VOCAL REPERTOIRE OF WILD BREEDING ORANGE-WINGED PARROTS AMAZONA AMAZONICA IN AMAZONIA

ABSTRACT

The vocal repertoire of Amazona amazonica during its breeding season has been recorded from wild individuals in Santa Bárbara do Pará, Pará State, Brazil. At individual nests, we continuously recorded vocalizations and behaviour for four hours in the early morning and three hours in the late afternoon, three times a week throughout the breeding season. We identified nine vocalizations that we classified in three behavioural categories: (1) Flight call—emitted when parrots arrive in the nest area; (2) Perched contact calls—two different vocalizations, one of them related to feeding, were emitted when the pair was perched in the nest area and interacted socially between themselves or with other individuals; (3) Aggressive calls—emitted when birds were in a dangerous situation, i.e. alarm (three types of calls), agonistic contact and distress calls (two types of call). The Orange-winged Parrot is a highly social species and the complexity of its social interactions is reflected in the diversity of its vocal repertoire.     

Resistance Development of Cystic Fibrosis Respiratory Pathogens When Exposed to Fosfomycin and Tobramycin Alone and in Combination under Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditions

Although antibiotics from different classes are frequently prescribed in combination to prevent the development of resistance amongst Cystic Fibrosis (CF) respiratory pathogens, there is a lack of data as to the efficacy of this approach. We have previously shown that a 4∶1 (w/w) combination of fosfomycin and tobramycin (F∶T) has excellent activity against CF pathogens with increased activity under physiologically relevant anaerobic conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether F∶T could delay or prevent the onset of resistance compared to either fosfomycin or tobramycin alone under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The frequency of spontaneous mutants arising following exposure to fosfomycin, tobramycin and F∶T was determined for clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa and MRSA isolates under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of fosfomycin, tobramycin and F∶T on the induction of resistance was also investigated, with the stability of resistance and fitness cost associated with resistance assessed if it developed. P. aeruginosa and MRSA isolates had a lower frequency of spontaneous mutants to F∶T compared to fosfomycin and tobramycin under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. There was a maximum two-fold increase in F∶T MICs when P. aeruginosa and MRSA isolates were passaged in sub-inhibitory F∶T for 12 days. In contrast, sequential resistance to fosfomycin and tobramycin developed quickly (n = 3 days for both) after passage in sub-inhibitory concentrations. Once developed, both fosfomycin and tobramycin resistance was stable and not associated with a biological fitness cost to either P. aeruginosa or MRSA isolates. The results of this study suggest that F∶T may prevent the development of resistance compared to fosfomycin or tobramycin alone under aerobic and physiologically relevant anaerobic conditions. F∶T may be a potential treatment option in CF patients chronically colonised by MRSA and/or P. aeruginosa.     

120 例初治、年轻、中高/ 高危弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤的临床分析

目的:探讨初治、年轻、中高/高危弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤(diffuse large B cell lymphoma,DLBCL)的临床特征、治疗措施及预后影响因素。方法:回顾性分析2006年1月至2014年5月军事医学科学院附属医院淋巴瘤科收治的年龄≤60岁、年龄调整的国际预后指数(aa IPI)评分≥2分的初治DLBCL病例,进行疗效及预后相关因素的分析。结果:共收集到资料完整的DLBCL病例120例,中位随访28(4-106)个月,3年PFS率53.25%,OS率61.52%。单因素分析结果显示B症状、治疗方案及近期疗效、自体移植对无进展生存(PFS)及总体生存(OS)率的影响有统计学意义。多因素分析结果显示治疗方案、自体造血干细胞移植是影响PFS、OS率的独立影响因素。结论:年轻、中高/高危DLBCL具有高度异质性,病理细胞来源、Ki-67等在本组病例中未见显著预后意义,有待临床进一步探索。     

Metabolic engineering for the production of plant isoquinoline alkaloids

Several plant isoquinoline alkaloids (PIAs) possess powerful pharmaceutical and biotechnological properties. Thus, PIA metabolism and its fascinating molecules, including morphine, colchicine and galanthamine, have attracted the attention of both the industry and researchers involved in plant science, biochemistry, chemical bioengineering and medicine. Currently, access and availability of high‐value PIAs [commercialized (e.g. galanthamine) or not (e.g. narciclasine)] is limited by low concentration in nature, lack of cultivation or geographic access, seasonal production and risk of overharvesting wild plant species. Nevertheless, most commercial PIAs are still extracted from plant sources. Efforts to improve the production of PIA have largely been impaired by the lack of knowledge on PIA metabolism. With the development and integration of next‐generation sequencing technologies, high‐throughput proteomics and metabolomics analyses and bioinformatics, systems biology was used to unravel metabolic pathways allowing the use of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology approaches to increase production of valuable PIAs. Metabolic engineering provides opportunity to overcome issues related to restricted availability, diversification and productivity of plant alkaloids. Engineered plant, plant cells and microbial cell cultures can act as biofactories by offering their metabolic machinery for the purpose of optimizing the conditions and increasing the productivity of a specific alkaloid. In this article, is presented an update on the production of PIA in engineered plant, plant cell cultures and heterologous micro‐organisms.     

