Genome analysis reveals insights into physiology and longevity of the Brandt’s bat Myotis brandtii

Bats account for one-fifth of mammalian species, are the only mammals with powered flight, and are among the few animals that echolocate. The insect-eating Brandt’s bat (Myotis brandtii) is the longest-lived bat species known to date (lifespan exceeds 40 years) and, at 4–8 g adult body weight, is the most extreme mammal with regard to disparity between body mass and longevity. Here we report sequencing and analysis of the Brandt’s bat genome and transcriptome, which suggest adaptations consistent with echolocation and hibernation, as well as altered metabolism, reproduction and visual function. Unique sequence changes in growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptors are also observed. The data suggest that an altered growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 axis, which may be common to other long-lived bat species, together with adaptations such as hibernation and low reproductive rate, contribute to the exceptional lifespan of the Brandt’s bat.

Adaptations to a subterranean environment and longevity revealed by the analysis of mole rat genomes

Subterranean mammals spend their lives in dark, unventilated environments that are rich in carbon dioxide and ammonia and low in oxygen. Many of these animals are also long-lived and exhibit reduced aging-associated diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. We sequenced the genome of the Damaraland mole rat (DMR, Fukomys damarensis) and improved the genome assembly of the naked mole rat (NMR, Heterocephalus glaber). Comparative genome analyses, along with the transcriptomes of related subterranean rodents, revealed candidate molecular adaptations for subterranean life and longevity, including a divergent insulin peptide, expression of oxygen-carrying globins in the brain, prevention of high CO2-induced pain perception, and enhanced ammonia detoxification. Juxtaposition of the genomes of DMR and other more conventional animals with the genome of NMR revealed several truly exceptional NMR features: unusual thermogenesis, an aberrant melatonin system, pain insensitivity, and unique processing of 28S rRNA. Together, these genomes and transcriptomes extend our understanding of subterranean adaptations, stress resistance, and longevity.

A comparison of lungworm faecal larval counts and trichostrongyloid faecal egg counts between Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and Red DeerXWapiti F1 hybrids.

To determine if breed differences in susceptibility to trichostrongyloid and lungworm infection exist, two groups of weaner deer containing seven red deer and red deer X wapiti F1 hybrids were compared using faecal egg counts and faecal larval counts. All animals were run on the same pasture at the same time and treated with the same anthelmintics at the same time. Results indicated that there were significant differences between red deer and red deer X wapiti hybrids, with red deer having higher faecal lungworm counts and red deer X wapiti hybrids having significantly higher faecal egg counts. It is likely that these differences were due to breed. Differences in the efficacy of anthelmintic treatments were also noted between the two groups, with oral oxfendazole being less effective at reducing faecal lungworm counts in red deer X wapiti hybrids than red deer.

Diversity of New Zealand's Terrestrial and Freshwater Fauna

As a large, isolated and relatively ancient landmass, New Zealand occupies a unique place in the biological world, with distinctive terrestrial biota and a high proportion of primitive endemic forms. Biology Aotearoa covers the origins, evolution and conservation of the New Zealand flora, fauna and fungi. Each chapter is written by specialists in the field, often working from different perspectives to build up a comprehensive picture. Topics include: the geological history of our land origins, and evolution of our plants, animals and fungi current status of rare and threatened species past, present and future management of native species the effect of human immigration on the native biota.

The transcriptome of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus reveals adaptations of the longest‐lived mammal

Mammals vary dramatically in lifespan, by at least two-orders of magnitude, but the molecular basis for this difference remains largely unknown. The bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus is the longest-lived mammal known, with an estimated maximal lifespan in excess of two hundred years. It is also one of the two largest animals and the most cold-adapted baleen whale species. Here, we report the first genome-wide gene expression analyses of the bowhead whale, based on the de novo assembly of its transcriptome. Bowhead whale or cetacean-specific changes in gene expression were identified in the liver, kidney and heart, and complemented with analyses of positively selected genes. Changes associated with altered insulin signaling and other gene expression patterns could help explain the remarkable longevity of bowhead whales as well as their adaptation to a lipid-rich diet. The data also reveal parallels in candidate longevity adaptations of the bowhead whale, naked mole rat and Brandt's bat. The bowhead whale transcriptome is a valuable resource for the study of this remarkable animal, including the evolution of longevity and its important correlates such as resistance to cancer and other diseases.

