Each circle indicates the logarithm of the odds ratio of lung cancer comparing the subjects in the highest category with the lowest (vertical axis) and the standard error of logarithm of odds ratio in each study. The line in the selleck chemical centre indicates the summary diagnostic odds ratio. The individual and combined WMD of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 are shown

in Table 3. We compared circulating levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3 of lung cancer cases with that of controls, the results are the overall WMD = -3.04(95%CI: -7.10~1.02, P = 0.14) for IGF-I, and WMD = -112.28(95%CI: -165.88~-58.68, P < 0.0001) for IGFBP-3. The publication bias were also not statisitically significant and the funnel plot were not shown. Sensitive analysis A single study involved in the meta-analysis was deleted each time to reflect the influence of the individual data-set to the pooled ORs, and the corresponding pooled ORs were not materially https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sis3.html altered (data not shown). Discussion Lung cancer is the leading cause of malignancy-related mortality. The mechanism of carcinogenesis is very complex, which involves many factors, such as IGF-I and IGFBP-3. Conventional studies coordinately think that IGF-I and IGFBP-3 may promote and inhibit tumor growth, respectively. In recent years, there are many epidemiological studies have different results. In this meta-analysis, our data suggests that IGF-I low in the lung cancer population,

though we could not demonstrate statistical significance. With regard to the association between IGFBP-3 and lung caner, the data suggests IGFBP-3 acts as buy DZNeP a tumor suppressor and has a inverse correlation with the risk of lung cancer, and Glutamate dehydrogenase it does have statistical significance. The IGF family is supposed to play a pivotal role in regulating cell proliferation, apoptosis and transformation [24]. Most circulating IGFs are produced by hepatocytes in response to growth hormone stimulation [25–27]. Circulating IGFBP-3 is produced by hepatic endothelium and Kupffer cells [26, 27]. A number of in vitro and

in vivo studies have demonstrated that IGF-I is an effective mitogen in normal epithelial cells and has strong antiapoptotic effects on lung cancer cells [5, 10, 11]. However, the effect of IGF-I may be modulated by IGFBP-3 in circulation because most of the IGF-I is bound to IGFBP-3 and once bound it is not in its active form. The results of this meta-analiysis indicate that there are no statistically significant association between IGF-I and lung cancer, while the associaton between IGFBP-3 and lung cancer is very significant. High serum levels of IGFBP-3 associated with a reduced lung cancer risk. Lung cancer is a multifactorial disease that results from complex interactions between many genetic and environmental factors. This means that there will not be single gene or single environmental factor that has large effects on lung cancer susceptibility.

S63845 cell line Finally, at 1,022 μmol/(m2 s) of 440-nm light (bottom curve), Y(II) is suppressed to values close to zero during illumination and the recovery upon darkening displays two phases separated by a wide plateau, with 50-min dark-recovery amounting to 49 % only. After 12-h dark-recovery, the Y(II) of all samples except for the one illuminated at 1,170 μmol/(m2 s) recovered to values close to the original F v/F m (see inset of Fig. 9).

The red curve in Fig. 9 shows the responses observed when almost identical PAR(II) of 625-nm light is applied (1,088 μmol/(m2 s)) as in the measurement with the intermediate 440-nm intensity (419 μmol/(m2 s)). Hence, at equal PAR(II), the responses of 440- and 625-nm quanta are very AMN-107 in vivo similar, even when applied

over a longer period of time. At the end of illumination the Y(II) with 625 nm is just marginally higher than with 440 nm, similarly as in the LC-recordings of Fig. 8. There are, however, remarkable differences in the dark-recovery kinetics. After 625-nm illumination, the dark-recovery of Y(II) is distinctly faster than after 440-nm illumination, amounting to 97 % after 50 min. This shows clearly that the PS II turnover is not the only parameter affecting the quantum yield of PS II. Obviously, 440 nm selleck chemicals can lower the PS II quantum yield by an additional mechanism, which is induced at high light intensity and still is effective after 50-min dark-recovery. Concluding discussion and

