Van Der Putten Research Articles

Three‐way interactions between plants, microbes and insects

Plants are important mediators of interactions between their associated microbe and insect communities (Van der Putten et al. 2001; Ohgushi 2005). Changes in plants induced by one species have cascading effects on interactions with other species, shaping their abundances and community structure (Ohgushi 2008). While the consequences of such indirect interactions for community structure have predominantly been examined within the plant-associated insect community (e.g. Van Zandt & Agrawal 2004; Poelman et al. 2008; Utsumi 2011), there is growing evidence that there are similar community-wide impacts of plant-mediated interactions between microbes and insects (e.g. Kluth, Kruess & Tscharntke 2001; Omacini et al. 2001; Katayama, Zhang & Ohgushi 2011; Tack, Gripenberg & Roslin 2012). This highlights the ecological importance of three-way interactions between plants, microbes and insects. The study of such ‘plant–microbe– insect’ (PMI) interactions (Fig. 1) is a research area that has been rapidly expanding in the past two decades. Molecular studies of the mechanisms underlying these three-way interactions, as well as ecological and evolutionary studies of the consequences of PMI interactions in natural communities, have recently given a large impetus to this young field. In this special feature, we have brought together eight papers reviewing different aspects of these recent advances in the field of PMI interactions. Research on PMI interactions has gradually bridged the traditionally separated subdisciplines of plant pathology, insect pathology and entomology. Plant pathologists early on realized that insects were not only important vectors of plant disease, but also one of the factors determining what was then called ‘host predisposition’ (Yarwood 1959; Schoeneweiss 1975). This term was used to describe any environmental alteration of the susceptibility of host plants to their pathogens, prior to their interaction. Similarly, in the 1980s, a series of reviews from entomologists appeared on the effects of plantand insect-associated microbes on plant resource exploitation by insects (e.g. Jones 1984; Hammond & Hardy 1988), culminating in the seminal book on microbial mediation of plant–insect interactions by Barbosa, Krischick & Jones 1991, which provided the first detailed and fascinating overview of the widespread, diverse and strong roles played by plantand insect-associated microbes in shaping plant–insect interactions. PMI interactions represent a broad research field, both in terms of the disciplines involved (from molecular

Asia. Translation in Asia: Theories, practices, histories. Edited by Ronit Ricci and Jan Van Der Putten. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 2011. Pp. 191. Index.

Translation in Asia: Theories, practices, histories Edited by RONIT RICCI and JAN VAN DER PUTTEN Manchester: St Jerome Publishing, 2011. Pp. 191. Index. There is much that scholars of Asia can learn from thinking about translation, and much that translation studies scholars can learn from studying practices in Asia, as this excellent book, Translation in Asia: Theories, practices, histories, edited by Ronit Ricci and Jan van der Putten reveals. The book consists of an introduction and eleven chapters, with contributions by Thomas Hunter, Torsten Tschacher, Peter Friedlander, Ronit Ricci, Haslina Haroon, Vijayakumar Boratti, Jose Mario Fransisco, Didi Kwartanada, Erlinda Alburo, Paul Rae and S. Sanjeev. Essays discuss translation in South and Southeast Asia (despite the broad 'Asia' of the title), and from, into, and between languages including Sanskrit, Javanese, Malay, Tagalog, Cebuano, Filipino, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish and English. The period of translation history covered is broad; from the two millenia-old cosmopolis shaped by Sanskrit, to contemporary performance in Singapore. The essays take translation studies in exciting new directions. The strongest linking thread is the questioning of ways interlingual transfer -- and language itself--is conceptualised in South and Southeast Asia. Rather than merely identifying instances of a practice readily familiar (from a Euro-American-centric perspective) as 'translation', the writers work hard, from the inside out as it were, to find local explanations of where languages begin and end, and how movement between them is both thought about and practised. This approach reveals a wealth of translation activity and often traditions of profound reflection about it. It leads to discussion about the juxtaposition of and movement between vernacular and cosmopolitan languages (Hunter's wonderful essay on Sanskrit and Old Javanese, and Tschacher on the rendering of Islamic texts in Arabic into Tamil); between languages of writing and speech; between high and low status languages; and between the sacred and secular. It raises questions such as: what is 'unintelligibility', where does it lie, and what is its purpose? It shows how language encounters stimulate the formulation of ideas about 'translation' (for instance Munshi's reflections on Malay); influence language practice (commentary on 'foreign' texts influencing the structure of the local language); and highlight both complex interrelationships between languages and scripts, and differences between manuscript and print culture. This book also demonstrates how a focus on translation can be an entry point to the study of Asia, enriching our understanding of histories of contact, the complexities of thoroughly multilingual societies, and interrelationships between language, identity and power. Asia's multi-religious context, with long-established interaction between Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian traditions, is fertile ground for the study of ways adherents perceive languages of religion and sacred texts (Sanskrit, Pall, and Arabic, for instance) and how these languages, moved between different contexts, transfer ideas. Hunter's essay on the Sanskrit ecumene helps us (after Pollock) associate contemporary ideas of identity formation -- cosmopolitanism -- with centuries-old practice. …

