Growth and reproductive development of male Microtus montanus is affected by the prenatal photoperiod

Rates of growth and sexual maturation of microtine rodents vary in response to photoperiod. Previous work with Microtus montanus has shown that the photoperiod present prior to weaning influences how voles will respond to photoperiods seen following weaning. The data presented demonstrate that information about the photoperiod seen by the mother during pregnancy influences the postweaning development of male M. montanus. Adult M. montanus were paired in photoperiods consisting of 8, 14 or 16 h light/day. Their litters were conceived and born in these photoperiods. On the day of birth the litters were recorded and retained in the gestation photoperiod (Groups C8, C14 and C16) or transferred to the 14-h photoperiod (Groups E8 and E16). The growth of males was followed from weaning until 74 days of age, at which time the voles were sacrificed and their reproductive organs weighed. There were no differences in body weight or length between groups at 18 days of age. At 74 days of age the development of the voles could be ranked in the following sequence: C8 less than E16 less than C14 less than E8 less than C16.     

Microsporum canis en gatos dermatológicamente sanos en Temuco,Chile

BackgroundMicrosporum canis is the most common cause of feline dermatophytosis and the most pathogenic fungus isolated from the skin and hair of healthy cats. Cats are considered to be the natural reservoir and infection sourse of this disease in human and domestic animals.AimsKnowing the M. canis frequency in the dermatological healthy cat population of Temuco city, Chile.MethodsFifty cat samples were collected irrespective sex or race. Cats' ages were between 2 months and 12 years old, and the animals were treated at the Veterinary Clinical Hospital of the Universidad Católica de Temuco, or in three private clinics from this city. Tissue and hair samples were collected using two sampling techniques: hair extracting tweezers and the Mariat & Tapia method. For the clinical diagnosis, the Wood's lamp was used. Hairs were microscopically observed followed by a culture using Sabouraud agar and Lactrimel agar. M.canis was isolated in 30 cats (60%).ResultsThere were no statistically significative differences when parameters such as age, sex and race were taking into account. Differences between the use of Sabouraud agar and Lactrimel agar were not registered. It was determined that the Mariat & Tapia method was able to detect more dermatophytes than the collecting tweezers method. These differences were statistically significative.ConclusionsThe percentage of M. canis isolation obtained in this work remarks the role of healthy cats in the transmission of these dermatophytes to humans and other animals.     

Activity synchrony and social cohesion: a fission-fusion model.

A social group can only be spatially coherent if its members synchronize activities such as foraging and resting. However, activity synchronization is costly to individuals if it requires them to postpone an activity that would be personally more profitable in order to do what the rest of the group is doing. Such costs will be particularly high in groups whose members belong to different age, size or sex classes since the optimal allocation of time to various activities is likely to differ between such classes. Thus, differences in the costs of activity synchronization between and within classes could cause non-homogenous groups to be less stable than homogenous groups, with the result that homogenous groups predominate in the population: that is, they could cause 'social segregation' of animals of different sex, size or age. We develop a model that predicts the degree of social segregation attributable to differences in activity synchronization between homogenous and non-homogenous groups and use this model in determining whether activity synchronization can explain intersexual social segregation in red deer (Cervus elaphus). Differences in activity synchronization between mixed-sex and unisex groups of red deer explained 35% of the observed degree of intersexual social segregation, showing that activity synchronization is an important cause of social segregation in this species.     

The interactive effects of irradiance and photoperiod on Chara vulgaris L.: concerted responses in morphology, physiology, and reproduction