outlook The presented data demonstrate that the new multi-color-PAM is more than just another PAM fluorometer offering various colors of light. The new dimension of this device relates to the precision, flexibility, and speed, with which the various colors of light can be applied, with the main aim of obtaining quantitative information on the rate of wavelength-dependent charge-separation in PS II reaction centers. This aim was reached via new developments at the levels of opto-electronics, microprocessor-based firmware and user software. Recent technical progress in LED technology made it possible to develop an extremely powerful miniature light source, which provides all the essential FER light qualities, for which in former days a whole bench of high-power light sources and flash-discharge lamps (or lasers) would have been required. With six separate colors of ML, six colors of AL (also serving for ST and MT flashes) and FR light, a total of 13 independent light sources are integrated on the 10 × 10 mm area of the multi-color-COB array. Such compact design enables optimal coupling of the light source to the 10 × 10 mm sample cuvette, assuring identical optical pathways of the various types of light. Close to optimal optical conditions are possible by use of low cell densities, as excellent signal/noise ratios are obtained at 200–300 μg Chl/L, where light-intensity gradients are negligibly small.

We performed gene expression

profiling of the cell populations treated with the same combinations of ATRA and LOX/COX inhibitors as in our previous experiments, and the results generate new knowledge about possible molecular mechanisms of the enhancement of ATRA-induced differentiation in neuroblastoma cells. Methods Cell lines and cell cultures SK-N-BE(2) (ECACC cat. no. 95011815) and SH-SY5Y (ECACC cat. no. 94030304) neuroblastoma cell lines were used for this study. Cell cultures Alisertib order were maintained in DMEM/Ham’s F12 medium mixture (1:1) Selleckchem BYL719 supplemented with 20% fetal calf serum, 1% non-essential amino acids, 2 mM glutamine, and antibiotics: 100 IU/ml of penicillin and 100 μg/ml of streptomycin (all purchased from PAA Laboratories, Linz, Austria) under standard conditions selleck chemicals llc at 37°C in an atmosphere of 95% air: 5% CO2. The cells were subcultured 1-2 times weekly. Chemicals ATRA (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO, USA) was prepared as a stock solution

at the concentration of 100 mM in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; Sigma). CA (Sigma) and CX (LKT Laboratories, Inc., St. Paul, MN, USA) were dissolved in DMSO at the concentrations of 130 and 100 mM, respectively. Reagents were stored at -20°C under light-free conditions. Induction of cell differentiation Stock solutions were diluted in fresh cell culture medium to obtain final concentrations of 1 and 10 μM of ATRA, 13 and 52 μM of CA and 10 and 50 μM of CX. In all experiments, cells were seeded onto Petri dishes 24 h before the treatment,

and untreated cells were used as a control. The experimental design was the same as in our previous study [17]: cell populations were treated with ATRA alone or with ATRA and inhibitor (CA ifenprodil or CX) in respective concentrations. However, a combined treatment with 10 μM ATRA and 50 μM CX was not included in these experiments due to the predominant cytotoxic effect on cell populations. Cells were harvested after three days of cultivation in the presence of ATRA and inhibitors. Expression profiling Total RNA of treated cell populations was isolated using the GenElute™ Mammalian Total RNA Miniprep Kit (Sigma), and its concentration and integrity were determined spectrophotometrically. Conversion of experimental RNA to target cDNA and further amplification and biotin-UTP labeling was performed using TrueLabeling-AMP™ 2.0 cRNA (SABiosciences, Frederick, MD, USA). After purification of labeled target cRNA with the SuperArray ArrayGrade cRNA Cleanup Kit, the cRNA was hybridized to Human Cancer OHS-802 Oligo GEArray membranes that profile 440 genes (both SABiosciences). The expression levels of each gene were detected with chemiluminescence using the alkaline phosphatase-conjugated streptavidin substrate, and membranes were recorded using the MultiImage™ II Light Cabinet (DE-500) (Alpha Innotech Corp., CA, USA).