Impact of Coastal Pollution on Childhood Disabilities and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: The Case of Bangladesh

International Journal of Medicine and Public Health,2012,2,3,12-20.DOI:10.5530/ijmedph.2.3.4Published:Jul 2012Type:Original ArticleImpact of Coastal Pollution on Childhood Disabilities and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes: The Case of BangladeshJuma Rahman, Nitaya Vajanapoom, Marc Van Der Putten, and Nafeesur Rahman Juma Rahman1, Nitaya Vajanapoom2, Marc Van Der Putten3 and Nafeesur Rahman4 1Faculty of Public Health (Global Health), Thammasat University, PO box 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand. 2Assoc. Professor. Vice Dean for academic: Epidemiology. Faculty of Public Health. Thammasat University, PO box 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand. 3Assoc. Professor. Asst. Dean International Affairs. Faculty of Public Health. Thammasat University, PO box 12120, Pathum Thani, Thailand. 4Director, National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD), Lalmatia, PO box 1207, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Abstract:Objective: The objective of this review was to explore the situation of coastal water pollution and its impact on child health and pregnancy outcomes in Bangladesh. Background: Globally coastal pollution is of greater significance than inland’s for its huge resources and contribution to livelihood. As a result it has been a source of increased Global Burden of Disease by means of consumption of seafood, involvement in risky jobs, and exposure to water related disastrous events. Almost sixty percent of the world’s population is at risk of costal contamination and developing countries like Bangladesh, geographically located at the tip of the Bay of Bengal, are facing significant challenges by this form of pollution. Method: This study was based on a critical review of published literature and unpublished documents from 1972 to 2011 retrieved from databases of scientific publications, from public-access search engines, reports from government, international organizations, and non-government agencies, and personal communications. Discussion: Huge noxious pollutants including heavy metals, oil spill and redionucleotides were found in the Bay of Bengal, those have enormous adverse impacts on child health and pregnancy outcomes. This review focuses on children and pregnant women because of their vulnerable physiological conditions to the impacts of environmental factors. The physiological systems of children and fetuses are developing fast and usually are sensitive to disruptions induced by environmental pollutants and exposures in utero increase the risk of future toxic insults. Conclusion: The coastal zone of Bangladesh is one of the vulnerable zones in the world which is predicted to disappear due to climate change impacts. This areas face huge weather-related disasters due to continuous changing coastal-configuration and man-made pollutions. However, these observations are indecisive due to limitations of supportive evidence. Therefore, further epidemiological studies are required to confirm initial observations. Keywords:adverse pregnancy outcome, childhood disability, Coastal pollution, Coastal zone, heavy metal, persistent organic pollutantsView:PDF (567.35 KB)

The professions of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering should be combined into a single profession “Clinical Science and Technology”

Wilhelm J. M. van der Putten, Chadd E. Smith, and Colin G. Orton Citation: Medical Physics 39, 2953 (2012); doi: 10.1118/1.3694114 View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1118/1.3694114 View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapm/journal/medphys/39/6?ver=pdfcov Published by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Articles you may be interested in Applications of Statistics to Medicine and Medical Physics. Med. Phys. 40, 037302 (2013); 10.1118/1.4789600 Medical Physics now classified internationally as a profession Med. Phys. 38, i (2011); 10.1118/1.3605469 Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Med. Phys. 28, 861 (2001); 10.1118/1.1369117 Comment on “Medical physics graduate programs should focus on education and research and leave clinicaltraining to residencies” [Med. Phys. 26, 2051–2053 (1999)] Med. Phys. 27, 1204 (2000); 10.1118/1.598985 Proposition: Medical technologies should pass performance and cost-effectiveness review in centers ofexcellence before being released for diffusion in the clinical community Med. Phys. 25, 1099 (1998); 10.1118/1.598301

The Morse–Sard theorem inWn,n(Ω): A simple proof

We give a simpler and more self-contained proof of the Morse–Sard theorem in the setting of Sobolev space Wn,n(Rn,R) with n⩾2, we already proved in a previous paper [R. van der Putten, The Morse–Sard theorem for Sobolev spaces in a borderline case, Bull. Sci. Math. 136 (4) (2012) 463–475, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bulsci.2010.02.001].

