CONTEMPORARY SALT-MARSH FORAMINIFERAL DISTRIBUTION FROM THE ADRIATIC COAST OF CROATIA AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR SEA-LEVEL STUDIES

Salt-marsh foraminifera serve as proxy sea-level indicators due to a quantifiable relationship with elevation in the contemporary environment. In this paper, we document the distribution of salt-marsh foraminifera from two microtidal sites, Jadrtovac and Blace, along the Adriatic coast of Croatia and assess their suitability as proxies for elevation in transfer-function-based reconstructions of sea level, which has so far evaded the Mediterranean region. The assemblages are dominated by typical salt-marsh agglutinated taxa, Jadammina macrescens and Trochammina inflata, and the calcareous taxa Ammonia spp. and Quinqueloculina spp. Quantitative analyses revealed that the assemblages are divided into three faunal zones, which are elevation dependent, and where an assemblage dominated by J. macrescens and T. inflata extends to higher elevations in the intertidal frame. The training set was used to develop a tidal- level transfer function using linear regression due to the short environmental gradients observed. The model predicts sea level with a precision of ± 0.08 m. This study highlights the strong potential of salt-marsh foraminifera in reconstructing RSL trends for the Mediterranean region, where studies of past sea-level have previously been restricted to other indicators

Synthesis and structural characterization of a mimetic membrane-anchored prion protein

During pathogenesis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) an abnormal form (PrPSc) of the host encoded prion protein (PrPC) accumulates in insoluble fibrils and plaques. The two forms of PrP appear to have identical covalent structures, but differ in secondary and tertiary structure. Both PrPC and PrPSc have glycosylphospatidylinositol (GPI) anchors through which the protein is tethered to cell membranes. Membrane attachment has been suggested to play a role in the conversion of PrPC to PrPSc, but the majority of in vitro studies of the function, structure, folding and stability of PrP use recombinant protein lacking the GPI anchor. In order to study the effects of membranes on the structure of PrP, we synthesized a GPI anchor mimetic (GPIm), which we have covalently coupled to a genetically engineered cysteine residue at the C-terminus of recombinant PrP. The lipid anchor places the protein at the same distance from the membrane as does the naturally occurring GPI anchor. We demonstrate that PrP coupled to GPIm (PrP-GPIm) inserts into model lipid membranes and that structural information can be obtained from this membrane-anchored PrP. We show that the structure of PrP-GPIm reconstituted in phosphatidylcholine and raft membranes resembles that of PrP, without a GPI anchor, in solution. The results provide experimental evidence in support of previous suggestions that NMR structures of soluble, anchor-free forms of PrP represent the structure of cellular, membrane-anchored PrP. The availability of a lipid-anchored construct of PrP provides a unique model to investigate the effects of different lipid environments on the structure and conversion mechanisms of PrP

Translating policy to place: exploring cultural ecosystem services in areas of Green Belt through participatory mapping

\ua9 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.Green Belts are longstanding planning designations, which primarily seek to prevent urban sprawl. Importantly, they form the open spaces close to where most people live, but we lack clarity over how Green Belts are used and valued by publics, and the cultural ecosystem services they provide. To address this policy and research gap, a public participatory mapping survey was conducted on the North-East England Green Belt, with 779 respondents plotting 2388 points. The results show for the first time that in addition to being a planning policy zone, Green Belts are important, and widely used open spaces for ‘everyday nature’, providing several cultural ecosystem services including recreation, connection with nature, sense of place and aesthetic value. Several factors were found to influence the supply of cultural ecosystem services in Green Belts, including proximity to urban areas, woodland land cover and access designations. Whereas most demand pressures on Green Belts were on public rights-of-way, nature designations and deciduous woodlands. Pervasive barriers inhibiting Green Belt’s full potential were identified including management issues, concerns over personal safety and lack of access. We argue that opportunities to further enhance the cultural ecosystem services provided Green Belts and peri-urban landscapes more broadly, not only come from planning policies themselves, but from the design and delivery of approaches integrating urban, rural and land-use policy silos. The findings have wider implications for policy including potential conflict with future development, and opportunities for greater access to greenspace

