secreted glycoproteins of schistosomula, so they are processed in a different way to normal glycoproteins by the host's immune system. The effects of irradiation on heat shock protein synthesis may allow the parasite to release a variety of proteins and glycoproteins in abnormal conformations. This may explain the enhanced immunogenicity of irradiated cercariae

Taming the Shrew -Resolving Structural Heterogeneities with Hierarchical CPNs *

Abstract. Model transformations play a key role in the vision of ModelDriven Engineering (MDE) whereby the overcoming of structural heterogeneities, being a result of applying different meta-modeling constructs for the same semantic concept, is a challenging, recurring problem, urgently demanding for reuse of transformations. In this respect, an approach is required which (i) abstracts from the concrete execution language allowing to focus on the resolution of structural heterogeneities, (ii) keeps the impedance mismatch between specification and execution low enabling seamless debuggability, and (iii) provides formal underpinnings enabling model checking. Therefore, we propose to specify model transformations by applying a set of abstract mapping operators (MOPs), each resolving a certain kind of structural heterogeneity. For specifying the operational semantics of the MOPs, we propose to use Transformation Nets (TNs), a DSL on top of Colored Petri Nets (CPNs), since it allows (i) to keep the impedance mismatch between specification and execution low and (ii) to analyze model transformations by evaluating behavioral properties of CPNs

Genetics, recombination and clinical features of human rhinovirus species C (HRV-C) infections; interactions of HRV-C with other respiratory viruses

To estimate the frequency, molecular epidemiological and clinical associations of infection with the newly described species C variants of human rhinoviruses (HRV), 3243 diagnostic respiratory samples referred for diagnostic testing in Edinburgh were screened using a VP4-encoding region-based selective polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for HRV-C along with parallel PCR testing for 13 other respiratory viruses. HRV-C was the third most frequently detected behind respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, with 141 infection episodes detected among 1885 subjects over 13 months (7.5%). Infections predominantly targeted the very young (median age 6–12 months; 80% of infections in those &#60;2 years), occurred throughout the year but with peak incidence in early winter months. HRV-C was detected significantly more frequently among subjects with lower (LRT) and upper respiratory tract (URT) disease than controls without respiratory symptoms; HRV-C mono-infections were the second most frequently detected virus (behind RSV) in both disease presentations (6.9% and 7.8% of all cases respectively). HRV variants were classified by VP4/VP2 sequencing into 39 genotypically defined types, increasing the current total worldwide to 60. Through sequence comparisons of the 5′untranslated region (5′UTR), the majority grouped with species A (n = 96; 68%, described as HRV-Ca), the remainder forming a phylogenetically distinct 5′UTR group (HRV-Cc). Multiple and bidirectional recombination events between HRV-Ca and HRV-Cc variants and with HRV species A represents the most parsimonious explanation for their interspersed phylogeny relationships in the VP4/VP2-encoding region. No difference in age distribution, seasonality or disease associations was identified between HRV-Ca and HRV-Cc variants. HRV-C-infected subjects showed markedly reduced detection frequencies of RSV and other respiratory viruses, providing evidence for a major interfering effect of HRV-C on susceptibility to other respiratory virus infections. HRV-C's disease associations, its prevalence and evidence for interfering effects on other respiratory viruses mandates incorporation of rhinoviruses into future diagnostic virology screening

Metastable Nanostructured Metallized Fluoropolymer Composites for Energetics

Fluoropolymers have long served as potent oxidizers for metal-based pyrolant designs for the preparation of energetic materials. Commercial perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs), specifically known as Fomblins®, are well-known to undergo accelerated thermal degradation in the presence of native metals and Lewis acids producing energetically favorable metal fluoride species. This study employs the use of PFPEs to coat nano-aluminum (n-Al) and under optimized stoichiometric formulations, harness optimized energy output. The PFPEs serve as ideal oxidizers of n-Al because they are non-volatile, viscous liquids that coat the particles thereby maximizing surface interactions. The n-Al/PFPE blended combination is required to interface with an epoxy-based matrix in order to engineer a moldable/machinable, structurally viable epoxy composite without compromising bulk thermal/mechanical properties. Computational modeling/simulation supported by thermal experimental studies showed that the n-Al/PFPE blended epoxy composites produced an energetic material that undergoes latent thermal metal-mediated oxidation. Details of the work include the operationally simple, scalable synthetic preparation, thermal properties from DSC/TGA, and SEM/TEM of these energetic metallized nanocomposite systems. Post-burn analysis using powder XRD of this pyrolant system confirms the presence of the predominating exothermic metal-mediated oxidized AlF3 species in addition to the production of Al2O3 and Al4C3 during the deflagration reaction. Details of this first epoxy-based energetic nanocomposite entrained with a thermally reactive formulation of PFPE coated n-Al particles are presented herein