THE KOREAN ISSUE IN cHINA'SNEW DIPLOMACY

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. This refers, primarily, to the Turkmenistan–Uzbekistan–Kazakhstan–China gas pipeline that was launched in December 2009; to Lukoil's plans for using this pipeline to supply Uzbek with natural gas; and to decisions taken during Dmitriy Medvedev's visit to China, first and foremost, the inauguration of the Skovorodino–Daqing oil pipeline, connecting the destination point of the ESPO oil pipeline to northeast China, and a detailed plan for the implementation of the Altay gas pipeline project, linking West Siberia to northwest China. See: “Turkmen–China Pipe Opens,” World Gas Intelligence, December 23, 2009; “Lukoil and CNPC May Exchange Assets,” Kommersant, September 28, 2010, <http://www.kommersant.ru/news.aspx?DocsID=1512198>, last accessed October 4, 2010; Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, “Russia, China Study Long Term Gas Deal,” Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2010, <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575521433569135028.html#articleTabs_article>, last accessed October 4, 2010. 2. Gao Fei, The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and China's New Diplomacy (The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, 2010). 3. Mikhail Mamonov, “Modern China's System of Foreign Policy Priorities,” in A.D. Bogaturov, ed., Modern World Politics (Moscow: Apekt Press, 2009), p. 418. 4. For example, the settlement of border issues with Vietnam in a 1999 agreement; with Russia in a series of agreements in 1991, 1994, and 2004; as well as continued negotiations with India. Zhang Xinjun, “China's ‘Peaceful Rise, Harmonious’ Foreign Relations and Legal Confrontation,” Eurasia Review, <http://www.eurasiareview.com/201006123096/chinas-peaceful-rise-harmonious-foreign-relations-and-legal-confrontation.html>, last accessed September 27, 2010; Aleksey Borodavkin, “Russia and China: On Path towards Good-Neighborly Relations and Cooperation,” Institute for Far Eastern Studies, <http://www.ifes-ras.ru/pdv/online/120-aaieiaeaaeei-einney-e-eeoae-ii-iooe-aeiaeininaaenoaa-e-nioeoaeiedanoaa> , last accessed September 20, 2010. 5. This view is being conceptually developed in the West, in particular at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael. See: Maaike Okano-Heijmans and Frans-Paul Van der Putten, “China's Rise and the Changing Rules of the Game in the International Order,” CEPS Commentary, July 6, 2009; Peter Van Bergeijkand Jan Melissen, “Economische diplomaten and Diplomatieke economen” (Economic Diplomats and Diplomatic Economists), International Spectator No. 64 (2), February 2010, pp. 68–69. 6. Zheng Bijian, “China's ‘Peaceful Rise’ to Great-Power Status,” Foreign Affairs, September–October 2005, <http://www.irchina.org/en/news/view.asp?id=397>, last accessed September 17, 2010. 7. Mamonov, “Modern China's System of Foreign Policy Priorities,” p. 417. 8. “China Vows to Revitalize Northeastern Industrial Base,” Chinese Government Official Web Portal, August 3, 2003, <http://www.gov.cn/english/2003-08/13/content_23616.htm>, last accessed November 25, 2009. 9. Yoon Hwy-tak, “China's Northeast Project: Defensive or Offensive Strategy?,” East Asia Review 16 (Winter 2004), pp. 100–101. 10. LNG regasification terminal. 11. World Trade Organization, International Trade Statistics 2009 (Geneva: WTO, 2009), p. 219. 12. Ibid. The author's calculations. 13. Ibid. The author's calculations. 14. The World Fact Book: DPRK, Central Intelligence Agency, <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kn.htm>, last accessed October 19, 2010, the author's calculations. 15. KOTRA, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. See: Mika Marumoto, “The Roles of China and South Korea in North Korean Economic Change,” Korea's Economy 24 (2008), pp. 92–105. 16. The World Fact Book: DPRK, Central Intelligence Agency. 17. Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, North Korea's External Economic Relations, Working Paper 07-7 (Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics, August 2007), pp. 19–20, 28. <http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/wp/wp07-7.pdf>. 18. Andrey Lankov, “North Korea: Notes on Market in Totalitarian Conditions,” http://www.inliberty.ru/library/study/2027/>, last accessed October 20, 2010. 19. Li Dunqiu, “Economic and Social Implications of China-DPRK for China's Northeast,” <http://www.nbr.org/downloads/pdfs/PSA/BS_Conf06_Li.pdf>, last accessed October 20, 2010. 20. Andrey Lankov, “No vse li tak beznadezhno?,” Rossiyskiye Koreytsy, August 2010. 21. “North is No Comrade to South: Talks between Seoul and Pyongyang Fail to End in Success,” Kommersant, September 30, 2010, http://www.kommersant.ru/doc-rss.aspx?DocsID=1513018, last accessed October 4, 2010. 22. Georgiy Toloraya, “Challenges and Opportunities for Russia,” presentation at the seminar on Korean Peninsula organized by the Russkiy Mir Foundation and the Russian National Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific, Moscow, September 21, 2010. 23. Zhang Xinjun, “China's ‘Peaceful Rise,” “Harmonious Foreign Relations and Legal Confrontation,” Eurasia Review, <http://www.eurasiareview.com/201006123096/chinas-peaceful-rise-harmonious-foreign-relations-and-legal-confrontation.html>, last accessed September 27, 2010. 24. Georgiy Toloraya, “Challenges and Opportunities for Russia.” 25. Ibid.

