Adaptation of stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and water-use efficiency at shoot and canopy scales in adjacent stands of Dacrycarpus dacrydioides and Podocarpus totara.

We tested an approach to estimate daily canopy net photosynthesis, A, based on estimates of transpiration, E, using measurements of sap flow and water-use efficiency, ω, by measuring δ13C in CO2 respired from shoots in the canopies of two conifers (Podocarpaceae) native to New Zealand. The trees were planted in adjacent 20-year-old stands with the same soil and environmental conditions. Leaf area index was lower for Dacrycarpus dacrydioides D.

Depth-structuring of multi-kingdom soil communities in agricultural pastures.

The biodiversity and structure of deep agricultural soil communities are poorly understood, especially for eukaryotes. Using DNA metabarcoding and co-occurrence networks, we tested whether prokaryote, fungal, protist, and nematode biodiversity declines with increasing depth (0-0.1,  0.

Irrigation increases forage production of newly established lucerne but enhances net ecosystem carbon losses.

In New Zealand, dairy farming faces increasing scrutiny for its environmental impacts, including those on soil carbon (C) stocks; hence, alternative management practices are required. One such practice is usage of deep-rooting forage, such as lucerne (Medicago sativa L.).

A Random Forest Model for Predicting Allosteric and Functional Sites on Proteins.

We created a computational method to identify allosteric sites using a machine learning method trained and tested on protein structures containing bound ligand molecules. The Random Forest machine learning approach was adopted to build our three-way predictive model. Based on descriptors collated for each ligand and binding site, the classification model allows us to assign protein cavities as allosteric, regular or orthosteric, and hence to identify allosteric sites.

Cambinol, a novel inhibitor of neutral sphingomyelinase 2 shows neuroprotective properties.

Ceramide is a bioactive lipid that plays an important role in stress responses leading to apoptosis, cell growth arrest and differentiation. Ceramide production is due in part to sphingomyelin hydrolysis by sphingomyelinases. In brain, neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (nSMase2) is expressed in neurons and increases in its activity and expression have been associated with pro-inflammatory conditions observed in Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) patients.

Sutured posterior chamber intraocular lenses for traumatic cataract in Africa.

Purpose: To determine the outcomes of sutured scleral fixation of posterior chamber intraocular lenses (PC IOLs) after trauma in an African population.

Setting: State hospital and affiliated district hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.

Design: Case series.

The value of routine polymerase chain reaction analysis of intraocular fluid specimens in the diagnosis of infectious posterior uveitis.

Objective: To assess the value of routine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis on intraocular fluid from patients presenting with a first episode of suspected active infectious posterior uveitis in a population with a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Design: Retrospective, interventional case series. Participants.

Ethambutol induced toxic optic neuropathy in HIV positive patients.

Aim: To determine whether HIV and the use of antiretroviral therapy is a risk factor for the development of ethambutol toxic optic neuropathy. To describe the clinical course of ethambutol toxic optic neuropathy in patients with HIV and to identify prognostic factors.

Methods: The case notes of 14 consecutive patients referred to the neuro-ophthalmology clinic were reviewed.

Roots affect the response of heterotrophic soil respiration to temperature in tussock grass microcosms.

Aims And Background: While the temperature response of soil respiration (R(S)) has been well studied, the partitioning of heterotrophic respiration (R(H)) by soil microbes from autotrophic respiration (R(A)) by roots, known to have distinct temperature sensitivities, has been problematic. Further complexity stems from the presence of roots affecting R(H), the rhizosphere priming effect. In this study the short-term temperature responses of R(A) and R(H) in relation to rhizosphere priming are investigated.

Prevalence, causes and socio-economic determinants of vision loss in Cape Town, South Africa.

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment in Cape Town, South Africa and to explore socio-economic and demographic predictors of vision loss in this setting.

Methods: A cross sectional population-based survey was conducted in Cape Town. Eighty-two clusters were selected using probability proportionate to size sampling.

Rapid changes in δ¹³C of ecosystem-respired CO₂ after sunset are consistent with transient ¹³C enrichment of leaf respired CO₂.

The CO₂ respired by darkened, light-adapted, leaves is enriched in ¹³C during the first minutes, and this effect may be related to rapid changes in leaf respiratory biochemistry upon darkening. We hypothesized that this effect would be evident at the ecosystem scale. High temporal resolution measurements of the carbon isotope composition of ecosystem respiration were made over 28 diel periods in an abandoned temperate pasture, and were compared with leaf-level measurements at differing levels of pre-illumination.

Characteristics of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance in the shrubland species manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) and kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) for the estimation of annual canopy carbon uptake.

Responses of photosynthesis to carbon dioxide (CO2) partial pressure and irradiance were measured on leaves of 39-year-old trees of manuka (Leptospermum scoparium J. R. Forst.

Influence of nitrogen and phosphorus supply on foliage growth and internal recycling of nitrogen in conifer seedlings (Prumnopitys ferruginea).

The dynamics of internal cycling of nitrogen were studied in the southern hemisphere conifer miro [Prumnopitys ferruginea (G. Benn. ex D.