Towards a physical description of habitat: quantifying environmental adversity (abiotic stress) in temperate forest and woodland ecosystems

1. Our aim was to develop a quantitative proxy for environmental adversity (abiotic stress) in temperate Eucalyptus and Nothofagus forest and woodland ecosystems.
2. Samples and measurements were collected at 42 sites across a rainfall gradient in southern Australia, an elevation gradient in south-eastern Australia, and a longitudinal transect (temperature gradient) in Patagonia, Argentina.
3. We compared the ability of (a) abiotic variables (14 soil and 21 climatic variables) and (b) the stable carbon isotope (δ¹³C) values of soil organic matter (SOM), to predict variation in leaf area index (LAI; a forest productivity variable).
4. The δ¹³C of SOM (soil aggregates) explained more variation (57%) in LAI than multivariate statistical models that integrated information on many abiotic variables. W* (a climatic water balance model) was also a powerful predictor variable, explaining 37% of the variability in LAI.
5 Synthesis . The stable carbon isotopic signature of soil aggregates is a powerful explanatory variable that may help us to quantify environmental adversity (abiotic stress) in temperate forest and woodland ecosystems.     

The social gradient in health: The effect of absolute income and subjective social status assessment on the individual's health in Europe

Using data on individuals aged between 50 and 65 from 6 European countries, this study investigates the effect of absolute income and subjective social status assessment on health in the light of medical evidence indicating that the individual's position in the social hierarchy undermines his/her mental and physical health. The paper shows that individuals’ own income has a positive, but modest effect on health. Importantly, subjective social status assessment has a significant effect on all health measurements. Finally, the results show that individuals from deprived families (when at the age of 14) have poorer physical and mental health.     

Proteomic profile of pre - B2 lymphoblasts from children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in relation with the translocation (12; 21)

Background

Until now, the major prognostic factors for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), age, white blood cell count and chromosomal alterations are initially taken into account for the risk stratification of patients. In the light of protein marker studies to classify subtypes of Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia efficiently, we have compared the lymphoblastes proteome in Childhood ALL in accordance with the presence of t(12;21), indicator of good prognosis, usually.

Methods

Protein expression in pre-B2 lymphoblastic cells, collected from residual bone marrow cells after diagnostic procedures, was analyzed using two dimensional gel electrophoresis protocol. Protein spots whose average normalized volumes were statistically different in the two patients groups (n = 13; student t test p < 0.01), were excised. Tryptic peptides were then analyzed using a nano-LC1200 system coupled to a 6340 Ion Trap mass spectrometer equipped with a HPLC-chip cube interface. The tandem mass spectrometry peak lists extracted using the DataAnalysis program, were compared with the protein database Mascot Daemon.

Results

We focused on twelve spots corresponding to sixteen identified candidate proteins among the 26 found differentially expressed (p ≤ 0.05) regarding the presence of t(12;21). Among over expressed proteins, two proteins were implicated in cellular growth arrest (i.e. calponine 2, p ≤ 0.001 and phosphatidylinositol transfer protein beta, p ≤ 0.001) in accordance with good prognosis, while two other proteins favored cell cycle proliferation (i.e. methionine adenosyl transferase 2β, p ≤ 0.005 and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleo-proteins A2 p ≤ 0.01) and could therefore be good marker candidates of aggressiveness. Level of expression of proteasome subunit beta type-2 (p ≤ 0.01) and protein casein kinase 2α (p ≤ 0.01) which both favored apoptosis, deubiquitinating enzyme OTUB1 (p ≤ 0.05) and MLL septin-like fusion protein MSF-B, septin 9 i4 (p ≤ 0.01) were in accord with a good prognosis related to t(12;21) lymphoblasts.

Conclusion

By drawing up the protein map of leukemic cells, these new data identified marker candidates of leukemic aggressiveness and new t(12;21) patients subgroups. These preliminary results will be in the near future confirmed by using a larger sample of pre-B2 childhood ALLs from national lymphoblastic cell collections.     

Loss of TBL1XR1 Disrupts Glucocorticoid Receptor Recruitment to Chromatin and Results in Glucocorticoid Resistance in a B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia Model

Although great advances have been made in the treatment of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, up to one of five patients will relapse, and their prognosis thereafter is dismal. We have previously identified recurrent deletions in TBL1XR1, which encodes for an F-box like protein responsible for regulating the nuclear hormone repressor complex stability. Here we model TBL1XR1 deletions in B-precursor ALL cell lines and show that TBL1XR1 knockdown results in reduced glucocorticoid receptor recruitment to glucocorticoid responsive genes and ultimately decreased glucocorticoid signaling caused by increased levels of nuclear hormone repressor 1 and HDAC3. Reduction in glucocorticoid signaling in TBL1XR1-depleted lines resulted in resistance to glucocorticoid agonists, but not to other chemotherapeutic agents. Importantly, we show that treatment with the HDAC inhibitor SAHA restores sensitivity to prednisolone in TBL1XR1-depleted cells. Altogether, our data indicate that loss of TBL1XR1 is a novel driver of glucocorticoid resistance in ALL and that epigenetic therapy may have future application in restoring drug sensitivity at relapse.     

