Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an important tool in helping to protect biodiversity in the oceans. Recent ratification of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) has ensured that globally we are committed to effectively protecting 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, in MPAs. In Australia there is considerable interest in the potential benefits that partially protected areas (PPAs) may provide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is global pressure to protect more of the world's oceans, primarily to protect biodiversity, and to fulfill the "30 by 30" goal set by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that has recently been ratified under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the fifteenth Conference of Parties (COP-15). Fully protected marine protected areas (MPAs) provide the highest level of protection for biodiversity from destructive or extractive practices and may limit access to the area itself. Fully protected MPAs (also commonly referred to as 'no-take MPAs') ban all fishing activities, thereby removing the realisation of direct economic and social benefits from resource extraction within these areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCross-linking of immunoglobulin E-bound FcεRI triggers multiple cellular responses, including degranulation and cytokine production. Signaling is dependent on recruitment of Syk via docking of its dual SH2 domains to phosphorylated tyrosines within the FcεRI immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs. Using single-molecule imaging in live cells, we directly visualized and quantified the binding of individual mNeonGreen-tagged Syk molecules as they associated with the plasma membrane after FcεRI activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimals use disruptive colouration to prevent detection or recognition by potential predators or prey. Highly contrasting elements within colour patterns, including vertical or horizontal bars, are thought to be effective at distracting attention away from body form and reducing detection likelihood However, it is unclear whether such patterns need to be a good match to the spatial characteristics of the background to gain cryptic benefits. We tested this hypothesis using the iconic vertically barred humbug damselfish, (Linneaus 1758), a small reef fish that lives among the finger-like projections of branching coral colonies Using behavioural experiments, we demonstrated that the spatial frequency of the humbug pattern does not need to exactly match the spatial frequency of the coral background to reduce the likelihood of being attacked by two typical reef fish predators: slingjaw wrasse, (Pallas 1770), and coral trout, (Lacépède 1802).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoral reefs are one of the most spectrally diverse environments, both in terms of habitat and animal color. Species identity, sex, and camouflage are drivers of the phenotypic diversity seen in coral reef fishes, but how the phenotypic diversity is reflected in the genotype remains to be answered. The labrids are a large, polyphyletic family of coral reef fishes that display a diverse range of colors, including developmental color morphs and extensive behavioral ecologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioarcheology is cross disciplinary research encompassing the study of human remains. However, life's activities have, up till now, eluded bioarcheological investigation. We hypothesized that growth lines in hair might archive the biologic rhythms, growth rate, and metabolism during life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimal communication is often deceptive; however, such dishonesty can become ineffective if it is used too often, is used out of context, or is too easy to detect [1-3]. Mimicry is a common form of deception, and most mimics gain the greatest fitness benefits when they are rare compared to their models [3, 4]. If mimics are encountered too frequently or if their model is absent, avoidance learning of noxious models is disrupted (Batesian mimicry [3]), or receivers become more vigilant and learn to avoid perilous mimics (aggressive mimicry [4]).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCdc42 plays important roles in cytoskeleton organization, cell cycle progression, signal transduction, and vesicle trafficking. Overactive Cdc42 has been implicated in the pathology of cancers, immune diseases, and neuronal disorders. Therefore, Cdc42 inhibitors would be useful in probing molecular pathways and could have therapeutic potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMesoporous silica nanoparticle-supported lipid bilayers, or "protocells", exhibit a high loading capacity, enhanced colloidal stability, and peptide-directed, cell-specific uptake, making them especially well-suited for targeted delivery of protein toxins to cancer. Protocells loaded with ricin toxin A-chain (RTA) and targeted to hepatocellular carcinoma cause complete cell death at 30 pM of RTA without affecting the viability of control hepatocytes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe therapeutic potential of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is severely limited by the availability of delivery platforms that protect siRNA from degradation, deliver it to the target cell with high specificity and efficiency, and promote its endosomal escape and cytosolic dispersion. Here we report that mesoporous silica nanoparticle-supported lipid bilayers (or "protocells") exhibit multiple properties that overcome many of the limitations of existing delivery platforms. Protocells have a 10- to 100-fold greater capacity for siRNA than corresponding lipid nanoparticles and are markedly more stable when incubated under physiological conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Field cancerization denotes the occurrence of molecular alterations in histologically normal tissues adjacent to tumors. In prostate cancer, identification of field cancerization has several potential clinical applications. However, prostate field cancerization remains ill defined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHair is preserved for millennia in permafrost; it enshrines a record of biologic rhythms and offers a glimpse at chronobiology as it was in extinct animals. Here we compare biologic rhythms gleaned from mammoth's hairs with those of modern human hair. Four mammoths' hairs came from varying locations in Siberia 4600 km, four time zones, apart ranging in age between 18,000 and 20,000 years before present.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVirus-like particles (VLPs) of bacteriophage MS2 possess numerous features that make them well-suited for use in targeted delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents. MS2 VLPs can be rapidly produced in large quantities using in vivo or in vitro synthesis techniques. Their capsids can be modified in precise locations via genetic insertion or chemical conjugation, facilitating the multivalent display of targeting ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEncapsulation of drugs within nanocarriers that selectively target malignant cells promises to mitigate side effects of conventional chemotherapy and to enable delivery of the unique drug combinations needed for personalized medicine. To realize this potential, however, targeted nanocarriers must simultaneously overcome multiple challenges, including specificity, stability and a high capacity for disparate cargos. Here we report porous nanoparticle-supported lipid bilayers (protocells) that synergistically combine properties of liposomes and nanoporous particles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Trace metal analyses in hair are used in archeological, forensic and toxicological investigations as proxies for metabolic processes. We show metallophilic bacteria mediating the deposition of gold (Au), used as tracer for microbial activity in hair post mortem after burial, affecting results of such analyses.
Methodology/principal Findings: Human hair was incubated for up to six months in auriferous soils, in natural soil columns (Experiment 1), soils amended with mobile Au(III)-complexes (Experiment 2) and the Au-precipitating bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans (Experiment 3), in peptone-meat-extract (PME) medium in a culture of C.
This report on a male head revealed biologic rhythms, as gleaned from hydrogen isotope ratios in hair, consistent with a South-American origin and Atomic Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dating (AMS) compatible with the last pre-Hispanic period (1418-1491 AD, 95.4% probability). Biopsies showed exceptionally well-preserved tissues.
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