Philopatry and Dispersal Patterns in Tiger (Panthera tigris)

Background

Tiger populations are dwindling rapidly making it increasingly difficult to study their dispersal and mating behaviour in the wild, more so tiger being a secretive and solitary carnivore.

Methods

We used non-invasively obtained genetic data to establish the presence of 28 tigers, 22 females and 6 males, within the core area of Pench tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh. This data was evaluated along with spatial autocorrelation and relatedness analyses to understand patterns of dispersal and philopatry in tigers within this well-managed and healthy tiger habitat in India.

Results

We established male-biased dispersal and female philopatry in tigers and reiterated this finding with multiple analyses. Females show positive correlation up to 7 kms (which corresponds to an area of approximately 160 km²) however this correlation is significantly positive only upto 4 kms, or 50 km² (r  = 0.129, p<0.0125). Males do not exhibit any significant correlation in any of the distance classes within the forest (upto 300 km²). We also show evidence of female dispersal upto 26 kms in this landscape.

Conclusions

Animal movements are important for fitness, reproductive success, genetic diversity and gene exchange among populations. In light of the current endangered status of tigers in the world, this study will help us understand tiger behavior and movement. Our findings also have important implications for better management of habitats and interconnecting corridors to save this charismatic species.     

The Impact of a Diabetes Local Enhanced Service on Quality Outcome Framework Diabetes Outcomes

Background

The rising challenge of diabetes requires novel service delivery approaches. In the UK, Local Enhanced Services (LES) have been commissioned for diabetes. Health professionals from general practices (GPs) who signed up to LES were given additional training (and a monetary incentive) to improve management of patients with diabetes. All practices in the PCT were invited to the LES initiative, which ensured avoiding selection bias. The aim of the study was to examine the impact of LES in terms of diabetes Quality Outcome Framework (QOF) indicators: DM23(glycaemia), DM17(lipid) and DM12(blood pressure; BP).

Methods

QOF diabetes indicators were examined using data from 76 general practices for 2009–2010 in a large primary care trust area in Birmingham, UK. Data were extracted from Quality Management Analysis System. The primary outcome was a difference in achievement of QOF indicators between LES and NLES practices. A secondary outcome was the difference between LES and non-LES practices for hospital first and follow-up appointments.

Results

We did not find any difference for DM12(BP) and DM17(lipid) outcomes between LES and NLES practices. However, LES practices were more likely to achieve the DM23(glycaemia) outcome (estimated odds 1.459;95% CI:1.378-1.544; P=0.0001). The probability of achieving satisfactory level of DM23(glycaemia) increased by almost 10% when GPs belonged to LES groups compared with GPs in NLES group. LES practices were less likely to refer patients to secondary care.

Conclusion

Overall, LES practices performed better in the achievement of DM23(glycaemia) and also referred fewer patients to hospital, thereby meeting their objectives. This suggests that the LES approach is beneficial and needs to be further explored in order to ascertain whether the impact exerted was due to LES.     

Prediction of Preterm Deliveries from EHG Signals Using Machine Learning

There has been some improvement in the treatment of preterm infants, which has helped to increase their chance of survival. However, the rate of premature births is still globally increasing. As a result, this group of infants are most at risk of developing severe medical conditions that can affect the respiratory, gastrointestinal, immune, central nervous, auditory and visual systems. In extreme cases, this can also lead to long-term conditions, such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation, learning difficulties, including poor health and growth. In the US alone, the societal and economic cost of preterm births, in 2005, was estimated to be $26.2 billion, per annum. In the UK, this value was close to £2.95 billion, in 2009. Many believe that a better understanding of why preterm births occur, and a strategic focus on prevention, will help to improve the health of children and reduce healthcare costs. At present, most methods of preterm birth prediction are subjective. However, a strong body of evidence suggests the analysis of uterine electrical signals (Electrohysterography), could provide a viable way of diagnosing true labour and predict preterm deliveries. Most Electrohysterography studies focus on true labour detection during the final seven days, before labour. The challenge is to utilise Electrohysterography techniques to predict preterm delivery earlier in the pregnancy. This paper explores this idea further and presents a supervised machine learning approach that classifies term and preterm records, using an open source dataset containing 300 records (38 preterm and 262 term). The synthetic minority oversampling technique is used to oversample the minority preterm class, and cross validation techniques, are used to evaluate the dataset against other similar studies. Our approach shows an improvement on existing studies with 96% sensitivity, 90% specificity, and a 95% area under the curve value with 8% global error using the polynomial classifier.     