Increased hepcidin-25 and Erythropoietin Responsiveness in Patients With cardio–renal Anemia Syndrome

Hepcidin is a key regulator controlling iron intestinal absorption and distribution through the body. The article by van der Putten et al. examined the association between hepcidin-25 and erythropoietin responsiveness and inflammation in erythropoietin-naive, iron-replete patients with chronic heart failure and chronic kidney disease. A cross-sectional observation revealed that serum hepcidin-25 was elevated almost twofold when compared with levels in healthy subjects. Hepcidin-25 was inversely correlated with hemoglobin (r(2) = 0.18; p < 0.02), and positively with ferritin (r(2) = 0.51; p < 0.01) and transferrin saturation (r(2) = 0.14; p < 0.03), while it did not correlate with levels of IL-6 and highly sensitive C-reactive protein. They found that 2-week erythropoietin therapy (50 IU/kg/week) significantly decreased hepcidin-25 levels. The magnitude of the decrease in hepcidin-25 levels correlated with the increase in reticulocytes (r(2) = 0.23; p < 0.03) and soluble transferrin receptor (r(2) = 0.23; p = 0.03), but not with inflammatory markers. A decline in hepcidin-25 correlated with the increment of hemoglobin after 6 months (r(2) = 0.49; p < 0.01). The findings convincingly suggest that hepcidin-25 may be useful in predicting erythropoietin responsiveness in stable chronic heart failure patients. However, further studies will be needed to establish clinically available methods to reliably measure hepcidin-25 level.

Obituary: Amin Sweeney

Obituary:Amin Sweeney Jan van der Putten (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution The first message I received when I switched on my handphone upon leaving the plane in the Netherlands last November read 'Amin is dead'. Prof. Muhammad Amin Sweeney passed away quite unexpectedly on 13 November 13, 2010, while finishing a renovation job at his much beloved cottage in Cisarua, where he enjoyed his two favourite hobbies: gardening and bird watching. An inveterate teller of hilarious stories and outrageous jokes, Amin was a man of many virtues and vices, talents and skills, and you always knew when he was around. To say that Amin was unconventional would be a silly understatement: he was a man who combined a Catholic past with a Muslim present, who tried to integrate his Malaysian citizenship with his Irish-anti-British background and his life in Jakarta while claiming Kelantanese as his primary language. He came to Malaya at the end of the 1950s, after dropping out of secondary school, when he was drafted to counter the Communist insurgency in this British domain. But, he would state that the only action he carried out was having a cup of tea with a few captured insurgents. He was a rabble-rouser who was always looking for boundaries so that he could cross them, setting a possible precedent for others to follow. After his bloodless encounter with the friendly communists, he taught English to Malay soldiers and spent time with local people all over the Peninsula, always eager to communicate with them and study their cultures. He was firmly hooked and wanted to know more, so he went back to London to study at the [End Page 103] School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Soon he decided that the scholars there could not teach him much as they were epigones of the colonial system who communicated only with servants, the royal elite and subordinate officers in the military. Amin despised these people and would always make fun of their accents when uttering some Malay words. 'Boy, kasi tea banyak tebal', was one of his stock phrases to refer to them. As he surpassed them in his command and knowledge of the Malay language, Amin was asked to set his own exams, which he passed with flying colours, earning a first-class honours degree in 1967. For his subsequent PhD research he met with a Dutch scholar whom he very much respected for his knowledge and dedication to his field of study: Professor C. Hooykaas. Amin had fond memories of his sessions at Hooykaas' house outside London and the letters they exchanged while Amin was doing his fieldwork research in Kelantan on wayang kulit. Amin received his PhD in 1970 and in the same year was appointed lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, where he would stay for seven years. Eventually he moved to California to take up a position in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he retired as professor emeritus in 1999. By no means did his retirement mean he would sit still watching birds in the garden. In Jakarta, where he moved after leaving California, there was hardly a garden or any birds, so he bought the house in Cisarua. But Amin also was not planning on retiring just yet from the field so dear to him. To many he will be remembered primarily for his work on oral traditions in the Malay world, represented in his books on the wayang kulit of Kelantan (both 1972), Tok Selampit (1995), his Authors and Audiences (1980) and A Full Hearing (1987). But Amin did not like to put easy labels on his works. He did not agree with a simple boundary between written and oral traditions or a separation between traditional and modern literature. One of the threads that can be discerned in all his writing is an awareness of the imposition of one's foreign values and notions about cultural practices upon the tradition one is studying. While acknowledging R. O. Winstedt's scholarship and contributions, with great erudition and verve he dissected Winstedt's studies on...

