Search

Often, catch and release regulations are meant to maximize a fisheries potential to create trophy fish. I evaluated adult Brown Trout populations at five locations within Rapid Creek within Rapid City, SD over a two-year period. In each year, one of these locations was within a catch and release area, while two were outside. In 2012, density and biomass estimates were higher in a site located outside of the catch and release area. Additionally, size structure within the catch and release area was only significantly larger than one of the two sites outside of the regulation area. Mean relative weight values were inversely related to density estimates, with the lowest density sites having the highest mean relative weights. Similarly, a site outside of the catch and release area had the highest abundance and biomass estimates in 2013. The cumulative length distribution was significantly different between the site within the catch and release area and the two located outside. Relative weight was significantly higher in the catch and release area than the two sites outside. As population characteristics within the catch and release area were not consistently better than outside, it is more likely that factors such as habitat and density dependence are impacting the Brown Trout population more than the regulation itself.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on fish skin, gills and intestines bacterial microbiome. Whole gilthead seabream was packed aerobically or under modified atmospheres (60% CO2, 30% N2, 10% O2) and stored isothermally at 0 °C. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis was applied for the characterization of fish microbiome on fish skin, gills, and intestines initially (time of packaging, 1 day after harvesting) and after 10 days of isothermal storage at 0 °C. NGS results indicated statistically significant differences in families’ richness and diversity in the tested fish tissues between aerobic and MAP packaging during storage at 0 °C. The most persistent bacteria were Proteobacteria for both packaging types. For fish skin microbiota, the initially prevailing families were Comamonadaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and Moraxellaceae while in the intestines Comamonadaceae, Anaplasmataceae, Bacillaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were the dominant bacteria. At the end of storage period, the fish microbiota was dominated by psychotropic and psychrophilic families (Pseudoalteromonadaceae, Psychromonadaceae, and Shewanellaceae), while families such as Comamonadaceae were persistent under MAP conditions. By 8 days of fish storage at 0 °C, ΜΑΡ samples exhibited higher sensory scorings than the respective aerobically stored fish, indicating better retention of fish freshness and fish quality attributes under MAP. Based on the results of the study, MAP modified significantly the microbiological status and extended the shelf life of fish. NGS was a powerful tool that provided a more complete assessment compared to a culture-based analysis.

Fresh fish, and especially fatty species, are highly perishable due to oxidative deterioration of fish flesh and the elevated microbial load on fish surface. The implementation of a variety of “mild hurdles” may significantly decrease the rates of fish chemical degradation and microbiological spoilage, by better retaining the initial quality, compared to more intense preservation techniques. The aim of this work is the comparative study of different, single or combined, treatments at 15 °C on the quality and shelf life of chilled eel fillets. Fish fillets were treated using osmotic solutions consisting of glycerol (30%–40%–45%) and 5% NaCl with and without former antioxidant impregnation by using Rosemary Serum. In all cases, water activity decreased to approximately 0.90 after 420 min of osmotic treatment. Untreated and osmotically treated fish fillets were subsequently stored at 4 °C and their stability under chill conditions was assessed based on microbial growth and oxidative deterioration. Microbial growth of treated samples was significantly delayed, especially due to the osmotic step (OS) and the derived water activity decrease. Lipid oxidation, a major cause of rejection for fatty fish such as eel, was greatly inhibited in treated fillets, owing to both ‘hurdles’, aw lowering (OS) and antioxidant impregnation with rosemary serum (RS/OS), showing the synergistic effect of these successive procedures. Shelf life of treated eel fillets exhibited a more than 10-fold increase, as compared to the untreated samples, based on chemical composition and a 2 to 3-fold shelf life improvement, in terms of microbial growth.

The objective of the study was to investigate the efficiency of slurry ice during harvesting and transportation of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) to retain flesh quality and extend shelf life, compared with conventional flake ice. Fish was slaughtered and transported in different mixtures of slurry ice and conventional flake ice (C: slaughtered and transported in 100% flake ice-Control samples, SC: slaughtered in 100% slurry ice and transported in 100% flake ice, S50: slaughtered and transported in 50% slurry ice-50% flake ice, S100: slaughtered and transported in 100% slurry ice) and subsequently stored under controlled isothermal conditions at 0 °C for shelf life modelling and flesh quality evaluation (proteolytic enzymes). The replacement of conventional flake ice with slurry ice as a slaughtering method led to improved quality stability during subsequent refrigerated storage and shelf life extension, in terms of microbial growth, flesh quality and sensory degradation of fish. Based on microbial growth, the shelf life of C samples was found to be 19 days, whereas the shelf life of S50/S100 and SC was 21 and 25 days, respectively, showing that the replacement of flake ice with slurry ice resulted in 2–6 days shelf life extension of whole sea bass stored at 0 °C. The use of slurry ice at slaughter and flake ice in transportation was accompanied by low activities and late peaks of all four enzymes that is expected to lead to delayed proteolytic degradation and extended freshness.

Occurrence of biogenic amines in fresh fish and fishery products constitute a significant safety concern. Ingestion of histamine is identified as the causative agent of several food poisoning incidences on an annual basis. In addition, cadaverine, putrescine and tyramine have been recognized as potentiators of histamine poisoning. Accumulation of biogenic amines in fresh fish and fishery products has been mainly attributed to growth of bacteria possessing amino acid decarboxylase activity, which is facilitated by lack of hygienic conditions and strict temperature control during their storage. To this end, the effectiveness of traditional and modern approaches to control biogenic amine accumulation has been in the epicenter of intensive study. The aim of the present review article is to update and integrate current knowledge regarding the biogenic amine content of fresh fish and fishery products as well as the capacity of traditional and emerging control strategies.

Mitochondrial turnover in the form of mitophagy is emerging as a central process in maintaining cellular function. The degradation of damaged mitochondria through mitophagy is particularly important in cells/tissues that exhibit high energy demands. Skeletal muscle is one such tissue that requires precise turnover of mitochondria in several conditions in order to optimize energy production and prevent bioenergetic crisis. For instance, the formation of skeletal muscle (i.e., myogenesis) is accompanied by robust turnover of low-functioning mitochondria to eventually allow the formation of high-functioning mitochondria. In mature skeletal muscle, alterations in mitophagy-related signaling occur during exercise, aging, and various disease states. Nonetheless, several questions regarding the direct role of mitophagy in various skeletal muscle conditions remain unknown. Furthermore, given the heterogenous nature of skeletal muscle with respect to various cellular and molecular properties, and the plasticity in these properties in various conditions, the involvement and characterization of mitophagy requires more careful consideration in this tissue. Therefore, this review will highlight the known mechanisms of mitophagy in skeletal muscle, and discuss their involvement during myogenesis and various skeletal muscle conditions. This review also provides important considerations for the accurate measurement of mitophagy and interpretation of data in skeletal muscle.