Both the single and interactive effects of irradiance and photoperiod on a worldwide charophyte species, Chara vulgaris L., were investigated in a greenhouse experiment. Under high light intensity, plants exhibited shortened shoot, compact canopy and low Chl a/Caro. In contrast, elongated shoot, expanded canopy and low Chl a/Chl b corresponded to low light intensity. In addition, both ash mass ratio and relative growth rate (RGR) were positively related to light intensity. The effect of photoperiod on plants was relatively complex. Although photoperiod did not affect morphological characters, an increased photoperiod significantly decreased Chl a/Chl b and Chl a/Caro ratios. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis indicated that significant interaction of irradiance and photoperiod was present on ash mass ratio, RGR, Chl a/Chl b, Chl a/Caro and Chl (a + b)/Caro ratios. The high RGR found for 50% sunlight, L:D 16:8 (50/16) conditions along with the significant interaction of irradiance and photoperiod on RGR indicated that the effect of irradiance was more important than photoperiod for plant growth. And finally, both irradiance and photoperiod had positive effects on the emergence of sex organs (♂♀) and the maturation of oospores, except that increased photoperiod did not accelerate the maturation of oospores. In summary, for both plant growth and reproduction, C. vulgaris was able to acclimate morphologically and physiologically to different irradiance levels and photoperiods. This study can partly explain the broad geographic distribution of C. vulgaris. Handling editor: S. M. Thomaz     

Self-healing and injectable hybrid hydrogel for bone regeneration of femoral head necrosis and defect

Background

HA modified by bisphosphonate (BP) (HA-BP) was synthesized by chemical reaction and possessed promising properties such as self-healing, injection ability, and strong adhesion. The main aim of this study was to confirm its role in promoting osteogenic differentiation in vitro and bone regeneration in vivo.

A field test of a model for the stability of androdioecy in the freshwater shrimp,Eulimnadia texana

The evolution of hermaphroditism from dioecy is a poorly studied transition. Androdioecy (the coexistence of males and hermaphrodites) has been suggested as an intermediate step in this evolutionary transition or could be a stable reproductive mode. Freshwater crustaceans in the genus Eulimnadia have reproduced via androdioecy for 24+ million years and thus are excellent organisms to test models of the stability of androdioecy. Two related models that allow for the stable maintenance of males and hermaphrodites rely on the counterbalancing of three life history parameters. We tested these models in the field over three field seasons and compared the results to previous laboratory estimates of these three parameters. Male and hermaphroditic ratios within years were not well predicted using either the simpler original model or a version of this model updated to account for differences between hermaphroditic types (‘monogenic’ and ‘amphigenic’ hermaphrodites). Using parameter estimates of the previous year to predict the next year's sex ratios revealed a much better fit to the original relative to the updated version of the model. Therefore, counter to expectations, accounting for differences between the two hermaphroditic types did not improve the fit of these models. At the moment, we lack strong evidence that the long‐term maintenance of androdioecy in these crustaceans is the result of a balancing of life history parameters; other factors, such as metapopulation dynamics or evolutionary constraints, may better explain the 24+ million year maintenance of androdioecy in clam shrimp.     

Home visiting by general practitioners in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVE--To use data from the fourth national survey of morbidity in general practice to investigate the association between home visiting rates and patients'' characteristics. DESIGN--Survey of diagnostic data on all home visits by general practitioners. SETTING--60 general practices in England and Wales. SUBJECTS--502 493 patients visited at home between September 1991 and August 1992. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Home visiting rates per 1000 patient years and home visiting ratios standardised for age and sex. RESULTS--10.1% (139 801/1 378 510) of contacts with general practitioners took place in patients'' homes. The average annual home visiting rate was 299/1000 patient years. Rates showed a J shaped relation with age and were lowest in people aged 16-24 years (103/1000) and highest in people aged > or = 85 years (3009/1000). 1.3% of patients were visited five or more times and received 39% of visits. Age and sex standardised home visiting ratios increased from 69 (95% confidence interval 68 to 70) in social class I to 129 (128 to 130) in social class V. The commonest diagnostic group was diseases of the respiratory system. In older age groups, diseases of the circulatory system was also a common diagnostic group. Standardised home visiting ratios for the 60 practices in the study varied nearly eightfold, from 28 to 218 (interquartile range 67 to 126). CONCLUSIONS--Home visits remain an important component of general practitioners'' workload. As well as the strong associations between home visiting rates and patient characteristics, there were also large differences between practices in home visiting rates. A small number of patients received a disproportionately high number of home visits. Further investigation of patients with high home visiting rates may help to explain the large differences in workload between general practices and help in allocation of resources to practices.     