PCDD and PCDF concentrations in a traffic tunnel environment

In an effort to understand the fundamental aspects of air quality in traffic tunnel environments, field campaigns were conducted to measure polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and other important pollutants within two traffic tunnels in Nam San (NS) and Hong Ji (HJ) in Korea in 2009 and 2010. The mean concentrations of ∑PCDD/Fs (in fg/m(3)) at the two tunnel sites were 1270 (± 880) and 1200 (± 810), respectively. These values were moderately lower than those measured at a non-tunnel urban background site (1350 (± 780) fg/m(3))--selected as a reference in this study. In addition, seasonal patterns of dioxin concentrations were clearly evident at the traffic tunnels like the urban reference site, showing higher levels during the winter (and spring) than the summer (and fall). The observed seasonal variations were driven by changes in the concentrations of ∑PCDF congeners, while ∑PCDD concentrations showed little seasonality. The results of our study suggest that there is no significant difference in source characteristics between the two investigated tunnel sites and urban location, although the role of gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles are considered as the major source in determining the PCDDs and PCDF levels in a tunnel environment. However, given the relative increase in other important ambient pollutant (e.g. PM10) concentrations over ∑PCDD/Fs in tunnel air (compared to urban background air), the balance of sources in tunnels is clearly different from those in urban air overall.

Regulating Food Consumption : Studies of change and variation in Europe

The role of people as buyers and eaters of food has changed significantly. From being protected by a paternalistic welfare state, people appear to be accorded more freedom and responsibility as individuals, where attention is redirected from the state towards market relations. Many have asserted that these changes are accompanied by fragmentation, individualisation, and privatisation, leading to individual uncertainty and lack of confidence. But empirical observations do not always confirm this, distrust is not necessarily growing and while responsibilities may change, the state still plays an active role. This dissertation explores changing relationships between states and markets, on the one hand, and ordinary people in their capacities as consumers and citizens, on the other. Do we see the emergence of new forms of regulation of food consumption? If so, what is the scope and what are the characteristics? Theories of regulation addressing questions about individualisation and self-governance are combined with a conceptualisation of consumption as processes of institutionalisation, involving daily routines, the division of labour between production and consumption, and the institutional field in which consumption is embedded. The analyses focus on the involvement of the state, food producers and scientific, first of all nutritional, expertise in regulating consumption, and on popular responses. Two periods come out as important, first when the ideas of “designing the good life” emerged, giving the state a very particular role in regulating food consumption, and, second, when this “designing” is replaced by ideas of choice and individual responsibility. One might say that “consumer choice” has become a mode of regulation. I use mainly historical studies from Norway to analyse the shifting role of the state in regulating food consumption, complemented with population surveys from six European countries to study how modernisation processes are associated with trust. The studies find that changing regulation is not only a question of societal or state vs individual responsibilities. Degrees of organisation and formalisation are important as well. While increasing organisation may represent discipline and abuses of power (including exploitation of consumer loyalty), organisation can also, to the consumer, provide higher predictability, systems to deal with malfeasance, and efficiency which may provide conditions for acting. The welfare state and the neo-liberal state have very different types of solutions. The welfare state solution is based on (national) egalitarianism, paternalism and discipline (of the market as well as households). Such solutions are still prominent in Norway. Individualisation and self-regulation may represent a regulatory response not only to a declining legitimacy of this kind of interventionism, but also increasing organisational complexity. This is reflected in large-scale re-regulation of markets as well as in relationships with households and consumers. Individualisation of responsibility is to the consumer not a matter of the number of choices that are presented on the shelves, but how choice as a form of consumer based involvement is institutionalised. It is recognition of people as “end-consumers”, as social actors, with systems of empowerment politically as well as via the provisioning system. ‘Consumer choice’ as a regulatory strategy includes not only communicative efforts to make people into “choosing consumers”, but also the provision of institutions which recognise consumer interests and agency. When this is lacking we find distrust as representing powerlessness. Individual responsibility-taking represents agency and is not always a matter of loyal support to shared goals, but involves protest and creativity. More informal (‘communitarian’) innovations may be an indication of that, where self-realisation is intimately combined with responsibility for social problems. But as solutions to counteract existing imbalances of power in the food market the impacts of such initiatives are probably more as part of consumer mobilisation and politicisation than as alternative provisioning.