Background We investigated the use of a conduit splinting technique to mitigate tension at the coaptation site of a rodent nerve defect model to determine the optimal reconstruction method for segmental nerve defects. Methods A rat sciatic nerve segmental defect model was created by excising 5mm of the sciatic nerve unilaterally. Four groups of 10 rats were each reconstructed using 1 of 4 techniques: primary repair, repair with conduit splinting, reverse isograft with conduit splinting, and reverse isograft without splinting. Functional outcomes were assessed at 6 weeks by measurement of Sciatic Functional Index (SFI), and sciatic nerves were harvested at the nonsurvival surgery. Histomorphologic measurements were reported as a value normalized to the average measurements of the control side. The primary outcomes were assessment of nerve continuity and the proportion of nerve fibers in the regenerating nerve compared with the uninjured side. Results The number of repair site rupture rates was lower when a conduit splint was used—less than half of the primary repairs under tension remained intact at 6 weeks. No difference was seen in axon number, size, and density between primary repairs and those augmented by conduit splints, but worse functional outcomes and more debris were present compared with the intact primary repairs. Conclusions Nerve conduit splinting reduced rupture rates, particularly for nerve repairs associated with a segmental defect. No significant difference was seen in the number of axons among techniques. Primary nerve repair under tension that did not rupture demonstrated superior SFI.

Modulation of proteasome function by pharmacological interventions and molecular biology tools is an active area of research in cancer biology and neurodegenerative diseases. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a naturally occurring polyphenol that affects multiple signaling pathways and known to modulate PKC activities. The therapeutic significance of curcumin is often considered to reside in its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-angiogenic, or anti-apoptotic properties. However, recent research suggests that the therapeutic efficacy of curcumin may be due to its activity as a potent inhibitor of the proteasome. In this study, we show that both curcumin and its synthetic polyphenolic derivative (didemethylcurcumin), CUIII modulated proteasome activity in a biphasic manner. Curcumin and CUIII increased proteasome activity at nanomolar concentrations but inhibited proteasome activity at micromolar concentrations. Curcumin was more effective than CUIII in relative proteasome activity increase at nanomolar concentrations. Also, curcumin was more effective than CUIII in relative proteasome activity inhibition at micromolar concentration. The docking study was conducted on the 20S proteasome catalytic subunit. Estimated Kd values for curcumin and didemethylcurcumin are 0.0054μM and 1.3167μM, respectively. These values correlate well with the results of the effectiveness of modulation by curcumin compare to CUIII. The small size of CUIII makes its dock to the narrow cavity of the active site, but the binding interaction is not strong compare to curcumin. This study suggests that curcumin and its didemethyl derivative can be used to modulate proteasome activity. This communication implicates the reason why curcumin and its didemethyl derivative can be used to two different disease mechanisms, neurodegeneration, and cancer.

Hemagglutinins (HAs) are the receptor-binding and membrane fusion glycoproteins of influenza viruses. They recognize sialic acid-containing, cell-surface glycoconjugates as receptors but have limited affinity for them, and, as a consequence, virus attachment to cells requires their interaction with several virus HAs. Receptor-bound virus is transferred into endosomes where membrane fusion by HAs is activated at pH between 5 and 6.5, depending on the strain of virus. Fusion activity requires extensive rearrangements in HA conformation that include extrusion of a buried "fusion peptide" to connect with the endosomal membrane, form a bridge to the virus membrane, and eventually bring both membranes close together. In this review, we give an overview of the structures of the 16 genetically and antigenically distinct subtypes of influenza A HA in relation to these two functions in virus replication and in relation to recognition of HA by antibodies that neutralize infection.

Influenza polymerase (FluPol) plays a key role in the viral infection cycle by transcribing and replicating the viral genome. FluPol is a multifunctional, heterotrimeric enzyme with cap-binding, endonuclease, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and polyadenylation activities. It performs its functions in the context of the viral ribonucleoprotein particle (RNP), wherein the template viral RNA is coated by multiple copies of viral nucleoprotein. Moreover, it interacts with a number of host proteins that are essential cofactors and, consequently, adaptive mutations in the polymerase are required for crossing the avian-human species barrier. In this review, we show how mechanistic understanding of how FluPol performs its multiple functions has greatly advanced over the last decade through determination of high-resolution structures by X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. These have revealed not only the detailed architecture of FluPol but highlighted the remarkably conformational flexibility that is inherent to its functioning as a dynamic RNA synthesis machine. Structural studies are also underpinning current attempts to develop next-generation anti-influenza drugs that directly target FluPol.

Background The aim of this study was to review, systematically, evidence concerning the link between the ACTN3 R577X polymorphism and the rates and severity of non-contact injuries and exercise-induced muscle damage in athletes and individuals enrolled in exercise training programs. Methods A computerized literature search was performed in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus, from inception until November 2020. All included studies compared the epidemiological characteristics of non-contact injury between the different genotypes of the ACTN3 R577X polymorphism. Results Our search identified 492 records. After the screening of titles, abstracts, and full texts, 13 studies examining the association between the ACTN3 genotypes and the rate and severity of non-contact injury were included in the analysis. These studies were performed in 6 different countries (Spain, Japan, Brazil, China, Republic of Korea, and Italy) and involved a total participant pool of 1093 participants. Of the studies, 2 studies involved only women, 5 studies involved only men, and 6 studies involved both men and women. All the studies included were classified as high-quality studies (≥6 points in the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale score). Overall, evidence suggests there is an association between the ACTN3 R577X genotype and non-contact injury in 12 investigations. Six studies observed a significant association between ACTN3 R577X polymorphism and exercise induced muscle damage: two with non-contact ankle injury, three with non-contact muscle injury, and one with overall non-contact injury. Conclusion The present findings support the premise that possessing the ACTN3 XX genotype may predispose athletes to a higher probability of some non-contact injuries, such as muscle injury, ankle sprains, and higher levels of exercise-induced muscle damage.

Exciting recent advances in genome sequencing, coupled with greatly reduced storage and computation costs, make genomic testing increasingly accessible to individuals. Already today, one’s digitized DNA can be easily obtained from a sequencing lab and later used to conduct numerous tests by engaging with a testing facility. Due to the inherent sensitivity of genetic material and the often-proprietary nature of genomic tests, privacy is a natural and crucial issue. While genomic privacy received a great deal of attention within and outside the research community, genomic security has not been sufficiently studied. This is surprising since the usage of fake or altered genomes can have grave consequences, such as erroneous drug prescriptions and genetic test outcomes. Unfortunately, in the genomic domain, privacy and security (as often happens) are at odds with each other. In this article, we attempt to reconcile security with privacy in genomic testing by designing a novel technique for a secure and private genomic range query protocol between a genomic testing facility and an individual user. The proposed technique ensures authenticity and completeness of user-supplied genomic material while maintaining its privacy by releasing only the minimum thereof. To confirm its broad usability, we show how to apply the proposed technique to a previously proposed genomic private substring matching protocol. Experiments show that the proposed technique offers good performance and is quite practical. Furthermore, we generalize the genomic range query problem to sparse integer sets and discuss potential use cases.

