The broad-scale distribution of five jellyfish species across a temperate coastal environment

Jellyfish (medusae) are sometimes the most noticeable and abundant members of coastal planktonic communities, yet ironically, this high conspicuousness is not reflected in our overall understanding of their spatial distributions across large expanses of water. Here, we set out to elucidate the spatial (and temporal) patterns for five jellyfish species (Phylum Cnidaria, Orders Rhizostomeae and Semaeostomeae) across the Irish & Celtic Seas, an extensive shelf-sea area at Europe's northwesterly margin encompassing several thousand square kilometers. Data were gathered using two independent methods: (1) surface-counts of jellyfish from ships of opportunity, and (2) regular shoreline surveys for stranding events over three consecutive years. Jellyfish species displayed distinct species-specific distributions, with an apparent segregation of some species. Furthermore, a different species composition was noticeable between the northern and southern parts of the study area. Most importantly, our data suggests that jellyfish distributions broadly reflect the major hydrographic regimes (and associated physical discontinuities) of the study area, with mixed water masses possibly acting as a trophic barrier or non-favourable environment for the successful growth and reproduction of jellyfish species.

Optical transmission properties and electric field distribution of interacting 2D silver nanorod Arrays

Silver nanorods have been grown by electrodeposition into thin film porous alumina templates (AAO). Optical transmission measurements using p-polarized incident white light shows clear plasmon resonance extinction peaks. We successfully model the dependence on angle in incidence of extinction peak height and position using a multiple-multipoles (MMP) approach with the different spectral features being clearly associated with the effective electric field distribution and coupling between individual nanorods.

Molecular identity and cellular distribution of advanced glycation endproduct receptors: relationship of p60 to OST-48 and p90 to 80K-H membrane proteins.

Advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) are derivatives of nonenzymatic reactions between sugars and protein or lipids, and together with AGE-specific receptors are involved in numerous pathogenic processes associated with aging and hyperglycemia. Two of the known AGE-binding proteins isolated from rat liver membranes, p60 and p90, have been partially sequenced. We now report that the N-terminal sequence of p60 exhibits 95% identity to OST-48, a 48-kDa member of the oligosaccharyltransferase complex found in microsomal membranes, while sequence analysis of p90 revealed 73% and 85% identity to the N-terminal and internal sequences, respectively, of human 80K-H, a 80- to 87-kDa protein substrate for protein kinase C. AGE-ligand and Western analyses of purified oligosaccharyltransferase complex, enriched rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, and plasma membranes from rat liver or RAW 264.7 macrophages yielded a single protein of approximately 50 kDa recognized by both anti-p60 and anti-OST-48 antibodies, and also exhibited AGE-specific binding. Immunoprecipitated OST-48 from rat rough endoplasmic reticulum fractions exhibited both AGE binding and immunoreactivity to an anti-p60 antibody. Immune IgG raised to recombinant OST-48 and 80K-H inhibited binding of AGE-bovine serum albumin to cell membranes in a dose-dependent manner. Immunostaining and flow cytometry demonstrated the surface expression of OST-48 and 80K-H on numerous cell types and tissues, including mononuclear, endothelial, renal, and brain neuronal and glial cells. We conclude that the AGE receptor components p60 and p90 are identical to OST-48, and 80K-H, respectively, and that they together contribute to the processing of AGEs from extra- and intracellular compartments and in the cellular responses associated with these pathogenic substances.

Adiponectin is produced by lymphocytes and is a negative regulator of granulopoiesis

Lymphocytes have long been established to play an important role in the regulation of hematopoiesis and produce many cytokines that act on hematopoietic progenitor cells. Previous studies by our group have shown that normal, unstimulated lymphocytes produce a protein that inhibits normal bone marrow GM colony formation. Adiponectin is an adipokine that has been demonstrated to act as a negative regulator of hematopoiesis and immune function. This study aimed to determine if the inhibitory molecule that we described previously was adiponectin. Here, we show transcription, translation, and secretion of adiponectin from lymphocytes and demonstrate that its receptors, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, are expressed by bone marrow MNCs. We show that although the adiponectin expression is low in lymphocytes, it is sufficient to induce a significant inhibitory effect on GM precursors (CFU-GM) and activate the AMPK pathway in these cells. The regulation of adiponectin production by lymphocytes and its detailed function in suppressing GM colony formation need to be elucidated now. Our findings suggest a functional role for adiponectin as a negative regulator of granulopoiesis. J. Leukoc. Biol. 88: 807-811; 2010.

