He was instrumental in developing a biochemistry curriculum at the university and setting up an excellent laboratory for the biochemical studies of proteins. Jón was an inspirational teacher and rapidly rose to the rank of Professor and served as Chairman of the department. In his search Belnacasan for relevant research topics for Iceland, Jón embarked in a new direction studying psychrophilic proteinases from marine organisms and made several important contributions to this field. In addition to his academic pursuits Jón became increasingly interested in the commercial applications of marine enzymes as cosmecuticals with the end result of

him forming the successful biotech company, Zymetech in Iceland. Dr. Bragi’s skin care products are currently sold world-wide. Over the years Jón and I shared many exciting times in the laboratory and wonderful expeditions in the outdoors hiking and sailing, not to mention the long, arduous sessions writing manuscripts and reviews. Those who knew Jón will always remember his joy and zest for living, his love of science and his dedication to his family. “
“Figure options Download full-size image Download as PowerPoint

slide “
“Consistent high-quality of papers published in “Toxicon” can only be maintained with the co-operation and dedication of a number of expert referees. The Editors would like to thank all those who have donated the hours necessary to review, evaluate and comment on manuscripts; their conscientious efforts have enabled the journal to maintain its tradition buy Lumacaftor of excellence. We are grateful to the following reviewers for their contributions IKBKE during 2010. Ben, J. Mans Russolina, B.

Zingali Igor, Krizaj Frederic, Ducancel Yun, Zhang Solange, M.T. Serrano José, María, Gutiérrez Adolfo, Borges Ping, Xie Edward, Moczydlowski Alan, Harvey Marie, Boyd P.N., Strong Dietrich, Mebs Bruno, Lomonte Brett A., Neilan Wayne, C. Hodgson Edward, G. Rowan Robert, A. Harrison Isaac, Uzoma, Asuzu José, María, Gutiérrez Evanguedes, Kalapothakis Elizabeth, Ellis Lachlan, Rash Peter, Macek Aparna, Gomes Vidal, Haddad Jay, Fox Ana Moura, da Silva Ponnampalam, Gopalakrishnakone Dalia, Gordon Ryan J., Huxtable Tom, Shier Kaarina, Sivonen Brian L., Furman Dino, Rotondo Kathi, Lefebvre Kimberly, Grant Ros, Brett CH, Wu Thomas, Krueger Klaus, Aktories Bernard, Poulain Glenn, F. King Frank, Bosmans João, B. Calixto Juan, J. Calvete Raymond, Norton Luis, M. Botana David, A. Warrell Lourival, Domingos, Possani Cesare, Montecucco Stephen P. MacKessy Frank, Mari Heinrich, Terlau Fiorenzo, Stirpe Cristian, Follmer Cesar, Mattei Paulo, Sérgio Lacerda, Beirão Marie-France, Christiane, Martin-Eauclaire Carl-Wilhelm, Vogel Juan, Blanco Paulo, Vale Gary, S. Bignami Grzegorz, Bulaj Taisen, Iguchi Robert, Drummond Ernani, Pinto Daniel, A. Wunderlin Bernd, Luckas Deng-Fwu, Hwang Baldomero, M. Olivera Richard, Lewis Cesar V.

For intranasal dosing the FcRn binding mutants, IgG1 H435A

and IgG1 N434A, underwent buffer exchange from phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The buffer used for exchange was 10 mM histidine/5.5% sucrose (pH 5.3), 150 mM find more NaCl. After three rounds of exchange, the mutants were concentrated to ~66.67 mg/mL and propylene glycol was added to a final concentration of 10%, making the final concentration of the mutants 60 mg/mL. These preparations were used for intranasal dosing. The physiochemical characteristics of the two variants were assessed and compared as this is a factor which can contribute to a difference in intra-nasal uptake. The predicted isoelectric point (pI) values of the variants were derived using Vector NTI sequence analysis software (Invitrogen). Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy to analyze structure was performed on the variants (0.25 mg/mL in PBS) and compared to PBS alone. Spectral acquisition was measured at 6 spectra from 190–260 nm at 1 nm path

length and 1 nm intervals with a 2 s signal at 20 °C (Circular Dichroism Spectropolarimeter, Model 400, Aviv). The CD spectra were averaged and the net spectrum of the variants obtained by subtracting the average PBS scores. Spectra were fitted for species content using an MWR of 106 g/mol (150 kDa). Pre-dose plasma samples PD-0332991 order were collected from the animals via tail vein a day prior to dosing. On the day of dosing rats were anesthetized with sevoflurane (5.0–6.0% sevoflurane, 3.0 L/min O2; Abbott Labs., Princeton, NJ, USA)