Genetic determination of sex and shell color in the Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai revealed by an integrated linkage map

Integrated linkage maps for each sex have been constructed for the Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai using three F₁ mapping families based on co‐dominant markers. A total of 273 markers were placed on the female map, spanning 927.3 cM with an average interval of 3.64 cM, whereas 277 markers were mapped on the male map, covering 727.0 cM with an average spacing of 2.80 cM. Both female and male maps consisted of 18 linkage groups, corresponding well with the number of chromosomes. Furthermore, the sex‐determining locus and the green/orange shell color controlling locus were mapped to the linkage group 3 (LG3) and LG9 respectively. A marker completely linked to phenotypic sex was identified, and the sex determination system was further concluded as paternal heterogametic (males XY and females XX). Based on the segregation ratio of the shell color in the progeny, a simple recessive model of epistasis was proposed to explain the distribution of different color morphs (green, orange and blue): the recessive allele determining orange type masks the effect of the locus controlling green and blue types, whereas the dominant allele at the green/orange locus permits the expression of green and blue types controlled by another locus. The current consensus map provides a useful framework for genetic studies in the Pacific abalone. Mapping of the sex‐determining locus and the shell color‐controlling locus leads to further understanding of the mechanisms underlying these important traits.     

Immune responses and histopathological changes in rabbits immunized with inactivated SARS coronavirus

To evaluate the immunogenicity of inactivated SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), three groups of rabbits were immunized three times at 2-week intervals with inactivated vaccine + adjuvant, adjuvant, and normal saline respectively. Eight batchs of serum were sampled from the auricular vein at day 7 to day 51, and specific IgG antibody titers and neutralizing antibody titers were detected by indirect ELISA and micro-cytopathic effect neutralizing test. Antibody specificity was identified by proteinchip assay. Histopathological changes were detected by H&E staining. The results showed that, rabbits in the experimental group immunized with inactivated SARS-CoV all generated specific IgG antibodies with neutralizing activity, which suggested the inactivated SARS-CoV could preserve its antigenicity well and elicit an effective humoral immune responses. The peak titer value of specific IgG antibody and neutralizing antibody reached 1:40960 and 1:2560 respectively. In the experimental group, no obvious histopathological changes was detected in the H&E stained slides of heart, spleen, kidney and testis samples, but the livers had slight histopathological changes, and the lungs presented remarkable histopathological changes. These findings are of importance for SARS-CoV inactivated vaccine development. Foundation item: Joint funds of National Natural Science Foundation of China (U0632010); Program of Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Bioengineering Medicine (51207026).     

Geographic origin of the Y Chromosomes in “old” inbred strains of mice

Six distinct Y Chromosomes (Chr) were identified among 39 standard inbred strains of mice with five probes that identified Y Chr-specific restriction fragments on Southern blots. Three Y Chr types, distributed among 31 strains, were of Asian Mus musculus origin. The remaining three Y Chr types, distributed among eight strains, were of M. domesticus origin. The Asian source of the M. musculus Y Chr was confirmed by determining the DNA sequence of 221 bp from an open reading frame within the Sry (sex determining region Y) gene (Gubbay et al., Nature 346 245–250, 1990) in three inbred strains (C57BL/6J, AKR/J, and SWR/J) and comparing the sequence to the homologous sequences derived from wild caught European and Asian M. musculus males. These data indicate that a minimum of six male mice contributed to the formation of the old inbred strains.     

Collagen scaffolds modified with collagen-binding bFGF promotes the neural regeneration in a rat hemisected spinal cord injury model

Nerve conduit is one of strategies for spine cord injury(SCI)treatment.Recently,studies showed that biomaterials could guide the neurite growth and promote axon regeneration at the injury site.However,the scaffold by itself was difficult to meet the need of SCI functional recovery.The basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)administration significantly promotes functional recovery after organ injuries.Here,using a rat model of T9 hemisected SCI,we aimed at assessing the repair capacity of implantation of collagen scaffold(CS)modified by collagen binding bFGF(CBD-bFGF).The results showed that CS combined with CBD-bFGF treatment improved survival rates after the lateral hemisection SCI.The CS/CBD-bFGF group showed more significant improvements in motor than the simply CS-implanted and untreated control group,when evaluated by the 21-point Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan(BBB)score and footprint analysis.Both hematoxylin and eosin(H&E)and immunohistochemical staining of neurofilament(NF)and glial fibrillary acidic protein(GFAP)demonstrated that fibers were guided to grow through the implants.These findings indicated that administration of CS modified with CBD-bFGF could promote spinal cord regeneration and functional recovery.     