How to be a fig wasp parasite on the fig-fig wasp mutualism

The nursery pollination mutualism between figs and pollinating fig wasps is based on adaptations that allow wasps to enter the enclosed inflorescences of figs, to facilitate seed set, and to have offspring that develop within the nursery and that leave to enter other inflorescences for pollination. This closed mutualistic system is not immune to parasitic fig wasps. Although the life histories and basic biology of the mutualists have been investigated, the biology of the fig wasp parasites has been severely neglected. This review brings together current knowledge of the many different ways in which parasites can enter the system, and also points to the serious lacunae in our understanding of the intricate interactions between gallers, kleptoparasites, seed eaters and parasitoids within this mutualism.

Prevalence of endoparasite in some commercially important freshwater fishes of Bida area, Niger State: a preliminary report

The result of this preliminary report highlighted prevalence of an endoparasite (nematode) in order of prevalence. Four non-scaly commercially important fishes, namely:- Clarias sp Hererobranchus bidorsalis. Bagrus sp and Synodontis sp.; and nine scaly fishes, namely; - Gymnarchus sp, Protopterus annectus. Tilapia sp, Lates niloticus. Heterotis niloticus, Mormyrops sp, Channa Obscurus, Labeo sp and Distochodus rostratus of freshwater fadama of the Bida Area, Niger State. The extent of the spread was evaluated. While the reactions of fishermen, middlemen (fishmongers) and fish-eaters in order to appreciate the impacts of the nematode infested fishes on the populace were recorded. The paper suggested areas for further studies towards evoking desirable management strategies for the study area as follows. Such suggested areas are:- Identification and confirmation of the nematode species; life cycle of the nematode species; influence of season on the prevalence, spread and pathology in the nematode infested fishes, etc

Snail control by fish: an explanation for its failure

Systematic studies on the performance of fish as snail eaters in waterbodies are rare. Here, trials with a promising African cichlid (Astatoreochromis alluaudi) revealed that the fish were only successful at reducing snail populations if there was nothing better to eat - and this is hardly the case. The fish need solid jaws to crush the snails but do not develop such jaws if they can find other, preferables foods. The prospects for this form of control are also discussed in the broader context.

Canning of smoked eel

On an average about 5000metric tons of marine eels are landed every year in India. Even though it is a quality fish with high protein content as any other popular species, many fish eaters decline to prefer it to other low quality fish. One way to utilise this fish is to convert it into various products like smoked and canned eel fillets. As this product is likely to secure a foreign market also, investigations were carried out with a view to suggesting a proper method for its preparation. The data collected on this line are presented here, applying which an excellent smoked and canned product from eel can be turned out.

Trophic interrelationships and food-webs among the fishes in ecosystems of the Victoria and Kyoga lake basin

The Victoria and Kyoga lake basins had a high fish species diversity with many fish species that were found only in these lakes. Two Tilapiines species Oreochromis esculentus and Oreochromis variabilis were the most important commercial species in these lakes and were found nowhere else on earth except in the Victoria and Kyoga lake basins (Graham 1929, Worthington 1929). Lakes Kyoga and Nabugabo also had endemic haplochromine species (Worthington 1929, Trewavas 1933, Greenwood 1965, 1966). As stocks of introduced species increased, stocks of most of the native species declined rapidly or disappeared altogether. The study was carried out on Lakes Victoria and Kyoga, River Nile, some selected satellite lakes from the two basins namely Lakes Mburo, Kachera, Wamala, Kayanja, Kayugi, Nabugabo, Victoria, Victoria nile and River Sio(Victoria lake basin). Lakes Kyoga (Iyingo), Nawampasa, Nakuwa, Gigati, Nyaguo, Agu, Kawi and Lemwa (Kyoga lake basin). Species composillon and relative abundance of fishes were estimated by detennining the overall average total number of each species encountered. A trophic consists of species using the same food category. Shannon-Weaver Index of diversity H (Pielou, 1969) and number of trophic groups, were used to estimate the Trophic diversity of various fish species in the lakes. Food analysis has been done on some fishes in some of the sampled lakes and is still going on, on remaining fishes and in some lakes. Generally fish ingested detritus, Spirulina, Melosira, filamentous algae, Planktolyngbya, Microcysists, Anabaena, Merismopedia, Spirogyra, higher plant material, rotifers, Ostracodes, Chironomid larvae and pupae, Choaborus larvae, Odonata, Povilla, Insect remains, Caridina, fish eggs and fish. Eight trophic groups were identified from thes food items ingestes. These included detritivores, algae eaters, higher plant eaters, zooplanktivores, insectivores, molluscivores, prawn eaters, paedophages and piscivores. Trophic diversity by number of trophic groups was highest in Lake Kyoga (6) followed by lakes Kayugi, Nabugabo, River Nile and Mburo (3) and the lowest number was recorded in kachera (2).

