Focal Monomorphic Ventricular Tachycardia As The First Manifestation Of Amyloid Cardiomyopathy

52-year-old patient presented with palpitation and well tolerated monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. He had normal echocardiogram and coronary angiogram 3 months prior to presentation. Surface EKG revealed regular wide-complex tachycardia with right bundle branch block morphology and right inferior axis. In conjunction with recent negative cardiac evaluation, this suggested idiopathic focal ventricular tachycardia from anterolateral basal left ventricle. CARTO based activation mapping confirmed the presence of VT focus in that area. Radiofrequency ablation at the site of perfect pacemap resulted in a partial suppression of the focus. Echocardiogram was subsequently performed because of progressive dyspnea. It revealed asymmetrical thickening of posterolateral left ventricle, with delayed enhancement on contrast magnetic resonance imaging. Fine needle aspiration of abdominal fat stained with Congo red confirmed the diagnosis of systemic AL amyloidosis due to IgG λ-light chain deposition. Consequently, the patient underwent placement of implantable defibrillator and hematopoetic stem cell transplantation. He remains in excellent functional status 18 months after presentation.     

The Semantic Organization of Subjective Experience in Adolescence and Early Adulthood

To discover the laws of development of subjective experience, we must study the relationships between affective and intellectual processes in that experience (Vygotsky, 1981). Changes in this relationship and the formation of new interfunctional interactions during the course of emotional development shape the dynamic of such experiences and give rise to qualitatively new types.     

A Pilot Study Identifying a Set of microRNAs As Precise Diagnostic Biomarkers of Acute Kidney Injury

In the last decade, Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) diagnosis and therapy have not notably improved probably due to delay in the diagnosis, among other issues. Precocity and accuracy should be critical parameters in novel AKI biomarker discovery. microRNAs are key regulators of cell responses to many stimuli and they can be secreted to the extracellular environment. Therefore, they can be detected in body fluids and are emerging as novel disease biomarkers. We aimed to identify and validate serum miRNAs useful for AKI diagnosis and management. Using qRT-PCR arrays in serum samples, we determined miRNAs differentially expressed between AKI patients and healthy controls. Statistical and target prediction analysis allowed us to identify a panel of 10 serum miRNAs. This set was further validated, by qRT-PCR, in two independent cohorts of patients with relevant morbi-mortality related to AKI: Intensive Care Units (ICU) and Cardiac Surgery (CS). Statistical correlations with patient clinical parameter were performed. Our results demonstrated that the 10 selected miRNAs (miR-101-3p, miR-127-3p, miR-210-3p, miR-126-3p, miR-26b-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-146a-5p, miR-27a-3p, miR-93-3p and miR-10a-5p) were diagnostic biomarkers of AKI in ICU patients, exhibiting areas under the curve close to 1 in ROC analysis. Outstandingly, serum miRNAs estimated before CS predicted AKI development later on, thus becoming biomarkers to predict AKI predisposition. Moreover, after surgery, the expression of the miRNAs was modulated days before serum creatinine increased, demonstrating early diagnostic value. In summary, we have identified a set of serum miRNAs as AKI biomarkers useful in clinical practice, since they demonstrate early detection and high diagnostic value and they recognize patients at risk.     

Analysis of Crossover Designs with a Categorical Response

In the analysis of two-period crossover designs, one frequently must consider the case of a categorical response with binary as a special case. These circumstances are considered in this paper and the proposed method—an extension of GART'S tests for the binary case—is similar to that of PIKE, CASAGRANDE and SMITH for the analysis of pair-matched case-control studies. The results are illustrated with a numerical example.     

The Evolution of Oxygen As a Biosynthetic Reagent

The biosynthesis of certain cell constituents: monounsaturated fatty acids, tyrosine, and nicotinic acid, is oxygen-dependent in many higher organisms. The same compounds can be synthesized by different, oxygen-independent pathways in lower organisms. The general outlines of these pathways are described and the importance of the compounds synthesized is discussed. An examination of the distribution of these pathways among living organisms reveals that oxygen-dependent pathways replaced the "anaerobic" pathways at different branch points on the evolutionary tree. Other groups of compounds are discussed, which are not distributed as widely among living organisms, but are found in all higher organisms. These compounds have specialized functions and their biosynthesis requires molecular oxygen. The oxygen-dependent portions of the biosynthetic pathways leading to porphyrins, quinone coenzymes, carotenoids, sterols, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are summarized. The distribution and functions of these compounds are also considered and an attempt is made to place them in the framework of evolution. While sterols and polyunsaturated fatty acids are found exclusively in the higher Protista and multicellular organisms, carotenoids, porphyrins, and quinones are also found in bacteria. The possibility of oxygen-independent mechanisms for their biosynthesis is discussed.     

