Embryonic staging series for the beach spawning, terrestrially incubating California grunion Leuresthes tenuiswith comparisons to other Atherinomorpha

California grunion Leuresthes tenuis synchronize spawning with tidal cycles, so the embryos incubate in a terrestrial environment, delay hatching until cued by a specific environmental trigger, and may extend incubation for up to an additional four weeks. These adaptations, however, do not appear to alter the morphology or sequence of early developmental stages as compared to other Atherinomorph fishes in the Orders Beloniformes and Cyprinodontiformes. Embryonic development is described in a series of 30 stages based on morphology observed by light microscopy. Stages are placed in five periods: zygote and cleavage, blastula, gastrula, segmentation and organogenesis, and hatching competence. Embryos from a southern population of L. tenuis in Los Angeles are compared with embryos found >560 km north in San Francisco Bay. Northern L. tenuis embryos developed more slowly at several stages than southern embryos and reached hatching competence later, but both locations maintained synchrony with the tidal cycle for both spawning and hatching. The variation in rates of development and stage at hatching readiness are forms of developmental heterochrony that may be associated with evolutionary adaptation or morphological plasticity within this highly successful clade.     

Estimating the distribution of probable age-at-death from dental remains of immature human fossils

In two historic longitudinal growth studies, Moorrees et al. (Am J Phys Anthropol 21 (1963) 99-108; J Dent Res 42 (1963) 1490-1502) presented the "mean attainment age" for stages of tooth development for 10 permanent tooth types and three deciduous tooth types. These findings were presented graphically to assess the rate of tooth formation in living children and to age immature skeletal remains. Despite being widely cited, these graphical data are difficult to implement because there are no accompanying numerical values for the parameters underlying the growth data. This analysis generates numerical parameters from the data reported by Moorrees et al. by digitizing 358 points from these tooth formation graphs using DataThief III, version 1.5. Following the original methods, the digitized points for each age transition were conception-corrected and converted to the logarithmic scale to determine a median attainment age for each dental formation stage. These values are subsequently used to estimate age-at-death distributions for immature individuals using a single tooth or multiple teeth, including estimates for 41 immature early modern humans and 25 immature Neandertals. Within-tooth variance is calculated for each age estimate based on a single tooth, and a between-tooth component of variance is calculated for age estimates based on two or more teeth to account for the increase in precision that comes from using additional teeth. Finally, we calculate the relative probability of observing a particular dental formation sequence given known-age reference information and demonstrate its value in estimating age for immature fossil specimens.     

What do fish make of mirror images?

Fish act aggressively towards their mirror image suggesting that they consider it another individual, whereas in some mammals behavioural response to mirrors may be an evidence of self-recognition. Since fish cannot self-recognize, we asked whether they could distinguish between fighting a mirror image and fighting a real fish. We compared molecular, physiological and behavioural responses in each condition and found large differences in brain gene expression levels. Although neither levels of aggressive behaviour nor circulating androgens differed between these conditions, males fighting a mirror image had higher immediate early gene (IEG) expression in brain areas homologous to the amygdala and hippocampus than controls. Since amygdalar responses are associated with fear and fear conditioning in other species, higher levels of brain activation when fighting a mirror suggest fish experience fear in response to fights with a mirror image. Clearly, the fish recognize something unusual about the mirror image and the differential brain response may reflect a cognitive distinction.     

Early life experiences affect the adaptive capacity of rearing hens during infectious challenges

This study aimed to investigate whether pre- and early postnatal experiences of rearing hens contribute to the ability to cope with infectious challenges at an older age. In a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, 352 Lohmann Brown chicks were exposed to either suboptimal or optimized incubation plus hatch conditions, and to cage or enriched rearing from week 0 to 7 of age. After week 7 all rearing conditions were similar until the end of the experiment. The development of adaptive capacity to infectious challenges was investigated by introducing an Eimeria and Infectious Bronchitis (IB) infection on day 53 and day 92, respectively. BW gain and feed intake during the infections, duodenal lesions and amount of positive stained CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells and macrophages at day 4 and day 7 after Eimeria infection, as well as the IB antibody titer throughout the experimental period were determined. The results showed a significant interaction between incubation plus hatch and rearing environment. Optimized incubation plus hatch conditions followed by an enriched rearing environment resulted in the least weight loss (P < 0.05) and the highest feed intake (P < 0.01) from day 3 to day 7 after the Eimeria infection (day 56 to 60 of age), compared with all other treatments. In addition, the optimized × enriched chicks had the highest BW gain from day 7 to day 14 after IB infection (day 99 to 106 of age), compared with chicks housed in a cage environment (P < 0.01). Besides the interaction, optimized incubation plus hatch alone resulted in reduced macrophage numbers in the duodenal tissue at day 4 after Eimeria infection, compared with suboptimal incubation plus hatch, whereas the enriched rearing environment stimulated the recovery of intestinal damage caused by Eimeria (P < 0.05) and reduced the production of specific antibodies after IB infection (P < 0.05), compared with the cage environment. In conclusion, this study shows that early life experiences can indeed affect the capacity of rearing hens to cope with an Eimeria and IB infection at an older age, in which performance of chicks is best maintained after optimized incubation plus hatch followed by enriched rearing. This suggests that the development of adaptive capacity to infectious challenges can be influenced with management during a short period in pre- or early postnatal life, but that effects last for a considerable time after cessation of the specific management.     

