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Militaries need natural areas for offensive and defensive combat-readiness programmes. Here soldiers, war machinery and munitions are employed to prepare forces to execute warfighting tactics. Integration of environmental considerations into military activities is a growing global challenge. This study is based on a qualitative approach underpinned by an extensive literature review. The potential for the contribution of the military to a sensitive and diminishing wetland on the West Coast of South Africa (SA) is addressed. Donkergat Military Training Area (DMTA) in the Western Cape province, SA, provides diverse, seaborne training and warfighting facilities for the South African Special Forces (SASF), a specialist branch of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). This facility borders the Atlantic Ocean and Langebaan Lagoon, a Ramsar site (no. 398). One of only 15 island ecosystems on the southern African coastline, lies within the boundaries of the area. Saldanha Bay was identified as an economic development node by the national government. The 4 Special Forces Regiment (4 SFR) is thus obliged to contribute to the conservation of these environmental assets. Industrial development includes Operation Phakisa by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) that envisages expanded aquaculture practices in Saldanha Bay. Developers of fish and bivalve farms are allowed up-scaling aquaculture operations. These result in the loss of ecological attributes of the Langebaan Lagoon Wetland system. In the study, we recommend that parts of DMTA should be incorporated in the Ramsar definition for the Langebaan Lagoon Wetland system. Ecosystem indicators monitoring bird life, water and sediment quality, fish and rocky intertidal macrofauna in the DMTA waters should be intensified. The DMTA as a benchmark ecosystem in the Saldanha Bay area will facilitate environmentally sound planning amidst recent developments. Integrating sections of the Langebaan Lagoo

In unserer Arbeitsgruppe wurde ein murines Modell für myeloproliferative Neoplasien (MPN) entwickelt, in dem das humane Gen für p45-NF-E2 in unterschiedlicher Ausprägung überexprimiert wird. Patienten, die an einer MPN leiden, entwickeln oftmals einen Phänotyp in der Milz. Ausgehend von diesen Betrachtungen entwickelten wir die Hypothese, dass auch in unserem Mausmodell ein für myeloproliferative Neoplasien typischer Phänotyp auftritt. Unsere NF-E2 transgenen Mäuse zeigen neben im Knochenmark und peripherem Blut festgestellten Pathologien auch Veränderungen in der Milz. So weisen die transgenen Mäuse eine altersabhängige Störung der Erythropoiese, eine verringerte Megakaryozytendichte und eine eingeschränkte extramedulläre Hämatopoiese in der Milz auf, welche wahrscheinlich durch eine verstärkte Siderinablagerung und subsequenten fibrotischem Umbau hervorgerufen werden. Werden NF-E2 transgene Mäuse mit dem HDAC-Inhibitor SAHA (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid) behandelt, der im Modell zur Verbesserung der hämatologischen Parameter führt, so entwickeln sie eine extensive Steigerung der extramedullären Hämatopoiese in der Milz, die begleitet ist von einer stärkeren Siderindeposition und einem explosiven Anstieg der Megakaryozytendichte. Der Milzphänotyp wird durch die SAHA-Therapie ergo nicht verbessert sondern aggraviert., We developed a murine modell for myeloproliferative neoplasia (MPN) in which the human gene for p45-NF-E2 is expressed at different levels. Patients with a MPN often suffer from a phenotype in the spleen. Based on this data we concluded that there was a typical splenic phenotype for MPN also in our murine modell. Our NF-E2 transgene mice show beside the pathological alterations in the bone marrow a peripheral blood changes in the spleen as well. The transgene animals exhibit a age-dependent dysfunction of the erythropoiesis, a lowered megakaryocyte density and a restricted extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen which is probably to be deducted to the increased deposition of siderine and subsequent fibrotic remodelling. If NF-E2 transgene mice are treated with the HDAC-inhibitor SAHA (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid) which leads in the modell to a normalization of the hematological parameters they develop an extensive increase of the megakaryocyte density which is accompanied by a more severe siderine deposition. The splenic phenotype is thus not improved but aggravated.