Structure-based design and optimization of 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxamide as a new class of CHK1 inhibitors

Drug design efforts in the emerging 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxamide class of CHK1 inhibitors have uncovered specific combinations of key substructures within the molecule; resulting in significant improvements in cell-based activity while retaining a greater than one hundred-fold selectivity against CDK2. The X-ray crystal structure of a complex between compound 39 and the CHK1 protein detailing a ‘U-shaped’ topology and key interactions with the protein surface at the ATP site is also reported.     

Inhibition of Hyperuricemia and Gouty Arthritis in BALB/c Mice Using Copper Oxide Nanoparticles

Biological Trace Element Research - Nanoparticles are known for their unique properties and are being utilized in various disciplines of sciences. Their nanosize enables them to higher exposure and...     

Effect of Endoxylanase and Iron Oxide Nanoparticles on Performance and Histopathological Features in Broilers

Biological Trace Element Research - Endoxylanase enzyme is used as poultry feed additive to degrade anti-nutritional factors like non-starch polysaccharides. Moreover, iron is one of the most...     

Nesprin-1 impact on tumorigenic cell phenotypes

Molecular Biology Reports - The largest protein of the nuclear envelope (NE) is Nesprin-1 which forms a network along the NE interacting with actin, Emerin, Lamin, and SUN proteins. Mutations in...     

Phosphorylation of deinococcal RecA affects its structural and functional dynamics implicated for its roles in radioresistance of Deinococcus radiodurans

Abstract

Deinococcus RecA (DrRecA) protein is a key repair enzyme and contributes to efficient DNA repair of Deinococcus radiodurans. Phosphorylation of DrRecA at Y77 (tyrosine 77) and T318 (threonine 318) residues modifies the structural and conformational switching that impart the efficiency and activity of DrRecA. Dynamics comparisons of DrRecA with its phosphorylated analogues support the idea that phosphorylation of Y77 and T318 sites could change the dynamics and conformation plasticity of DrRecA. Furthermore, docking studies showed that phosphorylation increases the binding preference of DrRecA towards dATP versus ATP and for double-strand DNA versus single-strand DNA. This work supporting the idea that phosphorylation can modulate the crucial functions of this protein and having good concordance with the experimental data. Abbreviations DrRecA Deinococcus RecA

DSB DNA double-strand breaks

hDNA heteroduplex DNA

STYPK serine/threonine/tyrosine protein kinase

T318 threonine 318

Y77 tyrosine 77

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma     

Cytotoxicity and mechanical behavior of chitin-bentonite clay based polyurethane bio-nanocomposites

Chitin based polyurethane bio-nanocomposites (PUBNC) were prepared using chitin, Delite^® HPS bentonite nanoclay enriched in montmorillonite (MMT), 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and polycaprolactone polyol CAPA 231 (3000 g/mol⁻¹). The prepolymers having different concentration of Delite HPS bentonite nanoclay were extended with 2 moles of chitin. The structures of the resulted polymers were determined by FT-IR technique. The effect of nanoclay contents on mechanical properties and in vitro biocompatibility was investigated. The mechanical properties of the synthesized materials were improved with increase in the Delite HPS^® bentonite nanoclay contents. Optimum mechanical properties were obtained from the PU bio-nanocomposite samples having 4% Delite HPS^® bentonite nanoclay. The results revealed that the final PU bio-nanocomposite having 2% Delite HPS^® bentonite nanoclay contents is ideal contenders for surgical threads with on going investigations into their in vitro biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and mechanical properties.