Decision support tool: Mottled duck habitat management and conservation in the Western Gulf Coast.

The Western Gulf Coast provides important habitat for migratory and resident waterfowl. The mottled duck (Anas fulvigula) relies on this region for all of its life-cycle events. Its relatively small population, limited worldwide range, and generally declining population trajectory has earned it a "Red" status on the Audubon WatchList and is a species of concern among state and federal agencies. The Western Gulf Coast (WGC) mottled duck population decline is believed to be primarily caused by the historical conversion and degradation of coastal wetlands and native prairie, and recent declines in cultivated rice. There is general agreement among experts that negative impacts to nesting and brood-rearing habitat are the most important threats to the WGC mottled duck population and increasing recruitment is essential to the growth and sustainability of the population. Our goal was to use available knowledge of mottled duck nesting and brood-rearing requirements to develop a model to aid managers in targeting areas for conservation and management. We developed four spatially explicit models that: 1) identify and prioritize existing mottled duck nesting habitat for conservation (e.g., protection or maintenance); 2) identify and prioritize existing mottled duck brood-rearing habitat for conservation; 3) identify and prioritize areas for grassland establishment; and 4) identify and prioritize wetland basins for freshwater enhancement. Spatial models revealed that only 6 km2 and 9 km2 of nesting and brood-rearing habitat, respectively, were identified as highest priority (top 10%) for conservation in the WGC. Brood habitat was identified as potentially limiting recruitment in the Texas Mid Coast and the Laguna Madre subregions of our study area, whereas grassland habitat was potentially limiting recruitment in Chenier Plain and Mississippi River Coastal Wetlands subregions. Spatial models also revealed that there is a high density of areas of high priority for grassland establishment inland in Texas and Louisiana. Likewise, there is a high density of wetland basins of high priority for freshwater enhancement throughout coastal Louisiana and the upper Texas coast. We used two separate measures to assess the performance of our Mottled Duck Decision Support Tool (hereafter MODU-DST) and found that it adequately identified patch suitability, as defined by our model, with ≥79% accuracy. Using data from the Cooperative Breeding Mottled Duck Survey, we also found that breeding mottled ducks were using landscapes with optimal spatial arrangement of nesting and brood-rearing habitat, which is reflected by higher mean priority rankings of nesting and brood-rearing habitat in the landscape.

Methods for analyzing saliva proteins for systemic disease detection.

New technological developments, coupled with the limitations of existing methodologies for the detection of disease, are propelling the field of salivary diagnostics forward at unprecedented rates. Advancements in proteomics and nanotechnology are paving the way for diagnostic tests that will be capable of rapid multi-analyte detection in both laboratory and nonlaboratory settings. Technological advancements have also benefited biomarker research to the point where saliva is now recognized as an excellent diagnostic medium that can be collected simply and noninvasively. This article reviews the varying nanotechnological platforms and how they will utilize saliva as the diagnostic medium.

Inhibition of taurine transport by cyclosporin A is due to altered surface abundance of the taurine transporter and is reversible.

We have investigated the underlying mechanism of the CsA-induced inhibition of taurine transport using a cell line permanently expressing the mouse taurine transporter (mTauT) tagged with the green-fluorescence protein (GFP). CsA inhibited the uptake activity of the expressed mTauT.GFP fusion protein in both dose and time dependent manner. Surface biotinylation assay revealed that the CsA-treatment reduced the relative surface abundance of the taurine transporter without affecting its total expression level. CsA treatment reduced both the taurine uptake and the relative surface abundance of the transporter by similar magnitudes. Conversely, when the CsA was washed off, both the uptake and the relative surface abundance of the transporter recovered fully to the control level. Remarkably, the recovery process was insensitive to the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. These results suggested that the CsA inhibited taurine transport by altering the surface abundance, possibly by internalization of the expressed taurine transporters.