Brood is critically important in social insect colonies. It carries the colony’s fitness through delivering future reproductive adults as well as workers that will increase the colony’s workforce. Adoption of non-nestmate brood can increase the colony workforce but entails the risk of rearing unrelated sexuals or social parasites. Thus, theory would predict that ant workers will evolve the ability to discriminate between nestmate and alien brood using the chemical cues displayed at the brood’s surface. This appears especially true for eggs and first instar (L1) larvae, which require more resources before becoming adult workers compared to older brood. However, the chemical signature of ant early brood stages and its recognition by workers remains understudied. To fill this gap, we investigated the chemical basis of early brood nestmate and cross-species recognition in six ant species. We also tested the discrimination behaviour of workers in brood retrieval trials. We observed species-level cues and discrimination against hetero-specific brood. We also found that eggs and most L1 larvae displayed a colony signature. However, only some species discriminated against non-nestmate early brood. Interestingly, these species belong to genera subject to brood parasitism. We hypothesize that non-nestmate brood discrimination could arise from species adaptations against brood parasitism.

Centrioles are microtubule-based cell organelles present in most eukaryotes. They participate in the control of cell division as part of the centrosome, the major microtubule-organizing center of the cell, and are also essential for the formation of primary and motile cilia. During centriole assembly as well as across its lifetime, centriolar tubulin display marks defined by post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as glutamylation or acetylation. To date, the functions of these PTMs at centrioles are not well understood, although pioneering experiments suggest a role in the stability of this organelle. Here, we review the current knowledge regarding PTMs at centrioles with a particular focus on a possible link between these modifications and centriole's architecture, and propose possible hypothesis regarding centriolar tubulin PTMs's function.

The catfishes are a group of economically important freshwater fish in China, which in recent years have suffered heavy losses as a result of bacterial outbreaks. In this study, we examined the diversity of the microbiome of infected skin mucus of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and analyzed the bacterial pathogens. We found several common pathogenic bacteria, such as Aeromonas spp., Vibrio spp., Moraxella spp. and Proteus spp. present in both fish species, but with significantly different bacterial community structures. We isolated and cultured Aeromonas veronii and Proteus mirabilis and validated their infectivity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and yellow catfish. Intraperitoneal injection of either bacteria into zebrafish, but not immersion, caused 100% mortality and ovary fragmentation. Yellow catfish was more sensitive than zebrafish with 100% mortality in the immersion challenges with A. veronii or P. mirabilis, and with a higher abundance of A. veronii in the P. mirabilis-challenged group compared to control. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the pathogenicity of P. mirabilis in yellow catfish, and the results will help to develop effective strategies for the disease prevention and control in catfish farming.

Light is an essential natural factor of fish growth and development. A light regime in indoor aquaculture is critical for sustainable fish production. This research aimed to investigate the effect of light intensity and photoperiod on the growth performance and stress response of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), which is an important commercial species, in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Fingerlings with an average weight of 5 ± 0.9 g were randomly assigned to nine 1.5 m3 tanks with 145 fish in each tank, cultured under different light intensities (1000, 2000, and 3000 lx) and photoperiods (12L:12D, 18L:6D, 24L:0D), and fed to apparent satiation twice a day for 160 days. The growth of tilapia subjected to 2000 lx was significantly better than that exposed to 1000 and 3000 lx (P 0.05). Light intensity and photoperiod manipulation did not cause a significant chronic stress response in tilapia. This study demonstrated that light intensity, especially at 2000 lx, and photoperiod manipulation could stimulate the growth of tilapia in the RAS and significantly affect economic profitability. This study also served as an important reference for tilapia indoor aquaculture.

Polybrominated diphenyl ether has become a widespread environmental pollutant in aquatic environments. BDE-209, a prominent PBDEs found in the environment and wildlife, has been proven to cause oxidative stress, immune damage and endocrine system disorders in fish. However, the effects of BDE-209 on the intestinal health of fish remain unclear. This research aimed to determine the effects of BDE-209 on the growth performance, digestive enzymes activities and intestinal microbiota of common carp. After 60-day exposure, the growth performance of common carp were remarkably decreased (P 0.05). Overall, exposure to BDE-209 could alter the intestinal microbiota of common carp, which may affect their growth and threaten their health.

A 20-year-old woman was referred to the diabetes clinic with type 2 diabetes diagnosed at the age of 19. Her body mass index was 31.4 kg/m2, HbA1C was 76 mmol/mol, GAD antibodies were negative with a detectable C-peptide. She had a characteristic facial appearance with widespread eyes, posterior hairline suggesting a facial gestalt and abnormal dentition. She also had hypothyroidism, mild intellectual disability, primary amenorrhoea and patent ductus arteriosus. Karyotyping reported normal 46XX karyotype. Genetic testing revealed a pathogenic variant in the gene encoding the HIST1H1E protein which confirmed her diagnosis of HIST1H1E syndrome. Type 2 diabetes has not been reported in previous cases of HIST1H1E and so this is the first reported case of type 2 diabetes with HIST1H1E syndrome.

This paper describes a data collection campaign and the resulting dataset derived from smartphone sensors characterizing the daily life activities of 3 volunteers in a period of two weeks. The dataset is released as a collection of CSV files containing more than 45K data samples, where each sample is composed by 1332 features related to a heterogeneous set of physical and virtual sensors, including motion sensors, running applications, devices in proximity, and weather conditions. Moreover, each data sample is associated with a ground truth label that describes the user activity and the situation in which she was involved during the sensing experiment (e.g., working, at restaurant, and doing sport activity). To avoid introducing any bias during the data collection, we performed the sensing experiment in-the-wild, that is, by using the volunteers' devices, and without defining any constraint related to the user's behavior. For this reason, the collected dataset represents a useful source of real data to both define and evaluate a broad set of novel context-aware solutions (both algorithms and protocols) that aim to adapt their behavior according to the changes in the user's situation in a mobile environment.

Background: Three decades after the amyloid cascade hypothesis was first proposed, research into discovery of effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease has not yet produced any disease-modifying treatments. Aims: This review outlines the progress made by dementia research thus far, and provides a brief overview of the therapeutic approaches resulting from the amyloid cascade hypothesis. It then describes the shift in research focus to the early stages of the condition, the challenges it presents and potential consequences for care. Methods: A literature overview was undertaken by reviewing research papers, published protocols and policy guidelines. Findings: Past research has failed to produce effective treatments for dementia, yet the causes of this failure remain debated. Discovery of affordable, early biomarkers has emerged as a key target of investigation as the focus has shifted from treatment to prevention of the condition. Conclusions: Failures in identifying effective treatments for dementia have highlighted the importance of earlyidentification and intervention in patients as a way to prevent neurodegeneration and progression to dementia. Discovery of biomarkers is a key focus of current research. In the future, regular screening for dementia may be recommended for all older people in an effort to assess individual risk. Care may reflect a combination of early pharmacological interventions and lifestyle modification programmesbased on risk.

