Valuing ecological functions of biodiversity in changbaishan mountain biosphere reserve in northeast china

Conservation of biodiversity can generate considerable indirect economic value and this is being increasingly recognized in China. For a forest ecosystem type of a nature reserve, the most important of its values are its ecological functions which provide human beings and other living things with beneficial environmental services. These services include water conservancy, soil protection, CO2 fixation and O-2 release, nutrient cycling, pollutant decomposition, and disease and pest control. Based on a case study in Changbaishan Mountain Biosphere Reserve in Northeast China, this paper provides a monetary valuation of these services by using opportunity cost and alternative cost methods. Using such an approach, this reserve is valued at 510.11 million yuan (USD 61.68 mill.) per year, 10 times higher than the opportunity cost (51.78 mill. yuan/ha.a) for regular timber production. While China has heeded United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)'s call for economic evaluation of ecological functions, the assessment techniques used need to be improved in China and in the West for reasons mentioned.

A highly conserved c-fms gene intronic element controls macrophage-specific and regulated expression

The c fins gene encodes the receptor for macrophage colony-stimulating factor-1. This gene is expressed selectively in the macrophage cell lineage. Previous studies have implicated sequences in intron 2 that control transcript elongation in tissue-specific and regulated expression of c -fms. Four macrophage-specific deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I)-hypersensitive sites (DHSS) were identified within mouse intron 2. Sequences of these DHSS were found to be highly conserved compared with those in the human gene. A 250-bp region we refer to as the fins intronic regulatory element (FIRE), which is even more highly conserved than the c-fins proximal promoter, contains many consensus binding sites for macrophage-expressed transcription factors including Spl, PU.1, and C/EBP. FIRE was found to act as a macrophage-specific enhancer and as a promoter with an antisense orientation preference in transient transfections. In stable transfections of the macrophage line RAW264, as well as in clones selected for high and low-level c -fms mRNA expression, the presence of intron 2 increased the frequency and level of expression of reporter genes compared with those attained using the promoter alone. Removal of FIRE abolished reporter gene expression, revealing a suppressive activity in the remaining intronic sequences. Hence, FIRE is shown to be a key regulatory element in the fins gene.

Immunoelectron microscopy provides evidence for the presence of mitochondrial heat shock 10-kDa protein (chaperonin 10) in red blood cells and a variety of secretory granules

Hsp10 (10-kDa heat shock protein, also known as chaperonin 10 or Cpn10) is a co-chaperone for Hsp60 in the protein folding process. This protein has also been shown to be identical to the early pregnancy factor, which is an immunosuppressive growth factor found in maternal serum. In this study we have used immunogold electron microscopy to study the subcellular localization of Hsp10 in rat tissues sections embedded in LR Gold resin employing polyclonal antibodies raised against different regions of human Hsp10. In all rat tissues examined including liver, heart, pancreas, kidney, anterior pituitary, salivary gland, thyroid, and adrenal gland, antibodies to Hsp10 showed strong labeling of mitochondria. However, in a number of tissues, in addition to the mitochondrial labeling, strong and highly specific labeling with the Hsp10 antibodies was also observed in several extramitochondrial compartments. These sites included zymogen granules in pancreatic acinar cells, growth hormone granules in anterior pituitary, and secretory granules in PP pancreatic islet cells. Additionally, the mature red blood cells which lack mitochondria, also showed strong reactivity with the Hsp10 antibodies. The observed labeling with the Hsp10 antibodies, both within mitochondria as well as in other compartments/cells, was abolished upon omission of the primary antibodies or upon preadsorption of the primary antibodies with the purified recombinant human Hsp10. These results provide evidence that similar to a number of other recently described mitochondrial proteins (viz., Hsp60, tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated protein- 1, P32 (gC1q-R) protein, and cytochrome c), Hsp10 is also found at a variety of specific extramitochondrial sites in normal rat tissue. These results raise important questions as to how these mitochondrial proteins are translocated to other compartments and their possible function(s) at these sites. The presence of these proteins at extramitochondrial sites in normal tissues has important implications concerning the role of mitochondria in apoptosis and genetic diseases.

Premature calvarial synostosis and epidermal hyperplasia (Beare-Stevenson syndrome-like anomalies) resulting from a P250R missense mutation in the gene encoding fibroblast growth factor receptor 3

We report on a patient with a severe premature calvarial synostosis and epidermal hyperplasia. The phenotype was consistent with that of a mild presentation of Beare-Stevenson syndrome but molecular analysis of the IgIII-transmembrane linker region and the transmembrane domain of the gene encoding the FGFR2 receptor, revealed wild-type sequence only. Subsequently, molecular analysis of the FGFR3 receptor gene identified a heterozygous P250R missense mutation in both the proposita and her mildly affected father. This communication extends the clinical spectrum of the FGFR3 P250R mutation to encompass epidermal hyperplasia and documents the phenomenon of activated FGFR receptors stimulating common downstream developmental pathways, resulting in overlapping clinical outcomes. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Cross-talk between caveolae and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-rich domains

Most mammalian cells have in their plasma membrane at least two types of lipid microdomains, non-invaginated lipid rafts and caveolae. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins constitute a class of proteins that are enriched in rafts but not caveolae at steady state. We have analyzed the effects of abolishing GPI biosynthesis on rafts, caveolae, and cholesterol levels. GPI-deficient cells were obtained by screening for resistance to the pore-forming toxin aerolysin, which uses this class of proteins as receptors. Despite the absence of GPI-anchored proteins, mutant cells still contained lipid rafts, indicating that GPI-anchored proteins are not crucial structural elements of these domains. Interestingly, the caveolae-specific membrane proteins, caveolin-1 and 2, were up-regulated in GPI-deficient cells, in contrast to flotillin-I and GM1, which were expressed at normal levels. Additionally, the number of surface caveolae was increased. This effect was specific since recovery of GPI biosynthesis by gene recomplementation restored caveolin expression and the number of surface caveolae to wild type levels. The inverse correlation between the expression of GPI-anchored proteins and caveolin-1 was confirmed by the observation that overexpression of caveolin-1 in wild type cells led to a decrease in the expression of GPI-anchored proteins. In cells lacking caveolae, the absence of GPI-anchored proteins caused an increase in cholesterol levels, suggesting a possible role of GPI-anchored proteins in cholesterol homeostasis, which in some cells, such as Chinese hamster ovary cells, can be compensated by caveolin up-regulation.

Long-run growth effects of taxation in a non-scale growth model with innovation

In previous studies, taxing income or consumption hinders long-run growth. Incorporating saving and leisure into the non-scale Schumpeterian model of [Journal of Political Economy 107 (1999) 715-730], we show that the usual growth effects of taxing consumption and labor income do not exist. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.