Match–Mismatch Experiments Using Photoperiod Expose Developmental Plasticity of Personality Traits

Behavioural differences between individuals are often found to be consistent across contexts and/or over time, although recent studies suggest that ontogenetic processes and learning might influence personality. During ontogeny, environmental influences may play an important role in shaping an individual's personality as well as its physiology. Seasonal changes are ubiquitous and known to influence development. To study developmental plasticity, of behaviour and physiology in the wild cavy (Cavia aperea), we manipulated the photoperiod in a fully crossed match–mismatch design by simulating spring and autumn photoperiod until weaning and subsequently moving half of the animals into the mismatching photoperiod. We found developmental plasticity in behavioural and physiological traits before and after sexual maturation for growth, resting metabolic rate and fearlessness. For fearlessness, changes in response to the opposite photoperiod were more pronounced in males than in females. Exploration and boldness were only influenced by early, but not by late photoperiod. No sex differences were found for these two traits. Even though our treatment changed average trait expression, some behavioural traits proved consistent over time, but physiological traits were not. Fearlessness was consistent only in animals that did not change photoperiod during development, whereas exploration and boldness were consistent over time regardless of photoperiodic treatment. Our study shows that in response to a change in photoperiod personality traits differ substantially in developmental plasticity.     

Expression of receptors for melatonin (MT1), thyroid hormone (TR-α), deiodinase (Dio-2), glucose transporters (GLUT-1 &4) and its relation with splenic cell survival (Bcl-2) of golden hamster,Mesocricetus auratus

Seasonal breeder utilises photoperiod as environmental clue to adjust their energetically demanding phenomenon such as reproduction and immunity by the mechanism of trade-off. The photoperiodic modulation of melatonin (MT-1)-thyroid hormone receptor (TR-α), deiodinase (Dio-2) activity and its interrelationship with glucose transporters (GLUT-1&4) in lymphoid organ of seasonal breeder is lacking that may explain possible role of photoperiod and its relationship with the cell survival factors (Bcl-2) in spleen of golden hamster, Mesocricetus auratus. We reported that photoperiod regulates the circulatory melatonin and thyroid hormone levels. Short-day-induced melatonin can act via MT1 and may enhance the expressions of GLUT-1&4 thereby the energy and cell survival factor (Bcl-2) in spleen. On the other hand, long-day-induced thyroid hormone is converted to bioactive from (T-4 to T3) by action of Dio-2 that acts through TR-α to maintain minimum level of energy for immune responses. In conclusion, present result explains the reason behind the basic molecular events involved in trade-offs mechanism in seasonal variation of immune responses.     

Methylation potential associated with diet,genotype, protein,and metabolite levels in the Delta Obesity Vitamin Study

Micronutrient research typically focuses on analyzing the effects of single or a few nutrients on health by analyzing a limited number of biomarkers. The observational study described here analyzed micronutrients, plasma proteins, dietary intakes, and genotype using a systems approach. Participants attended a community-based summer day program for 6–14 year old in 2 years. Genetic makeup, blood metabolite and protein levels, and dietary differences were measured in each individual. Twenty-four-hour dietary intakes, eight micronutrients (vitamins A, D, E, thiamin, folic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxal, and pyridoxine) and 3 one-carbon metabolites [homocysteine (Hcy), S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH)], and 1,129 plasma proteins were analyzed as a function of diet at metabolite level, plasma protein level, age, and sex. Cluster analysis identified two groups differing in SAM/SAH and differing in dietary intake patterns indicating that SAM/SAH was a potential marker of nutritional status. The approach used to analyze genetic association with the SAM/SAH metabolites is called middle-out: SNPs in 275 genes involved in the one-carbon pathway (folate, pyridoxal/pyridoxine, thiamin) or were correlated with SAM/SAH (vitamin A, E, Hcy) were analyzed instead of the entire 1M SNP data set. This procedure identified 46 SNPs in 25 genes associated with SAM/SAH demonstrating a genetic contribution to the methylation potential. Individual plasma metabolites correlated with 99 plasma proteins. Fourteen proteins correlated with body mass index, 49 with group age, and 30 with sex. The analytical strategy described here identified subgroups for targeted nutritional interventions.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12263-014-0403-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Predicting oncogene mutations of lung cancer using deep learning and histopathologic features on whole-slide images