Ink-jet printed p-type polymer electronics based on liquid-crystalline polymer semiconductors

Poly(2,5-bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes) (pBTTTs)—currently one of the most promising class of polymer semiconductors—are known to have a low-room-temperature solubility in a broad range of common organic solvents. By judicious selection of a suitable solvent for these rigid-rod-like, liquid-crystalline materials, we ink-jet printed poly(2,5-bis(3-dodecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) (pBTTT-C12) into discrete thin-film field-effect transistors (FETs) that display on/off ratios of up to 107 and charge-carrier mobilities in the range of 0.05–0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1. Compared to spin-coated devices, the ink-jet printed devices typically had lower current leakage; indeed, gate-leakage currents were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower in ink-jet printed transistors. These overall device performance of ink-jet printed pBTTT-C12 would be sufficient for, for instance, driving simple electrophoretic displays [T. N. Ng, S. Sambandan, R. Lujan, A. C. Arias, C. R. Newman, H. Yan and A. Facchetti, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2009, 94, 233307; G. H. Gelinck, T. C. T. Geuns and D. M. de Leeuw, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2000, 77, 1487–1489; H. E. A. Huitema, G. H. Gelinck, J. van der Putten, K. E. Kuijk, C. M. Hart, E. Cantatore, P. T. Herwig, A. van Breemen and D. M. de Leeuw, Nature, 2001, 414, 599–599; H. E. A. Huitema, G. H. Gelinck, J. van der Putten, K. E. Kuijk, K. M. Hart, E. Cantatore and D. M. de Leeuw, Adv. Mater., 2002, 14, 1201–1204.]. We demonstrate here integration of such ink-jet printed pBTTT-C12 transistors into unipolar digital logic gates, which produced a signal gain of more than 16. This is one of the highest gains reported for a unipolar-based logic gate and demonstrates the potential of pBTTT polymers for high performance application employing simple ink-jet printing procedures conducted in light and ambient air without any special precautions.

Corrigendum

European Journal of Dental EducationVolume 13, Issue 4 p. 252-252 Free Access Corrigendum This article corrects the following: The impact of undergraduate geriatric dental education on the attitudes of recently graduated dentists towards institutionalised elderly people L. De Visschere, G.-J. Van Der Putten, C. De Baat, J. Schols, J. Vanobbergen, Volume 13Issue 3European Journal of Dental Education pages: 154-161 First Published online: July 15, 2009 First published: 08 October 2009 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0579.2009.00603.xAboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat In [1], the acknowledgement is missing: Acknowledgement Data collection was supported by GABA International. The authors would like to apologize for this error. Reference 1 De Visschere L, Van Der Putten G-J, De Baat C, Schols J, Vanobbergen J. The impact of undergraduate geriatric dental education on the attitudes of recently graduated dentists towards institutionalised elderly people. Eur J Dent Educ 2009: 13: 154– 161. Wiley Online LibraryCASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar Volume13, Issue4November 2009Pages 252-252 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Neuronal Nogo-A Modulates Growth Cone Motility via Rho-GTP/LIMK1/Cofilin in the Unlesioned Adult Nervous System