while placed in a supine position on an acrylic support with their heads positioned at a 45° angle to the horizon. A microcannula (BioTime, Berkeley, CA, USA) was inserted to a depth of 1.5 cm into the right nostril and either H435A or N434A (1.5 mg in 25 µL at a rate of 50 µL/min) was infused by syringe pump (Harvard Apparatus, Cambridge, MA, USA). After 4 min, the same variant was applied into the left 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase nostril and the alternating procedure repeated for a total application of 50 µL/nostril, therefore 400 µmol/L. After the final dose, the microcannula was removed and inhalant anesthetic was continued for 8 min with the animal supine and the head angle maintained at a 45° angle. At 20 min after the start of the first dose, animals were euthanized and tissues collected. For longer time points, anesthesia was maintained for 20 min and then removed and animals were allowed to awaken. The animals were placed in a chamber for induction of anesthesia with isoflurane (initially 2–4%) and then removed and placed in a stereotaxic device (Knopf) on a surgical pad maintained at 37 °C with a nose cone for maintenance of anesthesia (2% isoflurane) (Cetin et al., 2006). Buprenorphine (0.01–0.05 mg/kg) analgesia was administered sub-cutaneous. A midline incision was made to expose the bregma and was used to locate the ipsilateral primary somatosensory forelimb (SiFl) (+0.2 mm anterior and 4.0 mm lateral−3.0 mm deep).

, 2002, Maravita et al., 2003, Angeli et al., 2004, Berberovic et al., 2004, Dijkerman et al., 2004 and Sarri et al., 2006, 2008; Serino et al., 2007, Serino et al., 2009, Jacquin-Courtois et al., 2008, Saevarsson et al., 2009 and Schindler et al., 2009; see also Redding and Wallace, 2006 and Pisella et al., 2006 for recent reviews; but see also Morris et al., 2004, Rousseaux et al., 2006 and Nys et al., 2008 for some challenges to the efficacy of prism adaptation (prism adaptation) in neglect]. Improvements have been reported to be relatively long-lasting, for several hours or even days in some cases (e.g., Frassinetti et al., 2002) and possibly much longer after repeated treatment sessions (e.g., Serino et al., 2007 and Serino

et al., 2009). Reported improvements include reduction of neglect on several traditional paper-and-pencil clinical tests (e.g., line cancellation, line bisection, copying of figures), as well as for activities more relevant to everyday life including Selleckchem Ribociclib postural control (Tilikete et al., 2001) and wheelchair navigation (Jacquin-Courtois et al., 2008). Moreover, the beneficial effects may generalise beyond the visual domain, this website to include improvements in haptic exploration (McIntosh et al., 2002), tactile extinction (Maravita et al., 2003) and proprioception (Dijkerman

et al., 2004), as well as improvements in tasks requiring a verbal rather than spatial motor response, such as object naming (Sarri et al., 2006) and reading (Farne et al., 2002). Finally, prism adaptation has been reported to impact on more abstract levels of spatial representation also, including mental imagery (Rode et al., 2001), and number-line bisection (Rossetti et al., 2004). In a recent study (Sarri et al., 2006) we reported that prism adaptation (to a 10° rightward optical shift, analogously to the Rossetti et al., 1998 procedure) can improve aspects of perceptual awareness for the contralesional side of some stimuli, despite other suggestions to the contrary (Ferber et al.,

2003). Specifically, in the patients studied we found that prism therapy can improve perceptual awareness and explicit report PRKACG for the contralesional side of chimeric visual objects (i.e., stimuli that join together left and right halves of different identifiable objects) in neglect; see Fig. 1A. All three of the participating right-hemisphere stroke patients demonstrated a dramatic increase of awareness for the left (previously neglected side) of chimeric objects following a short adaptation procedure to rightward deviating prisms. We have now replicated these findings in several further patient cases with neglect, all showing similar improvement in explicit naming of the left side of chimeric non-face objects after prism adaptation. Interestingly though we also found in the same study (Sarri et al., 2006) that the very same prism procedure had no beneficial effect on a task requiring emotional expression judgements for chimeric face stimuli (see Fig. 1B).

