0 mL/min. The isoelectric point and hydrophobic amino acid content of Hb 98–114 was calculated using the ProtParam tool, available at the ExPASy Proteomic Server (http://expasy.org/). Secondary structure prediction was performed on the NPSA server (http://npsa-pbil.ibcp.fr/) using the consensus secondary structure prediction algorithm. selleck Prior to mass spectrometry analyses, samples were desalted using C18 reverse phase tips (ZipTip, Millipore), concentrated in a SpeedVac centrifuge (Savant) and reconstituted in 5% ACN/0.2%

formic acid (FA). Molecular masses were determined by electro-spray ionization mass spectrometry (MS), using a LCQ™ Duo mass spectrometer (Thermo Scientific, USA) at a mass to charge (m/z) range from 300 to 2000 in positive mode. Equipment calibration was performed as described previously [38]. Following protein digestion with sequencing grade trypsin (Sigma, USA), samples were desalted, loaded onto a fused silica capillary column (0.1 mm × 150 mm, Polymicro Technologies, USA) in-house packed with Vydac C18 matrix (10–15 μm, 300 Å) coupled to a KRX-0401 purchase nano-HPLC system (Ultimate model, Dionex, USA). Peptides were eluted with a linear gradient from 5% to 60% ACN in 0.2% FA over 60 min. Spectral data were correlated with protein sequence databases using Bioworks Browser version 3.3 (Thermo Scientific, USA). Peptide sequences were

validated by considering a DCn ≥ 0.05 and Xcorr ≥ 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 for singly-, doubly- and triply-charged peptides, respectively. The peptide Hb 98–114 was chemically synthesized with free amino and carboxyl terminal group and purified

as previously described [22]. It was Niclosamide structurally characterized by circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy in phosphate buffer solutions without and with SDS micelles as membrane mimetic. CD measurements were made using a Jasco-715 spectropolarimeter. Fifty μM Hb 98–114 was prepared in 20 mM phosphate buffer and the pH was adjusted to 3, 5, 7 or 9, after which CD spectra were obtained over a range of 195–260 nm using a quartz cell of 1.0 mm path length at 25 °C. For each analysis, eight scans were accumulated and averaged. All CD spectra were corrected by subtraction of the background. The CD spectra were reported as raw ellipticity ([θ]) in mdegrees. Additionally, CD spectra were acquired in the presence of SDS micelles (25 mM SDS) added to the phosphate buffer at the different pHs described above. At pH 5, we also acquired spectra in the presence of 25 mM n-dodecyl phosphocholine (DPC) or adding increasing amounts of trifluoroethanol (TFE) from 10 to 50% (v/v). NMR experiments [16] and [35] for 1H, chemical-shift assignments and structure determination were acquired at 298 K on 500 μM Hb 98–114 dissolved in 5 mM phosphate buffer, 25 mM NaCl at pH 5.6 using 10% D2O for the deuterium lock signal in the presence or absence of 100 mM SDS-d25 (98% deuterium, Cambridge Isotopes Inc.).

001) and 18 percentage points at 36 months (P < 0.001) ( Fig. 3C). Urinary NTX was also significantly lower with eldecalcitol than with alfacalcidol by 29 percentage points Galunisertib ic50 at 12 months (P < 0.001) and by 23 percentage points at 36 months (P < 0.001) ( Fig. 3D). Serum 25(OH)D levels were elevated from baseline to 83.0 (SE 1.0) and 86.2 (1.0) nmol/L in eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol groups, respectively, at 6 months and remained at similar

levels throughout the study (Fig. 4A). As a result, serum 25(OH)D levels were over 50 nmol/L in more than 92% of the patients during the study period. Serum 1,25(OH)2D was suppressed sharply to 65.7 (SE 1.5) pmol/L in eldecalcitol group, whereas it was modestly elevated to 138 (1.6) in alfacalcidol group at 6 months, and remained almost stable during the study in both groups (Fig. 4B). Serum intact PTH levels were suppressed at 6 months in both groups, but the suppression was less in eldecalcitol group than in alfacalcidol group (Fig. 4C), as reported previously [7] and [12]. No significant difference was observed between the eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol groups in the incidence of total non-vertebral fractures at 36 months (8.0 and 9.5%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.55–1.31). Analysis of the two pre-defined subgroups revealed that the incidence of non-vertebral fractures

