Eye-tracking women’s preferences for men’s somatotypes

Judging physical attractiveness involves sight, touch, sound and smells. Where visual judgments are concerned, attentional processes may have evolved to prioritize sex-typical traits that reflect cues signaling direct or indirect (i.e. genetic) benefits. Behavioral techniques that measure response times or eye movements provide a powerful test of this assumption by directly assessing how attractiveness influences the deployment of attention. We used eye-tracking to characterize women’s visual attention to men’s back-posed bodies, which varied in overall fat and muscle distribution, while they judged the potential of each model for a short- or long-term relationship. We hypothesized that when judging male bodily attractiveness women would focus more on the upper body musculature of all somatotypes, as it is a signal of metabolic health, immunocompetence and underlying endocrine function. Results showed that mesomorphs (muscular men) received the highest attractiveness ratings, followed by ectomorphs (lean men) and endomorphs (heavily-set men). For eye movements, attention was evenly distributed to the upper and lower back of both ectomorphs and mesomorphs. In contrast, for endomorphs the lower back, including the waist, captured more attention over the viewing period. These patterns in visual attention were evident in the first second of viewing, suggesting that body composition is identified early in viewing and guides attention to body regions that provide salient biological information during judgments of men’s bodily attractiveness.     

Molecular pharming’s foot in the FDA’s door: Protalix’s trailblazing story

Objectives

This short commentary examines the factors that led to Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first plant-derived biologic.

Results

In 2012, the first plant-derived protein pharmaceutical (biologic) was approved for commercial use in humans. The product, a recombinant form of human β-glucocerebrosidase marketed as ELELYSO, was developed by Protalix Biotherapeutics (Carmiel, Israel). The foresight to select this particular therapeutic product for development, flawless production pipeline, and serendipity seem to provide the key in explaining how ELELYSO became the first plant-derived biologic to achieve approval by Food and Drug Administration.

Conclusions

While the circumstances that enabled Protalix and its scientists to become the first to arrive at this historic milestone are perhaps unique, it is anticipated that more biologics will follow suit in winning regulatory endorsement.

     

Africa’s highest mountain harbours Africa’s tallest trees

While world records of tree heights were set by American, Australian and Asian tree species, Africa seemed to play no role here. In our study we show that Entandrophragma excelsum (Meliaceae) found in a remote valley at Kilimanjaro has to be included in the list of the world’s superlative trees. Estimating tree age from growth rates monitored by high resolution dendrometry indicates that tall individuals may reach more than 470 years of age. A unique combination of anatomical peculiarities and favorable site conditions might explain their enormous size. The late date of this discovery of Africa’s tallest trees may be due to the comparably low study efforts at Kilimanjaro compared with other biodiversity hotspots. Since only a few square kilometers of this habitat of Entandrophragma are left, Kilimanjaro (and Africa) is about to lose not only a unique biogeographical archive with highly diverse vegetation, but also its tallest trees. The inclusion of these valleys into the immediately neighboring Kilimanjaro National Park would be an excellent and urgent possibility of protection.     

Thudichum’s Successors

This paper describes the work of five scientists who, among others, carried on the work of J. L. W. Thudichum, the pre-eminent investigator of brain chemistry in the latter half of the 19th century, after his death in 1901. This paper is dedicated to my friend Moussa Ben-Hur Youdim, who spent three years (1963–1966) in my laboratory, as a graduate student in the Department of Biochemistry, McGill University. During this time, Moussa purified monoamine oxidase of rat liver, and provided the first evidence of its multiplicity. He also contributed to the recognition of iron and riboflavin as constituents of the enzyme.     

Survivin’s Dual Role: An Export’s View

Survivin is proposed to function as a mitotic regulator and an apoptosis inhibitor duringdevelopment and pathogenesis. As such, survivin has aroused keen interest in disparateareas of basic and translational research. Survivin acts as a subunit of the chromosomalpassenger complex (CPC), composed of the mitotic kinase Aurora-B, Borealin 5 and INCENP,and is essential for proper chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. Our recent findingsindicate that the nuclear export receptor Crm1 is critically involved in tethering the CPC to thecentromere by interacting with a leucine-rich nuclear export signal (NES), evolutionaryconserved in all mammalian survivin proteins. In addition, the survivin/Crm1 interaction10 seems to be required for the cytoprotective activity of survivin, because export deficientsurvivin fails to protect tumor cells against cancer therapy-induced apoptosis. These findingsappear of clinical relevance since preferential nuclear localization of survivin turned out to bea favorable prognostic factor in cancer patients. Besides emphasizing the functionalsignificance of the Crm1/survivin interface, we suggest to exploit the pharmacogenetic15 interference with survivin’s export as a novel strategy to antagonize survivin’s activity.     

Chasing genes in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

Alzheimers disease (AD), the most common type of dementia, and Parkinsons disease (PD), the most common movement disorder, are both neurodegenerative adult-onset diseases characterized by the progressive loss of specific neuronal populations and the accumulation of intraneuronal inclusions. The search for genetic and environmental factors that determine the fate of neurons during the ageing process has been a widespread approach in the battle against neurodegenerative disorders. Genetic studies of AD and PD initially focused on the search for genes involved in the aetiological mechanisms of monogenic forms of these diseases. They later expanded to study hundreds of patients, affected relative-pairs and population-based studies, sometimes performed on special isolated populations. A growing number of genes (and pathogenic mutations) is being identified that cause or increase susceptibility to AD and PD. This review discusses the way in which strategies of gene hunting have evolved during the last few years and the significance of finding genes such as the presenilins, -synuclein, parkin and DJ-1. In addition, we discuss possible links between these two neurodegenerative disorders. The clinical, pathological and genetic presentation of AD and PD suggests the involvement of a few overlapping interrelated pathways. Their imbricate features point to a spectrum of neurodegeneration (tauopathies, synucleinopathies, amyloidopathies) that need further intense investigation to find the missing links.     

When there’s smoke there’s.....CCN2

There is no treatment for fibrotic disease is a significant cause of mortality. CCN2 Members of the CCN family of matricellular proteins have a characteristic four domain structure. CCN2 (connective tissue growth factor) is believed to play an essential role in fibrogenesis. In a recent paper, data are provided that CCN5 (wisp2), which lacks the carboxy-terminal heparin-binding domain shared by the other CCN proteins, may act as a dominant-negative protein to suppress CCN2-mediated fibrogenesis. These data are consistent with the notion that different CCN proteins may enhance or suppress each other’s action and also suggest that CCN5, may be used as a novel anti-fibrotic therapy.