Nogo-A has been extensively studied as a myelin-associated neurite outgrowth inhibitor in the lesioned adult central nervous system. However, its role in the intact central nervous system has not yet been clarified. Analysis of the intact adult nervous system of C57BL/6 Nogo-A knock-out (KO) versus wild-type (WT) mice by a combined two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and isotope-coded affinity tagging approach revealed regulation of cytoskeleton-, transport-, and signaling growth-related proteins, pointing to regulation of the actin cytoskeleton, the neuronal growth machinery, and in particular the Rho-GTPase/LIMK1/cofilin pathway. Nogo-A KO adult neurons showed enlarged, more motile growth cones compared with WT neurons. The phenotype was reproduced by acute in vitro neutralization of neuronal Nogo-A. LIMK1 phosphorylation was increased in Nogo-A KO growth cones, and its reduction caused the decrease of KO growth cone motility to WT levels. Our study suggests that in the unlesioned adult nervous system, neuronal Nogo-A can restrict neuronal growth through negative modulation of growth cone motility.

The Sushi Domains of Secreted GABAB1 Isoforms Selectively Impair GABAB Heteroreceptor Function

GABAB receptors are the G-protein-coupled receptors for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABAB receptors are promising drug targets for a wide spectrum of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Receptor subtypes exhibit no pharmacological differences and are based on the subunit isoforms GABAB1a and GABAB1b. GABAB1a differs from GABAB1b in its ectodomain by the presence of a pair of conserved protein binding motifs, the sushi domains (SDs). Previous work showed that selectively GABAB1a contributes to heteroreceptors at glutamatergic terminals, whereas both GABAB1a and GABAB1b contribute to autoreceptors at GABAergic terminals or to postsynaptic receptors. Here, we describe GABAB1j, a secreted GABAB1 isoform comprising the two SDs. We show that the two SDs, when expressed as a soluble protein, bind to neuronal membranes with low nanomolar affinity. Soluble SD protein, when added at nanomolar concentrations to dissociated hippocampal neurons or to acute hippocampal slices, impairs the inhibitory effect of GABAB heteroreceptors on evoked and spontaneous glutamate release. In contrast, soluble SD protein neither impairs the activity of GABAB autoreceptors nor impairs the activity of postsynaptic GABAB receptors. We propose that soluble SD protein scavenges an extracellular binding partner that retains GABAB1a-containing heteroreceptors in proximity of the presynaptic release machinery. Soluble GABAB1 isoforms like GABAB1j may therefore act as dominant-negative inhibitors of heteroreceptors and control the level of GABAB-mediated inhibition at glutamatergic terminals. Of importance for drug discovery, our data also demonstrate that it is possible to selectively impair GABAB heteroreceptors by targeting their SDs.

The Ups and Downs of Hippocampal Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors: Ramifications for Epileptogenesis and Cognitive Impairment following Status Epilepticus

Loss of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Long-Term Depression via Downregulation of mGluR5 after Status Epilepticus. Kirschstein T, Bauer M, Müller L, Rüschenschmidt C, Reitze M, Becker AJ, Schoch S, Beck H. J Neurosci 2007;27(29):7696–7704. Synaptic plasticity is thought to be a key mechanism of information storage in the CNS. Different forms of synaptic long-term potentiation have been shown to be impaired in neurological disorders. Here, we show that metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)-dependent long-term depression (LTD), but not NMDA receptor-dependent LTD at Schaffer collateral–CA1 synapses, is profoundly impaired after status epilepticus. Brief application of the group I mGluR agonist ( R, S)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (100 μM; 5 min) induced mGluR LTD in control, but not in pilocarpine-treated rats. Experiments in the presence of selective inhibitors of either mGluR5 [2-methyl-6-(phenylethynyl)-pyridine] or mGluR1 [7-(hydroxyimino)cyclopropachromen-carboxylate ethyl ester and ( S)-(+)–amino-4-carboxy-2-methylbenzeneacetic acid] demonstrate that loss of mGluR LTD is most likely attributable to a loss of mGluR5 function. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR revealed a specific downregulation of mGluR5 mRNA, but not of mGluR1 mRNA in the CA1 region. Furthermore, we detected a strong reduction in mGluR5 protein expression by immunofluorescence and quantitative immunoblotting. Additionally, the scaffolding protein Homer that mediates coupling of mGluR5 to downstream signaling cascades was downregulated. Thus, we conclude that the reduction of mGluR LTD after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus is the result of the subtype-specific downregulation of mGluR5 and associated downstream signaling components. Functional Role of mGluR1 and mGluR4 in Pilocarpine-Induced Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Pitsch J, Schoch S, Gueler N, Flor PJ, van der Putten H, Becker AJ. Neurobiol Dis 2007;26(3):623–633. Altered expression and distribution of neurotransmitter receptors, including metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), constitute key aspects in epileptogenesis, impaired hippocampal excitability and neuronal degeneration. mGluR1 mediates predominantly excitatory effects, whereas mGluR4 acts as inhibitory presynaptic receptor. Increased hippocampal expression of mGluR1 and mGluR4 has been observed in human temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In this study, we address whether genetic mGluR1 upregulation and mGluR4 knock-down influence seizure susceptibility and/or vulnerability of hippocampal neurons by analyzing transgenic animals in the pilocarpine TLE model. Therefore, we generated transgenic mice expressing mGluR1-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) fusion protein under control of the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) immediate early promoter. Status epilepticus (SE) was induced in 1) mice overexpressing mGluR1-EGFP and 2) mice deficient for mGluR4 (mGluR4 KO) as well as littermate controls. In the acute epileptic stage after pilocarpine application, mGluR4 KO mice showed a significant increase of severe seizure activity, in contrast to mGluR1 transgenics. Analysis of both transgenic mouse lines in the chronic epileptic phase, using a telemetric EEG-/video-monitoring system, revealed a significant increase in seizure frequency only in mGluR1-EGFP mice. In contrast, enhanced neuronal cell loss was only present in the hippocampus of epileptic mGluR4 KO mice. Our results suggest a role for mGluR1 in promoting seizure susceptibility as well as for mGluR4 to counteract excitatory activity and seizure-associated vulnerability of hippocampal neurons. Therefore, our data strongly recommend both mGluRs as potential drug targets to interfere with the development of hippocampal damage and seizure activity in TLE.