tended to be PF-01367338 mouse lower at the major three sites (2.5 and 4.9%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.25–1.03). Post-hoc analysis of the fracture incidence in each of the three sites (humerus, wrist and hip) revealed that the incidence of only wrist fracture was significantly lower in the eldecalcitol group than in the alfacalcidol group at 36 months (1.1 and 3.6%, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.11–0.77; P = 0.009) ( Fig. 5). No significant difference between the two groups was observed in the fracture incidence of any other non-vertebral Thymidylate synthase sites. Adverse events with more than 5% incidence in either of the two groups

are listed in Table 2. Urinary Ca excretion increased in both the eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol groups; mean postprandial urinary Ca levels at 36 months were 0.242 and 0.209 mg/dL GF (0.061 and 0.052 mmol/L GF), respectively. The increase in urinary Ca was not associated with a decrease in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) throughout the study period (69.0 ± 13.6 and 68.4 ± 14.5 at baseline, and 65.8 ± 14.4 and 66.7 ± 14.3 at 36 months with eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol, respectively; means ± SD). Increase in serum Ca over 10.4 mg/dL was observed at least once in the study in 111 and 71 patients, in eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol groups, respectively. Patients with hypercalcemia over 11.5 mg/dL (2.875 mmol/L) at least once during the study numbered 2 and 0 in the eldecalcitol and alfacalcidol groups, respectively.

These properties include SST distributions, concentrations of chlorophyll and other phytoplankton pigments in the

surface layer and at various depths in PCI-32765 Baltic waters, the solar irradiance distribution at the Baltic Sea surface, vertical profiles of selected optical properties of the sea, spectral distributions of the light energy available for photosynthesis and of the energy absorbed by phytoplankton at different depths, vertical distributions of the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis, of the primary production of organic matter, and of the total primary production (under unit area of sea surface). The estimates of all these quantities obtained from satellite data processed using the DESAMBEM algorithm v. 2008 were validated by comparing them with in situ measurements. The results of this empirical validation are discussed in detail in Darecki et al. (2008). The accuracy of the estimated parameters is very close to or only slightly less than that of the measurements made in the sea. The effectiveness of satellite estimates is incomparably greater than that of

traditional measurements made from on board ships and other research platforms: a very much larger number of temporal and spatial sea surface pixels can be covered by satellite monitoring than by the existing numbers of measurement stations using ships, buoys and the like. Moreover, the costs of satellite monitoring are insignificant compared with those of traditional oceanographic methods. We, like our funding agencies, therefore consider that selleck products the results of the successfully concluded DESAMBEM project, generously financed by the Committee for Scientific Research, should be implemented in the interests of the efficient and systematic monitoring aminophylline of the state of the Baltic environment and the forecasting of the changes taking place in it. This imposes the duty of conserving the natural environment of the Baltic in accordance with international conventions and legal regulations, such as the Helsinki Convention, the EU’s New Water Directive and the GMES programme. The implementation

of remote sensing methods has become possible thanks to the acceptance of the SatBałtyk project by the Ministries of Science and Higher Education, and of Regional Development. Thus came into being project No. POIG.01.01.02-22-011/09-00 entitled ‘The satellite monitoring of the Baltic Sea environment’ (acronym SatBałtyk). A period of five years (2010–2014) are envisaged for the project’s realization. It is being implemented within the framework of the Innovative Economy Operational Programme7, financed from EU funds. The beneficiary appointed to see the project through is the SatBałtyk Scientific Consortium, consisting of four scientific institutions located on the Polish coast. They are the three institutes that have been cooperating for many years, i.e.

, 1992). Transcellular passage by passive diffusion appears to be rare: although passage of cells by 22 nm TiO2 particles was suggested to occur by passive diffusion (Geiser et al., 2005), other researchers described

that Au-nanoparticles in sizes of 5–8 nm could not enter cells by passive diffusion ((Stoeger et al., 2006)). Active uptake by endocytosis is the likely mode of cellular uptake for metal and metal oxide NMs. Several endocytotic routes have been characterized, which are classified according to the coating with clathrin and the involvement of dynamin in the uptake. Main mechanisms are termed clathrin-mediated endocytosis, macropinocytosis and caveolae-dependent. Different classifications are used for the clathrin-independent and caveolae-independent routes. The classification by Sahay et al. (2010) is mainly based on the GTPases involved SCH772984 in vitro (Arf6-dependent, Cdc42/Arf1-dependent

