546 search hits
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YIVO news = Jedīʿōt fun JIWO : No. 207 Fall 2011
(2011)
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Restriction of trophic factors and nutrients induces PARKIN expression
(2011)
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Michael Klinkenberg
Suzana Gispert
Jorge Antolio Dominguez Bautista
Isabelle Braun
Georg Auburger
Marina Jendrach
- Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most frequent neurodegenerative movement disorder and manifests at old age. While many details of its pathogenesis remain to be elucidated, in particular the protein and mitochondrial quality control during stress responses have been implicated in monogenic PD variants. Especially the mitochondrial kinase PINK1 and the ubiquitin ligase PARKIN are known to cooperate in autophagy after mitochondrial damage. As autophagy is also induced by loss of trophic signaling and PINK1 gene expression is modulated after deprivation of cytokines, we analyzed to what extent trophic signals and starvation stress regulate PINK1 and PARKIN expression. Time course experiments with serum deprivation and nutrient starvation of human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells and primary mouse neurons demonstrated phasic induction of PINK1 transcript up to twofold and PARKIN transcript levels up to sixfold. The corresponding threefold starvation induction of PARKIN protein was limited by its translocation to lysosomes. Analysis of primary mouse cells from PINK1-knockout mice indicated that PARKIN induction and lysosomal translocation occurred independent of PINK1. Suppression of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling by pharmacological agents modulated PARKIN expression accordingly. In conclusion, this expression survey demonstrates that PARKIN and PINK1 are coregulated during starvation and suggest a role of both PD genes in response to trophic signals and starvation stress.
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Platypnea-orthodeoxia due to osteoporosis and severe kyphosis: a rare cause for dyspnea and hypoxemia
(2011)
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Claudius Teupe
Gerian Groenefeld
- Platypnea orthodeoxia is a rare disorder characterized by dyspnea and arterial desaturation, exacerbated by the upright position and relieved when the subject is recumbent. We report the case of a 79-year old woman admitted to hospital with dyspnea who was thought to have restrictive ventilatory impairment due to osteoporosis and severe kyphosis. Interestingly, the dyspnea was aggravated in the upright position, whereas the symptoms improved in the supine position. Arterial blood gas analysis confirmed orthodeoxia. The lung function test showed only a mild obstructive and restrictive ventilation disorder. Echocardiography revealed a patent foramen ovale and an aneurysm of the atrial septum protruding into the left atrium, despite normal right atrial pressure. Transesophageal echocardiography showed a prominent Eustachian valve guiding a blood flow from the inferior vena cava directly onto the atrial septum, thereby pushing open the patent foramen ovale. Contrast-enhanced echocardiography confirmed a spontaneous right-to-left shunt through the patent foramen ovale. It was assumed that the platypnea-orthodeoxia was caused by a prominent Eustachian valve redirected to the patent foramen ovale as a result of severe osteoporosis with subsequent thoracic kyphosis and a change in the position of the entire heart. The patient underwent permanent transcatheter closure of the patent foramen ovale after hemodynamic assessment had confirmed a significant right-to-left shunt through it. After the procedure the arterial oxygen pressure increased significantly in the upright position and dyspnea improved.
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A consensus statement on practical skills in medical school - a position paper by the GMA Committee on Practical Skills
(2011)
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Kai Schnabel
Patrick Daniel Boldt
Georg Breuer
Andreas Fichtner
Gudrun Karsten
Sandy Kujumdshiev
Michael Schmidts
Christoph Stosch
- Introduction: Encouraged by the change in licensing regulations the practical professional skills in Germany received a higher priority and are taught in medical schools therefore increasingly. This created the need to standardize the process more and more. On the initiative of the German skills labs the German Medical Association Committee for practical skills was established and developed a competency-based catalogue of learning objectives, whose origin and structure is described here.
Goal of the catalogue is to define the practical skills in undergraduate medical education and to give the medical schools a rational planning basis for the necessary resources to teach them.
Methods: Building on already existing German catalogues of learning objectives a multi-iterative process of condensation was performed, which corresponds to the development of S1 guidelines, in order to get a broad professional and political support.
Results: 289 different practical learning goals were identified and assigned to twelve different organ systems with three overlapping areas to other fields of expertise and one area of across organ system skills. They were three depths and three different chronological dimensions assigned and the objectives were matched with the Swiss and the Austrian equivalent.
Discussion: This consensus statement may provide the German faculties with a basis for planning the teaching of practical skills and is an important step towards a national standard of medical learning objectives.