The internal review boards and ethics committees of all collaborating hospitals

in the surveillance network approved the protocol, and written informed consent was collected from the guardians of all participants to obtain fecal and/or blood samples, and selleck compound use the clinical and microbiologic information for scientific studies [1]. The ST213 strain YU39 was used as a pA/C donor, since this was the only strain capable of conjugal transfer [5]. This strain harbored five plasmids: the 150 kb pA/C and four plasmids of different sizes (ca. 100, 40, 5 and 3 kb), for which no information was available. We selected strain SOHS 02-2 (hereafter referred to as SO1) which contains a 94 kb pSTV and a cryptic 80 kb plasmid [4], and the reference strain LT2 which only carries the 94 kb pSTV [8], as representative strains of the ST19 genotype harboring pSTV. The pSTV of SO1 and LT2 were marked with a kanamycin resistance cassette inserted into the spvC gene (coding for a phosphothreonine lyase) according to the Datsenko and Wanner protocol [9]. These strains were named SO1pSTV::Km

and LT2pSTV::Km, and were used as recipients in conjugation experiments (Table 1). Table 1 Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this work Strain Plasmids (kb) Feature Salmonella     YU39 (ST213) pA/C (150), p100 (100), pX1 PARP inhibitor (40), pColE1-like (5), p3 (3) Donor SO1 (ST19) pSTV::Km (94), p80 (80) Recipient LT2 (ST19) pSTV::Km (94) Recipient E. coli     DH5α   Recipient HB101   Recipient HB101pSTV pSTV::Km Ureohydrolase Recipient DH5α pA/C Wild-type pA/C, donor DH5α pA/C, pSTV::Km Stability assays DH5α pX1 Wild-type pX1 Transconjugants     SO1     IA4 pA/C Re-arranged pA/C IA5 pA/C Re-arranged pA/C IA9 pA/C Re-arranged pA/C IIA4 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 FRAX597 co-integrate HB101     IC2 pX1::CMY pX1 with

the transposed CMY region IIC1 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IIIC9 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate IIIC10 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IVC8 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate HB101pSTV ::Km     ID1 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IID2 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IIID8 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate IVD2 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate IVD8 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region LT2     IIE2 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IIIE4 pX1::CMY pX1 with the transposed CMY region IIIE9 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate DH5α     221-1 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate 221-10 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate 225-1 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate 225-7 pA/C + pX1 pA/C and pX1 co-integrate pX1 mutants     DH5α pX1ydgA::Tn5 Tn5 transposon insertion DH5α pX1taxB::Km taxB site-directed mutant DH5α pA/C, pX1ydgA::Tn5 Donor DH5α pA/C,pX1taxB::Km Donor Transformation of pA/C and pSTV into E.

Rasmussen et al., have used temporary vascular shunts in 30 extremities as a damage control adjunct in the Iraq war, especially for major proximal vascular selleck products injuries [21]. There were no shunt related complications, 86% were patent and only 7% needed early amputation [21]. This simple technique was useful to stabilize and then transport patients. Ultrasound technology has dramatically evolved during the last two decades. New portable hand held ultrasound machines with excellent images and doppler color

facility can be used in the battle field [22]. Duplex ultrasound has been successfully used to diagnose vascular injuries during the recent Iraq Conflict [17]. Angiography / Endovascular means was this website not used in our series. Therefore, it is possible that occult vascular injuries have been possibly missed and those usually present later [23]. The value of endovascular approach for both diagnosis and treatment find more of vascular injury in civilian and war practice is well studied [7, 24, 25] Fox et al. reported their experience of managing 107 soldiers with vascular injuries during the Iraq/Afghanistan wars [7]. They found that endovascular interventions resulted in lower morbidity and mortality in multiply injured patients. Conclusions Major vascular injuries occurred in 10% of hospitalized war injured patients. The presence of vascular surgeons within a military surgical team is highly recommended. Basic principles and techniques

of vascular repair remain an essential part of training general surgeons as it may be needed in unexpected wars. References 1. Zwi AB, Garfield R, Loretti A: Collective Violence. In World report on violence and health. Edited by: Krug EG, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R. World Health Organization; 2002:215–240.

