About the controversies of the cardioprotective effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) between animal studies and clinical meta-analyses: a review with several strategies to enhance the beneficial effects of n-3 PUFAs

Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry - Several meta-analyses describing the effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the survival rate of the victims of an acute coronary event do not clearly...     

Marked seasonal variation in the wild mouse gut microbiota

Recent studies have provided an unprecedented view of the microbial communities colonizing captive mice; yet the host and environmental factors that shape the rodent gut microbiota in their natural habitat remain largely unexplored. Here, we present results from a 2-year 16 S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing-based survey of wild wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) in two nearby woodlands. Similar to other mammals, wild mice were colonized by 10 bacterial phyla and dominated by the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria. Within the Firmicutes, the Lactobacillus genus was most abundant. Putative bacterial pathogens were widespread and often abundant members of the wild mouse gut microbiota. Among a suite of extrinsic (environmental) and intrinsic (host-related) factors examined, seasonal changes dominated in driving qualitative and quantitative differences in the gut microbiota. In both years examined, we observed a strong seasonal shift in gut microbial community structure, potentially due to the transition from an insect- to a seed-based diet. This involved decreased levels of Lactobacillus, and increased levels of Alistipes (Bacteroidetes phylum) and Helicobacter. We also detected more subtle but statistically significant associations between the gut microbiota and biogeography, sex, reproductive status and co-colonization with enteric nematodes. These results suggest that environmental factors have a major role in shaping temporal variations in microbial community structure within natural populations.     

The rise to dominance of the angiosperm kingdom: dispersal,habitat widening and evolution during the Late Cretaceous of Europe

Coiffard, C. & Gomez, B. 2009: The rise to dominance of the angiosperm kingdom: dispersal, habitat widening and evolution during the Late Cretaceous of Europe. Lethaia, Vol. 43, pp. 164–169. The earliest fossil records of angiosperms in Europe occur in the Barremian and consist of freshwater wetland plants. From the Barremian onwards, angiosperms show a stepwise widening of their ecological range with the result that they inhabited most environments by the Cenomanian. Nevertheless, most angiosperms had still restricted habitats, while a few angiosperm trees were confined to disturbed environments, such as channel margins. A Wagner’s Parsimony Method analysis performed on a fossil plant and locality database from the Turonian to the Campanian of Europe indicates continued decrease in richness of ferns and gymnosperms compared with angiosperms, turnover between conifer and palm trees in freshwater‐related swamps at about the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary, and spreading of angiosperm trees through the floodplains. The ecological range of angiosperm trees was increased, being recorded in channel margins from the Cenomanian and spreading over floodplains (e.g. Platanaceae) and swamps (e.g. Arecaceae) by the Campanian. These new ecological ranges and successions went with innovative architectures, such as dicot trees and palm trees. Most living core angiosperm families had their earliest representatives in the Late Cretaceous, which should be considered as the dawn of modern angiosperm forests. □Core angiosperms, Europe, Late Cretaceous, palms, Wagner’s Parsimony Method.     

Anti-leukemia activity of 7-hydroxy-2-substituted-methyl-5H-oxazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-one derivatives

The synthesis of new 7-hydroxy-2-substituted-methyl-5H-oxazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidin-5-ones derivatives, designed as structural bicyclic analogues of the iron chelator deferiprone, is described. They were tested for their ability to inhibit proliferation in human Bcr-Abl+ leukemia cells.     

Immunochemical evidence for the species-specificity of mammalian cardiac myosin and heavy meromyosin.

Structural differences between various myosins were investigated by means of antibodies to heavy meromyosin, a tryptic subfragment of myosin. Heavy meromyosin was purified from rabbit white skeletal and from pig and human cardiac muscles by gel filtration, and antisera were produced in guinea pigs. Analyses, carried out with the quantitative micro-complement fixation technique, indicated that the antibodies were specific to heavy meromyosin and myosin and not to other contractile proteins. For each muscle type, the corresponding intact myosin reacted, and the degree of dixation was always lower than with heavy meromyosin (50 and 70% fixation respectively). This vertical shift was the same for the three muscle types, indicating that the heavy meromyosin represent corresponding fragments of the myosin molecule from one muscle to the other. Antisera to pig or human cardiac heavy meromyosin clearly distinguished antigens (heavy meromyosins, myosins, or crude extracts) from the ventricles of various heterologous species. Relative to pig, the immunological distances were 50 for the rabbit, 73 for the rat and greater than 100 for human and mice. Relative to human, these values were 20 for the rat, 60 for the rabbit, 72 for the pig. These data provide direct evidence that mammalian cardiac myosin is species-specific.     

Comparison of marker types and map assumptions using Markov chain Monte Carlo-based linkage analysis of COGA data

We performed multipoint linkage analysis of the electrophysiological trait ECB21 on chromosome 4 in the full pedigrees provided by the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Three Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)-based approaches were applied to the provided and re-estimated genetic maps and to five different marker panels consisting of microsatellite (STRP) and/or SNP markers at various densities. We found evidence of linkage near the GABRB1 STRP using all methods, maps, and marker panels. Difficulties encountered with SNP panels included convergence problems and demanding computations.     

Lack of Host Specialization in Aspergillus flavus

Aspergillus spp. cause disease in a broad range of organisms, but it is unknown if strains are specialized for particular hosts. We evaluated isolates of Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus nidulans for their ability to infect bean leaves, corn kernels, and insects (Galleria mellonella). Strains of A. flavus did not affect nonwounded bean leaves, corn kernels, or insects at 22°C, but they killed insects following hemocoelic challenge and caused symptoms ranging from moderate to severe in corn kernels and bean leaves injured during inoculation. The pectinase P2c, implicated in aggressive colonization of cotton bolls, is produced by most A. flavus isolates, but its absence did not prevent colonization of bean leaves. Proteases have been implicated in colonization of animal hosts. All A. flavus strains produced very similar patterns of protease isozymes when cultured on horse lung polymers. Quantitative differences in protease levels did not correlate with the ability to colonize insects. In contrast to A. flavus, strains of A. nidulans and A. fumigatus could not invade living insect or plant tissues or resist digestion by insect hemocytes. Our results indicate that A. flavus has parasitic attributes that are lacking in A. fumigatus and A. nidulans but that individual strains of A. flavus are not specialized to particular hosts.