Microfluidic and computational study of structural properties and resistance to flow of blood clots under arterial shear

The ability of a blood clot to modulate blood flow is determined by the clot’s resistance, which depends on its structural features. For a flow with arterial shear, we investigated the characteristic patterns relating to clot shape, size, and composition on the one hand, and its viscous resistance, intraclot axial flow velocity, and shear distributions on the other. We used microfluidic technology to measure the kinetics of platelet, thrombin, and fibrin accumulation at a thrombogenic surface coated with collagen and tissue factor (TF), the key clot-formation trigger. We subsequently utilized the obtained data to perform additional calibration and validation of a detailed computational fluid dynamics model of spatial clot growth under flow. We then ran model simulations to gain insights into the resistance of clots formed under our experimental conditions. We found that increased thrombogenic surface length and TF surface density enhanced the bulk thrombin and fibrin generation in a nonadditive, synergistic way. The height of the platelet deposition domain—and, therefore, clot occlusivity—was rather robust to thrombogenic surface length and TF density variations, but consistently increased with time. Clot viscous resistance was non-uniform and tended to be higher in the fibrin-rich, inner “core” region of the clot. Interestingly, despite intraclot structure and viscous resistance variations, intraclot flow velocity variations were minor compared to the abrupt decrease in flow velocity around the platelet deposition region. Our results shed new light on the connection between the structure of clots under arterial shear and spatiotemporal variations in their resistance to flow.

     

Rats Generate Vibrissal Sensory Evidence until Boundary Crossing Triggers a Decision

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胞外ATP对AlCl3诱导的细胞死亡过程中胞内H2O2和Ca2+水平的影响及其生理机制分析

该实验以烟草悬浮细胞 BY 2 为材料,在烟草悬浮细胞中分别加入0.05、0.10、0.15、0.20 mmol·L^-1AlCl₃,以等体积去离子水处理的悬浮细胞液为对照,并依据前述实验结果选择0.15 mmol·L^-1 AlCl₃,分别添加5 mmol·L^-1 DMTU(H₂O₂ 抑制剂)、20 μmol·L^-1CaCl₂、15 μmol·L^-1 LaCl₃(Ca²⁺通道抑制剂)和50 μmol·L^-1 ATP设计多项处理,分析胞外ATP(eATP)对铝离子(Al³⁺)胁迫引起的植物细胞死亡及其胞内H₂O₂、Ca²⁺的影响,以揭示Al³⁺胁迫下植物调节细胞死亡的可能机制,进一步扩展对eATP功能的认知。结果显示：(1)随着 AlCl₃ 胁迫浓度的提高,细胞死亡水平和胞内H₂O₂水平上升,而胞内Ca²⁺和eATP水平则逐渐降低。(2)外援施加H₂O₂抑制剂 DMTU(二甲基硫脲)和Ca²⁺能够有效缓解AlCl₃诱导的细胞死亡水平的上升;而Ca²⁺通道抑制剂LaCl₃(三氯化镧)则加剧了AlCl₃胁迫下的细胞死亡。(3)在AlCl₃胁迫下对细胞添加外源ATP,能够缓解AlCl₃胁迫下胞内H₂O₂水平上升和Ca²⁺水平下降的同时,并显著降低AlCl₃胁迫导致的细胞死亡。研究表明, Al³⁺以剂量依赖的模式提升细胞死亡和细胞内H₂O₂的水平并降低胞内Ca²⁺和eATP水平,AlCl₃诱导的细胞死亡受到H₂O₂和Ca²⁺水平变化的调节,eATP可以通过调节H₂O₂与Ca²⁺水平缓解AlCl₃诱导的细胞死亡。推测Al³⁺胁迫可能通过抑制钙离子通道而破坏了细胞内H₂O₂和Ca²⁺之间的协同关系,外源ATP对Al³⁺诱导H₂O₂上升的缓解作用可能是由于其提升了细胞的抗氧化能力。