Arboretums,common gardens and forest tree resilience

New Forests - Climate change triggered forest die-back is a huge concern worldwide. Arboretums and common gardens comparing geographic origins within species can provide a large body of valuable...     

Anatomy of a flaring proto-planetary disk around a young intermediate-mass star

Although planets are being discovered around stars more massive than the Sun, information about the proto-planetary disks where such planets have built up is sparse. We have imaged mid-infrared emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the surface of the disk surrounding the young intermediate-mass star HD 97048 and characterized the disk. The disk is in an early stage of evolution, as indicated by its large content of dust and its hydrostatic flared geometry, indicative of the presence of a large amount of gas that is well mixed with dust and gravitationally stable. The disk is a precursor of debris disks found around more-evolved A stars such as beta-Pictoris and provides the rare opportunity to witness the conditions prevailing before (or during) planet formation.     

Production of nitric oxide by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris

Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) are exposed to many conditions in their habitat that may adversely impact health and impair immune function in this endangered species. In an effort to increase the current knowledge base regarding the manatee immune system, the production of an important reactive nitrogen intermediate, nitric oxide (NO), by manatee peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was investigated. PBMC from healthy captive manatees were stimulated with LPS, IFN-gamma, or TNF-alpha, either alone or in various combinations, with NO production assessed after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of culture. NO production in response to LPS stimulation was significantly greater after 48, 72, or 96 h of culture compared to NO production after 24h of culture. A specific inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), L-NIL (L-N(6)-(1-iminoethyl)lysine), significantly decreased NO production by LPS-stimulated manatee PBMC. Manatee specific oligonucleotide primers for iNOS were designed to measure expression of relative amounts of mRNA in LPS-stimulated manatee PBMC from captive manatees. NO production by PBMC from manatees exposed to red tide toxins was analyzed, with significantly greater NO production by both unstimulated and LPS stimulated PBMC from red tide exposed compared with healthy captive or cold-stress manatees. Free-ranging manatees produced significantly lower amounts of nitric oxide compared to either captive or red tide rescued manatees. Results presented in this paper contribute to the current understanding of manatee immune function and represent the first report of nitric oxide production in the immune system of a marine mammal.