While the search for associations between genetic markers and complex traits has led to the discovery of tens of thousands of trait-related genetic variants, the vast majority of these only explain a small fraction of observed phenotypic variation. One possible strategy to detect stronger associations is to aggregate the effects of several genetic markers and to test entire genes, pathways or (sub)networks of genes for association to a phenotype. The latter, network-based genome-wide association studies, in particular suffers from a vast search space and an inherent multiple testing problem. As a consequence, current approaches are either based on greedy feature selection, thereby risking that they miss relevant associations, or neglect doing a multiple testing correction, which can lead to an abundance of false positive findings.To address the shortcomings of current approaches of network-based genome-wide association studies, we proposenetworkGWAS, a computationally efficient and statistically sound approach to network-based genome-wide association studies using mixed models and neighborhood aggregation. It allows for population structure correction and for well-calibratedp-values, which are obtained through circular and degree-preserving network permutation schemes.networkGWASsuccessfully detects known associations on semi-simulated common variants fromA. thalianaand on simulated rare variants fromH. sapiens, as well as neighborhoods of genes involved in stress-related biological processes on a stress-induced phenotype fromS. cerevisiae. It thereby enables the systematic combination of gene-based genome-wide association studies with biological network information.Availabilityhttps://github.com/BorgwardtLab/networkGWAS.gitContactgiulia.muzio@bsse.ethz.ch,karsten.borgwardt@bsse.ethz.ch

A total of 11 bacterial strains capable of completely degrading 2-butoxyethanol (2-BE) were isolated from forest soil, a biotrickling filter, a bioscrubber, and activated sludge, and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Eight of these strains belong to the genus Pseudomonas; the remaining three strains are Hydrogenophaga pseudoflava BOE3, Gordonia terrae BOE5, and Cupriavidus oxalaticus BOE300. In addition to 2-BE, all isolated strains were able to grow on 2-ethoxyethanol and 2-propoxyethanol, ethanol, n-hexanol, ethyl acetate, 2-butoxyacetic acid (2-BAA), glyoxylic acid, and n-butanol. Apart from the only gram-positive strain isolated, BOE5, none of the strains were able to grow on the nonpolar ethers diethyl ether, di-n-butyl ether, n-butyl vinyl ether, and dibenzyl ether, as well as on 1-butoxy-2-propanol. Strains H. pseudoflava BOE3 and two of the isolated pseudomonads, Pseudomonas putida BOE100 and P. vancouverensis BOE200, were studied in more detail. The maximum growth rates of strains BOE3, BOE100, and BOE200 at 30 °C were 0.204 h-1 at 4 mM, 0.645 h-1 at 5 mM, and 0.395 h-1 at 6 mM 2-BE, respectively. 2-BAA, n-butanol, and butanoic acid were detected as potential metabolites during the degradation of 2-BE. These findings indicate that the degradation of 2-BE by the isolated gram-negative strains proceeds via oxidation to 2-BAA with subsequent cleavage of the ether bond yielding glyoxylate and n-butanol. Since Gordonia terrae BOE5 was the only strain able to degrade nonpolar ethers like diethyl ether, the degradation pathway of 2-BE may be different for this strain., Projekt DEAL, Landesgraduiertenförderung der Universität Stuttgart

International audience; The root system of a plant is composed of the primary, lateral and adventitious roots (ARs). Lateral roots always develop from roots, whereas ARs form from stem or leaf‐derived cells. AR formation is part of the normal development of the plant and occurs naturally, like in most monocotyledonous for which they constitute the main root system or in many dicotyledonous species that propagate vegetatively. Adventitious rooting is an essential step for vegetative propagation of economically important horticultural and woody species as it allows clonal propagation and rapid fixation of superior genotypes prior to their introduction into production or breeding programmes. Development of ARs is a complex process that is affected by multiple endogenous and environmental factors, including phytohormones; light; nutritional status; associated stress responses, such as wounding; and genetic characteristics.

In aging males, androgen production by testicular Leydig cells decreases at a rate of approximately 1% per year. Phenolic compounds may enhance testosterone biosynthesis and delay the onset of male hypogonadism. Gigantol is a bibenzyl compound isolated from several types of orchids of the genus Dendrobium. This compound has various biological activities, including antioxidant activity. However, its capacity to regulate gene expression and steroid production in testicular Leydig cells has never been evaluated. We investigated the effect of gigantol on MA-10 Leydig cells’ gene expression using an RNA-Seq approach. To further investigate the structure-function relationship of the hydroxy-methoxyphenyl moiety of gigantol, experiments were also performed with ferulic acid and isoferulic acid. According to transcriptomic analysis, all genes coding for cholesterol biosynthesis-related enzymes are increased in response to gigantol treatment, resulting in increased lipid droplets accumulation. Moreover, treatments with 10 μM gigantol increased StAR protein levels and progesterone production from MA-10 Leydig cells. However, neither ferulic acid nor isoferulic acid influenced StAR protein synthesis and progesterone production in MA-10 Leydig cells. Thus, our findings indicate that gigantol improves cholesterol and steroid biosynthesis within testicular Leydig cells.

The purpose of this study is to investigate in vitro hypoglycemic and free radical scavenging activities of some medicinal plants including Ficus glomerata (FG), Pandanus amaryllifolia (PaA), Artocarpus altilis (AA), Gomphrena celosioides (GC) and Gynostemma pentaphyllum (GP). Alpha-amylase inhibitory assay was examined by dinitrosalicylic acid reaction. Glucose uptake assay was investigated by LO-2 cell model. DPPH and ABTS+ scavenging assays were performed by spectrophotometry. Cell viability was determined by MTT method. It was found that the extracts including FG, PaA, AA, GC and GP were able to inhibit alphaamylase activity up to 38.4 ± 4.2%, 47.8 ± 4.3%, 49.3 ± 3.5%, 40.1 ± 4.4% and 38.5 ± 3.8%, respectively. Moreover, glucose adsorption and glucose uptake capacity of these extracts were evidenced. In addition, free radical scavenging activity of these extracts was indicated in a range of 30.6-54.5% for DPPH radical and 31.8-51.1% for ABTS+ radical. Especially, these extracts exhibited no cytotoxicity effect on human hepatic LO-2 cells and human gastric BGC-823 cells at the concentration of 100 μg/ml. The results indicated that A. altilis leaves were effective in inhibiting alpha-amylase activity, increasing glucose adsorption and glucose uptake and scavenging free radicals. Therefore, it could be suggested to be a promising hypoglycemic agent for managing type 2 diabetes.