Dawn of a new day: The role of children in the assimilation of new technologies throughout the Lower Paleolithic

In this paper, I contend that children had a unique position in prehistoric social systems, functioning as primary assimilators of new technologies. Their role is especially crucial at significant turning points in history, due to a number of childhood-cognitive mechanisms that are activated in learning and playing while engaging in innovative activity. I suggest that these mechanisms developed as part of an evolutionary process that has enabled humans to better adapt to change and prosper. This line of thinking is demonstrated through a synthesis of evolutionary, cognitive-psychological models and a case study from the archaeological record of the Levantine late Lower Paleolithic. In this time, humans developed a set of creative innovations which had to be learned and assimilated, such as the innovative production of blades. I argue that these cultural changes were successfully assimilated by groups inhabiting the Levant due to the enhancement of well-established learning mechanisms, in which children played a significant role. This role might have given them a unique status in their group – as preserving old traditions practiced by their ancestors but also as active agents, part of a collective group effort of tackling present and future challenges.     

植物DREB转录因子的研究进展及应用

转录因子是一种DNA结合蛋白,通过与真核基因启动子区域中的顺式作用元件发生特异性相互作用来调控基因的转录。DREB(与干旱应答元件结合的)转录因子是一类新发现的植物特有的转录因子,能够特异地识别DRE(干旱应答元件)顺式作用元件并与之发生作用,从而激活植物体内一系列逆境应答基因的表达。本文综述了近几年在DREB转录因子的结构、功能、表达调控以及应用方面的研究进展。     

Childhood environmental harshness predicts coordinated health and reproductive strategies: A cross-sectional study of a nationally representative sample from France

There is considerable variation in health and reproductive behaviours within and across human populations. Drawing on principles from Life History Theory, psychosocial acceleration theory predicts that individuals developing in harsh environments decrease their level of somatic investment and accelerate their reproductive schedule. Although there is consistent empirical support for this general prediction, most studies have focused on a few isolated life history traits and few have investigated the way in which individuals apply life strategies across reproductive and somatic domains to produce coordinated behavioural responses to their environment. In our study, we thus investigate the impact of childhood environmental harshness on both reproductive strategies and somatic investment by applying structural equation modeling (SEM) to cross-sectional survey data obtained in a representative sample of the French population (n = 1015, age: 19–87 years old, both genders). This data allowed us to demonstrate that (i) inter-individual variation in somatic investment (e.g. effort in looking after health) and reproductive timing (e.g. age at first birth) can be captured by a latent fast-slow continuum, and (ii) faster strategies along this continuum are predicted by higher childhood harshness. Overall, our results support the existence of a fast-slow continuum and highlight the relevance of the life history approach for understanding variations in reproductive and health related behaviours.     

Childhood adversities and psychosis: evidence,challenges, implications

There is a substantial body of research reporting evidence of associations between various forms of childhood adversity and psychosis, across the spectrum from experiences to disorder. This has been extended, more recently, to include studies of cumulative effects, of interactions with other factors, of specific effects, and of putative biological and psychological mechanisms. In this paper we evaluate this research and highlight the remaining methodological issues and gaps that temper, but do not dismiss, conclusions about the causal role of childhood adversity. We also consider the emerging work on cumulative, synergistic, and specific effects and on mechanisms; and discuss the broader implications of this line of research for our understanding of psychosis. We conclude that the current balance of evidence is that childhood adversities – particularly exposure to multiple adversities involving hostility and threat – do, in some people, contribute to the onset of psychotic experiences and psychotic disorders.     

北疆荒漠几种盐生(耐盐)植物抗逆附属结构的初步研究

利用石蜡切片、扫描电镜、临时装片等方法,对北疆荒漠的3种藜科植物—灰绿藜、费尔干猪毛菜、蒙古猪毛菜和1种菊科植物—花花柴的表皮附属结构进行了显微和超微观察研究。结果表明:(1)对四种植物的解剖结构观察显示,其叶片都含有角质层;气孔器下陷;茎中含有大量的维管束;多数种的细胞中含有簇状晶体结构;(2)四种植物表皮附属结构研究表明:花花柴表皮具有多细胞组成的盐腺和表皮毛结构;灰绿藜表皮有大量囊泡结构;蒙古猪毛菜叶表皮有短硬毛和乳突状结构;费尔干猪毛菜表皮具大量表皮毛,且表皮毛有节。上述结构和特征反映出不同植物对干旱、盐碱土生境适应的多样性,也为旱生和盐生植物的生理学研究提供了新的实验依据。     

NAD(P)H: Quinone oxidoreductase 1, glutathione S-transferase M1, environmental tobacco smoke exposure, and childhood asthma

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure might increase the risk for childhood asthma, and we hypothesized the effect may be modified by the phase II genes NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) M1. To investigate the genetic and environmental associations with asthma, GSTM1 and NQO1 functional polymorphisms and ETS were analyzed in a two-staged cross-sectional study among elementary schoolchildren in Taiwan. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between the Ser allele of the NQO1 Pro187Ser polymorphism and asthma (OR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.3–1.8). Although GSTM1 genotype itself was not significantly associated with asthma (OR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.8–1.1), the GSTM1 genotype modified the association between the NQO1 polymorphism and asthma in children exposed to ETS (p = 0.0002). The NQO1 gene might be involved in the development of asthma, especially in children carrying the GSTM1 null genotype who are exposed to ETS.