Progressive increase of FcεRI expression across several PBMC subsets is associated with atopy and atopic asthma within school-aged children

Background: Antigen-specific IgE binds the Fcε receptor I (FcεRI) expressed on several types of immune cells, including dendritic cells (DCs). Activation of FcεRI on DCs in atopics has been shown to modulate immune responses that potentially contribute to asthma development. However, the extent to which DC subsets differ in FcεRI expression between atopic children with or without asthma is currently not clear. This study aimed to analyse the expression of FcεRI on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from atopic children with and without asthma, and non-atopic/non-asthmatic age-matched healthy controls. Methods: We performed multiparameter flow cytometry on PBMC from 391 children across three community cohorts and one clinical cohort based in Western Australia. Results: We confirmed expression of FcεRI on basophils, monocytes, plasmacytoid and conventional DCs, with higher proportions of all cell populations expressing FcεRI in atopic compared to non-atopic children. Further, we observed that levels of FcεRI expression were elevated across plasmacytoid and conventional DC as well as basophils in atopic asthmatic compared to atopic non-asthmatic children also after adjusting for serum IgE levels. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the expression pattern of FcεRI on DC and basophils differentiates asthmatic from non-asthmatic atopic children. Given the significant immune modulatory effects observed as a consequence of FcεRI expression, this altered expression pattern is likely to contribute to asthma pathology in children

Success of concrete and crab traps in facilitating Eastern oyster recruitment and reef development

Background Abundance of the commercially and ecologically important Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has declined across the US Eastern and Gulf coasts in recent decades, spurring substantial efforts to restore oyster reefs. These efforts are widely constrained by the availability, cost, and suitability of substrates to support oyster settlement and reef establishment. In particular, oyster shell is often the preferred substrate but is relatively scarce and increasingly expensive. Thus, there is a need for alternative oyster restoration materials that are cost-effective, abundant, and durable. Methods We tested the viability of two low-cost substrates—concrete and recycled blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) traps—in facilitating oyster recovery in a replicated 22-month field experiment at historically productive but now degraded intertidal oyster grounds on northwestern Florida’s Nature Coast. Throughout the trial, we monitored areal oyster cover on each substrate; at the end of the trial, we measured the densities of oysters by size class (spat, juvenile, and market-size) and the biomass and volume of each reef. Results Oysters colonized the concrete structures more quickly than the crab traps, as evidenced by significantly higher oyster cover during the first year of the experiment. By the end of the experiment, the concrete structures hosted higher densities of spat and juveniles, while the density of market-size oysters was relatively low and similar between treatments. The open structure of the crab traps led to the development of larger-volume reefs, while oyster biomass per unit area was similar between treatments. In addition, substrates positioned at lower elevations (relative to mean sea level) supported higher oyster abundance, size, and biomass than those less frequently inundated at higher elevations. Discussion Together, these findings indicate that both concrete and crab traps are viable substrates for oyster reef restoration, especially when placed at lower intertidal elevations conducive to oyster settlement and reef development

Limnogeological studies of maar lake Ranu Klindungan, East Java, Indonesia

Ranu Klindungan is a lake at the northern lowlands of East Java close to the northern slope of the Tengger Caldera. Outcrops of phreatomagmatic base surge deposits at the inner southern crater slope indicate that the lake is situated in a maar crater. The lake has a surface of 2.1 km2 and a maximum depth of 126 m. Details to the morphometry are given. Groundwater inflow must be high. The lake is oligomictic and eutrophicated with a shallow epilimnion and a large anoxic hypolimnion. Mn, Fe, and TP have distinct peaks at the upper hypolimnion, probably caused by the groundwater inflow. Profundal sediments of Ranu Klindungan consist of carbonaceous diatom-gyttja and frequent turbidites. Often the fine layered sediments reveal a distinct cyclicity of layers of diatoms, carbonate and finally terrigenous material. Probably the diatom and carbonate layers represent the dry season (June-October), whereas the terrigenous layer is deposited by distal turbidites during the rain season (November-May). We interpret these cycles as varves. Despite tropical weathering, silt-sized minerals in terrigenous layers are mainly fresh feldspars, which points to rapid transport and embedding of these components. Thicker intraclast-turbidites may be associated with strong precipitation events during the rain season. The diatom record confirms this hypothesis: diatom layers are rich in complete valves of planktonic forms, whereas in the terrigenous layers few, mostly broken, valves of littoral species occur. The high proportion of turbidites contributes to the near-horizontal profundal lake bottom