Impaired decisional impulsivity in pathological videogamers

Abstract Background Pathological gaming is an emerging and poorly understood problem. Impulsivity is commonly impaired in disorders of behavioural and substance addiction, hence we sought to systematically investigate the different subtypes of decisional and motor impulsivity in a well-defined pathological gaming cohort. Methods Fifty-two pathological gaming subjects and age-, gender- and IQ-matched healthy volunteers were tested on decisional impulsivity (Information Sampling Task testing reflection impulsivity and delay discounting questionnaire testing impulsive choice), and motor impulsivity (Stop Signal Task testing motor response inhibition, and the premature responding task). We used stringent diagnostic criteria highlighting functional impairment. Results In the Information Sampling Task, pathological gaming participants sampled less evidence prior to making a decision and scored fewer points compared with healthy volunteers. Gaming severity was also negatively correlated with evidence gathered and positively correlated with sampling error and points acquired. In the delay discounting task, pathological gamers made more impulsive choices, preferring smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards. Pathological gamers made more premature responses related to comorbid nicotine use. Greater number of hours played also correlated with a Motivational Index. Greater frequency of role playing games was associated with impaired motor response inhibition and strategy games with faster Go reaction time. Conclusions We show that pathological gaming is associated with impaired decisional impulsivity with negative consequences in task performance. Decisional impulsivity may be a potential target in therapeutic management

A greener Green Belt? Co-developing exploratory scenarios for contentious peri-urban landscapes

\ua9 2024 The Author(s). Peri-urban landscapes experience conflicting land-use demands from co-occurring urban–rural drivers. In England, Green Belts are urban containment policies which impact on the peri-urban in isolation from the wider landscapes they cover. Green Belts’ endurance in planning policy have resulted in a contentious and politicised policy arena, under significant scrutiny. Whilst research has shown heterogeneous supplies of ecosystem services existing in Green Belts, it is unclear how and whether Green Belts as landscapes may change in the future beyond their urban containment bounds. Though participatory scenarios have been extensively applied to landscape planning, they have not to English Green Belts. Addressing these gaps, a cross-sector stakeholder workshop was held to co-develop exploratory Green Belt landscape scenarios nationally in 20 years’ time. Three scenarios: “Intensify & Diversify”, “Build-Build-Build” and “Multifunctional” were framed on a governance-functionality axis, identifying future drivers, impacts and assumptions. The scenarios reveal Green Belts are under increased pressure from multiple land-uses, societal demands, and policies, many of which are in conflict, stemming from either a prioritisation or balancing of these demands through varying governance mechanisms. Stakeholder critiques and visions reveal a substantial cross-sector consensus for more (multi)functional Green Belts in England, including as “strategic urban support landscapes” to adapt and mitigate threats associated with climate change. Finally, complementary landscape photo-visualisations of “fictitious” landscapes were produced, aided by artificial intelligence, highlighting the growing potential of these tools to support landscape research. This use of fictional landscapes extends the applicability of our results to peri-urban areas experiencing comparable contexts and drivers, such as Western and Northern European regions

Identification of a novel zinc metalloprotease through a global analysis of clostridium difficile extracellular proteins

Clostridium difficile is a major cause of infectious diarrhea worldwide. Although the cell surface proteins are recognized to be important in clostridial pathogenesis, biological functions of only a few are known. Also, apart from the toxins, proteins exported by C. difficile into the extracellular milieu have been poorly studied. In order to identify novel extracellular factors of C. difficile, we analyzed bacterial culture supernatants prepared from clinical isolates, 630 and R20291, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The majority of the proteins identified were non-canonical extracellular proteins. These could be largely classified into proteins associated to the cell wall (including CWPs and extracellular hydrolases), transporters and flagellar proteins. Seven unknown hypothetical proteins were also identified. One of these proteins, CD630_28300, shared sequence similarity with the anthrax lethal factor, a known zinc metallopeptidase. We demonstrated that CD630_28300 (named Zmp1) binds zinc and is able to cleave fibronectin and fibrinogen in vitro in a zinc-dependent manner. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified residues important in zinc binding and enzymatic activity. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Zmp1 destabilizes the fibronectin network produced by human fibroblasts. Thus, by analyzing the exoproteome of C. difficile, we identified a novel extracellular metalloprotease that may be important in key steps of clostridial pathogenesis

Geographic Coincidence of Increased Malaria Transmission Hazard and Vulnerability Occurring at the Periphery of two Tanzanian Villages.