Film and comic books

In Film and Comic Books contributors analyze the problems of adapting one medium to another; the translation of comics aesthetics into film; audience expectations, reception, and reaction to comic book-based films; and the adaptation of films into comics. A wide range of comic/film adaptations are explored, including superheroes (Spider-Man), comic strips (Dick Tracy), realist and autobiographical comics (American Splendor, Ghost World), and photo-montage comics (Mexico's El Santo). Essayists discuss films beginning with the 1978 Superman. That success led filmmakers to adapt a multitude of comic books for the screen including Marvel's Uncanny X-Men, the Amazing Spider-Man, Blade, and the Incredible Hulk as well as alternative graphic novels such as From Hell, V for Vendetta, and Road to Perdition. Essayists also discuss recent works from Mexico, France, Germany, and Malaysia. Essays from Timothy P. Barnard, Michael Cohen, Rayna Denison, Martin Flanagan, Sophie Geoffroy-Menoux, Mel Gibson, Kerry Gough, Jonathan Gray, Craig Hight, Derek Johnson, Pascal Lef?vre, Paul M. Malone, Neil Rae, Aldo J. Regalado, Jan van der Putten, and David Wilt Ian Gordon is associate professor of history and convenor of American studies at the National University of Singapore. Mark Jancovich is professor of film and television studies at the University of East Anglia. Matthew P. McAllister is associate professor of film, video, and media studies at Pennsylvania State University.

VERNACULAR INTELLIGENCE: COLONIAL PEDAGOGY AND THE LANGUAGE QUESTION IN MINANGKABAU1

In the late 1920s the Dutch colonial government resolved to use local languages instead of Malay as the medium of instruction in indigenous schools throughout the Netherlands East Indies. In West Sumatra, this programme was launched in the academic year 1931–1932, and the government required schools to use the first series of textbooks published in the Minangkabau language – Lakēh pandai [Learn quickly], Kini lah pandai [Now I have learnt] and Dangakanlah [Listen!] – written by the Dutch linguist M.G. Emeis. This essay traces Minangkabau resistance to Emeis' works, and examines the confrontation between Dutch colonial policy and local expectations regarding the language of instruction used in the school system of West Sumatra. It also documents the philological efforts of Dutch experts to render the spoken Minangkabau language in a written romanised form, and looks at the scholarly discourse on Minangkabau language in the colonial period. 1An earlier version of this article was presented at Third International Convention of Asia Scholars in Singapore, 19–22 August 2003. I gratefully acknowledge the help of Jan van der Putten, Mikihiro Moriyama, Susan Rodgers, Mestika Zed, Elsbeth Locher-Scholten, Jeffrey Hadler and two anonymous Indonesia and the Malay World reviewers for their valuable comments on the draft of this paper. I also thank Willem Adriaan Emeis for sending me the documents and the pictures of his father that are used as illustrations in this paper. Any mistakes, of course, are mine alone.

When enemies attack do plants get by with a little help from their friends?

When enemies attack do plants get by with a little help from their friends?