High-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is treated with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), but relapse is common. Improvement of patient outcomes requires better understanding of links between BCG resistance and genomic driver alterations.To validate the prognostic impact of common genomic alterations in NMIBC pretreatment and define somatic changes present in post-BCG relapses.We retrieved tumour tissues and outcomes for 90 patients with BCG-naive NMIBC initiating BCG monotherapy. Post-BCG tissue was available from 34 patients. All tissues underwent targeted sequencing of tumour and matched normal.Associations between clinical outcomes and genomics were determined using Cox proportional hazard models.Of the patients, 58% were relapse free at data cut-off, 24% had NMIBC recurrence, and 18% experienced muscle-invasive progression. The risk of relapse was associated with ARID1A mutation (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.00; p = 0.04) and CCNE1 amplification (HR = 2.61; p = 0.02). Pre- and post-BCG tumours shared truncal driver alterations, with mutations in TERT and chromatin remodelling genes particularly conserved. However, shifts in somatic profiles were common and clinically relevant alterations in FGFR3, PIK3CA, TSC1, and TP53 were temporally variable, despite apparent clonal prevalence at one time point. Limitations include the difficulty of resolving the relative impact of BCG therapy versus surgery on genomics at relapse and biopsy bias.Somatic hypermutation and alterations in CCNE1 and ARID1A should be incorporated into future models predicting NMIBC BCG outcomes. Changes in tumour genomics over time highlight the importance of recent biopsy when considering targeted therapies, and suggest that relapse after BCG is due to persisting and evolving precursor populations.Changes in key cancer genes can predict bladder cancer relapse after treatment with bacillus Calmette-Guérin. Relapses after treatment can be driven by large-scale genetic changes within the cancer. These genetic changes help us understand how superficial bladder cancer can progress to be treatment resistant.

Telomeres are protective, nucleoprotein structures at the end of chromosomes that have been associated with lifespan across taxa. However, the extent to which these associations can be attributed to absolute length vs. the rate of telomere shortening prior to sampling remains unresolved. In a longitudinal study, we examined the relationship between lifespan, telomere length and the rate of telomere shortening in wild, purple-crowned fairy-wrens (Malurus coronatus coronatus). To this end, we measured telomere length using quantitative polymerase chain reaction in the blood of 59 individuals sampled as nestlings and 4-14 months thereafter, and in 141 known-age individuals sampled on average three times across adulthood. We applied within-subject centring analyses to simultaneously test for associations between lifespan and average telomere length and telomere shortening. We reveal that the rate of telomere shortening and to a lesser extent telomere length in the first year of life independently predicted lifespan, with individuals with faster shortening rates and/or shorter telomeres living less long. In contrast, in adulthood neither telomere shortening nor telomere length predicted lifespan, despite a considerably larger data set. Our results suggest that telomere length measured very early in life (during development) and longitudinal assessments of telomere shortening during the first year of life constitute more useful biomarkers of total life expectancy than either telomere length measured after development, or telomere shortening later in adulthood.

International audience; The anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a heterodimeric glycoprotein belonging to the TGFb superfamily implicated in human embryonic development. This hormone was first described as allowing regression of the epithelial embryonic Müllerian structures in males, which would otherwise differentiate into the uterus and fallopian tubes. It activates a signaling pathway mediated by two transmembrane receptors. Binding of AMH to its receptor induces morphological changes leading to the degeneration of Müllerian ducts. Recently, new data has shown the role played by this hormone on structures other than the genital tract. If testicular AMH expression decreases in humans over the course of a lifetime, synthesis may persist in other tissues in adulthood. The mechanisms underlying its production have been unveiled. The aim of this review is to describe the different pathways in which AMH has been identified and plays a pivotal role.

Establishing suitable salt tolerant all-male tilapia strains with fast growth rate is a crucial requirement for successful euryhaline farming required for controlling prolific breeding and as an adaptation to the effect of climate-induced drought. This study assessed the percentage of tilapia male hybrids, their growth performance and survival rate produced by crossing female Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and male Rufiji tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis urolepis) at different salinities. The fingerlings were reared for 70 days in triplicate concrete tanks (1 m3), each stocked with 15 fish weighing 1.62 ± 0.03 g, 1.69 ± 0.02 g and 1.41 ± 0.06 g exposed to 2, 15 and 35 ppt salinities, respectively. Acclimatization was done by adding seawater to freshwater at a rate of 2 ppt per day for 18 days. Fish sexing was done by visual assessment of the genital papilla followed by rearing the hybrids for six months to observe reproduction. Results showed that, the cross between O. niloticus (female) and O. urolepis urolepis (male) produced hybrids that were all-males without any reproduction within six months post hybridization. The hybrids reared at a salinity of 2 ppt had higher growth performance than those reared at 15 and 35 ppt. Similarly, hybrids cultured at 15 ppt had significantly higher growth performance than those reared at 35 ppt. All the hybrids produced had survival rates of 100%. This study indicated that, all-male tilapia produced by crossing between O. niloticus (female) and O. urolepis (male) can be used by fish farmers as alternative species for mariculture development to control prolific breeding and as an adaptation strategy to climate change.

In this study, the effects of chemical refining on the physicochemical indices, environmental pollutants, lipid functional groups, relaxation characteristics, fatty acid profiles, and triglyceride (TG) molecular species in crude oil extracted from small fish in Mauritania were evaluated. The acid, peroxide, and iodine values of crude oil were identified as 5.52 mg KOH/g, 1.73 meq/kg, and 200.78 g/100 g oil, respectively. After refining, these values were determined to be 0.29 mg KOH/g, 0.76 meq/kg, and 210.80 g/100 g oil, respectively. The polychlorinated biphenyls and arsenic content of crude oil were identified as 32.30 μg/kg and 1.00 mg/kg, respectively. After refining, these were not detected. The content of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) accounted for as much as 87.55% of the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the refined oil, indicating that high-quality fish oil is suitable as a food supplement. The correlation coefficient of the infrared spectra before and after refining was 0.968, and the relaxation time and peak shape data were almost similar before and after purification. Meanwhile, there were no significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) in fatty acid profiles between the crude and refined oils, except for C16:0 (P

The development of microbial products for cancer treatment has been in the spotlight in recent years. In order to accelerate the lengthy and expensive drug development process, in silico screening tools are systematically employed, especially during the initial discovery phase. Moreover, considering the steadily increasing number of molecules approved by authorities for commercial use, there is a demand for faster methods to repurpose such drugs. Here we present a review on virtual screening web tools, such as publicly available databases of molecular targets and libraries of ligands, with the aim to facilitate the discovery of potential anticancer drugs based on microbial products. We provide an entry-level step-by-step description of the workflow for virtual screening of microbial metabolites with known protein targets, as well as two practical examples using freely available web tools. The first case presents a virtual screening study of drugs developed from microbial products using Caver Web, a web tool that performs docking along a tunnel. The second case comprises a comparative analysis between a wild type isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and a mutant that results in cancer, using the recently developed web tool PredictSNPOnco. In summary, this review provides the basic and essential background information necessary for virtual screening experiments, which may accelerate the discovery of novel anticancer drugs.

