Assessing the role of dispersed floral resources for managed bees in providing supporting ecosystem services for crop pollination.

Most pollination ecosystem services studies have focussed on wild pollinators and their dependence on natural floral resources adjacent to crop fields. However, managed pollinators depend on a mixture of floral resources that are spatially separated from the crop field. Here, we consider the supporting role these resources play as an ecosystem services provider to quantify the use and availability of floral resources, and to estimate their relative contribution to support pollination services of managed honeybees.

Geographical matching of volatile signals and pollinator olfactory responses in a cycad brood-site mutualism.

Brood-site mutualisms represent extreme levels of reciprocal specialization between plants and insect pollinators, raising questions about whether these mutualisms are mediated by volatile signals and whether these signals and insect responses to them covary geographically in a manner expected from coevolution. Cycads are an ancient plant lineage in which almost all extant species are pollinated through brood-site mutualisms with insects. We investigated whether volatile emissions and insect olfactory responses are matched across the distribution range of the African cycad Encephalartos villosus.

Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment for the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants.

Plants provide fundamental support systems for life on Earth and are the basis for all terrestrial ecosystems; a decline in plant diversity will be detrimental to all other groups of organisms including humans. Decline in plant diversity has been hard to quantify, due to the huge numbers of known and yet to be discovered species and the lack of an adequate baseline assessment of extinction risk against which to track changes. The biodiversity of many remote parts of the world remains poorly known, and the rate of new assessments of extinction risk for individual plant species approximates the rate at which new plant species are described.

Src-mediated caveolin-1 phosphorylation affects the targeting of active Src to specific membrane sites.

Src interactions with the plasma membrane are an important determinant of its activity. In turn, Src activity modulates its association with the membrane through binding of activated Src to phosphotyrosylated proteins. Caveolin-1 (Cav-1), a major component of caveolae, is a known Src phosphorylation target, and both were reported to regulate cell transformation.

Patterns of odour emission, thermogenesis and pollinator activity in cones of an African cycad: what mechanisms apply?

Background And Aims: Ontogenetic patterns of odour emissions and heating associated with plant reproductive structures may have profound effects on insect behaviour, and consequently on pollination. In some cycads, notably Macrozamia, temporal changes in emission of specific odour compounds and temperature have been interpreted as a 'push-pull' interaction in which pollinators are either attracted or repelled according to the concentration of the emitted volatiles. To establish which mechanisms occur in the large Encephalartos cycad clade, the temporal patterns of volatile emissions, heating and pollinator activity of cones of Encephalartos villosus in the Eastern Cape (EC) and KwaZulu Natal (KZN) of South Africa were investigated.

Congruence and diversity of butterfly-host plant associations at higher taxonomic levels.

We aggregated data on butterfly-host plant associations from existing sources in order to address the following questions: (1) is there a general correlation between host diversity and butterfly species richness?, (2) has the evolution of host plant use followed consistent patterns across butterfly lineages?, (3) what is the common ancestral host plant for all butterfly lineages? The compilation included 44,148 records from 5,152 butterfly species (28.6% of worldwide species of Papilionoidea) and 1,193 genera (66.3%).

Variation in the chemical composition of cone volatiles within the African cycad genus Encephalartos.

Volatiles play a key role in attraction of pollinators to cycad cones, but the extent to which volatile chemistry varies among cycad species is still poorly documented. Volatile composition of male and female cones of nineteen African cycad species (Encephalartos; Zamiaceae) was analysed using headspace technique and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 152 compounds were identified among the species included in this study, the most common of which were monoterpenes, nitrogen-containing compounds and unsaturated hydrocarbons.

A prospective single-center study of sentinel lymph node detection in cervical carcinoma: is there a place in clinical practice?

Objective: To establish the accuracy of sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in early cervical cancer.

Materials And Methods: Sentinel lymph node detection was performed prospectively over a 6-year period in 86 women undergoing surgery for cervical carcinoma by the combined method (Tc-99m and methylene blue dye). Further ultrastaging was performed on a subgroup of 26 patients who had benign SLNs on initial routine histological examination.

Nanostring's nCounter--A True Digital Target Profiling Technology.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDING Proceedings of the PDA/FDA Adventitious Viruses in Biologics: Detection and Mitigation Strategies Workshop in Bethesda, MD, USA; December 1-3, 2010 Guest Editors: Arifa Khan (Bethesda, MD), Patricia Hughes (Bethesda, MD) and Michael Wiebe (San Francisco, CA).