Available on http://​whqlibdoc.​who.​int/​publications/​2002/​9241545615_​chap8_​eng.​pdf [Accessed on March 20, 2013] 2. Champion HR, Holcomb JB, Young LA: Injuries from explosions: Physics, biophysics, pathology, and required research focus. very J Trauma 2009, 66:1468–1477.PubMedCrossRef 3. Rautio J, Paavolainen P: Afghan war wounded; experience with 200 cases. J Trauma 1988, 28:523–525.PubMedCrossRef 4. Behbehani A, Abu Zidan F, Hasaniya N, Merei J: War Injuries in the Gulf war: experience of a teaching hospital in Kuwait. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 1994, 76:407–411.PubMed 5. Hafez HM, Woolgar J, Robbs JV: Lower extremity arterial injury: Results of 550 cases and review of risk factors associated with limb loss. J Vasc Surg 2001, 33:1212–1219.PubMedCrossRef 6. Fosse E, Husum H, Giannou C: The siege of Tripoli 1983. War surgery of Lebanon. J Trauma 1988, 28:660–663.PubMedCrossRef 7. Fox C, Gillespie D, O’Donnell S, Rasmussen T, Goff J, Johnson C, Galgon R, Sarac T, Rich N: Contemporary management of wartime vascular trauma. J Vasc Surg 2005, 41:638–644.PubMedCrossRef 8. Jawas A, Hammad F, Eid H, Abu Zidan F: Vascular injuries following road traffic collisions: a population- based study.

Most often, this is the simplest selleck chemicals llc technique to produce nanoscale structures, and this is the main reason of the recent wide interest, as revealed by comprehensive compilations. Some reviews [1–4] exhaustively describe the different existing technologies, mainly based on electrophoretic forces [5], capillary forces [6, 7], dip coating [8, 9], and ink-jet printing [10], among others. Top-down approaches, such as lithography or ion sputtering, have smaller chances to be able to produce large-scale low cost materials than bottom-up wet methods, despite the limitations of techniques such as spinning or sedimentation. Mono- and multilayers of

nanospheres have a huge number of promising electrical DMXAA concentration and optical applications [11–14]; some benefiting from the high surface-to-volume ratio to, for example, foster a new generation of ultrafast bulk battery electrodes [15], scaffolds

of macroporous materials [16, 17], while others benefit from the dimension of the periodicity of three-dimensional (3D) structures making them suitable for photonic [18–20] or terahertz applications [21]. The technique used in this work is known as electrospray. It consists of producing a fine aerosol by dispersion of a liquid by application of a high electric field between an emitter, usually a thin needle, and a flat electrode. Above a given voltage threshold, a Taylor this website cone develops [22] and the liquid tip becomes unstable breaking into small droplets. The main application of electrospray is found in the ion source of mass spectrometers, although it has also been recently used as a nanoparticle deposition method [23–25], polymer thin film deposition [26], or to create photonic balls [27]. To our knowledge, electrospraying of nanofluids or colloidal solutions of nanometer-size spheres to produce full 3D

self-assembled crystals has not been reported so far. A very comprehensive work on state-of-the-art colloidal crystals has recently been published [1] where a few indicators of the crystal quality produced by the various techniques are summarized and compared, namely the thickness, area, deposition time, and optical quality. We have drawn in Figure 1 a radial plot of selected information from Table Inositol monophosphatase 1 one in [1] for some of the deposition techniques reported there. We have not included the indicators concerning four techniques, namely motor-drawing, sedimentation, cell confinement, and air-water interface due to the poor results compared to the rest. Figure 1 Radial plot of quality indicators for some of the most relevant colloidal crystal fabrication techniques. Deposition time, area, thickness, and quality of the photonic crystal are compared. The technology introduced in this work is the electrospray, in solid black.

32 ± 0.01 mg/100 mg wet tissue) (Figure 4). Additionally, a significant TSA HDAC nmr inverse correlation (p < 0.05 - R= -0.67) between plasma lactate and muscle glycogen level (gastrocnemius) was found. Figure 4 Effects of creatine supplementation on gastrocnemius glycogen content. Pl - placebo group; CR - creatine group; * indicates p < 0.05 when compared to baseline. # indicates p < 0.05 when compared to Pl group Discussion The aim of

this study was to investigate the effects of CR supplementation on muscle glycogen content after high intensity intermittent exercise in rats. The major finding of this study is that a 5-day CR supplementation spared the gastrocnemius but not soleus glycogen content after a sub-maximal intermittent exercise in rats. The decreased blood lactate concentration in CR-supplemented rats supports the notion that the anaerobic glycolytic system has been less utilized as an energy source during the exercise protocol. The CR-induced glycogen sparing might partially explain the improved performance often observed in intermittent exercises as a consequence of

this supplement. The absence of significant change in soleus glycogen content is not surprising and reflects the rather low CR and glycogen content in type I vs. type II fibers [21], minimizing the impact of our intervention in the predominantly oxidative soleus muscle. The possible GS-4997 role of CR supplementation on muscle glycogen modulation has been previously pointed out [5]. The authors demonstrated that postexercise muscle glycogen storage can be augmented by CR and Selleck A-1210477 carbohydrate supplementation following exercise compared with carbohydrate ingestion alone. Thereafter, it has been shown that CR-supplemented subjects, during a phase of rehabilitation from immobilization-induced muscle atrophy, had larger muscle glycogen content when compared with non-supplemented subjects (650 versus 520 mmol/kg dry weight) [22]. Accordingly, an 18% increase in muscle glycogen content has been reported as a result of 5 days of concomitant CR and carbohydrate supplementation compared with placebo ingestion

