Animal waste can contribute substantially to nutrient cycling and ecosystem productivity in many environments. However, little is known of the biogeochemical impact of animal excretion in wetland habitats. Here we investigate the effects of wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) tadpole aggregations on nutrient recycling, microbial metabolism and carbon cycling in geographically isolated wetlands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRiver networks represent the largest biogeochemical nexus between the continents, ocean and atmosphere. Our current understanding of the role of rivers in the global carbon cycle remains limited, which makes it difficult to predict how global change may alter the timing and spatial distribution of riverine carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions. Here we review the state of river ecosystem metabolism research and synthesize the current best available estimates of river ecosystem metabolism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFreshwater salinity is rising across many regions of the United States as well as globally, a phenomenon called the freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). The FSS mobilizes organic carbon, nutrients, heavy metals, and other contaminants sequestered in soils and freshwater sediments, alters the structures and functions of soils, streams, and riparian ecosystems, threatens drinking water supplies, and undermines progress toward many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There is an urgent need to leverage the current understanding of salinization's causes and consequences─in partnership with engineers, social scientists, policymakers, and other stakeholders─into locally tailored approaches for balancing our nation's salt budget.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFGross primary production (GPP) is a fundamental ecosystem process that sequesters carbon dioxide (CO) and forms the resource base for higher trophic levels. Still, the relative contribution of different controls on GPP at the whole-ecosystem scale is far from resolved. Here we show, by manipulating CO concentrations in large-scale experimental pond ecosystems, that CO availability is a key driver of whole-ecosystem GPP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNorthern ecosystems are experiencing some of the most dramatic impacts of global change on Earth. Rising temperatures, hydrological intensification, changes in atmospheric acid deposition and associated acidification recovery, and changes in vegetative cover are resulting in fundamental changes in terrestrial-aquatic biogeochemical linkages. The effects of global change are readily observed in alterations in the supply of dissolved organic matter (DOM)-the messenger between terrestrial and lake ecosystems-with potentially profound effects on the structure and function of lakes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground. Lynch Syndrome (LS) is characterized by germline mutations in the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2. This syndrome is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern and is characterized by early onset colorectal cancer (CRC) and extracolonic tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany estimates of freshwater carbon (C) fluxes focus on inputs, processing, and storage of terrestrial C; yet inland waters have high rates of internally fixed (autochthonous) C production. Some fraction of newly fixed C may be released as biologically available, dissolved organic C (DOC) and stimulate microbial-driven biogeochemical cycles soon after fixation, but the fate of autochthonous C is difficult to measure directly. Tracing newly fixed C can increase our understanding of fluxes and fate of autochthonous C in the context of freshwater food webs and C cycling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough inflammatory bowel disease is associated with higher risk of colorectal cancer, the precise pathogenic mechanisms underlying this association are not completely understood. Prohibitin 1 (PHB), a protein implicated in the regulation of proliferation, apoptosis, and transcription, is decreased in intestinal inflammation. In this study, we have established a key function for PHB in mediating colitis-associated cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFp21(Waf1/Cip1) protein levels respond to DNA damage; p21 is induced after ionizing radiation, but degraded after UV. p21 degradation after UV is necessary for optimal DNA repair, presumably because p21 inhibits nucleotide excision repair by blocking proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Because p21 also inhibits DNA mismatch repair (MMR), we investigated how p21 levels respond to DNA alkylation by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), which triggers the MMR system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLynch syndrome is an autosomal dominant cancer predisposition syndrome classically caused by germline mutations of the mismatch repair genes, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2. Constitutional epimutations of the MLH1 gene, characterized by soma-wide methylation of a single allele of the promoter and allelic transcriptional silencing, have been identified in a subset of Lynch syndrome cases lacking a sequence mutation in MLH1. We report two individuals with no family history of colorectal cancer who developed that disease at age 18 and 20 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotic calcification is rarely considered in freshwater C budgets, despite calculations suggesting that calcifying animals can alter inorganic C cycling. Most studies that have quantified biocalcification in aquatic ecosystems have not directly linked CO(2) fluxes from biocalcification with whole-ecosystem rates of inorganic C cycling. The freshwater snail, Melanoides tuberculata, has achieved a high abundance and 37.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe CpG island methylator phenotype is characterized by DNA hypermethylation in the promoters of tumor suppressor genes with silencing of transcription. Hypermethylation of the promoter of hMLH1 and subsequent microsatellite instability occurs in approximately 12% of sporadic colorectal cancers (CRC). Annurca apple, a variety of southern Italy, is rich in polyphenols that are associated with anticancer properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The Mediterranean diet is rich in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and associated with a lower incidence of colorectal cancer. EVOO contains phenolic extracts with potential anticarcinogenic activity.
Aim: To assess the anticancer properties of EVOO phenolic extracts using in vitro models.
Background: JC virus (JCV) is a polyomavirus that commonly infects humans and is the causative agent of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in immune-compromised patients. An association between JCV and human cancers long has been suspected, because this virus induces brain tumors in several animal models. The oncogenic potential of JCV is mediated by a transforming protein, the T-antigen (T-Ag), which is a multifunctional protein that transforms cells through interactions with various growth-regulatory genes, including p53 and pRb, and by stabilizing beta-catenin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile there is an increasing interest in selenium chemoprevention against human colon polyp recurrence and other cancers, the mechanism(s) by which these agents inhibit carcinogenesis are uncertain. Some of the proposed mechanisms include the inhibition of cytosine methyltransferases, carcinogen bioactivation, and inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX). More recently, it has been suggested that selenium may exert growth inhibitory effects by activating p53.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe prospectively evaluated 52 consecutive cases of newly identified absolute lymphocytosis to determine the hematologic and immunophenotypic features of transient stress lymphocytosis (TSL). The lymphocytosis in all cases was associated with an acute stressful event and ranged from 4,000 to 10,400/microL (4.0-10.
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