Genetic Analysis of Membrane Cofactor Protein (CD46) of the Complement System in Women with and without Preeclamptic Pregnancies

Preeclampsia is a common disorder of pregnancy characterized by endothelial dysfunction. It may be life-threatening for the mother and fetus in severe cases. Dysregulation of the complement system has been suggested to predispose women to preeclampsia. Complement is part of the innate and adaptive immune systems and potentially capable of causing inflammation and tissue damage. Membrane cofactor protein MCP (CD46) is among the potent complement regulators that have recently been linked to a severe form of preeclampsia with or without an underlying autoimmune phenotype. Mutations in CD46 predispose to thrombotic microangiopathy with endothelial cell dysfunction. The exome of CD46 were sequenced in 95 Finnish women with severe preeclampsia. Genetic variations discovered in the full exome were compared to those observed in 95 control women who did not develop preeclampsia. Because A304V (rs35366573) was associated with preeclampsia in one previous study, we sequenced the transmembrane region including the A304V variant and part of the cytoplasmic tail in 95 additional controls. We did not discover any association between A304V or other CD46 SNPs and preeclampsia. This study describes a carefully characterized cohort of severely preeclamptic Finnish women and found no potentially predisposing variants in CD46. However, it is possible that other genetic components of the complement system may affect the pathogenesis of severe preeclampsia and related diseases.     

Induced defenses of Veronica spicata: Variability in herbivore-induced volatile organic compounds

Plants release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that have many eco-physiological functions. Induction of plant VOCs is known to occur upon herbivory. Herbivore-induced VOCs are involved in the attraction of predators and parasitoids, a phenomenon known as an indirect defense of plants. We measured the VOC profiles of the wild species Veronica spicata with and without larval feeding and oviposition by the specialist butterfly Melitaea cinxia. V. spicata showed great plasticity when deploying indirect defences. The induction of several ubiquitous terpenoids and green leaf volatiles (GLVs) was associated with larval feeding, whereas the increase of two ketones, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one and t-geranylacetone and the suppression of GLVs were associated with oviposition by the butterfly.     

Applying the nutrient footprint method to the beef production and consumption chain

Purpose

An indicator of nutrient use efficiency through the entire food chain has been lacking. This article proposes a nutrient footprint method to estimate the efficiency of using both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in animal production chains following Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

Methods

Following the nutrient footprint method of Grönman et al. (2016), we applied the nutrient footprint method to the Finnish beef production and consumption chain. We defined N and P flows associated with the beef chain from a product-specific point of view. The nutrient footprint is a resource efficiency indicator which combines the amount of nutrients captured for use in the production and consumption chain and their nutrient use efficiency (NutUE) either in the primary product or in both the primary + secondary products.

Results and discussion

Each 1000 kg of Finnish beef consumed requires 1700 kg N and 189 kg P during its life cycle. The percentage of virgin nutrient is more than 50% for N, but only 25% for P. NutUE in the primary product and in both primary + secondary products for N is 1% and 47% and for P is 0.2% and 74%, respectively.

Conclusions

The nutrient footprint offers information about NutUE in a simple and comparable form. In transition towards systems with sustainable nutrient use, it is essential to identify hot spots of nutrient leakage to be able to close them and improve food chains.

     

Localization of quantitative trait loci for diapause and other photoperiodically regulated life history traits important in adaptation to seasonally varying environments

Seasonally changing environments at high latitudes present great challenges for the reproduction and survival of insects, and photoperiodic cues play an important role in helping them to synchronize their life cycle with prevalent and forthcoming conditions. We have mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) responsible for the photoperiodic regulation of four life history traits, female reproductive diapause, cold tolerance, egg‐to‐eclosion development time and juvenile body weight in Drosophila montana strains from different latitudes in Canada and Finland. The F2 progeny of the cross was reared under a single photoperiod (LD cycle 16:8), which the flies from the Canadian population interpret as early summer and the flies from the Finnish population as late summer. The analysis revealed a unique QTL for diapause induction on the X chromosome and several QTL for this and the other measured traits on the 4th chromosome. Flies’ cold tolerance, egg‐to‐eclosion development time and juvenile body weight had several QTL also on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th chromosome, some of the peaks overlapping with each other. These results suggest that while the downstream output of females’ photoperiodic diapause response is partly under a different genetic control from that of the other traits in the given day length, all traits also share some QTL, possibly involving genes with pleiotropic effects and/or multiple tightly linked genes. Nonoverlapping QTL detected for some of the traits also suggest that the traits are potentially capable of independent evolution, even though this may be restricted by epistatic interactions and/or correlations and trade‐offs between the traits.     