[8]. It has been shown that performing a glycogen loading protocol (exhaustive exercise followed by a high carbohydrate diet for 3 days) after CR loading resulted in a 10% greater glycogen content when next compared to a glycogen loading before CR loading protocol [6]. In light of these findings, it has been speculated that CR supplementation could beneficially affect performance by modulating pre-exercise muscle glycogen content. Furthermore, it has been speculated that CR loading could also affect performance during exercise by increasing PCR content and consequently decreasing the reliance on glycolysis and muscle glycogen [23, 24]. However, no effect of a 5-day CR supplementation on muscle glycogen content has been reported in healthy volunteers either at rest or after continuous endurance exercise to exhaustion [11].

aureus used as controls. The cytotoxic effect of the extracellular proteins of E. faecalis against human RBCs was determined by haemolytic and haemagglutination assays. The effect of various concentrations of the purified anti-Candida compound on human erythrocytes is reported in Figure 7. The ACP showed negligible haemolytic activity up to the concentration of 0.4 mg mL-1 whereas a very weak haemolytic activity of 3.76% at the concentration of 6.4 mg mL-1 LY3023414 mw of anti-Candida

protein was found. Figure 7 Haemolytic activity of the dialyzed concentrate containing ACP against human erythrocyte cells. No haemagglutination activity of ACP was found up to1.6 mg mL-1; however, a slight haemagglutination activity was observed at 3.2 mgmL-1 concentration (Figure

8). Figure 8 Haemagglutination activity of ACP with different concentration. Discussion Biochemical characteristics and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis identified the C646 in vitro strain Thiazovivin in vitro as E. feacalis, whereas 16 S rDNA sequencing identified the strain as E. faecium[19]. Potassium tellurite reduction, however, distinguished the strain as E. faecalis rather than E. faecium. The concentrate made from the CFS of the test strain inhibited 7 multidrug resistant strains of C. albicans. There are several bacteriocins from E. faecalis and other species origin [15, 24], but antimycotic peptides or proteins are rare. Pseudomonas syringie and some

Bacillus species produce antifungal peptides, but no such reports about E. faecalis[25] were found. The genus Enterococcus belongs to a group of important lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that participate and contribute towards different fermentation processes. Their functionality in dairy and meat Adenosine triphosphate products has been reported in detail [26, 27]. Several bacteriocins produced by Enterococcus species [24] or other enterococci of different origins [15], have been reported and characterized at the biochemical and genetic levels. Several antifungal peptides (iturins, bacillomycins) were discovered from Bacillus and Pseudomonas. Nikkomycins, produced by Streptomyces tendae and S. ansochromogenes, and polyoxins, produced by S. cacaoi, are the most widely studied antifungal peptides, whereas antifungal peptides from Enterococcus species [25, 28] are rare. Various strains of Bacillus subtilis produce iturin A and bacillomycin L peptide. Iturins inhibited the growth of fungi including Aspergillus niger, C. albicans, and F. oxysporum[29, 30]. Initial clinical trials involving humans and animals showed that iturin A was effective against dermatomycoses and had a wide spectrum of antifungal properties and low allergenic effects [31]. Unfortunately, bacillomycin L and iturin A are haemolytic, which may reduce their potential use as antifungal drugs [32].

