Aluminium and breast cancer: sources of exposure, tissue measurements and mechanisms of toxicological actions on breast biology

This review examines recent evidence linking exposure to aluminium with the aetiology of breast cancer. The human population is exposed to aluminium throughout daily life including through diet, application of antiperspirants, use of antacids and vaccination. Aluminium has now been measured in a range of human breast structures at higher levels than in blood serum and experimental evidence suggests that the tissue concentrations measured have the potential to adversely influence breast epithelial cells including generation of genomic instability, induction of anchorage-independent proliferation and interference in oestrogen action. The presence of aluminium in the human breast may also alter the breast microenvironment causing disruption to iron metabolism, oxidative damage to cellular components, inflammatory responses and alterations to the motility of cells. The main research need is now to investigate whether the concentrations of aluminium measured in the human breast can lead in vivo to any of the effects observed in cells in vitro and this would be aided by the identification of biomarkers specific for aluminium action.

Role of marine biology in glacial-interglacial CO2 cycles

It has been hypothesized that changes in the marine biological pump caused a major portion of the glacial reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide by 80 to 100 parts per million through increased iron fertilization of marine plankton, increased ocean nutrient content or utilization, or shifts in dominant plankton types. We analyze sedimentary records of marine productivity at the peak and the middle of the last glacial cycle and show that neither changes in nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean nor shifts in plankton dominance explain the CO2 drawdown. Iron fertilization and associated mechanisms can be responsible for no more than half the observed drawdown.

Reflections on designing a Biology/Humanities interdisciplinary module

This paper uses the reflections of a recent workshop on biology and the humanities subject areas to consider the potential for designing a first year interdisciplinary module that brings together teachers and learners in the Biosciences with their counterparts in English and History. It considers three building blocks of module design: aims and objectives; teaching and learning strategies; and assessment; and provides a commentary on the discussion of interdisciplinarity in the broader literature. The authors argue that interdisciplinary teaching and learning must be transformative, but not in the way many previous advocates of interdisciplinarity have assumed. Rather than transcending disciplines, the authors contend that the aim should be to enhance disciplinary understanding. Learners should emerge from the interdisciplinary module not having lost their identity as biologists, but having enhanced it. They should have become ‘better’ biologists in the sense of having developed a broader, critical understanding of the precepts of their discipline, as a first step to an understanding of biology inflected with a literary and historical awareness.

Biology as an agent of chemical and mineralogical change in soil

Earthworms have a significant impact on the functioning of soils and the processes that occur within them. Here we review our work on the impact of earthworms on soil mineralogy and chemistry, in particular focusing on the contribution of earthworms to mineral weathering and calcium carbonate in soils and the impact that earthworms have on metal mobility at contaminated sites.

Breeding biology of the White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Information on the breeding biology of the White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis is limited and published data are few. Within the Kruger National Park in north-east South Africa there is a regionally important population of about 60 White-headed Vulture pairs, of which 22 pairs were monitored for five years between 2008 and 2012 to determine key aspects of their breeding biology. Across 73 pair/years the mean productivity of 55 breeding attempts was 0.69 chicks per pair. Median egg-laying date across all of the Kruger National Park was 27 June, but northern nests were approximately 30 d later than southern nests. Mean (SD) nearest-neighbour distance was 9 976  7 965 m and inter-nest distances ranged from 1 400 m to more than 20 km, but this did not differ significantly between habitat types. Breeding productivity did not differ significantly between habitat types. The results presented here are the first for this species in Kruger National Park and provide details against which future comparisons can be made.

Biology and reproductive behavior of Murgantia histrionica (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

Life history parameters and reproductive behaviors of the harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica Hahn (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), were determined. Total developmental time from egg to adult was ≈48 d. After a sexual maturation period of ≈7 d, both sexes mated repeatedly, with females laying multiple egg masses of 12 eggs at intervals of 3 d. Adult females lived an average of 41 d, whereas adult males lived an average of 25 d. Courtship and copulation activities peaked in the middle of the photophase. In mating experiments in which mixed sex pairs of virgin and previously mated bugs were combined in all possible combinations, the durations of courtship and copulation by virgin males were significantly longer with both virgin and previously mated females than the same behaviors for previously mated males. When given a choice between a virgin or previously mated female, previously mated males preferred to mate with virgin females, whereas virgin males showed no preference for virgin over previously mated females. Analyses of mating behaviors with ethograms and behavioral transition matrices suggested that a primary reason for failure to copulate by virgin males was the incorrect rotation of their pygophores to the copulation position, so that successful alignment of the genitalia could not occur.

Regulation of early steps of GPVI signal transduction by phosphatases: a systems biology approach

We present a data-driven mathematical model of a key initiating step in platelet activation, a central process in the prevention of bleeding following Injury. In vascular disease, this process is activated inappropriately and causes thrombosis, heart attacks and stroke. The collagen receptor GPVI is the primary trigger for platelet activation at sites of injury. Understanding the complex molecular mechanisms initiated by this receptor is important for development of more effective antithrombotic medicines. In this work we developed a series of nonlinear ordinary differential equation models that are direct representations of biological hypotheses surrounding the initial steps in GPVI-stimulated signal transduction. At each stage model simulations were compared to our own quantitative, high-temporal experimental data that guides further experimental design, data collection and model refinement. Much is known about the linear forward reactions within platelet signalling pathways but knowledge of the roles of putative reverse reactions are poorly understood. An initial model, that includes a simple constitutively active phosphatase, was unable to explain experimental data. Model revisions, incorporating a complex pathway of interactions (and specifically the phosphatase TULA-2), provided a good description of the experimental data both based on observations of phosphorylation in samples from one donor and in those of a wider population. Our model was used to investigate the levels of proteins involved in regulating the pathway and the effect of low GPVI levels that have been associated with disease. Results indicate a clear separation in healthy and GPVI deficient states in respect of the signalling cascade dynamics associated with Syk tyrosine phosphorylation and activation. Our approach reveals the central importance of this negative feedback pathway that results in the temporal regulation of a specific class of protein tyrosine phosphatases in controlling the rate, and therefore extent, of GPVI-stimulated platelet activation.