, 2005, Pannacciulli et al., 2006, Taki et al., 2008 and Raji et al., 2010). Greater BMI is also found to correlate with Pirfenidone decreased neuronal viability of grey matter in temporal lobes of middle-aged adults, and neuronal and/or myelin metabolic abnormalities in grey and white matter (Gazdzinski et al., 2008, Gazdzinski et al., 2010 and Mueller et al., 2011). Thus, the reduction in regional brain volumes in obese individuals could reflect loss of neurons. It is well known that large hippocampal size is closely linked with good cognitive

function and memory (Stewart et al., 2005), and frontal brain regions are necessary for intact executive functions (Alvarez and Emory, 2006). Thus, whilst direct evidence is lacking, it is conceivable

that atrophy of these brain regions contributes to poor cognitive performance in obese individuals. The majority of studies examining associations between obesity and cognitive health/brain structure either do not include females or study males or females in isolation. Furthermore, findings from studies where potential sex-dependent differences have been examined are mixed. For example, in the Framingham Heart Study it was found that higher BMI was associated with poorer cognitive performance in middle-aged men but not women, with a significant interaction between obesity and sex (Elias et al., 2003 and Elias et al., 2005). Similarly, Kanaya et al. reported higher selleck chemicals total fat mass, abdominal fat, BMI, and waist circumference, are associated with worsening of cognitive function in elderly men at follow up seven years later, whereas women of similar age have a trend towards inverse Rucaparib concentration associations between these obesity indices and cognitive function (Kanaya et al., 2009). In contrast, Cournot et al. found no sex-dependent differences in the adverse effects of obesity (BMI) on cognitive performance in either young or middle-aged individuals (Cournot et al., 2006). There is also controversy in the literature about whether sex influences the association between obesity and alterations in brain structure. For example, a study found

an association between BMI and cerebral volume loss in men but not in women (Taki et al., 2008), whereas two separate studies showed an association between BMI and brain atrophy in women (Gustafson et al., 2004 and Raji et al., 2010). Gazdzinski et al. found virtually identical relationships between BMI and markers of myelin metabolic abnormalities in males and females (Gazdzinski et al., 2008). In contrast, another study found an association between BMI and markers of myelin degeneration only in women (Mueller et al., 2011). It is clear therefore that more research is required to fully determine whether sex influences obesity-related function and structural brain changes. The hypothalamic–pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays an important role in many brain functions including cognitive function. Moreover, as discussed in Section 6.

Both exogenous fluorophores (AF647 and AF350) tested showed similar results even though the fluorophores are on the opposite ends of the visible spectrum. Ibrutinib The AF647-WGA probe was used to initially test the feasibility of cancer detection as there is negligible tissue autofluorescence in the far-red and near-infrared spectrums [23], providing a measure of confidence that the fluorescence obtained was from the binding of the lectin to glycoconjugates. Additionally, near infrared wavelengths can penetrate further

into the tissue [33]. However, since we are imaging the probe on the superficial tissue surface, light propagation into the tissue is not a concern and did not seem to enhance the SNRs in this experiment. The disadvantage of utilizing near‐infrared fluorophores is the fact that a camera and narrow bandpass filtering is needed since visualization is outside of the visible spectrum, and near‐infrared fluorophores exhibit small stokes shifts. Previous work of ours detailed the use of AF647-WGA click here for oral cancer detection; however, the data is not shown in this manuscript (besides the single patient comparison of AF350-WGA and AF647-WGA) since this paper focused on developing a clinically useful tool without the need for complex filters and cameras. As such,

most of the presented data was with AF350-WGA, which allowed for fluorophore emission easily visible to the naked eye. Furthermore, as the AF350 is in the UV spectrum, there is more energy per photon which yields a larger stokes shift for UV fluorophores; a larger stokes shift is advantageous to allow for easier discrimination of excited and emitted light. Combined, these features make the AF350-WGA more suitable for

clinical use as additional equipment is not required. Previously, researchers have examined intrinsic fluorescent molecules and tissue reflectance properties to differentiate between normal and cancerous tissue. For example, commercially available devices (VELscope, ViziLite, etc.) have been developed to analyze tissue autofluorescence for cancerous tissue. However, these devices were identified as ineffective adjuncts to current white light head and neck exams as well as ID-8 histological methods as they lack adequate specificity and sensitivity to accurately diagnose oral cancer [34] and [35]. Similar conclusions were seen in our data which showed suggestive differences in autofluorescence between normal and cancerous tissue at 365nm (P = .098). Another group demonstrated that fluorescently labeled glucose preferentially localized in cancerous tissue due to increased metabolic activity. This approach was favorable and lead to a SNR of 3.7 [36]; however, this is lower than the SNR reported in this manuscript (5.88).