Medical Family Therapy (MedFT), specifically, was originally advanced through a shared vision by Susan McDaniel, Bill Doherty, and Jeri Hepworth in the early 1990s. They recognized selleck compound that the application of family therapy’s systemic thinking

offered a biopsychosocial sensitivity to providing patients and families. They saw an opportunity for mental health providers to be trained to intervene in healthcare settings and with traditionally “medical” issues. Since then, researchers have noted the impact of health on families and visa-versa (Burman and Margolin 1992; Fan and Chen in press; Robles and Kiecolt-Glaser 2003; Wickrama et al. 2001). While McDaniel et al. (1992) envisioned MedFT as more of a metaframework rather than as a subdiscipline of family therapy, family therapists have moved forward with initiating training programs, certificates, and degrees in MedFT that provide mental health clinicians with intensive training in family therapy and its application in healthcare systems targeting medical conditions. In 2007, Linville et al. noted that MedFT needed more research, but more importantly that it lacked a cohesive definition because so many authors selleck chemical had added their own concepts to it

since it was first developed by McDaniel et al. (1992). Therefore, in 2010 Tyndall et al. embarked on a study using a Dephi method (Marchais-Roubelat and Roubelat 2011; Rowea and Wright 2011) to find out how experts were defining MedFT. The following is the definition that formally resulted. Medical Family Therapy is: an approach to healthcare sourced from a BPS-S [biopsychosocial-spiritual] perspective and marriage

and family therapy, but also informed by systems theory. The practice of MedFT spans a variety of clinical settings with a strong focus on the relationships of the patient and the collaboration between and among the healthcare providers and the patient. MedFTs are endorsers of patient and family agency and facilitators of healthy workplace dynamics (Tyndall et al. 2010). This new CYTH4 definition affirmed that many of the concepts Selleck Lazertinib highlighted 20 years ago are still critical to the implementation of MedFT today. However, the need for more overt inclusion of spirituality as a dimension of care and collaboration as a vehicle to successful intervention of patient-care and workplace dynamics was strongly punctuated. This special issue includes a range of articles designed to perturb our field to think about how we can better train and integrate ourselves to be valuable in healthcare settings, research, and policy. As described above, Susan McDaniel, Bill Doherty, and Jeri Hepworth first disseminated their ideas when they published their primer on Medical Family Therapy in 1992. In 2012, they will publish a second edition of this work.

65) and was higher in plantations in three out of the five cases reported (Fig. 3). In one case exotic species richness was unaffected by plantation establishment; in the one case where exotic species richness was higher in the primary forest than plantation, the abundance of exotic species was lower in the primary forest (Goldman et al. 2008). Moreover, in this case, native species richness and overall species richness decreased with plantation establishment,

indicating a much more abundant and diverse native understory in primary forests compared to plantations. In contrast, species richness significantly AP24534 nmr increased in the secondary forest to plantation category (P < 0.05; Table 1; Fig. 2), despite considerable heterogeneity among results, with plantations being less species rich CP673451 than secondary forests in 18 of the 54 cases. Non-native species richness was reported in two cases in the secondary forest to plantation category click here (Fig. 3). One was a group of plantations that used native species where exotic species richness increased by approximately 5% (data estimated from figure) (Battles et al. 2001). The other was an exotic species plantation, which reported one non-native species in the plantation compared to none in the paired secondary forest (a 100% increase) while native species richness declined 17% (the one case reporting

native species richness in the secondary forest to plantation category) with plantation establishment (Cremene et al. 2005). Narrow/endemic/specialist species richness increased 12% (±27%) overall, but was highly variable

and swayed by one case where narrow/endemic/specialist species richness increased by 144% (Cremene et al. 2005), whereas, four out of six cases resulted in a decrease in narrow/endemic/specialist species. Exotic or degraded pasture to plantation Species richness in plantations established on exotic or degraded pasture increased in 13 of 22 cases, but LY294002 the mean increase of 25% (±15%) was not significant (P = 0.83) (Fig. 2; Table 1). Exotic species richness significantly decreased by 39% (P < 0.05; n = 6), while native species richness increased by 410% (P = 0.11; Fig. 3). Species richness in plantations utilizing native species increased an average of 45% (n = 14) while in plantations utilizing non-native species, species richness decreased overall by 12% (n = 8), although neither of these was significant. It should be noted that several publications finding large increases in woody species richness in both exotic and native plantations established on degraded or exotic pastures (Parrotta 1995; Cusack and Montagnini 2004) were excluded because they did not include herbaceous species richness, but do indicate the high capacity of plantations to restore woody diversity, which is sometimes the goal of plantation establishment (both native and exotic) on degraded lands. Effects of plantation species We found a highly significant (P < 0.