The size distribution of Jupiter Family comet nuclei

We present an updated cumulative size distribution (CSD) for Jupiter Family comet (JFC) nuclei, including a rigorous assessment of the uncertainty on the slope of the CSD. The CSD is expressed as a power law, N(>rN) ?r-qN, where rN is the radius of the nuclei and q is the slope. We include a large number of optical observations published by us and others since the comprehensive review in the Comets II book, and make use of an improved fitting method. We assess the uncertainty on the CSD due to all of the unknowns and uncertainties involved (photometric uncertainty, assumed phase function, albedo and shape of the nucleus) by means of Monte Carlo simulations. In order to do this we also briefly review the current measurements of these parameters for JFCs. Our final CSD has a slope q= 1.92 ± 0.20 for nuclei with radius rN= 1.25 km.

Distribution of the Demmel Condition Number of Wishart Matrices

This paper studies the Demmel condition number of Wishart matrices, a quantity which has numerous applications to wireless communications, such as adaptive switching between beamforming and diversity coding, link adaptation, and spectrum sensing. For complex Wishart matrices, we give an exact analytical expression for the probability density function (p.d.f.) of the Demmel condition number, and also derive simplified expressions for the high tail regime. These results indicate that the condition of complex Wishart matrices is dominantly decided by the difference between the matrix dimension and degree of freedom (DoF), i.e., the probability of drawing a highly ill conditioned matrix decreases considerably when the difference between the matrix dimension and DoF increases. We further investigate real Wishart matrices, and derive new expressions for the p.d.f. of the smallest eigenvalue, when the difference between the matrix dimension and DoF is odd. Based on these results, we succeed to obtain an exact p.d.f. expression for the Demmel condition number, and simplified expressions for the high tail regime.

Persistent negative effects of pesticides on biodiversity and biological control potential on European farmland

During the last 50 years, agricultural intensification has caused many wild plant and animal species to go extinct regionally or nationally and has profoundly changed the functioning of agro-ecosystems. Agricultural intensification has many components, such as loss of landscape elements, enlarged farm and field sizes and larger inputs of fertilizer and pesticides. However, very little is known about the relative contribution of these variables to the large-scale negative effects on biodiversity. In this study, we disentangled the impacts of various components of agricultural intensification on species diversity of wild plants, carabids and ground-nesting farmland birds and on the biological control of aphids.

Altered distribution of interstitial cells and innervation in the rat urinary bladder following spinal cord injury

Introduction Changes in the distribution of interstitial cells (IC) are reportedly associated with dysfunctional bladder. The present study investigated whether spinal cord injury (SCI) resulted in changes to IC subpopulations (vimentin-positive with the ultrastructural profile of IC), smooth muscle and nerves within the bladder wall and correlated cellular remodelling with functional properties. Methods Bladders from SCI (T8/9 transection) and sham-operated rats five-weeks post-injury were used for ex vivo pressure-volume experiments or processed for morphological analysis with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light/confocal microscopy. Results Pressure-volume relationships revealed low-pressure, hypercompliance in SCI bladders indicative of decompensation. Extensive networks of vimentin-positive IC were typical in sham lamina propria and detrusor but were markedly reduced post-SCI; semi-quantitative analysis showed significant reduction. Nerves labelled with anti-neurofilament and anti-vAChT were notably decreased post-SCI. TEM revealed lamina propria IC and detrusor IC which formed close synaptic-like contacts with vesicle-containing nerve varicosities in shams. Lamina propria and detrusor IC were ultrastructurally damaged post-SCI with retracted/lost cell processes and were adjacent to areas of cellular debris and neuronal degradation. Smooth muscle hypertrophy was common to SCI tissues. Conclusions IC populations in bladder wall were decreased five weeks post-SCI, accompanied with reduced innervation, smooth muscle hypertrophy and increased compliance. These novel findings indicate that bladder wall remodelling post-SCI affects the integrity of interactions between smooth muscle, nerves and IC, with compromised IC populations. Correlation between IC reduction and a hypercompliant phenotype suggests that disruption to bladder IC contribute to pathophysiological processes underpinning the dysfunctional SCI bladder.