These alterations directly increased the rate of biliary sterol excretion and increased

uptake of LDL cholesterol by the liver via the up-regulation of LDL-R. This study was supported by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil; CNPq No. 480068/2009-7). We thank Maria Terezinha Bahia (Chagas’ Disease Laboratory, Federal University of Ouro Preto) for the use of the real-time PCR ABI 7300 equipment (Applied Biosystems). M.O.S and M.L.P were sponsored by a fellowship from CAPES and CNPq, respectively. We are also grateful to Rinaldo Cardoso dos Santos for his suggestions and careful review of the manuscript. “
“There has been an error with regard to Fig. 1. The orientation selleck chemicals llc of ICP gene cassette is given from EcoRI to HindIII where it should be from HindIII to EcoRI. This error is deeply regretted. The correct map of T-DNA is given below. “
“Acerola (Malpighia emarginata D.C.), also known as Barbados Cherry, is a tropical

fruit of great economic and nutritional value because of its high content of vitamin C, which is associated with the presence of carotenoids, anthocyanins, iron and calcium. Acerola’s consumption in natura is limited because it is a small fruit with relatively large seeds and is very perishable. The fruit, however, has a good pulp yield, facilitating the development of several BTK inhibitor supplier industrial products. Acerola has been processed in the form of juices, jams, ice creams, syrups, liqueurs and fruit syrups, among other products ( Soares Filho & Oliveira, 2003). In this context, processed products, such as frozen pulp and concentrated pulp, have economic importance; pulp production is a profitable activity that allows the freshly harvested perishable fruit to be stored and reprocessed off-season. The preservation of nutritional constituents during processing represents a major challenge for the traditional

techniques of pulp production. Processing generally involves heat treatment that can reduce the nutritional and organoleptic quality of the product. Over the years, new processing technologies have emerged to reduce or to eliminate the exposure Amobarbital of the fruit to heat. Ohmic heating is one alternative pulp pasteurization process. This technology can provide rapid and uniform heating, resulting in less thermal damage to labile substances such as vitamins and pigments (Castro et al., 2004 and Sarang et al., 2008). Ohmic heating is defined as a process where electric currents pass through foods to heat them by internally generated energy, without involving any heating medium or heat transfer surface (Castro, Teixeira, Salengke, Sastry, & Vicente, 2003). This heating technology is particularly interesting for viscous products and foods containing particulates because it simultaneously generates heat in both phases and does not need to transfer heat either through a solid–liquid interface or within a solid (de Alwis and Fryer, 1990, Imai et al.

Dokonywał również oceny sądowo-lekarskiej przypadków niedodmy płuc u noworodków [1]. Bliskie mu były zagadnienia toksykologii wieku dziecięcego [2], Selumetinib price a także sądowo-lekarska ocena

płodów. Ciekawą kazuistyczną publikacją, której był współautorem, była analiza zbiorowego zatrucia aniliną zawartą w tuszu użytym do znakowania bielizny [3]. Niewątpliwym wyrazem jego doświadczenia był pierwszy w Polsce podręcznik Sekcji zwłok płodów i noworodków [4], przygotowany we współpracy z Haliną Szperl-Seyfriedową, który wydano również w języku rosyjskim. Wspólnie z patomorfologami (J. Groniowski, M. Rożynek) analizował przyczyny śmiertelności płodów i noworodków. Dokumentował i analizował również przyczyny zejścia śmiertelnego dzieci, np. po leczeniu oksytetracykliną [5] oraz po domięśniowym

Selleck TGF-beta inhibitor wstrzyknięciu debecyliny i streptomycyny z nowokainą [6]. Jak wynika z przeprowadzonej analizy, zgon nastąpił na skutek wstrząsu anafilaktycznego, spowodowanego podaniem nowokainy. Śmiertelne powikłania po zastosowaniu antybiotyków – to publikacja książkowa opracowana wspólnie z T. Marcinkowskim (1964). Z prawnikiem i psychiatrą opracował zagadnienie dzieciobójstwa [7]. Publikował także w języku niemieckim i francuskim. Prof. Chróścielewski, chyba jako pierwszy, już w latach sześćdziesiątych podkreślał społeczną rolę medycyny sądowej [8]. W aspekcie sądowo-lekarskim oceniał zagadnienie bezpieczeństwa ruchu drogowego oraz problem dopingu farmakologicznego w sporcie [9]. Zagadnienia Liothyronine Sodium te były mu szczególnie bliskie z uwagi na jego bezpośredni kontakt z aktywnością sportową młodzieży. Przez 20 lat był kuratorem Uczelnianego Akademickiego Zrzeszenia Sportowego (AZS). Własne doświadczenia sądowo-lekarskie z problematyki położniczej (przerywanie ciąży, poród i połóg) oraz zagadnienie dzieciobójstwa zaowocowało opracowaniem rozdziałów o tej tematyce w podręczniku medycyny sądowej [10]. Wspólnie z Kazimierą Brodzińską zwracał uwagę na trudności

