Development of path stereotypy in a single day in rats on a multiple-T maze

Humans and animals trained on sequential reaction tasks show decreases in reaction time and increases in anticipatory movements even long after they have ceased to make errors. Humans show these changes even when they do not explicitly recognize that they performed a repeating sequence. We have developed a task which rats learn to perform error-free quickly, but in which they continue to show path-refinement on a single day. This task may enable the study of performance strategy changes occurring within a single day.     

Cross-linking and mass spectrometry methodologies to facilitate structural biology: finding a path through the maze

Multiprotein complexes, rather than individual proteins, make up a large part of the biological macromolecular machinery of a cell. Understanding the structure and organization of these complexes is critical to understanding cellular function. Chemical cross-linking coupled with mass spectrometry is emerging as a complementary technique to traditional structural biology methods and can provide low-resolution structural information for a multitude of purposes, such as distance constraints in computational modeling of protein complexes. In this review, we discuss the experimental considerations for successful application of chemical cross-linking-mass spectrometry in biological studies and highlight three examples of such studies from the recent literature. These examples (as well as many others) illustrate the utility of a chemical cross-linking-mass spectrometry approach in facilitating structural analysis of large and challenging complexes.     

Impact of pesticides on soil microbiological parameters and possible bioremediation strategies

Intensive agriculture is spectacularly successful since last couple of decades due to the inputs viz; fertilizers and pesticides along with high yielding varieties. The mandate for agriculture development was to feed and adequate nutrition supply to the expanding population by side the agriculture would be entering to into new area of commercial and export orientation. The attention of public health and proper utilization natural resources are also the main issues related with agriculture development. Concern for pesticide contamination in the environment in the current context of pesticide use has assumed great importance [1]. The fate of the pesticides in the soil environment in respect of pest control efficacy, non-target organism exposure and offsite mobility has been given due consideration [2]. Kinetics and pathways of degradation depend on abiotic and biotic factors [6], which are specific to a particular pesticide and therefore find preference. Adverse effect of pesticidal chemicals on soil microorganisms [3], may affect soil fertility [4] becomes a foreign chemicals major issue. Soil microorganisms show an early warning about soil disturbances by foreign chemicals than any other parameters. But the fate and behavior of these chemicals in soil ecosystem is very important since they are degraded by various factors and have the potential to be in the soil, water etc. So it is indispensable to monitor the persistence, degradation of pesticides in soil and is also necessary to study the effect of pesticide on the soil quality or soil health by in depth studies on soil microbial activity. The removal of metabolites or degraded products should be removed from soil and it has now a day’s primary concern to the environmentalist. Toxicity or the contamination of pesticides can be reduced by the bioremediation process which involves the uses of microbes or plants. Either they degrade or use the pesticides by various co metabolic processes.     

Impact assessment of risk parameters of underground coal mining on the environment

Coal is an important energy source but it has a significant negative impact on the environmental processes. This paper analyses the impact, measurement, and input of parameters representing potential environmental polluters in the information system (IS).

The methodology of recording and systematization includes the following parameters: coal deposits; climate parameters; roads; rivers; land and surrounding objects; air polluters; water polluters; and soil polluters. Methods for calculating land deformation, air polluter emissions, and noise impact are also presented.

Based on the number and specificity of analyzed data, the paper provides a concept of the IS and an overview of environmental impact of underground coal mine technological units. The concept was used to present the results of a research conducted at the underground coal mine “Soko” in Serbia.

The results of this research can help many potential users realize their goals. Those goals are preventive by nature, since negative environmental impact can be predicted, which enables the environmental protection experts to take appropriate measures.     