Lung cancer is a leading cause of death in both men and women globally. The recent development of tumor molecular profiling has opened opportunities for targeted therapies for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients. However, the lack of access to molecular profiling or cost and turnaround time associated with it could hinder oncologists' willingness to order frequent molecular tests, limiting potential benefits from precision medicine. In this study, we developed a weakly supervised deep learning model for predicting somatic mutations of LUAD patients based on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) whole-slide images (WSIs) using LUAD subtypes-related histological features and recent advances in computer vision. Our study was performed on a total of 747 hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained FFPE LUAD WSIs and the genetic mutation data of 232 patients who were treated at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC). We developed our convolutional neural network-based models to analyze whole slides and predict five major genetic mutations, i.e., BRAF, EGFR, KRAS, STK11, and TP53. We additionally used 111 cases from the LUAD dataset of the CPTAC-3 study for external validation. Our model achieved an AUROC of 0.799 (95% CI: 0.686–0.904) and 0.686 (95% CI: 0.620–0.752) for predicting EGFR genetic mutations on the DHMC and CPTAC-3 test sets, respectively. Predicting TP53 genetic mutations also showed promising outcomes. Our results demonstrated that H&E stained FFPE LUAD whole slides could be utilized to predict oncogene mutations, such as EGFR, indicating that somatic mutations could present subtle morphological characteristics in histology slides, where deep learning-based feature extractors can learn such latent information.     

Fluorescence of fungi in superficial and deep fungal infections

Background  

Fluorescence of many fungi is noted when H&E stained sections are examined under a fluorescent microscope. In theory, this phenomenon could aid in the diagnosis of cutaneous and disseminated fungal infections without the delay associated with special stains. Seventy-six cases of superficial and deep fungal infections and 3 cases of protothecosis were studied to determine the clinical usefulness of this technique.     

Invited review: sex ratio and rheumatic disease.

Human illnesses affect men and women differently. In some cases (diseases of sex organs, diseases resulting from X or Y chromosome mutations), reasons for sex discrepancy are obvious, but in other cases no reason is apparent. Explanations for sex discrepancy of illness occur at different biological levels: molecular (e.g., imprinting, X-inactivation), cellular (sex-specific receptor activity), organ (endocrine influences), whole organism (size, age), and environmental-behavioral, including intrauterine influences. Autoimmunity represents a prototypical class of illness that has high female-to-male (F/M) ratios. Although the F/M ratios in autoimmune diseases are usually attributed to the influence of estrogenic hormones, evidence demonstrates that the attributed ratios are imprecise and that definitions and classifications of autoimmune diseases vary, rendering at least part of the counting imprecise. In addition, many studies on sex discrepancy of human disease fail to distinguish between disease incidence and disease severity. In April 2001, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences published Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter? (Wizemann T and Pardue M-L, editors). This minireview summarizes the section of that report that concerns autoimmune and infectious disease. Some thyroid, rheumatic, and hepatic autoimmune diseases have high F/M ratios, whereas others have low. Those that have high ratios occur primarily in young adulthood. Gonadal hormones, if they play a role, likely do so through a threshold or permissive mechanism. Examples of sex differences that could be caused by environmental exposure, X inactivation, imprinting, X or Y chromosome genetic modulators, and intrauterine influences are presented as alternate, theoretical, and largely unexplored explanations for sex differences of incidence. The epidemiology of autoimmune diseases (young, female) suggests that an explanation for sex discrepancy of these illnesses lies in differential exposure, vulnerable periods, or thresholds. Biologists have an opportunity to inform medical scientists about sex differences that explain different attack rates in specific diseases, and physicians offer biologists experiments of nature to test theories of sex.