Nf1 mutation disrupts activity-dependent oligodendroglial plasticity and motor learning in mice.

Neurogenetic disorders, such as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), can cause cognitive and motor impairments, traditionally attributed to intrinsic neuronal defects such as disruption of synaptic function. Activity-regulated oligodendroglial plasticity also contributes to cognitive and motor functions by tuning neural circuit dynamics. However, the relevance of oligodendroglial plasticity to neurological dysfunction in NF1 is unclear.

The language of marketing hyperbole and consumer perception-The case of Glasgow.

The aim of the study was to explore the potential of a timed word association task to generate detailed insights into the perception of Glasgow city and its people which could inform destination and brand marketing. Destination marketers have a challenge to convey the tourist destination image to attract and satisfy the expectations of its visitors. Yet destination perceptions are often the result of multiple tourist visitor experiences at a location, neglecting the voice of the resident.

NF1 mutation drives neuronal activity-dependent initiation of optic glioma.

Neurons have recently emerged as essential cellular constituents of the tumour microenvironment, and their activity has been shown to increase the growth of a diverse number of solid tumours. Although the role of neurons in tumour progression has previously been demonstrated, the importance of neuronal activity to tumour initiation is less clear-particularly in the setting of cancer predisposition syndromes. Fifteen per cent of individuals with the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) cancer predisposition syndrome (in which tumours arise in close association with nerves) develop low-grade neoplasms of the optic pathway (known as optic pathway gliomas (OPGs)) during early childhood, raising  the possibility that postnatal light-induced activity of the optic nerve drives tumour initiation.

Histone Variant and Cell Context Determine H3K27M Reprogramming of the Enhancer Landscape and Oncogenic State.

Development of effective targeted cancer therapies is fundamentally limited by our molecular understanding of disease pathogenesis. Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a fatal malignancy of the childhood pons characterized by a unique substitution to methionine in histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27M) that results in globally altered epigenetic marks and oncogenic transcription. Through primary DIPG tumor characterization and isogenic oncohistone expression, we show that the same H3K27M mutation displays distinct modes of oncogenic reprogramming and establishes distinct enhancer architecture depending upon both the variant of histone H3 and the cell context in which the mutation occurs.

Does functional homogenization accompany taxonomic homogenization of British birds and how do biotic factors and climate affect these processes?

Environmental change has reshuffled communities often causing taxonomic homogenization rather than differentiation. Some studies suggest that this increasing similarity of species composition between communities is accompanied by an increase in similarity of trait composition-functional homogenization-although different methodologies have failed to come to any consistent conclusions. Functional homogenization could have a large effect on ecosystem functioning and stability.

Contribution of local rarity and climatic suitability to local extinction and colonization varies with species traits.

Changes in species distributions through local extinction and colonization events are a major consequence of climate change. The mechanisms underlying these processes, however, are yet to be fully understood. We investigate the effects of climatic suitability and local rarity on local extinction and colonization of British birds.

Temperature rise and parasitic infection interact to increase the impact of an invasive species.

Invasive species often detrimentally impact native biota, e.g. through predation, but predicting such impacts is difficult due to multiple and perhaps interacting abiotic and biotic context dependencies.

Measurement of deposition rate and ion energy distribution in a pulsed dc magnetron sputtering system using a retarding field analyzer with embedded quartz crystal microbalance.

A compact retarding field analyzer with embedded quartz crystal microbalance has been developed to measure deposition rate, ionized flux fraction, and ion energy distribution arriving at the substrate location. The sensor can be placed on grounded, electrically floating, or radio frequency (rf) biased electrodes. A calibration method is presented to compensate for temperature effects in the quartz crystal.

Protected area networks and savannah bird biodiversity in the face of climate change and land degradation.

The extent to which climate change might diminish the efficacy of protected areas is one of the most pressing conservation questions. Many projections suggest that climate-driven species distribution shifts will leave protected areas impoverished and species inadequately protected while other evidence suggests that intact ecosystems within protected areas will be resilient to change. Here, we tackle this problem empirically.

Altered composition of bone as triggered by irradiation facilitates the rapid erosion of the matrix by both cellular and physicochemical processes.

Radiation rapidly undermines trabecular architecture, a destructive process which proceeds despite a devastated cell population. In addition to the 'biologically orchestrated' resorption of the matrix by osteoclasts, physicochemical processes enabled by a damaged matrix may contribute to the rapid erosion of bone quality. 8w male C57BL/6 mice exposed to 5 Gy of Cs(137) γ-irradiation were compared to age-matched control at 2d, 10d, or 8w following exposure.

Incorporating uncertainty in predictive species distribution modelling.

Motivated by the need to solve ecological problems (climate change, habitat fragmentation and biological invasions), there has been increasing interest in species distribution models (SDMs). Predictions from these models inform conservation policy, invasive species management and disease-control measures. However, predictions are subject to uncertainty, the degree and source of which is often unrecognized.

Trait assembly in plant assemblages and its modulation by productivity and disturbance.

