Laying low: Rugged lowland rainforest preferred by feral cats in the Australian Wet Tropics.

Invasive mesopredators are responsible for the decline of many species of native mammals worldwide. Feral cats have been causally linked to multiple extinctions of Australian mammals since European colonization. While feral cats are found throughout Australia, most research has been undertaken in arid habitats, thus there is a limited understanding of feral cat distribution, abundance, and ecology in Australian tropical rainforests.

Experimental evidence for ecological cascades following threatened mammal reintroduction.

Species extinction has reached unprecedented rates globally, and can cause unexpected ecological cascades. Since Europeans arrived in Australia, many endemic mammals have declined or become extinct, but their ecological roles and outcomes of their reintroduction for ecosystems are poorly understood. Using surveys and novel long-term exclusion and disturbance experiments, we tested how digging mammal reintroduction affects predatory invertebrates.

Antifibroblast antibodies from systemic sclerosis patients bind to {alpha}-enolase and are associated with interstitial lung disease.

Objective: To identify target antigens of antifibroblast antibodies (AFA) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.

Patients And Methods: In the first part, sera from 24 SSc patients (12 with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and 12 without) and 36 idiopathic PAH patients, tested in pooled sera for groups of three, were compared with a sera pool from 14 healthy controls (HC). Serum IgG reactivity was analysed by the use of a two-dimensional electrophoresis and immunoblotting technique with normal human fibroblasts antigens.

Identification of target antigens of antifibroblast antibodies in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Rationale: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) may be classified as idiopathic (IPAH) or familial (FPAH) or associated with various conditions and exposures such as dexfenfluramine intake (Dex-PAH) or systemic sclerosis (SSc-PAH). Because fibroblast dysfunction has been identified in SSc and IPAH and antifibroblast antibodies (AFAs) with a pathogenic role have been detected in the serum of SSc patients, we used a proteomic approach combining two-dimensional electrophoresis and immunoblotting to identify the target antigens of AFAs in such patients.

Objectives: To identify target antigens of antifibroblast antibodies in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Evidence that P36, a human sperm acrosomal antigen involved in the fertilization process is triosephosphate isomerase.

P36 is one of the immunodominant sperm antigens identified by antibodies eluted from the spermatozoa of infertile men. In a previous study, we isolated and characterized this auto-antigen as a glycoprotein with several isoforms. Specific rabbit antibodies were produced to investigate sperm topography and the role of P36 in the fertilization process and we showed that P36 is present on the equatorial segment of acrosome-reacted spermatozoa and is involved in sperm-binding and the penetration of zona-free hamster oocytes.

Pharmacokinetics and tolerance of flunitrazepam in neonates and in infants.

Objective: To study the pharmacokinetics of flunitrazepam (used for sedation in neonates and infants), to determine the influence of both gestational and postnatal age on the pharmacokinetic parameters, and to analyze the relationship between the hemodynamic parameters and flunitrazepam plasma concentration.

Methods: Flunitrazepam was infused for 20 minutes as a single dose (0.2 mg x kg(-1)) and as multiple doses (0.

[Polyphenolic glycosides from Cistus creticus L. leaves].

Five flavonoids: kaempferol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-rutinoside, myricetin 3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside, myricetin 3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside and one coumarin: esculin have been isolated from the leaves of Cistus creticus. Their structures have been elucidated on the basis of their spectral data mainly mass spectrometry (DCI) and 1H NMR.