Looking ahead: The consensus statement may have a formative effect on the medical schools to teach practical skills and plan the resources accordingly.
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Comparative floral presentation and bee-pollination in two Sprengelia species (Ericaceae)
(2011)
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Karen A. Johnson
Peter B. McQuillan
- Pollination by sonication is unusual in the Styphelioideae, family Ericaceae. Sprengelia incarnata and Sprengelia propinqua have floral characteristics that suggested they might be adapted to buzz pollination. Both species have florally similar nectarless flowers except that the stamens of Sprengelia propinqua spread widely after the flower opens, while those of Sprengelia incarnata cohere in the centre of the flower. To test whether sonication occurs, we observed bee behaviour at the flowers of both plant species, documented potential pollinators, and examined their floral and pollen attributes. We found that Sprengelia incarnata had smaller and drier pollen than Sprengelia propinqua. We found that Sprengelia incarnata was sonicated by native bees in the families Apidae (Exoneura), Halictidae (Lasioglossum) and Colletidae (Leioproctus, Euryglossa). Sprengelia propinqua was also visited by bees from the Apidae (Exoneura) and Halictidae (Lasioglossum), but pollen was collected by scraping. The introduced Apis mellifera (Apidae) foraged at Sprengelia propinqua but ignored Sprengelia incarnata. The two Sprengelia species shared some genera of potential pollinators, but appeared to have diverged enough in their floral and pollen characters to elicit different behaviours from the native and introduced bees.
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Saltmarsh of the Parramatta River-Sydney Harbour: determination of cover and species composition including comparison of API and pedestrian survey
(2011)
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R. J. Williams
Chris B. Allen
J. Kelleway
- In 2004 coastal saltmarsh was listed as an Endangered Ecological Community under the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act, but more information on the ecology of saltmarsh species as well as accurate maps of the cover of saltmarsh are needed. Large scale maps produced in the early 1980s and the mid 2000s were based on air photo interpretation with follow-up field checks, but to determine the ability of air photos to detect small patches of coastal saltmarsh, a pedestrian survey along the foreshore of the Parramatta River-Sydney Harbour estuary (33° 53’S; 151° 13’E) was commissioned. Ground-truth activity was partitioned into three levels of intensity. At the greatest level of intensity, many small patches obscured in the air photos by (mainly mangrove) canopy cover were resolved and joined to reveal larger patches of saltmarsh. Compared to the earlier maps these areas are considered to increase the total area of existing saltmarsh, but they also may in fact be areas of saltmarsh that have been recently invaded by mangroves, and ultimately, through shading and competition result in the loss of the saltmarsh species at these sites. Another 609 patches not seen on the air photos were located. The pedestrian survey located 757 saltmarsh patches (70% of these were less than 100 m2 in area) with a total area of 37.3 ha. Parramatta River, relative to the Lane Cove River, Middle Harbour Creek and Sydney Harbour, supports the most numerous and extensive patches: 461 patches (61% by number), 29 ha (78% by area). Most of the patches of saltmarsh (60%), as well as most of their area (76%), are located in the most upstream Riverine Channel geomorphic zone of the Parramatta River, followed by downstream zones Fluvial Delta and Central Mud Basin. The fewest patches (14) and smallest area (0.04ha) were in the Marine Tidal Delta. The ‘conservation ‘sensitive’ species as well as some of the weed species also appeared to be restricted to the upper and middle parts of the estuary. API is useful for broad assessments of estuarine saltmarsh, but pedestrian survey is needed to provide the finer scale detail necessary to locate small patches and to identify species composition especially for rare or weed species.
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The vegetation of the Coonavitra area, Paroo Darling National Park, western New South Wales
(2011)
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Martin Westbrooke
Stacey Gowans
Maria Gibson
- The vegetation of Coonavitra area, Paroo Darling National Park (latitude 31°00’–32° 40’S and longitude 142°10’–144°25’E) in north western New South Wales was assessed using intensive quadrat sampling and mapped using extensive ground truthing and interpretation of aerial photograph and Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite images. In the survey 261 vascular plants species including 37 (14%) exotic species, from 50 families were recorded. Eighteen vegetation communities were identified and mapped, the most widespread being Casuarina pauper/Alectryon oleifolius low open woodland, Acacia loderi tall open shrubland, Flindersia maculosa low open woodland and Acacia aneura open-shrubland. Of particular significance are the extensive areas of Acacia loderi and Acacia melvillei tall open shrubland and one of the northernmost occurrences of Eucalyptus socialis tall open shrubland. Many of these communities have been impacted by a history of 150 years of pastoral use.