and RhoA-dependent endocytosis) and on the coat protein (Flotillin-dependent). Another nomenclature employs the term clathrin-independent carriers/glycophosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored protein enriched compartment (GEEC)-type endocytosis as synonym for Cdc42/Arf1-dependent endocytosis and IL-2Rβ-dependent endocytosis for RhoA-dependent endocytosis (Doherty and McMahon, 2009). Independent of the route of entry, the cargos are mainly transported via endosomes to lysosomes (Fig. 2). Non-functionalized silver, TiO2 and SiO2 particles are mainly taken Palbociclib nmr up by clathrin-mediated endocytosis (Chung et al., 2007, Greulich et al., 2011, He et al., 2009, Huang et al., 2005, Singh et al., Dynein 2007 and Sun et al., 2008). Nanoparticles can leave the cells either by transcytosis or by exocytosis. Exocytosis of nanoparticles is not well studied and conflicting results were obtained: exocytosis of quantum dots was not consistently seen in the studies (Clift et al., 2008 and Jiang et al., 2010). Transcytosis

can occur through receptor-mediated uptake or via adsorptive-mediated uptake. Receptors for BSA, transferrin and opioid peptides functionalized NMs are expressed on several cell types and BSA-coated nanoparticles have been shown to transcytose through endothelial cells (Wang et al., 2009). For the gastrointestinal tract, however, this type of uptake is not relevant. Absorptive-mediated transcytosis is mediated by the interaction of positively charged substances with anionic sites of the plasma membrane: cationic nanoparticles had a greater potential than neutral or negatively charged ones (Harush-Frenkel et al., 2008). Additionally uncoated, not positively charged TiO2 nanoparticles can cross the intestinal epithelium by the transcellular route (Koeneman et al., 2010). As mentioned in Section 3.

Such risky behaviors lead to an increase in the incidences of

STDs (including HIV), unsafe and illegal abortion, adolescent pregnancy and motherhood, single mother child/abandoned child, juvenile delinquency and many more [26]. The use of kerosene for the above purpose has however not been backed scientifically. Several studies have shown that accidental ingestion of kerosene results in toxic effects [27], [28], [29] and [30]. Since T is known to regulate libido [6] and [31], we hypothesized that if kerosene indeed reduces libido, then it might mediate its effects through modulation of T levels. A reduction in plasma levels has been associated with reduced sexual drive [32]. Further, increase in T has also been associated with aggressive tendencies [33], [34] and [35].We therefore investigated the learn more effects of dietary crude kerosene supplementation on the plasma levels of this hormone and aggression behavior selleckchem in a rat animal model. Our results indicate that there was no change in the T level following acute (1st seven days) supplementation (Fig. 2). However, the trend changed drastically

following continued prolonged (chronic) administration. Both the low dose and high dose groups showed an upwards trend with an overall increase of serum T levels of up to 66% in the low dose and 75% increase in the high dose groups respectively by the end of the treatment period (Fig. 2). The levels were on an upward trajectory even at the end of study suggesting that longer durations of supplementation are more likely to result in even higher increases in T levels. It can be inferred therefore that initial (acute) dietary supplementation Lck with kerosene in boarding school has no effects on blood T levels among students. On the contrary, prolonged (chronic) use over the extended schooling years may with time result in elevated levels of T among students with the concomitant increase in desire for sexual activity. This result associating kerosene supplementation to increase levels of serum T may in part explain the rising cases of premature sexual activity leading to high cases of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted sex

and teenage pregnancy [14] and [15]. As indicated earlier, evidence has shown that high levels of T are also associated with aggressive tendencies [33], [34] and [35]. It was interestingly observed that animals on kerosene supplementation displayed increasing aggression over the study period. The higher kerosene dose group displayed even higher levels of aggression during and immediately after either kerosene supplementation or bleeding. This corroborates the findings by Olweus et al. [36] and [37] in a study where it was noted that adolescent boys with higher T levels were not only more likely to engage in aggressive behavior but under conditions of threat or unfair treatment (provocation), they were shown to be more likely to be aggressive.

