Monthly Archives: August 2021

biodiversity,, taxonomy Leave a comment

A global resource

by

Who would have guessed it?

There is now a checklist for all the vascular plants on the globe. Actually, probably many folks could have guessed it – this is what the internet was invented for, not for sharing cute kitten pictures on Facebook or Instagram (sorry, don’t mean to offend anyone. I like cute kitten pictures, too).

In an article (open access) published on nature.com, you will find The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. The DOI reference is https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00997-6  where you can find the actual citation to use:

Govaerts, R., Nic Lughadha, E., Black, N. et al. The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Sci Data 8, 215 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00997-6

There have been other checklists, and the authors provide a table explaining the differences.

To maximise utility, such lists should be accessible, explicitly  evidence-based, transparent, expert-reviewed, and regularly updated, incorporating new evidence and emerging scientific
consensus. WCVP largely meets these criteria, being continuously updated and freely available online. Users can browse, search, or download a user-defned subset of accepted species with corresponding synonyms and bibliographic details, or a date-stamped full dataset

The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WVCP)

As sloppy as I am as a scientist, I might not make use of this as often as I should. But I’ll post it, and maybe someone else will get more use out of it than I will. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make more use of it, having shared this post.

###

butterflies, Drought resistant, gardening, insects, native plants, perennials, Vines, wildflowers Leave a comment

August: the heat goes on… But if you plant it, they will come.

by

But not as hot here in Central Texas as it is elsewhere, and not as hot as it has been in recent years, when there were streaks of thirty or forty days of 100 plus Fahrenheit weather. This year has been hot but humid – hey, the moisture from the melting ice caps has to go somewhere, right?

And yet, “Mother Nature” continues to give us native plants that thrive in whatever kind of weather and climate she gives us. Or we make for her, given that the current climate change is driven by the Industrial Revolution, which began some two hundred years or so past.

The Conoclinium greggii (Gregg’s Mistflower) will bring Queen and Monarch butterflies to your yard. It has been interesting to watch the Queens defend their territory against the one or two Monarchs that attempt to get a pheromone enhancing boost from the mistflowers.

 I’ve even seen a Gulf Fritillary take a break from the Passion Flowers and go after the mistflowers.(click on photos in the gallery to see them full size).

Passiflora icarnata infloresence, tri-lobed leaves, and tendril

Well, this didn’t start out as an orange and black butterfly identification post, but that’s where it ended up, it seems. Go figure.

As you plant more native plants, you will find that you attract more native wildlife (and, hopefully ,fewer exotic or invasive fauna).

Sitting on the steps of the deck before dinner, as I took several of thee photos, the line from Ray Bolger’s character in The Wizard of Oz came to mind: “I could while away the hours, conversing with the flowers…”

###

Parkinson's, Research , , Leave a comment

Not a cure, but a biomarker

by

A biomarker for Parkinson’s?  Maybe… (If you don’t have a free ResearchGate account, yu might not be able t see this link):

A blood marker for Parkinson’s Disease: Neuronal exosome-derived α-synuclein

This isn’t in print yet, so I’ll just quote frm the abstract:

18 To date, no reliable clinically applicable biomarker has been established for Parkinson’s
19 disease (PD). Our results indicate that a long hoped blood test for Parkinson’s disease may
20 be realized. We here assess the potential of pathological α-synuclein originating from
21 neuron-derived exosomes from blood plasma as a possible biomarker. Following the
22 isolation of neuron-derived exosomes from plasma of PD patients and non-PD individuals
23 immunoblot analyses were performed to detect exosomal α-synuclein. Under native
24 conditions significantly increased signals of disease-associated α-synuclein forms in neuron25 derived exosomes were measured in all individuals with PD and clearly distinguished PD
26 samples from controls. By performing a protein misfolding cyclic amplification assay these
27 aggregates could be amplified and seeding could be demonstrated. Moreover, the
28 aggregates exhibited β-sheet-rich structures and showed a fibrillary appearance. Our study
29 demonstrates that the detection of pathological α-synuclein conformers from neuron-derived
30 exosomes from plasma samples has the potential of a promising blood-biomarker of PD.

Exosomes are small bundles of proteins  enclosed by a membrane (if I understand it correctly)(feel free to correct me- the Wikipedia article hd a note saying that it was too technical for most readers – and I agree).

Exosomes contain material from the cells from which they originated, so might be used as biomarkers. Obviously, it will take a while to fund the research and develop some way to determine how far along the way to developing PD someone is.  But the sooner a person can deal with it, the better the opportunity to live well with it. I look forward to the development of biomarkers that will help predict who might get Parkinson’s, so those folks can take preventive action.

I am fortunate that my symptoms did not appear in the usual sequence,and that I had DBS early after diagnosis, have had an outstanding medical team looking out for me and working with me, have a strong local community supporting people with Parkinson’s, and have a care partner who makes sure that my diet is full of organic foods, produce, and as few highly processed foods as possible. And I get lots of exercise, considering that I’m not athletic and I am not into weightlifting or bodybuilding.

Lucky me.

###