Smart allocation of restoration funds over space and time.

A challenge for natural area managers is to ensure that public expenditure on land restoration is cost effective, efficient and transparent but this is difficult to achieve in practice, especially when there are many possible projects across multiple years. Here we develop a "roadmap" for investment in land restoration. It explicitly considers space, time and their interaction, in relation to ecological outcomes and restoration costs (and their variation in time and space).

Changes in expression of P2X7 receptors in NOD mouse pancreas during the development of diabetes.

This study examined the expression of P2X7 receptors in pancreatic islets of the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of human autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, to determine whether they are involved in islet cell destruction during early- and late-developing diabetes. Pancreatic cells containing glucagon (alpha-cells), insulin (beta-cells) and somatostatin (delta-cells) were co-localized with P2X7 receptors. We examined P2X7 receptor expression in normal and diabetic spleens using flow cytometry.

Animal visual systems and the evolution of color patterns: sensory processing illuminates signal evolution.

Animal color pattern phenotypes evolve rapidly. What influences their evolution? Because color patterns are used in communication, selection for signal efficacy, relative to the intended receiver's visual system, may explain and predict the direction of evolution. We investigated this in bowerbirds, whose color patterns consist of plumage, bower structure, and ornaments and whose visual displays are presented under predictable visual conditions.

P2X and P2Y purinoceptor expression in pancreas from streptozotocin-diabetic rats.

The expression of the nucleotide receptors P2X1, P2X2, P2X7, P2Y1, P2Y2 and P2Y4, in the pancreas of the streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat was investigated using immunohistochemistry. In diabetic animals, P2X7 receptor expression, normally located in the outer periphery of the islet, was increased and located inside the islet. Double-labelling experiments, using antibodies raised against insulin, somatostatin and glucagon, showed, for the first time, an increase in immunostaining for P2X7 receptors on islet glucagon-containing alpha cells (which had migrated to the interior), while no P2X7 receptors were found in beta and delta cells.