Development and Validation of a Set of German Stimulus- and Target Words for an Attachment Related Semantic Priming Paradigm

Experimental research in adult attachment theory is faced with the challenge to adequately activate the adult attachment system. In view of the multitude of methods employed for this purpose so far, this paper suggests to further make use of the methodological advantages of semantic priming. In order to enable the use of such a paradigm in a German speaking context, a set of German words belonging to the semantic categories ‘interpersonal closeness’, ‘interpersonal distance’ and ‘neutral’ were identified and their semantics were validated combining production- and rating method. 164 university students answered corresponding online-questionnaires. Ratings were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and cluster analysis from which three clearly distinct groups emerged. Beyond providing validated stimulus- and target words which can be used to activate the adult attachment system in a semantic priming paradigm, the results of this study point at important links between attachment and stress which call for further investigation in the future.     

Sexual Cannibalism as a Manifestation of Sexual Conflict

Sexual cannibalism is a well-known example for sexual conflict and has many facets that determine the costs and benefits for the cannibal and the victim. Here, I focus on species in which sexual cannibalism is a general component of a mating system in which males invest maximally in mating with a single (monogyny) or two (bigyny) females. Sexual cannibalism can be a male strategy to maximize paternity and a female strategy to prevent paternity monopolization by any or a particular male. Considerable variation exists between species (1) in the potential of males to monopolize females, and (2) in the success of females in preventing monopolization by males. This opens up exciting future possibilities to investigate sexually antagonistic coevolution in a largely unstudied mating system.Sexual cannibalism, the killing and consumption of potential or actual mating partners in a mating context, has been termed a “pinnacle of sexual conflict” because of the dramatic ending of the act for one mating partner, mostly the male (Elgar and Schneider 2004). This contradiction of traditional sex roles may be one reason why the phenomenon of sexual cannibalism has intrigued naturalists for a long time. In the context of sexual conflict, sexually cannibalistic behavior of females is a harmful trait, and antagonistic traits are expected to evolve in males, which can be considered the reverse of most other examples in which females respond to male harm (see Perry and Rowe 2014). I will discuss potential antagonistic traits to sexual cannibalism in males but will also show that the above view is too simplistic when it comes to spider mating systems characterized by very low male mating rates.It is important to note that there are different kinds of sexual cannibalism based on very different evolutionary scenarios (Elgar and Schneider 2004; Prenter et al. 2006; Wilder et al. 2009). The most extreme divide exists between cannibalism before sperm transfer, which can only benefit the cannibal, and sexual cannibalism during or after sperm transfer (from here on termed postinsemination sexual cannibalism), which can benefit the cannibal and the victim (Elgar and Schneider 2004). Despite a longer history of research on preinsemination sexual cannibalism, the evolutionary causes and consequences of postinsemination sexual cannibalism are generally less debated.There are reports (often anecdotal) on the occurrence of sexual cannibalism from diverse invertebrate taxa (Elgar 1992) and it may well occur in all predatory invertebrates that are potentially cannibalistic (Polis 1981). It is beyond the scope of this brief review to list and evaluate all reported occurrences. Rather, I will start with a brief account of the generally discussed causes and consequences of sexual cannibalism and will then concentrate on the conflicting interests of the sexes regarding postinsemination sexual cannibalism in mating systems that are characterized by very low male mating rates.Studies that investigate sexual cannibalism experimentally are mostly concerned with (1) nutritional aspects, (2) the importance of sexual size dimorphism and sexual selection, and, increasingly, (3) behavioral syndromes. The aggressive spillover hypothesis suggests that preinsemination sexual cannibalism is part of a behavioral syndrome in which aggression against mating partners spills over from a foraging context (Arnqvist and Henriksson 1997). There is mixed support for this idea in the few species that have been looked at. In several spider species, females consistently differ in their aggressiveness and these differences affect sexual cannibalism (for a recent debate about the evidence for this hypothesis, see Johnson 2013; Kralj-Fišer et al. 2013b; Pruitt and Keiser 2013).A majority of studies have taken a unilateral view and have been concerned with the “motivation” of the cannibal; because sexual cannibalism generally occurs in predators, hunger is a well-supported motivation (Wilder et al. 2009). Many predators are food-limited, and, assuming a trade-off between foraging and mating, the balance may tilt toward foraging under particular circumstances (modeled by Newman and Elgar 1991). Food and mate availability will influence the costs and benefits of sexual cannibalism for females and have been one focus of a recent review on sexual cannibalism (Wilder