A methodology for assessing gamebird use of short rotation coppice

Gamebirds provide a considerable incentive to plant and manage new woodlands. The supplementary income thus generated can improve their overall value. Other studies suggest that Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) crops may provide an attractive habitat for some gamebird species and could increase the value of the crop. To investigate this, the use by pheasants and partridge of different types of SRC at one site was assessed.

A method using sand quadrats to record gamebird footprints and hence relative use was developed. Pheasant footprints were recorded more frequently in the quadrats alongside the willow coppice, whereas partridge footprints occurred more frequently alongside the poplar coppice. Footprint analysis offers a reliable method of investigating how gamebirds use different types of SRC within small areas. The results are considered in terms of the placement of short rotation coppice plantations in the landscape to improve their ecological design.     

Comparison of the wetting behaviour of polyamides presented as particles and films—Influence of a plasma microwave treatment

The wettability of two types of polyamide powder (ORGASOL_® and RILSAN), differing by their shape and chain ends, has been studied by three methods: inverse gas chromatography, capillary ascension and contact angle measurement on films obtained by the compression at room temperature of the powders. The results are compared with the contact angles measured on the films realized with the melted powders. All the techniques give the same classification of the wettability of the two kinds of polyamides but not the same absolute values of contact angles. In particular, the influence of the shape of the particles has been shown on ORGASOL_® by capillary ascension and by contact angle performed on films obtained by compression at room temperature of the powder. A N₂/O₂ plasma treatment applied to the particles leads to an increase of the water wettability of the powders but the treatment was found less efficient than on the melt powder based films.     

Electrochemical superabrasive machining of a nickel-based aeroengine alloy using mounted grinding points

Brief design and manufacture considerations are detailed for a hybrid electrochemical grinding unit adapted from a vertical machining centre using a 40,000 rpm spindle and 500 A DC generator. Subsequently, experimental work is presented on the influence of tool bond systems, superabrasive grit type and electrical parameters when simultaneous ECM/grinding Udimet 720 using 10-15 mm diameter plain points. Single layer electroplated CBN tools produced G-ratios and maximum normal cutting forces of ∼451 and ∼45 N, respectively, compared to ∼128 and 557 N for equivalent diamond wheels. Data on workpiece roughness and overcut are also presented as are initial results for a fir tree shaped tool.     

PixFRET, an ImageJ plug-in for FRET calculation that can accommodate variations in spectral bleed-throughs

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) allows the user to investigate interactions between fluorescent partners. One crucial issue when calculating sensitized emission FRET is the correction for spectral bleed-throughs (SBTs), which requires to calculate the ratios between the intensities in the FRET and in the donor or acceptor settings, when only the donor or acceptor are present. Theoretically, SBT ratios should be constant. However, experimentally, these ratios can vary as a function of fluorophore intensity, and assuming constant values may hinder precise FRET calculation. One possible cause for such a variation is the use of a microscope set-up with different photomultipliers for the donor and FRET channels, a set-up allowing higher speed acquisitions on very dynamic fluorescent molecules in living cells. Herein, we show that the bias introduced by the differential response of the two PMTs can be circumvented by a simple modeling of the SBT ratios as a function of fluorophore intensity. Another important issue when performing FRET is the localization of FRET within the cell or a population of cells. We hence developed a freely available ImageJ plug-in, called PixFRET, that allows a simple and rapid determination of SBT parameters and the display of normalized FRET images. The usefulness of this modeling and of the plug-in are exemplified by the study of FRET in a system where two interacting nuclear receptors labeled with ECFP and EYFP are coexpressed in living cells.     

Denitrification potential and rates of complex carbon source from dairy effluents in activated sludge system

A predictive model for the denitrification performance of complex carbon sources was proposed based on compositional data. Potential and rates of denitrification of single dairy components (lactose, lactate, proteins, fat), as well as binary and complex (modelled "process water") mixtures were assessed using test for nitrogen uptake rate (NUR). In all experiments, denitrification potential of mixtures was found to be significantly higher than the sum of individual potentials and denitrification rate with the readily biodegradable moiety of the mixtures was similar to the highest rate obtained with individual components (lactose or lactate). This work shows that activated sludge acclimated to dairy components can be modelled as a single biomass where the maximal anoxic growth rate of the biomass limits the denitrification rate with dairy components. As a consequence, lactose or lactate determine the maximal denitrification rate possible using dairy effluents.     

SPARC/osteonectin induces matrix metalloproteinase 2 activation in human breast cancer cell lines

Activation of the matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) has been shown to play a major role in the proteolysis of extracellular matrix (ECM) associated with tumor invasion. Although the precise mechanism of this activation remains elusive, levels of the membrane type 1-MMP (MT1-MMP) at the cell surface and of the tissue inhibitor of MMP-2 (TIMP-2) appear to be two important determinants. Induction of MMP-2 activation in cells cultivated on collagen type I gels indicated that the ECM is important in the regulation of this process. In this study, we show that SPARC/osteonectin, a small ECM-associated matricellular glycoprotein, can induce MMP-2 activation in two invasive breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and BT549) but not in a noninvasive counterpart (MCF-7), which lacks MT1-MMP. Using a set of peptides from different regions of SPARC, we found that peptide 1.1 (corresponding to the NH2-terminal region of the protein) contained the activity that induced MMP-2 activation. Despite the requirement for MT1-MMP, seen in MCF-7 cells transfected with MT1-MMP, the activation of MMP-2 by SPARC peptide 1.1 was not associated with increased steady-state levels of MT1-MMP mRNA or protein in either MT1-MMP-transfected MCF-7 cells or constitutively expressing MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells. We did, however, detect decreased levels of TIMP-2 protein in the media of cells incubated with peptide 1.1 or recombinant SPARC; thus, the induction of MMP-2 activation by SPARC might be due in part to a diminution of TIMP-2 protein. We conclude that SPARC, and specifically its NH2-terminal domain, regulates the activation of MMP-2 at the cell surface and is therefore likely to contribute to the proteolytic pathways associated with tumor invasion.     

8-Methoxypsoralen induced mutations are highly targeted at crosslinkable sites of photoaddition on the non-transcribed strand of a mammalian chromosomal gene

We have determined the mutational specificity of 8-methoxypsoralen photoaddition at the endogenous adenine phosphoribosyltransferase gene of Chinese hamster ovary cells hemizygous for this locus. In addition, the distribution of 8-methoxypsoralen photo-adducts was resolved in vitro at the DNA sequence level, and compared with the observed site specificity for mutation. Among 27 mutants characterized, all were single base changes at AT base pairs: 16 A:T-->T:A, six A:T-->C:G, four A:T-->G:C and one -T frameshift. All these vents were targeted to potential sites of photoaddition. The vast majority of these sites were also detectable in vitro, suggesting that 8-methoxypsoralen plus UVA-induced mutational hotspots may be damage hotspots. Furthermore 26/27 mutations occurred at crosslinkable 5'TpA sites, supporting the notion that 8-methoxypsoralen biadducts rather than monoadducts are major premutagenic lesions in mammalian cells. Since 90% of our mutation collection could have resulted from damage on the non-transcribed strand, it appears that photoadducted thymine residues on the transcribed strand of the adenine phosphoribosyltransferase gene may be preferentially repaired. We therefore suggest a model for mutagenesis, induced by psoralen biadducts, based on the preferential incision of biadducts followed by translesion synthesis past modified T bases persisting on the non-transcribed strand.