Reviewing Member States’ Commitment to the European External Action Service. EPIN Working Paper No. 34, 20 November 2012

Based on interviews with diplomats from a representative cross-section of nine member states and members of the EEAS itself, the research findings of this EPIN Working Paper confirm long-standing traditions and member state perceptions of cooperation with European institutions. The paper also reveals new aspects of the intergovernmental method of foreign policy shaping and making in the European Union; in particular how different national positions can positively or negatively affect the consolidation of the EEAS and the role of the EU as an international actor. As such, the Working Paper makes an original contribution to the existing literature on one of most discussed actors in the European Union’s post-Lisbon architecture in the domain of EU external action.

The M1 matrix protein controls the filamentous phenotype of influenza A virus

We show that most isolates of influenza A induce filamentous changes in infected cells in contrast to A/WSN/33 and A/PR8/34 strains which have undergone extensive laboratory passage and are mouse-adapted. Using reverse genetics, we created recombinant viruses in the naturally filamentous genetic background of A/Victoria/3/75 and established that this property is regulated by the M1 protein sequence, but that the phenotype is complex and several residues are involved. The filamentous phenotype was lost when the amino acid at position 41 was switched from A to V, at the same time, this recombinant virus also became insensitive to the antibody 14C2. On the other hand, the filamentous phenotype could be fully transferred to a virus containing RNA segment 7 of the A/WSN/33 virus by a combination of three mutations in both the amino and carboxy regions of the M1 protein. This observation suggests that an interaction among these regions of M1 may occur during assembly. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pretranslational regulation of the expression of the lipoprotein lipase (EC 3.1, l.34) gene by dietary fatty acids in the rat

Although there have been a number of studies of effects of diet and hormones on lipoprotein lipase (EC 3.1.1.34; LPL) activity and levels of LPL mRNA (Raynolds et al. 1990), there have been no studies which have investigated effects of different dietary fatty acids on LPL gene expression. In the present study male Wistar Albino rats were pair-fed diets containing 50 g fat/kg of different fatty acid composition for 2 weeks. The diets fed were (1) a mixed oil (450 g saturated fatty acids, 420 g monounsaturated fatty acids, 130 g polyunsaturated fatty acids/kg; n 8), (2) maize oil (n 8), or (3) fish oil (n 8). Animals were killed, RNA was extracted from liver and perirenal and epididymal fat pads, and analysed by ‘Northern methodology’. Samples were hybridized to a human cDNA probe for LPL (Gotoda et al. 1989). Two transcripts were identified in epididymai and perirenal adipose tissue which were approximately 3·7 and 1·7 kb in size. The results suggested that (1) fish oil-fed animals had significantly greater production of LPL mRNA in epididymai adipose tissue compared with maize oil-fed animals (P < 0·05), (2) maize oil-fed animals had significantly greater production of LPL mRNA in perirenal fat compared with the other dietary groups (P < 0·05), (3) expression in the liver was not significant. Rats fed on a fish oil diet had significantly reduced plasma triacylglycerol concentrations compared with the mixed-oil group (P < 0·05), but there were no significant differences in plasma cholesterol. The differences in LPL could not be explained directly by the changes in plasma immunoreactive-insulin and glucose-dependent insulinotrophic polypeptide levels in the three groups.

Effect of antidepressants on melatonin metabolite in depressed patients

Antidepressants increase melatonin levels, but it is still unclear whether this effect is related to the improvement of depressive symptoms or to unrelated pharmacological action of antidepressants. To answer this question, the effect of antidepressants on 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s), the main melatonin urinary metabolite, was examined in drug-free depressed patients - most of them antidepressant-naive. aMT6s was evaluated in 34 depressed patients, before and after 8 weeks of placebo (n = 12) or antidepressant (n = 22; fluoxetine, duloxetine or Hypericum perforatum). Both groups showed an improvement of depressive symptoms after treatment compared to baseline (Hamilton Depression scores): 17.0 +/- 1.4 vs. 9.0 +/- 2.8, P = 0.007 for placebo, and 18.6 +/- 1.1 vs. 11.8 +/- 1.6, P < 0.001 for antidepressants). After treatment, aMT6s levels increased after antidepressants (P < 0.01), but not after placebo (P > 0.05). As depressive symptoms improved both in patients taking antidepressant and in those taking placebo, but an effect of antidepressants could only be seen in those taking antidepressants, we suggest that melatonin changes after antidepressants are more likely due to a pharmacological action of these drugs on melatonin secretion.

Population trends of Gentoo Penguins Pygoscelis Papua breeding at the Falkland Islands

The fourth archipelago-wide census of Gentoo Penguins Pygoscelis papua breeding at the Falkland Islands was conducted from 24 October to 8 December 2010. The number of Gentoo Penguins breeding in 2010 was estimated to be 132 321 ± 2 015, the highest number of breeding pairs recorded for this species at the Falkland Islands since the first survey in 1933. The global population of Gentoo Penguins is conservatively estimated to be about 384 000 breeding pairs, of which the Falkland Islands accounts for 34%, probably the largest component of the global population. Annually monitored study colonies accounted for 20% of the total number of Gentoo Penguin breeding pairs at the Falkland Islands in 2010 and proved to be a reliable proxy for archipelago-wide changes in the number of breeding pairs. Recent trends at annually monitored study colonies, combined with archipelago-wide trends, indicate that the number of Gentoo Penguins breeding at the Falkland Islands has increased between 2005 to 2010. However, annual monitoring data also revealed large inter-annual variability in the number of breeding pairs, which makes assessing systematic population changes challenging.