Just four days before that, I had received an e-mail from him in which he sounded pretty positive, so the news was a great shock. Looking back, it was about a year ago (July 23rd, 2010) that I

was humbly allowed the opportunity to present an address of congratulations to him, as an old friend. We were gathered to celebrate the Professor, who was basking in the glory of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd Class. This is the highest honor granted to civilians by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan. Later, last May, at the 53rd General Assembly of the JSCN in Yokohama, an emergency Forum on “What we learned from this major disaster, and what we can draw on in the future” was held to discuss the role of child neurologists in facing with unprecedented selleck chemicals devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant explosions in Northwestern Japan last March. The Forum was planned jointly by JSCN and the Japan Foundation of Pediatric Research, the latter of which is a new organization RG7420 in vitro created by Japan Pediatric Society (JPS). As the chairperson, Board of Trustees, JPS, Dr.

Kamoshita had been dedicated himself to establish the Foundation. Thus, he delivered a closing remark at the aforementioned Forum. On both occasions, his complexion and tone of voice were quite normal, so I did not have the slightest anticipation to receive a news of his passing so early. His death is a great loss not only for our JSCN and other many medical societies around Japan, but to the entire nation and society of Japan. The late Professor Kamoshita was born in the Muroran City, Hokkaido, Japan in 1934. He graduated from the Faculty Cediranib (AZD2171) of Medicine, University of Tokyo in 1959, and completed postgraduate study at the same University, majoring in pediatrics. His subsequent career is summarized in Table 1. He was also

active on numerous committees of the governmental, ministerial and public organizations (Table 2). In addition, in the capacity of the chief of the 7th Section (Life Science), Science Council of Japan, he issued a series of recommendations/expert opinions to the public on various contemporary controversial problems in life science and biological ethics, low fertility societies, assisted reproductive treatment, including surrogate motherhood, and so on. As a committee chairperson of the Social Security Council, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, he advocated an introduction of regionally autonomous, patient-oriented healthcare system, proposing a promotion of patient’s solidarity and information dissemination to broaden patient’s choices. Moreover, he played a pivotal role in numerous policies dealing with national and social issues such as medical education, health care systems, life ethics and children’s rights. He authored a number of influential books on fundamental mentality and thoughts, including biographees of modern great Japanese such as Inazo Nitobe [1], Shigeru Nambara [2] and Tadao Yanagihara [3].

The individual-based model simulations have only computational capacity to follow about 50,000 super-individuals [46] and [47]. We therefore scale up this modelled population by a scaling factor of 80,000 which can recreate the appropriate stock levels in the natural population [3]. All model predictions reported below, such as SSB and catch, are given for this scaled

population, and thus are directly comparable to the observed data. The main components of the economic sub-model are the functions describing demand, costs, and production. All analyses in this section are further explained in Richter et al. [27]. Individual vessel data for 1990–2000 were used to estimate costs and production for the component of the Norwegian trawler fleet this website that caught cod north of 62°N. These data, collected by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries (Bergen, Norway), are described in more detail in Sandberg [48]. The NEA cod fishery contributes

a large part of Selleckchem IPI 145 the world’s cod landings and therefore affects the international market price for cod. To describe this relationship, a linear demand function is given by equation(5) Pt=p¯−bHt,where P  t is the price for cod in year t  , H  t is the total harvested biomass in year t   (as determined by the TAC), and p¯ and b are parameters. The production function is estimated as a Cobb–Douglas function [49] and [50]; accordingly, the catch of vessel i in year t is given by equation(6) hi,t=qei,tβBtα,where q is a catchability coefficient, and ei,t is the fishing effort of vessel i in year t. In this model, effort is measured in efficiency units and given by the number of days a vessel is fishing cod north of 62°N multiplied by the vessel’s gross tonnage, so that differences in operational intensity are taken into account [51]. The parameter α is the stock-output

elasticity and β is the effort-output elasticity, describing, respectively, the percentage change in harvests caused by a percentage change in stock biomass or fishing effort. The costs Ci,t incurred by vessel i in year t are given by the inflation-corrected sum of cost components multiplied by the fraction of days the vessel has fished cod, as opposed to other species; the result is split before into fixed costs cf and variable costs cvei,t according to equation(7) Ci,t=cf+cvei,tCi,t=cf+cvei,t Multiplying the catch hi,t of vessel i with the price of cod Pt yields the revenue Pthi,t of vessel i. The profit πi,t of vessel i is then given by offsetting this revenue with the costs Ci,t of vessel i, equation(8) πi,t=Pthi,t−Ci,tπi,t=Pthi,t−Ci,t For NEA cod, the effort-output elasticity β   is smaller than 1, so there is a trade-off between allowing more vessels to enter the fishing grounds (vessels can then harvest less on average, but do so more efficiently) and allowing larger individual catches per vessel (vessels can then invest their fixed costs more economically).