Impact of network structure and cellular response on spike time correlations

Novel experimental techniques reveal the simultaneous activity of larger and larger numbers of neurons. As a result there is increasing interest in the structure of cooperative--or correlated--activity in neural populations, and in the possible impact of such correlations on the neural code. A fundamental theoretical challenge is to understand how the architecture of network connectivity along with the dynamical properties of single cells shape the magnitude and timescale of correlations. We provide a general approach to this problem by extending prior techniques based on linear response theory. We consider networks of general integrate-and-fire cells with arbitrary architecture, and provide explicit expressions for the approximate cross-correlation between constituent cells. These correlations depend strongly on the operating point (input mean and variance) of the neurons, even when connectivity is fixed. Moreover, the approximations admit an expansion in powers of the matrices that describe the network architecture. This expansion can be readily interpreted in terms of paths between different cells. We apply our results to large excitatory-inhibitory networks, and demonstrate first how precise balance--or lack thereof--between the strengths and timescales of excitatory and inhibitory synapses is reflected in the overall correlation structure of the network. We then derive explicit expressions for the average correlation structure in randomly connected networks. These expressions help to identify the important factors that shape coordinated neural activity in such networks.     

Pre-erythrocytic stage malaria vaccines: time for a change in path

Vaccines against the pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria hold the greatest promise as an effective intervention tool against malaria, as shown by immunization with radiation-attenuated sporozoites over four decades ago. To date, however, the development of subunit vaccines, while generating high expectations and investment, has not lived up at all to the promise. This path has been characterized by insufficient research into both identification of key defense mechanisms in humans and the discovery of better antigens, focusing rather on a technological race of how to present mainly a single antigen. The lack of success has also led, perhaps from desperation, to a revival of the live attenuated sporozoite approach, handicapped, however, by major bottlenecks in production, safety, and regulatory issues. It should now be clear that the field can no longer continue to succeed in mice and fail in the clinic. We advocate here in favor of a third option, relying on an understanding of the basis of attenuated sporozoite immunity in humans, to provide leads to the discovery of critical immunogens and the use of models with validated relevance to the human situation in order to rationalize and renew the promise of pre-erythrocytic subunit vaccines.     

Required ultracentrifugal time for condensing solution by ultracentrifuge

Required ultracentrifugal time for condensing a solution by ultracentrifuge with an angle rotor or a swing rotor was estimated by considering the calculated distribution of concentration in an ultracentrifugal tube. From the calculated distribution of the concentration a free boundary between solvent and solution was found in the ultracentrifugal tube under the condition that t^*>0.25. A condense constant was newly defined as the ratio of the mean concentration in the ultracentrifugal tube after removing the solvent to the concentration of initial solution. The equation determining the required ultracentrifugal time for condensing a solution up to a given condense constant is derived and solved numerically. The required ultracentrifugal time for an angle rotor was shorter than that for a swing rotor.     

Hydrodynamic parameters of native C-reactive protein molecule in a solution

The hydrodynamic properties of the C-reactive protein in solution (pH 6.8) were studied using quasi-elastic light scattering and size-exclusion liquid chromatography. It was shown that the solution containing the C-reactive protein represents a polydisperse system. The values of the translation diffusion coefficient and the apparent molecular weight of the C-reactive protein in solution at pH 6.8 were determined. The values of the translation diffusion coefficient, molecular weight and the hydration radius obtained suggest that the native pentameric C-reactive protein is the major form of the protein in solution at pH 6.8.     

Real time UAV path planning by parallel grey wolf optimization with align coefficient on CAN bus

Cluster Computing - Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path planning is a complex optimization problem, which aims to achieve an optimal or nearly optimal flight path despite various threats and...     

Impact of operational parameters on bacterial community in a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant

A bacterial community in activated sludge from a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant was monitored throughout the year with the use of FISH, RISA and DGGE techniques. In the investigated range of temperatures (11.9-21.6 degrees C), a rise in temperature resulted in a lower total bacteria richness, while organic load rate changes from 0.09 to 0.21 g COD x g TSS(-1) x d(-1) were positively correlated with the number of bands in RISA patterns. The most diverse pattern (29 different bands) was characteristic for the activated sludge sample collected at the end of January at wastewater temperature of 11.9 degrees C. The ammonia-oxidising bacteria community did not change during the study, and comprised of 4 different bacterial populations with one dominant species closely related to Nitrosospira sp. REGAU (GenBank accession number AY635572.1). The percentage of ammonia-oxidising bacteria in the activated sludge varied from 6.2 to 19.5% and depended on temperature (R = 0.61, p = 0:02) and organic load rate (R = -0.55, p = 0.04).     