Charge Separation in Wurtzite/Zinc-Blende Heterojunction GaN Nanowires

The electronic properties of wurtzite/zinc-blende (WZ/ZB) heterojunction GaN are investigated using first-principles methods. A small component of ZB stacking formed along the growth direction in the WZ GaN nanowires does not show a significant effect on the electronic property, whereas a charge separation of electrons and holes occurs along the directions perpendicular to the growth direction in the ZB stacking. The later case provides an efficient way to separate the charge through controlling crystal structure. These results have significant implications for most state of the art excitonic solar cells and the tuning region in tunable laser diodes.

Food utilization of adult flatfishes co-occurring in the Bohai Sea of China

Stomach contents were examined of 4527 adult individuals of 12 flatfish species collected during the 1982 - 1983 Bohai Sea Fisheries Resources Investigation. Their food habits, diet diversity, similarity of prey taxa, trophic niche breadth and diet overlap were systematically analysed. Ninety-seven prey species belonging to the Coelenterata, Nemertinea, Polychaeta, Mollusca, Crustacea, Echinodermata, Hemichordata and fish were found and five of them were considered to be principal prey for flatfishes: Alpheus japonicus, Oratosquilla oratoria, Alpheus distinguendus, Loligo japonicus and Crangon affinis. Among the flatfishes, Paralichthys olivaceus was piscivorous, whereas Pseodopleuronectes yokohamae and Pseudopleuronectes herzensteini both had polychaetes and molluscs as their main prey groups. Pleuronichthys cornutus was classified as a polychaete-mollusc eater, with a strong preference for crustaceans. Verasper variegatus, Cynoglossus semilaevis, Eopsetta grigorjewi and Cleisthenes herzensteini ate crustaceans. Kareius bicoloratus was classified as a mollusc-crustacean eater: Cynoglossus abbreviatus, Cynoglossus joyneri and Zebrias zebra were grouped as crustacean-fish eaters. However, Z. zebra also took polychaetes and C. abbreviatus and C. joyneri preyed on some molluscs. Trophic relationships among the flatfishes were complicated, but they occupied distinctive microhabitats in different seasons and selected their specific prey items, which was favourable to the stability of the flatfish community in the Bohai Sea.

El uso de la musicoterapia para la mejora de la comunicación de niños con Trastorno del Espectro Autista en Aulas Abiertas Especializadas

Los beneficios que aporta la musicoterapia en alumnos con Trastorno del Espectro Autista, han sido demostrados profusamente por los distintos autores, si bien carecemos de literatura suficiente sobre su utilización en las Aulas Abiertas Especializadas en colegios ordinarios (Aulas TEA). En este sentido, el objetivo del trabajo, ha consistido en analizar qué mejoras aporta la musicoterapia al desarrollo de la comunicación en los alumnos con Trastorno del Espectro Autista dentro de las Aulas Abiertas de los CEIPs de Castilla-La Mancha y la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Para ello, se ha realizado una amplia revisión documental de fuentes de referencia y se ha entrevistado a los docentes responsables de las Aulas Abiertas Especializadas que utilizan actividades de musicoterapia como recurso en el aula. Se concluye el artículo manifestando, en primer lugar, la escasa integración de la musicoterapia en las aulas TEA (menos del 20% de los centros). En aquellas aulas que sí se programa con actividades de musicoterapia, los beneficios que ésta aporta se ven reflejados en un incremento claro de la intención comunicativa en los alumnos. Además, a la hora de planificar las actividades se tiene muy en cuenta conocer las preferencias y la historia musical del niño. No obstante, existen factores que impiden el aprovechamiento total de las posibilidades terapéuticas de la musicoterapia debido, especialmente a: a) una escasa formación del profesorado y b) un espacio inadecuado para poner en práctica una sesión de musicoterapia.