Breast cancer related proteins are present in saliva and are modulated secondary to ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine if protein-by-products secondary to cancer related oncogenes appear in the saliva of breast cancer patients. METHODS: Three pooled (n = 10 subjects/pool) stimulated whole saliva specimens from women were analyzed. One pooled specimen was from healthy women, another pooled specimen from women diagnosed with a benign breast tumor and the other one pooled specimen was from women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Differential expression of proteins was measured by isotopically tagging proteins in the tumor groups and comparing them to the healthy control group. Experimentally, saliva from each of the pooled samples was trypsinized and the peptide digests labeled with the appropriate iTRAQ reagent. Labeled peptides from each of the digests were combined and analyzed by reverse phase (C18) capillary chromatography on an Applied Biosystems QStar LC-MS/MS mass spectrometer equipped with an LC-Packings HPLC. RESULTS: The results of the salivary analyses in this population of patients yielded approximately 130 proteins in the saliva specimens. Forty-nine proteins were differentially expressed between the healthy control pool and the benign and cancer patient groups. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that saliva is a fluid suffused with solubilized by-products of oncogenic expression and that these proteins may be modulated secondary to DCIS. Additionally, there may be salivary protein profiles that are unique to both DCIS and fibroadenoma tumors.

A multiscale natural community and species-level vulnerability assessment of the Gulf Coast, USA.

Vulnerability assessments combine quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of species or natural communities to current and future threats. When combined with the economic, ecological or evolutionary value of the species, vulnerability assessments quantify the relative risk to regional species and natural communities and can enable informed prioritization of conservation efforts. Vulnerability assessments are common practice in conservation biology, including the potential impacts of future climate scenarios. However, geographic variation in scenarios and vulnerabilities is rarely quantified. This gap is particularly limiting for informing ecosystem management given that conservation practices typically vary by sociopolitical boundaries rather than by ecological boundaries. To support prioritization of conservation actions across a range of spatial scales, we conducted the Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment (GCVA) for four natural communities and eleven focal species around the Gulf of Mexico based on current and future threats from climate change and land-use practices out to 2060. We used the Standardized Index of Vulnerability and Value (SIVVA) tool to assess both natural community and species vulnerabilities. We observed greater variation across ecologically delineated subregions within the Gulf Coast of the U.S. than across climate scenarios. This novel finding suggests that future vulnerability assessments incorporate regional variation and that conservation prioritization may vary across ecological subregions. Across subregions and climate scenarios the most prominent threats were legacy effects, primarily from habitat loss and degradation, that compromised the adaptive capacity of species and natural communities. The second most important threats were future threats from sea-level rise. Our results suggest that the substantial threats species and natural communities face from climate change and sea-level rise would be within their adaptive capacity were it not for historic habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation.

Salivary Protein Profiles among HER2/neu-Receptor-Positive and -Negative Breast Cancer Patients: Support for Using Salivary Protein Profiles for Modeling Breast Cancer Progression.

Purpose. The objective of this study was to compare the salivary protein profiles from individuals diagnosed with breast cancer that were either HER2/neu receptor positive or negative. Methods. Two pooled saliva specimens underwent proteomic analysis. One pooled specimen was from women diagnosed with stage IIa HER2/neu-receptor-positive breast cancer patients (n = 10) and the other was from women diagnosed with stage IIa HER2/neu-receptor-negative cancer patients (n = 10). The pooled samples were trypsinized and the peptides labeled with iTRAQ reagent. Specimens were analyzed using an LC-MS/MS mass spectrometer. Results. The results yielded approximately 71 differentially expressed proteins in the saliva specimens. There were 34 upregulated proteins and 37 downregulated proteins.

Synthesis and antiviral activity of 7-benzyl-4-hydroxy-1,5-naphthyridin-2(1H)-one HIV integrase inhibitors.

The medicinal chemistry and structure-activity relationships for a novel series of 7-benzyl-4-hydroxy-1,5-naphthyridin-2(1H)-one HIV-integrase inhibitors are disclosed. Substituent effects were evaluated at the N-1, C-3, and 7-benzyl positions of the naphthyridinone ring system. Low nanomolar IC(50) values were achieved in an HIV-integrase strand transfer assay with both carboxylic ester and carboxamide groups at C-3. More importantly, several carboxamide congeners showed potent antiviral activity in cellular assays. A 7-benzyl substituent was found to be critical for potent enzyme inhibition, and an N-(2-methoxyethyl)carboxamide moiety at C-3 significantly reduced plasma protein binding effects in vitro. Pharmacokinetic data in rats for one carboxamide analogue demonstrated oral bioavailability and reasonable in vivo clearance.