Growth patterns and endogenous indole-3-acetic acid concentrations in current-year coppice shoots and seedlings of two Betula species

Apical dominance, internode elongation, radial growth and xylem cell size in coppice and apical shoots of Betula pubescens B. Pendula were determined and related to endogenous indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) levels, measured by gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring in the apical bud and at three positions along the stem. The effects of defoliation and debudding on morphological and anatomical characters and endogenous IAA levels were also investigated. The coppice shoots displayed superior stem elongation and increased branching during the initial phase of growth, after which their growth pattern was similar to that of the seedlings; however, their radial growth was greater throughout the experiment. Both plant types produced smaller-sized xylem cells at the top of the shoot than at the bottom with coppice shoots tending to form larger tracheids and smaller vessels than the seedlings. There was no consistent difference in IAA concentration between the coppice shoots and the seedlings. Defoliation and debudding reduced the IAA level in the stem within 36 h and it was still low after 25 days. Although the extent of the IAA decrease was similar in both coppice shoots and seedlings, the treatments affected the morphological and anatomical characters differently in the two plant types. The results suggest that the observed differences between seedlings and coppice shoots were not mediated through a drastic change in IAA level.     

Dementia and oral health among subjects aged 75 years or older

doi: 10.1111/j.1741‐2358.2010.00396.x Dementia and oral health among subjects aged 75 years or older Objective: To study the association between diagnosed dementia and oral health, focusing on the type of dementia, among an elderly population aged 75 years or older. Background: Elderly people with dementia are at risk from oral diseases, but to date, only a few studies have analysed the association between type of dementia and oral health, and their results are inconclusive. Materials and methods: This cross‐sectional study is based on the Geriatric multi‐disciplinary strategy (Gems) study that included 76 demented and 278 non‐demented subjects. The data were collected by means of an interview and an oral clinical examination. The type of dementia was diagnosed according to DSM‐IV criteria. Poisson’s and logistic regression models were used to determine relative risks (RR), odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence limits (CI). Results: Our results showed that patients with Alzheimer’s disease and those with other types of dementia had an increased likelihood of having carious teeth, teeth with deep periodontal pockets, and poor oral and denture hygiene, compared with non‐demented persons. The results showed that the type of dementia does not seem to be an essential determinant of oral health. Conclusions: Among the elderly aged 75 years or older, patients with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia are at increased risk of poor oral health and poor oral hygiene.     

Border of Notch activity establishes a boundary between the two dorsal appendage tube cell types

Boundaries establish and maintain separate populations of cells critical for organ formation. We show that Notch signaling establishes the boundary between two types of post-mitotic epithelial cells, the Rhomboid- and the Broad-positive cells. These cells will undergo morphogenetic movements to generate the two sides of a simple organ, the dorsal appendage tube of the Drosophila egg chamber. The boundary forms due to a difference in Notch levels in adjacent cells. The Notch expression pattern mimics the boundary; Notch levels are high in Rhomboid cells and low in Broad cells. Notch(-) mutant clones generate an ectopic boundary: ectopic Rhomboid cells arise in Notch(+) cells adjacent to the Notch(-) mutant cells but not further away from the clonal border. Pangolin, a component of the Wingless pathway, is required for Broad expression and for rhomboid repression. We further show that Broad represses rhomboid cell autonomously. Our data provide a foundation for understanding how a single row of Rhomboid cells arises adjacent to the Broad cells in the dorsal appendage primordia. Generating a boundary by the Notch pathway might constitute an evolutionarily conserved first step during organ formation in many tissues.     

Release of intact and fragmented osteocalcin molecules from bone matrix during bone resorption in vitro

Osteocalcin detected from serum samples is considered a specific marker of osteoblast activity and bone formation rate. However, osteocalcin embedded in bone matrix must also be released during bone resorption. To understand the contribution of each type of bone cell in circulating osteocalcin levels, we used immunoassays detecting different molecular forms of osteocalcin to monitor bone resorption in vitro. Osteoclasts were obtained from rat long bones and cultured on bovine bone slices using osteocalcin-depleted fetal bovine serum. In addition, human osteoclasts differentiated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were used. Both rat and human osteoclasts released osteocalcin from bovine bone into medium. The amount of osteocalcin increased in the presence of parathyroid hormone, a stimulator of resorption, and decreased in the presence of bafilomycin A1, an inhibitor of resorption. The amount of osteocalcin in the medium correlated with a well characterized marker of bone resorption, the C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (r > 0.9, p < 0.0001). The heterogeneity of released osteocalcin was determined using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography, and several molecular forms of osteocalcin, including intact molecule, were identified in the culture medium. In conclusion, osteocalcin is released from the bone matrix during bone resorption as intact molecules and fragments. In addition to the conventional use as a marker of bone formation, osteocalcin can be used as a marker of bone resorption in vitro. Furthermore, bone matrix-derived osteocalcin may contribute to circulating osteocalcin levels, suggesting that serum osteocalcin should be considered as a marker of bone turnover rather than bone formation.