Drivers of recent forest cover change in southern South America are linked to climate and CO2

Landscape Ecology - Widespread changes in forest structure and distribution have been documented in northern Patagonia over the past century. We employed LPJ-GUESS, a dynamic global...     

Phytoavailability and toxicity of beryllium and vanadium

Greenhouse and laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the toxic effects of Be and V on collards (Brassica oleracea, var. acephala L.). In the laboratory germination study, incremental increases in the Be concentrations of the growing medium induced a steady decline in the radicle length of seven-day-old collard seedling. Beryllium concentrations greater than or equal to 8 mg Be L^?1 totally inhibited seed germination. The presence of V in the growing medium had no effect on collard germination; however, it had a profound effect on subsequent radicle elongation. Concentrations of V less than 1 mg V L^?1 stimulated radicle elongation, while concentrations greater than or equal to 3 mg V L^?1 caused severe toxicity. In the greenhouse study, Be toxicity was observed in collards grown in a Blanton sand (Grossarenic Paleudult) received treatments greater than or equal to 150 mg Be kg ^?1 (as BeSO₄). Irrespective of treatment level, 97% of the Be taken up by the plants remained in the roots while only 3% was translocated to aboveground plant parts. Vanadium tissue concentrations and toxicity to collards varied with soil type. Additions as low as 80 mg V kg^?1 to the Blanton sand significantly reduced collard biomass while additions as high as 100 mg V kg^?1 to an Orangebury loamy sand (Typic Paleudult) had no effect on plant biomass. The differential response was attributed to greater accumulation of V by plants grown in the Blanton soil.     

Rescue of dystrophic muscle through U7 snRNA-mediated exon skipping

Most mutations in the dystrophin gene create a frameshift or a stop in the mRNA and are associated with severe Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Exon skipping that naturally occurs at low frequency sometimes eliminates the mutation and leads to the production of a rescued protein. We have achieved persistent exon skipping that removes the mutated exon on the dystrophin messenger mRNA of the mdx mouse, by a single administration of an AAV vector expressing antisense sequences linked to a modified U7 small nuclear RNA. We report the sustained production of functional dystrophin at physiological levels in entire groups of muscles and the correction of the muscular dystrophy.     

An anti-apoptotic role for the p53 family member, p73, during developmental neuron death

p53 plays an essential pro-apoptotic role, a function thought to be shared with its family members p73 and p63. Here, we show that p73 is primarily present in developing neurons as a truncated isoform whose levels are dramatically decreased when sympathetic neurons apoptose after nerve growth factor (NGF) withdrawal. Increased expression of truncated p73 rescues these neurons from apoptosis induced by NGF withdrawal or p53 overexpression. In p73-/- mice, all isoforms of p73 are deleted and the apoptosis of developing sympathetic neurons is greatly enhanced. Thus, truncated p73 is an essential anti-apoptotic protein in neurons, serving to counteract the pro-apoptotic function of p53.     

Endogenous carbon in carbonaceous meteorites

Seven carbonaceous chondrites have been analyzed for soluble organic compounds, carbonate, and residual carbon. Carbon-13/carbon-12 isotopic mneasurements on these fractions gave the following values relative to a marine carbonate standard: carbonate, +40 to +70 per mil; residual carbon, -15 to -17 per mil; soluble organic material, -17 to -27 per mil, with one value of -5.5 per mil. These values are interpreted to indicate that carbonate, residual carbon, and part of the extractable organic material are endogenous to these meteorites.     

Radar detection of the nucleus and coma of comet hyakutake

Radar observations of comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) made at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California have detected echoes from the nucleus and from large grains in the inner coma. The nucleus of this bright comet was estimated to be only 2 to 3 kilometers in diameter. Models of the coma echo indicate backscatter from porous, centimeter-size grains ejected anisotropically at velocities of tens of meters per second. The radar observations suggest that a comet's activity may be a poor indicator of its size and provide evidence that large grains constitute an important component of the mass loss from a typical active comet.     

Ordered liquid aluminum at the interface with sapphire

Understanding the nature of solid-liquid interfaces is important for many processes of technological interest, such as solidification, liquid-phase epitaxial growth, wetting, liquid-phase joining, crystal growth, and lubrication. Recent studies have reported on indirect evidence of density fluctuations at solid-liquid interfaces on the basis of x-ray scattering methods that have been complemented by atomistic simulations. We provide evidence for ordering of liquid atoms adjacent to an interface with a crystal, based on real-time high-temperature observations of alumina-aluminum solid-liquid interfaces at the atomic-length scale. In addition, crystal growth of alumina into liquid aluminum, facilitated by interfacial transport of oxygen from the microscope column, was observed in situ with the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.     

Identification of cephapirin metabolites and degradants in bovine milk by electrospray ionization--ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

Liquid chromatography-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with electrospray ionization was used to identify cephapirin metabolites and degradants in milk from cows dosed with cephapirin. The milk was extracted according to a previously published procedure. Structures for various components were tentatively identified by their molecular weight, product ion mass spectra, and/or correspondence to standard mass spectra. These components may have occurred as metabolites or as degradants that occurred on storage or during extraction. Compounds identified in the milk included cephapirin, desacetylcephapirin, cephapirin lactone, hydrolyzed cephapirin, and a reduced cephapirin lactone that has not previously been reported. Methylcephapirin was also identified, possibly as a trace contaminant in the formulation. Analysis of incurred milk extracts showed that cephapirin and desacetylcephapirin are the major residues in milk. Desacetylcephapirin residues persisted about as long as the parent drug. The detection limit for both residues by LC-MS/MS was approximately 1 ng/mL in milk. These results have implications for microbiological methods or rapid test kits, if such methods or kits respond to cephapirin metabolites and degradants present in the milk.