In cardiovascular disorders, understanding of endothelial cell (EC) function is essential to elucidate the disease mechanism. Although the mouse model has many advantages for in vivo and in vitro research, efficient procedures for the isolation and propagation of primary mouse EC have been problematic. We describe a high yield process for isolation and in vitro culture of primary EC from mouse ...

Taiwan, because of its location, is a flood prone region and is characterised by typhoons which brings about two-thirds to three quarters of the annual rainfall amount. Consequently, enormous flows result in rivers and entrain some fractions of the grains that constitute the riverbed. Hence, the purpose of the study is to quantify the impacts of these enormous flows on the distribution of grain...

Large boreal rivers in Sweden are generally impounded by hydropower dams and a large proportion of main stem shallow flowing habitats have been lost. Tributaries often contain the last undisturbed could be important for conservation species diversity. In particular, tributary mouth areas biodiversity hot-spots, due to their vicinity favorable environmental conditions. this study, we investigate...

The Late Pleistocene is a crucial period of dramatic changes in lithic technologies as well interactions between modern humans and other archaic human groups. In this paper, we describe the technological analysis assemblages collected from 28 newly discovered Paleolithic sites along Daoshui River, tributary Lishui River (itself Yangtze River) northern Hunan Province, central South China. Lumine...

Abstract Giant gravel bars are important archives of megafloods; however, determining their depositional ages requires reliable geochronometric methods. Five bars, reaching heights 150–170 m, formed in the bedrock-lined Alberton Gorge along Clark Fork River, Montana (USA), during draining Glacial Lake Missoula (GLM). We report first numerical for megaflood deposits GLM basin by successfully app...

Increased water clarity associated with zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) populations may favor benthic algal primary production in freshwater systems previously dominated by pelagic phytoplankton production. While zebra mussel-mediated water clarity effects on benthic primary production have been implicated in published reports, few production estimates are available. This study estimates be...

We evaluated the efficacy of different field sampling approaches for volunteers sampling macroinvertebrates in low-gradient streams. We used a series of analytical metrics to compare results using the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) multihabitat, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency multihabitat, and EPA single-habitat sampling protocols. We also investigated the effect of 2 scenarios i...

The perceived value of oyster reefs as fish habitat has led to many restoration projects in areas of historically high oyster populations. This study evaluated fish usage of a limestone cobble mimic oyster reef in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, as compared to a mud-bottom reference site. Emphasis was given to species of economic and ecological importance, including spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulo...

Background: The Pacific coastline along the southern Izu Peninsula, Japan, is strongly influenced by warm tropical waters of the Kuroshio Current. A new easternmost record of the near-threatened sesarmid crab Clistocoeloma villosum is reported from the southern part of Izu Peninsula. Methods: The present study was conducted in August 2014 and February 2015, on tidal flats in the mouth of the Ao...

Endothelial keratoplasty is a recent shift in the surgical treatment of corneal endothelial dystrophies, where the dysfunctional endothelium is replaced whilst retaining the unaffected corneal layers. To overcome the limitation of donor corneal shortage, alternative use of tissue engineered constructs is being researched. Tissue constructs with intact extracellular matrix are generated using st...