et al. 2009).In all predatory and cannibalistic animals, mating partners impose selection on each other’s abilities to avoid or resist aggression. This selection pressure is asymmetrical if one sex is physically dominant. Indeed, the differences in size between females and males often determine the frequency of sexual cannibalism, perhaps because the potential to resist a cannibalistic attack is size-dependent (Elgar 1992; Wilder and Rypstra 2008). Usually, males are the victims and females are the cannibals. Yet, reversed sexual cannibalism has also been reported and appears to be associated with the reversed pattern in sexual size dimorphism. Examples are the water spider, Arygoneta aquatica (Schutz and Taborsky 2005, 2011) and role-reversed wolf spiders (Aisenberg et al. 2011). In the gnaphosid spider, Micaria sociabilis, large, young males cannibalize old and relatively smaller females (Sentenska and Pekar 2013). These examples further support the notion that the relative size differences of a mating pair play a part in determining the likelihood of sexual cannibalism. Patterns can be found both on a between-species comparative scale and on a within-species scale (Wilder and Rypstra 2008; Wilder et al. 2009), and they are also reported as an underlying pattern in cannibalism outside a mating context (Bleakley et al. 2013). Furthermore, there is anecdotal evidence for the same pattern in hermaphrodites (e.g., Goto and Yoshida 1985; Michiels et al. 2003), which may constitute a particularly interesting case to study, as the power asymmetries are less obviously related to the male or female role.In asymmetric encounters, the costs and risks of aggressive behavior toward potential mating partners are low for the dominant partner. Toward smaller males, females could use aggressiveness as a means of partner choice. Indeed, many studies suggest that sexual selection in addition to gaining a meal may be the adaptive value of sexual cannibalism (Prenter et al. 2006). From the female perspective, aggressive behavior directed toward males may serve as a general screening of partner quality, a mechanism often described as indirect mate choice (Elgar and Nash 1988; Prenter et al. 2006; Kralj-Fišer et al. 2012). A screening method implies that females attack every male, and suitors that cannot withstand and persist an attack will be killed and consumed; alternatively, females may differentiate between males and attack and consume only those males that do not meet certain quality criteria (reviewed in Prenter et al. 2006). The latter has been found in wolf spiders (Wilgers and Hebets 2012). The latter mechanism of direct choice is more complex than the indirect one as it requires perception and assessment of quality cues, and large enough benefits of choosiness are expected to match the costs. Mate rejection via sexual cannibalism is considered a particularly extreme case of sexual conflict mostly because rejection can lead to death. Although this may be true for the individual male that loses all future reproductive success, frequencies of preinsemination sexual cannibalism might be rather low (Kralj-Fišer et al. 2013b). Please note that in almost every species, a certain proportion of individuals will be excluded from the mating market and will have no mating success. The claim that prevention of mating success via sexual cannibalism results in more intense sexual conflict than exclusion from mating with less drastic measures has, to my knowledge, never been tested. Because of the scarcity of data on natural frequencies of preinsemination cannibalism, a meta-analysis would not reveal a realistic picture at this stage. Hence, to date, it is not feasible to compare the relative strength of selection imposed by a cannibalistic mate choice strategy against a strategy with less drastic consequences of mate rejection. More studies are needed to unravel the exact nature of sexual selection under the threat of ending as a meal. Below, I will briefly sketch possible responses to selection imposed by sexually cannibalistic females before or during insemination.     

Development of a Screening Algorithm for Alzheimer's Disease Using Categorical Verbal Fluency

We developed a weighted composite score of the categorical verbal fluency test (CVFT) that can more easily and widely screen Alzheimer''s disease (AD) than the mini-mental status examination (MMSE). We administered the CVFT using animal category and MMSE to 423 community-dwelling mild probable AD patients and their age- and gender-matched cognitively normal controls. To enhance the diagnostic accuracy for AD of the CVFT, we obtained a weighted composite score from subindex scores of the CVFT using a logistic regression model: logit (case)  = 1.160+0.474× gender +0.003× age +0.226× education level – 0.089× first-half score – 0.516× switching score -0.303× clustering score +0.534× perseveration score. The area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) for AD of this composite score AD was 0.903 (95% CI = 0.883 – 0.923), and was larger than that of the age-, gender- and education-adjusted total score of the CVFT (p<0.001). In 100 bootstrapped re-samples, the composite score consistently showed better diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity for AD than the total score. Although AUC for AD of the CVFT composite score was slightly smaller than that of the MMSE (0.930, p = 0.006), the CVFT composite score may be a good alternative to the MMSE for screening AD since it is much briefer, cheaper, and more easily applicable over phone or internet than the MMSE.     