A prospective study of sentinel lymph node detection in vulval carcinoma: is it time for a change in clinical practice?

Objectives: To determine the accuracy of sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in vulval carcinoma and to report the reliability and safety of this procedure.

Methods/materials: For a period of 6 years, we recruited women undergoing surgery for vulval carcinoma. All women had a preoperative biopsy confirming the depth of invasion greater than 1 mm.

Natural and within-farmland biodiversity enhances crop productivity.

Ongoing expansion of large-scale agriculture critically threatens natural habitats and the pollination services they offer. Creating patches with high plant diversity within farmland is commonly suggested as a measure to benefit pollinators. However, farmers rarely adopt such practice, instead removing naturally occurring plants (weeds).

The impact of conservation on the status of the world's vertebrates.

Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these.

Antitumor efficacy and molecular mechanism of TLK58747, a novel DNA-alkylating prodrug.

Background: DNA-damaging agents are widely used for the treatment of human malignancies. Agents containing the multifunctional alkylating moiety tetrakis(2-chloroethyl)phosphorodiamidic acid are currently under development as cancer therapeutics.

Materials And Methods: TLK58747, a phophorodiamidate-based prodrug, was tested in vivo for antitumor efficacy and safety.

Botanic gardens science for conservation and global change.

The contributions of botanic gardens to conservation biology and global-change research need to be understood within the context of the traditional strengths of such gardens in herbarium collections, living collections and interactions with the public. Here, I propose that research in conservation planning, modelling species responses to climate change, conservation of threatened species and experimental tests of global change build on the core strengths of botanic gardens. However, there are limits to what can be achieved through traditional gardens-based programs, and some botanic gardens have adapted their research to include studies of threatening processes and to monitor and verify global-change impacts.

The role of beetle marks and flower colour on visitation by monkey beetles (hopliini) in the greater cape floral region, South Africa.

Background And Aims: A deviation from the classical beetle pollination syndrome of dull-coloured flowers with an unpleasant scent is found in the Greater Cape Floral Region of South Africa. Here, monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae) visit brightly coloured, odourless flowers with conspicuous dark spots and centres (beetle marks). The role of flower colour and markings in attracting monkey beetles is still poorly understood.

Src kinase activity and SH2 domain regulate the dynamics of Src association with lipid and protein targets.

Src functions depend on its association with the plasma membrane and with specific membrane-associated assemblies. Many aspects of these interactions are unclear. We investigated the functions of kinase, SH2, and SH3 domains in Src membrane interactions.

Pollination of Australian Macrozamia cycads (Zamiaceae): effectiveness and behavior of specialist vectors in a dependent mutualism.

Complementary field and laboratory tests confirmed and quantified the pollination abilities of Tranes sp. weevils and Cycadothrips chadwicki thrips, specialist insects of their respective cycad hosts, Macrozamia machinii and M. lucida.

Application of thermal desorption to the development of a gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric method for the determination of toluene, chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons, and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in combustion emissions.

A fast and accurate analytical method, which uses commercially available adsorbents (Tenax TA, Carbotrap B and C, and Carbosieve S-III), was developed for the sampling and determination of aromatic hydrocarbons, chloroaromatic compounds, and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. The breakthrough volume data show that Carbotrap C has a good capacity for compounds of high molecular weight, whereas Carbosieve S-III and Tenax TA are efficient for volatile compounds. The organic components are thermally desorbed and transferred to a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer.

Nephrocystin-conserved domains involved in targeting to epithelial cell-cell junctions, interaction with filamins, and establishing cell polarity.

Nephrocystin is the protein product of the gene mutated in juvenile nephronophthisis, an autosomal recessive cystic kidney disease afflicting children and young adults. Because the normal cellular function of nephrocystin is largely unknown, the molecular defects underlying disease pathogenesis remain obscure. Analysis of nephrocystin amino acid sequences from human and other species revealed three distinct conserved domains including Src homology 3 and coil-coil domains in the N-terminal region, as well as a large highly conserved C-terminal region bearing no obvious homology to other proteins and hence referred to as the "nephrocystin homology domain" (NHD).