Understanding how communities assemble is a key challenge in ecology. Conflicting hypotheses suggest that plant traits within communities should show divergence to reflect strategies to reduce competition or convergence to reflect strong selection for the environmental conditions operating. Further hypotheses suggest that plant traits related to productivity show convergence within communities, but those related to disturbance show divergence.

Spatial and temporal ecology of Scots pine ectomycorrhizas.

Spatial analysis was used to explore the distribution of individual species in an ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal community to address: whether mycorrhizas of individual ECM fungal species were patchily distributed, and at what scale; and what the causes of this patchiness might be. Ectomycorrhizas were extracted from spatially explicit samples of the surface organic horizons of a pine plantation. The number of mycorrhizas of each ECM fungal species was recorded using morphotyping combined with internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing.

Regression analysis of spatial data.

Many of the most interesting questions ecologists ask lead to analyses of spatial data. Yet, perhaps confused by the large number of statistical models and fitting methods available, many ecologists seem to believe this is best left to specialists. Here, we describe the issues that need consideration when analysing spatial data and illustrate these using simulation studies.

Opening the climate envelope reveals no macroscale associations with climate in European birds.

Predicting how species distributions might shift as global climate changes is fundamental to the successful adaptation of conservation policy. An increasing number of studies have responded to this challenge by using climate envelopes, modeling the association between climate variables and species distributions. However, it is difficult to quantify how well species actually match climate.

A multivariate analysis of beta diversity across organisms and environments.

We examined variability in hierarchical beta diversity across ecosystems, geographical gradients, and organism groups using multivariate spatial mixed modeling analysis of two independent data sets. The larger data set comprised reported ratios of regional species richness (RSR) to local species richness (LSR) and the second data set consisted of RSR:LSR ratios derived from nested species-area relationships. There was a negative, albeit relatively weak, relationship between beta diversity and latitude.

Spatial turnover in the global avifauna.

Despite its wide implications for many ecological issues, the global pattern of spatial turnover in the occurrence of species has been little studied, unlike the global pattern of species richness. Here, using a database on the breeding distributions of birds, we present the first global maps of variation in spatial turnover for an entire taxonomic class, a pattern that has to date remained largely a matter of conjecture, based on theoretical expectations and extrapolation of inconsistent patterns from different biogeographic realms. We use these maps to test four predictions from niche theory as to the form that this variation should take, namely that turnover should increase with species richness, towards lower latitudes, and with the steepness of environmental gradients and that variation in turnover is determined principally by rare (restricted) species.

The role of ecological theory in microbial ecology.

Microbial ecology is currently undergoing a revolution, with repercussions spreading throughout microbiology, ecology and ecosystem science. The rapid accumulation of molecular data is uncovering vast diversity, abundant uncultivated microbial groups and novel microbial functions. This accumulation of data requires the application of theory to provide organization, structure, mechanistic insight and, ultimately, predictive power that is of practical value, but the application of theory in microbial ecology is currently very limited.

The imprint of the geographical, evolutionary and ecological context on species-area relationships.

Species-area relationships (SAR) are fundamental in the understanding of biodiversity patterns and of critical importance for predicting species extinction risk worldwide. Despite the enormous attention given to SAR in the form of many individual analyses, little attempt has been made to synthesize these studies. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of 794 SAR, comprising a wide span of organisms, habitats and locations.

Coherence and discontinuity in the scaling of species' distribution patterns.

The spatial distribution of a species can be characterized at many different spatial scales, from fine-scale measures of local population density to coarse-scale geographical-range structure. Previous studies have shown a degree of correlation in species' distribution patterns across narrow ranges of scales, making it possible to predict fine-scale properties from coarser-scale distributions. To test the limits of such extrapolation, we have compiled distributional information on 16 species of British plants, at scales ranging across six orders of magnitude in linear resolution (1 m to 100 km).

Cholesterol biosynthesis regulation and protein changes in rat liver following treatment with fluvastatin.

The enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase is a key regulator in cholesterol biosynthesis and HMG CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) have become a widely prescribed family of lipid lowering agents. Cholesterol synthesis occurs predominantly in liver which is the target organ of statins. We studied the effects of fluvastatin (Lescol), a member of the statin family, on hepatic protein regulation.

Proteomics to display lovastatin-induced protein and pathway regulation in rat liver.

Lovastatin is a lipid lowering agent that acts by inhibiting 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, a key regulatory enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis. In this study the pattern of gene network regulation induced in hepatic proteins as a response to lovastatin treatment was analyzed by proteomics. In livers of male F344 rats treated with 1.

Locating and identifying posttranslational modifications by in-source decay during MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

A technique is described for identifying and locating posttranslational modifications (PTMs) in peptides and proteins of known sequence by interpretation of c(n) ion signals generated by in-source decay during delayed ion extraction in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Sites of phosphorylation in seven synthetic peptides were determined, as was the location of both the heme group and N,N,N-trimethyllysine in yeast cytochrome c. A semi-automated data analysis process facilitates the identification of segments of the sequence on each side of the PTM, permitting its placement at the junction of the segments and definition of the added mass.