The present study on some biological aspects of the Mormyridae fishes, was conducted between May and August 2015 in the Upper Sanaga at Lekie Department (Monatele Town), Center Cameroon. For this purpose, 125 specimens collected by local fishermen were used. Fishes were identified and measured, and their feeding and reproductive parameters were obtained after dissection. The catch composition of 4 species (Campylomormyrus phantasticus, Mormyrops anguilloides, Mormyrus macrophtalamus, Mormyrus tapirus) of Mormyridae identified in the region was very low (17%–30%). The mean ± standard deviation of total weight and total length were 103.14 ± 37.83 g and 27.47 ± 4.84 cm, respectively. The minimum and maximum size (of 21.1 cm and 43 cm) were recorded from C. phantasticus and M. anguilloides, respectively. The mean ± standard deviation of the relative length and mass of the digestive tract were 0.35% ± 0.20% and 5.27% ± 23.20%, respectively confirming that Mormyridae fish species have a strict carnivorous diet and consume prey that are difficult to digest. The size frequency distribution of the Mormyridae fishes showed that the majority of the fish caught are small sizes in classes 23–26 cm and 26–29 cm in C. phantasticus, M. macrophthalamus and M. tapirus. M. anguilloides did not record small specimens, however, it recorded larger sized specimens (41–44 cm) compared to the rest. The sex ratio ranged from 1M: 1.14F (M. anguilloides) to 1M: 4F (M. tapirus), mean 1M: 2.04F has been generally in favour of females. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) was generally low in all species. However, it was higher in females of C. phantasticus and M. anguilloides compared to other species. The hepatosomatic index (HSI) was weakly correlated with the GSI in these species.

The present study was conducted to estimate the optimum requirement of phosphorus in practical diets for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). Six iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous diets were formulated with the supplementation of monocalcium phosphate (MCP) of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 g/kg in basal diet containing 350 g/kg fish meal, respectively. The digestible phosphorus of the six diets was measured as 5.7, 6.7, 7.8, 8.7, 9.3 and 10.0 g/kg, respectively. Each diet was randomly fed to triplicate groups of 25 juvenile fish (initial body weight, 16.0 ± 0.2 g) for 60 days. The results showed that weight gain increased, and feed conversion ratio decreased with the increase of dietary phosphorus. When dietary MCP exceeded 15 g/kg (digestible phosphorus of 8.7 g/kg), the WG and FCR were maintained at the similar values. The crude ash, phosphorus and calcium contents in whole body, apparent digestibility of phosphorus and protein retention also increased with the increasing phosphorus level in diets. Vertebrae phosphorus and calcium levels and plasma phosphorus showed no further increase when dietary MCP reached 20, 20 and 10 g/kg with digestible phosphorus of 9.3, 9.3 and 7.8 g/kg, respectively. Broken-line analysis indicated that the digestible phosphorus requirement for largemouth bass were 8.9, 8.7 and 9.6 g/kg based on weight gain, feed conversion ratio and vertebral phosphorus content. In conclusion, the supplementation of MCP in a diet containing 350 g/kg fish meal improved the growth and feed utilization of largemouth bass, and the digestible phosphorus requirement was suggested to be 8.7–8.9 g/kg with MCP supplementation of 15.0–15.8 g/kg.

Nano-selenium (Se) has attracted growing attention due to its high bioavailability, low toxicity and its possible applications in the prevention of oxidative damage in animal tissues. Recent research works have conveyed that the use of nano-seleniumas food additive could have positive effects on the nutrition of aquatic animals.In this study, the intestinal bacterial communities associated with low and high concentrations of nano-selenium in the diet of Chinese tongue sole were characterized, through 16S rRNA V3–V4 sequencing.Samples were derived from fish fed with diet containing different nano-selenium level, 0 mg/kg for the control group, 1.6 mg/kg for low dose group, and 2.4 mg/kg for high dose group The intestinal microbial community structure showed a low overall diversity, among which the vibro genus occupied the most important position with more than 90% relative abundance in all three group. Significant differences in specie diversity occurred between the nano-selenium treated (both low dose [IL] and high dose [LH]) groups and the control group(IC). Acinetobacter, Arthrobacter, and Streptophytes were the top three enriched genera after the treatment with nano-selenium compared to IC. Meantime, the weight gain rate of the LH group was 9% higher than control. The results revealed the effect of nano-selenium on microbial community structure of gut and growth performance of C.semilaevis, Future research exploring the interaction mechanism between micronutrients and the microbial communities would increase our understanding of the fish nutrition.

Blind-side hypermelanosis has emerged as a major concern in flatfish aquaculture worldwide, including tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) in China. The causative gene and the molecular basis are still unclear. In this study, comparative transcriptome analyses were performed using different skin tissues of tongue sole: ocular-side normal (pigmented) skin, blind-side normal (non-pigmented) skin and blind-side hypermelanotic (pigmented) skin. Finally, 60 key hypermelanosis-related genes were mined, providing potential candidate gene resources involved in blind-side hypermelanosis. These genes were selected based on the log2(FoldChange) and false discovery rate (FDR) values (with corresponding P-Values

Grass carp has the highest production yield among all the farmed fish species around the world. But the molecular and genetic basis of growth traits is inadequately understood in this fish. In the present study, we apply whole-transcriptome sequencing to identify genes whose expression is different between fast and slow growing grass carp. We identified 1178 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), among which 270 were upregulated in the fast growing group and 908 upregulated in the slow growing group. The GO enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs was significantly enriched in protein synthesis and export machinery, cell division and development and metabolism, suggesting that cell division and metabolism may play key roles in development processes of fish. KEGG pathway analysis showed that MAPK signaling pathway may play a prominent role in growth difference. In addition, the majority of genes in immune responses related pathway were upregulated in the slow growing individuals. These results provide some valuable resources for understanding the molecular mechanisms of growth traits in fish.

Dried or defatted black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae meal has been shown an important ingredient in aquafeed, but little information is available about the effects of black soldier fly pulp (BSFP) on growth and health of fish. A 62-day feeding trial was conducted to assess the effects of dietary BSFP on growth performance, whole body composition, serum metabolites, antioxidant and immune response of Micropterus salmoides. Four isoproteic and isolipidic diets were formulated by adding BSFP (original substance) to the basal diet at the rate of 0% (BSFP0), 1% (BSFP1), 2% (BSFP2) and 4% (BSFP4), corresponding to inclusion of 0, 4.5, 9.0 and 18.0 g/kg DM in diets. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of 35 fish per tank. Fish were fed twice daily to apparent satiation. Blood samples were collected at the terminal trial to analyse serum metabolites, antioxidant and immune enzyme activities. Results indicated that fish fed BSFP2 had higher (P

Early cellular patterning is a critical step of embryonic development that determines the proper progression of morphogenesis in all metazoans. It relies on a series of rapid reductive divisions occurring simultaneously with the specification of the fate of different subsets of cells. Multiple species developmental strategies emerged in the form of a unique cleavage pattern with stereotyped division geometries. Cleavage geometries have long been associated to the emergence of canonical developmental features such as cell cycle asynchrony, zygotic genome activation and fate specification. Yet, the direct causal role of division positioning on blastomere cell behavior remain partially understood. Oriented and/or asymmetric divisions define blastomere cell sizes, contacts and positions, with potential immediate impact on cellular decisions, lineage specification and morphogenesis. Division positions also instruct daughter cells polarity, mechanics and geometries, thereby influencing subsequent division events, in an emergent interplay that may pattern early embryos independently of firm deterministic genetic programs. We here review the recent literature which helped to delineate mechanisms and functions of division positioning in early embryos.