The annual

global demand for plastics has consistently increased over the recent years and presently stands at about 245 million tonnes. Being a versatile, light weight, strong and potentially transparent material, plastics are ideally suited for a variety of applications. Their low cost, excellent oxygen/moisture barrier properties, bio-inertness and light weight make them excellent packaging materials. Conventional materials such as glass, metal and paper are being replaced by cost effective plastic packaging of equivalent or superior design. Nearly a third of the plastic resin production is therefore converted into consumer packaging material that include disposable single-use items commonly encountered in beach debris (Andrady, 2003). How much of the 75–80 million tonnes of packaging plastics used globally each year ends up in the oceans, has not been reliably estimated. Several broad C646 price classes of plastics are used in packaging: Polyethyelene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Poly(ethylene

terephthalate) (PET); and Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Their high-volume usage is reflected in their production figures given in Table 1 and consequently these in particular have high likelihood of ending up in the ocean environment. Extensive fishing, recreational and maritime uses of the ocean, as well as changing demographics favoring immigration to coastal regions, will increase the future influx of plastics waste into the oceans GSK126 in vivo (Ribic et al., 2010). Land-based sources including beach littler contributes about 80% of the plastic debris. The entire global fishing fleet now uses plastic gear (Watson et al., 2006) and some gear is invariably lost or even discarded carelessly at sea during use. Polyolefins (PE and PP), as well as nylons are primarily

used in fishing gear applications (Timmers et al., 2005 and Klust, 1982). About 18% of the marine plastic debris found in the ocean environment is attributed to this website the fishing industry. Aquaculture can also be a significant contributor of plastics debris in the oceans (Hinojosa and Thiel, 2009). The rest is derived largely from land-based sources including beach litter. Virgin resin pellets, a common component of debris, enter the oceans routinely via incidental losses during ocean transport or through run-off from processing facilities (Gregory, 1996, Doyle et al., 2011 and Ogata et al., 2009). Quantifying floating plastic debris (generally using surface-water collection of debris with neuston nets) seriously underestimates the amounts of plastics in the ocean as those in the sediment and mid-water are excluded by the technique. The visibility of debris as flotsam requires plastics to be positively buoyant in sea water (specific gravity of sea water is ∼1.025). However, as seen from Table 1 only a few of the plastics typically used in the marine environment has a specific gravity lower than that of seawater.

Akt activation plays a key role in cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, and apoptosis [10]; thus, PI3K/Akt signaling is important for cell survival. Panax ginseng Meyer is one of the most popular herbal medicines in Korea, and has long been used in Asian countries for stimulating immunity and inhibiting

various cancers [11], [12] and [13]. Ginsenosides are active compounds present in ginseng that are known to have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities [14]. Ginsenoside Rb1, a known phytoestrogen, shows anti-inflammatory activity in smooth muscle cells [15] and inhibits interleukin-1β-induced apoptosis in human chondrocytes [16]. Ginsenoside Rg3 exerts neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative effects [17] and [18]. Although the role of ginseng in regulating the development of cancer is well defined, the mechanism by which it BMS387032 protects brain cells from oxidative stress is not well understood. Recent studies have revealed that ginseng upregulates ER-β expression in vitro and in vivo [17] and [19]. Previously, we reported that Korean Red Ginseng (KRG)-induced ER-β expression inhibits oxidative stress-induced apoptosis

in mouse brain and SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells by inhibiting PADI4 expression [17]. However, the downstream signaling effector molecules of ER-β have not been explored. Thus, the aims of this study were to identify signaling effector molecules immediately downstream of ERβ and to understand how KRG-induced ER-β expression regulates L-gulonolactone oxidase apoptosis via PI3K/Akt signaling Everolimus solubility dmso in oxidative stressed brain cells. Human neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells (catalog number HTB-11; ATCC, Manassas, VI, USA) were cultured in RPMI 1640 (Lonza, Walkersville, MD, USA) media containing 10% FBS, 1% penicillin-streptomycin (10,000 U penicillin/mL, 10,000 μg streptomycin/mL), 1mM HEPES, 1mM sodium pyruvate, 4.5 g/L glucose, 1.5 g/L bicarbonate, and 2mM L-glutamine at 37°C, and 5% CO2. KRG extract was manufactured by Korea Ginseng Corporation (Seoul,