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On the ecology, distribution and conservation status of Vittadinia blackii (Asteraceae) in Australia
(2011)
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Ian Richard Kirkwood Sluiter
K. R. Sluiter
- Distribution records of Vittadinia blackii (family Asteraceae) across southern Australia show the species has a strong and moderately common presence across a broad range of climate zones and sites in South Australia, but a much more restricted occurrence in other mainland state’s. Using the IUCN criteria, adopted by the separate state regulatory authorities vested with listing threatened species, Vittadinia blackii is considered to be not threatened in South Australia, but endangered in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
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Contrasting effects of fire severity on regeneration of the dominant woody species in two coastal plant communities at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria
(2011)
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John W. Morgan
Catharine M. Nield
- Following wildfire in 2005 at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, we asked how fire severity affected the postfire regeneration of dominant woody species in two coastal plant communities. We documented the effects of fire severity (unburned, low, high) on stand mortality and seedling regeneration in shrublands dominated by the obligate seeder Leptospermum laevigatum (Myrtaceae) and woodlands dominated by the resprouting Banksia integrifolia var. integrifolia (Proteaceae). Leptospermum laevigatum is a range-expanding native species that has encroached into grassy Banksia woodland and hence, we were also interested whether fire severity affects post-fire succession in encroached and un-encroached stands. Fire severity impacted on all measures of post-fire recovery examined: stand mortality, seedling germination, seedling survival, seedling growth. High fire severity (complete canopy consumption) led to 100% mortality of both species. Despite variable responses at the stand level, mean Leptospermum laevigatum seedling establishment, growth and survival all increased with increasing fire severity in shrublands, thus ensuring shrublands are replaced. Banksia integrifolia recruitment, however, was minimal in all stands and not fire-cued. Increasing fire severity enabled Leptospermum laevigatum to recruit into woodland sites from where it was previously absent and this establishment, coupled with the loss of overstorey Banksia trees, may rapidly transform woodlands into shrublands. Hence, fire severity-induced population responses were observed and these imprints are likely to affect longer-term succession by reinforcing site occupancy of the encroaching Leptospermum laevigatum while simultaneously leading to the potential decline of Banksia woodlands.
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Plant species first recognised as naturalised or naturalising for New South Wales in 2004 and 2005
(2011)
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John R. Hosking
Barry J. Conn
Brendan J. Lepschi
Clive H. Barker
- Information is provided on the taxonomy and distribution of 62 taxa of naturalised or naturalising plantsm newly recorded for the state of New South Wales during the period 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2005 and 1 species treated in the 2002 revised Flora of New South Wales Volume 2 but overlooked in an earlier paper of this series. Of these taxa, 17 are new records for Australia (prefaced with a †). The 62 taxa are: Acer palmatum, †Acer saccharinum, Achillea filipendulina, Acokanthera oblongifolia, †Anemone hupehensis var. japonica, Berberis aquifolium, †Bidens aurea, †Brugmansia suaveolens, Brugmansia x candida, Buddleja dysophylla, †Convolvulus farinosus, Cordyline australis, Coriandrum sativum, Corymbia citriodora (Australian species naturalised outside its native range), Crassula ericoides subsp. ericoides, Crotalaria retusa (Australian species naturalised outside its native range), Cyperus prolifer, Echinochloa polystachya, Ficus carica, †Gladiolus dalenii, †Gladiolus cultivar, Hakea laurina (Western Australian species), Hemerocallis fulva var. fulva, Hieracium pilosella, Hydrangea macrophylla, Hydrocleys nymphoides, Hymenachne amplexicaulis, Hypericum calycinum, Impatiens balfouri, Indigofera spicata, Iris laevigata, †Juglans ailantifolia, Lilium lancifolium, Lygodium japonicum, Malephora crocea, Mauranthemum paludosum, Melastoma malabathricum, †Nassella tenuissima, Pelargonium quercifolium, †Phoenix reclinata, Phormium tenax, Pinus contorta, Podranea ricasoliana, †Polygonatum x hybridum, Polypremum procumbens, †Primula malacoides, Rhaphiolepis umbellata, Romneya coulteri, Romneya trichocalyx, Setaria incrassata, †Sideritis lanata, †Sorbus aucuparia, Spartium junceum, Stylosanthes guianensis, Stylosanthes humilis, †Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus, Syzygium paniculatum (Australian species naturalising outside its native range), Tibouchina urvilleana, †Tradescantia cerinthoides, †Utricularia sandersonii, Washingtonia filifera and Zephyranthes carinata. The overlooked species is Eugenia uniflora.
