Search

This paper examines the potential of oxygen stable isotope composition of Sparidae (sea-bream) tooth enamel phosphate (δ 18 O P ) as an indicator of the habitat in which the fish were captured. The isotopic compositions of Sparidae molariform teeth recovered from the coastal site of Tel Dor (northern coast of Israel), from a sequence dated to the 12th–7th centuries BCE and from modern samples were studied. The δ 18 O P values of the archaeological specimens exhibited a wide range of values, varying between 21.3 and 25.2 ± 0.2‰. While δ 18 O P values from the teeth dated to the 12th–9th centuries BCE resembled typical East Mediterranean coastal water, some of the later teeth, dated to the 9th–7th centuries BCE, exhibited higher values. The later values indicate tooth enamel deposition in a hyper-saline environment similar to δ 18 O P values of Sparidae observed at Bardawil Lagoon (Southeastern Mediterranean coast, east of the Suez Canal, Egypt). Prior to this study all Sparidae fish recovered at Tel Dor were regarded as evidence of local fishing activity. The current results exhibit, for the first time, that some of the Sparids may have been exported from the Bardawil Lagoon. We discuss, however, an alternative scenario, namely, the possible existence of saline lagoons near Tel Dor in antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollution history of Pb and other trace metals was reconstructed for the first time for the Eastern Mediterranean, from a small urban winter pond (Dora, Netanya), located at the densely populated coastal plain of Israel. An integrated approach including geochemical, sedimentological, and historical analyses was employed to study sediments from the center of the pond. Profiles of metal concentrations (Pb, Zn, V, Ni, Cu, Cr, Co, Cd, and Hg) and Pb isotopic composition denote two main eras of pre- and post-19th century. The deeper sediment is characterized by low concentrations and relatively constant 206Pb /207Pb (around 1.20), similar to natural Pb sources, with slight indications of ancient anthropogenic activity. The upper sediment displays an upward increase in trace metal concentrations, with the highest enrichment factor for Pb (18.4). Lead fluxes and isotopic composition point to national/regional petrol-Pb emissions as the major contributor to Pb contamination, overwhelming other potential local and transboundary sources. Traffic-related metals are correlated with Pb, emphasizing the polluting inputs of traffic. The Hg profile, however, implies global pollution rather than local sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the effect of prenatal stress in rats from days 13-20 of gestation on anxiogenic behaviour in the elevated plus maze (EPM) together with changes in the gene expression of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), its receptors, CRHR1 and CRHR2, as well as CRH binding protein (CRH-BP) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and amygdala of their male and female offspring. Both prenatally-stressed (PS) males and females showed heightened anxiety in the EPM. Prenatal stress did not alter the gene expression of CRH or its receptors in the male PVN, although it decreased CRH-BP mRNA, which could augment the activity of free CRH. In the PVN of PS females, there was an increase in the expression of CRH, coupled with a decrease in that of CRHR2 and CRH-BP. These changes are compatible with the greater activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis to stress in females. Anxiogenic behaviour of PS rats was associated with a reduction of CRHR2 mRNA and of CRH-BP mRNA in the amygdala of males and an increase in CRH mRNA and decrease in CRHR2 mRNA in females. Two hours after acute stress of exposure to the elevated plus maze in which heightened anxiety was manifested, increases were seen only in the amygdala of females in CRH and CRHR1 signalling, whereas CRHR2 mRNA was reduced in both sexes. The data show that both prenatal stress and acute stress in adulthood have a differential sex-dependent effect on the expression of CRH its receptors and binding protein in the PVN and amygdala of rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress during pregnancy in humans is known to be a risk factor for neuropsychiatric disorders in the offspring. Prenatal stress in rats caused depressive-like behavior that was restored to that of controls by maternal treatment with ladostigil (8.5 mg/kg per day), a brain-selective monoamine oxidase ( MAO) inhibitor that prevented increased anxiety-like behavior in stressed mothers. Ladostigil inhibited maternal striatal MAO-A and -B by 45-50% at the time the pups were weaned. Using resting state-functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging on rat male offspring of control mothers, and mothers stressed during gestation with and without ladostigil treatment, we identified neuronal connections that differed between these groups. The percentage of significant connections within a predefined predominantly limbic network in control rats was 23.3 within the right and 22.0 within the left hemisphere. Prenatal stress disturbed hemispheric symmetry, resulting in 30.2 and 21.6%, significant connections in the right and left hemispheres, respectively, but this was fully restored in the maternal ladostigil group to 24.6% in both hemispheres. All connections that were modified in prenatally stressed rats and restored by maternal drug treatment were associated with the dopaminergic system. Specifically, we observed that restoration of the connections of the right nucleus accumbens shell with frontal areas, the cingulate, septum and motor and sensory cortices, and those of the right globus pallidus with the infra-limbic and the dentate gyrus, were most important for prevention of depressive-like behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Rift Valley portion of the East African–Eurasian Migratory Flyway is extremely important globally because of the numbers (> 500 million) and diversity of seasonal traveling birds. The construction of the Agmon wetland (1.1 km 2 ) in the Hula Valley, Israel in 1994 and a change in crop type and rotation has attracted increasing number of Eurasian cranes (Grus grus) to winter in the wetland (> 40,000 in 2014). The birds are fed in an area of 100 ha and roost during the night in the wetland for protection from predators. Feeding practices have yielded an eco-tourism bonanza with over 400,000 visitors annually. However, this practice may have negative impacts on the trophic state of the wetland. We performed trend analyses using monthly means of selected constituents collected from mid-1994 to 2014. The temporal distribution of TN and TP concentrations in the inlets did not change with time. The concentrations of TN and TP in the outlet increased significantly during the earlier monitoring period. Kendall–Theil regression showed that TP concentrations in the outlet increased significantly from a monthly mean of 180 μg L − 1 in 2010 to a monthly mean of 260 μg L − 1 in 2014. Similarly, the results of chlorophyll a concentrations in the outlet showed a sharp upturn in the latter part of the series from a mean of 66 mg L − 1 in 2010 to a mean of 122 mg L − 1 in 2014. The concurrent increase of TP and chlorophyll a, the two most important parameters affecting a waterbody trophic index coincided with the observed increase in the number of roosting cranes in the wetland. Hence, we assume that the continued increases in TP concentrations could transform the wetland from a mild eutrophic to a permanent hypereutrophic state. Reducing the number of roosting cranes may prevent this from happening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]