Familial Parkinson Mutant α-Synuclein Causes Dopamine Neuron Dysfunction in Transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans

Mutations in alpha-synuclein gene cause familial form of Parkinson disease, and deposition of wild-type alpha-synuclein as Lewy bodies occurs as a hallmark lesion of sporadic Parkinson disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, implicating alpha-synuclein in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease and related neurodegenerative diseases. Dopamine neurons in substantia nigra are the major site of neurodegeneration associated with alpha-synuclein deposition in Parkinson disease. Here we establish transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans (TG worms) that overexpresses wild-type or familial Parkinson mutant human alpha-synuclein in dopamine neurons. The TG worms exhibit accumulation of alpha-synuclein in the cell bodies and neurites of dopamine neurons, and EGFP labeling of dendrites is often diminished in TG worms expressing familial Parkinson disease-linked A30P or A53T mutant alpha-synuclein, without overt loss of neuronal cell bodies. Notably, TG worms expressing A30P or A53T mutant alpha-synuclein show failure in modulation of locomotory rate in response to food, which has been attributed to the function of dopamine neurons. This behavioral abnormality was accompanied by a reduction in neuronal dopamine content and was treatable by administration of dopamine. These phenotypes were not seen upon expression of beta-synuclein. The present TG worms exhibit dopamine neuron-specific dysfunction caused by accumulation of alpha-synuclein, which would be relevant to the genetic and compound screenings aiming at the elucidation of pathological cascade and therapeutic strategies for Parkinson disease.

WITHDRAWN: Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: the effects of functional movement activities

A Van Der Putten, C Vlaskamp, K Reynders, H Nakken. Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: the effects of functional movement activities. Clinical Rehabilitation. 2005; 19(6): 613-620 Article withdrawn by publisher. This article was accidentally published twice in the online version of Volume 19 Issue 6, with different DOIs but the same page numbers. There was no duplication of the article in the printed version of Volume 19 Issue 6. The incorrect version of the article with DOI: 10.1177/026921550501900601 has been replaced with this correction notice. The correct and citable version of the article remains: A Van Der Putten, C Vlaskamp, K Reynders, H Nakken. Children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: the effects of functional movement activities. Clinical Rehabilitation. 2005; 19(6): 613-620 10.1191/0269215505cr899oa

Familial Mutants of α-Synuclein with Increased Neurotoxicity Have a Destabilized Conformation

A30P and A53T mutations of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein are associated with familial forms of Parkinson disease. NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that Parkinsonism-linked mutations greatly perturb specific tertiary interactions essential for the native state of alpha-synuclein. However, alpha-synuclein is not completely unfolded but exhibits structural fluctuations on the time scale of secondary structure formation and loses its native conformation gradually when protein stability decreases. The redistribution of the ensemble of alpha-synuclein conformers may underlie toxic gain-of-function by fostering self-association and altered binding affinity to ligands and receptors.

A Combinatorial Code for the Interaction of α-Synuclein with Membranes

Considerable genetic and pathological evidence has implicated the small, soluble protein alpha-synuclein in the pathogenesis of familial and sporadic forms of Parkinsons disease (PD). However, the precise role of alpha-synuclein in the disease process as well as its normal function remain poorly understood. We recently found that an interaction with lipid rafts is crucial for the normal, pre-synaptic localization of alpha-synuclein. To understand how alpha-synuclein interacts with lipid rafts, we have now developed an in vitro binding assay to rafts purified from native membranes. Recapitulating the specificity observed in vivo, recombinant wild type but not PD-associated A30P mutant alpha-synuclein binds to lipid rafts isolated from cultured cells and purified synaptic vesicles. Proteolytic digestion of the rafts does not disrupt the binding of alpha-synuclein, indicating an interaction with lipid rather than protein components of these membranes. We have also found that alpha-synuclein binds directly to artificial membranes whose lipid composition mimics that of lipid rafts. The binding of alpha-synuclein to these raft-like liposomes requires acidic phospholipids, with a preference for phosphatidylserine (PS). Interestingly, a variety of synthetic PS with defined acyl chains do not support binding when used individually. Rather, the interaction with alpha-synuclein requires a combination of PS with oleic (18:1) and polyunsaturated (either 20:4 or 22:6) fatty acyl chains, suggesting a role for phase separation within the membrane. Furthermore, alpha-synuclein binds with higher affinity to artificial membranes with the PS head group on the polyunsaturated fatty acyl chain rather than on the oleoyl side chain, indicating a stringent combinatorial code for the interaction of alpha-synuclein with membranes.