Background Excessive processing of aversive life events is a major pathology in stress-related anxiety and depressive disorders. Current pharmacological treatments have rather non-specific mechanisms of action. Somatostatin is synthesized and released as an inhibitory co-neurotransmitter by specific GABA interneurons and one of its receptors, SSTR4, is localized in brain regions involved in adaptive aversion processing and implicated in negative valence neuropathology, including the amygdala. Methods Rat and mouse experiments were conducted to investigate effects of specific SSTR4 agonism on neurobehavioral aversion processing including any normalization of stress-related hyper-responsiveness. A mouse experiment to investigate stress and SSTR4 agonism effects on reward processing was also conducted. Results In male rats (N=5-10/group) fitted with glutamate biosensors in basolateral amygdala, SSTR4 agonism attenuated glutamate release to restraint stress in control rats and particularly in rats previously exposed to chronic corticosterone. In male mice (N=10-18/group), SSTR4 agonism dose-dependently attenuated Pavlovian tone-footshock learning and memory measured as freezing behavior, both in controls (CON) and following exposure to chronic social stress (CSS) which induces excessive Pavlovian aversion learning-memory. Specificity of SSTR4 agonism effects to aversion learning-memory was demonstrated by absence of effects on discriminative reward (sucrose) learning-memory in both CON and CSS mice; SSTR4 agonism did increase reward-to-effort valuation in a dose-dependent manner, and in both CON mice and mice exposed to CSS which attenuates reward motivation. Conclusions These neuropsychopharmacological findings add substantially to the preclinical proof-of-concept evidence for SSTR4 agonism as a treatment in anxiety and depressive disorders.

BackgroundExperimental work in animals has shown that DNA methylation (DNAm), an epigenetic mechanism regulating gene expression, is influenced by typical variation in maternal care. While emerging research in humans supports a similar association, studies to date have been limited to candidate gene and cross-sectional approaches, with a focus on extreme deviations in the caregiving environment.MethodsHere, we explored the prospective association between typical variation in maternal sensitivity and offspring epigenome-wide DNAm, in a population-based cohort of children (N = 235). Maternal sensitivity was observed when children were 3- and 4-years-old. DNAm, quantified with the Infinium 450 K array, was extracted at age 6 (whole blood). The influence of methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs), DNAm at birth (cord blood), and confounders (socioeconomic status, maternal psychopathology) was considered in follow-up analyses.ResultsGenome-wide significant associations between maternal sensitivity and offspring DNAm were observed at 13 regions (p < 1.06 × 10−07), but not at single sites. Follow-up analyses indicated that associations at these regions were in part related to genetic factors, confounders, and baseline DNAm levels at birth, as evidenced by the presence of mQTLs at five regions and estimate attenuations. Robust associations with maternal sensitivity were found at four regions, annotated to ZBTB22, TAPBP, ZBTB12, and DOCK4.ConclusionsThese findings provide novel leads into the relationship between typical variation in maternal caregiving and offspring DNAm in humans, highlighting robust regions of associations, previously implicated in psychological and developmental problems, immune functioning, and stress responses.

Since real-world objects and their interactions are often multi-modal and multi-typed, heterogeneous networks have been widely used as a more powerful, realistic, and generic superclass of traditional homogeneous networks (graphs). Meanwhile, representation learning (\aka~embedding) has recently been intensively studied and shown effective for various network mining and analytical tasks. In this work, we aim to provide a unified framework to deeply summarize and evaluate existing research on heterogeneous network embedding (HNE), which includes but goes beyond a normal survey. Since there has already been a broad body of HNE algorithms, as the first contribution of this work, we provide a generic paradigm for the systematic categorization and analysis over the merits of various existing HNE algorithms. Moreover, existing HNE algorithms, though mostly claimed generic, are often evaluated on different datasets. Understandable due to the application favor of HNE, such indirect comparisons largely hinder the proper attribution of improved task performance towards effective data preprocessing and novel technical design, especially considering the various ways possible to construct a heterogeneous network from real-world application data. Therefore, as the second contribution, we create four benchmark datasets with various properties regarding scale, structure, attribute/label availability, and \etc.~from different sources, towards handy and fair evaluations of HNE algorithms. As the third contribution, we carefully refactor and amend the implementations and create friendly interfaces for 13 popular HNE algorithms, and provide all-around comparisons among them over multiple tasks and experimental settings., Accepted by IEEE TKDE. All code and data available at https://github.com/yangji9181/HNE

Purpose: Aim was to analyze demographic and tumor characteristics, treatment, and survival of patients with lung cancer younger than 40 years of age (U40) compared to older subgroups (41–70 and >70...

Study Design: A sex- and age-matched case-control study and a cross-sectional study. Objective: In our previous study, patients with early-onset (Methods: In Study 1, the simple brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) was used to compare nutrient intake levels of early-onset OPLL patients (n = 13) with those of sex- and age-matched non-OPLL controls (n = 39) or with those of common OPLL (onset age ≥ 50 years, n = 62). In Study 2, serological validation was conducted for thoracic OPLL patients (n = 77) and non-OPLL controls (n = 101) in a nationwide multicenter study in Japan. Results: The BDHQ showed that the early-onset OPLL patients had significantly lower intakes of vitamins A and B6 than non-OPLL controls. These results were validated by lower serum vitamins A and B6 levels in the early-onset thoracic OPLL patients. The severity of OPLL negatively correlated with serum vitamin A levels in male early-onset OPLL patients. The multiple regression analysis revealed that the severity of thoracic OPLL had an association with onset age and serum vitamin A level. Conclusions: Vitamin A deficiency resulting from unbalanced dietary habits is associated with exacerbation of male early-onset OPLL.

There is growing use of technology-enabled contact tracing, the process of identifying potentially infected COVID-19 patients by notifying all recent contacts of an infected person. Governments, technology companies, and research groups alike have been working towards releasing smartphone apps, using IoT devices, and distributing wearable technology to automatically track "close contacts" and identify prior contacts in the event an individual tests positive. However, there has been significant public discussion about the tensions between effective technology-based contact tracing and the privacy of individuals. To inform this discussion, we present the results of seven months of online surveys focused on contact tracing and privacy, each with 100 participants. Our first surveys were on April 1 and 3, before the first peak of the virus in the US, and we continued to conduct the surveys weekly for 10 weeks (through June), and then fortnightly through November, adding topical questions to reflect current discussions about contact tracing and COVID-19. Our results present the diversity of public opinion and can inform policy makers, technologists, researchers, and public health experts on whether and how to leverage technology to reduce the spread of COVID-19, while considering potential privacy concerns. We are continuing to conduct longitudinal measurements and will update this report over time; citations to this version of the report should reference Report Version 2.0, December 4, 2020., 37 pages, 11 figures. Supercedes arXiv:2005.06056