Korea) by steaming and drying 6-year-old roots from Panax ginseng Meyer and analyzed as described previously [17]. The ginsenoside content of KRG extracts used in this study was: Rg1 0.71 mg/g, Re 0.93 mg/g, Rf 1.21 mg/g, Rh1 0.78 mg/g, Rg2(s) 1.92 mg/g, Rg2(r) 1.29 mg/g, Rb1 4.62 mg/g, Rc 2.41 mg/g, Rb2 1.83 mg/g, Rd 0.89 mg/g, Rg3(s) 2.14 mg/g, and Rg3(r) 0.91 mg/g. Specific inhibitors of ER-β (PHTPP: catalog number sc-204191) and Akt (inhibitor VIII; catalog number sc-2002048) were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (Santa Cruz, CA, USA). The PI3K-specific inhibitor LY294002 (catalog number L9908) was purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). SK-N-SH cells were treated with KRG extract for 48 h and subsequently treated with 5μM PHTPP [20], 80μM LY294002 [21], or 50μM Akt inhibitor VIII for 5 h.

Z. mays (maize) ultimately became the most important source of calories in Mesoamerica, particularly when combined with beans to create a critical protein source given the lack of animal protein. Maize is also the most visible cultigen in the paleoecological record. Molecular evidence puts the domestication of maize in the central Balsas of Mexico ∼7000 BC ( Matsuoka et al., 2002) and maize microfossils (starch and phytoliths) from Xihuatoxtal Shelter in this region indicate domestication, along with squash (likely

C. argyrosperma), by 6700 BC ( Piperno et al., 2009). BEZ235 Maize pollen and phytoliths in lake sediments and peri-coastal wetlands, suggest widespread dispersal through the lowland Neotropics of Mesoamerica between ∼5600 and 4500 BC ( Pope et al., 2001 and Pohl et al., 2007, Kennett et al.,

2010). The first appearance of maize pollen and phytoliths in paleoecological records from lakes and wetlands in the lowland Neotropics is coincident with increased charcoal flux, a reduction in tree pollen and the appearance of disturbance plant taxa (Jones, 1994, Pohl et al., 1996, Pope et al., 2001, Neff et al., 2006 and Kennett et al., 2010). Investments in niche construction (e.g., forest clearance; Smith, 2007) suggest that slash-and-burn farming contributed significantly to the diet (Kennett et al., 2010). This occurs by 5200 BC along the western periphery of the Maya region (Tabasco; CB-839 chemical structure Pope et al., 2001 and Pohl medroxyprogesterone et al., 2007) and is evident in the peri-coastal fringe of the eastern lowlands by 2000 BC (Pohl et al.,

1996). Slash-and-burn farming is well suited to the high net primary productivity and rapid regrowth of secondary forest in lowland tropical forests. The agricultural cycle tracks changes in rainfall linked to the position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ; Haug et al., 2001). Forest plots are cleared and burned during the dry season (December–May) and maize is planted along with other crops (squash, gourd, pumpkin) just prior to the rains in May/June (Wilk, 1991). This primary crop is generally harvested in September. Second and even third crops can be planted in persistently moist soils along wetland margins or in relict river channels closer to the water table, and a mulching technique is sometimes used to produce a second crop in drier areas (matambre = hunger crop; Culleton, 2012) to hedge against potential shortfalls in the primary harvest. All of these techniques are methods of agricultural intensification that would be very hard to detect archeologically or within the paleoecological record. Long-term storage of grain is not an option in the Neotropics and cannot be used to reduce year-to-year variations in crop yield ( Webster, 1985). Dry conditions or unpredictable rains undermine food production. The Classic Maya also used a range of other crops and landesque cultivation systems (e.g.