w ustalaniu zgonu w przypadkach hipotermii [11], zwłaszcza u dzieci. Stwierdzał, że w takiej sytuacji kryteria prowadzonej resuscytacji, a zwłaszcza kwalifikacja do pobierania narządów do transplantacji muszą być zaostrzone. Odrębnym zagadnieniem, któremu poświęcił wiele uwagi, były Dzieci i młodzież w latach drugiej wojny światowej [12]. Analizował i przedstawiał skalę martyrologii polskich dzieci przez hitlerowców w czasie okupacji. W swoich opracowaniach wykazywał, że biologiczne wyniszczenie dzieci i młodzieży polskiej było programem przygotowanym w najmniejszych szczegółach. Eksterminacja wyrażała się pozbawieniem ludności polskiej, w tym dzieci, elementarnych praw ludzkich. Na terenach włączonych do Rzeszy ograniczono listę imion nadawanych polskim dzieciom, zniesiono polskie szkolnictwo, zabroniono uczęszczać do teatrów, muzeów i bibliotek, rygorystycznie ograniczono przydział żywności.

Although PI techniques aim at targeting nucleic acids, it has been demonstrated that peptides [29] and platelet proteins are also affected (reviewed elsewhere [30]). The proteomic profile of PI-treated platelets has been analyzed by several groups, and the results have been summarized: PI had a relatively weak impact on the overall proteome of platelets, but some data showed that different PI treatments led to an acceleration of storage lesions.

Even though a variety of proteins were affected (i.e., degraded, oxidized, Cisplatin mw or phosphorylated), the number of altered proteins was low (relative to the whole proteome) and the majority of proteins remained intact. Platelets are anucleated, yet they contain mRNA and the ribosomal equipment required for de novo protein synthesis in case of activation [31]. Thus, platelets are capable of de novo synthesis of proteins, such as of the α2bβ3 integrin [32]. The potential MS275 impact of PI techniques targeted toward nucleic acids on this protein synthesis capacity is largely unknown, as is the relevance of the protein synthesis capacity for platelet function [33]. Unfortunately, no global test

for platelet function is currently available; however, a number of approaches have been developed to test platelet function, and some of them are used routinely in the laboratory to detect functional platelet defects [34], [35] and [36]. These techniques have also been used to detect the potential effect of PI on the metabolic, biochemical, and biological characteristics of platelets. Megestrol Acetate Basic tests may cover platelet metabolic activity, such as pH, glucose, and lactate measurements, or lactate dehydrogase (LDH) dosage, platelet count, and mean platelet volume (MPV), or they may check for swirling (a light diffusion

phenomenon used to confirm that the discoid shape of platelets is maintained) [37]. Platelet function tests can be divided into two categories: tests with and without shear forces. The former category includes platelet aggregation tests featuring by light transmission or impedance, flow cytometry, and thromboelastography. The latter category comprises PFA 100 and Cone and Plate(let) analyzer (R-Impact) [38]. However, it remains difficult to study platelets in vitro, given that their manipulation can induce activation [39]. Platelets are stored in a mixture of plasma and additive solution with citrate as anticoagulant, which is quite different from their physiological environment. Certain methods require preliminary reconstitution of whole blood, or the addition of electrolytes (i.e., Ca++and Mg++) [40] and [41]. More importantly, in vitro test results are often unable to predict platelet function after transfusion, because a certain degree of functional recovery may occur [42] and [43].