Heterogeneity within specific cell types is common and increasingly apparent with the advent of single cell transcriptomics. Transcriptional and functional cellular specialization has been described for insulin-secreting β cells of the endocrine pancreas, including so-called extreme β cells exhibiting >2-fold higher insulin gene activity. However, it is not yet clear whether β cell heterogeneity is stable or reflects dynamic cellular states. We investigated the temporal kinetics of endogenous insulin gene activity using live cell imaging, with complementary experiments employing FACS and single cell RNA sequencing, in β cells from Ins2GFP knock-in mice. In vivo staining and FACS analysis of islets from Ins2GFP mice confirmed that at a given moment, ~25% of β cells exhibited significantly higher activity at the conserved insulin gene Ins2. Live cell imaging captured Ins2 gene activity dynamics in single β cells over time. Autocorrelation analysis indicated that cells displaying fluctuations in Ins2 gene activity most commonly exhibited a frequency of 17 hours. Increased glucose concentrations stimulated more cells to oscillate and resulted in higher average Ins2 gene activity per cell. Single cell RNA sequencing determined that Ins2(GFP)HIGH β cells were enriched for markers of β cell maturity and had reduced expression of anti-oxidant genes. Ins2(GFP)HIGH β cells were also significantly less viable at all glucose concentrations and in the context of ER stress. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the heterogeneity of insulin production, observed in mouse and human β cells, can be accounted for by dynamic states of insulin gene activity. Our observations define a previously uncharacterized form of β cell plasticity. Understanding the dynamics of insulin production has relevance for understanding the pathobiology of diabetes and for regenerative therapy research.

Resume Contexte L’orthorexie est un trouble recemment mis en evidence par le medecin Steve Bratman (1997). Il designe les preoccupations obsessionnelles pour l’alimentation saine qui engendre une alteration significative du fonctionnement somato-psychique et social ainsi qu’une souffrance. Objectif Il s’agit dans cette etude d’explorer le profil orthorexique en lien avec les troubles des conduites alimentaires (TCA), l’estime corporelle, les attitudes environnementales et la flexibilite psychologique. Methode Les participants ont ete repartis en trois groupes : « Tout-venant » (n = 110), « TCA actuel » (n = 97) et « TCA passe » (n = 115). Ils ont tous repondu a un ensemble de questionnaires en ligne : l’Echelle Francaise d’Orthorexie, l’Inventaire des Troubles Alimentaires, l’Echelle d’Estime Corporelle, le Questionnaire d’Acceptation et d’Action, l’Echelle Clinique d’Anxiete et de Depression et l’Inventaire des Attitudes Environnementales. Resultats Les resultats ont montre des correlations fortes et significatives entre les symptomes orthorexiques et plusieurs symptomes TCA. Des differences tres significatives entre les trois groupes sont presentes concernant les scores d’orthorexie, d’estime corporelle, de flexibilite psychologique et pour tous les symptomes TCA. Le groupe « TCA actuel » possede les scores les plus eleves pour les symptomes orthorexiques du fait d’une approche symptomatique et categorielle limitee pour realiser un diagnostic differentiel. Conclusion Le profil orthorexique est tres proche du profil des individus ayant des TCA. Il pourrait s’agir d’un reamenagement socialement et culturellement plus acceptable d’un TCA passe. Les autres variables testees ne semblent pas liees aux specificites du trouble orthorexique. Les etudes a venir devront prendre en compte une approche en termes de mecanismes et processus psychiques.

Since its first use several decades ago, scanning electron microscopy has been used in numerous investigations dedicated to biological systems. This contribution focuses on observations on pathological calcifications in order to review several major applications of primary importance to the clinician. Among these, we highlight such observations as medical diagnostic tools in pathologies arising from primary hyperoxaluria and urinary infections.

Summary Background The sciatic nerve bifurcates into the tibial and common fibular nerves in six different regions: the pelvic region, gluteal region, proximal, middle, or distal third of the posterior thigh, or in the popliteal fossa. Inadequate knowledge of sciatic nerve anatomy could lead to failed nerve blocks, and damage during intramuscular injections. Limited studies have been done on African population groups and lack a quantifiable method to classify the levels of sciatic nerve bifurcation. Aim Thus, this descriptive cadaver study aimed to assess the bifurcation level of the sciatic nerve in a South African population group using a quantifiable method. Methods Three hundred and thirty-eight formalin-fixed limbs from three universities were dissected between March and August 2018. Type A was classified if the sciatic nerve bifurcated within the pelvic region. A sciatic nerve bifurcation level index (SNBLI) was developed for this study to quantitatively classify the region of sciatic nerve bifurcation into types B to F. Results Type F bifurcation was most common (79.6%), and types B and C were not observed. In 15 (0.04%) specimens, two separate nerves entered the gluteal region and converged to form the sciatic nerve distal to the piriformis, which could bifurcate either in the distal third of the posterior thigh or popliteal fossa. Conclusion This is the first study to provide information on the sciatic nerve bifurcation in a large South African cadaver cohort. Moreover, we created a quantifiable method that can be used to classify the sciatic nerve bifurcation level. This will be beneficial in ensuring accurate comparison between different population groups in future.

Gene duplication and loss are major sources of genetic polymorphism in populations, and are important forces shaping the evolution of genome content and organization. We have reconstructed the origin and history of a 127 kbp segmental duplication,R2d, in the house mouse (Mus musculus). R2dcontains a single protein-coding gene,Cwc22. De novoassembly of both the ancestral (R2d1) and the derived (R2d2) copies reveals that they have been subject to non-allelic gene conversion events spanning tens of kilobases.R2d2is also a hotspot for structural variation: its diploid copy number ranges from zero in the mouse reference genome to more than 80 in wild mice sampled from around the globe. Hemizgyosity for high-copy-number alleles ofR2d2is associated inciswith meiotic drive, suppression of meiotic crossovers, and copy-number instability, with a mutation rate in excess of 1 per 100 transmissions in laboratory populations. We identify an additional 57 loci covering 0.8% of the mouse genome with patterns of sequence variation similar to those atR2d1andR2d2. Our results provide a striking example of allelic diversity generated by duplication and demonstrate the value ofde novoassembly in a phylogenetic context for understanding the mutational processes affecting duplicate genes.

We have developed “Microscope-Cockpit” (Cockpit), a highly adaptable open source user-friendly Python-based GUI environment for precision control of both simple and elaborate bespoke microscope systems. The user environment allows next-generation near-instantaneous navigation of the entire slide landscape for efficient selection of specimens of interest and automated acquisition without the use of eyepieces. Cockpit uses “Python-Microscope” (Microscope) for high-performance coordinated control of a wide range of hardware devices using open source software. Microscope also controls complex hardware devices such as deformable mirrors for aberration correction and spatial light modulators for structured illumination via abstracted device models. We demonstrate the advantages of the Cockpit platform using several bespoke microscopes, including a simple widefield system and a complex system with adaptive optics and structured illumination. A key strength of Cockpit is its use of Python, which means that any microscope built with Cockpit is ready for future customisation by simply adding new libraries, for example machine learning algorithms to enable automated microscopy decision making while imaging.HighlightsUser-friendly setup and use for simple to complex bespoke microscopes.Facilitates collaborations between biomedical scientists and microscope technologists.Touchscreen for near-instantaneous navigation of specimen landscape.Uses Python-Microscope, for abstracted open source hardware device control.Well-suited for user training of AI-algorithms for automated microscopy.