The goal of malaria elimination necessitates an improved understanding of any fine-scale geographic variations in transmission risk so that complementary vector control tools can be integrated into current vector control programmes as supplementary measures that are spatially targeted to maximize impact upon residual transmission. This study examines the distribution of host-seeking malaria vectors at households within two villages in rural Tanzania. Host-seeking mosquitoes were sampled from 72 randomly selected households in two villages on a monthly basis throughout 2008 using CDC light-traps placed beside occupied nets. Spatial autocorrelation in the dataset was examined using the Moran's I statistic and the location of any clusters was identified using the Getis-Ord Gi* statistic. Statistical associations between the household characteristics and clusters of mosquitoes were assessed using a generalized linear model for each species. For both Anopheles gambiae sensu lato and Anopheles funestus, the density of host-seeking females was spatially autocorrelated, or clustered. For both species, houses with low densities were clustered in the semi-urban village centre while houses with high densities were clustered in the periphery of the villages. Clusters of houses with low or high densities of An. gambiae s.l. were influenced by the number of residents in nearby houses. The occurrence of high-density clusters of An. gambiae s.l. was associated with lower elevations while An. funestus was also associated with higher elevations. Distance from the village centre was also positively correlated with the number of household occupants and having houses constructed with open eaves. The results of the current study highlight that complementary vector control tools could be most effectively targeted to the periphery of villages where the households potentially have a higher hazard (mosquito densities) and vulnerability (open eaves and larger households) to malaria infection

Fluorescent Transgenic Zebrafish Tg(nkx2.2a:mEGFP) Provides a Highly Sensitive Monitoring Tool for Neurotoxins

10.1371/journal.pone.0055474PLoS ONE82

Search for Second-Generation Scalar Leptoquarks in ppˉ\bm{p \bar{p}} Collisions at s\sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

Results on a search for pair production of second generation scalar leptoquark in $p \bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$=1.96 TeV are reported. The data analyzed were collected by the CDF detector during the 2002-2003 Tevatron Run II and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 198 pb$^{-1}$. Leptoquarks (LQ) are sought through their decay into (charged) leptons and quarks, with final state signatures represented by two muons and jets and one muon, large transverse missing energy and jets. We observe no evidence for $LQ$ production and derive 95% C.L. upper limits on the $LQ$ production cross sections as well as lower limits on their mass as a function of $\beta$, where $\beta$ is the branching fraction for $LQ \to \mu q$.Comment: 9 pages (3 author list) 5 figure

Measurement of CP-violation asymmetries in D0 to Ks pi+ pi-

We report a measurement of time-integrated CP-violation asymmetries in the resonant substructure of the three-body decay D0 to Ks pi+ pi- using CDF II data corresponding to 6.0 invfb of integrated luminosity from Tevatron ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The charm mesons used in this analysis come from D*+(2010) to D0 pi+ and D*-(2010) to D0bar pi-, where the production flavor of the charm meson is determined by the charge of the accompanying pion. We apply a Dalitz-amplitude analysis for the description of the dynamic decay structure and use two complementary approaches, namely a full Dalitz-plot fit employing the isobar model for the contributing resonances and a model-independent bin-by-bin comparison of the D0 and D0bar Dalitz plots. We find no CP-violation effects and measure an asymmetry of ACP = (-0.05 +- 0.57 (stat) +- 0.54 (syst))% for the overall integrated CP-violation asymmetry, consistent with the standard model prediction.Comment: 15 page