Viscosity B-coefficients and activation parameters for viscous flow of a solution of heptanedioic acid in aqueous sucrose solution

Viscosity and density data for the system of heptanedioic acid dissolved in aqueous sucrose solution at temperature range from 288.15 to 313.15 K have been measured. The viscosity B-coefficients for heptanedioic acid in aqueous sucrose solution has been calculated. The effect of temperature and sucrose concentration on the B-coefficients is discussed. On the basis of the Feakins equation, the activation parameters (Deltamu3++, DeltaH3++, DeltaS3++, DeltaG12(0)++, DeltaH12(0)++ and DeltaS12(0)++) for viscous flow of the solution have been evaluated, together with the Gibbs energy of transfer for the solute from the ground state solvent to the hypothetical viscous transition state solvent (DeltaG3++(1-1')). The effect of sucrose concentration and temperature on the activation parameters has been discussed.     

Effect of L-asparaginase on retention of maze learning in mice

Long-term memory impairment has been described previously in mice receiving inhibitors of protein synthesis. In the present work, the enzyme L-asparaginase was injected into mice by an intrathecal or by an intraperitoneal route and produced a significant impairment of memory. Glutamine and asparagine prevented the effect of asparaginase when injected by the intraperitoneal route.     

Impact of duplicate gene copies on phylogenetic analysis and divergence time estimates in butterflies

Background  

The increase in availability of genomic sequences for a wide range of organisms has revealed gene duplication to be a relatively common event. Encounters with duplicate gene copies have consequently become almost inevitable in the context of collecting gene sequences for inferring species trees. Here we examine the effect of incorporating duplicate gene copies evolving at different rates on tree reconstruction and time estimation of recent and deep divergences in butterflies.     

Impact of duplicate gene copies on phylogenetic analysis and divergence time estimates in butterflies

Background

Dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) is the largest member of the SIBLING family and is the most abundant noncollagenous protein in dentin. DSPP is also expressed in non-mineralized tissues including metabolically active ductal epithelia and some cancers. Its function, however, is poorly defined. The carboxy-terminal fragment, dentin phosphoprotein (DPP) is encoded predominantly by a large repetitive domain that requires separate cloning/sequencing reactions and is, therefore, often incomplete in genomic databases. Comparison of DPP sequences from at least one member of each major branch in the mammalian evolutionary tree (including some "toothless" mammals) as well as one reptile and bird may help delineate its possible functions in both dentin and ductal epithelia.

Results

The BMP1-cleavage and translation-termination domains were sufficiently conserved to permit amplification/cloning/sequencing of most species' DPP. While the integrin-binding domain, RGD, was present in about half of species, only vestigial remnants of this tripeptide were identified in the others. The number of tandem repeats of the nominal SerSerAsp phosphorylation motif in toothed mammals (including baleen whale and platypus which lack teeth as adults), ranged from ~75 (elephant) to >230 (human). These repeats were not perfect, however, and patterns of intervening sequences highlight the rapidity of changes among even closely related species. Two toothless anteater species have evolved different sets of nonsense mutations shortly after their BMP1 motifs suggesting that while cleavage may be important for DSPP processing in other tissues, the DPP domain itself may be required only in dentin. The lizard DSPP had an intact BMP1 site, a remnant RGD motif, as well as a distinctly different Ser/Asp-rich domain compared to mammals.

Conclusions

The DPP domain of DSPP was found to change dramatically within mammals and was lost in two truly toothless animals. The defining aspect of DPP, the long repeating phosphorylation domain, apparently undergoes frequent slip replication and recombination events that rapidly change specific patterns but not its overall biochemical character in toothed animals. Species may have to co-evolve protein processing mechanisms, however, to handle increased lengths of DSP repeats. While the RGD domain is lost in many species, some evolutionary pressure to maintain integrin binding can be observed.