The Manifestation of Chromosome Rearrangements in Unordered Asci of Neurospora

Rapid, effective techniques have been developed for detecting and characterizing chromosome aberrations in Neurospora by visual inspection of ascospores and asci. Rearrangements that are detectable by the presence of deficient, nonblack ascospores in test crosses make up 5 to 10% of survivors after UV doses giving 10-55% survival. Over 135 rearrangements have been diagnosed by classifying unordered asci according to numbers of defective spores. (These include 15 originally identified or analyzed by other workers.) About 100 reciprocal translocations (RT''s) have been confirmed and mapped genetically, involving all combinations of the seven chromosomes. Thirty-three other rearrangements generate viable nontandem duplications in meiosis. These consist of insertional translocations (IT''s) (15 confirmed), and of rearrangements that involve a chromosome tip (10 translocations and 3 pericentric inversions). No inversion has been found that does not include the centromere. A reciprocal translocation was found within one population in nature. When pairs of RT''s that involve the same two chromosome arms were intercrossed, viable duplications were produced if the breakpoints overlapped in such a way that pairing resembled that of insertional translocations (27 combinations).—The rapid analytical technique depends on the following. Deficiency ascospores are usually nonblack (W: "white") and inviable, while nondeficient ascospores, even those that include duplications, are black (B) and viable. Thus RT''s typically produce 50% black spores, and IT''s 75% black. Asci are shot spontaneously from ripe perithecia, and can be collected in large numbers as groups of eight ascospores representing unordered tetrads, which fall into five classes: 8B:0W; 6B:2W, 4B:4W, 2B:6B, 0B:8W. In isosequential crosses, 90-95% of tetrads are 8:0. When a rearrangement is heterozygous, the frequencies of tetrad classes are diagnostic of the type of rearrangement, and provide information also on the positions of break points. With RT''s, 8:0 (alternate centromere segregation) = 0:8 (adjacent-1), 4:4''s require interstitial crossing over in a centromere-break point interval, and no 6:2''s or 2:6''s are expected. With IT''s, duplications are viable, 8:0 = 4:4, 6:2''s are from interstitial crossing over, 0:8''s or 2:6''s are rare. Tetrads from RT''s that involve a chromosome tip resemble those from IT''s, as do tetrads from intercrosses between partially overlapping RT''s that involve identical chromosome arms.—Because viable duplications and other aneuploid derivatives regularly occur among the offspring of rearrangements such as insertional translocations, care must be taken in selecting stocks, and original strains should be kept for reference.     

Manifestation of multimodality in a simple ecological-genetic model of population evolution

An investigation of the nature of dynamics of the population size and genetic structure is carried out for a homogeneous ecologically limited population influenced by density-dependent r-K selection in a single diallelic genetic locus. The detailed study of the results of basic types of natural selection is carried out with additional consideration of the influence of initial conditions. It is shown that coexistence of several different asymptotic dynamic modes (with their own attraction basins) is possible in numerous enough parametric domains which are meaningful biologically.     

The Space of Encounter

Book reviewed in this article: Gillian Cowlishaw . Rednecks, Eggheads and Blackfellas: A Study of Racial Power and Intimacy in Australia.     

Sexual Differentiation of the Brain as a Manifestation of Its Plasticity

This review analyzes the published data and authors' own results on the roles of hormones and neurotransmitters in the formation of structural and functional sex-related dimorphism of the brain within the early ontogenesis period. Proof is presented in favor of the concept that classic neurotransmitters function as inductors of nerve cell differentiation in the process of individual development of the brain. Neurochemical mechanisms of the hormone–transmitter interaction in the process of sexual differentiation of the brain within pre- and/or post-natal periods are considered.     

Manifestation of a laboratory epizootic of rabbit pox by non-specific stimuli

Summary An epizootic of rabbit pox among laboratory rabbits is described. The animals were probably infected by neurovaccinia used in laboratory experiments. The disease appeared after intracerebral inoculation of cerebrospinal fluid from patients suffering from various disorders of the central nervous system, which indicates, that non-specific stimuli may give rise to a clinical manifestation of a latent infection, evidence of which was obtained experimentally. The virus isolated possessed the pathogenic and immunologic properties of neurovaccinia virus.