2011), emphasizing the urgent need to incorporate climate change into available decision support systems (DSSs). The DSS Nest (http://nest.su.se/nest) developed in the MARE program (http://www.mare.su.se) is today the only scientifically-based tool available to support the development Talazoparib nmr of cost-effective measures against eutrophication for the entire Baltic Sea (Wulff et al. 2001, Savchuk & Wulff 2007, 2009). The Nest has been used to set the targets of the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP, http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/BSAP/BSAP_Final.pdf); however, the Nest

does not take the effect of climate change (e.g. changing hydrography) into account. In this study the first steps towards a DSS are described, which considers the combined effects of changing climate and changing nutrient loads on the Baltic Sea ecosystem. For this purpose a hierarchy of existing state-of-the-art, regional sub-models of the Earth system is applied (Figure 1). The atmospheric forcing for these regional sub-models is provided by an RCM, the Rossby Centre Atmosphere Ocean model (RCAO; Döscher et al. 2002), driven with boundary data from scenario simulations for the 21st century of Global Climate Models (GCMs). In these downscaling experiments, GCMs provide lateral boundary data and sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice data for all sea

areas of the model domain except for the Baltic Sea region, PD-166866 mouse where atmosphere and ocean sub-models are interactively coupled. Compared to earlier scenario simulations for the Baltic Sea, summarized by the BACC (2008), the downscaling approach ID-8 is novel because 1. time-dependent (transient) scenario simulations from the present climate until 2100 are performed instead of selected time slices for present and future climates (e.g. Räisänen et al. 2004), Results from GCM scenario simulations described in the fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (Solomon et al. 2007) are used as lateral forcing for RCAO. The DSS is built on the confidence of the models’ capacity to simulate changing climate in the Baltic Sea region. By comparing the observed and simulated present climate, the predictive skills of the models are assessed and model uncertainties are quantified. We investigate the quality of atmospheric surface fields over the Baltic Sea from an ensemble of 16 RCM simulations recently performed at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI (Kjellström et al. 2011). Our approach is to select two out of eight available GCMs and two greenhouse gas emission scenarios to minimize the computational burden of the DSS simulations based upon the following criteria: 1. The downscaled atmospheric surface fields should have sufficiently high quality during the present climate to force coupled physical-environmental Baltic Sea models.

minutum, Cochlodinium polykrikoides, Dinophysis acuminata, Prorocentrum minimum and Scrippsiella trochoidea, and were recorded at all sampling sites with high abundances compared to other dinoflagellate cyst species. The presence of harmful marine dinoflagellate cysts in marine sediments has been documented worldwide ( Matsuoka and Fukuyo, 2003, Anderson et al., 2005 and Fahnenstiel et al., 2009, Pitcher et al. 2009) and has been suggested as being one of the dominant

vectors PI3K Inhibitor Library cell assay responsible for the apparent global increase in harmful algal blooms ( Hallegraeff 1998). In addition, the dinoflagellate cysts themselves can be very toxic, containing up to 10 times the toxin content of vegetative cells, thus constituting a possible source of poison to organisms long after the motile forms have Bafetinib ic50 disappeared from the water column ( Oshima et al. 1982). Furthermore, the higher abundance of the cysts of these toxic species in Saudi surface sediments could be a reflection of the large bloom of these species that recently occurred in this area, as suggested by Matsuoka and Takeuchi, 1995, Kremp and Heiskanen, 1999, Wang et al., 2004 and Wang et al., 2007. These authors reported that large numbers

of resting cysts are produced at the end of blooms and that cyst formation is regarded as one of the major factors in bloom termination. To summarize, this is first study of dinoflagellate cysts in marine sediments off the Saudi Red Sea coast. Orotic acid It therefore contributes to our knowledge of dinoflagellate cysts and provides a basis for further studies. The dinoflagellate cysts did not show a significant difference in species composition or diversity, but both species richness (the number of species) and cyst abundance varied significantly among the study sites. The abundance of dinoflagellate cysts was markedly correlated with sediment characteristics: cyst concentrations were high at sites containing large amounts of organic matter, silt and clay, but lower on sandy sediments. All dinoflagellate

cysts were successfully germinated, and the maximum germination rate for cyst species was temperature dependent. Our study also showed that cysts of six potentially toxic and harmful species were detected in almost all localities in high abundances. The presence of such high numbers of toxic dinoflagellate species not only reflects the recent occurrence of large-scale blooms of these species in the study area, but can also be a risk factor and constitute an early warning of future harmful algal blooms. It was stated earlier that a rich cyst bank is not only the witness of past blooms, but also portends further blooms (Pati et al. 1999). Therefore, the present study suggests that cyst surveys should be conducted in other areas of Saudi Red Sea coastlines not yet investigated, in order to monitor and manage the formation of harmful algal blooms in this country.