雷帕霉素靶在小鼠受精卵早期发育中的作用研究

哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶(mTOR)是细胞生长的中心调控因子,应用RT-PCR、免疫印迹、放射性同位素体外测定酶活性等方法,研究mTOR在小鼠受精卵第一次有丝分裂过程中在卵中的表达、活性变化以及对卵裂的影响.研究发现mTOR在小鼠卵母细胞和受精卵中都有表达,在mRNA水平,mTOR从G2期开始降解,在蛋白水平,则各期没有明显变化;mTOR的激酶活性在受精后明显升高,并且在整个1-细胞期保持较高活性;mTOR的特异性抑制剂雷帕霉素能抑制卵裂,并且能抑制成熟促进因子MPF的调节亚基cyclin B的表达,从而抑制了MPF的活性.结果表明mTOR可能通过促进MPF的激活而促进小鼠受精卵的分裂.     

Life cycle assessment of emerging technologies: Evaluation techniques at different stages of market and technical maturity

Life cycle assessment (LCA) analysts are increasingly being asked to conduct life cycle‐based systems level analysis at the earliest stages of technology development. While early assessments provide the greatest opportunity to influence design and ultimately environmental performance, it is the stage with the least available data, greatest uncertainty, and a paucity of analytic tools for addressing these challenges. While the fundamental approach to conducting an LCA of emerging technologies is akin to that of LCA of existing technologies, emerging technologies pose additional challenges. In this paper, we present a broad set of market and technology characteristics that typically influence an LCA of emerging technologies and identify questions that researchers must address to account for the most important aspects of the systems they are studying. The paper presents: (a) guidance to identify the specific technology characteristics and dynamic market context that are most relevant and unique to a particular study, (b) an overview of the challenges faced by early stage assessments that are unique because of these conditions, (c) questions that researchers should ask themselves for such a study to be conducted, and (d) illustrative examples from the transportation sector to demonstrate the factors to consider when conducting LCAs of emerging technologies. The paper is intended to be used as an organizing platform to synthesize existing methods, procedures and insights and guide researchers, analysts and technology developer to better recognize key study design elements and to manage expectations of study outcomes.     

A specific autoantibody against a novel tumour-association antigen derived from human DNA-topoiomerase I is a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and favourable prognosis in patients with colorectal carcinoma

Abstract

Context: We previously reported a novel tumour associated antigen (TTA) with molecular weight around 48?kDa and identified the novel TTA as a fragment derived from human DNA-topoiomerase I (TOP1). We termed the novel TAA as TOPO48 and termed autoantibody against the TAA as anti-TOPO48 autoantibody.

Objective: To explore the clinical significance of anti-TOPO48 autoantibody in patients with colorectal carcinoma (CRC).

Materials and methods: Serum levels of the autoantibody in patients with CRC or benign tumours and healthy volunteers were measured with a specific ELISA.

Results: CRC patients at early stage had higher frequency of positive levels of the autoantibody and CRC patients with positive autoantibody levels had higher overall survival rate than those with negative autoantibody levels.

Conclusion: The autoantibody is a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and favourable prognosis of CRC.     

Maternal care of heterozygous dopamine receptor D4 knockout mice: Differential susceptibility to early‐life rearing conditions

The differential susceptibility hypothesis proposes that individuals who are more susceptible to the negative effects of adverse rearing conditions may also benefit more from enriched environments. Evidence derived from human experiments suggests the lower efficacy dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) 7‐repeat as a main factor in exhibiting these for better and for worse characteristics. However, human studies lack the genetic and environmental control offered by animal experiments, complicating assessment of causal relations. To study differential susceptibility in an animal model, we exposed Drd4^+/? mice and control litter mates to a limited nesting/bedding (LN), standard nesting (SN) or communal nesting (CN) rearing environment from postnatal day (P) 2‐14. Puberty onset was examined from P24 to P36 and adult females were assessed on maternal care towards their own offspring. In both males and females, LN reared mice showed a delay in puberty onset that was partly mediated by a reduction in body weight at weaning, irrespective of Drd4 genotype. During adulthood, LN reared females exhibited characteristics of poor maternal care, whereas dams reared in CN environments showed lower rates of unpredictability towards their own offspring. Differential susceptibility was observed only for licking/grooming levels of female offspring towards their litter; LN reared Drd4^+/? mice exhibited the lowest and CN reared Drd4^+/? mice the highest levels of licking/grooming. These results indicate that both genetic and early‐environmental factors play an important role in shaping maternal care of the offspring for better and for worse.